December 19, 2002

The Hours Is From Venus…

I first saw The Hours more than a month ago.  I had some strong feelings about what the movie was and what the movie was not.  But I knew that I had to see the movie at least one more time before I would be ready to write about it.  I saw it again yesterday.  And it was a very different experience. 

For a month, I’ve simplified the experience of this film… story structure was off… there wasn’t enough for Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore to do… the supporting characters were more interesting than the leads… etc. etc. etc.

But somehow, after taking so long to see the film again, I really relaxed into the experience the second time around.  Part of it was the lack of pressure, now that I have seen all the films there are to see and a quiet week is just around the corner.  But a bigger part of the change, I think, was that I knew what was coming.  And in The Hours, that makes a huge difference.  There is a third act twist that, for me, is key to the entire experience of this film.  And it changed how I viewed the first 90 minutes or so… a lot.

While I was relaxing, I lingered more freely in the performances of Streep and Ed Harris and Julianne Moore.  Kidman’s turn as Virginia Woolf is perhaps the most underappreciated great turn this year, with far too many critics and civilians leading with comments about her putty nose.  This performance is much, much more than that.

As I was watching this time around, it occurred to me that I was watching a “women’s movie” in the most literal of ways.  Besides being about women, it is a film of moments… moments that do not always lead to an easily defined climax.  If you were to take each of these moments as little stories in their own right, this movie has a great deal to offer.  And I started to think, this is what the film is about…. it’s about living at a pace that can only make sense to you, your own personal emotional music, your own indescribable pain, your own odd form of expression.  Surviving the hours between key events…. living… it’s not always easy… it’s harder for the emotionally open, no matter how strong the façade.

And then it hit me…. the theme of the year is this small step of survival.  People are making movies about making the small steps, instead of the classic, showy, big Hollywood leaps.  Adaptation, Far From Heaven and About Schmidt are all baby-step movies.  So are 8 Mile, Max, Narc, Roger Dodger and Secretary.  They are all about real people trying to adapt, taking small steps in the right direction.  No epiphanies, not revelations… reality… the way we really evolve in life… usually.  That’s not to say that the bigger emotional sweep of Antwone Fisher and The Pianist aren’t every bit as valid.  It is the emotional size of these two films that keeps me believing so strongly in their Oscar chances.  Even Gangs of New York, epic that it is, is really a small step movie.  Its bookends are the rise and fall of one powerful man and his personal philosophy of what America is and what it should be.

In The Hours, the small steps of these three women are reflective of one another, despite leagues of time between each story.  How do we fill the hours of our lives?  Do we run, so we lie, do we die?  Each woman has to take that journey themselves.  And so do the people in their lives. 

Is indulging our individual truths a form of excessive narcissism?  Or do the people who love us, love us in a way that is as important to them as their own journeys? 

Meryl Streep is breathtaking.  Seeing this again, reflected in the glory of Adaptation, reminded me of what a treasure this actress is to the dramatic form.  Her skin breathes truth.  Her hair caresses the air.  Her eyes speak louder than any screenplay’s words. 

Julianne Moore also walks this dramatic tightrope with seeming effortlessness.  But there is an odd reflection of Far From Heaven in this role.  She is so reactive here.  Her best scene comes when she is given a great acting backboard… a remarkable turn by Toni Collette.  It is odd, as Collette seems to be channeling a variation on Moore’s Far From Heaven character, but one who is, when she wants to be, wide awake. 

As great as the trio of actresses is, it is the supporting performances that really shine here.  Alison Janney, Claire Danes and John C., Reilly are great.  But Stephen Dillane, Miranda Richardson, Ed Harris and Collette are each worth the price of admission all by themselves. 

And yet… I still didn’t get everything out of The Hours that I hoped to get, even in the second screening.  What is this movie really asking us?  I’m still not quite sure.  And maybe that’s what some people really love about this film.  There is one central connective relationship that goes unexplored, outside of lovely platitudes.  And that really bothered me.  That was the relationship I most wanted to explore.  But alas, no.

Some have called this a “gay agenda movie.”  I still am trying to figure out just what agenda there is in the film.  It’s not about gayness over being gay.  It never blames the misery on being gay.  Though the facts are out on the table, there isn’t a real back-and-forth about what it all means.  The only agenda I see is to make a difficult story come to life on the big screen, to mixed results.  All there really is are the seconds… the moments… the minutes…

LATER TODAY:  I’ll be doing an updated Oscar column at MCN after the Golden Globe nominations are released.  So check it out, if you are interested.

READER OF THE DAY:  NY MIKEY writes:  “Got back from THE TWO TOWERS today, and I need someone to explain to me why this movie, and its prequel, got raves. Visually, stunning. An incredible feat. Golem is a CGI masterpiece, and the most interesting character in the whole picture. But after that, I don't see what's compelling. The characters are ciphers, with little to no personality. I can't see what's interesting about the storyline when 7/10 of the movie is based around battles and characters who are away from Frodo and the ring - which is really the only element of the story that matters. And the only element that could be interesting - if the conflict inherent in possessing such a great power was ever delved into at the level necessary to elicit some type of feeling of tension. This is a movie of staunch good and evil. In most movies you know good's going to beat evil, but there's no gray at all here. There's no question of what will happen. And therefore no tension. The Two Towers reminds me that, like videogames, once you get past the graphics, content is what matters. And the content of this story is stale at best. But obviously, based on the applause at the end of the movie, I have no idea what I'm talking about.”

THE BOOKWORM goes to Iraq:  “I could go off on this subject all day -- but I won't ...

for long.   Suffice to say, I just know I feel safer now that an actor - you know, the greatest thing one can become in modern American culture - has checked out Iraq and assured us they're A-okay. After all, who'd question Sean Penn's judgment? Why, he knew enough not only to marry Madonna but to make a film with her as well. And he certainly knows a bomb when he sees one - just look at his filmography. Think of all the bloodshed he'd have prevented if only he'd held a marathon of his films for Saddam -- show him Shanghai Surprise, The Weight of Water, U-Turn, Up at The Villa, I Am Sam, She's So Lovely, and Crackers and Saddam would simply die of boredom without one shot being fired. And unlike other peace envoys, Sean Penn brings his own personal experience to his fact-finding missions. After all, he's no stranger to using violence when he deems fit - he is an ex-con, remember. Perhaps if Iraq were filled with celebrity photographers he'd feel differently.

But, hey, what do I know about anything? I'm not an actor.”

And U.N.C.L.E. BOB writes:  “Maybe you can answer this:

Minority Report is one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, a movie I'd probably put in the top five of most praised, along with Far From Heaven, Adaptation, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and LOTR: TTT.   However, for some reason, as the award season begins heating up, the brilliance of MR has been completely ignored by most critics groups.

Is it because the picture is resoundingly conceived as a failure, because of its lackluster box office performance, or because Minority Report is just not serious enough for award consideration?  

I don't know, maybe you can shed the light of your wisdom upon me, because I love Minority Report. I love Insomnia, too, and it's equally being ignored despite the critical hosannas the picture received last May.”

E ME:  I think that M.R. got caught up in a hot summer at the wrong moment… I’m not sure that there is a real answer.  As I’ve written before, if it were being released right now, I would perceive it as the strongest Oscar candidate in the field. 

How do you fill the hours?  Or do you need to?