The past two evenings NewMexiKen has been ignoring the Winter Olympics (and American Idol, if it’s even on) to watch DVDs. I’ve made some good choices, choosing two complex but rewarding films.
Last night it was 21 Grams with Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts. This movie has perhaps the most convulted chronology of any film I’ve ever seen (The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind nothwithstanding.) The dramatic story and the extraordinary acting of all three — and others — is, I think, greatly harmed as a result of this shuffling of time. It’s not that it’s so difficult to figure out what happens (happened); rather one simply asks why not just tell the story that way. The filmmaker’s art is important, but it should not be more important than the film itself. Still, the performances are remarkable, and the film is provocative.
The Constant Gardener stars Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz (nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar). Last September when I first saw this film I wrote that it, “is a gripping, harrowing film adapted from John le Carre’s novel of corporate greed and political corruption set in Kenya. Fiennes is superb as the too timid British diplomat and Rachel Weisz brilliant as his radical wife Tessa.” I stand by that assessment, and if anything I liked this film better the second time through. I haven’t seen the Oscar-nominated performances for best actor, but Fiennes surely deserved to be included. Excellent.
So now I’ll go watch the women figure skaters (preferably with the commentary off). NewMexiKen was able to view the 1994 Winter Olympics women’s skating finals on Russian TV. (The Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding year.) It was wonderful. The single commentator (speaking in Russian, of course) was low key and generally quiet, but the ambient noises of the crowd, the music and skates on ice could be heard well. Every performance was shown in its entirety, one after the other. It was incredible, almost like being there.
Update: Actually NBC did a nice job in its coverage, especially of the last six skaters.