MOVEMENT ARTS: NEGATIVE ZERO                09/10-04

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 FEATURED ARTIST:

Antony Rieck

A native Maori from New Zealand, relocated to Jacksonville in 1998. As well as working as a professional architectural photographer, he enjoys creating personal photographic images that reflect his cultural and spiritual impressions of New Zealand.

Current works on display at Starbucks in San Marco from Oct 6th to Nov 14th.

www.antonyrieck.com

 REEL LIFE:

Garden State
Fox Searchlight
by Whitney Weiss

I think it's really sad that anytime there is a movie about 20somethings that doesn't involve pie fornication or fart jokes, there is this bizarre need to compare it to The Graduate. Garden State is not The Graduate. Let’s get the lazy similes out of the way and then we can continue on lighter and more prepared to enjoy: yes, there is use of Simon and Garfunkel, yes this is a film where a woman drags an epiphany out of an attractive yet emotionally distant 20something male. But that’s it. That’s all.

Zack Braff was previously best known for his work on the sitcom Scrubs, where he is goofy and cute. Goofy and cute works, yes, but you can’t picture Ashton Kutcher writing and directing a movie that gets compared to The Graduate, now can you? Braff excels not only at bringing his character to life, but also in creating a film that visually makes its own memorable and striking moments, instead of a work where there are some impressive shots but a feel that the director is mimicking instead of making. Perhaps Braff can give Sofia Coppola some pointers. I’d prefer, however, that he writes and directs a second film with an ending that measures up to the build-up.

Braff plays Andrew Largeman, a 26 year-old waiter/actor who has moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles. I say waiter/actor because Andrew is only recognized for his role as the retarded quarterback in some made-for-television movie that apparently the entire world has seen. In addition to these achievements, Andrew also hosts the most impressive collection of antidepressants I’ve seen outside of Girl, Interrupted. Since age ten, we learn later, he’s been chomping on everything from lithium to Prozac. Andrew heads back to New Jersey—minus the happy pills—for the first time in nine years after learning that his mother has died.

As any 20something who has actually left home will tell you, reintegration is most often times a bitch. At the funeral, Andrew runs into Mark, the only person who appears to actually be an actual friend from high school, who is now digging graves. Mark’s mom is currently banging another one of their former classmates. Mark invites Andrew to a party at another high school friend’s house, which he’ll be heading "after I bury your mom." Phrases such as this, as well as Braff’s priceless facial expressions, keep Garden State from turning into pretentious slop. The humor works without feeling forced. After all, what is more hilarious than the absurdity of a cornucopia of life’s little moments? It gets funnier (and sadder) as we learn that their friend Alex’s house is a newly purchased mansion, because he’s just sold the patent for silent Velcro. The dialogue as Andrew arrives at the party is excellent, as it perfectly captures the awkwardness of the suburban party talk catching up. Yes, Velcro Boy has a lot of money now. No, he hasn’t really been doing anything else. Neither, it seems, has anyone else from Andrew’s graduating class. They’re all gobbling X or snorting lines with the current senior class of whatever high school they went to. A scene used in the trailer—and one of the best in the entire film—perfectly captures how incredibly removed one can feel surrounded by things that are deceptively comfortable. Largeman sits on the couch, awkward and removed, while the escapist drinking, drugging, and fucking happens all around him.

But an entire movie of someone disconnected from his or her surroundings would be boring, and it would be called Lost in Translation. Andrew has a wake-up call in the form of Sam, played by Natalie Portman in such a way that I forgot how much she irritates me most of the time. Together, the two share such poignant moments as burying a hamster and discussing what it feels like to leave home. Throwing her into the mix with Andrew’s numbness regarding his former friends and his complete lack of a relationship with his father helps jump-start the whole awakening process.

Here is the part where I’d tell you all of the best scenes, but that’s obnoxious. I don’t want to ruin this film for you, because it is the surprise—yes, surprise, as in NOT PREDICTABLE!!—that makes so many of these film moments more tender than others. Suffice it to say that jewelry and music both play roles. By the end of the film, Andrew hasn’t reconnected with his environment, but rather, achieved something far more palatable. But oh, last twenty minutes of the film, how you created nausea instead of tears for me. For all of Garden State, Braff took the high, more interesting, more creative road at telling a story that has been told before, often with far more angst. But in the last 20 minutes, the humor and the beauty and the flow that had the rest of the film touching people crumbles away to an ending that belongs on something featuring Hugh Grant. I except Braff to redeem himself in his second movie, a film I will be eagerly awaiting. He’s the best new director in a while, and has a talent as a writer for capturing the beauty, hilarity, and sadness in so many of the little moments.

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WICKER PARK
by TAISIR

"I seem to have broken all my cups," Alex/Lisa (Rose Byrne) mumbles nervously to Matt (Josh Harnett) as she serves him coffee in a champagne glass. This is the type of subtle moment that carried me through "Wicker Park," Paul McGuigan's remake of the French film "L'Appartement."

Others may say that this film is crummy and trite with no substantial plot compared to the original. I liked it. However, I was misled by the trailer as I believe many will be. This movie is NOT a suspense/thriller as it was marketed. I blame myself for thinking it was though since the movie is rated PG-13 for sexuality and language. Lisa's not going to show up strung by the neck in the closet under that rating. It is simply a love story. It's main message, love can make you do crazy things, is spoken by Alex when Matt meets up with her and his best friend Luke (Matthew Lillard) and finds out the truth about what happened to seperate him and his lost love, the real Lisa (Diane Kruger.)

Without giving too much away I'll say that this movie may not be very deep but the way the story unfolds through the cinematography kept my attention. McGuigan uses visual clues whenever possible instead of talking the easy route of dumping it into the dialogue.

Maybe the critics who didn't like it weren't paying attention very well though not having seen the original French version, I can't make that comparison myself yet. On its own, "Wicker Park" is worth seeing.

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ANACONDAS: HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID
by TAISIR

Since this movie completely sucked I thought I'd discuss some interesting facts about Anacondas instead.

Anacondas are part of the Boidae family which includes boas and pythons. They are native to tropical South America, not Borneo which is the jungle the characters in "Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid" venture into. There are two types of anacondas. The yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus) typically grows to about 10 to 13 feet. The larger green anaconda (Eunectes murinus,) featured in A: HFTBO, is among the largest and most powerful snakes in the world. It may weigh up to 235 lbs and there have been reports of snakes up to 60 feet long though they usually only grow to about 25 feet long. ONLY 25 FEET! Anacondas can live anywhere between 10 to 30 years when there aren't a bunch of stupid scientists crazed with greed and hunting for flowers to come along and blow them up.

Anacondas are not venemous but they can inflict severe bites. Their hunting method is to lie in shallow waters waiting for birds, rodents or fish to foolishly rest nearby. Then with a swift strike they grab their prey by the head and use their coils to suffocate it. Their jaws unhinge to swallow their prey with greater ease and they eat it head first so the dead animal's limbs will fold neatly around its body, therefore traveling more smoothly down the snake's throat. Feeling squeemish yet? Anacondas are not known for attacking humans though maybe that's because no one ever lived to tell about it.

So maybe A: HFTBO isn't so farfetched considering it's a monster movie. Unfortunately it was filled with extremely shallow characters, boring dialogue and not enough of the snakes. I think I got more freaked out reading about anacondas in online encyclopedias than I did in the theater watching this flick.

 DRESS YOURSELF:

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 WORDS:

Inevitable 3.11.04
It has come once again
w/o fair warning or even a heads-up by friend
trust is fleeting and truth will soon end
greed, avarice, and gluttony is how we defend
are we are destined to explode in this capitalistic plight
what we choose may not be life
rather only a farce fills our void of right
will never quench our thirst
only increase our lust for first things first
        - Kevin Conley

Abnormal day 3.11.04
the sun peeks through the blinds
luckily I can unwind with few helps from my friends
breakfast,
a few beers to wash down the little helpers
what a start to day
hell bent to forget pass transgressions
odd man out
this has never been any doubt
push it below through all means necessary
and the day will come when we cease to mask
but is the mask the truth or the truth the mask
truth is my mission and the choice is mine

        - Kevin Conley


Broken Faith 9.6.04
thoughts of love and dreams of doves
mushy shit fills my veins
better than the opiate game
I guess numbness is ultimately dumbness
It hard to convince me emotions are scarred
Pain is life
Life is pain
It’s all the same whether drunk or sane
Give it a name
Addiction, predilection, Infection, self-inflicted dissection
Just depends which direction
Follow my instincts but sometimes they lie
Just hope not this time or an inevitable high

        - Kevin Conley

 

Example 9.06.04
What to follow
It’s a hard pill to swallow
The suggestions of men
Who tell me when to believe?
Can I conceive people really mean what they mean
Or is it all just a complicated scheme
Just to survive is the ultimate goal
And even at times it seems better to let go
        - Kevin Conley
 

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