Reign Over Me(dir. Mike Binder)
Why 9/11 and why this character? Those were the thoughts initially running through my head while I watching this. The only answers I could come up with is having a protagonist that is a little off his rocker and having him become more "normal" by the end is a real crowd-pleaser even though that doesn't heal the character's wounds from losing his whole family to the events that occurred on 9/11 or at least it shouldn't and since 9/11 is still fresh in our minds, why not exploit the event by using it to get the audience to sympathize with a character that stemmed from a screenwriter's imagination? It's ultimately frustrating since you wonder why they didn't make a film about someone dealing with loss in a rather "traditional" manner instead of Charlie's "amnesiac" approach of coping. The film is pretty much a mess in terms of what it wants to be. It tries to be light-hearted one moment then the next moment, it tries to be a tear-jerker. This tonal confusion comes to a head with a particularly awkward speech that Charlie delivers to his parents-in-law about why he's handling the situation the way he is. You're not sure if you're supposed to be laughing or crying. The light-hearted moments definitely work better since the sad moments are so obviously designed to manipulate that they fail to take effect. That's not to say that Sandler's performance is bad since he was able to create some emotional involvement from this reviewer. It's just that the material he has to work with is not so hot. The film hits it's low point with a court room scene that's absolutely cringe-inducing in it's grotesque nature and it's attempt at creating a love interest for the protagonist that is equally as crazy was pretty laughable. Two crazy peas in a pod. I still don't know why the movie attached itself to 9/11 since it just makes it easier to criticize it to high heaven. It was ultimately average.
** out of ****
The Face of Another(dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
So stylistically bold that it verges on completely alienating it's audience and that's precisely what makes it bitching. Much like Hiroshima Mon Amour, it's philosophical to a fault, but the psycho-analytical nature of it's dialogue is easier to stomach due to the presence of a psychiatrist character. If I was reviewing the story with the woman that appears to be scarred from nuclear exposure by itself, this would easily be deemed a masterpiece by this reviewer, but since I'm reviewing it as a whole, it's merely a near-masterpiece. It quickly becomes tiresome in it's "the mask will take over" philosophical banter. It's not nearly as hauntingly beautiful as Woman in the Dunes, but it's definitely no slouch either. Any movie that uses a recording of a Hitler speech for no apparent reason is A OK in my book.
***1/2 out of ****
Why 9/11 and why this character? Those were the thoughts initially running through my head while I watching this. The only answers I could come up with is having a protagonist that is a little off his rocker and having him become more "normal" by the end is a real crowd-pleaser even though that doesn't heal the character's wounds from losing his whole family to the events that occurred on 9/11 or at least it shouldn't and since 9/11 is still fresh in our minds, why not exploit the event by using it to get the audience to sympathize with a character that stemmed from a screenwriter's imagination? It's ultimately frustrating since you wonder why they didn't make a film about someone dealing with loss in a rather "traditional" manner instead of Charlie's "amnesiac" approach of coping. The film is pretty much a mess in terms of what it wants to be. It tries to be light-hearted one moment then the next moment, it tries to be a tear-jerker. This tonal confusion comes to a head with a particularly awkward speech that Charlie delivers to his parents-in-law about why he's handling the situation the way he is. You're not sure if you're supposed to be laughing or crying. The light-hearted moments definitely work better since the sad moments are so obviously designed to manipulate that they fail to take effect. That's not to say that Sandler's performance is bad since he was able to create some emotional involvement from this reviewer. It's just that the material he has to work with is not so hot. The film hits it's low point with a court room scene that's absolutely cringe-inducing in it's grotesque nature and it's attempt at creating a love interest for the protagonist that is equally as crazy was pretty laughable. Two crazy peas in a pod. I still don't know why the movie attached itself to 9/11 since it just makes it easier to criticize it to high heaven. It was ultimately average.
** out of ****
The Face of Another(dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
So stylistically bold that it verges on completely alienating it's audience and that's precisely what makes it bitching. Much like Hiroshima Mon Amour, it's philosophical to a fault, but the psycho-analytical nature of it's dialogue is easier to stomach due to the presence of a psychiatrist character. If I was reviewing the story with the woman that appears to be scarred from nuclear exposure by itself, this would easily be deemed a masterpiece by this reviewer, but since I'm reviewing it as a whole, it's merely a near-masterpiece. It quickly becomes tiresome in it's "the mask will take over" philosophical banter. It's not nearly as hauntingly beautiful as Woman in the Dunes, but it's definitely no slouch either. Any movie that uses a recording of a Hitler speech for no apparent reason is A OK in my book.
***1/2 out of ****
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