MOVIE REVIEW: 2001: A Space Odyssey

For me, a movie is primarily a visual experience.

When I watch a movie i ask two questions to back up this idea. Is there a strong visual component? More importantly, does the movie provide a true experience? It doesn't get any simpler than that. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, more than any other film i have ever seen, is the bench mark for the motion picture visual experience. 2001 is also a film made to challenge most anybody who sees it. It is a piece of art, a technical marvel and a quiet warning.

The first time I saw 2001, i thought what most people think when they see 2001 for the first time. "What the fuck was that?" While I don't quite recall the year, i surmise my age was somewhere in the range of 13 or 14 years old. Having a then frequent bout of insomnia to deal with, i channel surfed around the darker hours of the night and came upon a showing of the film on TBS, of all stations.

Only now as a photographer and somewhat opinionated cinematography critic can I reflect on the torrid conditions of this viewing. However, back then I didn't know any better. The print was an absolute abomination. There was grain and desaturation in the reproduction. Though originally photographed in wide 2.20:1 70mm, was cropped to full-screen 4x3 aspec ratio of television. This is akin to listening to Le Nozze di Figaro between two red cups held together by a white piece of string a mile long. Yet even in that mangled form, the film held its power, it definitely got under my skin.

So the Strauss piece comes on and earth is revealed with the titles from beyond the moon and the film begins. Several hours later I sat staring at a black screen with flashing credits above the Blue Danube. A strange feeling crept over me. i really had no idea what i had seen. This was one of only two times in my life in which after seeing a movie I had no idea if I liked it or not.

After several hours of clicking through late-night infomercials made specifically for insomniacs like myself, the film sank deeper into my conscious and I made up my mind.

I hated it.

For several years, I would say "2001 is a piece of crap." For years I continually professed how horrible the film was. Those words, i would gladly eat now. The years rolled on and I believe at 18 or so I saw a presentation on Turner Classic Movies. This time when the credits rolled, I knew what I felt. This film was good, really fucking good.

2001 is completely unlike any film before or since. Both visually and psychologically. There is absolutely no exposition, and yet it works. This is a film that challenges you only to think, nothing more.

There is no need to go into the "deeper meaning" of 2001, what it is, may be, or could be. By all accounts, the movie tells the tale of human evolution by the influence of technology. The film is what you see it to be and nothing more or less than that. Like any piece of art or yes beautiful woman, this film is made to be experienced, thought about, dreamt about, examined in every precious detail and remembered.

Though clearly dated in many respects, the core visual set pieces of the movie involving the monolith and the murder of HAL aboard Discovery have not lost the luster.

The mysteries and ambiguities are by design in 2001. The film reaches quite high and more often than not, succeeds. Kubrick understood film is beyond rules and boundaries. He understood fortune favors the brave and the fearless. It is this fearlessness in both philosophy and technical execution that make the film as enduring as it has proven to be. Yet people wish to know, what is this film about?

Why does the Mona Lisa smile? Like any piece of art, the answer is only what you wish it to be. Seeing a film that challenges people to think, is obviously a leap many can't make. Kubrick always believed this and, to him, we are fucked in the end. In highlighting our laziness and flawed species, the irony is scorching.

2001 is a testament to this fact. The movie is basically a story about a group of humans who die in space by trusting a robot built to think for them.

DVD RELEASE: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Yet another 2001 DVD is hitting shelves, along with a bundle of other Kubrick Collection releases. This time the movies are being shipped not only with real special features like commentary, but they are also debuting on Blue-Ray. This movie alone may be enough for me to eventually up and buy a BR player, even if I don't have a Hi-Def TV to properly support it.

I have bought at least three other 2001 DVD editions and who knows how many VHS copies I have stashed away on top of that. I just love this film.

This latest 2001 release and its other Kubrick compatriots hit shelves next Tuesday, on October 23rd.

Book Review: RISING SUN

Michael Crichton is gifted. He has been criticized as shallow. He has been accused of writing the pulp of the day: you read it once and forget about it. My senses say that is an unfair classification. Every time you open a Crichton book, a torrent of conflicts and ideas swarm your head. The characters are not drawn with the same care or depth say, Stephen King may do, but with pure rapid-fire fiction, Crichton has few peers. On visit to a wonderful used book store, I picked up an old copy of the 1992 release RISING SUN. Memory served fond memories of the book and I was eager to see how well the material had aged. The successor to the immensely satisfying Jurassic Park, RISING SUN is yet another cautionary tale of technology and human relations gone horribly wrong.

Much like Oliver Stone did when jumping from PLATOON to WALL STREET, Crichton has decided to move his narrative from the jungles to the skyscrapers. The premise of RISING SUN is no less intriguing than dinosaurs. Sounding almost like a Die Hard sequel, in downtown Los Angeles on the 46th floor a stunning beauty has been found dead on a shiny boardroom table of a Japanese high rise and who may, or may not be murdered. Only meters below a large party of who's who in L.A. parties the night away as Police Liason, Peter Smith and Japanese Expert John Connor comb the building and the city in a race to find the killer. Sex, greed and the war of business and culture all fuse into a mind boggling chase through hallways and computer screens. So who exactly has Crichton teamed us with to solve this crime?

Peter Smith, or kohai, is our humble narrator, his testimony about the investigation serves as the structure of the book. Crichton has used faux technical papers as story material in the past for his novels, and the police file serves as our entry to the case in RISING SUN. Smith is divorced and a single parent to a young girl. His wife Lauren, Laurel or Laura, I honestly can't recall which one, is a hot shot down at the D.A.'s office and serves only to create some trouble when the novel slows down in the middle act. While the divorcee creating trouble plot is DECIDEDLY unoriginal, some of the accompanying dialog is quite good such as when Smith is asked why he and the former misses divorced he only replies, "Why does anybody get divorced?" I can't quite argue with anything there. It serves also to note, Crichton himself was married five times, so there is probably more than cliche here. There is yet another occurrence of the slimy newspaper reporter, a device almost as common as the names Sanders and Levine in Crichton's books.

Smith, however is appropriately named. He is merely our window to the action and as characters, he and his ex wife are quite forgettable and useless to the plot. The real meat is with the amazing John Conner. When the vastly inferior feature film RISING SUN was released, Sean Connery assumed the role of Captain Conner. Crichton went on to say the Connor role in the book had been constructed from the beginning with Connery in mind, hence the name relation. I can think of no other actor more appropriate. Connor is cunning. His extensive knowledge of the japanese and his self assigned role of senpai to Smith gives the book a true window into the culture Crichton seems so fascinated with here. It is only Connor who truly knows what is going on, he alone can manage fast Eddie, the pragmatic party boy from Osaka who holds the keys to the puzzle. Connor is a truly amazing creation and will not soon be forgotten.

When the novel was released in the early 90s, the topic of Japan-bashing became a controversy surrounding the book. Crichton weaves many themes in his novel and the reality of foreign corporate ownership of our US of A and the stern Japanese business culture roused many opinions in 1992. In 2007 things are maybe a little different. I think the scare of foreign ownership is largely gone. While I have no idea how much the Japanese own today, I can say people probably don't really care who owns what anymore. I would say if drug-scares and corporate culture scares ruled the late 20th century, then the early 21st century is clearly ruled by one thing, namely indifference. So while the novel's Lion of social commentary may largely be tamed, how does it hold up as fiction?

It holds up like the hoover damn I think.

Time has made this novel probably better than it was 15 years since its first printing. Aging the story has minimized the focus of the Japanese takeover theme leaving the reader to simply concentrate on the content of the story-telling. And it is here RISING SUN has few equals. This is simply one of Crichton's finest works. The novel easily bests his other quasi reality based page-turners such as Disclosure and Airframe. The tight plotting and brutal pace in the narrative are easily on par with JURASSIC PARK. Only when you get 3/4 of the way through does the book bog down a bit. Here Crichton puts the breaks on as he has probably told the reader too much too soon, too quickly. For a hundred pages or so, Crichton works to shore up the depth of his story and though some of it is helpful in fleshing out the story, it does slow the narrative down.

Weighing in at just under 400 pages in paperback, you can gulp down RISING SUN in a few hours. It is a stunning piece of fiction. This is not Thomas Wolfe or Alexander Dumas, but that doesn't mean its any less relevant. Though the insights into the Japanese are fascinating, his lectures on photo and digital video manipulation are just as relevant and true today as they were when the book was printed. In many ways, Crichton is one of the few truly forward looking writers. The world is better to have Cricthon's books on shelves. The fact is, I don't always have the mental discipline to read thickets of classical literature. The fact is no matter how well they demonstrate their mastery of the English language, I can't read Melville or the meandering Hemingway more than once. The fact is I can take down a Crichton book over and over again. Crichton is a brilliant man with a talent all his own at melding science and social issues into juicy narratives. RISING SUN is fun, fast and insightful. The fact is RISING SUN is roaringly good fiction and no amount of comparisons or qualifications are necessary beyond that simple statement.

Sometimes a good is just good.

Movie Trailers: No Country for Old Men

I think THIS Coen Brothers adaptation looks better than the book. Cormac McCarthy's dense narrative about money, a killer and the sheriff on their trail, proved charming but a bit slow footed at times for me, but it may just suit this film.

I'm intrigued.

SOURCE: Apple Movie Trailers

Book Review: FACTOTUM

This is no novel, it is a journey.

Charles Bukowski is probably the most interesting loser of all time. The musings of love and jobs gained, and then lost, within this book called "Factotum," are enough to confirm what was missing from Kerouac's "On the Road." That missing ingredient is namely general human interest.

Much like On The Road, we follow a drifter and his escapades from one conquest to another. Where Kerouac is the "free spirit" and adventurous type, if you want to give him that much credit, Factotum's protagonist, Henry Chinaski is a sort of Al Bundy poet. Chinaski can't hold a job, or a woman. I think already, I understand where this man is coming from.

Though the book is thin on anything resembling plot and some chapters get a bit repetitive, you will have no problems breezing through this tiny little read. The episodic chapters make this probably a perfect coffee table book you can pick up and any time when delving into a deeper story isn't possible. Indeed, my cousin commented Factotum is probably the best bathroom reading he's ever experienced.

While the daily jobless adventures can get repetitive, the author's prose keeps you reading. Bukowski is so talented with the English language he can make descriptions of running out of toilet paper or fellatio with a prostitute seem positively Shakespearean and inventively comic. There is no mystery why Bukowski is such an accomplished poet, his work may lack lyricism in tempo, but the collective effect of his story on the reader is nothing less than operatic.

Factotum is Marcus Aurelius circa 1970s. For sure this is not Kerouac. Chinaski/Bukowski is something much more accessible and relevant. He's somebody you would gladly have a beer with. Yes this is no novel. Its more a collection of musings and journal entries. Chinaski's journey doesn't really begin anywhere notable, nor does find a particularly momentous conclusion. What we have here is one man's struggle to make it from sunrise to sunset in the midst of a society he doesn't belong to. How different or any less profound is that from the journey we all make every day?

FIND FACTOTUM AT AMAZON.COM