BAD BY ALL ACCOUNTS, EXCEPT MINE - PART ONE.

a pick six

by Hunter Jon

It doesn’t happen very often, but every once in a rare while I’ll see a movie, enjoy it, and then realize I’m the only person who did. At least, that’s how it seems and feels. It always stops me in my tracks for a moment. I’m quite used to it happening the other way around. But when everything points towards a movie being nothing but bad and I think it’s fine, or even quite good, I begin to question everything. My taste, mostly. Is the movie ‘underrated’, as they say… or have I lost the ability to identify poor quality… or do I just simply like an undeniably bad movie? After all, I see where all the complaints are coming from. I see all the same flaws. I completely understand why people don’t like it. But, for whatever reason, it just works for me. And not in an ironic, so-bad-it’s-good way, either. I genuinely think it’s a job well done. Then I come back around to the thought that there is no such thing as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ movie, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion and every movie ever made is someone’s favourite movie… right? This is usually when my head begins to hurt. So I find it’s best to just accept that I like something that others don’t.

Here are six somewhat recent movies that I might be alone in liking.

BY THE SEA (2015)

I can’t tell if people dislike her so much that they had their minds made up about this one before they saw it, or if they legitimately hated it as much as they claimed to. I think it’s a shame, either way. Because while certainly not a great movie, I think it’s a perfectly fine one. Maybe if it had been done on the stage with different actors and her name nowhere to be seen…? Who knows. But she’s quite brave here in acknowledging a lot of things that should be private, if she lived a life that allowed for any privacy. Things like the fact that you don’t like her, that she doesn’t like you, that she wrestles with her own perversions, that she’s feeling her age, that her husband drinks, and (perhaps the most intimate what-if) where her and Brad would’ve been if they were unable to have children. And story stuff aside, I think it’s all very well directed. Acted, too. This is one of my absolute favourite Pitt performances. He pulls off that Richard Burton in “… Virginia Woolf” thing of masking the macho with a sensitive, studious air - a feat that should be impossible considering who he is. She’s good, too, and gives herself a chance to do what perhaps no one else has - show off her deadpan droll side. My favourite moment in the movie is when he’s leaving their suite and calls out, “I’m blowing you a kiss.” Cut to her sitting at her vanity applying a fake eyelash, her eyes wide and mouth open. With zero interest or meaning she says, “I’m blowing you one back.” Her delivery is perfect and we instantly know everything about this couple and their marriage. It’s a moment that can only exist in a movie. If written on a page, you wouldn’t hear her flat delivery of the line. If you were just listening to it, you wouldn’t get the visual of her in the mirror, eyes flared. So this bit reaches full effectiveness because it’s designed specifically for its medium. I can say the same about the rest of the movie.

MISS JULIE (2014)

Perhaps it was too simply presented for everyone? Too sparse. Too thin. Too much merely a filmed play. But that’s exactly what draws me to it. It’s a five hander and everyone delivers. Ullman’s direction is steady and egoless (something she’s displayed before and might have learned from you-know-who), Chastain is her usual beyond brilliant self, Ferrell’s good if not slightly miscast, it’s nice to see Morton, and the rest is all Strindberg, man. Which is to say an emotional epic all by the way of delicious dialogue. Sometimes (often, actually) that’s all I need.

LOVE (2015)

When a writer/director who is known for complex, wild, over-the-top movies makes something small-scale, aesthetically simple and very serious, film fans call it their “Interiors” - named after Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” follow up. So that makes this Noé’s “Interiors”. Here he tucks away all the tools he usually uses to build cinematic extravaganzas. He removes all his usual stylistic bells and whistles from this story, instead devoting all his time, attention and talent to the substance of it. By doing so, I think he makes his most powerful picture. Certainly his most calm, paced and tender - three words you wouldn’t normally associate with the guy. For once, he takes his time. He employs static shots, letting his camera sit still. He indulges silence and a quiet tone - even the narration is whispered. Every visual aspect favours simplicity (as does the title). Very little actually happens narratively. And just when you think he’s pulled a total artistic 180, he picks those tech tools back up and shoots the whole thing in 3D. What you get is a total contradiction and something unlike anything else you’ve ever seen on the big screen: a minute spectacle. And even if you watch it at home and miss out on the spectacle, the ‘minute’ has more than enough to offer. It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking story of love and loss. Of desire and regret. A familiar one, to be sure, but you’ve rarely seen it told with such raw honesty and intimacy. In the context of his career, it’s a revelation. On it’s own two feet, it’s still pretty sturdy.

GLASS (2019)

I know, I know. It didn’t nearly deliver what it could have in terms of a superhero/villain showdown. The promise of these three characters colliding was, indeed, broken. But, other than overall being what I consider perfectly adequate, it did four specific things that won me over. One - it added another world-building layer by way of whatever that clover wrist organization was. I didn’t see it coming and, to be totally honest, thought it was kinda cool. Two - it honoured continuity, both thematically and cinematically. The game changed but the rules remained the same. This is the way I believe it should be in franchises like this. Unlike, say, the recent “Star Wars” offerings where the game was the same but all the rules had changed. It also brought back actors into roles that could have easily been tragically recast. I really, really appreciated this. Three - Sarah Paulson is in it a lot. Four - it was satisfying emotionally. It may have left plenty to be desired in terms of spectacle, but I liked how it was driven by character instead. Sure, it could have gone deeper. It could have explored so much more. But the intention was there and each arc felt properly fulfilled in a touching way. I was more than happy with where everyone ended up and just happy enough with the broad strokes of how they got there.

LOST RIVER (2014)

From what I gather, most saw this as a pale imitation of works by much better filmmakers - everyone from Lynch to Malick to everyone Gosling has ever worked with. Although I understand the comparisons, I saw a much more original voice at work. The simple fact is that I enjoyed the generous visuals, found the plot, populated by some pretty unique and memorable characters, very compelling and thought the performances were pretty flawless, especially Hendricks. I sincerely hope the reception this received didn’t discourage Baby Goose at all, because he’s got me hooked. I’d gladly revisit a world like the one he created here, or any others he’s willing to conjure up and bring to life.

NINE (2009)

People say this was such a let down considering “Chicago”… but these seem to be the same people who bash “Chicago”, calling it undeserving and overrated. Maybe it’s because the initial trailer for this movie was far better than what we eventually got. Or maybe it’s because it prides itself on taking its cue from “81/2” so people thought it was going to compare. Anyway, I thought it was perfectly fine. In fact, I quite like it. It’s fun, flashy and sexy - all while being about a director struggling to make a movie (a story I’ll always be a sucker for). I even own the soundtrack. I listen to “A Call from the Vatican” and “My Husband Makes Movies” often. And I’m a fan of most of the actors, especially Cruz. Even in such a broad and fantastical musical as this, Daniel Day-Lewis does his usual exceptional job of creating someone who feels entirely like a real, living person. Plus, after such turns in “Gangs of New York” and “There Will Be Blood”, it was lovely to see him bring this polar opposite character to life - so very quiet, so very intellectual, so very Italian.