The Maestro and I will be discussing Oliver Stone’s Presidential duet of ‘Nixon’ and ‘W.’ on the next episode, and having just re-visited Anthony Hopkins’ epic performance as RMN a question occurs to me:  What are other filmic instances where audiences have been surprised by the empathetic treatment of an easily caricatured ‘bad’ guy?  Hopkins’ earlier best-known role as Hannibal Lecter comes to mind; GWB in Stone’s new film; Peter Lorre in ‘M’; Robin Williams in ‘One Hour Photo’, Hitler in ‘Downfall’.  Anyone else have thoughts on humane visions of characters otherwise known for their inhumanity?

Re-watched ‘Broadway Danny Rose’ last night - a beautiful picture, notable, among other things, for the fact that it’s one of only two or three films in which Woody Allen seems to be creating a new(ish) persona rather than underlining a pre-existing one.  Gordon Willis’ photography is glorious too; but most of all, this is the one Woody Allen film in which his character seems to genuinely care about other people - he’s a theatrical agent whose clients are all aspiring to be on the C-list, and his love for them is clear.  And in that sense, it’s a film about community - people who aren’t really doing too well at the business of success, but knowing that they are in it together is perhaps comfort enough.  It’s also one of the few WA movies that actually takes him on what might be called an ‘adventure’ - along with ‘Stardust Memories’ and ‘Manhattan Murder Mystery’, ‘BDR’ moves around New York and New Jersey, and there is a real sense of forward momentum and even danger to our hero.  Beyond all that, it’s one of the funniest, sweetest, and most authentic-feeling films he’s made, perhaps because of the fact that it’s about people - gangsters and performers - who wed themselves to trying to pretend.  Woody, Mia Farrow, and Nick Apollo Forte pretend that they aren’t in a Woody Allen film, and it reminds me of just why the last ten years of his film-making are such a pity.  The guy has no need to defend himself on the basis of films like ‘Broadway Danny Rose’.

Got my special rinky-dink top of the line Ming the Merciless unleaded supercharged buy one get one free can’t believe it’s not yoghurt DVD editions of ‘Touch of Evil’ and ‘Vertigo’, two of my favourite films - heck, they’re probably two of the favourite films of everyone who has seen them - this week.  They remain under wraps til later in the week when I will have time to see them, but their presence in my living room raises a question: there’s a bit of controversy out there about these discs - specifically the restoration done on ‘Vertigo’, and the aspect ratio of ‘Touch of Evil’.  In short, ‘Vertigo’ might be a bit redder in places than it should be, and ‘Touch of Evil’, while it was projected in a regular widescreen version, was shot in the ratio we know and loathe from old TVs - you know, square and all that.  The DVD apparently shows the film in this widescreen version, which lops a bit off the top and bottom.  Having said that, anyone who saw the film when it was first released saw that version too, and Orson Welles does not appear to have expressed a preference; it can probably be assumed that he filmed it in the knowledge that it would end up looking like this.

So my question is this - how important is it to The Listener to have DVDs that look exactly the way a film historian thinks they should?  Aren’t we just happy enough to have a clean print that resurrects the amazing pieces of cinema we may once only have seen on late night television, in dusty prints, with the hell pan-and-scanned out of them?

PS: I’m aware of the argument that art should be seen in its ‘pure’ form, which is fair enough; although taking that to its logical extreme would leave us only being satisfied in Egypt rather than the Pyramids exhibition at the British Museum; my point is more that I’m not sure I’m that worried about perfect presentation when the films are perfect to start with (or special features on DVDs, for that matter).

Hey There Dear Listener: Gareth and Jett Sure Hope Ridley Scott has Better Pictures Left in Him!

Films Reviewed This Week: Body of Lies / Blade Runner / Three Kings / Starship Troopers

* The Film Talk - Part 40 - Body of Lies (Click to Play, Right-Click to Download)
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Professor Doctor here – saw Oliver Stone’s ‘W.’ at the weekend - fascinating - very much like ‘The Queen’ in that obviously none of the private stuff can be attested to as fact, but it still feels real…oddly empathetic….some very very good performances – Richard Dreyfuss and Scott Glenn in particular, with James Cromwell great and Josh Brolin frankly amazing.

The protagonist of the film is, as always with Stone, Greek myth; when Barbara and George HW are on screen, toying with their son’s emotions, Oedipus is never far behind; it’s very similar to Stone’s ‘Nixon’ which was also surprisingly sympathetic.  Whether or not W has governed in the particular style we have come to know from him because his daddy always made him feel bad about himself is of course impossible to prove unless you’re his therapist; but there is real dramatic/sociological value in portraying him this way.  It is simply this: after years of caricature and demonisation, having a more ‘human’ George W Bush at least allows for the possibility of figuring out what went wrong, and why most of us still struggle to work out our own family angst in how we behave today.

Having said that, the script is more like a radio play, with a fair bit of clunky exposition, not much of a psychologically penetrating piece, but still a worthwhile document, a strange dramatic pantomime, with a fantastic final image.

I’m going to see ‘W’ later on today - and next week’s show will included the patented Jett ‘n’ Gareth review…for now, however, it evokes an absent-minded desire to re-consider all the single-lettered films I’ve seen…Could only come up with five, so please post a comment if you’ve seen A through L, P, R, S, T, U, Y or Z…

M - Fritz Lang and Peter Lorre’s terrifying and ultimately humane treatment of murder and its consequences

O - Tim Blake Nelson’s re-working of ‘Othello’ in the modern American high school; probably the best of the recent batch of Shakespeare updates

Q - the best ever ancient dragon takes over urban metropolis story you could imagine

V - ok, I know it was a mini-series, but frightening enough tale of alien invasion to colonise my childhood nightmares…

X - and yes, that’s not really what the film was called, but it did look that way on the posters…Spike Lee’s (see episode 38) epic on the civil rights movement…

Preview of TFT 40: Body of Lies / Blade Runner

‘First Look’ photos of the new Star Trek film.

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Looks AwfulThe stills from the new Star Trek film do not impress this host of thefilmtalk.com

There’s a new film about human trafficking touring cinemas in the US that I want to recommend: Call and Response, in which the stories of the 27 million people currently in labor bondage are illustrated with graphic hidden camera footage and intercut with interviews and musical performances by the likes of Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, and Emmanuel Jal.

It’s a powerful film, in which interactions with the victims of trafficking speak for themselves. Talking heads such as Nicholas Kristof, former U.N. Ambassador John Miller, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and actor Ashley Judd make the case that there are more people in slavery today than at the time of the abolition movement and outline the relationship between the arms and drug trade and the buying and selling of people. Human trafficking, bonding labor, and sexual slavery are vastly profitable businesses, and so the question of supply and demand is obvious. And you don’t need to look far for this horror, for even people who serve in your favorite restaurants may be subject to the oppression of not being able to make their own choices.

The film does not prescribe particular forms of action, instead inviting the audience to ‘open source’ activism through dialoguing with others on its Web site and supporting organizations that are working to free slaves and end human trafficking. Perhaps the most important philosophical statement in the film is the suggestion that nostalgia for freedom movements of the past will get us nowhere. Only when people of passion and action get more committed to ending modern slavery than the slave owners are to perpetuating it will there be hope that a new abolition movement can succeed.

Dr Cornel West says in the film that the only thing that slaves have is their voice and their bodies. Call and Response is a powerful attempt at representing the power and dignity in the words and faces of the oppressed. It deserves attention.

Am a huge fan of Errol Morris but Missed ‘Standard Operating Procedure’ when it was theatrically released.  Now to promote the upcoming DVD release the first 7 minutes are online:

Standard Operating Procedure

Standard Operating Procedure

Which Came First, The Chicken or the Egg? (Errol Morris Investigates Truth and Photography, New York Times)