"I read your book." | Sung J. Woo

Just saw The Master.  No, not the TV series with Lee Van Cleef playing a ninja (I’m not kidding), though I have seen that as well, but I digress.  Anyway, some random thoughts.

1. For a film with some of the most unpleasant characters ever, it is unbelievably beautiful to look at.  How is it that it wasn’t nominated for best cinematography this year?  The mind boggles.

2. Joaquin Phoenix is genuinely frightening to watch, on a wholly different level than some other unglued characters I’ve seen on cinema.  Why is that?  I thought of Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver.  As messed up as Travis was, I understood him.  I never understood Frank Quell, ergo, I was terrified of him and his inscrutable actions.

3. As strange as this may sound, Crispin Glover’s George McFly came to mind when I saw the way Phoenix physically held himself in this movie.

4. Overall, this is a movie to be admired but not felt.  In a way, it reminds me of the way I feel about the very best modern art – which is never as much as I wish it to be.  The talent is obvious.  The themes are bold.  But it’s as if I’ve been invited to an interesting party whose reason for being is never clear.

As of today, I’ve seen all nine of the Best Picture nominated films of 2012.  To celebrate, here’s a haiku for each.

	Amour Love, Haneke style: which means this movie really should have been called Haine.
	Argo Fake movie saves lives! Is it any wonder that this will win best pic?
	Beasts of the Southern Wild Katrina story with little girl narrator: funny, sweet, and sad.
	Django Unchained There’s a lot in here: blood, guts, jokes, and passion — but it’s just too damn long.
	Les Misérables Interminable bombast of zooming, singing. Crowe, keep your day job.
	Life of Pi Parker, fake tiger. Was I watching Avatar? It’s no Cast Away.
	Lincoln Daniel Day-Lewis is Honest Abe incarnate but all else is snooze.
	Silver Linings Playbook Cooper and Lawrence have kooky sparks aplenty and dance moves as well.
	Zero Dark Thirty By-the-numbers film well made and well acted…but where’s Abu Nazir?

Beasts of the Southern Wild has less than zero dark thirty chance of winning, but it was my favorite film of last year.  For a dramatic movie that depicts the downtrodden without any filters, it made me laugh more than most comedies.  This movie also gets additional kudos for managing to tell its story in 93 minutes.  Less is more!

Silver Linings Playbook is the best pic on deck — who knew that Bradley Cooper had this performance in him?  And De Niro’s bedside speech is perhaps the best work he’s done in the last decade.  The third act is goofy and rote, and I think just about everyone knew (spoiler three words ahead!) that the letter from the wife was a fake, but there was enough goodwill built up in the first two acts that made it forgivable.

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick’s latest masterpiece, is out on home video today. I’m a big fan of Malick, especially The Thin Red Line, but I was not exactly enamored with The Tree of Life. I don’t think Malick is capable of making a bad movie — film is first and foremost a visual medium, and his visual chops are off the charts. Still, once you get past the gorgeous cinematography, there’s just not much life in Life. The dinosaurs and cosmos interstitials are impressive, but ultimately, they serve as window dressing and not much more. Malick’s use of voiceover has never felt more self-conscious than in this film. I’ve read that this is his most personal work, and maybe that’s why it also comes off as his most precious. Again, it’s not a bad movie, but it’s not exactly a good one, either.

Now as for what appears below: I’m not exactly sure why I imagined Malick waiting at a McDonald’s, but it just sort of fit. Most of this pseudo-poetry is straight from the movie, with a few clusters of words rearranged and/or added.

The Fast Food of Life: Terrence Malick at McDonald’s

Brother.
Mother.
It was they who led me
to your Golden Arches.
And to this forsaken ordering line.

A man’s heart has heard
two ways through lunch…
the way of the Chicken McNugget
and the way of the Big Mac.

You have to choose.
The Chicken McNugget doesn’t try
to please itself.
Accepts being trimmed
fried, dunked in savory sauces.

The Big Mac only wants
to please itself.
Like this idiot
at the counter
paying entirely in change.

You can read the rest at The Nervous Breakdown.