San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec




San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

2001: a Screen Odyssey

By Andrew Van BaalSenior Staff Writer

On the surface, 2001 might appear to be another typically dullyear for American movies, with the low-brow teen comedy (American Pie2), the pointless remake (Planet of the Apes) and the slow-motiontestosterone explosion epic (Pearl Harbor) all lining up in theirrespective places on the dream factory’s assembly line. However, justas multiple viewings of a great film reveal layers of depth beyondthe surface, a closer look at 2001 reveals a number of exceptionaland challenging films.

If we had to categorize the trend in cinematic storytelling lastyear, we might dub it “The Year of the Twisted Narrative”; the mostinteresting films eschewed the traditional beginning-middle-endstructure, either offering up no discernible plot points, lingeringon scenes long enough to develop not just characters and story butalso atmosphere, or (in one case, at least) flipping the usual flowof events backward.

DavidLynch, probably the most well-known cult director in the world, madea spectacular return to form with Mulholland Drive, a completelyriveting nightmare transposed directly from the subconscious to thesilver screen. The film, parts of which were originally shot to be atelevision mini-series, isn’t really as nonsensical as you’veprobably heard, though it does manage to confound any attempt wemight make to logically dissect it. Like any great work ofsurrealism, it provokes an emotional and intellectual response by wayof vivid, arresting imagery and free-form associations.

British writer/director Christopher Nolan’s Memento turned out tobe the sleeper indie hit of the year. After generating significantbuzz at Sundance last January, the thriller proceeded to blowaudiences minds with a limited theatrical release in March. Nolantook an old, established formula — film noir revenge hunt — andmade it fresh by introducing a reverse narrative justified by theprotagonist’s mental condition (he can’t make short-term memories).We watched, quite literally, a backward movie unfold on the screen,and were forced to construct Leonard Shelby’s story the same way hewould — in dislocated fragments.

One of the most sumptuous and lush works of pure atmosphere camefrom Hong Kong — director Wong Kar-Wai’s In The Mood For Love.Cinematographer Christopher Doyle packed every frame with tense,claustrophobic detail, lingering on the mundane activities ofneighbors engaged in an illicit and doomed love affair long enough togive us a sense of their excruciatingly restrained desire. So stylishis Kar-Wai’s film that nearly any image could be frozen and used asan advertisement in a high-end design magazine.

Three truly original comedies also arrived last year, each of themdifferent as day and night, but all eliciting a level of laughsatisfaction you just can’t get from a fart joke.

The most notable is Wes Anderson’s third film The RoyalTenenbaums, a natural progression from (and in many ways similar to)his wonderful Rushmore in 1998. Tenenbaums follows a bastardly oldpatriarch (Gene Hackman’s best role in decades) as he tries to makeamends with his estranged and highly quirky family of former childprodigies. Anderson’s gift for formal, detail-oriented compositionand off-kilter moments of comic genius make Tenenbaums a movie onlyhe could’ve made.

Similarly, San Francisco cult rockers The Billy Nayer Show, led bythe multi-talented Cory McAbee, weighed in with their own oddballcomedy, a sci-fi western rock opera called The American Astronautthat premiered at Sundance last January (and unfortunately hasn’tseen any wide-scale distribution since, though the band and film aretouring colleges and small-scale venues on occasion). Showcasing asits chief comedic moment a character by the name of The Boy Who HasActually Seen Breasts placating a mob of sheltered all-male factoryworkers with the simple description “They’re round … and soft,” TheAmerican Astronaut has, on a shoe-string budget, what manymulti-million dollar films utterly lack: creativity.

The third installment of this comedy triumvirate is TerryZwigoff’s first feature film, Ghost World, starring Steve Buscemi inthe role he was born to play (like John Goodman as Fred Flintstone)– a reclusive middle-aged man tucked into his own apathetic worldlike a turtle, eventually provoked to leave his shell by a young girlwho takes a liking to him. Ghost World makes a number of dead-onobservations about modern life, the most poignant of which deal withboth the appealing and repulsive aspects of cynicism.

Though one of the most purely entertaining films of 2001 willprobably only do modest business in the States, it was a nationalphenomenon in France — Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie. Jeunet, the manwho established — with Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children –a visual style that might best be described as Tex Avery on LSD,doesn’t disappoint with Amelie; it’s packed with a ceaselessly clevervisual flair.

Another triumph of style over substance arrived with Baz Luhrman’sneo-musical Moulin Rouge, a spectacle in every sense of the word,combining historical drama, modern pop music and the flamboyance of aBroadway show into a melting pot of sweet confections for the eyesand ears.

Richard Linklater also gave us an innovative visual treat lastyear with Waking Life, a meditation on existence delivered by adiverse array of talking heads, who probably wouldn’t be quite sointeresting if they hadn’t been filmed and subsequently animated inslippery, vibrant colors, creating a sort of beautiful nausea thatseems fitting for an exploration of alternate realities.

As a whole, the films of 2001 represent an open door for”alternative” cinema; if audiences could sink into the atmosphere ofMulholland Drive and In The Mood For Love, twist their heads aroundMemento and Waking Life, and laugh along with The Royal Tenenbaumsand Ghost World, then there’s hope that challenging works maycontinue to thrive in the years ahead.

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San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
2001: a Screen Odyssey