Movie Review: Marie Antoinette

Finally got around to seeing this, as I've been intrigued with it since seeing the teaser trailer with its delightfully inappropriate 80s music. The teaser caused a bit of a stir when it was first released, stirring history buffs into a tizzy. I think it was a smart move to make, because it helps one be prepared to the strangeness of the anachronist soundtrack, which I think will help keep the film innovative for years to come. The film is a rare example of a postmodern biopic, with the out-of-place music and the unexpected casting of Rip Torn, Jason Schwartzman, Molly Shannon, and others that are suprisingly effective.

I adored the film, but I do have to admit that the real stand-out is production design and the costumes. Everyone must have spent an ungodly amount of time pouring over paintings of the time. Its so appealing to look at, it even made a socialist feminist like me somehow desire laying around in beautiful gowns, gossiping, while eating bon bons and playing with little dogs.

As it is a movie, I'm only going to assume that historical accuracy was thrown out the window, but as a film everything works and the result is charming. Kirsten Dunst is a good queen, and I might be saying that because I've fallen out of love with her over the years. But she is best when she is playing spoiled and shallow types, just as she was when she was younger and playing Amy in Little Women and Claudia in Interview with the Vampire. So you might say that Marie Antoinette is the role Dunst was born to play. The film is sympathetic to the film, but not necessarily taking an appologist's stance: it's rather counter-legend, as she would certainly never have said, "Let them eat cake," but she would have been generous enough to settle for smaller oak trees to line her Versailles estate. She may have been incredibly irresponsible, but to an extent she was the scapegoat of the sins of all the nobility. Sophia Coppola portrays her as the ultimate poor little rich girl.

I love Sophia Coppola, especially her earlier films, The Virgin Suicides and its semi-companion short, Lick the Star, both about lonely girls struggling with the cruelty of childhood and their blossoming sexualities. I had hoped that Marie Antoinette would be more in the tone of these ones, but its more like her famous Lost in Translation. I do adore her directing style, somehow appearing Zen-meets-Roccoco. Delightful.

Let's hope that her next project is even more daring and ambitious.

Movie Review: Paprika

Paprika is the newest release by Satoshi Kon, the master behind the acclaimed Japanese animated films Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers. I had the privilege of seeing on the big screen at Raleigh's wonderful Galaxy Cinema, and it's breathlessly beautiful trip. The film is about technology that allows researchers to enter patients' dreams, but when the technology is stolen, the dream world begins to invade the "real world." Paprika is the vivacious and sexy alter-ego/avatar of the project's serious and formal Dr. Chiba, but she seems to be quite independent of her counterpart.

So, let's play the irritating "it's like" game: It's kinda like Ghost in the Shell, mixed with a more interesting Waking Life and a much better The Cell. Paprika can hop into any canvas and out through another or travel through live television feeds and out onto the street, and giant dolls attack office buildings. The ground ripples violently before the dreamer is pulled back into the waking world, and a doll ceremony parades through forrests and busy streets. It really captures the bizarre, delerious moments that makes sense only in your dreamscapes. And, oh, the colors...

It's one of those cases where I am so envious of the filmmakers because they were able to conceive and create such original images. You cannot learn how to have such a productive imagination, as well as how to shape your imagination into something presentable on screen. The Japanese are truly ahead in the animation medium, using it to its full potential. It's no longer just "Pokemon and porn," but movies where the stories are actually enhanced by producing them as animation.

The film was a bit confusing, particularly since it's not real clear what the detective's role is, even though he's so prominent (it turns out he's an incidental character who becomes a hapless hero). But it was not just some visuals-are-the-saving-grace picture, it's interesting once you catch up with what's going on, and there's a really sweet, suprising love story that surfaces at the end. I didn't think it was as good as Tokyo Godfathers or Millennium Actress, but I think I may appreciate it more when I rewatch it on video.