The Automatik

My rule of thumb is this: if I’m still thinking about a movie the day after I’ve seen it, then it was worth seeing, and often will go into my “favorite movies” list. Not only have I not stopped thinking about Secretary, I haven’t even been able to make sense of what I think about it. Not since Fight Club has a movie so unsettled me. I’m even more hesitant than normal to give away plot details, but if some creep into this review, please forgive me.
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I think previews should be banned. More often than not, they give away all of the best plot points, scenes and dialogue and can be more emotionally affecting than the actual film. That isn’t to say that I found Moonlight Mile a total disappointment. In fact, I was really impressed by the way all of the characters conveyed such realistic emotions with simple gestures instead of verbal histrionics. When Joe Nast (Jake Glyllenhall) walks into his would-be father-in-law Ben’s living room and asks Ben if he wouldn’t rather turn the light, he’s met with the dreaded “we need to talk” line. You can see Joe’s shoulders tense and you can feel his face blanch even though he’s only visible in heavy shadow.
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Not to be one of those “George Lazenby was my favorite James Bond” types, but Manhunter is perhaps the best of the films based on Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter novels, although it may not be as well known as the others. Which leads me to ask why Red Dragon the movie needed to be made at all, since Manhunter already brought the Red Dragon novel to the screen so superbly.

I’m also puzzled as to why Edward Norton, arguably the De Niro of his generation, needed to be in this film. De Niro was in Taxi Driver, The Godfather and The Deer Hunter and now he lends his talents to buddy cop movies with Eddie Murphy. I sincerely hope that Mr. Norton doesn’t stumble down that same questionable path.

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My dad was really stressed out about Hurricane Lili’s imminent arrival last week and so he started ranting and raving about tolerance and prejudice. He argued that by discriminating against someone for say, having a Confederate flag on their truck, one is being just as close-minded as someone who despises black people purely because of the fact that they are black. His point was that not all people who support the fact that Mississippi has a Confederate insignia in its state flag believe that slavery is an acceptable notion. They might have had a relative who fought in the Civil War or have nostalgic notions about the Old South. He added that even though the South rallied against the abolition of slavery, at least they had something in which they believed and at the time, not everyone knew that the ideals of the Old South, particularly slavery, were wrong. He firmly believes that racism is diminishing with each generation as people become more enlightened and tolerant.
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I’m wincing as I type this, but if you can imagine Catcher in the Rye as penned by Bret Easton Ellis, then you’ve got a pretty good idea of what it feels like watching Igby Goes Down. In this era of homage and ripoff, it’s difficult to find truly original filmmaking. Despite being somewhat derivative, Igby Goes Down manages to breathe life into the clich�d “poor little rich boy” schtick that we’ve seen many times before.
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