Melancholia debuted at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival to much critical acclaim. It is a beautifully shot but poorly written film. Almost none of the characters have any dynamicism and the story goes nowhere. The opening shot shows Earth getting destroyed by the planet Melancholia, instantly nullifying any suspense from the movie. The juxtaposition of the Wagner’s magnificent “Tristan and Isolde” with a series of beautiful and surreal slow-motion shots of Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourgs’s characters in the opening eight minutes are possibly the best part of the film. My recommendation to anyone planning on seeing this film would be to sneak into a showing at your local theatre, watch the first eight minutes, and then leave, because from that point on the film only goes down hill.
Lars von Trier’s writing of Kirsten Dunst’s character, Justine, is static, melodramatic, and frustrating. Justine is a debilitatingly depressed young woman who is selfish and mean. She only cares about herself and pushes everyone around her away. The whole first half of the movie is dedicated to her wedding reception and is titled ‘Part One: Justine.’ Throughout the entirety of Part One, she acts like a spoiled child who gives no one the time of day and makes everyone wait on her. She shows up over two hours late to her wedding reception and upon her arrival pouts and acts like an ungrateful child. Her sister Claire, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, tries relentlessly to make her happy and serve her during the wedding reception. But instead of Justine putting any effort in at even attempting to be happy during the wedding reception in reciprocations for all of the time and sacrifices people have put into the reception she dips out to take a bath, wanders the golf course alone, and cries on the dance floor. Keifer Sutherland’s character John, Claire’s husband, has spent tons of money on the reception but Justine gives him zero gratification for his efforts. Claire tries time after time to make sure Justine is happy during the reception, but again she gives nothing in return. Justine’s husband, Michael, tries everything he can to make her happy, as well, even blaming himself for her unhappiness and she instead makes him feel like he is nothing to her. She is a fake and self-absorbed asshole through and through.
I kept wondering why such nice guy as Michael would ever even consider spending the rest of his life with such an unhappy person. In one attempt to cheer her up during the frustrating and painstakingly long wedding reception scenes, he presents Justine with a picture of a beautiful plot of land he has purchased for them to live on. He explains that he purchased the land because he thought the fields of flowery trees would be a great place for her to go and possibly cheer-up when she is having one of her depressed days. She fakes a smile and tells him that she will always keep the picture with her. This seems like one of the first genuine and nice acts from Justine, but of course she isn’t. When she gets up to leave her husband in the private room and go back to the reception she lets the picture fall from her lap and onto the floor right in-front him. Later that night the newly wedded couple retires to their bedroom to spend their first night as a married couple together. The husband begins to take his clothes off and embrace Justine with gentle kisses of love. Justine rejects him and tells him to zip her dress back up. She then goes out onto the golf course and forcefully has sex with a young man she has only met earlier that night. She throws the young man onto the sands of a golf hazard, covers his mouth, and mounts him. When she’s done she gets up and leaves him there. At this point of the movie, Justine completely solidified my hatred for her character.
During the second half of the movie titled ‘Part Two: Claire,’ Justine has to be treated like a child by Claire even more so than during the wedding reception. Claire has to coax Justine into bathing by drawing the bath and trying to lift her into the bathtub. Claire even tells Justine that she’ll wash her for her. When in the bathroom Justine wines like a child and doesn’t even try to lift her legs to get into the bathtub, instead collapsing to the tiled floor. Claire then goes on to try to coax Justine into eating food by cooking Justine’s favorite meal, meatloaf. When Justine gets to the table Claire speaks to Justine as a patient mother would speak to a child that she loves. The viewer is forced to watch Claire give so much love and support to her sister throughout the entire movie and we never get a glimpse of appreciation or reciprocation from Justine’s character. When Claire comes to Justine expressing her angst and worries about the planet Melancholia’s inevitable destruction of Earth, Justine mocks her by basically calling her dumb. She goes on to tell Claire that she can’t wait for Earth to be destroyed because humans are evil. Frankly, the only humans who are evil throughout the movie are Justine and her boss whom she hates so much.
Before the festival began, Melancholia was on the top of my list of films to see. I was more than excited to see Lars von Trier’s new film that I thought had the potential to be one of the best films of the festival. But to my chagrin Melancholia was a horrible disappointment. If I wasn’t so focused on writing five pages of notes about how bad the character and story development, or lack there of, of Melancholia was, I would have most definitely fallen asleep like so many people did during the screening I attended. It was a lengthy, boring, unsatisfying, and frustrating film to watch. The only gratification I got out of watching this film were the aesthetics of some of the beautiful cinematography employed. Other than those few cinematographically beautiful shots, I thought this film was a complete waste of my time, as it only frustrated and bored me. There was no suspense, the plot and characters went nowhere, and all metaphoric symbolism was obvious and uncreative (e.g. the parallelism between Justine’s melancholic and destructive behavior and the planet Melancholia). I will not debate the fact that Lars von Trier is a great director but this film puts an inkling of doubt of his writing in my mind. He could have done much more with the two and a half hours of running time he chose to use for this film and, frankly, I think I could have as well.
A Magnolia Pictures (in North America) release of a Zentropa Entertainments27, Film i Vast presentation of a Memfis Film Intl./Zentropa Intl. Sweden/Slot Machine/Liberator Prods./Zentropa Intl. Koln co-production, in co-production with Film I Vast, DR, Arte France Cinema, with the participation of SVT, Canal Plus, CNC, CineCinema, Edition Video, Nordisk Film Cinema Distribution, with support from Danish Film Institute, Eurimages, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Swedish Film Institute, Filmstiftung NRW. (International sales: Trustnordisk, Hvidovre, Denmark.)
Produced by Meta Louise Foldager, Louise Vesth. Executive producers, Peter Aalbaek Jensen, Peter Garde. Co-producers, Lars Jonsson, Madeleine Ekman, Marianne Slot, Bettina Brokemper, Tomas Eskilsson, Katarina Krave, Jerome Klement, Michel Reilhac, Remi Burah.
Directed & written by Lars Von Trier.
With: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgard, Brady Corbet, Cameron Spurr, Charlotte Rampling, Jesper Christensen, John Hurt, Stellan Skarsgard, Udo Kier, and Kiefer Sutherland.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
'Conan O'Brien Can't Stop' Review
After a day of already seeing four movies, I decided that I could fit one last film in. But this movie was not just any movie; it was a documentary that followed Conan O’Brien, one of my favorite comics, after the highly publicized schism between him and NBC. This documentary was the perfect end to my long day as I had just gotten out of the award winning film Polisse that has a less than cheerful ending to say the least. Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is a hilarious documentary that had me howling with laughter and physically slapping my knee and clapping my hands. The Irish tag team of director Rodman Flender and subject Conan O’Brien objectively showcase Conan’s uninhibited antics that will make audiences scream with laughter, as well as, cringe with disdain at scenes that show Conan in a less than flattering light. Either way, this candid behind the scene look at comedic genius Conan O’Brien will have audiences walking out of the theatre with smiles on their faces and, perhaps, an inkling desire to this documentary a second time.
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop was bar-none the funniest movie I attended of the entire Cannes International Film Festival. From one of the first scenes of the documentary where Conan O’Brien pulls up beside a Hollywood star-homes tour bus and leans out the window to tell them whom he is, to the closing scenes of Conan bringing his two-month nationwide “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television” tour to a close in Atlanta, Georgia, this documentary will keep you wildly entertained.
One thing that I particularly liked about the documentary is how director Rodman Felder assumes that the viewing audience is somewhat familiar with Conan’s well promulgated split with NBC thus wasting no time in getting to know Conan in his life after NBC lifestyle. Rather than dedicate a good portion of the documentary to explaining the ins-and-outs of how NBC decided to bring Jay Leno back into the primetime late-night spot and pushing Conan O’Brien’s Late Show back to the lesser-viewed 12:05am slot, Felder focuses on how Conan turned his frustrations and anger into comedic genius showcased in a nationwide tour (and now a documentary). Though the majority of the movie follows Conan on the road during his two-month cross-country journey starting in Eugene, Oregon and ending in Atlanta, Georgia, the beginning of the film does delve into Conan’s thoughts and frustrations with being released by NBC. He tells the camera that, “Sometimes, I’m so angry I can’t breathe” when talking about the situation. The documentary does tap into Conan’s feelings about his situation at times, but for the most part it focuses on the struggles and successes he faces while on tour.
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is the absolute perfect title for this documentary because Conan O’Brien literally cannot stop performing. It’s as if he has to be performing or in the spotlight at all times. Conan even admits to this. But as a viewer you do not feel put off by his comments as if they are in vain, but instead they are put into context by the behind the scenes footage of Conan’s incredible work ethic. He admits that during the tour he lost 15 pounds because of how much of himself he was giving to the audience and everyone around him, and after watching his grueling work schedule you understand why. Whether it’s Conan’s off-the-wall humor during writing sessions or signing tons and tons of autographs, by not being able to stop, the viewer is given a sneak peak into the positive and negative effects the road has on Conan O’Brien’s mentality.
There are plenty of times during the documentary when the audience is shown a side of Conan that is completely foreign and unaddressed during his late-night television shows. He is often shown as a frustrated and irritated stage performer who cannot stand having to meet and greet with strangers, taking pictures with fans, and having so many expectations demanded of him. Whether it’s Conan bitching about having to meet and take pictures with one of his back-up singers extended family or complaining about having to put on an act for people before and after his shows, his negative actions seem well justified. Yes, Conan puts himself in a lot of these situations because he wants to give all of himself to his fans, but at times it seems his management has spread him a little too thin. He makes remarks several times during the documentary about how if he lost his voice then everyone on his team would be screwed. He then wonders allowed whether anyone in his management has even considered that as a possibility. But like I said, all of his frustrations and short fused comments seem well justified as the documentary proves to all of us fans Conan is only human.
For the vast majority of the movie, Conan turns any of his frustrations into humor. This is most apparent during his stent at Manchester, Tennessee’s popular and un-air conditioned Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival. He quips at one point that he has gone from hosting a successful late night talk show to performing at a refugee camp. The Bonnaroo organizers ask way more of him than what he thought he was signed on to do. During one of his more frustrated moments of the festival one of his staff members tells him that it will all be over soon; Conan retorts back with, “I know people keep saying that, but that’s what they said to Anne Frank.” Conan’s reply may seem tasteless, but it is nonetheless an example of how he attempts to turn any situation into something funny. He seems to be on his feet and ready for the next punch at every moment of the day, whether exhausted or not.
The documentary is filled with hilarious performances from his “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television” tour and his off-stage antics, as well as, his incredible work ethic. Yes, at times Conan bitches and moans, but it just proves that this six-foot-five Irish ginger of comedic genius is an actual human being just like the rest of us. Going into the movie I thought it would be a much more gimmicky showcase of Conan lapping it up for the camera, but walking out of the theatre I felt as though I had gotten everything I wanted out of the documentary plus more. Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is jam-packed with hilarity and will have you howling for most of its 90 minute running time, but it does little to hide Conan behind his stage persona. It is an honest and candid portrayal of a comic genius that shows us that we are all human.
A Pariah Prods. production.
Produced by Gavin Polone, Rachel Griffin.
Executive producer, Kathy Landsberg.
Directed & edited by Rodman Flender.
With: Conan O'Brien, Andy Richter, Steve Kroft, Eddie Vedder, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Jim Carrey, and Jack White.
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop was bar-none the funniest movie I attended of the entire Cannes International Film Festival. From one of the first scenes of the documentary where Conan O’Brien pulls up beside a Hollywood star-homes tour bus and leans out the window to tell them whom he is, to the closing scenes of Conan bringing his two-month nationwide “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television” tour to a close in Atlanta, Georgia, this documentary will keep you wildly entertained.
One thing that I particularly liked about the documentary is how director Rodman Felder assumes that the viewing audience is somewhat familiar with Conan’s well promulgated split with NBC thus wasting no time in getting to know Conan in his life after NBC lifestyle. Rather than dedicate a good portion of the documentary to explaining the ins-and-outs of how NBC decided to bring Jay Leno back into the primetime late-night spot and pushing Conan O’Brien’s Late Show back to the lesser-viewed 12:05am slot, Felder focuses on how Conan turned his frustrations and anger into comedic genius showcased in a nationwide tour (and now a documentary). Though the majority of the movie follows Conan on the road during his two-month cross-country journey starting in Eugene, Oregon and ending in Atlanta, Georgia, the beginning of the film does delve into Conan’s thoughts and frustrations with being released by NBC. He tells the camera that, “Sometimes, I’m so angry I can’t breathe” when talking about the situation. The documentary does tap into Conan’s feelings about his situation at times, but for the most part it focuses on the struggles and successes he faces while on tour.
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is the absolute perfect title for this documentary because Conan O’Brien literally cannot stop performing. It’s as if he has to be performing or in the spotlight at all times. Conan even admits to this. But as a viewer you do not feel put off by his comments as if they are in vain, but instead they are put into context by the behind the scenes footage of Conan’s incredible work ethic. He admits that during the tour he lost 15 pounds because of how much of himself he was giving to the audience and everyone around him, and after watching his grueling work schedule you understand why. Whether it’s Conan’s off-the-wall humor during writing sessions or signing tons and tons of autographs, by not being able to stop, the viewer is given a sneak peak into the positive and negative effects the road has on Conan O’Brien’s mentality.
There are plenty of times during the documentary when the audience is shown a side of Conan that is completely foreign and unaddressed during his late-night television shows. He is often shown as a frustrated and irritated stage performer who cannot stand having to meet and greet with strangers, taking pictures with fans, and having so many expectations demanded of him. Whether it’s Conan bitching about having to meet and take pictures with one of his back-up singers extended family or complaining about having to put on an act for people before and after his shows, his negative actions seem well justified. Yes, Conan puts himself in a lot of these situations because he wants to give all of himself to his fans, but at times it seems his management has spread him a little too thin. He makes remarks several times during the documentary about how if he lost his voice then everyone on his team would be screwed. He then wonders allowed whether anyone in his management has even considered that as a possibility. But like I said, all of his frustrations and short fused comments seem well justified as the documentary proves to all of us fans Conan is only human.
For the vast majority of the movie, Conan turns any of his frustrations into humor. This is most apparent during his stent at Manchester, Tennessee’s popular and un-air conditioned Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival. He quips at one point that he has gone from hosting a successful late night talk show to performing at a refugee camp. The Bonnaroo organizers ask way more of him than what he thought he was signed on to do. During one of his more frustrated moments of the festival one of his staff members tells him that it will all be over soon; Conan retorts back with, “I know people keep saying that, but that’s what they said to Anne Frank.” Conan’s reply may seem tasteless, but it is nonetheless an example of how he attempts to turn any situation into something funny. He seems to be on his feet and ready for the next punch at every moment of the day, whether exhausted or not.
The documentary is filled with hilarious performances from his “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television” tour and his off-stage antics, as well as, his incredible work ethic. Yes, at times Conan bitches and moans, but it just proves that this six-foot-five Irish ginger of comedic genius is an actual human being just like the rest of us. Going into the movie I thought it would be a much more gimmicky showcase of Conan lapping it up for the camera, but walking out of the theatre I felt as though I had gotten everything I wanted out of the documentary plus more. Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is jam-packed with hilarity and will have you howling for most of its 90 minute running time, but it does little to hide Conan behind his stage persona. It is an honest and candid portrayal of a comic genius that shows us that we are all human.
A Pariah Prods. production.
Produced by Gavin Polone, Rachel Griffin.
Executive producer, Kathy Landsberg.
Directed & edited by Rodman Flender.
With: Conan O'Brien, Andy Richter, Steve Kroft, Eddie Vedder, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Jim Carrey, and Jack White.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
'Knuckle' Review
Knuckle debuted at Sundance to mixed reviews but the rights to this documentary were quickly snatched up by HBO in prospect of creating a dramatic mini-series based on the brutally gripping events documented by Ian Palmer. Knuckle documentarian Ian Palmer filmed two feuding Irish travelers families for twelve years and eventually created this no-holds-barred documentary that neither answers nor criticizes the events it displays on-screen. Palmer simply throws the facts and impartially edited video footage onto the screen for the audience to create their own opinions about what they are watching.
Palmer unknowingly began filming Knuckle in 1997 when he was hired by a friend to film 18 year-old Michael Quinn McDonagh’s wedding. It was at this wedding that Palmer caught a glimpse into the Quinn McDonagh feud with their cousins the Joyces. Both the Quinn McDonagh and Joyce families identify themselves as “travelers.” Travelers are basically in-bred white trash families of gypsies that relocate around the United Kingdom from trailer park to trailer park. So when you read “travelers” think in-bred nomadic trailer park trash.
The McDonaghs and the Joyces have been feuding since an incident outside of an Irish pub in the early nineties. During the inciting incident two Joyces died and one McDonagh was convicted of and later imprisoned for manslaughter. Some members of each family refer to the event as an unfortunate incident while many of the Joyces say it was a classless and sheepish act of violence on the McDonagh family member’s part. Either way, Palmer does not aim his documentary at settling this irrational argument, but instead uses the footage that he accumulated over the years to inspect the on-going feud between the two Irish travelers clans.
Since the mid-nineties the two families of cousins, who were once amicable, have been sending videotaped threats and challenges to bare-knuckle fighting matches. After the opposing family receives a challenge, the two families phone each other and negotiate a place, time, and sometimes a wager for the fights. The fights are usually held at a time that neither family came into the negotiation wanting and in an isolated parking lot or on a backcountry road. Other than the fighters from each family (anywhere from one to seven fighters per meeting – each match is strictly one-on-one though) no family members are allowed to be present at the bare-knuckle matches in order to prevent any potential brawling. A neutral referee, or referees, is agreed upon by both families to make sure a fair fight is properly regulated.
Though the Quinn McDonaghs and the Joyces absolutely despise each other, each fight has strict rules of fair play that the fighters must obey by, otherwise the neutral referee(s) will disqualify the perpetrator in violation of the rules. The rules seem to be no biting, no head butting, no hitting each other when tied up together, and no hitting of an opponent who’s knocked off of his feet. The fights are well regulated by the referee(s) and losers are told to have no shame in their loss, as long as they fought fairly.
The bare-knuckle boxing matches between the families are perpetuated by angry old grandfather’s whom actually remember the reason why the feud started, as well as, prideful young men whom have lived their lives waiting for the day they get the chance to be like their fathers and brothers and fight for their family name against the opposing clan of travelers. Throughout the documentary the audience is shown what feels like an endless amount of videotaped challenges showcasing a member, or members, of each clan boasting their family’s name and degrading the opposing family’s name. As each new generation of young boys are born into the two families and raised in this culture, the feud only becomes more distanced from the original motives behind the bare-knuckle boxing matches. By the time the viewer sees the newest footage of the fights it as though each family has lost complete sight of why the feud started in the first place. It has merely become a name-calling video challenge answered by the strongest in-bred alpha males of each family.
The main character of the documentary is James Quinn McDonagh. He is the most successful fighter (i.e. he has the greatest fighting longevity of either family) and possibly the most rational male of either family. James started out fighting for pride and his family’s name after the feud began in the early nineties but he now fights to earn money for his clan. There seems to be an endless amount of Joyces who want to knock James “The Mighty” Quinn McDonagh off of his high horse in order to shut the rest of his family (the equivalent to a cult-like fan club) up. Each Joyce generation of males wants a chance to defeat “The Mighty Quinn” in a match, but the closest they get to bringing him down is an exhausting two hour battle in which James comes out on-top.
Palmer’s documentary instills a sense of helplessness in the viewer as they watch two in-bred cousin families perpetuate a senseless feud over pride and sometimes money. The viewer can only relate to the women of each family, as they are granted a small glimpse into the female perspectives of these fights for a brief moment during the film. The women clearly want the feud to end because it has gotten so out of hand and each side of prideful males has lost sight of what they were once arranging these bare-knuckle boxing matches over. There is nothing to be settled anymore other than pride. A fight over pride with new challenges being sent several time a year isn’t going to solve the feud between the two traveler clans.
When watching Brad Pit play a gypsy pikey in Snatch one must think that his character is a heavily fictionalized character from the deep inner creative conscious of Guy Richie, but after watching Knuckle we see that Guy Richie isn’t as creative as we give him credit for. Characters like that of Brad Pit’s bare-knuckle fighting gypsy actually do exist in the United Kingdom’s countryside. Ian Palmer stumbled upon this feud and was lucky enough to document it for the Quinn McDonaghs over a twelve-year period. Eventually, he felt himself slipping into the thrill of watching the fights instead of documenting them. He decided to take a break from filming the fights before realizing that the world needed to see this footage edited together in a comprehensible yet unbiased manner.
It is fascinating how dependent the feud between the Quinn McDonaghs and the Joyces is on the video medium. Whether the traveler families use video cameras to challenge each other to bare-knuckle boxing matches or to document the matches for bragging rights, a video camera is now intrinsically intertwined in each step of the perpetuated feud. The documentary shows some of the older family members wanting to end the feud and move on from the feud while it also shows the new generations of Joyce and Quinn McDonagh males dream of getting their chance to one-day represent their family name in a bare-knuckle boxing match.
Directed by: Ian Palmer
Starring: James Quinn McDonagh and Big Joe Joyce
Palmer unknowingly began filming Knuckle in 1997 when he was hired by a friend to film 18 year-old Michael Quinn McDonagh’s wedding. It was at this wedding that Palmer caught a glimpse into the Quinn McDonagh feud with their cousins the Joyces. Both the Quinn McDonagh and Joyce families identify themselves as “travelers.” Travelers are basically in-bred white trash families of gypsies that relocate around the United Kingdom from trailer park to trailer park. So when you read “travelers” think in-bred nomadic trailer park trash.
The McDonaghs and the Joyces have been feuding since an incident outside of an Irish pub in the early nineties. During the inciting incident two Joyces died and one McDonagh was convicted of and later imprisoned for manslaughter. Some members of each family refer to the event as an unfortunate incident while many of the Joyces say it was a classless and sheepish act of violence on the McDonagh family member’s part. Either way, Palmer does not aim his documentary at settling this irrational argument, but instead uses the footage that he accumulated over the years to inspect the on-going feud between the two Irish travelers clans.
Since the mid-nineties the two families of cousins, who were once amicable, have been sending videotaped threats and challenges to bare-knuckle fighting matches. After the opposing family receives a challenge, the two families phone each other and negotiate a place, time, and sometimes a wager for the fights. The fights are usually held at a time that neither family came into the negotiation wanting and in an isolated parking lot or on a backcountry road. Other than the fighters from each family (anywhere from one to seven fighters per meeting – each match is strictly one-on-one though) no family members are allowed to be present at the bare-knuckle matches in order to prevent any potential brawling. A neutral referee, or referees, is agreed upon by both families to make sure a fair fight is properly regulated.
Though the Quinn McDonaghs and the Joyces absolutely despise each other, each fight has strict rules of fair play that the fighters must obey by, otherwise the neutral referee(s) will disqualify the perpetrator in violation of the rules. The rules seem to be no biting, no head butting, no hitting each other when tied up together, and no hitting of an opponent who’s knocked off of his feet. The fights are well regulated by the referee(s) and losers are told to have no shame in their loss, as long as they fought fairly.
The bare-knuckle boxing matches between the families are perpetuated by angry old grandfather’s whom actually remember the reason why the feud started, as well as, prideful young men whom have lived their lives waiting for the day they get the chance to be like their fathers and brothers and fight for their family name against the opposing clan of travelers. Throughout the documentary the audience is shown what feels like an endless amount of videotaped challenges showcasing a member, or members, of each clan boasting their family’s name and degrading the opposing family’s name. As each new generation of young boys are born into the two families and raised in this culture, the feud only becomes more distanced from the original motives behind the bare-knuckle boxing matches. By the time the viewer sees the newest footage of the fights it as though each family has lost complete sight of why the feud started in the first place. It has merely become a name-calling video challenge answered by the strongest in-bred alpha males of each family.
The main character of the documentary is James Quinn McDonagh. He is the most successful fighter (i.e. he has the greatest fighting longevity of either family) and possibly the most rational male of either family. James started out fighting for pride and his family’s name after the feud began in the early nineties but he now fights to earn money for his clan. There seems to be an endless amount of Joyces who want to knock James “The Mighty” Quinn McDonagh off of his high horse in order to shut the rest of his family (the equivalent to a cult-like fan club) up. Each Joyce generation of males wants a chance to defeat “The Mighty Quinn” in a match, but the closest they get to bringing him down is an exhausting two hour battle in which James comes out on-top.
Palmer’s documentary instills a sense of helplessness in the viewer as they watch two in-bred cousin families perpetuate a senseless feud over pride and sometimes money. The viewer can only relate to the women of each family, as they are granted a small glimpse into the female perspectives of these fights for a brief moment during the film. The women clearly want the feud to end because it has gotten so out of hand and each side of prideful males has lost sight of what they were once arranging these bare-knuckle boxing matches over. There is nothing to be settled anymore other than pride. A fight over pride with new challenges being sent several time a year isn’t going to solve the feud between the two traveler clans.
When watching Brad Pit play a gypsy pikey in Snatch one must think that his character is a heavily fictionalized character from the deep inner creative conscious of Guy Richie, but after watching Knuckle we see that Guy Richie isn’t as creative as we give him credit for. Characters like that of Brad Pit’s bare-knuckle fighting gypsy actually do exist in the United Kingdom’s countryside. Ian Palmer stumbled upon this feud and was lucky enough to document it for the Quinn McDonaghs over a twelve-year period. Eventually, he felt himself slipping into the thrill of watching the fights instead of documenting them. He decided to take a break from filming the fights before realizing that the world needed to see this footage edited together in a comprehensible yet unbiased manner.
It is fascinating how dependent the feud between the Quinn McDonaghs and the Joyces is on the video medium. Whether the traveler families use video cameras to challenge each other to bare-knuckle boxing matches or to document the matches for bragging rights, a video camera is now intrinsically intertwined in each step of the perpetuated feud. The documentary shows some of the older family members wanting to end the feud and move on from the feud while it also shows the new generations of Joyce and Quinn McDonagh males dream of getting their chance to one-day represent their family name in a bare-knuckle boxing match.
Directed by: Ian Palmer
Starring: James Quinn McDonagh and Big Joe Joyce
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy
At 4:15 pm on Sunday May 14th, 2011 I found myself sitting outside the Palais Theatre J excited to see the 5:30 pm showing of “the world’s first 3D erotic film.” A line began to form behind two of my fellow University of Georgia (UGA) festival-goers and I just after 5:00 pm. As 5:30 pm dauntingly approached, a petite young Asian woman desperately sought after buyers to fill the seats of the theatre by scouring every floor of the Palais. About half of the theatre’s capacity was filled with buyers by 5:25 pm. By 6:15 pm I was anxious to escape the confines of the Palais Theatre J. If I had not waited forty-five minutes in anticipation for the “world’s first 3D erotic film,” there is no way in Hell that I would have put myself through those one hundred and thirteen agonizing minutes of horrendous filmmaking. The entire movie seemed to be an excuse for unjustified violence against women, 3D gags, phallic jokes, and misogynistic sexual fantasies. This movie has absolutely no redeeming values and I would be perfectly content if the film’s financiers lost every cent invested in such execrable pulp fiction.
The Cannes Festival Pocket Guide describes 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy as a movie that is “based on ‘Yu Pu tuan (Sex and Zen),’ an infamous classic erotic novel from the Qing Dynasty[.] The Secret Art of Chinese Sex is a story about a horny scholar and his wife indulging themselves in the world of sexual desire and pleasure…”. This is a horribly inaccurate synopsis of the film. I did not find myself mentally or physically aroused at a single point through out the entirety of the movie. When I think of erotic film, movies such as The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Godard's Contempt, and Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut come to mind. Films that showcase eroticism from both male and female mental and physical perspectives. The creators of 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy clearly think that eroticism is derived from the misogynistic objectification of women and sophomoric phallic humor. I truly felt as if I was watching a film written by a moderately creative and disturbed seventh grade male whom has just discovered phallic slang terms and internet pornography.
I have seen my fair share of sexually graphic and violent film scenes such as the infamous Monica Bellucci rape scene from Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible or Zed’s basement scene from Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, but I have never seen such unwarranted and misogynistic violence as the majority of the scenes from 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy. The main antagonist, Prince Ning, is constantly raping women with his three-foot penis or abusing them in one way or another while achieving pure bliss from his actions. Early on in the movie he smacks a girl in response to her violence against another concubine. Here the viewer thinks he is stopping the beating in protection of the girl being beaten but to our chagrin, he quickly pulls out a pistol and shoots the in-distress concubine in the head. For what reason you may ask – well, I wish I could tell you. Prince Ning’s sadistic and unjustified violence only intensifies as he goes on to rape women and torture the main protagonist throughout the movie. Eventually Prince Ning has the protagonist castrated in the films climax because the man had uttered one unkind phrase about him to a village elder. I am still unsure of how any moviegoer could relate to any of these actions.
When reading the description of the film as “a story about a horny scholar and his wife indulging themselves in the world of sexual desire and pleasure,” I figured that the film would focus on the struggles between a married couple attempting to keep there marriage from growing stagnant. The film most certainly focuses on the horny scholar’s (i.e. the husband’s) sexual indulgences but does not once address the woman’s sexuality other than her function as a sexual object. The only “adventures” the wife experiences during the movie are the terrors of being raped by an assassin and escaping a public execution in consequence of her being raped.
I have personally never seen a film that has objectified women so shamefully. Every sexual situation is purely male-centric as the woman is used purely as a lubricated orifice. Women are beaten, murdered, raped, tortured, and used as sexual objects for the full one hundred and thirteen minutes while the audience painfully watches. One grotesque example of this stands out in particular to me. A woman’s vagina is mutilated by a mechanical spinning metal lotus flower attached to the saddle of a wooden horse while Prince Ning laughs in delight and the viewer watches in disgust. How anyone could enjoy such crass and tasteless subject matter is beyond me.
With all of the misogyny and unjustified violence aside, the movie still was an immature showcase of a two hour-long penis joke. The main character’s penis is “too small” to pleasure concubines so he swaps his penis with that of a donkey. He then has sex with ten women at a time and magically becomes a master of sexuality. Penis slang terms and physical gags (e.g. Prince Ning’s three foot long penis shown via silhouette) seem to be the punch line of nearly every scene. Whether it was viewing a small penis through a magnifying glass or a penis that uncoils like a six-foot snake from around a man’s leg (which the man uses to spin a wagon wheel), 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstacy’s humor is too sophomoric for even that of the average thirteen-year-old American boy.
After regretfully viewing this movie I wish there were some way I could commandeer those two hours of my life back. The film was a feeble excuse for misogynistic showcases of the female form, unjustified violence, sophomoric humor, and 3D gags. My advice to anyone who comes within a mile of a cinemaplex where this film is playing goes as follows: run away - run far, far away.
Director: Christopher Sun Lap Key
Writers: Stephen Siu (screenplay), Mark Wu (screenplay), Yu Li (Novel)
Stars: Saori Hara, Vonnie Lui and Yukiko Suô
Produced by: Stephen Siu Jr. (Executive Producer) and Stephen Siu (Producer)
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