Cold Mountain

I suppose when I look at something long enough the whole recedes and all I see is the parts. I keep looking. The process repeats itself over and over till the machinery not the machine is all I see. I saw Cold Mountain tonight and all I could see was the machinery. Insert T-Bone Burnett song score so we can cash in on the soundtrack like O’ Brother. Add a dash of Jack White because some of those White Stripes songs evoke Americana and it brings in the kids. That “other” artsy Civil War movie, Ride With the Devil, had a music star too. (I wonder if Jack’s movie career will dead-end the way Jewel’s did) I’ve never seen so many clothing continuity errors in a major motion picture. Is the shirt on or off, torn or whole? The characters all are Oscar movie clich�s. It’s got a bad guy, a good guy, the woman they want and comic relief. Does Nicole have to wear that much makeup when hiding out in the woods? Won’t Jude Law still love her, she’s a movie star after all?

When it first opens with the big battle sequence…now that that was new. I’d never seen the Civil War that brutal before. In so many ways I’m reminded of Saving Private Ryan, great beginning with the story losing momentum as the quest takes over. Thankfully Cold Mountain isn’t quite so earnest as Saving Private Ryan.

It’s not just Cold Mountain though. This year I’ve seen three theatrical releases I cared about: City of God, Northfork and All the Real Girls (A much more powerful love story in North Carolina than Cold Mountain will ever be). They’re all flawed too. But they took more risks. I’d rather sit through “Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East?” than most of the movies I’ve seen this year. It took chances and told a new story. My ire is not spared from indie releases. They’ve spawned the same mediocrity this year as well: The Station Agent, Lost in Translation, Shattered Glass, Pieces of April. All fine films, like the major Hollywood fare I’ve seen, that I care nothing about because they all come from the same machinery. Why don’t we have a Takashi Miike making stuff like Visitor Q or Happiness of the Katakuris? How about an Abbas Kiarostami equivalent putting out things like Close-Up and Taste of Cherry? I guess we’ve got Gus Van Sant who did surprise me with Gerry this year. Tomorrow I see Elephant so maybe he can redeem American cinema. Listening: White Flag - Grails Feeling: angry