Bonnie & Clyde is one of the very few films that I consider to be essentially perfect, maintaining both our emotional connection to Bonnie and Clyde as well as our emotional distance from what they do. It would’ve been much easier to either make them unlikable villains or give us some reason that explains their actions but Bonnie & Clyde doesn’t let us off so easily.
Once in a while, a first-time director jumps onto the scene with a film that is so assured and so well-made and has such an air of vitality and realism that it’s difficult to believe he hasn’t made a dozen films already. Cary Fukunaga has pretty much done that with Sin Nombre.
As an homage/pastiche of film noir I find it very interesting, especially since it’s clever enough to include noir’s literary heritage as well as its cinematic forerunners. As an example of striking visual style and interesting musical scoring, I enjoyed looking and listening to it (and I certainly look forward to seeing what Alter comes up with next). But as a self-contained narrative, it just doesn’t add up its pleasing moments and elements into a convincing whole.
The upcoming film Hippie Hippie Shake, adapted from Neville’s memoir, focuses on London Oz from its inception (Neville and Sharp’s arrival in London) through the obscenity trial. I saw the film at a work-in-progress preview, so it wouldn’t be fair to give a definitive review on it at this point, but I’d like to at least give some impressions of the film as it is now.
A gaggle of excited children chase a van into the center of a tiny Spanish village – a movie has come to town, a rare occasion that brings nearly everyone in town to check it out. Based on this opening, it seems as if The Spirit of the Beehive is going to be a movie about the movies and the effect of movies on small-town populations, but it quickly transcends cinema and becomes about something far more primal – imagination itself.
