Who’s Your Tough Guy?

Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Have you ever just latched on to a performer, and they never seem to fail you?  Maybe a Springsteen or Stevie Wonder?  I’m that way with films and certain stars –  Robert Mitchum, Humphrey Bogart or Gregory Peck.  They never fail(ed) to entertain and captivate.  The problem is their best work product was more than 40 years ago . . . and all three of them are dead.

So, is there anyone around today who does this for me in contemporary films?  There is, and I even surprised myself when I came to realize it, because on the one hand he is probably well-known to most of you, but not obvious.  He isn’t a B actor, but he’s at his best in a supporting role, unless he’s the lead.  If I’ve piqued your curiosity, it’s the French actor Jean Reno.

Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Reno was born in Casablanca, French Morocco in 1948.  He is equally comfortable working in French, English, Spanish and Italian.  His American credits include Armored with Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne, Couples Retreat with Vince Vaughn and Jason Bateman, Flyboys,  Mission: Impossible, and of course the Da Vinci Code as Captain Bezu Fache.  My personal favorite is Ronin where he is superbly cast opposite Robert DiNiro.

I think his best Hollywood film is probably the Professional aka Leon: the Professional.  This film is different than almost all of his other “American” films because it isn’t an ensemble cast, he’s not on a team. Reno plays Leon,  an immigrant to America seeking the American Dream . . . as a hitman for the mob. Mathilde – a young Natalie Portman is Leon’s 12 year old neighbor.  She witnesses the murder of her family after returning home, and saves herself by hiding in Leon’s apartment.  The movie is Leon’s quest to care for, teach, and avenge the death of Mathilde’s family by corrupt cops.

Image courtesy of Internet Movie Database

If you remember Jodie Foster opposite DeNiro in Taxi Driver, you’re not too far off, but while Portman’s Mathilde isn’t a working girl, she brings a sophistication to the screen that Foster doesn’t.  It’s Leon the professional killer and green-thumb who has the humanity in this film and he reaches out to someone who desperately needs him.  You wouldn’t be remiss in watching any of Reno’s dramas, either the Hollywood ones, or his French ones.  He is a champ at portraying the weary “I’ve-seen-too-much” mid level “flic” (French policeman) or the cynical Senior Detective.  I’m not sure why, but the French and French actors can still make Film Noir (Where have you gone Mr. Mitchum,) even in color.

– Richard

1,001 Movies I Forgot To Watch

It recently occurred to me that when you walk around with your nose in a book all the time, you miss out on other literary and art forms.  So I’ve decided that 2012 will be a year in which I watch movies–which, from a bibliophile’s point of view, really does mean the end of the world as we know it.

But I feel fine.  Super-fine, actually, thanks to the guidance of a lovely book called 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.  Published in three editions thus far, with the most recent appearing just last year, this tiny, yet hefty, little volume could’ve been subtitled “Cinema History for Dummies.”  It contains an alphabetical checklist of the films themselves, followed by a chapter for each decade of moviemaking and a short summary of each film. Using my own quirky logic–don’t ask–I’ve watched at least one film every day in 2012 thus far, doubling and tripling up when I can.

Much to my relief, an initial review of the checklist revealed I’d actually seen 162 of the 1,o001 selections pre-project. If I’ve already watched classics like Amarcord, Jules and Jim,  and Casablanca, I can’t be a complete cultural moron, right? Fans of contemporary cinema will be happy with the editors’ more recent suggestions, such as Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange, and Pulp Fiction. And, much to my surprise, some recent releases made the list, including The King’s Speech (seen it), Black Swan (looking forward to it) and Avatar (aw, man, do I have to?).

It’s early days, of course, but my favorite movie so far is Sidney Lumet’s classic, 12 Angry Men, which was adapted from a teleplay by Reginald Rose. A teenage boy from the wrong side of the tracks has supposedly murdered his father.  Eleven jurors are sure he’s guilty, but one man has doubts and questions about the case. The ensuing argument, in which a young Henry Fonda slowly brings the entire group around to his way of thinking, is filmed with tight, close shots, including a killer scene in which Lumet poignantly physicalizes the emotional isolation of the last man voting guilty. Watching the film made me want to round up all my friends for a long conversation about justice and the forces that can sometimes obscure it, as well as how/whether those issues are still relevant today.

Here’s a list of the films I’ve watched so far:

1. Farewell, My Concubine
2. Faces
3. 12 Angry Men
4. Sabotage
5. Safe
6. Kandahar
7. A Trip to the Moon
8. The Great Train Robbery
9. The Birth of A Nation
10. M
11. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
12. Broken Blossoms
13. 8 1/2
14. Zero Kelvin*
15. Project A, Part II**
16. On the Waterfront
17. The African Queen
18. Aileen Wuormos: The Selling of a Serial Killer**
19. Alice
20. Odd Man Out
21. Reservoir Dogs
22. Dirty Harry
23. Four Lions

Every single film has taught me something, either about filmmaking or cultural history.   Sitting through The Birth of a Nation and Broken Blossoms , for example, was downright painful, but getting concrete visual proof of our country’s checkered past was worth it. Each film, too, seems to have one moment that stands out as noteworthy or interesting.  Jan Svankmeijer’s Alice bored me to tears, plot-wise, but made me want to learn more about animation.  Dirty Harry left me cold, themtically, but Harry Callahan’s throwaway line, “That’ll be the day,” was a nice call-back to The Searchers, another film from the list that I watched with my dad many times as a kid.   And more recent picks like the wickedly satirical Four Lions, which is about an extremely inept group of terrorists, have convinced me that maybe I should actually pony up for the cost of a movie ticket now and again.

In fact, the only real drawback to the project is that I miss reading!  I have not entirely given up on books; when I’m not watching a film these days, I’m slowly making my way through A Storm of Swords, book three of George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series. I’ve also started Roberto  Bolaño’s The Third Reich, a literary novel about a board gaming enthusiast on vacation.  It’s one of those novels where not much happens, but there are sinister undertones to the action that make you feel as if something creepy could manifest at any moment.

But, at least in 2012, my heart belongs to the movies.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress as the year goes by; I’m not sure if I can actually squeeze 816 more movies into the next 347 days, but it’s definitely going to be fun trying!  Are you a movie enthusiast?  Which films would you select for the list, and which of your favorites are already on it?

Leigh Anne

who now understands the phrase “sleep is for the weak.”

*Available on Netflix streaming, coming soon to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

**Available on Netflix streaming.

Truth, Fiction, Poetry, Film

While I appreciate filmmaking as an art form, I’m usually way too busy reading books to check out a DVD. When I do pick one, it’s probably going to be either a documentary, or something based on a true story. This is primarily because such films make me want to learn more about the people involved, which sends me scurrying right back to good books.

Such a feedback loop was set in motion yet again when I sat down to watch The Great Debaters. As soon as Denzel Washington’s character came marching into his classroom, leaping on furniture and declaiming “I, Too, Sing America,” I had to find out more about Melvin B. Tolson, the poet and man of letters who led the Wiley College debate team to a national championship in 1935.  Happily, the Carnegie Library does stock Tolson’s poetry, including the complicated masterpiece Libretto for the Republic of Liberia, which is subdivided by sections named after the notes of the musical scale (do-re-mi, etc., ending once again with “do”).

Naturally, learning so much cool stuff (and getting poked in the ribs now and again by Don and Amy) makes me want to watch more movies.  One of the books I’m currently reading, Deep Cinema, argues that watching a film can instigate an initiatory, life-changing experience, and provides a long list of films in the back that have the potential to do so. I find this intriguing, and have added a whole whack of DVDs, including Bertolucci’s The Conformist, to my list of films to watch.

Up to now, though, the closest thing I’ve had to a cinematic epiphany was the realization, after watching American Beauty, that I didn’t want to be the kind of person who worried overmuch about loved ones spilling beer on the couch. What’s your relationship to the movies? Is there one that sticks in your memory, serves as a turning point in your life, or maybe just makes you see the world a little bit differently?

–Leigh Anne