DRIVE: hot actors, hot music, cool as shit

Ryan Gosling plays a stunt driver for movies, but moonlights as a get away driver for robberies. His character is a man of few words, he likes to drive, and is very good at it, but seems pretty empty otherwise. He meets his attractive new neighbor (the adorable Carey Mulligan) and her young son. Soon he is smitten and begins to take care of them. When her husband gets out of prison,Gosling feels displaced, but soon finds purpose in saving the family from thugs who are threatening to kill them all if the husband doesn't do one last job for them. Needless to say, the body count is high and Gosling becomes an avenger with a penchant for unique weapons. 

Director Nocolas Winding Refn shows he is the real deal with this movie, that is getting rave reviews from critics. I hear it isn't as popular with audiences,and I am not surprised. It is not your usual action movie,as both the title and even trailer might have implied. It is ultra violent in parts,but these scenes are slow to come and often end quickly. The characters almost never say what they are thinking and the movie has long scenes of Mulligan and Gosling looking at each other,or away from each other, while the kick ass score plays underneath. But for me, DRIVE was a welcome relief from the shoot em up car chase movies that get made all the time. Like last years THE TOWN (a  deeply flawed film) the car chase scenes in DRIVE are done like old 70's and 80's car movies.They don't have a million jump cuts of cars crashing, rolling, blowing up that I always find greatly confusing (Michael Bay I am looking at you) and always seem more to serve the directors ego of big budget then add anything to plot. Instead, DRIVE, is much more into mood. Despite it taking place now, the clothes,music and graphics used are very early 80's. The movie is cool,it is slow and it is really really realy good.  I was already a big fan of Ryan Gosling, I am now obsessed.  Also, I can't stop listening to the soundtrack and have included the title song below.  AMAZING.

12 Movies I am looking forward to this Fall, 2011

 MARGARET 

dir. Kenneth Lonergan

Here is a movie I have been waiting for for six years, because it was filmed six years ago! It has been stuck in limbo, supposedly because director Lonergan couldn't cut it short enough for the studio to release it, but they must have worked it out because it comes out this month (3 hours long). Starring Anna Paquin, long before True Blood, with Matt Damon and, my main crush, Mark Ruffalo! This movie has so many exciting aspects for me, Lonergan wrote and directed one of my most loved films, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, which is also the film that introduced me to the ever swoon worthy Ruffalo, and inspired me to write a screenplay because that script has fucking brilliant dialog. Since YOU CAN COUNT ON ME came out over ten years ago I have seen nothing from Lonergan, and have just kept seeing mentions of MARGARET until I assumed it would never come out, but now it is! Delayed release is not usually a good sign, but I am hoping it will be another impressive script with stellar performances, from it's highly capable cast.

 CONTAGION 

dir. Steven Soderbergh 

Creepy infection movie, kinda like a zombie movie with no zombies. I think this movie looks good, and it has a great cast. Mainly Kate Winslet and Matt Damon, both of whom I always like. From what I have read it is pretty ruthless and everyone dies. I don't mean everyone on earth dies (though they might) I mean that the cast is very expendable, and watching movie stars die off is always entertaining. I am not a huge fan of Soderbergh, I find most his movies pretty pretentious and the only one of his I really like is KING OF THE HILL, but he's got me sold on this one. I love mass hysteria movies, and having it done with a high production level is always a bonus. 

 MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE 

dir. Sean Durkin

This movie has had good buzz all year, mainly about the lead performance by Elizabeth Olsen (the younger sister of the Olsen twins) who is getting oscar buzz. The movie looks to be a creepy drama/thriller about a girl who escapes a cult, led by the fantastic John Hawkes, and goes to live with her aunt. The preview looks good and cults are pretty fascinating (in a disturbing way of course) so I predict this will be one of my top picks for 2011. 

 MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

 dir. Simon Curtis 

 

Here is another movie I have been hearing about for years, although not six and all during pre-production. The casting of Marilyn was being gossiped about for some time. Scarlett Johansson was said to be the front runner, Michelle Williams simply one of the many other names mentioned as interested. I'm not surprised Williams got it. Her work has been very consistent and she has the vulnerability to pull of such an iconic and tragic role. But this movie has other famous characters in it too, Arthur Miller, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, and I hear casting was tough with everyone. So this fall we can see how all the pieces fit together.  I am a fan of Marilyn Monroe. I am also a huge fan of Michelle Williams so it is an exciting combination. 

 SLEEPING BEAUTY 

dir. Julia Leigh

Here is a very interesting sounding movie by a first time female director based on a novel she wrote, that promises to be bold, if nothing more. It is the story of a law student who takes a part time job as a nude maid in an upscale club for old men which leads to a job being drugged like "Sleeping Beauty"and allowing the old men to do whatever they want to her. I hear there are many old man penises and a very hard to watch scene where a tube is put into her gut. Those are sure things to look forward too.  I am sure this movie will create a stir, unless it gets no distribution and hardly anyone sees it, and I have no idea how I will feel about it. But the cinematography looks very impressive, and Leigh's style has been compared to Hanake, which gets my attention. A movie can't be brilliant unless it takes some risks, perhaps Leigh will be a new great director, following in the footsteps of her mentor Jane Campion, or perhaps it will be an overstylized art house porn. It's bound to be memorable either way. 

 THE SKIN I LIVE IN 

dir. Pedro Almodovar 

I love Almodovar. His flamboyant style and mix of dark movies and fabulous comedies make him a director I am always excited for. Most recently I loved BAD EDUCATION and VOLVAR, and now this year THE SKIN I LIVE IN comes out starring Antonio Banderas, whom Almodovar worked with often early in their careers. It is the creepy story of a doctor who uses a women as a guinea pig to test a synthetic skin he is developing. Form there, I think, they enter some weird sort of relationship as captor and captive. The preview looks good and I love the music used in it. It sounds like the movie is pretty intense, so I am thinking there must be some pretty out their surgical stuff. I am excited how Almodovar will handle the creepy dark elements in this movie. 

 MELANCHOLIA 

dir. Lars van Trier 

MELANCHOLIA got a lot of attention at Cannes this year. Kirsten Dunst won best actress and director Van Trier made some off color jokes about Nazis in a press conference and upset a lot of people. Luckily, MELANCHOLIA has no Nazis in it, instead Dunst plays a wealthy women getting married (to super sexy Alexander Skarsgard) and discovering that a planet is headed towards earth and may collide. Van Trier makes very depressing films, BREAKING THE WAVES and DANCER IN THE DARK are beyond bleak, so I expect more of that, but you never know what to expect from him. Apparently the idea came to him in a therapy session when his therapist told him that depressed people handle disasters better then happy people.  He originally cast Penelope Cruz as the role played by Kirsten Dunst. 

 YOUNG ADULT 

dir. Jason Reitman 

I was a fan of JUNO, and now writer and director are together again. I haven't cared for anything Diablo Cody has done since JUNO, but this sounds good. I don't know very much about it but Charlize Theron plays a young adult novel writer who returns to her small town after getting divorced and tries to get back her married and fathered ex. The poster alone makes me want to see this movie, and I like Theron and want to see her in something good, because it has been awhile. 

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

dir. Lynne Ramsay 

I love love love Lynne Ramsay. Her only two films have been RATCATCHER and MORVERN CALLAR, both are beautiful.  Based on a novel, it is starring Tilda Swinton, always amazing, as the mother of a boy who commits some sort of Colombine massacre, and how she deals with the guilt. It has gotten some strong reactions at the festivals this year, some good, lots of negative, but so did her last film MORVERN CALLAR and I think that movie is pretty close to perfection, so my hopes are very high for this one. It is a difficult subject to tackle in film, the only time I have seen it done well was Gus Van Sant's ELEPHANT, which I highly suggest to patient film watchers. I am hoping that KEVIN can also do it well.

 THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO 

dir. David Fincher 

Of course I have to put this movie on here. I am a fan of Fincher, despite most of his films being very male. This movie has been getting buzz since it first got whispered about, and the books are pretty popular, so I assume lots of people will it. I was a fan of last years Swedish trilogy, mainly because of the amazing performance by Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth. I never read the books myself, but Lisbeth is an awesome character and at first I couldnt't imagine liking a hollywood version of her at all, espeicaly compared to Rapace, but I thin the casting of Rooney Mara is interesting and she has gone through a literal physical transformation (piercings, shaved her hair off, bleached her eyebrows) so I am excited just to see what Fincher's take on this unique character is. While I know this will be much more Americanized, I think Fincher can pull it off and make it a kick in the face movie. 

THE IRON LADY

dir. Phyllida Lloyd

What is there for me not to be excited about this movie? It is starring Meryle Streep, it is directed by a women and it is about Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of U.K. Since we know Streep will do a fantastic job (maybe an oscar?), the only question is how good of a bio-pic this is. I find them often rather flat, often done very straight forward and linear, I suppose thinking the persons life should take center stage, but I hope that IRON LADY is done with some energy and that Lloyd really uses her skills to impress us, with such an interesting figure, who has accomplished much, and pissed off lots of people. Of course I also expect there to be lots of sexist dialog about the woman and how the film portrays her, since our society typically has deep hatred for powerful "cold" women. 

SHAME 

dir. Steve Mcqueen 

Michael Fassbender is my current obsession. Having seen him in JANE EYRE and X-MEN FIRST CLASS earlier this year. Most recently I saw FISH TANK, which is superb, and that made clear Fassbender is the real deal.  SHAME is the second film from visual artist Mcqueen, whose first film, HUNGER (starring Michael Fassbender) got a great deal of praise when it came out, as is this one. Fassbender plays a successful business man who is a sex addict, stuck in a cycle of casual sex and deep feelings of shame about it. Carey Mulligan (another actor I am impressed with) plays his troubled sister who moves in with him. That is all I know, but from what I know, I feel very certain this movie will be good, and perhaps very depressing. Unfortunately this movie does not have a US release date, I don't think it has been picked up here, but it is coming out in the Europe this winter, but it might not come here until next year. Just have to wait and see...

FISH TANK: not so happy in the projects

FISH TANK is the story of Mia, a foul mouthed, tough 15 year old girl who lives in the projects in Essex with her drunk mother and equally fouled mouth little sister. Mia has no friends, and loves to dance. She spends her days trying to get booze and waiting to get sent off to some sort of correctional boarding school. Then her mother begins dating Connor, a friendly good looking Irish man, who plants himself into the family and gives all three females the sort of dependable male attention they have never known. He is able to bring out a nicer side of Mia, who still jumps back to her angry self and often snipes that she can't stand him, despite it being clear she is crazy about him. Unfortunatly things take a steer to the innappropriat and Connor ends up having sex with Mia on her sofa while her mother is passed out drunk and her sister spies on them. The morning after Connor breaks up with Mia's mother and leaves. Mia tracks him down, discovering secrets he was keeping and ends up creating a situation that turns more serious then she could forsee.
FISH TANK is a solid movie, directed by Andrea Arnold, who also directed RED ROAD and whose third film WUTHERING HEIGHTS is in production now.  She is a director to watch for.  The performances in FISH TANK  are seamless, seeming like you are watching people who really live the lives you are watching. First time actress Katie Jarvis was found in the projects arguing with her boyfriend and offered the role, and she is phenomanel. She captures Mia'a crippling loneliness masked in  anger and makes you root for her despite her foul nature. Also brilliant is Michael Fassbender, who is my current male actor obsession, as Connor. It can't be easy to play a man who befriends and then sleeps with a young girl desperate for companionship, but Fassbender manages to give Connor enough layers to keep from being a straight up creep. In no way am I saying the movie makes him sympathetic, but he makes Connor interesting.
In FISH TANK, Mia's only passion is for dance. She escapes to an empty apartment to play rap music on her tape player and dance, a sort of street style, more male in style then feminine. The scenes of her dancing are good, and the music even better. In fact, this movie has great music. From the rap to the reggae that her mother always has on, to Bobby Womack, whom Connor plays for Mia and that she later dances to for him.
The movie has very few scenes of happiness, the world these characters live in is harsh, the people are mean and the scenery is stark. In the first few minutes Mia breaks a girls nose and barley escapes being raped by a couple of teenage boys. Still, I think the movie is about Mia's humanity and how it survives despite how angry she is and how hurt by others she is. Her need to save a white horse, kept tied up in a junkyard, shows she has compassion, even if she often hides it from people. At the end of the movie, as Mia heads out into the world, she looks back, watching her little sister, and smiles. Her future is not promising, but she is resigned to escaping the projects, the trap of poverty, if she can. Weather or not she will be able to succeed in the world is unsure, but at 15 she has more strength then most of the adults in her world.

THE WHISTLEBLOWER: men behaving badly, females suffering.

THE WHISTLEBLOWER is disturbing, violent, and sad.  Based on the experiences of real life heroin Kathryn Bolkovac, played by Rachel Weisz, the true-life thriller presents many different problems with a very complicated system. It is the story of Bolkovac, an american cop who goes to Bosnia to be a peacekeeper after the war. She works for a privet company called Democra, funded by of the U.N, and whose workers have legal immunity in Bosnia. Bolkovac quickly impresses and is promoted to department head of domestic affairs. Soon she is called to a case of two young women, badly beaten, who have escaped a bar where they were being forced to work as prostitutes. As soon as Bolkovac looks into bar she finds evidence that many United Nation employees not only raping the girls, but many are profiting and even involved in trafficking the girls across the border. As Bolkovac begins to put together files on all the victims the corruption proves to run deep, and not only is she unable to protect the girls who have escaped from being taken back to the bar, she watches as her files are all closed with no action being taken and every door is closed in her face. 

First time director Larysa Kondracki makes a very straight forward film. The tones are grey, the music is subtle, not over dramatic, and the script is straight forward. No part of this movie is sentimental and it works best when following Bolkovac's trying to get these girls help, and weakens during scenes of her personal life, which are few. Most surprising to me, THE WHISTLEBLOWER is also strong when introducing and following, Raya, the girl whom Bolkovac tries to save through the entire film.  It opens with a scene of Raya and her friend in Sarajevo, who are tricked into thinking they are about to leave for a job at a hotel, by a man they know trust. As we watch them get their passport pictures taken in his apartment, we know good things are not ahead of them, but they are happy and excited to go on an adventure, clueless to the evil greed at work. Later, when the girls are shown again, months later and following horrific abuse, their appearance is shocking. Kudos to the costume and makeup department for creating such authentic looks for all the girls in the film. 

While this film has scenes that are very very hard to watch, I applaud it for showing the most unflinching portrait of the awful conditions these girls are put through. It does not glamorize anything, which might seem a strange word to use for sex slavery, but most films about this subject matter tend to clean it up. Since the girls are used for sex, it seems hard for filmmakers to keep it from being completely unsexy, by making the girls look pretty or the beds they are on clean. Another thing movies with this subject matter tend to do is go out of their way to prove the "goodness" or "innocence" of the victims, as if we need proof of how undeserving they are. To explain what I mean I will use 2007's TRADE  as an example: TRADE is the story of a two females kidnapped by a gang to be sold into slavery. They are, 13 year old Adriana and Veronica, a Polish women in her twenties. The two of them become close as they are taken from Mexico city, into America and on a tour across the country where they stop at different places for men, who know about them from an internet site, rape them. Almost every scene of the girls does something to prove show their goodness. After being raped Adriana fears her mother will not love her any longer, because she is dirty now. In several scenes she breaks down in tears crying that she is dirty and unlovable now. Her biggest fear, despite the constant threat death and violence, is that her not being a virgin makes her bad. Veronica, on the other hand, is the "strong one" she fights off the men as long as she can, she tries her hardest to protect Adriana by offering herself and eventually kills herself by jumping off a cliff instead of taking a beating from her kidnapper. The image of her jumping off is done in slow motion, her long beautiful hair flying behind her as she jumps. The strangest aspect to her death, to me, is that the man is then shown to to have remorse for her death. The same man who has been beating and raping these girls as he prepares to sell them to the highest bidder, changes his entire violent nature seeing Veronica kill herself. He even later helps the younger girl escape, saying he feels awful about the death of Veronica. I guess we are to believe that in death Veronica's goodness changed him.  

I could go on and on about how bad TRADE is, but I will stop. The point I am trying to make is that it is unnecessary to make these characters so pure, so good, it simply makes them one dimensional and less real. Human trafficking is awful, girls being kidnapped, tortured and raped is awful. I am confused by the need to show how good the victims are, that isn't the point. The point is that what is being done to them is evil and the only way to show it is dirty and real. 

I very much appreciated WHISTLEBLOWER's depictions of the enslaved girls, because it's straight forward, there are no touching monologs between victims or scenes of them crying over their purity being taken. These girls are simply terrified, and they want to survive, but are powerless to the men who abuse them. these men are the one's with choices, and they choose to profit off suffering.

The two things that stuck with me after this film, were the horror depicted in certain scenes, and the absolutely amazing performance given by Rachel Weisz. I have always been a fan of hers, despite THE MUMMY, and I would love to see her get a nomination next year for Best Actress. 

I also spent a lot of time researching the real Kathryn Bolkovac after watching the movie. She is a hero and the fact that so little has been done to any of the people involved in this scandal is beyond disturbing. The WHISTLEBLOWER shows one women trying to do what is right, against a powerful establishment full f people abusing their power and getting away with it. 

Where are all the female directors?

I read today that less then 1% of the movies on Netflix are directed by women. Not even a full percent. It was shocking at first but then when I started to think about it, one percent is 1 in a hundred and their are A LOT of movies out there, and there have always been a lot of movies getting made, and there used to be even less female directors. Now, at least, there are some, but, when curious, I started looking up statitstics on female directors I was suprised by HOW LOW they are, still are.

For example, the highest grossing movie directed by a women is SHREK, but it was co-directed by a man. The nine next highest grossing movies by women are LOOK WHOS TALKING, WHAT WOMEN WANT, DR. DOLITTLE, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, DEEP IMPACT, WAYNE'S WORLD, ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS:THE SQUEAKUEL, BIG, and TWILIGHT. First of all, most of these movies are about men. I shudder to realize TWILIGHT has the biggest female role of them all, followed closely by SLEEPLESS, but I would be willing to bet Meg Ryan clocks in at under 50% of screen time in that one. I have not seen WHAT WOMEN WANT and it does have a large female cast, and it also stars every feminists favorite actor, Mel Gibson. I do love BIG, another Tom Hanks one, I owned it growing up and loved it. I didn't know WAYNE'S WORLD was directed by a women, that was interesting to learn. The rest are pretty awful, and not that popular.

Another dismal statistic is that only four women have been nominated for best director ever. Kathryn Bigelow was the first to win in 2010 for THE HURT LOCKER. Before her there had only been three women ever nominated in that category. Sofia Copolla in 2003 for LOST IN TRANSLATION, Jane Campion in 1993 for THE PIANO, and Lina Wertmuller in 1976 for SEVEN BEAUTIES. Their pictures get nominated a little more often, but they are hardly recognized in the director category. This past year two films directed by women were nominated for Best Picture, WINTER'S BONE and THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, but neither of their female directors were up for Best Director.

I do feel there are an increasing amount of female directed movies being made and coming out, but it is still so far behind and moving so slowly towards an equal distribution of male and female director it is frustrating. So, to cheer myself up I made a list of films I like that are directed by women and that many people might not have seen (or heard of). Also, all the films on this list are mainly about females as well.

MY NEW GUN (1992) 

Somehow I discovered this movie when I was about 13 years old and loved it. It was one that I liked the rent over and over, as we do at that age. I am not really sure what clicked about it for me, but it is the story of an unhappy suburban housewife who gets a gun from her yuppie husband even though she is terrified of them, then begins an affair with her mysterious neighbor who steals it from her.  It is a funny satire of suburban lifestyle similar to DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN at times, but more 90's. The director is Stacy Cochran who hasn't done much else. She directed the Winona Ryder film BOYS several years later (which is pretty uninteresting) and in 2000 she directed a film called DROP BACK TEN that I had never heard of before writing this blog. I will check it out and let you know if it is any good.

AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE (1990)
This beautiful film, by Jane Campion, is slow and disturbing and is the story of  Janet Frame, a New Zealand author. Based on a three part autobiography the film is fascinating and restrained. Despite the rather extreme events that happened to Frame, Campion keeps the film focused on the quite strength of the lead character. The leading role is played by Kerry Fox who is wonderfully unique and odd. This might be my favorite Campion film, although I also love THE PIANO(1993) in so many ways. Also good is her most recent film BRIGHT STAR(2009) about poet John Keat's three year long romance with Fanny Brawne. Jane Campion's films are always beautiful, but ANGEL has a presence that is strong.

FAT GIRL (2001) 
One of the best films I have ever seen, I didn't enjoy watching this very much, but it was powerful and really affected me. The story is of 12 year old Anais, overweight and on summer vacation with her family. Elena is the pretty 15 year old sister of Anais, who gets all the boys, including an older Italian. Anair is a very unhappy girl, and her misery is long and drawn out, and she shares a room with her sister who has an incredibly akward sex scene with her older lover.  FAT GIRL has a shocking and disturbing ending that upset me enough to wonder if I even liked it at all? But upon reflection I feel it is an incredible film about adolescence and sibling rivalry. FAT GIRL also has some of the best acting from teenagers I have seen, it is like an artsy, French, KIDS. French director Catherine Breillat has made many films and they often are explorations of sexuality, often with young girls. Despite finding most of her films hard to connect with, many are interesting, and I appreciate films being made about female sexuality, disturbing or not, since they are told from a female perspective and it is subject matter that is often feared. Other Breillat films worth checking out to see a range of her style are A REAL YOUNG GIRL(1976), SEX IS COMEDY(2002) and THE LAST MISTRESS(2007).

WALKING AND TALKING (1996) 
This is a great film about two best friends, played by Catherine Keener and Anne Heche, who struggle to keep their tight friendship as one gets ready to marry a man who treats her great, while the other is at a bad place in her life with men and career. Keener is always great and she works with director Nicol Holofcener in all of her feature films, including the recent PLEASE GIVE(2010) This underrated movie has a great script and great 90's nostalgia. Both actresses are great making their characters seem like real women and very relatable. It is a film that is both funny and sad, showcasing a wonderful female friendship, not overshadowed with malice, like many female buddy movies.

WENDY AND LUCY (2008)
Michelle Williams is one of my favorite current actresses. WENDY AND LUCY  is a character piece that follows Wendy, traveling cross country with her dog, Lucy, to a new job. When the car breaks down, Wendy's poor finaciel state escelates her into very dire situations. Not a happy movie at all, it is a strong performance by both actress and director. Very straight forward and basic, the powerlessness of Wendy because she has no money sticks with you after you have seen it. Kelly Reichardt is the director, and one to watch for. I am eagerly waiting to see the film she made last year MEEKS CUTOFF (2010) also starring Williams. Reichardt makes film about people who become victim to their circumstance. Money, gender, passivity, are a common enemy of the characters in her films.

Great Music Moments in Movies

Music is used in film all the time. The soundtrack or score for a film is a large part of what creates the emotion of the story. There are wonderful composers who write scores for films that are amazing and beautiful, working in the background and driving the images along. But there are moments in movies when a song take center stage, and here are six of those memorable moments used in six amazing films, all unique.

1. MORVERN CALLAR 

One of my favorite movies, MORVERN CALLAR is a stellar character study, showcasing the amazing talent of Samantha Morton and making director Lynne Ramsay a director not to miss (unfortunately she has only made three features in over ten years). The soundtrack for MORVERN is spectacular and a driving force to the story. Morton's character spends the entire film grieving the loss of her lover, and spends a great deal of it listening to the mix tape he made for her before committing suicide. 

This scene below is a great moment in music and film. Perfectly setting the scene for her deep loss, and the simplicity of her small town and unexciting daily life. 

2. BLUE VELVET
David Lynch has a style, vision, and sound like no other. His use of music in film and television is always excellent. This scene is one of the most haunting I have ever seen. I remember the first time I watched BLUE VELVET and was mesmerized by the dark beauty of it. Of all the memorable scenes in it, this one stayed with me the most. It's so completely absurd and creepy and it makes a great song even greater. 

3. ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION 
Such a funny movie! This is the story of two best friends, losers in high school and now trying to make it in the fashion world, who go back to their high school reunion. Both ladies want to prove how much more important they are now, so they make up a lie that they invented post-it-notes. It backfires and they become the jokes of the reunion, causing them to fight and split up, but only temporarily. In the end one of them gets a guy and he dances with both ladies, in this popular scene, to classic Cyndi Lauper. This is also one of the best dance moments in a movie ever!

4. THE VIRGIN SUICIDES
Every Sofia Copolla movie has an awesome soundtrack. Copolla is a director who uses music to hold up her lucid and unconventional story-telling. MARIE ANTOINETTE has many moments where the songs elevate the story so much, and capture the punky vibe she wanted ANTOINETTE to have. But I have to go with this scene from VIRGIN SUICIDES both because I love Heart and because it is such a kick ass song to use to introduce a character. Back when I saw this movie I thought Josh Hartnett was the hottest thing ever, and this made quite an impression on me.

5. THE SEVENTH CONTINENT 
Michael Hanake films are always a little tough. SEVENTH CONTINENT is his first feature film, and it is absolutely fascinating, but also very infuriating. This clip doesn't stand on it's own quite the way the others on this list do, because without the context it is pretty static. But once you have watched this film and understand what point this family is at, what they are in the act of doing, it is far from boring, and quite devastating. SPOILER: the drink the mother gives her daughter has sleeping pills in it, and the parents are soon to follow into endless sleep.

6. GROSSE POINT BLANK 
Another great comedy about a high school reunion set to an 80's soundtrack, this scene uses two great songs to be the back drop of a murder and disposing of the body. One of the reasons the movie is so great is because the performances are good. I especially love the friendship of John Cusack and Jeremy Pivan. This is the scene where Pivan and Minnie Driver discover that Cusack, their old friend from high school, is a hit man, all while their former classmates dance to music in the gymnasium below. As for 80's songs, it doesn't get much better then 99 Red Balloons, so I do have a bit of a soft spot for it being used.

BIBLIOTHEQUE PASCAL: sex trade as fairy tale

This film is a visual fantasy, creating a world that doesn't exist but in art. It reminded me of  a Terry Gilliam film because of its quirky characters and setting. Interesting, the movie has bright colors and exciting sets but is about a world that is dark and dangerous, where men are predators and poor women are sold as sex slaves. Yet, it keeps from being too disturbing because of its fairy tale like style. 

Now, when I say fairy tale style I do not mean it makes the sex trade look fun or not-so-bad, the underground sex trade world of this film is nasty and often leads to death for the women (and boys) who get trapped in it. The consequences are real and harsh, but the scenery is over the top, bright colors and breath taking props, the workers are dressed in costumes that are not so sexy and more like visual candy.

Let me back up. The film follows Mona a poor but tough women who lives in Hungary. She becomes impregnated by a convict on the run from police who takes her hostage and then seduces her with his dream, because his dreams come to life when he has them. Soon she is a single mother who works in a circus doing puppet shows. Her father, a nasty man, arrives one night and tricks her into going to Germany with him, where she is sold to some men. Soon she is sent off to work in a club called Bibliotheque Pascal, where she is locked in a room and dressed up like Joan of Arc. She has to memorize a script as Joan and then men come and rape her. Luckily the rape scenes are few and not graphic, but the consequences are very real. People do die. The colors are bright, the imagery fun but the topic is dark. 

The film does suggest that perhaps the fantasy like elements are simply that, fantasy. Perhaps Mona chooses to remember things like this as a way to cope, or because she is insane, hard to say. It opens and closes in a child services office with Mona trying to convince a man that she is a fit mother and the movie is far more realistic in these scenes. The colors are muted, the camera more static. But as soon as Mona tells her story it jumps into hyper color and at times feels like it is about to become a musical. (It never does) 

Portraying sex slavery in this hyper real way is risky, recently SUCKER PUNCH tried and failed miserably, making the girls victims that have no escape and yet glossing over any real sense of what the girls (who are forced to work in a brothel) would be going through. BIBLIOTHEQUE PASCAL does not gloss over this, the horror of what Mona is going through is clear. She is terrified, trapped and yet never gives in. She is determined to escape her prison and get back to her daughter. The fantasy elements are simply Mona's way of dealing with the pain of a brutal life.