Film
Lincoln Is Fucking Crazy!!! Just Kidding! Lincoln Is Exactly What You Expect by Erik Henriksen
Janusz Kaminski’s reverential sepia tones: Even when it tries to humanize Lincoln, it’s mostly just here to reaffirm what a Great Man he was and how he made some Lincoln Very Important History. Kushner smartly sidesteps the dir. Steven Spielberg weakness of most biopics—trying to Opens Fri Nov 16 fit everything in—by keeping Lincoln Various Theaters focused on the end of Lincoln’s life, as the Civil War wraps up and he gets all sneaky in his attempts to force the House into ratifying the Thirteenth Amendment. Simultaneously finishing up a brutal war and trying to end slavery makes for a few challenges, which means Lincoln leans heavily on both his savvy secretary of state, William Seward (David Strathairn), and professional cantankerous bastard Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones), a Pennsylvania representative who gleefully pisses off as many people as LINCOLN “Did I mention I freed the slaves? I did? Oh. Right.” possible. There are about a billion other peoSCAR BAIT doesn’t get much more Spielberg’s other Oscar bait-y films have tak- ple here, too, from Lincoln’s wife Mary Todd baiting than this: Steven Spielberg di- en—this one feels particularly like Amistad, Lincoln (Sally Field) to his son Robert (Joseph recting Daniel Day-Lewis with a Tony Kush- though there’s some War Horse in here too. Gordon-Levitt), Ulysses S. Grant (Jared Harner script about the final months of America’s Lincoln is a generally well-made film, but it’s ris) to shady political operative W.N. Bilbo most beloved, tragic president. By and large, also one stitched together from Day-Lewis’ (James Spader, who basically steals every Lincoln wanders many of the same paths dramatic monologues and cinematographer scene he’s in, even when he’s going up against
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Messy Melodrama
A Late Quartet: The Inherent Messiness of Life, Set to Music by Jen Graves
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A LATE QUARTET “It’s like Mr. Walken’s Opus. Did you get the joke I made?”
T THE START of A Late Quartet, Chris- drama, it’s Philip Seymour Hoffman and topher Walken’s character explains to a Catherine Keener. They play the second viogroup of his cello students that Beethoven’s lin and the viola, respectively, of the Fugue late quartet, Opus 131, is not the standard String Quartet, of which Walken is cello. Mark Ivanir plays the driven, obsessive first four movements but instead has seven violin; Imogen Poots is the just-postparts and that you have to play them A teenaged daughter of Hoffman and straight through with no breaks, Late Keener, a rageful, driven violinist which causes your instruments to Quartet herself. go all out of tune with one anothdir. Yaron Zilberman The Parkinson’s registers not er. “It’s a mess,” he says. Opens Fri Nov 16 only in the body of the cellist, but It’s also a metaphor about how Fox in the body of the quartet. Upon basic entropy affects togetherness. Tower 10 Walken’s announcement, Hoffman deThe togetherness, say, of a musical cides it’s time to announce his desire to share group that’s been playing together for 25 years when the oldest member finds he has the lead, not just play second, as well as for more Parkinson’s and can’t go on. Walken plays free-spirited readings of the music. Meeting that character. Has he ever been the emo- resistance, he decides to fuck a hot dancer; not tional center of a film before? It’s magical. For exactly a creative decision. Neither is the brief much of A Late Quartet, the camera follows coupling of the two driven violinists of two difthe storm of the other characters’ drama—of- ferent generations. But the movie’s central truth—messes get ten, melodrama—until it finds a resting place once again on Walken’s alien face, quietly made, regardless of intentions—overshadows registering the effects of old age, including its tidy, clumsy Jenga of a drama because the performances are just that good. Walken is the death of his wife. If any pair of actors could mellow melo- getting old. See him.
Day-Lewis). Not only is there a lot going on, but whenever Lincoln’s involved—which is almost always—the history-defining significance of each of his words and actions weighs the picture down. It’s when Spielberg too-briefly wanders off and focuses on Stevens or Bilbo that Lincoln starts to feel lively and sharp—less like a reverent tribute, and more like a series of events that real people experienced. If there’s one thing Lincoln illustrates, it’s the difference between a well-crafted film (which Lincoln is) and a film that’s interesting (which Lincoln isn’t): I’m unable to point to any element of Lincoln that doesn’t more or less work as it’s supposed to, but it’s largely a film that just doesn’t intend to do much. Some of it is rousing and some of it is sappy, and all of it will be vaguely familiar to everyone who didn’t fail eighth-grade US history, and that’s about it. That’s not to say there isn’t some great stuff here, mostly when it comes to the performances: Jones, Spader, and Strathairn are fantastic, and there are solid turns from the grab bag of stars who basically make cameos. As every poster, every ad, and almost every frame reminds us, though, this is Day-Lewis’ movie, and he’s as unrecognizable and powerful as ever. He’s a great Lincoln—and even if Spielberg’s movie isn’t all that great, it gets the job done. Which, when it comes to your annual dose of Oscar bait, is about all that one can reasonably expect.
No Laughing Matter Monty Python’s Soul, Reduced to a Cartoon by Jamie S. Rich
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A LIAR’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY “We are the annoying comedians who say ‘Ni!’”
behind for extended sequences while the HIS MUST’VE SEEMED like a good animators show off. Flying Circus sketches idea, once upon a time. The concept for A are reimagined via Terry Gilliam-esque Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty cutting and pasting, while the Pythons Python’s Graham Chapman fits in with the late plotting their television takeover are comedian’s anarchic approach to humor: Usrendered as computer-animating recordings Chapman made for ed chimpanzees. Abstract the audiobook version of his brushstrokes that vivunconventional memoir, the idly relate Chapman’s directors behind the exceldetoxing from booze lent Monty Python: Almost butt up against Adthe Truth reconstruct the venture Time-esque actor’s account of his life journeys into outer as a fast-paced hodgespace. The only conpodge of fact and falsenector between the hoods. Hiring a bunch dirs. Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson, Ben disparate elements is of different animation Timlett that the film is in 3D. studios to helm each segOpens Fri Nov 16 Admittedly, the carment, and bringing in most Living Room Theaters tooning benefits from the of the remaining Pythons to added dimension, even if add new vocal snippets, it’s a docGraham Chapman’s legacy does umentary as freeform and unconvennot. The performer could be an interesting tional as the original Flying Circus programs. subject: He struggled with alcoholism and Sounds amazing, yeah? was a gay man who was out of the closet Unfortunately, from pitch to realization, long before it was fashionable. I’d love to something went wrong. A Liar’s Biography is see a legitimate documentary on his life, as a boring mess. There’s a difference between opposed to A Liar’s Biography, which merely “anything goes” and “all over the place,” applies a light basting of reality to a whole and this film ends up being the latter, never lot of hooey. quite gelling and, worse, leaving its subject
A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman
November 14th, 2012 portlandmercury.com 43