G
ravity is really pretty, really smart, really thrilling, really well directed (way to go Alfonso Cuarón!), really well written (you too, Jonás Cuarón!) and really well acted (much love, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney). Go see it, you’ll love it, but let’s put a pin in all that for a minute, mmkay? Everyone is focusing on the kick-ass “real science” that informed Gravity or hotly Twitter-fighting about whether this is “the future of film” or if it technically counts as sci-fi. That’s great. But what stood out most to me was how the film proves we need The Mako Mori Test. I promise to be quick (psst, I’m incapable of being quick): You likely have heard of The Bechdel Test. It is named after a cartoonist who had one of her characters declare she only watches films that (1) have at least two named female characters, (2) who talk to each other (3) about something other than a man. It’s a quick feminist litmus test failed by something like 95% of movies ever made, which is as depressing as the need for the test to exist in the first place. As it turns out, we need another test too.
n As we still patiently await the day when Hollywood realizes that having ladybits doesn’t mean you can’t write, direct and produce spectacular big-time films, we’ll have to make do with Lunafest (lunafest.org). On Thursday Oct 17 at 6 pm, Aksarben Cinema (aksarbencinema.com) will be showing the Lunafest Film Festival, which will not turn you into a werewolf. Get it? Because “luna” means moon and…nevermind. In collaboration with Woodmen of the World, Women’s Center for Entertainment and NRG Media, Aksarben will show this collection of short films by talented women filmmakers. And, oh yeah, 100% of the net proceeds go to charities, including the Breast Cancer Fund and other local community organizations. So you get to see bad-ass films from bad-ass women while making a bad-ass difference. Be there or you’re no bad ass.
AMERICAN PROMISE
Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@ thereader.com. Check out Ryan on Movieha!, a weekly half-hour movie podcast (movieha.libsyn.com/rss), catch him on the radio on CD 105.9 (cd1059.com) on Fridays around 7:30 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 (kvno.org) at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Twitter (twitter. com/thereaderfilm).
22
OCT. 10 - 16 , 2013
GRADE: A
REPORTCARD
n This will come as a shock to anyone who reads my writing and thinks “that guy is even keeled and non-provocative” but I get into lots of fights on social media. Mostly, I get furious at people who refuse to think critically about race, class and privilege. I lose a lot. But this time, I have Film Streams Ruth Sokolof Theater (filmstreams.org) backing me. On Tuesday Nov 5 at 6:30 pm, the theater is partnering with the Center for Holistic Development to show American Promise, which is about two middle-class African-American boys who attend a private school. The post show panel discussion is sure to talk about things like how insanely messed up it is that there’s still a huge gap in educational achievement and how silly it is that we think “The American Dream” means you get everything you want if you just really try hard and stuff. It will be exactly like one of my Facebook conversations, only nobody will use a gross emoticon. n Also, real quick, Film Streams will be showing that new Alexander Payne movie, Nebraska, for a special one-week engagement starting Friday Nov 15. Not that anybody in this city would want to watch a film from an Oscar-winning native that’s actually named after our state. Yeah, I’d buy tickets early… —Ryan Syrek
After Pacific Rim came out, people noticed that the character Mako Mori was feminist-ly awesome in a movie that spectacularly biffed on all three Bechdel components. Rising from the philosophical ashes of Tumblr, a user named “Chaila” proposed the Mako Mori Test to work “alongside the Bechdel Test.” A passing film must have (1) at least one female character, (2) who gets her own narrative arc (3) that is not about supporting a man’s story. Gravity plays like a 90-minute affirmation of all three. There’s no plot besides what you know: Astronauts Stone (Bullock) and Kowalski (Clooney) are the only characters. When debris destroys their ship while orbiting the earth, it’s a scramble for survival. Blissfully, the famous, handsome male movie star is nothing more than a prop/plot device. This is all about Stone and her spiritual journey back into a life she abandoned when her child died unexpectedly. It’s not even about her actual fight to survive: it’s about her fight to fight to survive. She must shout down the ghosts of her past while convincing herself that life can have meaning again. There’s an easy reading of the film as one that encourages women without children to reject the patriarchal suggestion that they are somehow “less than.” I admit, I didn’t see what others did in terms of “revolutionary” craft here. Cuarón delivers breathtaking visuals but none are outright groundbreaking. Admittedly, his opening continuous shot is so epic and long it feels like he’s showing off, but Stanley Kubrick was messing with that sort of stuff decades ago. Nothing here is new enough to “reinvent cinema,” so shut it down, hyperbolists. But Bullock’s dizzyingly complex performance in a film that is as thrilling as it is culturally resonant does make Gravity something hella special.
Blue Jasmine B+ A show-stopping performance for Cate Blanchett, who shows no signs of stopping. Prisoners B Icky, taut and thrilling, this is the feel-bad movie of the fall! READER RECOMMENDS
Rush B+ A movie based on a true story about a sport we don’t care about that you’ll actually care about!
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The Hangover Part II F One can’t physically be drunk enough to make this fun. Iron Man 3 ATurns out, if you have a script, you can make a killer superhero movie. World War Z CAdapted from the book, in that they kept the title. And barely that. Much Ado About Nothing B Joss Whedon made a Shakespeare movie for no reason. I’m okay with that.