We all understand the suspension of disbelief. It allows us to believe in Harry Potter’s magic, sound in the vacuum of space, and the supposedly impromptu dancing of Fred Astaire. If you want to be honest about it, even serious drama requires suspending your disbelief. We know that that working-class gay cowboy is really an obscenely well-paid actor in love with his female co-star.
But what about the willful suspension of morality? What should we think about films that require us to forget our concepts of right and wrong? Is it alright to enjoy movies that celebrate thieves and murderers, especially if they’re motivated entirely by their own greed or perverse sense of fun?
If you can do it with a clear head, yes. Just as it’s okay to once in a while escape into a world where clearly-defined good always wins against obvious evil, there’s no real harm in occasionally going to a place where there’s no real difference between the two.
But there’s a caveat. The movie in question can’t take itself seriously. It must wink at
you and reassure you that it doesn’t really mean what it says. This explains why I love The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but hate The Wild Bunch. It’s one thing to laughingly go along with fictitious evil-doers; it’s another to get all sentimental over them.
And it helps, of course, if there’s a villain who is much more evil than the nominal hero. Clint Eastwood’s Blondie in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly kills for money, but compared to Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes, he’s a saint.
Other joyfully immoral movies worth catching include The Black Swan (better a pirate than a politician), Almodóvar’s Matador (the joys of sexual murder), The Whole Nine Yards (why shouldn’t professional killers attract their own groupies?), and Pulp Fiction (where do I begin with that one?).
Most of the movies recommended below have high moral standards. The rest are just fun.
Recommended: Moolaadé, Pacific Film Archive, Friday, 8:35. Writer/director Ousmane Sembene pulls off something amazing–”an entertaining drama about female genital mutilation. In a small Muslim village, one woman protects four girls who refuse to be “cut.– Her heroism angers many but inspires many others. Sembene doesn’t sentimentalize this small community; those who have seen the larger world are much more likely to sympathize with the heroine. The sense of place, the rich tapestry of characters, the urgency of the conflict, and the vibrant, African colors make Moolaadé a unique cinematic treasure. Part of the PFA’s Ousmane Sembène series. Note: Friday and Saturday showings at the PFA will go on as scheduled. They’re not listed on the PFA’s Web site because of technical problems.
Recommended: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Castro, Wednesday. Considering the unethical behavior of the three leads, Sergio Leone’s epic Civil War western should have been called The Bad, the Worse, and the Totally Reprehensible. But morality is relative when armies are slaughtering thousands, and besides, it doesn’t really enter into Leone’s tongue-in-cheek point of view. While the war rages around them, three outlaws battle lawmen, prison guards, and each other for a fortune in stolen gold. Check your scruples at the door and enjoy the double- and triple-crosses, the black comedy, the beautiful Techniscope photography of Spain doubling as the American west, and Ennio Morricone’s legendary score. Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef are fine, but it’s Eli Wallach’s performance as the half-bright, devious Tuco who steals the picture.
Recommended: Triplets of Belleville, Red Vic, Saturday. A modern, low-budget, dialog-free animated film for adults (and teenagers; it’s rated PG-13). The story involves a French champion bicyclist who’s kidnapped by mobsters and brought to America to–¦never mind, it’s just too weird to explain. But who cares? The jokes are funny, the visuals are clever and original, and the music swings (the triplets of the title are an aging big band trio).
Recommended: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Stanford, Saturday and Sunday. They made a lot of science fiction movies in the 1950s, but few as good as this left-leaning Christian parable. An alien (Michael Rennie in his first major American role) comes to Earth with a message of peace, finds a populace unwilling to listen, and then becomes the target of a manhunt. On a double bill with Panic in the Streets.
Recommended, with Reservations: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pacific Film Archive, Sunday, 3:00. I used to worship Stanley Kubrick’s visualization of Arthur C. Clarke’s imagination. But it hasn’t aged all that well; we’ve all seen the actual year, and know that Clarke and Kubrick got almost everything wrong. Yet there’s no denying the pull of 2001’s unorthodox storytelling and visual splendor–if you can see it in the right theater. 2001 was shot for 70mm projection on a giant, curved, Cinerama screen–an experience that’s simply not available in the Bay Area today. It’s still worth catching on a really big screen, even a flat one, especially if it’s from a 70mm print. But 35mm at the PFA won’t be the 2001 experience.
Recommended: Panic in the Streets, Stanford, Saturday and Sunday. You thought New Orleans had it bad with Katrina. In this taut noir from Elia Kazan, police and health officials have two days to track down a criminal infected with bubonic plague (at least the government seemed to care back then). The cast includes Richard Widmark and a still unknown Zero Mostel. On a double bill with The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Recommended: Little Miss Sunshine, 4Star and Parkway, opening Friday. I’m glad this movie is a comedy; a drama with these characters would be unbearably depressing. Little Miss Sunshine puts a supremely dysfunctional family on the road in a broken down VW bus, with the goal of entering their prepubescent daughter into a beauty contest for girls too young to have any business in a beauty contest. The result opens a window into the souls of five damaged adults and two youths destined for damaged adulthood, while delivering a steady stream of strong, deep, and sustained laughs. Not a simple feat for a first-time screenwriter (Michael Arndt) and two directors experienced only in music videos (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris). The 4Star is showing Little Miss Sunshine on a double-bill with Keeping Mum.
Recommended: The Big Lebowski, Shattuck, Friday and Saturday, midnight. Critics originally panned this Coen Brothers gem as a disappointing follow-up to the Coen’s previous endeavor, Fargo. Well, it isn’t as good as Fargo, but it’s still one hell of a funny movie.
Recommended: The Illusionist, Elmwood and Parkway, opening Friday. Every film lover knows not to trust their eyes, because a movie is nothing but a lie, a deceit, and a trick. And the biggest illusion in this particular movie is its independent (or at least indiewood) cred. Don’t be deceived by the lack of a major studio logo or the presence of Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. The Illusionist is light entertainment, not serious art. But it’s very good light entertainment, as inconsequential as the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, but ten times as much fun and made for a fraction of the cost.
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