It is undoubtedly going to be the case that same sex marriage will expand the variety and range of the kinds of family relationships that will occur and we might as well be prepared for them. This is an excellent film that looks at one particular aspect of it.

This 2010 film stars Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple who [Read more…]

Margin Call (2011) is a first-rate film.

It deals with what ensues in a large unnamed investment bank when a junior analyst discovers late one evening in 2008 that the value of the bank’s holdings of mortgage-backed securities has wandered dangerously outside the range of mathematical models of the values that it should have, and that the size of the potential losses is so huge that it could bankrupt the entire institution.

The film tracks events over the next twenty-four hours as this information goes up the chain of command all the way to the chief executive, triggering a series of meetings at higher and higher levels that run through the night and into the dawn, as everyone tries to figure out what to do before the news of this disaster becomes widely known in the financial industry and destroys the company.

In the process, it reveals the thinking and mode of operation of the various players in investment banks, from the junior to the highest levels, the role of money, how people’s allegiance and silence is bought, and how some people are ruthlessly sacrificed so that others may profit, all done calmly and urbanely.

This world is unknown to me since I have never worked in such institutions but I have to say that from what I have read on the financial crises and kinds of people involved, the story and characters seem utterly plausible.

The film keeps you intensely interested even though there is little physical action or even any shouting. It is all talk, low-key and understated, but it shows how a film can deal with serious issues and still be engrossing. What it takes is that it be well-written, well-directed, and well-acted.

Here’s the trailer.

Some time ago, I passed on information about a new feature film called The Ledge (2011) that had an atheist character as the lead. The film was written and directed by Matthew Chapman, who happens to be the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin. I finally had a chance to see it over the weekend and I have to confess that it was a big disappointment. Even though I wanted to like it, the film has so many flaws that I simply cannot recommend it anyone.

The story begins with a person standing on the ledge of a high building and threatening to jump, and consists of flashbacks as he and the police officer assigned to talk him down exchange their personal histories.

The main problem is that it is overwritten. The script is too preachy and tries to hit too many obvious points in the religion/atheism debate. It is not subtle. Furthermore, the story is highly implausible and three of the main lead characters (the atheist, the Christian, and the Christian’s wife) are unsympathetic and their portrayals (by Charlie Hunnam, Patrick Wilson, and Liv Tyler respectively) are leaden.

The one redeeming feature in the film is Terrence Howard as the police officer who tries to talk the atheist off the ledge. He has more acting skills than the other lead actors combined and the subplot involving his character was more interesting than the main story.

I think that the best way to deal with religion in films is with humor. Religious beliefs are so preposterous and the history of religions so bizarre that it makes for ripe pickings for comedians. Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Ricky Gervais’s The Invention of Lying are good examples of how to do it.

Maybe a serious film that deals with atheism well will come along someday.

A long time ago, I read what was described as one of the most amazing tracking shots in film, starting at a great height and ending up underwater. (A tracking shot is a long single take with the camera moving.) It sounded incredible but I did not think I would ever see it because I did not know the name of the film and besides in those days the only way to see a film was in theaters and if you missed it on its first run you were pretty much out of luck unless they showed it again at a film festival.

For some reason, I recalled the tracking shot description a few days ago and, thanks to the internet, was able to find it. It occurs at the beginning of the 1964 Soviet Union-Cuba joint production Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba). Here it is, with the shot beginning at the 2:10 mark.

It turns out that the same film has in my opinion an even more incredible tracking shot that begins at the 1:40 mark of the clip below.

You watch in amazement and wonder “How the hell did they do that?”

It is good to remember that this film was made in the days when equipment was nowhere near as sophisticated as it is today and there was no post-production computer wizardry. These were real virtuoso performances by the director and cinematographer, that required exquisite timing by everyone involved. This is why I am far more impressed with the special effects in old films like this and 2001: A Space Odyssey than in, say, The Matrix.