Round-up 23: Rewatchables II

A better week. More productive, at least. Work has been nothing but fantastic at distracting me from the existential dread associated with being in your mid-20s. The environment I’m working in is very social, which, while not entirely comfortable for me, is very engaging and pushes me out of my comfort zone. Which is good for me. Long days and short nights, that’s my only major complaint. By the time I get home, I feel totally drained, and I typically fall asleep pretty quickly. That being said, I haven’t been able to get around to much new content, but I did rewatch some classics for comfort.

            I started the week out with a revisit to one of my favorite crime/thrillers of all time, a film that came out the year I was born. Training Day (2001) stars Ethan Hawke as a young, up-and-coming police officer who’s been picked for a special unit in the slums of Los Angeles. He’s partnered up with Denzel Washington, a crooked cop with his own laundry list of shady dealings with the underworld he swore to protect. The film is laced with commentary on the actions of corrupt police and politicians, but never wastes any time within its tight pacing and runtime. Denzel gives an award-worthy performance as Alonzo, with plenty of iconic one-liners and a classic inflection that has been parodied and copied countless times since. The final thirty minutes of the film come back to the commentary with a startlingly realistic portrayal of when “the chickens come home to roost”. Action, writing, pacing, this is such a fun time for primarily those three reasons; there is no slow burn with this one. I will watch this anytime it’s on, no question about it, and I’m very happy to own a 4K Blu-ray of it too.

            Next up, I rewatched Alex Cox’s Repo Man (1984), a short but sweet black comedy about a group of repo men run by Harry Dean Stanton’s loud and crass lead. It takes place in an alternate reality of the early 80s, where a fascist government has given way to social inadequacies, and a punk-rock sort of aesthetic has come out in the population. Crime and violence are rampant throughout this alternate LA, CA, and the repo men just take advantage of the chaos. Political commentary on the Ronald Reagan era is interwoven with a certain comic nihilism, making the dialogue between the leading Emilio Estevez and Stanton fly with wit and a certain matured angst. Harry Dean Stanton has long been one of my favorite actors to watch work (may he rest in peace), and his iconic “quiet” roles, famously done with David Lynch’s works, and his stand-out performance in Paris, Texas (1984) may define the majority of his career; however, his angry, middle-aged rage that comes out in this one is so satisfying to watch. It's like the energy has been pent up within him, and he just needed the right script to let loose. Definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it before, a great stoned Sci-fi Saturday afternoon watch.

            I got home either Tuesday or Wednesday evening and desperately needed reprieve from the heaviness of the day. Mike Nichols’ masterpiece, and potentially my favorite film ever made, The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, and Katherine Ross, was the antidote to such misery. For those that don’t know, the story follows Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock, a young man home from college, and he’s unsure and, in fact, quite anxious about what is to come next. Very suddenly, he is seduced into an affair with one of his parents’ friends, Mrs. Robinson, played by Bancroft. Things get messy, however, when Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine, comes home from school and the two fall in love. Everything about this film is operating on the absolute highest level. The acting is romantic but comic, and the writing is pitched to the cinematography in a way that didn’t seem popular in American cinema at the time. This was the French New Wave coming to America, and with great style. Not only wildly entertaining, but a statement of the times, especially with its raunchier approach to the romantic elements. Must-see cinema for all.

            I finished the week off with a more relevant rewatch, one that I didn’t fully appreciate on a first viewing. Since Whiplash (2014), Damien Chazelle has been at the top of my list when it comes to watching new releases. So, when it came out that he was making a three-hour epic about the pre-sound era of Hollywood, I was more than sold on the experience. That was until I actually got around to watching it and got to that fateful opening scene with the elephant. If you haven’t seen the film, I won’t spoil it here, but just know there is fecal matter involved. Which is a pretty bold way to open a long film such as this. It’s an ensemble cast featuring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie in the leading roles, but each character is going on their own particular journey through the era, with plenty of representation throughout. The center of the story, however, gravitates around Diego Calva’s protagonist, a Mexican immigrant who starts the film fighting through wild parties as a servant, and moves his way up to being a film producer of his own. Brad Pitt stars as an actor riding the high of his peak, and then falls into the sadness and depression of realizing his time is up. Robbie stars as an up-and-coming starlet facing a similar fate to many of the firsts of the era. The most controversial aspect of the film, apart from the graphic sex sprinkled throughout (in liberal quantities), was the final moments of the film, which project the images of many films throughout the years through Babylon. This came off as tacky on my first viewing, but on second watch, I sort of understand what Chazelle was going for. The film is a celebration of what the art form is and what it can be. I believe that the intent of the film was to inspire more than it was to entertain or even be informative of the time. And I believe through that lens, it is a great film that will not only stand the test of time, but likely get better with it.

            What were your thoughts on Babylon? Did it resonate with you in a similar way? Or did you hate it for its excess and a tad of indulgence? What have you been watching as of late? As always, I encourage participation in the comments below. Also very open to recommendations… Of any sort. Still haven’t gotten around to Salo, but hopefully soon.