Letters to the Editor
-
I liked
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind very much, and I like movies that are different. Your criticims are vague and should be ignored.
-
False Binary
Dear Ms. Zacharek:
Those of us who engage in experimental story telling do not do so in order to supplant "tranditional" story telling. You should ask yourself what instinct in you causes such disgusted responses to things different than what you are used to or expecting. You write not as though you are merely bored by it but as though it's a burden upon your soul. Did you ever bother to wonder at who the hell decided the right way to tell a story? Who are these people anyhow? Just because it's what you're used to, doesn't mean it's the only way or the best way. Frankly, it's a pretty dumb oppositional binary. I expect this from people with fundamentally inflexible minds--you know, conservatives. I don't mean politics (though, in many cases, probably). I mean someone not capable creative thought. It still amazes me that it's obvious, on the one hand, that you are perfectly capable, but then you flat out refuse to bother taking these "kinds" of movies seriously on the out-set. It's clear, in other words, that you have always already decided not to take them seriously before you sit in you seat with you popcorn (or whatever you snack on while watching movies).
I tell my students that when they come across stories or movies or ideas that they feel an intense desire either to dismiss or destroy, before they take that next step, smug and self-righteous, down the path of mere conformaty for the sake of comfort, they should always ask why they have the reaction in the first place. Question the reaction, and then, if they can, try to justify it in a thoughtful, fair consideration.
"Straightforward, unvarnished storytelling" is not dead. I don't know why making different art implies that it is. The story dictates the form does not mean that all love stories should look essentially the same. Also, your dismissal fundamentally ignores the (very real) changing landscape of culture and tranference of information and ideas and, therefore, the actual ways in which people think and interact with said culture and ideas. And, I will never understand why you go out of your way to slam anything remotely experimental and then lift up the most silly, pointless, run of the mill movies. It's like you give extra points the more "straightforward" and "unvarnished" a movie tries to be before considering the subject matter, or, frankly, the artistic impact, effort, and interaction with the audience.
I had thought, for a time, that you were getting better at being fair and open to different ideas about movies and storytelling. Not so much now.
Too bad.
-
Been there, rejected that
Maybe it's just me, but when I saw an ad for this movie, it struck me as being a variant on the time-worn theme of a story in which the character of the "author" intrudes into the story and interacts with the character, or at least time-worn to anyone who's had the unfortunate experience of spending time in a publishing office with the slush pile. It seems that every neophyte writer has to try his or her hand at it, and they are usually promptly rejected. Which means that in Hollywood, this would be regarded as brilliantly original. Still, cliched ideas can be occasionally worked into entertaining movies, but I wouldn't have held out too much hope for this one.
Otherwise I have to agree with letter #1. I liked all those dread movies too.
-
Hmm.
I think I may just re-read 'Six Characters in Search of an Author'
-
Zacharek is Hostess-deprived
Zacharek writes, "But 'Stranger Than Fiction' ... really just rolls those big questions in warm fuzzies; by the end, they're just inedible coconut balls."
Hmmm. Does Zacharek mean Hostess Sno-Balls?
This is a problematic simile. If I were Zacharek, I would have chosen "bellybutton lint." I'm pretty sure it's inedible.
-
You pretty much stole my thoughts on this!
R u insied m y brian???
Anyway, movies like this are so formulaic now, you just see the trailer and think "man, this is gonna be one quirky movie!!" Like that last one with Steve Carrell about the bus. These movies used to be really refeshing in the 90s up til the early 2000s, but now they're obnoxious, even if they are a little good.
We needs some uhhhh ... different things, and not things that try so hard to be --different--.
-
Latifah
I don't know why Hollywood persists with the Sassy Black Sidekick thing. Is anyone really buying into it?
I don't blame Queen Latifah, I imagine like anyone else she just wants to be able to work. But sweet baby jeebus, somebody give her something to do that she can shine in. I love her.
-
Say no more
"The object of his affection is madcap counterculture bakery owner Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who teaches him how to Live, capital L, by feeding him homemade cookies."
I will not be seeing this movie. Thanks for the warning.
-
Pass
I'm pretty sure that the kid who sat next to me in 8th grade language arts wrote this very plot. We were bored even then.
-
I agree with those...
...who question Ms. Zacharek's ever-so-arch, hipper-than-thou dismissal of this film. I saw a sneak preview of it Wednesday night and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was good to see Will Ferrell playing an actual adult, with measured doses of humor, in an ultimately redemptive tale.
As a side note, I had the pleasure of meeting Maggie Gyllenhaal when they were shooting the movie here in Chicago, and I am a huge fan of her work (see "Sherrybaby" at the earliest opportunity)...and her look.
-
Samantha T
I must add, also, that it saddens me to see filmmakers give Will Ferrell a chance to show off his "range" yet continually place Queen Latifah in the sassy sidekick role. When she was on SNL, she blew the cast off the stage with her charisma. It's time to give the Queen her due and put her in a leading role.
-
RE: False Binary
More than once I've found myself poised to respond to one of Ms. Zacharek's dismissive reviews as lytonya has here.
To her credit, lytonya was able to articulate the earthy prejudice that poisons Ms. Zacharek's criticism, whereas impatience always got the better of me.
Perhaps, if Ms. Zacharek's bias has grown so calcified, she should stick to celebrating contrived wink-at-the-camera fare like 'Buffy'..... and not worry herself over the contradiction between such and her knee-jerk rejection of experimentation in the Kaufman mode.
Stephanie Zacharek, myopic champion of the *ordinary* and the *unvarnished* - this act is getting more than a bit stale. Editors, at least spare us by relegating Ms. Zacharek to strictly *straightforward* storytelling.