Archive - 2009

Repulsion: Alone in a World of Masculine Aggression A number of years ago, I discovered a film label, The Criterion Collection, that was releasing some of the most interesting movies I'd ever seen on DVD. They would take neglected classics, foreign films, and important contemporary films, package them with stunning supplemental material, and - while they might charge an arm and a leg - each and every one of the films they chose to release was fascinating. Films in The Criterion Collection are the only films I will ever consider purchasing as a "blind buy" - without watching the film first. With a Criterion film, I know that the title will be provocative and intriguing at the least, and very often a stunning and spellbinding experience.

So, Kelsie and I have a little collection of Criterion films sitting above our television and we're slowly working our way through the ones we haven't seen yet. A few days days ago, we decided to pop in Roman Polanski's second feature film, Repulsion. It turned out to be the perfect film to watch just one night before Halloween. It was scary, endlessly compelling, and one of the few psychological thrillers to truly get under your skin.

The film follows a young woman, Carole, living with her sister in London. When her sister goes away for a few weeks with her married lover, Carole is left alone in their apartment and soon begins to unravel. She doesn't know how to care for herself, she's tormented by fears of rape, and the cracks in her own sanity start to physically manifest themselves throughout the apartment.

Repulsion is like a ghost story without a ghost. Carole is trapped within her own psyche, and her surreal visions of the world are more terrifying than any monster movie or slasher film can even aspire to reach. The film is unbearably quiet, until a jolt of sound intrudes upon Carole and crashes in on us, the viewers.

Polanksi is steadfast in his refusal to give us answers as to the causes - or even the nature - of Carole's condition. This is part of the film's terror, part of the fear it produces within us. There are signposts, to be sure. We see a picture of Carole with her family when she was a child - even the still image suggests that there is something different about this girl, a distance from everyone else. And then there is her outward revulsion at her sister's lover and the romantic attentions of her own suitor.

But even though Polanski doesn't spell out Carole's affliction, he most certainly uses the film to speak to male dominance and masculine aggression. Even though the sixties were all about freedom and sexual liberation, the men of Repulsion seem to think that means they can do whatever they want with their paramours. The married lover forces his whims and desires on Carole's sister. Carole's suitor believes that he has the right to touch and kiss her whether she wants to or not. He believes that he has the right to force his way into the apartment. All of the men in this film seem driven by the need to dominate the women in their lives. And the Repulsion's end, we see the devastating consequences.

"Dollhouse": Ethical Dilemmas for the Morally Challenged I've been a big fan of writer, director, and television producer Joss Whedon ever since the phenomenal television series, "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." Whedon knows how to use genre conventions to tell deeply personal stories and at the same time, mythologize the experiences we all face in life. Whether it's the idea that high school is hell that he explored so thoroughly in "Buffy," or the concept that redemption is an ongoing process from "Angel," or looking at the necessity of honesty and authenticity in "Firefly," Whedon's world is always fun, fascinating, and unexpected.

"Dollhouse" is Whedon's latest entry into the world of the televised serial drama. It's the story of an organization that wipes the identities of men and women so they can imprint them with new personalities for the Dollhouse's wealthy clientele. As the series progresses, we discover that one of the Dollhouse's "actives" begins to retain memories from her previous personalties and she starts to challenge the organization she is trapped within.

"Dollhouse" is an audacious series, dealing with some very fascinating ideas about what is it that makes us unique, what it is that makes us human. While the show's first few episodes were a little weak, Whedon and his team really took the show in some daring and bold directions by the time the first season wrapped. And in an extra, unaired episode, we begin to catch glimpses of some of the consequences for the Dollhouse and their actions.

Now we're a few episodes into the second season, I really feel like they've hit their stride. Most of the people who work for the Dollhouse are morally challenged - they don't see any problems with using people and seeing others as "playthings," as one character puts it. But as we're getting deeper into the show's mythology and coming closer to the events described in the fateful, unaired episode, these morally bankrupt individuals are beginning to face real ethical dilemmas. Clients are trying to take things too far, the larger organization that owns the Dollhouse is beginning to commit acts that even the most amoral among them finds repulsive. They all think they're willing to do whatever the job requires, but they're finding that even they have their breaking point.

I'm really excited to see where this show is heading. It was certainly uneven in the beginning, but now I can't wait for each new episode.

Where the Wild Things Are: The Uncertainty of Childhood Childhood is a frightening and scary time. Sure, we like to wax nostalgic about the innocence of youth, but when it comes right down to it, being a child is one of the most confusing times in our life. Events happen all around us and we don't always have the ability to understand the reasons behind it all. Families crumble and the child has no way to fully grasp what his parents are going through. Even more, we often feel that we have no voice, no way to communicate to the adults who are making all of our decisions for us. We're helpless. Vulnerable. And many times we feel alone.

This is part of the magic behind the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. Director Spike Jonze and writer Dave Eggers have taken a children's book of a few sentences and some haunting images, and crafted a movie that perfectly captures this uncertainty of childhood in a way rarely seen in other films. We see the frustration of not being heard. We feel the ache and pain of a broken family. We understand the child's desire to have even a small measure of control - even if it's only becoming king of the monsters raging within.

Where the Wild Things Are is a haunting, beautiful, funny, scary, and ultimately touching film. One of my favorites this year.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Magic Wishing Apple So, Amazon had a fantastic deal on the Blu-Ray disc of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Kelsie and I couldn't pass it up. Being one of the undisputed classics of animation - and of film history, too - we had to put it in as soon as the disc showed up in our mailbox.

I always seem to forget how amazing Snow White is. Animation today is so slavishly concerned with producing animation characters and backgrounds that seem real. Watching Snow White is like stepping into a gorgeous painting - the colors are so vivid, the brushstrokes so expressive... it's a film that could never be improved by adding more "detail" or "realism" to the animation. Part of what makes it such a beautiful film is this lack of detail that so many animated films these days struggle to do away with.

This being a Disney film, we all know that evil will be vanquished and true love will conquer all. That's a given. But watching the movie this time, I was struck by something. In order to get Snow White to eat the poisoned apple, she tells the princess that it's a magic wishing apple. And of course, the gullible Show White believes her and takes a bite of the apple. We all think, how sad, Snow White's dead. But at the end of the day, the apple really was a wishing apple for Snow White. She falls into a sleeping death after eating the apple, but the moment she wakes up, Prince Charming is by her side. One minute she's in the cottage, the next she's with her prince. Her wish came true.

You know, it gets me thinking about life. Sometimes it really sucks. Life seems to fall apart on a fairly regular basis. But just as the apple, the witch's instrument of death, became a means of fulfilling Snow White's desires, so too can our trials and tribulations be used by God to bring about the good, pleasing, and perfect designs he has for our lives. Sometimes, a poisoned apple really can be a wishing apple.

Alfred Hitchcock: Trouble Lurks Just Below the Surface Last night, Kelsie and I went to a Hitchcock double feature at the Seattle International Film Festival Cinema. They were playing The 39 Steps and a personal favorite, Shadow of a Doubt. I'd never seen Hitchcock on the big screen, so seeing two of his best films at once was such a treat. And seeing them back-to-back really highlighted one of Hitchcock's major themes and obsessions - the world is a sinister and cruel place, and any of us can be swept away in an instant.

The 39 Steps is quintessential Hitchcock, setting up and perfecting the classic "wrong man" structure he would use in so many later films. A man is accused of a crime he didn't commit and is now on the run, trying to prove his innocence by bringing the real villain to justice. It's a fairly simple story, but Hitchcock handles the material with brilliance, mixing all of the filmic elements together in a perfect balance of comedy and suspense. But what really intrigues me about the movie is the way it begins. Our hero, Richard Hannay, is out for an evening of entertainment when he meets a mysterious woman who asks him to take her home. Of course, he agrees. But it turns out she isn't looking for a romantic liason, she's a spy on the run for her life. In this one moment, our innocent hero finds himself caught up by the cruel hand of fate.

While the case could certainly be made that Hannay went looking for trouble by bringing a strange woman home with him, the same could not be said for the heroine of Hitchcock's later film, Shadow of a Doubt. Charlotte is thrilled when her favorite uncle, Charlie, announces that he will be paying her family a visit. However, she begins to suspect that the perfect and charming Charlie might in fact be a serial killer. Shadow of a Doubt takes the "wrong man" formula and turns it on its ear. Early on it becomes clear that uncle Charlie is, in fact, the "right man," much as Charlotte wishes it to be otherwise. We discover that detectives are following Charlie and one other man, trying to determine which of them is the killer. If this had been a traditional Hitchcock narrative, the story would have followed this other man on a quest to clear his name. But in this fantastic thriller, we instead follow the innocent Charlotte, as she discovers that evil can be as close as family, sleeping under the same roof.

How To Be Good: What Does It Mean To Follow Your Convictions? I just finished reading Nick Hornby's How to be Good. I really love Hornby's relaxed and engaging style, his characters who often live in a constant state of self-delusion, and the inevitable epiphanies that forever change said characters' lives. But while all of those trademark qualities were there, Hornby also adds a little subversive touch to How to be Good that totally captivated me.

How to be Good is the story of a woman who learns to be less selfish through having her life turned upside-down. Katie believes that she's a good person - after all, she became a doctor so she could help people. She's having an affair, but since her husband, David, is a cynical and loveless blowhard, it's only natural. Right? Seeing the life they know fall apart, her David begins to follow the teachings of a homeless street guru and has a radicial transformation. He stops being unkind and callous. He starts wanting to make a difference in the world, and not just in small, inconsequential ways. He gives away his children's toys. He tries to convince his neighbors to take in a homeless teenager. He wants to stop talking about society's problems. He wants to start doing something about it. And Katie does not take this well.

How to be Good is such an interesting little exploration of what it means to truly follow through on your beliefs and convictions. It's a stinging indictment of an attitude that says, "I care deeply about the problems of the world, as long as it doesn't inconvenience me." A thought-provoking and very funny book.

"The Vampire Diaries": My Love/Hate Relationship With Genre TV I'm a sucker for genre television and cinema. So, whenever a new TV appears that might be a little science fiction-y or might delve into the realms of horror or fantasy, I'm always willing to give it a chance. That's how I get stuck watching trash like "The Vampire Diaries." We're already four episodes in and nothing much has happened. I keep wanting to give up on it. The characters are generic and bland, the episodes are filled with meaningless interactions endless brooding, and the plotting for each episode is more whiny teen soap opera than spine-tingling suspense thriller.

I still hold "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" up as the supreme example of how to craft a compelling genre experience. Even though its first season was by no means perfect, at least they knew how to keep the episodes moving with quick action, funny quips, and characters you actually cared for. "The Vampire Diaries" has none of the elements which made "Buffy" such an outstanding series. Each episode meanders until the last five minutes, when they finally do something to advance the plot and put the sappy romantic drama in the background where it belongs.

Kelsie and I finally caught up on last week's episode and, just when we were about to give up for good, they pulled out a plot development that was actually somewhat intriguing. And now I feel like I have to give it another week to see if they make anything of it. They probably won't, but the genre nerd inside of me feels obligated to give them the benefit of the doubt - even if they haven't earned it.

The Writer's Block is Back! Well, it's been about two and a half years since I last updated JoshHornbeck.com and The Writer's Block. A lot has happened during that time (I got married, I lost my job, I grew a beard) and I figured it was about time to finally get back to the website I loved updating so much. There have been a few changes: I'm focusing more on my own creative writing (plays, poetry, fiction) and I'm doing less simple movie reviews. I'll still be posting some of my thoughts on art and culture, but I'll be waiting until I have something more substantial to say than a simple "I thought it was great" or "This movie sucks." I'm also launching the first edition of The Writer's Block Comic Strip and the very first episode of The Writer's Block Podcast. I'm still fumbling my way through the recording and editing process, so please don't judge me too harshly. I've just put up The Store at JoshHornbeck.com, where you can purchase copies of my scripts, performance rights, and other theatre resources. All of the content is new to JoshHornbeck.com - I'll be going over older pieces during the next few months and seeing what makes the cut and what gets permanently shelved - so please take your time and enjoy the site.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at josh@joshhornbeck.com. Please let me know if you would not like your comment or question shared on the website or on the podcast.

Thanks again for checking out the revamped JoshHornbeck.com. Hopefully it won't take another two and a half years for me to post something else.

Josh