Filmography

[the_lady_lily]

The Last Temptation of Christ

We decided to watch this during Lent as seasonally appropriate, and as an interesting way to meditate upon the Passion. Neither of us had seen it before, although we were both familiar with the general scandal it caused upon its original release - essentially, Christ's final temptation involves the possibility of a life lived with lots of sex and children, and no final agony of death in the crucifixion. This caused uproar because the film showed Christ having sex - missing the point that it was in the period of the temptation that this happened, and that as far as temptations go, sex is a jolly good one.

Martin Scorsese is a good director, and there are some aspects of this that are beautifully shot. Willem Dafoe makes a surprisingly good Jesus, one who grapples with the problems of being God and man at the same time, of having this fight with God inside your head. There's also a rather good portrait of the relationship between Jesus and Judas (Harvey Keitel), that gives a particular reading of the betrayal scene that makes Judas the most loyal disciple of them all - it's powerful and well-acted reading, and as convincing as any.

Of course, the classic David Bowie cameo as Pontius Pilate has to be mentioned. Because it's brilliant. Four stars, although probably best to mention that crucifixions appear from earlier on than you might expect.

Miller's Crossing

This, as a Coen Brothers' film we hadn't seen, was simply wonderful. It's very dry, very well done, set in a 1930s American city that looks suspiciously like Chicago but is probably generic props, based around the tussling between two ganster mob bosses, the established Leo (Albert Finney) and upstart Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). Caspar wants the head of Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro), who has been cheating him on the horses. Bernie's sister Verna (Marcia Gay Harden) is Leo's girl, so he has an interest in protecting the brother. However, it is bad politics to protect this minor playing, and Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne), Leo's right-hand man, has no scruples about saying so.

Of course, there is a catch, which is that Tom is sleeping with Verna, and also being wooed by Johnny Caspar. Now, I'm not going to spoil how this all works out, but it's fairly nail-biting stuff, and you get quite keen on finding out what's going to happen next without at any point really liking Tom too much. This is a Good Thing.

There are some absolutely beautiful shots, especially Albery Finney with a cigar between his teeth and a pair of guns shooting cheerfully at the world to the tune of Londonderry Air, although that one sticks in the mind for dramatism rather than cinematography. This has the air of early Cohen Brothers that I really do like quite a lot - a wittiness, a hard-boiled optimisim that things are going to turn out alright, a good script, beautiful images. In fact, it's pretty much pure gem-like early Cohen. Five stars, without question.

Comments

[bromius.livejournal.com]

Miller's Crossing is one of my favorite movies. Beautiful, intricate, supremely well-made, as you say. Perhaps the film's greatest irony is that Tom is the only character with a value system who sticks to it consistently throughout the whole story.

[mejoff.livejournal.com]

Two of my favourite movies, I've never been able to work out why so many Christians got offended rather than finding the 'LOOK WHAT HE GAVE UP FOR YOU!' message of Last Temptation massivley faith affirming, but then I'm not one... and I very much doubt they watched it through to the end

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

I've known people who watched it to the end and then complained that it didn't include the resurrection. D'oh.

The thing that stuck with me most was the sheer brittleness of the bread in the last supper scene. Powerful stuff.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to watch Last Temptation of Christ for eleven years, ever since I read the book and it blew my mind. (good God, how did I get so old?)

[theoldanarchist.livejournal.com]

Miller's Crossing is my favorite Coen Bros. film, filmed, though not set, in New Orleans. When I was there in January, I did some wandering around, looking for places where they filmed. I think I found a few.

[mr-ricarno.livejournal.com]

I love Last Temptation. It was really good for me during my undergraduate days, when I was questioning a lot of the orthodoxies of my upbringing. It showed me that it's possible to be a devout heretic - there's a real spirituality to the movie even though it's very heterodox.

There was a review I read, or an article or something, which looked at the film from a Nietzschian perspective - something about Jesus being shown to be Uebermensch. It's certainly true that the Jesus of the movie is a kind of Everyman, and his struggles are really the struggles of many religious people. It's what makes him so sympathetic, and I think it's the reason why this movie is quietly beloved by so many Christians. I certainly learned to fall in love with Jesus again by watching it.

It may not be theologically or historically correct, but it's a very powerful way of meditating on 'religious knowing': how exactly is it that we discern the will of God, the voice of God, in such horrendous situations? It's a question every Christian needs to struggle with.