January 4–11, 2001
movies
Screenpicks
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Virgin Bride Cabaret
(Fri., Jan. 5, 8 p.m., Painted Bride, 230 Vine St., 215-925-9914, www.paintedbride.org) A benefit for the R2K legal defense team, this evening of fun includes a video presentation from Big Tea Party, as well as spoken word stuff from BTP’s Elizabeth Fiend. Recommended donation is $7, and for $10 you can stick around for Day of the Poet at 10:30.
The Conversation
($29.99 DVD)
In his commentary for this rerelease of his 1974 film, Francis Ford Coppola talks about how he started out wanting to make "personal films," ones which he both wrote and directed, and the adaptations which became his stock in trade starting with The Godfather were meant to be a sideline. It’s an odd comment considering that in the 25 years since, Coppola fulfilled that goal exactly thrice. But no matter: The Conversation stands as Coppola’s best writing effort by far, and his greatest movie apart from Apocalypse Now. Gene Hackman (also in one of his finest performances) stars as Harry Caul, a retiring, paranoid surveillance expert who becomes obsessed with deciphering the seemingly innocuous conversation (between Frederic Forrest and Cindy Williams) he’s been paid to record. Shot with eerie restraint — editor and sound designer Walter Murch says in his commentary that the intent was to mimic the movements of security cameras — the film holds back more the further the noose tightens around Harry’s neck. (Incidentally, Murch’s commentary is by far the more informative of the two, revealing that huge chunks of the film were transposed in editing, and that many of its most memorable moments were only conceived in post-production.) The closer we get to uncovering the motives of Harrison Ford’s unctuous but slyly venomous aide (and his nearly unseen boss, played finally by an uncredited Robert Duvall), the more we want the camera to break loose from its moorings, but it never does. Released the same year as The Godfather, Part II (and eventually losing the Best Picture Oscar to it), The Conversation is in many ways the superior film (though it still loses out to Apocalypse Now overall). Its claustrophobic intensity packs more of an emotional punch than Godfather II’s epic sprawl; while Godfather II goes for the knockout every time, The Conversation sneaks under your guard and floors you with a well-placed jab.
Se7en
($29.95 DVD)
A superb visual stylist with the moral depth of a sophomore philosophy student, David Fincher may be American cinema’s most pretentious thrill jockey. While Fight Club wallowed in shambiguity, disguising its critique of commercialism in a commercial shroud so elegantly crafted it swallowed whatever message the film might have hoped to convey, Se7en (and yes, that is the film’s unfortunate title) stokes the fires of shallow moralism to disguise a gruesome, misogynist genre tale whose juvenile pessimism is equaled only by its gruesome imagination. That the film has acquired the status of "a modern classic" (as film historian Richard Dyer says on the disc) in the five years since its release is a tribute to filmgoers’ and critics’ willingness to mistake provocation for insight, and nihilism for depth.
That said, this deluxe double-DVD set, complete with four full-length audio commentaries, the complete screenplay (a DVD-ROM feature not accessible on Macs, dammit) and a second disc of deleted scenes, alternate endings and galleries of the photos used in the film — all with audio commentary — makes it clear that Fincher is way ahead of the curve in embracing the format (the two-disc Fight Club came similarly well-appointed), and it provides a slew of behind-the-scenes information, as well as an opportunity to study exactly why Se7en has taken on such widespread cult status. It’s clear from his commentary that Fincher’s chiefly interested in pushing his audience’s buttons, which is more the task of the huckster than the artist, but it’s clear that audiences respond to it, at least up to a point. (The stench of manipulation is probably what kept Fight Club from taking off at the box office.) There’s no question that he’s an ace button-pusher — or that Kevin Spacey’s performance pours ice water straight down your spinal column — but it’s a little depressing that people don’t expect more from movies.
As a fascinating aside, the second disc also contains a demonstration of the way Se7en was remastered for DVD. Rather than just making a new transfer, Fincher went back to his original negative, effectively re-color timing the entire film digitally, in addition to entirely remixing the 5.1 theater sound to take advantage of the smaller, more precise environment of home theater systems. The video demonstration, where entire scenes have their color palates shifted and their shots reframed (mostly in a matter of seconds), offers a stunning glimpse into the future. Imagine what a real director could do with that stuff.
