Coal-Hearted Cinema
Although I do my best to find the bright side of this time of year, my greatest pop-culture solace lies in the grimmer holiday film fare. Herein lies a list of dark Christmas movies that I originally compiled for Word and Film; consider it a mint on your pillow from the proprietress of Moulin Scrooge.
“The Ref” (1994)
Directed by Ted Demme (the late nephew of director Jonathan Demme), this stars Denis Leary as a potty-mouthed cat burglar who holds the wrong Connecticut couple hostage over the holidays. Judy Davis and Kevin Spacey are brilliant as spouses bound only by their matching sneers; supporting turns from J.K. Simmons as a military school commander and Glynis Johns as a mommie dearest-in-law round out the domestic sadism nicely. An excellent entry in the “Marriage Is Hard” film genre repopularized by “Gone Girl.”
“Bad Santa” (2003)
As a shopping mall Santa drowning in Wild Turkey and his own special strain of foul-mouthed misanthropy, Bill Bob Thornton is the ultimate antidote to candy cane cheer. Directed by Terry Zwigoff (“Crumb,” “Ghost World”), executive produced by the Coen Brothers, and co-starring the likes of John Ritter, Bernie Mac, Lauren Graham, and Tony Cox, this may be the crankiest – and least sentimental – Christmas movie ever crafted. Trust me, that’s a compliment.
“Batman Returns” (1992) Directed by Tim Burton, this is the most macabre of all the Batman movies – including, yes, Christopher Nolan’s recent hot messes. Set during the Christmas season, this stars Danny DeVito as the Penguin, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, Christopher Walken as a nefarious tycoon, a bevy of visual puns based on ice, and, of course, Michael Keaton as The Bat. It’s especially fun to revisit now that Keaton is starring in “Birdman,” the much-touted, thinly disguised meta-commentary on his inclusion in this film franchise.
“Metropolitan” (1990)
This account of New York City debutantes during one holiday season is one of the archest (and most articulate) films ever made about lifestyles of the rich and un-famous. As dour as it is dapper, Whit Stillman’s debut feature serves up an an uneasily brilliant catalog of the cultural decline of the “Urban Haute Bourgeoisie” to which these twentysomethings (including a then-unknown Christopher Eigeman) belong.
“A Christmas Tale” (2008)
About a fractured clan reassembled for Christmas to find a bone marrow match for their leukemia-stricken matriarch (Catherine Deneuve!), this offering from French director Arnaud Desplechin is jumbled, novelistic, gorgeous, erotic, neurotic, heart-rending, and deeply, deeply skeptical of “blood bonds.” Costarring such European greats as Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, and Chiara Mastroianni (Deneuve’s daughter, a star in her own right), this is one of the best films of the Aughts – and easily the most underrated. Continue Reading →
Faith for the Faithless, Mary for All
From David Brooks’ “The Subtle Sensations of Faith”:
Marx thought that religion was the opiate of the masses, but Soloveitchik argues that, on the contrary, this business of living out a faith is complex and arduous: “The pangs of searching and groping, the tortures of spiritual crises and exhausting treks of the soul purify and sanctify man, cleanse his thoughts, and purge them of the husks of superficiality and the dross of vulgarity. Out of these torments there emerges a new understanding of the world, a powerful spiritual enthusiasm that shakes the very foundations of man’s existence.”
Insecure believers sometimes cling to a rigid and simplistic faith. But confident believers are willing to face their dry spells, doubts, and evolution. Faith as practiced by such people is change. It is restless, growing. It’s not right and wrong that changes, but their spiritual state and their daily practice. As the longings grow richer, life does, too. As Wiman notes, “To be truly alive is to feel one’s ultimate existence within one’s daily existence.”
So often, possessing a strong faith and a strongly interrogative nature puts me in the middle of every maelstrom. I will never trust anything blindly; I will never rule out the possibility that something can be trusted. For I know the warmth that has been extended to me from grace in all its faces (including my permakitten’s), and I never cease to be grateful–just as I am always grateful for the power of discernment granted me from that very same source. Today–and all these precious celebrations of winter solstice, really–is an opportunity to sit in received grace as Mary did. It’s so potent, this sort of active receptivity, and in these festivals of light I can feel everyone channeling this gentle lioness, or at least acknowledging her purr. Marianne Williamson says, “Christmas isn’t one man’s birth 2,000 years ago; it’s anytime we allow the love inside us to be born into the world.”
Today, and every day, I wish for faith for the faithless, curiosity for the unquestioning, joy for the joyless, communion for the unaccompanied, and love for the unlovable–with great intellectual rigor for all, and, of course, even greater grace. Happy holidays, dear Sirenaders.
Magical Social Realism: ‘Two Days, One Night’
There are few pleasures in contemporary cinema comparable to those of watching Marion Cotillard. This is not to objectify the French actress. In fact, I’m not sure if it’s even possible to objectify a woman who is so marvelously the subject of everything she graces. She deserved the Oscar she won for her portrayal of Édith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose”; she deserves an Oscar for nearly all her performances. So it’s really saying something that her turn in “Two Days, One Night,” the newest release from the Dardenne Brothers, may outstrip all her previous work.
It helps that this film is, like most of the Belgium writer/directors’ projects, a carefully layered social drama. Such material suits the unique talents of Cotillard, who is unparalleled in her ability to summon turmoil – furies, miseries, manias – without warning and at a pitch that is admirably unmodern. She stars as Sandra, a mother of two who’s been on medical leave from her job at a solar panel factory. Sandra struggles with a clinical depression that is exacerbated when her coworkers vote to save their bonuses (1,000 euros each) rather than her job. Since her family are barely on their feet as it is – husband Jean-Marc (Olivier Gourmet) is a kitchen worker, and they only recently came out of public housing – she’s forced to petition her sixteen colleagues with the question “will you vote for me?” when her boss agrees to poll them again in a secret ballot. Continue Reading →