Argo is a film that is torn between two time periods from its opening retro-style Warner Bros. logo. The film is set in 1980 during the Iran hostage crisis but it is impossible to watch the angry mobs of Arabs burning American flags and effigies and not be reminded of our recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the film takes a brief pause to show the domestic response of yellow ribbons tied to trees and messages of hope and salvation on church marquees, one is instantly reminded of our country's immediate response after 9/11. A tear gas can shot directly into the face of a mobster could be on CNN tonight. Cathode ray televisions are set side-by-side as a precursor to today's super-sized televisions. Papers are shredded instead of hard drives being deleted. Argo is set in the past but grounded in the present, and that's why it works.
The scenes set in Iran wish to give a sense of history and documentary; handheld cameras, shaky cinematography and footage that looks like it could have been shot from a cellphone camera but in fact just belies its age. Scenes again familiar and comparable to the Arab Spring and other turbulent places around the world most Americans can't even spell. In the film, Vietnam is still fresh in the mind of Americans and in one cutaway, a veteran states he would be willing to bear arms again to ensure freedom. Comparing the current situation in Syria is being too generous to the film, considering the time difference but it is still a scary realization of how time repeats itself, but with seeming greater frequency.
Scenes filmed stateside are much calmer and provide the limited comedic contrast that is desperately needed in a film this tense. Cameras roll, pan and are slower to cut away. There are problems elsewhere in the world but it holds no real bearing over aily American life, barring the political and emotional consequences and this is none more apparent than in the opulent den of Hollywood; a place so rotten its sign is crumbling above. This is a movie that loves movies and how they are made. Perhaps not to the degree of a film such as Ed Wood, but various references are made to John Wayne, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Muppets, Planet of the Apes and Kramer vs. Kramer and a very in-joke feeling crack is made against the Writer's Guild of America. This is a very meta concept of a movie about a fake movie to rescue hostages.
Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez proposes fooling the Iranians under the guise of shooting a space opera, the eponymous Argo, to smuggle six hostages out of the country. In the film it is described as the best worst plan they have, which is supposed to create a sense of tension but the tension in the film comes from fantastic set-pieces from Ben Affleck the director. A scene with the six hostages and Mendez being driven and then a mob hitting the car creates a deafening racket that is more effective than any 'edgy' score could ever create. When the group is forced to go to an Iranian bazaar to maintain their cover feels so claustrophobic it feels as if they are animals headed for slaughter before their Iranian culture contact helps them escape the mob that ensues due to their American appearance, all the while the main characters maintaining their Canadian cover story. This is the way to create a masterful thriller rife with tension and unpredictability. Being based on a true story undermines the film to the core. American audiences love a good underdog story and won't stand for anything less than complete victory, so when the group finally arrives at the airport in one piece any audience member that has ever seen a film will know they safely get on the plane. That's how this works. Otherwise they would not have made a movie, so when the trite deus ex machinas of Mendez decides he's going to take the group through against direct orders, complete with eyes dramatically raising for the camera, When The Levee Breaks being too on the nose or Jack re-validating their tickets right before they board the plane, the film falls right back into the Hollywood machine of melodrama down to the last frame of forced sentimentality when it had the potential to be as special and unique as a fake movie used as a cover story by the CIA.
Bryan Cranston gives a standout performance as always and is in the same film as Alan Arkin again since the superior Little Miss Sunshine and John Goodman once again features in the winner of Best Picture after 2011's The Artist and almost plays the same character, albeit with more dialogue this time, you know, actually having some. Affleck did get snubbed a Best Director nomination, leaving such haunting and thought-provoking images such as the man hanging from the crane, the hypocritical globalization of the women in a burka eating Kentucky Fried Chicken, a typewriter echoing the shots of a machine gun*, to a shot that invokes the infamous glass of water shot from Jurassic Park only this time with a wine glass to portray the pending danger. He expertly blends the fine line of the hostages plight and their palpable discontent in the plan. Mendez asks them to memorize their covers back to front. He asks them to method act, their covers become scripts. The reason I believe he was snubbed is because the quaint droll that is the third act. There is virtually no character building in the film, although it asks of us to be deeply emotionally invested. We learn who is married and who is apprehensive and that's about it. When Mendez comes home to his wife it doesn't feel as though he did everything to come back to her, he comes back to her because he has no where else to go. Affleck remains an emotional constant throughout the film, in other words flat, failing to make eye contact with other characters unless necessary or for dramatic effect.
Argo wants us so desperately to believe it, to take it seriously and as real events, down to the voice over of President Ford during the credits until the end of the credits, when the disclaimer comes “Some scenes and dialogue in this film have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes.” The illusion is broken. It was just a movie.
*Is the pen mightier than the sword?
Did it deserve Best Picture? Yes, with caveats.
Grade: B+
+ Ar-go fuck yourself
+ Movie about a fake movie with actors playing their parts to get out alive
+ The Iranian soldiers joy of going through the storyboard after they leave
+ Hits close to home
- Affleck's acting; Lord help Batman vs. Superman
- Some elements are just too melodramatic or on the nose
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Friday, August 30, 2013
Along The Way
During the course of this journey don't be surprised if reviews other than the films on The List show up. I plan on covering a wide variety of media besides my weekly Best Picture reviews, the first of which will be the Humble Comedy Bundle which I will review as a whole seeing as that is how it is purchased and received so expect that in the next day or two. Also, Breaking Bad.
Here...we...go...
Call me crazy. Call me inspired. Call me a man on a mission. I am going to watch every Academy Award-winner for Best Picture and talk about it here. I have no credentials to do this besides an ISP, a love of film and my very small amount of amateur stage performances. I'm just a twenty-something English major that sees the oft-quoted blue curtains and sees the symbolism. Most people just see the curtains. Perhaps that is my main motivation. Hollywood has always fallen into ruts since its inception. Noir, westerns, police procedurals, superhero films, Big Dumb Action Movies and their ilk and then their sequels. It truly is those lone souls with a vision and a lens that transcend the pop commercialism of movies and make resounding cinema. Movies are now a widely accepted art form, and I believe only stand up as such only if prodded, examined, critiqued and speculated upon justly.
This is quandary I have with the Academy Awards; with the intention of appearing esoteric they avoid the vast majority of films that have affected the state of cinema and pop culture in general, and it seems every time they do they get it wrong. Crash over Brokeback Mountain? Annie Hall over Star Wars? To be fair, the Academy can knock it out of the park. Chicago, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, The Godfather. Not only the Best Picture of the year, but the ones we will pass on and say, "This was the state of our culture this year. This is who were are, who we see our selves as, and who we wish to be." That is the magic of movies and that is why I wish to fully examine each one. Each picture will be a step further back in time. I will start the most recent winner, Argo, and travel all the way back to 1927 with Wings, one film, one week, one step at a time. The historical significance, the social commentary/reflection, and the merits as film and its entertainment value. Besides isn't that the point?
This is quandary I have with the Academy Awards; with the intention of appearing esoteric they avoid the vast majority of films that have affected the state of cinema and pop culture in general, and it seems every time they do they get it wrong. Crash over Brokeback Mountain? Annie Hall over Star Wars? To be fair, the Academy can knock it out of the park. Chicago, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, The Godfather. Not only the Best Picture of the year, but the ones we will pass on and say, "This was the state of our culture this year. This is who were are, who we see our selves as, and who we wish to be." That is the magic of movies and that is why I wish to fully examine each one. Each picture will be a step further back in time. I will start the most recent winner, Argo, and travel all the way back to 1927 with Wings, one film, one week, one step at a time. The historical significance, the social commentary/reflection, and the merits as film and its entertainment value. Besides isn't that the point?
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