1. Mad Max: Fury Road
This is a film that invites inspection through its masterful use of hinting; it hints at the details of a vast world, rich with symbolism, character, story and ethos. But all of that is on the periphery of a film that appears deceptively simple; a straightforward chase movie with minimal dialog and almost no direct exposition. The film has already been examined thoroughly from many perspectives - cinematic, feminist, allegorical, etc - but I wanted to look at two instances of single-word storytelling. It’s fitting that a script so spartan works to pack as much punch into each word as it can, but to tell a whole story with a single word is pretty incredible.
“Redemption”
All of Furiosa’s back story, her entire character arc, is revealed in a single word more than half way through the film. We are introduced to her as a character that rarely speaks, a kindred spirit to Max himself, who seems primarily motivated by survival instinct. We don’t get any insight into why she takes the initial action that sets the film’s events in motion until they are long underway. She and Max talk about what the women they have rescued are hoping to find, and then he turns it on her. “What are you looking for?” he asks. “Redemption,” she says.
We understand all of Furiosa’s history with that word. We know what kind of man Imortan Joe is, we know how he treats people, how he treats women. We know that she is a high ranking officer in his army / cult, perhaps even his right hand. We can imagine what she must have done, what she must have been through, to get there. And that’s the key. That single word, “redemption,” lets us imagine it all. We don’t need it spelled out for us. We don’t need our faces rubbed in it. We don’t need a lengthy flashback or a prologue or pages of expository dialog. One word tells the story.
“Witness”
The details of Imortan Joe’s religion are again only hinted at, but there’s enough there to paint a picture. It’s a warrior cult; the War Boys live to fight, hoping to sacrifice themselves, like berserkers or kamikazee, heroically on the battlefield, so that they may be “awaited” in Valhalla. But before they make their sacrifice, they call out to their companions: “Witness!” The sacrifice itself is not enough, someone has to see it. The childlike nature of the War Boys leaves them craving attention and approval. Someone must see, must know what they are doing. To the point that Nux, having flooded his cabin with gas, ready to suicide bomb the War Rig, and finding none of his compatriots around, turns to his prisoner, Max, to be his validation: “Witness me, blood-bag!”
Later in the film, after missing his chance at glory, Nux forms a friendship with Capable. She is the first person to show him compassion, to listen to him. When he is about to make his final sacrifice, he looks at her through the windshield to the next car, holds out his hand to her, and says “witness.”
And she does. Calmly, compassionately and intently, she watches him. She gives him what he needs, for his faith which she does not share. There is no emotional distress or pleading, no lengthy description of what it means to her or to him, just a witness to his deeds. To let him know that he is seen. The story of their relationship is told in a single word.
2. Spy
Once this film gets going, the laughs are so wall-to-wall it’s almost painful; thanks to Melissa McCarthy’s ability to riff endlessly with assists from a great cast. The great thing about the movie is that it’s not a parody. It’s not making fun of James Bond, she is James Bond, complete with all the gadgets, goofy villains, crazy conspiracies and fight scenes. It’s just that the movie is also very funny. The target of the mockery is not the spy movie genre but the toxic masculinity often at its heart.
This is personified beautifully by Jason Statham’s Rick Ford character. Full of bluster, constantly recounting tales of his impossible heroics, forever insisting that he alone can and will save the world, he not only dismisses McCarthy’s Susan Cooper out of hand (as does everyone else in the film), he is personally insulted at her being considered for the same task. He is, of course, revealed to be completely incompetent in comparison to her.
Rick Ford is an obvious target. More subtle is Jude Law’s Bradley Fine character. Although a skilled agent himself, he has consistently (perhaps even unwittingly) subverted Susan’s career advancement, using her talents to support him in the field and preventing her any opportunity to shine on her own.
But best of all, this movie is just weird.
3. The Duke of Burgundy
There were three films released in February 2015 that dealt with BDSM relationships. Most famously, Fifty Shades of Grey depicts a man dominating a woman. The insane Japanese film R100 involves a man signing up to be dominated by a whole squadron of women. But The Duke of Burgundy, by telling a story about two women, is able remove all of the sexual politics that inevitably arise in the others.
The film is not set in our world, but in some timeless cocoon world; a world devoid of technology, devoid of men, and where everyone is strangely fascinated by moths. It feels a bit like this year’s Under the Skin with its deliberate pace and otherworldly characters. Weird soundtrack, too. This is a film that shifts your perceptions, realizing (what seems obvious in retrospect) which character is more controlling, more dominant. The age difference highlights this as well.
Also, too, this movie is super weird.
4. Carol
Cate Blanchett is amazing. I think there were some other people in this movie, too.
5. Clouds of Sils Maria
This is another film that shifts the viewer’s perceptions as it unfolds. An onion-layered film with a play-within-a-movie structure, the lines between play-character, movie-character, and even real life actor become blurred. But at a certain point you realize you’ve been linking the actors with the wrong characters all along. A fun movie to dissect afterwards (which the characters themselves spend a fair amount of the film doing). Not recommended for people who require story lines to be resolved.
Not Quite:
Appropriate Behavior: good, but needed to be weirder.
Grandma: Lily Tomlin is great of course, but writing is too on-the-nose.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens: It was the best of JJ, it was the worst of JJ. Exceptional casting, great characterisation, propulsive, fun and exciting. But doesn’t hold up to examination, relies heavily on convenience, and uses nostalgia and unearned emotion in place of actual motivation and world building. Seriously, what is the political situation at the start of the movie?
Mockingjay Part 2: Lionsgate’s cash-grabbing decision to split this into two films dooms the whole series into not being worth revisiting. Criminal waste of Jena Malone.
