Why Michel Gondry is a Genius

Because Jennifer studied this past weekend, I rented and watched a few movies. In the order I watched them, here is my opinion:

Volver

This movie reminded me why, before she was tainted by Vanilla Sky and Tom Cruise, I thoroughly enjoyed Penelope Cruz in Blow. She is a fine actress. Even though I was impressed with Cruz, Pedro Almodovar surrounded her with great supporting actors in an extremely entertaining and funny movie about the resilience of women. I suppose it’s easier to act believably given Almodovar’s filmmaking skill.

Letters from Iwo Jima

Because his characters are well developed, I thoroughly enjoyed Clint Eastwood’s retelling of the World War II battle for Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. For example, I found myself caring deeply about the well being of the simple baker, conscripted for service near the end of the war when a Japanese defeat was all but certain, about the special forces member, demoted for insubordination when he refused to needlessly kill a pet dog, and about the commanding general who, even in the face of terrible odds, treated his troops and life in general with deep respect. Still and even though I think Eastwood directed a terrific movie, the message is a little tired because it is the same as with so many other war films: War sucks.

Little Children

I probably should start by saying that Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly are two of my favorite actresses. Keeping in mind my bias, I doubt that Little Children would have worked nearly as well without them. The movie is about how adults act in selfish, and childish, ways. There are six main characters who, in some way or another, grow throughout the film. Each character’s story, at least tangentially, relates to the characters protrayed by Winslet and Connelly. Winslet was perfect as a Mrs. Dalloway like character, trapped in a life with a child she doesn’t want and a husband whom she doesn’t love, who has an affair with Connelly’s husband. Likewise, I cannot imagine anyone else believably portraying Connelly’s character, a role that simultaneously required the exploitation and metaphorical concealment of her striking beauty.

Overall, I liked it. However, Todd Field chose to include a voice over in various parts of the movie telling the audience what his characters were thinking. I personally think that is an cinematic trick used by second rate directors to avoid good character development. The tragic part in this instance is that I don’t think Field needed the voice over. His characters and story are well developed and I think it would have been a much better movie had he not insulted his viewers and simply let them draw their own conclusions about the characters’ thoughts.

The Science of Sleep

This was by far my favorite movie of the four. In fact, I enjoyed it more than any movie I’ve seen in recent memory. Jennifer happened to catch the very end of the movie and asked me to explain what was happening. I paused the movie and, after thinking about how to approach an explanation, I decided that it is almost impossible to explain without watching it. But I tried. I’ll try again:

The film follows a few months in the life of Stephane (portrayed by Gael Garcia Bernal), a troubled young artist, who has just returned from Mexico to Paris where his mother has arranged for him to work as a graphic designer at a calendar company. Stephane is deeply upset about the recent death of his father, with whom he was living in Mexico, from cancer. His depression is compounded by the fact that the job his mother arranged for him turns out to involve brainless technical work with no creative input necessary. But his situation takes a fortunate turn when he meets, and falls in love with, Stephanie, his new neighbor (portrayed with understated grace and charm by Charlotte Gainsbourg) who understands Stephane in a way that most people do not.

It seems fairly straightforward, right? It would be except that Michel Gondry’s film can only be described as surrealist. Stephane, you see, has difficulty telling apart his dreams from reality. Gondry’s gift is a film that seamlessly blends Stephane’s worlds so that, at times, it is impossible for the audience to tell if what is happening on screen is dream or reality. But that’s the point. Through his character, Gondry leaves reality behind to explore truly important things about our lives and the human condition like our fear of rejection, and beauty, and love. In my opinion, film can often be boring and straightforward so that I am rarely awed while watching a movie in the same way that I am when hearing a beautiful song or a staring at a fabulous painting. With The Science of Sleep, however, I stared at the screen a number of times and simply thought, “How profoundly beautiful.”