Hanna and her slip ups.

I was sure I didn’t like Hanna until I realized that people are loving it! And when I say people, I don’t mean the masses who have scrambled eggs for brains, I mean people I associate myself with, the sunny side up for brains, and I’m trying to figure out what they liked about it. Because I came out of Hanna feeling… nothing.

So I thought about it… and then it hit me. I didn’t hate it. In fact, I never hated it. And that’s the thing. While you’re watching it, you’re not bored; in fact, you find yourself smiling a lot of the time, because it’s ingenuous! It’s violent, yet funny; thrilling, yet sensitive. It has Cate Blanchett and Saoirse Ronan, who deliver great performances and might I add, bear a striking resemblance to each other. It has great characters, great cinematography and a great sound score featuring the Chemical Brothers. But as it happens, snippets of greatness do not a great movie make.

The attention to detail by setting the tone of the movie in greys and reds is very arty and it’s combined with great action sequences cut in perfect sync to the music, which is all very well, but these two great facets don’t come together.  At one level you love it for the former and at another for the latter, but as a whole, it’s neither.  It’s not an art film, it’s not an action film and neither is it a music video.

And as much as I respect a director’s choice to make something out of the box, I failed to grasp the meaning of wanting to do so. Clearly he had something else to say with the film, because it started out as an action thriller and then it slowed down, with the promise of being something more, but it never quite delivered on that promise.

So as much as I have nothing bad to say about this film, I really have nothing great to say either. You want to give it a standing ovation on the grounds of bravery and choices well made, but it falls short on so many accounts, that your knees give way just as you’re about to stand up. 

Here's looking at you kid....

People keep asking me "What's your favourite film?'. And I'm at a loss. So many films...so many great films...how do you decide? But I think I've narrowed it down... looking at all the films I own, I would have to say it was a tough decision between 'Casablanca' and 'Goodfellas'. But I think I would have to give it to 'Casablanca'. It's near flawless. The more times I've seen that film, the more times I'm convinced that there is absolutely nothing about that film that does not work.

Some may say that 'Casablanca' got lucky. I suppose luck was on its side when they chose to release it only three weeks after Eisenhower marched into Africa. But looking back, it was an accomplishment in the true sense of the word. Although 'Casablanca' is most remembered for its romantic idealism, the story did not have a happy ending. 'Havana' tried to recapture 'Casablanca''s romantic idealism and all star cast and the result was a complete failure...because there was more to 'Casablanca' than mere romance. There was mystery, political propaganda, heroism, romance...all mixed into one. The characters are the most well loved characters of our time, but in truth, there was nothing lovable about the characters themselves. They were hypocrits, cynics, liars, underground leaders, and thieves. But somehow the movie let them rise above all that and redeemed them of their various character flaws. The end...I think almost all would agree that it is one of the best movie endings. The movie would not have had the same resonance if Bogey had left with Ilsa. That little selfless act at the end managed to turn Rick into a hero, while throughout the film, he was just a drunken hypocrite, who had given up on life and ran a bar.

But the fact is, if  'Casablanca' had been made today, it would never have been popular. We've all seen too much and know too much. Our cynicism would never let us appreciate a movie of such simple values. But it's nice to believe that life was once a lot less complicated and simpler, irrespective of whether that might be true or not. I could go on and on...but I'm too sleepy. I'll say one thing though...those dialogues that make it the most quoted film (I think besides 'Pulp Fiction') ...to think that it was all an improvised script. Now you tell me, could anyone pull a stunt like that and get away with it today? I quite seriously doubt it.

Postmodernism. Is it dead?

The thing about postmodernism is that there is no one-way to define it. That is apparently the most postmodern thing about it. Where do critics fit into this postmodern picture? After I go watch a film I like to read reviews, and although it interests me to see what people have to say about it I don't think it defines my own opinion of it but that's only because I probably have the same knowledge as them and can put that same knowledge into a different perspective.... but what about people without that knowledge? Must they depend on a singular person's perspective? Critics are forever trying to pass off their own opinions on things as the "right" one. Is there a right opinion? If there is, then clearly postmodernism is dead. Postmodernism only came into being because of the knowledge of the fact that there was far too much knowledge in the world to narrow information down but here are people who are making a whole career out of narrowing it down for us.

It can't be helped.... if enough information leads you to one direction then, unless you have access to all the other information, you tend to follow in on that one. Isn’t that a deconstruction of postmodernism? All art, all film... is in theory post modernistic and yet we have art awards and film awards. Does an Oscar winning film automatically mean a film's good? There has never been a theory or set of rules that defines what makes a good film, good and good art, good. It’s all personal. You take from films and art what you will. Titanic sailed through all the Oscars that year...and one year later those same critics that applauded it, suddenly decided it was no more than a soppy, romantic film. Postmodernism was still standing to an extent...but what is its place in the 21st century? I can't help but think we're slowly progressing into a post-post modernistic age, where all the distinctions we took away are being brought back into force. We’re redrawing all the lines we once rubbed out. How do I define a film in documentary, narrative or experimental? Are there no other genres? Do all the films I ever made not even count? If film and art is postmodern, is its interpretation becoming post-post modern? Will the two coexist? If not which one will survive?