Monday? Tuesday? What’s the difference, really?
U Turn (Oliver Stone, 1997)
I’ve never been a huge fan of Oliver Stone. Watching his film is too much like getting beaten over the head with a blunt object. The exception being The Doors, though that film did open the door to an era of Stone(d) filmmaking in which the style became the message as seen in such movies as the tedious Natural Born Killers (memorable only for the use of the Cowboy Junkies’ version of “Sweet Jane”) and U Turn, which I only just saw. Now all things considered, U Turn wasn’t bad. It just felt like a stylistic exercise rather than a movie.
The story concerns a guy (Sean Penn) who owes a bunch of money to a dangerous man. He’s bringing the cash when his car breaks down in a small desert town where everyone wants to take him for a ride including a young woman (Jennifer Lopez). The woman’s husband (Nick Nolte) wants her dead, she wants him dead, Penn loses his money but can get it back by doing a bit of murder, but who to kill and for whom. Botched crime ensues.
It’s a good story, vaguely reminiscent of the Coen brothers’ Blood Simple, but in execution becomes more a vehicle for Stone’s stylistic obsessions of the late ’90s: grainy spaghetti western shots interspersed with more standard footage, switches to black and white, unmotivated slo-mo, weird/wise old Indian men, attempted Tarantino dialogue. In the end, U Turn was entertaining and I’m glad I watched it, but as with most Oliver Stone films I finished feeling a bit unfulfilled.
How’s Your News? (Arthur Bradford, 1999)
How’s Your News is a documentary about five peope who travel the United States from Maine to California in order tro create their own documentary about the US comprised of man-on-the-street interviews. The thing is all five members of the How’s Your News? team suffer from severe mental and/or physical disabilities. The most remarkable thing about this movie is the way in which it succeeds at being funny and sweet without ever once becoming exploitive or mean. The earnestness with which each team member approaches his interview subjects is touching, and the reactions of the interviewees are wonderful, most of whom don’t have a clue as to why they are being filmed and interviewed. Amazingly most of the people who are interviewed are patient and kind and willing to work with the interviewers after they recognize that they aren’t being played and that the How’s Your News interviewers are serious in their efforts.
This film was made by a guy who was in one of my writing classes at UT. He often seemed not to have much to write about, but clearly he didn’t need to make anything up as his quirky, original and fun documentary shows. Check it out.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
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