Ramsayings

My friend Eric tweeted late last night,” ‘Up in the Air’: politely misguided liberal fantasy, or egregiously clueless and downright offensive in parts Piece Of Shit?”

It made me think of the clip above. I watched Up in the Air earlier this week and wondered what the fuss was about. It tries to do a lot, but I’m not sure it accomplishes very much. It’s boilerplate romance-gone-wrong fare, freighted with a message about how our priorities are wrong and somehow the horrible economy will help us figure out what’s important. Sorry, Mr. Reitman, but the notion of making lemonade doesn’t work when you can’t afford the lemons in the first place.

For people who’ve never been laid off, it seems like the stuff dreams are made of. You’re freed from a job you probably hated anyway; you get some severance, or at least unemployment; and you can reevaluate things and move on. Which is the logic that informs this amazingly hilarious Onion article I read way back in October 2003, when I was about six months into what would be a 2+ year underemployment bid.

I felt that the testimonials that came at the end of the movie from folks who’d lost their jobs in the recent downturn echoed the hope the Obama campaign gave them. Their optimism and their reliance on family to support them in their time of need were both very poignant, but Reitman conveniently leaves out all the stories from the past few years about folks who’ve lost their jobs and have then gone on to violent attacks on their workplaces and communities.

Is Reitman the new W.D. Howells, that is, someone who puts a smiley face on realism? There’s but one “dead end” in the movie, the woman who follows through on her threat to commit suicide. Everyone else just goes on their merry way, for better or worse. Whether it’s finding a new job, or having an affair, or just running away from it all thanks to a nearly infinite supply of frequent flier miles, everyone can find an escape from the humdrum, if not outright happiness.

I think it’s that that people dislike about Reitman’s movies. The simple-mindedness. The breezy dialogue. The beautiful people. The whole ‘resiliency of the human spirit’ trope, which sometimes just seems a little more realistic than the way it’s presented here. Reitman’s youthful, privileged worldview makes it difficult to see things differently than he does, that is, through a lens of infinite possibility. The problem is that Reitman’s skies, like those in Up in the Air, are sunny and cloudless.

I’m sorry, but a Sam Peckinpah film with a happy ending is hardly a Sam Peckinpah film.

I know I’m late to the party, but what a fun documentary! I wish I could catch their show at the TLA next weekend.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil reminded me a bit of American Splendor, except Harvey Pekar’s tendency to accentuate the negative aspects of publicity are 180 degrees out of phase with Lips’ outlook. Who knows how far they’ll take it, but it’s great to see that they’re capitalizing on the film’s success and getting out on the road. It should be a great show!

Kent MacKenzie’s film The Exiles is like watching Germany Year Zero set in L.A. The film tells the story of a handful of Native Americans who’ve moved to Los Angeles. Like Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, also released by Milestone Films, it shows another Los Angeles, stripped of the glitz and glamor.

Think Cassavetes’ Shadows starring a cast of Native Americans who are struggling to find a way to fit into a society that’s locked them out. This isn’t a bunch of beatniks who feel themselves apart from the mainstream; this is a film about people who live parallel lives.

It’s amazing to see movies from this period shot in a neorealist style. Not only do you get a great sense of the characters in context, you get to see the city as it is. The streetscapes are as gritty as anything in a Hollywood noir. It’s an amazing glimpse into a world almost completely ignored in film. Definitely worth checking out.

Want a surefire way to bum yourself out on New Year’s Eve? Watch Food Inc.

I’ve scaled back the number of mind-numbingly depressing documentaries I’ve watched in the past few years. Too many of them tread the same territory, preach to the choir, and fall far short of informing the broader public of the issues at hand. Food Inc. isn’t one of them.

This is a great documentary for anyone who wants to get a basic understanding of what’s happening in American food policy. Let me put it this way: if Upton Sinclair wouldn’t have words to describe the state of the food industry. It’s that bad. I definitely recommend this flick. It’ll make you think twice about how and what you eat.