Not Down With the Ship

by Jesse Gerstein

photo courtesy of Fine Line

You gotta love the Christmas season. So many movies, so much fanfare, so few good movies. Still, I took it upon myself to see many of the fine, fine productions that Hollywood has to offer. However, unlike most of the rest of the free world, I did not see Titanic, nor do I really intend to (unless I experience a moment of weakness in which I need a healthy dose of Kate Winslet in full topless splendor), so don't get your hopes up about my using the words spellbinding, magical, epic, or mesmerizing. But I did see numerous (meaning four) other movies, two of which I feel warrant discussion. I'd also like to take the opportunity to recommend a few other films that may have gotten overlooked in the wake of Titanic's success.

Woody Allen's latest neurotic, offbeat, dark comedy, Deconstructing Harry, brings together yet another ensemble cast in a story that could only come from a man living a life such as Allen's. The movie follows the life of a best-selling author, Harry Block, who becomes successful by turning his somewhat disturbed family life into "fiction." Of course, those who are closest to him, meaning an ex-wife, his sister, her husband, his sister in-law, and numerous acquaintances are able to read between the lines and discover their lives in print. It turns out that little sister is sleeping with big sis's husband, Harry, and when it is published, home life sorta goes to hell. So does Harry, at least in a dream, where his best friend Larry, played by Billy Crystal, is the Devil himself. Hell fulfills Harry's fondest wishes, with naked women on every wall and air conditioning because "it fucks up the ozone layer." Because of his attraction to things "evil" (promiscuity, drugs, alcohol), Harry alienates himself from his family and friends, and finds himself friendless, hopeless, and sexless.

The story becomes extremely complex as Harry has various epiphanies about the wayward life he has led; he tries to change, but just digs himself into a deeper hole. While you want to feel sorry for him, you look at his life and you can't. Hey, it sorta sounds like his real life, no? A screwed up family, sex with much younger women, and both public and private estrangement. I mean, the movie opened on the heels of Woody's marriage to Soon Yi, who, if the couple ever has any children, will be both mother and sister to them. While I thought that only happened in West Virginia (with apologies to those West Virginians out there), I guess New York is the place where anything's possible.

In short, the movie has Elisabeth Shue, so it's worth seeing. Actually, that's not true, and anyone who saw The Saint will attest to that. But she is wonderful as Harry's former student and love interest who is interested in another. Also making appearances are Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kirstie Alley, Amy Irving, Mariel Hemingway, and Robin Williams, all in thoroughly entertaining, comic, emotional roles. Deconstructing Harry is Allen at his best, which I suppose is either saying a whole lot or nothing at all.

Next would be Good Will Hunting. An amusing pun, wouldn't you agree? A quality movie, nonetheless. The film, written by and starring up-and-coming Hollywood sensations Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, introduces us to the boy from the other side of the tracks, Will Hunting, played by Damon. He's the really smart one, who solves the mathematical problems that make MIT's best and brightest look like extremely vacant and not-so-bright little kids. He is also well-read and feels no need for the six-figure education that those kids in Cambridge get. His is the university of life. Will's love interest is Skylar, played by the oh-so-lovely Minnie Driver, and his best friend and kicker-in-the-ass Chuckie is played by real-life childhood friend Ben Affleck. Robin Williams is back, not coked up, and not as the absent minded professor that brought him infamy in Flubber, but as a more Dead Poets Society-ish mentor/psychologist. He figures out that Will Hunting was not loved as a child and refuses to meet his potential because he is afraid of change, growth, and has no one to love him. Ain't that always the case?

Actually, the movie deals with the prodigy aspect extremely well, showing that even regular people can be geniuses. It gets a little sappy at times, but show me a movie that doesn't and I'll ... well ... I won't do anything. Good Will Hunting makes us all wish we were smart as hell, but since were not, at least we get to see somebody who is.

So who cares, right? These are two movies that are in wide release and are playing in Charlottesville. Well, they are also the movies that get overlooked because of the special-effect-filled-love-story-that-we-all-know-the-ending-to movie called Titanic. Charlottesville is slowly but surely getting more of the smaller releases that used to only be found in much larger "cities." Just before break, the Japanese comedy Shall We Dance and the lyrical tragicomedy She's So Lovely were both at the Jefferson Theater on the Downtown Mall. These are small, quality, original films; so what if the Jeff gets them a month or so later than most other places. Save six bucks and go see a good, small film for cheap.

Essentially, the moral of the story goes something like this: Titanic is not the shit. There are plenty of other films out there that do not cost $200 million to make, and a lot of them go unappreciated. See Titanic, if you must, because all your friends and family members just can't seem to shut up about it. But also take the time and see a movie that will make you think. I'm sorry about the whole high-and-mighty kick that this has turned into, but it's only because it really is a shame to see such quality work go unappreciated.