Movie-wise, today was a day of Color for me, in more ways than one: first, Blue Streak with Martin Lawrence, and now The Red Violin, featuring Samuel L. Jackson. I might just get used to having so much Color on the screen. The question is, were these Colors just eye candy, or something more?
THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**)
First things first: if you're not the type that likes Films (as Steve Martin said so well in Bowfinger, "I don't make films, I make movies!"), you might want to Exit, Stage Right. Do so quietly, please, so as not to disturb the other patrons1. Ok, now that that business is done...
The excellently-executed website for this Film said it much better than I ever could (unfortunately, this movie's excellently-done website no longer exists - taking with it, a big chunk of my review...sigh):
"The Red Violin is a stirring and sumptuous epic about a fabled musical instrument that changes hands - and lives - over the course of three centuries. Depicting signature chapters in the violin's history, from its creation in seventeenth-century Italy, to the court of Imperial Vienna in 1790, to Victorian England in the late 1800s, to the People's Republic of China in the mid-1960s, and, finally, to an auction house in modern-day Montreal, The Red Violin is a grand tale that spans five countries, four languages, and more than three hundred years of history and cultural change. These successive movements, each evoking a different musical style, from Baroque to modern, combine to tell a tale filled with poetry, pageantry, tragedy, romance, adventure, and intrigue."
THE UPSHOT
And that it did, in marvelous ways.
I need to admit my bias: as a writer of primarily short stories and poetry, I'm a sucker for a well-told story; given one, I could sit through almost anything. I went in knowing that this film was somehow Different, but I didn't quite expect what I saw (including the subtitles, which I very much appreciated). And since I stayed up all night working on various 3BC projects, I was incredibly sleepy before the film started (having just finished watching Blue Streak less than an hour before this one, my weariness was all the more pronounced). That The Red Violin could cut through all of that and hold me enthralled for two hours, is a tribute to the quality of this film.
As much as I loved this movie, I find it hard to describe it adequately. It had action, passionate sex/romance, intrigue (if only in how the violin changes hands over centuries), humor, pathos - but not like your standard-fare mainstream flick. Neither, though, is it dry and lifeless as Art Films tend to be. It took a couple minutes to get into the story - during the Italian segment, I was distracted1 for a few minutes and didn't quite follow what was happening there - but by the time the violin, and the viewer with it, moved on to Vienna, I was hooked.
The storytelling was done beautifully both in the narration and in the filming itself; the flashbacks necessary for this movie were done well and made perfect sense, leaving the viewer wanting to know more and more about what happens next. As it went back (forward?) to present-day Montreal, the camera angles revealed repeated scenes from viewpoints that we didn't see before as it advanced the tale; the shifts in focus were done subtly enough so as not to confuse the viewer, but didn't insult the viewer's intelligence (as, unfortunately, far too many flicks I've seen this summer, did). The events that took place in each vignette tore at my heart (especially the one in Vienna, with Christoph Koncz as Kaspar Weiss; I just wanted to take that poor boy home with me!), made me laugh, made me angry in turn - but not in a manipulative way. Each one was like a puzzle that fit almost perfectly near the end. I had Issues that I'll address in a minute, but most of them were resolved by reading carefully through the story (and The Story Behind The Story) on the movie's official website. I have to say again how sad I am that it no longer exists. It was a near-perfect companion to the movie.
The actors were equally outstanding, each in his or her own right; having the overall story told in small vignettes helped to make each segment's featured players get the highlight they need. Standouts include the aforementioned Koncz, Jason Flemyng as Fredrick Pope (the passionate "devil"), Sylvia Chang as Xiang Pei and her own mother, and Ireneusz Bogajewicz (Cesca the tarot reader). The violin itself didn't impress me (and the supposed "secret" about it was pretty transparent from the start), but I suppose I could see the obsession in, say, a rare Mac clone being passed down through the ages and...uh, never mind. I liked most of all that it wasn't until nearly the end that everything came together; and did so logically, not clumsily so-we-can-END-this-thing! like most of today's flicks [can you say The Muse? I knew you could!]
Do you get the vibe that I liked this film? "Liked" isn't quite strong enough. I am surprised at myself, though, for enjoying it as much as I did; not that I'm not Cultured - I have Kulcha oozing from my sweet lil' pores - but because violins normally don't Do it for me (unlike the film's producer, I think the saxaphone is the most romantic instrument). Maybe I'm getting more conservative (Blacktionary time: bougie) in my Old Age, but give me more movies like The Red Violin over Chill Factor and its bretheren, any day.
THE "BLACK FACTOR" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith]
As promised, my Issues: Samuel L. Jackson; more specifically, his character's actions in this film.
(WARNING: some spoilers contained below.)
Of all the actors in this film, Jackson sticks out like a sore thumb at first viewing. Point blank, it felt like he did not belong there. Don't get me wrong: I'd pay to listen to The Man read a telephone book, but his was the only role that didn't synch for me. And don't go assuming that it's because he's Black; that wasn't it. It's because he's so GOTdam intense - which, ironically enough, seems to be exactly why he was cast in the role.
For me (until I read the story on the site, anyway), both his unreasonable, Jules-like anger, and his out-and-out thievery in the end, were misplaced. After reading the story, though, both are explained; still, it changed the timbre of the movie as a movie for me. Having gone to see the movie primarily because he's in it, I left the theater bothered by his actions within it, and feeling that something just wasn't right. Maybe if it wasn't for the situation I'm about to Dish about, I would've been able to Feel him more immediately; who knows...
BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE
1A Bammer Rant, if I may...I finally found something more irritating than Black Folks bein' Loud in the theater (oh, don't look at me like that; y'all know it's true): a big fat greasy nasty IRRITATINGLY LOUD man - who happened to be of the Caucasian Persuasian - sucking down a HUGE vat of popcorn as if he hadn't eaten in days. That fool was smackin' his lips like he was eating filet mignon or something, like his mama didn't teach him better than that. Next time I go to an art flick, I'm takin' my belt, daggonit.
That, and other issues with Jackson aside, I encourage my readers to spend a few bucks on something they might not normally go to see; it's worth it.
THE RED VIOLIN - both the film and its former website:
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