>Folks:
>
> I must disagree with the claim that "Run Lola Run" has been
>critically overpraised. Perhaps it is a measure of how rare truly good
>films (like "Memento" and "Being John Malkovich") are these days
I agree (in a way):
I dunno if the films you mention are rare instances of good filmmaking or
good examples of films that work on a gimmick *a rarity* considering the
cynicism of most discerning audiences. Audiences usually criticize
"independent" films for their intellectualism. Bourgeois audiences, *the*
movie market, flock to fluff--they absolutely desire to suspend
disbelief...ask Mike Figgis --
The three films you mention walk a tight rope--a frail rope withstanding its
burden by pure chance. However, out of the three, I think that _Lola Rennt_
is by far the strongest effort. It really seems to rid itself from the
pretension of the possible (in dealing with real time, real past time): the
audience is not asked to suspend disbelief: we know it's a study in
narrative, time and response. We know what is on the director's mind
because of the film's introduction. It deconstructs the impossibility of
the type of chances Lola is offered through the narrative. We know it is
the author's desires to REconsider how she might act if given the
opportunity that are at stake as much as the circumstances regarding *her*
fate. She is, after all, shaping an other's fate: her boyfriend's.
(Penelope...) What is *he* doing to manipulate *her*...yaddayadda
_Memento_'s narrative unravels in strange ways that an audience is asked to
see as part of the protagonist's unraveling mental state...very sly...but
ultimately unrewarding (afaiac). I don't like films that hide flaws in
narrative as flaws in character--in this case hiding an accident that
exposes a difference between purpose and intent. We are asked to overlook
the impossible in _Memento_. Since there are major flaws in the narrative,
I think the film would have benefited from an embracement of the impossible
instead of a search for the truth. I mean what do "facts" have to do with
anything in that story? see Lynch...
_Being John Malkovich_ is just hilarious; I don't see how we are supposed to
take it seriously at all. It is fun to watch. It is a great idea. Jonez
has so much fun with it--as do the actors.
some ideas,
gary
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