Moonlight Mile, Buffalo 66, and Clean

Or perhaps the subtitle: Two of My Favorite Movies and One That Didn't Quite Get There.

This weekend I watched, yet again, two of my favorite movies, Moonlight Mile and Buffalo 66. And, as mentioned above, I also watched Clean, a 2004 release directed by Olivier Assayas. But more about that one later. First, my favs.

Moonlight Mile is a 2002 release directed by Brad Silberling, whose more recent fame came from his Lemony Snicket movie. I'm not a big fan of Silberling's other work, but I find this movie amazing. I know a large part of it is the acting: Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Ellen Pompeo. It's basically a story of grief: getting through it, overcoming it, and taking responsibility for it. But it's not a sad movie. In fact, the best part of this movie, in my opinion, are those moments that have you giggling, and feeling badly for doing so (in the middle of a wake, when Jake's character goes into the pantry to get away from everyone, for example). The characters are all flawed and problematic and lovable and frustrating, and each come to terms with their own grief in their own individual way. Anyway, yeah, if you run across this one in the video store, take it home.

On to Buffalo 66. Oh my God, does this movie make me howl with laughter. Director, writer, and star Vincent Gallo is hilarious (Gallo's name may sound familiar if you remember the more recent "Brown Bunny" fiasco, with Chloe Sevigny performing oral sex on him at the end of the film). He plays Bobby Brown, a man who is so incredibly insecure and hurting that he is a complete asshole to just about everyone, most notably Christina Ricci. She is blond, plump, and falling out of her dress for most of the movie, and she is just what Bobby needs. He kidnaps her from her tap dancing class and takes her to his parents house to pretend to be his wife for the day. Enough said. I don't know, the character may bug some people, but I just find the whole story so touching and sweet. Also, the cinematography and the editing are just really incredible (a side note: the trailer is even cooler). There are some really great scenes: Ricci doing a sad, dreamy tap routine at the bowling alley, the two of them in a photo booth, the list goes on. Add to that the fact that Gallo seems to have a preternatural ear for matching music to scene. For me, this movie has it all.

Now for Clean. This is one of those movies where I checked the time about 45 minutes into it, and kept checking about every five minutes from then on. Maggie Cheung (Hero) plays Emily Wang, a heroine addict trying to get over her addiction and pull her life together so that she can see her son again. The thing is, nothing really happens. You know the whole concept of plot reversal? Well, this film doesn't seem to subscribe to that theory. The story is what the story is, all the way through. If it weren't for Cheung's pretty amazing performance and great cinematography, I probably wouldn't have even finished watching it. Saying that, Cheung is awesome, and the cinematography is great, so maybe that would make it worthwhile for some folks. Or maybe they would find something in it that I just didn't see. I hope there's something there I didn't see, because if not, there ain't much there. Truthfully, I wouldn't bother.

That's the latest Film Watch from Toad Lake. If you have any recommendations, I'd love 'em. Saturday nights are a little dull out in the boonies, and this is the season to cuddle up with good movies!