Review of Riding Giants (2004) by Kian F — 04 Aug 2004

[font=Arial][color=#000000][b]Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994- 1st Kar-Wai Film)[/b][/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]These are the kind of films that need to be made more often. Chungking Express was made ten years ago (not released in the U.S. until two years later though), and in the ten years that have followed, there hasn?t been a single film that matches the creativity of Chungking Express. There have been original films, sure, such as O Brother Where Art Thou, Lost in Translation, Triplets of Belleville, Being John Malkovich, but none that match the uniqueness of Chungking Express.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]Each frame literally oozes with style and coolness, but unlike so many other stylistic directors who go for the ?style over substance? approach, Kar-Wai values both equally. Every main character is extremely human and their believable personalities make it easy to draw connections between these characters and people we know, or even ourselves. And of course with realism comes humor, even if the film isn?t in the slightest bit a comedy, and He Zhiwu?s search for love is in a very subtle way funny. When he sees someone across from him in a bar that he believes ?will like him?, he sits next to her and asks her is she likes pineapple. She responds dully, ?that it is none of his business?. Also funny is when on a whim he calls up an old friend who has since been married (for five years) and has had two kids.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]Also adding to the believability and atmosphere (which Kar-Wai makes sure is really potent) are the cultural references that he sprinkles throughout the film. Along with showing the busy nature of Hong Kong, one of the centerpieces of the film is ?California Dreaming??which is played countless times Faye?s CD player and in the end slightly connects Faye and the cop. It seems that in the majority of films a soundtrack consists mainly of instrumental scores by a composer or maybe a few songs made mainly for a shot at an Oscar, without recognizing the fact that music plays a big role in many people?s lives.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]Kar-Wai?s most obvious stylistic traits are his use of vibrant color and jumpy slow-motion action sequences. The former, which at times reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, worked great. The action sequences, on the other hand, while definitely bizarre and eccentric, are perhaps too out of place and sudden to have any positive effect.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]A great film, one of the most touching and human films of the 90?s. [/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000][b]Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest, 1996- 2nd Guest Film)[/b][/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]Since there seems to be a recent craving for reality television, it?s surprising that Christopher Guest?s mockumentaries haven?t caught on. Critics have praised all three of his most recent mockumentaries?Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind?but all three were unable to gross more than 20 million. This is made even more surprising by the recent box office surge of documentaries at the box-office (Fahrenheit 911 recently surpassed 100 million at the box office). Still, Guest seems more well known for his role in This is Spinal Tap than in any of his directing roles.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]For those who, like me, were introduced to Guest through 2003?s A Mighty Wind, Waiting for Guffman provides many familiar faces. Thirteen in fact, although most of them are reduced to small parts in both films. Their partnership has become almost Monty Python-esque. The starring roles are given to Guest, Levy, O?Hara, and Willard, all of whom deliver performances on par with those in A Mighty Wind.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]There are tons of hilarious moments in the film, with highlights including Corky?s tour of his movie memorabilia shop (?Here's the Remains of the Day lunchbox. Kids don't like eating at school, but if they have a Remains of the Day lunchbox they're a lot happier,? and Dinner With Andre action figures) and the performance of ?Red, White and Blaine? (Levy?s lazy eye when he takes off his glasses).[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]As far as style and plot go, A Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman are a little too similar. Both revolve around an anniversary (reunion) and a celebration play (concert). Both stories are told mainly through interviews and try to show the importance of these acts to their respective small towns, when an outsider would just look at them and dismiss them as silly productions. The funniest things about Guest?s films are the characters superfluous enthusiasm and emotional strain (Corky quitting the project) in their productions.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000][b]Riding Giants (Stacy Peralta, 2004- 1st Peralta Film)[/b][/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]Right off the bat: I?m biased. I?ll love any surfing movie thrown my way. 20-minute shorts (September Sessions), forty-year-old surf classics (Endless Summer), silly sequels to forty-year-old surf classics (Endless Summer II), more recent surf fare (Step Into Liquid)?I love them all. So it?s almost needless to say that Riding Giants is the most fun I have had watching a film in theaters this year. For others would it be such a great experience? Maybe. Step Into Liquid is a better introduction and shows surfing as a recreation, a sport, and a competition, with its participants ranging from young to old and the sizes of the waves ranging from small to gigantic. Riding Giants doesn?t show the same range or variety; its focus is solely on big waves and the origins of big wave riding. Yet it does have advantages that make it, all in all, a better film than Step Into Liquid.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]For one, it does an excellent job in its introduction of explaining how surfing started, most of the info new to me, and in general it is more informative and organized than Step Into Liquid is. Secondly, the bad thing about Step Into Liquid is that since surfing is such a broad sport it?s hard to condense it into an hour and a half film, as a result you have to leave out a lot. Riding Giants focuses on subcategory and is able to make a more complete and detailed film. It?s able to tell the complete stories of the surfers that the film focuses on, such as Greg Noll and Laird Hamilton, making the film more human than any surfing film I?ve seen to date. Lastly, focusing on big waves makes the film an automatic visual success. The shots are constantly enthralling, and nearly every wave leaves you questioning how the surfer was able to ride the wave and how the cinematographer was able to capture it.[/color][/font].

[font=Arial][color=#000000]One of the best films of 2004 so far, and like Step Into Liquid, has a reasonable shot of making my year-end top ten. [/color][/font].

[color=#000000][b][font=Arial]Station Agent (Tom McCarthy, 2003- 2nd Viewing)[/font][/b][/color].

[font=Times New Roman][color=#000000][b][font=Arial][/font][/b].

[font=Arial]Rarely is there a film with characters as rich and believable as the three main characters in Station Agent?Fin, Joe, and Olivia. With a minimalistic approach and direction, it?s the depth of the characters that raises this film above mediocrity and turns it into one of the most enjoyable films of 2003. Fin and Joe?s personality differences are both hilarious (Fin sees how long Joe can stay silent by timing him without his knowing) and touching (A frustrated Fin tells Joe that he just wants be left alone), and their perfect chemistry makes the parts where they interact on-screen the best bits of the film. Even though the film runs a brief 88 minutes, the director runs out of ideas, and near the end he forces some storylines. The first time I saw it I wasn?t bothered by the librarian subplot, but it seemed badly out of place this time around. Same goes for the bar outburst, which is just too blatantly out of character for Fin to be believable. On first viewing I gave it *** ½, this time I would give it ***, but that reflects on a stricter rating system than a change of opinion in the film. [/font].

[font=Arial][b]The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935- 9th Hitchcock Film)[/b][/font].

[font=Times New Roman][font=Arial]Not much to say about this one. Very dull for Hitchcock, and probably my least favorite from him. His persistence to shoot in the studio has caused this film age badly with awkward sets and backgrounds. There is a very little tension due to an unengaging plot. The 39 Steps is not a bad film, it is just a very bland and mediocre one.[/font] [/font][/color][/font].