Reality Bites – Pass

Reality Bites (1994) is an American romantic comedy film directed by Ben Stiller. Worthy to note: it also happens to be his debut as a film director.

Lelaina (Winona Ryder) an aspiring videographer working on a documentary called Reality Bites about the lives of her friends and herself, all prime examples of the Generation X.

One of these friends is Troy (Ethan Hawke) who moves in with Lelaina and her roommate Vickie after losing his minimum wage job for stealing a candy bar.

He's a slacker, nihilist and plays in a grunge band at coffe-shops by night.

Lelaina on the other hand is more ambitious than this.

Although working as a production assistant to an obnoxious TV host she was aledictorian of her university, and hopes to be taken seriously for her work as a documentary film maker.

Obvious to everyone, including themselves, they're in love with each other but too stubborn/afraid of commitment to admit it.

Lelaina meets Michael (Ben Stiller) and they begin to date. He works at an MTV-like cable channel called "In Your Face", falls in love with Lelaine and wants to help her get her documentary get aired on his network.

The story is not particulary complicated and doesn't surprise. It's not hard to guess whether Lelaine goes for the "corporate" guy who honestly loves her but is a bit dull or the sensitive sarcastic life-long friend...

The film passes the test a few times, mainly when Lelaina and Vickie discuss their lives. While men are part of that discussion, most is about their jobs and their future and their aims in life in general. There aren't many strong female characters in "Reality Bites" but considering that the whole movie very much centers on Lelaina and her perspective it's forgivable. At least it says much more about the simplistic way the movie works, than any

Anyway, you have to cut the film some slack. As a romantic love comedy it doesn't try to build up complex likable characters all around.

The film does escape from a lot of the cliché problems most of these movies run into. Michael doesn't become the completely "bad" guy. He might be a bit boring but he is lovable and he genuinely tries to do the best for Lelaina.

While the main topic is obviously her trying to decide between the two men in her life, she spends a lot of the time thinking about her future and what she wants to achieve in her life, taking her dream very seriously.

The three main actors all help making this a worthwhile entertaining watch.

While it's certainly not a must, for 90s-nostalgist like myself it's probably the best this genre has to offer. It's for you to decide how much that means given the circumstances.

Verdict: Pass & Recommended

Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang - Pass

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (in the USA & Canada released under the title "Nanny McPhee Returns", I wonder why, is the original British title somehow religiously offensive?) is the 2010 sequel to the 2005 family/children film "Nanny McPhee".
The movies were adapted into screenplays by Emma Thompson and are based on Christianna Brand's "Nurse Matilda" books from the 60s. They were directed by Susanna White.

Isabel Green (played by the wonderful Maggie Gyllenhaal) lives with her children on a farm in England during the second world war. While her husband is at war she has to keep the farm running, work her job in a village job (alongside the slightly mad Mrs. Docherty) and take care of her three children Norman (Asa Butterfield), Megsie (Lil Woods) and Vincent (Oscar Steer).

When her sister's spoilt rich children Cyril (Eros Vlahos) and Celia (Rosie Taylor-Ritson) are sent to the farm to live with them, and all children start fighting Isabel doesn't know what to do anymore.

This is where Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) is coming into play.
After a bang of her stick, the children soon realize that they cannot go on fighting, and eventually learn to tolerate each other.

Isabel's brother-in-law Phil (Rhys Ifans) desperately tries to make Isabel sell the farm, using many mean ways to make her do so. One including convincing her that her husband is dead. The children now try everything to prove it isn't so. Obviously they succeed, or this wouldn't be a very good "family" film at all. At least not one in the way you expect it to be.

The story is very predictable and old-fashioned but overall it's well-executed.

The actors are wonderful, from the main actors down to great appearances of Ewan McGregor, Billy Bailey and Sinead Matthews (not as well known as the former two but she should be! She plays the wonderful kooky Jenny on British comedy-drama-tv show "Ideal", my favourite tv show that airs, by the way).

The setting and clothes are very well-done, as well. There are some nice touches like Nanny McPhee's putty eating bird Mr. Edelweiss, or the Germans dropping a bomb by accident due to sneezing three times.

In regards to the test: it's passed easily here. Both of the girls have strong personalities, and of course Nanny McPhee herself talks to all the women in the movie.

There are also some rather interesting empowering moments. When the kids have to dismantle a bomb it is the girl Megsie who succeeds in doing so.

However, there are several things about that movie that irk me very much.

I can't put my finger on it, but there is something weird about the way the military and the war is portrayed. Of course that is a challenge to portray in a kids movie that is overall very carefree and quirky, but it felt just a bit too much trivialized to me. However, I can see how that would be problematic not to do in a movie with such a light tone set in the second world war.

The thing that I found really irritating was something else, though:

In addition to emphasizing discipline and manners (which I already find a bit questionable as a moral to children, to be honest) Nanny McPhee has five lessons to teach, each of which correspond to her various unattractive physical attributes: gray hair, two large moles, a unibrow, and a snaggle-tooth making her look like a stereotypical witch.

When all five lessons are learned, Nanny McPhee transforms from ugly to beautiful.

• Lesson #1: To stop fighting - Upper wart disappears.
• Lesson #2: To share - Lower wart disappears.
• Lesson #3: To work together - Unibrow disappears
• Lesson #4: To be brave - Hair goes from gray to brown.
• Lesson #5: To have faith - Snaggle tooth disappears.

Now what exactly is that supposed to teach kids? That being "good" and disciplined is somehow directly connected to beauty? That by cleaning your room regularly and being friendly to people you can't stand, superficial attractiveness to other people can be achieved? I find that a very questionable and confusing message to send out to young kids.

Still I wouldn't over interpretate it. It's just very unnecessary, the whole plot would have worked just fine without it.

Verdict: Pass & Undecided

Holes - Fail

Holes (2003, USA) is the movie adaption of the wonderful children's book written by Louis Sacher who also wrote the screenplay to this. It was directed by Andrew Davis and released by Walt Disney Pictures.

Stanley Yelnats IV (portrayed by Shia LaBeouf) blames his bad luck on an old family curse that strike all male family members. He is wrongfully committed for stealing shoes and is sent to a brutal detention camp where he has to dig holes in the desert. No one will tell him the real reason why they need to dig those holes, so he has to find out for himself.

While the book was entertaining, thrilling and thought-provoking, the movie version lacks all of this. It counts on cheap slapstick comedy and goofy acting which take all the serious atmosphere out of the movie and give the whole thing a very stale taste.

The movie fails the Bedchel test completely.

There are a few women: There is Stanley' mother, who doesn't have any role except serving food and sitting at the table while the men discuss the family curse.
There is the girl in the flashback of the family history, a dumb but pretty girl who doesn't want to marry Stanley's forefather for petty silly reasons.
There is Madame Zeroni, the lady to cast the family curse, who is seen in the flashback story. The same goes for Kate Barlow, a local school teacher who is in love with the black local onion seller Sam. When Sam kisses Kate, she is seen by a man she previously turned down. He leads several townspeople to burn the school down and kill Sam. In anger and frustration Kate kills the local sheriff because he had refused to intervene, beginning her career as an outlaw named "Kissin' Kate" who kisses the men she kills.

The only time two women are seen on the screen at the same time are when the female warden (Sigourney Weaver), a cruel and corrupt woman who only cares about money and doesn't mind seeing the boys suffer, and Stanley's lawyer Carla Morengo meet.
If not before at least here a conversation between two women would not only be possible, but would make a lot of sense! In fact, it's rather strange to see the lawyer not address the warden but her two male employees all the time. When she asks no one in particular for pen and paper, the warden tells Mr. Sir to hand those to the lawyer, yet not speaking, nor looking into her direction.


Verdict: Fail & Not Recommended

Down By Law - Fail

Down by Law (USA,1986) is a black-and-white film by Jim Jarmusch.

Down By Law tells the story of three men. At first their stories might seem unrelated.

Zack (wonderfully played by Tom Waits) is a disc jockey who's girlfriend just left him, with money problems and no idea where to go in his life.

Jack (John Lurie) on the other hand creates less sympathy in the viewer's mind as a ruthless pimp.

Bob (Roberto Benigni) is an Italien tourist whose understanding of the English language are restricted to textbook casualities.

The men all meet in a cell of jail in New Orleans. While Zack and Jack both have been set up and are not guilty – or in Jack's case, at least not for the crime he is there - , Bob has killed a man when he cheated on a card game.
While Zack and Jack fight a lot, through Bob's need to communicate constantly in his broken English they soon awkwardly bond. With a plan created by Bob thanks to an American movie displaying just this, they all escape.

They get lost and try to find their way on their own, the trio up together eventually.
They eventually find a house in the forest, the residence of Nicoletta (Nicoletta Braschi) who instantly falls in love with Bob, causing Bob to stay with her in the forest. Zack and Jack's ways seperate.

"Down By Law" has great characters, convincing actors, a good straight storyline, amusing scenes that don't seem added unnaturally but rather seem like they'd appear to in amusing moments in real life and a very mood-fitting slow-moving camera work.

I wish movies that I really liked wouldn't fail this but sadly they do, and this is one of them. Nicoletta does talk to the three men a bit, but there is no real character behind her, either, at least not from what we get to see. All we know about her is that she owns this house and gets confused about which path leads to the South or the North and that she loves Bob fully and completely, without even really knowing him.

The other women are a few prostitutes in Jack's bed and Zack's girlfriend, all very much serving into every female cliché there is. Not to mention that they all don't seem particularly smart...

Verdict: Fail & Recommended

The Quiet - Pass

The Quiet (2005, USA) is a drama with thriller elements by Jamie Babbit, the woman who directed the wonderful comedy/satire drama "But I'm A Cheerleader" about a girl sent to a therapy camp to cure her lesbianism she herself didn't even know she had before.

The Quiet is not that easy to detect as standart-questioning movie. However, just one look at the poster reveals that yes, it passes the test easily. Despite the main character, Dot (Camilla Belle), not speaking most of the time.

Dot who everyone beliefs to be deaf and dumb goes to live with her godparents and their daughter Nina after her father dies. The atmosphere gets stranger and weirder - helped by the camera and lighting - as she discovers that Nina and her father share an incestuous sexual relationship that Nina herself is torn about, stating that she loves her father but hates him, too, planning to kill him. At the same time Dot and a popular guy at her High School fall in love, making her feel bad about pretending to not be able to speak or understand him.

"Many reviewers complained that it was sleazy, exploitative, and difficult to watch, and that it was too serious to be satire, yet too camp to be taken seriously" - This is very much why I had problems with this movie. While it is in no way a bad movie, it seems to be unsure about what it wants to be. It is entertaining and intriguing but also just plain weird, in a good as well as in a bad sense.

Elisha Cuthbert (before this role rather known for her parts as the plain blonde in "The Girl Next Door" or, even more tellingly, along-side Paris Hilton in the Horror remake of "House of Wax") plays the part of very messed up Nina in a way that changes between pitiful crazy abused daughter, hateful arrogant and calculative High School bitch and "appealing slut" for anyone looking out for incest porn, while Camilla Belle makes Dot seems very cold and more sure about everything she does then it would make sense in regards to her actions.

All the other actors seem very convincing, especially Martin Donovan as Paul, Nina's father, who - despite not having that many lines in this movie - gets the trouble inside his head between wanting to be a good person and his illness across well. However, exactly this, him coming across like a wholesome person with feelings who needs help, while his daughter at times seems like the one in charge in their sexual relationship, makes you wonder what exactly the director is trying to say here, if anything.
Edie Falco as the mother of Nina and wife of Paul, does a great job at portraying the mother who tries with all her might not to see what is going on, just to keep up the picture of a working family. Despite all this I couldn't help but think "But she's Carmela Soprano! Where is Tony!?" at times...

Also, there is this Beethoven theme throughout the whole film that seems somehow tragically random and misplaced.

The Quiet is definitely not your usual High School drama/family movie/thriller, but that doesn't make it automatically good. There's a lot of potential in almost every role and every direction the film is trying to take, but no consensus means it ends up in a very mushy emotional mess. If anything - it does entertain.

Verdict: Pass & Undecided

What is this Blog? What is the Bechdel Test?

A few weeks ago I was watching a DVD with my boyfriend. While I enjoyed Jim Jarmusch's 1995 "Dead Man" I couldn't help but notice the lack of women appearing. There were two in total, both lovers without any significance for the story or any real characterisation. My boyfriend asked whether that made the film any less of a good one. In my opinion, it doesn't necessarily. I still found it important to point out that it bothered me somehow and that while I could enjoy the movie for its' artistical value and have no trouble finding ways of identifying with males, I just wondered how many good movies were out there that actually did feature women with actual interesting characters.

The thought that even in Art and Independent movies the patriachial pressure still leaves filmmakers subconsciously (I hope!) make the decision to give a very unequal portrayal of female and male characters, saddens me very much.

On the wonderful livejournal community wtf_sexism I read someone talking about the Bechdel test for movies. What is it?

The Bechdel Test, Bechdel-Wallace Test, or the Mo Movie Measure is a sort of litmus test for female presence in movies and TV. The test is named for Alison Bechdel, creator of the comic strip "Dykes To Watch Out For" out of which the test emerged. In order to pass, the film or show must meet the following criteria:

1. it includes at least two women
2. who have at least one conversation
3. about something other than a man or men.

I'll let others explain it better than I would:

"The test is often misunderstood. The requirements are just what they say they are - it doesn't make any difference if, for instance, the male characters the women talk about are their fathers, sons, platonic friends or mortal enemies rather than romantic partners. Conversely, if a work seems to pass, it doesn't matter if male characters are present when the female characters talk, nor does it matter if the women only talk about stereotypically girly topics like shoe shopping - or even relationships, as long as it's not relationships with men.

This is because the Bechdel Test is not meant to give a scorecard of a work's overall level of feminism. It is entirely possible for a film to pass without having overt feminist themes (...). A movie can easily pass the Bechdel Test and still be incredibly misogynistic. Conversely, it's also possible for a story to fail the test and still be strongly feminist in other ways, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. What's a problem is that it becomes a pattern - when so many movies fail the test, while very few show male characters whose lives revolve around women, that says uncomfortable things about the way Hollywood handles gender." (source)

I stumbled over a link to a blog that did exactly this, setting movies (and other pieces of culture like books) to the Bechdel test. Sadly it was short-lived and only active from January to March 2009. I googled around and found This Website that lets anyone add movies to their index. There are quite a few films listes but sadly not many reviews.

This and my new-found overenthusiasm for films inspired me to start this blog.

I won't promise long reviews because I'm sure that would lead to a sudden downfall of this blog. What I will do however is set every movie I watch to the test.

To clarify: I will still recommend movies that don't pass the test if I find myself enjoying them, as well as I will tell you if I thought a movie sucked despite passing the test.

While giving a general idea about just how misogynist the film industry still works, I also hope the blog will be some guide to finding new movies to enjoy. I don't believe the lack of women should actually make you avoid a movie, just like I don't believe you shouldn't read Nietzsche just because you don't share his views on gender questions (in the same way I would still read old greek philosopher's for their inspiring thoughts despite strongly disagreeing with their racist and pro-slavery stand points) - I just believe talking about the problem and pointing it out wherever you see its implications in the first step to a change for anything.

XXY - Pass

XXY (2007) by LucÍa Puenzo tells the story of Alex (Inés Efron plays wonderfully convincing here!) a 15-year-old intersex person who is being raised as a girl with the help of medicine to surpress masculine features. The film deals with the way the family copes with her/his condition, first love and the ultimate decision that s/he must eventually take in a gender-driven world.

Recently Alex has stopped taking her meds. Her mother invites friends to stay with them for some time: a surgeon, his wife and teenage son Álvaro. Her hope, unknown to her husband and Alex, is to discuss the possibilities of a sex-change operation and turn Alex finally into the "proper" girl she has always wished to have. Alex' father, a biologist, however is unsure about it and just wants what is best for his child.

Meanwhile Alex and Álvaro start a strange and mutually confusing relationship that causes turmoil in both their sexual and emotional identities.

This Argentine film is very strong on emotional and visual levels alike, and comes with a clear and loud message: not to press gender identity on children and making them insecure about their bodies and feelings.

Verdict: Pass & Highly Recommended