Dweller on the threshold

It’s been a bit since the last entry. Sorry. But it’s been busy around here. And it only makes sense that it’d be a film that motivates a posting. I promise more meaty posts in the future. Actually, the wife deserves all the credit for all this, as I’d never even heard of this one. The Final Cut managed to really get me thinking actually. It excited me, in fact, for a number of reasons.

I enjoyed it more than expected, particularly knowing nothing of the plot, etc. The idea of sampling or saving memory somehow electronically is unique but not entirely new. It first popped up in Brainstorm, a freaky little flick. But then was used to varying degree in the truly oddball Cronenberg flick EXistenZ and somewhat in Minority Report. The closet comparative though, has to be Strange Days, a favorite of mine.

But none of them did quite what Naim did here. His master stroke was this idea of an editor for these stored memories. That unique concept took this movie to a more complex emotional and narrative level and made it unique even though similar in concept to these others. It seems that unique take on the concept really excited some A-level talent.

How lucky could this first time director be to get Williams and Sorvino. But then to get the folks behind the camera that he got is just amazing. Tak Fujimoto is the one that really floored me. This guy was the one behind the camera on Terrence Malick’s amazing Badlands. Heck, he was second unit photographer on Star Wars in 1977. But he also shot things like cult classics Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Miami Blues, The Silence of the Lambs and The Sixth Sense. He finished Cut and went and shot Manchurian Candidate (2004).

Naim had the script that brought them all out. Hollywood really is just starving for creative, innovative work. That’s what Naim brought. Boy, the talent was just there salivating for a chance to explore something other than another Bruckheimer-Bay behemoth, packed with big explosions and small ideas.

I think Naim’s masterstroke was sort of making the behind the scenes talent of movie-making part of the story through this idea of the "cutter." Fujimoto even followed the visual cues that Naim penned and Williams’ character discuses: clean and balanced.

The film’s only real low-point is that it never really dials up the drama. Things are so low-key and, reflective really, that the final death really isn’t much of a shocker. The "making of" had Sorvino saying that it was a hard to predict storyline. Well, it wasn’t that hard but more to the point it wasn’t a plot shocker ending really; it just folded out in a way that seemed natural.

What seems most exciting of all, however, is that this guy is now "in" and some well known Jordanian filmmakers are his buddies. That can only mean good things for Jordan and its budding film scene. The more Jordanian talent in Hollywood the better and the better for film-making generally as new and creative sensibilities get a chance to show what they’ve got.

It got me thinking about Robert Rodriguez and his El Mariachi beginings. That reality always gave me a bit of hope as a closet filmmaker myself. Naim has reawakened those thoughts and that’s a very wonderful thing.

There has been some discussion recently about the war of words between the two US presidential candidates and the so-called mud slinging that goes on. Clearly there is a division between comments like Kerry’s wounds aren’t “real” wounds (from Bob Dole of all folks — a Republican you can like) and other such smears and comments about the quality of Bush’s leadership. The line that seems to flow forth from most Bush spin doctors is that Kerry is not “presidential,” that somehow he doesn’t have those immutable qualities that we all look for in a president.

Surfing about a bit recently I came across just such an example of President Bush, acting presidential. Truly one of his finest and most telling moments.