Another compelling documentary, an action-filled science fiction film, and a look at one of the masterpieces of animation you will never get to see are featured in this week’s film review column.
On digital and DVD: Lucy
Director and writer Luc Besson is a favorite of mine. His films are frequently outrageous and brimming with ideas such as “The Fifth Element.”
In his new film, Scarlett Johansson is Lucy, a college student in Taiwan who is forced to become a drug mule. A mobster abducts her and has a bag of his new concoction placed under her skin to get the contraband through customs.
During an assault by one of the men guarding her, the bag breaks and the drugs interact with her system causing her brain to start utilizing more than the 10 percent we frequently hear about.
Although sold in its theatrical run as an action movie, “Lucy” is also about what would happen to a person who begins to use more and more of her brain’s capacity. Morgan Freeman co-stars as the scientist enlisted by Lucy to help her in this process.
Besson knows how to write and stage action and yet he never forgets to present Lucy as a rapidly evolving human concerned about what is happening to her.
This fast-moving film should keep your interest and Johansson has another tour de force in which to exercise her acting skills. It’s a great popcorn film.
Online and on DVD: Boredom
I didn’t know quite what to think about a documentary about boredom, but I can assure you that viewers will not be bored by this witty and fascinating look at something we all experience, but have difficulty understanding.
Filmmaker Albert Nerenberg has taken a look at “Stupidity” in 2003 and why we laugh with “Laughology” in 2009 and through interviews with doctors, scientists and educators, Nerenberg show we know little about being bored.
When we are bored, we commonly think the mind is shutting off. In reality, our minds are revving up, desperate for some sort of engagement. Nerenberg makes a convincing argument that standard school classrooms with education based on lecture and repetition are actually factories creating boredom.
He makes an interesting observation when he loses his smart phone: his mind is compelled to actually pay attention to something other than a screen. Instead of curing our problems with boredom, the various screen in our lives … television, phone and computer – are actually making it worse.
A film full of unique observations and facts, “Boredom” pushes its viewers to look at their own lives and make changes.
On DVD: Persistence of Vision
Richard Williams is the greatest animator you’ve never heard of. You may have seen his work – among other credits, he directed the animation on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” – but the film by which he should be known “The Cobbler and the Thief,” was never finished and only exists in a severely truncated form.
Now the story behind how a filmmaker spent the better part of 30 years making his dream project only to have it taken away from him is told in the outstanding documentary now available on DVD.
Years ago I wrote a lengthy piece on Williams and his film for the animation magazine I co-owned and edited. His story has fascinated me and director Kevin Schreck has done a magnificent job focusing on Williams and his obsession.
Williams is seen as a man determined to produce a film using traditional hand-drawn cel animation to its fullest. His major fault was his idea that if he wasn’t pleased with an animated segment, he could always trash it and start again.
For people used to computer animation watching this film and how Williams and his staff were making it should be a revelation. Williams clearly pushed his animators to the breaking point with character designs with intricate details as well as constructing a film that went counter to the current commercial requirements – two of the main characters were mute and there were no songs.
The problem with that approach is the cost of animation requires strict pre-planning and yet those interviewed for the film don’t recall Williams preparing a storyboard for the film until late in its production.
The film can be seen under the title of “Arabian Knight,” although its resemblance to William’s vision is negligible.
Schreck includes as a DVD extra Williams’ 1992 work print of the film, which gives viewers the sense of what Williams’ movie would have looked like had he had met the deadlines of his financers.
Anyone seriously interested in film needs to see this documentary.
