"Hard to Be a God" and "Salt of the Earth"

Masterpieces are often not all that they're cracked up to be.  Take "Hard to Be God," the final film of Russian auteur Aleksei German, which he worked on for the last fifteen years of his life, and was completed after his death.  Based on a science-fiction novel from the same writers behind the source material for Tarkovsky's "Stalker," the film tells the bleak story of a scientist sent to live incognito among the inhabitants of the planet Arkanar, where humans are still stuck in the Middle Ages. Despite his best efforts, our hero, Anton (Leonid Yarmolnik) cannot help but become involved in this world's unfolding history.  With that kind of pedigree, "Hard to Be a God" was destined to enter the cinema pantheon one way or another.

 

I saw the black and white, nearly three hour film over the weekend.  And yes, it was clearly made by a skilled director with a clear, uncompromised vision.  But good grief, what a vision.  German creates a medieval hellscape of putrid misery, full of mud and filth, and then shoves his camera in uncomfortably close so that the awfulness of it is inescapable.  For three hours.  Anton putters along, being subjected to the onslaught while navigating an almost incoherent plot involving Arkanar's warring factions and a missing doctor.  I gather from what I've read about the source material that there's quite a bit of political and social commentary that's been completely lost on the way to the screen.  The director seems far more concerned that we get the full visceral impact of the squalor and despair that ensuring that his narrative is comprehensible. 

 

I've never been worn down by a film like this.  Though similarly lengthy and stark, Bela Tarr's creeping existential dread and Andrei Tarkovsky's meditative long shots were absorbing and enriching.  "Hard to Be a God" just made me increasingly disgusted by the whole experience the longer it went on.  I'm glad I didn't see this one in a theater, because the ability to take breaks from the viewing experience was vital.  At the same time I can appreciate the shot compositions, the lighting, and what I could see of the art direction under all the rain and excrement.  As antagonizing as the film is, there's no denying how artfully all the ghastliness has been presented.  So I can see how some critics are making the case that this film lives up to Aleksei German's towering reputation and deserves a place among the Russian cinematic greats.  But good grief, I can't imagine many people actually wanting to subject themselves to this film too often. 

 

Wim Wenders' latest documentary, "Salt of the Earth," also contains uncomfortable material and disturbing images.  However, it's a far, far more tolerable watch.  It's the latest and perhaps the best of the director's profiles of other artists.  Here Wenders' subject is Sebastião Salgado, a Brazilian social photographer best known for capturing images of humanity in extreme circumstances - famine victims, refugees, mine workers, and the like.  Wenders joins Salgado on one of his globetrotting expeditions, capturing the artist at work while delving into a retrospective of Salgado's long career.  The film also touches on his family life and other projects, like Salgado's conservation efforts with the Instituto Terra.  "Salt of the Earth" makes great use of Salgado's photographs, but the man himself is the film's best resource, whose lifetime of experiences have shaped a truly remarkable human being. 

 

Wenders' style is similar to that of his fellow New German Cinema alum, Werner Herzog, presenting everything through a very personal lens.  Wenders provides some thoughts on Salgado through narration, but he doesn't put nearly as much of himself in the film as Herzog would, preferring to let Salgado speak for himself, especially about his work.  Here I should caution that the subject matter is challenging, as Salgado's photographs document human suffering and depravity in great detail.  Viewing some sections can be very difficult.  However, there is always clear, measured, and thoughtful commentary to keep the horrors in perspective.  The final third of the movie, featuring Salgado's work with the natural world, also provides a good counterweight, allowing the film to end on a more hopeful note.

 

I've seen "Salt of the Earth" referred to as a particularly difficult and harrowing watch, but after "Hard to Be God," it felt like a breeze.  Perhaps I'm not intelligent or open-minded enough to appreciate Aleksei German's work the way I appreciate Wim Wenders,' but somehow I feel that both directors got exactly the response out of me that they intended.

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The Dissolve Fades Out

This has become an entirely too common occurrence.  The Dissolve, a film website devoted to in-depth reviews and discussion of film, has folded after a brief two years of existence.  It was home to critics Tasha Robinson, Scott Tobias, Matt Singer, Genevieve Koski, Nathan Rabin, and Noel Murray - most of them alumni of the A.V. Club.  The A.V. Club was never the same without them.  I frequented the site only occasionally, but it was impressive how quickly the Dissolve made a name for itself and became the home of major voices in the critical community.  And how quickly it attracted a community of eager film fans.

 

The basic economics of running this kind of site are daunting, and this is a stark reminder that no matter how strong the writing or how good a site's reputation, it doesn't matter unless the content attracts the necessary amount of traffic and advertisers.  I've seen so many media sites and blogs close shop over the years.  Some, like Cinematical and Spill, were acquired by bigger companies who couldn't figure out how to turn the profit they wanted from them.  Some that stayed in private hands, fell apart after they owners simply couldn't afford the operational costs anymore.  Talented critics migrate from one site to the next, some never recovering from a particularly bad termination.  I'm not worried about anyone over at the Dissolve, but it does make me nervous about other film sites I follow, and the precarious state of film journalism, criticism, and commentary in general.  

 

It seems like we can't go a month without some major upheaval in the community.  The old guard that had its stronghold in print is inexorably being dismantled, column by column, review by review.  Cost-cutting lead to rounds of firings over the past few years, and it often feels like everyone who hasn't retired or been squeezed out is teetering on the brink.  Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide ceased publication in 2015 after a 45-year run.  Meanwhile, the new, online-based critical community is still wildly unstable, and steady gigs are a rarity.  I'm not convinced that we're looking at the death of meaningful film criticism, as some have claimed, but we're definitely in the middle of a major transitional period, and it's been a very bumpy one.  It's still very uncertain what the landscape will look like for professional film writers in the future - or if it will be tenable as a profession at all.  Certainly no one will be quick to launch a possible replacement.

 

This also underlines for me how difficult it is to find online film communities and platforms that will support good discussions about film.  Theoretically, in the big, wide, open internet, there should be plenty of places where these communities should exist.  And yet, finding spaces that attract film fans with a decent baseline of maturity, where there are the necessary moderation tools in place, and that encourages lively discussion, seems to be fewer and farther apart every day.  As highly as they're touted, commentary on the big social media platforms is often chaotic and participation can be difficult.  I've found that they just don't do the job as well as good, old fashioned message boards and site forums.  However, the old standbys are quickly fading away.

 

So where should the Dissolve community go?  Letterboxd seems to have drawn a good crowd.  The Red Letter Media folks are fun.  Some might go back to the AV Club, though it won't ever be the same.  Never head of Solute, which was mentioned in the Dissolve's goodbye announcement.  I can't recommend my old stomping grounds, the Rotten Tomatoes forum, which currently appears to be in its death throes (again), or the Usenet movie groups, which are long dead and buried beneath an avalanche of bots.  Reddit has the tools in place, but the user base just hasn't been up to snuff.  Other promising movie sites have turned commenting off completely, not having the resources to handle moderation.  

 

I feel guilty now that I hadn't spent as much time at the Dissolve as I wanted.  I was linked to its various articles and essays often, and I was always impressed by the level of discourse I found there.   I loved how they revisited the classics in particular.   About a month ago I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to get the site's podcast on my iPod without having to download it.  I gave up eventually and vowed to go back another day.  I thought I had more time. 

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My Top Ten "Cosby Show" Episodes

 

The recent news about Bill Cosby hit where it hurts, mostly because "The Cosby Show" really was as good as you remember.  I fully sympathize with those unable to decouple Cosby from Dr. Cliff Huxtable, but I found that I could, and the show somehow hasn't been ruined for me in the least.  "The Cosby Show" is at the very outer limits of programming I can remember watching from my childhood, and that definitely colored my picks here.  As I was about Rudy's age at the time of airing, she and Vanessa were the two characters I identified with the most closely.  And I don't think I've ever done a top ten list this lopsided before, with all but three episodes coming from the first two seasons.  Picks are unranked and ordered by airdate below:

 

"Goodbye Mr. Fish" - We bid farewell to the dearly departed goldfish Lamont, via a hysterical bathroom funeral that gets the entire Huxtable clan involved in helping Rudy cope with the sudden loss of her pet.  The pilot and the show's second episode, "Mr. Fish," helped set the tone for the series - very much a family sitcom, but smarter and funnier than the old "Brady Bunch" style shows of the previous decade.  The family was more interesting, the humor more well grounded, and the parenting far more realistic.  It was still television, of course, but the creators were charting new territory here in more ways than one.

 

"A Shirt Story" - Theo had the best episodes in the early going, because he was such a perfect embodiment of the overconfident, self-assured, and often completely clueless teenage boy.  That's not to say that Theo wasn't clever and charming - he was.  However, he was also prone to getting himself into situations like the one in this episode, where he overspends on a designer shirt and winds up paying Denise to make him a knockoff - and what a knockoff!  It's the performances that really sell the multiple reveals and the escalating silliness, cementing that the younger actors on this show were as important as the adults.

 

"Independence Day" - The episode where Theo gets his ear pierced to impress a girl.  Cliff and Claire finding out about it are plenty of fun, but it's when the grandparents get involved that the episode turns into a classic. Russell and Anna Huxtable don't get enough love, as they're an integral part of some of the best episodes.  Here, Cliff feels that Theo's stupidity for the sake of love deserves a lecture from Russell, but things don't work out that way.  Instead, we get a trip down memory lane to revisit some of the other stupid things the Huxtable men have done in the name of love, resulting in plenty of embarrassment and family bonding for everybody.   

 

"The Slumber Party" - We're so used to modern sitcoms with their tightly plotted acts and multiple subplots, that it may be hard to remember that sometimes all you really need is to put your headliner together with a bunch of little kids and funny things will happen.  In this episode, made specifically for the smallest members of the audience, there's hardly any plot to speak of - Rudy gets to have a sleepover, with her father chaperoning.  This provides ample opportunity for Bill Cosby to improvise with a pack of adorable kids and let everyone have a good time.  This episode also marked he first appearance of next-door neighbor Peter, whose finest moment would be in... 

 

"The Juicer" - Now here's a typical family sitcom plot.  One of the kids does something they shouldn't, in this case Rudy using Dr. Huxtable's newly acquired juicer without permission and making a mess of the kitchen.  Trouble and consequences follow.  However, the way the aftermath plays out is what makes this so much fun.  Sure, Rudy's the main wrongdoer here, but she's not the only one, and the blame needs to be sorted out equitably.  I distinctly remember watching this around the age of seven or so, and understanding the situation from the parents' point of view, something I don't think I appreciated before that point.   

 

"Happy Anniversary" - Another conflict-free, plot-free episode devoted to just spending some time with the Huxtable family.  This time we have a special occasion - Cliff's parents' wedding anniversary.  Dinner and a fancy present are warmly received, but it's nothing compared to the grandparents' (and the audience's) delight at the Huxtables' musical performance at the end of the evening - lip-syncing Ray Charles' "Night Time is the Right Time."  More anniversary episodes with similar performances would follow this one, but the original was special.  And it's a great example of how the Huxtables were a TV family it was nice to just spend time with.

 

"Theo's Holiday" - More life lessons for Theo in the most memorable of the series' high concept episodes. I don't think a lot of sitcoms could have pulled off the "Real World Apartments" idea, but all the actors really commit to their roles (within roles), and once you go along with Theo to see how far the Huxtables will take the game, it all pays off in spades. I love that this episode really gives the actors a chance to stretch in different ways, especially Phylicia Rashad. The series would try similar conceits in "Theogate" and the dream episodes, some to great success, but Theo getting a taste of responsibility Huxtable style was the show at its best.

 

"Can I Say Something, Please?" - What I always liked about this episode was that it shows that Cliff and Claire respect and listen to their children, even when they're clearly inviting trouble.  Rudy gets a perfectly fair shake when she brings up her list of grievances - she's allowed to have a later bedtime provided that she can deal with the consequences.  And of course she can't, but nobody's smug about it or has to underline the message.  It's what kept "The Cosby Show" a cut above the countless imitators that followed it, or even the show's later seasons.  And Rudy wasn't just the cute one or the precocious one.  She was a real character.

 

"The Day the Spores Landed" - "The Cosby Show" occasionally had fanciful dream episodes, which were often very silly and didn't really work.  One involved Muppets.  One involved little Olivia becoming a tyrant.  However, I have to admit I got a real kick out of the very weird and very subversive dream episode where Cliff and the other male members of the cast find themselves pregnant, thanks to some wacky alien spores.  As Dr. Huxtable and his fellow fathers-to-be deal with their pregnancies, the story just keeps getting weirder and weirder, finally culminating in the most bizarre labor sequence ever shown on television. 

 

"Isn't it Romantic?" - It's all about building up to the last five minutes, the tale of the wooden barrette, and one of the greatest reveals in TV history.  I haven't written much about Sondra and Denise, the lovely adult daughters of the Huxtables, or their husbands, since they were difficult for a grade-schooler to really relate to.  However, they were a big part of the family, and many episodes revolved around their love spats and domestic squabbles.  And things always got more fun when the elder Huxtables got involved.  The romantic bet is a pretty flimsy excuse to set up the ending, but when the ending's this good, who could complain?

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Falling Through the Digital Distribution Cracks

I'm very excited about making time to see "Advantageous," a new independent dystopian science-fiction film directed by, written by, and starring Asian-American women.  However, I almost missed it - the movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, but was then acquired by and premiered exclusively on Netflix last week with little fanfare. 

 

With no theatrical release, that means that the title didn't appear on the film release calendars I use - Wikipedia and Boxofficemojo currently.  Because Netflix paid for exclusivity, "Advantageous" is only available online - it's not even considered a VOD release.  That means that many film outlets didn't run reviews.  At the time of writing there are only twelve reviews listed on Rotten Tomatoes for "Advantageous," 75% positive.  The big names like Variety and the New York Times covered it, but not most of the smaller publications and websites.  I only learned about the movie because I stumbled upon a rave by Katherine Trendacosta at io9 through a content aggregator site, and then another review over at WIRED - neither of these sites appear to be counted by Rotten Tomatoes, mind you.   I'm subscribed to a couple of film blogs, Film School Rejects and Indiewire, specifically to catch smaller titles like this, but neither of them have run anything substantive on "Advantageous" aside from basic synopses from when the film premiered at Sundance.

 

As an Asian-American woman and science-fiction fan, I am the exact, dead center, target audience for "Advantageous."  Outside of monitoring the new release schedule for Netflix, there was no way for me to know that this film existed, even though I'm a cinema buff who makes a point of keeping an eye out for films like this.  Netflix has generally been considered great for indie films, because they can get smaller films in front of more people.  However, it doesn't really have the resources to promote them the way that other distribution outfits might.  I'm fairly sure this release strategy makes "Advantageous" ineligible for any awards that might give the picture more buzz and coverage.  Also, the film is stuck in an odd kind of media jurisdictional limbo.  It's comparable to if it had been picked up by one of the premium cable channels like HBO or Showtime.  The lack of a theatrical release means they're treated like television films, which often end up being covered by television writers and reviewed by television critics.  Exceptions are made occasionally when there's an auteur involved, as with Steven Soderbergh's "Beyond the Candelabra."  Netflix isn't television, though, so which critics should lay claim to "Advantageous"?

 

This is a rare occurrence now, but it won't be in the future.  Netflix's recent push for more content had lead them to acquire more and more films themselves.  So far it's been mostly documentaries, including the Oscar nominated "The Square" and "Virunga."  "Advantageous" is the first feature they've acquired in a while, but it will soon be followed by Cary Fukunaga's "Beasts of No Nation" and Richie Smyth's "Jadotville."  Netflix is also producing a new "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" sequel, a Pee-Wee Herman movie, all those cringeworthy Adam Sandler comedies, and Brad Pitt’s upcoming “War Machine,” which Netflix recently paid $30 million to finance and distribute.  And I have no doubt that Amazon, and other competitors will soon follow in the film distribution game - Amazon is already chasing film directors like Woody Allen and David Gordon Green to create programs for them. 

 

Most of the coverage of the "War Machine" brought up the implications for theaters, but there will surely also be an impact on viewers as well.  There are more films being made now than ever before, and so many, many places to view them.  It's going to become tougher to keep track of current releases when they're scattered across multiple VOD platforms, streaming services, theater chains, and other venues.  Television is already in the thick of it.  Did you hear about the superhero series "Powers" that's being run on the Playstation Network? Did you know the Playstation Network existed?  I expect that the existing organizational tools I use will be updated eventually to reflect this, or that better alternatives will be come available.  But for now, during the transition, I'm going to have to either become more vigilant or just learn to be okay with letting a few titles slip through the cracks.

 

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Mad for "Max"

I'll be honest.  After all the hype and all the hosannas that have been heaped upon "Mad Max: Fury Road," I was expecting something a little more off-the-wall and well, um, mad.  Don't get me wrong.  "Fury Road" is loads of fun, and a welcome departure from the humdrum, by-the-numbers action spectaculars we've been seeing in theaters lately.  It's not the be-all and end-all of action movies, though.  Frankly, no movie, especially one as pulpy as this, should have to live up to expectations that high and mighty.

Now with that little caveat out of the way, let's get to the juicy stuff.  If you've never heard of the "Mad Max" series before, rest assured that you don't need any knowledge of it whatsoever for "Fury Road."  A lot of the fun is exploring the weird, wacky post-apocalyptic Australian outback, and this is a new corner of it that we haven't seen before: the Citadel, ruled by the terrifying warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his War Boys.  Max, our hero, was once played by Mel Gibson, but is now Tom Hardy, who has no trouble filling his shoes.  Max is a Man-With-No-Name type, a wanderer of few words and great survival skills, hesitant to get involved, but willing to put everything on the line for a cause once he's committed to it. In this outing, he's taken prisoner by the forces of Immortan Joe, and his escape coincides with a daring breakout committed by one of Joe's lieutenants, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), who is helping to liberate Joe's five young "wives" from their captivity.

Now, if you are a fan of "Mad Max," or really any older action films from the '70s and '80s, "Fury Road" is sure to be a treat.  There's plenty of CGI prettying up the desert landscapes, but the bulk of the action is good, old fashioned, practical machine v. machine and man v. machine mayhem.  And what machines!  Max and Furiosa spend most of the film driving a stolen "War Rig," a gasoline tanker modified with weaponry and various steampunk gadgets.  In hot pursuit are scavengers driving VW bugs covered in metal spikes, nomad motorcyclists wielding grenades, and Immortan Joe's vast war party of pursuit vehicles.  It even includes a moving stage covered in amps, reserved for his musical accompaniment.  Even wilder than the cars are the drivers.  Immortan Joe heads a cult of personality that has become a religion, where the War Boys worship him and perform insane feats of physical daring in the hopes of winning a place in the shiny chrome afterlife of Valhalla.

The best part is that the action is entirely coherent and easy to follow.  And it retains all the same grime and dust and sweat and anarchic glee of "The Road Warrior," made over thirty years ago.  It's almost miraculous that the seventy year-old George Miller has lost none of his enthusiasm or his radical vision for this universe.  The only real difference seems to be the expanded budget, which has allowed for more stylized visuals, crisper picture, and a more saturated color palette.   The characters, as ever, are simply constructed with little time to impart much psychological depth.  Yet still there's so much suggested about them so quickly and efficiently - Max's visions of a little girl who seems to embody his survival instinct, Furiosa's recitation of her origins, the painted slogans left behind by the wives, and the fervent devotion of the War Boy Nux (Nicholas Hoult), all help to provide little details that enrich the fascinating Mad Max universe.

And all this makes "Fury Road" a very good movie, but not quite a great one.  There's not enough meat here for that, not enough substance to really chew on.  If Miller had pushed a little deeper with Max or Furiosa and let there be some real emotional stakes beyond simple survival, maybe the film would have left a more lasting impression.  Immortan Joe reminds me so much of Thulsa Doom - another memorable cult leader who builds his own little society in the desert - but isn't nearly as compelling.  Of course, there's nothing wrong with being a good popcorn movie, and more plot probably would have just gotten in the way of the adrenaline-pumping fights and stunts. 

I guess all I can hope for is more "Mad Max" movies in the future, so we can explore more of George Miller's strange, mad desert world.

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The Great Directors Non Update

It's been over a year since my last "Great Directors" post, and honestly over a year since I've spent much time watching older films.  I've had so much to catch up on and so little time to do it, the classics have fallen by the wayside.  I do hope to pick up the series again soon, so as a little tease (and to try and give myself a push), I'm listing out a couple of the eligible directors I'm considering for spotlights, along with what I've seen from each - essentially all the possible films from each that I might write about.  Looks like the French are overdue for some attention here.

Robert Bresson

 

Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)

Diary of a Country Priest (1951)

A Man Escaped (1956)

Pickpocket (1959)

Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)

Mouchette (1967)

Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)

Lancelot du Lac (1974)

The Devil Probably (1977)

L'argent (1983)

 

John Cassavetes

 

Shadows (1959)
Husbands (1970)
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Opening Night (1977)
Gloria (1980)
Love Streams (1984)

 

Clint Eastwood
 

Play Misty for Me (1971)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Pale Rider (1985)
Unforgiven (1992)
A Perfect World (1993)
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Absolute Power (1997)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
Mystic River (2003)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Gran Torino (2008)
Invictus (2009)
Hereafter (2010)
J. Edgar (2011)
American Sniper (2014)

 

Sergei Eisenstein

Strike (1924)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
October: Ten Days That Shook the World (1928)

Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Ivan the Terrible (1944-46)

 

Jean-Luc Godard

 

Breathless (1960)
A Woman Is a Woman (1961)
My Life to Live (1962)
Contempt (1963)
Band of Outsiders (1964)
Alphaville (1965)
Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Masculin Féminin (1966)
Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967)
Weekend (1967)
Number Two 1975)
Every Man for Himself (1980)
Hail Mary (1985)
Goodbye to Language (2014)

 

Elia Kazan

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
On the Waterfront (1954)
East of Eden (1955)
Baby Doll (1956)
A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Wild River (1960)
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
America America (1963)

Kenji Mizoguchi

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)
The 47 Ronin (1941)
Utamaro and His Five Women (1947)

The Life of Oharu (1952)
Ugetsu (1953)
A Geisha (1953)
Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
The Crucified Lovers (1954)
Princess Yang Kwei-Fei (1955)
Tales of the Taira Clan (1955)

 

Roman Polanski

 

Knife in the Water (1962)
Repulsion (1965)
Cul-de-Sac (1966)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Macbeth (1971)
Chinatown (1974)
The Tenant (1976)
The Ninth Gate (1999)
The Pianist (2002)
The Ghost Writer (2010)
Carnage (2011)

 

Jean Renoir

 

Night at the Crossroads (1932)

Boudu Saved From Drowning (1932)

Toni (1935)

A Day in the Country (1936)

The Lower Depths (1936)

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)

Grand Illusion (1937)

The Human Beast (1938)

The Rules of the Game (1939)

The River (1951)

The Golden Coach (1953)

French Cancan (1954)

 

Francois Truffaut

 

The 400 Blows (1959)
Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
Jules and Jim (1962)
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
The Wild Child (1970)
Bed and Board (1970)
Two English Girls (1971)
Day for Night (1973)
The Last Metro (1980)
The Woman Next Door (1981)

 

Luchino Visconti

 

La Terra Trema (1948)

Senso (1954)

White Nights (1957)

Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

The Leopard (1963)

The Damned (1969)

Death in Venice (1971)

Ludwig (1972)

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So Kristen Stewart Can Act

The claim that Kristen Stewart is a terrible actress has been in circulation for a while now, mostly due to her work in the "Twilight" series. I've never been able to comment on this before, as I still haven't seen any of the "Twilight" movies, and I've managed to miss just about every other movie that Kristen Stewart has had a significant role in over the past few years.  The only exception was "Snow White and the Huntsman," where she looked dazed and not quite all there for most of her scenes.  But in the last few weeks, I've seen all three of the 2014 releases that Stewart appeared in, and I think I have a much better picture of her as an actress.  And not only can she act, I think she's awfully good in the right role.

 

Let's start with "Still Alice," the Alzheimer's drama that Julianne Moore won her Oscar for.  Stewart plays the title character's youngest daughter Lydia, an aspiring actress who becomes one of her mother's strongest sources of support as her disease progresses.  It's not a very big or interesting part, but substantial enough to get a sense of Lydia's place in her family's changing dynamics, her hopes and aspirations.  Stewart has no trouble holding her own in her scenes opposite Julianne Moore and Alec Baldwin, who plays her father.  And unlike her blockbuster turns, here Stewart was fully engaged, brought plenty to the role, and made a very good impression on me overall.  No sign of a disastrously wooden bad actress to be found.

 

Next was "Camp X-Ray," where she plays a young guard at Guantanamo Bay who becomes friendly with one of the prisoners.  I found the film itself fundamentally flawed, but Kristen Stewart was perfectly fine as the lead.  She's onscreen constantly, in practically every scene as Private Cole, who quickly becomes disillusioned with her work in the prison.  Stewart is very credible as a soldier, thanks in large part to the script taking pains to show her strictly regimented daily routine, interactions with other soldiers, and the impact of the military culture on her behavior.  Stewart manages to give Privale Cole a strong presence though, and here you can definitely see her characters fit a certain type - introverted, insecure to a certain extent, and struggling with some inner turmoil.  Stewart is also also likeable, engaging, and very good at conveying her character's often difficult emotional state. 

 

And that brings us to "Clouds of Sils Maria," the one that Stewart won a Cesar for, the French equivalent of an Oscar.  In "Sils Maria," She plays Valentine, the awkward assistant to Juliette Binoche's aging actress, Maria Enders.  It's one of Olivier Assayas's terribly thoughtful character dramas, one I found a little too indulgent for my taste.  However, I really enjoyed Kristen Stewart here.  Binoche is excellent as she always is, but Stewart is the standout in the film.  As Valentine she's still reticent, but far more talkative and expressive than either of the other two roles allowed.  She gets to be playful.  She gets to be funny.   Especially delightful are a few meta bits where she gets to comment on her own past work in terrible genre pictures.  You can certainly see why the French got excited. 

 

I think Kristen Stewart's bad reputation comes from taking roles in big blockbusters that don't suit her.  She works best in smaller, more intimate films.  Unlike Jennifer Lawrence or Anne Hathaway, she doesn't have the larger-than-life quality of a marquee movie star.  And many of our best actresses don't.  If you didn't see Michelle Williams as Glinda in "Oz the Great and Powerful," count yourself lucky.  You could say Kristen Stewart doesn't have a lot of range, or that she still has a long way to go before reaching her full potential.  She's certainly made some terrible choices.  However, there's no question that she can act.  And I look forward to her getting on with her career and putting the whole awful "Twilight" business behind her.

 

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