I have not read the book, nor do I know Yoder herself, so I was truly watching the film with fresh, unbiased eyes. I remember watching a sneak preview of the film a few months back, with it having a large focus on what the title implies, a mother turning into a dog, the beastliness surrounding motherhood, and a lot of imagery of raw meat. What I was actually met with when watching the film was more of a banal stream of thought, with dog imagery intermittently sprinkled in. There are a few shots of something close to body horror: Amy Adams growing fur, a tail, fangs – but rarely does the film actually delve into the idea or character of Nightbitch.

Instead, the movie is dragged along by monologues about motherhood, more so about how a capitalist society treats mothers as a whole or comparing them to goddesses than truly delving into any ideas of motherhood being animalistic. The film also introduced characters that never fully develop, such as a group of young moms who turn from stereotypes used for satire to Mother’s best friends. Father, Mother’s husband, is disdained by Mother for most of the film for his unequal role in parenting and lack of support he shows Mother, only to have a sudden realization at the end of the film that he needs to be a better parent and partner, where then Mother and Father act like nothing ever happened.

Overall, the film gives us a little bit of everything, and a whole lot of nothing. It lightly taps into the dog and goddess metaphors, marriage dynamics, the idea that raising a child takes a village, and the importance of art, but never sticks to a plot point long enough to be meaningful. It is tonally a mess. You’re never going to replicate an entire book in a 1 hour and 38 minute film, so the filmmakers should have either gravitated to a singular plot idea and produced a film around that, or leaned more into adopting abstraction and made this an art film, rather than trying to be Hollywood friendly.

Embracing the idea that motherhood is a violently transformative experience requires more than a few brief moments of body horror and a handful of dialogue lines, constantly interrupted with platitudes on feminism and quips taken right from a late night sitcom. All of the pieces were there, Yoder is a great storyteller and Amy Adams is a fantastic actress, but when put together, there is no bark and no bite.

The post “Nightbitch” Belongs in the Doghouse appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The film is led by the delightfully strange Bella Baxter (played by Emma Stone), who under the wing of Dr. Godwin Baxter (played by Willem Dafoe), who she refers to as “God”, was brought back to life after she had attempted suicide after finding out she was pregnant. Godwin switches out her brain with the brain of her unborn-child, which results in Bella having an infant-like mind. With themes of experimentation, the film easily positions itself as something that reminds us of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but instead if under the mold of Barbie. This is as we follow a resurrected woman in desire and curiosity to explore the world in the hopes of finding and reuniting with herself through the discovery of life and existence’s means.

Image via The Los Angeles Times

Liberated and free, Bella goes on an expedition through Lisbon, Alexandria, Marseille, and later on Paris alongside Duncan Wedderburn (played by Mark Ruffalo), who is one of her suitors next to Max McCandles (played by Ramy Youssef). In Bella’s ventures, she learns about such concepts like socialism, in which she grasps a new approach toward living, unfettered and unconfined by the various areas of the societal hierarchy. While being away, Godwin takes on Felicity (played by Margaret Qualley), who is under similar circumstances to Bella.

However, Bella’s crusade soon comes to an end as she needs to return home after being alerted that Godwin is apparently dying. She goes back home, and plans to marry McCandles. This plan is interrupted by the abrupt entrance of her former husband from her past life, General Alfie Blessington (played by Christopher Abbott) who entraps her in his mansion and demands her to subject and submit herself to his powers. Bella finds a way to escape him and afterward returns to Godwin who passes away while in the support of Bella and McCandles. 

The film is tenderly poetic as it humors its ever-profuse introductions to metaphors and symbolic allegories to the idea of living life within one’s rules, choices, and control. Bella Baxter re-enters life in the ways she wishes and wants. In Bella’s words, “It is the goal to improve, advance, progress, grow.” Madame Swiney (played by Kathryn Hunter) in an earlier scene describes Bella as “a woman plotting her course to freedom.” 

“Poor Things” is currently playing at FilmScene in Iowa City, as of January 1st, 2024.

The 500 Club seeks to provide concise film reviews and criticism at around a cool 500 words for your viewing pleasure.

The post The 500 Club: Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Although I love movies based on true stories, especially those as impactful as the one in “She Said,” I was skeptical at how quickly the movie was produced. After all, the Weinstein scandal didn’t happen very long ago. While walking into the theater, I wondered if the movie I was about to see was going to be just another mediocre installment of the media-to-movie pipeline. 

Although the story is powerful, “She Said” doesn’t add much to what is already known about the Weinstein scandal. Reenacted recordings of Weinstein and testimonials of the real victims help bring the story to life. However, there’s not enough grime to make the story as impactful as it truly was.

What truly makes “She Said” are Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan’s performances. Mulligan, who is no stranger to playing elaborate female characters, takes on the role of The New York Times reporter Megan Twohey. In the movie, Twohey is initially investigating Donald Trump’s sexual harassment allegations amid his 2016 presidential campaign.

After taking maternity leave, Megan joins fellow reporter Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan), in investigating recent allegations of sexual harassment against powerful movie producer Harvey Weinstein. These claims come from actresses Rose McGowan and Ashely Judd, who plays herself in the movie. The allegations lead to a growing investigation with victims’ upsetting accounts of Weinstein’s sexual abuse.

With Twohey having a dominant personality while Kantor is more gentle, the two leads compliment each other well. Twohey’s height becomes somewhat of a running joke in the movie as it makes her appear more intimidating than Kantor. Both women are wives and mothers and their time at home takes up a portion of the movie. This highlights their dedication to exposing Weinstein even when they’re outside of the office. 

“She Said” effectively balances the story of the investigation and the stories of the victims. Rather than focusing solely on the reporters, the film gives a voice to the women affected by Weinstein’s hideous acts. With superb casting of actors who resemble their real-life counterparts, the movie successfully retells one of Hollywood’s biggest scandals.  

The post ‘She Said’ movie review: the story behind the reporters who exposed Harvey Weinstein appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The story follows the successful son of Henry Frankenstein, Baron Wolf von Frankenstein and his family as they move in to a town suspicious of his family name. Although he is eager for a fresh start, Wolf can’t help but be enthralled by his father’s papers and laboratory from his life changing experiment with the Monster.

Meanwhile a misanthropic old shepherd and grave robber named Ygor knows the secrets of the Monster, and plans to use Wolf to restore the Monster back to life and take revenge on the local town for hanging him.

The technical level of the film may not be mind blowing or game changing, but it retains the impressive makeup artistry of the previous films and the Monster looks as impressively inhuman and frightening as ever. The sets are grand and stylish from the massive castle to the creepy cramped caves around the laboratory.

The score is big and booming like most horror films of the day and serves as a superb exclamation point to each rise in tension.

Son of Frankenstein features an all-star front three of Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff, three legends of an elder age of horror and mystery cinema.

Rathbone is suave and charismatic as Wolf, although while the story continues and he starts to crack, his performance also cracks and gets awkward in an inorganic way.

Lugosi, on the other hand, rocks his role as Ygor from start to finish. Dracula himself joins the film as another sinister character of a spiteful old man with the power of a monster at his whim. He plays the role of the crackpot old coot perfectly with a touch of menace in the right places.

Last but certainly not least, Boris Karloff returns in his signature role as the Monster. All the way down to his frightening growls and uncanny movements, Karloff embodies the terrifying image of Frankenstein’s Monster once again.

Now in the context of the present day, it’s worth discussing that there are two ways to watch this movie. The first way is to watch it for the movie itself and have a silver age scare; the second way is to examine the movie to see what Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein lifted from and parodied.

There’s a number of scenes and elements in Son of Frankenstein ripped off in Brooks’ love letter to the classic series: the inspector with the wooden arm, the use of music to control the Monster, just to name a few.

So in a way Son of Frankenstein serves not only as a continuation of the Frankenstein series, film royalty, but as setting the stage for one of the most brilliantly executed parodies of film ever made.

While it’s not a trend setter like the original or as recognizable as Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein holds it own and with creations like Young Frankenstein, proves that it still has a satisfying amount to offer among the higher classics.

For more Basil Rathbone, check out The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Robin Hood.

For more Bela Lugosi, watch another horror classic Dracula. 

The post The Trunk Movie Club: Son of Frankenstein appeared first on KRUI Radio.

With that said, there was one movie I was anxiously anticipating to see in 2017: Christopher Nolan’s war drama, Dunkirk.  Nolan is frankly my favorite director, so it’s no mystery as to why I pinned his upcoming film in my calendar almost seven months before it came out.  

I first heard of Dunkirk back in 2016 when I frequently searched Nolan’s name on IMDB hoping to get some clues about his next movie. Over the course of many searches, I gathered he was working on a World War II movie about the evacuation of allied troops from France’s Dunkirk. The process of figuring out details to a Nolan upcoming movie is rather difficult, he hardly hands out hints.

It wasn’t until I watched Dunkirk’s trailer that I got a glimpse of the plot or characters. I was covered in sweat with my shirt soaked and forehead dripping like a kitchen faucet. It was mid-day August 2016 and I was helping my sister, Megan, move furniture into her new apartment and let them well cleaned by miami cleaning company. After I carried an extremely heavy cardboard box up four flights of stairs, I escaped into the bathroom for some peace and quiet.  

Like any millennial, I got on my phone and pulled up Twitter to aimlessly scroll through my feed in search of something interesting. Next, a sense of euphoria and relief settled in as Nolan released the first Dunkirk trailer. I turned it up to full blast and sat back as the instantaneous sound of a stopwatch reverberated through my sister’s bathroom.

Flash forward to the end of Summer 2017, after a collection of disinteresting movies I almost began to forget about Dunkirk.  It pains me to say, but it took a student discount and my roommate to get me out of the house to go see the movie I once obsessed about.  

Before the opening scene of Dunkirk, I leaned back in my comfy seat and wondered how Nolan was going to craft his non-linear storyline and perfectly connect the pieces of the puzzle at the end. With Memento, it took me about three watches and endless internet articles to fully grasp the bizarre, mind-boggling, and ambitious as hell narrative and storyline.

If you are not familiar with Nolan’s form of storytelling, it’s usually non-linear, but not in a sense like Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. There’s an array of substantive reasoning behind it.  

Unlike Nolan’s previous works, he establishes overt narration in the beginning by letting the audience know there will be multiple narratives and the times in which they occur relative to the story.

The first narrative, titled the Mole, follows a group of British soldiers fighting not to defeat the Nazis, but rather for survival.  

The group of soldiers first start out alienated from the rest of the world, as they walk in the abandoned-ruined streets of Dunkirk.  Nolan offers up no dialogue early on, yet the audience is still able to feel desperation, isolation, and fear through the lens of these six hopeless soldiers.

After the first five minutes, the group of soldiers are ambushed by German forces leaving only one alive out of the small pack, a young British private named Tommy.

Although that’s his name in the credits, it’s briefly spoken throughout the movie demonstrating Nolan’s focus on tension and suspense rather than the relationship between the characters.

This is not a conventional strategy for war movies, most people are familiar with heavy dramatized plots and characters, for example Saving Private Ryan. Instead, Nolan wants the audience to solely target the spoils of war.  

Like most stories, the plot advances by the characters’ actions. What separates Dunkirk from the genre of war is that Nolan brilliantly crafts the events of Dunkirk together with his ambitious attempt to shoot the entire film in IMAX 65 mm and traditional 65 mm film. The technical one-two punch of Dunkirk is completed by Hans Zimmer’s Oscar-worthy soundtrack.

This might not be Zimmer’s best soundtrack when working with Nolan (Nothing can top Interstellar), but it definitely has the greatest effect on any Nolan movie in that Zimmer’s sound behaves like another character in the plot with its ability to signify tension and foreshadow impending doom for the soldiers on the beach. The soundtrack is also not a conventional one for a war movie. It lacks the dramatic-heroic score, like Zimmer’s “Tennessee” in Pearl Harbor.

Above all, what solidifies Dunkirk as a Nolan movie is the three separate narratives oscillating perfectly back and forth, while also working to resolve one another in the end. The first narrative, the “Mole”, lasts one week. The second narrative, the “Sea”, lasts one day and is headlined by star performances from Mark Rylance and Cillian Murphy. Coming in third is the “air”, an one-hour story arc that follows a British pilot played by Tom Hardy who defends the beach of Dunkirk from Nazi aircraft.  

I remember leaving the theatre with my friend, Matt, both at a loss of words other than, “That might have been the best movie I’ve ever seen.”

I won’t spoil the feeling of relief, but yet daunting images at the film’s close. Rather, I will say Dunkirk is estimated to hit the streaming services and be available on DVD sometime in December. So, giddy up.  

The post Breaking the Fourth Wall: Summer Saved By Dunkirk appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Fantasia is not like the average animated film, let alone Disney film. Its structure is made up of a series of 10+ minute segments punctuated by introductions to their follow up segments. There is no overarching story to Fantasia, as the segments are mostly linked together by theme.

Fantasia is not for everyone. Well, at least not all of it at once. To watch it all requires a patient audience who is either open minded, or is totally fine with sitting through a 2 hour orchestral performance with visual accompaniment. But that is not to say it is too mature for its own good. It has moments of excitement and charm to reward the audience for sticking along (the scene wherein Mickey Mouse talks to renowned orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowsky is a perfect example of that classic Disney charm).

Visually speaking, Fantasia is totally diverse. It features picturesque vistas of nature, adorable ponies and pegasuses with big eyes, majestic and detailed imaginations of the ancient dinosaurs, menacing conjurings of the devil and his demons, ostriches and hippos in ballet costume, and of course, Mickey Mouse and an army of living broomsticks.

While there aren’t really dips in quality of the movie as it’s remarkably consistent throughout, I did come from the movie with some favorite segments.

The first favorite is obviously the one everyone knows and loves, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, based on the German poem of the same name. The story centers around a mighty old wizard and his apprentice, characterized as Mickey Mouse. Fed up with carrying buckets of water to a cauldron, the Apprentice steals the wizard’s hat and casts a spell on a broomstick to do the job for him. But things quickly get out of hand when the Apprentice realizes he can’t get the broom to stop.

The visuals in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice are quaint and charming as well as grand and fantastical. From one moment the audience is treated to seeing Mickey and the broom dance around in a cute way, and the next they see the luminous stars in the sky clash together in fireworks.

It’s a fairly accessible segment. It has a good message of the importance of patience, it’s nice and concise, and everyone loves Mickey Mouse.

My other favorite is the final segment, Night on Bald Mountain, centering around the Devil and his minions celebrating their special night. It’s an incredible animated short through and through in just about every way.

The visuals are on another level. The Devil is huge and imposing and really worthy of the name. He creates his minions from fire in his hands and casts shadows over the neighboring town to summon even more of his creatures. All sorts of crazy things appear on screen when the ball gets rolling with skeletons, pig men, bats, and harpies swirling around to a swelling score that gets more and more intense. And at the end is the sweet release from all the tension and excitement that makes a really beautiful ending to both the short and the entire movie.

Fantasia is truly one of a kind, one of the best animated films ever made. It’s elegant, thoughtful, and an evening watching it would not be an evening wasted.

As for supplementary content… it’s Disney. There’s so much to choose from over generations of movies. But to get an experience closer to Fantasia, it would be best to start with films released around the same time.

Start from the very beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves…

Try Pinocchio, which came out from the same year as Fantasia…

Or Dumbo, which has its own fair share of unique visuals

The post The Trunk Movie Club: “Fantasia” appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The film follows Peter Sellers as Chance, an older man with a childlike mind and affinity for gardening and watching television on an wholly bizarre journey. Chance worked most of his life as a gardener and tenant in a rich man’s manor, and is put out on the street when the rich man dies and lawyers close down the house, leaving him to wander around Washington D.C. aimlessly. Chance is given purpose once more when he’s taken in by another dying, wealthy and powerful man named Ben Rand after Chance is struck by one of Rand’s cars.

Rand and his wife Eve take a liking to Chance and his simplicity, mistaking it for some deeper level of thought, even to the point of Rand taking Chance to meet the President of the United States, who is also taken in by his simple words of gardening and gives them deeper political meaning. As a result, the political class in Washington starts tripping over themselves trying to figure out what kind of motives Chance has and who he really is. And they all fail to understand that Chance is as simple as his words.

Being There is an incredibly tight satire, clearly mocking the Washington environment of intrigue from the politicians to the press. Everything and everyone in politics have some kind of motive to the point where no one understands it when the come across a man with no real motive at all. Another impressive facet of the movie is how Chance’s mentally handicapped mind is not the punchline of every joke, as the punchline is instead every other person’s reaction to him.

But overall, Being There is a movie about listening and dissonance. No one seems to listen to Chance in the film, save for a couple of characters at the beginning and end, and that is the core of each of their interactions with him. The other characters seem to only listen for what they want out of Chance, and so they miss what he’s really about. For example, Rand wants an intellectual confidant to ease his nerves as he comes closer to his deathbed, and so he places his own meanings in the interactions between him and Chance to get what he wants.

The writing of Being There is so fascinating with so much to unpack, but it’s time to look at the biggest marvel of the film: Peter Sellers as Chance. The supporting cast turn in good performances as well, like Shirley MacLaine as the fragile bourgeois socialite Eve and Melvyn Douglas as the brash Ben Rand, but Sellers’ performance is truly something special.

Sellers has a remarkable talent of becoming the characters he portrays, each one so different from the others. His performance as Chance is no exception, a far cry from his characters in The Pink Panther and Dr. Strangelove, his two other most popular roles. Every expression, mannerism and simple sentence strung together feel so believable. His attention to detail is incredible as the audience can see him struggle to put his thoughts into words and how he curiously looks at his surroundings without stealing the attention from the other actors in a scene.

While not entirely accessible due to its quiet nature and slow pace, Being There rewards the patient viewer with excellent writing and one of the best performances by a comedic actor they’ll ever see.

Some supplementary content:

For more Peter Sellers, check out The Pink Panther and Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

For more Shirley MacLaine, watch The Apartment and Terms of Endearment.

The post The Trunk Movie Club: Being There appeared first on KRUI Radio.

That is not to say that Paterson is by any means a poorly-made movie. Frankly, this is the best film of the year so far. Paterson follows a bus driver named Paterson, played with silent and pensive effectiveness by Adam Driver,  and highlights the city of Paterson, New Jersey, a setting that certainly would not plant the word “poetic” into anyone’s mind. On its face, a movie about a bus driver in a small New Jersey town would not make for interesting material. Jarmusch though, in his signature style, breathes life into an otherwise uninteresting story.

Paterson (the bus driver) lives a rigidly regulated life, waking up, no alarm necessary, between 6:15 and 6:30 each morning Monday through Friday for work. He gets home, eats dinner, walks the dog, and goes to the same bar each night to drink one beer. His wife, on the other end of the spectrum, fills her days with whatever projects pop up in her head in a sporadic nature that would make her a polar opposite from Paterson if not for her calm nature.

The most entertaining aspect of Paterson’s life, as well as the movie, are the unique personalities he runs into throughout his everyday life. College students discussing the history of anarchists in Paterson, the local bartender who captures the soul of the city of Paterson on his wall of fame, a pseudo boyfriend-girlfriend pair that is one part Romeo and Juliet, one part Abbott and Costello. The interactions and observations Paterson has with and of these people is the easiest entertainment coming out of the film. For everything else, the audience has to work a lot harder.

Perhaps I can attribute it to my aversion for poetry, or maybe I am a little too lazy when it comes to filmgoing. There are multiple sightings and discussions of twins in the film, and I am sure it is meant to say something profound about the duality of something, I just could not figure out what that something is. Similarly, the film takes much of its time actually reading aloud bits of poetry, which simply put, is not what I want to be seeing or hearing in a movie.

Aside from being a bus driver, Paterson is an aspiring poet, keeping a secret notebook filled with passages he writes about simple everyday objects and concepts. One poem is dedicated to a box of Ohio Blue Tip Matches sitting in his kitchen. Along with these poems, which admittedly are pleasing to the ear in Driver’s one-of-a-kind voice, the film has a lot to say about a lot of things. I’m just not sure what these things are.

Again, this is more a knock on me than it is against the film. A movie about a bus driver in a seemingly bland town, I can handle. Indeed there is a lot to admire and learn from in Paterson. Combining these with poetry just makes it a little bit of a jagged pill to swallow.

The Movie Dude reviews limited release movies, independent films, and smaller theatrical releases.

The post The Movie Dude: Paterson appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Movies have a powerful ability to emphasize parts of the world that may not get the most attention. Following this directive, Jackie takes one of the most infamous events in American history and puts a spotlight on an often overlooked figure in the story. Jackie Kennedy was famous for her youth, looks, breathy accent, and seemingly inherent put-togetherness.

Director Pablo Larrain‘s film shows a far more vulnerable humanity that was never seen in the First Lady during her numerous historic television appearances. Natalie Portman, the vehicle through which we experience this contemporary version of Jackie Kennedy, gives a performance that proves to one-up her gonzo effort in Black Swan.

Jackie begins one week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Jackie Kennedy is giving an interview to a reporter, albeit what she ensures will be a carefully edited one so as to protect both her and her late husband’s public image. The movie switches back and forth between the tense discussion between the two and the events of the tragedy as they relate to Jackie herself.

The film pays due diligence in terms of American iconography; shots include a surprisingly kinetic view of the assassination, little John John during the funeral procession, and of course Jackie’s pink suit. The only difference is we see these in a far more personal light.

We see Kennedy’s injury in grisly detail, we witness the conversation where the children learn about where their father is, the suit is scored with blood marks. Larrain knows the strength of his film lies in showing these recognizable images and casting the stark light of Jackie’s reality over them.

Natalie Portman portrays her character’s struggle with believable agony while the actions she takes to ensure her husband’s legacy elevate the character to near-mythic proportions. We are shown that the First Lady was far more complex than the restrained elegance she was often limited to in her public interactions.

While attempting to ensure her husband will be remembered for more than just being killed, we see Jackie struggle with what even constitutes a legacy. In a moment of bitterness she asks strangers if the names Garfield or McKinley mean anything, referencing previous presidents who were assassinated.

Jackie finds her own legacy in searching for her husband’s. The movie goes to great lengths to ensure our understanding that her efforts to elevate the White House in terms of cultural relevance and style were more than just mere vanity projects.

The film occasionally gets heavy-handed in its delivery with select moments that seem to preach directly at the audience. Those segments do not detract from Portman though, as she is the vehicle through which we experience this affecting struggle for remembrance. While the role certainly delivers some showy moments, Portman shines in the less flashy sections; her portrayal tops mere imitation and seeks to create a wholly new character that had not been discovered until now. The late John Hurt also makes an appearance as a priest close to the family, and it is in their discussions we see Jackie wrestle with many of the the opaque conflicts crashing through her mind.

The film is worth it simply for Portman, who has a legitimate shot at a second Oscar. Its import in strengthened further given that it follows the trend of recent movies that provide insight into lesser seen or understood facets of well-known stories. This is especially important in an America that is finally giving credence to many points of view that were previously ignored, misunderstood, or forgotten entirely.

In Iowa City, Jackie is playing only at Film Scene.

The Movie Dude reviews limited release movies, independent films, and smaller theatrical films. 

The post The Movie Dude: Jackie appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The story, adapted from a Pierre Boulle novel of the same name, follows a Japanese prisoner of war camp as it struggles to build a railroad bridge over a neighboring bridge. The camp has enlisted the labor of a captured British colonel and his men to put the bridge together, leading to a war of will between the British colonel and the Japanese colonel in charge of the camp. Meanwhile, the Allies plan a sabotage effort on the bridge with the help of a reluctant American who escaped from the camp when the British arrived.

The real star of the show is Alec Guinness, who plays the proud Colonel Nicholson, the kind of leader that every man aspires to be. He is level-headed, unflinching in the face of great odds, and cares for his men in an almost fatherly fashion. He lives and breathes British ideals of respect, code, and order, shown by his ownership of a copy of the Geneva Convention. He goes to great lengths in order to ensure the dignity of not only himself and his officers, but the soldiers under his command as well. This objective of his compels him to see the bridge complete to showcase the pride he has in his men and as a result himself.

As fun as it is to have a character with the virtues of Colonel Nicholson to cheer for, the film shows the audience the cautionary side of stubbornness and hubris that comes with such a larger than life character. As he gets his way, his confidence and pride in his men turn to arrogance and this comes to a head in the film’s climax.

In addition, the storyline of Colonel Saito, played by Sessue Hawakawa, plays out in a rewarding fashion as he goes from the foil to Nicholson to something more as the audience starts to see his point of view. On the outside he is a rigid military commander but on the inside he is a frustrated administrator tired of that white whale of a bridge and ever fearful of the consequences of failure. The moment that Nicholson and Saito share together towards the end of the film ties together the humanity in their stories in a mature, thoughtful way.

Starring in the parallel story to Nicholson and Saito is Jack Hawkins as Major Warden and William Holden as the escaped prisoner named Shears. Major Warden is the gung-ho jolly good British commander in charge of the Allies’ mission to sabotage the Japanese railroad. He has enthusiasm, swagger, and drive to land a blow on the enemy, another avatar of platitudes befitting an idealized military commander of an idealized war.

His motivation is a sharp contrast to Shears’ reluctant along-for-the-ride demeanor. Shears has long since grown tired of the conflict and he appears as though he may be a reflection of Warden someday. The conclusion of their story and how it changes them leaves a long lasting mark.

In addition to top notch acting and writing, the film boasts beautiful camera work and a proper score to accompany.

Bridge on the River Kwai is the first of three cinematic epics wherein David Lean commands totally grand shots and some of the best cinematography to this day.  In particular, the shots of the great bridge over the rolling river with the lush hills and jungle in the background prove to be the most memorable treats to the eye.

The score is fairly good with the great epic swells as well as lighter marching tunes in fitting and even poignant places. The choice of music for the final scene of the film is more than a little unsettling given the events occurred.

Altogether, Bridge on the River Kwai is a totally remarkable film, and one of the very best set in the second world war. The film is quite long, sitting at almost three hours, but it is absolutely worth each and every second.

And of course, some supplementary content.

For more of David Lean’s work, check out Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. (Both movies have Alec Guinness in them too)

In addition to Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, if you want to see more Alec Guinness, you can watch a little known film called Star Wars.

For more Jack Hawkins, watch Ben-Hur and Zulu.

And lastly, the source material from Pierre Boulle. (He also wrote the book Planet of the Apes)

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