{"id":672,"date":"2009-03-21T22:21:13","date_gmt":"2009-03-22T04:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=672"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:57:44","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:57:44","slug":"article-du-c-u-ebertfest-x-pt6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=672","title":{"rendered":"Article du C-U: Ebertfest X, pt.6"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Big Ten\u201d<\/strong>
\nRoger Ebert\u2019s Film Festival reaches the end of a decade \u2013 but without its founder and host<\/p>\n

by Anthony Zoubek<\/em><\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

THE CELL WAS EBERTFEST\u2019S HULK.<\/strong> The film\u2019s near-midnight start time weeded out some of the festival\u2019s older, conservative regulars who might frown upon one of the movie\u2019s memorable and disquieting images \u2013 serial killer Carl Stargher (Vincent D\u2019Onofrio<\/strong>), suspended in air from hooks embedded in his back, masturbating on the milk-white, doll-like corpse of his latest victim.<\/p>\n

In his preview coverage, eFilmCritic.com<\/strong> contributor Peter Sobczynski<\/strong> declared the hard R-rated European version of THE CELL<\/strong> to be screened at Roger Ebert’s Film Festival<\/strong> \u201ceasily the most controversial selection of this year\u2019s festival.\u201d (Actually, that crown goes to THE BAND\u2019S VISIT<\/strong>, a soulfully sweet-natured and mostly Arabic-language film banned in many Middle Eastern countries for melding Israelis and Palestinians in its cast as well as ousted from Academy Award<\/strong> consideration due to its use of \u201ctoo much English.\u201d) However, Sobczynski was dead on in his assertion that THE CELL<\/strong> would \u201cbe worth watching it again just to see how it goes down with the Ebertfest crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

For most of us, THE CELL<\/strong> was best described by Chaz Ebert<\/strong> in her prefatory remarks. \u201cThis movie is a feast for the eyes,\u201d she said, \u201calthough I must admit, sometimes I need to hide my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chaz then turned the microphone over to film scholar David Bordwell<\/strong>, who expounded on the intellectual curiosities provoked by the movie\u2019s aesthetics. \u201cFilmmaking has always been open to influence from other arts,\u201d he explained. \u201cMovies have always been a scavenging medium. Visually, THE CELL<\/strong> creates as many new and bold ideas as the ones it creatively borrows from elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a rule when I watch movies,\u201d Bordwell continued, \u201cand that is, show me at least three things I\u2019ve never seen before. Well, tonight, you will see a few hundred things you\u2019ve probably never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing its director, Tarsem Singh<\/strong> (\u201ca visual visionary\u201d), and the film\u2019s costumer, Eiko Ishioka<\/strong> (on whose production design work, including MISHIMA<\/strong> \u2013 the very best film of Ebertfest 2008 \u2013 \u201cwe could do an entire film festival\u201d), Bordwell called THE CELL<\/strong> a \u201crepresentative of the future of cinema; an involving, evolving, highly experimental approach to an archetypal midnight movie in some respects and an aesthetic gallery in others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh, whom Bordwell invited on stage, said he would keep his pre-movie comments brief (\u201cbecause I don\u2019t want to spoil it for you\u201d) right before launching into a humorously lengthy and rapidly-paced tirade about the movie\u2019s sometimes nauseating, always hypnotic iconography. Singh\u2019s enthusiasm, as sprightly as THE CELL<\/strong> itself, was so kinetic that even a prototypical Quentin Tarantino<\/strong> rant would sound haggard in comparison. \u201cIf you feel you need to walk out during the movie,\u201d he quipped, \u201cthen walk out \u2013 I won\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Virginia Theatre<\/strong>\u00a0balcony, there were a total of eight walk-outs before the aforementioned suspension sequence. (This scene only lasts about a minute in the American version. Ebertfest audiences were treated to the gruesome seven-minute European version.) Pity to those who did not allow the actual plot of the film to engross them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

THE CELL<\/strong>\u2019s unbalanced screenplay, particularly hackneyed for the film\u2019s first half-hour, certainly didn\u2019t help. Jennifer Lopez<\/strong> stars as Catherine, a social worker with the technology to link the inner recesses of her mind to that of a patient in psychological need. (The movie\u2019s opening images of Lopez wearing a white dress, crossing sand dunes while riding a white stallion \u2013 supposedly \u201cin\u201d the mind of a comatose boy who probably wouldn\u2019t dream of horses and desert vistas \u2013 is laughably pretentious.) In an analogous but seemingly unrelated story line, an FBI team lead by Agent Novak (Vince Vaughn<\/strong>) captures the psychopathic Stargher, who kidnaps young women and locks them in a timed torture chamber that eventually kills them.<\/p>\n

With Stargher in captivity, his latest victim is still at large, locked in the killing machine. The only way to save the girl is to allow Catherine to enter Stargher\u2019s mind, a wildly prophetic Jung<\/strong>-esque juxtaposition of the killer\u2019s brutal childhood, perverted adult dreamscapes, and a pastiche of late-1990s MTV<\/strong> music video semiotics and syntax, packed with enough surreal imagery to make Salvador Dali<\/strong> weep. It\u2019s astounding how early THE CELL<\/strong> feels like it may slide into two-star CAPTIVITY<\/strong> and THE HILLS HAVE EYES<\/strong> country and how quickly its visually operatic tone turns the aesthetics into something akin to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Only when we are seduced by its style does the story put us under its spell, the silly script becoming a misnomer to Singh\u2019s hyperactive imagination and Ishioka\u2019s design. Whereas introductory scenes put more focus on Lopez\u2019s backside than her expository characterization, the journeys into Stargher\u2019s mind earn our empathy and make Catherine a three-dimensional heroine. After her first trip \u201cin,\u201d Catherine and Agent Novak catch a breath of fresh air outside the psych ward and the ensuing debate \u2013 nature versus nurture in turning the psychologically unnerved mind into the impulse of a cold-blooded killer \u2013 is engaging, fascinating, and ultimately heartbreaking. A subtle moment delivered brilliantly by Vaughn, insinuating a vital piece of information about his agent\u2019s past, makes us realize how much we care about these two characters and the outcome of their plight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

By the end of the film, we realize Singh\u2019s popcorn opus may well have ushered in a visual style for the new millennium, for better or worse. He borrows from Trent Reznor, Carmen, French New Wave, German Expressionism, Italian Neo-Realism, Grand Guignol<\/strong>, and even his own \u201cLosing My Religion<\/strong>\u201d video for R.E.M.<\/strong> The film\u2019s detractors called it THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS<\/strong> meets THE LAWNMOWER MAN<\/strong>. I prefer the more accurate EL TOPO<\/strong> meets SE7EN<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

FOLLOWING THE SCREENING<\/strong>, Singh said he allowed his imagination to take advantage of \u201ca somewhat stupid script\u201d that was \u201climited to scenes with five lines: \u2018She\u2019s taken by the killer and shown his victims \u2026 she\u2019s shown the killer\u2019s nightmare.\u2019 That would be it. Where do I go with that? Well, women who pump iron scare the fuck out of me. That\u2019s it! Iron-pumping women! That\u2019s how we\u2019d fill in the script\u2019s blanks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe script was secondary,\u201d he added. \u201cWe used iconography and poetic logic to create links between sets and themes.\u201d Singh also said Ishioka\u2019s input helped make THE CELL<\/strong>\u2019s visuals \u201ccreate mythologies of the subconscious mind, tranquility versus turbulence. She researched books on saints, Vanier<\/strong> \u2013 her mind is full of religion and [the] opera world. Forget about thinking outside the box. She doesn\u2019t even know what or where the box is.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Line Cinema<\/strong>, distributor of THE CELL<\/strong>, wanted eye candy. Singh aimed to please. \u201cFirst came the designs, then we went back and added the set-ups,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhen the virtual reality suits took on the look of water suits, we added water beds and water motifs in introductory scenes. If we decided we wanted to make a fantasy sequence look like the inside of a snow globe, we would plug in a real snow globe in a set-up scene. Our desired set designs for the surreal scenes prompted us to insert some sort of establishing hint in early expository scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One of the movie\u2019s most bizarre sequences, featuring a standing horse being cut into deli-thin slices, almost got Singh sued by the creators of the touring \u201cBody Works<\/strong>\u201d museum exhibition which features biological installations that look identical to the director\u2019s baroque imagery.<\/p>\n

Singh said negative press reaction to the film came \u201cbecause the movie was screened for critics before any of the special effects were done. Fortunately, Roger<\/strong> [Ebert<\/strong>] was on a holiday and eventually saw the film when it was actually finished. Only days before the film came out in theaters did the studio get behind the movie and realize that they might have something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite its superiority over the North American version, the longer international cut is not the director\u2019s cut of THE CELL<\/strong>. \u201cA true director\u2019s cut would cut out all of the dialogue, insert explanatory title cards like a silent movie, and feature only Howard Shore<\/strong>\u2019s score [on the soundtrack],\u201d Singh said with a grin.<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Return to \u201cThe Big Ten\u201d pt.5<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Big Ten\u201d pt.7 coming soon!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

THE CELL<\/strong> is a production of Caro-McLeod<\/strong>\/Radical Media<\/strong> distributed theatrically by New Line Cinema and on DVD by New Line Home Entertainment<\/strong>. It was directed by Tarsem Singh, produced by Julio Caro<\/strong> and Eric McLeod<\/strong>, and written by Mark Protosevich<\/strong>, and stars Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D\u2019Onofrio, Marianne Jean-Baptiste<\/strong>, Jake Weber<\/strong>, and Dylan Baker<\/strong>. 2000, 35mm, Color, 108 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Big Ten\u201d pt.\u00a06 \u00a9 2009 Anthony Zoubek. Used with permission.<\/p>\n

CUBlog edit \u00a9 2009 Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n

All graphics \u00a9 2000 New Line Home Entertainment<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back to the fore, MacDuff\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Visit the Article Index<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Return to Home Page<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Zoubek finally explains it all for the C-U Blogfidential readership. In this sixth entry, he tackles Tarsem’s baroque sensibilities as evidenced in THE CELL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,137,13,30],"tags":[72,184],"class_list":["post-672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-area-festivals","category-article-du-c-u","category-public-events","category-roger-ebert","tag-roger-eberts-film-festival","tag-the-cell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}