Sufjan Stevens is my new hero.
I liked his Seven Swans album.
Then I grew to love it.
I liked his Illinois album.
These days, I love it more than I can say. The two songs "John Wayne Gacy Jr." and "Casimir Pulaski Day" are better on their own than any other full album I've heard all year.
And now this... NPR has rated Illinois as the album of the year, and says, "Sufjan Stevens new album isn't just this year's best album, it's the best album to come out in several years. In an era when most of the music we hear is derivative of eras past, it's not just a relief to hear something as fresh as Come on and Feel the Illinoise, it's downright extraordinary. Sufjan Stevens' sound is his alone. Add his ambition (the 50 albums for 50 states project is unlike anything in the history of music) to his sincerity and lyrical ingenuity and it's no wonder he's produced an entire album's worth of songs that send shivers up the spines of all different kinds of music lovers around the world."
And to make things even more stupdenously exciting... get a load of this. It's the best answer given in any musician interview I've read all year (including Bono's stuff.) (Thanks, Heather, for noticing this and sharing it!)
If you only know one or two things about Sufjan Stevens, chances are the second is that he is a practising Christian who isn't afraid to let his beliefs impact upon his work. "If someone asked, I would say that I was born again. I would look you right in the eye and say it."
"I don't know anything about CCM. I'm not an evangelist. I'm a songwriter and a storyteller. If that story happens to be about Christ, then perhaps, in some odd semantic way, the song could be termed 'evangelical'. I gladly accept that. I also sing about divorce. And murder. And adultery. I sing about chickens and war and bathrooms. In my mind, the gospel is not something to pander and pawn off like a diet soda drink. There is no product. There is no selling point."
"This is what it means to be born again: to fully and completely disengage with the preconceptions and preoccupations of the adult world and its religions, to dismantle all laws - of physics and society - and yield yourself to the birth canal, and what comes after, in which everything begins to shake and tremble with all senses fully turned to the centre of the universe, the creator, God the Father, in whose cultivation we begin to know and understand our true selves, our real selves, as a reflection of God's image, his creation, like newborn babies, full, fresh, suckling, elated and laughing at everything. But honestly, I have no idea how this relates to my music. I hate talking about this stuff."
"I'd like to spend less time talking about God and more time being in God's presence. I think that would put an end to this conversation, once and for all."
[Due to the outdated link, here's a link to Andy Whitman's blog.]
Ladies and Gentlemen... Craig Detweiler.
I interviewed screenwriter/film-instructor Craig Detweiler at Biola several months ago in L.A., before any trailers for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had even been shown. (The trailer debuted above Detweiler's head on a big screen at the Biola Media Conference.)
That interview was published today at Christianity Today Movies.
Here's a clip:
Do you see "good, beautiful, complex, redemptive" films being made today?
Detweiler: Almost every class I teach here ends with David Gordon Green's film George Washington, which came out in 2000. It asks, "What is possible?" It dares to suggest that there could be a new George Washington born as a poor black kid in the southern United States, faced with an epic crisis as a young man—his own cherry tree—and rises to the occasion and becomes part of that great tradition of Georges, from George Washington all the way up to George Washington Carver to Geronimo to George Bush. He's the next in line.
I end my classes with George Washington because of the profound hope in it. Here is one of the youngest filmmakers with one of the purest artistic visions, and [his movies are] already in the Criterion Collection. It doesn't matter if nobody's seen or heard it. It will stand the test of time, whether people discover it this year, in ten years, or in a hundred years—it doesn't matter. It's going to last.
What lessons would you most like to see Christian filmmakers learn?
Detweiler: We surely don't need any more End Times films. We don't need any more films that mean what they say and say what they mean. I think we have to discover the lost art of subtlety and subtext.
At Biola, we start our filmmakers with visual aesthetics. We let them know that film is not meant to be an illuminated Bible. This is an art form that is visual by design. It does not need words to convey the message. What I'd like us to do is figure out what lighting, sound, color, props, and set design say. I'd like us to discover the power of silent film, to discover how Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc worked and continues to work, how Sunrise continues to work, how The Last Laugh continues to work.
Looking back at 2005, those who measure a film's importance by its box office success will point to the final Star Wars chapter, Revenge of the Sith. How important is that film to you and your students?
Detweiler: I wish I did care. I'm sad to say I don't. And I think my students don't care. Hard to believe.
Lots more at the link.
Munich: A movie that reflects Spielberg's belief in sin.
Which mainstream film critic said THIS about Steven Spielberg's Munich?
Today’s movie culture has so thoroughly written off the concept of sin that any movie ridiculing it (from Hellboy and My Summer of Love to Squid and the Whale) is guaranteed to be widely praised. This fondness for transgression might explain the trouble Spielberg has run into with Munich. He explicates a grievous sense of wrong-doing that communicates best to those who are open to an Ecumenical view of life (or if that term scares you, Judeo-Christian). Munich’s vision is truly Judeo-Christian in that it doesn’t confuse morality with politics. It uses one to test the other.
Surely it is the concept of sin that angers Spielberg’s current detractors. They don’t want any selfish or transgressive actions to be judged. The fact that Munich won’t settle for memorializing Israel’s revenge offends some propagandists’ self-justifying nihilism as surely as it also spoils (but enlightens) the action-movie party. Bloodseekers simply can’t get off on Munich’s complexity. Munich doesn’t arouse vengeance; it isn’t about “fairness” or even-handed allocation of blame. It’s about how retribution (eye-for-an-eye politics) unbalance the universe, how Avner unquiets his soul. Throughout his killings, Avner carries a consciousness of heritage and the weight of history; plus, a sense of justice challenged by a sense of responsibility—burdens. Miraculously, this story of mankind’s moral burden becomes the perfect summary for Spielberg’s 9/11 trilogy — the most significant event of 2005 cinema.
Strong language. But I think I agree with him. The farther I get from seeing Munich, the more I find myself thinking about it and wanting to see it again. I'm not sure yet if I think it's the best film of the year, but it's way, way up there....
My full review will be up tomorrow, if the day goes as planned.
Merry Christmas to all who seek Him, all who have found Him, and all who don't know what they're missing.
The joy of Christmas has already filled the Overstreet headquarters, as Anne and I read the Christmas story... Luke, Chapters 1 and 2... last night. And, once again, it was a whole new experience.
This time I was especially impressed by the story of Zechariah, the the father of John the Baptist, who was a man of great insight. While he had to take a rather lengthy "time out" to ponder what God can do, he did -- upon comprehending the enormity of what was about to happen -- discern that the coming of Jesus was not going to be the coming of a Lord who would take the world by military force, or a Lord who would make life easier, but a Savior who would be victorious by saving us from our sins. Similarly, Simeon, the priest who blessed Jesus, foresaw that Jesus would bring this salvation also to the Gentiles. That is some profound understanding, perspectives that many of Jesus's own followers had difficulty perceiving.
In the coming year, I want to know my Lord better. I cannot comprehend him, but by believing in him, all things around me become illuminated. I want to avoid reducing him to the kind of Savior I think I want, but rather behold the kind of Savior that he is... because his will is so much grander than anything I have yet imagined. Zechariah and Simeon didn't rejoice just because Jesus was coming to bless them... but because they knew he would bless others as well.
Movies, music, literature, art... all of these things move me because they reflect fragments of his beauty, his design for creation, his will. Pray that I will not be distracted or seduced by the allure of these things, but that they will continue to be a means to an end, pathways that I travel to be nearer to him rather than a destination in and of themselves.
I pray that you too will not be distracted by the "stuff" of Christmas, but that you will remember and cherish the truth... that God has done far more to express his love for us than we could ever do for him. And when the "grey rain curtain" of this world is drawn back, we will see him as he is... if we're watchful.
Remember the words of Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien, which he included in a letter to his son Michael in 1962: "Well here comes Christmas! That astonishing thing that no 'commercialism' can in fact defile—unless you let it."
Specials: Defending Munich. Chesterton's blog. Chattaway on Cassanova and Munich. London Critics.
Friday specials:
DEFENDING MUNICH
Here's a forceful, well-composed defense of Steven Spielberg's Munich, which I think is his most restrained, mature, and challenging film since... oh... 1987's Empire of the Sun. (It's at Salon, so if you don't subscribe, just click and watch the brief advertisement so you can get access to the whole article.) This one's going in my Top Ten of 2005.
G.K. CHESTERTON ... THE BLOG
If Chesterton was blogging today, he'd be my first Web stop of the day. Here's the next best thing.
CHRISTMAS MOVIES: WHAT'LL IT BE... LOVERS OR KILLERS?
Peter T. Chattaway reviews Cassanova (once again, Lasse Hallström is church-bashing) and Munich.
LONDON GOES FOR TRUE LOVE AND PHARMACEUTICAL CONSPIRACY
The London Film Critics pile up nominations for Pride and Prejudice (Hooray!) and The Constant Gardener (Booooo!)
Fifteen performances from 2005 that made a difference.
I'm not ready to deliver a Top Ten Films of 2005 yet. There are several key candidates I'll be seeing for the first time in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned. I'll publish the list on December 31st, when 2005 really is ending and the buzzer sounds. Then I'll publish a revised list sometime around the end of January when the last heavy hitters of 2005 have become available in Seattle. (All of these folks publishing their top tens... have they really seen all of the key players already? Really?)
However, I will single out the performances that have made the strongest impression on me this year.
If I could cast Oscar votes, I'd be stirring up attention for these folks:
1. Andy Serkis - King Kong
He won't be nominated. Probably can't be, for one technicality or another. But the emotion, the power, and the glory of Kong onscreen comes from Andy Serkis, and the fact that what we're seeing looks suspiciously like a gorilla... THAT comes from the animators. I think Serkis deserves an Oscar for his groundbreaking, sensational work.
2. Georgie Henley - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Alexander Nathan Etel - Millions
Henley's the very best reason to see the Narnia movie. No one could have done a better job suspending my disbelief. Too bad Lucy doesn't have a big part in the sequels. I'd follow her anywhere. Here's hoping they kind find someone just as enchanting to make Prince Caspian come alive.
Like Henley, Etel posseses a fantastic ability to forget about the camera and become a kid bursting at the seams with faith and personality. Nothing brought me to tears this year more than his joy in Millions' brilliant, climactic dream sequence.
3. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers - Match Point
I would have found it hard to believe, but now I've seen it. Rhys-Meyers is better at playing a heartless, malevolent antihero than any other actor... except perhaps John Malkovich. He should get cast in the next film version of a Patricia Highsmith novel, or a remake of Dangerous Liaisons. He should star in the film adaptation of The Screwtape Letters. He's brilliantly wicked, and he makes the nightmarish proceedings of Match Point riveting.
4. Rosamund Pike - Pride and Prejudice
Yes, Keira Knightley was dazzling in the lead role, but Pike broke my heart while saying very little at all. Her fragile silences were, for me, the miracle of the movie.
5. Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Brilliant. Oscar-worthy. Far more deserving than Brokeback Mountain's Heath Ledger, who is for some reason suddenly the front-runner. Whereas Ledger's performance is being perceived as brave, I think it stopped being brave for a straight guy to play a gay man decades ago. Capote doesn't just play a homosexual man. He creates a complex, remarkable character who commands our attention through every scene of the film. He's one of the great actors, and the great actors are sometimes overlooked in favor of more popular performances. The Academy should seize this opportunity to celebrate Hoffman now, or in the future this will be seen as one of those unfortunate award-flubs.
6. Paul Newman - Empire Falls
Newman is as wonderful to watch now as ever, and every time he steps into the otherwise unremarkable HBO two-part adaptation of Empire Falls, the film comes to life with energy and wit. He makes this series well worth watching.
7. Issei Ogata - Tony Takitani
Ogato makes Tony into an intriguing case of longing and heartbreak. I came to this film eager to see the actor who lit up the middle act of Edward Yang's Yi-Yi. I never saw that actor here--Ogato became something entirely different. Now I realize that he is a great actor, because I have no idea what the real Ogato looks like.
8. David Strathairn - Good Night, and Good Luck
As Edward R. Murrow, Strathairn convinces us that his brain is in overdrive and likely to burst almost every minute he's onscreen. He's one of Hollywood's secret weapons, serving the character at all times, and it's his quiet concentration on his work... not any kind of sensationalism... that draws our attention. But this is nothing new. He's been turning in great performances like this for years.
9. Anthony Lapaglia - Winter Solstice
Lapaglia had good competition this year in the "Best Long Silences" category, especially from Bill Murray. But his work here as a damaged widower is delicate and full of grace, a performance that has been sorely overlooked (just as he was for Lantana a few years back.) Lapaglia is doing the kind of work that DeNiro would be doing if he still had any passion left for acting. He deserves greater roles, and more of them.
10. Viggo Mortensen - A History of Violence
Who knew that Mortensen was capable of such complex work? This is a helluva challenging role to play, and he plays it like a pro. I worried that he'd never shake off the mantle of Aragorn to do anything really impressive and new. Forgive him for Hidalgo... THIS is a major step forward.
11. Nathan Fillion - Serenity
The movie, like the television series, never got the credit it deserved. And its cast is fantastic, deserving of a long-running blockbuster franchise. But Fillion really is the captain of this ship. He's the most engaging action hero since Harrison Ford put on the Indiana Jones hat. Here's hoping that Serenity finds a way to live again.
12. Zhang Ziyi - 2046
In what may be the most exquisite big screen exhibition of beautiful women ever filmed, Zhang Ziyi is the bright and shining star. House of Flying Daggers showed how she can kick butt. 2046 rockets her to the ranks of Audrey Hepburn in terms of her gravitational pull. She's otherworldly.
13. Daniel Day-Lewis - The Ballad of Jack and Rose
The greatest screen actor working today, Day-Lewis refuses to turn in a forgettable performance. Here's another great one, entirely different from his other work. I wondered if it would throw him off, to be acting while his wife directs. Apparently not.
14. Bill Murray - Broken Flowers
Another good performance, made great by one quiet moment in a graveyard. Jeffrey Wright is also very good here (and equally good in Syriana), but the performance that becomes more and more affecting every time I see the film... Frances Conroy as the prefab-home seller.
15. Sam Rockwell - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
He may have blown it, by turning himself loose to a Jim Carrey maximum here. I mean, if he shows this kind of reckless humor again, it'll just be seen as a variation on this inspired turn. But he sure kicked some life into this otherwise disappointing movie.
Okay, who have I forgotten? Yeah, yeah, Phoenix and Witherspoon. They were great, but the script didn't make enough sense out of them for me.
Specials: Amy Wellborn - Vigilant. Adam Walter - literate. Chewbacca - full of Christmas spirit. Teachout - thirsty for music.
Open Book, Amy Wellborn's blog, continues to be an essential stop on my daily tour, for her relentless vigilance. Here's one of the recent highlights, regarding mainstream media and faith.
Other blog entries worth noting:
Adam Walter discovers the new Mark Helprin Web site. I visited Adam last night at the fine bookseller where he works and packaged up a couple of gifts for my wife while we chatted. In spite of my love for the movie world, I greatly envy anyone who gets to spend all day in a bookstore. Judging from his blog and his recommendations at the store, Adam has excellent taste in literature.
And thanks to Jason Morehead at Opuszine for a Christmas card sure to lift your spirits. And, on a lighter note, he's also thinking about Tarkovsky, and Pitchfork's Top Albums of the Year.
But best of all is this entry by Terry Teachout, which I discovered in THIS wonderful entry at The American Scene.
J. Robert Parks' Top Ten Moviegoing Experiences of 2005
Looking Closer's frequent guest reviewer J. Robert Parks has just turned in his Top Ten Moviegoing Experiences of 2005, plus an alternate Top Ten Films of 2005 list. I've posted it at the Looking Closer movie page.
Parks gets to see a much wider variety of films per year than I do, so I always find a lot in his list that helps guide my DVD-watching in the coming year. I think you will too.
The CT Mailbag: Brokeback Mountain
What's sad is how far short of grace and tact some of these messages fall...
What's even sadder is how predictable it was that this would happen...
Books and Culture: The Top Ten Books of the Year
John Wilson shares the B&C picks...
What's the best book YOU read this year?