Hitler in Hollywood

A fictional documentary by Frederic Sojcher in the tradition of the great mockumentaries.  Starring Maria de Medeiros (of Pulp Fiction fame) as herself, hot on the trail of a missing filmmaker of the classical era who was wrapped up in a CIA-sponsored plot to use Hollywood to destroy the financial prospects of European cinema in the postwar period.  So the film betrays maybe just a bit of an irrational fear of Hollywood hegemony which nevertheless is based on a meritorious complaint about a general lack of diversity in movie theaters all over the world.

The film is shot in a first-person manner from the point-of-view of either de Medeiros or her cameraman (and would-be lover).  Visually the film looks excellent and is given a majestic air because of the use of large-gauge film stock rather than the expected digital video for an aesthetic of this kind.

Sojcher is a film theoretician and university professor and his movie smacks of cinephilic love.  Playful references are made to a number of thrillers and the climactic meeting with the legendary filmmaker who is the object of the investigation takes place on an island that recalls the famous one in Antonioni’s L’Avventura.  Luis Aramchek (Hans Meyer), the director in question who is the auteur of the fictional “film within a film” Hitler in Hollywood, has built a paradise of a film studio on this island as his last escape from Earthly concerns and a place of solitude.  This island paradise is blown up by unseen forces at the conclusion which produces the critical idea that maybe the starting point is zero in an effort to construct a competitive alternative to Hollywood dominance.

True Grit

The Coen Brothers do not make bad films, for the most part.  At the least their films are average and they have shown more than a few times to be capable of genuine masterpieces.  While True Grit may not be top-tier in the Coen canon it is certainly an enjoyable experience, though questionable as to why such creative forces as the Coens would want to remake something in the first place.

Jeff Bridges is wrong for the role of Rooster Cogburn.  His scraggly appearance is right but his forced scruffiness in diction feels too satirical.  It is hard to believe in him as a tough guy and a man of no mercy.  One must wonder what a more iconic aging action hero would have done to the final product.  Preferably someone equivalent in impact to the legendary John Wayne in his own time and who really does possess “true grit.”

Matt Damon and Josh Brolin are little more than throwaway cameos in their roles, though Damon does melt away efficiently into the persona of a Texas ranger.  Young Hailee Steinfeld is wonderful in the part of Mattie Ross.  Her open heart and efficient, unyielding manner win you over in an instant when we first see her effectively tending to the affairs of her murdered father.  You want to root for her and you want to see her succeed because of her pluck.  Though unfortunately, like everything else in the film, Mattie is not allowed much room to flourish.  True Grit cuts itself short and ultimately feels like a routine exercise that the Coens could have possibly done without.

Usually the Coens attempt to transcend or reinvent genre and here they play it safe and close to the vest instead.  The Coens are at their best when they are risky and True Grit is a little too classical and conservative in both form and content.  For them, this is film-making by the numbers and would need to be roughened up a bit around the edges before it would be of more genuine and lasting interest.

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