Saturday, June 19, 2004
Roxie Hart and Me
Today I took some time out to watch one of my favorite movies of all time. I watched it in two parts; one before a family barbecue and one after. The movie is one of those that has to be seen multiple times to be appreciated fully: oh, and by the way, seeing it in the theater was bliss.
The movie is Chicago, and it is a musical about a woman who dreams of being a jazz dancer and celebrity. She murders her lover, and hires a sleazy lawyer to get her off death row. In the meantime, she is constantly competing for limelight with another jazz starlet turned murderer.
There are a few reasons that I feel this movie is superior to about everything Hollywood has made in recent history. I thought it would be fun to take a little break from my normal blogging to talk you all into appreciating this movie as much as I do.
1) The movie has a stellar cast. Rene Zelwigger, Katherine Zeta Jones, Queen Latifa, Richard Gere, and Lucy Liu. How can you beat that? Ms. Zelwigger is an absolute doll anyway, and in this movie it is very hard not to adore her.
2) The art direction is stunning. The story is told both as a traditional narrative and as a metaphorical stage show. I have heard many people complain about how this movie "jumps around" so much, but that only means they missed the point. It is artistic, it is tongue in cheek, and most of all, it is fun. To me, nothing is worse than a musical where people pop into song and dance. It is very distracting to see the actors try to stay in character yet perform choreographed numbers. Its even worse when the extras are forced to play a role. In Chicago, the musical bits are nicely placed in a dream-world where it does not offend your sense of reality.
3) The singing, dancing, and editing are so spot-on that it will be another 50 years before a movie matches it. It is a very technical movie, and when you analyze the enormous amount of planning and work that went into it, you are left stunned that anyone would take on such a project in the first place. All of the motion, the timing, the lighting, the camera angles... everything is perfection. The technical achievement in Chicago, in my opinion, out does the simulated "special effects" achievements of movies such as Titanic and Star Wars.
4) The message is a blast. The way that the movie portrays the media is perfect. Lawyers and media and the public are all a part of a game. The truth is rarely important. It is the likeness of truth that we sell and buy. This is why the "court of public opinion" is so important. Watch how the presidential candidates work the rest of this year. Watch what they take on as topics, and who they talk to. And then watch Chicago. The correlations will be downright scary.
5) It is too sexy for its own good. When I saw this with my wife, I honestly felt uneasy the whole time. Well, uneasy, but I had a smile wide across my face as well. The entire movie exudes sex, and to be frank, it achieves a new benchmark for soft-core pornography. The costumes, dialogue, and dances are maximized to be nothing but "trashy" fun. Not only is this fulfilling in a very base way, but it also amplifies the message of the film. The audience, whether it be movie-goers, newspaper readers, or a jury, want titillation. No matter what is actually happening behind it. I find myself almost ashamed at how much I enjoy seeing the beautiful Lucy Liu on screen, only to realize that all she does while she is there is murder her lover and his two girlfriends. The act is lost in the flood of sexuality. Think about this when you watch it for a second or third time.
6) It has a very subtle tragedy to it. Roxie's husband is abused and left penniless and loveless. Helenski is hanged despite her presumed innocence, while murders are set free. Oh, and somehow we find ourselves rooting for Gere's Billy Flynn, who is the biggest scumbag ever to walk the Earth. The movie creates a world of filth and moral depravity that we end up accepting as amusing and alluring. The "real" characters either find undue punishment or mistreatment. Strong messages hidden within this film.
Anyway, that is all I have to say about it. It is near perfect, and there isn't a single thing I would change. If you are wondering, my favorite musical number is Billy Flynn's grotesquely ironic "All I Care About Is Love." But it is a favorite almost by default, as every song is sensual heaven.
And if you haven't seen it, shame on you. If you can, rent it, buy it, borrow it, or best yet, go to the theater and see it (if you are lucky enough to have a theater in town that still shows "retro" movies). You'll either find yourself reveling in the sexual tide, the anti-Humanist message, or the sheer technical achievement of this masterpiece.
See ya!
The movie is Chicago, and it is a musical about a woman who dreams of being a jazz dancer and celebrity. She murders her lover, and hires a sleazy lawyer to get her off death row. In the meantime, she is constantly competing for limelight with another jazz starlet turned murderer.
There are a few reasons that I feel this movie is superior to about everything Hollywood has made in recent history. I thought it would be fun to take a little break from my normal blogging to talk you all into appreciating this movie as much as I do.
1) The movie has a stellar cast. Rene Zelwigger, Katherine Zeta Jones, Queen Latifa, Richard Gere, and Lucy Liu. How can you beat that? Ms. Zelwigger is an absolute doll anyway, and in this movie it is very hard not to adore her.
2) The art direction is stunning. The story is told both as a traditional narrative and as a metaphorical stage show. I have heard many people complain about how this movie "jumps around" so much, but that only means they missed the point. It is artistic, it is tongue in cheek, and most of all, it is fun. To me, nothing is worse than a musical where people pop into song and dance. It is very distracting to see the actors try to stay in character yet perform choreographed numbers. Its even worse when the extras are forced to play a role. In Chicago, the musical bits are nicely placed in a dream-world where it does not offend your sense of reality.
3) The singing, dancing, and editing are so spot-on that it will be another 50 years before a movie matches it. It is a very technical movie, and when you analyze the enormous amount of planning and work that went into it, you are left stunned that anyone would take on such a project in the first place. All of the motion, the timing, the lighting, the camera angles... everything is perfection. The technical achievement in Chicago, in my opinion, out does the simulated "special effects" achievements of movies such as Titanic and Star Wars.
4) The message is a blast. The way that the movie portrays the media is perfect. Lawyers and media and the public are all a part of a game. The truth is rarely important. It is the likeness of truth that we sell and buy. This is why the "court of public opinion" is so important. Watch how the presidential candidates work the rest of this year. Watch what they take on as topics, and who they talk to. And then watch Chicago. The correlations will be downright scary.
5) It is too sexy for its own good. When I saw this with my wife, I honestly felt uneasy the whole time. Well, uneasy, but I had a smile wide across my face as well. The entire movie exudes sex, and to be frank, it achieves a new benchmark for soft-core pornography. The costumes, dialogue, and dances are maximized to be nothing but "trashy" fun. Not only is this fulfilling in a very base way, but it also amplifies the message of the film. The audience, whether it be movie-goers, newspaper readers, or a jury, want titillation. No matter what is actually happening behind it. I find myself almost ashamed at how much I enjoy seeing the beautiful Lucy Liu on screen, only to realize that all she does while she is there is murder her lover and his two girlfriends. The act is lost in the flood of sexuality. Think about this when you watch it for a second or third time.
6) It has a very subtle tragedy to it. Roxie's husband is abused and left penniless and loveless. Helenski is hanged despite her presumed innocence, while murders are set free. Oh, and somehow we find ourselves rooting for Gere's Billy Flynn, who is the biggest scumbag ever to walk the Earth. The movie creates a world of filth and moral depravity that we end up accepting as amusing and alluring. The "real" characters either find undue punishment or mistreatment. Strong messages hidden within this film.
Anyway, that is all I have to say about it. It is near perfect, and there isn't a single thing I would change. If you are wondering, my favorite musical number is Billy Flynn's grotesquely ironic "All I Care About Is Love." But it is a favorite almost by default, as every song is sensual heaven.
And if you haven't seen it, shame on you. If you can, rent it, buy it, borrow it, or best yet, go to the theater and see it (if you are lucky enough to have a theater in town that still shows "retro" movies). You'll either find yourself reveling in the sexual tide, the anti-Humanist message, or the sheer technical achievement of this masterpiece.
See ya!
Comments:
Post a Comment