I'll Watch Anything

In hindsight, Bottle Rocket, the low budget genre mash-up that catapulted Wes Anderson and the Wilson brothers to fame, fits nicely into Andersen’s oeuvre.  Anderson has progressively raised the scope and vision of his films, but I believe Bottle Rocket is his true masterpiece. The film not only stylishly refutes the media’s portrayal of downer Generation X, it  also manages to be the best romantic comedy of the last two decades.

Bottle Rocketopens in a mental hospital and ends in a prison yard, and still achieves maintains light tone. Bignan and Anthony’s misadventures are amateurish, but their enthusiasm is never mocked. On the contrary, Wilson and Anderson write their characters as stoner saints, dreamers trying to live according to their (however absurd and delusional)  passions.   I think Bottle Rocket has a melancholic undertow to it’s zanyness, but in the end the outcasts triumph over their indifferent brethren.

(Plus, the soundtrack is not totally distracting-Wes didn’t have the budget to pick 5 of the cool, largly distracting pop nuggets, to draw attention to themselves instead of serving the story.  The songs featured for BR, one by Love and another by the Rolling Stones, are used to accentuate the dramatic high points of the movie, to great effect.)

Owen Wilson and Lumi Cavazos have palpable chemistry, and the scenes of Anthony helping Inez clean motel rooms marks at one of the funniest and unique scenes in modern romantic sub-plots. Bottle Rocket succeeds on a myriad of levels: a heist movie one minute, wistful and emotional the next; it receives my hearty endorsement for IWA’s list.

Bottle Rocket 1996

Point Break

I like that Point Break and T2: Judgment Dayare facing off in the very first round of IWA New Classics slugfest. The two films, both released in 1991, were directed by the then married Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron. By the time the films were released, they had split. I have no insight into their marriage, but the two films have irreconcilable differences. One is a the technically proficient Pandora’s box that started Hollywood’s march towards godlessness, and the other is a New Classic.

I introduce in support of my nomination, my previous article on Bigelow: http://illwatchanything.com/2009/09/12/kathryn-bigelow-and-the-exploding-man-is-point-break-a-new-classic/.  Point Break has more than enough thrills, gun fights and chases to fill any first rate action film. With age, however, the film’s campy appeal has revealed an astute skewering of Hollywood’s gun-slinging ballerinas. In T2, the heroes blow up half LA with a thrilling insurgent zeal; in Point Break, Keanu and Swayze recognize they are soul mates, and try to help each other commit suicide in a spectacular fashion.  I would rather support the latter.

Cameron has picked up Spielberg’s torch as America’s premiere button pusher, and I cant help but feel that T2:

1. helped shorten America’s attention span

2. fueled the studios’ love affair with bloated blockbusters

3. is the reason Arnold is governor of California

My recommendation, endorsement and vote goes to Point Break.

Point Break, 1991

New Classicsis a ongoing feature in which IWA contributors nominate classics films, released since 1980, for admission on the IWA 50 New Classics list.  Monday through Friday a contributor will nominate and present two films for consideration.  Saturday we IWAs converge in a secret location, vote 1-5 films onto the list, and on Sunday the results will be announced.  -T.P.

This entry was posted on September 22, 2009 at 10:21 pm and is filed under Timothy Parfitt with tags Katheryn Bigelow, Point Break, Timothy Parfitt, week 1, Wes Anderson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.