Crash

[Animal Boything]

I've seen a few asides about it here, but no dedicated thread. I'm reposting a review I wrote elsewhere, because this movie deserves a dirty thread.


This movie is astounding. It is flawless. A movie like this (tense, dramatic, complex, relevant, etc.) treads on dangerous ground... it has the potential to seem forced or cheesy or insincere, but it was none of those things. It's hard to believe that this was the work of a first-time director. It has the feel of a tenth movie, a sense of absolute mastery of the form at every turn. It's never showy. Never did I get the sense that the filmmakers were trying to prove anything. It simply works, every second, on every level.

Every character (and there are many) is integral, fully realized, perfectly written and, more often than not, amazingly acted. A scene near the beginning, between a locksmith and his young daughter, is a perfect example. It could have been painful in other hands, but it is written, acted, and directed with such powerful sincerity that the characters become utterly real; we are drawn into their world and we immediately care what happens to them. The same can be said for every character in the movie, whether they have one scene, or one line. By the end you understand and sympathize with everyone who has passed across the screen, and though the movie deals heavily with racism, there are no villains. Any one of these performances, in another movie, would stand out as exceptional, so it would be a disservice to the rest of the cast if I were to single out any one actor for praise.

It has some similarities to movies of the past. Do the Right Thing is an obvious example, as it deals similarly with racial tension. Traffic shares the same loose structure, taut pacing, and objectivity. What's different about Crash is that there are no traces of heavy-handedness in dealing with its subject matter. It is first and foremost a brilliant character study, and while the themes of racism and alienation are well covered, they are never for one moment allowed to impede the story being told. I think I can honestly say that Crash is better than either of those films. We can only hope it isn't forgotten come awards season. A better movie is unlikely to come out this year, because this is the best movie I've seen in several years.

If it has a flaw, it is that its title has already been used, in a much more literal sense, by a previous movie. The difficulty is that both, while vastly different, are great films, which means neither is going to be forgotten any time soon, which means a lot of confusion is sure to arise when either is brought up. Between the two, the Crash of today is the clear winner, but that doesn't excuse the odd choice of such a brazenly unoriginal title.

[adam]

Not to belittle the movie, which I've been telling everyone I know to see, but the persian woman is astoundingly beautiful. Amen to the scene between locksmith and daughter.

SPOILER: The scene, in my opinion, (and there are many), but the scene, is when the TV exec guy loses it, and is yelling at the cops. Jesus.

[Scott Warner]

Renewing this thread because I finally saw this movie and it made me angry.

Sanctimonious, patronizing crap. Bereft of real character or plausible story, it wants desperately to be the racial Short Cuts but it's more like an incidental Falling Down. Kevin Smith would have presented a better After School Special than this.

I don't have a problem with the basic themes of this movie. I think it's very well meaning. It's the execution that ruined everything for me.

[the mongoose]

A sappy soap opera dressed up as a movie.

Didn't care for it one bit. Needed more action and less crying.:(

[adam]

I agree that it is patronizing, but it's patronizing that's done so well it becomes irrelevant, in my opinion. The scene where the locksmith talks to his daughter, or where Matt Dillon attends the car crash, or where Terrence Howard (is that his name?) can't contain his anger any longer, or when Don Cheadle allows his mother to believe that his brother bought the groceries...these scenes are so good, as self-contained scenes, that the heavy-handedness or implausibility of the movie as a whole doesn't even matter. I think few movies have one scene executed as well as those four, and they seriously give me goosebumps.

[Scott Warner]

that the heavy-handedness or implausibility of the movie as a whole doesn't even matter. I think my key issue here is philosophical, and that informs my taste and the others who didn't like this film. I've noticed that the reaction to it is very mixed in critical opinion, and almost nobody disagrees that the themes are worth exploring - it's how they're explored.

For me, you don't have to tell me about racism. I know it exists. I've seen it repeatedly with my own eyes my entire life in the very city this film is set in. Give me some characters with real stories or situations and allow *me* to make up my mind about them - don't toss off a bunch of ridiculous, forced, contrived scenerios (i.e. Matt Dillon coming across the crash almost made me turn off the film) and have multiple characters waffle off racial platitudes. Allow me to experience these situations along with these characters and grow with them, or see the folly of their ways.

The problem with this film is evident from the very first few lines of the dialog: it dissects its own clumsy metaphor.

[grady]

I still haven't seen this film and the trailers and promotional spots seemed to recall the Lawrence Kasdan film from the early 90's, Grand Canyon.

[b.miller]

i believe we've had a previous thread about this or a conversation somewhere else... i remember writing about how stereotypical each character is and how they all have arbitrary "arcs" that you can see through in like two seconds... it's cool if people like this movie but i am personally pissed that it got so high in Ebert's list of best movies this year. it's really not that good... especially if you like, live in LA or know real people...

[Scott Warner]

but i am personally pissed that it got so high in Ebert's list of best movies this year. it's really not that good... especially if you like, live in LA or know real people... Yeah - I was really surprised to read the following:

"Haggis writes with such directness and such a good ear for everyday speech that the characters seem real and plausible after only a few words."

Are you kidding me? I generally agree with Ebert but man if that's his perspective on "everyday speech" he really needs to spend a few years mingling with everyday people again. The reason I used the Kevin Smith comparison in my first message above was because the dialog in the movie felt stilted in way that immediately made me think of his films, particularly anytime Ludacris or Brendan Frasier opened their mouths. 'Crash' isn't nearly as extreme as a Smith film in this regard but it achieves a similiar artificiality by taking itself so seriously in the midst of implausibility.

[adam]

Ebert is kind of strange. He's praised movies I hated (SWAT) and hated movies I adore (Fear and Loathing). He does this with enough regularity that I can't dismiss it as the occasional exception or whatever. I think he might be too concerned with giving commercial movies generally favorable reviews...that is, I think he might know better than some of the schlock he praises, but he tries to approach it with a "my review should be appropriate for the lowest common denominator" kind of attitude. I mean, that makes sense, that's his business, but I've found that I can't put a lot of stock in his reviews, either way. I still read them, though.

[Scott Warner]

that is, I think he might know better than some of the schlock he praises, but he tries to approach it with a "my review should be appropriate for the lowest common denominator" kind of attitude.
I think Ebert would explain this as his "relative scaling" approach. That is, when he gives 'Batman Begins' a four star review, he's not saying that it's on the same footing as 'Citizen Kane', but rather that it's a four star movie compared to a three star for 'Hellboy' or a one star for 'Batman and Robin'.

I often disagree with his read of a movie but I chalk it mostly up to taste. Every once in a while something like 'Crash' comes along where I'm like "Ebert... I thought I knew you?!" :)

[adam]

I was so mad at him when I saw SWAT.

[Animal Boything]

i believe we've had a previous thread about this or a conversation somewhere else... better thread (http://www.dirty.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1102&highlight=crash)
I still stand by everything I said about this movie, I think it's the best of the year. I don't get why people hate this movie because its motives are too clear or something... and an unfocused mess of a movie like Syriana gets heaped with praise when it plainly failed where Crash succeeded. Let's just say there's a good reason why Roger Ebert gets paid big bucks to write about film and certain other people don't.

[b.miller]

but Ebert liked Syriana too :P

[adam]

Syrania was hardly an unfocused mess.

[Animal Boything]

I talked about Syriana in its own thread... I'm not upset that people liked it, it didn't suck, but I'm upset that people who liked it are trashing a better movie.

To elaborate, the characters in Syriana had all these tacked-on personal tragedies, like a drunk dad or a dead kid, to try to awkwardly insert emotion into a story that was fundamentally about plot and politics, not characters, and it consequently had too many balls in the air and the writing and editing were not deft enough to keep it all interesting or clear. I often asked myself "why is this scene in the film?" and rarely got a good answer. The acting was strong, but to what end?

Crash was first and foremost about character, and while it could be argued that certain elements of the plot or the politics were tacked on, it was only in the interest of keeping the story clear. The result was a lean, effective film full of three-dimensional characters whose personal trials had meaning to the overall story, and performances that were not only strong but built on a solid foundation. The convenient twists of plot were only there to give us insight into the characters without introducing too many new elements, and as a result there were no loose ends and each scene had added meaning. On a certain level it was a parable, and its strange coincidences were not intended as realism. It was concise and flawlessly paced. It explored the theme of prejudice effectively without being ABOUT prejudice. (It was really about alienation and the complexity of human interaction.) So, in conclusion, fuck yall haters.

[Scott Warner]

I talked about Syriana in its own thread... I'm not upset that people liked it, it didn't suck, but I'm upset that people who liked it are trashing a better movie.
Phooey. But, we will agree to disagree, an outcome indicative of general critical opinion of this film.

[Animal Boything]

Okay then.

[adam]

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060108/COMMENTARY/601080310

[b.miller]

yeah it makes more sense now why Ebert picked it as his top... right after a film festival that was held here in town back in October, I read that the jury pick for best film was a movie that I had liked ok but was clearly not the best movie showing. So i asked one of the programmers of the fest (also on the jury) and she said that most times, the movie that wins the awards isn't necessarily the best movie but the movie that the jury most wants to win the award. That could mean that it's a movie that really needs distribution so even though the movie that already has a deal is better, they pick the one that needs the help. It's sounding like Ebert picked Crash because he agrees with its message and wants as many people as possible to see it because he thinks it can change people. No harm in that I guess... i mean he IS Ebert, pretty much the only big name critic left... Hustle & Flow was like 20 times better though :)

for real

[adam]

I was quite disappointed in H & F, myself. Howard is awesome, though. He's earned the, "I'll see anything he's in," status with me.

[adam]

...and some more:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060116/COMMENTARY/60116002

[myrrh]

I really liked Crash, but I do see what you are saying, Scott.

I think though, that for mainstream America this movie had to be told the way it was. For instance, for people like my mother, whom I don't even know if she saw the movie, but for her type of people (typical white-american middle class says they are not racist, but in fact they are) this movie can open their eyes up to see things in a different light.


About Hustle & Flow, I was let down by that too. I was expecting something much better and thinking along the lines of Boyz in da Hood. Actually, I just watched this on DVD the other night, and the trailer for 50 Cent's movie was on it. That looked better than Hustle & Flow.