billtobin10

This was a difficult film, in that I found myself inspired by what it could have been instead of what it actually was. On the surface, it appears to be a standard-issue, dark, indie comedy but, frustratingly, there are ideas at work here that flirt with brilliance. The plot is deceptively simple: sad sack gets dumped, evicted and fired and returns to his childhood home for some healing, only to find his parents gone and his older brother standing guard. If this sounds an awful lot like a cookie-cutter indie comedy, then you may understand the problem. It's almost as if writer/director Jay Hollinsworth feels the need to brand the film a conventional crowd-pleaser when, in fact, the parts that work aren't comic at all. There are some sequences which bring to mind Robbe-Grillet in the repetitive handling of details and fractured structure of the narrative, in particular a scene that begins in a Chinese restaurant but concludes (without explanation) in a Mexican restaurant. The fact is, however, that ideas do not a movie make, and as great as those ideas are, Hollinsworth seems content to let them drown in a vat of standard issue comedy and Clerks-ian dialogue. It feels almost as if there's a lack of confidence and commitment to create something of significance rather than something disposable and jokey. Let me be clear, the film doesn't deserve a score of 9 but due to the suspiciously down-skewed current rating, I decided I'd attempt to "right the ship" slightly. All things being equal, I'd probably rate it a 6 or 7.

The Zellners are filmmaking brothers from Austin, TX and they don't make conventional comedies. By this, I don't mean theirs is a cinema akin to the sort where you'd find Borat or Scott Pilgrim, I mean truly unconventional. The closest mainstream archetype I'd propose would be Steven Soderbergh when he made Schizopolis. If you watch expecting a laugh-out-loud, tidy story, then of course you'll be disappointed.

Goliath is a stark, simple story of a man who loses his cat while going through an emotionally wrenching divorce. While this scenario would likely find widespread appeal in a Hollywood comedy if handled in a broad, facile manner, The Zellner brothers craft the narrative in an unsettling slow-burn that may be as disturbing to some as it is humorous to others. So if you can appreciate a comedy that has traces of Fassbinder and the Kaurismakis as well as Mel Brooks, then maybe this one is for you.

...others find fascinating and beautiful. Yes, it's a Béla Tarr film, and as such, it will contain extremely long shots and a ponderous, deliberate storyline. If that's not your cup of tea, then why bother? Buy a ticket to the next Mission Impossible or Bourne Identity.

This film is Tarr's homage to the film noirs of old. Shot in shadowy, low-key black and white, the story concerns a murder, a recovered briefcase full of money, and a slow descent into despondence and guilt. Miroslav Krobot is wonderfully morose as Maloin, the dock worker who witnesses the murder and retrieves the money, and Tilda Swinton is superb as usual as his high-strung wife, but the real star of the film is the cinematography.

Again, like of all of Tarr's work, this is a stylized, demanding film. The first shot lasted nearly 15 minutes, but within that one shot, we bear witness, along with Maloin, to events that drive the narrative of the film. It's as if, perched high in his railway tower, he's seated alongside us in a theater box, watching a deadly play. For a filmmaker to place so much significance in its visual aesthetics, the camera work has to be expert, and cinematographer Fred Kelemen proves up to the task, painting everything in a brooding chiaroscuro. It truly is a mesmerising, strangely compelling, even somewhat alienating piece of work, and a treat for the viewer who can afford it the patience.