Get The Popcorn

TEN FILMS THAT ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
Some movies just make you want to rethink your life.
by Bobby Maddex
Here are ten films that not only pose more questions than answers but choose to do so in the areas that matter most. What do I mean? Watch them and be changed.

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)STARRING: Matthew McConaughey, Alan Arkin, Clea Duvall, John Turturro, Amy IrvingWRITTEN BY: Karen and Jill SprecherDIRECTED BY: Jill Sprecher
Question: It's not giving anything away to state that the "one thing" around which the movie revolves is human happiness. What is it? How does one achieve it? What's the point of seeking it? Over the course of three separate stories that eventually interlock in surprising ways, a young lawyer hits a pedestrian with his car and then leaves her for dead, an insurance investigator fires an assistant to see if it will change his sunny outlook on life, and a college professor leaves his wife in search of a less predictable existence. In each case, the characters are forced to grapple with the outcomes of their choices. What they learn, however, is left for you to figure out.
Quote: "It's perverse, isn't it? People spend years developing their minds and educating themselves, but in the end they just want to shut them off."
Quality: Sprecher's spare sets and drab color schemes offer the perfect backdrop for each of the well-written conversations. Also effective is the acting; punctuated by awkward silences and long meaningful glances, the performances are arresting and utterly watchable. Arkin practically chews the scenery. A very meticulous directorial debut.

Waking Life (2001)STARRING: Wiley Wiggins, Richard Linklater, Bill WiseWRITTEN BY: Richard LinklaterDIRECTED BY: Richard Linklater
Question: Is there a deeper reality? How do we distinguish between the real and the imagined, between our desires and the truth? What do dreams tell us about life and death? Director Linklater poses these questions and more in an animated film about a man who floats (quite literally at times) through a dreamscape while trying to wake up. The unnamed protagonist meets many people along the way, some of whom offer single-sentence observations on life, while others share involved theories on the nature of existence.
Quote: "They say that dreams are only real as long as they last. Couldn't you say the same thing about life?"
Quality: The majority of the performers are not professional actors and so the dialogue drags a bit at times, but the film is not in any way boring. On the contrary, Linklater used dozens of animators to construct his fantasy world; the look of the film is thus in constant flux, complementing the changing riffs on reality and compensating for the occasional monotone delivery. Fascinating.

The Ice Storm (1997)STARRING: Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Elijah Wood, Tobey MacGuireWRITTEN BY: Rick Moody and James SchamusDIRECTED BY: Ang Lee
Question: Set during Thanksgiving in 1973, the film chronicles the moral collapse of a small New England town and the resultant impact on two middle-class families. Are social taboos arbitrary? What is morality? Do we deserve satisfaction in life? Ang Lee hints at these questions without asking them explicitly. The ice storm of the title is likewise treated in an elusive fashion. Are we meant to take it at face value or is it supposed to evoke the frozen hearts that occupy New Canaan, Connecticut?
Quote: "Ben, you're boring me. I have a husband. I don't have a need for another one."
Quality: This is Lee's best film by far. The ice imagery alone fills one with a kind of shuddery dread, as do the repeated references to various nihilistic philosophers. Weaver deserved an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Janey Carver, the unfeeling ice queen who rests at the center of her community's existentialist void.

Check out the rest of the article over at Salvo
Check them out or better yet get a subscription. http://www.salvomag.com/new/articles/archives/film/maddex.php