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Reviews
DumbLand (2002)
Dumbland rhythms
Since September of last year, I have been borrowing four to six films each week from the Harold Washington Library, which boasts an impressive DVD collection. (The HWL truly is a circulating library: three-quarters of its films are out at any given time!) Recently, I was thrilled to find The Short Films of David Lynch. Yesterday, knowing little about the animated series, I picked up Dumbland. I'm here to report that, for David Lynch fans, watching the eight episodes is half an hour well-spent.
The most remarkable feature of these brief pieces are their soundtracks. Each episode has its own rhythm. Respiratory and digestive systems provide percussion. Outrageous voices accent pauses' ends. Physical violence supplies the beats. Chirping birds and buzzing sockets brush along the edges. Many other elements fill out the orchestra. The pacing of the crude animation often keeps in sync with the sound, but the soundtrack itself struck me as Lynch's primary interest in creating and disseminating this work. In a way, these eight shorts are unique Lynchian rhythms.
That said, the situations are odd, ugly, profound, dumb and funny as hell. And there's enough space within them to reflect on how absurd we humans can be. I can't say that I'll watch the collection again, but for anyone who revelled in the movements that is the suite Inland Empire, Dumbland is worth half an hour of your time.
The Departed (2006)
A gem from a master of the craft
Scorcese has crafted another excellent gangster film. "The Departed" succeeds on all levels, including its script, its images, its performances and its themes. The intricacies of the complex screenplay are a delight to absorb and unravel. Several suspenseful scenes are masterfully strung together in such a way that the viewer has only a few moments to regain her breath, process the clues and prepare to hold her breath again. No other director has so successfully captured acts of violence in the filmic medium, and the violence Scorcese depicts in "The Departed" is ugly, sudden and brutal. The dialogue is riddled with profanity and tension-relieving jokes (Wahlberg's hip-rocking character's quips and insults alone are worth the price of admission), and the cast delivers its lines in convincingly authentic Boston accents. A number of actors turn in stellar performances, notably Nicholson (as a demonic crime boss), DiCaprio (as an undercover cop) and Baldwin (as a fast-talking, affable detective). Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, who collaborated with Fassbinder on his finest films, frames the ratty world of "The Departed" with a sharp eye. One scene, a foot chase through Chinatown, is remarkably beautiful, composed of quick cuts, vivid colors and steam. There is a recurring theme, virile masculinity, which remained with me long after viewing the film, and I will continue to reflect on the ways in which Scorcese (dis)associates it with violence, success and happiness. Though the film runs 149 minutes, it does not run long. This is taut, top-notch film-making, and Martin Scorcese reaffirms his status as one of the few living masters of the craft.