Indie Royalty

Having finally seen THE YOUNG VICTORIA, my list of last year's ten best pictures requires revision (I suspect it will remain a work in progress until I've tracked down THE ROAD, CRAZY HEART, and Tom Ford's A SINGLE MAN). . .

 01. THE HURT LOCKER

02. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

03. ADVENTURELAND

04. THE YOUNG VICTORIA

05. COCO BEFORE CHANEL

06. FANTASTIC MR. FOX

07. CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY

08. AN EDUCATION

09. ZOMBIELAND

10. PRECIOUS

One of the most exhilarating and beautiful films I've seen in a very long time. I've become increasingly dissatisfied with overwrought CGI spectacles, and ambivalent at the notion of being painterly with pixels. So often the result is a weightless and superficial confectionary of images that carry about as much resonance as the stories they're animating. There may be some digital augmentation in THE YOUNG VICTORIA, but the good news is that one wouldn't know it – the frames are far more akin to those in Stanley Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON than anything Peter Jackson has concocted. And that's an enormous relief! Here's a film that returns to the basics of the medium: namely light. The exteriors are dazzling and sunlit – from that extreme we maneuver inside the sprawling and lavish castles, where shadows are rich and abundant – some scenes play with chiaroscuro; others are evenly dim; and then there's the sensational moment in which Victoria addresses someone on the staircase – her face is virtually a silhouette, but her bare shoulders are positively aglow. The sets and costumes are fascinating spectacles to behold in their own right (I'll be rooting for Sandy Powell come Oscar night (again)) – it is a profusion of intoxicating visual detail – nearly to the point of distraction. But that's hardly a criticism. We should be so lucky. The narrative is pretty standard fare for this subgenre of historical costume dramas – a young woman's rapid ascension to the English throne ignites doubt, scandal, and all manner of minor dramas that make a movie a movie – including one of the great screen romances, if I may be so bold: Rupert Friend charmed Michelle Pfeiffer in the not-stellar-but-too-soon-forgotten CHERI. He's back as Emily Blunt's lover and better than ever. It's a solid match – they look as good in the last shot of the picture as Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable ever did. Blunt has been funny and reliable in supporting roles (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, SUNSHINE CLEANING), but I hope this role and this movie catapult her star power appropriately. The same with Friend, who gives one of my favorite performances of the year – he's irresistible. As is the film; though it's not perfect (the narrative isn't quite as lucid as its startling beauty, and it does end rather abruptly), one easily absolves minor blunders when so utterly enraptured by all the rest. God save the Queen, indeed!

>> An excerpt from the vault, if you please. . .

"Keitel is a wonder in his own right, but De Niro is appropriately mesmerizing – he's sexual and dangerous and unhinged – he's tirelessly kinetic. And there's no affectation in his performance – I think there's a lot of talent in movies today, but there's very little purity. De Niro – even in his extremity – tapped into the immediate, the undigested, the wondrously unaffected. I probably love TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL slightly more than MEAN STREETS, but somehow Ne Niro's "Johnny Boy" is the most arousing and titillating and breathtaking performance of his career (that I have seen). When De Niro and Keitel are together, it's a new kind of Shakespearean orgy. Scorsese is there to render the actors' poetry in red, to sweep the camera here and there, and to keep the music hoppin' (the film has one of the great soundtracks). For me, a big part of Scorsese's appeal is his employment of such stunning, raunchy vessels of testosterone and the tension that festers when these masculinities collide and erupt in sudden and very shocking displays of violence and aggression!" – January 7, 2009 / From my review of Martin Scorsese's MEAN STREETS (1973)

"The Young Victoria" / Bic pen and Crayola colored pencils, 2010