Lessons of Darkness

Bigger, Stronger, Faster* (2008): B+

Christopher Bell uses his family as a microcosm for America’s relationship with steroids in Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, an engaging pop-documentary about the myriad implications of our national love-hate affair with performance-enhancing drugs. Bell’s younger brother “Smelly” juices for powerlifting meets and his older bro “Mad Dog” does it to land a professional wrestling contract with the WWE. As the film makes clear, their habitual, largely guilt-free ‘roid use really stems from childhood body-image hang-ups and a cultural infusion of Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, hypocritical icons who preached clean living yet whose superhuman physiques taught kids that being bigger was not only better, but distinctly “American.” Rather than exclusively focusing on his compelling siblings, Bell – spurred by his own uncertain feelings about steroids, which he briefly tried – expands his investigation into the wider arena of athletics and health care, examining the ethicality of its usage in professional sports, the sensibleness of vilifying steroids and not alcohol or tobacco (when there’s little scientific proof that its negative effects are permanent or lethal), and what our fascination with bulging muscles and desire for competitive advantage at any cost reflects about societal priorities. Mirroring its director’s ambivalence about the subject, Bigger, Stronger, Faster* doesn’t preach, and aside from a cutesy diagrammatic “Steroids 101” sequence, addresses its complex topic with both humor and intelligence, deftly addressing various aspects via pertinent cultural examples (Rocky IV’s training montage, WWE storylines, Barry Bonds and the congressional hearings on MLB substance abuse, ‘roid-using Schwarzenegger’s position as chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness). While the health risks of steroids remain somewhat open to debate (given the medical benefits they afford, such as for AIDS patients), Bell’s film astutely and convincingly pinpoints the means by which issues of beauty, power, potential, ego and success all fuel our supplement-and-steroid-ingesting obsession.

Too Much Bull, Not Enough Whip

After 19 years in hibernation, the swashbuckling Dr. Jones reappears on the big-screen this weekend in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Alas, while the heroic archaeologist's latest adventure certainly has a few sterling moments, his is, ultimately, not a triumphant return.

In more heartening news, however, next week brings an honest-to-goodness efficient, effective horror film in The Strangers.

Now Playing:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Slant magazine)
The Children of Huang Shi (Cinematical)
Insidious (Slant magazine)

Coming Soon:
The Strangers (Slant magazine)
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (Slant magazine)

Prince Teenybopper

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was, like its source material, a second-rate Lord of the Rings fantasy epic drenched in religious allegory, and Prince Caspian, its follow-up, is similarly underwhelming. Except, however, that it's worse in virtually every way.

Today:
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Slant magazine)
Yella (Slant magazine)

After Today:
Quid Pro Quo (Slant magazine)

Reprise (2006): A-

That rare debut in which self-conscious formal daring proves exhilarating rather than excruciating, Joachim Trier’s Reprise is a constantly fracturing wonder that finds exuberant expressiveness in its splintered structure. Trier’s film, set in Oslo, commences by imagining a potential bright future for writer best friends Phillip ( befuddled, morose Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik (smiling, adrift Espen Klouman-Hoiner) right before they mail publishers their first manuscripts. No sooner has that reverie played out, however, than the film reverts to the present to concentrate – albeit with many fanciful detours – on their lives’ actual, less glamorous paths after Phillip has a breakdown following his book’s well-received publication and Erik learns his work will soon make it into print. Phillip and Erik’s brotherly relationship, their close bond with a diverse group of pals, and Phillip’s affair with beguiling Kari (Viktoria Winge) – which helped spur his psychosis – are depicted in Reprise with absorbing elation and misery, the film, an ecstatically unconventional coming-of-age story, intimately capturing the scraggly, tortuous means by which friendships and romances are born, develop, and die. Throughout, genuine and alternate realities freely commingle via jump cuts, flashbacks, flash-fowards, and scenes featuring dialogue heard over images of the speaker’s silent faces, Trier’s narrative driven by an invigorating associative arrangement in which events spur memories spur dreams spur realizations. It’s a dynamic wherein the past holds constant sway over both the here and now and the future, whether it’s Erik recalling a buddy’s misogynistic opinions as he attempts to dump his girlfriend, or it’s Phillip trying to literally recreate the past through a return trip to Paris with Kari. Complementing its postmodern configuration with an authorial narrator and allusions galore (to literature, punk rock, and cinema) that flirt with pretentiousness, Reprise has the air of a psychologically incisive novel, its aesthetic “prose” attuned to the ups and downs and back-arounds of love and friendship in a way so authentic and affecting that it winds up burrowing deep into one’s marrow.

Go Monkey Go!

The best thing about Speed Racer is a monkey, which tells you something about the lameness of the Wachowski Brothers' spazzy remake of the 1960s Japanese cartoon. Still, it's far superior to Uwe Boll's latest, which earns my third zero-star review of the year.

Friday:
Speed Racer (Slant magazine)
Battle for Haditha (Cinematical)
The Tracey Fragments (Slant magazine)
The Babysitters (Slant magazine)

Future Fridays:
Postal (Slant magazine)
The Wackness (Slant magazine)
The Promotion (Slant magazine)
Boy A (Slant magazine)

Iron Giant

Summer unofficially begins today with the release of Iron Man, the latest Marvel superhero to warrant a big-screen franchise. It's far from perfect, and certainly no Spider-Man 2. But thanks to Robert Downey Jr.'s fantastic performance, it's also a good way to kick off this spectacle-heavy cinematic season.

Iron Man (Slant magazine)