Million Dollar Baby
Mar. 31st, 2005 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakFirstly, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kernezelda, replying a meme request of mine, actually gave us two excellent descriptions of two American Gothic relationships here. Mmmmm, American Gothic. Although thinking of it now that I am still in the process of saying goodbye to Carnivale makes me weep dramatic tears of blood, because if there is a wonderful example of how to have a main character who is possibly the son of the devil/antichrist/devil himself/or just one of the fallen angel gang and completely ruthless and yet never, ever, degenerates into "muhaahhaaaa!" villaindom, it is Lucas Buck. Played with great charisma, charm and flair by Gary Cole, and yet the show also never glosses over the horrible consequences Buck's ruthlessness has if you're in his way. And gives him a worthy opponent in the form of one of his victims, Merlyn. Note to self: check out again whether American Gothic finally made it to Region 2 DVD.
On to the world of cinema: last Thursday Million Dollar Baby started here in Germany, and I've now seen it. Excellent film. I still think The Aviator deserved the Oscar, but hey. The winner is a movie I can admire.
I liked, in varying degrees, Eastwood's latterday movies - Unforgiven, A Perfect World, Mystic River. But I didn't love them. Million Dollar Baby is a movie one can love. It takes that tried and true cliché recipe, the sports movie (young underdog finds older mentor, together they train, early triumphs, one set back with possible fallout, reunion and final triumph) and twists it inside out, lets the story go in a completely different way after "early triumphs". And it has such tenderness for its characters and their relationships. The one between Frankie (Eastwood) and Scrap (Morgan Freeman), old friends who are comfortable together and know just which buttons to push, which can go badly as well. They just play off each other beautifully, and Scrap isn't simply there to provide us with Freeman's great voice as a narrator, he's the living testimony of what happens to boxers when their time is over, what their profession can cost them.
He's also the first who forms a bond with Maggie (Hilary Swank), whose relationship with an initially resisting Frankie forms the core of this film. Yes, mentor and protegé bondings are crucial for any sports movie. But this one is quite simply a love story, not in the sense of a romance but in the sense of the two becoming father and daughter to each other. Underscoring this are the bits of backstory we learn. Maggie's father died, and her mother has all of the emotional warmth of an iceblock; Frankie's daughter is so estranged with him that she returns each of his letters unopened. We don't know why; only that something happened 23 years ago that makes him go to church each day, in atonement for something he never can tell.
It's a complex movie with complex characters, of whom Hilary Swank's Maggie is the simplest. On one level, she's every eager new plucky beginner - we think we're very familiar with her type, and her story. But on another, she's a little too old to be the ingenue, something Frankie points out right away, and which she's aware of. The joy she takes in finding friendship and acceptance is a little too eager and infectious, and once we get to meet her family, we understand why. That scene, and its understated cruelty, is the point where you realize this film will not follow the usual sports movie narrative.
Sitting together becomes an emotional touchstone throughout. Frankie and Scrap in Frankie's office; Frankie and Maggie in a series of cheap diners, with their growing fondness for each other offering the counterpoint Frankie's lonely returns to his home, to find yet another rejected letter, and Maggie's Spartan existence and terrible homecoming; and finally Frankie and Maggie in the devastating last third of the movie. The twist of the film is somewhat known by now due to Oscar press and topical relevance, but just in case you don't know, I'll practice circumvention, because it's really better if you see this as unspoiled as possible. Just this: I can finally understand why Eastwood wasn't just nominated as a director but also as an actor. No offense to Clint E., but his usual persona does not exactly require a big range. Here, though? He breaks my heart, he really does.
In conclusion, if you haven't already, go and watch this film. Meanwhile, I'll get to catching up with my emails, notably replying tohonorh's last.
kernezelda, replying a meme request of mine, actually gave us two excellent descriptions of two American Gothic relationships here. Mmmmm, American Gothic. Although thinking of it now that I am still in the process of saying goodbye to Carnivale makes me weep dramatic tears of blood, because if there is a wonderful example of how to have a main character who is possibly the son of the devil/antichrist/devil himself/or just one of the fallen angel gang and completely ruthless and yet never, ever, degenerates into "muhaahhaaaa!" villaindom, it is Lucas Buck. Played with great charisma, charm and flair by Gary Cole, and yet the show also never glosses over the horrible consequences Buck's ruthlessness has if you're in his way. And gives him a worthy opponent in the form of one of his victims, Merlyn. Note to self: check out again whether American Gothic finally made it to Region 2 DVD. On to the world of cinema: last Thursday Million Dollar Baby started here in Germany, and I've now seen it. Excellent film. I still think The Aviator deserved the Oscar, but hey. The winner is a movie I can admire.
I liked, in varying degrees, Eastwood's latterday movies - Unforgiven, A Perfect World, Mystic River. But I didn't love them. Million Dollar Baby is a movie one can love. It takes that tried and true cliché recipe, the sports movie (young underdog finds older mentor, together they train, early triumphs, one set back with possible fallout, reunion and final triumph) and twists it inside out, lets the story go in a completely different way after "early triumphs". And it has such tenderness for its characters and their relationships. The one between Frankie (Eastwood) and Scrap (Morgan Freeman), old friends who are comfortable together and know just which buttons to push, which can go badly as well. They just play off each other beautifully, and Scrap isn't simply there to provide us with Freeman's great voice as a narrator, he's the living testimony of what happens to boxers when their time is over, what their profession can cost them.
He's also the first who forms a bond with Maggie (Hilary Swank), whose relationship with an initially resisting Frankie forms the core of this film. Yes, mentor and protegé bondings are crucial for any sports movie. But this one is quite simply a love story, not in the sense of a romance but in the sense of the two becoming father and daughter to each other. Underscoring this are the bits of backstory we learn. Maggie's father died, and her mother has all of the emotional warmth of an iceblock; Frankie's daughter is so estranged with him that she returns each of his letters unopened. We don't know why; only that something happened 23 years ago that makes him go to church each day, in atonement for something he never can tell.
It's a complex movie with complex characters, of whom Hilary Swank's Maggie is the simplest. On one level, she's every eager new plucky beginner - we think we're very familiar with her type, and her story. But on another, she's a little too old to be the ingenue, something Frankie points out right away, and which she's aware of. The joy she takes in finding friendship and acceptance is a little too eager and infectious, and once we get to meet her family, we understand why. That scene, and its understated cruelty, is the point where you realize this film will not follow the usual sports movie narrative.
Sitting together becomes an emotional touchstone throughout. Frankie and Scrap in Frankie's office; Frankie and Maggie in a series of cheap diners, with their growing fondness for each other offering the counterpoint Frankie's lonely returns to his home, to find yet another rejected letter, and Maggie's Spartan existence and terrible homecoming; and finally Frankie and Maggie in the devastating last third of the movie. The twist of the film is somewhat known by now due to Oscar press and topical relevance, but just in case you don't know, I'll practice circumvention, because it's really better if you see this as unspoiled as possible. Just this: I can finally understand why Eastwood wasn't just nominated as a director but also as an actor. No offense to Clint E., but his usual persona does not exactly require a big range. Here, though? He breaks my heart, he really does.
In conclusion, if you haven't already, go and watch this film. Meanwhile, I'll get to catching up with my emails, notably replying to
honorh's last.
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Darling!
Date: 2005-03-31 04:37 pm (UTC)Re: Darling!
Date: 2005-03-31 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-31 04:48 pm (UTC)Still no DVD. Given the utter crap that does get put out, i can only assume that someone in a high place really does hate this series and want to suppress it.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-31 06:18 pm (UTC)What? It's an evil conspiracy, clearly. Who on earth has the rights, and why aren't they selling?
no subject
Date: 2005-03-31 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-31 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-31 06:50 pm (UTC)I watched Carnivale Season finale last night, and agreed with your recent post in all respects.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-31 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-31 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-02 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-31 07:33 pm (UTC)I saw that one a couple of days ago, only mildly spoiled, and it was fantastic.
I started noticing Clint Eastwood films as something I might like when I saw True Crime pretty much by accident. I don't think it got a lot of publicity back then, but it is another very quiet film that plays against expectation and that really gives room to the characters.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-01 06:17 am (UTC)