Joe Dante
As I
scan across the last eight directors one thing becomes abundantly
clear to me : I like self aware film makers.
As a
writer and director myself ( albeit almost entirely stage based ), I
can see that my own body of work and in particular the themes I
explore and the style I attempt are of a very similar ideal. I write
very self-aware pieces, not quite parodic but pieces that are not
only quite willing to admit that what the audience is watching is not
real, is in fact an
entertainment put on by a group of often self-obsessed
artists, but often willfully
focuses their attention to
that very fact. Not quite winking, but certainly twitching ever
so slightly.
It's no surprise to me then, that the films I am most attracted to
contain similar audience twitching, and none of these twitches are
more evident than in the films of Joe Dante.
Dante
made his somewhat inauspicious debut with the “Jaws” parody,
“Piranha.” This was a Roger Corman cheapie that somewhat
transcended it's origins by virtue of a very straight self-awareness.
It was a rip-off ( as opposed to a parody ) of Spielberg's fish-film,
and in fact adopted a very similar approach to that movie as James
“Piranha 2” Cameron did with his only masterpiece, “Aliens.”
That is to say, more of the same only, you know, more!
“Piranha” is not a good movie, nor is it particularly well-made
but it set the stall out for Dante's particular style of
movie-making. Somewhat similar to “American Werewolf in London”
director John Landis, he recognised the absurdity inherent in the
movies he was making while approaching them quite seriously. As with
that classic werewolf movie, this resulted – certainly in his early
works such as his own werewolf chiller “The Howling” - in horror
movies that scared, yet had the wit to make you laugh alongside the
chills.
Dante
never quite came out and spoofed his influences, but there was always
an element of anarchic parody/homage
at work. Rather than have his characters wink to the audience, they
were never in on the joke, often
played the drama straight. (
It should be noted that he has done a lot of TV work over his career,
including genuine ( and genuinely funny ) spoof show “Police
Squad,” another piece of work that kept the characters admirably
straight within the spoof framework, again
meaning it was only ever the
audience who seemed to be
in on the joke. )
Dante's
biggest, and it could be concluded most popular film, remains
“Gremlins.” Written by Harry Potter director/producer ( and “Home
Alone” director ) Chris Columbus, “Gremlins” is a twisted, dark
little tale, technically a horror movie but
one with a grimy
sense of humour, aware of it's own absurdity even as it digs
in to scare you. What Dante
brought to this film was the clarity to understand that horror and
humour can work together in one movie ( it's not for nothing that
Dante cameos in several John Landis movies ), but he also brought a
little impish sense of mischief to proceedings too. While the film
plays “straight” for the audience, at least until all hell breaks
loose, there is a feeling that Dante in some ways identifies with the
Gremlins themselves as opposed to the cutesy ( and brilliantly
realised ) Mogwai or even the human protagonists.
He
often puts the audience to the test, and there
are so many background gags throughout this movie that it's worth
only pointing out one, the time machine gag, and then
demanding that
you go back and watch the
films again to find the rest.
It's worth it.
Dante proves entirely in sync with both the writer's technophobic
sense of righteous anarchy ( it may seem trite now but Columbus slyly
targets small-town politics and class within the film, from the
struggling, techicially blue-collar protagonists, to the bankers and
miserable money lenders ( the film is set at Christmas, and one can
see both Dante and Columbus nodding to and homaging other popular
Christmas classics throughout, both subtly and with the occasional
sledgehammer ) causing misery within the town ) and with producer
Stephen Spielberg's evident delight at trashing his own far more
whimsical small town and suburban sensibilities.
With “Gremlins” and “The Howling” before it, Dante also
showed a great skill with incorporating special effects both practical
and optical into his films, something he continued to practice
throughout his career.
It
has been noted on the IMDB that Spielberg originally wanted Tim
Burton to direct Gremlins. One can only shudder at the thought
of that faux-Gothic fan of concentric circles and pantomime would
have brought to this film – one thing I am positive that would have
disappeared is Joe Dante's spirit and sense of joy, of fun.
Of
course the success of “Gremlins” would ultimately lead to a very
belated sequel, but before Dante could dig into what could be classed
as his most “Joe Dante” movie yet, he had the opportunity to make
a couple of extraordinary sci-fi movies in
“The Explorers” and the excellent “Innerspace,” a film which
once again showed off his skill at incorporating comedy into a larger,
straighter
genre piece, as an over-the-hill pilot is miniaturised and
accidentally injected into the body of a neurotic hypochondriac. The
pairing of a deadpan and charming Dennis Quaid with the manic
off-the-wall volume of Martin Short was inspired, and despite almost
never sharing the screen, Dante managed to create an incredible
chemistry between the two. It
helps that when Martin Short is reacting in-character onscreen, he
was reacting to lines fed to him offscreen by Quaid.
My own personal favourite of Joe Dante's movies, and the one which
introduced me to him, is the often under-rated Tom Hanks vehicle “The
'Burbs.” This is technically a black comedy, though gentler than
that title might imply. Essentially a broad satire focussing on a
small, male section of a typically American cul-de-sac community and
their increasingly bizarre behaviour as they cope with
self-perpetuating paranoia about Tom Hanks' new neighbours, what
really keeps this film moving is Dante and writer Dana Olsen's sly
eye for the oddity of suburban obsessions and mores.
Focussing entirely on Tom Hanks and his two partners in crime, Rick
Duckomon and the brilliantly straight sociopath Bruce Dern as they
discuss their generally unseen new neighbours the Klopeks as though
they they are discussing horror stories around the camp-fire, the
film slowly coils into a sharply satirical swipe at the “average
American” ( each character represents a particular American trope,
from Hanks as the straight family man, through Duccomon's fat,
wife-hating slob, and into Dern's paranoid and still-at-war ex-Nam
veteran ) and their response to a possibly “alien” infestation.
It's not for nothing that the Klopeks are foreigners
Taking a swipe at Spielbergian suburban terrors such as “Poltergeist”
and whimsy's such as “E.T.” the film presents itself as a
suburban horror movie, even as – befitting a strangely family
oriented comedy – the horror never really shows itself outside
the characters own paranoia.
As with all Dante movies there is a fine line in “The 'Burbs”
between satire, homage, and parody and not all of it lands
comfortably, in particular in it's straight up wacky comedy or
slapstick sequences. More at ease with satire and homage, judging his
in-jokes carefully to add to the impact of the movie, Dante shoots
the film in a slightly hyper-real manner that rarely seems out of
place, and shows an instinctive understanding of the main thrust of
the script, that is no matter how odd these people seem as outsiders,
it is really the insiders who are perpetuating the “crazy.”
A wonderful moment early in the film has Tom Hanks and Rick Duckomon
petulantly daring each other to ring their neighbour's doorbell, only
to have one of the Klopeks appear at the door to pick up a newspaper
from the step. Dante instantly switches viewpoints to show the
suburban insanity from this young man's point of view; the equivalent
of stepping into the wrong bar and having its patrons stop what
they're doing and stare at you. This is followed by what may just be
my favourite scene in cinema.
Note the use of Ennio Morricone's "My Name is Nobody" choonage here; pitch perfect. As with most of his films, "The 'Burbs" is scored by the peerless Jerry Goldsmith, who's incidental music can be heard tinkling around the edges of the above scene.
What works wonderfully about this film is the way in which it
presents itself as a straight comedy-horror while taking time – in
particular through a secondary character portrayed by a strikingly
confident and it has to be said attractive teenaged Corey
Feldman, who spends his time watching the events unfold as though
watching a movie – to quietly comment to the audience that while
they may be watching a film, this could just as easily be us
the characters are talking about.
Unfortunately, due to being both a smart and genuinely good film,
“The 'Burbs” flopped and has been Dante's poorest reviewed film
yet ( despite having “Loony Toons Back in Action” at the arse end
of his resume ).
As a result, Dante was finally convinced to tackle the “Gremlins”
sequel. With one caveat – he did not merely want to retread old
roads with this sequel. He wanted to deconstruct it completely and
create an anarchic comedy that acted as it's own Gremlin, that
tore itself and the original apart and created a commentary on
everything from sequels in general and horror movies in particular,
to the absurdity of technophobia being the main theme in a movie
entirely created from technology, and even on the failings of the
original “Gremlins” itself.
“The New Batch” probably can't be called a good film in the
traditional sense, but it's a whole helluva lot of anarchic, bitchy
fun and though doesn't quite have the mean-spirited satire of the
original, certainly makes up for it in kitchen-sink humour.
Dante's
career has kind of fizzled slightly, partly down to audiences moving
on from the self-aware and film-savvy style he traded in, and partly
down to the fact that he's now getting on in years.
He
made two particularly notable movies in the nineties – the first is a brilliant,
and wonderfully personal cold-war set satire and love-letter to a
more innocent time, “Matinee.” And the second was “Loony Toons
Back in Action.”
Please
don't judge him on one movie alone.
Best
Dante movie : “The 'Burbs”
Worst
Dante movie : take one – fucking – guess.
Stanley Kubrick
There's
been so much written about the late Stanley Kubrick by now that it's
hardly worth weighing into the matter. He has been described as a
genius, despite everyone hating his last movie “Eyes Wide Shut.”
He
has been called enigmatic and reclusive, impossible to read. But
almost of all of his films are in some way about a self-destructively
obsessive male artist's interactions with the people around him. Not
too hard to read into that.
He
has been described as a cold film maker, yet it is his clinically
surgical style which has allowed him to explore humanity in such a
personal way. He has viciously satirised : pedohellia, war, violence,
media, genre, and corruption.
He
has been lampooned for his excessive number of “takes” per film.
But almost to a tee, every actor he has worked with has given at
least one of their best performances, if not their best. And his
films are visually incredible. Perfection has it's price.
He
could be notoriously priggish and dismissive of writers. That was
their problem. His films speak for themselves.
He
probably didn't have a very good sense of humour, but he found “Red
Alert” - a serious thriller set around the cold-war – funny
enough to turn into “Dr Strangelove.”
His
female characters tend to be underwritten. But then they tend to be
incredibly rounded in performance.
He
should have made more movies with Peter Sellars but both of them were
arrogant pricks.
He
should have gotten to make more movies but he died leaving a
back catalogue of some of the most interesting, barbed, angry, and
intelligently made movies in American history.
Everyone
tries make films just like him even if they won't admit it to
themselves. Except Spielberg, and despite what you may think of the
hideously awful “collaboration” between Berg and Brick, “AI”
his is surprisingly close to Kubrick's vision for the movie. It's just
that it's shit.
“Lolita”
is too long. Whichever way you look at it, “2001 A Space Odyssey”
is pretentious, soul-less, and just kind of boring. Despite
it's prescient themes and discussion of violence, “A Clockwork
Orange” is kitsch, dated, and when you stop and think about it,
just kind of wrong about the future it was presenting. Most of
his films don't have a middle act. Too many people obsess about the
meanings behind films that very clearly spell their meanings out. His
films are conlfictingly cynical and whimsical. He once made Scatman
Crothers cry. No one should make Scatman Crothers cry. As crimes go,
making Scatman Crothers cry is up there with rape.
Though
he didn't rape anyone.
He
pissed off Stephen King. That's a reward right there.
So
that's it, really. His films were usually deep, penetrating stares at
society and culture. He took his time making movies and although he
could probably be accused of making the same movie once too often,
there's not one ( with the exception of “2001” ) that I would not
sit down and watch in a heart-beat.
As to
“Eyes Wide Shut,” his last movie. It's a shame he died before he
could properly defend it. I think it's a beautiful piece of art, with
a very sly sense of humour, an enigmatically dreamlike quality to it,
and one which has a brilliantly clever punchline/payoff.
Best
Kubrick movie : hard to say, his films are all genre pieces so I'm going to flick between “Full
Metal Jacket” and “The Shining.”
Worst
Kubrick movie : “2001 : A Space Yawnathon”
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