I’m gonna break this down Round 1 90s US style.
Mala Noche (Gus Van Sant, 1985)
Flaws: At times it feels like inexperienced filmmaking and it’s distracting. Particularly in the early scenes I didn’t like how quickly GVS cuts away from some scenes, it’s not that it’s frenetically paced, it just seems like the rhythm isn’t right or something. Also related to the inexperience issue, there are a couple of scenes that just go thud and reek of student; scenes are meant to play out as “off the cuff” but they just feel awkward. My biggest complaint with the film is that I never really got a sense of the neighbourhood/community that these characters lived in. Maybe it’s not fair to criticize a film for not being the film I wanted it to be. In my defense, I think just a little more would have satisfied. I like a strong sense of place, and it’s there but not big time, y’know? Also, the narration, which is often pretty good, is a little overused.
Strengths: The flip side of GVS’s inexperience is he’s willing to try angles and compositions an older fuddy-duddy might shy away from. Similarly, the high contrast lighting looks great, I assume it’s a product of budget constraints but aesthetically it works. As a matter of fact, in a few scenes there’s a noir-ish type feel and in one scene in particular it’s really effective. In general really, the cheapness is quite beautiful and I love when it’s meant to have a home movie quality. The lead,
Tim Streeter, does a nice job. He’s such a GVS lead, handsome in a Keanu/Matt Dillon type way and sweet and likable in a River kind of way. The two boys that play the Mexican migrant workers, who I believe are not professional actors, are terrific; great presence and great faces. I absolutely loved the ending, Walt drives by Johnny, so bittersweet and lovely.
Mala Noche handles lust, love, and crushes so wonderfully; sometimes romantic, sometimes uncomfortable, always honest. Also, I think I liked the music, but it’s been a while so I don’t actually remember.
Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand, 1983)
Flaws: Ewoks. They never bothered me as a kid, and even now they’re just so familiar so it’s not really an issue for me. But when I do think stop and think about it, it’s hard to deny how stupid it is. Here’s another nerdy and well-documented complaint, another Death Star? Kinda lame. Aside from the Ewoks, the biggest problem with
Jedi has to be Mark Hamill. He’s much better here than he was in
A New Hope, I’ll take mature Luke over whippersnapper Luke any day, but his performance isn’t particularly good or anything. He’s kind of a charisma free zone. And it seems like he should, you know, not be.
Strengths: In my estimation,
Jedi has two central strengths: art direction and set pieces. I think the visual design of this film is great. There are some awesome Leni Riefenstahl militarism moments, and the Emperor’s royal guards, no complaints there. In terms of set pieces, everything in and around Jabba’s palace is pretty great, I love the Han rescue and shootout at the sarlacc. And of course the Rebel assault on the Death Star is pretty darn spectacular. Also, spoiler alert, Vader takes his mask off. His eyebrows are hideously bushy.
Verdict: I’m not going to pretend I don’t like
Jedi. It’s good fun, has some terrific sequences, and brings a satisfying conclusion to the series.
Mala Noche very much feels like the work of a young filmmaker, which turned out to be both an asset and a weakness. Let’s put
Mala Noche through and see what others think of it. Besides,
this is totally hotter than
this.