FLYmeatwadGeorge Washington
Written & Directed by David Gordon Green
My love for David Gordon Green apparently knows no bounds. I loved
Pineapple Express. Then discovered his artsier work. I loved
Snow Angels. I loved
All the Real Girls. So once FLY made the imposition that I use his 3rd favorite film,
George Washington, for this marathon, I jumped at the idea and allowed the exception. This film affirmed in me the reasons why I love DGG, though I would say that it may be my least favorite of his films, at least on first watch. Who knows, with more viewings this may grow on me because I still am somewhat inconclusive in my assessment of the film to this point.
Like his other films,
George Washington follows a group of people in small town, blue collar America. In this case it is a group of pre-teens: Vernon, George, Buddy, Nasia and Sonya. They are friends, but the relationships do get more complicated than that. It is a slow moving narrative that develops the characters and strives less on plot and more on the interpretation of these characters. The major event in the film is
the tradgic, accidental death of Buddy, and the ensuing "cover-up." Past that, there is not much that I could say actually happens in the film apart from seemingly random character interaction. However, it is in the dialogue and visuals that Green manages to tell his story.
The first thing I can think of in terms of what the film is about is love. And that is why I love DGG, he touches on this in his films and does so in a manner that I can connect with, something in the way he does it just makes sense to me. And I know I was somewhat lambasted for my recent reviews of
The Shining and
Army of Shadows, well here is a perfect way to make my point about those. This film did something for me. Sometimes it is hard to explain what it is, but if a film doesn't make a connection with me then it is hard to like it. I certainly have respected films that I didn't connect with and I understand not every film is for every person. I think that is what happened with those other two films more or less, but with this one, it made that connection.
My heart was seeminly breaking inside so many times I can't remember. But that being said, Green did not "nail it" in my opinion. The moments always seemed just a little off of perfect, and maybe others would explain that as the great realism of his indie films, but the narrative took directions that I didn't fully understand. The characterization of George for instance was strange and I'm not sure I totally "got it" by the end of the film, though I certainly responded to some of his feelings/actions, though not to all. It was these miscalculations that maybe connected with other people, that I found the film lacking. And once again, I will rate the film 3 out of 4 stars, which is a good score. I was so close to adding an extra 1/2 star, but these abnormalities if you will pushed it back. And I also hate the fact that I am now explaining my grading scale due to negative responses to me rating
The Shining the same score. I've never much liked ratings, but it is the easiest and shortest way of referencing my likes and dislikes. Maybe I'll go all sam on everybody and discontinue my ratings.
Wow, I sounded really crabby just now. I'm sorry. I promise I'm not in a bad mood, just not the best day of watching movies I guess, though I will say, I greatly enjoyed this one, whichever way you read into my review.
***Next Up: Vertigo?