Mongol

Mongolian/120 Minutes/2007/Rated R

Mongol is a fascinating melting pot. Written and Directed by a Russian (Sergei Bodrov) with a Japanese main actor and all the dialog in Mongolian this 2007 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film was a triumph of multicultural filmmaking. Unfortunately the film doesn't quite live up to its promise.

Mongol follows the rise of lowly Temudgin who grows from a son of a tribal leader into a slave and finally ruler of all the Mongolian hordes. We know him today as Genghis Kahn. As interesting as this story may be, in the movie it isn't told all that effectively. The story feels episodic and tends to spend long stretches of film focusing on parts of Temudgin's life that are rather bland (he spends twenty minutes in the film sitting in a cage) and skips over ones that would be fascinating (instead of showing him building his army he just shows up in a sequence with his horde ready to go).

The acting is great. Temudgin is played by one of my favorite Asian actors, Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer), and is instantly believable. His long suffering crafty wife, Borte (Khulan Chuluun), and blood brother Jamukha (Honglei Sun) all turn in great performances.

The cinematography and direction are some of the best I've seen in a while. The open fields, cracked deserts and rocky wastelands bring to mind John Ford and his use of Monument Valley. The environment is truly a spectacle and is alone worth the price of admission. There are some really unique camera angles too such as a POV shot from a sword and well assembled large scale battles.

The downside to all of this is that the writing is somewhat lacking. The script feels episodic and a majority of the movie features Temudgin being captured, running away and being captured again. The film frequently infers that he is watched over and favored by the gods with some inexplicable happenings (he falls into an icy pool and doesn't freeze, his chains mysteriously come off) but this feels like excessive mythologizing and smells of bad writing.

Once Temudgin decides to become the great leader of the Mongol people his army just appears with no explanation of how he convinced a band of men to join him. What are the roots of his dread-inspiring hooded troops with dual swords? The final scroll talks about a battle where a whole kingdom is laid to waste but we are never shown what happens. Add to all of this an anti-climactic final battle and you have a film that never comes together as more than the sum of its parts.

In the film's defense it was made on a relatively low budget ($20 Million) and Bodrov squeezes every dime out of the money and puts it on screen. As this is the first of a supposed trilogy perhaps the sequels will be a little more meaty, but as a standalone feature Mongol fails to live up to its potential. Grudgingly recommended for some great cinematography and acting.

Rated R for Sequences of Bloody Warfare

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

English/141 Minutes/2004/Not Rated

The most difficult part of watching “Some Kind of Monster” and the greatest obstacle to enjoying it is separating the Metallica on film from our preconceptions about the band. If this were a documentary about a nobody band poised to break through or working on their sophomore album then we could perhaps appreciate better the tensions and revelations that come from the members.

A good example of this would be the feuding bands in the documentary “Dig” which covers two bands from the same scene over 10 years as one breaks through and the other implodes. Since we as an audience are less familiar with these bands we don't have to overcome our preconceived notions of what they should be. That and no one likes to see gods with wrinkles and flaws.

In fact a great deal of the negative criticism that this documentary has received comes less from the film world than from the music world where fans of Metallica did not care to see the gods of metal essentially having a breakdown on camera. These criticisms only touch the surface and miss the jewel beneath.

IMDB relates the trivia that this documentary was to be a miniseries for VH1 in the vein of “The Osbournes.” During the course of filming, Metallica thought better of it and purchased the footage and constructed a feature length documentary. But the secret to why this doesn't come across as another reality TV puff piece has as much to do with who's behind the camera as it does with the band itself.

The footage is shot by one of my favorite teams, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. They are perhaps best known for the failed Blair Witch sequel “Book of Shadows.” But prior to that they made a pair of documentaries about the West Memphis Three (google it) titled “Paradise Lost.” It was here that they first had their contact with Metallica when the band gave them permission to use a track for the Paradise Lost documentaries.

The current film essentially covers the 700+ day journey toward the creation of Metallica's first album in five years, “St. Anger.” At the beginning we find the band at an all time low. Their bassist Jason Newstead has left, they haven't made an album in 5 years and have not played together in almost a year. The band does what any big organization does when they have trouble: they call a professional.

The band hires Dr. Phil (not that Phil) who does therapy for baseball teams and other big money, big ego operations. His job, and the band's challenge, is to find a way back to each other after such a long period of estrangement. In the course of the journey they band and the viewers will learn that, as with any long term relationship, making up is messy.

Much has been made of the supposed “whining” of multimillionaires and how weak it is to get a therapist. But being one who suffers from mental illness I can safely say that sometimes material wealth or pleasant life circumstances don't automatically translate into happiness and contentment. I for one admire Metallica for seeking help and not being afraid to show it to the world, especially when mental health treatment is still stigmatized.

What ultimately makes the film interesting is that it charts the journey of the three core members: Hetfield, Ulrich, and Hammet. Each is given his moment, Hammet riding his surfboard, Ulrich facing his father to play his latest music (a fascinating scene as we see Ulrich the boy who so wants to please his father), and Hetfield as he implodes which makes for the major through-line of the film.

Hetfield suddenly leaves in the middle of recording, without warning, to go into rehab, effectively disappearing for nearly a year. When he returns he has a limited schedule (he can only work from noon to 4 PM) and brings a catalogue of old issues that have to be resolved. Can these men find closure and compromise or will they fold? Can old friends heal old wounds?

What is fascinating about the film is that these characters have all these hidden and repressed feelings about each and slowly they are forced to confront the monster of their own making. The result is messy, as all real adult relationships are and the ending isn't perfect.

In a particularly telling scene when the band plays at San Quentin Prison, Hetfield says to a group in the prison yard, “we all have the same size soul, and that's what we're trying to reach (with our music).” Communication, it would seem, is the real theme of the movie.

It's just unfortunate that many viewers won't be able to see past their preconceptions of the band to hear the message.

This is another great documentary from Berlinger/Sinofsky and a brave move by the band. Recommended.

Not Rated: Strong Language Throughout, Use of Alcohol and Brief Nudity