"Did she just...?"

[Great Moments in Screen Bitchery #993, Julianne Moore in Blindness]

The "unseeing" Doctor's Wife sticks it to the guards.
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Blindness

Why is it that allegories are so much more effective in literature than in film? One wouldn't think that film would be knocked out of the equation as a vessel. Why can't an image be representational in the way prose can? The answer is that it can, but it's just much trickier to achieve. We process images in a way that represents surface and reality (even though we know that images can be falsified) but what we read, we understand as manipulated by the author. We experience it through a filter and it allows us a lot of room to project. It's easier for an idea to flower in writing than take root in imagery. Or that's my on-the-spot take on it at any rate.

Which brings us to Blindness...


Celebrated auteur Fernando Meirelles set himself the daunting task of adapting a difficult flexible novel. Blindness the novel is told in omniscient narrator fashion with no punctuation, no character names, no traditionally conveyed dialogue and a big inescapable allegory as central driving force, plot, worldview. In the novel the world is struck by "the white sickness." Eyes everywhere start failing, vision milking over with nothing but whiteness. In movie terms that's a fade-to-white. Meirelles puts it in movie terms ... a lot.

Among the first victims is an eye doctor played by the always welcome Mark Ruffalo (still searching for a role equal to his breakout bid in You Can Count on Me). His wife (Julianne Moore), still blessed with perfect vision, accompanies him to the government mandated containment facility under the pretense that she too has succumbed to the sickness. Her instincts to protect her husband prove solid. The blind, as it turns out, are practically abandoned once they're caged. All Lord of the Flies style hell breaks loose.

Julianne Moore has spent 2008 returning to the auteurial drama she is most suited for (see also: Savage Grace) and moviegoers are better off for it. Highlights from the ensemble cast include a moving Danny Glover and a memorably wicked Gael Garcia Bernal. Everyone aboard seems game for the brutal material. True to the novel no characters are given names but since the film is not overtly stylized elsewhere or in dialogue this device feels illogical and, well, straight up weird in this new context. People meeting and introducing themselves only by profession after society is breaking down? Hard to fathom.

Moore, referred to only as "the doctor's wife", is a steadying seeing-eye presence for the afflicted souls in the movie and for the audience, too. She's solid in what's a subtle and difficult role but the director leans so heavily on her capacity for internal drama that he almost smothers her. We're left with only her numbed face and weary gait to convey what the film is so curiously shy about. Much of the book's horrific power came from the descriptions of the animalistic living conditions that the blind begin to live with. Meirelles opts to mostly look away from the nudity (who would wear dirty clothes for weeks on end when everyone is blind?) and he's particularly shy with the prison act. The cool desaturated palette chosen effectively hides the very off-putting but necessary horror that the novel achieved. That was surely a practical decision --who, outside of early John Waters thespians, wants to get too equated with shit (or piss) in a movie theater? -- but as a result the prison looks messy and cluttered rather than truly harrowing. For a movie that understands how to convey complete confinement and humans-as-animals terror you'll have to wait for Steve McQueen's daring aggressive Hunger in 2009. Blindness is often beautifully stylized in its cinematography but beauty and this story aren't the most complimentary match.

The novel by José Saramago is a heavy allegorical classic about our collective inability to see. It is not actually about the fact that some people are disabled and have no visual or form light perception. The film version of this great novel, while admirably serious and surprisingly faithful, just doesn't let in as much light. In the realm of surface storytelling it's solid but it falls short thematically and loses much of its depth. Blindness does try and capture something of the novel's grace. Meirelles and his cinematographer César Charlone seem to loosen up in the story's final post-prison act. It's as if the open air let's down their guard sufficently. Once there's promise of a fuller range of human experience they allow themselves to look more closely at the continued horror in the margins and with less stylistic strain.

Blindness's source material is strong and the concerted effort from the cast keep you rapt to the unusual story but it finally feels a little flat. The book remains a much richer and more vividly imaginative work. It's a mark of a movie's failure if you can shake it off quickly after the credits roll. Great comedies can leave you giggling or smiling for days afterwards rather than vanishing from memory. Great horror can have you checking under your bed or sleeping with the lights on. Great dramas can wrestle thought for days. A week after seeing Blindness the only thought it provoked in yours truly was this 'Can the movie version of The Road more successfully transfer apocalyptic literature to the screen?' B-/C+

Linkness

Cannes
Guardian and The Telegraph round up disconcerting business surrounding the Cannes '08 kickoff.
Glenn Kenny kicks off his new blog "Some Came Running" (post Premiere gig) by reporting direct from Cannes. Nice work if you can get it
RT expect the Blindness tomato-meter to be in the what percentile now? Too few reviews yet
NY Post has an interesting tidbit on Blindness test screenings (don't go if you are avoiding spoilers) prior to its Cannes bow

miscellania
The Cinematic Art "The Curious Case of Woody Allen" -good stuff
Reverse Shot likes Reprise (I love it. I'll keep telling you so) but predicts dire things for Joachim Trier, the director
Filmmaker Magazine has an article up that you cinematography nuts will love
Donald Soffritti illustrates some old folks years for those eternally young superheroes. Sweet, huh?

Go Speed Racer Go
I had fun writing about it . Here's more from others...
A Socialite's Life Emile Hirsch has fired his agent. Sure Speed Racer tanked but didn't this agent also get him Into the Wild and Milk? There must be more to the story.
Correct Opinion looks at its box office and predicts that Narnia 2: The One With the Prince will join it in the summer flop-house

i09 asks if it's too "gay". Er...

Speed & Trixie: their outfits match their rides, it's true

Keith Uhlich thinks it bears noting that it opened the same day as The Fall.
Dennis Cozzalio defends Speed Racer and examines the entertaining critical fray. But I'm horrified to hear a plea for Days of Thunder (1990) in his mixology... one of the worst movies of its time as I recall. The only thing I can remember about it, other than my seething disgust, was the scene in which Nicole Kidman (who played a brain surgeon) shoved her patient (Tom Cruise) against the wall head-first so as to violently kiss him, POST SURGERY. That movie is stoopid. It does have an awesome theme song, though. Maria McKee's "Show Me Heaven" was its soundtrack smash if I remember 1990 correctly. Do I? Were you there?
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Cannes You See What I See?

IFC has a 24/7 Cannes cam up. You can watch the arrivals for the premieres. Or just stare at the empty red carpet when it's not movie-time. Or leave it on in the background like I do and just listen to the ambient sounds from the Croisette all the way across the Atlantic. Isn't technology fantastique? Remember they're on French time, not yours. Unless you're French or lucky enough to be there, in which case you don't need this cam. Shut up with your bragging.

In related news: The Black Hearted White Queen of Red Carpets is already stealing attention away from the actual stars of other movies by showing up to their premieres looking like this !

[src]

She can't be stopped!
(Pssst. But it's her birthday so we'll forgive her for stealing Julianne Moore's thunder @ the Blindness premiere. I like a little attention on my special day, too)
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"The only thing more terrifying than blindness is being the only one that can see"

I sometimes look around the web and I'm astonished at how freely people use their entertainment blogs as free advertising outlets for certain shows, artists and movies. Publicists sometimes send out plain old commercials and people actually post them with not even a smidgeon of commentary or point- of-view just the advertisement... "Watch this show tonight" as a post. The commercial gets seen and nobody gets paid. It's such a great con --pretty hilarious and savvy of multi-billion dollar corporations if you ask me.

That said, when it comes to certain films I look forward to I too must plead guilty on occassion. I mean, I've talked about Blindness how many times now?, and it doesn't even come out until the fall. I love the book so much. And the cast. You can see THE COMMERCIAL (also known as "a trailer") now. [thanks Cal]

Is it wrong that I love Julianne Moore most when she's utterly miserable?


Whether its crying jags over a custody battle, horrifying allergic reactions to everything, desperation to escape a loveless marriage and a needy child, or religious faith that rips her from the arms of her lover ... I need my Julie Anne Smith to suffer* and Blindness shall provide.
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* Julianne doesn't know this yet (it's kind of a one sided relationship) but we're totally getting back together as soon as she's the star of a great movie again. If you know of a good marriage counsellor whose willing to see just one half of an imaginary couple, please pass me their card!

We Can't Wait #5 Blindness

Directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener)
Starring Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal and Danny Glover
Based on the international bestseller Blindness by José Saramago which is about an epidemic of blindness known as "the white sickness" and societal breakdowns that follow.
Brought to you by Miramax
Expected Release Date August 8th, 2008

seeing eye woman ~ the doctor's wife (Julianne Moore) guides the doctor (Mark Ruffalo)

Nathaniel: So...hands up. Did you read the book? Is the White Sickness the most terrifying thing you can imagine? I was riveted by the novel and when I heard they were making a movie I was startled by the audacity. How do you make a movie this filled with psychic terror and total collapse of civilization and, well, lots of shit (literally)... and make it palatable as a movie? Or will this be Children of Men part 2: a vision of an apocalypse that seems plausible even in its scientific surrealness due to its artistic confidence?

Am I making any sense?

Glenn: I have not read the book, but, as of right now after two great movies, I'll follow Fernando Meirelles anywhere... and, apparently, that includes rooms full of feces! It may be a stretch for mainstream audiences, but at least there are directors willing to make movies like this. The mainstream can have Academy Award-nominees like Norbit, and we can have movies like Blindness and, ya know what? I'm alright with that.

Joe: Yeah, I have had Children of Men thoughts with regard to this movie, too. Which is odd, because you'd think Julianne Moore wouldn't carry such a strong through-line. I haven't read the book, and I can't say the "lots of shit" thing is making me more likely to see it, but of all the films set to be released this year, this one boasts the best premise-to-director-to-stars ratio, so shit be damned, I'm super excited for it. I guess I'm hoping it will be for Mierelles what Children of Men was for Cuaron -- an audacious step up for a director who's already impressed us quite a bit.

Gabriel: Never read the book, never heard of the book. But it hardly matters with a lineup like this one. In my book, Meirelles has yet to miss, and this material and this cast seem a no-brainer. (Of course, the road to cinematic hell is paved with can't-miss projects, right?)

MaryAnn: The more I hear about it, the more I can't wait to see it.

Nathaniel: Want to hear more about it? For what it's worth I've had TFE reader Felippe translate some of Fernando Meirelles portugese blog entries about the making of this movie so you know I'm anxious. Another one of those paraphrasals is coming next week which should bring us up to date on the director's blogging. But for those who "can't wait" (oh for annoying repetition) for more translations, Cinemascope transferred a recent fascinating post about the editing of the picture into English here.

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the countdown
#1 Synecdoche, New York / #2 Burn After Reading / #3 Australia / #4 Milk / #5 Blindness / # 6 Doubt / #7 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button / #8 Revolutionary Road / #9 The Dark Knight / #10 Sex & The City: The Movie / #11 The Lovely Bones / #12 Wall-E / #13 Stop-Loss / #14 The Women / #15 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince / Introduction / Orphans
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Blindness (Pt 1)

Portugese fluent readers may already know what's coming up in these Blindness posts but those of you who are, like me, limited to one or two other tongues, will want to read on. I've had loyal TFE reader Felippe send me a rundown of what's going on over at Fernando Meirelles Blindness blog. What follows is a mix of his paraphrasing with my editing and commentary --if I'm obviously taking over the text is in red.

Meirelles (well known for City of God and The Constant Gardener) has been documenting his film adaptation of the great novel of the same name by José Saramago (one of the best I've read in the past several years). I'll try to tone down the spoilers but some will undoubtedly escape.

But before we begin, a bit more on the movie: Meirelles has enlisted a heavyweight cast and team, including his City of God cinematographer and editor (both of whom were Oscar nominated alongside him for that breakthrough film). The new film stars Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore as a doctor and his wife and the film is about a blindness epidemic, known as the "white sickness". The doctor being one of the first humans to fall ill to it. Don McKellar (who also wrote the screenplay), Gael Garcia Bernal, Danny Glover, Sandra Oh and Alice Braga have supporting roles. The Miramax film is due in theaters in August... perhaps chasing the Constant Gardener release pattern?


Post 1 Meirelles informs that they'll be filming for seven weeks in a prison in Tonto. He also tells us that he tried to buy the rights to the novel back in '97 but Saramago wasn't selling so he opted to make City of God instead. He doesn't know why the author changed his mind but when Meirelles got the rights he secured international financing to prevent Hollywood studio interference. Smart move! If you've read the book you'll know that it's quite unHollywood. To give you a picture of how relentless it can be, lets put it on a Cormac McCarthy curve: it's a smidgeon bleaker than No Country For Old Men but quite a lot happier than The Road (which is also going before cameras soon)

Post 2 Lunch with the author. Saramago, is described as tall, healthy and lovely. Saramago says that the Cão de Lágrimas (the dog in the book) must be big, and he is very pleased to hear about the casting of Danny Glover. Meirelles said that Danny Glover and Jose Saramago are quite alike (???) Meirelles thought that Saramago would not be interested in the film adapatation because he once said that cinema destroys imagination. As it turns out he is interested in this film and wants to know when he can see some of it. The other lunch guests are lost in translation. Only Meirelles and Saramago speak Portuguese.

Post 3 SPOILERS Julianne Moore is shocked (upset?) to learn that she has to film one of the books most harrowing sequences (a rape followed by a murder) out of order. Through his head-phone Meirelles hears Julie preparing for the scene: breathing heavily, then crying, then crying desperately. In the first shot she was carried away by emotion, screaming her text. Everyone was shocked (including Mark Ruffalo) and carried away by Julie's emotion reacted in a similar way. Unfortunately that was not the tone that the director wanted for the doctor (Ruffalo), so they had to redo the scene. To keep Julie in the mood for the scene, the director opted not to fix the mic problems they were having. In the end, they did the scene at least eight times. Meirelles chose Moore's fourth take, and Ruffalo's eighth. Julianne got the right tone easily, Mark took a bit longer. Oh, Mark you troublemaker! Kidding, we love. You really shouldn't still be waiting for that first Oscar nomination.

Post 4 In this post Meirelles discusses charisma. "Where does it come from?" The director cites Sandra Oh as an actor full of it. He did not know that she was an actor when they first met but he was with her presence. She asked for a small role in Blindness, so they wrote a few lines for the character Minister of Justice. He said that the minimal role became a great role, that is the power of a great actor like Oh. Meirelles also mentions that he expands the role of the pharmacists assistant (played by Mpho Koaho) due to the actor's charisma. Now, if only Meirelles could time travel back to 2004 and beef up Oh's role in Sideways. It's still sad that she was so ignored while the rest of the cast kept winning honors.

please note: as it turns out Twitch Film has translated this Portugese post "on charism" in full --if you want more details on it, is here.

Post 5 The prison shoot in Canada is over. That was the most difficult piece dramatically, but technically easy. The shooting in Montevideo and Sao Paulo will be harder because they will outdoors. The production hired an actor instructor to do a workshop for the extras that will be playing the blind. Meirelles doesn't want the movie to look like a Night of the Living Dead remake. Hee. I'm glad Meirelles has a sense of humor about this thing because, like I said: B-L-E-A-K. But just to prove my point, let's do one more.

Post 6 In which Meirelles wants there to be more fecal matter everywhere. more s%*! The director wasn't happy enough with the amount of excrement in the set, so he asked for it to be a lot messier. I can smell an art direction nod, coming can't you? But in all seriousness... it's one thing to read disturbing things in a novel. It's another to see them visualized. I'm fearful of how much we can take when I think of just that tiny bit of onscreen excrement in The Savages which was completely disgusting. A whole set filled with it? Oh dear. He then discusses civilization, and says that after reading Blindness, he thought of society as a complex but very fragile entity. He is also retaining the books choice to not give the character's names (i.e. "the doctor", "the doctor's wife", etcera). Once they can't be visually distinguished because they are all blind they don't need them. Meirelles is working to emphasize the character relationships in the film, while trying to avoid making a tear-jerker.

Continue on to part 2
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