You Gotta Know Something About Art It Comes From Someplace Quote Joe Vs the Volcano
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How We Choose Our Favorite Picture show, and Why Mine is Joe Versus the Volcano
How We Choose Our Favorite Picture show, and Why Mine is Joe Versus the Volcano
Do you know your all-time favorite film? Does the answer come to you as easily every bit your social security number?
It's okay if you don't.
For the last couple decades, I didn't really know my answer and as a film critic, that always bothered me. Information technology showed a lack of commitment and, most troubling, a lack of identity. How practise I not know my all-time favorite movie? How do I not yet know who I am? When someone asked me, I always hemmed and hawed and gave an indefinite answer and a dissimilar i depending on who I talked to. If I talked to someone with a deep enough knowledge of motion-picture show, I would reply "probably 'Brazil'."
Probably?
If it was someone who was just asking out of marvel or politeness, I would go even more stressed out. This person has probably never heard of Terry Gilliam'southward "Brazil," which means their follow-up question would exist, "I've never heard of that. Who'south in that? What's that about?" I mean, who has time to explain "Brazil" to someone who will most likely never seek it out, and why waste matter the energy? Then, I would just say something similar "Oh, I don't know … I dear the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. 'E.T.' was the one that got me into movies in the first place, then maybe that, too."
Then there'south that part of the question, "all-time," an overused bit of hyperbole that people use in the same way "literally" gets tossed around. To me, "all-time" ways merely that. It means it'due south been a part of your life for a large chunk of your time on earth. It never goes away. Information technology can't be replaced. It shouldn't be taken lightly.
Don't get me incorrect. "Brazil" had been a legit favorite for a good 15 years. Ever since I saw information technology multiple times on video in 1986, it had a spot somewhere in my Top 10 while other movies on that list came and went. "Brazil" reflected my view of the world and had an astounding aesthetic that rewarded with echo viewings. Information technology likewise gained potency with time as we entered the War On Terror and made advances with technology faster than we could continue upward with. The movie remains rich with ideas; I could talk nearly it all solar day.
Yet, for the past 10 years, I have had petty urge to get back to it. Perhaps it doesn't speak to me the manner it one time did. Now that I'm older and in a dissimilar mindset, maybe I have a dissimilar view of the main graphic symbol. As well, Gilliam'south recent work hasn't shone as brightly as it once did, even though I adore much of information technology. I'thousand certainly not writing information technology off in whatever way. It just feels less like a part of my identity every bit a pic lover. How did that happen?
Perhaps I had been somehow conditioned to pick something that would give me credibility equally a film critic. Well, I'm 47 years old and merely in the concluding few weeks, during its 30th anniversary, have I come to realize my favorite picture show of all time is John Patrick Shanley'southward "Joe Versus the Volcano." I am obsessed with information technology and always will be.
Film critics are a finicky bunch and we know it. We can get pretty judgmental when we come across a fellow critic's Top 10 list or their pick of the "all-time moving-picture show always made," as if at that place could ever be such a thing. It's like at that place'southward a hugger-mugger, unspoken criteria for a film to be an acceptable "all-time" or "favorite." My newfound all-time favorite movie, on the surface, doesn't autumn into that criteria. Information technology'due south a somewhat forgotten and largely dismissed Hollywood production, a fantasy produced by Steven Spielberg that stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. "Joe Versus the Volcano" just barely escaped a Certified Rotten rating with a 63% score from the critics and a 54% from the audience. It has often been used every bit a punchline when talking about Hanks' lesser works. The motion picture, along with the likes of "The Homo With One Reddish Shoe" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities," had been left out of the clip reel during the Golden Globes when Hanks picked up his Cecil B. DeMille Award earlier this year.
At the aforementioned time, I have read wonderful appreciation pieces, a few on this very site, that have explored the philosophical and religious components in "Joe Versus the Volcano" as though Scorsese had directed it. Others have compared the flick'southward cinematic elements to that of Gilliam, besides as Jacques Tati'southward "Playtime," Fritz Lang's "Urban center," ii movies that would give a critic instant credibility if they mentioned it every bit their all-time favorite film. How do other critics miss these comparison points and dismiss information technology every bit a dumb comedy with pacing problems while others oft use the words "weird" and "widely misunderstood" to praise information technology? I will never know.
I tin vividly remember seeing information technology for the first fourth dimension at the Boondocks & Country Theater in Arlington Heights on Saturday, March 10th. I was a depressed teenager (not in the clinical sense, just in the teenager sense). I had bought a ticket for Kenneth Branagh's "Henry 5," a fine movie I had been eager to see that finally fabricated it to the suburbs. I left a half-hour into that film because I realized I didn't take whatever interest in the complexities of Shakespeare that I thought I did. I wandered into another theater for something lighter and less demanding. I had modest expectations. Ebert gave information technology three.5 stars while others were in the two.5 camp. "Why not? Might exist cute." Within the first few minutes of watching Shanley's directorial debut, I felt like I had discovered something truly extraordinary, something special. Too, I'm pretty sure I laughed a lot more than the audience surrounding me. I got information technology. The opening sequence helped me express joy at my own teenage sadness. The motion picture spoke to my soul in every way possible and still does to this 24-hour interval.
Roger Ebert and I had bonded briefly over our love for this film. I have a few stories about run-ins with people who also had an affinity toward it. I quote it all the time. It reflects my philosophies of life and how to live it. I have (re)introduced it to countless friends who either once dismissed information technology or never saw it because it looked dumb. I have gone through periods where I couldn't get enough of the appreciation pieces on it, and in that location are many out there. And if I had to choose which final movie I could sentinel before I die, it would exist this 1.
Having a definitive answer to the question "what's your all-time favorite film?" feels liberating and I look forward to meeting more people who either await at me with confusion, with admiration or with curiosity. It feels skilful to non really intendance anymore about what people recollect and to openly embrace a movie that I can defend for many reasons to anyone I talk to. You can point out flaws in "Joe Versus the Volcano" to try and talk me down, but I volition never see them. Not because I think the flick is flawless and perfect, only because the film is the film and I cannot imagine information technology beingness any other manner. Does it accept pacing problems? Is it uneven? Is One thousand thousand Ryan overdoing her accents on two of her more goofier characters? Hell if I know.
Practise you have an best favorite pic? How did you cull it? Or do you lot feel like it chose you? Has it been with you your whole life? Exercise yous have stories to tell about your relationship with this film? Practice you watch it every year and do you discover new things every time yous watch it? Are you lot still obsessed with it? Did it alter your life in a big way or pocket-sized way? Practice your ears automatically perk upwards when someone mentions it in chat? Is it the cinematic qualities that motility you? Is information technology simply the all-time source of comfort nutrient you tin always depend on for those glum days?
For me, it'due south everything. It's the cinematic language, the unpredictable nature, Shanley's dialogue that sings in every scene, the unabashed romanticism, the freeness of it, the offset shot, the final line of dialogue, the moon scene, the originality, the distinguished look, Georges Delerue's score, the pop music choices, Bo Welch's art direction, Stephen Goldblatt's cinematography, those awful fluorescent lights giving off the dank, green texture to the opening scenes (Warner's Blu-ray cleaned it up a little as well much), every walk-on, every gag, every dialogue exchange, Hanks, Ryan, Ossie Davis, Robert Stack, Dan Hedaya, Lloyd Bridges, Abe Vigoda, the affective, the joy, the absurdities, the run a risk, the fairy tale nature, the recurring images of the zig-zag and the ducks, every shot, every line, every nuance, every flavor. I still haven't seen anything else like it in xxx years and it gets me every time.
It's my movie.
I'm not arguing it'due south the best one e'er made. Why would I? This has nothing to do with making an argument for information technology or ranking information technology. I'k just glad I know this nigh myself and can experience confident in my answer. Those of u.s. in the "Joe Versus the Volcano" cult have our own stock reply when someone declares it as his/her favorite picture show of all time: "I'm not arguing that with yous!"
Collin Souter
Collin Souter has been reviewing films in Chicago for fourteen years, well-nigh notably on WGN Radio where he has been a part of the flick review segment every week on The Nick Digilio Bear witness.
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Source: https://www.rogerebert.com/features/how-we-choose-our-favorite-film-and-why-mine-is-joe-vs-the-volcano
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