• Literally Anything: Movies
  • Academy Award Nominees
  • Film Index
  • The Criterion Collection
  • Collections
  • About
  • Links and Contacts
  LITERALLY ANYTHING: MOVIES

Updates

Chaplin (1992)

11/14/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
PG-13.  A PG-13 that should definitely be R.  I don't know who Richard Attenborough knows, but he's got dirt on someone.

DIRECTOR:  Richard Attenborough

I don't think this kind of biopic really exists anymore.  I think that might be for good reason.  Ever since I saw Jobs, the complete life biopic has always seemed off.  Jobs got something right.  As an audience member, there is something special about seeing one aspect of a person in depth than a summary of their entire life.  That's what Chaplin is.  As a teacher, I keep seeing school projects where students rush a lot of content into a very short amount of time.  Trying to fit every aspect of Chaplin's life into one movie cheapens a very full existence.  It's really a shame because I find Chaplin himself so fascinating.  

There's a lot of bad choices that really detract from the tone of this movie.  I'd like to start off with a controversial one.  John Barry might have been the worst choice to score this film.  I need to defend myself.  I used to think that John Barry was one of the best composers in Hollywood.  As a James Bond fan, I'd listen to John Barry's film scores just on repeat throughout my high school life.  I was what they used to call "a cool guy."  Barry made everything he did epic.  The use of strings and full orchestras was inspirational and placed me in the moment of every film ever.  The problem here is that the music sounds exactly the same, even the epic nature was considered inappropriate.  It just sounded so generic and tonally inappropriate.  Every scene was weepy and blah and I don't think that was Chaplin.  I will give the movie that Attenborough is shooting for a painful look at Chaplin's life, but there's no balance.  The funniest of moments were scored with nostalgia and blah that it seemed like Charlie Chaplin never brought laughter to anyone.

There's also something very strange about '90s biopics.  There is an upsetting "okay-ness" with statutory rape.  I get that J. Edgar Hoover makes an awesome American historical villain, but Charlie Chaplin was genuinely creepy when it came with his obsession with young girls.  The movie downplays this by an obsession with Hetty Kelly, but that almost just seems to serve as a chaser to a very creepy lack of self-control.  I don't like the idea of demonizing Charlie Chaplin, but I don't want to also be cool with his lifestyle.  Chaplin was admirable for his political stances and his understanding of the comic arts.  It wasn't really persecution when it came to the molestation of young women.  But that's part of the problem of this movie.  This movie wanted to cover everything about Chaplin.  That means that this problem needs to be addressed or else it is revisionist history.

Performances, this movie is pretty good.  I love Downey, but this is an era before he's the Downey we love.  This is brat-packy Downey and it, admittedly, is not my favorite era for this actor.  It is honestly very distracting watching him play in old makeup across from Anthony Hopkins.  While Downey is competent, I can't help but think of those cringy moments from Bram Stoker's Dracula with Keanu Reeves trying to chew the scenery and failing horribly.  Downey holds his own, but the reality of the moment is very transparent.  I haven't really seen a movie that stars so many celebrities and it is a little jarring seeing them play real people.  After studying Mark Sennett, I enjoy seeing Dan Aykroyd, but it isn't real for me.  I had that same experience watching Mission: Impossible 3 after Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah's couch.  It is ironic that this is the same era where the star system was born because the effect was the same.  I wasn't looking at Charlie Chaplin, Mark Sennett, or Douglas Fairbanks.  I was looking Robert Downey, Jr., Dan Aykroyd, and Kevin Kline.  

For a movie about one of the most famous comedians in film history, this movie is dour.  I never believed that Downey was a master of comedies or the pratfall.  It's so serious that it hurt to watch.  The best part of the movie was the clips of actual Chaplin because those scenes get the tone.  Perhaps it is the John Barry tie, but this is the same emotional manipulation that I see in movies like Dances With Wolves.  It feels cheap and epic without purpose.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Film is great.  It can challenge us.   It can entertain us.  It can puzzle us.  It can awaken us.  

    It can often do all these things at the same time.  

    I encourage all you students of film to challenge themselves with this film blog.  Watch stuff outside your comfort zone.  Go beyond what looks cool or what is easy to swallow.  Expand your horizons and move beyond your gut reactions.  

    We live in an era where we can watch any movie we want in the comfort of our homes.  Take advantage of that and explore.

    Author

    Mr. H has watched an upsetting amount of movies.  They bring him a level of joy that few things have achieved.

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Literally Anything: Movies
  • Academy Award Nominees
  • Film Index
  • The Criterion Collection
  • Collections
  • About
  • Links and Contacts