Saturday afternoon the Cinema Arts Festival screened one of its highlight films, Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies. The film is an outgrowth of a New York gallery exhibition that was curated by Bernice Rose, now chief curator of The Menil Collection’s Drawing Institute and Study Center. The exhibition examined the influence that early film had on turn-of-the-century art in general and on Picasso and Georges Braque in particular.
Rose is a substantial presence in the film, and she’s joined by a variety of talking heads, such as Chuck Close and Julian Schnabel, who talk with impressive clarity on how the cubism that Braque and Picasso co-created reflects elements of early film.
But it’s the clips from pre-1910 films that steal the show.
Magician Georges Méliès’ “trick” films, which first demonstrated the ability of film to play with time and space (film can backwards and forwards; it can be spliced together to create bizarre effects) had an unmistakable influence on the Surrealists. They are also great fun to watch, even today.
Other clips include the “it’s alive” scene from Thomas Edison’s 1910 Frankenstein, and a large handful of “surreal” slapstick shorts.
White supremacy has long been a stand-in for evil in movies, with the correlation easy to make given the strong ties to Nazi Germany. Whether a film puts forth white supremacists as its main characters or supporting ones, their usefulness in a story is as people who are easy to hate and that deserve to be held to some sort of justice.
While that idea holds true in the new film, The Order, the nature of the group featured is somewhat muddled. The central figure is FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law), who essentially sets up a one-man task force in the Pacific Northwest to track a group known as The Order. Husk is convinced that the group, which is an offshoot of a larger white supremacist organization, is behind a series of bank robberies to fund anti-government schemes.
Husk recruits local police officer Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan) to help follow the group, which is led by Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult). The two, joined occasionally by FBI agent Joanne Carney (Jurnee Smollett), do their best to keep up with The Order’s increasingly bold crimes, which morphs from “just” bank robbery to murder.
Directed by Justin Kurzel and written by Zach Baylin, the film is at its best when it delves into the personalities of its characters. Husk’s monomaniacal nature is great for his job, but not so much for his family life. Bowen has a solid bond with his wife and kids, but his greenness in law enforcement leads to some questionable decision-making. Mathews, like many cult leaders, is a charismatic person with very misguided tendencies.
The filmmakers set up the plot (which is based on a real-life story) well, but the details get a little loose as the film goes along. While The Order has a hatred of Jews, a plot against radio personality Alan Berg (Marc Maron) doesn’t make much sense in the context of the film. The geography of the group’s operations is also confusing; they’re located in Washington, but they range out as far as Colorado and California to commit their crimes.
Still, the inherent appeal of good-vs-evil keeps the plot mechanics going, and the side stories of the main characters give them a depth that makes up for other faults. The filmmakers also make sure to demonstrate how the scourge of white supremacy has never been limited to one particular era, and continues to infect American society to this day.
Law commits fully to the lead role, giving a performance with a convincing American accent that is far from the suave British parts which have dominated his filmography. Hoult proves equally believable, giving his character a nuance that somehow makes him more detestable. Sheridan adds another interesting role to a career that would be enviable for any other young actor.
While The Order doesn’t rise to the level of an awards contender, its story is still relatively compelling with antagonists that, unfortunately, never go out of style. A great cast playing characters with engaging lives keeps the film watchable even when it goes into some odd detours.
