Man On Wire and The Baxter

So maybe you've noticed how incredibly lax I've been. This is not because I haven't been watching many movies, but because I have been caught up in other things/too lazy. I will try to correct this! Let's fast forward past the movies I've watched in the last week and a half (the other half of the buddy movie double feature was In Bruges, also I've seen You Kill Me, The Manchurian Candidate [1966], and Der Blaue Engel) to the most recent two I've watched. First Off: Man On Wire!

Not being a particularly well-informed person on any subject unrelated to pop culture, I had very little prior knowledge and no expectations when I sauntered into this British documentary about Frenchman Philippe Petit's beautiful and death-defying wire-walk between the Twin Towers in 1974. The film combined personal interviews with Philippe and his cohorts with re-creation sequences and actual event footage. It also highlighted his walks between two pillars of Notre Dame and across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, moving back and forth between those early embarkations, the happenings leading up to the Twin Tower walk, and the formation of the plan to infiltrate the buildings. It was wonderfully paced and organized, seeking to tell a story and not just inform. I couldn't help feeling the heist-movie excitement of it all as the interviewees and filmmaker took us from the seed of an idea in Philippe's head to the development of a passion to the final execution and thrill of such a remarkable, almost unworldly event. I found myself quite won over by Philippe's poetic descriptions of his craft and ideas, and immediately ready to embrace the artistic merit of his actions. Definitely check this out! (people in the Boston area: It's playing at Kendall Square Cinema.)

Next we have The Baxter. Now, I am a person who would love Michael Showalter probably no matter what. Men, Women, and Children all agree: He is one of the funniest, most adorable people ever. He played the best teenager in The State and played the best tall person in Stella. Overall, a winning guy who is all about being bro's. In his first and as of yet only film, The Baxter, Showalter casts himself as an accountant doomed to lose all of his girlfriends to their ex-boyfriends. He is kind and polite but often clueless and too mild. He's been lucky enough to snag pretty Caroline (Elizabeth Banks) as his fiancee, but of course a few weeks before their wedding her first love Bradley (Justin Theroux) shows up. Throw cutely bookish office temp Cecil Mills (Michelle Williams) into the mix and you have an entertaining study on relationships combined with verbal witticisms and visual comedy (read: Michael Showalter dancing!).

Overall it is a charming, give-a-viewing-from-time-to-time, wintery kind of film. It's got some great appearances of State/Stella/WHAS people including Paul Rudd, Michael Ian Black, and AD Miles. Plus, Peter Dinklage as a wedding planner! The storytelling is non-linear and narrated, two things I enjoy. The plot is not overly complicated but throws in surprises here and there, poking fun at conventional romantic comedies. It's an extremely white, intellectual, indie-chic, and silly movie, with a primary goal of giving some hope to the hopelessly geeky and unlucky in love. So, everyone: be encouraged! And Michael Showalter, if you for some zany reason are reading this, please make another film!