Cinematic Smackdown: DOUBLE FEATURE! Conversations with Other Women & Bridesmaids

Conversations with Other Women - 4/5
(dir. Hans Canosa)

Hans Canosa's Conversations with Other Women is so good it almost earns your derision. The film is just so effortless, simplistic, complicated, and in the moment that you forget you're watching a movie. It works so perfectly as a slice of life, letting you peer into the tragicomic lives of its characters, that you don't even see the flaws at the time, though they may occur to you once the film is finished.

The "plot," as it were, can be summed up in a few words: former lovers meet. That description could describe countless titles, but what sets Conversations apart is the care of the filmmaking and the quality of the acting. Helena Bonham Carter is near irrecognizable as a bored housewife (as opposed to her "eccentric" roles... it's good to see her show some range), and Aaron Eckhart proves himself worthy of his ego as the cynical lover who's been searching for her in one way or another since they split.

And that's basically it. The pair meet at a wedding reception apparently strangers, but then we realize they know each other. Then, not only do they know each other - they loved each other. Then, not only did they love each other - perhaps they still do. The remaining minutes are dedicated to the two wrestling with their current and former feelings, obligations, and relationships, both between themselves and their current and former lovers.

The film is shown entirely in split-screen, which can sometimes feel pretentious or distracting, but for the most part works perfectly. Clearly, it was not simply a stylistic choice, but one that beautifully underscores the alone-but-together feeling of its characters. Likewise, the split-screen is a choice of economy: how much more effective it is for "flashbacks" to simply be shown alongside the present rather than disrupt the entire flow of the narrative. It's a simple device, but it works. Note: the last shot of the film is perfect. A beautiful, tragic, touching summary of the entire story in just a few seconds of screen time.




Bridesmaids - 2.5/5
(dir. Paul Feig)

What a shame.

This could have been a great film. Seriously, a great film - one that could have been mentioned with the likes of Woody Allen. Instead, we have a film which is hilarious, brilliant, and mediocre in turns. No matter where you come down on it, however, surely we can all agree that Kristen Wiig has proven herself not only a formidable comic force but a good dramatic actress as well; for all the problems in the film, there's no denying her great work.

The film was marketed as a kind of "Hangover for girls" - i.e., full of dick and fart jokes, but with an underlying, overriding sense of friendship and camaraderie... That description is probably about half-accurate. First of all, Bridesmaids is much funnier than The Hangover. Much funnier. You may disagree, but then you clearly don't know good comedy. Bridesmaids does dabble in genital jokes and gross-out humor - clearly trying to keep pace with the R-rated comedy bandwagon - but at its core this film goes to a much darker, more serious place than The Hangover ever dared to.

It's common in comedy for the main character to go through excessive hardship before being granted a cinematic reprieve, but in the case of Bridesmaids things are a little different. Wiig's character is so relentlessly self-destructive and self-obsessed that the dramatic moments seem bleak, suffocating, dare I say nihilistic. Even at the end of the film, when all the conflicts have been resolved and the story is wrapped in a fairly typical happy ending, there's still a sense that her life may not be considerably different; she is damaged perhaps beyond repair.

So it would seem that Bridesmaids is a mixed bag. Most of the gags work, but the ones that don't don't just land flat - they bellyflop. The drama is effective, but perhaps a little too stark and relentless for a film trying so hard to be light and fun. Worth watching, but solely for Wiig.