MY MOVIE SHELF: Signs

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 189  Days to go: 133

Movie #249:  Signs

I’ll talk about The Sixth Sense a few posts from now, but I think it’s safe to say the expectations people had for M. Night Shyamalan after that success were unreasonable at best and impossible, in practice, to meet. I don’t deny that the man’s work definitely went off the rails after a bit, but his Unbreakable was a decent concept executed poorly (and before, apparently, the public was ready for a dark comic book story), and Signs is actually an interesting treatise on faith wrapped up in standard sci-fi tropes. And, really, if you look at The Sixth Sense as a sci-fi story about a kid with paranormal abilities rather than a ghost story which a shocking twist — which is a hindsight evaluation in and of itself — then basic sci-fi is all M. Night Shyamalan has ever done, so it’s kind of unfair for the public to bitch at him about it when they remember how much they look down on run-of-the-mill sci-fi for not being high art or whatever.

Signs takes the very commonly discussed phenomenon of crop circles and simply postulates that they are, in fact, caused by aliens. What if aliens have come to Earth, and what if they are not friendly. Really basic B-movie sci-fi stuff, right there. What Shyamalan does that’s interesting, though, is instead of making this your standard War of the Worlds global alien invasion story, he sets his tale on a small Pennsylvanian farm, in the house of former reverend and recent widower Graham (Mel Gibson), his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), his little boy Morgan (Rory Culkin) and his very young daughter Bo (Abigail Breslin). And they learn of the worldwide alien invasion the way most of us would — by watching television — even as they come face to face with their own unwelcome visitor.

That’s the long and the short of it, really, as far as the sci-fi goes. It’s not groundbreaking; it’s not even all that original. The aliens have a very silly and almost obvious weakness by which they are defeated, and they retreat post-haste. And most people seem to get caught up in this aspect of it, how the alien is stupid looking and the threat is both nonsensical and too easily resolved, but it’s sort of completely beside the point.

The point of Signs is that the death of Graham’s wife has left him with a crisis of faith, and the alien invasion, through various events and the last words of his wife that still haunt him, restores that faith. That’s all. There’s a reason for Morgan’s asthma, there’s a reason for Bo’s water obsession, and there’s a reason Merrill always felt right swinging his baseball bat. Shyamalan is saying that there’s a reason for everything, that there’s a greater purpose, that there’s some force out there looking out for us. Or looking out for this family, at least. It’s a movie about the existence of miracles instead of luck. It just happens to be wrapped up in some low-caliber sci-fi.

Mel Gibson was supposed to be the big name of this piece, but literally every other featured player is more interesting, including Cherry Jones as Officer Paski and Merritt Weaver in a tiny little role as the pharmacist. But it’s Graham’s family that really draws focus. Even little Abigail Breslin, as a tiny girl of six, exhibits an enormous amount of that talent and star quality she would come to be known for a few years later. And this is probably one of the last things Phoenix did before he really started getting weird. It has its merits.

I don’t really think Signs is a great movie, but it is an interesting movie in its way. For M. Night Shyamalan, at this point, that’s got to feel like a win. Right?

MY MOVIE SHELF: Parenthood

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 169  Days to go: 169

Movie #208:  Parenthood

“When I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster. Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!  I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn’t like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.”

And so goes Parenthood. Whether your kids are young or in their teens or fully grown, the reality of parenthood is a roller coaster. Sometimes your kids are tense but they come through in the clutch. Others are laid back and sociable but never follow through on a single thing. Some are wacky, some are serious, some never reach their potential and others far exceed expectations. You just never know. Parenthood follows these ups and downs in the lives of the extended Buckman family, from patriarch Frank (Jason Robards) and his youngest son Larry (Tom Hulce) who shows up out of nowhere with a gambling problem and a surprise son, to eldest son Gil (Steve Martin) and his growing clan with wife Karen (Mary Steenburgen), to divorced sister Helen and her teens Julie (Martha Plimpton) — complete with “that Tod” boyfriend of hers (Keanu Reeves) — and Garry (Joaquin Phoenix back when he was still Leaf), to youngest daughter Susan (Harley Jane Kozak) and her super uptight, stuffed-shirt husband Nathan (Rick Moranis) who overparents their young daughter. All are faced with let-downs. All experience fantastic triumphs. It’s a movie that really beautifully illustrates the unmatched joy and the despairing helplessness of having kids, and it all comes down to a roller coaster ride.

The penultimate scene, when Gil and Karen are at their daughter’s school play and their youngest son disrupts the whole production by coming to his sister’s defense when he mistakenly assumes she’s being bullied by the other dwarfs (she’s Dopey), is warm and rollicking at once. Filmed at angles to imitate the rise and fall of a coaster, and superimposed with a coaster soundtrack, it’s a clever and inventive close to the uncertainty and fear, an acceptance and loving embrace of all that is to come because for all the turmoil, it’s worth the ride. You get more out of it.

It takes a rare movie that is so good it’s been made into a television series twice. The first Parenthood series (starring Ed Begley Jr. and Leonardo Dicaprio) was short-lived, but the second is finishing up its fine and affecting run this season. That success, I think, speaks to the strong foundation of the movie itself — of its universal timeliness and relevance. Even today, against the backdrop of a far more modernized series, the original movie stands up well. There aren’t Photomats or VHS tapes anymore, but there are still little league games and diarrhea songs and birthday party cowboys and pinatas that won’t bust and dildos and grandmas and kids who discover porn and dads who abandon their families and teenage daughters who secretly have sex with their boyfriends in their bedrooms. Life, for all its advances over the years, doesn’t actually change that much at all. Parenthood really understands and exemplifies that.

What has changed, unfortunately, is the idea of the adult comedy. There have been a lot of thinkpieces on the disappearing R-rated comedies, but what about a PG-13 with unapologetic adult content? Parenthood is appealing across generations, but it’s the kind of movie specifically built for parents to understand and relate to. Not only that, but there are some graphic references. I’ve already mentioned the dildo, which is shown at a dinner party (where it’s snarkily remarked upon) and used as a punchline/jab in an argument between Julie and Helen. Then there’s the car Frank first got laid in (though even he admits it’s not a story for his grandson), and Susan is poking holes in her diaphragm (she and Nathan used to be hot and heavy, if you can believe it), Tod discussing Garry’s first boner and resulting masturbatory habits, and Helen making a cum joke. Julie and Tod take graphic pictures of their sexcapades, Garry carries around old school porn tapes in a paper bag (that Helen then discovers and watches long enough to see what he’s been doing), and there’s a stripper who shows up at an 8-year-old’s birthday party looking to paint his name across her breasts. Then, of course, there’s an extended blow job joke, the punchline of which — “Show him, honey” — I guarantee an old friend of mine still throws into conversations unprompted. It’s a brilliant, smart, adult-themed (not dirty or profane, just intended for and based upon grown-ups and their lives) movie that has been almost obliterated by the need for everything in theaters to appeal to fourteen-year-old boys. Honestly, what I wouldn’t give to have those kinds of mainstream films again.

“They’re not stolen! They’re put away!” (If only that were the case.)