Waiting for Superman

I am at a cross roads.  Middle class inner city parent with an twenty month old daughter wondering how I should go about educating her in a United States school system that is quickly loosing ground to the global community.  "Waiting for Superman" the current documentary from Davis Guggenheim of "Inconvenient Truth" fame is framing that very question for the parental public to ponder.  In two hours he attempts to frame the debate of how to reform the current educational model in the United States. 

Davis has certainly found a villain for the problems that the current school systems are facing.  In his eyes the public school system bureaucracies and powerful teacher's unions are the primary culprits in the inefficiency and failures of the current system.  Unions that spend enormous sums of money on lobbying efforts to protect ineffective teachers from reprisal.  In contrast, successful charter models that are independent of the teacher's unions and direct school district oversight are seen as a potential answer to the problem.  Geoffrey Canada founder of Harlem's children's zone is highlighted in the film as a potential solution to the problem.  Canada chose to start his charter model in one of the poorest neighborhoods in America.  He created a network of charter schools and social programs to serve over nine thousand students in a ninety seven square block section of Harlem.  Promising every child that attends one of his his schools an opportunity to go to college.  His successes have been staggering.  Over ninety percent of the students that attend one of Canada's after school programs graduate from high school.  Comparatively, the public school model in many of these impoverished areas are graduating less than half of their students.  Why the dramatic difference? 

For Davis' the difference lies in the quality of the curriculum and more importantly the quality of the faculty providing that curriculum.  To drive this point home Davis spends time with Michelle Rhee; superintendent of the Washington DC public school system.  Rhee was appointed to her role by then mayor of Washington DC (Adrian Fenty, recently defeated in the DC mayoral election) to reform one of worst performing districts in the United States.  With no experience at the district level Rhee came in and essentially wrecked shop, closing a number of schools and firing a number of ineffective teachers.  In the process she angered numerous parents and teachers unions.  She was determined to break the old method of doing business in the DC school system.  Her most ambitious effort was to eliminate tenure for teachers in exchange for merit based salaries that could be double the current rate for highly rated teachers.  The union leaders did not even allow Rhee's proposal to come to a vote.

So what are we left with, what do we take away?  In "Waiting for Superman" we are left to watch five low income families pinning their hopes for their children on a lottery to get into a successful charter school.  We are left to see caring and concerned parents that want the best for their children praying their number is drawn from the box.  We are left to wonder about the thousands of children across the country that will not be accepted to a successful charter school and will be forced to attend what Geoffrey Canada refers to as a "Failure Factory".  As a concerned parent, I was left to wonder what my obligation is to trying to help in bridging the achievement gap that is widening for our students. I was left to wonder about how my twenty month old will fare in the current system.  Do I make the decision Davis Guggenheim made in sending his children to a private school, or do I gamble on a system that may force my child into a lottery?

Overall, I commend Davis Guggenheim for taking on such a challenging problem with "Waiting for Superman"; this film certainly does not answer all the questions, but if it starts a dialogue about the problems we are facing then it certainly has served a purpose.

PDX Film Hack

Jackass 3D

WOW, I am getting old, and so are the Jackass crew.  I went to the most recent installment of the Jackass series with some mild excitement about what they were going to come up with next.  We all know what to expect, dangerous stunts, crazy pranks and vulgar humor all wrapped around a group of friends living to the extreme.  For young men it certainly carries a bit of youthful nostalgia; we are reminded of the days when we jumped out of trees or farted in your best friends face while he was sleeping.  That has always been the draw for me.  Unfortunately, with this most recent creation I felt like I was watching a group of old friends looking for one last payday.  The youthful exuberance that defined earlier works by the Jackass crew seemed to have been replaced with a hope for a good box office turnout and a hefty paycheck.

Like any series there is a desire to out due previous works and this was certainly apparent with this effort.  The stunts were more elaborate and staged and the vulgarity had certainly been turned up.  Feces seemed to be the common thread of the film.  The humor in the film was built around either hurting one's own member (penis) or making someone in the cast vomit.  I guess I just didn't get it, or I am to old for it.  There were laughs from the audience so something is still working, but it certainly did not pull me in.  Now, I don't want to come off as a pretentious critic because I am a fan of previous works, this one just did not measure up in my mind. 

The hope I take from this film is that Johnny Knoxville and the crew do really well on this film and are able to retire.  I fear that if they are forced for monetary reasons to make another film someone in the crew is not going to make it.  They will die in a horrific stunt accident or some rare form of E.Coli from fecal matter.  Either way it will tarnish a legacy of creative and insane friends who were not willing to grow up, regardless of how old they looked.

PDX Film Hack

The American

Now, I must admit right out of the gate that I have a bit of a man crush on George Clooney.  I think that he has shown over the years that he has amazing range as an actor and director.  When you think that his beginnings were in television on shows like "The Facts of life" it is impressive to see the resume that Clooney has been able to build over the years.  He has shown an ability to play both the dramatic (Michael Clayton, Up in the Air), as well as, the comedic (Oh Brother Where Art Thou, Oceans 11).  Where does "The American" fall into the progression of Clooney's career?  I think that he showed in "The American" a longing, loneliness and vulnerability that has not been seen in previous films.  Although he is playing the part of the ruthless assassin, one capable taking life without remorse there is also a sadness and weakness shown by Clooney.  From the heavy sad eyes to the mild limp in his gate it is almost as if Clooney is weighed down by his own past.

That said, I think "The American" is lacking in some ways.  I think that Anton Corbijn, directing only his second feature length film, is a little over his head with the material that he is dealing with.  He relies heavily on symbolism and I don't think that it works completely throughout the film.  The film also lacks a good pace, at times the action sequences don't seem to fit with the long slow camera shots that are used throughout.

Filmed primarily in the mountainous countryside of Northern Italy "The American" is a film about a single lonely assasin who wants out.  Forced to flee from Sweden after being found by enemies, Clooney travel to Italy.  While in Italy Clooney begrudgingly takes on one last job.  He is hired to build a rifle for an assassination by another asassin.  Needing some time to complete the job and longing for companionship Clooney takes comfort with a local prostitute, played well in the role by local Italian actress Violante Placido.  What starts as a purely sexual relationship, slowly develops into a budding romance.  As the romance develops Clooney longs to have more time with Placido.  He is tired of running, he is ready for a relationship that doesn't require him to sleep with one eye open and a pistol in his hands.  Not wanting to ruin the plot from there the film becomes a bit predictable and ends rather abruptly in a way that was completely expected.

Overall,  this is a film that I would recommend, partly because of my Clooney man crush, but beyond that, I think that despite its flaws there are some really good things that this film has to offer.  The cinematography is great throughout and I thought the Clooney and Placido had good on-screen chemistry. 

By no means does this rank up toward the top of Clooney's body of work, but it is another example to me of the progression he has made as an actor.  For that alone, it was worth it for me.

PDX Hack