March Movie Club Notes

Welcome to Puma and her daughter India our newest members of the Harlem Movie Club. We hope that you enjoyed your first contact with us as well as we enjoyed meeting you.

Our March meeting was somewhat historic. Never before have we had such an overall widespread difference of opinion concerning a film. 14 members reviewed Best Picture Oscar winner, No Country for Old Men and 50% of them gave the film a B or better, while the other half rated the film as low as a 'V', which of course has no point value but indicates the strong dislike the viewer felt for the movie.

Valerie selected the film based on one clip she had seen in preview where Anton, the Javier Bardem character, forced an elderly grocery store owner to flip a coin. That scene piqued her interest so much that she wanted to see more. Obviously she liked what she saw because she gave the film an A-.

For many others however, the film was disjointed, confusing, senseless and had no flow which they reflected in their low ratings. However our newest member Puma, provided such a different perspective on the film, that even some of those who didn't like it wanted to go back and see it again. Puma felt that the film was an allegory, running on different levels which was not meant to be taken literally. As a keeper of Native (American) storytelling traditions, she saw the film as following old native story principles and symbols throughout. She felt that the Coen brothers must have been influenced by some interaction with Native peoples in their home state of Minnesota. Her comments demonstrate the value of having more and more members in our club and I hope that all our members will make an effort to bring new people to our meetings.

Other comments on No Country ranged from Ron's "didn't flow. scared the hell out of me" to Damon's the "movie was horrible. I just wanted it to end already". David thought that No Country was "a meaningless, cliched waste of the Coen Brother's political clout in Hollywood". That they "drag down the whole industry when they produce an artistic fart just because they can."

Here are the ratings for No Country for Old Men:
Rita A-
Yvonne C
David D+
Carl A
Ron C-
Harold C+
Hope A-
Ramona B
Valerie A-
Zorah C+
India B
Puma A+
Tiffany F
Damon 'V'

Our second film for March was Michael Clayton. Hope chose this film for two reasons. One, George Clooney and two, both George Clooney and the film were nominated for Oscars.

The sentiments for Michael Clayton were a lot more uniform than we saw with our privious selection. Everyone enjoyed the film on some level but some more than others. Zanetta really liked the film but thought it could have easily been done as a "made for TV movie". Tiffany and Ed also liked the film but thought it had been done before, and better, in movies like Erin Brockavich, The Firm etc. Valerie and Ramona, both with experience at law firms, felt that the movie offered an accurate depiction of what life is like in large firms.

Ratings for Michael Clayton:

Valerie A
Zorah B+
Ron B+
Yvonne B-
India B
Rita B
Harold B-
Gregg B+
Puma A+
Carl B+
Mona B
Hope B
David B+
Zanetta A-
Ed C
Tiffany C
Damon C+