March of the Penguins

Starting to catch up a little now... I hope to be all caught up by the time I move this weekend, so a lot of stuff will hopefully be going up in the next couple of days.

March of the Penguins
Loews Harvard Square
* * * 1/2

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this big documentary push. For one, I think it's great that people have an interest in seeing non-fiction pieces and actually learning. I just wish there was some assurance that the majority of docs ended up being more similar to this one, as opposed to Michael Moore-style firestarting one-sided propoganda (and I liked Fahrenheit 9/11). Penguins hits all the right notes, simply by showing an amazing natural occurence. Nowhere does it try to explain in "human terms" why this happens; it just lets the penguins act for themselves.

The natural occurence is the mating ritual of the emporer penguin, a long and dangerous ordeal that takes the better part of the year. Each year the penguins walk, waddle and slide 70 miles over the Antarctic tundra to the same spot they've always been gathering, choose a mate, and begin to settle in for the long season. Once the egg is laid, the mother passes it off to the father, and begins a series of hand-offs as the parents take turns going to the shore to feed and get food for the chick, each stretch made more dangerous by weather, predators and hunger.

The film is not forgiving in its reality. Despite the G rating, the film shows the natural order of things and the food chain in all its necessity and brutality, though there was a little suspect editing to make seals look a bit more threatening than really required. No one wants to see penguins getting hurt... they're penguins!

The most amazing thing about this film is the proximity. Director Luc Jacquet and his crew got so incredibly close to these animals, it might as well be a zoo. And for the most part, it looked like the flock really didn't care. Usually with documentarians getting this close to their subjects, there is some bit of curiosity on the animal's part, but not here. The cameras may as well not be there at all. As such, they were able to get some gorgeous shot of these animals and the world in which they live, often with implied risk to the crew's health. You have to assume that the same wind and snow that was battering the flock was also hitting the camera crews and equipment. Also of note is the blatant lack of the filmmakers in the shoot. The first time you see a human being in the film is during the credits. They really took care to allow the penguins to tell the whole story

... except, of course, for the narration. Morgan Freeman should do more voiceover projects. He has a fantastic voice for something like this, and he's great here. The script was pretty minimal, with a comment here or there. Well done all around.

It's unusual for good G-rated fare to come around that isn't painfully ridiculous. March of the Penguins may only appeal to those people with a pre-existing affinity for the birds, but then again... who doesn't have one? It's good time spent, enjoyable to watch, and egads! You may just learn something in the process.

The Aristocrats

Yes, I realize how far behind I am. Some day soon, I hope to have the time to catch up on everything since War of the Worlds, and that includes a healthy mauling of both Hide & Seek and The Island. But for now, I have a few spare moments before work, and this is the one that takes priority.

The Aristocrats
Tuesday, August 16; Loews Boston Common #7
* * * 1/2 (out of 4)

I'll start with what everyone else has said. This is one of the funniest movies made in a long time, and possibly the funniest documentary ever put to film. That being said, what makes it funny is the blatant lack of restraint or remorse with which these comics talk about the raunchiest, dirtiest, filthiest, most tasteless joke ever told. This isn't for the weak of heart, mind, stomach or moral flexibility. It's pretty well documented what those are... and if I were to tell you here, it'd ruin the surprise anyway. If you're easily offended, stay the hell away. No less than 10 people left the theater part-way through the movie last night. If you can handle it, you may just learn something about dirty jokes and the purpose of comedy in the world.

"The Aristocrats" is the punchline to the dirtiest of dirty jokes. What happens before that is entirely up to the person telling it. As such, each of the 80+ comedians featured has an entirely different and personalized version of the joke. And they don't spare anything or anyone. From dirty joke masters like George Carlin and Chris Rock to those who are less famous for their dirty side - Bob Sagat (yeah, the dad on "Full House" is said to have the raunchiest version many have heard - no one cuts any corners.

It's pretty obvious from that description that very few people actually tell this joke onstage. Since it's not hugely well-known to the masses (I had never heard of it before seeing stuff on the web about this movie), the docu becomes more of a backstage look at what comics do with each other in their free time. Competitions with this joke usually test who can tell the longest, the filthiest, the most un-PC... anything to make each other laugh. The joke itself isn't even that funny - it certainly doesn't make any sense. It's all about the challenge of seeing just how far each person will push it, and who will think of the next thing that'll make you cringe and laugh at the same time.

The movie isn't the collection of jokes that I expected it to be. You only hear complete or near-complete versions from five or six comics, and snippets from 25-30 others. More often it's the comics reflecting on why the joke exists, and why it has been able to hang on since vaudeville's day despite so rarely being performed onstage. George Carlin describes it best, saying that for a job where so much of a performer's material is rehearsed, scripted and used night after night, "The Aristocrats" gives the writer exercise. Every time the joke is told, it comes out differently, always trying to top the others.

Despite the focus on the vile, there's a moral here, albeit well-buried in the bowels of the New York Friar's Club Roast of Hugh Hefner, which took place in late September, 2001 - a difficult time to laugh at much of anything. I'll let the movie show and explain the circumstances, but the point is that in the wake of 9/11, comedy had to change. Ethnic jokes had to disappear as they started to hit too close to home. Gilbert Gottfried - tanking with the audience by telling some poorly-timed jokes - reached way back into the vault and redeemed himself with his version of "The Aristocrats."

This is why comedy is important, especially in its vilest forms. America was stunned by something so extreme and unfunny that only something equally extreme could bring the smile back to our collective faces. Gottfried was telling a joke that everyone knew some version of, and yet he had a room full of professional comedians rolling in the aisles with it. It was relief, and it was perfectly timed.

The movie's not perfect... the jumps between comedians are flawed at times, and I would have liked to have heard a few more complete versions of the joke. It seemed like a lot of them were saying the joke existed for the same reason - "It's just... fun!" But if nothing else, that should clue the watcher into the universal love for this thing. It hit everyone. It's also interesting that some of the things common to this joke just aren't as shocking as they may have been ten or fifteen years ago, which scales the humor down at times. But as I watched this, I realized it was less about the content of the joke and much more about the reason it was so raunchy, because sometimes, that's what it's going to take for a smile to crack during the darkest of times. Gottfried exemplified that in New York City.

There will be people who write this movie off as trash, and to an extent, I don't blame them. There's a reason the movie wasn't rated (had it been submitted for a rating, the MPAA would have ravaged it with an instant NC-17), and the choice to not admit anyone under 18 is a wise one. There are some adults who simply aren't ready to accept that this style of humor is necessary. But if you can open up and realize that this is just a joke, you may walk out with a better idea of why you can help but chuckle at the stupidest and lamest of jokes.