The Decalogue, The Ladykillers, & Oliver Twist

The Decalogue was much more moral than I was expecting, but then again, it is a 10 hour long miniseries about the 10 commandments. It was also, however, a very well-made and interesting movie. My favorites were the abortion (2), voyeur (6), and Holocaust (8) ones, but all have something to recommend them (the black comedy of 10, the effective condemnation of 5, the heartwrenching scene at the lake in 1, and the gorgeous nighttime Warsaw photography of 3, to mention just a few more), and all teach morals in a way that more religious people should do: use a bit of humanity and not try to say that everything is black and white, right and wrong. Nothing is simple, even amongst the most absolute of commandments. Put simply, if you have seen Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy, and you haven't seen this, you are missing out. 10 hours of both brilliant filmmaking and fascinating moral complexities.

The Ladykillers was much more enjoyable than I was expecting, even as I was ultimately disappointed. Not as good as the original, and I'm not entirely sure why the Coen Brothers bothered to remake the movie. It's not like they have a problem finding places to put their delightfully maladjusted characters. It seems like with this and Intolerable Cruelty, they seem content to just have crazy people do crazy things, but not bring much to them. Considering how many absolutely brilliant movies they've done, I guess it's ok to coast a little, but I would like them to do something great again, instead of merely adequate. They really have the talent to bring the movie together, but sometimes they just need to write one and film it.

Oliver Twist is the David Lean version. And man is Fagin really really Jewish. All you need is the peyot and then he's a Hasidim. And he's got the big honking nose as well. And the miserliness. What a damn stereotype. It definitely is offensive. Too bad, because otherwise, it's actually a good movie with very high production values. Too bad it will forever be known as the anti-Semitic Oliver Twist.