TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY
"A postmodern novel before there was any modernism to be post about," claims Steve Coogan (Steve Coogan) at the half-point of Michael Winterbottom's latest, TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY. Coogan's quote is probably the most accurate summary of the film, based on the novel, based on the making of the film based on the novel. Winterbottom makes the confusion insanely fun with his best work since the Coogan-collaboration 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE.
The ultra-prolific English filmmaker has made a career of throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks; and his films work to varying results. Even within the ultra-lousy CODE 46 there is breathtaking imagery and a classic scene of Mick Jones singing "Should I Stay or Should I Go" in a karaoke bar. 9 SONGS was easily the crummiest of his features even if it did feature two (sex and music) of my three favorite things in my the third favorite thing (movies!). Here, Winterbottom is allowed to grace the screen by the splendid English actor Jeremy Northam. Northam's filmmaker character is easily the screen's most constricted director since Fritz Lang played himself in Jean-Luc Godard's CONTEMPT. By adapting the unadaptable novel, THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN, Winterbottom (the character) is forced to streamline his vision continuously. Instead of staying true to the entirety of the novel, he chooses to focus on a pivotal battle scene from one character's past. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...
Steve Coogan's formal address of the audience opens the TRISTRAM SHANDY adaptation, but not after a very funny behind-the-scenes exchange with Coogan and co-star Rob Brydon (in a genius "supporting" performance) about the color of their teeth. Shandy's direct address recalls Coogan's fabulous Tony Wilson from 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE. In fact, the real Tony Wilson makes a cameo here as a news reporter. Perhaps he's being postmodern before it was fashionable. Any who...
The fantastically clever and comedically inventive TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY meanders and digresses much like the novel it is based on. Winterbottom's playful direction and Frank Cottrell Boyce's genius screenplay allow for an apt adaptation of the novel that sounds half-baked, but is actually rather fitting. For a film about filmmaking, with all of its secondary character's talk of cinema and the novel's essence, is actually rather transcendent and accessible. Truffuat's DAY FOR NIGHT, but especially Fellini's 8 1/2 comes to mind during a bizarre night-shoot where echoes of Nino Rota's indelible score can be heard. Winterbottom, though, stands head-to-head with them by making TRISTRAM SHANDY a deconstructive film-going experience. The trials and tribulations and failures that go into making a film are hoisted to glory here, especially in the film's funniest bit (and future classic): a discarded gag involving a hot chestnut down Steve Coogan's pants that secured the movie's funding.
Steve Coogan serves as our entry point into Boyce and Winterbottom's zany world. His life is the focus of the film. At first this may seem a retread on 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, but the layers of the glorious and charismatic Coogan here go farther, the impressions funnier and more profound. He mirrors both Shandies -- Tristram and his father Walter Shandy. Coogan, himself, in the film is a new father coming to grips with parenthood. In TRISTRAM SHANDY's poignant moments, we see an actor -- one as self-absorbed, arrogant and insecure as the Coogan character -- grapple with the looming prospects of adulthood. In these quieter moments, Winterbottom holds a mirror up to the Steve Coogan character and finds the real Tristram Shandy.
While the bulk of the film is the actual production
of the film, we get treated to many scenes from the book -- the most important being Tristram's birth. Also flirted with is the romantic plotline that gets the movie an international star, Gillian Anderson (Gillian Anderson), who has perhaps the funniest character entry in a film in quite some memory. But, by the end of the film Tristram Shandy may not be born, but birthed instead is TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY.
The ultra-prolific English filmmaker has made a career of throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks; and his films work to varying results. Even within the ultra-lousy CODE 46 there is breathtaking imagery and a classic scene of Mick Jones singing "Should I Stay or Should I Go" in a karaoke bar. 9 SONGS was easily the crummiest of his features even if it did feature two (sex and music) of my three favorite things in my the third favorite thing (movies!). Here, Winterbottom is allowed to grace the screen by the splendid English actor Jeremy Northam. Northam's filmmaker character is easily the screen's most constricted director since Fritz Lang played himself in Jean-Luc Godard's CONTEMPT. By adapting the unadaptable novel, THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN, Winterbottom (the character) is forced to streamline his vision continuously. Instead of staying true to the entirety of the novel, he chooses to focus on a pivotal battle scene from one character's past. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...Steve Coogan's formal address of the audience opens the TRISTRAM SHANDY adaptation, but not after a very funny behind-the-scenes exchange with Coogan and co-star Rob Brydon (in a genius "supporting" performance) about the color of their teeth. Shandy's direct address recalls Coogan's fabulous Tony Wilson from 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE. In fact, the real Tony Wilson makes a cameo here as a news reporter. Perhaps he's being postmodern before it was fashionable. Any who...
The fantastically clever and comedically inventive TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY meanders and digresses much like the novel it is based on. Winterbottom's playful direction and Frank Cottrell Boyce's genius screenplay allow for an apt adaptation of the novel that sounds half-baked, but is actually rather fitting. For a film about filmmaking, with all of its secondary character's talk of cinema and the novel's essence, is actually rather transcendent and accessible. Truffuat's DAY FOR NIGHT, but especially Fellini's 8 1/2 comes to mind during a bizarre night-shoot where echoes of Nino Rota's indelible score can be heard. Winterbottom, though, stands head-to-head with them by making TRISTRAM SHANDY a deconstructive film-going experience. The trials and tribulations and failures that go into making a film are hoisted to glory here, especially in the film's funniest bit (and future classic): a discarded gag involving a hot chestnut down Steve Coogan's pants that secured the movie's funding.
Steve Coogan serves as our entry point into Boyce and Winterbottom's zany world. His life is the focus of the film. At first this may seem a retread on 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, but the layers of the glorious and charismatic Coogan here go farther, the impressions funnier and more profound. He mirrors both Shandies -- Tristram and his father Walter Shandy. Coogan, himself, in the film is a new father coming to grips with parenthood. In TRISTRAM SHANDY's poignant moments, we see an actor -- one as self-absorbed, arrogant and insecure as the Coogan character -- grapple with the looming prospects of adulthood. In these quieter moments, Winterbottom holds a mirror up to the Steve Coogan character and finds the real Tristram Shandy.
While the bulk of the film is the actual production
of the film, we get treated to many scenes from the book -- the most important being Tristram's birth. Also flirted with is the romantic plotline that gets the movie an international star, Gillian Anderson (Gillian Anderson), who has perhaps the funniest character entry in a film in quite some memory. But, by the end of the film Tristram Shandy may not be born, but birthed instead is TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY.posted by jason.jackowski | Friday, March 03, 2006
1 Comments:
Jason,
Good review. Did you see Cigarettes & Coffee? Coogan excels at playing himself as an egotistical, arrogant prick.
Josh
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