Two James Franco Films

Recently I have seen two films starring James Franco films. Both deviate from the structure of a normal narrative film. It is always risk to try to do this, but both directors still succeeded in creating engaging, and thought provoking films.

Yesterday I saw 127 Hours, based on the true story of Aron Ralston, who, while hiking alone in the Utah, fell into a crevice, and had his arms pinned under a boulder that fell on it. He was there 127 hours before he cut off the arm to escape. Much of the press on this film is about people passing out from the scene of the amputation, and something like this seems to have happened when I saw the film. Shortly after the critical scene there was a big commotion in theater, with people jumping up and calling for medical assistance. The film continued running, and after a couple minutes everyone settled down. I am not sure what happened, but an ambulance was outside when I left the theater.

It is a very intense film, and there is something in the primitive part of the brain that really does not like to see body parts being cut off. At the same time I would not consider it a sensationalistic film. The Ralston character is very well developed, with most of the film dealing with the lead up to the accident, and then his struggle as he is trapped for five days. The films actually works better because practically everyone in the audience knows what is going to happen in the end. While this lessens the shock when the amputation happens, it does increase the tension throughout the film, partly because everyone is hoping they don't pass out.

For perhaps a majority of the film Franco is the only actor on screen, although you could argue that the Utah landscapes of the film are almost an separate character. The sparse, but stunning, appearance of the setting, does something to balance out the gruesomeness of the story. Also Franco creates a very likable, and carefree character that you really have to root for. If any one character can be said to carry a whole film, I think you have to say that Franco carries this one, so he might get nominated for an Oscar.

Danny Boyle, who directed last year's Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire, might also get nominated again for this picture. He uses a lot of split screen and fast cut, odd angle editing to create the tension of the film. It may be that this is a little too out of the mainstream for the Oscars, but we will have to wait and see.



About a month ago I saw Howl. In this film, Franco plays Allen Ginsberg. The film goes back and forth between scenes that recreate an early taped interview by Ginsberg, narrative scenes that include other Beat characters, like Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, and a recreation of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's obscenity trial for publishing Ginsberg's poem "Howl".

This film is not as good as 127 Hours, but it is an interesting look at Ginsberg, and American society in the 1950's. The cutting back and forth between the different scenes of the film does not get to confusing, and at 90 minutes I think it is the right length to deal with what is being covered. If it had been much, longer I think the jumping back and forth would have become overwhelming.