What’s this? People are already making lists and debating their best films of the decade? For the love of Godard, it’s not even September — and if you want to get all pedantic about it, the decade doesn’t end until December 31, 2011. But good luck selling that one after all the foofaraw about the turn of the millennium.
Via The House Next Door, here’s a very animated liveblog about an unlikely contender for Best of the Decade status — Steven Spielberg’s “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence”, which I haven’t seen since the summer of 2001, and wasn’t much impressed with at the time.
Still, after considering the film through the articulate prisms of Keith Uhlich, Michael Joshua Rowlin and Kevin B. Lee, I’m ready to take another look. I can’t imagine it’ll unseat any of my current picks — “War of the Worlds” and “Munich” still top my Spielberg list for this decade — but, you know, never say never.
I wouldn’t consider it the best of the decade (or even superior to the other Spielberg films you mentioned), but A.I. is definitely underrated. I’ve seen it twice, and always had a feeling that it was one of those movies that would evenutally be appreciated many years later.
I had to watch this film again a few years ago, when someone pointed out that the android characters don’t blink — not even once — during the course of the entire film. Freaky tidbit of trivia, but clever nonetheless. Imagine the number of takes.
I think occasional blinks can be taken out by computer. I’m using the commentary for the pilot episode of Firefly as a source for that. Nathan Fillion thought he did a take without blinking as his character stares out from the top of a trench during the battle of Serenity Valley, but Joss Whedon corrects him, saying that he blinked once and they fixed it. Possibly cheaper than many multiple takes?
A.I. traumatized mothers who could imagine losing a devoted child and kids who wanted their mommies. It’s a child’s nightmare with childish logic: effective in the spinach-eating scene and ridiculous in the ‘we can bring her back for one day’ ex machina coda. It’s ridiculous and sinister and juvenille and occasionally terrifying.