Monday, March 7, 2016

The book of jobs.

Hail, Caesar! - 4.5/5 
I could hardly love this more than I do. Perhaps it is because it is a feeling that I’m constantly feeling – am I doing the right thing (professionally)? And that’s a difficult question, a life of possibilities and all, but damn if this isn’t a beautiful answer. On the tip-top layer, it’s about movies as religion, but that’s only because that’s the thing everybody can relate to: the magic of cinema, the wide-eyed wonder and pure belief that that whole thing manages to create in everyone. And that’s what they show (so fucking easily). But just a little bit beyond that, it’s about jobs – any job – and the faith that comes through the machinery of Work. A builder doesn’t necessarily see the cathedral he’s building; he just sees the sweat and sore muscles and asshole bosses and lazy coworkers and shortcuts and bad decisions and whatever other bullshit came between the dirt and the cross at top. Is there a better way to spend your time? A nobler purpose? Yes. Sure. Probably. But this is your work. And all the bullshit and all the good shit can only exist at *your* work. And that’s Josh Brolin’s journey – he can’t enjoy it like everyone else can, he can hardly see the magic through all the idiots and primadonnas and what-have-you. Too deep in the middle of things, he can’t remember why he’s there, he can't view it fresh from the outside of it – but he believes in it. I wholeheartedly believe this movie is about Joel and Ethan Coen reminding themselves why they do what they do.

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