I love the new Speed Racer movie. I won't do a formal review of the film here, since Amy wrote a wonderful one on her livejournal and you can check that out, but ever since watching the film, in fact, twice now, it's been difficult to stop thinking about it. The more I chew it over, I feel like I've seen something pretty revolutionary. And it's not the visuals I'm thinking about. It's the story, and how it was told.
If you're a film school geek like me, I'm sure you've heard teachers tell you that you're not supposed to use flashbacks to tell your story. Avoid them if you can, and use them only if you really have to. But here, the writers/directors (the Wachowski Brothers) have ignored this advice and decided to just make flashbacks another brush with which to paint their picture, and they run with it full steam. I imagine a lot of moviegoers might be taken aback by this, along with the hyperkenetic production design, but anyone that's been reading manga or watching anime over the past few years will be very familiar with this style of storytelling. Whether it's Naruto remembering his instructor's teachings mid-battle, or Monkey D. Luffy remembering his friends to derive strength in One Piece, the flashback is used not as a fallback for delivering exposition, but as a tool that can help externalize a character's inner strength and energy, and often pack a potent emotional punch. In their experiment to bring this technique to live-action, the Wachowskis succeed with flying colors. In fact, just thinking about the opening sequence of Speed racing the ghost of his brother Rex while also remembering (and in effect, setting up) his family's struggles gives me chills, since it works so well emotionally and on a technical level. This is very difficult stuff to pull off, and they do it without anyone seeming to notice. In fact, I've noticed most reviews (even the positive ones) dismiss the story completely, which was my favorite thing about the film (followed closely by Michael Giacchino's beautiful score).
Unfortunately, the look and style of Speed Racer seems to have scared most audiences away, but I highly encourage everyone to go check this out on the big screen before it gets squeezed out by the other summer films. It's quite beautiful. After seeing Iron Man (which I really enjoyed) and Indiana Jones (which was bad and awkward, but watchable), I'd say Speed Racer is the best summer movie in the theaters right now. Not only is it technically impressive, with a solid story that builds to a satisfying end, but it is a great family film made with a lot of love and care. Highly recommended.
