Based on German writer Patrick Süskind’s 1985 novel, Perfume: the Story of a Murderer is the tale of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) is born on the streets of 18th century Paris and grows up in an orphanage. He is an oddity because while his sense of smell is very acute, he has no natural scent of his own.

Smell becomes the film’s under-riding metaphor as Grenouille struggles to find his vocation. After he becomes the apprentice of perfumer Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), he learns that his goal in life is to preserve the scent of beauty–the essence and soul of beautiful women. In this way he becomes of a serial killer.

Grenouille kills women to capture their scent for the best perfume in the world, but is eventually caught and condemned to die by death on a cross. And though he finds power in beauty, his true longing is to be truly loved; he discovers that this is impossible for him and he sacrifices himself. The film confronts the audience with the question: is Grenouille supposed to represent Christ or the anti-Christ? In this fable the ambiguity will stay with you for days. Perfume is probably one of the most provocative, yet beautiful films of 2007.

-greg p. veltman

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By naming his latest album The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, the titular folk singer displays a level of bravado and macho posturing that serves as an ironic contrast to the lyrical content of his songs. His lyrics reflect an uncertainty, as he wonders on the track “Right Moves”– “Am I making all the right moves, am I singing you the right blues? Is there a chance that I could call you just to see how you are doing?”

The characters populating his songs are lonely, and their loneliness leads them to desperation. For instance, the hero in “The Temptation of Adam” is a soldier in a nuclear missile silo who ponders turning the key that will end the world so he might die before his relationship can end. Ritter manages to express loneliness and frustration without descending into self-loathing and despairing misery. Rather, his songs are energetic and pounding, from the driving chorus of the opener (”To the Dogs or Whoever,” which finds Ritter utilizing historical and literary situations as a backdrop for his expression of love) to the wistful lines of the closing track: “And she’ll know me by the sound of my hoping, singing don’t let me into this year with an empty heart.”

Josh Ritter manages to pull off the posture of a man in full possession of his dignity, opening his heart so that the world can feel the aching sweetness of being in love.

-Nate Campbell

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Listening to Midlake’s The Trials of Van Occupanther is a lot like taking a walk on one of those idyllic summer days, when the birds are singing, the sun is out, the sky is that vivid blue and you’re thinking to yourself, “what a great day.” And then a gentle breeze dances through the tree leaves, brushing your face and running through your hair, and you think to yourself, “wow, today is amazing.”

In the same way, in many of the songs on this album (notably “You Never Arrived” and “Van Occupanther”) the listener is carried along by simple, earthy instrumentation. It’s nothing amazing, but it instills a pleasant contentedness. Then, the song unexpectedly lifts off in soaring harmonies. The striking thing about this album is how it sets the listener up to be surprised by beauty.

However, Van Occupanther’s appeal does not end in its music. Lyrically, the work is just as captivating. Themes that are prevalent throughout the album include the themes of community, intimacy with the earth and wariness concerning industrialism. “Chasing After Deer” acknowledges man’s limited control over nature. “Bandits” makes appeals for anti-materialism and local economy. “Young Bride” asks questions about the worth of industrialism. Interestingly enough, the lyrics and ideas often seem like echoes of the thoughts of agrarian writer Wendell Berry (just read his poem “The Mad Farmer’s Liberation Front”).

The work as a whole is a remarkable piece of escapism. It’s almost enough to make one want to move to the woods with nothing but the essentials (and perhaps a CD player to listen to Midlake). With this beautiful album in mind, it is important to remember that it’s human brokeness, not location or social institution that is man’s chief problem.

-Dan Dickerman

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Jason Panella interviewed Jeffrey Overstreet, film critic for Christianity Today. He also also written for Paste, Books & Culture and Image. Overstreet is also the author of the recently-released Through a Screen Darkly (Regal Books). His first novel Auralia’s Colors (WaterBrook Press) hits shelves Sept. 4. Visit his blog at lookingcloser.org.

Jason Panella (JP): When did you first realize the importance of taking a critical/thoughtful approach to viewing films?

Jeffrey Overstreet (JO): For better or worse, kids tend to develop intense curiosity about anything that’s forbidden. When I was a kid, movies were all but forbidden—partly because they were expensive and my parents were frugal, and partly because my parents wanted to protect me from unhealthy influences. However, since both of them took me to the library for recreation and read me stories every day, I was addicted to good storytelling. Moviegoing had a certain fascination. I would see the commercials, see the advertisements in the paper and grow more and more curious about what movies were about.

Then I discovered two things: movie reviews in the newspaper, which summarized the stories and then criticized them thoroughly; and Siskel and Ebert’s television show. I remember being enthralled by Siskel and Ebert’s fevered debates. I came to realize that there was more to storytelling than just sitting and listening. There was discernment involved. I needed to decide if I agreed with Siskel or Ebert. I needed to learn the difference between good storytelling and bad storytelling.

This pursuit seemed to fit in which some of the things I was hearing in church. Philippians 4:8 exhorts you to “let your mind dwell on” things that are excellent. I wanted to learn how to recognize excellence.

Instead of keeping a diary like most kids do at some point, I began to write little magazines full of amateur reviews of books I read and music I heard. I even wrote reviews of the stories I composed, and I wasn’t always a friendly critic of my own stuff. When I started going to G-rated and PG-rated films, I reviewed those too.

JP: How did you end up as a film reviewer? What is the role of the film critic?

JO: I eventually contributed music and film reviews to The Falcon, the student newspaper at Seattle Pacific University. And when I graduated, the internet was opening up, so I started posting my own reviews on my first website: Looking Closer.

This was exciting because, having graduated, I was now missing out on the kinds of rigorous critical discussions of literature I had enjoyed at Seattle Pacific. By posting movie reviews online, and by making it clear that my faith played an important part in my engagement with art, I provoked readers to respond with some rather passionate e-mail. I got a lot of hate mail from Christians who thought I was serving the devil by talking about R-rated movies in public. And I got even more enthusiastic mail from Christians around the world who were feeling lonely in their churches because they couldn’t find other passionate cinephiles who would discuss movies with them.

Then I got an email from Steve Lansingh, who had been writing a column about film for Christianity Today. He was stepping down, and he had recommended me as his replacement because he liked my website. I was astonished and overjoyed. Suddenly, I had a large audience of Christian readers who were curious about movies and quite a few readers who weren’t Christians but who were curious about why a Christian was saying about movies. The conversation became much livelier and more interesting.

In my opinion, the role of the film critic is to help moviegoers learn to look closely, consider films more carefully, develop critical discernment and discover the rich rewards that great art has to offer. Like Anton Ego says in Ratatouille, it’s not a critic’s job to sneer and be condescending, but rather to be a passionate advocate for what is new and beautiful and profound. We don’t need food critics to tell us that McDonald’s food is unhealthy and cheap… we all know that. We need food critics to teach us about the art of fine cuisine and to introduce us to that little-known, hole-in-the-wall Thai food restaurant on the edge of town, so we can all enjoy what that place has to offer. When I discover something wonderful, I can’t wait to share it with people. That’s why I write film reviews.

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Dublin’s tight group of singer-songwriters (including Damien Rice) was where Kevin May and Mick Lynch met. They were soon joined by producer and percussionist Shane Power to form the Guggenheim Grotto. Having made a name for themselves offering a single “Philosophia” free through iTunes, they started their first US tour this summer, putting on a very intimate show in Pittsburgh. There debut album is …Waltzing Alone, a very melodic and quiet album. Kevin is main vocalist and primary guitarist, with Mick playing a variety of instruments including ukelle and violin; Shane rounds out the trio by providing a soft yet effective beat using a cajon (a form of hand drum). In concert they played most of the album, and covered Tom Waits’ “Picture in a Frame.”

The Guggenheim Grotto specializes in thoughtful lyrics. Asking questions of aethetics, “For without an absolute how can the absolute define…/A work of art.” In “A Lifetime in Heat,” Kevin laments the separation of a relationship when his brother left home to travel for a year: “I spent myself trying to find your feet/and it felt like a lifetime in heat.” …Waltzing Alone is a beautiful album, good for a quiet, reflective and rainy day.

-greg p veltman

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Starting out with an outrageous premise—two male figure skaters becoming a pair—makes the jokes and gags in Blades of Glory easy. What is harder is to actually make them funny. This film is short enough and packs the acting power of Will Ferrell, Jon Heder and Jenna Fischer to nearly pull off some very original comedy. If you love figure skating as an art form you might be offended as star figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy make an absolute mockery of the sport. The film plays on most of the same story arcs and physical gags as do other comedies of this sort, with strange background stories and rather two-dimensional characters- especially when it comes to the forced love story. The funniest parts of the film are when they stop worrying about plot development and just start goofing off and ad-libbing. The film considers itself just fun entertainment and succeeds by not over-extending itself past 90 minutes.

-greg p veltman

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This small venue’s setting made it noticeable that many girlfriends had “dragged” their boyfriends along in anticipation of hearing some heartwarming (and heartwretching) songs. The tight space created an awkward standing crowd, but the music was still enjoyed.

The concert began with a set from Schuyler Fisk, who is also an actress (Orange County and I’m Reed Fish). She simply walked up and began to sing and play her guitar. She had a personal yet time-limited set since she was opening for Joshua Radin. To connect some dots with Radin and Fisk you may have heard their popular song “Paperweight” from the Last Kiss movie starring Zach Braff.

Using the same band members as Fisk (a percussionist and a cellist) Radin started off by stating some background to the majority of his songs. Seeing as his songs are mainly sad, a little background about his relationships that fed off of depression gave a lot more power to the songs. They were far more appreciable even though they ended up being even more heartbreaking.

Later in the concert Fisk came back out to finish out with Radin. They relationship was undeniable in the ways they interacted and connected with their eyes as they sang their various songs. Even though the concert was filled with sappily sad songs about his ex-girlfriend he was able to unite him and Fisk’s connection through a song as well. “The Fear You Won’t Fall” is about him falling for her and the fear that she won’t fall in love with him. Radin did an excellent job describing what it’s like to go through a relationship and to feel things that he’s not all to sure he should be feeling. Whether those feelings should be concealed for later in the relationship or that this may just be an exceptional one.

Almost needless to say Radin and Fisk put on a personal show. They genuinely want to play their music to help their fans understand why they are playing those certain songs or why they were even written in the first place.

-janet chamberlain

schuyler fisk on myspace

joshua radin on myspace

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