Saturday, June 19, 2004

KUMAR! KUMAR! KUMAR! Saw The Terminal last night. Starts off strong, but the problem is that there's no good way to end it, and the movie, to a large extent, descends into emotional treacle at the end. Hanks is amazing throughout though, and it's nice to see Spielberg go in a different direction than he's been doing over the past few years--ultimately, this is a very small film, in which 95% of the action takes place within the confines of one space.

But I do want to single out for praise one actor, and that's Kumar Pallana. Kumar is 85, and got his start courtesy of his old friend Wes Anderson, who's had him play brief, but memorable parts in all of his movies--incompetent safecracker Kumar in "Bottle Rocket," groundskeeper Mr. Littlejeans in "Rushmore," and loyal valet Pagoda in "Royal Tennenbaums." In The Terminal, Kumar plays the terminal janitor, who's possessive of his garbage and whose main source of amusement is watching people, especially beautiful women, slip on the slick floors. His character's cynicism serves for an excellent counterpoint to much of the film, and his final scene winds up being touching, unexpected, and funny. Perhaps best of all, Spielberg finds a way to allow Pallana to show off his plate-spinning chops, memorably exhibited in an easter egg on the "Tennenbaums" DVD, to much amusement.

Note that I still have no plans to visit "Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle."

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