I saw The Broken Circle Breakdown at the Quad two nights ago. It is so perfectly awful it’s almost enough to turn you off movies altogether. I want to make a few remarks about this, because as you know this film is Oscar nominated in the category of Best Foreign Film.

The Broken Circle Breakdown is about a dirt-bag couple who sing in a Belgian bluegrass band. The couple’s daughter is diagnosed, and eventually dies of, leukemia, they both go totally fucking insane, their marriage falls apart, and she kills herself. The band’s musical performances are scattered as interludes amongst the emotional mayhem, but these interludes do not relate or tie strongly (or at all) to the film’s story or emotional content – they kind of just take up time. This is one of those movies where the filmmakers are totally obsessed with the literal representation of people’s speech and actions (eschewing all development of character or ideas), in this particular case focusing on the couple’s inarticulate, incoherent rage and pain. The problem is, this is dreadfully boring and pointlessly depressing. What is the value of art if it does not expand or enrich our view of the world or of ourselves in some way? The sole message of this film is: “if you’re kid ever dies, you’re fucking fucked!” Are people really in need of this message?

The film received its dumbfounding Oscar nomination for three reasons. First, the Academy has a soft spot for films with a lot of screaming and emoting – appreciation of subtly is definitely not their strong suit. Second, it features all the (English language) bluegrass music performances, which I suppose for some may give the film an illusion of profundity. Third, it features pathetic but undeniable “political content”, linked to the Bush administration’s stem cell legislation; but they really have nothing interesting to say about this, and in the end it merely provides verbiage for the guy’s various screaming meltdowns.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to see a film called Old Goats, at Cinema Village. It was so bad we felt kind of embarrassed for having gone to it, and I couldn’t even bring myself to review it. Now, having taken in the much-lauded Broken Circle Breakdown, I can say that I am no longer embarrassed to have seen Old Goats, which, retarded as it was, did at least try to find humor, perspective, dignity and meaning in its topic (old age). I don’t know how embarrassed I feel to have seen The Broken Circle Breakdown -a bit, maybe. But I definitely feel very sorry that I saw it.