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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

At the movies: Bob Dylan and polygamy

Masked and Anonymous

“Masked and Anonymous” (Sony Pictures Classics) is roughly what you’d expect to get if you stretched a Bob Dylan song out to 112 minutes and added pictures. Semi-lucid, vaguely metaphorical narratives make for excellent rock and roll music, but when transmogrified and beamed onto a movie screen, the result is the motion picture equivalent of an air show disaster.

Dylan not only stars in the film as Jack Fate, an idealized but equally incomprehensible movie version of himself, but also wrote the script along with Larry Charles, the sitcom writer who is responsible for penning some of the best episodes of “Seinfeld.” Also participating in this fiasco are legions of A-list stars – Penelope Cruz, Luke Wilson, Val Kilmer and Christian Slater to name a few.

The film finds Dylan navigating his way though a war-torn, Norwegian banana republic where the dictator is near death and the people are rife with unease. The country is never named, but the implication is clearly the United States circa 2003. In any event, the regime’s media people think it would be a savvy move to throw a benefit concert to earn the goodwill of the people. With Springsteen, Billy Joel and Paul McCartney being unavailable to perform, the services of Fate are procured. And thus begins the tale.

“Masked” is an exercise in poorly crafted storytelling. Characters come and go with no purpose, subplots are opened and never revisited, and most glaringly, Dylan rarely speaks to any of the other characters. He’s in nearly every scene though, hovering in the background, looking on at the characters with omniscient disapproval. Occasionally he’ll mumble something-often it’s not clear whether he’s speaking to himself or to someone in particular. Thankfully, viewers are treated to several respites when Dylan and his band rehearse many of his standards for the upcoming benefit show.

The plot, which I’m sure even Dylan would admit was a secondary consideration, serves as little more than a device through which Dylan can explore some familiar themes. His take on journalists (Jeff Bridges), managers (John Goodman) and television executives (Jessica Lange). He doesn’t much care for them. In fact, the film climaxes in a bloody confrontation between good (Dylan) and evil (all other characters) that ends in mass viewer confusion.

–Andy Metzger

“The Other Side of the Bed”

If your boyfriend or girlfriend is overly suspicious and imaginative, then “The Other Side of the Bed” (Sundance Film Series) is not the movie for you and your other half, since it’s about “cheating.” In any case, find some time to sneak away and enjoy this deceit-centered flick, as it’s so scandalous and free-spirited it will surely win you over. Director Emilio Martinez Lazaro and writer David Serrano successfully put forth a combination of frivolous sexual escapades, madcap comedy and, to top it off, singing and dancing. Yes, you heard right – this film is a musical.

But if you are not a fan of musicals, do not be disheartened. The musical segments do not crowd the film. They serve as brief, playful interludes between important scenes. And although the cast is not composed of professional singers, it works out quite well. The actors’ amateur skills add to the comedic elements of the film. The good thing about this movie is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, even if the subject matter might be disconcerting to some.

“The Other Side of the Bed” centers mainly around two couples, Javier and Sonia, played by Ernesto Alterio and Paz Vega – and Pedro and Paula, played by Guillermo Toledo and Natalia Verbeke. This film begins with a broken heart nad leads the viewer through a sea of interlacing deceits. In the end, everyone is cheating on everyone else.

With such a plot construction, the characters find themselves confronting conceptions of masculinity, femininity and trust while realizing that not everything in relationships is black and white.

To indulge in more detail would be to ruin an entertaining movie with an ending that has characters whose future happiness is still in question. On the whole, “The Other Side of the Bed” is worth the trip, making musical comedy a reality after it’s long hiatus.

“The Other Side of the Bed” is screened in Spanish with English subtitles.

–Giancarlo Isaias

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