Jared Hess
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The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
Directed by Riley Stearns
influenced by Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Themes Visuals Characters
The Art of Self Defense, which also premiered at this year’s SXSW, is a darkly quirky film (think Napoleon Dynamite meets The Lobster).
The Art of Self-Defense jokingly plays out like the Rex Kwon Do scenes in Napoleon Dynamite.
Stearns mostly films this in a flat, affectless style that recalls Napoleon Dynamite .
If Cobra Kai was surprisingly nuanced (an ’80s bully discovers introspection) and Shaft was a little reactionary (’70s sex machine teaches his millennial son how to fuck), The Art of Self-Defense is the arch, arthouse take on the genre that lands somewhere between Wes Anderson and Napoleon Dynamite .
To dismiss The Art of Self-Defense as Napoleon Dynamite for psychopaths is both reductive and somehow strangely appropriate at the same time.
Sort of like Bruce Lee’s “Be like water, my friend,” except that he’s more like the buffoon-sensei extraordinaire in “Napoleon Dynamite”—Rex Kwan Do. “Kick with your hands and punch with your feet,” says sensei.
To bridge the gaps between these more original, tangential moments (or to provide more of them), the filmmakers take a lot of inspiration from other films, especially the time-warped, small-town world of Napoleon Dynamite .
"Napoleon Dynamite" fans are sure to like Rod Kimble, the moronic and talentless Evel Knievel-wannabe played by "Saturday Night Live" regular Andy Samberg.
The new generations of comedy talent have been coming thick and fast from the US, with the rise (or consolidation, in the case of the older guys) of such talents as Napoleon Dynamite creators Jared and Jerusha Hess, Knocked Up-Superbad-Drillbit Taylor collaborators Judd Apatow and Seth Rogan, and of course Adam McKay and Will Ferrell (co-creators of Ron Burgundy and Ricky Bobby), among others.
A short time ago Napoleon Dynamite was all the rage with the cool kids.
Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg, who dampens his boyish charisma under Rod's strutting vanity) could be his geek-boy disciple for the "Napoleon Dynamite" generation.
"Hot Rod" plays like "Napoleon Dynamite" as interpreted by "SNL," meaning it's not very original, never captures "Dynamite's" dry humor, and tries too hard.
"Masterminds" sort of tells the story of a famous heist involving not very bright thieves, the 1997 Loomis Fargo job.
…stolen in Charlotte, NC in October 1997—gets the pseudo-Coen-brothers, robbery-by-dummies treatment in Jared Hess’ Masterminds.
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996)
Directed by Todd Solondz
influenced Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Characters Themes
Directed by Brigham Young University film graduate Jared Hess and written with his wife, Jerusha, "Napoleon" suggests Todd Solondz's "Welcome to the Dollhouse" stuffed into the confines of an MTV interstitial skit.
In many ways Hess' film owes considerable debt to the likes of Tod Williams' The Adventures of Sebastian Cole and Todd Solondz' Welcome to the Dollhouse, at least in terms of narrative structure and the deadpan exploration of the outer fringes of the high school social system.
When Napoleon appears in moonboots, elastic-waistband pants and a teal, wolf-emblazoned t-shirt, it's clear there hasnt been a movie character of such social-bullseye proportions since Heather Matarazzos Weiner-Dog in Welcome to the Dollhouse .
With its horribly geeky and painfully needy characters, this black comedy by Jared Hess bears a certain resemblance to Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse but steers clear of Solondz's punishing nihilism, allowing its hopeless misfits some genuine comfort in one another's friendship.
Unlike Todd Solondz's acidic Welcome to the Dollhouse, rife with stinging perceptions, Napoleon Dynamite ends up diluting its potency with some unbelievable side trips.
Masterminds takes real life events -- the legendary 1997 Loomis Fargo cash heist -- and filters them (as well as the people who lived them) through the perpetually bizarre lens that characterizes most Jared Hess films.
Working to the advantage of Hess and his screenwriting trio (Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer, with “SNL” vet Emily Spivey), the weirdest aspects of this story simply couldn’t be invented, putting “Masterminds” in that same credibility-straining zone as Jim Carrey con-man comedy “I Love You Philip Morris” and the Coen brothers’ “Fargo” (which, faux “true story” claims aside, proved to be totally fabricated after all).
Working as a security guard for North Carolina money-transporting company Loomis Fargo, he's getting ready to marry his fiancée Jandice (Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live) when a ex-colleague finally sparks his brush with crime.
See him perform a sign-language translation of Bette Midler's "The Rose."
Con títulos memorables en las más diversas cinematografías, particularmente en países donde la picaresca forma parte del código genético de sus habitantes, comenzando por España e Italia, el subgénero puede abordarse desde ópticas que partan de una cierta seriedad, pero que acaben llevando a la risa a través del contraste entre intenciones y resultados, y ahí Atraco a las tres (José María Forqué) puede ser el mejor ejemplo, o también desde metodologías que exageren casi a cada momento las situaciones, superpoblando lo que ya tiene de farsa con elementos cómicos como el slapstick, la burla y la parodia.
Napoleon Dynamite is so low-budget, its biggest name is Tina Majorino, most widely seen in Andre, the talking-seal movie.
Raising Arizona (1987)
Directed by Joel Coen
influenced Masterminds (2016), Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Visuals
The influence of the Coen brothers, and of the likes of Raising Arizona and Fargo, looms large — and understandably can’t be matched.
Fans of the Coen brothers ("Raising Arizona," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?") will recognize the sort of lovable oddballs here, chief among them being the title character (played by Jon Heder), a high school senior who draws fantasy creatures, fancies himself a nun-chuck expert, and generally behaves with unselfconscious individuality.
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Directed by Taika Waititi
influenced by Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006), Gentlemen Broncos (2009)
Themes Visuals
On the other hand, his kid-ont-the-run spectacle “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” was a little too mawkish for my taste and “Eagle vs. Shark” was a “Napoleon Dynamite” wannabe that came perilously close to being even more obnoxious and irritating than its inspiration.
His brand of comedy is squarely deadpan, with a splash of kid-friendly whimsy, but it owes less to the influence of Wes Anderson and more to Jared Hess, the underrated auteur behind Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre.
His brand of comedy is squarely deadpan, with a splash of kid-friendly whimsy, but it owes less to the influence of Wes Anderson and more to Jared Hess, the underrated auteur behind Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre.
Seemingly tapping into his inspiration for Gentlemen Broncos , Sam Rockwell portrays Captain Klenzendorf - a former war veteran who lost an eye and is now forced to teach children how to be soldiers.
Acclaim for Jojo Rabbit indicts our pathetic film culture that refused to acknowledge the ingenuity of Anderson and Hess’s best films (respectively The Darjeeling Limited and Gentlemen Broncos ).
Submarine (2011)
Directed by Richard Ayoade
influenced by Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Characters Visuals
His spiritual guru character doesn't quite work and comes across as something lifted out of a Jared Hess film ("Napoleon Dynamite") and while the one-note character isn't as broad or silly.
The directing debut of British comic actor Richard Ayoade, it owes various debts to various predecessors — a little “Napoleon Dynamite,’’ a lot of “Rushmore,’’ a loving soupcon of French New Wave — but “Submarine’’ has its own specific miseries and darkly funny vibe.
The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998)
Directed by Tod Williams
influenced Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Plot
In many ways Hess' film owes considerable debt to the likes of Tod Williams' The Adventures of Sebastian Cole and Todd Solondz' Welcome to the Dollhouse, at least in terms of narrative structure and the deadpan exploration of the outer fringes of the high school social system.
Since Ferrell is only playing variations on a theme, it's costar Jon Heder (of Napoleon Dynamite fame) who provides most of the modest chuckles.
But Hess' take on the place is along the lines of David Lynch's vision of our own state's Lumberton in Blue Velvet.
Part of the problem is that the hairy comedic actor, whose manic mannerisms made him effective in The Hangover installments, is not a leading man.
In short, he's the sort of character you get when the director of "Napoleon Dynamite" teams up with the weirdest guy in "The Hangover."
Similar to his roles in The Hangover, Due Date, and The Campaign, Galifianakis’ character conflates flamboyance with inanity and weakness.
Lady Bird has a knack for exaggerating familiar moments to mine extra levity, and its characters' oddball school life is reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
influenced by Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Visuals
It’s a style of hyper-arch psuedo-realism reminiscent of a Don DeLillo novel, a European arthouse Napoleon Dynamite , or a comedic Robert Bresson.
For me, the point at which it becomes apparent is during the high school dance, when he’s ditched by his date (who has been forced by her mother to accompany Napoleon as a sympathy thing), and eventually ends up dancing with the girl he really likes (Tina Majorino, WATERWORLD’s little girl all grown up) to the strains of “Time After Time.”
And the cutthroat campaign for PTA president seems to have borrowed a page from " Napoleon Dynamite.
"Masterminds" won't rank as one of history's big-budget botches such as "Ishtar" and "Heaven's Gate," but the colossal waste of class-A comedy talent should qualify as a felony in Tinseltown.