M at 2009-09-05 10:00:13:
"Home Alone" is a great movie.
It has a simple concept. It is almost embedded in the title.
"A boy who wants to get rid of his overwhelming family for Christmas has to learn quickly to become the "man of the house" if he wants to prevent burglars from breaking in."
We all remember all the Christmas and family movies written by John Hughes, especially the National Lampoon series, and "Christmas Vacation" in particular.
The hand throwing the "Nuclear Auxiliary" switch to support the 25000 Xmas light bulbs of the Griswold family is now in everybody's mind, all around the world.
Yet, "Home Alone" has something that "Christmas Vacation" has not. It's not the sense of Christmas, it's not the carols, it's not the Christmas tree. It's not the Santa Claus character -- which is missing from both movies -- [Santa Claus is a projection on/of the kids' minds]
I think "Home Alone" is somehow more mature.
"Christmas Vacation" has a very linear, simple structure. Things keep happening in a linear way. The Griswold family tree. The crazy relatives arriving. The light-bulb strands. The old memories in the attic. A bonus that's not arriving. Cousin Eddie and his family. More things happening. The tree burning. The new tree. The squirrel in the tree. Clark going nuts when the letter with the supposed bonus turns out to be a membership for the "Jelly Of The Month" club. Eddie retrieving Clark's boss. The cops. The final explanation.
"Home Alone" is more complex. It has a symmetric build, I think. Especially toward two group of characters. The first one is Marley. The second one are the burglars.
Marley seems to be an antagonist and an enemy in the beginning. It's on the same level with the thieves. But then it turns out that he's paralleling what Kevin feels toward his family.
And then there are the thieves. Harry and Marv. I kept wondering why on Earth there's a scene in which Kevin runs with the toothbrush. And then I realized it was not just to have an outdoor scene at the skating rink [which I think it served the purpose, by the way.] There's more to it. And as strange as it might be, it's the very appearance of Marley in the store that rouses it. Kevin sees Marley and, terrified, he runs. You see it? He turns into a thief himself, and is chased firts by the store boy and then by the cop. That's not casual. Kevin says "I'm a criminal." I think that's the moment when the switch is thrown inside him, and he decides to stop messing things around [i.e. Buzz's room], to become the "man of the house" and to loose all his fears.
This is state-of-the-art storytelling.
More. There's an incredible scene. I think much of the drama is provided by John William's exceptional score.
It's when Kevin sees Harry's gold tooth shine for the second time and realizes Harry and Marv are something else than plumbers. Kevin, chased by the thieves on the blue van, heads to the Church. It's an incredible shot. The Church bell tower enters into frame from below, punctuated with the grave sound of a large bell.
The Church is shot as an impregnable stronghold against all evil. Also the thieves perceive it that way. "I'm not going in there." "Me neither" -- says Harry. But Kevin is not in the Church. He's amidst the Nativity scene characters. [Maybe he's not ready to enter the Church, yet?]
It's only when Kevin realizes that he need his family -- he asks the fake Santa to bring them back -- that he goes in the Church. In there he meets Marley for the third time, revealing both the drama that's gnawing at the old man's heart, and his humanity.
"Home Alone" unfolds along many many levels, and they're not all rationally, readily apparent by the first time one sees this jewel movie.
M.