Quiet City

Director: Aaron Katz

In my high school creative writing class, I annoyed my teacher at times with my tendency to avoid formal structure and compose what I thought were snapshot vignettes or short works which often consisted of two characters-- usually a man and a woman for a good balance-- whom I chased around a notebook with my pen and struggled to keep up with wherever they went.

Most of the time, I didn’t even bother giving them a name and only went with vague descriptions of their physical appearance just painting the two in broad strokes so the reader could feel free to imagine anyone they chose. In some ways, it was a rebellion against our mandated creative writing prompts that did little to inspire; simply put, I didn’t want to write a story about pirates and lost treasure, I wanted to write about humans interacting whether they were fighting or falling in love.

I eventually moved on to construct more concrete works with an actual beginning, middle and end (though not, as they say, necessarily in that order) as I continued on in college, but I still cherish tales about people who are searching for something and find another human being for better or worse. It’s this basic premise that seems to be at the heart of the low-budget, Do-It-Yourself “mumblecore” independent film movement that’s been getting increasingly popular with films by directors such as Andrew Bujalski, Joe Swanberg and others.

Nathan Rabin of The Onion cited the Danish filmmakers who broke the rules with their ten new commandments in the 90’s and the gloomy offshoot of alternative rock favored by Generation Y and labeled it a “Dogme-meets-emo subgenre,” in his review of one of the best mumblecore films so far, Quiet City. Like my maddening stories from high school, it begins with a woman who meets a stranger (again a man, for good balance) and soon we proceed to follow around the two characters for the entire running time, similar to Linklater’s Before Sunrise, except, I’ve neglected to mention that it’s at least twenty minutes in before we learn at least one of their names. That’s right, it’s the type of film that would have sent my poor creative writing teacher up the wall and one where nobody finds any lost treasure but just seeks out similarities and differences for discussion that occurs in roughly twenty-four hours of their lives.

When Atlanta native Jamie (Erin Fisher) arrives in New York to meet her flaky friend Samantha, she finds a mostly empty subway terminal and depends on the kindness of a fellow twenty-something stranger named Charlie (Cris Lankenau) to point her in the right direction of the café she’s supposed to find. As the two walk and talk, they fall into an easy conversation that is prolonged when Samantha who still hasn’t answered any of Jamie’s calls fails to show up. “If you want to hang out with me, my couch is open,” Charlie suggests and nervous laughter along with a frantic rechecking of phone messages follows before Jamie follows her female intuition and proceeds to crash with Charlie until she can track down her illusive friend.

The relaxed dialogue, penned by the director Aaron Katz and his lead actors, continues as they play a mini-keyboard, she cuts his hair and they drink his father’s gift of pinot noir out of coffee cups. Jamie falls asleep only to awaken worrying she’s overstayed her welcome and after asking if Charlie is sick of her, he reassures her that he has nothing else to do and “it’s a pleasant distraction" as they aimlessly walk and talk around New York city both admitting our generation’s tendency to “slink around” lazily as some would say as well as personify the fact that most of our successful friendships and relationships seem to be those that just blossom out of proximity and as little effort as possible. Turning their attention to the discussion of romantic relationships, they tackle a question that has been an increasingly popular topic of my friends and myself as we lament the fact that it’s hard to meet others and begin to wonder whether or not as we age our capacity to sustain a relationship increases or if people are just staying with others out of comfort and lack of ambition, sometimes making serious commitments to others for whom they may have settled.

Although it’s hardly all self-involved conversation—the title of Quiet City seems at once both paradoxical in its setting of the city that never sleeps but also quite appropriate in its hauntingly beautiful and artistic cinematography by Andrew Reed that Stephen Holden of The New York Times explained punctuates the film “with images of New York at twilight that cast a mood of reflective melancholy reminiscent of the loneliness at the heart of Edward Hopper paintings.” With some nods to Malick as we see shots of quiet and subtle beauty that fixate on empty streets and an ode to Godard as a group of characters dance to a most likely fast rock song but instead of the music, we hear the film’s score, Quiet City is proof that those who pompously say that there is no independent film are incorrect.

It’s gentle, honest, and earned festival awards across the country for its cinematography and direction as well as a prestigious nomination for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards. Perhaps indicative of Charlie’s wish that “we need to devise a plot to where we can basically do absolutely nothing and our bills get paid,” the talented director Aaron Katz has devised a way to make a film that on the surface seems basic and vague but at its heart is one that seems to represent its generation in a more authentic way than a large majority of movies coming out of the studio system.

While there are those who hate mumblecore on principle and at its worst, they have a terrific point, when one sees something like Quiet City, we’re grateful that as Katz was quoted on IMDb, “this is the first time, mostly because of technology that someone like me can go out and make a film with no money and no connections." And just think-- they didn’t even have to incorporate pirates or lost treasure in the process.

The Counterfeiters

Director:
Stefan Ruzowitzky

“One must adapt or they die,” Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) reasons to others in Austrian writer/director Stefan Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiters. The most recent recipient for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, the film was based on the book by Adolf Burger which told the true story of Burger (played by August Diehl), Sorowitsch, and other Jewish former printers, photographers, and bankers involved against their will in Operation Bernhard, the largest governmental counterfeit program in history run out of the concentration camp Sachsenhausen in order to help finance the Nazi’s war efforts.

Although it’s bookended with events set after the war ends and Sorowitsch journeys out of the camp, Ruzowitzky’s moving film gets us fully invested in the narrative as Sorowitsch, the successful and naturally gifted counterfeiter-- a likable scoundrel to most whom he meets-- is arrested by Friedrich Herzog (Devid Striesow). The two men’s paths would cross again in even crueler circumstances after Sorowitsch is moved from Mauthausen Concentration Camp where his artistic skill or more accurately gift for portraiture made him a favorite painter among the Nazi officers to Sachsenhausen where Herzog, who received a promotion from his prestigious arrest of Sorowitsch, has been put in charge of the counterfeiting program to give the Nazis some much needed capital in their war. While morally outraged by the position they’ve been placed in with their new occupation being to help fund the men who murdered their families and condescendingly bribed with soft beds and a ping-pong table, the men are forced to put their experience to use.

Intriguingly Ruzowitzky’s illuminating film which offers a much different view of the horrific events of World War II by focusing on an operation of which few of us had been exposed also explores the humanity and conflict among the counterfeiters as one sees no point in going on having lost everything that mattered to him, another resents having to work with a criminal like Sorowitsch, and Burger employs a resistance tactic to stall and sabotage in order not to use his skills for Nazi gain.

With a running time of less than one hundred minutes, this taut, suspenseful and emotionally rich offering which was also nominated for six German Film Awards (and recipient of one for Striesow’s supporting performance) avoids getting lost in the World War II movie shuffle by offering viewers a new look at the war in bringing this fascinating and true tale to light.

Confessions of a Superhero

Director: Matthew Ogens


It’s a bird, it’s a plane… it’s an ordinary man dressed as Superman?
No, it’s not Halloween, in documentary filmmaker Matthew Ogens’ Confessions of a Superhero, every day it’s a costume party for a surprising number of individuals who work the Hollywood Walk of Fame sidewalk outside Groumann’s Chinese Theatre and, dressed as their favorite film characters, take pictures with tourists for tips.

Is this legal and how is it different from ordinary panhandling?
The honorary mayor wants them thrown out and Graumann’s has set up a sign informing passersby that they are not affiliated with these “characters” who the chamber of tourism say are "Ambassadors of Hollywood Boulevard" and while occasionally a few get arrested for aggressive begging or solicitation, most follow the set rules. To explain, there are legal rules that state that the characters aren’t allowed to name dollar amounts, solicit photos, can’t demand a tip nor make contact first with tourists for the purpose of a transaction and then there are the unwritten code of conduct rules that some of the characters try to live by such as the boulevard’s unofficial leader Superman (real name: Christopher Dennis) who tries to show a newbie the ropes by explaining that, although they can smoke in private, they maintain an image as superheroes and can’t smoke in public. It’s a convincing and honorable argument that is somewhat diminished by the arrival of an aggressive female fan who seems to have a groupie-like Superman fetish who asks a friend to help her pose for a photo with Dennis before groping him without a word and passing him along an unknown amount of money.

Just what is it that makes the four individuals (Superman, Hulk, Batman, Wonder Woman) decide to go through this strange ritual of hairspray, costuming, and characterization everyday?
Well, aside from the money which has them raking in hundreds on a particularly good afternoon, it’s the same reason everyone goes to Hollywood which is the prospect of possible fame and fortune. Not only are they selling themselves to the public but as a city official notes early in the documentary, they’re also trying to sell themselves to producers, directors, and any other people walking by who may be ready to offer them their big break. It seems like an unlikely way to attract any serious consideration from someone in the industry and while some definitely stare at the characters as if they were freaks and a few try to suggest that Batman and Superman should fight, stranger things have happened in Hollywood and the four keep pounding the pavement.

An official selection at the 2007 South By Southwest Film Festival, Confessions of a Superhero which has been presented on DVD by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), takes what could very well have been a campy or laughable treatment of its subjects by creating an honest, straightforward look at the lives of the individuals as we try and ascertain just what makes them do what they do each day. In the process we uncover some deep melancholy truths and difficult pasts but are constantly reminded of the filmmaker’s respect and humanity for the subjects by refusing to cut things in a ridiculous way and just let it play out naturally.

Along with Christopher Dennis, who is the son of the Oscar winning actress Sandy Dennis who lives in a shrine to all things Superman and dates a Ph.D psychology student, we meet Jennifer Gerht’s Wonder Woman a.k.a. the beautiful homecoming queen who loathed high school and graduated early only to flee her small town and head for Los Angeles in the hopes of a better future and the Hulk’s Joseph McQueen who was homeless for a few years and is searching for his big break. Perhaps the film’s most fascinating and mysterious figure is the troubled George Clooney look-alike Maxwell Allen who in between working as Batman on the boulevard suffers from a tendency towards rage that’s balanced by his loving relationship with his disabled wife who likes telling others she’s not only married to Batman, but also to someone who looks like Clooney.

Far more compelling than one would expect given the sort of strange curiosity it solicits in viewers from the start, Confessions of a Superhero is a bold documentary sure to entertain and spark good discussion on the nature of celebrity, pop culture, and Hollywood and the best part is that we don’t have to snap a photo or get ready to tip a stranger to enjoy it. In other words, that’s leaping several obstacles in a single bound.

Under the Same Moon

Foreign Title:
La Misma Luna
Director:
Patricia Riggen

Think of it as August Rush flavored neorealism in the wondrous crowd pleaser Under the Same Moon that, in its Sundance Film Festival premiere, received a standing ovation from the audience. Making her feature film debut, director Patricia Riggen, working from a script by “Go, Diego! Go!” writer Ligiah Villalobos follows Carlitos (Adrian Alonso), a young, precocious boy who, just after his ninth birthday decides to make the risky and increasingly dangerous illegal journey from Mexico to East Los Angeles on his own in order to reunite with his mother (Kate del Castillo). After a rocky start hiding in the vehicle driven by college students America Ferrera and Jesse Garcia, he soon makes the unlikely acquaintance of Enrique (Eugenio Derbez), who like the elderly woman in Salles’ Central Station, is a rough around the edges, grumpy sort who finds their heart melting around the adorable child.

While it’s the gifted young Alonso who captures the affection of the audience from the get-go, it’s ultimately Derbez who is the film’s most valuable asset, turning in a tough, convincing and layered performance that may have easily ventured over in the land of camp or as a one-note portrayal. The travels of Carlitos are intercut with the story of his struggling single mother Rosario, who, beautiful and hardworking, cleans houses for wealthy white employers to try and give her son a better life and has come to the crossroads of her life in trying to figure out if she should return home or make her citizenship legal by marrying the handsome and sensitive Paco (Gabriel Porras) who has long had a romantic interest in Rosario.

With plenty of dramatic heartbreak and missed connections along the way, Under the Same Moon, much like its tiny hero Carlitos, journeys onward to an emotional conclusion guaranteed to make even the most hardened viewer blink back a few tears. While there’s a definite political undercurrent to the topical tale of illegal immigration in Riggen’s film, it’s never heavy handed and takes the lofty stance of character driven plot to illuminate the struggle and even for those who may disagree with the border crossing, one cannot deny the relatable story of a child going to great lengths to reunite with a mother who in return has gone to great lengths to take care of her son.

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!

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Alternate Title: Horton Hears a Who!
Directors: Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino

“I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful one hundred percent,” so goes the famous quote from Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hatches the Egg that seems to be even more poignant when scripted for actor Jim Carrey as he lends his vocal talents to bring children’s literature’s best loved elephant to life in Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! From the same studio who created the family films Ice Age and Robots, Blue Sky Studios of 20th Century Fox, directors Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino craft not only the best adaptation of Dr. Seuss brought to screen thus far but also the best family film of 2008 as of this review.

For years, I’ve been wondering if I was simply growing too impatient with animated features, having found myself bored by critical smashes such as the overly long Pixar hits The Incredibles and Cars and struggling to stay awake during films such as Curious George and Bee Movie and although there’s been a few notable exceptions (Surf’s Up, Over the Hedge), I’ve found myself steering clear of animation. However, it wasn’t until I saw Horton Hears a Who that I fell back in love with the concept of bright, magical animated family films that manage to blend positive messages with high flying entertainment and quality humor that gave at least this viewer the same kind of amazing theatrical experience that I had while seeing Finding Nemo or the Toy Story films years earlier.

While on one hand, the film, like several animated works filled with A list stars for better or worse (which take jobs away from voice-over actors), has a boast worthy roster that comprise a comedic dream team in the form of not only Carrey but also Steve Carell, the legendary Carol Burnett, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and Isla Fisher, I found myself forgetting the magnitude of the stars after only a few lines by each were uttered as admirably they began to ham less and instead preferably stick with telling the terrific tale.

For those who, like myself, barely remember the book, I’ll bring you up to speed—moments into the film we meet our unlikely elephant hero Horton who hears a noise coming from a tiny speck on a clover flower, only to discover that he’s listening to residents of the tiny universe Whoville or more accurately, the mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell). Eventually concluding that “a person’s a person, no matter how small,” Horton tries to save Whoville by bringing the flower to a place where it will be protected from outside forces such as the disbelieving kangaroo (Carol Burnett) who feels Horton is becoming a dangerous agitator that must be stopped and hires the Russian vulture Vlad (Will Arnett) to do just that.

Touching, beautifully animated, fast-paced (refreshingly just 88 minutes) and undeniably heroic, Horton Hears a Who is the type of film that will entertain adults just as much, if not more than children as I found myself laughing frequently throughout by the increasingly wild situations and characterizations by the cast.

Note: The book, which was published in 1954 sent some readers and journalists looking at Seuss’ work as a political allegory and in a fascinating sidebar “Who are the Whos?” by Entertainment Weekly’s Adam Markovitz (3/21/08, p42) chronicles three takes on the work, including the two likeliest which saw it as first a look at postwar Japan (which Seuss has admitted) and secondly as yet another 1950’s artistic offering that echoed the political climate of America during the devastating McCarthy hearings.

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The Battle of Shaker Heights

Directors:

Efram Potelle

&

Kyle Rankin

Erica Beeney’s screenplay for The Battle of Shaker Heights was chosen as the second winning entry in Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s popular HBO series Project Greenlight. Similar to another Greenlight release Stolen Summer, 2003’s The Battle of Shaker Heights surrounds the friendship of two boys coming of age. Sweet natured and original, the undisputedly predictable yet charming film helped introduce the world to former Holes star Shia La Beouf before he became a new sensation with roles in Hollywood hits such as Transformers.

Set in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Shaker Heights, La Beouf plays Kerry Ernswiler but highly intelligent teenager who spends his weekends as a civil war reenactor where he befriends the wealthy, kind Bart Bowland (Elden Henson) who not only gives him access to his father’s collection of legendary battle artifacts but also introduces him to his gorgeous but engaged older sister Tabby (Amy Smart), on whom Kerry develops a hopeless crush. The son of hippies in the from of a recovering addict father who sometimes lets the at risk homeless people he works with sack out on the family sofa and a mother who runs a bizarre sweat shop mass producing portraits of horses with her Asian staff, Kerry spends increasing amounts of time with Bart. Along with his new friend, Kerry tries to devise a strategy to take on the school’s biggest bully who incidentally is the son of Kerry’s exasperated history teacher who gets routinely challenged by the young war buff in class.

Although the ending wraps things up far too easily and abruptly and the film at times feels uneven in its tone which further research revealed may have been indicative of the studio’s battle to turn the film into a teen comedy whereas the filmmakers intended it to be a drama, it’s still an entertaining time-waster and even more enjoyable than the Affleck/Damon production Stolen Summer.

A Cool, Dry Place

Director: John N. Smith

Think of it as a gender reversal Lifetime movie. Before Vince Vaughn became synonymous with Wedding Crashers-esque frat boy comedies such as Old School and Dodgeball and after he took Jon Favreau to “Vegas, baby, Vegas” in Swingers, he made a stop in rural Kansas for this lovely independent sleeper film. Based on Michael Grant Jaffe’s novel Dance Real Slow and adapted by screenwriter Matthew McDuffie, Canadian helmer John N. Smith directs this sensitive tale about a father trying to reconcile his own needs and wants in raising his adorable five year old son Calvin (Bobby Moat). Surprisingly, it takes little time to adjust our own filmgoer’s persona of man’s man Vaughn as the sweet-natured, good-hearted Russell Durrell, a Northwestern University educated lawyer who leaves Chicago and moves with his son to Kansas after his wife Kate (Monica Potter) abandoned them a few years prior without warning. Spending his days working on mindlessly frivolous lawsuits, Russell’s spirits are raised in taking care of his son and also in coaching the local high school basketball team.

When he clashes with Noah Ward (Devon Sawa), a player with a bad attitude, Noah’s veterinary assistant sister Beth (Joey Lauren Adams) intervenes on his behalf and after a memorable act of rebellion, the sparks between Russell and Beth intensify until they quickly embark on a courtship. Of course—and this is where the clichéd Lifetime-esque predictability creeps in—it’s around this time that Russell’s ex Kate begins to phone and soon shows back up in their lives, trying to find her way back into not only young Calvin’s heart but Russell’s as well. When he’s given a career opportunity elsewhere, Russell realizes he must question not only what is best for his son Calvin but what is best for him as well. Vaughn’s scenes with Moat are tender and true, making viewers see the actor in a whole new light and although some critics dismissed it as lighter, sudsy fare, A Cool, Dry Place is a predictable yet above average human drama that—while never making us think too hard—touches viewer’s hearts.

Digging to China

Director:
Timothy Hutton

Some kids want to run away to join the circus, or as the heroine of My Girl decided, to run away and join The Brady Bunch. In Digging to China, Harriet (Evan Rachel Wood) wants to run away so badly that she tries to get abducted by a UFO so that she can be anywhere but 1960’s rural New Hampshire. Living with her caring but maddeningly alcoholic mother Mrs. Frankovitz (Cathy Moriarty) and twenty-six year old flirtatious sister Gwen (Mary Stuart Masterson) in the motel that the women earned in a divorce settlement, Harriet longs for adventure and when she’s unable to get it by trying to escape, she decides to use her imagination and ingenuity in a wide variety of failed experiments such as a balloon chair and other attempts. Her flights from reality take a backseat with the arrival of thirty year old mentally impaired Ricky (Kevin Bacon) who shows up to stay at the hotel en route to an institution by his sickly, aging mother Leah (Marian Seldes) who worries about what will happen to her son after she has passed away.

Despite their twenty year age difference, mentally and emotionally Ricky is on the same page as the ten year old Harriet and the two become fast friends whose limitations and worries are lessened as they begin to find confidence and hope even after Harriet is faced with an overwhelming and unexpected tragedy. However, the rest of the world isn’t as forgiving of a grown man spending time with an impressionable child and Gwen tries to separate the two which inspires Harriet’s escapist tendencies once again when she and Ricky go on the lam to live the life of boxcar children until they must return.

While it’s easy to dismiss as what Maltin referred to as a “one note” premise, it’s compassionately told and startlingly well acted by Wood in her screen debut as well as by Bacon that recalls at times I Am Sam. Winner of two film festival awards, actor Timothy Hutton’s likable debut as a feature film director was written by the talented screenwriter Karen Janszen who also penned quality family films Duma and Gracie.

This Revolution

Director:
Stephen Marshall

After winning an award from the Sundance Film Festival, Stephen Marshall’s name has become almost synonymous with daring. Globally conscious and prone to risk taking, Marshall, who created the first VHS global newsmagazine Channel Zero and co-founded the Guerilla News Network (IMDb) pays homage to Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool with his docudrama This Revolution. Shot in one hundred days, This Revolution centers on a young edgy reporter with a last name that’s a bit too on the nose-- Jake Cassavetes (played music video and commercial director Nathan Crooker)-- who found his priorities and world view changed after spending time filming the war in Baghdad. No longer wanting to-- as he says-- suck up to the rich corporations who run the networks, he butts heads with Chloe (Amy Redford) who in addition to being his boss shares his bed on a casual basis but politics begins to drive them apart as tough-talking Chloe who tells Jake to get her “the edgiest stuff” he can on the phone while standing next to a poster for the Lumet film Network pushes Jake away as he takes to the streets to film the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Movie posters are everywhere in the film and perhaps one of the most telling shows up within the first ten minutes in Jake’s bathroom in the form of Weir’s The Year of Living Dangerously. Instinctively, we know this assignment coupled with everything he’s seen overseas will affect his view and ability to remain objective and his beliefs and convictions are tested yet again when he befriends a beautiful, rebellious and radical widowed bookseller Tina Santiago (Rosario Dawson) and her young son (Brett Deluono). Although by this point, the atmospheric film that near the end suddenly turns into Antitrust feels a bit dated and the earnest and unpolished turns by Crooker and Redford (who may not have been directed right) do hinder the success of a film that seems to swing back and forth from pretentious to cheesy like a pendulum, it’s the radiant, fiery and passionate Dawson whose performance escalates This Revolution and makes it feel distinctly authentic. In fact, she may have been too convincing as you may recall when, while filming scenes with other cast members playing a subversive group, Dawson along with others were mistaken for real activists and arrested on the spot and footage of Dawson’s actual arrest made its way into the film (IMDb). Now available on DVD, you may also be able to find This Revolution on regular rotation in the Sundance Channel programming guide as not only is Marshall a Sundance favorite but actress Amy Redford is the daughter of Sundance founder Robert Redford.

Rain in the Mountains

Directors:
Joel Metlen
&
Christine Sullivan

Fitting to the film’s tag line, actor Steve Pierre’s “Eric Smallhouse has gone off the reservation… way off the reservation” in the quirky indie comedy Rain in the Mountains that was penned by Joel Metlen and became the third feature directed by Metlen and his filmmaking partner Christine Sullivan. A festival favorite, the film which earned three awards as Best Feature and one for Best Comedy was also an Official Selection at the Santa Fe Film Festival before making its way to DVD.

As the movie opens, Eric, walking home from a job interview, stumbles upon an elderly man hanging from a noose in a tree. Instead of finding him dead, the old Native American man begins to speak and tells Eric that it is his duty to lead his people back to the old ways. Unsure just what the old ways would entail, Eric does his best, angering his wife Lindsey (Audrey Seymour) in the process as he drops his teenage son off on a deserted road to have an Indian vision quest, erects a tee-pee in his front yard, or in the film’s funniest sequence, takes his son Todd (Nick Erb) fishing, determined to only eat what they can catch, only to have the reel fall off the pole and a hook get caught in a plant before he must use the modern convenience of duct tape to try to fix his pole. Despite the fact that his initial forays are a failure, Eric doesn’t give up and further loses his grip on life as he takes his frustration out on the local power company with his decision that electricity is the enemy, taking to the streets to smash light-bulbs to the ground and yell a loud cry of “Damn you, Edison!”

Although the film’s amateurish production coupled with some false, one-note performances (notably Seymour’s) take some of the cinematic pleasure from the movie, it’s a great effort that seemed like it would be of particular interest to film students working on making their first feature films since it never quite shakes its student film feel, despite some inventive bits of humor such as an Abbott & Costello styled routine between Eric and the local sheriff about a chopped down power pole and a likable, upbeat storyline that makes its pacific northwest setting seem like an additional character. Admirably, according to IMDb, the eventual completion of the film is an inspiring achievement considering that the charismatic lead actor Steve Pierre suffered a serious stroke a full two thirds the way into the production of Rain in the Mountains.

The Thin Red Line

Director:
Terrence Malick

To this day, I’m still shocked when people say the dislike The Thin Red Line. Having had the misfortune of being released the same year as Steven Spielberg’s critically lauded yet (aside from the brilliant and unrelentingly brutal opening) highly formulaic Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line seemed to be the antidote to the Hollywood gloss of most WWII films as it is poetic, passionate, frustrating, hypnotic, tender, breathtaking and unspeakably tragic. While it’s said in some circles that having both Spielberg’s Ryan and Malick’s Line up for the Best Picture Oscar may have helped split the vote and led to the Shakespeare in Love upset, to me, it was again proof that the Academy Awards, while important and historical, are subjective and it’s a shame that several films and performances can’t be recognized as they’re overlooked in the definitive quest of simplifying things down to a single “best” choice.

In comparing the works, Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that “Steven Spielberg’s film was about character and Malick’s is about spirit,” although I’d argue that spirit by its very definition is embodied in a fully realized and fleshed out character and in Malick’s film (which is based on the autobiographical novel by James Jones) is filled with a wide range of characters and their unforgettable spirits. As IMDb reported Malick had longed to adapt the book by the author of From Here to Eternity since the late 1980’s yet it wasn’t until ’98 when his meandering opus about the first major offensive by America’s Army Rifle Company C (for Charlie) on the South Pacific island of Guadalcanal in 1943 was released.

While fighting for an overwhelmingly long time over the “key-positioned airfled that allows control over a 1,000 mile radius,” (IMDb) we get an intimate view of both the army and inner lives of several of the soldiers including our heroic Pvt. Witt (Jim Caviezel) and Pvt. Bell (Ben Chaplin) along with countless others that are played by the likes of Adrien Brody, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Thomas Jane, George Clooney, Elias Koteas, Jared Leto, Tim Blake Nelson, John C. Reilly, John Travolta, Nick Stahl, Donal Logue, Nick Nolte and Sean Penn. With so many actors, it does at times become hard to tell them apart since (much like myself) the casting director must have had a thing for sensitive looking dark haired men. Viewers do at times feel a bit lost in the shuffle and may benefit from a second viewing yet contrary to critic Roger Ebert’s statement that “the actors… are making one movie, and the director is making another,” I thought they all added to Malick’s vision and their willingness to leave their egos aside for sometimes only moments of screen time owes much to the admiration for the legendary director of Days of Heaven and Badlands. The underrated Elias Koteas is especially good as Capt. Staros who fights hard to stick up for the men under his command and defy the orders of egomaniacal Lt. Col Tall (Nolte) to protect the others and save lives much to the detriment of his own career.

With an average reported shot length of 7.9 seconds (IMDb) and a running time of roughly three hours, the daunting film which was nominated for seven Academy Awards alienated some with its artistic and cerebral approach but for those with the patience who appreciate a different take on a traditional war film (and one in the tradition of Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now), you will be extremely glad you invested the time.

The Real Dirt on Farmer John

Director: Taggart Siegel

Having received my baccalaureate degree at Prescott College, named the “greenest” school in the country by Time Magazine, I know firsthand that those of us who are interested in organic foods, recycling, alternatives to oil, and all things green are usually labeled hippies. However, in Farmer John Peterson’s case, it’s a hippie come full circle in documentarian Taggart Siegel’s film which chronicles the man from his beginnings as a true farmer heading up the ten year artistic commune experiment “The Midwest Coast” in Illinois to barely surviving the crushing loan crisis and vanishing of farms in the 70’s and 80’s up through current day which finds his farm the headquarters of “Angelic Organics” as Peterson works with over 12,000 families, provides shelter and work for persecuted refugees from foreign lands, and offers as he says a “beautiful reuniting of people with the source of their food.”

However, in this five time festival award winning documentary given a tremendous vote of confidence when Al Gore called it “unbelievably special,” Peterson, writing and narrating the film himself is neither a folk hero or an everyman, as we realize just moments into the film seeing him tasting his soil to check on the rich quality, donning feather boas and costumes of glitz and glamour to heighten his occupation which he considers theatrical. Lamenting the fact that in his rural community he’s not welcome because he’s “a little different,” Peterson shares the history of his life and the farm which has been in his family for generations over scenes of gorgeous family videos which begin in the 50’s when his mom Anna brought home a video camera. In addition, he candidly shares the tragedies of losing his father and also the loss of 328 acres of land during the tumultuous era of loans and President Reagan where housing communities flourished and concrete was “poured in the good land,” as one farmer stated while he and his neighbors began losing their possessions and legacy in auctions.

Peterson who wrote a successful play as catharsis about the experiences he and his neighbors lived through that he was unable to tour throughout the country since he was told that he seems like a flagrant homosexual in need of reprogramming despite a series of romantic relationships throughout his life with beautiful brunette women soon found himself the target of vicious rumors and most likely arson as neighbors began to call his peaceful artistic commune Satanic and spread tales of drug trafficking and animal sacrifices. Driven away from his home to his favorite retreat of Mexico, he decided to give farming a more serious second try in the early 90’s with a loan from his supportive mother and a decision to grow his crops organically which resulted in trials and tribulations including eighty to ninety hour work weeks.

A fascinating and arty portrait of the life of a most unforgettable farmer, The Real Dirt on Farmer John takes a little while to get viewers hooked but gets far more compelling as it goes on charting the struggles and successes in this “epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer,” to quote the DVD description. While in the words of Kermit the Frog, for hippies that garner raised eyebrows from the masses like John Peterson, “it’s not easy being green,” for those with an interest in learning where their food comes from, Farmer John’s dirt is a great place to start.

The Girl in the Café

Director:
David Yates

These days, meeting people is hard. We seldom look at one another in elevators as I should know having been stuck in one last Fall and we begin silently questioning one another’s agenda when we’re chatted up in public, and as we age and become busier with our own relationships and families, people begin to drift further and further apart from the friends we always held so dear. As hard as it is to meet people, it’s even harder to meet someone you spark with—someone who just gets you or with whom you click with instantaneously or at the very least, someone with whom you’re never quite sure what to expect and can’t wait to hear what they’ll say or do next. After a decade on the dating scene with enough horror stories and humorous anecdotes to fuel a week’s worth of material, I continually try not to be too cynical since I’m always trying to hope for the best in others and in my romantic belief that while there are no perfect partners and it’s damn near impossible to imagine a single person fitting all of one’s needs for an entire lifetime since you’ll both change and evolve, we can’t do without that thought that “this time, it will be different.”

It’s precisely this optimism that inspires two introverted, awkward and overly polite characters to fall into something close to love in director David Yates’s HBO film The Girl in the Cafe penned by Four Weddings and a Funeral scripter Richard Curtis. Quickly into the film we meet Bill Nighy’s Lawrence, a fifty-seven year old workaholic whose only luxury apart from his lofty position working alongside the Prime Minister and others in Britain’s government is deciding how many packets of sugar to stir into his tea on the very worst of days. In a crowded café where every table is occupied, he asks the young, beautiful yet approachable Gina (Kelly McDonald) if he can sit down at her table. Cautiously seated diagonally from one another, they fluster for the right words as they politely bond over shared opinions on striped pajamas and other meaningless bits of everyday life until they feel comfortable enough to sit directly across from each other. Like many of us less bold and equally shy individuals would do, one senses that although they’d long to chat even further, neither knows how to do so and when Lawrence realizes he’s going to be late back to the office, he begins to walk away before taking a chance to ask Gina to lunch. Nervous and rambling, Gina reveals that she has nothing to do with her time (which let’s face it, would’ve ended most “dates” right there here in the states) and they plan to meet up in a few weeks.

A few more earnest and polite dates follow until Lawrence, after phoning her a few times in one day (which again would’ve probably caused most of us Yanks to back away) takes an even bigger risk in asking her to accompany him to the G8 Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Much to the gentlemanly Lawrence’s surprise and although he’s never actually made any attempt to actually kiss or touch her by their third date (which would never happen here as well), Gina accepts the offer to travel but after they realize that they’re going to be forced to share a room, the two polite and confused souls try to over accommodate one another by debating over who gets the bed or couch while they vow to stay away from the intimate quarters as much as possible. Intriguingly, nothing is made of the age difference between the two as they are visibly May and December with at least twenty to thirty years between them and while, normally one would doubt their true motives with assumptions towards “sugar daddy” or “mid-life crisis,” it just seems like in Girl in the Café that the two feel genuinely pulled to one another.

Moving away from just a true romance, the film becomes more political with each successive minute after they land in Reykjavik and Lawrence, who we assume had gotten into government with an Atticus Finch or Capraesque wish to change the world and help mankind is becoming more and more disenchanted and disheartened by the proceedings that are making his quest to help fight global poverty overshadowed by matters of economics and defense. Couple this with Gina’s newfound passion for speaking out and reading all of the research that the defeated Lawrence brings home which recounts the 30,000 children dying unnecessarily each day from extreme poverty and the two begin to see their budding and sincere relationship tested by political actions and decisions in a land that feels as isolated and introverted as the characters themselves.

Winner of the Best Made-For-TV award as well as accolades for the screenwriting and McDonald’s performance, Curtis wrote his astute, intelligent and quietly powerful films especially for the two stars who were also nominated for Golden Globes. Although I’d always been a fan of the gifted McDonald, especially since her performance in both Gosford Park and Two Family House, I was also pleasantly surprised by Bill Nighy, who in stark contrast to his wild lothario rock star in Love Actually (also written by Curtis) proves to be a fascinating and sensitive actor that’s delightful to watch. Available on DVD, The Girl in the Café may also be found playing sporadically on its home network of HBO.

Site News 3/26/08

Hey Everyone,

More reviews will be appearing later in the week. Hope you've been enjoying the new look of the site-- it's lighter, brighter and a bit more user friendly. I'm learning as I go so thanks for your patience, support and invaluable feedback as the site keeps improving. Over at our homepage this week, we have a Musical Interlude and Salute to Spring (my favorite season). Who doesn't love an excuse to watch videos? We're a film site after all-- head on over to check out two clips guaranteed to make you smile by clicking here.

As always, thanks for your readership and loyalty. Some of the discussion board comments are heating up-- as the first site to bring global readers a Stop-Loss review, Peirce's film is becoming quite the hot topic with hundreds of new readers each day. I appreciate all voices so thanks for your time and input but remember, let's keep it friendly!

In addition, by popular demand, we now have a list of every single film I've shown in my Library Series so far along with video clips and/or trailers from all of the upcoming films. Browse the list by clicking here and be sure to check them out if you don't live in the area or do but tragically have other plans! I'm toying with the idea of trying something new out in the Fall-- going with classics (basically looking for any excuse to play Vertigo) or breaking down films like we're in film school, by selecting a work such as No Country for Old Men and then analyzing it "key-scene by key-scene." Another possible new feature for those of you who are regulars is hopefully teaming up with some local fests and film groups to provide info and maybe more surprises to audience members. Stay tuned for more details and as always, click here to fill out the feedback form (located at the bottom of the page) to hit me up with any requests or ideas and we'll see what we can do. For the attendees, we may be doing a short survey at the next few screenings.

As you've probably noticed in our Links section, I've been including links to some of the sites that link to or quote from Film Intuition. Every once in awhile I'm quoted on a site that updates or changes content frequently so we don't get to send readers on over to their pages to check out their wonderful sites (apologies to Univ. of Essex: Grad Film Program). This week, we have such a case as my City of Men review is quoted on a site that will possibly be changing soon so while it won't be visible on the permanent Links page, check out Binghamton New York's Art Mission Theatre and the Film Intuition excerpt by clicking here. In addition to our own quotable quote links, be sure to browse some of my favorite movie related sites and blogs on the Links page as well.

Thanks and Happy Movie Watching,
Jen

Poll Results: The Breakfast Club

If there were an alternate universe filled with the characters from movies, somewhere in it right now, Andrew Clark's dad from The Breakfast Club is smiling.

Fulfilling his dad's mantra of "You've got to win, Andrew. You've got to be number one," in our latest Film Intuition Poll Andrew Clark, or rather the talented actor who played him, Emilio Estevez wrestled his way into first place.

The official results in a minute, but first, a script excerpt from one of Andrew's better scenes which finds him intervening on behalf of Claire (Molly Ringwald):

Andrew: I said, "leave her alone."

Bender: You gonna make me?

Andrew: Yeah.

Bender: You and how many of your friends?

Andrew: Just me. Just you and me. Two hits. Me hitting you. You hitting the floor. Anytime you're ready, pal.

That's right, although successful wrestler Andrew Clark was stuck in Shermer High School's Saturday detention in John Hughes' 1980's smash, the actor playing the film's "athlete" beat out the "princess," "brain," "basket case" and "criminal," with the following poll:

Question:

Which cast member of The Breakfast Club is the most deserving of a comeback?

Results:

Emilio Estevez (34%)

Molly Ringwald a.k.a. Claire the Princess (28%)

Judd Nelson a.k.a. Bender the Criminal (21%)

Ally Sheedy a.k.a. Allison the Basket Case (12%)

Anthony Michael Hall a.k.a. Brian the Brain (3%)

While undeniably they're all talented, I'd have to agree with Estevez's ranking as he proved with Bobby, his latest excellent film as a writer/director, that in addition to his charms as an actor, he is an equally accomplished filmmaker. It would be wonderful to see Nelson, Sheedy, Ringwald and Hall in something of worth again-- over the years, I've seen them in a few different works but with the exception of Sheedy in High Art, few of their performances have made a lasting impression. Time will tell if a new generation of filmmakers who grew up with the kids from John Hughes' films will create an opportunity to bring the Brat Pack back.

Thanks for voting!

Young at Heart

Alternate Title:
Young @ Heart
Director:
Stephen Walker

As someone who has the song “London Calling” currently set as her cell phone ringtone, it only took a few bars of The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” to get my head and feet moving right from the start of the infectious documentary Young at Heart. Recalling that the last time I’d rocked out in a theatre was in the far less crowded press screening of Sweeney Todd where I doubt that any of the critics could have picked me out of a lineup, I self-consciously looked around the jam-packed theatre this time and saw that I wasn’t the only one going into concert mode—others were getting into the film, including a man in a wheelchair whose head was banging even harder than mine and an elderly woman who was moving her arms and dancing in her seat. While it can be argued that this is the most expected reaction to British punk of the 70’s and 80’s, it’s a far more surprising reaction when the entertainers performing it in the documentary are chorus members in their 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s. As a widow enunciates, “Darling, you’ve got to let me know,” we sense that she means it and thus begins former BBC documentarian Stephen Walker’s crowd pleasing film which earned him the Audience Award for Best International Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways and Juno film studio Fox Searchlight Pictures definitely has another smash on their hands and I sense that this will be another one of those people mover word-of-mouth documentary hits like March of the Penguins, Super Size Me, or Mad Hot Ballroom that get people not only recommending the film to their friends but coming back to experience it again. Funny, sharp and at times heartbreaking, narrator and director Stephen Walker introduces us to the Young at Heart chorus which started in 1982 as an act that performed vaudeville songs until someone performed Manfred Mann’s “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” and the rest was history. From The Clash (which one band member called Crash) to Radiohead, the Sex Pistols, and others, the Northampton, Massachusetts group led by their patient yet strict and supportive music director Bob Cilman has traveled across Europe to play for the King and Queen of Norway and performs regular sold out shows in their hometown as well as wherever they have a prospective audience such as the local prison. Though the health problems of the performers abound with some having survived numerous heart attacks, cancers, spinal conditions and other major setbacks along with the constant reality that losing members due to serious hospitalization and even death is a recurring struggle, the chorus carries on as Walker documents their two month preparation for a new concert. Although Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia” which prompted some Young at Heart members to shove earplugs and tissues into their ears seems like it will be the toughest one to master for the members, who mostly prefer classical, showtunes and opera, Cilman gives them their trickiest challenge yet with the rousing toe-tapping, hand-clapping Allen Toussaint number “Yes We Can Can” which uses the word “can” 71 daunting times.

Documenting his “twenty-four new grandparents” every step of the way from their home lives to car rides with questionable driving to the rehearsal hall where some fall asleep during the now required three practices per week, Walker’s compelling film is quietly moving and when we lose two members late into the picture unspeakably sad, yet it’s a touching affirmation of life and dedication or as one member says determination to keep their mind active since they’ll lose it if they don’t use it. While their versions probably aren’t what James Brown or the Talking Heads had in mind when they first set pen to paper or pick to guitar, the clever interpretation by Cilman and his singers bring unexpected humor, warmth and new meaning to some of the compositions such as The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated,” David Bowie’s “Golden Years” or at their most heart-wrenching Coldplay’s “Fix You.”

It’s the beauty of the numbers and the clarity and quality of the voices that make audience members forgive some of the film’s shortcomings such as perhaps invading the privacy of one gravely ill member in particular a bit too much or not offering much in the way of background on the chorus, how the members are chosen, or much in the way of logistics instead preferring a natural, organic approach. Overall, it’s a remarkable achievement for the filmmaker of course, but more than that for Bob Cilman and the Young at Heart chorus.


Note: This review is dedicated in loving memory of my recently deceased Professor C.B. who was the first professor I ever had both when I took a kid’s college course at eleven and also when I officially enrolled five years later. C.B. managed to inspire everyone whose life he touched with his humor, passion, and humanitarian service. It was C.B.’s encouragement and support that inspired me to take my writing more seriously and I can still hear his Bostonian accent calling me “Jennifaux” and telling me to always keep writing and to never listen to anyone who tells me my sentences are too long. Thank you, C.B.

Hannah Takes the Stairs

Director: Joe Swanberg

By now the phrase “We should probably talk later,” seems to echo the same sentiment as “Don’t call me, I’ll call you,” or “I hope we can still be friends,” that all daters seem to use while trying to process how to break up with someone. “We should probably talk later,” is a phrase I’ve personally used (more times than I care to admit since knock on wood, so far I’ve always been the dumper although that’s hardly a victory) and it’s the same one that Hannah (Greta Gerwig) tells her first of three boyfriends shortly into the delightful indie comedy Hannah Takes the Stairs. Although it’s used early on, viewers who, like Hannah, are in their twenties know damn well that it won’t be the last time we hear either those exact words or something similar from our feisty, hyper, annoyingly indecisive and self-obsessed yet unquestionably bright and affable heroine. No, we find ourselves making the decision to break up often before it dawns on Hannah as the young college graduate navigates through the instantly relatable and compulsively addictive terrain of three slightly older men including her twenty-eight year old boyfriend Mike (Puffy Chair writer and star Mark Duplass) who quit his job since work nor rocking out in bands is no longer making him happy, the moody and self-deprecating intellectual narcissist in humility’s clothing Paul (Mutual Appreciation and Funny Ha Ha writer/director Andrew Bujalski), and thanks to the gifts of antidepressants, the higher functioning fellow trumpet playing writer Matt (filmmaker Kent Osborne).

Shot without a script or without much in the way of a plot, Hannah Takes the Stairs isn’t quite as mesmerizing as Bujalski’s films that are also included in the, as The New York Times explains “Do-It-Yourself” style independent movement Bujalski named “mumblecore” with self-involved characters who chat about nothing in films with low-production value. Yet, despite this, Hannah is one that feels less like a vanity project than some other mumblecore offerings and seems to be an articulate, recognizable if slightly ridiculous film that keys into the aimless wanderings of intellectual twentysomethings still trying to figure out just where to go from here. Reared on pop culture, the characters like Hannah admittedly suffer from “chronic dissatisfaction” yet in between their ramblings amidst these messy Cassavetes like glimpses of people all striving to find meaning, they manage to ask some pretty engaging questions about life, art, the manic state of romantic crushes and the fleeting nature of love. In other words, when the conversation is this engaging, suddenly the phrase “we should probably talk later” doesn’t seem so dire after all.

Nancy Drew

Director:
Andrew Fleming

To sleuth or not to sleuth, that is Nancy Drew’s question in this utterly delightful big screen adaptation of Carolyn Keene’s beloved series of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories that began with The Secret of the Old Clock. Set in modern day America, teenaged Nancy (the adorable Emma Roberts) is the brightest gumshoe unofficially associated with the River Heights Police Department who never loses her cool whether it’s diffusing a bomb with a cool head or engaging in an automobile chase while strictly adhering to the speed limit.

After her life is jeopardized in the film’s bravura opener, her widowed father Carson Drew (Tate Donovan) makes Nancy promise to give up sleuthing when they temporarily move to Los Angeles for his work. Sad to leave her good friend Bess and “very good friend” a.k.a. unofficial boyfriend Ned Nickerson (Max Thieriot) behind, Nancy finds abandoning detective work even tougher, especially given that she chose their rental home in Hollywood precisely because it’s the site of one of tinseltown’s most notorious unsolved mysteries surrounding the murder of the home’s former owner, gorgeous Audrey Hepburn like movie star Dehlia Draycott (Mulholland Drive’s Laura Elena Harring).

After a book on advanced sand castle making fails to hold her interest, Nancy gets back to her old ways enlisting the aid of her new twelve year old sidekick with a hopeless crush, Corky (Josh Flitter) and a jealous Ned who drives up Nancy’s beloved blue convertible to surprise her, and instead finds himself surprised to discover Corky, however he's predictably unsurprised to find Nancy playing girl detective once again. Armed with her sleuthing kit and with plenty of baked goods in tins ready to bribe anyone who may need a little convincing, Nancy nearly wears out her penny loafers and retro dresses (sewn from her mother’s patterns) as the case grows far more mysterious and dangerous.

Refreshingly, director Andrew Fleming (helmer of 2003’s The In-Laws) and his co-writer, the first time screenwriter Tiffany Paulsen, fight the temptation to make Nancy too modern and although she now has an iPod and access to the internet, she’s sweet-natured and wholesome as ever, winning over others with her sincerity despite becoming the source of ridicule from some of her more Britney Spears or Hannah Montana like classmates. As a former wannabe girl detective who spent hours in childhood pouring over Keene’s mysteries, I was nervous and skeptical to view what all probability suggested would be a failed adaptation given Hollywood’s insistence on sexualizing teen girls in countless grotesque comedies yet Nancy Drew is winningly old-fashioned, yet just like the books were to me in the late 80’s and early 90’s filled with ideas that celebrated female independence and ingenuity destined to make it even more accessible to teens who take the time to seek Drew out. A rare quality filled family picture with an impeccable characterization by Emma Roberts (niece of Julia) as our title heroine, Nancy Drew’s celebration of its girl sleuth may have even made Carolyn Keene proud.

Dans Paris

Translated Titles:
Inside Paris
or
In Paris
Director:
Christophe Honore

In my teens I fell in love with the French New Wave or more accurately the gorgeously inventive if admittedly pretentious cinema of what occurs to lovers after the “happily ever after” usually featuring intellectually snobbish, sad-eyed and soulful dreamers including Jean-Paul Belmondo or Jean-Pierre Leaud as they fall in and out of love with beguiling and maddeningly aloof women such as Anna Karina or Catherine Deneuve. With sweeping scores, jump-cuts, and nonlinear narratives, it’s the type of filmmaking audiences either love or hate but to love New Wave is to fall hard (both blindly and passionately) and New Wave fans are my favorite kind of film lovers.

However, when New Wave fans begin to direct, the results at times are mixed with the incredible Godard inspired Tarantinto masterwork Pulp Fiction to the disconcertingly uneven yet compulsively watchable Dans Paris from novelist and playwright turned writer/director Christophe Honore.

L’Auberge Espagnole star Romain Duris stars as Paul whose relationship with Anna ends after the two fall out of love and overwhelmingly depressed and near-suicidal, the gloomy Paul returns home to live in the apartment occupied by his father played by Guy Marchand (Cesar nominated for his role). Also living at home is the scene-stealer of Dans Paris who comes in the form of Paul's gorgeous, much younger brother Jonathan (The Dreamers star Louis Garrel) who spends his time attending class when he feels like it and others perpetually seducing women with such questioning lines as “Can I possibly kiss you? It’s a matter of life or death.”

With a running time of roughly ninety minutes, not a frame is wasted in the hands of Honore, who sets himself up as the New Wave’s most ardent and fanatic devotee with his painstaking homage to the movement that on one hand seems unspeakably pretentious but on the other helps breathe life into a story that, had it been told in a more traditional manner such as the increasingly depressing fare of American independent film, would have had audiences pressing eject after only a dozen minutes.

A hit in his native France, reaction to Honore’s Dans Paris or rather its influence from the New Wave forefathers had critics divided with The Hollywood Reporter dismissing it as “a greatest-hits collection of French cinema” with its references to Godard, Demy, Rivette, and Truffaut (although I would also add Lelouch and Chabrol to the list) and Manola Dargis of The New York Times assessing Honore as someone who “may be a student of the New Wave but he’s not a slave, and he steers clear of pastiche in this film precisely because he knows the difference between empty imitation and creative inspiration.” With Dargis overstating it and The Hollywood Reporter flippantly understating it, it’s up to the viewer to decide how the New Wave references play out. As far as I’m concerned, the result is in between the critical assessments for Honore’s above average work, which benefits tremendously from Garrel and especially Duris’ dynamic portrayals and for my money, any film that may make its viewers seek out New Wave classics deserves an A for effort any day of the week, even though I’d probably give Dans Paris a B.

Enchanted

Director:
Kevin Lima

Forget the Roomba. When it comes to cleaning apartments, would-be fairy tale princess Giselle (Amy Adams) sings the Oscar nominated “Happy Working Song” and her mellifluously melodic voice attracts animal friends from all around who help her wash dishes, scrub floors and make everything zestfully clean in two minutes flat. Although I confess it’s strange, in the films from Walt Disney Studios, the presence of animals that speak, dance, sew and make up a lovely young woman’s entourage is nothing new but it’s a sight mostly found in their beloved feature-length animated works like Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Little Mermaid. It’s a different proposition altogether when we see live action vermin and mosquitoes flee from New York City’s Central Park only to appear in the posh apartment of divorce attorney Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey) yet that’s just one of many scenes of inventive hilarity in Disney’s best “princess” film in ages, director Kevin Lima’s Enchanted.

Beginning with a full ten minute animated sequence, the viewer is thrust into familiar territory as we meet the fair animated maiden Giselle (still voiced by Adams) who, on the day of her wedding to Prince Edward (James Marsden) is tricked by Edward’s evil mother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) into banishment as she plummets from the kingdom of Andalasia only to find herself climbing up from the sewer into modern day Time Square. Convinced that it’s only a matter of time before her prince will come, Giselle sets off looking for help and finds unlikely and mostly unwilling assistance in the form of handsome Robert Philip, who, about to venture into an unromantic engagement with the kind but bland Nancy Tremaine (Idina Menzel) is prodded into rescuing Giselle by his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey).

Filled with lots of Dinsey in-jokes and references to the history of the animated division of the studio along with giving three actresses who voiced princesses in the past cameos in the film (Jodi Benson’s Ariel, Paige O’Hara’s Belle, and Judy Kuhn’s Pocahontas), the delightful and surprisingly engaging Enchanted managed to hook me soon after the live action sequence began, thanks to the creative script from Bill Kelly who wrote the similarly themed Blast from the Past. However, most of the film's charm comes from the unceasingly talented Adams who, with her variety of excellent performances in the past two years, has the makings of becoming one of our top leading ladies. The film’s soundtrack featuring lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and music by Alan Menken received two additional nominations for original song for the tracks “So Close” and “That’s How You Know” and Enchanted also earned recognition by the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards as the Best Live Action Family Film of last year.

Romance & Cigarettes

Director: John Turturro

“There’s a lot of things in this pothole of a life that don’t make sense,” Nick Murder (James Gandolfini) tells his youngest daughter Baby (Mandy Moore) in writer/director John Turturro’s self-described “down and dirty musical love story,” produced by Joel and Ethan Coen, Romance & Cigarettes. Turturro originally had the first inklings of an idea for the film in the 1980’s before beginning to write it when portraying a struggling screenwriter himself in the 90’s in the Coens' Barton Fink and, after directing his two earliest pictures Mac and Illuminata, Turturro finally got the chance to bring this startlingly sexual, overwhelmingly crude, yet undeniably original musical to life.

Despite the production being postponed for nearly two years due to James Gandolfini’s commitment to the HBO series The Sopranos, Turturro spent those years securing the rights to the songs he’d chosen (IMDb) for his trashy firecracker salute to musicals that told the story of blue collar ironworker Nick Murder whose dressmaking wife Kitty (Susan Sarandon) discovers he’s been betraying her as well as bailing on his duty to his three daughters (Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker, and Aida Turturro) by having an affair with the sultry, British, lingerie-selling redheaded harlot Tula (Kate Winslet).

Now dubbed a “whoremaster” by his betrayed wife who runs to church to take her frustration out with a stirring rendition of “Piece of My Heart” along with Eddie Izzard and the rest of the choir, Nick is relegated to the fact that according to him “marriage is combat” and he must fend for himself opposite his wife’s army (the three daughters) even if it means that Kitty will no longer be preparing his dinner. Nick ends up going to extremes to satisfy his "mistress in heat" Tula who we’re introduced to in a laughably over-the-top fire sequence and as Winslet plays the part (visibly having a ball), Tula is a woman whose dialogue is completely made up of foul lines that get even more shocking as she continues on and soon we realize that the relationship isn’t going to last even before she confesses that she “loses interest in a man as soon as he begins to care" about her. However, Turturro’s film busily occupies itself as a musical comedy of “remarriage” as Nick fights to try and win back his wife, who, meanwhile has been fantasizing about her first love Aidan Quinn and seeking revenge on the cheating Nick by conducting her own investigation along with her dangerous cousin Bo (Christopher Walken).

Despite a four star review from Roger Ebert, this Golden Lion nominee from the 2005 Venice Film Festival was labeled “loud and pointlessly crude,” by The Hollywood Reporter’s Ray Bennett (9/7/05) who cleverly summed up Romance & Cigarettes with the observation that “it looks more like something that might have been made by Jesus Quintana, the wild man of the bowling alley he [Turturro] played in The Big Lewbowski.” Definitely film fodder for an acquired taste, I found myself mostly disgusted by the cinematic train-wreck created by the indisputably talented writer/director and cast, even though admittedly it was oddly compelling at times. Ultimately, Romance & Cigarettes is an unnecessarily lewd offering that never failed to inspire genuine interest in the characters who populate each frame other than the initial involuntary shock that forced viewers to pay attention similar to the way that we can’t help but stare at a fire or traffic accident, terrified and drawn in by the twisted beauty but all the while hoping that everyone gets out in one piece.

The Band's Visit

Director: Eran Kolirin

Recently, there’s been much discussion and press regarding the historic cultural exchange that found New York’s world renowned Philharmonic Orchestra traveling to North Korea to play for the country’s most powerful and privileged. Although the number of negative aspects to that controversial decision seemed to outweigh the positives as evidenced on the nightly news, heroic Madeleine Albright said it best when she appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and explained that it is a positive thing because it opens up a cultural exchange and may be the start of a better relationship between the countries. With culture, perhaps, comes the idea of universality and recognition that despite our differences, we are more alike than one thinks so in the spirit of culture or music more specifically tearing down walls to overcome clashes of countries, we have the most surprisingly touching and funny foreign film of last year with Israel’s The Band’s Visit.

In a film my mother repeatedly described as “precious” until I realized that that is undoubtedly the correct word, television director Eran Kolirin makes his feature film debut with this foreign gem about eight members of the small Egyptian police band the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra who leave their native country to journey to Israel where they have been invited to play at an inaugural celebration for a new Arab Arts Center, only to find after a bus leaves them in the middle of nowhere that due to a pronunciation and spelling miscommunication, they’ve showed up in the wrong town. With their light blue long sleeved formal uniforms standing out in the beige, expansive desert, visually they seem as separate as can be until the group makes the acquaintance of a beautiful restaurant employee named Dina (Ronit Elkabetz), who, along with her coworker decide to take the men in for the night of food, shelter, and conversation until they can catch the next bus the next day.

Gentle, sweetly touching and witty, the film sneaks up on viewers similar to The Station Agent in showing how seemingly opposite individuals can find themselves bonding with people at whom they may never have given a second glance. As we follow the men through the night, we become particularly drawn in by the stories of the band leader Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai) who forms an unlikely bond with his lovely hostess and the charmingly mischievous, handsome ladies man (Saleh Bakri) who tags along on an awkward double date, only to branch out from his usual pickup line of “Do you like Chet Baker?” by assisting a young man in overcoming his shyness around women.

Winner of Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as well as grand prizes in Munich, Tokyo, Zurich and other countries including earning the awards in every single major category of Israel’s Film Academy Awards, The Band’s Visit was the country’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Academy Award but was disqualified when it was discovered that more than 50% of the picture had English language dialogue. While it was unfortunately denied a greater and much needed introduction to American audiences through the Oscars on a technicality, hopefully those who enjoy finding obscure critically acclaimed and award winning films will be sure to seek out The Band’s Visit for their own personal cultural exchange.

Drillbit Taylor

Director: Steven Brill

Although the screenplay is credited to writers Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) and Kristofor Brown, the story for the newest offering from producer Judd Apatow was also credited to Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles writer/director John Hughes, who using the pseudonym of Edmond Dantes collaborated on this surprisingly cute offering from director Steven Brill. After having penned the three Mighty Ducks films before moving on to direct the uneven Adam Sandler comedies Little Nicky and Mr. Deeds, Brill does a great job of navigating Rogen and Brown’s alternately funny and heartfelt comedy about the horrors of high school that finds a trio of bullied kids looking to hire a bodyguard on the cheap to protect them from the daily beatings and humiliations they’ve come to expect in the hallways, bathrooms and grounds of their high school.

Eager to make an impression, adorably scrawny and insecure Wade (Nate Hartley) who struggles against his hyper masculine stepfather and brawny stepbrothers at home, decides that he wants nothing more than to be popular and obtain a girlfriend in his high school and he begins plotting out his proactive strategy with fellow geek Ryan (Troy Gentile), an overweight student with a passion for rap who has decided that he will go by the "lady-friendly" nickname of T-Dog. Unfortunately, the two make the spontaneously disastrous decision to wear the same shirt on the first day of school and after Wade intervenes in trying to stop two horrifying bullies from shoving young, small Emmit (David Dorfman) into a locker, they’ve not only inherited a new sidekick in Broadway t-shirt wearing Emmit (fond of Cats and Rent) but also in becoming the frequent targets of the merciless duo of villains that seem to allude the awareness of the clueless school faculty including their principal (Stephen Root). When desperation leads them to outsource protection, homeless army veteran and full time schemer Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson) arrives on the scene first with the intention of swindling the boys to earn enough cash to go to his desired destination of Canada who begins to realize he may be actually starting to care for the three lads, not to mention their gorgeous English teacher Lisa (Leslie Mann).

Although some of the dialogue and the violence near the end of the film felt a bit like overkill, I found myself surprised by the fact that I enjoyed the innocuous Taylor far more than I thought I would, despite being the first to admit that it falls into numerous films of the same underdog paradigm of most of the frat pack comedies of Will Ferrell and company over the last few years by Apatow but also the same Curly Sue, Home Alone and Ferris Bueller anti-authority works of the ever-talented Hughes as well. While the previews make the film appear that it’s Wilson’s show all the way and that the success of Drillbit Taylor depends solely on Wilson, similar to the way his films like You, Me and Dupree were marketed, the three young stars all manage to not only steal our hearts but also remind us of the dangers of high school and burden of bullies that overwhelmed us in our own educational career… that is, unless you were the ones doing the terrorizing.

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With

Director:
Jeff Garlin

In order to get out of yet another physical education requirement in college, I halfheartedly signed up for the most convenient health class that would fit into my schedule. Enrolled in Foods and Nutrition, I found myself growing even hungrier day by day as our obsessive teacher railed against the perils of entrees overflowing with fat and sugar and like a preacher, going off on tangents including only one I still remember to this day which is her belief that in order to solve America’s obesity problem, we should find a way to stop emotionalizing food. From comfort food, to chocolates on Valentine’s Day, to cookies at Christmas, to countless dinners on first dates, she warned that as long as we made food a part of a bonding ritual to get closer to another person, we were going to grow larger. While on one hand, she may have had a point, on the other, despite the discomfort most of us feel about the nerve-racking first date dinner audition, she failed to recognize that not only is getting to know someone fun but in doing so, sometimes it’s nice to share food as well or as Curb Your Enthusiasm star Jeff Garlin put it in his newest film, sometimes we just want someone to eat cheese with.

Part Italian, I’m a cheese lover from way back whether it is cooked into dishes like ziti or piled onto pizza, the title instantly attracted me and after watching the entire movie, I can happily say that the charms of the entire film go way beyond its cute title. Previously known to me as Jeff, one of my favorite Curb characters who as Larry David’s agent/loyal sidekick has a laid back manner and willingness to go along with whatever ridiculous situation the two find themselves in, no questions asked, Garlin makes us forget that more scheming character within minutes of Cheese but keeps one important trait and that is his willingness to let others shine and go along with the given situation. Possibly indicative of his own background working on Second City, Garlin’s character James may be our main character but is consistently upstaged by the rest of the cast. However, he’s the heart of our film as, in an update of the classic Oscar winning Marty, to which Cheese makes several references, we follow the thirty-nine year old struggling actor who works on Second City while looking for his big break, living with his mother (Mina Kolb) and trying to meet a nice woman.

Overweight and frustrated, James is the type of character who would’ve driven my Nutrition professor nuts with his nightly ritual of going to the local mom and pop market to buy snacks filled with sugar and fat such as his beloved rice pudding from a shopkeeper who, like a bartender to an alcoholic, always wants to cut him off. Prone to leaving his Overeaters Anonymous meeting (of which he is the only male) during the final silent meditation and hanging around with his scene-stealing best friend Luca (David Pasquesi), things begin looking up for James when he meets the wacky, hot, ice cream server Beth (Sarah Silverman) who teases James with ice cream delights and a trip lingerie shopping as they embark on an awkward courtship. While Silverman’s Beth is arguably the most enticing yet maddeningly odd girl James has probably ever come into contact with, he also meets cute with Stella, a like-minded jazz fan and teacher (Bonnie Hunt), who may be better suited to the self-loathing James.

Far from having everything work out in a predictable manner, the freewheeling Cheese, although written by its star Garlin, feels refreshingly improvised and inspiringly natural in even the most ridiculous situations and not only will it make Garlin’s Curb fans look at him in a new light but it’s also great date fare for those of us who, like James are also looking for someone to eat cheese with. And as Larry David might say, that’s “pretty, pretty, pretty good” indeed.

Caramel

Director:
Nadine Labaki

Delightful, surprising foreign sleeper from first time director Nadine Labaki finds the filmmaker doing triple duty as a co-writer and the enchanting lead of the Roadside Attractions release Caramel. An official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as Lebanon’s cinematic submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Academy Awards, Labaki takes what in another’s hands may have been a typical chick flick set up of five Lebanese women who live and work in or around a beauty salon in Beirut and turns it into a charming, bittersweet tale of love, self-discovery and gender equality without once getting sappy or falling into a stereotypical “you go girl” paradigm.

Labaki stars as the gorgeous Layale, a single beautician famous for her caramel waxes that keep her Beirut clients smooth and hair-free who finds her own life tangled up by her devotion to her married lover that seems all the more magnified when contrasted by her engaged best friend and coworker Nisrine (Yasmine Elmasri) as they approach Nisrine’s nuptials. Rounding out the group is the shy and loyal Rima (Joanna Moukarzel) who unexpectedly forms a romantic attachment to a stunning client as they bond over sensuous hair-washing, the aging, struggling actress Jamale (Gisele Aouad) who fights against time to stay young and perky to compete with unrealistic standards of beauty in her profession and feel worthy as a woman, as well as the women’s seamstress neighbor Rose (Sihame Haddad) who, after years of taking care of her senile elder sister Lili (Aziza Semaan) finds herself faced with a last chance for love.

Likably engrossing as well as alternately sweet and heartbreaking, Labaki’s Caramel offers a brilliant showcase for its multitalented writer/helmer/performer and also serves as a much needed cinematic offering to women around the globe who, given the last overwhelmingly testosterone fueled year at the movies, deserved something intelligent and refreshing and something that-- similar to the experience clients have when leaving Layale and Nisrine’s salon-- of feeling beautiful and valuable for themselves as women of worth.

My Kid Could Paint That

Director: Amir Bar-Lev

What constitutes great art? Is modern and abstract art simply a joke on the viewer? If anyone could grab a brush and splatter drops of paint on a canvas, does that make the work of Jackson Pollock less valid?

It’s a conversation I’ve had many times before with others and it’s one of the major questions that run throughout documentarian Amir Bar-Lev’s fascinating portrait of four year old Marla Olmstead who, a painter since she sat on her dining room table in diapers with a brush in her hand, became one of the world’s most popular abstract artists before she even set foot into preschool.

Given Marla’s undeniable passion for painting, her loving dental assistant mother Laura and hobbyist painter/Frito-Lay employee father, Mark encouraged her in her efforts and were surprised when, after Marla’s work was on display in a local coffee shop, Marla garnered the admiration and support of local painter Anthony Brunelli who was so impressed by Marla that he staged a show for the artist in his gallery. A local journalist specializing in articles on kids and family covered the Olmsteads and after the local Binghamton, New York newspaper piece was picked up by The New York Times, a media feeding frenzy was born that went from adoration to suspicion and controversy when 60 Minutes planted a hidden camera inside the Olmstead’s residence that seemed to indicate that young Marla was being coached by her father.

Were Marla’s works fraudulent? If they’re beautiful, does it really matter who paints them? Filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev was given unprecedented access to the Olmsteads for a year and it was about halfway through his documentary on the quiet, gifted young artist when media accusations were born and suddenly his film became something different altogether when there were enough scenes, conversations and arguments to have not only the average viewer but Bar-Lev who, by that point, had gotten very close to his subjects question the validity of the artwork and fingers began pointing in the direction of Mark Olmstead.

As Jason Guerrasio wrote in “The Unseen Hand,” published in the Fall 2007 issue of Filmmaker Magazine, “Regardless of whether you walk away from… [the] film thinking Marla does the paintings on her own or not, what My Kid Could Paint That definitely demonstrates is that our culture is obsessed with putting people on a pedestal and then gleefully knocking them off at the moment their talents are in question.”

Compelling and sharp with a modest running time of only eighty-three fast paced minutes, My Kid Could Paint That is the type of film you’ll want to discuss endlessly with friends but unlike most films about art, Bar-Lev is compassionate and earnest in never letting us forget that at the heart of the entire situation is an unquestionably lovable and creative little girl, who has been thrust into the spotlight at far too young of an age by not only the media but her family as well.

Ira and Abby

Director: Robert Cary

A few hours after the psychiatrist he’s been seeing for twelve years tells him it’s time to end therapy since their “relationship” is no longer working, Ira Black (Chris Messina) decides to tour a health club on a whim. With four pages of questions thrust at him on a fluorescent clipboard, Ira sits and waits for his tour only to have his beautiful, free-spirited guide Abby Willoughby (Jennifer Westfeldt) arrive forty-five minutes late, snacking on French fries and advising him not to join the health club since she hates exercise herself. Hardly the right way to approach a possible commission, Ira is intrigued despite himself by her openness right off the bat and the two reach a level of intimacy that most of us struggle to attain with a potential mate fairly quickly and before he knows it, he’s revealing intimate problems such as his aversion to making decisions or finishing things. An aspiring psychologist who is unable to finish his dissertation, the two chat for roughly six hours before Abby asks him to analyze her. He does so and it’s a negative, sharply defined analysis yet one free of any pretentions or flattery to lure her into bed and surprised by his accuracy, Abby impulsively asks Ira to marry her and even more to his surprise, Ira finds himself accepting and thus begins one of the most adorable romantic comedies in recent memory.

Winner of the Best Feature and Actress Awards at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in addition to other accolades at festivals across the country, Kissing Jessica Stein writer/star Jennifer Westfeldt penned an even more irresistible romantic comedy with the indie sleeper Ira and Abby. Director Robert Cary’s movie is so likable that, like as Ebert said about Juno, you almost want to "hug" it as it sneaks up on viewers with the leads’ tangible chemistry and unaffected dialogue that will have us falling in love with the film just as quickly as Ira and Abby fall for each other.

With terrific supporting turns by Frances Conroy, Fred Willard, Robert Klein and Judith Light and an authenticity, intellectuality and spontaneity that elevates it far beyond most mainstream Hollywood fare, I’m hoping that Ira and Abby, like another similarly themed indie favorite Happy Accidents, will find a much larger audience on DVD.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Director: Bharat Nalluri

With arguably her best written role since her Oscar nominated character penned by Cameron Crowe in Almost Famous, talented actress Frances McDormand has a chance to show off her funny, passionate and protective side in this richly intelligent and fun offering that, like Famous, surprisingly had nothing to do with her multitalented husband Joel and brother-in-law Ethan Coen.

Based on Winifred Watson’s 1938 novel, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day stars McDormand as the unlucky and hardworking title character Guinevere Pettigrew who finds herself out of yet another job as a governess in pre World War II 1939 London. In an act of desperation, she picks up on a lead for employment in the home of Delysia Lafosse (a terrific Amy Adams) and soon realizes that instead of work as a governess, she has found herself the new social secretary for the American singer hoping for her big break. Needing Pettigrew to navigate her romantic life which is growing increasingly complicated by her entanglements with three very different men all with something enticing to offer such as employment, a big break and true love, Delysia bonds instantly with her new friend and the two women embark on a day filled with adventure, misunderstanding and great fun for the audience.

A delightful and old-fashioned work that feels like an Oscar Wilde or Noel Coward play, Pettigrew is not only photographed in rich colors of the period with set and costume design eye candy but also contains a plethora of performances that seem modeled after the screen stars of the 30’s, especially in the case of the fast talking, charming Adams who reminds viewers of Irene Dunne, Carole Lombard and Claudette Colbert. With a witty script by David Magee (Finding Neverland) and Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) and further evidence of the versatility of McDormand and Adams along with a star-making supporting turn from Lee Pace (who looks like Clive Owen’s adorable younger brother), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day may take place over a breakneck twenty-four hour period but pulls viewers along with the cast from stop to stop, never overstaying its welcome and continually leaving us with a smile on our face, just like the perfect companion.

City of Men

Director: Paulo Morelli

It’s said that the sins of the father eventually go to his son but it’s a trickier proposition when a person either doesn’t know who his own father is or has vague memories of a father who was killed when he was young and now must face his own identity as a father to his baby boy. In director Paulo Morelli’s cinematic follow-up to Fernando Meirelles’s masterpiece City of God, the two main characters find themselves in exactly these situations as they turn eighteen. After losing his son at a young age, Ace (Douglas Silva) realizes he must try and make amends to ensure that his son Clayton doesn’t grow up to repeat his mistakes coming-of-age without male guidance but barely able to take care of himself or his equally young wife, Ace struggles with responsibility and priority when he’s enlisted by his best friend Wallace (Darlan Cunha) to track down the father he’s never met in order to secure his identity and get a needed signature on his eighteen year old identification card.

Like City of God, City of Men, which is based on the critically acclaimed Brazilian television series recently released in the states on both DVD and through the Sundance Channel, is set in the low class slums of Rio de Janeiro although while God was set in the past, Men’s action takes place today as the children of their community hill align themselves with a local gang leader and are willing to take up arms and risk their lives to fight local gangs over territory. Although one doesn’t necessarily have to see City of God in order to appreciate its far more linear follow-up with an emphasis on sentimentality and a cleaner narrative than its flashier, edgier, father God, it’s fascinating to view it with the first grand scale work fresh in one's mind.

Although Men feels like an ideal companion piece to the first film, however despite some similarities in style and crew behind and in front of the camera, Men is a more audience friendly picture that will be able to attract those who may have run for the exits from the brutality and horror of the first film. Although, Men comes with a few contrivances and one predictable twist near the end, which reminded me that it was missing the impact of the first picture which, in its much louder way offered up a truer sense of the beating heart of Rio and one less carefully and deliberately presented to filmgoers as this more accessible work. However, this being said, it’s a great, great film in its own right and one that feels, similar to God years earlier, like the perfect antidote to the mindless and numb Hollywood manufactured orgies of violence and gore by never letting us forget that we’re not looking at just bored teens who turn to violence to titillate or shock, but teens who grew up with absolutely nothing and must find a way to fight to survive, to make tough choices and more importantly, discover how to take the lessons or lack thereof they learned from their fathers and apply them to the next generation.

Sleepwalking

Director: William Maher

Returning to the same bleak and gritty territory she explored in works such as In the Valley of Elah, North Country and Monster, Charlize Theron proves her devotion to indie sleepers with her involvement as both a supporting actress and producer on Sleepwalking. An Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival and a feature debut for former assistant director William Maher and his former Chumscrubber colleague (writer Zac Stanford), Theron stars as Joleen, an irresponsible, unlucky, self-involved and promiscuous mother who, after her live-in boyfriend is arrested for growing marijuana, packs up her belongings and brings her eleven year old daughter Tara (AnnaSophia Robb) to stay with her younger brother James (Nick Stahl).

After a one-night stand with a trucker, Joleen impulsively leaves, abandoning her daughter with her clueless brother and a vague letter explaining that she’ll be back in a month in time for Tara’s birthday. Barely able to take care of himself and without a driver’s license, James struggles with his newfound responsibility and it isn’t long before he loses his job, apartment and social services starts calling until he and Tara ultimately decide to go off on their own. While my summary ends there, the film’s marketing campaign wasn’t quite that tactful, saddling Sleepwalking with one of the most wholly revealing film trailers in recent memory. From only one viewing, I’d venture to guess that 99.9% of the viewers will be able to predict the entire plot in detail so this being said, if you have any desire to see Sleepwalking, avoid the preview like the plague.

With fine support from character actors Woody Harrelson (the film’s sole comic relief) and a chilling, one-note Dennis Hopper who seems to be, at this point, playing a Dennis Hopper stereotypical baddie, the film is filled with the typical depression and purposely dirty, ugly and gray cinematography to superfluously establish the tone. In a sea of endlessly depressing indie works, Sleepwalking rates about average and the film's simplistic feel makes one realize that it may have been more successful as a work of fiction. While not as good as the aforementioned Theron films or nearly as brilliant as Nick Stahl’s similarly themed picture In the Bedroom, it provides Stahl with an even greater opportunity than his brief role in Bedroom to show his impressive range and although it’s hard to relate to any of the characters in the film, the viewers (just like the characters of Joleen and Tara) tend to put their trust in him and are lucky that their belief is largely justified… even if I can’t say the same for the film.

Finishing the Game

Complete Title:

Finishing the Game:
The Search for a New Bruce Lee

Director: Justin Lin

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from film school or more correctly, dating fellow film students, it’s to beware of aspiring male directors who compare themselves to Eisenstein and Godard, especially when they’re the son of a studio president only given a shot because of nepotism and for their first project are deciding to finish what some say would have been Bruce Lee’s Gone With the Wind-- his uncompleted final film, The Game of Death. Yet that’s exactly the type of director we meet just moments into Better Luck Tomorrow director Justin Lin’s largely uneven yet mostly hilarious 70’s mockumentary that begins after we learn that just twelve minutes of Game of Death had been shot with Lee wearing that legendary yellow costume (made famous by Uma and Quentin in Kill Bill) before the master’s untimely death at the tender age of 32. Instead of honoring his memory and the beloved films Lee had finished, the studio decides that it’s time to exploit the legend and set about finishing Game of Death by searching for a new Bruce Lee stand in to sort of photograph him wandering and possibly getting into a few fights in order to pad the running time and sell lots of tickets.

Ronny Kurtainbaum (Joake Sanvig), a temperamental young director just coming out of adolescence himself without a cinematic clue save for his references to foreign greats, aligns himself with veteran casting agent Eloise (the hilarious frequent scene-stealer Meredith Scott Lynn) in weeding out the potential Lee substitutes from the overwhelming number of turnouts at the cattle call. Among the frontrunners are Roger Fan’s Breeze Loo, a Bruce Lee styled B movie actor who swears that acting is only in the eyes and that actors shouldn’t demean themselves to stage-fighting when there’s stuntmen to be hired, gorgeous and young Cole Kim (Sung Kang) who, along with his domineering Columbian girlfriend turned agent ventured out from racist Alabama to try and launch Cole’s career. Rounding out the pack is a 100% Caucasian looking Tarrick (McCaleb Burnett) who calls himself half Chinese and feels like he has the greatest shot since he’s sleeping with the casting director’s assistant, Indian Raja (Mousa Kraish) who became a doctor just to follow through on a promise to his dying mother only to give it up to become an actor once he’s an official M.D., and many others including a former TV actor turned vacuum salesman and a Oscar winner from New Zealand.

Filmed in a grainy 70’s style color palette with an emphasis on orange and yellow and a belief that gaudier is funnier (which, in this case, it mostly is), Lin’s likable, innocuous comedy was an Official Selection at Sundance and thankfully reunites the talented director with excellent material such as his terrific directorial effort Better Luck Tomorrow before he moved to more commercial fare such as Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Fun and original, co-writers Lin and his colleague Josh Diamond layer their script with the belief that-- similar to an early Woody Allen making films in the era in which they are shooting-- pouring on the jokes and ridiculous situations is the key to entertainment do in fact hit much more than they miss, even when some of the outrageous comedy of the beginning starts turning repetitive later on (inevitable for the format). Despite this, Finishing the Game has enough hilarity that you may find yourselves wanting to watch it twice just to pick up on or re-experience all of the mockdocumentary's jokes. And while those familiar with Lee’s story know that this isn’t the crew who would end up taking over Game of Death, Lin and Diamond manage to get across some deft points about Asian stereotypes and the film business that elevate the work from simply being an irreverent time waster to a comedy that sometimes culls us laughs from truth.

Day Zero

Director: Brian Gunnar Cole

“It’s our turn, guys. It’s only fair,” James Dixon (Jon Bernthal) reasons to his two best friends only a few scenes into director Brian Gunnar Cole’s feature film debut. In trying to air on the side of logic and patriotic duty, James argues the positive of the situation that finds the three friends all summoned for service in the American military from a reinstated draft that had lured sixteen million men into the armed forces from World War I through Vietnam before its suspension. Now, set in the near distant future of a world not only hit hard from the attacks of 9/11 but another lethal fictitious attack on Los Angeles, the draft has been made active again. According to the film, the draft coincides with our war on terror overseas growing much larger, encompassing other countries and the unfortunate need for an estimated twenty-five thousand additional troops is discussed on the radio has hopefully been satisfied by increasing the maximum draftable age to thirty-five years old, not only recruiting just college age men but leaders in corporate America as well.

While cab driver James Dixon eagerly looks forward to follow in the long line of soldiers in his family before he falls in love with a sociology graduate student (Elisabeth Moss), the timing couldn’t be worse for his two friends, neurotic writer Aaron Feller (Elijah Wood) halfway through his follow up book to his first successful work and married lawyer George Rifkin (Chris Klein) who has just been made partner of his firm and also can’t bear the thought of being away from his loving cancer survivor wife Molly (Ginnifer Goodwin) who’s recently made it to her five year disease free status. George’s actions to try and find a loophole out of the contract with Uncle Sam and Aaron’s increasingly erratic behavior after his indifferent therapist (Ally Sheedy) inspires him to create and carry out the items of a top ten list send him chasing down new experiences such as skydiving to far riskier fare, further alienate Dixon from his friends. Although, it seems illogical that three very different characters would remain this close for years and at times their actions seem far too contrived to believe and instead feel like they're just hitting some required notes in the “soldier movie” cliché list, it’s a compelling film made all the more timely given our fears of what kind of global climate has been evolving since we invaded Iraq.

While we’re always riveted by Klein and especially the fiery and passionate Bernthal, ultimately it is veteran actor Wood who is given the most highly unbelievable role of the film as a young man whose actions defy common sense as he begins to lose his grip of reality far too quickly. Adding insult to injury, the ultimately vague and perfunctory conclusion feels like a cheat to audiences who’ve invested time and emotion in the tale and it seems that director Cole and writer Robert Malkani quit filming about one or two vital minutes too early, as a more decisive action by one of the two characters we see in the final sequence would’ve had a greater impact than it’s passive blink-and-you-missed-it conclusion. For a better film about the moral quandaries of fighting our current war, look for Kimberly Peirce’s Stop Loss coming to theatres in a few weeks but Cole and Malkani at least receive admirable points for effort and intention for a work that, although uneven, never fails to make us think.

Slipstream

Director: Anthony Hopkins

“I perceive life as a game, a game that we play at some unconscious level,” Anthony Hopkins explained to journalist Scott Macaulay in the Fall 2007 Filmmaker Magazine article “The Hollywood Life” which chronicled his latest experimental puzzler Slipstream from its birth as a stream-of-consciousness screenplay to its wild shoot and inventive post-production that found Oscar winning Anthony Hopkins both in front of the camera and behind it serving as the writer/director/star and film score composer as well.

While the film, which explores “the strange nature of time” is a wild opus purposely created to “annoy the audience” as the actor explained may be his own version of a game, the question then becomes in asking whether or not viewers will want to take part as, like Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, 8 & ½ and Last Year in Marienbad, it infuriates its audience with constant shifts in plot, character, and text that continually build on itself until we realize that it’s a film within a film within a film just like our main character, the “film’s” screenwriter Felix Bonhoeffer (Hopkins) is, as Vince Vaughn may have said in Swingers, the guy behind the guy behind the guy. Although Felix is perceived to be a main character, the film focuses instead on several others as the movie begins and we meet Michael Clarke Duncan as a bouncer of sorts and two villains played by Jeffrey Tambor and Christian Slater who decide to hold up a diner, not for any monetary gain, but just for the sake of menace as Tambor and Slater ramble out an increasingly crazy story about the 50’s film Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Slater’s typical Jack Nicholson styled cadence becomes far more frightening with each passing minute. Then, as soon as we’re beginning to grasp this nonsensical storyline, a “cut” is yelled and we’re taken behind the scenes of a sloppy film shoot in the desert that will soon find one actor dead and the rest all struggling to figure out how that will affect the film, with studio head John Turturro (given a majority of the picture’s best lines) arriving on the scene like a domineering madman.

Filled with Hollywood in-jokes as Turturro’s character named Harvey seems on some level to be a nod to the controversial tactics and persona of former Miramax head Harvey Weinstein, an off-screen phone call from “Dino” (De Laurentis) about casting Hopkins in Hannibal 4 as long as the price is right and a joke about films being cheesy dreams that can find Huckleberry Finn fishing on the moon similar to the image used as the Dreamworks logo. In addition, Hopkins casts his wife and the film’s producer Stella Arroyave as Gina, the wife of his character Felix and soon the film morphs from an Altman styled Player satire of the film business into one concerned with the past and of how characters came to be where they are in the face of their own mortality.

While an indisputable vanity project and one that will have most viewers reaching for the eject button within the first half an hour, it’s still an artistically imaginative ride for those willing to participate and while it’s nowhere near as effective as the films its emulating such as Marienbad or as I began to feel, literature from Kafka or Calvino, it’s of particular interest to film students who appreciate the amount of work that goes into experimental filmmaking and even more, the amount of dedication and artistry from those involved. Instead of being Hopkins’s film all the way, in the end, the real star of Slipstream and the one responsible for a large majority of its moderate success as a valuable work is the courageous editor Michael Miller who not only respected Hopkins’ vision but also added a dazzling sense of style to the picture giving it a feeling of more depth at times than it actually deserves in the process.

English as a Second Language

Alternate Title: ESL
Director: Youssef Delara

In all this talk about illegal immigrants coming across the border into the United States, sometimes we have a tendency to speak abstractly, to use our sociological background to place large quantities of individuals into a group, and to not only forget that every person is a human being but also to consider what life in America is like for those who crossed legally and who may be growing up as second generation immigrants.

In Youssef Delara’s daring feature English as a Second Language, we meet two very different immigrants in the form of Bolivar De La Cruz (Kuno Becker), an illegal immigrant who crosses in to earn much needed income to support his pregnant wife and Lola Sara (Danielle Camastra), a talented student who spends her nights escaping into nightclubs and one-night stands, struggling to find a balance between her own needs and goals as a second generation immigrant with those of her parents. Maria Conchita Alonso turns in one of the film’s finest performances as Lola’s domineering “old-world” mother who, still bitter at all she’d sacrificed to raise her daughter, finds herself resenting Lola’s independence and free-spirit and wants her daughter to meet the expectations she has in putting family first by becoming prominent, successful and wealthy.

After Lola and Bolivar literally crash into one another in an auto accident and Lola must complete community service to make amends for driving while intoxicated, they reunite in a classroom setting with Lola assistant teaching English as a Second Language in East Los Angeles to a roomful of students (including Bolivar) who realize that in order to secure any kind of employment or get ahead, they must learn the language of their adopted homeland. The film takes an even darker turn as the handsome Bolivar catches the eye of a manipulative actor and nightclub owner Norman Benjamin (John Michael Higgins) who recruits the young man to be a strip dancer for his amoral, greedy clientele. While everything begins to coincide in a rather melodramatic middle section that results in a slightly predictable conclusion, overall, ESL is compelling stuff and earned the film as well as director Delara countless accolades from festivals across America including honors at Newport Beach Film Festival for Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking among others. While it’s Lola who is arguably set up to be the most relatable character for American audiences as she’s the one who was raised on our soil, the film’s heart belongs to Bolivar and Kuno Becker’s mesmerizing portrayal is sure to impress those who get a chance to track the film down, now that it’s been made available by Slamdance on DVD.

3/13 Updates

There have been nine new additions to the Articles Library on our website.

Alfonso Arau & Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate-- Utilizing the essay format, I analyze Alfonso Arau's directorial adaptation of wife Laura Esquivel's novel Like Water for Chocolate as a successful cinematic work of magic realism while also interweaving the ways it handles family duty, gender roles, and romantic love. *contains spoilers*

Alfonso Cuaron's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban-- After studying the first five films in the series in the Harry Potter Film Guide linked to below, I evaluate Cuaron's successful adaptation of the third novel with a main focus on shot choice and cinematic technique in augmenting J.K. Rowling's source material. *contains spoilers*

Alfred Hitchcock's Cinematically Coiled Rope-- Critical essay exploring Hitchcock's own statements regarding his experimental film Rope, along with the reactions of cinematic historians and scholars. *contains spoilers*

The Big Score: The Killing, Reservoir Dogs and Heist-- Brief critical study of Film Noir heist movies beginning with Stanley Kubrick's influential masterpiece, The Killing and leading up to Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and David Mamet's Heist. *contains spoilers*

Deepa Mehta's The Republic of Love-- With strict attention to detail, this essay compares and contrasts the novel The Republic of Love by Pulitzer-Prize Winner Carol Shields with the 2003 cinematic version from acclaimed filmmaker Deepa Mehta. *contains spoilers*

Doppelgangers and Dreamscapes: The Cinema of David Lynch (Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive)-- Investigation of writer/director David Lynch's two most critically lauded films with inclusion of various viewpoints and commentary by film scholars regarding both Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. *contains spoilers*

"I Like the Way You Talk." Sling Blade as Noir-- Investigating new critical approaches to Billy Bob Thornton's Sling Blade as both a work inspired by Film Noir and one that is also considered an outstanding and sensitive cinematic representation of disability. *contains spoilers*

Steven Soderbergh: Generation Indie on Videotape-- Chronicling the independent film boom of the 1980's, this article investigates sex, lies, and videotape as arguably the most important and definitive film of Generation X in marking the change from the 1980's Me Generation to the Why Me Generation of the 1990's. *contains spoilers*

"Where Is My Mind?" Chaucer's "Unreliable Narrator" Goes Neo-Noir (The Usual Suspects, Fight Club and Memento)-- By taking a look at three Neo-Noir puzzle films, this article charts the success of each work's evolution of Chaucer's "Unreliable Narrator" and the quality and critical reception of the Singer's Usual Suspects, Fincher's Fight Club and Nolan's Memento. *contains spoilers*

For more articles on directors including Cassavetes, Truffaut, Jarmusch, S. Coppola, Ashby, Kar-wai, and Allen and topics as diverse as Jane Austen films and 1950's westerns, click here to explore the entire list.

Results: The Poll Was Bond, James Bond

We don't need Moneypenny to figure this one out.

Question:
Who is your favorite James Bond?

Results:
Sean Connery (36%)
Roger Moore (26%)
Pierce Brosnan (21%)
Daniel Craig (14%)
George Lazenby & Timothy Dalton (0%)


While I was pretty sure the results would favor Connery, the original Bond from the first film in the series (Dr. No), I was surprised by just how close the race was for most of the two weeks between Connery and Moore. Moore, who we learned has quite an overseas following in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (in one of the film's funniest scenes with Murray doing his best Moore poses) ended up with nearly the same amount of votes as 90's favorite Pierce Brosnan. It was very impressive to see our newest Bond Daniel Craig rank so highly in the hearts of viewers as I felt that Casino Royale was the strongest entry in the series so far, thereby kicking my old favorite Goldfinger out of the top spot. While I enjoyed Moore's films consistently more than those of any of the other actors, Connery's convincing characterization always seemed like the quintessential Bond (despite my aversion to the similarity between some of Bond's beliefs and Connery's regarding women) and, although I didn't think they were horrible, it was still amazing to see that Lazenby and Dalton didn't garner a single vote.

Our next poll takes us back to the Brat Pack 80's where we're asking you to choose which Breakfast Club star is most deserving of a comeback. And, staying true to the oeuvre of John Hughes, we're only going with the students and leaving the adults with a wardrobe like Barry Manilow's out of the survey. Enjoy!

Into the Wild

Director:
Sean Penn

It almost seems like it’s a prerequisite for becoming an adult but most people I’ve talked with have had a similar feeling of restlessness following graduation when, after years of raising one’s hand and waiting for a hall pass to leave the room, there’s the unmistakable urge to break free, to wander, to explore, to see beauty in nature, and to stop worrying about the clock on the wall. For me it followed high school when my friend Shelley introduced me to Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan and I felt a sense of wonder I hadn’t encountered since I’d first read Steinbeck and Fitzgerald—a hopeful sense of idealism, an unquestioning love for the idea of the American dream, and an overwhelming sense of wanting to get out and see the gorgeous landscapes and talk to people just as people and not as clips on the news categorized into whatever stereotype the network has decided to spin that day.

While my destination of Arizona ended up becoming my new home after a traditional visit, I admit that, as bizarre and illogical as it is, there is something undeniably intoxicating about the journey that Christopher McCandless took following his graduation from Emory University in 1990. Even though, those familiar with the resulting novel by Jon Krakauer or from the media coverage, knew that his story ended tragically inside that Magic Bus in the Alaskan wilderness, there’s a haunting indescribable joy mixed with dread and sadness that comes from watching his tale realized on the big screen by a compassionate filmmaker in actor turned writer/director Sean Penn.

Penn, who’d wanted to make the film for more than ten years and originally had envisioned Leonardo DiCaprio in the role, waited for official permission and approval from the McCandless family according to IMDb and I think that the film benefits not only from the space in time from the day that Christopher fled Atlanta in his Datsun but also from Penn’s maturity and growth as an artist in his own right as I recall the multitude of characters, performances, directorial efforts and choices he’s made over the last ten years as well.

After only a few moments of watching actor Emile Hirsch disappear into the role of Christopher in a career making effort, it seems to be an absolute crime that he was denied a Best Actor nomination from the 2007 Oscar season. A gifted student with the promise of an even brighter future at Harvard Law School, Christopher makes a choice that seems to shock everyone but his loving sister Carine (Jena Malone) when he donates his professional school fund of $24,000 to Oxfam, uses a scissors to cut up his credit cards and identification and burns his social security card in an act of defiance before taking to the road. Inspired by his beloved books by Thoreau and London, Chris heads west until his car fails him in the unforgiving Arizona desert and begins to "hoof it," now as what hippies would later dub him in his role as a “leather-tramp.” Fitting to his newly dubbed name of Alexander Supertramp, the film, divided into chapters that illustrate his new life from birth, to adolescence, manhood etc. follows Chris/Alex as he meets some people who would become like a second family to him on the road including a terrific Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker as hippies Jan and Rainey, a memorable Vince Vaughn as his farming boss in South Dakota whom he writes postcards to regularly throughout the film and countless others while his sister and parents (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) must contend with his absence without any explanation, save for the flashbacks showing a rather tumultuous upbringing with some abuse, rage and lies. In a truly heartbreaking and Oscar nominated role, Hal Holbrook plays a retired military veteran with a tragic past who grandfatherly looks after Chris before he ultimately heads north for his true destination of Alaska.

Soon the film, which has intercut his past travels for two years before making it to the bus which would be his final destination, meets up in the same timeline and it careens towards its chilling and desperate finale—yet there’s a beauty and a quiet to these moments that recall the wonder and innocent joy of the earlier work that keeps things bearable, despite viewers' underlying sense of dread.

Gorgeously photographed on the exact locations from the life of Chris McCandless with an unrecognizable Hirsch who, in his brave role lost not only forty pounds but also used no doubles or stuntmen in even the most dangerous of situations, it’s Penn’s greatest directorial achievement so far and manages to hook us completely after its stylistically uneven start with too many scrawled journal entries and notes moving across the canvas of the frame. With an undeniable nod to the road pictures of the 60’s and 70’s such as Easy Rider and Bound for Glory, Penn’s film is admirable and unique in the sense of it seeming like an actual document of a life and one that, unlike some of the more polished works of 2007, will not become dated with each passing year, kind of like the life of McCandless that will no doubt continue to fascinate and inspire for decades to come.

Death at a Funeral

Director:
Frank Oz

Growing up in Minnesota, I came to love theater at a young age whether it was being cast as part of the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz since I towered over all the boys or trying to secure as many musical solos as possible in my junior high production of Little Miss Christie, before I became solely obsessed with writing, I loved the smell of greasepaint in the evening. Of course, school theatricals aside, we lived in one of the most exciting cities for the arts being located near several theatres such as the legendary Guthrie Theatre but I remember having a particular fondness for the British farces and comedies that were frequently staged at our Old Log Theater. There in that picturesque rustic setting could audiences see the best of British sex comedies of mistaken identity and misunderstandings and while to some it’s an acquired taste, I’m consistently taken in by the outrageous setups and casts of dozens of actors who, like members of a great jazz band, all get their chance to experiment, riff and shine under their spotlight like Golden Gods as Billy Crudup in Almost Famous would say.

In film, it’s a rare and sometimes unsuccessful proposition that doesn’t always equal big bang for the box office buck but when it’s done right in films such as A Fish Called Wanda or Noises Off, there’s nothing greater and such is the case with American director Frank Oz’s Death at a Funeral. Working from a script by Dean Craig and filmed in a breakneck seven weeks according to IMDb, Bowfinger, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and In and Out director Oz introduces us to Daniel (Matthew MacFadyen), a kind, upstanding and good man married to Jane (Keeley Hawes) who still lives at home with his mother (Jane Asher). After his father dies, the responsibility to plan the funeral falls to Daniel and everything appears to be in order until the arrival of the casket and the guests lead to incredibly bizarre, uncomfortable and hilarious complications that I won’t begin to explain for fear of spoiling here in a plot summary. Suffice it to say, secrets are revealed in the form of a mysterious American dwarf (The Station Agent’s Peter Dinklage) who shows up out of the blue but he’s only one tenth of the story as the relatives and friends arrive with baggage and agendas all their own as one man tries to win back Daniel’s engaged cousin with whom he shared a one night stand, hallucinogenic pills circulate in the form of what is perceived to be Valium, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan) just really can’t stand anybody.

With so much plot and characters all crammed into a brisk running time of less than two hours, I was constantly amazed that nothing got lost in the shuffle and instead of feeling slighted, with the situations and characters growing wilder by the minute, we’re never asked to buy into even more outrageous humor than what seems—although highly unbelievable—fitting to the story that the ensemble, Craig, and Oz are trying to tell. Scene-stealers abound and come mostly in the form of the film’s most valuable player Andy Nyman as Daniel’s loyal if slightly dim best friend Howard and there’s a highly entertaining outtake reel on the DVD to show just how hard the actors all had to work to keep from laughing. The kind of film you’ll definitely want to share with friends and watch more than once-- the sleeper with the solemn title, Death at a Funeral is one of 2007’s funniest films.

The Bank Job

Director:
Roger Donaldson

Finally able to uncover the secrets surrounding the legendary Baker Street Robbery in London now that the thirty-year gag-order issued by the government to halt the press has been lifted, Flushed Away and Across the Universe screenwriters Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais based their latest project on the notorious Walkie Talkie Robbery of 1971 with changed names to protect the guilty. Yes, you read that correctly-- the robbers who call one another villains throughout The Bank Job are ironically the least villainous characters of the film after they're unknowingly set up to pull off an audacious robbery by Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), a beautiful model who lived in their neighborhood and broke a number of hearts in the process.

Busted on a drug charge, Martine’s married spy lover (Richard Lintern) enlists her help in securing the negatives and originals of photos depicting a member of the Royal Family in an island orgy with the promise to clear her name. For help, she turns to her hyper-masculine old flame, the former crook who now runs a car dealership to try to support his family, Terry Leather (Jason Statham), who finds himself drawn into the heist to solve his own money problems. Rounding up a gang of oddballs and eccentrics, Terry leads his crew in a complicated plan of renting out the store two doors over from the bank and tunneling into the vault. If this sounds familiar, it should— for those who have seen the classic Italian comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street and its many remakes (Small Time Crooks, Welcome to Collinwood), you’ll remember this plot set-up very well but instead of laughs, it becomes far more intense as they make their way to the safe deposit boxes which holds the incriminating evidence of the Royal Family. And not only is the Royal Family’s dirty laundry hiding away in the vault but as they discover, numerous incriminating photos and evidence that soon have not only the government and local police after the gang but also dangerous members of London’s criminal underworld as well. Although the robbery made headlines for a few days following the estimated theft of five hundred thousand pounds, not to mention the jewels and other contents of the room including the one hundred boxes that people never went to claim (most likely filled with blackmail and filth), and not wanting too much attention to be focused on the thieves since they were thrown to the wolves to secure the princess’s incriminating photos, the whole incident was hushed up and no charges were ever brought to the guilty parties.

After a sluggish and gratuitously kinky first half hour most likely included to help sell the film to its targeted young male demographic, No Way Out and Thirteen Days director Roger Donaldson really hits his stride once the robbery plans are underway and The Bank Job’s homage to British crime films of the 60’s and 70’s is apparent in nearly every frame that follows. An uneven but gripping movie that will definitely play into the audience’s capability for suspension of disbelief since it’s even harder to believe when you realize the events are true and one that’s filled with villainous “heroes” and heroic “villains” who fail to fall into tired movie clichés in the hands of Roger Donaldson and his screenwriting team, The Bank Job is worth the investment.

Vantage Point

Director: Pete Travis

Kurosawa’s Rashomon meets TV’s 24 with this highly entertaining yet dubious political thriller, which tells the story of an attempted presidential assassination and bombing at a terror summit meeting in Salamanca, Spain from the points of view of eight strangers who are all privy to different aspects of the event. Dennis Quaid is the ideal choice to play Secret Service Agent Thomas Barnes, who after taking a bullet for American President Ashton (William Hurt) has been suffering from post-traumatic stress. Lured back on the job by his younger colleague Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox), Barnes tries to overcome his fears and overwhelming stress that sets him even further on edge after the first bullet is shot.

It’s shortly after this first burst of action that the film rewinds itself roughly a half and hour to show the same events from another point of view including one from American tourist Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) who is conveniently filming the historic event on his camcorder before we meet several other participants and witnesses. While indeed each rewind brings new light to the events, about halfway into the film we begin losing track of characters when reaching rewind number five; thus instead of a clever and nonlinear experiment in storytelling, it becomes a gimmick and far more ludicrous distraction as events grow even harder to believe.

Still, clocking in at just under ninety minutes, director Pete Travis and first time scripter Barry Levy (a former teacher at L.A.’s Temple Israel) keep pulses pounding and once the film careens into a tense action thriller for the last portion of the movie, I began wishing there would have been more scenes of action earlier on, rather than just setting things up until the point when things get interesting and then deciding to rewind. However, much more enjoyable than most critics would have you believe—it’s a slightly above average political thriller, without the intellect required for some of the Tom Clancy styled releases, yet just as riveting as a better evening of TV’s 24, except instead of Kiefer Sutherland’s superhero influenced Jack Bauer or Clancy’s Jack Ryan, we have a cast filled with Oscar nominees and winners including Quaid, Hurt, Whitaker, and Siguorney Weaver.

Surf's Up

Directors: Ash Brannon & Chris Buck

Maybe it’s a matter of taste—I’ve always preferred penguins to rats and surfers to chefs so my choice for the 2007 Best Animated Feature Film category of the Academy Awards would have gone to Ash Brannon and Chris Buck’s infectious, breezy and inventively funny Surf’s Up as opposed to the winner of the category, the aesthetically impressive but ultimately off-putting Pixar feature Ratatouille about a little rat who becomes a big time chef.

Taking a cue from some of my favorite surfing documentaries and (hands down) some of my favorite documentaries of all time including Endless Summer and Riding Giants, Brannon and Buck decided to merge mock-documentary with animation to create this adorable mockumentary about Cody Maverick (voiced by Shia LeBeouf) a young, hopeful penguin from Shiverpool, Antarctica whose goal is to win the Big Z Memorial Surf Off Competition at Pen Gu Island. Discovered by an overly enthusiastic bird (Sex and the City’s Mario Cantone), Cody travels to the island to compete and pay tribute to the legendary Big Z who, when he was a small penguin was given advice by the surfing great to never give up.

Once at Pen Gu, he becomes fast friends with a slacker rooster named Chicken Joe (Jon Heder playing it as a cross between stoned Sean Penn from Fast Times and Keanu Reeves in everything) and falling for a cute, feisty lifeguard named Lani (the adorable Zooey Deschanel) who introduces him to the Geek (Jeff Bridges returning to Lebowski mode) in the hopes he’ll get some advice. The competition favorite Tank Evans (a hilarious Diedrich Bader who had me laughing so hard I had to rewind his scenes to catch every line) doesn’t worry about the less-than-talented newcomer Cody as he retreats into the woods with his Miyagi like Geek or Joe who goes looking for his lost friend and along the way, the film continues to mix both childlike humor with enough hipness in the soundtrack that features Green Day, Pearl Jam, Incubus and others to help move things along.


Ingenious, affable and fresh—while initially I’d feared that the gimmick of a fake documentary would grow old after the thirty minute mark, my concerns were soon forgotten by the brisk pace and spontaneous energy that seemed indicative of the film’s shoot which, uncharacteristic for an animated film, relied heavily on improvisation and allowed the actors to join one another in the studio to play out their scenes together. Using a new technique of motion-capure by mounting one system on an old camera to give it the illusion that the film was handheld according to IMDb, the crisp and seemingly authentic animation and charm of the actors helped make Surf’s Up my favorite animated film from 2007.

Dedication

Director: Justin Theroux

“Success in this business is 99% perseverance and 1% talent,” children’s book publisher Arthur Planck (Bob Balaban) tells three in-house illustrators before dismissing two of them to give the sole female, Lucy Reilly (Mandy Moore) her big break. By this point, it’s evident to the audience that the question isn’t whether or not Lucy is talented and she undeniably is but whether or not she can persevere to work with the publisher’s most unspeakably cruel, judgmental, depressing and misogynistic yet successful authors, Henry Roth (Billy Crudup) after his longtime collaborator Rudy Holt (Tom Wilkinson) dies.

With a constant unease about his existence and a preference to lay on the floor with heavy objects (usually books) atop his body to keep him feeling safe and secure, Henry is a walking time-bomb who, despite producing the wildly popular Marty the Beaver children’s book and being prompted for a sequel, spends most of his time alienating everyone he meets as punishment for his misery and “crap childhood” as well as imagining he’s speaking to Rudy throughout the film even while in the presence of Lucy. Eager to rip his new partner to shreds, he takes Lucy to a diner for a meeting and like most writers, proceeds to inventively create stories about those with whom he comes into contact yet each story is filled with such contempt and horror that Lucy soon flees, only to return with the promise of a two hundred thousand dollar bonus from the publisher to get the book finished, when she’s strapped for cash and nearly kicked out of her apartment by her controlling landlady, Carol (Dianne Wiest) who happens to be her mom.

Hardly the stuff of an “uplifting romantic comedy” as the back of the film’s box promises and while there’s not much going for the film to keep us invested for the first half, the actors (especially Crudup who by this point has made a career of playing neurotic jerks) keep us watching. In addition, there are enough surprises wherein the film fails to go down routes of predictability as when Henry, who beginning to have feelings for Lucy, has the means to crush her former flame seeking a second chance and doesn’t, to make us forgive some of its overly aware eccentricities the filmmakers hoped were quirky but in all reality were just plain annoying.

Making his directorial debut from a first time script by David Bromberg, actor Justin Theroux (Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Mulholland Drive) is best when giving his fellow character actors such as Crudup and Wilkinson a chance to shine and misguided when he tries too hard to make some moments overly romantic such as a cringe-worthy confrontation where Crudup pleads for Moore to take him back with more than enough bizarre profanity and crazy stream-of-consciousness dialogue to have anyone (let alone a possible mate) head for the hills. Still, particularly admirable in giving Moore another opportunity to break out of the twenty-something romantic girl movie pack in offering her character a story arc of her own. In Moore's hands, the thoughtful and intelligent Lucy becomes more than simply a one-dimensional cliché of the rescuing, selfless angel out to melt a cold man’s heart who masochistically casts hers aside in the process. However, similar to Lucy's character, overall, the bottom line of Dedication's success will be up to the viewers to decide whether or not they'd like to persevere in the company of Crudup's Holt for the film's entire running time.

Silk

Director: Francois Girard

Canadian director Francois Girard reteams with his Red Violin cinematographer Alain Dostie for this exquisitely photographed adaptation of the 1997 novel by Italian author Alessandro Baricco. Frequent Gus Van Sant star Michael Pitt returns to the thematically similar sensuous period material he worked on in the Bertolucci’s underrated The Dreamers in this film that, like Dreamers takes place largely in France and concerns a love triangle, yet unlike the NC-17 1960’s set Dreamers, we journey farther back in time to 19th century provincial France for Silk.

Quickly into the piece, we meet Herve Joncour (Pitt) who, returning from army service falls in love with Helene (Keira Knightley), a beautiful local schoolteacher he soon marries before settling down in the countryside to give his wife the opportunity to grow her dream flower garden. To fund the garden and support their lifestyle, he accepts a dangerous proposition from Baldabieu (Alfred Molina), an idealistic businessman who likes to apply the same risk taking spirit he employs in his ritualistic pool games to his silk trade by sending Herve off to exotic locales in search of delicate and rare silkworms.

Herve’s travels take the newlywed away from home so often that most scenes between him and Helene consist of farewells and arrivals and their relationship is not only tested by the distance and his frequent absence but also in the form of the gorgeous concubine (Sei Ashina) of a baron Hara Jubei (Koji Yakusho) when he journeys to the increasingly volatile pre-war Japan. Known only as “the girl,” Ashina’s character haunts the rest of the film as Herve returns back to France with a love note she’d pressed in his hand that makes him return back to the war-torn land before settling back home in France.

A visual postcard, the film’s breathtaking cinematography makes up for the feeling of vagueness that permeates the film’s characters and actions including a frustrating conclusion that will have most viewers either scratching their heads or turning to the novel or other sources hoping for a more concrete explanation. Yet, despite feeling sometimes detached by the coolness of the action, the majestic beauty and painterly execution of the piece is sure to delight those who enjoyed Girard’s previous and superior Violin as well as Knightley enthusiasts eager to see her in a subtle supporting role where even her staggering beauty is outmatched by the lush visuals and attention to detail that no doubt skyrocketed the film’s production budget.

The Ten

Director:
David Wain

Although it’s comprised of ten vignettes that use the biblical Ten Commandments as a jumping-off point, those who are overly devout or easily offended may want to skip director David Wain’s irreverent, unbalanced, yet undeniably hilarious The Ten. Hosted by Paul Rudd whose character finds himself breaking one of the commandments himself by being torn between his beautiful, loyal wife Famke Janssen or the young, sexy film buff Jessica Alba, the offbeat comedy The Ten which begins with a cautionary tale of a young man (Adam Brody) who jumps out of a plane without a parachute, only to find himself stuck in the ground where he’s worshipped as a false God but still finds time to party and star in his own television show, gets progressively more outrageous with each successive story.

Featuring a relative who’s who of comedians and actors, we soon encounter Gretchen Mol as a buttoned up thirty-something virgin librarian who has a summer fling while vacationing in Mexico with a carpenter named Jesus, a surgeon who leaves a pair or scissors inside a patient as “a goof,” Oliver Platt as an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator who becomes a surrogate father to teen black twins, Liev Schreiber as a jealous father who tries to out buy his neighbor in the cat scan machine market, a man who covets a prison wife and of course, Winona Ryder who steals a ventriloquist’s dummy with whom she falls in love while on her honeymoon. Also featuring Justin Theroux, Bobby Cannavale, and others, despite its uneven nature as some of the more ridiculous plots and characters do detract from the overall success, The Ten is compulsively watchable and sure to interest devotees of sketch comedy.

Goya's Ghosts

Director:
Milos Forman

For his first film since 1999, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus director Milos Forman decided to tell a story about a period of time he felt hadn’t been given proper screen consideration—namely an inside look at 18th century Spain during the last part of the harrowing inquisition. For his structural link-pin, he and his auspicious French co-writer Jean-Claude Carriere whose filmography includes collaborations with auteurs such as Bunuel and Godard decided to focus on controversial painter Francisco Goya, who, a court painter when the film opens has a unique first person view of the goings-on. Swedish star Stellan Skarsgard portrays Goya as a blank canvas—unassuming, hard to read and mild—a man who just happens to be in the center of the drama when the lives of two individuals whose portraits he has painted intersect in shocking ways.

Cast for what according to IMDb Forman felt was her uncanny resemblance to the “Milkmaid of Bordeaux,” Natalie Portman stars as Goya’s lovely young muse Ines, the daughter of a wealthy family who is subjected to the horrors of the inquisition after she’s called to testify. Her crime isn’t her association with Goya, whom the church feels has displayed dangerous commentaries on the Catholic Church in his works, but rather what the inquisitors feel is her curious refusal to eat pork while dining with her brothers. While Ines explains that it’s simply a matter of preference and she doesn’t like the taste of the meat, the inquisitors feel that she may be truly masquerading as a Catholic who secretly adheres to Judaism and proceed to torture Ines until she signs a confession thrust in front of her.

Desperate to gain his daughter’s freedom, Ines’s father pleads Goya for help with introducing the family to Brother Lorenzo (Javier Bardem) who they feel will be able to secure her release. While 2007 found Bardem overshadowed by his other villainous role as the sociopath Anton in the Coens’ Cormac McCarthy adaptation No Country for Old Men, he turns in the best performance in Goya’s Ghosts as the cunningly devious Lorenzo who manipulates all he meets for his own gain.

Although IMDb noted that Forman chose not to film in Spanish since he doesn’t speak the language, the film’s anachronisms in language do take the viewer out of the piece as we’re confronted by the various accents from Bardem’s authentic Spanish to Skarsgard’s posh British meets Swedish tones and Portman along with Randy Quaid’s (who portrays King Carlos IV) American accents that make one wonder why Forman didn’t instead have the actors at least work on creating convincing accents for their roles. Further curious is the title of the piece and the erroneous idea that Goya is in fact the main character as viewers ultimately end up walking away from the film with the same amount of knowledge they had on the painter going in or as Los Angeles Times writer Carina Chocano wrote in her review, “The biggest ghost of the movie is Goya himself.”

Nominated for three Spanish Goyas, the film’s ultimate saving grace aside from terrific portrayals by Bardem and also Portman playing dual roles is the sumptuous period photography by Spanish cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe who has not only been tapped to shoot the upcoming adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road but also shot two of Spain’s biggest critical hits of the decade, The Sea Inside and Talk to Her.

Dating Games People Play

Director:
Stefan Marc

After making the rounds of the film festival circuit as an official selection at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the opening night film at Tahoe/Reno International Film Festival and earning an award from Ft. Lauderdale’s International Film Festival, writer/director Stefan Marc’s Dating Games People Play has now made its move to DVD.

With all of the honors and festival inclusions, one would expect Marc’s romantic comedy on the ups and downs of dating to offer new insight into the treacherous world of singledom but instead, it coasts along the road that most films in its genre follow as we meet Nick Jenkins (Austin Peck) who, after getting cold feet from marrying his fiancé, is told to stay single by his parents and enjoy bachelorhood although he finds his single’s life jeopardized when he meets the beautiful Mona Evans (Leslie Bega).

Instead of offering anything new to the overcrowded indie genre, Marc’s film succeeds simply because it stays mostly relatable with characters who try to navigate the dating scene and end up either having conversations or finding themselves in situations that feel entirely authentic to the typical dater.

The often painful, funny and only rarely successful life of a dater provides much fodder for the film as we see traditional setups such as men arguing over the best way to approach a gorgeous girl and decide that the key in is chatting up her less than attractive friend, men who either pull the “I forgot my wallet” line or in trying to divide up the bill take the process so literally that they stress how much they hate getting ripped off by women, men who stare at other women while on dates, and women who assume that when their date is nodding with interest while they speak is actually listening to them instead of their really remembering they have to get their car serviced.

And, as one of the last (but happy!) singles in groups of increasingly married friends, I enjoyed Marc’s decision to give the friends of couples their due as well as we try to fend off fix-ups, begin getting annoyed that whatever we tell one person in confidence will no doubt be shared with their mate as couples cannot keep secrets, and try to keep from judging relationships and decisions we feel may not be the best. As Nick’s best friend Jed Rollins, writer/director Stefan Marc turns in a funny performance that’s augmented by his involvement with Mona’s gorgeous friend Robin (Stephanie Braun) and while the overly naïve and painfully obvious acting of our lead Peck and some weak dialogue make his and Bega’s plotline less than interesting, Marc satisfies wandering attention spans with plenty of other distractions, misunderstandings and false alarms.

While it’s nothing new and Marc’s overreliance on raunchy humor wears out its welcome as soon as it’s introduced (including a predictable and torturous vomit scene), once viewers get past the amateurish opening, they will find this a partially passable timewaster best shared with friends tired of the bars and meet (or "meat") markets of single life.

Adam's Apples

Director:
Anders Thomas Jenson

With the release of the international award winning Adam’s Apples, Danish writer/director Anders Thomas Jenson completed his “third and final” installment of as Variety’s Gunnar Rehlin wrote, his “excellent trilogy centered on oddballs and misfits in Denmark.” A critical and box office smash in its homeland, later picked up for stateside DVD releasing by Film Movement before appearing on the Sundance Channel, Jenson’s darkly comic religious parable takes its cues from the Book of Job in its story of an unusual reverend named Ivan (Mads Mikkelsen) who takes in ex-convicts at his small parish including the latest arrival, a Neo-Nazi named Adam (Ulrich Thomsen). Although they’re only required to stay for a few weeks, some of the convicts have remained possibly feeling at ease in the nonthreatening world inhabited by their off-the-wall mentor Ivan who wanders around in shorts, listening to the Bee Gee’s sing “How Deep is Your Love?” in his van, debating over whether or not he or his distraught parishioner should get the bigger cookie and in return, only requiring that the men listen to his sermons without trying to use the locked bathrooms and also that they set a goal while they are there. Possibly joking or perhaps figuring it to be a simple goal, Adam makes the decision that he will bake an apple cake and the men’s bond, as well as Ivan’s religious devotion is put to the test as a series of unfortunate events seems to befall the group at every turn and then, of course, there’s also the matter that whenever Ivan leaves Adam’s room or the bible he gave the convict falls to the floor, it opens to the Book of Job. Unique, strange, alternately fascinating and irritating, Jensen’s film compels with its pitch perfect cast, especially thanks to Mikkelsen who starred in other films co-scripted by Jensen such as Brothers, After the Wedding and Open Hearts for director Susan Bier. Although the film’s subpar translation and poor subtitles where grammar and spelling errors abound pull viewers out of the filmed world, it succeeds on the level of telling a good story, without preaching in a way that would make it less successful for those of us who aren’t especially religious.

Blonde Ambition

Director:
Scott Marshall

Luke Wilson must have a thing for blondes—from romancing Reese in Legally Blonde to trying to make time with ambitious Jessica Simpson in Blonde Ambition, he’s always the scruffy, sheepish, downright puppy-eyed cutie whose eyes are on the golden haired prize. A smash box office hit in Ukraine that’s outdone the exceptional yet admittedly depressive American exports of No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood and others, Blonde bombed so monumentally here in the U.S. even in Wilson and Simpson’s home state of Texas that it ended up making its national premiere at video stores near you. With Simpson’s weak performances in past films and its failure here in the states, I was expecting to hate it but was actually surprised that it wasn’t as horrible as one would think and I even caught myself laughing more than I would have guessed.

Similar to the Paltrow vehicle View From the Top that seems like a film out of time and one that would’ve faired better in the 60’s, this dimwitted yet unceasingly sunny offering finds country bumpkin Katie Gregerstich (Simpson playing a character whose name alone will make you laugh) leaving her general store running Pap Paw (Willie Nelson) to visit her boyfriend in the Big Apple, only to discover that the hand modeling hottie (Drew Fuller) is as deceitful and conceited as he is attractive when another woman creeps out from under his bed’s covers. After gathering herself and going to stay with her aspiring actress cousin Haley (Rachael Leigh Cook who’s the best part of the film), Katie is manipulated by a power hungry construction vice president (Penelope Ann Miller) and her goofy sycophant (Andy Dick who also costarred in Simpson’s Employee of the Month) when she gains employment as the administrative assistant to company president Richard Connelly (Larry Miller). Although the unsuspecting Gregerstich is sabotaged at every turn in amusing ways that range from Miller and Dick getting kids hopped up on Rock Star energy drinks and sending stripper cops to a children’s birthday party complete with a firecracker spewing piñata to trying to form a bad impression on Norwegian priests who instead get a kick out of Katie and go bar hopping with beer and karaoke, she mostly succeeds in her goal and becomes the recipient of a flirtation from courier Ben (Luke Wilson).

However, some of the film’s juvenile humor, not to mention the poor acting skills of Simpson that seem to be exacerbated by the frequent usage of close-ups and distractingly tarty makeup of garish red lipstick and electric blue eyeshadow that accentuate her freakishly Aquafresh whitened teeth (which becomes a joke throughout the film) calls far too much attention to itself and less time should’ve been spent on Simpson’s looks to carry the film and more on keeping things light and fun. Director Scott Marshall, who is the son of Garry Marshall with whom he’d worked as an assistant director on several films casts his aunt Penny Marshall in a tiny cameo near the end. While it won't be nearly as popular here as in Ukraine, Simpson's film will appeal strongly to her fan base and may even surprise a few viewers like myself, who don't even come close to falling into that category. Of course, it will also do well with men like Luke Wilson who may soon need a twelve step program for blondes!

Harry Potter Films

Presenting the newest addition to the

Film Intuition Articles Library:

Harry Potter 1-5: A Muggle Film Buff's Guide to the Magicians Behind the Movies
http://www.filmintuition.com/Harry_Potter

My current graduate course for my Liberal Studies degree focuses exclusively on J.K. Rowling's series and for one of our final multimedia pieces, I created an involving page with trailers, movie clips and background information while analyzing the filmmakers who have worked on the first five films.

As someone who knew very little about the series save for having read the first few novels before I began the course, my goal in this project was to make the films and my research accessible to all, especially those who don't have the most in-depth understanding of the series.

Hope you enjoy it!

The Other Boleyn Girl

Director:
Justin Chadwick

Having never read Philippa Gregory’s novel, I remember the first time I saw the previews for The Other Boleyn Girl, which seemed to set up the movie as the ultimate catfight between two beautiful women played by Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson over the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Eric Bana and thought, well, Scarlett’s got the edge on this one, given the amount of press she’s gotten for her, ahem… exploits (I’m still trying to block out the Benicio in an elevator tale that I’m hoping is a rumor). After talking to a few people who’d read the novel, I found I wasn’t alone in my thoughts as a friend who came along to the screening also mentioned that it seemed like an odd casting choice to have Scarlett Johansson portray the pretty, sweet and innocent Mary Boleyn and cast Natalie Portman as the wickedly scheming tease Anne Boleyn, yet only a few minutes into the film, we realized they’d made the right choice. After having subjected Jude Law to an auto accident in the streets of London with her very appearance and tantalized Clive Owen in Closer, Natalie Portman (who indeed kicked off her career in Lolita like roles in The Professional and Beautiful Girls) has become one of our most fascinating and versatile actresses—a consummate professional who can tackle any role and accent (from Where the Heart Is to Cold Mountain)-- she’s come into her own and has the perfect platform in British television director Justin Chadwick’s latest feature film The Other Boleyn Girl.

Chronicling the Boleyn family from children playing in the field where they are observed by parents Lady Elizabeth (Kristin Scott Thomas, thankfully getting a chance to convey emotion) and Sir Thomas (Mark Rylance), they’re summed up as Mary, the sweet and fairer golden-tressed beauty verses the eldest daddy’s girl Anne, who while pretty, isn’t as classically beautiful as her sister, yet she has an edge about her that enables her to go from seductive to manipulative at the drop of the hat. It’s precisely this quality that inspires her father along with her morally reprehensible social climbing uncle The Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey) to set Anne (Portman) up as flirtatious bait in the hopes that she may catch the heart and body of powerful hottie and King Henry Tudor a.k.a. Henry VIII (Eric Bana) who may be in the market for a mistress, seeing as though his wife Catherine of Aragon (Ana Torrent) has yet to bear him a son. After a spill that injures his masculine pride more than his body that one wonders may have been spurred on by the aggressively suggestive Anne, Henry’s attentions fall to the young woman nursing him back to health, the newly married and simple Mary (Johansson) whom he soon orders to come to court under the guise of being his wife, the Queen’s newest lady in waiting. Although her sister is invited along as well, Mary quickly learns his real motives when he summons her to his room almost immediately and the two begin an affair which blossoms into love on her side and something very nearly similar for Henry that deepens when she becomes pregnant with his child. While we’re never quite sure what becomes of Mary’s husband, the jealous Anne receives her comeuppance when she maneuvers her way into marrying a man betrothed to another before it’s annulled and she’s shipped off to France but she gets the last laugh when she’s sent to divert the king from taking yet another mistress as Mary, now bedridden and in a fragile state, looks on worried for her child. Despite the fact that her very purpose is to keep his attentions on Mary, we all know Anne’s true motives, especially women who have most likely gone to school with at least one (or in my case) several girls who make it their goal to steal men no matter what the cost, almost more for sport and social stance rather than for any real affection. Anne works her magic, toying with Henry like a puppy, sending back his gifts and bending him to her will before she’ll give him any hope of her body (his first wish) or her heart (his second) and it’s these scandalous motives that sets in motion the legendary events to follow as she tries to become Queen.

A sixteenth century soap opera, exquisitely photographed with enough sumptuous art direction and costuming to dazzle the senses in the same way as did Sofia Coppola’s similarly themed eye candy epic Marie Antoinette. However, while Antoinette was more of a modern and sensuous take on history, Boleyn, which was originally adapted for British television in 2003, is strengthened by its complicated plot and exceptional acting. Despite the grumbling of some theatergoers of seeing Bana as a far more intoxicating and alternately sensitive yet frightening Henry VIII, the casting of him in the lead I feel augmented the Boleyn’s feud for his affections and made it a bit more relatable. And as for the writing, there’s no more capable scripter than The Queen’s Peter Morgan who as Variety’s Derek Elley wrote not only “eliminates many of the more fanciful potboiler elements of the novel” but also managed “the difficult trick of making the narrative crystal-clear without dumbing down the actual material.” In other words, go see it and pick a side, even though it is Portman’s exceptional turn that, like Henry VIII, you will find commands the most attention.

Persepolis

Directors: Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi

Based on two autobiographical graphic novels, Persepolis, which chronicles the life of young Marjane Satrapi as she comes of age during the Islamic Revolution has been nominated as the Best Animated Feature Film of the Year from the Academy Awards. Although it is animated with most of the characters and sets drawn with stark lines and filled in with either black or white color, it feels far more urgent and sophisticated than most animated films. It not only resonates with contemporary issues facing the relationships between countries today but also in its unique insider’s analysis of the history of Iran following the end of its modern movement under dictator Shah which led to a Islamic fundamentalist era that forced women such as our young heroine Marjane to hide their faces from men and forsake all Western influences such as Marjane’s beloved punk rock music and sneakers. Of course, the young teen’s rebellion is one thing but it’s only a small plot in the much bigger picture of the way the country is forever changed with relatives and friends being killed and liberties being taken away until Marjane is sent to Vienna to stay with friends. It’s about this time when the film which had been so engrossing and informative begins to falter slightly as, although we empathize and respect our feisty heroine, we long to learn more of what’s happening back in Iran other than following Marjane through her failed romances and encounters with prejudice on foreign soil. Still, it’s a vivid work one won’t soon forget and one that will hopefully educate America’s younger audiences (teenaged and up) who are drawn to animated films to think more about global issues and appreciating other cultures and points of view. As IMDb reports, Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands and Iggy Pop have all lent their uncredited voices to the film’s English language version which should up the appeal and ease of the film as the white subtitles were a bit hard to read with the black and white scenery as the filmmakers should have stuck with the traditional yellow color.

I Could Never Be Your Woman

Director:
Amy Heckerling

Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless director Amy Heckerling has always had her finger on the pulse of what’s hip and timely with her funny and irreverent takes on contemporary life. While working on the television spinoff of Clueless for ABC and raising a daughter as a single parent, Heckerling became as Entertainment Weekly’s Missy Schwartz wrote, “increasingly ambivalent about working in an industry that promotes unrealistic standards of beauty for young girls and considers women over 40 to be prehistoric beasts,” (“Would You Dump This Woman?” 2/8/08). In response, she penned the clever and witty I Could Never Be Your Woman which first took shape in the late 1990’s before being retooled again a few years ago in a script that reunited Heckerling with her Clueless leading man Paul Rudd and garnered a commitment from talented actress Michelle Pfeiffer whose celebrity helped get the film made by the controversial production company Bauer Martinez Entertainment which arrived in Hollywood in 2005.

While fans and members of the industry and press awaited its release in theatres, the film kept getting pushed back due to an unbelievably complicated mess of contract, technicality and even legal issues that made the film one of the most challenging of Heckerling’s career before it was relegated to a recent DVD release after being rescued by The Weinstein Company. Although articles such as Schwartz’s in-depth Entertainment Weekly piece may help illuminate some of the difficulties surrounding its post-production, we may never really know why the film was sidelined by red tape and despite the fact that some of the references feel a few years old, it’s still a wonderfully funny film that as Paul Rudd notes is “deceptively layered, as Amy’s work tends to be,” (Entertainment Weekly).

Pfeiffer stars as sharp Heckerling-like television writer Rosie for the aptly named teen sitcom You Go Girl starring Brianna (Clueless star Stacey Dash) who struggles to find a balance in her professional life with her personal one as she raises a precocious daughter Izzie (Irish star Saoirse Ryan before her Oscar nominated breakthrough in Atonement). Izzie who spends her free time prank calling celebrities such as Matthew Perry and Henry Winkler from her mother’s phone book along with dropping her Ken doll in the vent because he has Alzheimer’s is not only starting to outgrow Barbies but actually wanting to find a love of her own as well. It’s romance times two when forty year old Rosie, constantly egged on by Mother Nature (a hilarious Tracey Ullman) about her aging body, finds herself caught off guard when she begins to fall for twenty-nine year old comic actor Adam (Paul Rudd) who manages to steal both Rosie’s hearts along with the viewers' when he signs onto You Go Girl. The charming Rudd who has some truly memorable scenes that can’t be missed brings out a far more carefree and wild side in Pfeiffer that’s refreshing to see and while it’s pretty safe to say that I Could Never Be Your Woman has lost its momentum with the absence of press and arriving instead in video stores, for those who take the time to check it out, it’s a pleasantly affable little sleeper.

Rendition

Director:
Gavin Hood

Director of the Oscar winning Best Foreign Film Tsotsi, former lawyer Gavin Hood calls on both his legal expertise and interest in the moral issues of politics for his follow-up film Rendition. The film, one of the first to crash and burn at the box office in America where audiences decided to vote against the war in Iraq and instead go for alternative entertainment, gets a second life on DVD where it should fare much better given that films of bleak subject matter tend to overwhelm on the big screen and also due to the jaw-droppingly talented cast of Oscar winners and nominees.

Reese Witherspoon plays Isabella, a devoted wife roughly eight months pregnant living in Chicago with her husband, son and mother-in-law. When her brainy chemical engineer husband Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally), an Egyptian who holds a green card but not U.S. citizenship fails to return from his conference in Capetown, South Africa, Isabella fears the worst as it’s revealed that Anwar has been taken into CIA custody and rerouted shortly after his D.C. arrival to another country where he can be tortured and interrogated ceaselessly for information related to American national security. After it’s learned that his cell phone received several incoming calls from a known global terrorist Anwar is apprehended and his rights are stripped under the rendition policy which, born under the Clinton administration has become increasingly utilized after Bush’s war on terror began to transfer prisoners to other facilities in countries where the laws on how to acquire intelligence are far more dangerous and employ both electricity and later the infamous topic of waterboarding in a number of brutally intense scenes. Metwally’s Anwar manages to hold his own, insisting that he is innocent and that there has been some type of mistake which eventually finds an advocate in young CIA desk worker Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) who was grudgingly promoted to attending the interrogation after a colleague was killed in a terror attack.

Back in the states, worried and frightened Isabella tries to piece together the puzzle of her husband’s disappearance by asking help of Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard) an old flame from college who now works in a prominent position as an aid for Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin). Acting on her behalf, Alan repeatedly tries to get the attention of CIA head Corrine Whitman (a chilling Meryl Streep) which results in the film’s best scene when fed up from unanswered calls, he confronts her in public to no avail. In addition to the main plot, another is interwoven back in South Africa as a teenaged girl (Yigal Naor) runs away from her domineering father (who is running the Anwar interrogation) to stay with her boyfriend as he begins to climb the ranks of a small sect of a much larger terror network responsible for the blast that killed Freeman’s colleague. If it sounds confusing, it is very much so as the film careens a bit out of control near the ending when the plotlines intersect and there’s a few jumps in time and place that will make your head spin.

The actors, especially Metwally are all very good, although Gyllenhaal seems far too young for his role, but ultimately, you’re left dissatisfied by an overly complicated finale that The Big Picture’s Colin Boyd noted leaves us to not only wonder “what happens next to so many of these characters,” but we’re also asked “to assume a considerable amount by the end.” It’s these loose ends and Rendition’s resulting air of mystery that doesn’t seem to fit the film’s tone as a think piece rather than a Clancy like thriller but hopefully, at the very least, it will get viewers talking about the tactics used to extract information and how reliable or moral they are in our global climate.

In Bruges

Director: Martin McDonagh

We’re only a few months into 2008 but as of this review, Colin Farrell has starred in my two favorite films so far—first with his against type role as a sensitive, morally plagued gambler who is asked to commit murder in Cassandra’s Dream and second for his role as an assassin who is also plagued by morality with his turn in Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges. Mc Donagh, an Irish playwright who earned an Academy Award for his live action short Six Shooter makes his feature debut with this startlingly original, shocking, funny, tragic and surprisingly touching comedic crime drama about two hitmen who are asked to leave their native Dublin when a hit goes unspeakably wrong and hide out in the fairytale like Flemish city of Bruges.

In stark contrast to the gorgeous gothic architecture and haunting canals that make Bruges “the most well-preserved medieval city” in Belgium, Ray (Farrell) tries his hardest not to blend in with the tourist traffic by either folding his arms or sticking his hands in his pockets, grimacing at the ground, and shuffling his feet in exasperation when prodded to take in the legendary scenery by his elder father-like mentor hitman Ken (a terrific Brendan Gleeson) who is determined to enjoy himself. Sent to await instructions from their terrifying boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) who is mostly overheard on the phone before his first appearance that’s augmented by the fact that, (similar to Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast), he is discussed so much that we’re riveted and frightened when he finally gets in on the action. Soon secrets of Ray’s last job are revealed and they try to cope with the aftermath with Ken hoping to distract his associate with more sightseeing and Ray becoming fascinated by both an American dwarf (Jordan Prentice) and a gorgeous Belgian named Chloe (Clemence Posey) who are working on a film set in Bruges.

While it’s Ray who immediately commands viewer’s attention with his narration at the start of the film (that earns In Bruges an R rating only moments in) that typifies the tremendous and highly quotable layered writing of McDonagh which becomes the film’s signature, look for an outstanding performance from Gleeson (who I later realized like Fiennes and Posey had a role in the Harry Potter series as Mad-Eye Moody) that evokes our sympathy and interest early on as he, like Ray evolves throughout the film. Memorable, furiously original and intelligent filmmaking that sets In Bruges apart from most crime comedies in the genre by invoking pathos and heart, it’s in limited release throughout the country but well-worth tracking down if Bruges is playing in your area, not to mention one you’ll instantly want to call your friends about as soon as it’s over to recommend.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Director:
Shekhar Kapur

Returning to the role that launched Cate Blanchett and garnered her an Academy Award nomination for the first Elizabeth, Blanchett turns in another Oscar nominated performance as Queen Elizabeth I in director Shekhar Kapur’s follow-up Elizabeth: The Golden Age. In doing so, Blanchett became the first actress in history to receive two nominations for playing the same character and while Kapur’s sequel isn’t quite as emotionally satisfying or powerful as the 1998 Elizabeth, it’s well-worth the investment for viewers who enjoyed that film, Blanchett’s roles or just history in general. In The Golden Age we catch up with Elizabeth now in her fifties (although Blanchett herself looks much, much younger) and like Roger Ebert wrote as “her kingdom [is] threatened by two Catholics” in the form of Mary Stuart or Mary, Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton) and Spain’s King Phillip II (Jordi Molla). Busily working on the Armada which he hopes will invade England, the King and others sympathetic with Spain feel threatened and angry by the arrival of dashing Sir Walter Raleigh (the dreamy Clive Owen) who has just named Virginia for the Virgin Queen and returns to England from the new world with additional tokens of his affection in the form of tobacco and potatoes. Always loyal, Geoffrey Rush returns as Sir Francis Walsingham but now in failing health as he nears death, Rush never gets the chance to command a scene as he did with his previous turn years earlier. Instead, we become invested with the “feminist monarch” (IMDb) who uses her favorite lady in waiting Elizabeth “Bess” Throckmorton (Abbie Cornish) as the go-between for herself and Raleigh, blinded by the fact that perhaps Raleigh and Bess are better suited to one another, which culminates in some rather excruciatingly emotional scenes where Elizabeth ends up begging and acting out when her own heart is broken. While it’s hard to imagine such a powerful figure resorting to childish behavior, the film’s real beauty lies in the lush, sensuous detail of every scene with not only the breathtaking cinematography but also the painstaking attention to detail in the art, costume and other design aspects and there are times when I felt my breath catch at its undeniable beauty that is made even more spectacular near the end when Raleigh boards his ship and fights against the Armada. Even though it’s Blanchett’s show all the way, up and coming star Abbie Cornish (Candy, Stop-Loss), Owen, as well as an underused Samantha Morton help keep things rolling along.

Be Kind Rewind

Director: Michel Gondry

If you’ve ever walked out of a theatre thinking of ways you would have improved the film you’d just seen and wished even fleetingly to have had the chance to make the movie yourself, then writer/director Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind is for you.

When Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) goes out of town, he leaves his local community video store (yes, VHS) in the hands of employee Mike (Mos Def) with explicit instructions to keep his ne’er do well, paranoid pal Jerry out of the store. After a failed attempt to sabotage the power plant on the junkyard property where he lives leaves Jerry (Jack Black) magnetized, he accidentally erases all of the VHS tapes just by his proximity to the videos when visiting his best friend Mike. Not wanting to get in trouble with Mr. Fletcher or his favorite renter Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow), the men concoct an unusual scheme to recreate the tapes by making twenty minute versions of the films available in the store and, while they’re at it, improve the movies by changing dialogue and getting rid of the useless padding. While their first project, a new version of Ghostbusters, was filmed out of desperation to buy the men time, soon they become an overnight sensation and the newest local heroes as their work improves greatly when they take on a third partner in the form of brainy, beautiful and bold Alma (Raising Victor Vargas’ Melonie Diaz).

The trio decide to give their process a name-- “Sweded”-- which they’re hoping makes them sound even more exotic and soon they rake in enough cash to help Mr. Fletcher save his store from greedy industrialists hoping to tear down the nearly obsolete VHS store in order to build yuppie condos (as if the world wants or needs more of those). However, Jerry, Mike and Alma quickly realize that just because they’ve deleted the FBI warning that plays at the beginning of each tape, it doesn’t mean they can infringe on the copyrighted works and their hobby becomes far riskier when they’re paid a visit by the law. Gondry, whose brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was one of the best films of 2004, faltered a bit with his uneven and far too experimental Science of Sleep but he’s back with a creative vengeance in this sweet film that, despite a long, dull, somewhat ugly and crude beginning, will strike a chord with film buffs as it begins to become a celebration of the universal medium of film and the way it brings everyone together. Although some critics disliked the overly sentimental ending, I thought that Gondry’s movie worked well and was far more understated than the enjoyable but over-the-top ode to movies of Darabont’s The Majestic and while not in the same class, it also echoed a few of the scenes and themes of movies such as Cinema Paradiso and Sullivan’s Travels. All in all, a remarkable achievement for a film that wasn’t even “Sweded.”

In the Valley of Elah

Director:
Paul Haggis

Inspired by a true story, this heart-wrenching and gritty drama follows career army veteran Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) who gets a startling phone call from his son Mike’s base in New Mexico’s Fort Rudd stating that Mike (Jonathan Tucker) has gone AWOL just after returning to American soil from his time in Iraq. Leaving his worried wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) behind, Hank sets off from Tennessee to try and find his son, assuming that he’s just disappeared for awhile to enjoy himself and blow off some much needed steam only to be devastated by the unspeakable aftermath following the discovery of his son’s charred remains. Caught between the bureaucracy of the army base that wants to take over the investigation of one of its own and the local police who struggle against that red tape daily, Hank fears that the crime will be covered up and conducts his own investigation after grudgingly receiving help from Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) who, tired of being ridiculed by her sexist male coworkers aids Hank in his quest. With only a few clues to go on sent by Mike himself in the form of e-mailed photos and a fried cell phone containing brief video clips shot by Mike while in Iraq that Hank hires a hacker to try and unscramble, Hank and Emily go down a road of haunting deeds and outrageous lies that shocks them, and the audience, to their very core.

While largely ignored, as other Iraqi themed films were in the fall of 2007, In the Valley of Elah garnered rave critical reviews including prominent placement on top ten lists from noteworthy sources and also recognition in the form of an Oscar nomination for Jones as Best Actor, although his role in this was overshadowed by his even more potent supporting turn in No Country for Old Men which, like Elah, also costars Josh Brolin. Written specifically for Theron and originally as a vehicle for Clint Eastwood who helped get the film greenlighted (IMDb), talented writer/director Paul Haggis (Crash) crafts a memorable and emotionally charged film that will not only haunt audiences for days but also admirably and subtly without preaching, make us wonder just what we are doing to another generation of young military men and women by sending them into foreign countries to fight wars that do not make any sense, yet they go bravely like David fighting Goliath in the biblical story where the film received its name.

Se, jie

Translated English Title:
Lust, Caution
Director:
Ang Lee

Much has been written about the several explicit—yet downright cold and violent—scenes depicting the affair between the two lead characters in Ang Lee’s latest film Lust, Caution that earned the work a rating of No Children Under the Age of Seventeen (or in the film world, the highly uncommercial NC-17). Yet, those scenes aside, to me, one of the most startlingly intense moments happens about an hour and ten minutes into the picture when a group of university students led by Kuang Yu who have gone undercover as part of the Chinese resistance in 1938 to bring down top Japanese collaborators in the government discover that their cover is blown. Feeling they have no choice, as a group they impulsively decide to kill a man who has found them out in one of the longest and most brutal yet excruciatingly realistic killings that has ever found its way onscreen. It’s a chilling wakeup call to an audience that has by now probably begun to fight the urge to nod off in this exquisitely crafted yet overly long adaptation of Eileen Chang’s story that centers on Wong Chia Chi (a terrific Wei Tang) who, being the most talented natural stars in her university’s political theatre group, becomes the star of their far deadlier production with the resistance. Soon she catches the eye of Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) a married government official who has been promoted to a high rank in the collaborationist government, and decides, with little to no prodding that she will hook him and become his mistress with the ultimate goal of helping the group assassinate Yee.

Sense and Sensibility and Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee earned the 2007 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for Lust, Caution but the ever humble director donated the hefty monetary sum to younger directors and stars in his homeland to promote excellence in filmmaking (IMDb). While the film was speculated to become a sure thing for a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination, it was rejected under two technical disqualifications including the first that for a Taiwan entry there was an insufficient number of Taiwanese working on the film (IMDb) and also because too much domestic money was applied to Lust, Caution due to the film’s co-writer and longtime Lee producer and head of the film’s studio Focus Features, James Schamus.

As the film evolves into a unrelenting emotional drama when Wong and Yee embark on a an affair that takes a far more sinister turn as Yee unveils his true nature as a tyrannically violent sadist (that may have been a symbolic and metaphorical decision from author Chang), it becomes a litmus test on how much a viewer can tolerate. Although Schamus and his studio completely stood by the film’s most notorious sex scenes (which were so explicit that the R rated version is not just one but nine minutes shorter than the original), which admittedly do grow a bit gratuitous when say two would have sufficed rather than the included half a dozen, the film’s running time and slow pace bogs it down from greatness to slightly above average.

While I’ll never look at the formerly swoon-worthy Leung (star of In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express and countless others) in quite the same way again, the real star of the picture is newcomer Wei Tang whom IMDb reports beat out 10,000 actresses for the lead role. Tang, who more than holds her own opposite Leung and costar, the legendary Joan Chen as Mrs. Yee is brave and unforgettable in an unspeakably difficult role and will hopefully be given the chance to show her undeniable range in more films i the future.

Definitely, Maybe

Director: Adam Brooks

Although it opened on Valentine’s Day, starting a romance with a main character being served divorce papers isn’t usually a surefire sign that the film will be heading in the direction of "happily ever after" but it’s precisely this deviation from a traditional romantic comedy paradigm that makes Definitely, Maybe a success despite its forgettable title. Canadian writer Adam Brooks who penned French Kiss, Wimbledon and Practical Magic (along with the atrocious Bridget Jones sequel) does double duty as a writer and director for this tale of a thirty-something father who is coerced into revealing the saga of his romantic life to his precocious ten year old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) after her mind is abuzz with new terms and shocking questions following a productive (no pun intended) day of sex education in school.

Deciding to avoid the traditional tale of his courtship of Maya’s mother, Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) decides to mix things up by crafting an impromptu love story mystery that will feature his associations with three women with whom he had any serious attachment and leave it up to Maya to decipher which one is her mother since the names and some facts will be changed. Eager to play along, Maya grabs her clipboard to keep track and the film chronicles Will’s life after graduating at the top of his class at the University of Wisconsin in Madison where he lets his political idealism get the better of him and leaves his loyal and loving girlfriend Emily (Invincible’s Elizabeth Banks) to head to New York City in 1992 where he will work on the Clinton campaign. Initially relegated to fetching coffee and toilet paper rolls, he engages in flirtatious banter with bright, challenging April (the adorable Isla Fisher). However, as he confesses to his good friend and coworker Russell (Derek Luke), brunettes with horn-rimmed glasses are his kryptonite (as a brunette who often forgets to put in her contacts, I had to include this!) and he begins forgetting the Wisconsin blonde and redheaded office girl once he meets intellectual Summer Hartley (Rachel Weisz). The trouble however with aspiring journalist Summer (Rachel Weisz) is that she seems preoccupied by her love for former professor Hampton Roth, played by a deliciously funny Kevin Kline visibly relishing in his role as a cad.

Brooks’ unique dialogue and believable characters ring true to audiences who, for once, are treated to a romantic comedy that doesn’t pander to the lowest common denominator with gross-out humor or clichéd stereotypes but seems to get its inspiration from real life and the heartache that romance can bring such as falling for the right person at the wrong time, realizing that as people change so perhaps do their “soul mates” and understanding that none of the characters have all the answers and all are alternately flawed, seductive and intriguing in their own way. While it’s not a perfect romantic comedy drama by any means, it’s up there with Dan in Real Life as one of the better offerings in recent memory for sophisticated ticket buyers rather than the twelve to sixteen year old boys that Hollywood assumes purchases most of the movie admissions.

Redacted

Director:
Brian
De Palma

“Are you not supporting the troops?” soldier Reno Flake (Patrick Carroll) charges his superior Lawyer McCoy (Rob Devaney) while on an unplanned nighttime raid in Samarra, Iraq, just before committing the first of several atrocious and appallingly inhumane acts so despicable that their after effects would reach the entire globe.

In Brian De Palma’s unflinching and in-your-face Redacted, based on the horrifically true report of U.S. soldiers who raped a fourteen year old girl and then murdered her entire family, the crime forms the centerpiece of his latest film which begins inauspiciously following soldiers around on their daily travels until it begins to get far more intense and ugly as the film charges towards its conclusion in a brisk ninety or so minutes. As IMDb reports, approached by HDNet Films back in 2006 with the opportunity to make a film for five million dollars, utilizing solely HD, De Palma found a supportive financial backer in Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban (most recently known to me from Dancing With the Stars). For Redacted’s framework, De Palma decided to take the meaning of the title (which is another way of saying ‘edited’) literally and create a mixed media montage of the events before and after the incident. The media used in the film was inspired by actual footage he’d discovered online via YouTube, blogs, newscasts and other postings of footage on American and Arab websites uploaded from all of the modern technological gadgets carried by both sides from video equipped cell phones, mini camcorders and other rigged cameras.

When the film opens, we meet Angel Salazar (Izzy Diaz), an aspiring film student hoping that his tour in Iraq, coupled with all of his unrelenting footage he films on his mini camcorder will be his ticket into USC Film School. While the opening of Salazar introducing us to his fellow soldiers, including their kind leader Lawyer McCoy (Rob Devaney) and the menacing, prejudiced duo of B.B. Rush (Daniel Stewart Sherman) and Reno Flake (Patrick Carroll), seems overly staged as a bulk of De Palma’s film admittedly does, it becomes oddly addicting as we continue on with viewing their daily routines running a checkpoint in Samarra, despite the fact that few Iraqis are literate and cannot read the posted signs nor understand the body language and words dictated to them with each stop. As viewed by De Palma, there’s confusion on both sides with the American soldiers in the film perpetually wanting to go back home but find their deployment extended and the Iraqis not liking our military presence. Of course, the American soldiers dutifully go about their tasks, following rules down to a T. that get even more questioned when they must open fire on vehicles who do not stop for fear of insurgents and once kill a woman in labor being hurried to the hospital by her brother. The soldiers involved stay numb to these events, possibly either as an act, not wanting to wear remorse on their sleeve or not allowing themselves to feel it and it is this perpetually heightened state of uncertainty, jeopardy, danger and orders that sometimes breeds far different soldiers than the ones we sent overseas as Roger Ebert noted his view that, “if you put men in a hell hole and arm them, and if they are predisposed to violence, they will not always follow the rules or even remember them.”

Later as a drunken hypothetical over a game of poker, a few of the soldiers begin throwing out ideas of how to get revenge for the death of one of the fallen men from their unit and, deprived of the company of women, Rush and Flake decide that they want to return to the home of one of the prettiest students who comes across the checkpoint with the intent of rape. One soldier leaves the table almost immediately, Salazar films the entire exchange and McCoy, feeling responsible for his men tries to talk the two out of it but the four leave the base with Salazar being the videoing eyes and ears for his documentary and McCoy trying and failing to reason with the men before he’s threatened and shoved outside the home. The fifteen year old girl is attacked in the film’s most disturbing and graphic scenes before her entire family is killed and the house is set on fire and although the events are fictionalized for legal reasons by De Palma and his crew and we all remember that the young woman was just one year younger in real life, it’s a harrowing, upsetting scene that will haunt viewers for days. And almost as tragic as the events being performed are the other moral questions that go along with it as we question the accountability of others involved who either stood by or turned their backs, who although threatened with death by Reno and Flake, were aware of the goings on from the first discussion until afterwards, one realizes that morally he must speak up.

Admittedly biased and manipulative with as several critics pointed out, a preference to provoke or shock more than share any thesis, Redacted earned several placements on worst film of the year lists (including at least one top spot) from some critics whom I admire yet it also earned De Palma two high honors at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. While I concede that at times it is propagandist, I think charges of it being Anti-American seem a bit ridiculous as (and I’m sensitive of that having several past and current soldiers in my family) if anything, it makes us wonder just what we’re doing there and what is going on in our name and to our men and women overseas. However, manipulative as it is, it may be less propagandist than some network newscasts (Fox News, anyone?) and at the very least, even when we disagree with points being made or cinematic decisions, Redacted inspires in viewers the ability for thought, reaction and dialogue which in any case makes its position as “the worst film of the year” seem far more outrageous when one considers other possible contenders such as the woman-hating Georgia Rule or Razzie winner Norbit that don’t even respect their audiences enough to let them think and make up their own minds.