Movie Review: Hampstead (2017)

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Staking out her Hampstead Heath neighborhood with a pair of newly found binoculars, American widow Emily Waters (Diane Keaton) springs into action when she sees a neighbor being attacked. Calling the police to intervene, Emily watches from the window of her posh flat and waits for them to help the stranger who lives across the street in a shack.

Having never previously met the man (played by Brendan Gleeson) in all the time she's resided there, fate lends a hand a second time shortly thereafter when she crosses his path in a cemetery after yelling at the gravestone of her unfaithful departed spouse.

When their meet awkward morphs into a meet cute, he asks her to dinner by way of a sign left for her binoculars to find. Soon a tentative relationship begins as the two outsiders come together, united as much by any attraction as an overall cause to try and stop land developers from tearing down his seventeen year residence in favor of luxury apartments.

Written by In the Bedroom's Robert Festinger and inspired by the life of the late Harry Hallowes, Hampstead is far more interested in the plight of its characters than in endearing them to the audience as individuals let alone a couple. And of course, this approach means that a great deal of the film's success is dependent upon the strength of its stars.

Completely up to the task, while the two are missing any real chemistry and the relationship's romantic evolution occurs mostly offscreen, the sheer likability of Diane Keaton and Brendan Gleeson helps Hampstead coast along.

Wisely adding scene-stealers Lesley Manville and Hugh Skinner to the mix in order to liven things up, although it's entirely by the numbers, the humanism and sensitivity on display from both the cast and in the direction from Last Chance Harvey's Joel Hopkins make this a pleasant if forgettable diversion.

In other words? Never underestimate a woman with binoculars.

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DVD Review: The Godfather Collection-- The Coppola Restoration (2008)

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As a part Italian film buff, I grew up with the family tradition of watching The Godfather trilogy nearly every single year. To my family, it’s not a film about the mafia; it’s a film about family that uses the mafia as a Shakespearean and operatic backdrop. Of course, this is the most apparent in the often berated Godfather III, which culminates at an opera house. However, structurally it had been building steadily since the opening of the first scene of I with the words of Enzo the Baker as he states, “I believe in America,” before asking Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) for help.

Easily my favorite series of all time and miles above the love most in my generation feel for Lucas’ epic Star Wars series-- I’ve not only seen the films more times than I’d care to admit but I’ve also seen them in every single version offered aside from theatrically. First as a young film geek, I eagerly explored the videotapes, eventually catching the series whenever it was on television (which never failed to disappoint in its editing both for “content”and also “running time”) until getting my hands on the beautifully packaged two video-boxed sets that were released from Paramount in the late 90’s until their first box set release on DVD in the early 2000’s. Now Paramount's epic series is back with another set-- a Coppola Restoration no less and one that contains five discs.

Needless to say, I wondered if the upgrade was necessary, for as an indebted graduate student-- frankly I have yet to get with the Blu-ray program since the players and discs remain well over my budget. Would I witness enough of an impact without a Blu-ray player? Surprisingly, yes as I was more than impressed with the standard DVD set upgrade alone. Supervised by the master filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and his legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis (nicknamed “the prince of darkness” for his ability to shoot such barely lit scenes to master the film’s ominous tone), Film Preserve employee Robert A. Harris worked alongside the men for the painstaking frame-by-frame and state-of-the-art, digital restoration of both Best Picture winners, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II.

Having already completed stellar restoration of Hitchcock’s classics Vertigo and Rear Window, Harris was the best and most capably gifted choice and having Coppola and Willis so intimately involved was the ultimate luxury as when it came time to toy with the sound and color of the works from the Master of Suspense, Harris didn’t have the fortune of turning around to ask if he’d gotten the intent precisely the way the filmmaker had wanted it.

The process, which took more than a full year to complete, is instantly recognizable from the start of The Godfather with enhanced picture and sound, offering lovers of the films born before the first two were released (especially those like myself who consider Part I to be the greatest cinematic achievement of all time) the closest reproduction of what it must have been like to see it onscreen back in 1972.

Including all of the special features available on the previous set along with Coppola’s fascinating commentary on each film, The Coppola Restoration adds an even greater plethora of extras for us to peruse in this five disc feast of a collection with an entire extra disc of added features, documentaries, and short films. Ultimately, all it seems that’s missing from the set is the cannoli.

One of the most fascinating things about revisiting the series time and time again is the way that one’s reaction to it changes over time. With my initial introduction, I was completely in awe-- literally jumping in my seat when the studio boss awoke to finding a horse’s head in bed with him after Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) flew out to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse in hiring Vito’s godson, Johnny Fontane (rumored to be inspired by Frank Sinatra).

Upon a second viewing, the characterization and arc of the main roles, most notably Al Pacino’s tour-de-force portrayal of Michael Corleone left me completely riveted. Beginning the film as a shy, patriotic World War II decorated soldier with his beautiful girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton) in tow—it seemed like all Michael wanted was a life that was the polar opposite of his father’s mafia-driven one. After an attempt is made on his father’s life and they realize that a traitor remains in the family, it isn’t the hot-tempered, womanizing yet exceedingly loyal eldest brother Santino “Sonny” Corleone (James Caan) or the sweet, pushed around but lovable middle son Fredo (John Cazale) who enacts revenge but Michael, taking out a powerful gangster and a corrupt policeman in one of the most famous scenes in the entire series.

After hiding in Sicily, his life is forever altered and upon his return to America, we see a changed Michael who grows far more calculating and manipulative as the series goes on, putting business before family (although claiming the opposite is true), which ultimately leads to driving away all those who were closest to him.

In the second film, Michael’s continual rise to power and his decisions which alienate everyone nearest to him are intercut with the history of the Corleone family and Vito’s goal to make something of his life for his family in the U.S. In doing so, we follow the young boy in turn of the century Corleone, Italy to his arrival in America where as a mature man trying to make a living he’s played by Oscar winner Robert De Niro.

In one of De Niro’s finest roles—largely acted in Italian and one that defies impersonation of Brando—he adds a depth to Vito that we hadn’t realized and the themes from his story as well as Michael’s in the fifties overlap into an ending that contains less bloodshed but manages to hit viewers even harder than the baptismal murder scene and ultimate promotion of Michael as the Don which occurred near the end of Part I.

And, although one can argue that the first film is more mafia-centric, those who try to dismiss the entire series as such are left with little doubt that it’s truly a family epic by a breathtakingly beautiful and heartbreaking scene near the end of II after the death of Fredo when Michael recalls (in flashback) a nostalgic memory that had sort of set the stage for his decision to cut himself off or act independently, as he’s the last one left in the frame and we realize how many of the characters onscreen are now dead.

While the third film was perhaps misguided and much ink has been spilled about the awkward portrayal by Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter Sofia Coppola as Michael and Kay’s daughter Mary Corleone (who had played the baby “boy” being baptized in I) along with an over-the-top plot concerning the Vatican in Rome as Michael tries to make the business go entirely legitimate, it’s still an engrossing entry that manages to provide closure and a horrible yet inevitable conclusion to this chapter of Michael’s life.

Yet, this time around, Part III became a bit more fascinating to me and not just for the introduction of two great characters played by Andy Garcia and Joe Mantegna but especially because Coppola gave his sister Talia Shire who played Michael’s sister Connie, one of the most intriguing roles in the film. Although she’s portrayed as helpless in the first movie as she must contend with an absolute brute of a husband and events are set into motion that make her appear like a Vegas styled floozy in the first half of II, a change begins occurring near the end of the second one after the death of her mother makes Connie the Corleone matriarch. In the third film, although Michael is ready to make amends for his sins and put his past deeds behind him, it is Connie who becomes a sort of unofficial Don, helping to establish order in a way that leads to a phenomenal chain of events.

As a grown woman watching this series again, I’m always amazed to catch something different with each viewing whether it’s the abundance of oranges that precede a death, a fish shown outside before Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes, framing and shot selections as Michael tells Fredo “you’re nothing to me” in Part II etc. Yet this time, right from the start (and possibly because she and Michael are the only ones to make it through all three films as we lose Sonny, Fredo, and Tom), I was utterly drawn in by Shire’s quietly poignant and exceptional portrayal and the way that she—like Michael-- evolves just as much although she’s given far less screen time.

While there’s much more to note about the incredible series and it’s basically all been said before either in documentaries or by scholars, professors, fans, and filmgoers, there’s no denying that a film that continues to provoke this much stimulating discussion is truly an American treasure and The Coppola Restoration isn’t just a treat for fans of the series but a must-own as well as simply a vital part of American history as it’s become literally part of our culture in a way that other films have not. A word to the wise, however-- just don’t over-simplify and ever call this a mob movie to an Italian or I’ll have to make you an offer you can’t refuse, which is to watch the series again and this time pay much closer attention to the story that is really being told.

Mama's Boy

Director:
Tim Hamilton

They say that the best way to uncover just what a man truly thinks of women is to see how he treats his mother. In fact, right up there with “sense of humor,” one of the most desirable qualities female friends rattle off when listing the ideal man seems to be “gets along well with his mother.” Of course, one can’t help who their parents are just as much as one can’t help who their children are and there are definite understandable exceptions to this rule. And granted, chivalry may be on its last legs but often times the little things men do to show their affinity or compassion for women from simply holding a door, offering a coat, walking us to our car in bad neighborhoods, or not trying to grope us in the first instant we’re alone are often internally, instinctually ingrained at a young age by their relationship to the first woman in their life-- namely "mom." However, this being said, there’s a definite difference between loving one’s mother and being a mama’s boy and I know plenty of relationships that went south precisely because of this difference in what attracted a woman in the first place was just a sneak preview of the mother issues her mate had once they’d gotten together. But truth be told, when it comes to mama’s boys, Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder’s character Jeffrey Mannus takes the cake in the aptly named film Mama’s Boy.

Like Matthew McConaughey in Failure to Launch, Jeffrey is one of those twenty-nine year old late bloomers who still lives at home but while McConaughey’s alter ego in Launch used it to an advantage as the perfect excuse to end a relationship without doing any of the heavy lifting or awkward “we need to talk” conversations most of us try desperately to avoid, Jeffrey prefers that the only woman in his life is his mother Jan (Diane Keaton) and that likewise, he should be her only man. Predictably things change when Jan approaches the cheesy if innocuous "success coach" Mert Rosenbloom (a hilarious Jeff Daniels), like a smitten groupie after a lecture and she accepts a date to see him perform with his jazz band, aptly named “The Mertones." While great for the desperately lonely Jan, this agreement sounds an insecurity alarm in Jeffrey who-- similar to his mother-- hasn’t dated in three years and cruelly reminds Jan that as a middle aged widow she’s “not some trollop from a Jackie Collins novel.”

Thankfully she ignores her son’s advice, not to mention his insistence to stalk his mother’s every move during her courtship with Mert, between his hobbies of collecting comic books, role-playing intricate outdoor battles with other Dungeons and Dragons types, obsessively watching and listening to all things 1980s dressed like a New Wave Smiths devotee, and usurping control of classic video games at the local arcade. Then flirtation finds Jeffrey and he's equally thrown for a loop after meeting cute with Nora Flannigan (Lost in Translation’s Anna Faris), a rebellious coffee shop employee whose real hobby is as “plucky songstress” writing protest anthems about corporate America including her own favorite track, “Bed, Bath and Bulls**t.”

While Nora’s interest in the mean-spirited loser who demands that his mother continue to make his daily lunch and walk him to the bus (since he refuses to drive), seems far-fetched at best, Faris is so genuinely likable that she’s the one singular breath of fresh air in this slightly stale straight-to-DVD, forgettable confection that wastes its gift of Diane Keaton, makes Heder a far creepier version of the geek he played in School for Scoundrels, and gives both saving grace Faris and the amazingly diverse and resourceful Daniels too few opportunities to shine.

But admittedly it's much better than one would assume, even with an overly padded ending that seems tacked on simply to try and lighten up the film’s tone after a painfully unfunny turn of events sours us on the main characters, it’s sure to garner more support on DVD due to the commercial appeal of the leads. Despite this and I note this with affection as someone who was forced to move back in with mom for grad school budgetary reasons-- mama’s boys be warned as director Tim Hamilton’s Mama’s Boy may provide one more stumbling block for men in their late twenties who still live at home in trying to meet a romantic mate. For a more flattering—if admittedly just as predictable—view of homebound males as "McConaughey-like shirtless hotties," it’s perhaps best to rent Failure to Launch if you’re choosing a film to share on a date... just before revealing that you still sleep in your childhood bedroom.