Movie Review: Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Now Available

In the dawn of the new millennium, after the Y2K scare and the dot com boom, Mira Nair searched for a project about her people — her family — a film that would take her home.

Set in Delhi, India and centered on a Punjabi family's mad preparations for their eldest daughter's upcoming nuptials, Nair found exactly what she was looking for in the script for Monsoon Wedding, which had been written in a one week burst of creativity by Columbia University MFA student Sabrina Dhawan.

Striking a fine balance between her background as a documentary filmmaker, which she used to great effect in her heavily neorealistic 1988 Oscar nominated debut feature Salaam Bombay! and her more sensual side on display in Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding infuses an awareness about the socioeconomic plights its characters into even the sudsiest of subplots.

Gorgeously lensed by her Kama Sutra cinematographer Declan Quinn and shot on location in Delhi, Nair's film — comprised of sixty-eight actors helping bring to life five interconnected stories — is bursting with laughter, tears, music, dance, and color.

Using marigolds as a symbol of romantic longing by Vijay Raaz's lonely wedding planner P.K. Dubey in what is easily the film's most endearing subplot, Nair embraces the magic in realism as he falls in love with a domestic worker he later marries under a marigold umbrella in the rain.

Contrasting the beautiful simplicity of their ceremony with the more elaborate and expensive goings-on in an everything but the kitchen sink Punjabi affair, Nair opts not to show us the expensive wedding until the film's closing credits, perhaps to remind us that while weddings might go by in the blink of an eye, it's the drama surrounding them that we remember most.

Heartsick over ending her affair with a married man she still miserably loves, Aditi Varma (Vasundhara Das) struggles to go through with the marriage her loving parents have arranged to the sweet, American based Hemant Rai (Parvin Dabas). Concealing her feelings from her family as the wedding draws closer, she calls and visits her lover more desperately as if to play emotional chicken with him, but Aditi, we quickly learn, is far from the only member of the family hiding a secret.

Ranging in seriousness from her mother sneaking cigarettes to her cousin Ria's (Shefali Shah) struggle to reveal a painful truth about a horrific event, Monsoon Wedding navigates these emotional landmines expertly, managing to alternately delight us with a musical henna ceremony before it devastates us with a revelation that rings even truer today in the wake of Me Too.

Blooming with warmth, pathos, and humor to create some of the most indelible and emotionally affecting sequences of Nair's career, Monsoon Wedding fully immerses us in the spirit and culture of India. And while it is very much a celebration of the Punjabi people as Nair intended, similar to other titles of the era like Edward Yang's Yi Yi or Joel Zwick's My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the universally appealing film's wide array of characters are easy to identify with regardless of one's background.

Reminding us of our own home while inviting us into someone else's, much like the marigolds that fill so many of its frames, love for this crowd-pleasing triumph comes on strong.

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Summer 2008: Sunday Film Discussions

This summer, beat the heat in air conditioned luxury by checking out free flicks with like minded movie lovers during my Sunday Film Discussion Series.

The Details:

Scottsdale Public Library: Civic Center Branch

Main Auditorium: Lower Level

Sundays at 1:30 p.m.

Click Here to Register

The Films:

June 8, 2008
Red
(Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski)

June 22, 2008
Cinderella Man
(Directed by Ron Howard)

July 13, 2008
Pleasantville
(Directed by Gary Ross)

July 27, 2008
Road to Perdition
(Directed by Sam Mendes)

August 10, 2008
The Motorcycle Diaries
(Directed by Walter Salles)

August 24, 2008
Across the Universe
(Directed by Julie Taymor)

Click Here for Additional Info, Film Clips & Trailers

Her Name Is Sabine

Director:
Sandrine Bonnaire

In school, cruel kids nicked her “Crazy Sabine.” However, to Sandrine Bonnaire, the Cesar winning French actress turned documentarian, the brainy, beautiful girl with an infectious smile who motored around independently on a scooter before misdiagnoses and failed treatments found her institutionalized for five years, was always her sister first.

In the passionate, understated documentary Her Name Is Sabine, Sandrine Bonnaire, her fellow camerawoman and collaborator Catherine Cabrol, and editor Svetlana Vaynblat create a moving tapestry of more than twenty-five years of footage of the life of now thirty-eight year old Sabine Bonnaire.

As the film opens, we catch up with Sabine who is currently living in a loving, supportive environment in France’s Charente region following her release from the institution and shockingly late diagnosis of autism in 2001. Quickly Sandrine discovers that the charming, vivacious and inquisitive girl from her youth is now forever changed with diminished motor and comprehension skills that were no doubt exacerbated by the confinement.

Rather than interjecting herself in the film especially in certain heartbreaking scenes which would have been understandable for a relative more than a documentary filmmaker, Sandrine Bonnaire admirably remains an objective witness, participating in events only when she is spoken to directly by Sabine or others as she captures the life of not only her sister but the caring small facility where she resides and the likes of which there are very few in France.

While Sandrine Bonnaire’s thesis of analyzing and contrasting Sabine’s diminished faculties following the confinement is illustrated early on, it’s never an argumentative piece and one that in fact could have been far more damning of the system that failed Sandrine’s younger sister.

However, instead the Cannes Film Festival Director’s Fortnight winner Her Name Is Sabine unfolds methodically while raising awareness in “a society that still does not know how to properly take care of its citizens with physical and psychological disabilities,” (Film Movement).

With its painstaking attention to detail evidenced early on by Vaynblat’s sharp editing, Sandrine Bonnaire’s critically acclaimed film festival favorite manages to effectively slow dance back and forth through the twenty-five years of Sabine’s life similar to the way that it’s earliest footage depicts Sandrine dancing with her younger sister Sabine. Despite the fact that this time around, Sandrine must consistently lead, with patience, empathy and understanding, she manages to ensure that Sabine enjoys keeping the beat, even when the tune of the music-- much like life-- changes unpredictably.

SPL Spring & Summer 2008 Film Series

Announcing the latest titles confirmed for my ongoing

Film Discussion Series at Scottsdale Public Library.

Film Discussion Series (Spring & Summer 2008)
Sundays @ 1:30 pm
Hosted by Jen Johans
Scottsdale Public Library: Civic Center Branch

Main Auditorium: Lower Level

March 9, 2008

3:10 to Yuma

(Directed by James Mangold)

March 16, 2008

What's Cooking?

(Directed by Gurinder Chadha)

April 13, 2008

Dreamgirls

(Directed by Bill Condon)

May 18, 2008

Dan in Real Life

(Directed by Peter Hedges)

June 8, 2008

Red

(Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski)

June 22, 2008

Cinderella Man

(Directed by Ron Howard)

July 13, 2008

Pleasantville

(Directed by Gary Ross)

July 27, 2008

Road to Perdition

(Directed by Sam Mendes)

August 10, 2008

The Motorcycle Diaries

(Directed by Walter Salles)

August 24, 2008

Across the Universe

(Directed by Julie Taymor)

Hope you enjoy them, tell a friend and I'll see you at the movies!

Fahrenheit 451

Director:
Francois Truffaut

Based on his short story The Fireman, in the 1953 publication of Ray Bradbury’s dystopian science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury predicted a futuristic world where television and mood altering drugs rule. Likewise, in Bradbury's nightmare, reading is not only banned by the government but firemen are also employed to burn any of the “antisocial” textual elements being hidden by citizens.

Seemingly inspired by not only the horrific Nazi book burnings of World War II but also the Cold War era of the 50’s that Bradbury worried was going to lead to books becoming extinct, the novel and indeed the resulting 1966 film from director Francois Truffaut seem timelier today.

And you're able to sense the immediacy within moments, given our current contemporary society where flat screen televisions similar to the ones he described adorn our walls and you can’t open a magazine or turn on the television without seeing an ad for medications designed to alter whatever seems to be troubling us from E.D. to allergies to depression.

In fact, Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont who is working on a newer version of the film was quoted on Wikipedia from an MTV source in saying that the book is “more relevant today than [when] it was published … [as] “George [W]. Bush has made this the most relevant piece of literature ever written.”

In his first film shot entirely in color and the first and only film recorded in the English language, director Francois Truffaut reunited with his Jules and Jim leading man Oskar Werner. Werner stars as Guy Montag, a hardworking fireman who begins to question his blind adherence to governmental laws after he befriends Clarisse (Dr. Zhivago's Julie Christie) his beautiful, free-thinking neighbor who loses her position as a schoolteacher due to her quintessential nature to ask "why."

Montag’s wife, also played by Christie, becomes horrified by her husband’s increasingly daring behavior when he makes the decision to read one of the books he’s asked to burn and finds himself forever changed by Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield which propels him to rebel against what has become the dangerous fascist norm.

Beginning with a commanding credit sequence that sets the tone by having the titles read aloud by a narrator in keeping with the text-free setting (a la Altman's M*A*S*H), soon we feel so deprived of reading that we find ourselves not only reading the name of every book ready to be burned but also longing to go to our bookshelf once the film is completed to curl up with one of our favorites.

Incredible cinematography from director of photography Nicolas Roeg (who would later direct Christie himself in Don’t Look Now) along with a tense score from acclaimed Hitchcock composer Bernard Herrman adds to the film’s Hitchcockian feel which makes sense given its 60’s creation when Truffaut, who’d been working on his memorable book Hitchcock/Truffaut would eventually release his ode to the master of suspense, The Bride Wore Black.

Perhaps most indicative of Hitch’s Vertigo given a strategic dream sequence that echoes one Jimmy Stewart experiences in the aforementioned film along with his decision to have a leading lady play dual roles-- similar to the way Hitch utilized Kim Novak-- the film’s artistically superior style helps elevate it from its obvious shortcomings. Namely, it suffers a bit from its low Fahrenheit temperature via the inherently icy air and the stilted dialogue penned partly by the director who had struggled with the English language and “was much happier with the French-dubbed version, which he supervised,” (IMDb).

Recently, I hosted a screening of the film to coincide with the fascinating “Fighting the Fires of Hate” traveling exhibition sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. And in that particular showing held in a library, I was once again reminded of Bradbury’s love of libraries and books that prevailed to such an extent that his text “was written in the basement of UCLA’s Powell library on a pay typewriter,” (Wikipedia).

This love of the written word no doubt found a like-minded champion in Truffaut whose autobiographical Antoine Doinel series, that began with 400 Blows, also emphasized literature. Likewise, several of the books burned in the film were not only favorites of the director himself (and some speculate that they may in fact have been his books) but in viewing their destruction, the audience feels as outraged as he must have felt watching the pages curl up into ash at 451 degrees Fahrenheit since books seem like friends in the eyes of bibliophiles.

“When you burn books, eventually you burn people,” an attendee poignantly observed in our post-film discussion and it’s this terrifying realization in our increasingly televised world dependent on reality shows, youtube and iPods that makes the film, as Darabont noted, all the more timely today.

You Can Count On Me

Director:
Kenneth Lonergan

Before it evolved into an Academy Award nominated feature length film, Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count On Me began as a one-act play, set in a restaurant where mature bank employee Sammy Prescott meets up with her aimless, rebellious brother Terry for lunch, looking forward to seeing him for the first time in ages. This lunch that begins politely and then gets progressively more dramatic as secrets come tumbling out fascinated the award winning playwright Kenneth Lonergan (This Is Our Youth) to such an extent that, feeling an affinity for his two lead characters, he decided to expand that one-act into a roughly two hour screenplay by giving the brother and sister more plot. Making his debut as a feature director in a work produced by Martin Scorsese, Lonergan’s You Can Count On Me launched not only himself as a major talent but also reintroduced the world to Laura Linney whose small but memorable roles in The Truman Show and Primal Fear had always made her an actress on the brink of stardom. Laura Linney earned an Academy Award nomination for her compelling, fierce, funny, and emotionally gripping portrayal of Sammy Prescott, a woman who, after losing her parents when she was a child, became an adult nearly overnight as she tries her best to hold things together for her eight year old son Rudy (Rory Culkin) and returning wayward brother.

Although it’s Linney who most commands our attention from the get-go, her performance and indeed the entire film is elevated by then-newcomer Mark Ruffalo, whose heartbreaking turn as Terry Prescott managed to strike home to several viewers and as a few attendees of my most recent showing of the film in my discussion series noted, is subtle and unforgettable in the film’s most challenging role.

Once the admittedly melancholy film reaches the half hour mark, the tone shifts from "family reunion" indie and it becomes a stirring psychological portrait of how two members of the same family remain stuck in that devastatingly defining moment in time when they lost their parents and thereby grew into two equally confused adults. With twinges of bittersweet humor, this surprising independent film earns some truly genuine laughs from the interplay between not only Linney and Ruffalo as well as the touching scenes between Ruffalo and Culkin but also in the form of Lonergan friend Matthew Broderick who shows up as Sammy’s new uptight and controlling boss Brian.

Linney, who this year is also nominated for an Oscar for her work in The Savages, seems to have a recurring interest in films about adults who are struggling to grow up, noted that she was drawn to the film because she’d never had a sibling and wanted to explore that relationship. It proved to be one of the wisest decisions the actress made in securing her not only nominations for her first major starring role but also in endearing her to audiences worldwide.

After crafting this deceptively simple, beautifully humanistic film, You Can Count On Me’s writer/director Kenneth Lonergan who costars in the film as Father Ron, waited eight years to release his follow-up film which will also star Ruffalo and Broderick alongside Academy Award winner Anna Paquin and should be out sometime in 2008.

Note: the haunting unaccompanied classical cello piece that plays throughout the film is Bach’s 1st Cello Suite.

Matchstick Men

Director:
Ridley Scott


During their first lunch together, Angela (Alison Lohman), the fourteen year old daughter that Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) never knew he had advises her estranged father that, “If you’re gonna get wet, might as well go swimming.” Quickly audiences realize that in addition to the elbows she claims to have inherited from Roy, Angela also received his gift for words, improvisation and willingness to go against societal norms. On the surface, it doesn’t seem to be a job requirement for his cover position as an antiques dealer but it makes a whole lot more sense for Roy’s real source of income as a confidence man—a job in which he rationalizes is different than that of a thief since he doesn’t actually take people’s money and instead is given it. Running a successful short con operation with his flashier, money hungry younger protégé Frank Mercer (Sam Rockwell whose character was named for Sinatra and Mercer), Roy swindles his victims with promises of lavish prizes, using such smoothness and conviction that most remain unaware of his secret life as a severely obsessive compulsive man complete with phobias and facial tics who spirals out of control when he runs out of his illegal medication.

Staging an informal intervention with his reclusive boss, Frank sends Roy to psychiatrist Dr. Klein (Bruce Altman) who struggles at first but soon manages to engage his new patient in talk therapy wherein divorced Roy reveals that he may have had a child with his ex. Klein, acting on Roy’s behalf, makes a phone call and soon Roy meets his tomboyish, rebellious daughter Angela who becomes an uninvited fixture at his home after their awkward meeting leads to a fast bond. This affection for his long-absent daughter inspires confidence in Roy (essential, of course, for a confidence man) who suddenly decides to work with Frank on his dream long-con currency scam with their mark, the wealthy “boat guy” Chuck Frechette (Bruce McGill).

Intriguingly, the film works not only in the mode of a successful con game but also as a riveting, hip, surprisingly funny and emotional character study of Roy's journey as he discovers more about himself when he takes on the responsibility of fatherhood to the daughter he never knew he’d wanted.

A fresh and fast paced movie from Ridley Scott, who, taking a break from his large-scale epics like Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator, manages to dazzle audiences with the intricate artistry of the work elevated by the great score from Hans Zimmer (that was inspired by the comical Fellini movies), clever cutting from Memento editor Dody Dorn and a great script from Nicholas and Ted Griffin based on the novel by Eric Garcia, of which Cage bought the rights before it was even published.

Of course, when Nicolas Cage is in a movie, our main focus is on him as he evokes our empathy right from the get-go but it’s also a worthy showcase for White Oleander twenty-something star Lohman (who fooled Scott into believing she was a kid during the audition) and charismatic character actor Sam Rockwell whose role seems to be an extension from his portrayal of Chuck Barris in George Clooney's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Recently I showed the film as part of my Library Discussion Series and learned from the audience that Matchstick Men may very well require additional viewings and at least a day of contemplation afterwards to fully unravel Ridley Scott’s complicated web but it is well worth it. The film so impressed critics during its 2003 release that Leonard Maltin listed the movie in his “Films You May Have Missed” section of his 2007 Movie Guide.

Note: Film students will love the eye-opening three part feature length behind the scenes extra that documents the filmmaking process from pre-production, to on-set production and post-production which is not only truly fascinating but much cheaper than NYU or USC film school tuition.

Dan in Real Life

Director: Peter Hedges

As hard as it is to find someone you’re compatible with, it’s even harder to secure that ideal romantic mate when the timing is off. While the old adage “all’s fair in love and war” is a great theory in principle, it’s sometimes one that genuinely caring individuals have trouble following. Simply put, some of us (and I’m certainly guilty of this) do not want to steal another’s boyfriend or girlfriend, no matter how much we may feel that they’re with the wrong person. However, for family advice columnist Dan Burns (Steve Carell), it goes even further than that—not only is the object of his affection dating someone else-- that someone else happens to be his brother Mitch. Feeling that he can’t tempt fate by trying to (as he phrases it) “win the lottery” twice, widowed Dan has basically given up on the idea of love after his wife passed away four years earlier. Instead, he spends his days as a tirelessly devoted father of three precocious daughters, spending more time than they’d like interfering in their personal and love lives until he is faced with his own after journeying with the girls to a family reunion weekend in Rhode Island. When Dan meets cute with beautiful Marie (Juliette Binoche) in a bookstore as he helps her choose a book that meets a highly selective yet rambling criteria, the two click instantly and spend the morning chatting until he manages to secure a phone number, only to find out when he happily arrives back at the family house that Marie was rushing off to meet boyfriend Mitch (Dane Cook). Not wanting to jeopardize his relationship with his younger brother whom he loves, Dan tries to keep his distance from the winning Marie who manages to impress every Burns in the overly crowded home and, tugging at his heartstrings even more, bonds with his three daughters. Although I was initially worried about the prospect of a romantic comedy that cast The Office’s admittedly annoying Carell and Employee of the Month’s Dane Cook opposite Academy Award winning English Patient star Juliette Binoche, she’s so natural and laid back in her role that she brings them to an equally realistic level, helping remind the comedians that less is often more instead of the medium’s usual tendency to utilize overly broad humor. A rare quality film that, unlike Meet the Parents or The Family Stone celebrates family in a way that goes against the cynical smart-aleck mentality of most of contemporary American cinema, Dan in Real Life proved to be a wonderful surprise that sneaked up and won me over as one of my favorite romantic films of 2007. In his Rolling Stone review Peter Travers wrote that “[It’s] the real thing in romantic comedy in that its characters manage to be romantic, hilarious and recognizably human at the same time.”Benefiting greatly from an Earthy, cool jazz influenced soundtrack by Norwegian musician Sondre Lerche that punctuates the film in a subtle and moody way, the real star of Dan in Real Life is the lovely, sophisticated and refreshing screenplay by Pierce Gardner and Peter Hedges. Hedges who completed the screenplays for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (based on his novel), About a Boy (based on Nick Hornby’s) and Pieces of April which marked his directorial debut, is a compassionate director whose affection for not only his characters but humanity in general shines through within every scene. To once again quote Travers, having Hedges involved “means you’re in for a unique blend of humor and heartbreak, with the bruising and healing powers of family right at the core.” All in all, Dan in Real Life is one film you won’t want to miss-- just be sure to bring a date and of course, make sure you’ve got the timing right.

SPL Winter Series Films Announced

After taking into consideration all of the wonderful feedback from patrons during our summer run, I'm happy to announce the next batch of titles selected for my Sunday Film Discussion Series at Scottsdale Public Library. I've already received notes and information regarding more title suggestions from some of you for the spring if the series is extended so keep those ideas coming. Note: as of now, we don't have an agreement with Sony Pictures Classics, The Weinstein Company, or Fox Studios to show their films so unfortunately I wasn't able to get Once or a few of the other ones we were shooting for.

Here's the details:

CC Winter Film Discussions Sundays at 1:30 pm
Scottsdale Library: Civic Center Branch

Main Auditorium (Lower Level)
Hosted by Jen Johans

December 2: Stranger than Fiction
(Directed by Marc Forster)

December 9: What’s Cooking?
(Directed by Gurinder Chadha)

January 6: Two Family House
(Directed by Raymond De Felitta)

January 20: Matchstick Men
(Directed by Ridley Scott)

February 3: You Can Count On Me
(Directed by Kenneth Lonergan)

February 17: Finding Forrester
(Directed by Gus Van Sant)


Thanks! Hope to see you at the movies!

Click Here to Register

Across the Universe

"All You Need Is Love"

Director: Julie Taymor

Ever since I first saw the previews for Across the Universe that featured Jim Sturgess seated on a white sandy British beach singing “Girl” before launching into an addictive and magical tapestry of Beatles music and dazzling visuals, the film has become the movie event I was most anticipating in 2007. More than most films, musicals must be seen on the big screen and Across the Universe is one of those movies that I know I’ll remember seeing for the first time for years to come.

A wholly satisfying work-- Frida director Taymor utilizes her roots staging operas and the Broadway version of The Lion King with this epic period film set in the turbulent 60’s that uses more than thirty Beatles songs for its inspirations in character, story and locales that span Liverpool, Princeton, several states, Vietnam and most prominently the lower east side of Manhattan.

In the film, Jude, a twenty something dock worker (played by an exceedingly charismatic Strugess) journeys from Liverpool to locate the biological father he’s never met. While on the Princeton campus, Jude befriends the mischievous and charming Max (Joe Anderson) who takes him home for his family’s Thanksgiving celebration where he first lays eyes on the beautiful teenager Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) whose sheltered existence is shattered after both her first serious boyfriend and soon her brother Max learn that they must go to Vietnam.

After a tragedy, she joins her brother in New York where Jude falls even deeper in love with her and the two begin a relationship while living in the same apartment along with a Janis Joplin inspired Sexy Sadie (Dana Fuchs), sweet Midwestern Prudence (T.V. Carpio) battling a sexual orientation issue, Max, and the Jimi Hendrix clone JoJo (Martin Luther McCoy) a guitarist and ‘Nam veteran.

From the opening moments of Taymor’s awe-inspiring masterwork, music and psychedelic visuals come spilling out of each scene and while it begins to veer slightly off course during the free-wheeling "I Am the Walrus" and "Mr. Kite" segments (featuring Bono and Eddie Izzard), the film gets back on track with the sheer power of its ambition, likable leads and inviting Beatles songs that enchant audience members throughout.

Some of the choreography is remarkably inventive and warrants a second viewing just from the overwhelming finished product that marries both live action with animation along with perfectly synched movements including a memorable scene set to “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” as Max reports to the taxing medical and psychological evaluations of the U.S. Army before heading off to Vietnam.

According to IMDb, 90% of the songs available on the deluxe edition of the soundtrack (that can be found on iTunes) were actually recorded live and on-set during the production instead of the usual post-production recordings and filmed dubs of most musicals, including the heartbreaking “If I Fell” which Evan Rachel Wood reportedly completed in one perfect take.

After playing at Toronto Film Festival, Across the Universe received mixed reaction, saved for a four star review by Roger Ebert and glowing praise from The New York Times, and despite a limited release that will prevent it from playing at as many American theatres as say the latest offering from the Farrelly Brothers, I’m hoping audience members looking for something remarkable and bold will flock to the film (driving as I did more than thirty-five minutes to see it) and it will get an even greater re-release after award season begins.

Additionally, if there’s any justice, it should also begin raking in the accolades and nominations for a much deserving Julie Taymor whose work recalls the same kind of Oscar for Special Recognition that Gene Kelly received for the epic ballet sequence in An American in Paris. While as a musical buff, it’s not lightly do I put another individual in the same category of cinematic genius as Kelly, keep in mind that he received the award for an approximately ten minute sequence whereas Taymor’s film runs a stunning two hours plus.

Get the Deluxe Soundtrack Now

Mother of Mine

Director: Klaus Haro

Finland’s official submission for the Best Foreign Film category of the Academy Awards finds critically acclaimed and award winning documentarian and filmmaker Klaus Haro tackling his dream subject matter concering the emotional and devastating true terrain of the more than 70,000 Finnish children evacuated to neutral Sweden, Denmark and Norway to avoid conflict during World War II. For Mother of Mine, now thankfully released in America thanks to the wonderful cinema lovers at Film Movement, Haro set his fictitious story in 1943 as we meet Eero (an excellent and mature Topi Majaniemi) whose father dies in the front lines of the war, causing his mother to make the harrowing decision to send him to Sweden until their homeland calms down. Once in Sweden, he’s taken in by a farm family who were hoping for a daughter and we witness Eero's difficult time adjusting to the abrupt and curt Swedish mother Signe (Maria Lundqvist), whom audiences quickly realize is dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy of her own. Like Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home, the film is book-ended by black and white clips showing the characters living in present day society and cutting back in time to the vivid, breathtaking color of the past with heightened sound (thanks to the exquisite DVD transfer that plays even better on larger screen televisions with stellar surround sound) and astute, intimate and quietly minimal portrayals by the leads. The 2005 film was an official selection at over thirteen film festivals around the world and earned three Jussi Awards (the equivalent of Finland’s Oscars), a Best Foreign Language Film Satellite Award and the Audience Award from the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

3:10 to Yuma

“What’s so beautiful about the Western is that it creates an allegory that allows an audience, without dividing up along predictable lines—right-wing/left-wing, religious/non-religious—to explore the ideas with an open heart.”
– Director James Mangold as quoted by Kerry Lengel in The Arizona Republic’s special "Reloading the Western" (9/2/07)

Director: James Mangold

One of the first images we see in director James Mangold’s remake of Delmer Daves’s 1957 western (based on a Dime Western Magazine story by Elmore Leonard) is the barn of hard-working, honest, civil war veteran turned cattle rancher Dan Evans being burned down as revenge for his overwhelming debts that he opted not to pay in order to care for his land and feed his wife and two sons.

While his older son William (Logan Lerman) looks at his father Dan (Christian Bale) as though he were a coward, Dan tries to show him that it pays to be on the right side of the law. This lesson is made all the more difficult after he and his sons stumble upon the aftermath of robbery of a Pinkerton guarded stagecoach by infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and after Wade spends too much time in town with a beautiful barmaid, is apprehended by officers and Dan who happens to be in the right place at the right time, depending on how one views it.

Although given a limp after part of his leg was blown off fighting for the north, Bale’s Dan volunteers himself as the best shot in his regiment to help the small group of men (including a crusty Peter Fonda, a reluctant vet Alan Tyduk, and the lawman Dallas Roberts among others) assembling to assist in bringing Wade to the 3:10 train to Yuma, Arizona jail for two hundred dollars.

Desperate enough for the money to face not only Wade’s gang of outlaws that trail closely behind him but travel through violent Apache territory and ruthless railroad bosses turf (including Luke Wilson in a small cameo), Dan is shocked when his son William comes along for the ride partly to help his father and partly because he is fascinated by the outlaw Wade who continually manipulates his captors and seems to be the one in control despite his being restrained.

Wade’s gang is led by Charlie Prince who, played by actor Ben Foster, turns in a stellar, menacing portrayal that begins to disturb audiences from almost the first moment he’s onscreen. As Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, “Foster’s lightning-draw killer brandishes a dementia amplified by an intense loyalty to Ben that gently borders on homoeroticism; he’ll do anything for his boss, for some reasons that are clear and for some that must be intuited.” He adds, “Foster is a mad delight to watch, and a reminder that the relative scarcity of western deprives a generation of character actors of opportunities to shine.”

Indeed, Mangold, whose work includes such diversity such as Girl, Interrupted, CopLand, Identity and Walk the Line, seems to pay particular attention to his actors and delights in making character driven pieces that thrive on dramatic interplay between human beings rather than just hitting certain plot points to get to the next set-up in America’s oldest genre.

In fact, as again reported by Lengel, Mangold stated that he aimed to liven up the genre with a timelier feel adding, “… I wanted a little sense of the long shadow of the corporate America to come… is this last of a breed of outlaws really bad [Wade’s gang], or is what’s coming worse?” Although it does have some striking similarities in both theme and script to the iconic anti-western about duty over sense, High Noon (which was in itself an allegory of the McCarthy era), Mangold’s film stands out as one of the finest westerns in years and definitely the best American film released this summer and one that if there’s any justice, will earn the continuously overlooked Christian Bale (the unanimous first choice by Mangold, producing partner wife Cathy Konrad and Russell Crowe) an Oscar nomination for his subtle, internalized and quietly powerful portrayal that was so believable one felt as though we were actually witnessing his thought processes at times.

Beautifully photographed by the son of John Casssavettes's art director, also named Phedon Papamichael (cinematographer on The Pursuit of Happyness, Walk the Line, and Sideways), the film was also punctuated by a tense score from Scream trilogy composer Marco Beltrami and inventive editing from Michael McCusker that helped make some of the more gasp-inducing sequences including the Pinkerton robbery at the start and the lengthy final gun battle at the end so amazing to behold.

Viva Cuba

Director: Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti

After graduating from Havana’s Cinema, Theatre and Drama program at the Higher Institute of the Arts, writer/director Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti devoted the first part of his filmmaking career contributing to children’s programming. His obvious affection for young actors and youth rights is put to excellent use with Viva Cuba, which earned the Junior Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was Cuba’s official submission to the Academy Awards after being chosen as an official selection at festivals around the globe. The film tells the story of two young friends who find their youthful innocence and enjoyment of spending time together impacted by disapproving parents regarding the children’s division of class, religion and political beliefs. When the religious, snobbish single mother of Malu (Tarrau Broche) decides she wants to leave Cuba after the death of her mother, Malu enlists the help of the working class, socialist Jorgito (Milo Avila) in running away to the other end of the island in order to persuade Malu’s estranged lighthouse-keeper father not to sign the paperwork that would allow her mother to leave the country and all the friends her daughter has come to know. While it’s easy at first glance of the film’s synopsis and opening moments to consider it to be in the neorealist tradition, the highly imaginative director uses some hyper cuts, embellished sound effects, and fantastical elements to liven up the tale from making it too dour. Although we know from other films in this vein (and from the ultimate “kid in crisis” film, The 400 Blows which seems to be a direct influence on the ending of Viva Cuba) that it will not end happily, it’s nonetheless a refreshing approach to the story as it contains numerous elements and ingredients that make it a fine candidate to show young teens curious about the world of foreign film, especially as one critic noted that it seemed to be a bit inspired by Romeo and Juliet. Just eighty minutes that whisk by faster than the children can run, Viva Cuba is a colorful, sad, and lovely entry into the Film Movement series with mature and memorable portrayals by its two young leads.

Bottle Rocket

Director: Wes Anderson

Proof of the inaccuracy of test audience screenings, director Wes Anderson’s first film Bottle Rocket, co-written and starring his college classmate (a then unknown) Owen Wilson, received the worst test screenings point scores of any film in the history of Columbia Pictures at the time of its release, according to IMDB. Now a cult favorite, Bottle Rocket, a remake of Anderson’s short film of the same name developed a small loyal following that grew successively with the release of Anderson’s follow-up films Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Winner of the MTV Movie Award for Best New Filmmaker and numerous accolades for the debuts of Wes, Owen and co-star Luke Wilson, Anderson also received a double honor for both Rocket and his next film Rushmore from the LA Film Critics Association. Rocket, which benefits from a highly intelligent, offbeat and genuinely funny screenplay—complete with unexpected warmth and heart (that would become their trademark as evidenced in Tenenbaums) was produced by director James L. Brooks (Broadcast News and As Good As It Gets) and Polly Platt (producer of The Last Picture Show). Owen is terrific as aimless slacker Dignan, who, at the start of the film helps plan the “escape” for his friend Anthony’s release from a voluntary mental hospital in Arizona where Anthony had checked himself in for exhaustion, despite as his kid sister points out, the fact that he’s never actually worked a day in his life. Once back in Texas, Dignan, Anthony and their wealthy friend Bob (who joins the gang simply because he has a license and access to a car) concoct a plot to rob a local bookstore for no apparent reason other than boredom, although in the mind of Dignan, the robbery is the start of a grand plan to live a lucrative life of crime, working for his former landscaping company boss Mr. Henry (James Caan). Once on the lam, the three have differences in priority as Anthony finds love with a beautiful maid, Bob feels a sense of familial obligation when his brother Future Man (another Wilson brother) is apprehended, and Dignan tries to get everyone else interested in hiding their identities and moving on to an even bigger score. Innovative, hip and delightfully nerdy—one critic called Bottle Rocket “Reservoir Geeks,” which, while an admitted understatement, does make sense as the film relishes in its laid-back approach to crime, with characters who are earnest and naïve as opposed to Elmore Leonard rip-off cardboard cut-outs spouting pop culture, anger and exposition. Simply put they are three basic twenty-somethings trying to get on with their lives and it’s a delightful treat to watch. While Tenenbaums is their undisputed masterpiece, Bottle Rocket is still my favorite Anderson film for frequent viewings and helps set up the cinematic promise and mastery produced in the others. Note: The film also gained a fan in director Martin Scorsese who, when a guest critic on Ebert’s TV show selected the film as one of his personal favorites from the 1990’s.

Music from Bottle Rocket

“Alone Again Or” by Love


“7 and 7 Is” by Love


“2000 Man” by The Rolling Stones

Dreamgirls

Director: Bill Condon

Before I caught the big-screen cinematic adaptation of the hit 1981 Broadway play Dreamgirls, my only frame of reference for the music and message was witnessing Jim Carrey sing “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” in an unforgettably hilarious serenade atop an office desk to Garry Shandling on the final episode of The Larry Sanders Show (side note: fans of Sanders must check out the new "Best Of" box set). Needless to say, although I had nothing with which to compare the film, I had a wonderful experience in my initial viewing of the movie and was completely blown away by the show-stopping numbers and classy attention to detail that rivals Rob Marshall’s Chicago as the best recent big-screen musical in years. Director Bill Condon (who also wrote the screenplay for Chicago) proved to be a masterful director in his execution of the piece which, loosely based on the story of The Supremes and beginnings of Motown in general, focuses on a trio of young, talented, beautiful singers who “make their way to the top” from amateur talent contests, to singing backup to a James Brown inspired Eddie Murphy (in his best performance since Bowfinger) before becoming their own super-group until ego, fame and fortune begins to divide them. Academy Award Winner for Best Supporting Actress Jennifer Hudson steals her numbers as Effie, the proud and tremendously gifted singer whose stubborn ways and diva-like behavior help alienate the group and although the acting talents of the former American Idol contestant leave a bit to be desired, her charisma is off the charts and she helps challenge costars Anika Noni Rose and especially Beyonce Knowles to turn in her best performance so far, although her less flashy character really doesn’t come into her own until later in the film. Winner of the 2006 Golden Globe for Best Picture Musical or Comedy and nominated for several Academy Awards, Dreamgirls was conspicuously left out of the Best Picture race when Oscar time rolled around and although Hudson’s win was a coup for the film, I really feel that it was worthy of a spot as one of the finest films of last year and the type that Hollywood does best when working within the studio system to guarantee both entertainment, emotional involvement and the ability to inspire awe in all levels—fans of classic MGM musicals will be in heaven and although there’s no way to duplicate the big screen impact, the DVD transfer is remarkable.

Download the Soundtrack

Stranger Than Fiction

Director: Marc Forster

In Marc Forster’s exquisitely crafted comedic drama, Will Ferrell turns in his best performance so far as IRS auditor Harold Crick. As we meet Harold, we witness his seemingly mundane existence filled with obsessive compulsive numerical preoccupation that is soon altered by his odd encounters with two very different women—the politically rebellious but sweet natured tax dodging baker Maggie Gyllenhaal and more curiously, the voice of a narrator and author played by Emma Thompson who is writing a book she assumes is fiction when in reality, the audience along with Harold realize that somehow she’s managing to pull the strings of his very life. When Harold overhears her proclamation that his eventual death will close the “book,” he undergoes a soul-searching journey trying to unravel just who the author is by first meeting with mental health professionals Tom Hulce and Linda Hunt until finally seeking out the help of a warm but eccentric literature professor played by Dustin Hoffman. In addition, this new element of doom adds an existential air to his plight as Harold takes a step back from his work to reevaluate the way he’s been living his life, which thus far has primarily consisted of counting toothbrush strokes and tying his ties in a way of ultimate efficiency in order to save time that he’s since learned he may not have. In addition to Zach Helm’s highly original National Board of Review award-winning screenplay that will immediately strike a chord with fans of The Truman Show and Adaptation, Marc Forster’s Stranger Than Fiction is one of the most visually imaginative releases of last year, which is apparent from the get-go with an initial bravura sequence that zooms in from the outer realm of space all the way inside Harold Crick’s apartment (in a way that recalls the amazing opening of Kieslowski’s Red and the famous segue from the dawn of man into space in Kubrick’s 2001). Utilizing the geniuses from MK12 Studios, Forster's film is bursting at the seams with wild graphics that help bring viewers inside Harold's number obsessed world in a method of onscreen additions reminiscent of David Fincher’s brief IKEA scene from Fight Club. Film lovers will want to go behind the scenes of the DVD at once to check out the features including a short MK12 GUI piece that helps clarify the inventive graphics we may have missed the first time around, while dazzled by the overly involving layers of information Forster admirably displays for an audience whose intelligence he obviously respects. Aside from the deft portrayal by Golden Globe nominee Will Ferrell who actually wore an earpiece during filming in order to hear Thompson’s narration and react accordingly, the entire cast (especially Gyllenhaal, Hoffman, Thompson and Queen Latifah) is simply wonderful. Enhanced by a clever selection of songs, this bright, fun, and highly entertaining film raises some valid existential questions regarding whether or not people have been sleepwalking through their lives without passion, living only for their work, and of course the eternal creative question (usually attributed to the filmmaking career of Francois Truffaut) of whether or not we’re living in a society where art is more important than life. Book lovers and those who simply enjoy something a bit different in their film viewing will want to be sure to track it down as it’s one that I knew instantly was worthy of not only a second viewing but a permanent place in my DVD library.

Songs Featured in Stranger Than Fiction

“The Way We Get By” by Spoon


“The Book I Write” by Spoon


“That’s Entertainment” by The Jam


“I Turn My Camera On” by Spoon


“My Mathematical Mind” by Spoon


“Bottles & Bones (Shade and Sympathy)” by Califone


“Vittorio E.” by Spoon


“La Petite Fille De La Mer” by Vangelis


“Love You” by The Free Design


“Death or Glory” by The Clash


“Whole Wide World” by Wreckless Eric


“Going Missing” by Maximo Park


“Dubbing in the Back Seat” by The Upsetters


“Mind Your Own Business” by Delta 5


“Democracy” by Adolescents


“On The Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter


“Horizon Variations” by Max Richter


“In Church” by M83

Two Family House

Director: Raymond De Felitta

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, director Raymond De Felitta found inspiration within his own family tree for this sweetly earnest romantic drama about a dreamer and an outsider who fall in love in 1950’s Staten Island. Michael Rispoli is excellent as Buddy Visalo, an aspiring businessman who, after being denied his big break to become a singing sensation when he was discovered in World War II, eagerly tries and fails at several ventures within his Italian community. As the movie gets going, Buddy buys a large rundown two family house with the intention of turning the lower level into a bar, much to the dismay of his wife (Katherine Narducci) who is resistant to change and secretly hopes Buddy will fail. However, when the two move in, they soon discover that they have squatters in the form of unhappily married Irish immigrants-- an aging alcoholic and his beautiful, much younger wife Mary (Kelly Macdonald)-- who have taken residence of the upstairs with no intention of leaving as Mary is nine months pregnant. Once the husband abandons Mary after her baby is born half African-American, Buddy falls prey to both the prejudices of his community and familial pressures, forcing the mother and her newborn out of his home, only to have his conscience get the better of him as he realizes an attraction to what he sees as a fellow outsider and risk-taker in Mary. A beautifully, touching, sensitive and tender film, Two Family House is filled with the overwhelmingly positive messages of acceptance and standing up for what is right even when the majority is against you and it’s a true gem of a romantic indie. The warm performances of both Rispoli and the wonderful up-and-comer from the UK, Kelly Macdonald help add to director De Felitta’s intention of making viewers feel like temporary residents of the film’s community and he heightens his story with an enjoyable soundtrack of 50’s era crooning classics.

The Station Agent

Director: Tom McCarthy

The Station Agent is the quintessential indie success story. Actor turned writer/director Tom McCarthy wrote a script specifically for his actors (Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale, and Patricia Clarkson), shot it on the cheap in just twenty days, screened it at Sundance where it won the Audience Award, Special Jury Prize and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, until finally it was purchased by Miramax for 1.5 million dollars. The question remained afterwards of whether it was worth all of the hype, as some movies seem to peak at Sundance and then plummet once marketed. However, based on word-of-mouth and a grassroots strategy (when I saw the film, Cannavale was in attendance for a Q&A), this quiet little film about three eccentrics who form an unlikely friendship has become a cult hit, and as critics often note, The Station Agent is one of those films you immediately feel like you’d want to share and recommend to others. Peter Dinklage stars Fin McBride, a train enthusiast who inherits a small train depot in the middle of deserted New Jersey after a friend passes away. Tired of being ridiculed as a “dwarf,” Fin eagerly packs up his things to move to a place where he assumes he’ll be away from the points and giggles. However, he soon meets the overly enthusiastic, talkative Cuban hot-dog vendor Joe (Bobby Cannavale who provides laughs throughout) and Olivia (Patricia Clarkson) an artist going through a marital crisis. The three unlikely individuals find that in each other’s company they finally fit as they're able to be themselves and form a unique trio. While some argue that it’s slow moving and indeed much doesn’t happen in the way of plot, it’s a very real, charming tale of friendship that indie fans will love.

The Motorcycle Diaries

Director: Walter Salles

Based on the early diaries of Che Guevara and Alberto Granado’s book With Che Through Latin America, Jose Rivera’s spirited screenplay, brought to life by visionary filmmaker Walter Salles, chronicles the start of Che’s political awakening at age 23 as he sets off (just one semester shy of graduating as an MD) on a motorcycle adventure with friend Alberto Granado. Gael Garcia Bernal had large shoes to fill in playing the controversial but revered Latin American hero and he is wonderfully emotive, helping illustrate the passion and growing political awareness experienced by Che on the journey from Argentina, through Chile, Peru, and Venezuela until ultimately landing in a leper colony in the Amazon where he comes of age on the road after facing the misfortunate realities of others that were absent from his previously sheltered life. Produced by Robert Redford, this visually sweeping film is lively and fun—don’t be daunted by the history of the subject as I was completely ignorant about Che going into the film and actually found that it provided a good foundation in charting his beginnings in the 1950’s before the rise of his political activism in the 60’s. The Motorcycle Diaries will also strike a chord for those fans of Kerouac and Dylan and lovers of On The Road style adventures as well as individuals in their 20’s who may be experiencing some of the same existential issues of wanting to think globally in helping their fellow man while also coming to understand themselves and their place in the world. While ultimately, the last portion of the film does tend to drag and could’ve benefited from additional editing to match the pace set by the start of the film, it’s a journey well-worth taking and one so expertly executed by Salles, Rivera, Bernal, and Rodriguo de la Serna (excellent as Granado) that viewers nearly feel as though they too are on the back of the 1939 Norton 500 Motorcycle used in the film. In addition to several nominations and awards around the globe, Salles’s film also received an Oscar for Best Song (see below).

Academy Award Winning Song “Al Otro Lado del Río”