Movie Review: On Chesil Beach (2017)

Now Available

In what most screenwriter’s hands would be considered a mere throwaway line, On Chesil Beach begins with Edward Mayhew (Billy Howle) lovingly calling his brand new bride Florence (Saoirse Ronan) “the squarest person in all of western civilization” for describing the music of Chuck Berry as “bouncy and merry.”

Yet, centered on a sensitive young couple whose marriage implodes mere hours into their honeymoon, that line and all aspects of it – penned by screenwriter Ian McEwan in a terrific adaptation of his titular novel – will come back to haunt us in a number of ways from literal to metaphorical to filmic and sonic long before the picture is over.

True for all of us but doubly so when it comes to a classically trained violinist and her pop music loving beau, it’s hard for love to survive when you just don't hear the same notes, in spite of the obvious (if awkward) affection on display in Chesil's lengthy first act which takes place inside a small, dimly lit, seaside hotel room.

For in addition to being out of tune with themselves and each other, we're also given the impression that the two were born a decade too soon which is mirrored by the rich production design of a 1962 set work deliberately made to resemble something closer to 1952.

Breaking up the theatricality of the opening sequence with some masterful flashbacks that show us just what first time feature director Dominic Cooke is capable of when he allows the slightly stagy film to move and breathe, we're given scores of scenes that reinforce Edward and Florence's need to communicate well and be heard, especially when they don't know what they want to say.

Along with snapshots of family dysfunction that run the emotional gamut and are wonderfully acted by supporting players including Emily Watson and Anne-Marie Duff, we're shown a few that revisit McEwan's musical motif beautifully.

Almost midway through On Chesil Beach, we as viewers are taken up through the inside of a piano to see Florence wordlessly turning pages of sheet music for someone else before being given more agency in another – urging a fellow musician to play the notes “tender like a question.”

Then we understand that although it's the former Florence we meet at the beginning of the movie, it's the latter one she wishes to be as she and Edward approach physical intimacy. And once these thoughts and actions collide, Chesil becomes a heartbreaking reminder of how tragic miscommunication can be.

Ironically published back in 2007 when Ronan made her Oscar nominated breakthrough starring in Joe Wright's adaptation of the author's Atonement, On Chesil Beach is based on McEwan's roughly 40,000 word novel which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Though static and a tad too restrained in the film's earliest scenes which resemble a cross between director George Roy Hill's Period of Adjustment and the Tennessee Williams stage-play upon which the 1962 film was based, Cooke's work grows more potent as it continues.

Featuring what's sure to be one of the best soundtracks of the year from BAFTA and Ivor Novello award-winning composer Dan Jones, On Chesil Beach is filled with the romantic sounds of Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert violin solos performed by twenty-three year old American virtuoso Esther Yoo, which offer even greater insight into our characters when words (or notes) fail them.

And while it'll be hard to persuade audiences looking for a romantic date movie to queue up for McEwan's honeymoon breakup film, somehow in the hands of this talented cast and crew, it becomes an infinitely swoon-worthy, stylistically '70s picture adjacent reminder of what could've been for Florence and Edward – two time travelers, ever-drifting in and out of time – who just never seem to be in rhythm.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: Violet & Daisy (2011)

Now Available to Own    


 
Photo Slideshow 
 

There’s an old adage warning writers that there are no original plots – Shakespeare did ‘em all. Of course, this in itself is a bit of a joke based on how much of the Bard’s output was inspired by previously published works, not to mention the whole debate over whether or not he actually wrote any of his own material or was simply the man who got the credit.

Obviously it’s up to a great writer to make even the oldest and most familiar storylines about love, death, revenge and all of the emotional shades in between seem new again. But with so much content released in so many different ways over the years, authors not only have to contend with stories that have been told a million times before but also with an audience that’s heard ‘em all before as well.

 

And unfortunately in the case of Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher’s feature filmmaking debut as both writer and director, anything new that Violet & Daisy tries to serve up is bogged down by the weight of everything that came before it.

What feels like the cinematic emptying of a pop culture recycling bin, Fletcher dreams up an uneasy blend of fairy tales and graphic novels, using hardboiled pulp fiction from the ‘30s and ‘40s to bridge the two genres together and the result is as mind-boggling as you would expect.

The World of Henry Orient by way of The Professional (aka Leon), Fletcher’s introduces us to our two titular teenage assassins doing a Pulp Fiction style walk-and-talk before bringing down men twice their size in a hail of gunfire.

 

It aims for too-cool-for-school but ultimately leaves us cold, shivering at the emotionally detached celebration of style or substance without giving us any sense as to who the young women behind the bullets actually are and wondering if we’re watching something closer to surrealism or satire than a straightforward storyline.

Unfortunately, it’s a question that never really gets answered, as Fletcher hints at a great number of things and tries to incorporate too many big picture ideas about absentee-parentism, empty consumerism and celebrity worship than he can actually address in the guise of a hit-man (or hit girl) film throughout Violet's intriguing but ultimately unsuccessful eighty-eight minute running time.

 

Determined to complete their latest kill in order to purchase a signature dress by their favorite singer, the girls (played by Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan) are caught off guard when they interact with their mark (James Gandolfini) and begin to see him as a human rather than a hit.

Augmented by the performances of its leads, Violet is temporarily saved by the late great Gandolfini as a surprisingly friendly would-be victim, who not only seems eager to be assassinated but has made the girls cookies for precisely this occasion.

 

Though it isn’t too hard to guess why he’s glad death kindly stopped for him, Gandolfini makes the most of his character’s admittedly goofy actions, elevating the simple script with more tenderness than we’ve seen throughout, sublimating the disconnect he has with his own daughter into his final day with the fatherless gum-snapping, gun-toting lost girls that show up at his apartment.

Yet it’s the inauthentic, overly-cutesy characterization of the girls that baffles throughout, interrupting bursts of jarring ultra-violence including jumping on top of bullet-strewn bad guys by awkwardly infantilizing them with tricycle rides and pat-a-cake games that makes Violet & Daisy border on fetishistic camp.

 

Nowhere near as darkly cynical as Kick Ass to warrant the same level of controversy nor as good at blending quirk with coming-of-age angst as Ghost World – just to name two more films that enter your mind as you watch – though it strives very hard for originality, ultimately Violet feels as synthetic as a pop song sampled from past hits we know by heart.

 

While The Bling Ring did vapid consumerism among bored teens much better this year, perhaps the greatest tragedy of Violet & Daisy is that buried beneath all of the kitschy madness and self-conscious parody is enough of an idea to have generated a much better movie.

The only thing stopping Fletcher was Fletcher in paring down the script a few more times until he carved out a storyline that could have adequately supported one of his endless ideas… and perhaps a pop culture moratorium that lasted until Violet & Daisy transitioned from script to screen.    


Text ©2013, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

DVD Review: City of Ember (2008)

Illuminating Your DVD Player
1/20/09

Read the Story of Ember

One of the most overlooked and underrated family films from 2008, lost in a sea of animated fare, the absence of a strong marketing push, and Twilight anticipation-- director Gil Kenan's City of Ember, produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman (those super producers responsible for the Golden Globe and multiple award-winning John Adams, Band of Brothers, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and more) is releasing onto DVD on Tuesday, January 20.

Although unfortunately, as of now, there have been no announced plans for any sequels to continue Jeanne DuPrau's book series nor a Blu-ray release (which I actually expressed a desire for in my original review as a then-owner of only a DVD player), nonetheless the stunning DVD transfer will be available as a "flipper disc," giving audiences the opportunity to watch it in its original 16x9 widescreen theatrical aspect ratio or the pan and scan full-screen option to fit square television screens.

Despite a lack of any special features, it's a strong disc that's worthy of a much greater audience and a film of unparalleled quality, which was apparent to me in my initial review that I'll reprint below in the hopes you'll track Ember down:

About midway through director Gil Kenan's visually stunning, cinematic roller-coaster City of Ember, I grabbed a pen and scribbled the words "Tim Burton-like" in the dark. Having arrived at the screening with zero knowledge of the film, nor the series of books including the bestselling titular novel The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau upon which it was based, I braced myself for the unexpected.

Try as I might, I've never been overly enthusiastic about science fiction or fantasy works and when I heard somebody compare the films to having a Wizard of Oz styled feel, I nearly turned around and headed back to my car. Yet, much to my pleasant surprise, after a gripping and ingenious prologue, I quickly found myself absolutely enraptured in the world of Ember.

While personally I didn't feel there was anything Wizard of Oz-like about it-- except perhaps that it has an old-fashioned character driven approach to-- the Tim Burton quality never strayed too far from my mind. When I returned home to play detective, soon I realized upon further research, that Ember's script had been penned by Burton's talented screenwriter Caroline Thompson, who'd written Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and others for the director over the years.

Yet, it didn't feel derivative in the least but rather more like it existed within the spirit of those films-- as a great yarn you'd like to share with children. Moreover, it felt like something-- despite its overwhelmingly amazing special effects-- that made it seem like a great myth which had been handed down from one generation to the next.

Originally written in the '80s, the roots for DuPrau's bestselling young adult books actually evolved decades earlier in the era of the Cold War. Having grown up in the '50s, DuPrau noted in the Fox Walden press release that she had "strong memories of the shadow and fear of nuclear war. People everywhere were talking about what could happen. They were building bomb shelters. It made a huge impression on me." That impression resulted in the idea of the fictional creation of an entire underground city.

Hoping to spare individuals from the inevitable pain and suffering of civilization, planners in DuPrau's novel crafted the city of Ember in order to protect the human race "for the good of all mankind." Initially, it was developed with the prospect that it could sustain an entire city of people for two hundred years thanks to a powerful generator.

To this end, a high tech, countdown timer equipped box with an all-important exit strategy was passed down from one mayor to the next. However, when one mayor passed away before it found its way safely into the hands of the next generation-- oblivious to everyone-- the timer went off and the city began to crumble.

With increasing blackouts and a food shortage as Ember continues way past its expiration date, the only hope for its future lie in the intellectual curiosity, courage and daring of two teenagers-- Doon (Harry Treadway), the son of an inventor (Tim Robbins) and the orphaned Lina Mayfleet (Atonement Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan), a descendant of one of the earliest mayors who unknowingly possesses the builders' box.

With allusions regarding the selfishness and deceit of government and misuse of political power, issues of religion (as some blindly put their faith into "the builders" instead of actively pursuing a way out), City of Ember is a rare family film. Intelligent and exceptionally produced--the city is not just a setting or a character but a continual source of awe-- Ember somehow manages to move effortlessly from impressive storytelling to special effects that make us feel as though we are along for the ride, escaping alongside Doon, Lina and her young sister Poppy.

While it sets itself up perfectly for a sequel-- or at its best-- encourages audience members to pick up the other books, producer Tom Hanks, Monster House director Gil Kenan, screenwriter Thompson, and its excellent cast including Bill Murray, Martin Landou, Mary-Kay Place and Marianne Jean-Baptiste have managed to set a new high bar of extraordinary quality for intelligent, entertaining, imaginative and engrossing children's films.

However, due to lack of a big marketing push and the unfortunate tragedy of dwindling viewer attention spans regarding a majority of those would probably prefer to play City of Ember the video game rather than watch the film, I fear it may be one of 2008's biggest sleepers.

Although, this being said, if audiences can keep their ADD in check for the first eighty minutes, they'll be wonderfully rewarded by the film's thrilling conclusion that not only surpasses any video game they may have in their collection but seems as though it was made entirely to encourage prospective buyers to pick up a Blu-ray player to get the full effect when it arrives on DVD shelves, where I expect it will do the most business.

Although, this being said, I hope audiences will prove me wrong. So in the spirit of this request-- please take your kids and remind Hollywood of the type of fare we want made for our children, thus encouraging them to think outside the box before they make yet another film about a talking animal or release another movie with a number after it.

Check out the Trailer & Photo Gallery

Discover the Books of Ember

City of Ember (2008)

Read the DVD Review

About midway through director Gil Kenan's visually stunning, cinematic roller-coaster City of Ember, I grabbed a pen and scribbled the words "Tim Burton-like" in the dark. Having arrived at the screening with zero knowledge of the film, nor the series of books including the bestselling titular novel The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau upon which it was based, I braced myself for the unexpected.

Try as I might, I've never been overly enthusiastic about science fiction or fantasy works and when I heard somebody compare the films to having a Wizard of Oz styled feel, I nearly turned around and headed back to my car. Yet, much to my pleasant surprise, after a gripping and ingenious prologue, I quickly found myself absolutely enraptured in the world of Ember.

While personally I didn't feel there was anything Wizard of Oz-like about it-- except perhaps that it has an old-fashioned character driven approach to-- the Tim Burton quality never strayed too far from my mind. When I returned home to play detective, soon I realized upon further research, that Ember's script had been penned by Burton's talented screenwriter Caroline Thompson, who'd written Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and others for the director over the years.

Yet, it didn't feel derivative in the least but rather more like it existed within the spirit of those films-- as a great yarn you'd like to share with children. Moreover, it felt like something-- despite its overwhelmingly amazing special effects-- that made it seem like a great myth which had been handed down from one generation to the next.

Originally written in the '80s, the roots for DuPrau's bestselling young adult books actually evolved decades earlier in the era of the Cold War. Having grown up in the '50s, DuPrau noted in the Fox Walden press release that she had "strong memories of the shadow and fear of nuclear war. People everywhere were talking about what could happen. They were building bomb shelters. It made a huge impression on me." That impression resulted in the idea of the fictional creation of an entire underground city.

Hoping to spare individuals from the inevitable pain and suffering of civilization, planners in DuPrau's novel crafted the city of Ember in order to protect the human race "for the good of all mankind." Initially, it was developed with the prospect that it could sustain an entire city of people for two hundred years thanks to a powerful generator. To this end, a high tech, countdown timer equipped box with an all-important exit strategy was passed down from one mayor to the next. However, when one mayor passed away before it found its way safely into the hands of the next generation-- oblivious to everyone-- the timer went off and the city began
to crumble.

With increasing blackouts and a food shortage as Ember continues way past its expiration date, the only hope for its future lie in the intellectual curiosity, courage and daring of two teenagers-- Doon (Harry Treadway), the son of an inventor (Tim Robbins) and the orphaned Lina Mayfleet (Atonement Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan), a descendant of one of the earliest mayors who unknowingly possesses the builders' box.

With allusions regarding the selfishness and deceit of government and misuse of political power, issues of religion (as some blindly put their faith into "the builders" instead of actively pursuing a way out), City of Ember is a rare family film. Intelligent and exceptionally produced--the city is not just a setting or a character but a continual source of awe-- Ember somehow manages to move effortlessly from impressive storytelling to special effects that make us feel as though we are along for the ride, escaping alongside Doon, Lina and her young sister Poppy.

While it sets itself up perfectly for a sequel-- or at its best-- encourages audience members to pick up the other books, producer Tom Hanks, Monster House director Gil Kenan, screenwriter Thompson, and its excellent cast including Bill Murray, Martin Landou, Mary-Kay Place and Marianne Jean-Baptiste have managed to set a new high bar of extraordinary quality for intelligent, entertaining, imaginative and engrossing children's films.

However, due to lack of a big marketing push and the unfortunate tragedy of dwindling viewer attention spans regarding a majority of those would probably prefer to play City of Ember the video game rather than watch the film, I fear it may be one of 2008's biggest sleepers. Although, this being said, if audiences can keep their ADD in check for the first eighty minutes, they'll be wonderfully rewarded by the film's thrilling conclusion that not only surpasses any video game they may have in their collection but seems as though it was made entirely to encourage prospective buyers to pick up a Blu-ray player to get the full effect when it arrives on DVD shelves, where I expect it will do the most business.

Although, this being said, I hope audiences will prove me wrong. So in the spirit of this request-- please take your kids and remind Hollywood of the type of fare we want made for our children, thus encouraging them to think outside the box before they make yet another film about a talking animal or release another movie with a number after it.

Check out the Trailer & Photo Gallery

Discover the Books of Ember

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.