Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts

Monday, March 30, 2015

MOONRISE KINGDOM

Earlier in the week, I watched the delightful, poignant, funny, sweet movie, "Moonrise Kingdom". The cast includes Jared Gilman, as Sam, and Kara Hayward, as Suzy, the 12 year old pair who run away together and cause concern and mayhem in the lives of the adults who are responsible for them. The two young actors shine in their roles. The stellar actors in the other roles are fantastic - Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton, an embarrassment of riches, yes? Suspend disbelief (which is easy to do), and enjoy a very good time.

Monday, March 9, 2015

"BOYHOOD" - THE MOVIE

This past Saturday, I watched Richard Linklater's wonderful movie Boyhood and enjoyed it very much.  The film is clocked at 2 hours and 44 minutes, but it didn't seem that long because I easily slipped into the groove of the pace, which is admittedly sometimes slow, but never boring.  Patricia Arquette, who plays the boy's mother, Olivia, in the movie, is excellent and Ethan Hawke, as the father, Mason, Sr, has done some of his best work with Linklater in this movie and in the Before trilogy.   I wonder how the writer/director could have known that the acting talent of the star of the film, six year old Ellar Coltrane, as Mason, would hold up so amazingly well throughout the 12 years that the filming took place.  Perhaps he didn't and took a chance anyway.   Linklater's daughter Lorelei plays the role of Mason's older sister, Samantha.

Linklater has done and is doing amazing and innovative films such as in the terrific Before trilogy, in which he takes up the stories of the characters at intervals of 10 years, with the principal actors aging in real time between filming.  And now Boyhood, with the actors aging, but not in real time, rather in scenes filmed over a period of 12 years and integrated into a single very fine film.

As with the earlier trilogy, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight, Linklater invited the actors to collaborate in writing the script, which developed as the movie was being made.  As a writer/director, Linklater appears be quite sure of himself and his talent to film without a finished script and to allow such close collaboration by the actors, resisting what must be the urge of most auteur filmmakers to have complete control of their projects.

Note: Not about the movie, but about me.  During some of the scenes of Mason and Sam in their teen years, I was uneasy, because I had flashbacks to the years when we had three teenagers in the throes of adolescenthood, which made the film quite difficult to watch.  Those were not the easiest times in our lives.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

SAVING MR. BANKS

A friend or family member must have recommended Disney's Saving Mr. Banks to me, because I doubt I would have selected it on Netflix on the basis of reviews.  Whoever it was, I'm sorry to give the movie a thumbs-down rating.  The flashback scenes from Helen Goff's (P L Travers' given name) childhood in Australia, with Colin Farrell in the role of her alcoholic father and Annie Rose Buckley as Helen, were the one redeeming quality of the film, but, as written, that part of the story of Helen's early life is entirely predictable.  The lovely scenery in Australia provided a stark contrast to the ugliness of Hollywood, where Travers, played by Emma Thompson, travels to supervise and edit the final version of the script for the Disney version of her Mary Poppins tale.

Thompson is excellent in her portrayal of Travers as written in the Disney script, a prim, dour, unreasonable, domineering spinster, but I wonder why an actor of Thompson's stature agreed to play the role, which is a travesty of the real-life character of the author.  During her life, Travers had intense relationships with both men and women, thus she was hardly the prim spinster as portrayed in the movie.  Though it's true Travers' personality was prickly, she led an unconventional life for a woman of her time.  The author died at the age of 96, estranged from her adopted son and grandchildren.  According to her grandchildren, Travers "died loving no one and with no one loving her." Alas.

Although Tom Hanks performance received good reviews from some critics, I cringed when I watched his labored, cartoonish, mugging, grimacing portrayal of Walt Disney.  Before writing, I searched on YouTube for videos of Disney's introductions to his TV show, wondering if he could possibly be that amateurish.  He was not, but was rather a better, smoother performer than Hanks' character in the film. Sadly, Paul Giamatti wasted his considerable talent in his role as Travers' chauffeur while she was in LA. 

Each time the movie switched from Travers' childhood in Australia back to her time in Hollywood, I couldn't help but think, "This is loathsome," and that is not often my opinion about films I have chosen to see.   I rated the movie two stars for the scenes in Australia from Traver's early life.

The psychologizing at the end of the film which suggests that Mr Banks was a stand-in for Travers' father and that the writer experienced a therapeutic cartharsis as she watched the Disney movie, with the result that her alcoholic father was redeemed in her eyes, is pure nonsense.  Travers disliked the film intensely, objected to the sweetening of the character of Mary Poppins, and refused to give Disney the rights to any of the other Mary Poppins books.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

"NEBRASKA" - THE MOVIE

"Nebraska" is a beautiful, funny, poignant film in splendid black and white, a road movie about a father and son who take off in pursuit of the father's fantasy.  Bruce Dern's portrayal of the father, Woody Grant, is one of the finest in his long acting  career.  Will Forte plays David, Woody's son, with just the right mix of fondness, impatience, indulgence, and uncertainty that, in the end, show him to be a son who loves his father very much.

June Squibb as Kate Grant, Woody's wife and David's mother, is a piece of work, but she seems at the end of her rope, as Woody leaves the house time and again to wander the road on foot in pursuit of his fantasy.  Woody is an alcoholic, who is now slipping into dementia.   What a mouth Kate has!  Since she is elderly and now seems so stressed, I cut her slack, but I'd guess she was a feisty woman from a young age and not one to hold her tongue or mince words.

Writer Bob Nelson's excellent script contains many quotable lines, both funny and sad, and I laughed out loud and was near tears a number of times.  Two examples:
David Grant: Where's your family?
Kate Grant: Oh, they're over in the Catholic cemetery. Catholics wouldn't be caught dead around all these damn Lutherans.
....

David Grant: How did you and mom end up getting married?
Woody Grant: She wanted to.
David Grant: And you didn't?
Woody Grant: I figured, what the hell.
David Grant: Were you ever sorry you married her?
Woody Grant: All the time.
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael's black and white scenes of the West during the road trip are lovely, indeed.  Kudos to director Alexander Payne for pulling it all together to produce a very fine film.  I can't recommend the movie highly enough.

Monday, May 19, 2014

"DALLAS BUYERS CLUB" - THE FILM

On Sunday, I watched Dallas Buyers Club, an excellent movie released in 2013, but a film that was quite difficult to view. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto were outstanding in their roles. Loosely based on the real life story of Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), who was diagnosed with AIDS in the 1980s and given 30 days to live, the film won may awards, including an Academy Award for Jared Leto in his role as Rayon, a drug-addicted transsexual woman.

Ron is dissatisfied with his diagnosis and treatment in the hospital and, after reading and researching alternative treatments, he decides to treat himself and eventually others diagnosed with HIV and AIDS with advice and drugs from a doctor in Mexico, Dr Vass, who has lost his license to practice in the US. Ron's health and that of some of the others on the regimen improves, but, when the US Food and Drug Administration finds out about Ron's operation, they try to shut him down.

The Reagan administration is notorious for ignoring the growing epidemic and for its slowness in researching the causes and treatment of the disease and developing programs to educate the public. People who contracted the disease were sickening and dying in large numbers and were desperate and willing to try any treatment that might offer hope.  Reagan did not even mention HIV or AIDS until near the end of his second term.  What finally made me sit up and take serious notice was Randy Shilts' book, And the Band Played On.

Everyone involved in the production of the film treated the subject seriously and respectfully.  I highly recommend Dallas Buyers Club.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

TOP HAT

The other afternoon, I watched the marvelous Top Hat (1935), a musical comedy starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, filmed in splendid black and white, with Irving Berlin songs, stylish Art Deco settings, and wonderful costumes. What a joy to watch the two dance and listen to them sing. Below is the video clip of "Cheek to Cheek" from the movie. Listen to Astaire hit the high notes, which Berlin worried he might not be able to do. I've long thought Fred Astaire was not given his due for his singing talent. He didn't have a large voice, but his style and grace do full justice to the songs.

The film includes a group dance scene shot from above in Busby Berkeley style, though not nearly as complex as Berkeley's production numbers.

Astaire hated Ginger Rogers' dress with ostrich feathers in the "Cheek to Cheek" scene, because feathers came loose from the dress and flew all over, but Rogers wanted the dress and held her ground. Astaire called her "Feathers" thereafter. Before I send the DVD back, I will watch the film again.
....

Later: The second time around, I noted the ostrich feathers flying around and lying on the floor.

Years ago, I purchased a set of cassettes produced by the Smithsonian titled "American Popular Song", with a cover by Al Hirschfeld.  The set includes several songs brilliantly performed by Fred Astaire - "Cheek to Cheek", "Puttin'on the Ritz", and even "Night and Day", a difficult song to sing to sing well.

Here's the video clip of "Cheek to Cheek", with Astaire singing and Astaire and Rogers dancing and the ostrich feathers flying, which detract not at all from the brilliance of their performance.

Monday, January 13, 2014

"ANOTHER YEAR" - THE FILM

"Another Year" is a strange movie. Written and directed by the much admired Mike Leigh, the film received a number of glowing reviews, yet a quarter way through watching, I wondered what the movie was about. At the end, I asked myself the same question.

Were the names of the two main characters, Tom and Gerri, intentional?  Both Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen play their roles as Tom, a geological engineer, and Gerri, a counsellor, a middle-aged happily married couple, well and naturally, with Broadbent's performance outstanding in excellence. Tom is plainly a nice guy, but Gerri's character is annoying to the point of insufferability, seeming smug, all-knowing, and insular as she observes the disastrous lives surrounding her, even as she offers the characters kindness and hospitality.  Oliver Maltman is very good and natural as their son, Joe.  Tom and Gerri's daughter, mentioned in passing, seems not a steady presence in their lives.

To enjoy a movie, I must first suspend disbelief and accept the characters as real people for the duration, but several of the characters were caricatures who were not at all credible.  I wondered how it was possible for the couple's friend Mary (Lesley Manville), with her
overplayed shrinking, cringing, and gesturing, to ever pull herself together enough to function in her job as a receptionist.  Then there is sad Ken (Peter Wight, also overplaying his role), as their miserably unhappy friend with whom the couple try to link the miserably unhappy Mary, but she's having none of it, and who can blame her?  What a miserably unhappy pair the two would make.

Enter son Joe's long-awaited (by his parents) fiancée, the giggly, squirmy, gesturing Katie (Karina Fernandez), whom both Tom and Gerri agree is lovely and just the girl for Joe.  Please.  To be in the same room with Mary, Katie, and Ken all at once would try my patience to the utmost.  Though it doesn't happen in the film, viewers are painfully subjected to two at a time.

Oh my.  I sound grumpy even to myself, but, in the end, what this viewer is left with are four seasons in the lives of Tom and Gerri showing the couple's kindness and hospitality to the less fortunate, yet all the while remaining self-contained and self-satisfied throughout.  Director Leigh most certainly does not fear moments of silence.


Three intriguing characters appear only briefly: Janet (Imelda Staunton), an unforgettable picture of depression, whom Gerri counsels at the beginning of the movie and who never again appears; Ronnie (David Bradley), Tom's brother, whose blunt and steely gaze is stunning throughout his nearly wordless performance which begins at his wife's funeral; and Ronnie's son Jack (Philip Davis), a study in anger, barely and, at times, unsuccessfully repressed.  Strangely enough, Mary and Ronnie seem to connect in a way that is believable, but I shuddered at the thought of the havoc Mary'd wreak should she became part of Ronnie's life.
 

Please don't simply take my word on the quality of the film, but read at least some of the words of the 93% of critics and the 74% of audiences who praise "Another Year".  

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

"LAST CHANCE HARVEY"

Since I'd completely forgotten that I bought the DVD, I must have purchased the film "Last Chance Harvey" some years ago. Last night I finally watched, and I enjoyed the performances of two fine actors, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, in a lovely, romantic story. While the audiences' reactions were decidedly mixed, the critics gave the film higher marks. One critic said the movie was "sweet and tender", and another said, "They don't often make romances like this, so tell your mum - or granny!" Well, I thought it was sweet and tender, and I'm a mum and a granny, so I suppose that's why I more than liked the movie - I loved it. It will not be among the most memorable films I've seen, but it was a fine way to spend a cold and rainy New Year's Eve.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

QUARTET (THE MOVIE)

Loved it, loved it, loved it. What's not to love? It was all about me, starring wonderful British actors, except I'm not a retired opera singer, living in a Beechem House, a retirement home for musicians in England, but otherwise...

Maggie Smith (Jean Horton), Pauline Collins (Cissy Robson), Tom Courtenay (Reg Paget), and Billy Connolly (Wilf Bond) play the roles of the opera singers.  The characters bravely, and more or less cheerfully, face the challenges and vicissitudes of aging.  Cissy suffers from what seems moderate dementia, and the scenes which show Reg and Wilf protecting her and caring for her with love, tenderness, and gentle humor, are quite moving.

The musicians remain active in their former professions by teaching classes to young musicians, but the home is in danger of being closed due to lack of funds.   The residents hope that a planned gala performance fund-raiser, starring themselves, will provide sufficient funding for the continued operation of Beechem House.

Cissy, Reg, and Wilf live rather quietly until the arrival of Jean.  Whenever Maggie Smith comes on the scene, we know she will stir the pot, and so she does when she joins the others in the home.   All four characters knew one another during their performing careers, and Jean and Reg were briefly married, very briefly, only one day, before the marriage ended.  Jean tries to mend their relationship, but Reg will have none of it.

Since I don't want my review to be a spoiler, I'll give no more details but only say that I highly recommend the film.  The actors are delightful in their roles, and, although there's much in the story line that is improbable, if not quite impossible, I loved "Quartet" anyway.  For me, the test of a drama or any fictional art form is whether I get caught up in the story and suspend disbelief, and I did, in spades, as I watched "Quartet", so much so that I want to see the film again.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

SEEING "THE BUTLER"

A couple of weeks ago, Grandpère and I went to the theater to see "The Butler".  People were talking about the film here because scenes from the movie were filmed in this area, in Houma, Louisiana, and at Laurel Valley plantation outside Thibodaux.  The movie makers built a false front to a building in downtown Houma and blew it up.  The early scenes from Cecil Gaines' childhood in the film were set in Macon, Georgia, but Louisiana is close enough, right?

Forest Whitaker's portrayal of Cecil Gaines is excellent.  Gaines erved as a butler in the White House beginning in the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower into the presidency of Ronald Reagan.  Cuba Gooding, as head butler, does a fine job of acting, as does Oprah Winfrey, as Gaines' wife Gloria, somewhat to my surprise.

If you heard or read of the outrage of Reagan admirers at the casting of Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, which I found quite amusing (After all, Fonda is an actor and was playing a role, and why not the role of Nancy?), you can think of it as a good joke on the part of the filmmakers or as brilliant casting.  Whatever their intention, the result was brilliant.  Fonda was Nancy Reagan, or so close as to be surpassed only by the reincarnation of Nancy Reagan.

Real footage from the civil rights struggle was painful to watch and brought back terrible memories of the horror of the times.  I sat in my seat cringing and squirming, wanting the scenes to be over.  Gaines son Louis (David Oyelowo) becomes active in the struggle, which causes a breach between him and his father, who disapproves of his activism and prefers to work quietly to achieve equality in wages for the African-Americans on the White House staff, who earn less than the white employees.  As Gaines goes about his work, he hears discussions about the demands of African-Americans and the "problem" of the fight for civil rights, but, of course, he cannot react in any way.

While there was much that was good about the movie, Tom and I both came away feeling a bit unsettled and questioning.  The movie seemed to lack a point of view.  Who was the hero?  Was it Cecil, who did his job, serving faithfully in the White House and caring for his wife and children?  Or was it Louis, who was active in the fight for civil rights?  Both?  Were we meant to be left to decide for ourselves? Anyway, we walked away shaking our heads.

There you have it.  I hope I've succeeded in writing my impressions of the movie without spoiling the film for those who have not seen it.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

"SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK"

"Silver Linings Playbook" is one of the craziest, funniest, and, at the same time, one of the most intelligent and touching movies I've seen in a long time. All the way through the film, I rooted for the characters, as one or more of them skirt the edge in imminent danger of going over and having to go to prison or into a mental health facility. Although I wanted them to succeed in spite of the odds against them, in their out-of-control moments, I wondered if a couple of them truly were too dangerous to be loose on the streets.  The mental health challenges included bipolar disorder, sex addiction, and OCD. 

The suspense as to whether the characters in the film would continue to roam free kept me on the edge of my seat till the very end. The poignant thread which weaves
through the story, of the wounded helping the wounded to heal, moved me greatly.

The movie was nominated for and won many awards, including  the Academy Award for Best Actress to Jennifer Lawrence for her excellent performance as Tiffany.  Bradley Cooper, as Pat, skillfully navigates his way through the bipolar character's rapid personality changes, and Robert De Niro shines in his portrayal of Pat's obsessive-compulsive disordered father.   Pat's mother Dolores (Jacki Weaver), the loving and compassionate enabler to the eccentric family members, plays her role often wide-eyed, shocked, and stricken by the mayhem around her.  All the characters endeared themselves to me in their own wonderful ways.  I applaud all involved in making the marvelous film.

Monday, November 12, 2012

IT'S NOT EASY BEING A VISIONARY

Thanks to the recommendation of Tobias Haller, I put "Vision", the German film based on the life of Hildegard von Bingen, in my Netflix queue and watched it last week.  The film, written and directed by Margarethe von Trotta, opens with gory scenes of flagellation, and I debated whether to speed the scenes forward or stop watching altogether, but I did neither, thus the movie and I got off to an inauspicious start.  However did Christians come to think the sick practice of self-flagellation served any good purpose?   The reminder of one instance  amongst many of how often the followers of Christ went off track throughout the history of the church helped me to put today's conflicts and wanderings off the path in perspective. 

Hildegard was an extraordinarily gifted woman, who was well-educated from her childhood in 12th century Germany, when few women were fortunate enough to receive that sort of attention.  She was a "writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath."  Hildegard faced opposition nearly every step of the way from the male-dominated church in her efforts to fulfill the visions and messages she received from God, but she usually had her way in the end, often aided by the patronage of the powerful.  The church has come a long way, baby, but is not yet where it ought to be in terms of equality for women, as witness the struggle in the Church of England over women bishops and the roadblock in the Roman Catholic Church to ordination of women.  And that's not to mention the fundamentalist Christian churches which, to this day, teach submission of women to men.

Barbara Sukowa is formidable, indeed, as Hildegard.  She would have intimidated me.  All of the actors performed well.  The scenes in the monastery were well done, and seemed authentic to me, although I'm hardly an expert on life in a 12th century religious community.  The triangular relationship between Hildegard, Jutta (Lena Stolz), Hildegard's best friend from childhood, and the young sister Richardis (Hannah Herzsprung) hints at something beyond best friends and/or mother/daughter, but we are left to draw our own conclusions.  Except for the gory parts, I enjoyed the film and the lovely music in the sound track, which included Hildegard's compositions.   

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

"THE TREE OF LIFE" - THE MOVIE

Spoiler warning.

Over the last couple of nights, I watched the film "The Tree of Life" on Netflix DVD.  I've enjoyed all the Netflix movies that I've chosen so far, some more than others, but "The Tree of Life' was the absolute worst.  The movie was filled with beautiful images, some from the Hubble telescope, others such as a view of the silhouette of an actor projected against sunlight shining through trees, with a soundtrack that includes Brahms, Bach, and Schumann, along with original music, but - hey! - where's the story?  A character comes on the scene, we see images, strange landscapes, then the character thinks or talks in a low voice, mostly to her/himself.  (Before the movie begins, the viewer is instructed to turn the volume to loud.  Good advice.)  What's going on?   I broke my viewing into two parts, because I was bored/impatient/mystified.  The actors, especially the young boys, were very good when the camera was on them, which it was far too little of the time.  There is a story in the movie, but it's broken in pieces and lost in interruptions that serve to lengthen the movie to over two hours to no good purpose.

I went back to read the reviews again, because I always check them out before I put movies in my Netflix queue, and more than 80% of the critics gave the movie positive reviews, but when I went to audience reviews, it was a different story.  The moviegoers either loved the movie or they hated it.  The scores were either 0 or 10.  I'd score it far on the low end, either 1 or 0.
The Tree of Life is nonetheless a singular work, an impressionistic metaphysical inquiry into mankind’s place in the grand scheme of things that releases waves of insights amid its narrative imprecisions. This fifth feature in Terrence Malick’s eccentric four-decade career is a beauteous creation that ponders the imponderables, asks the questions that religious and thoughtful people have posed for millennia and provokes expansive philosophical musings along with intense personal introspection.
As such, it is hardly a movie for the masses and will polarize even buffs, some of whom might fail to grasp the connection between the depiction of the beginnings of life on Earth and the travails of a 1950s Texas family. But there are great, heady things here, both obvious and evanescent, more than enough to qualify this as an exceptional and major film. Critical passions, pro and con, along with Brad Pitt in one of his finest performances will stir specialized audiences to attention, but Fox Searchlight will have its work cut out for it in luring a wider public.
Crikey!  If I'd read the overblown review from Cannes beforehand I'd have known not to put the movie in my queue, that it was not for little me of "the masses".  I ask you, what would I know about "great, heady things", me of "the wider public"?  The film won the Palme d'Or at  Cannes.  Not for everyone, surely.  Not for me.


Movie poster from Wikipedia.

Friday, March 25, 2011

"MY FOOLISH HEART" - MARGARET WHITING



As a teenager I saw the movie of the same title, starring Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews, before the Roman Catholic newspaper came out with the rating of "C" for CONDEMNED! I was happy that I squeezed in the movie before I saw the rating, otherwise, I would not have gone. What can I say? I was a good Catholic girl.

The romantic song played throughout the film, which the critics panned, but which I loved.
The New Yorker wrote that it was "full of soap-opera clichés," and, while allowing for "some well-written patches of wryly amusing dialogue," Time rejected it as a "damp fable....the screenplay turns on all the emotional faucets of a Woman's Home Companion serial.

"My Foolish Heart" surely turns on all my emotional faucets. I'd say it was my age at the time, but I own the video, and I still watch with pleasure. The movie was adapted from a story by J. D. Salinger, titled "Uncle Wiggliy in Connecticut", and, as Salinger disliked what had been done to his story, he never again relinquished control of his other publications to Hollywood.

Oh, and critics panned the song, too. Still, I think Margaret Whiting sings a lovely version? What do the critics know?



Quote from Wikipedia.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

MY MORNING WITH "A SINGLE MAN"


Warning: Spoiler commentary follows.

Yesterday morning, I watched "A Single Man", a fine movie, in shades of dark comedy. The film is set in the early 1960s in southern California. Colin Firth plays a gay British professor of English literature, George Falconer, who grieves for his partner, Jim, played by the hunky Matthew Goode, who was killed in a car accident. Jim appears only in flashbacks in the film.

Back in the day, before it was safe to be fully out as gay or lesbian in almost any occupation, conversations about a person's sexual orientation were, for the most part, necessarily tentative and suggestive, rather than straightforward, and included meaningful glances and eye contact to convey messages that must not be spoken. The movie captures well the stifling atmosphere of the times of covering up and hiding, which - alas - has not entirely dissipated today.

George, a precise, fastidious type decides he will kill himself. Before going to see his best friend, Charlotte, wonderfully played by Julienne Moore, who can't quite accept that she and George can't be more than friends, he practices his suicide scene. With the unloaded gun in his mouth, he tries out the bed, propped against pillows that won't stay in place, a sleeping bag in the bed, and the shower, none of which turn out to be satisfactory settings for blowing his brains out.

To me, the funniest line in the movie comes in the scene when George accidentally bumps into a gay hustler, Kenny, outside a liquor store. The two begin a conversation, and George tells Kenny the story of his lover's death; the young man says, "My mother always said, 'Lovers are like buses. If you wait long enough, another one will come along.'" (From memory - perhaps not a direct quote.) Not true, of course, but in the context of the scene, Kenny's mama's words made me laugh out loud.

As I finished watching the movie, on a morning with driving rain and heavy wind outside, I thought my 100 minutes were well-spent.

The film is based on a novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

"BLACK SWAN" - A WILD EMOTIONAL RIDE


A couple of nights ago, Grandpère and I went to see "Black Swan". GP pushed me to go, which surprised me, because I didn't think he'd care to see a ballet movie. The ratings were positive, for the most part, and I was happy to go.

What a wild emotional ride the movie turned out to be. We were both swept up in the experience and stayed with it until the end. "Black Swan" has been described as a psychosexual thriller, and that's about right. I'll try my best not to give away too much of the story, as I write about the movie. Wonder of wonders, Grandpère, who has never been to a ballet, now says that he would like to see a ballet. For him, the film was a conversion experience.

Across the board, the principal actors gave fine performances. Natalie Portman, as Nina Sayers, an aspiring ballerina, was amazing. I read that she did 90% of the dancing in the movie. She and Mila Kunis, who played Lily, Nina's rival/friend (in an impressive performance!), both spent several months practicing and getting into shape to play their roles as dancers.

The artistic director of the ballet company to which both Nina and Lily belong, Thomas Leroy (Victor Cassel), plucks Nina from the corps de ballet to dance, according to tradition, the dual starring roles of Odette/Odile, the good white swan and the evil black swan. Leroy is confidant of Nina's ability to dance the part of Odette, but he harbors doubts that Nina has what it takes to dance the evil Odile. Lily is chosen as the understudy.

Barbara Hershey (Erica Sayers) as the creepy, smothering, former ballet-dancer stage mother of Nina was outstanding, as were Winona Ryder (Beth Macintyre), in a cameo role as the aging ballerina, edged out of the limelight, and Vincent Cassel (Thomas Leroy) as the artistic director.

Benjamin Millepied plays David, Nina's dance partner in "Swan Lake". The real-life Natalie Portman is now engaged to Millepied. and the two are expecting a baby.

The cinematography, which was shot in cinema verité style, is terrific, as is the score for the film, with Tchaikovsky's wonderful music for the ballet woven in. All the excellence is pulled together by the director Darren Aronofsky from a screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz.

Make no mistake, the movie put us through an emotional wringer and won't be soon forgotten. The film is many-layered, and I know I missed out on a good many details in certain scenes. After GP and I left, and we questioned each other, "What really happened there and there?" We answered some, but not all of the questions that we posed one to the other, and, about certain scenes, we concluded that there may be no one answer.

I highly recommend the movie, although I expect it won't be everyone's cup of tea. But keep in mind that GP and I have fairly different tastes in movies, and we'd both like to see the film again.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

AFTERNOON AT THE MOVIES

 

My grandson and I headed off to the movie theater this afternoon to see "How To Train Your Dragon". In my habitual fashion, I was running late, so by the time we bought our tickets and made the stop at the concession stand, the movie had already started, but only by a few minutes. Sigh.... When we handed in our tickets, the ticket-taker said they were for the next showing of the movie, about two hours later!!! He said, "The movie has already started." I asked if we could go in anyway, and he said yes. Yay!

Of course, my grandson ran far up the stairs to a seat higher than I wanted to go, but I gamely followed. We crawled over the folks in the row and settled down. After a few minutes, GS says, "I left my candy on the counter! I'm going to get it." He jumped up, passed me, and knocked my bag of popcorn on the floor. I said, (in the middle of a movie for kids!) "Gotdammit, you spilled my popcorn!" Lord, forgive me. Children forgive me. On GS went crossing in front of the people in our row again, but not spilling their popcorn.

He came back with his candy, and we settled down to watch the movie. Suddenly we begin to see double, and I realized that 3D had kicked in, and we didn't have 3D glasses! Honestly, I thought about watching the movie in double vision, because we'd already made such a fuss, but GS wanted the 3D effect, which is quite understandable. I told him to go wherever to get us our glasses, and he crawled over me and the others in the row again and made a successful run for the 3D glasses. I guarded my half bag of popcorn which I had rescued from the floor, so he didn't knock it down again. We settled again to watch the rest of the movie with our 3D glasses without causing further disturbance. When I reached into my pocket to get a napkin, there was GS's bag of candy. I picked it up off the counter and forgot all about it, because the server distracted me by trying to sell me a new item, a cinnamon pretzel for $5.50, which I declined.

The movie was charming, enjoyable for both children and adults, with enough in the way of chases on the ground and in the air, close calls, fire-breathing, etc. for GS, and a literate and lovely message for all ages.

When the movie was over, I picked up our trash, except for the sea of popcorn at my feet, turned in the extra bag of candy at the concession stand, (I am honest to a fault!) and we were on our way home.

So. Should I give up taking grandchildren to the movies? We seem to have more than our share of adventures. We, no doubt, annoyed a few folks, but we didn't hurt anyone. I suppose we'll try again.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

NEW ORLEANS - A "GENIUS LOCI"

"Bad Lieutenant"
In the Times-Picayune's Lagniappe, David Germain interviews Nicholas Cage, who stars in "Bad Lieutenant", a movie in which, according to Cage, "explosive violence and extreme drug use are leavened by raucously twisted humor".
Directed by Werner Herzog, the film stars Cage as a New Orleans police detective traipsing about post-Katrina New Orleans, snorting, popping and smoking whatever drugs he can while threatening witnesses in pursuit of savage killers.

The film is not an outright remake of 1992's "Bad Lieutenant," which starred Harvey Keitel, but rather Herzog and Cage's take on the idea of a cop without conscience, doing his job in a sometimes hallucinatory fog.
Why film the movie in New Orleans?
"Bad Lieutenant" marked Cage's first time working in New Orleans since he shot his directing debut there with 2002's "Sonny." Cage said he was anxious about returning, because he had a life-changing experience in New Orleans during the "Sonny" shoot.

"In some ways, you could say that I was reborn in New Orleans, and I had this terrifying, mystical experience," said Cage, who would not provide details about what happened.

Critics might assail Cage for his action movies, but they're heaping praise on the actor for the frenzy and fearlessness of his role in "Bad Lieutenant."

New Orleans might have something to do with that, Cage said. Going back was a catharsis, and the city's spirit helped inspire his performance, he said.

"New Orleans is not like any place else in the world. It was colonized by the French and Spanish, it has these African energies, and all these things sort of roll into one to create this genius loci, which is the reason we have jazz," Cage said.

"I felt that I could embrace that, and that I could maybe have a bit of jazz, or my understanding of jazz, in the delivery. Which, my understanding is, that you know the lines so well that you go off-page and you improvise, and you can riff, and you can soak that energy up if you're willing to listen to it. And that's what I think happened."
(My emphasis)
I haven't read a better description of my beloved native city in quite a while. His words on jazz as a metaphor for the city are brilliant. Not everyone "gets" New Orleans. Not all of the native-born "feel" the city, and then there are those who come from far-away places who "feel" the city right away.

I may have to see the movie, although "explosive violence" is not really my thing. Here's a link to the review of the film in the Boston Globe.