F.I.L.M. of the Week (July 30, 2010)

30 07 2010

I had always been interested in seeing “Boogie Nights.”  And for those of you who happen to know the film’s subject matter, no, it’s not because I wanted to see certain things.  Released in 1997, the movie features plenty of today’s stars long before they had the luster and prestige their names bear now.  Five members of the ensemble have since been nominated for Oscars, and an actor who wasn’t even given top billing has even won an Oscar.

In an effort to see some of Julianne Moore’s finest roles, I decided it was time to watch Paul Thomas Anderson’s Academy Award-nominated second feature.  The movie was her breakout, earning her notices from everyone, including the first of her four Oscar nominations.  But it’s not just to feature her that “Boogie Nights” is my “F.I.L.M. of the Week;” the entire ensemble shines in a true work of artistry by Anderson.

I can’t dance around the topic any longer – this is a movie about the adult entertainment industry, in Los Angeles during the ’70s and ’80s.  Director Jack Horner is looking for an actor to build an empire around, someone who can do more than just look good.  He finds just that in Eddie Adams, a young nightclub employee with talents that Horner seeks.  Changing his name to Dirk Diggler, Horner’s discovery becomes the star he always dreamed of.

But the bigger Diggler’s star becomes, the closer he moves towards becoming a supernova.  His fame has made him violently angry and cocky.  He has also spiraled into severe drug abuse and addiction.  Soon enough, he finds that his greatest asset for his job doesn’t function the way he wants.  Diggler slowly drops towards rock bottom, and thanks to a strong performance by Mark Wahlberg, it’s a gripping journey to watch.  See, the stories of fame in the adult film industry are no different than any other entertainment industry.

As I said earlier, there is quite the ensemble at work here, including John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, and William H. Macy as members of Diggler’s posse.  It’s quite fun to see them in their younger years, just getting started in Hollywood.  He was leagues away from stardom at the time, but a definite standout is Philip Seymour Hoffman as a crew member infatuated with Diggler.  He plays an unsettling character, and it’s nailed with the precision we now regularly associate with Hoffman.

The women are great, too.  Heather Graham, who most people don’t take seriously, is seriously brilliant as Rollergirl, an actress who does all her movies wearing rollerskates.  Anderson wrote the character with great depth, exploring her insecurities and weaknesses.  Graham goes there with him, truly shocking us not only by how good she is but how far she is willing to take her character.  And then there’s Julianne Moore, who entered mainstream consciousness for her portrayal of Amber Waves.  She acts as a mother figure to Diggler, yet at the same time, she finds herself very attracted to him.  Moore can play both objectives well, but she’s at her best when they clash.

In only his second movie, Paul Thomas Anderson handles “Boogie Nights” with the precision of a Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino, sharing the former’s knack for great camerawork and the latter’s ability to select great music.  Now that I’ve seen this, I have to wonder why I like his later movies so much less.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (July 23, 2010)

23 07 2010

You need to see “Children of Men” if you haven’t already.  You owe it to yourself.

I rewatched it a few days ago and fell in love with it all over again.  I chose it as this week’s “F.I.L.M.” because I found it as beautifully new as if I had just seen it – and also because it stars Julianne Moore, the subject of the LAMB’s Acting School.

We’ve seen the apocalyptic situations a million times, be it by zombies or bad weather.  But in Alfonso Cuaron’s world, based on the novel by author P.D. James, the end is near because of the sudden infertility of women.  The only surviving government is Britain, which has become a hotbed for illegal immigration.  So even there, society is collapsing.

The extraordinary chain of events in “Children of Men” are set in motion by the death of the world’s youngest person, Baby Diego.  Theo, played by the powerful Clive Owen, is a little more affected than he expected and winds up barely missing being killed by a bombing set up by the Fishes, a group of political activists led by his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore).  They kidnap him and recruit his services to take a refugee to the Human Project, a group committed to curing human’s infertility.  This refugee is carrying the key to survival – the first child in 18 years.

It’s a really cool movie to watch thanks to the visionary Cuaron and all the life he breathes into it.   He co-wrote the screenplay, and it’s incredibly rich, both in terms of plot and dialogue.  The acting is all flawless, from Julianne Moore’s moving bit part to Michael Caine’s lovable aging stoner to Owen’s riveting leading performance.  The cinematography is astounding, and it easy to notice how innovative it is.  Thanks to utilizing some long shots (as opposed to Hollywood’s incessant changing shots), Emmanuel Lubezki’s eye for the story really stands out.

But what I found so astonishing on second viewing was the thematic depth the movie had.  Be sure to watch for the religious overtones – they really can floor you.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (July 16, 2010)

16 07 2010

I’ve been hearing about “Run Lola Run,” this week’s “F.I.L.M.,” for at least a decade.  So a few weeks ago, I decided to experience it for myself.  I found out that I had been missing quite a lot.  The movie is a joyous rush of blood to the head with a style that will knock you of your feet.

Lola (Franka Potente, recognizable from “The Bourne Identity”) has twenty minutes to save her boyfriend, Moritz, from the punishment of losing a large sum of money he owed his boss.  In desperation, he wants to rob a supermarket to get the money.  She urges him to wait, but she has no idea if he will.  So she runs.

Lola runs through the streets of Berlin at an all-out sprint, affecting the lives of others in strange and unexpected ways.  We see her run from three different perspectives, which is really the only way to describe the movie without spoiling it for people that have never seen it.  But we see a whole lot of Lola running.  Franka Potente must have lost a whole lot of weight doing this movie.

While the story is refreshingly compelling and the actors who tell it are fully convincing, it’s the way the story is told by the people behind the camera that makes “Run Lola Run” a movie we can never forget.  All the eccentric editing, crazy cinematography, animated asides, and pulsating beats from the techno score make it feel less like a movie and more like some collection of images that defies cinematic boundaries.  And in a time when filmmakers are tied ball-and-chain to convention, this movie has never felt so good.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (July 9, 2010)

9 07 2010

As the countdown to “Inception” hits seven days and the nail-biting stage begins, I think it’s a perfect time to look back on the career of Christopher Nolan.  Today is the kick-off for a week long celebration of the director.  I’ll review all of Nolan’s movies leading up to Friday, where I will offer my take on “Inception.”  In addition, I hope to take a look at some of Nolan’s influences, reviewing those movies with particular attention to how they shaped one of the most influential directors of our time.

And it all starts here with the “F.I.L.M. of the Week,” Nolan’s first film, “Following.”  It’s a very modest debut in terms of scale; it stars no one you know and is nowhere near as flashy as “The Dark Knight.”  To put Nolan’s success in perspective, “Following” was budgeted at $6,000.  ”Inception” cost $175 million to make.  Yet it’s interesting to watch this movie now, twelve years after its release, and see how it set the stage for some of the themes Nolan would choose to explore as a filmmaker.

The film follows a young writer in London, so desperate to find a story that he begins following random people for inspiration – yet another Nolan character living outside the lines.  He begins to set rules to avoid being pulled into darkness and obsession, but eventually these rules begin to fade away as he follows a fascinating and wealthy man.

The man, Cobb, confronts him and introduces him to a world of burglary for a more psychological than material effect.  Before long, the young writer is completely drawn in, consistently accompanying Cobb for robberies.  In typical Nolan fashion, nothing is really as it seems.  Much like “Memento” and “The Prestige,” the movie leads you in one direction and then yanks the rug out from under you in the climactic moments.

It’s amazing how Nolan’s artistic vision and commitment to keeping suspense so taut can still shine in such a small movie.  I hadn’t even heard of “Following” before today, but it packs as much power in its 70 minutes as any of Nolan’s other movies.  Because it is incredibly obscure, the only way I was able to watch it was online.  I want you all to experience Nolan as well, so I took the liberty of embedding the Google Video below.  You can enjoy “Following” without even leaving this blog.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (July 2, 2010)

2 07 2010

This week’s “F.I.L.M.” is Nicole Holofcener’s probing social comedy “Friends with Money.” If you look at the poster and see Jennifer Aniston and instantly think, “This movie is going to be stupid,” be prepared to think twice. It’s an incredibly, perhaps surprisingly, deep look at the effects of money and social class on four friends in Los Angeles. It rounds all the bases, touching on all the big issues that an obsession with money can bring.

Jane (Frances McDormand) is a successful fashion designer who is perhaps the most money-driven of the bunch. She unabashedly and unashamedly asks people about how much money they make, how much they are donating, and how much they spend. Whether it’s because of her crumbling marriage or potentially entering menopause, she has become increasingly frank and short-tempered.

Franny (Joan Cusack) is a trust fund baby living comfortably with her husband and child. She’s a little shy talking about how much money she has, largely because of its source.

Christine (Catherine Keener) is a television writer, teamed with her husband (Jason Isaacs). Giddy from the rush of money, she decides to expand their house upwards to see the ocean without considering its effect on her neighbors. But marital frustrations begin to take its toll on her work; however, they also open her eyes to how her actions have unexpectedly affected the world around her.

Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) is their idea of a charity case friend. She’s quit her job as a teacher to become a maid. She’s single and hasn’t had a steady boyfriend in years. She still smokes pot and wanders through life with no direction or sense of purpose.

Each of the women undergoes a metamorphosis over the course of the movie’s 88 minutes. Holofcener creates four wonderfully elaborate women whose stories unfold before our very eyes. The character study is incredibly effective and entertaining, largely due in part to the wittiness of the script.

But the movie is carried by the actresses, all of whom give wonderful performances. Joan Cusack plays nothing new – the mildly insecure but ultimately warmhearted woman – but it’s a comfortable territory for her and thus comfortable for us to watch. Catherine Keener undergoes one of the movie’s biggest transformations, and she nails it with her typical pitch-perfect grace. Frances MacDormand is absolutely hysterical as she speaks her mind with no filter.

And bring on the puzzled looks – the star of “Friends With Money” is Jennifer Aniston. Her Olivia is by far and away the film’s most complicated character, and in the hands of Aniston, she is completely realized. We can buy every move she makes and feel the emotion behind each line. All you Jennifer Aniston haters out there, watch this movie. You may not be silenced, but it should shut you up for a little while.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (June 25, 2010)

25 06 2010

Find me a more disarming movie than “Amelie,” this week’s “F.I.L.M.”  Try to name a movie that can match it in charm.  Try to name a movie that is capable of delivering such a warm feeling.  Well, I’m waiting.

While those of you who have seen the movie ponder, allow me to sell “Amelie” to all those who have not seen it.  The movie features the star-making turn of Audrey Tautou as the titular character, an incurable optimist and do-gooder in France.  She has the kind of circumstances that breed the neurotic protagonists of Woody Allen films – misdiagnosed with a heart condition by her father, Amelie is homeschooled.  Unable to have friendships with other kids, her only friend is her pet fish, which unfortunately turns suicidal.  Her mother dies after someone committing suicide falls on top of her.

Yet despite all the unfortunate circumstances, Amelie emerges smiling.  She finds pleasure in the little things in life, such as breaking creme brulee with a teaspoon.  And after a surprising find in her apartment allows her to bring a giddy rush of joy to an old man, she commits herself to spreading the feeling to everyone she knows.  This includes her morose father, her solitary neighbor, a sullen co-worker, and a young man with a few quirks of his own.  Through her adventures, Amelie becomes the benevolent guardian angel we all want looking over our shoulder.

And it’s not just Amelie’s personality that lights up this movie like a Christmas tree.  The movie’s visual style feels like a warm hug, beginning with the film’s colors.  Every frame seems dipped in sepia, which surprisingly turns out to be like sugar-coating an already sweet treat.  The cinematography is magical, always a little odd and unexpected.  Every minute is like unwrapping a mystery-flavored lollipop – you know that you’ll devour whatever lies in store no matter what you get.  To top it off, there’s a whimsical score beneath it all to really make the movie float like a balloon.

So, do you have that movie that can be – dare I say it – as cute as “Amelie?”  I can’t stand using that word, mainly because I’m a guy, but the word just seems so appropriate to describe the movie.  Once you see it, I guarantee it will quickly shoot to the top of your “instant feel-good” movies list.  In fact, it’s more than a feel-good movie.  ”Amelie” is a feel-great movie.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (June 18, 2010)

18 06 2010

Love.  Sex.  Desire.  Lust.  Need.

These are words we all associate together, right?  Usually one affects the other or one leads to the other.  But if you are willing to challenge your views on the connectivity of these emotions, then you will love my pick for “F.I.L.M. of the Week,” Mike Nichols’ “Closer.”  If the director alone isn’t enough to make you see this movie, just look at the poster and see all the stars.  Each and every one of them gives a fantastic performance, but one in particular really deserved an Academy Award.

The movie follows four people in London over the course of several years, particularly noting their struggles and their romances.  Alice (Natalie Portman) is an American trying to get away from stripping for a living who falls for Dan (Jude Law) after he helps her recover from getting hit by a taxi.  But Dan also has feelings for Anna (Julia Roberts), a photographer taking his picture for the book he has written many years after meeting Alice.  When she kindly refuses to be with him, Dan plays a mean-spirited practical joke on her and brings Larry (Clive Owen), a dermatologist, into the mix.  As the story unfolds, the four mix and clash in unexpected ways, all seeking some sort of truth through love.

Part of what makes “Closer” so fascinating is the plot and the dialogue.  Patrick Marber adapts his own Tony Award-nominated play for the movie, and he stays relatively close to the spirit of the stage.  The movie has a very stripped-down, bare essentials minimalism that makes us feel like we are watching actual lives unfold.  Marber has thematic depth in his screenplay and probes issues that usually only playwrights dare to do.  His dialogue is raw and unsparing, a perfect complement to the story.

However, what really makes “Closer” such an intensely satisfying watch are the actors.  Julia Roberts is scary good at being quiet and unassuming, but when that layer fades away, she is just plain scary.  Jude Law probably has the most screen time, and he makes the most of it with his compelling work.  Clive Owen is the most brutal of the bunch, rough and willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants.  Owen plays the role with such a ferocious intensity that we never doubt his character for a second.

But the best performance of all is delivered by Natalie Portman.  It’s so much more mature than her 23 years (at the time of the release).  Alice is completely realized thanks to Portman, who really gets inside her enigmatic character to shocking success.  Whether it is anguished, upset, wanting, or hurting, Portman nails the emotion.  The role is a dramatic change of pace from her usual “good girl,” and it certainly is strange as she becomes completely absorbed in being mysterious and seductive.  She never lets us doubt it, though, as she keeps us astonished and spellbound by Alice and her quest for love.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (June 11, 2010)

11 06 2010

They don’t make movies this powerful and impacting very often.  That’s why “Requiem for a Dream,” an stylistic masterpiece by Darren Aronofsky, is the “F.I.L.M. of the Week.”  I thought I couldn’t be scared by movies after having made it through several horror movies barely flinching.  Yet along came “Requiem for a Dream,” and unexpectedly, I was screaming, shouting, and cowering in fear.

The movie follows four people over nine months as drug abuse affects their lives in profound ways.  It’s a somewhat typical addiction story for Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto) and Tyrone Love (Marlon Wayans) who are trying to earn enough money dealing drugs to open up a fashion shop for Harry’s girlfriend, Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly).  But due to various unfortunate incidents, they end up having to go deeper into the drug trade to dig themselves out of a hole.  Meanwhile, Marion has also fallen into a state of desperation to keep up their lifestyle of recreational drug use.

But easily the most powerful and heartbreaking storyline of “Requiem for a Dream” is that of Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), Harry’s mother.  A New Jersey widow who has confined herself to her tiny apartment, Sara becomes convinced that she has been selected to appear on her favorite infomercial after a fake phone call.  Trying to make herself look attractive for a television audience, she visits an underground doctor to obtain pills that will help her take off some weight quickly.  She gets what she wants out of the pills but winds up addicted.  It’s tragic to watch the doctor turn a blind eye to her issues when she comes in, clearly unable to address her own problems.  Because she didn’t intend for this to happen, it’s her unconventional addiction story that really captures our sympathy.  We leave all four of them in a state of misery that no human being should ever have to endure.  It is chillingly devastating to watch their lives spiral out of control, and even more so once we reach the unsparing conclusion.

There’s no way to talk about the movie without talking about the incredible acting, particularly Ellen Burstyn.  A role like Sara is risky for someone of her age and stature, and she went all-in.  The result is one of the most powerful performances of the decade, one that should have won her an Oscar.  Jared Leto is scary good as her son, Jennifer Connelly takes her character to the edge just one year removed from winning her own Oscar, and Marlon Wayans isn’t bad!

The tension in the movie is amplified by Clint Mansell’s absolutely terrifying score.  Usually, a film’s score is gravy in a best-case scenario or a distraction in a worst-case scenario.  But “Requiem for a Dream” incorporates Mansell’s music into the very fabric of the movie, making it that much more effective.  The main theme from the movie has become a cult hit, but it’s “Meltdown,” the song that plays during the climactic moments of the movie, that deserves to be worshipped.

But “Requiem for a Dream” really works because of the incredible vision Darren Aronofsky has for it.  He makes addiction real for us and gets us into the minds of the addicts themselves.  It’s the split-screen, the close-ups, and the time lapse sequences.  It’s the quick cuts, the repetitive sequences when drugs are used, and the increased speed whenever the addiction accelerates.  Most of all, though, it’s his willingness to give us the truth about addiction and his unflinching drive to take us where few movies can.  The whole movie exudes his confidence in his vision, and his style leads us exactly where he wants to take us.

Really, if you ever want to scare someone out of doing drugs, you should show them this movie.  There’s no one on this planet who could watch this movie and then want to go do hard drugs.  Heck, it could scare the average person out of taking a pill.  So by all means, if you think you can handle it, I strongly recommend “Requiem for a Dream.”


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (June 4, 2010)

4 06 2010

The “F.I.L.M.” (First-Class, Independent Little-Known Movie – for those who needed a refresher) of the Week will return to some dark and hard-hitting material next week, but I will ease the transition from comedy to tragedy with something a little bit in between.  ”You Can Count on Me,” one of the movies on my bucket list of Oscar nominees from the past decade, really grabbed my interest a few weeks ago.  It’s a smart, witty dramedy that treads on the familiar grounds of family issues but never feels contrived or recycled in the slightest.

There’s two reasons for that.  The first is Kenneth Lonergan, the film’s director and writer.  His script is insightful and sensitive, and it gives an authentic look at the ripple effect of a self-destructive brother’s return home to his distraught sister.  It lets the events play out in a way that is both touching and devastating.  We really come to know and care for these characters through their triumphs and their mistakes – and there are plenty of both.

But the second reason is the main reason for the movie’s success: leading lady Laura Linney (alliteration fully intended).  She plays emotional and tense women often, but she plays them with such conviction and strength that I can’t find it in me to be bothered by it.  Here, she uses her incredible energy to bring Sammy, the single mother and bank employee, to vibrant life.  Already collapsing under the weight of single parenthood, Sammy is forced to take on responsibility for her troubled brother Terry (Mark Ruffalo) who seems to be incapable of controlling himself.  With a new boss (Matthew Broderick) at the bank, she is forced to devote herself more fully to her job.  This leaves her child (Rory Culkin) under the care and influence of Terry, who exposes him to new ideas and heightens his curiosity about his father.  Linney perfectly animates Sammy’s inner conflict: doing what is best for the two people who need her or doing what makes her happy.

But there’s more good things about “You Can Count on Me” other than its two Academy Award-nominated facets.  Mark Ruffalo delivers a fascinating and astonishing performance.  He’s always trying to do what is right, but his moral compass often leads him in the wrong direction to do it.  Matthew Broderick is comic gold as the demanding and borderline obsessive-compulsive bank manager; he is equal parts charm and repulsion, and it’s always fun to watch him.  On the surface, this may be a movie about ordinary people living ordinary lives.  But thanks to a powerful narrative and compelling characters, it really is extraordinary.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (May 28, 2010)

28 05 2010

I’m officially out for summer! Senior year, baby! It’s time to celebrate with the first “F.I.L.M. of the Week” of summer vacation! This calls for a comedy – something like “Mrs. Henderson Presents” ought to do the trick. Starring the always incredible Judi Dench in her third of four Oscar-nominated performances of the ’00s, the movie tells the story of a widow with nothing to do but create a stir. Set against the backdrop of British boys going to fight in World War II, director Stephen Frears provides some drama if you’re looking for a little of that as well.

The movie opens with the funeral of Mr. Henderson, where his widow (Dench) is dealing more with boredom than grief. She scoffs at the idea that she should stop her life to observe a period of mourning. After trying her hand at the conventional hobbies of older women, she discovers she needs to be entertained in more lively and energetic ways. Along with the help of Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins), Mrs. Henderson opens a theater that revolutionizes the business in London first by presenting their shows non-stop.

But the second way is what the movie concerns itself with the most, and that was Mrs. Henderson’s bold decision to present nude girls in the show.  Using some skillful connections associated with her status, she gets permission to let the clothes come off as long as it remains art – which means that the girls had to be in tableaus when exposed.  It’s clear that Mrs. Henderson has a reason behind doing this other than making money or creating controversy, both of which she manages to do anyways.  The reason becomes more clear as the crowd that packs her theater becomes less of the musical theater group and more young men, most of whom are heading off to fight a war.

“Mrs. Henderson Presents” is one of those gems that does have something to offer pretty much everyone.  It’s well-made, well-acted, and very entertaining.  It has great vaudevillian music and some spectacularly choreographed sequences on the stage.  Dench is funny and poignant as the outrageous Mrs. Henderson, and she and Bob Hoskins mix very well.  As foes, foils, and friends, they play every scene with the right energy.  Not to mention, this movie isn’t sore on the eyes (if you get what I’m saying).


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (May 21, 2010)

21 05 2010

I thought I would give a one-week reprieve from the heavier movies. Now, the “F.I.L.M. of the Week” takes a step towards the wrenching with “Monster’s Ball,” a movie with the power to conjure up all sorts of emotions. You might remember the movie because of Halle Berry’s emotional Oscar speech after becoming the first African-American to win Best Actress. But as soon as you watch the movie, you will remember the movie because of her performance, which is the film’s heart and soul.

Berry inhabits the character of Leticia Musgrove, a woman who is stuck in circumstances she can’t stand. Her husband (Sean Combs or whatever shortening of his name he goes by now) is set to receive the death penalty. Her son (Coronji Calhoun in a mesmerizing and powerful debut performance) is morbidly obese, and she can’t get him to lay off the candy bars. Her car is busted, her house is about to be foreclosed, her job situation is hectic. Most of all, her soul is weak under all these burdens.

Billy Bob Thornton plays Hank, a correctional officer at the prison where Leticia’s husband is executed. He is a cold-hearted racist and doesn’t hesitate showing it. He can’t stand his son (Heath Ledger) who is trying to follow his own moral compass. He is bitter for being straddled with the care of his ailing father (Peter Boyle), an even more extreme racist than himself.

Don’t Leticia and Hank sound like an unlikely pair?  Moreover, doesn’t Hank’s shoulder seem like the least likely place for Leticia to cry into?  Yet as events unfold, the two connect in surprising ways, shocking the traditional Southern community around them.

Halle Berry is absolutely astonishing, hitting every emotional high and low with pin-point precision.  There’s no doubt that she deserved the Oscar.  I haven’t seen “Things We Lost in the Fire,” her only non-comic book or action movie since her win, but I’m a little upset that she has squandered such incredible talent on such unworthy material.  She needs to get back to roles like these, ones that accurately showcase just how talented she is.  Maybe Mo’Nique and “Monster’s Ball” producer Lee Daniels will give her a role in the Hattie McDaniel movie – here’s hoping!


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (May 14, 2010)

14 05 2010

With the kickoff of the Cannes Film Festival this week, it seems fitting that the “F.I.L.M. of the Week” honor a recent winner of their most prestigious prize, the Palme D’Or.  That winner would be “The Class,” the French film which also scored an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film.  The movie is an interesting look at an at-risk classroom in France from the preliminary teacher meetings in summer to the final bell of the year.  It particularly concerns itself with the style and methods of the teacher, François Marin.

It’s supposedly semi-autobiographical, but I would have completely believed it was a documentary.  The film is shot with a very realistic style, using mostly long, drawn-out scenes in the classroom.  These work effectively to show us not only what teaching to a class of lazy and uninspired students is like, but also to introduce us to the students and Marin.

Most of the movie serves to make us ponder about Marin’s tactics as a teacher.  What makes him a good teacher?  Why can he inspire some students but not all of them?  What are his weaknesses?  You don’t have to be teacher to find it thought-provoking.  Marin fights not only for their attentiveness, but he also has to act as a mediator between ethnic conflicts.  With such a diverse class, harsh words often fly.  I can’t think of a better and more honest portrayal of such issues than this movie.

One more note (and I have to thank Brokenprojector.com for these observations): the original title of the movie in French was Entre les murs, which is literally translated as “Between the Walls.”  Indeed, “The Class” does take place between the walls.  The camera never leaves the school, but more than that, it alludes to both the teachers and students being trapped inside a school, neither being able to come up with a solution that can serve as an ultimate panacea.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (May 7, 2010)

7 05 2010

Prepare yourselves emotionally before diving into the “F.I.L.M. of the Week,” Clint Eastwood’s true-life story “Changeling.”  You might remember the movie as a blip on your radar in 2008 for one of two reasons: Angelina Jolie or the Best Actress nomination that Angelina Jolie received for this movie.  If you are one of Angelina’s detractors who argue that she’s good only for adopting babies and saving the world, you need to see this movie.  I have yet to see “A Mighty Heart,” so I’m not in a position to classify it as her best work since “Girl, Interrupted.”  However, it’s a reminder of why she has an Oscar sitting on her mantle.

Jolie takes on the persona of Christine Collins, a woman pushed to the brink in late 1920s Los Angeles. After the kidnapping of her son, the LAPD returns a boy who is supposedly her child in order to produce a positive headline for the department that had been marred by corruption.  Christine knows instantly that the boy is not her son, and she demands that the investigation into her son’s disappearance continue.  The police, not wanting to admit an error, dismisses her as crazy.  She obtains credible letters supporting her story, but the police won’t tolerate her vocal criticism.  They find a silencing method that evokes anger from people in high places, particularly a radio preacher, Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich).

In the meantime, the police also uncover a series of horrifying acts committed by Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner).  The Northcott storyline may seem like a tangent at first, but it ties into Christine’s story in unexpected and brilliant ways.  It also helps that Harner gives a startling and disturbing performance as the deranged criminal, one that has hauntingly remained with me since I have seen the movie.  It’s unforgettable the way he mixes the calm surface with a tumultuous and unstable mind.

Jolie’s forceful and commanding presence is a major part of the success of “Changeling.”  But it’s also director Clint Eastwood, who portrays these horrifying events with realism mixed with a comforting sensitivity.  A very delicate balance had to be struck to be able to really digest this movie, and Eastwood found it.  However, even with this approach, it doesn’t change the fact that this is an absolutely brutal and heavy movie.  It may not be for you if you cannot handle disturbing depiction of atrocities, including ones committed on children.

Fun fact: this movie isn’t based on a true story.  It is a true story.  Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski took all of the movie based on evidence that can be corroborated by documents.  Thus, what we see on the screen is as close to what actually happened in “the strange case of Christine Collins” (an original title of the movie) is as close as Hollywood can ever show us.

I’ve heard from many smart movie speculators that “Changeling” is a film that was met with a mild reception but will eventually be embraced as a truly great movie.  I wholeheartedly espouse this belief, and I have been convinced that this is one of the most emotionally powerful movies that I have ever seen since I first saw it in 2008.  As for you, why wait until the rest of the world discovers it?  See it now and say you knew about it before it became so popular.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (April 30, 2010)

30 04 2010

Opening today in theaters is the latest “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movie, which will surely provide the same old horror movie shenanigans.  But why settle?  You want to see a movie that can scare you in new and unexpected ways.  Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games” is a different kind of horror, and it proves to be absolutely terrifying.

In fact, terror might be a better word than horror to describe the movie.  It’s not heavily plotted, and it is driven by the sheer terror of the situation that an average family finds themselves in one day at the lake.  Out of nowhere, husband and wife George and Ann (Tim Roth and Naomi Watts) as well as their son Georgie are held captive inside their own vacation home by two sadistic young neighbors (Brady Corbet and Michael Pitt).  They play cruel games with the unsuspecting family and even wager that the three of them will not live past 9:00 AM the next day.  What unfolds is hardly funny as torture, violence, and manipulation make for a truly unforgettable evening.

In case you hadn’t figured it out, this is not a movie for the squeamish or faint at heart.  ”Funny Games” is a movie designed to terrify you and make you very uncomfortable, and it succeeds in that regards.  The events that take place are like a worst nightmare for so many people, such as domestic terrorists violating the privacy of a home.

Haneke uses a very different style than the show-it-all shenanigans usually employed by American horror filmmakers.  He is much more restrained and particulate about the way he portrays the terror, but it works because of the painful realism that he uses.  I won’t ruin the key quirk of his style, just keep a close eye out for oddities.

Nowadays, movies are quickly divided into “art film” and “mainstream film.”  The beautiful thing about “Funny Games” is that it dabbles in both.  It plays like an art film with its nihilism and deliberate pacing (including one ten-minute shot that will scare the living daylights out of you), but in the middle are drops of that ridiculous American horror that has given us six volumes of “Saw” and eight installments of “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”  If you can muster up the courage to sit through Haneke’s two hours of harrowing terror, you’ll find it refreshing to see a movie that can straddle the line between the two camps of film.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (April 23, 2010)

23 04 2010

The “F.I.L.M. of the Week” exposé of some unconventional animated movies wraps up this week with a look at “Persepolis,” the film adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel of the same name.  It’s a very different kind of coming-of-age story, mainly because the struggles of growing up are only magnified by the struggle of a country to find stability.

The movie is an autobiographical account of Marjane’s youth against the backdrop of the constantly changing political climate of Iran.  But Marjane, even from a young age, has the perfect weapon to fight even the most repressive of regimes: resilience and high spirits.  She loves many of the Western items and concepts that the fundamentalists can’t stand, from Bruce Lee in her childhood to Michael Jackson in her adolescence.  In the ’80s, these luxuries are only available through the black market.  But no government is going to stop her from getting what she wants and expressing the way she feels.

“Persepolis” begins with Marjane at 9, firmly under the belief that she will be a prophet.  She’s a truly entertaining character, always filled with sass and never reticent to share it with the world.  Yet as a younger child, she’s completely susceptible to buying into whatever the latest trend her generation has bought into.  At one moment, she’s marching around her living room chanting “Down with the Shah!”  The next moment, she’s threatening the child of a government official.  Marjane’s outspoken nature draws her a lot of attention, and her parents ship her away to Vienna for schooling.  As the popular saying goes, “Once you leave home, you never really come back.”  She lives the rest of her life happy to be away from the turbulence of Iran but missing her family and country.

“Persepolis” is a beautifully woven story told with a very emotionally potent black-and-white animation.  It brushes on some tough topics, but it does so with the perfect mix of levity and gravity.  At times, it’s hilarious; others, it’s heartbreaking.  Yet at all times, it’s a delightful movie with a heart bigger than the country it documents.


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