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 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 (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 particular 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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F.I.L.M. of the Week (April 9, 2010)

9 04 2010

Those of you who read this blog in December and January know that I’m kind of obsessed with the work of director Jason Reitman.  While doing some research on him, I came across some of his cinematic influences.  One of the filmmakers he lists is Alexander Payne.  I had seen one of Payne’s movies, “Election,” but I decided that I needed to further explore.  “Sideways” was good, but it’s not something people my age are supposed to get.  The movie that really struck me was “About Schmidt,” so much in fact that I even decided to call it my “F.I.L.M. of the Week.”  (And just for the sake of the occasional refresher, the acronym stands for First-Class, Independent Little-Known Movie.)

The titular character, Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson), is at an end-of-life crisis.  After retiring, he enters the twilight years with cynicism and boredom.  His wife is aging quickly, and Schmidt often wonders where the woman that he married has gone.  His daughter (Hope Davis) is marrying a dimwitted guy who sports a mullet (Dermot Mulroney).  Despite his best attempts, he can’t get her to reconsider.  In all aspects of life, Schmidt feels useless.

But soon Schmidt is left alone, and he decides to recapture control of his life by driving a Winnebago to see sights from his childhood en route to the wedding.  Even after logging all these miles, he still can’t escape the feeling that his life is inconsequential.

“About Schmidt” is at its best whenever it shows Schmidt trying to make a difference in someone’s life.  After seeing an ad on TV, he decides to sponsor a child in Tanzania named Ndugu.  He can’t pronounce the name, but Schmidt earnestly wants to help this child.  He goes further beyond providing monetary support and makes contact with Ndugu, writing him many revealing letters about his own life.  It’s somewhat pathetic to think that Schmidt can only tell these things to Ndugu, but it further reveals how lost this man is.

It’s easy to see how movies like this have influenced Jason Reitman (for example, the wedding scenes in this and “Up in the Air”) and other directors, and “About Schmidt” is a movie that deserves to be imitated.  Jack Nicholson gives no doubt as to why he is one of the best – if not the best – actors of our time.  The supporting performances are great as well, particularly Kathy Bates as Schmidt’s overbearing future in-law.  The Golden Globes classify this as a drama, and in large part, that’s what it is.  But “About Schmidt” has enough laughs to satisfy any moviewatching mood you could possibly be in.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (April 2, 2010)

2 04 2010

I remember waking up the morning after the Oscars in 2003 and looking at the winners in the paper (because at that point, my parents wouldn’t let me stay up to watch the whole show) and wondering what on earth “Talk to Her” was.  Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish-language film had taken the Best Original Screenplay category away from a movie that I loved very dearly at the time, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”  Seven years later, I finally found out what it was that I had been missing – and now it is my “F.I.L.M. of the Week.”

I’m still trying to get a hold of what exactly Almodóvar’s directorial style that everyone loves so much actually is, but whatever that may be, I absolutely love it.  “Talk to Her” is a beautifully developed story about two men and their relationships with the women they love – both of which happen to be comatose.  Benigno is a nurse in the hospital taking care of Alicia, a woman who had a terrible accident just as he became obsessed with her.  As her caregiver, he now has all the access to her that he wants (which is why I recommend this movie with a fair amount of discretion – this movie is not for the faint at heart or the easily creeped).

Marco, on the other hand, has been romantically involved with Lydia, a matador, for quite sometime whenever she is tragically maimed by a bull.  When she falls into a coma, she winds up at the same hospital where Alicia is kept and Benigno works.  In a coincidence so shocking it could only happen in the movies, Marco and Benigno happened to have sat next to each other at a play once, and they begin to strike up a casual friendship.  Their approaches to dealing with the women that they love differ greatly; the title derives from some advice that Benigno gives.  “Talk to her,” he suggests.  Act like she is alive.

The story that unravels from their friendship is unconventional yet so exciting to watch unveil.  It’s shrouded in artistry, and I’m still working on getting to the core of what this movie is really trying to say.  I don’t mind munching on it, and I love movies like “Talk to Her” because I am forced to think and ponder.  It’s the kind of movie that stays in your head for weeks and months, and it’s the kind of movie that makes you feel like one time simply isn’t enough to see it all.

P.S. – For anyone who has seen the movie, what do you make of the “Shrinking Lover” sequence (without spoiling the ending for anyone)?


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (March 26, 2010)

26 03 2010

It’s so hard to find a good “dramedy” nowadays.  Most films that are generally considered to fall into this category are heavily imbalanced, never giving a fairly even mix.  But my quest to see all of the Academy Award-nominated performances of the past decade led me to check out “The Savages,” Tamara Jenkin’s beautifully bittersweet dramedy, and it hit the sweet spot.  In fact, it hit so sweetly that it became my “F.I.L.M. of the Week.”

“The Savages” opens with an elderly man (Philip Bosco) writing on a bathroom wall with his own feces.  This event sparks his two estranged children to move him into an assisted living center.  And then the fun begins.

The two siblings, played by Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, have plenty on their plates as it is.  Linney’s Wendy Savage is a wreck, caught in a dead-end affair with her married neighbor and trying to move out of the monotony of temping to achieve her dream of become a playwright.  Hoffman’s Jon Savage teaches the works of the playwright Bertol Brecht to a nonplussed collegiate audience while never mustering up the energy to write his book.  They remained isolated from each other – and practically from the world as well.

Yet in spite of themselves, they do what is required of them to take care of their ailing father.  As the movie unravels, there is something harder in making the sacrifices in their own lives for Wendy and Jon.  The effects of their father’s upbringing has left them both in a sorry state, and it proves near impossible for them to leave their grudges at the door.  It’s Wendy, though, who finds it most difficult to cope; her antics range from questionably procuring money from FEMA to stealing painkillers from the deceased.

If I had to classify “The Savages” as either a comedy or a drama, I’d reluctantly say a dark comedy.  There’s plenty to laugh at, but there’s plenty to cringe at as well.  It’s a little bleak for a comedy, but Tamara Jenkins’ unsparing honesty and commitment to the emotional development of her characters is worth the pain.  Linney and Hoffman are fantastic as usual, Linney showing us why she earned an Academy Award nomination for her role and Hoffman giving us reason to call his omission a snub.  Be prepared to be floored not just by them, but by the movie as a whole.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (March 19, 2010)

19 03 2010

It’s been a long time since I have been so enthusiastic about presenting a movie as the “F.I.L.M. of the Week.”

I acknowledge my tendency to sensationalize and exaggerate as a blogger and critic.  In a way, it’s what I have to do to get my feelings across and make it read.  So I throw around a word like triumphant quite a bit.

I’m not sure that I have ever seen a movie that fits the word triumphant better than Julian Schnabel’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”  Simply put, the film tells the story of one of the greatest triumphs of the human will over obstacles that has even been told – no exaggerating.  And it only makes it more extraordinary to think that the movie is based on a true story.

Yes, it is entirely true that Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of Elle in France, suffered a massive stroke that left him comatose for three weeks.  When he woke up, he found himself a victim of “locked-in” syndrome.  All mental and cognitive functions worked, but nearly all physical functions were shut down because of the lack of activity in the brain stem.

But notice that I didn’t say all physical functions were shut down.  Bauby had one functional body part: his left eye.  Thanks to the help of two patient and ingenious hospital therapists, he eventually learned to talk and communicate not with his mouth, but with this eye.  And as Bauby’s confidence in the system grew, he began fulfilling his previous book contract, albeit in a manner and about a subject that no one could have expected.  His strength and determination shocked everyone, but more importantly, it inspired them.

Director Julian Schnabel, deservedly cited by the Academy for his work, does an excellent job bringing this story to the screen.  He begins the movie by showing us life from Bauby’s new perspective; that is, from a fixed position down below.  We feel the frustration as he tries to speak but slowly realizes that no one can her him.  We sense the disorientation as his right eye fails to catch up to his left.  Slowly, as Bauby comes to terms with his condition, our view expands.  We see Bauby as the world sees him.  We see Bauby as he sees himself.  We see Bauby’s dreams.  By the end of the movie, Schnabel ensures that we have fully explored the man, and he uses plenty of technical weapons in his arsenal to achieve it.  The cinematography and editing, both nominated for Oscars, are absolutely phenomenal.

I feel like triumphant is almost an understatement for “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”  It’s the kind of movie that makes you wonder why more foreign films aren’t nominated for Best Picture – this easily makes my top five of 2007.  But I digress; I don’t want this to become a discussion of the politics of movie awards.  This is a movie that shows the power of the human will to overcome the most grueling of physical obstacles in a way that stirs the soul, and it needs to be seen.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (March 12, 2010)

12 03 2010

The “F.I.L.M. of the Week” is Kathryn Bigelow’s “Near Dark.”  Rather than present a conventional review, I simply want to leave you with a “top 10 list” as to why you should watch this movie.

  1. For any of you who cheered on Kathryn Bigelow to Oscar gold a few days ago but had no idea what she had directed other than “The Hurt Locker,” you need to see “Near Dark.”  This is one of her earliest movies, and it’s a totally different experience than her most recent directorial effort.  Nevertheless, it showcases her excellent directorial prowess.
  2. Tired of the “Twilight” vampires and Stephenie Meyer’s romanticization of the blood-sucking creatures who haunt the night, also known as vampires?  “Near Dark” is the antidote to your woes.  It bears a few plot similarities (and I can unfortunately say this from experience because I read the book – DO NOT JUDGE ME), but you won’t see any tender moments in the fields here.  Bigelow makes the vampires fearsome creatures who burn in the sunlight and look disheveled and dirty.  Forget Team Edward, I’m on Team Bigelow.
  3. But for those of you that like “Twilight,” you should know that a remake of this movie was planned yet cancelled in the wake of the release of the vampire juggernaut.
  4. Bigelow superimposes the vampire story over the backdrop of a western town, and she mingles the two genres in ingenious ways.
  5. Need someone with better acting chops than Robert Pattinson playing your vampire?  Does Bill Paxton suffice?  He is the most recognizable actor that “Near Dark” has to offer, but each of the other vampires are equally as terrifying.
  6. If you want something that will capture your attention, just wait until the vampires go hunting for some food in a biker bar.  Bigelow builds the tension beautifully just like she did in “The Hurt Locker.”
  7. It was made in 1987, so it’s got some awesome 80isms about it.  Just  that generally awesome vibe that an 80s movie has is the best thing “Near Dark” has going for it.
  8. Almost the whole movie features the score of a German synth pop band.  It’s a serious movie, so try not to let it distract you too much.  But enjoy it, even laugh at it if you feel so compelled.
  9. And while we are on the subject of the ’80s, enjoy some of the special effects towards the end.  They match the quality of “Avatar” at their most brilliant moments (did you pick up on my sarcasm?)
  10. If you are just looking for an enjoyable moviegoing experience that offers you thrills, chills, drama, and maybe some comedy at the expense of the movie itself, then “Near Dark” is a pick that will suit you.  It veers toward the predictable at times, but who really cares?  It’s from the 80’s!!

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F.I.L.M. of the Week (March 5, 2010)

5 03 2010

The celebration of the Academy Awards here at Marshall and the Movies extends to all corners of the blog, including my weekly “F.I.L.M.” of the Week column.  I felt like this week’s movie should be a Best Picture nominee, so I decided on “In the Bedroom.”  In 2001, this subtle work by Todd Field (director of my personal favorite “Little Children”) lost out to “A Beautiful Mind.”  Yet it still remains one of the most talked-about Best Picture entries from that year, so I have been compelled for a long time to watch it.

“In the Bedroom” was definitely NOT what I expected.  I had heard people call it one of the most forceful and compelling dramas of the decade, so I was anticipating a typical display of strong emotion and grief a la “Revolutionary Road.”  However, other than one incredibly affecting scene, it is a very subtle work.  The movie struck me as strange when I first watched it because it doesn’t really cling to any genre or cliché.  It is an unsparingly honest portrait of a couple dealing with the murder of their son.  Nothing is held back; nothing is candy-coated.

Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson turn in deserving Academy Award-nominated performances as the aforementioned parents, whose twenty-something son (Nick Stahl) gets caught up in a messy love triangle with a single mother (Marisa Tomei) and her jealous and violent ex-husband (William Mapother, Ethan Rom from TV’s “Lost”).  They warn him to get out, but he believes he has something special with Natalie.  His defiance ultimately leads to his death at the hand of her former spouse.  Matt and Ruth (Wilkinson and Spacek) have a lot to deal with following the death: grief, sorrow, regret, longing, loneliness.  These all contribute to the crumbling of their relationship and any sort of peace of mind they might have found.

“In the Bedroom” will shock you in many ways, chiefly with its brutal realism but also with the state that it leaves you in.  I wasn’t quite sure how I felt when the credits began to roll, and I didn’t become more certain in the days and weeks that followed.  It’s not an unsatisfying feeling, and I’m not even sure that I would call it depressing.  It’s certainly unconventional, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide how you feel.  The movie presents the events as they are, void of sensationalism.  Perhaps you’ll feel a little numb – or not feeling anything at all.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (February 19, 2010)

19 02 2010

This week’s “F.I.L.M.” is “Garden State.”  Written and directed by Zach Braff, the star of TV’s “Scrubs,” the debut is a wonderfully delightful indie comedy.  It’s filled with its own set of quirks that we come to associate with the genre, but the movie is equally remarkable for its contrastingly somber side.

“Garden State” is constructed upon a beautifully ironic premise.  Failed actor Andrew Largeman (Braff) comes home to New Jersey to attend his mother’s funeral.  At the same time, Andrew decides that it is time to go off the anti-depressants that he has been taking since his troubled teenage years.  These medications have made him feel numb and stoic to life passing by.

But as he wanes off the meds, Andrew begins to open his eyes to all the great things happening around him.  He falls for compulsive liar Sam (Natalie Portman), a fiery chick with a bubbling personality.  He begins to smile again.  He confronts the issues which have forced him into depression.  But overall, “Garden State” is such a remarkable movie because it is a movie about rediscovering the joy of living.

For an enriched viewing experience, I recommend having watched Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate” before seeing this.  Not only will you have seen two great movies, but it will give you great insight into Zach Braff’s influences.  Someone told me that watching modern comedy without having seen “The Graduate” is akin to trying to see in fog.  Now that I have seen it, I agree.

But I digress.  Watch “Garden State” – and listen, too, because it’s got a great soundtrack (which seems to be another hallmark of this genre).


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (February 12, 2010)

12 02 2010

This week’s “F.I.L.M.” is Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver,” a movie which you might remember for getting Penelope Cruz her first Academy Award nomination.  Technically, it’s a drama, but “Volver” is one of the most killer fun dramas I’ve ever had the privilege of watching. The movie has a killer sense of irony, which makes for one crazy entertaining time.

(Oh, and for anyone who doesn’t know Spanish other than hola, “volver” means to return.)

Cruz bares her acting chops as Raimunda, the beautiful mother and wife.  She and her sister Sole have a very peculiar relationship, and it has not been particularly strong since they lost their parents in a tragic fire several years ago.  However, the rumor mill is buzzing that the ghost of their mother, Irene, has been spotted.  This talk comes just as the sisters have begun to finally move on from the tragedy, and it only serves to aggravate matters.

The apparition appears to Sole but chooses to hide herself from Raimunda, with whom she didn’t have a relationship.  This is probably for the better because Raimunda has plenty on her plate without having to worry about her mother’s ghost.  I personally think the back of the DVD case says it best: “Raimunda has problems of her own, the least of which is a corpse in her freezer!”

Although you won’t catch Cruz traipsing around pink fabric in lingerie in “Volver,” she is at her absolute best here.  The actress shows an incredible emotional range, readily adapting herself to whatever mood the scene calls for.  She is equally effective in the film’s dramatic scenes as she is in the more light ones, and the result is a performance that is quite poignant.  Here’s to hoping that she and Almodovar take on more great projects together (or at least that they don’t stop at “Broken Embraces”)!


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (February 5, 2010)

5 02 2010

The “F.I.L.M of the Week” is not independent, just to get that out of the way.  “North Country” is, however, first-rate.  The movie’s critics will probably say, “Haven’t I seen this movie before?  Oh, right, every two hours on Lifetime and Hallmark channels!”  To them, I say – yeah, maybe a little bit.  Sure, it doesn’t stray too far from the stock story of courage in the face of terrible circumstances.  But it has a tremendous power which can make you forgive the formulaic nature of the movie.

This power comes from a fantastic ensemble cast, led by Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand, both of whom received Academy Award nominations for their performances.  Theron plays Josey, a determined woman with two children that she needs to feed.  She moves back to her hometown and takes a job at the local mine, where she can bring home the biggest paycheck.  There are very few women employed there, and the men go out of their way to make sure they know that they aren’t welcome.  Horrible epithets fly and despicable deeds are committed.  The men succeed in their goal of making the women dread coming to work.  Josey and the other women, including the tough-as-nails Glory (McDormand), try to stand up for themselves, only to be told to “take it like a man.”

But what they don’t count on is Josey’s iron will.  She calls friend and lawyer Bill White (Woody Harrelson) to take on a landmark case – the first ever class action sexual harassment suit.  The town instantly turns against her, thinking she might be trying to shut down the mine.  Josey even manages to earn the ire of her father (Richard Jenkins).  But, as all these movies tell us, humanity and courage triumph over all perils.

Keep an eye out for Jeremy Renner, the now Oscar-nominated star of “The Hurt Locker,” who delivers a particularly haunting performance as one of the main perpetrators.  He also has a unique position in the conundrum because he was an old flame of Josey’s during high school.  It’s another role filled with emotional depth that Renner absolutely nails.  If anyone had any doubts, he’s definitely not a one-trick pony.

I’m sure the real events that inspired “North Country” were much less campy and melodramatic.  Nonetheless, the film gets you worked up, emotional, and impassioned.  For just another inspirational movie, that’s about as good it gets.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (January 29, 2010)

29 01 2010

The “F.I.L.M. of the Week” series has been on hiatus for two weeks, and I want it to return with a big bang.  Thus, I chose a movie that ranks among the most well-executed dramas I have ever seen.  Even though it was recognized at the Oscars for its excellence, you probably haven’t seen it just because it isn’t in the English language.  This movie is “The Lives of Others,” and don’t let the subtitles scare you.

The movie takes us back to the year 1984 in East Germany, where the socialist republic reigned and the Berlin Wall still stood.  We follow two stories that give us a very unique glimpse at how the Germans feel about the times.  The first is of Georg Dreyman, a playwright who is writing in an era where artistic expression is severely capped.  Not unlike McCarthy America, the government has blacklisted writers who speak out against them.  Dreyman observes the effects of the blacklisting on a friend, Jerska, and watches as he struggles with living a life where he cannot do what he loves.  This inspires Dreyman to write a piece exposing the true horrors of the government – an act he must do with the utmost secrecy and discretion.

While all this is happening, we also follow Stasi (the East German secret police) officer Wiesler listening to every activity occurring in Dreyman’s apartment.  Wiesler became suspicious of the writer after seeing one of his shows, and he subsequently had the dwelling bugged for sound.  Because we primarily see him listening to the apartment, Wiesler is a very quiet presence in the film.  However, he is an extremely strong presence because of a compelling performance by Ulrich Muhe.  He animates Weisler’s facial motions, and we learn all that we need to know from the little twitches.

“The Lives of Others” is the first film of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (a name which I copied and pasted from IMDb because I didn’t even want to try to spell it), but there isn’t the slightest hint of inexperience or amateurism here.  He understands how brilliant movies are made – with layers of subtlety.  It’s not a very heated emotional movie, but emotion still exists.  The events may not seem to be amounting to much as you watch, but the payoff in the closing 10 minutes is worth it and more.  And while I’m on the subject of the ending, be prepared to be affected in a very different way than you expected.


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F.I.L.M. of the Week (January 8, 2010)

8 01 2010

This week’s “F.I.L.M.” is one of my most unconventional picks yet.  It is not independent, but it is most assuredly first-rate and little-known (at least relatively forgotten).

As soon as I finished my last grueling final in December, I plopped my behind on the couch and began watching a movie.  Scrolling down past HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, TMC, I finally found exactly what I needed as catharsis from the exams.

The movie was “Cats Don’t Dance,” a fun-loving musical that was a staple of my childhood.  I remember how much I loved it when I first saw it at the age of 5, and that passion has not faded a bit as I watched it for the first time in years.

The movie is a celebration of dreams as Danny, the singing cat from Kokomo, heads to Hollywood to light the world on fire.  But things are not what he imagined, and he soon finds that life isn’t easy for an animal actor – especially when his co-star is a tyrannical child actor who refuses to be upstaged. He refuses to be crushed, keeping his optimism while bringing together a large group of animals to recapture their dreams. There are some hilarious characters, including a hippo voiced by Jennifer Tilly and a surly goat voiced by Hal Holbrook, as well as some rousing musical numbers (thankfully all are easily found on YouTube).

It may be a movie for kids, but I think it has one of the most profound quotes I have ever heard in a movie of this style: “They can smash your cookie, but they can never take your fortune.” It’s a great helping of nostalgia for me, but I think anyone can enjoy “Cats Don’t Dance.” It really is that disarming.


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