Wendy and Jon Savage, Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman are stuck in their own versions of hell. He is a professor of drama in a University in Buffalo, New York. He is writers blocked on a paper he has been trying to get published for a long time. He is in love with a Polish woman, whose visa is running out and hasn't got the confidence to ask her to marry him. Wendy is working as a temp in Manhattan. She is trying to get her stage play produced. Her sex life consists on trysts with a married man who is much older than she is.
Wendy gets a call from a woman on the West Coast. Their father has been diagnosed with dementia. More to the point the women he was living with has died and her family don't want to have anything to do with him, but than neither do Wendy and Jon. It becomes clear quickly that the two of them wrote off their abusive father years ago, but at this point he has no one else to turn to. With a sense of duty, if not love and concern, they both travel to Arizona only to find that not only is he with out friends he has no resources. He had been sponging off his girlfriend for years. Jonflys back to Buffalo to find a rest home for the old guy. Wendy stays to clear out her dad's belongings and escort him back to Buffalo.
Once he is safely ensconced in the rest home, Jon talks Wendy into staying with him for awhile. It is in this time that the structure of the family and the dis-functionality is revealed to us. Jon and Wendy are at once supportive and competitive with each other. Their memory of how bad it was with Dad in their youth is different but neither version is pretty. Jon tends to be the more practical of the two and Wendy is the more sympathetic. What evolves is the kind of disagreements, guilt trips and fantasy exercises that occurs daily as people try and figure out what to do with their aging and ailing parents.
Linny and Hoffman are magnificent as the barely functioning survivors of something that might be called a family, but was really only real in the biological sense. They struggle with their own lives and try and leave something left over for their father who seems to deserve none of what they work so hard to give him. Their fathers interment and eventual death does little for their relationship with him, but a huge amount for the relationship they have as the realization that they are the only family they have left and to squander it would be folly.
The script and direction by Tamara Jenkins is excellent and overall the fact that she could get these two outstanding actors along with Philip Bosco to do this film says volumes about her talent. This is a must see film.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The Kite Runner, He Said
This journey starts in Afghanistan before the Russians have invaded. On this journey, we follow the life of a young Afghan boy. Amir is raised by his widowed father, Baba, with the help of a faithful servant and the servants son, Hassan. Baba is a successful business man, who is outspoken in his opposition to the Mullah's and the Communists in his country. Later, this will determine a huge course correction in the direction of their lives, but the director first had to set up the beginning of a classic coming of age journey, and what we leaned in the first part of the film is that Amir is the quiet story teller and Hassan is the brave and loyal friend.
The young boys live a carefree life exhibited in their love of flying the battle kites, a long a respected tradition among young boys in Kabul. In this competition, when the victor engages and cuts the string of the last kite in the competition, he is the champion and his "runner" seeks the kite of the loser as a trophy for his master. It is during this competition, that Amir with the guidance of Hassan wins the battle and Hassan runs for the defeated kite as a battle trophy. During this pursuit, Hassan is cornered by bullies who give him the choice of betraying his master or suffering humiliation at their hands. Hassan, always brave, defies the boys and is raped by Assef. Amir witnesses this humiliation from afar and finds himself incapable of helping his friend.
Amir's guilt and the torture of daily exposure to him, causes him to drive Haasan and his father from the house on a framed charge of theft. We do not have long to witness the effects of this circumstance, because as the Russians advance toward Kabul, Baba flees with his son to America. After their flight from Aphganistan, Baba and Amir settle in Southern California making their living selling in the flea markets. Amir as he grows to manhood continues to hone his skills as a story teller. He graduates from community college, than meets and courts a young Afghan woman, Soraya. They are happy but childless on the day that the shipment of his first hardcover novel appears on their doorstep. It is in the midst of this joy that Amir gets a call from a man who was left to care for the family home in Kabul. Amir feels compelled to fly to Pakistan to help this old friend in trouble. The news he hears when he arrives is a lot more complex than just helping an old friend in need. The news that his fathers friend gives him is shocking and hard to believe. Faced with decision that will give Amir a chance at redemption, but will place him in grave danger, Amir finds the courage of his friend Hassam.
This film is the embodiment of a great story, unfortunately it was not the story I read in Khaled Hosseini's book The Kite Runner, upon which this film is based. The convoluted rescue is overly dramatic and phony and it's portrayal of the Taliban as your average bad guys instead of the monster's and thugs they became was disappointing. Overall, this film has value in it's depiction of the Afghan people and a look at their life. What was missing is all of the background that enabled first the Russians and than the Taliban to use the country and it's people for their ideological playground. The actors in this drama for the most part were first rate and the production values splendid. You will enjoy this a lot more if you have not read the book first.
The young boys live a carefree life exhibited in their love of flying the battle kites, a long a respected tradition among young boys in Kabul. In this competition, when the victor engages and cuts the string of the last kite in the competition, he is the champion and his "runner" seeks the kite of the loser as a trophy for his master. It is during this competition, that Amir with the guidance of Hassan wins the battle and Hassan runs for the defeated kite as a battle trophy. During this pursuit, Hassan is cornered by bullies who give him the choice of betraying his master or suffering humiliation at their hands. Hassan, always brave, defies the boys and is raped by Assef. Amir witnesses this humiliation from afar and finds himself incapable of helping his friend.
Amir's guilt and the torture of daily exposure to him, causes him to drive Haasan and his father from the house on a framed charge of theft. We do not have long to witness the effects of this circumstance, because as the Russians advance toward Kabul, Baba flees with his son to America. After their flight from Aphganistan, Baba and Amir settle in Southern California making their living selling in the flea markets. Amir as he grows to manhood continues to hone his skills as a story teller. He graduates from community college, than meets and courts a young Afghan woman, Soraya. They are happy but childless on the day that the shipment of his first hardcover novel appears on their doorstep. It is in the midst of this joy that Amir gets a call from a man who was left to care for the family home in Kabul. Amir feels compelled to fly to Pakistan to help this old friend in trouble. The news he hears when he arrives is a lot more complex than just helping an old friend in need. The news that his fathers friend gives him is shocking and hard to believe. Faced with decision that will give Amir a chance at redemption, but will place him in grave danger, Amir finds the courage of his friend Hassam.
This film is the embodiment of a great story, unfortunately it was not the story I read in Khaled Hosseini's book The Kite Runner, upon which this film is based. The convoluted rescue is overly dramatic and phony and it's portrayal of the Taliban as your average bad guys instead of the monster's and thugs they became was disappointing. Overall, this film has value in it's depiction of the Afghan people and a look at their life. What was missing is all of the background that enabled first the Russians and than the Taliban to use the country and it's people for their ideological playground. The actors in this drama for the most part were first rate and the production values splendid. You will enjoy this a lot more if you have not read the book first.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Juno, He Said
If an movie about accidental teen pregnancy can bring a smile to your face, it's this one. Part of the reason is that the dilemma of our pregnant heroine, Juno MacGuff is not trivialized. All of the angst and physical discomfort of teen pregnancy is displayed and examined. The confused and frightened boyfriend, the disappointed parents, the disapproving boyfriends parents, and the unsympathetic school friends are all depicted as we might imagine them in real life. On the other hand, some of the snappiest dialogue ever written puts this story in this time and place better than a set designer or costume designer ever could.
After she initiates a clumsy one night stand with her boy friend, Paulie, played by Michael Cera, Juno finds herself pregnant. The heroine Juno, deliciously played by Ellen Page, decides she wants to have the baby and adopt it out. When she tells her parents, she also has a plan. Juno and her friend, Leah, found the couple to adopt the baby from an ad in the shopping news.
Juno's father played by J.K. Simmons insists on accompany his daughter to her interview with the perspective couple. This pair of yuppies seem ideal, even if Vanessa Loring, played by Jennifer Garner, is a little tightly wound. We easily sense her disbelief that this child may suddenly become hers and she holds herself in reserve in case the arrangement falls. The Hubby,Mark Loring, Jason Bateman, is giving us all kind of signs that he is not on board, but it only becomes apparent later.
What this film is abut is a young person learning about love. Not the red hot sensual love of sex in the dark, but the love that gets you through waking up in the middle of the night with a crying child. The kind of love that puts your dreams on hold so your kids can grow up and formulate a dream for themselves.
The script in this film is wonderful for two reasons. The dialogue is snappy and funny. The writer, Diablo Cody, involves every character in the story to demonstrate his theme. Juno's step mom, Bren, Allison Janney, tells her that her dream is to own a dog, but she has put this on hold until Juno moves out because Juno is allergic to dog saliva. We also watch the sceptical step mom become the pillar of support that Juno needs.
Mark Loring shows us that some of us shouldn't be parents, because we aren't ready to give up our dreams and that just going along with the program is not anything like wanting to be a Dad. Vanessa shows us that if your ready your ready and Juno represents the knowing your not ready.
I often admired the work of the ubiquitous J.K. Simmons. With a face like a Dad, a cop, a government official, and news paper editor, Simmons has played all of them. He is great as the retired military, HAVC repair man, father. His performance almost violates the wall between theactor and the audience because in this story he does represent all of us. He has the unconditional for Juno we all wish we could express in her moment of need and the bastion of common sense in the sea of lunacy Juno submerges herself in.
I love that a small film can attract the quality of actors and talent that this film did. But I understand why they would want to do it. This neat little comedy puts the Mall Movie Hijinks's films to shame with their pandering to the sitcom mentally. This film informs in an entertaining way with characters that have depth and a theme that plums the depths of reality.
After she initiates a clumsy one night stand with her boy friend, Paulie, played by Michael Cera, Juno finds herself pregnant. The heroine Juno, deliciously played by Ellen Page, decides she wants to have the baby and adopt it out. When she tells her parents, she also has a plan. Juno and her friend, Leah, found the couple to adopt the baby from an ad in the shopping news.
Juno's father played by J.K. Simmons insists on accompany his daughter to her interview with the perspective couple. This pair of yuppies seem ideal, even if Vanessa Loring, played by Jennifer Garner, is a little tightly wound. We easily sense her disbelief that this child may suddenly become hers and she holds herself in reserve in case the arrangement falls. The Hubby,Mark Loring, Jason Bateman, is giving us all kind of signs that he is not on board, but it only becomes apparent later.
What this film is abut is a young person learning about love. Not the red hot sensual love of sex in the dark, but the love that gets you through waking up in the middle of the night with a crying child. The kind of love that puts your dreams on hold so your kids can grow up and formulate a dream for themselves.
The script in this film is wonderful for two reasons. The dialogue is snappy and funny. The writer, Diablo Cody, involves every character in the story to demonstrate his theme. Juno's step mom, Bren, Allison Janney, tells her that her dream is to own a dog, but she has put this on hold until Juno moves out because Juno is allergic to dog saliva. We also watch the sceptical step mom become the pillar of support that Juno needs.
Mark Loring shows us that some of us shouldn't be parents, because we aren't ready to give up our dreams and that just going along with the program is not anything like wanting to be a Dad. Vanessa shows us that if your ready your ready and Juno represents the knowing your not ready.
I often admired the work of the ubiquitous J.K. Simmons. With a face like a Dad, a cop, a government official, and news paper editor, Simmons has played all of them. He is great as the retired military, HAVC repair man, father. His performance almost violates the wall between theactor and the audience because in this story he does represent all of us. He has the unconditional for Juno we all wish we could express in her moment of need and the bastion of common sense in the sea of lunacy Juno submerges herself in.
I love that a small film can attract the quality of actors and talent that this film did. But I understand why they would want to do it. This neat little comedy puts the Mall Movie Hijinks's films to shame with their pandering to the sitcom mentally. This film informs in an entertaining way with characters that have depth and a theme that plums the depths of reality.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Sweeny Todd, He Said
Blood, blood and more blood. What would you expect from the portrayal of The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, particularly when you team up Johnny Depp and Tim Burton?
Burton's style is all over this film version of the Broadway Play of the same name. In one scene, Todd, Johnny Depp, is holding his famed straight-edge razors, one in each hand and singing about his mission for them, it was as if Edward Scissorhands had returned once again.
I've not seen the stage production of this play, but I assure you that Burton has pulled off a rare great transformation of a musical to film. He starts with the masterful casting of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Depp, as Sweeny Todd, made up in overly sinister fashion and Bonham Carter, as the pie making Mrs. Lovett are matched in such a way as to leave no doubt who are the ones we should be worried about.
As our story opens, Todd is returning to London, after a stretch in prison, to re-open his barber shop on Fleet Street. His intention is not reclaimed financial success, but revenge. He has changed his name and appearance so as not to be recognized as the former barber Benjamin Barker. Barker had his wife and daughter stolen from him by the evil and powerful Judge Turpin, Alan Rickman. He learns, from Mrs. Lovett that his wife had committed suicide rather than face life with Turpin and that his daughter is Turpin's ward. For Todd, it's simple. He will lure Turpin to his shop by establishing himself as the premier barber on the street, and having done so, kill him with one quick sheer stroke of his razor.
Easy enough, but events intervene and because of one nasty but necessary killing, Todd and Lovett end up in the meat pie business out of greed, Lovett and necessity, Todd. They needed a way to dispose of the bodies. So gross are the killing scenes, you have to laugh. The tragic ending makes you take note that in our best hopes for the world all bad things will happen to those who are bad and that with the safe landing of Todd's, aka Barker's daughter, there is always hope.
Johnny Depp is one of our finest American Actors. How I would love to see him on stage. This and his masterful portrayal of Jack Sparrow,in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, give me that almost over the top without going to far capability that an actor needs to reach the back row, but not look like a ham to those in the first row. Burton's pairing Depp with Bonham Carter is brilliant and they play off each other like facing mirrors.
Burton needs no further accolades to establish himself as a great director, and this will do nothing to diminish him. Now, if he can only find another character, who needs sharp things in both hands and get Johnny to play him.
Burton's style is all over this film version of the Broadway Play of the same name. In one scene, Todd, Johnny Depp, is holding his famed straight-edge razors, one in each hand and singing about his mission for them, it was as if Edward Scissorhands had returned once again.
I've not seen the stage production of this play, but I assure you that Burton has pulled off a rare great transformation of a musical to film. He starts with the masterful casting of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Depp, as Sweeny Todd, made up in overly sinister fashion and Bonham Carter, as the pie making Mrs. Lovett are matched in such a way as to leave no doubt who are the ones we should be worried about.
As our story opens, Todd is returning to London, after a stretch in prison, to re-open his barber shop on Fleet Street. His intention is not reclaimed financial success, but revenge. He has changed his name and appearance so as not to be recognized as the former barber Benjamin Barker. Barker had his wife and daughter stolen from him by the evil and powerful Judge Turpin, Alan Rickman. He learns, from Mrs. Lovett that his wife had committed suicide rather than face life with Turpin and that his daughter is Turpin's ward. For Todd, it's simple. He will lure Turpin to his shop by establishing himself as the premier barber on the street, and having done so, kill him with one quick sheer stroke of his razor.
Easy enough, but events intervene and because of one nasty but necessary killing, Todd and Lovett end up in the meat pie business out of greed, Lovett and necessity, Todd. They needed a way to dispose of the bodies. So gross are the killing scenes, you have to laugh. The tragic ending makes you take note that in our best hopes for the world all bad things will happen to those who are bad and that with the safe landing of Todd's, aka Barker's daughter, there is always hope.
Johnny Depp is one of our finest American Actors. How I would love to see him on stage. This and his masterful portrayal of Jack Sparrow,in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, give me that almost over the top without going to far capability that an actor needs to reach the back row, but not look like a ham to those in the first row. Burton's pairing Depp with Bonham Carter is brilliant and they play off each other like facing mirrors.
Burton needs no further accolades to establish himself as a great director, and this will do nothing to diminish him. Now, if he can only find another character, who needs sharp things in both hands and get Johnny to play him.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
No Country for Old Men, He Said
The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, have returned to violence as a way of entertaining their fans. Regardless if it's ferrets in the bathtub (The Big Lebowski) or killers freezing and putting their victim through a log shredder (Fargo ), these guys need no help in investigating the grotesque. But help they got from none other than the man's man writer, Cormac McCarthy. Based on his novel of the same name, the princess's of reality weirdness take us into the wild west of the nineteen seventies , where the drug trade, rather than cattle rustling, is really just getting interesting and the violence is escalating with the profits.
Young Llewelyn Moss, Josh Brolin is hunting on the barren desert landscape, when he runs into ample evidence of a drug deal gone very bad. A number of men and a couple of dogs lie dead in a circle of bullet riddled trucks and four wheel SUV. Moss finds a pick up full of dope. He also finds one of the combatants alive, barely, but able to ask for water. Moss also figures that one of the bad guys has set off on foot across the desert. When he finds him he finds a briefcase full of cash. Taking the more liquid of the assets, Moss retreats to his trailer home and his wife. That night, Moss returns to the scene of the massacre in sympathy for the survivor. While he is on the scene the bad guys show up to find out what happened to their friends, their drugs and the money, and so begins the journey.
Moss is aware that although he evades their first attempt to kill him, they will find him if he doesn't run. Packing his wife off to her mothers, Moss fades from the surface. Enter killer psychopath Anton Chiqurh, played by Javier Bardem. This guy is smart, ruthless and undeterred by any plea for mercy. His psychotic character represents the best bad guy that will ever quake your knees. Once you're in his grasp, you're effectively dead.
In the background, we have the Sheriff Tom Bell, Tommy Lee Jones, who is going through a personal crisis's. Does he want to continue in the family heritage of law enforcement in this age of automatic weapon wielding drug gangs? If he doesn't, what will he do?
Will Moss elude Anton and live to enjoy the money? Will Anton get his just deserts and die a horrible but justified death? Will Tom Bell, as he attempts to save Moss from his own greed, answer the riddle for the middle age rs, to work or not to work, when the career gets old and tiring. I would say to see this film for the answers, but don't expect to leave the theater with a smile on your face or the warm feeling in you heart. TheCoen's have never been about Hollywood endings and they don't turn a new page on that score in this one.
Young Llewelyn Moss, Josh Brolin is hunting on the barren desert landscape, when he runs into ample evidence of a drug deal gone very bad. A number of men and a couple of dogs lie dead in a circle of bullet riddled trucks and four wheel SUV. Moss finds a pick up full of dope. He also finds one of the combatants alive, barely, but able to ask for water. Moss also figures that one of the bad guys has set off on foot across the desert. When he finds him he finds a briefcase full of cash. Taking the more liquid of the assets, Moss retreats to his trailer home and his wife. That night, Moss returns to the scene of the massacre in sympathy for the survivor. While he is on the scene the bad guys show up to find out what happened to their friends, their drugs and the money, and so begins the journey.
Moss is aware that although he evades their first attempt to kill him, they will find him if he doesn't run. Packing his wife off to her mothers, Moss fades from the surface. Enter killer psychopath Anton Chiqurh, played by Javier Bardem. This guy is smart, ruthless and undeterred by any plea for mercy. His psychotic character represents the best bad guy that will ever quake your knees. Once you're in his grasp, you're effectively dead.
In the background, we have the Sheriff Tom Bell, Tommy Lee Jones, who is going through a personal crisis's. Does he want to continue in the family heritage of law enforcement in this age of automatic weapon wielding drug gangs? If he doesn't, what will he do?
Will Moss elude Anton and live to enjoy the money? Will Anton get his just deserts and die a horrible but justified death? Will Tom Bell, as he attempts to save Moss from his own greed, answer the riddle for the middle age rs, to work or not to work, when the career gets old and tiring. I would say to see this film for the answers, but don't expect to leave the theater with a smile on your face or the warm feeling in you heart. TheCoen's have never been about Hollywood endings and they don't turn a new page on that score in this one.
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