2005-BEST OF THE REST
As usual, many of the year
end releases like “
I can’t find fault with most of the films
listed here, but a few have scenes or moments that mar an otherwise near
perfect film. I found this to be particularly true of the much lauded “Crash” and
“
The story takes place in the Sixties in a cultural
environment less accepting of same sex relationships than in today’s gay
friendly media. Ledger’s Ennis Del Marr is in a constant state of torment
trying desperately to live a socially respectable life as a married man with a
family. Gyllenhaal’s Jack Twist dreams
of having a ranch where he and Ennis can live out their lives in private. Bronco
busting in the off season, Jack meets a woman and takes a stab at
respectability. Over the years Ennis and Jack
get together on ‘fishing trips’ while their personal lives fall apart
back home. “
Ledger brings a quiet
dignity to Ennis’s character, soft spoken, never wanting to hurt his wife or
daughter but unable to come to terms with his desire for Jack. Gyllenhaal’s
Jack is more blunt with Ennis about his feelings. He follows a path of self
destruction that is foreshadowed earlier in the movie. Michelle Williams is all ache and sorrow as
the wife whose worst fears are realized when she catches a glimpse of Ennis
embracing Jack. Anne Hathaway is the raucous rich cowgirl who bags the good
looking Jack and comes to regret it.
There is one iconic image
of Ennis in a low angle shot standing tall with his cowboy hat piercing a night
sky ablaze with fireworks. It represents how Ennis was brought up to see
himself, yet it contradicts all the feelings and emotions that have sprung up
since first surrendering himself to Jack. Ennis struggles with this
contradiction throughout his life. It is the most riveting aspect of “
CAPOTE -
Philip Seymour Hoffman IS Truman
Capote in “Capote” in much the same way Jamie Foxx was Ray Charles in “Ray.”
Anyone with blinders on who remembers the real man on the late night talk shows
of the seventies would be hard pressed to differentiate the whiny voice of
Capote from Hoffman’s. Hoffman is likewise the mirror image of Capote in every
way. His performance is the one constant that kept my eyes glued to the screen.
Otherwise the movie is interminably slow.
Many years ago, there was
a story in the press about a famous actor (whose name escapes me) who went on a
drinking binge with Capote. Under the influence of alcohol and in the belief
that their conversation was idle chatter, the actor let his guard down and
revealed intimate details about his life to his ‘friend’ - Capote. Capote was
equally open about his own lifestyle, but there was not much his contemporaries
did not already know. Not soon after, details about the actor’s private life
appeared in print, as did others later. The lesson: Capote would do anything
for a story, even prostitute his dignity. His ability to seduce people with his
disarming manner and literary reputation and to get into their heads to unlock
their most private thoughts is the key to understanding ‘Capote’ the man and
“Capote” - the movie.
From the very beginning,
Capote decided he had to get to know everyone involved in the Clutter murder
case from the killers to the FBI agent responsible for capturing them. In an
unexpected turn of events, Capote and
killer Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr,) see each other as kindred
spirits. The movie exploits their relationship in much the same way Capote exploited the bond
that drew him and Perry together. One of the most disturbing aspects of the
movie, or the real story if what is shown on the screen is more fact than
fiction, is the way Capote disrupts the
judicial process for his own ends, often at his own expense, long after killers Perry Smith and Dick
Hickock were tried, convicted and condemned to die. He needed the time to get the
necessary details of the murder scene for his masterpiece, In Cold Blood.
It was impossible for me
to watch “Capote” without thinking of the movie version of “In Cold Blood”
(1967) made by one time newsman,
writer/director Richard Brooks. Robert Blake and Scott Wilson (father in this
year’s “June Bug”) are brilliant as Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. The first
half follows the killers on their petty crime spree and the events leading up
to the murder of the Clutters. The second half brings in John Forsythe as the
FBI man out to get them. Surprisingly I don’t recall Capote appearing as a
character in the film.
THE CONSTANT GARDENER - Ralph Fiennes is British diplomat Justin Quayle,
“The Constant Gardener” - a stuffy bureaucrat oblivious to the stench of
political corruption existing beyond the borders of his perfectly tilled
garden. When his activist wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), is murdered in a remote
corner of Kenya, he sheds his complacency to track down her killers and
champions the cause that led to her execution.
At first Justin and Tessa
seem an unlikely pair, but she
represents a freedom and daring he never knew. He follows the rules. She breaks
them. Theirs is a match destined for conflict. Once in Kenya, Tessa becomes a
thorn Justin’s side. She is perceived as a meddler by the diplomatic community,
while proving her mettle to the native doctor (Hubert Kounde) trying to
alleviate the pain and suffering wrought on his countrymen by the spread of
AIDS and TB
Director Fernando Meirelles sprinkles the flashbacks
in the first half of “The Constant Gardener” with clues about Tessa’s human
rights activities away from the embassy while Justin is doing the Crown’s
business from behind his desk. Snippets of dialogue at social teas hint at
hidden agendas. Unfamiliar faces haunt hospital corridors where patients are denied proper medical attention. The lust
of a trusted friend is linked to a missing document tying Tessa to her
investigation into the affairs of a drug company, its experimental drug, and
the government’s collusion in the deaths of its unsuspecting victims.
Ralph Fiennes’ performance
is a study in the transforming power of love. Justin’s journey toward a new awakening begins the moment he falls
under Tessa’s spell. The loveless man becomes an ardent lover, a true romantic.
Justin is, at first, unable to abandon his public persona. His approach to life
is more academic than pragmatic until Tessa’s death tears at his soul. Justin
takes up the torch for her cause to restore her good name and prove himself
worthy of her memory. He carries it through the back alleys of central Europe
to the corridors of power in his native England and back to Kenya with
evangelical zeal. Justin follows the same path as his wife with her killers not
far behind.
“The Constant Gardener,”
from a novel by Spymeister John Le Carre, is equal parts love story, political
thriller and cautionary tale. The locations of Nairobi give the movie the
immediacy of a well honed documentary. The acting, from Peter Postlethwaite’s
miniscule part as the missing link to Tessa’s international allies and Gerard
McSorley’s corporate pit bull to Rachel Weisz’s emotionally charged activist
are nothing less than miraculous. Bill Nighy, so good as an aging rock star
with a novelty hit in “Love Actually,” hits all the right notes with a stiff
upper lip as the mouthpiece for Her Majesty’s foreign service.
Yet after all is said and
done, and as good as “The Constant Gardener” is, I have one minor quibble. I
couldn’t help but feel a formula at work underneath the stark emotions put
forth on the screen. Every once in awhile I found myself mentally stepping back
from the action to ponder the forces at play, sifting through tidbits of
information and whole scenes trying to figure out how Justin’s life would play
out. What I didn’t expect was the perfect ending that restored the emotion I
had invested in “The Constant Gardener.”
CRASH -
The social dynamics of “Crash” are grounded in the reality of every day life.
An ethnically diverse group of people crisscross each other’s path over the
course of a few days. Bits of character and plot are revealed piecemeal until
the mosaic of their common experience falls miraculously into place. “Crash”
deals with every strata of urban society from low level thieves to the halls of
City Government. The way writer /director Paul Haggis ties it all together left
me spellbound. People literally and figuratively crash into each other, physically and emotionally. He covers a whole spectrum of human
experience without discrimination. But
discrimination between different ethnic groups is front and center from one
scene to the next. A cop (Matt Dillon) abuses his authority by humiliating
a Black couple (Terence Howard and
Thandie Newton) in the dead of night. Two cops (Don Cheadle and Jennifer
Esposito) - partners - have an interracial affair. Two thieves (Larenz Tate and
an alternately funny and frightening Ludacris - the Rapper) riff on whites. The
D.A. (Brendan Fraser) is not immune to
crime. His high strung wife (Sandra Bullock) has her own racial issues to deal
with. Haggis ends “Crash” with a funny twist concerning illegal aliens and a
tragedy that will leave two cops devastated for different reasons for the rest
of their lives. Unfortunately two of the scenes with one of the cops played by
Ryan Philippe lacks the ring of truth.
I don’t think any cop in
his right mind would let a belligerent man of any ethnic persuasion slide.
Philippe persuades his backup to let Terence Howard’s character go to assuage
his own guilt over an earlier incident. Howard verbally abuses Philippe’s character.
I believed the actions of Philippe’s character. I didn’t believe the actions of
his back up. Another moment with Philippe that affects the life of another cop
played by Don Cheadle seemed contrived. I’ll just say the scene also involves
Larenz Tate. Having said that, I found the rest of the movie to be an
emotionally draining experience that made me want to revisit the movie to see
if it still held up. It did.
In the movie’s most
affecting scene, Paul Haggis creates one of the most heart stopping moments
ever put on film after an Asian shopkeeper accuses a locksmith of vandalism
because he’s Spanish. The old man wants revenge and goes hunting for him. The
suspense is unrelenting. The payoff - soul cleansing.
GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK - George Clooney, actor, producer, and director has
vividly recreated a behind-the-scenes look and on-air war of words and ideas
behind Edward R. Murrow’s historic stand with CBS TV against Senator Joseph R.
McCarthy of Wisconsin. The era of McCarthyism started with Senator McCarthy’s
claim that their were Communists in the State Department in the 50s. It had a
ripple effect that led to the blacklist in the movie, radio and TV industries.
“Good Night and Good Luck”
focuses on the immediate events the led Murrow and company to take on McCarthy
in the media. The hopes and fears of key figures at the top of CBS News hierarchy are brought to life by a
who’s who of character and indie actors with David Stathairn in the central
role of Edward R. Murrow. His bigger than life portrayal cuts to the chase with
a direct attack on McCarthy challenging him in the media to make his case.
Murrow’s mesmerizing presence and passionate broadcasts have come to be
regarded as a benchmark in broadcast journalism.
Despite the historic
precedent set by Murrow, “Good Night and Good Luck” never really captures or
explains McCarthy’s rise to power. The inclusion of kinescopes of the real life
Senator McCarthy make him appear too bombastic as to believe he could have ever
had such a devastating hold on the country. There had to be something about the
real man in this dark period of our history that made others take him
seriously. History has already cast him as an aberration. The power he
exercised and the damage done cannot be refuted but the facts as presented in
the movie feel more like text book readings. It makes the scenes without Murrow
on screen more clinical rather than felt.
As a case study in journalistic integrity “Good Night and Good Luck”
succeeds admirably. As entertain-ment, I found it lacking.
Some of the more prominent
figures at CBS portrayed in “Good Night, and Good Luck” whose influences are
still felt today with shows like 60
Minutes are William Paley (Frank Langella), Fred Friendly (George Clooney),
and Don Hewitt (Grant Heslov). Ray Wise plays newscaster Don Hollenbeck (Leland
Palmer from TV’s “Twin Oeaks”). Other parts were filled out by Jeff Daniels
(“The Squid and the Whale”), and Tate Donovan (TV’s The O.C.). Robert Downey
Jr. and Patricia Clarkson round out the key players.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA - If you’re in the mood for an epic soap opera in the old Hollywood
style, it doesn’t get much better than “Memoirs of a Geisha.” But remember,
despite the high profile Asian cast, I said ‘Hollywood.’ It’s directed by the
man who led the musical “Chicago” to Oscar gold, former choreographer Rob
Marshall.
Two sisters are whisked
away in the dead of night by their impoverished father and sold in the big
city. Separated against their will, the younger Chiyo (Suzuku Ohgo) becomes a
house servant in a geisha house. In typical Charles Dickensian work house
fashion, she washes floors, does the laundry, picks up after the women of the
house. In short: she’s treated like dirt, especially by Hatsumomo (Gong Li -
“Farewell My Concubine” and “Emperor and the Assassin”) the house’s Queen Bee
and biggest money maker. Tired of a life of drudgery, Chiyo (Ziyi Zhang -
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” & “Rush Hour II”) decides she wants to be
a geisha. The head mamasan knows a budding beauty when she sees one and helps
her become Sayuri. When Mameha (Michele Yeoh - “Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon”) a former reigning Queen of the Geishas becomes her mentor, Hatsumomo
feels threatened.
I don’t know squat about a
geisha’s protocol but in “Memoirs of a Geisha” it’s to a girl’s advantage to
have a sponsor. At a coming out party, so to speak, a new geisha girl
demonstrates her skills in music and dance. She must be seductive without
acting like a seductress. Her virginity is up for sale to the highest bidder
but the bidder must be committed to her welfare. In essence, she will become la
legal mistress. Sayuri is in love with
an entrepreneur (Ken Watanabe from “The Last Samurai”) who once showed her a
kindness, but she’s prompted to finesse his boss. And yet another rich guy
(Cary Hiroyuki Tagana) has plans of his own for Sayuri.
“Memoirs of a Geisha”
slowly morphs into a love story without a resolution until after WWII. The role
of the geisha changes with the occupation of Japan by American troops. The
women who once represented elegance and grace in a stratified society become
curios for American GIs. Sayuri, no stranger to hardship, survives to become
the narrator of this movie.
The entire movie is told
from Sayuri’s point of view. The beginning is claustrophobic, full of close ups and tight shots. The geisha
house feels like a prison and each room a jail cell. When Chiyo. Once Chiyo
starts to become Sayuri, she embraces the open spaces of the outside world in
wide eyed wonder.
I have to admit I had
trouble understanding the actresses at the beginning of “Memoirs of a Geisha”
but as the movie progressed, I realized as a Hollywood movie it wasn’t much
different than listening to Caucasian or Hispanic actors who once played Asians.
Think of Paul Muni and Louise Rainer as Chinese peasants in “The Good Earth” or
Ricardo Montalban as Nakamura in “Sayonara.” Here we have Chinese actresses
haltingly speaking in English while playing Japanese women.
The bottom line: “Memoirs
of a Geisha” is a lush unpretentious old fashioned romantic melodrama that was a lot more
entertaining than I ever expected it to be.
MUNICH -
Steven Spielberg has made one of his most compelling movies to date about a hit
squad ceasing to exist on paper but officially sanctioned by Israeli Prime
Minister Golda Meir to hunt down and assassinate the members of Black September
- a Palestinian terrorist faction - who were responsible for the murder of the
eleven Israeli athletes in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Berlin. “Munich” uses
stock footage of the newscasts with such commentators as Jim McKay, Peter
Jennings, and Howard Cossell to set the stage for the outrage felt by the world
before focusing on the Israeli response to the atrocity.
Aussie Eric Bana is the
Moussad team leader who eventually begins to question his cold blooded
role in the cycle of violence that escalates exponentially on an international
scale from assassination to assassination.
Daniel Craig (the new James Bond) is the one man who never questions his
role as an avenger. Ciarin Hinds is the
cleaner who goes in to remove incriminating evidence after each hit. Hanns
Ziachler is the document forger. Matthieu Kassovitz is the toy maker recruited
to make bombs that don’t always go off as expected.
Time is spent examining the
little idiosyncrasies that set each man apart from the others and the one trait
that unites them into a cohesive working unit - their patriotism. They’ve been chosen for their imperfections
so as not cast suspicion away from the highly militarized government they
represent. Their tools and methods are remarkably low tech. When they shoot
their prey, they kill at close range and only after identifying the victim.
They don’t want to make mistakes but mistakes are made. This adds an element of
suspense that might not otherwise be there. You’re rooting for them, but with
an almost Hitchcockian sense of guilt. As the characters begin to question
their actions and motives, Spielberg attempts to make the viewer an
unsuspecting accomplice in their every thought, word, or deed. Questions of morality are often answered with
violence and on one occasion by a dialogue between two enemies whose causes are
identical - fighting for a homeland that exists in the reality of geography or
in a dream.
Once “Munich” gets
rolling, it approaches each hit with a methodical approach that begins to have
a numbing effect on each character. By the time they’re ready to cash in their
chips, they become careless. Paranoia
elevates “Munich” to another level that makes each person turn inward and
question the success of their mission. This paranoia, on the part of Bana’s
Avner Kauffman, begins to exert itself in the movie’s one failing. The prelude
to the actual deaths of the Israeli athletes is played out in some of Avner’s dreams imagination, and lastly while he is
making love to his wife. The murders in and of themselves are disturbing but as
scenes in a movie are not aesthetically satisfying because they are used as if
Avner were recalling the event like an eyewitness. The love making scene could
have had a more chilling effect if Spielberg had Avner use his wife and the act
of making love as a sponge to absorb his psychic pain. That may in fact be the
intent, and it can surely be taken that way, but tying that idea to the actual
event to which he was not an actual witness subverts that idea. It is a minor
foible in what is otherwise a suspenseful,
thought provoking movie that demands to be seen more than once.
NORTH COUNTRY - Charlize Theron is Josey Ames, a composite character who represents
all the female mine workers in a Minnesota coal town who lived through the
indignities that led to the first lawsuit over sexual discrimination in the
work place.
“North Country” chronicles
Josey’s struggle against the backdrop of a coal mining town come to life
through the eyes of its youth at the local hockey rink, the bar scene where
adults blow off steam and the union meetings where each member is supposed to
have equal representation. And then there’s the coal: smoke from the smelts
fills the bleak winter sky; soot and grit fill the pores of the workers who
make their living in the pits and at the top of the shoots that fill the coal cars
that cross the landscape in the distance.
Theron gives a flawless
performance in “North Country” covered in coal dust and sweat. Her Josey is an abused housewife and mother
who leaves her husband and takes a job at the mine in the community where she
grew up, only to find herself victimized by the men who work beside her. She is
told to be a sport by the men and to grin and bear it by the women. Josey can
deal with the hazards of her job, but when the owner of the company conspires
to make her quit and the union turns against her, she finds an inner dignity that gives her the
resolve to fight back. She sues.
Director Niki Caro and her
collaborators follow the socially conscious formula of movies like “Norma Rae.”
Liked its predecessor, “North Country” never loses sight of the heart and soul
of its characters. The abuses at the work place set the stage for a domino
effect the plunges Josey into a fight not only for her dignity but also her
honor. Her character is smeared by rumor and accusation. In an era where women’s
rights in the work dominate the media with Anita Hill’s testimony against
Clarence Thomas’ candidacy for the U.S. Supreme Court, Josey’s challenge takes on the force of
history.
PARADISE NOW
- As an antidote to the simplistic look at the two suicide bombers in
“Syriana,” “Paradise Now” paints a more convincing portrait of two young
Palestinian men ready to kill themselves and take as many Israelis as possible
with them.
Said and Khaled have been
friends since childhood. They talk about their dashed hopes and unrealized dreams, channeling their
frustration into the daunting task that awaits them in Tel Aviv. They are
corralled by professional guerrillas and prepared in clinical detail for their
mission then smuggled into Israel. Things don’t go according to plan.
Director Hany Abu Asad
makes no apologies for the two men’s actions. He lets their behavior speak for
them. At first Said and Khaled seem united in their convictions, but it’s the
bonds of friendship that hold them together. Eventually it’s their innate sense
of self worth that dictates their final course of action. One has a future, the
other a need to validate the honor of his family name. This is not quite what
one might expect when all we really know about suicide bombers is what we’ve
seen in the press, the endless images of death and destruction on American TV
or the terrorist propaganda coming out of the Middle East. By stripping away
the media and telling his story through the eyes of two human beings with
families who love them, unaware of their commitment, and one woman who sees the
killing as an unending cycle of despair,
Abu Assad shows patterns of everyday life in a foreign land that is shocking in
its simplicity.
PRIDE AND PREJUDUCE - I keep hearing about how great the Masterpiece Theater miniseries version
of Pride and Prejudice was with Jennifer
Ehle and Colin Firth as Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. I didn’t
see it. But I have seen the 1940 film with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. Each
was respectively about 33and 32 years old. Olivier - I could see as Darcy. In
author Jane Austen’s early 19th century England it was okay for a man
to be a well heeled bachelor at any age. A well-to-do older husband-to-be had
the pick of the litter by virtue of his station in life. Not so women. Greer Garson, as good as she was, played a mature woman well beyond the age the
part called for. In this new version of “Pride & Prejudice” even the older
sister Jane ((Rosamund Pike) seems younger now than Garson was then.
The exuberant Elizabeth is
a perfect fit for the twentyish Keira Knightley. . When Keira’s Elizabeth
speaks, people listen. She is outspoken, opinionated and above all - intelligent.
Elizabeth does not suffer fools lightly.
A ball hosted by the
neighboring Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods) sets the stage for all the romance and intrigue to come in motion.
Ogling and gossip are the order of the day. Mrs. Bennet, played with urgent glee by Brenda
Blethyn, blatantly introduces her
daughters to Mr. Bingley. He is entranced with the eldest Jane. Elizabeth is
intrigued by his best friend, the aloof and distant Mr. Darcy (Matthew
Macfayden). He stares across the crowded ballroom in the belief that the
Bennets, like others in his sights, are unsophisticated and crass. Elizabeth indirectly
suggests they dance. She is indirectly rebuffed. Later a discourse on poetry
and love gives Elizabeth a chance to address
Mr. Darcy’s stodginess with her wit. Later
she admits she could forgive Mr. Darcy’s vanity if he had not wounded hers.
Mr. Bennet (Donald
Sutherland) is a gentleman farmer living on a family estate that is bequeathed
to vicar, Mr. Collins, a distant cousin. Women may not inherit property. With
the prospect of being forced to vacate their home, the need to marry off the
daughters is greater than ever. Mr. Collins hopes to marry one of the sisters
but settles for Charlotte one of Elizabeth’s closest friends. Mr. Collins’ patron is Mr. Darcy’s Aunt
Catherine (Judi Dench - also in “Mrs. Henderson Presents”).
Rupert Friend (male lead
in “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont”) plays the irresistibly handsome Wickham, a
soldier by trade with ties to Mr. Darcy’s past. He poisons Elizabeth with lies
about his adversary and poses a threat to the Barret Family honor by his
actions. Lydia (Jenna Malone), the youngest Bennet daughter is infatuated with
him. Kelly Reilly ( the star attraction in “Mrs. Henderson Presents”) never
misses an opportunity to bring up her breeding to win Mr. Darcy’s affections as
Mr. Bingley’s sister Caroline.
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy
continually cross each other’s path at the most inopportune times. Their growing
admiration for each other simmers below the surface of their indifferent
facades. Mr. Darcy’s description of his ideal woman is intended to fend off unwanted
female attention. Elizabeth mistakes his diffidence for pride and puts down
Darcy’s lofty expectations. Their
attraction to each other is cemented by director Joe Wright’s use of a
subjective shot of them dancing without anyone else in the ballroom. The end of
the music brings them back to reality amidst all the other participants. Yet Mr.
Darcy is not open about his affection for Elizabeth. He consistently underestimates
her reserve. When he does try to tell her he loves her, it comes out all wrong.
Mr. Darcy’s misguided attempt to be
honest with Elizabeth backfires when he forced to admit his part in Mr. Bingley’s
rejection of Elizabeth’s sister. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy continue to misread
each other’s intentions with disastrous results until Mr. Darcy’s unsolicited help
steers the course of true love for one sister and prevents a scandal for
another. Their abandonment of all pretense, or pride and prejudice, leads to a
meeting of the hearts.
After stirring the hearts
of teen males in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” and brandishing
a sword in the revisionist “King Arthur”
as Guinneveire. “Pride & Prejudice” should be the role that opens the door
for more mature roles for Keira
Knightley. Under director Joe Wright’s guiding hand Keira radiantly brings all of
Elizabeth’s contradictions to life. She
is a disappointment to her mother and the pride of a doting father. Elizabeth a giggly sister sharing confidences as well as
a woman capable of fending for herself in a man’s world who is not above giving
up her own happiness for her ideals.
THE PRODUCERS - What’s not to like in this screen adaptation of a hit Broadway show
that was an adaptation of what is arguably writer/director Mel Brooks’ best
film, “The Producers” from 1967? For purists Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick
could never hold a candle to Zero Mostel’s shyster Broadway producer Max
Bialystock and Gene Wilder as accountant Leo Bloom. But accepted on its own
terms, this “The Producers” can stand alone as a thoroughly entertaining
musical that is not afraid it show its roots in the stage show.
The movie was directed by
the Broadway show’s choreographer Susan Stroman. She lets supporting players
actors loose turning stereotypes into cartoon cut ups worthy of producer Mel
Brook’s Borscht Belt origins. For anyone not familiar with the original film,
the plot is simple. Bialystock sells 100% interest in his show Springtime for Hitler thousands of times
over. He sucks the innocent accountant Leo into scheme. He expects the show to
fail and pocket all the money. The show becomes a hit.
The simple plot is just a road
map littered with one liners that leads Bialystock and Bloom from one outrageous
piece of schtick to the next.The music and lyrics may take the place of the
original’s spoken dialogue, but the movie is none the less funny with broad
characterizations that would be out of place in a another movie.
Uma Thurman is the big
surprise in “The Producers” using her lithesome leggy body like human spandex to
wrap around the slight Broderick in the dance numbers. Will Ferrel is a hoot as
the author of Springtime for Hitler destroying
the English language with every sentence. Gary Beach and Roger Bart repeat
their roles as the show’s flamboyant and over-the-top gay choreographer and
director. There names are pure Brooksian - Roger De Bris (as in debris) and Carmen Ghia (like the car).
My favorite dance number
had over one hundred elderly female victims of Bialystock’s scheme falling down
one into the other like dominoes, to give the effect of Bialystock ticking them
off a mental check list as he takes their money. It was one of the more
inventive moments in the movie. Anyone with a sharp eye will spot Marilyn Sokol
as a bag lady. She’s a New York comedian who has done a lot of TV work since
the early Seventies. Jon Lovitz has a small part as does his fellow Saturday
Night Live Alumni Andrea Martin as Kiss Me - Feel Me.
P.S. Listen to Will Ferrel’s
comedic plea in song over the end credits - and after the end credits there’s
more.
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE - In the opening scene of “The Squid and the Whale”
the battle lines for the marital war to come are symbolized by the net that
separates. Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) and older son Walt (Jesse Eisenberg)
from Joan Berkman (Laura Linney) and younger son Frank (Owen Kline) in a tennis
doubles match. The parents are eighties intellectuals living out self absorbed
lives in a toney Brooklyn neighborhood often putting their needs ahead of their
boys’ in the name of self-fulfillment. They divide up their earthly goods but
each son’s loyalties and affections are the real spoils of their divorce. Walt
idolizes his father, often emulating his every word and deed at the expense of
his own identity. Bernard’s victory will be measured by the amount of time it
takes him to turn Walt against his mother. Frank’s bizarre behavior signals his
deep seated emotional problems. While Bernard and Joan play the blame game,
Frank continues to pay the price; but it is Walt who has the capacity to sort
out which parent has his and brother Frank’s best interests at heart. His
moment of enlightenment leads him to the towering figures of the squid and the
whale locked in mortal combat on display at the Museum of Natural History. ”The
Squid and the Whale” ultimately becomes a journey towards manhood where all the
events of Walt’s early life will determine the man he becomes, not the man he
thinks his father wants him to be.
“The Squid and the Whale”
works on so many levels it’s impossible to pigeonhole it. For a film advertised
as a comedy it has very few jokes. Most of the humor is often at the expense of
somebody’s dignity. It’s all too real relationships are said to be rooted in
writer/director Noah Baumbach’s own life. If so, he may be one of the few
people who can transform the emotional debris of their lives into art.
SYRIANA -
The strands of “Syriana”’s narrative are wound tight like a baseball sized
rubber ball made entirely of intertwined rubber bands. If one strand gets loose
the whole narrative can fall apart or shoot off in different directions.
“Syriana” was written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, the man who scripted
“Traffic” so you know you’re in for a multi-leveled, multi character drama
where the decisions, actions, or inaction of a single person or group of people
can impact the fate of individuals or nations. “Traffic” was all about who gets
to control the flow of drugs. “Syriana” is all about who gets to control the
flow of oil.
A Middle Eastern King is
on his way out while his two sons are on the way up. The enlightened prince
(Alexander Siddig) wants to do business with China. His brother, younger and more naïve, is feted
by the U.S.A. One upstart oil company with inroads to the Middle East is in the
midst of a merger with a major competitor. A Machiavellian lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) is the
negotiator. A scrub faced analyst (Matt Damon) is caught up in the thrill of
nation building while domestic problems and the loss of a son may cloud his
vision. A legal shark (Christopher Plummer) uses his influence to shape the
U.S. oil policy for personal gain. A CIA operative (George Clooney) with his own patriotic sense
of right and wrong is equally adept at playing both ends against the middle and
assassination. The one weak link in the chain is the depiction of two young men
who decide to become suicide bombers.
The essence of “Syriana”
is: lawyers stand behind a merger that will be beneficial for them, the merging
oil companies and the United States, and not necessarily the fictitious Middle
Eastern country. Much of the machinations of the plot have to do with putting
people in position to make it possible, and to eliminate anyone standing in
their way. The events in “Syriana” may not have a basis in historical fact, but
they have an urgency that says they can happen.
TRANSAMERICA - If anyone had ever told me I’d like a movie about a thirty something
transsexual living in Los Angeles who finds out he has a son looking for his
birth father in New York just before the big operation that will complete his
makeover to a female body, and that I’d forget I was watching a movie about the
same and find myself enveloped in his/her attempt to make a difference in a
young man’s life, I would have scoffed. But talent wins out. Writer/director
Duncan Tucker has fashioned a surprisingly entertaining movie that relies more
on character development than “Transamerica”’s
seemingly off kilter premise.
By addressing the nature
of transgender procedures in “Transamerica”’s first few moments, Felicity
Huffman as Bree/Stanley going through vocal exercises and talking to her doctor
about her hormone therapy while examining her body, Tucker paves the way for
the development of his lead character as a person with human wants and needs
instead of a freak. Bree is ready to undergo the final step in the process of
becoming a woman when he/she gets a phone call informing him he has a son he
never knew he had. In a split second the focus shifts from the Bree’s needs to
those of Toby, a runaway thrown into a New York jail in search of his
biological father. Toby is the result of a college tryst with a girl who kept
her pregnancy by Stanley to herself. Bree’s therapist won’t approve of Bree’s
final operation until he comes to terms with this new wrinkle in his life.
Once in New York,
“Transamerica” turns into a road movie with Bree trying to get Toby back home.
Bree is mistaken for a missionary type doing God’s will. He never lets on that
he is Toby’s biological father. In typical road movie fashion, the Bree and
Toby become used to each other and go
through a series of misadventures. Bree’s misguided sense of right and wrong
sometimes puts them in harm’s way.
Toby’s survival instincts pull them through but not in the way, Bree as a father, would condone. Toby’s
‘home’ proves to a fate worse than living on the streets. Bree decides to do
the next best thing - take him to meet his parents - Toby’s biological
grandparents. This of course presents some new problems and personal hurdles to
overcome.
Felicity Huffman
consistently plays Bree with a great sense of dignity. There is never any doubt
that she is a ‘man’ pining to be a woman with her mannered sense of
propriety. She approaches Bree’s duty to
Toby like an explorer going into unchartered territory. Bree’s genuine concern and sense of loss as a parent
are felt from the moment Bree meets Toby.
In the end, Bree hopes to forge a permanent and heartfelt connection
with him and perhaps guide him through a
world that can be cruel to people who don’t fit most of society’s definition of
normal.
WALK THE LINE - Watching Joaquin Phoenix swagger, strut and sneer across the screen
is like watching someone possessed with the spirit of the man he is playing -
Johnny Cash. His performance is flawless.
“Walk the Line” begins at
Folsom Prison. In a prison shop minutes before Cash is ready to take the stage
and perform for the prisoners, he runs his finger across an electric saw blade.
It sends him back to his boyhood. Cash listens to a ten year old June Carter on
late night radio. He works alongside his parents in the cotton fields with his
mother singing Gospel songs. Cash is almost always with his older brother. John
wasn’t at his side when he had the accident that led to his tragic death. An
unforgiving father blames John. In one fell swoop, co-writer/director James
Mangold lays out the forces that will haunt Johnny Cash as a man and inspire him
as an artist. Exposure to a film on life in Folsom Prison while doing a stint
in the Army unleashes the creative force that will give lyric and melody to his
life.
Cash marries young to a
woman who doesn’t understand him. They are forever haggling over money and the
prospects of their future. Cash channels his pent up feelings into the Gospel
Music that sustained him as a child, but it’s the energy and emotion he pours
into his original song, “Folsom Prison Blues” that lands him a contract with
Sam Philips at Sun Studios. Life on the road consumes him. It drives a wedge between him and his wife.
“Walk the Line” then follows Cash’s meteoric rise on the concert circuit and
his descent into substance abuse. When he is billed with June Carter on the
same show, he is smitten.
Reese Witherspoon’s June
Carter is the lightning bolt that ignites Cash’s heart and soul. Phoenix plays
him like a love sick puppy. Cash’s pursuit of June dominates the second half of
“Walk the Line.” Witherspoon brings an intelligence to a woman who is a
stabilizing force to her family and kids. Paternal responsibility is an
integral part of her make-up. She’s a good Christian who doesn’t want to be a
den mother to a drunkard. A meeting of the minds brings them to the Folsom
Prison concert and the next step in Cash’s evolution as an entertainer. The
album for the concert becomes a crossover hit catapulting Cash into national
star but it’s not enough to fill a lifetime of inner turmoil.
The ups and downs of
Cash’s and Carter’s relationship is dramatically a mixed bag. Witherspoon is
spunky in June’s determination to stay away from John’s road to ruin, and
firmly resolved not to let her kids be exposed to his morbid revelry. Through
June the movie reinforces the notion that family and traditional values are the
bedrock of country music. June has her legendary family, The Carter Family, as
her role models. John has the memories of his stern father ruling with an iron
fist. Once he puts his actions where his mouth is and comes around to June’s way of thinking, “Walk
the Line” runs with the playfulness of its stars to its natural conclusion. As
any country fan knows their final commitment to each other is the stuff of
romantic legend. The end of “Walk the Line” hangs on that note and sustains it.
There has been some
comparisons between “Ray” with Jamie Foxx and “Walk the Line.” The only
similarities I can fathom is that both are about musical stars. The success of
“Ray” had as much to do with the movie’s content as it did Foxx’s performance
“Ray”’s subtext helped define the eras
of Jim Crow and Civil Rights.
“Walk the Line” rarely earmarks the social changes swirling on in the nation.
Instead the filmmakers are content to dwell on Johnny Cash’s personal demons,
relying on the soundtrack of his life to define them and his love for the woman
who would eventually help him overcome them. The performances alone are reason
enough to see both films, but it’s Joaquin Phoenix’s singing and playing with
the same ghostly timbre as Cash and his emotional commitment to the lyrical
content of Cash’s songs that make “Walk the Line” special.
THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN - For my money, “The World’s Fastest Indian” was the
surprise Christmas gift I didn’t know I wanted until I opened it. The
movie was shown briefly in December
without any fanfare, I suppose, so that
its star, Anthony Hopkins, could qualify
for the awards season and hopefully cop an Oscar nod..
Director Roger Donaldson
made a documentary in 1971 about New Zealander Burt Munro and his devotion to a
1920 motorbike - the Indian of the title - that helped him break several land
speed records at Bonneville Flats, Utah in the 1960s. It was apparently Anthony
Hopkins commitment to the project that made it possible for Donaldson to
realize his dream of making a theatrical film about Munro.
At its heart, “The World’s
Fastest Indian” is an American road movie that starts in New Zealand. Munro is
a local legend who is constantly improving his Indian motorbike, custom making
parts and improvising with the most rudimentary materials. It’s his dream to
take his bike to America and set a land speed record in Utah. Once in America,
he is a fish out of water. Munro’s
amiable charm ingratiates him to a host of offbeat characters who help
him overcome one obstacle after another as he makes his trek across the
country.
At first the trial judges
won’t let Munro enter the trials. It has something to do with a little thing
called paperwork. But Ole’ Burt didn’t
come halfway around the globe to be turned away. An unauthorized test run wins
him new fans among the pros who intercede on his behalf. He further refuses to
let the judges factor in his age and health. To use a cliché, the rest is
history. As a real life motorbike “Rocky,” “The World’s Fastest Indian” is all
about heart, dedication, skill and dreams.
Copyright 2006