Review: "RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK - 30 Years Later, It's Still a Beast

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 52 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Running time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITERS: Lawrence Kasdan; from a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman
PRODUCER: Frank Marshall
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Douglas Slocombe (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Michael Kahn
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award winner

ADVENTURE/ACTION

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliot, Wolf Kahler, Alfred Molina, Fred Sorenson, and George Harris

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark to movie theatres (specifically June 12, 1981). The 1981 American adventure film went on to become the top-grossing film of 1981 and spawned four sequels and a short-lived television series. The film introduced the still wildly-popular character, Indiana Jones, portrayed by Harrison Ford (with a few exceptions), to audiences. The creation of director Steven Spielberg and executive producer, George Lucas, Raiders of the Lost Ark showed that a family film didn’t have to be G-rated fare, but could be a movie with nonstop action and quite a bit of violence.

Raiders of the Lost Ark follows archeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), who braves ancient temples to retrieve archeological relics. After his latest adventure, Army intelligence officers seek Jones help in finding his old mentor, Abner Ravenwood. The officers also inform Jones that the Nazis, in a quest for occult power, are looking for the Ark of the Covenant, the chest the ancient Israelites built to hold the fragments of the original Ten Commandments tablets. Ravenwood is supposedly in possession of the headpiece of the Staff of Ra, an artifact essential in finding the Ark. Ravenwood is also an expert on the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis, where the Ark is believed to be hidden.

Jones discovers that Ravenwood is deceased and that his daughter, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), is now in possession of the headpiece. With Marion in tow and the Nazis hot on their trail, Jones travels to Egypt, where enlists the help of an old friend, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), a skilled excavator. Meanwhile, Dr. René Belloq (Paul Freeman), Jones’ arch-nemesis who always seems to beat him, has joined forces with the Nazis to find the Ark before Indiana Jones does.

I’m old enough to have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark in a movie theatre, and I also remember how much I loved the movie. I was flat out crazy about Raiders, and, as far as I was concerned, Indiana Jones was the man. I must have watched Raiders more than 20 times within a five year period after it was first released. I watched it a few times in the late 1980s and early 1990s because of the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Since then, I’ve watched bits and pieces, but I just recently sat down and watched the entire film. Do I still feel about Raiders of the Lost Ark the way I did after I first saw it and after I watched it countless times over the next decade? Yes.

It’s just a great movie, a magical summer movie. Raiders of the Lost Ark is fun and ingenious, in terms of story and also film technology, in the way only American-made adventure movies are. It has a sense of humor and the droll wit of the characters simply makes Raiders something special – something more than just another action movie with fistfights, gun battles, and chase scenes. The actors’ wit and style make it seem as if they are really into this movie and are determined to make us believe the outlandish, logic defying leaps the action and story often take.

Raiders of the Lost Ark may be an ode to the old movie serials of the 1930s and 40s (especially the ones produced by Republic Pictures), but it is a triumph that has stood the test of time better than the stories that influenced it. Every time I see Raiders of the Lost Ark, I am reminded of how much I love movies, and that makes up for the bad movies.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1982 Academy Awards: 4 wins: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, and Michael Ford), “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson, and Joe Johnston) “Best Film Editing” (Michael Kahn), “Best Sound” (Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, and Roy Charman) and “Special Achievement Award” (Ben Burtt and Richard L. Anderson for sound effects editing); 4 nominations: “Best Picture” (Frank Marshall), “Best Director” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Cinematography” (Douglas Slocombe), and “Best Music, Original Score” (John Williams)

1982 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Production Design/Art Direction” (Norman Reynolds); 6 nominations: “Best Film,” “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (John Williams), “Best Cinematography” (Douglas Slocombe), “Best Editing” (Michael Kahn), “Best Sound” (Roy Charman, Ben Burtt, and Bill Varney), and “Best Supporting Artist” (Denholm Elliott)

1982 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Steven Spielberg)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

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Review: Portman and Aronofsky Give "Black Swan" Its Wings

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 42 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Swan (2010)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use
DIRECTOR: Darren Aronofsky
WRITERS: Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, and John McLaughlin; from a story by Andrés Heinz
PRODUCERS: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, and Brian Oliver
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Andrew Weisblum
COMPOSER: Clint Mansell
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, and Benjamin Millepied

Black Swan in an Oscar-winning psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky. It is the story of a ballerina descending into delusion and paranoia as opening night nears and the pressure to be perfect builds. Black Swan isn’t entirely satisfying, except for the dark and gleaming magic director Darren Aronofsky and star Natalie Portman make.

Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina in a prestigious New York City ballet company. Her life is completely consumed with dance, and she lives with her obsessive mother, the former ballerina Erica Sayers (Barbara Hershey), who exerts a suffocating control over her daughter. Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), the artistic director of her ballet company, decides to make Swan Lake the opening production of their new ballet season. Thomas wants to replace prima ballerina, Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder), and needs to cast a new principal dancer. But this new lead must be able to portray both the innocent and fragile White Swan and her sensual evil twin, the Black Swan.

Nina is Thomas’ first choice to play the coveted role of the Swan Queen, but Nina has competition. A new dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis) impresses Thomas as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play the White Swan with innocence and grace and also capture the guile and sensuality of the Black Swan. Nina is a perfect fit for the White Swan, but bad girl Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. The two young dancers become friends, but as opening night approaches, that friendship twists into a treacherous rivalry. Nina struggles to access the dark side within her that will allow her to depict the Black Swan with perfection, but her new reckless behavior threatens to destroy her.

Black Swan is indeed a good movie; in fact, it is sometimes riveting, but not because of the writing. The script is shallow, and the screenwriters put the onus on the viewers to accept the great leaps of faith the writers make with the development of Nina Sayers. The depictions of her delusions and paranoia often seem contrived, but the writers handle Nina better than they do the other characters.

Vincent Cassel’s Thomas Leroy is such a stereotype that you can see Cassel fighting onscreen to make his character real or tangible rather than just be a type. Barbara Hershey is more successful in making Erica Sayers a character that electrifies the story every time she appears, but Erica is really a tired stage mother type. Mila Kunis is blood sugar sex magic as Lily, but I get the feeling that the screenwriters were afraid of where this character could take the story. Lily often seems like spicy seasoning overused in some places and woefully underutilized in others.

Black Swan’s success is in Natalie Portman and in the way Darren Aronofsky uses the camera to drink in every bit of Portman’s virtuoso performance. This duo makes Black Swan wonderfully creepy, almost always managing to stop whenever the entire thing seems on the verge of turning campy. Portman is passionate when being passionate is better than being intense. Black Swan looks good under Aronofsky’s bold direction. Watching this film, I believed that I could see him with a handheld camera just outside the picture frame gliding behind Portman.

Perhaps it is Aronofsky chasing Portman that makes this movie feel so wildly melodramatic. Everything that is so attractively lurid, sensational, and bracing about Black Swan is because of this director-star pairing made in heaven.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2011 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Natalie Portman); 1 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, and Scott Franklin), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Matthew Libatique), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Darren Aronofsky), and “Best Achievement in Editing” (Andrew Weisblum)

2011 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress” (Natalie Portman); 11 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects,” “Best Cinematography” (Matthew Libatique), “Best Costume Design” (Amy Westcott), “Best Editing” (Andrew Weisblum), “Best Film,” “Best Make Up/Hair,” “Best Production Design” (Thérèse DePrez and Tora Peterson), “Best Screenplay-Original” (Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, and John J. McLaughlin), “Best Sound,” “Best Supporting Actress” (Barbara Hershey), and “David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction” (Darren Aronofsky)

2011 Golden Globes: 1 win “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Natalie Portman); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Darren Aronofsky), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Mila Kunis)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

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Helen Mirren Saves "The Queen"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 69 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Queen (2006)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK, France, and Italy
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Stephen Frears
WRITER: Peter Morgan
PRODUCERS: Christine Lagan, Tracey Seaward, and Andy Harries
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Affonso Beato, ASC, ABC (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Lucia Zucchetti
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms, Alex Jennings, Helen McCrory, Roger Allam, and Tim McMullan

The Queen, a film by Stephen Frears, is a fictional and highly speculative account of the behind the scenes incidents in the week following the shocking death of Prince Diana. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren, in a role that won her a Best Actress Oscar) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) engage in intimate talks as Blair tries to convince the Queen that the Royal Family should memorialize Princess Diana in a manner beyond standard protocol. The Queen tries to manage the death on a personal and private level with her family, some members of which, want to follow protocol. Meanwhile, Blair deals with the public and members of his own administration that are demanding that the royals give a grand, public funeral for their beloved Diana: the “people’s princess.”

Peter Morgan’s script presents this story as a character study, but the only truly interesting and engaging character in the film is Queen Elizabeth. The Prince Charles of this scenario is almost criminally libelous in the portrayal of the first heir to the British crown as a watery soup of a man. Alex Jennings plays him as a self-serving crybaby looking to lay his troubles at his mother, the Queen’s door. Prince Phillip, the Queen’s husband, is an irretrievable asshole, a noisy loudmouth, and a conceited, stuck-up jerk, and James Cromwell sticks to the script in portraying him that way.

The strongest supporting character in this tale is Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the script presents him as an over-eager suck-up to the Queen – a sad commoner dying for Her Majesty’s attention or maybe scraps from her table. Michael Sheen plays him as such, so it’s hard to distinguish Blair from the Queen’s pet dogs.

Stephen Frears seems to spend most of his time lavishing attention and much of the film’s detail on Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth. If there are times in which The Queen seems like a nimble high comedy or a strong, behind-the-scenes character drama, it’s mostly because of Mirren’s performance. She makes this film, and perhaps Frears, who is quite good at character dramas, deserves some credit for both helping Mirren find the character and for letting Mirren as Elizabeth define this film.

Mirren’s physical transformation as Elizabeth is stunning, and though we may credit some of that to makeup, the character performance is Mirren’s own. Every gesture – a turn of the head, a scowl, a frown, a quiet moment of reflection, a tear, or barked order at a subservient establishes this film’s mood, its setting, its overall character, and even moves the plot like no other element in The Queen. Mirren can take a tart comment and turn this movie into an impudent comedy. Just the manner in which she observes someone or something (the stag on the hunting grounds of her estate) can transform the movie into a grand drama about the life of a monarch.

Luckily, Mirren gives such a wonderful performance because, otherwise, The Queen is mediocre.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 win for “Best performance by an actress in a leading role” (Helen Mirren); 5 nominations: “Best achievement in costume design” (Consolata Boyle), “Best achievement in directing” (Stephen Frears), “Best achievement in music written for motion pictures, original score” (Alexandre Desplat), “Best motion picture of the year” (Andy Harries, Christine Langan, and Tracey Seaward), and “Best writing, original screenplay” (Peter Morgan)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Helen Mirren) and “Best Film” (Tracey Seaward, Christine Langan, and Andy Harries; 8 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Tracey Seaward, Christine Langan, Andy Harries, Stephen Frears, and Peter Morgan), “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Alexandre Desplat), “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Michael Sheen), “Best Costume Design” (Consolata Boyle), “Best Editing” (Lucia Zucchetti), “Best Make Up & Hair” (Daniel Phillips), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Peter Morgan), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Stephen Frears)

2007 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Helen Mirren) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Peter Morgan); 2 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Stephen Frears) and “Best Motion Picture – Drama”

Friday, April 27, 2007

Review: Excellent Cast Keeps "Little Miss Sunshine" Shining (Happy B'day, Alan Arkin)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 186 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some sex, and drug use
DIRECTORS: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
WRITER: Michael Arndt
PRODUCERS: Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, and Ron Yerxa
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tim Suhrstedt
EDITOR: Pamela Martin
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, and Alan Arkin, Paula Newsome, Dean Norris, and Lauren Shiohama

Seven-year old Olive Hoover’s (Abigail Breslin) deepest wish is to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, CA. Schedules and financial issues compel her parents: her mother Sheryl (Toni Collette) and her father Richard (Greg Kinnear), who is struggling to take his motivational seminar national, to make the trip from their home in New Mexico to California in a VW bus. The trio won’t be alone, though; the rest of her odd clan is coming along on this stressful road trip. That includes her heroin snorting Grandpa (Alan Arkin), her suicidal, gay uncle, Frank (Steve Carell), and her brother, Dwayne (Paul Dano), who has taken a vow of silence until he attains his dream – the Air Force Academy. Along the way, the Hoovers must learn to deal with their broken dreams, heartaches, and the broken-down VW bus. It’s the only way they’ll learn to accept themselves for who they are and to give each other the support that helps to overcome the challenges on the path of life.

Steve Carell’s hit NBC comedy, “The Office” resonates with audiences not because its portrayal of the working life in a corporate office is necessarily real, but because it captures the spirit of absurdity and idiocy that often thrives in the office space. Carell is also part of the ensemble cast of the film, Little Miss Sunshine, and perhaps, this movie resonates with audiences and critics not because it is a realistic portrayal of the nuclear and extended family (though the script does take verisimilitude to the next level). Little Miss Sunshine captures in its spirit the irritation, aggravation, and disappointments of being in a family while simultaneously capturing the essence of what makes being in a family so damn cool when it works right.

This charming little film gets it right from top to bottom – character, plot, setting, and concept. In fact, the Hoovers’ odyssey on that little VW bus and how they have to work together to make it run long enough to get them to the pageant and back is a metaphor for the hard won teamwork that it takes to keep a family in working order and working together – especially when it often seems that by every right it should be broken into hundreds of little pieces. Little Miss Sunshine doesn’t laugh at the family or their drama. Instead, it reveals the creamy inside of the family’s tough exterior through dry humor – the kind the family uses to deal with itself.

Little Miss Sunshine is also a superbly cast film because it has a superb cast. They hit their marks, and they get their moments right. Each actor knows that he or she has scenes scattered throughout the film when it’s up to the individual to not only sell his or her character, but to also sell this movie. From Steve Carell’s Frank having a run-in with a lover who spurned him to Abigail Breslin’s moment to make Olive shine at the pageant, this cast hits a home run or at least gets an extra base hit. It’s hard to find an ensemble cast that outshines them this year.

Little Miss Sunshine sometimes offers pat resolutions, but those are the sweetest pats of butter around. Sometimes, the actors seem too earnest and overact in making their characters weird and troubled. This flick, however, is filled with black humor, and ultimately, its seeming ease at reaching a resolution is hard fought. They show us the dark side of family, but it’s sweet as dark chocolate, and the aftertaste is one we’ll enjoy. Hooray to directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris who saw the magic in Michael Arndt’s script and spun gold cloth from it, and bravo to the fates for giving us an enchanting cast to bring it all to life.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, August 27, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Alan Arkin) and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Michael Arndt); 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, and Marc Turtletaub) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Abigail Breslin)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Alan Arkin) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (Michael Arndt); 4 nominations: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Abigail Breslin), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Toni Collette), “Best Film” (Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, and Ron Yerxa), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris)

2007 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Toni Collette)

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Review: Elizabeth Taylor Roars in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 39 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) – B&W
Running time: 131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Mike Nichols
WRITER/PRODUCER: Ernest Lehman (from the play by Edward Albee)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Haskell Wexler
EDITOR: Sam O’Steen
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis

At a New England college, on the serene campus grounds, in their disordered campus home, George (Richard Burton), an emasculated professor, and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), his rancorous emasculating wife, have returned from a faculty party at about two in the morning. Martha is already drunk, and they both start drinking more while their conversations turns to bellows and accusations aimed at each other, a disagreeable autopsy on the corpse that their marriage isn’t… yet. Soon, the couple’s guests arrive – Nick (George Segal), a new junior professor, and his fragile wife, Honey (Sandy Dennis). Before long, the warring duo of George and Martha suck the young couple into their whirlpool of wrenching disclosures, petty name-calling, and endless antagonism, which before long is also starting to open up the dark places in Nick and Honey’s marriage.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is director Mike Nichols adaptation of Edward Albee’s famous play about a couple whose marriage is a maelstrom created by their feelings of anger, guilt, and frustration with each other. Nichols, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton actually used Albee’s original play as the script, retaining only two lines of dialogue from producer/writer Ernest Lehman’s script adaptation of the stage drama, so the audience pretty much gets the full effect of Albee’s original writing.

Simply put: Martha is angry at George’s despairing view of life, and that his ambition was satisfied when he got the job at the university (where her father, whom we never see, is President) and he married her. George, on the other hand, apparently understands, but is not wholly sympathetic with Martha’s struggle to connect with him, especially as they couldn’t have children. Her passive/aggressive way of dealing with what she sees as his shortcomings drive George to contemplate violent harm to Martha. The young couple, Nick and Honey, are simply getting an advance view of where their marriage will be because their problems are similar to George and Martha’s, but still in their infancy stage.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the screen version, is difficult to watch because of the frank and brutal conversations – the vitriol. With only some artifice, Nichols allows the actors to commit to playing this intricate drama that is held together not only by physical acting, but also by concisely delivered lines of dialogue from competing speakers, intertwining and battling. Truthfully, the movie tends to dry up in several spaces, and it is easily a half-hour too long, but where to cut? This, in a sense, is a thriller, and the action is in the build up to every topic of conversation that becomes an argument, confession, or trust betrayed.

The film has excellent production values, from the gorgeous dreamlike Oscar-winning black and white photography of Haskell Wexler to the otherworldly, Oscar-winning set decoration and art direction. The cast is also excellent, and while Richard Burton does a top-notch professional job, Elizabeth Taylor’s turn as the ultimate bitch is a career changer. Some people tend to remember Taylor as a tough woman, best exemplified by her performance as Martha delivering countless verbal body blows to Burton’s George, while he cuts and stabs at her in self-defense.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is not for the feint of heart or people who don’t like films built around conversations and dialogue – all that talk-talk, but if you like that, this is an embarrassment of riches.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
1967 Academy Awards: 5 wins: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Elizabeth Taylor), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Sandy Dennis), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White” (Richard Sylbert and George James Hopkins), “Best Cinematography, Black-and-White” (Haskell Wexler), “Best Costume Design, Black-and-White” (Irene Sharaff); 8 nominations: “Best Picture” (Ernest Lehman), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Richard Burton), “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (George Segal), “Best Director” (Mike Nichols), “Best Film Editing” (Sam O'Steen), “Best Music, Original Music Score” (Alex North), “Best Sound” George Groves-Warner Bros. SSD), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Ernest Lehman)

1967 BAFTA Awards: 3 wins: “Best British Actor” (Richard Burton), “Best British Actress” (Elizabeth Taylor), and “Best Film from any Source” (Mike Nichols)

1967 Golden Globes: 7 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama. “Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama” (Richard Burton), “Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama” (Elizabeth Taylor), “Best Motion Picture Director” (Mike Nichols), “Best Screenplay’ (Ernest Lehman), “Best Supporting Actor” (George Segal), and “Best Supporting Actress” (Sandy Dennis)

Sunday, February 19, 2006

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Review: Oscar-Nominee "Munich" Asks the Uncomfortable Questions (Happy B'day, John Williams)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Munich (2005)
Running time: 164 minutes (2 hours, 44 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong graphic violence, some sexual content, nudity, and language
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITERS: Tony Kushner and Eric Roth (based upon the book Vengeance by George Jonas)
PRODUCERS: Kathleen Kennedy, Barry Mendel, Colin Wilson, and Steven Spielberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Janusz Kaminski
EDITOR: Michael Kahn
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler, Ayelet Zorer, Geoffrey Rush, Gila Almagor, Michael Lonsdale, Mathieu Amalric, Gila Almagor, and Lynn Cohen

Steven Spielberg’s Munich is set in the aftermath of the real life massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The story follows a secret assassination squad, led by a former Mossad (Israeli version of the CIA) officer named Avner (Eric Bana), assigned to track down and kill the 11 Palestinian terrorists and operatives, whom the Israeli government suspects of having planned the Munich attack. The film focuses on the personal toll this mission of revenge and retribution takes upon the team, and in particular, Avner.

Many have argued that Munich has taken both sides in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, but I must have missed something because I didn’t see it that way. I viewed the film as a narrative that with medical precision shows how much it costs men to engage in one act of murder after another. This isn’t about a war where the fighters kill (mostly) faceless men. Avner and his associates (which includes the new James Bond, Daniel Craig, playing a gung-ho, American cowboy-type, Israeli named Steve) have to hunt these men down. In that way, they get to see them as more than targets. Yes, they may be murderers, and clearly they involve themselves in operations aimed at killing Israelis in terrorist attacks, but these aren’t dogs that Avner and his team are hunting. Eventually, killing people and endangering innocents (collateral damage) gets to be too much for them. The explosions, the gore, and most of all the finality of death – always watching, knowing, and talking to people they have to kill.

Avner misses his wife and child, and he begins to mistrust his Israeli bosses, in particular Ephraim (the truly astounding chameleonic actor Geoffrey Rush). Eventually, Avner and his team find themselves competing against American interests, the CIA, and Soviet interests, personified by the KGB, who protect and provide both material and financial support to some Palestinian terrorists. So many of the parties involved see Avner’s mission as some kind of game, a war game for sure, but still a game of capture and defend territory. There are platitudes galore about striking back and sending a message, but in this narrative, only Avner understands that this is dirty work, expensive dirty work. The costs will run into the millions, and will also cost many lives – lives that must often be violently snuffed out if one side is to win and/or survive. One has to wonder what the result of terrorism and the retributive answer to it will be. As one of the characters concludes, “There is no peace at the end of this.”

Still, through Munich, one can tell that Spielberg clearly believes that Israel had to answer the Munich murders with retribution (as do I). He also clearly loves Israel. At one point in the film, Avner’s mother (Gila Almagor) says of the founding of Israel that they (Jews) had to take the land because no one would give it to them, and that they needed a place on earth where Jews could live with other Jews. Spielberg may very likely believe this, but in Munich, he uses film to question Israel using swift retribution for every attack against it, although I don’t think that Israel has always answered every attack against it.

Perhaps, that is why the film meanders. It’s too long, and on just a few occasions it is too preachy – a few of those being embarrassingly preachy. Munich’s resolution is also soft – if there is one. I get the point that the director wants to say that there are no easy answers for this situation, but in saying that, the movie lumbers towards the end like an out of shape and slightly over weight athlete. Munich does indeed take a side (Israel), but the movie wonders about the other side (the Palestinians). Spielberg doesn’t really try to have it both ways, but he muddles the water enough with differing points of view. Still, what is one the screen is outstanding, powerful, and mesmerizing. I could have an adjective field day, but with its engaging performances – Eric Bana is rugged, handsome, and shows his soul with this performance – and taut action (the assassinations are as riveting as anything in the best war and action movies), Munich is must-see cinema for any Spielberg fan and any fan of cinema.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, January 07, 2006

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 5 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg, and Barry Mendel), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Michael Kahn) and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (John Williams), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Tony Kushner and Eric Roth)

2006 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Steven Spielberg) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Tony Kushner and Eric Roth)

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Review: "Good Night, and Good Luck." is Timeless (Happy B'day, David Strathairn)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 172 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) – B&W
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG for mild thematic elements and brief language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: George Clooney
WRITER/PRODUCER: Grant Heslov
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Elswit
EDITOR: Stephen Mirrione
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/HISTORY with elements of Film-Noir and thriller

Starring: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Robert Downey, Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Frank Langella, Jeff Daniels, Ray Wise, Thomas McCarthy (as Tom McCarthy), Matt Ross, Tate Donovan, Reed Diamond, Robert John Burke, Grant Heslov, Rose Abdoo, Alex Borstein, and Dianne Reeves

The 1950’s were the early days of broadcast journalism, and those early days witnessed a real-life conflict between famed journalist and television newsman, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). McCarthy charged that Americans with communist sympathies or some who were outright communists had infiltrated the American government and were a threat to national security. Sen. McCarthy’s detractors called his mission to discover these communist sympathizers as a “witch-hunt.” Murrow believed, as did many others, that Sen. McCarthy’s tactics themselves were un-American, as people were convicted, fired from their jobs, publicly humiliated, and otherwise damaged on the basis of here-say evidence. HUAC didn’t necessarily allow people they accused of being communists to see the evidence against them, nor were the accused allowed to face their accusers.

Murrow, who worked for the CBS news division, decided that people should know about the way Senator McCarthy and HUAC operated and was determined to enlighten the viewing public. Murrow and his staff, headed by his producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) in the newsroom, examined the lies, misinformation, and scare-mongering tactics perpetrated by Sen. McCarthy during his witch-hunts. In doing so, Murrow and Friendly had to defy both their corporate bosses, exemplified in this film as William Paley (Played Frank Langella, William Samuel Paley founded the Columbia Broadcasting System and led CBS until his death in 1990). Murrow also had to defy the broadcast sponsors of his television news show, See It Now, in this case, aluminum giant, Alcoa. Ed Murrow and Sen. McCarthy’s feud went very public and ugly when the senator accused Murrow of being a communist, but in that climate of fear and fear of government reprisal against them, the CBS news crew continued their reporting on Sen. McCarthy and HUAC, an effort that would be historic and monumental. This is a dramatization or fictional account of those real events.

There is sure to be debate about George Clooney’s debut directorial effort, Good Night, and Good Luck., and Clooney’s is a Hollywood liberal (“liberal” is a dirty word, the term “Hollywood liberal” is a double slur). However, Good Night, and Good Luck. (the title is the phrase the real Ed Murrow used at the end of his TV broadcasts) is a message film, a warning from recent American history as a cautionary tale, and an attempt at film art. As a message film, Good Night may be preaching to the converted. As a warning from the past, it is indeed a riveting cautionary tale. Clooney and his co-writer Grant Heslov emphasize in this tale that while many Americans disagreed with Sen. McCarthy’s activities, many either remained silent hoping he’d go away or said nothing for fear that McCarthy and his supporters would smear them with the accusation of being communists.

It clear (to me, at least) that Clooney thinks that early in this new century, too many Americans disagree with the practices of both the current Presidential administration and the right-leaning and outright right wing media that supports it, and those citizens are silent out of fear, apathy, or, even worse, ignorance. Still, Clooney doesn’t want the film’s obvious detractors accusing him of playing fast and loose with history. No actor portrays Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s in Good Night; he (in a sense) plays himself via archival film footage of HUAC sessions and a few filmed interviews. So Sen. McCarthy can hang himself rather than have the screenwriters Heslov and Clooney do it through a fictional representation of the senator played by an actor.

Thanks for the lesson, George, but is your film any good? Good Night, and Good Luck. is damn good. Clooney presents this film almost as if it were a stage drama, with the stage being the office floor in which the CBS news division prepares its broadcasts. The film only occasionally strays from this womb of determined journalists – a few trips to William Paley’s office and once in a barroom. Good Night is stylish and mannered. Shot in high contrast black and white film (They reportedly shot on color film on a grayscale set, then color-corrected in post-production.), it has a nourish feel. Both dreamlike and mysterious, like a Val Newton horror flick (say Cat People), Good Night is a look into the workplace of men who believe in the principals of their profession and will fight anyone, no matter how powerful, to report the news the way they think it should be. Hell, they’re not shy about editorializing when they think its necessary.

The film remains true to its tagline, “we will not walk in fear of one another,” as the script engages the protagonists against a largely mysterious and unseen enemy who would terrorize the American public with the fear of being publicly ruined if they question the self-appointed judges. In the fact, the choice of using Sen. McCarthy not as an actor, but as an ethereal and ghostly specter living in old film footage adds to the sense of menace the senator is supposed to furnish. Murrow and crew aren’t just fighting a man, they’re fighting a larger thing, an atmosphere of threat with which the journalists must grapple using words and ideas.

The performances in this film are good, but not great, with the exception being David Strathairn as Ed Murrow. Silent and contemplative, Murrow’s mind is always working on the struggle against fear and tyranny – we see that in his acting. In Strathairn, we also see Murrow tackle the big picture (the witch-hunts) and take on a specific villain (McCarthy the ringleader). We can see the pain in Strathairn’s Murrow when he must stay the course, although a friend needs his help in a meaningless side skirmish, but when Clooney and Heslov have Murrow make that choice, that choice makes him seem like a brave man.

Good Night, and Good Luck. is a fine film – all so very well put together, Clooney gives us the candy coating of singer Dianne Reeves (backed by the band that performs with George's aunt, Rosemary Clooney) providing mood establishing jazz interludes. It’s the sweet course of a very good meal.

9 of 10
A+

Saturday, November 12, 2005

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 6 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Grant Heslov), “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (James D. Bissell-art director and Jan Pascale-set decorator), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Robert Elswit), “Best Achievement in Directing” (George Clooney), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (David Strathairn), “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (George Clooney and Grant Heslov)

2006 BAFTA Awards: 6 nominations: “Best Editing” (Stephen Mirrione), “Best Film” (Grant Heslov), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (David Strathairn), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (George Clooney), “Best Screenplay – Original” (George Clooney and Grant Heslov), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (George Clooney)

2006 Golden Globes: 4 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (George Clooney), “Best Motion Picture – Drama” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (David Strathairn), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (George Clooney and Grant Heslov)

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2011 Oscar Nominations: Best Picture

Best Picture

“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers

“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers

“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers

“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers

“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers

“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers

“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer

“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Review: "Ray" is Still an Incredible Bio Film (Happy B'day, Jamie Foxx)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 222 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ray (2004)
Running time: 152 minutes (2 hours, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for depiction of drug addiction, sexuality, and some thematic elements
DIRECTOR: Taylor Hackford
WRITERS: James L. White; from a story by Taylor Hackford and James L. White
PRODUCERS: Howard Baldwin, Karen Elise Baldwin, Stuart Benjamin, and Taylor Hackford
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pawel Edelman
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC/BIOPIC

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell, Harry J. Lennix, Bokeem Woodbine, Aunjanue Ellis, Sharon Warren, C.J. Sanders, Curtis Armstrong, Richard Schiff, Larenz Tate, Kurt Fuller, and Chris Thomas King

Biographical films, or biopics, as they are often called, often disappoint, not because they are so often historically inaccurate to varying degrees, but because they generally desperately try to fit a long life into about two hours and change of movie running time. Ray, director Taylor Hackford’s film about the life of the seminal blues, jazz, rock, and country recording artist, the late Ray Charles, doesn’t suffer from that malady.

Hackford and his co-writer, James L. White, smartly tackle the first two decades or so of Ray Charles’ (Jamie Foxx) career. They treat the story of his tragic childhood, his relationship with his mother Aretha Robinson (Sharon Warren), and the onset of his blindness in childhood as a short fable. In it, a mother teaches her son who is losing his sight to stand on his own feet because the world won’t pity him, and she also teaches him to learn to use his remaining senses after his sight is gone. When the time comes, the mother sends the son on his way to a special school where he can grow his immense musical talents and his gift of superb hearing. The rest of the movie focuses on Ray’s public career, which saw him crossing musical genres and styles with shocking ease to tremendous acclaim and success, and his tumultuous personal life that included infidelity and drug addiction.

Hackford and White understood that Ray Charles was a great man, and their film shows it. Hackford makes excellent use of Charles’ music and gives much time to his creative process and to his explosive live shows, be they in small clubs or large public auditoriums. The writers smartly distill Charles’ life into a few subplots (with his music being the main plot) that they extend throughout the film narrative.

Whereas many biopics seem to hop around a famous person’s life, Ray, with it’s focus on subplots that run the length of the film seems like one stable narrative with a definite beginning, middle, and end. The fact that his infidelity, drug use, creative process, and financial acumen are the focus for the length of the film gives the film the sense of being about one coherent and intact story. Ray’s music is the film, and the subplots follow his musical career giving it character, color, and drama.

As much as Hackford and White deserve all the credit for making a great biopic (one of the few great films about a famous black person), they needed an actor to play Ray Charles without the performance seeming like an imitation or something from a comic skit. Surprisingly, it’s a comedian and comic actor, Jamie Foxx, who takes the role and delivers a work of art. One of the great screen performances of the last two decades, Foxx could have easily and simply done a Ray Charles impersonation (which he may have done before for “In Living Colour,” the early 90’s Fox Network comedy sketch show). Instead, Foxx seems to channel the spirit of the classic Ray Charles and creates a separate, idealized, and fully realized character from whole cloth. Foxx’s performance is so credible that you may never once think that you’re watching an actor play Ray Charles.

For from being downbeat or arty, Ray is indeed a work of art, but most of all, it is an inspiring film that celebrates the life of a great musician by being a celebration of his great music and how he created it all. Awash, in the vibrant life of a performer and filled to the brim with great songs, Ray is a special movie meant for you to enjoy.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jamie Foxx) and “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer, and Steve Cantamessa); 4 nominations: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Sharen Davis), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Taylor Hackford), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Paul Hirsch), and “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Taylor Hackford, Stuart Benjamin, and Howard Baldwin)

2005 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jamie Foxx) and “Best Sound” (Karen M. Baker, Per Hallberg, Steve Cantamessa, Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, and Bob Beemer); 2 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Craig Armstrong) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (James L. White)

2005 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Jamie Foxx); 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy”

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Review: "Up" as Good as it Gets (and Belated Happy B'Day, Ed Asner)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 7 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Up (2009)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some peril and action
DIRECTORS: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
WRITERS: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson; from a story by Thomas McCarthy and Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson
PRODUCER: Jonas Rivera
COMPOSER: Michael Giacchino
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/DRAMA/FANTASY

Starring: (voices) Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo, Jerome Ranft, John Ratzenberger, and Donald Fullilove

Pixar Animation Studios’ 10th computer-animated feature-length film is entitled Up. This visually and emotionally beautiful film is also the 10th example of how a group of animators and filmmakers can use their tools and workstations to create fully rounded stories with depth of character and storytelling. And Pixar does it better and more consistently than live action film studios. Up tells the story of a sour old man, a lonely boy, and an old house that sails through the air powered by thousands of balloons tied to the structure.

The story centers on a grouchy widower, Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner), a squat old fellow with a box-shaped head and square glasses parked on his bulb of a nose. A retired balloon salesman in his 70s, Carl mourns the loss of his wife, Ellie. Once upon a time, the couple dreamed of traveling to the mysterious South American locale of Paradise Falls. At age 78, life seems to have passed Carl; that is until it delivers two twists of fate.

First, a misunderstood confrontation threatens Carl’s home and freedom. He decides that he will take his home to Paradise Falls by floating the house there with the help of thousands of colorful balloons tied to it. Life’s second surprise comes in the form of a persistent, 8-year-old Junior Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai). Russell becomes an accidental stowaway on the floating house – one that is not welcomed as far as Carl is concerned. However, the lad – himself round, buoyant, and bouncy as a balloon – proves to be an invaluable, loyal, and trustworthy pal, especially once the house finally lands.

Shortly after landing, Carl and Russell encounter a large flightless, ostrich-like bird, which Russell names Kevin. Kevin is being hunted by a vicious pack of dogs, led by a Doberman named Alpha (Bob Peterson). However, one of the dogs, Dug (Bob Peterson), the nerd of the pack, befriends Carl and Russell. Dug, like the other dogs, can speak because of a translating collar on his neck. But things really get hairy when Carl meets his boyhood idol, famed explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), who is obsessed with the mystery bird, Kevin.

Pixar’s films are always grounded in real emotion – whether it is a desperate father searching for his lost son (Finding Nemo), a marooned star determined to win again (Cars), or, as in this film, a grieving husband lost without his wife. Of all those films, Up seems to be the one best established on substantive ideas and themes. That might sound strange when considering (1) that Up is about a house that travels across continents by balloon power and (2) that for most of the movie, an old man with a lame hip and an eight-year-old kid drag the still floating house across rough terrain as if it were no more than a large and troublesome kite.

Yes, as is usual for a movie from Pixar (the gold standard in 3D/computer animation), the animation is superb. The sense of space (to say nothing of the composition, movement, and storytelling) in this 3D animation is superb. I’m starting to believe that 3D is the high-tech replacement for stop-motion animation. High-quality computer-animation gives the viewer the sense of watching something taking place on a stage, which is similar to the visual illusion stop-motion creates.

Yes, as is usual for a Pixar movie, the characters are also great. Only Pixar could make a animated feature that has as it star a widower who is almost 80-years-old, walks with a limp, and looks like a cross between Spencer Tracy and Walter Matthau, a great lead. But one superb character isn’t enough for a Pixar film. Up also gives Russell, a misfit boy who is braver than he’d believe himself to be; Charles Muntz, a man made dangerous and pathetic by his obsessions; and Dug, an adorable canine who personifies all that is good in a loyal dog. Even the weird bird Kevin manages to be something we’ve never seen before.

As I stated earlier, however, Up is about substance and not just flights of fantasy. In Carl and his former idol Charles, Up posits that obsession can drain away the will to truly live, and before the obsessed knows it, he is old and alone. The creators of Up dare to deal with the issue of loved ones dying and loved ones leaving us, and the film implores its viewers to have an adventure with the ones we have – the people who are with us and the people who want to be with us. The impressive thing is that this movie is hugely entertaining, but the escapism can’t cloud Up’s strong and clear messages.

10 of 10

Sunday, July 05, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Michael Giacchino) and “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Pete Docter); 3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers), “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Jonas Rivera) and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Bob Peterson-screenplay/story, Pete Docter-screenplay/story, and Thomas McCarthy-story)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Animated Film” (Pete Docter) and “Best Music” (Michael Giacchino); 2 nominations: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Bob Peterson and Pete Docter) and “Best Sound” (Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, and Michael Semanick)

2010 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Animated Feature Film” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Michael Giacchino)

2010 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Voice Performance” (Delroy Lindo)

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Review: Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge!" is Half Brilliant, Half Ridiculous

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content
DIRECTOR: Baz Luhrmann
WRITERS: Craig Pearce and Baz Luhrmann
PRODUCERS: Fred Baron, Martin Brown, and Baz Luhrmann
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Donald M. McAlpine (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Jill Bilcock
Academy Award winner

MUSICAL/ROMANCE

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh, Garry McDonald, Jacek Koman, Matthew Whittet, and Kerry Walker

Christian (Ewan McGregor), an impoverished young poet from Scotland, arrives in Montmarte, France and falls in with a group of Bohemians led by Henri Ramone de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), against the wishes of his father. Like the young poet, the Bohemians believe in freedom, truth, beauty, and most of all love, and they want to stage a show in the legendary Moulin Rouge, the home of the Paris’s colorful and diverse underworld where the wealthy rub shoulders with the working class, artists, bohemians, actresses, and courtesans.

Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent, Iris), the impresario of the Moulin Rouge, wants a backer so that he could turn his haven of sex and drugs into a proper theatre. His wealthy quarry is The Duke of Monroth (Richard Roxburgh) who is willing to give the money for the renovation, but, in return, he wants for his possession the Moulin Rouge’s most popular attraction, the beautiful courtesan and the stuff of which dreams are made, Satine (Nicole Kidman). The stop in Zidler’s plans and in the Duke's desires comes in the form of Christian. He becomes the playwright of the show that would transform the Moulin Rouge, and he falls hopelessly in love with Satine, much the chagrin of the vindictive Duke.

Directed by Baz Luhrmann (William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet), Moulin Rouge! is an extravaganza of modern popular music, flashing lights, sumptuous sets, colorful costumes, and dazzling production numbers. Like the title of the Bohemians’ play that Christian composes, Moulin Rouge! is a “spectacular spectacular.” As beautiful and as breathtaking as everything is, Moulin is more about visual noise than it is about visual storytelling.

At some moments, the cacophony of music and songs intertwined like drunken snakes is quite nice, at other moments, it is a melding of pretension, misfires, and nonsense. However, even in those moments excess, Moulin Rouge! remains engaging and beautiful. Even when you’re bored, you can’t take your eyes away from the gorgeous sights, nor can your ear not seek out the secrets of the sonic mélange. The cinematography (Donald McAlpine who also worked on Luhrmann’s Romeo) captures the rich palette with the flare of a romantic classical painter. Production design (Catherine Martin), art direction (Ann-Marie Beauchamp), and set decoration (Brigitte Broch) are not only some of the best of the year, but some of the best ever.

Kudos to the actors for maintaining their crafts amidst the energy of Luhrmann’s film. Ms. Kidman has never been more beautiful (and she is always beautiful), her face a luminous globe in Moulin Rouge!’s dance of colors. She is a swooning siren, an intoxicating temptress, and gorgeous martyr. Ewan McGregor is the young poet eager to teach the world his overriding belief in truth, beauty, freedom, and love, but he is able to turn jealous and angry at a moment’s notice. It is in his face that we can see the overwhelming optimism of “love conquerors all: that seems to be a theme of this film. Even in sadness, there remains in young Christian’s face, the strength of love.

Moulin Rouge! is in its execution meant to be a cinematic experience like no other. That it is. It seeks to overwhelm the viewer with sound and images, though the images and sounds are often static and junk. It looks so good on the screen, and the movie moves madly about the screen. It loses the story amidst the sound and the spectacle, so sometimes it seems nonsensical. Moulin Rouge! tries the patience of the viewer, and the film hints that it could have been something more. Better luck next time.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Catherine Martin-art director and Brigitte Broch-set decorator) and “Best Costume Design” (Catherine Martin, Angus Strathie); 6 nominations: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Nicole Kidman), “Best Cinematography” (Donald McAlpine), “Best Editing” (Jill Bilcock), “Best Makeup” (Maurizio Silvi and Aldo Signoretti” “Best Picture” (Fred Baron, Martin Brown, and Baz Luhrmann), “Best Sound” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Roger Savage, and Guntis Sics)

2002 BAFTA Awards: 3 wins: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Craig Armstrong and Marius De Vries), “BAFTA Film Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jim Broadbent), and “Best Sound” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Roger Savage, Guntis Sics, Gareth Vanderhope, and Antony Gray); 9 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Chris Godfrey, Andy Brown, Nathan McGuinness, and Brian Cox), “Best Cinematography” (Donald McAlpine), “Best Costume Design” (Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie), “Best Editing” (Jill Bilcock), “Best Film” (Martin Brown, Baz Luhrmann, and Fred Baron), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Maurizio Silvi and Aldo Signoretti), “Best Production Design” (Catherine Martin), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce) and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Baz Luhrmann)

2002 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Craig Armstrong), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Nicole Kidman); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Baz Luhrmann) and “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (David Baerwald for the song "Come What May") and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Ewan McGregor)

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Review: "Seabiscuit" is an Uplifting Tale of a Horse and His Boys

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Seabiscuit (2003)
Running time: 140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual situations and violent sports-related images
DIRECTOR: Gary Ross
WRITER: Gary Ross (from the novel by Laura Hillenbrand)
PRODUCERS: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Gary Ross, and Jane Sindell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Schwartzman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: William Goldenberg
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, William H. Macy, Kingston DuCoeur, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens, Eddie Jones, and David McCullough, and Michael Angarano

Seabiscuit is the story of three men who are broken by misfortune in their lives and how one unlikely horse becomes a champion and changes their lives. The film is based upon the true story of Seabiscuit, an undersized, Depression-era horse whose story lifted the spirits of a nation and the three-man team behind it.

Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) was a bicycle salesman who made his fortune in automobiles, but saw his only son die in a tragic mishap. Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) was a horseman who ended up a drifter after the stock market crash that precipitated the Depression. Red Pollard (Michael Angarano) lived with his well-to-do middle, class family, residing in a lovely home. All the family members loved to read, but Red’s love of horses and his rapport with them was obvious to anyone who saw him with a horse. After the Depression causes the Pollards to lose their home, Red’s parents leave him with a track owner, thinking Red would be better off as a jockey. It is, however, a rough life, and the adult Red (Tobey Maguire) is a wreck of a man and an alcoholic. Gradually fate brings the three hurt men together around one horse, as they try to help Seabiscuit reach the glory many thought would be his destiny by right of his lineage.

Seabiscuit is a curious film. It looks like a period piece and feels like a mini-epic, but the film is ultimately an emotional masterpiece. That simply means that the film brings forth the viewers’ emotions. You can feel the thrill of victory in your heart when the horse wins. When tragedy strikes or something bad happens to a character, you might also feel the sadness. You thrill, cheer, and cry, because you can feel along with the characters.

Director Gary Ross has written some very good films including Big (1988) and Dave, and he also directed the very charming Pleasantville. His best attribute is creating characters that breath, characters that make you care about them, so that you root for them, are happy for them, and are sad with them. When the viewer cares for the characters, they’re likely to buy into the movie.

Ross writes and directs a picture in which he makes nearly every moment riveting, both the quiet moments and the scenes of stadiums crowded with people anxious to see a horse race. It’s worth following the line of action because the drama is so entrancing. It’s enough to make you forget the times when the film feels too staged and its theatrics too over-the-top and posed.

The acting is all first rate. What else should we expect from a cast that includes such great character actors as Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, and William H. Macy, especially when they’re given a script with rich characters to perform? And Tobey Maguire seems to have impeccable tastes when it comes to choosing films (The Ice Storm, The Cider House Rules), so it’s a safe bet to see anything with him in it. Plus, his charming, boyishly good looks also have a kind of weary everyman quality, like a guy who has lived a varied and interesting life. Maguire just looks like he belongs in the films in which he stars.

In large measure, Seabiscuit is about redemption and about lives made whole again. It’s about people who feel abandoned and suddenly find other people who care about them or about the lonely finding groups to which they can belong. The film is less about feeling good and more about being able to get on your feet again. The film says that a person can overcome any obstacle, and Seabiscuit proclaims it so winningly.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 7 nominations: “Best Picture” (Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Gary Ross), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Jeannine Claudia Oppewall-art director and Leslie A. Pope-set decorator), “Best Cinematography” (John Schwartzman), “Best Costume Design” (Judianna Makovsky), “Best Editing” (William Goldenberg), “Best Sound Mixing” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, and Tod A. Maitland), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Gary Ross)

2004 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (William H. Macy)

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Review: "Ninotchka" and Greta Garbo Are Eternally Beautiful (Happy B'day, Greta Garbo)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 97 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ninotchka (1939) – Black & White
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Ernst Lubitsch
WRITERS: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and Walter Reisch; from an original story by Melchior Lengyel
PRODUCER: Sidney Franklin (no screen credit) and Ernst Lubitsch
CINEMATOGRAPHER: William (H.) Daniels
EDITOR: Gene Ruggiero
Academy Award nominee

ROMANCE/COMEDY

Starring: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Sig Rumann, Felix Bressart, Alexander Granach, and Bela Lugosi

1939 was a banner year for movies, seeing the release of films such as Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Gone with the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, and Wuthering Heights, among many, many others. Another film stood out because of a catchy advertising campaign. When ads for the film, Ninotchka, proclaimed “Garbo Laughs!,” film fans knew they were in for a special treat as the legendary actress Greta Garbo starred in her first romantic comedy. The now-famous film slogan was actually created before the screenplay was written, and the film was built around it. Ninotchka, now considered by some to be a classic film about romance in Paris, went on to earn Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Actress, Original Story, and Screenplay.

Three Soviet envoys: Michael Simonavich Iranoff (Sig Rumann), Buljanoff (Felix Bressart), and Kopalski (Alexander Granach) arrive in Paris during springtime to sell some czarist jewels to earn enough money for their government to buy bread for the Russian populace, as the country’s own food production has come up too short to feed the Soviet masses. The trio, however, falls in love with their decadent new capitalist environment and spend their time being wined and dined. Nina Ivanovna Yakushova, known to her friends as Ninotchka (Greta Garbo) is the dour, severe Soviet official sent to straighten out the mess her three comrades have made. However, the special magic of Paris in the spring turns business to pleasure when she meets a suave Frenchman named Count Leon D’Algout (Melvyn Douglas). Leon is a friend of the Russian exile, Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire), who is the rightful owner of the czarist jewels in question, as she was a noblewoman before the Bolsheviks overthrew the Czarist Empire in Russia. Initially, Leon’s only thoughts are to reclaim the jewels for his friend and probable lover, the Grand Duchess, but he falls for Ninotchka, who resists at first, but soon succumbs to Leon’s charms. Will their budding romance survive a jealous Grand Duchess and Ninotchka’s Soviet bosses.

The film works on several levels, but its best charms come from Greta Garbo’s great comic performance as the title character and from the hilarious screenplay that wickedly pokes fun at the stuffy and dour Soviet regime of the times. Ms. Garbo is sly and droll as the no-nonsense and no-fun Ninotchka who first arrives in Paris. Her kabuki-like mask of seriousness brings the best out of Melvyn Douglas, and his performance as Leon, trying to woo Ninotchka, to make her laugh. As she finally gives in and laughs at Leon’s jokes, we can see Ms. Garbo’s mask begin to slowly break before she finally erupts in genuine laughter that really turns on this film’s magic.

The screenplay (co-written by the legendary Billy Wilder) is known for all it’s witty asides and sharp jabs at the Soviets, but the writers also take gentle swipes at the overly pampered and spoiled rich who live so lavishly that they don’t really appreciate or notice how well they have it. Directed with flair and finesse by Ernst Lubitsch (The Shop Around the Corner and To Be or Not to Be), a director known for his sophistication, Ninotchka is a film treasure and a great romance for moviegoers who love the enchanting best of that genre.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1940: Academy Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Picture,” “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Greta Garbo), “Best Writing, Original Story” (Melchior Lengyel), and “Best Writing, Screenplay” (Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch, and Billy Wilder)

This film entered the National Film Registry, Library of Congress in 1990.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

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Review: "The Pianist" Simply Superb

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 30 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Pianist (2002)
Running time: 150 minutes (2 hours, 30 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Roman Polanski
WRITER: Ronald Harwood (based upon the novel by Wladyslaw Szpilman)
PRODUCERS: Robert Benmussa, Roman Polanski, and Alain Sarde
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pawel Edelman (director of photography)
EDITOR: Hervé de Luze
COMPOSER: Wojciech Kilar
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/WAR

Starring: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner, Jessica Kate Meyer, and Michal Zebrowski

Director Roman Polanski, writer Ronald Harwood, and actor Adrien Brody all won Oscars® for their work on The Pianist, a film based upon the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Polish Jew who survived for five years in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. It’s arguably the best non-documentary film about the Holocaust and Jewish oppression at the hands of the Germans after Schindler’s List.

Stylistically, The Pianist is similar to Schindler’s List in that both films visually have an atmosphere of classic cinema from the Golden Age of Hollywood film – the late 1930’s and 1940’s. From a technical aspect, the film is beautifully photographed with a gorgeous color palette that looks luscious even when melancholy gray tones are omnipresent. Also of top caliber are the art direction and set decoration, the costume design, and the original music by Wojciech Kilar.

What else can I say? This film, because of its subject matter, is difficult to watch, but from a filmmaking point of view, The Pianist is near perfect. Everyone deserved their awards and nominations, and Polanski cemented his place as a daring filmmaker willing to take chances and making great films when he succeeds.

If there must be one main reason to see this film, Adrien Brody’s performance is it. He plays Szpilman as both an eternal optimist and as a survivor, and the thing that is most uplifting about this film (which is filled with sorrow and tragedy) is that Szpilman survives. When he’s beaten down to being little more than a pitiful animal and a pathetic human skeleton, he nimbly skirts death’s every blow. Add the beautiful musical performances of Chopin and Beethoven, each one exquisitely staged and shot by Polanski and his cinematographer Pawl Edelman, and a great film is even greater.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 3 wins: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Adrien Brody), “Best Director” (Roman Polanski), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Ronald Harwood); 4 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Pawel Edelman), “Best Costume Design” (Anna B. Sheppard), “Best Editing” (Hervé de Luze), and “Best Picture” (Roman Polanski, Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde)

2003 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Film” (Roman Polanski, Robert Benmussa, and Alain Sarde) and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Roman Polanski); 5 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Wojciech Kilar), “Best Cinematography” (Pawel Edelman), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Adrien Brody), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Ronald Harwood), and “Best Sound” (Jean-Marie Blondel, Dean Humphreys, and Gérard Hardy)

2003 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Adrien Brody)

Review: "AVATAR" is the Best Picture of 2009

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Avatar (2009)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA/Germany/France
Running time: 162 minutes (2 hours, 42 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language, and some smoking
WRITER/DIRECTOR: James Cameron
PRODUCERS: James Cameron and Jon Landau
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mauro Fiore (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: James Cameron, John Refoua, and Stephen Rivkin
Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA/WAR with elements or romance

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi, Laz Alonzo, Dileep Rao, and Matt Gerald

Because he has directed such Oscar-winning films as The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and Titanic (1997), I believe that James Cameron is one of the few directors who, using whatever advances in film technology available, can make any kind of movie and always make it a good movie. [Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are the other two.] Cameron has even developed advancements in film technology, and that makes me wonder if anyone other than he could have created the new film, Avatar.

Avatar is everything good that you have heard about it and more. Cameron has cast a titanic spell of movie magic that will immerse the viewer in an adventure that pits eco-harmonious blue warriors against a mechanized, imperial war machine. The center of Avatar, however, is a surprisingly simply story about an alien warrior who fights not for his own world, but for the world of the woman he loves.

Avatar takes place in 2154, a time when Earth has run out of oil. A moon called Pandora (one of many moons orbiting a giant gas planet) has a rare mineral called Unobtainium, which is the key to solving Earth’s energy problems. This alien world materializes through the eyes of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former Marine. Even with his body broken and being confined to a wheelchair, Jake’s DNA makes him useful.

The RDA corporation recruits Jake to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where it is mining Unobtainium. Because humans cannot breathe Pandora’s atmosphere, a group of scientists and researchers, led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), have created the Avatar Program, in which human “drivers” have their consciousness linked to Avatars. An Avatar is a remotely-controlled biological body that can breathe the lethal air. These Avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora, a humanoid race called the Na'vi. The Na’vi are 10-feet tall, with tails, bones reinforced with naturally occurring carbon fiber, and bioluminescent blue skin. They live in Hometree, a gigantic tree that sits on top of the largest deposit of Unobtainium on Pandora. RDA Administrator Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) wants the Na’vi to relocate, but they have fiercely resisted.

Reborn in his Avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi. A beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), saves Jake’s life and also witnesses a sign that makes her think that Jake is special. Neytiri convinces her clan to take Jake into the tribe, the Omaticaya. However, the chief charges Neytiri with teaching Jake to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. Jake’s relationship with his reluctant teacher deepens, and he learns to respect the Na'vi’s way of life. When Selfridge becomes impatient and moves to force the Na’vi out, Jake must decide whose side he will take.

Watching Avatar, with its world of phantasmagorical creatures and plants, one cannot help but marvel at the technology used to create this film, but the audience shouldn’t be fooled by this panorama of color and movement into focusing solely on the marvels of scientific cinema. Avatar is indeed an extraordinary story, one that recalls Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves. In Wolves, a solider wounded in spirit finds healing amongst a Native American Indian tribe, and then sheds his skin (his military uniform), becoming one of the tribe. In Avatar, a marine wounded in body, Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully, sheds his body for a new one, but it is his soul that is transformed.

Like Dances with Wolves, Avatar has a romance that is the heart of the story. Behind the CGI that created so many of the things we see on screen and past the motion-capture and performance capture that created the Na’vi, Jake Sully meets Zoe Saldana’s Neytiri and practically everything that is Avatar hinges on their love story. The narrative offers messages in support of environmental conservation and biodiversity against the cold, insatiable hunger of imperialism. This gives Avatar plenty of dramatic conflict, but as usual, Cameron finds the human center of his own technological, cinematic spectaculars. There was the mother-daughter bond in Aliens and the star-crossed lovers of Titanic. Now, warrior boy meets sexy tribal princess and technical virtuosity has a heart. Cameron makes you feel what his characters feel – the joy, the anger, the sorrow, the chills, and, when the battle begins, all the thrills. Avatar may be a monumental achievement, but it is also a fantastic tale.

10 of 10

Monday, December 28, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 3 wins: “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Rick Carter-art director, Robert Stromberg-art director, and Kim Sinclair-set decorator), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Mauro Fiore), and “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, and Richard Baneham, and Andy Jones); 6 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (James Cameron and Jon Landau), “Best Achievement in Directing” (James Cameron) “Best Achievement in Editing” (Stephen E. Rivkin, John Refoua, and James Cameron), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (James Horner), “Best Achievement in Sound” (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, and Tony Johnson), and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Production Design” (Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, and Kim Sinclair) and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andy Jones); 6 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Mauro Fiore), “Best Director” (James Cameron), “Best Editing” (Stephen E. Rivkin, John Refoua, and James Cameron), “Best Film” (James Cameron and Jon Landau), “Best Music” (James Horner), and “Best Sound” (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson, and Addison Teague)

2010 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Supporting Actress: (Zoe Saldana)

2010 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (James Cameron) and “Best Motion Picture – Drama;” 2 nominations: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (James Horner) and “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (James Horner, Simon Franglen, and Kuk Harrell for the song "I See You")

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Review: "A Serious Man" for Serious Coen Fans

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 42 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Serious Man (2009)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence
DIRECTORS: The Coen Brothers
WRITERS/PRODUCERS: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Deakins (director of photography)
EDITORS: Roderick Jaynes (Ethan Coen & Joel Coen)
COMPOSER: Carter Burwell
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff, Jessica McManus, and Peter Breitmayer

The most recent Academy Award-nominated film from the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan) is A Serious Man. This drama and black comedy centers on a Midwestern professor whose constant and unchanging life begins to unravel during a series of unfortunate events.

A Serious Man is set in 1967 in an unnamed Midwestern town. Professor Lawrence “Larry” Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university. One day his wife, Judith (Sari Lennick), bluntly informs Larry that she wants a divorce because she has fallen in love with a pompous acquaintance, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed). In truth, Larry seems to be having problems with all his family: his unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind), who sleeps on his sofa; his son Danny (Aaron Wolff) a pot-smoking, discipline problem who shirks Hebrew school; and his vain daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus), who steals money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. With all these torments, Larry struggles to be a righteous man – loyal to his family and his faith – a serious man, so he turns to his Jewish faith for answers… with wildly mixed results.

A Serious Man is an odd comedy; at times bleak and at other times surreal, the narrative is thoughtful and philosophical. With humor, both grim and sparkling, Joel and Ethan tackle life’s big questions about family and morality and also about the role of faith as a place to find answers.

A loose take on the story of Job (the Old Testament figure from the Book of Job). A Serious Man sometimes seems like a torture chamber, contrived by the Coens to allow themselves to experiment. They want to speculate about how a successful middle class man might react when everything goes wrong and it seems as if the world, existence, and God have turned against him. To that end, they get a magnificent performance from Michael Stuhlbarg as Larry Gopnick, who turns what could have been a caricature into a mesmerizing everyman who crosses racial, ethnic, and religious boundaries. If this film has a long life, it will be because of Stuhlbarg who made this Jewish intellectual from another era seem like a universal figure.

Sometimes, this movie can be almost too bleak and too belittling of its characters to sit through. Like most movies from the team of Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, however, A Serious Man is beguiling even when it seems intolerable, but worth seeing.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

2010 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Michael Stuhlbarg)

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

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