A Few Films to Watch (or Not)
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
starring: Asa Butterfield, Zac Mattoon O'Brien, Domonkos Nemeth, Henry Kingsmill, Vera Farmiga, Cara Horgan, Zsuzsa Holl, Amber Beattie, David Thewlis, Richard Johnson, Sheila Hancock
written and directed by: Mark Herman
Here is quite an interesting concept: The tragedies of the Holocaust, BUT through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy, because of the brightness and naivety with which children see the world, completely unaware of the horrific things happening to the Jews he is surrounded by, because he does not necessarily know or understand why they are around, in his house, outside in the yard, on the other side of a fence, etc. but he knows something is going on. Only at the end of the film does the point of view change to the adults, specifically the boy's parents, for an obvious reason, which is a shocker nonetheless, and a spoiler I will not provide because the film packs an emotion punch, much like "Schindler's List" many years before it, but for far different reasons.
At the farm, behind barbed wire, he meets a boy about his age. They make friends. They visit as often as they can. The other boy doesn't understand what's going on any more than Bruno does.
This film packs quite the emotional punch in the third act and really relis on the two boys companionship. I can't believe it took me this long to see such an incredible film. By far, one of the best to deal with the subject matter of Nazis and the Holocaust.
................................................................................
"Blue Jay"
starring: Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson
written by: Mark Duplass
directed by: Alex Lehmann
This is definitely going to be one of those "sleeper" films, one that is really good but probably not many people will see but everyone should. The concept is one that I've always clung to: what if? and the idea of spending just one day with someone, just following their interactions and conversations throughout the day. I fell in love with this concept for a film and/or story ever since watching "Before Sunrise" back in high school. That is still one of my favorite films and just a beautifully done film.
With "Blue Jay," it's more about what if you ran into a past lover? Would you look to rectify a missed opportunity by spending a day together, reminiscing about the old/better times you two had? Would you hide the fact that your life is actually rather miserable now? Would you try to create a new connection? What if both of you are unhappy with your current situations?
Jim (Mark Duplass) and Amanda (Sarah Paulson) are both back in their hometown for various reasons, and run into one another for the first time in over two decades at a supermarket. That fortuitous coincidence turns into coffee, which begets beer and jelly beans by the river, which leads to a night at Jim's deceased mother's house, where a few of the private nooks of their old romance are re-explored.
Mark Duplass wrote the screenplay, which actually relied heavily on improvisation from both actors, something the Duplass' brothers' films are well known for (re: mumblecore). Missing here, though, is his brother's input, and instead of directed the film himself, Duplass puts it in the trusted hands of Alex Lehmann. Shot in black and white, perhaps for nostalgia, just adds to the simpleness of the film, letting the characters and stories unfold on their own.
Something great about all Duplass characters is that these are men who are stunted, in growth and maturity, who find themselves stuck in a rut in their lives, and we are invited into that time to observe how they navigate through it, and most of the time there really isn't a resolution. It also seems that Duplass, as an actor, seems to know he is not necessarily the best actor in the business and thrives on challenging himself by acting opposite some great, under-appreciated actresses.
A self-conscious tension fuels Blue Jay, as the film is about Jim and Amanda and the dance initiated by the actors to fashion this reality. Paulson invests the smallest details with a great wealth of mystery and subtext. When Amanda motions toward Jim's mother's bookcase, indicating the amount of books that her husband might be able to read in his lifetime, one is struck by the precision of Paulson's delivery, which walks a fine tonal line between humorousness and the vulnerability and heartbreak that said humor guards. The slight lilt in her voice speaks volumes. Duplass works harder to achieve his emotional effects, and his gestures and throwaway deliveries often connote performance rather than behavior, which is partially the point, and which is purposefully exacerbated by the fact that his script is slower to reveal Amanda's backstory than Jim's, further emboldening the fleet actress with a role of comparatively greater ambiguity.
Duplass and Paulson have an incredible chemistry with each other while balancing their appreciation for each other with the fragility and rareness of being truly in snyc with your partner, not just in real life, but on the screen. And I think that is how Duplass screenplays rely heavily on "sketched" ideas for scenes instead of blocking everything word and movement out. There is something to be said for the fluidity of the "in the moment"-ness of Duplass films. They come across genuine and far more relatable.
Over the course of an evening, Jim and Amanda share a harmony of intoxication and comfort, with just a tang of resentment, and this preciousness fuels a desperation that gradually takes hold in the third act, where Jim's self-deprecation reaches a boiling point, allowing Duplass a tantrum of searing exposure that drills admirably far beneath the character's cool-dude façade. At this point, we realize that Lehmann and Duplass understand that it's creepy, rather than romantic, when Jim and Amanda act out the projections they had of one another as teenagers, seeking to resurrect in the present a dream of the future that was held in the past.
This is a beautifully sad film about realizations, love, hindsight, and memory.
..................................................................................
"In the Valley of Elah"
starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, Jason Patric, James Franco, Barry Corbin, Josh Brolin, Frances Fisher, Wes Chatham, Jake McLaughlin, Mehcad Brooks, Jonathan Tucker, Wayne Duvall
written and directed by: Paul Haggis
This is like any other hard-hitting, military film that turns out to be about much more than just the military and that lifestyle. It's about the psychological effects of the lifestyle. It's also about becoming a man. It's also about a murder, justified or not. It's also about drugs. It's also about gender. It's also about the military towns.
Watching the film and the story unfold, I was reminded of great military-related films like "Courage Under Fire" and "A Few Good Men" where something has happened to one or more soldiers and we follow the characters as they unfold the mysteries and discover the truths. The difference here is that there may or may not actually be a cover-up and if there is indeed a cover-up, the military may be doing it for the sake of the family. Here, Tommy Lee Jones plays the father to a deceased soldier who also happens to be a retired Vietnam Vet who sets out to find his son or the truth about his son. And the way Tommy Lee Jones acts (nearly in all his movies), he is the kind of guy you don't want to piss off and/or disappoint. He is one of the best actors around. His acting is in his face, his body language, his disposition, his voice, and the way he moves.
"In the Valley of Elah" is built on Tommy Lee Jones' persona, and that is why it works so well. The same material could have been banal or routine with an actor trying to be "earnest" and "sincere." Jones isn't trying to be anything at all. His character is simply compelled to do what he does, and has a lot of experience doing it. He plays a Vietnam veteran named Hank Deerfield, now hauling gravel in Tennessee. He gets a call from the Army that his son Mike, just returned from a tour in Iraq, is AWOL from his squad at Fort Rudd. That sounds wrong. And so, he checks into a cheap motel. His investigations in the area of Fort Rudd take him into topless bars, chicken shacks, the local police station, the base military police operation and a morgue where he's shown something cut into pieces and burned, and he IDs the remains as his son. Looking through his son's effects, he asks as a distraction if can have his Bible, while he's pocketing his son's cell phone. It's been nearly destroyed by heat, but a friendly technician salvages some video from it, filled with junk artifacts but still retaining glimpses of what it recorded on video: glimpses of hell.
And then, there are the other actors that Paul Haggis brings in for supporting roles, most specifically, Charlize Theron, who is a lead actress by all intents and purposes here, as she plays Tommy Lee Jones' equal in a very understated performance as a city homicide detective who recognizes the dispair in Hank and the desperation to find out the truth, so she decides to help him, not out of pity, but rather out of her duty as a detective.
Theron carefully modulates her performance that she even ignores most of the sexism aimed at her at the police station. Nor is there any hint of sexual attraction between her and anybody else, nor does she sympathize with Hank Deerfield and work on his behalf. Nor, for that matter does she compete with him. She simply does her job and raises her young son.
This is such a fantastic film because it never really takes a stand for the military invasion and occupation of Iraq, although Mike Deerfield has just come back from a tour duty and has been suffering from PTSD, clearly, because of things he saw and did while there. This is a film about way more than the politics of war. And Haggis is not asking you to pick a side. He is simply asking you to take this journey with Hank Deerfield as truths are uncovered about people.
This is an unbelievably moving film, one that is long in its running time, but you are never looking at the clock wondering why it's dragging on, because it does not.
.................................................................................
"Holiday Breakup"
starring: Manon Mathews, Shawn Roe, Katie Leclerc, Matt Reidy, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Diane Robin, Rene Hamilton, Jennifer Aspen, Mindy Sterling
written and directed by: Temple Mathews
Chloe and Jeff meet and fall in love on the Fourth of July. By Labor Day they’re ready to move in together. Friends and family think they’re the perfect couple. It’s sheer bliss. But on Halloween they fight and break up. They realize they’ve just catapulted themselves into a holiday nightmare! Faced with the hell of spending the big three holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s not only alone, but at the center of one pity party after another, they decide not to tell anyone they’ve broken up. It’s a simple plan; all they have to do is pretend to be in love to make it through the holidays unscathed. As they smile and fake their way through one holiday party after another, their “pretend” romance intensifies and, ironically, they find that everyone else’s “perfect” relationships aren’t so perfect after all. “HOLIDAY BREAKUP” is a story about how, sometimes, by going through the motions, you can arrive at the one thing we’re all searching for. The truth.
This is your standard rom-com, with a bit of an indie twist, in that the actors are unknown and Chloe is a little bit too much of the cliche "manic pixie dream girl" that she gets annoying rather quickly. You never really spend time getting to know the two main characters other than as a couple and how they are as individuals in that couple, which makes it really hard to care for them or see them get together, stay together, or find each other again.
This is a waste of time especially when there are some much greater rom-com's out there.
.......................................................................................
"Stardust"
starring: Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Michelle Pheiffer, Claire Danes, Ian McKellan, David Kelly, Ben Barnes, Kate Magowan, Melanie Hill, Henry Cavill, Nathaniel Parker, Peter O'Toole, Mark Strong, Robert De Niro, Ricky Gervais, Sarah Alexander, Adam Buxton, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Rupert Everett, David Walliams, Mark Heap
written by: Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman
directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Years before Charlie Cox donned at superhero outfit and played Daredevil on Netflix's series, he could be found in this fantasy film that fell victim to bad timing and a script that was just trying way too hard to be a mix of every other film of the same genre that had come before it (re: The Princess Bride really comes to mind, as well as "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream"). This is a comedic fantasy, but one that is and feels very cluttered. Sure, it does follow the standard structure of a fantasy story: the hero, the quest, the prize, and what stands in the way.
Where it suffers the most is that the script falls victim to coming across more like a vaudeville act or a jigsaw puzzle with far too many pieces that never really equal the whole, which really makes the plot, which comes from a Neil Gaiman novel, suffer.
The plot:
Three Macbethesque witches (Gaiman is a fan of Shakespeare), led by Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who believe Yvaine can restore their beauty. In the other corner: The Learesque King Stormhold (Peter O'Toole), with three living sons and four dead ones, who appear in black and white as Hamlet's fatheresque ghosts. The dying king believes Yvaine can restore his throne to his living sons, although let's hope he doesn't try dividing the kingdom among them.
The film kind of implodes on itself and the director gets distracted by the special effects and you can tell he sort of lost faith in his script, so he decided to just throw everything but the kitchen sink into the film, including a funny Shakespeare character played masterfully by Robert De Niro, but you are definitely left wondering, what the hell? most of the time.
starring: Asa Butterfield, Zac Mattoon O'Brien, Domonkos Nemeth, Henry Kingsmill, Vera Farmiga, Cara Horgan, Zsuzsa Holl, Amber Beattie, David Thewlis, Richard Johnson, Sheila Hancock
written and directed by: Mark Herman
Here is quite an interesting concept: The tragedies of the Holocaust, BUT through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy, because of the brightness and naivety with which children see the world, completely unaware of the horrific things happening to the Jews he is surrounded by, because he does not necessarily know or understand why they are around, in his house, outside in the yard, on the other side of a fence, etc. but he knows something is going on. Only at the end of the film does the point of view change to the adults, specifically the boy's parents, for an obvious reason, which is a shocker nonetheless, and a spoiler I will not provide because the film packs an emotion punch, much like "Schindler's List" many years before it, but for far different reasons.
Bruno (Asa Butterfield) is a boy growing up in a comfy household in Berlin, circa 1940. His dad (David Thewlis) goes off to the office every day. He's a Nazi official. Bruno doesn't think about that much, but he's impressed by his ground-level view of his father's stature. One day Bruno gets the unwelcome news that his dad has a new job, and they will all be moving to the country. It'll be a farm, his parents reassure him. Lots of fun. Bruno doesn't want to leave his playmates and his much-loved home.
There's a big house in the country, surrounded by high walls. It looks stark and modern to be a farmhouse. Army officials come and go. They fill rooms with smoke as they debate policy and procedures. Bruno can see the farm fields from his bedroom window. He asks his parents why the farmers are wearing striped pajamas. They give him one of those evasive answers that only drives a smart kid to find out for himself.
At the farm, behind barbed wire, he meets a boy about his age. They make friends. They visit as often as they can. The other boy doesn't understand what's going on any more than Bruno does.
This film packs quite the emotional punch in the third act and really relis on the two boys companionship. I can't believe it took me this long to see such an incredible film. By far, one of the best to deal with the subject matter of Nazis and the Holocaust.
................................................................................
"Blue Jay"
starring: Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson
written by: Mark Duplass
directed by: Alex Lehmann
This is definitely going to be one of those "sleeper" films, one that is really good but probably not many people will see but everyone should. The concept is one that I've always clung to: what if? and the idea of spending just one day with someone, just following their interactions and conversations throughout the day. I fell in love with this concept for a film and/or story ever since watching "Before Sunrise" back in high school. That is still one of my favorite films and just a beautifully done film.
With "Blue Jay," it's more about what if you ran into a past lover? Would you look to rectify a missed opportunity by spending a day together, reminiscing about the old/better times you two had? Would you hide the fact that your life is actually rather miserable now? Would you try to create a new connection? What if both of you are unhappy with your current situations?
Jim (Mark Duplass) and Amanda (Sarah Paulson) are both back in their hometown for various reasons, and run into one another for the first time in over two decades at a supermarket. That fortuitous coincidence turns into coffee, which begets beer and jelly beans by the river, which leads to a night at Jim's deceased mother's house, where a few of the private nooks of their old romance are re-explored.
Mark Duplass wrote the screenplay, which actually relied heavily on improvisation from both actors, something the Duplass' brothers' films are well known for (re: mumblecore). Missing here, though, is his brother's input, and instead of directed the film himself, Duplass puts it in the trusted hands of Alex Lehmann. Shot in black and white, perhaps for nostalgia, just adds to the simpleness of the film, letting the characters and stories unfold on their own.
Something great about all Duplass characters is that these are men who are stunted, in growth and maturity, who find themselves stuck in a rut in their lives, and we are invited into that time to observe how they navigate through it, and most of the time there really isn't a resolution. It also seems that Duplass, as an actor, seems to know he is not necessarily the best actor in the business and thrives on challenging himself by acting opposite some great, under-appreciated actresses.
A self-conscious tension fuels Blue Jay, as the film is about Jim and Amanda and the dance initiated by the actors to fashion this reality. Paulson invests the smallest details with a great wealth of mystery and subtext. When Amanda motions toward Jim's mother's bookcase, indicating the amount of books that her husband might be able to read in his lifetime, one is struck by the precision of Paulson's delivery, which walks a fine tonal line between humorousness and the vulnerability and heartbreak that said humor guards. The slight lilt in her voice speaks volumes. Duplass works harder to achieve his emotional effects, and his gestures and throwaway deliveries often connote performance rather than behavior, which is partially the point, and which is purposefully exacerbated by the fact that his script is slower to reveal Amanda's backstory than Jim's, further emboldening the fleet actress with a role of comparatively greater ambiguity.
Duplass and Paulson have an incredible chemistry with each other while balancing their appreciation for each other with the fragility and rareness of being truly in snyc with your partner, not just in real life, but on the screen. And I think that is how Duplass screenplays rely heavily on "sketched" ideas for scenes instead of blocking everything word and movement out. There is something to be said for the fluidity of the "in the moment"-ness of Duplass films. They come across genuine and far more relatable.
Over the course of an evening, Jim and Amanda share a harmony of intoxication and comfort, with just a tang of resentment, and this preciousness fuels a desperation that gradually takes hold in the third act, where Jim's self-deprecation reaches a boiling point, allowing Duplass a tantrum of searing exposure that drills admirably far beneath the character's cool-dude façade. At this point, we realize that Lehmann and Duplass understand that it's creepy, rather than romantic, when Jim and Amanda act out the projections they had of one another as teenagers, seeking to resurrect in the present a dream of the future that was held in the past.
This is a beautifully sad film about realizations, love, hindsight, and memory.
..................................................................................
"In the Valley of Elah"
starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, Jason Patric, James Franco, Barry Corbin, Josh Brolin, Frances Fisher, Wes Chatham, Jake McLaughlin, Mehcad Brooks, Jonathan Tucker, Wayne Duvall
written and directed by: Paul Haggis
This is like any other hard-hitting, military film that turns out to be about much more than just the military and that lifestyle. It's about the psychological effects of the lifestyle. It's also about becoming a man. It's also about a murder, justified or not. It's also about drugs. It's also about gender. It's also about the military towns.
Watching the film and the story unfold, I was reminded of great military-related films like "Courage Under Fire" and "A Few Good Men" where something has happened to one or more soldiers and we follow the characters as they unfold the mysteries and discover the truths. The difference here is that there may or may not actually be a cover-up and if there is indeed a cover-up, the military may be doing it for the sake of the family. Here, Tommy Lee Jones plays the father to a deceased soldier who also happens to be a retired Vietnam Vet who sets out to find his son or the truth about his son. And the way Tommy Lee Jones acts (nearly in all his movies), he is the kind of guy you don't want to piss off and/or disappoint. He is one of the best actors around. His acting is in his face, his body language, his disposition, his voice, and the way he moves.
"In the Valley of Elah" is built on Tommy Lee Jones' persona, and that is why it works so well. The same material could have been banal or routine with an actor trying to be "earnest" and "sincere." Jones isn't trying to be anything at all. His character is simply compelled to do what he does, and has a lot of experience doing it. He plays a Vietnam veteran named Hank Deerfield, now hauling gravel in Tennessee. He gets a call from the Army that his son Mike, just returned from a tour in Iraq, is AWOL from his squad at Fort Rudd. That sounds wrong. And so, he checks into a cheap motel. His investigations in the area of Fort Rudd take him into topless bars, chicken shacks, the local police station, the base military police operation and a morgue where he's shown something cut into pieces and burned, and he IDs the remains as his son. Looking through his son's effects, he asks as a distraction if can have his Bible, while he's pocketing his son's cell phone. It's been nearly destroyed by heat, but a friendly technician salvages some video from it, filled with junk artifacts but still retaining glimpses of what it recorded on video: glimpses of hell.
And then, there are the other actors that Paul Haggis brings in for supporting roles, most specifically, Charlize Theron, who is a lead actress by all intents and purposes here, as she plays Tommy Lee Jones' equal in a very understated performance as a city homicide detective who recognizes the dispair in Hank and the desperation to find out the truth, so she decides to help him, not out of pity, but rather out of her duty as a detective.
Theron carefully modulates her performance that she even ignores most of the sexism aimed at her at the police station. Nor is there any hint of sexual attraction between her and anybody else, nor does she sympathize with Hank Deerfield and work on his behalf. Nor, for that matter does she compete with him. She simply does her job and raises her young son.
This is such a fantastic film because it never really takes a stand for the military invasion and occupation of Iraq, although Mike Deerfield has just come back from a tour duty and has been suffering from PTSD, clearly, because of things he saw and did while there. This is a film about way more than the politics of war. And Haggis is not asking you to pick a side. He is simply asking you to take this journey with Hank Deerfield as truths are uncovered about people.
This is an unbelievably moving film, one that is long in its running time, but you are never looking at the clock wondering why it's dragging on, because it does not.
.................................................................................
"Holiday Breakup"
starring: Manon Mathews, Shawn Roe, Katie Leclerc, Matt Reidy, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Diane Robin, Rene Hamilton, Jennifer Aspen, Mindy Sterling
written and directed by: Temple Mathews
Chloe and Jeff meet and fall in love on the Fourth of July. By Labor Day they’re ready to move in together. Friends and family think they’re the perfect couple. It’s sheer bliss. But on Halloween they fight and break up. They realize they’ve just catapulted themselves into a holiday nightmare! Faced with the hell of spending the big three holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s not only alone, but at the center of one pity party after another, they decide not to tell anyone they’ve broken up. It’s a simple plan; all they have to do is pretend to be in love to make it through the holidays unscathed. As they smile and fake their way through one holiday party after another, their “pretend” romance intensifies and, ironically, they find that everyone else’s “perfect” relationships aren’t so perfect after all. “HOLIDAY BREAKUP” is a story about how, sometimes, by going through the motions, you can arrive at the one thing we’re all searching for. The truth.
This is your standard rom-com, with a bit of an indie twist, in that the actors are unknown and Chloe is a little bit too much of the cliche "manic pixie dream girl" that she gets annoying rather quickly. You never really spend time getting to know the two main characters other than as a couple and how they are as individuals in that couple, which makes it really hard to care for them or see them get together, stay together, or find each other again.
This is a waste of time especially when there are some much greater rom-com's out there.
.......................................................................................
"Stardust"
starring: Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Michelle Pheiffer, Claire Danes, Ian McKellan, David Kelly, Ben Barnes, Kate Magowan, Melanie Hill, Henry Cavill, Nathaniel Parker, Peter O'Toole, Mark Strong, Robert De Niro, Ricky Gervais, Sarah Alexander, Adam Buxton, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Rupert Everett, David Walliams, Mark Heap
written by: Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman
directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Years before Charlie Cox donned at superhero outfit and played Daredevil on Netflix's series, he could be found in this fantasy film that fell victim to bad timing and a script that was just trying way too hard to be a mix of every other film of the same genre that had come before it (re: The Princess Bride really comes to mind, as well as "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream"). This is a comedic fantasy, but one that is and feels very cluttered. Sure, it does follow the standard structure of a fantasy story: the hero, the quest, the prize, and what stands in the way.
Where it suffers the most is that the script falls victim to coming across more like a vaudeville act or a jigsaw puzzle with far too many pieces that never really equal the whole, which really makes the plot, which comes from a Neil Gaiman novel, suffer.
The plot:
England is separated from the fantasy kingdom of Stormhold by a wall. Inside the wall, in a village conveniently named Wall, lives a plucky lad named Tristan (Charlie Cox), who is in love with a lass named Victoria (Sienna Miller). He fears losing her to a rival, but one night they see a shooting star fall inside the wall, and he vows to retrieve it for her.
It is not very hard to get through the wall, which is an example of Stormhold's crumbling infrastructure. Tristan's father was once able to bound through a gap in the wall, but Tristan has more trouble with an ancient guard and employs a magic candle which, by definition, works its magic. Inside, he discovers that the star is, in fact, a beautiful girl with long blond tresses named Yvaine (Claire Danes). I think her name makes her a sort of vain Yvonne. She possesses such secrets as eternal life, which are worth having, and so there's a rivalry for her powers.
Three Macbethesque witches (Gaiman is a fan of Shakespeare), led by Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who believe Yvaine can restore their beauty. In the other corner: The Learesque King Stormhold (Peter O'Toole), with three living sons and four dead ones, who appear in black and white as Hamlet's fatheresque ghosts. The dying king believes Yvaine can restore his throne to his living sons, although let's hope he doesn't try dividing the kingdom among them.
The film kind of implodes on itself and the director gets distracted by the special effects and you can tell he sort of lost faith in his script, so he decided to just throw everything but the kitchen sink into the film, including a funny Shakespeare character played masterfully by Robert De Niro, but you are definitely left wondering, what the hell? most of the time.
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