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July 10, 2009

Days of Glory (Indigènes)

Posted by Jordan Richardson under 2006, action, drama, entertainment, foreign, historical, movies, trailers, war | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |
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Directed by French-Algerian Rachid Bouchareb, Days of Glory is an exciting, action-packed war movie that many will consider akin to Saving Private Ryan or other combat adventure pictures. But there’s a difference here, as Bouchareb’s heroes are couched in a sense of historical injustice that has continued on into modern day France.

Days of Glory was the Algerian nominee for the Best Foreign Language Oscar and won an acting ensemble award at Cannes. It is a powerful, well-acted movie that tells a distinctive, easy-to-follow ensemble story. Bouchareb does well to shoot the performers and the settings, drawing the viewer in with a realistic but not overly bloody portrayal of World War II and the North African soldiers who fought on the side of the French.

The French title for the picture, Indigènes, is a term for the hundreds of thousands of colonial African soldiers who fought for the French in the War. They were Algerians, Tunisians, and Moroccan natives and many were Muslims. Enrolled in the French First Army of the Free French Forces, these men were tasked with liberating the motherland after Nazi occupation. The film chronicles the formation of the crew and highlights many of the campaigns they fought through Italy and France.

In an ensemble picture such as this, there’s no single plotline that springs to the foreground. Instead we experience this group of men as they should be. We are transported into their world and we experience the sights and sounds they experience. The performers bring the characters to life skilfully and passionately.

Among the characters are Saïd Otmari (Jamel Debbouze), an illiterate peasant with rough edges, Sgt. Martinez (Bernard Blancan), a straightforward leader-type who enlists Saïd as a sort of personal assistant, marksman Messaoud (Roschdy Zem), a man who considers himself unlucky until he meets a French girl (Aurélie Eltvedt), and Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila), a natural leader and intellectual who unofficially leads the group. Brothers Yassir (Samy Naceri) and Larbi (Asaad Bouab) steal from corpses and have joined the army to make money.

The story is unique in that it features characters fighting for a France that they have not experienced. They are fighting for a land that they perhaps will never go to, except on missions of liberation, and they are fighting for a people that likely consider them to be second-class human beings. The grungy treatment of the men is highlighted by a particularly powerful scene involving tomatoes and a small rebellion with the aim of treating all men equal.

The film closes informing us that injustice from the War continues on in the lives of the surviving North Africans. It tells us of the decolonization of Africa and how the French government froze pensions and benefits for the wounded for those soldiers who fought on their behalf in World War II from colonies. This occurred in 1959 as the countries began to win their independence. Former French President Jacques Chirac saw Days of Glory in 2006 and abruptly changed the policy to ensure that the pensions were paid.

Days of Glory is an important picture. The resulting justice drawn from the picture is hard to ignore, of course, and Bouchareb’s skill for shooting the piece is well worth a look. The performances are good without overshadowing the subject matter or showing off and the sense of adventure and danger are very real. For a slightly different take on the ensemble war adventure film, check out Days of Glory (Indigènes).

8.6/10

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July 5, 2009

Watchmen

Posted by Jordan Richardson under 2009, action, drama, entertainment, movies, science fiction, trailers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |
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One of the great things about the superhero genre, when done right, is that it explores what ordinary people do when given extraordinary powers or circumstances to deal with. Alan Moore created the limited series Watchmen in the mid-80s, developing a compelling story about former vigilantes in a world where the United States and the Soviet Union are dealing with rising tensions. Moore’s piece is widely recognized as one of the greatest books of all time.

But Moore, after bad experiences with From Hell and A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, turned his back to Hollywood and never wished to return. He swore off of film projects of his works, choosing instead to give any cut of financial gain to Watchmen and V for Vendetta artist Dave Gibbons. As such, Moore’s name does not appear in the opening credits of the film.

Zack Snyder, director of 300, does a great job pulling this massive work together and snugly places it in a well-paced, well-delivered 162 minutes. He proves himself to be a capable director, using many of the same action shots from 300 but adding a sense of depth to the locations and passion for the characters. Snyder, strangely dubbed as a “visionary” in the film’s press, might prove to be one hell of a talent someday.

Watchmen introduces us to a parallel universe where Richard Nixon (Robert Wisden) is still the President of the United States thanks to a law passed to eradicate term limits. The America we’re shown features superheroes, of course, operating under the restraints of their humanity. The world is dangerous, with nuclear war predicted by the Doomsday Clock and Nixon’s recent outlawing of “superhero activity.” The bastard.

The story sets up with the murder of Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) by an unknown force. This draws other superheroes, a team called the Watchmen, together to figure out what’s going on. Each brings his or her past to the table in solving the mystery and each wonders who’s next to die. Interestingly, only one of the Watchmen appears to have superpowers in the literal sense. He is Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and he lives outside of space and time. He’s blue.

The Watchmen also include the world’s smartest man Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), the Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Rorshach (Jackie Earl Haley), and Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman). Each character has his or her own cross to bear. In the case of Silk Spectre II, she has to live up to her own mother, the first Silk Spectre (Carla Gugino). There are interesting family dynamics, compelling back stories, and the final matter of figuring out just what the hell is going on.

The plot is labyrinthine and broad in scope, yet it remains entirely understandable on screen. Snyder does a remarkable job composing this symphony of characters, placing their stories and their histories where they ought to go. Because he takes his time with the project and is meticulous in his approach, we are able to get to know each character and, subsequently, care about where they’ve been and where they’re headed.

The beauty of Watchmen lies in the fact that Snyder chooses to dwell on the contradictions presented by these characters. They are more than mere anti-heroes, which is ultimately Moore’s doing, but Snyder doesn’t hide from their realities and keeps them concise, clear visions of opposition and passion. We learn of relationships between characters, flaws, and nihilistic attitudes towards humanity and damn near everything else. And we learn of this substance without sacrificing one iota of Snyder’s action-packed style.

Snyder’s typical slow-mo action sequence style is evolved somewhat here, although he utilizes many of the same tricks from 300. The scenes have a visceral quality and are given time to develop. They are creatively choreographed and often gory, lending more darkness and depth to the storyline. Even within the action sequences, we are treated to characters that kill indiscriminately for different reasons.

Watchmen is one of my favourite comic book movies. It is enthralling, intelligent, and briskly-paced. Snyder’s work is good and his delivery of the complex storyline eclipses The Dark Knight and Iron Man in terms of depth and thought. There’s a lot to like about Watchmen and a lot going on, but that’s nothing several repeat viewings won’t fix in a hurry.

9.1/10

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July 3, 2009

Valkyrie

Posted by Jordan Richardson under 2008, drama, entertainment, historical, movies, thrillers, trailers, war | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie is an intriguing production, but it ultimately fails in generating much genuine emotion or tension. The film, based on the plot by German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944, is couched in solid subject matter and looks sleek, but the performances and overall pacing of the story leaves a lot to be desired. As such, it remains a very middling project and doesn’t stand out as a notable work in the Nazi film genre.

Tom Cruise generated a considerable amount of buzz for his part in Valkyrie, yet his performance is so stiff and uninteresting that one wonders if it was worth it. Cruise, together with Paula Wagner and United Artists, intended this picture to be the one that would help boost his studio over the top and back into contention. There was a lot riding on it, to say the least, and the stress around the movie was compounded with German complaints regarding the casting of the Scientologist in the role. It was difficult to get access to key landmarks as a result.

Cruise, leading an impressive cast, stars as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Stauffenberg is serving in Tunisia in World War II when he is wounded and later evacuated back home to Nazi Germany. Major General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh) is attempting to assassinate Hitler as part of a resistance movement, but his plan is thwarted. Through a series of events, Stauffenberg is connected with the resistance movement and meets with their secret committee.

General Ludwig Beck (Terrence Stamp), Dr. Carl Goerdeler (Kevin McNally), and Erwin von Witzleben (David Schofield) are among the plotters, but Stauffenberg soon discovers that any plan held by the group is in need of serious tweaking. Along with General Friedrich Olbricht (Bill Nighy), Stauffenberg and the plotters begin to develop a plan that includes using Operation Valkyrie, a deployment of the army reserves in case of emergency, to help overthrow the SS and get in position to assassinate Hitler. The remainder of the film concerns how the plan plays out and the mistakes that were made.

At its core, Valkyrie is a cold procedural. The plot is labyrinthine in complexity, with all sorts of secret documents, phone calls, and meticulous conversations taking place. In that respect, it is fascinating to watch. It runs like a sleek technical thriller at moments, with the majority of the adventure and excitement coming from exchanges of information or attempts to win people over to the side of the plotters. Singer does well to direct and frame these sorts of sequences.

In terms of accuracy, many reports suggest that the filmmakers got most of it right for a change. While the movie suggests that the events came closer to impacting Hitler’s Germany than they perhaps actually did, most experts on the matter state that Valkyrie sticks with a relatively genuine accounting of the historical record with few expected cinematic liberties.

With all of this in mind, Valkyrie still somehow fails to make an emotional connection. Singer’s direction is capable, albeit a touch too “Hollywood” for the subject matter, and his interaction with regular collaborator John Ottman’s score adds excitement to scenes that would otherwise be quite drab. The effects are also quite good, providing solid, accurate historical imagery to go with the general feel of the picture.

The performers, however, fail to make any sort of emotional connection. This is especially problematic given the context and subject matter. Cruise is the leading culprit here, with his stiff portrayal coming across as disturbingly wooden and drab given the poignancy of his character’s reality. It’s hard to fault the other actors, with Nighy, Stamp, Branagh, and Tom Wilkinson all coming through with good but not great performances.

Overall, Valkyrie is a concise technical thriller with little emotional impact. It is an instantly forgettable but enjoyable rendering of a bold true story. Singer’s picture, through no fault of the movie’s look or style, simply fails to make a connection on any deeper level and, as such, remains a glossy take on history instead of a bold new vision taken from past events.

5.4/10

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June 29, 2009

A Beautiful Mind

Posted by Jordan Richardson under 2001, biography, drama, entertainment, movies, trailers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Based on the life of John Nash, the famed Nobel Laureate in Economics, Ron Howard’s 2001 film A Beautiful Mind is a biopic that runs a touch too long and plays a little too fast and loose with the facts to be effective. A leaner, less glossy approach would have made for better viewing, but Howard’s not exactly known for being subtle (Frost/Nixon being an exception, of course).

Russell Crowe stars as Nash and we are introduced to him as he arrives at Princeton University. He was promised a single room, but winds up with a roommate named Charles Herman (Paul Bettany) anyways. The two become fast friends, with Charles helping Nash out in some stressful situations and edging him into a social environment to help him with his personality. Nash comes off as somewhat abrasive and eccentric, but this fits just fine with the territory of a highfalutin university such as Princeton.

Nash also strikes up an awkward friendship or two, but he’s having trouble pulling together any serious work despite having a mind filled with brilliant ideas. His lack of focus threatens his future until he finally composes a breathtaking theory in mathematical economics and governing dynamics. Nash receives an appointment at MIT and winds up teaching a class. He meets student Alicia Larde (Jennifer Connelly) and the pair eventually strike up a relationship and marry.

As life continues, Nash is invited to a “secret” Department of Defense facility within the Pentagon to crack a secret code. He meets William Parcher (Ed Harris) and ends up being dispatched for what he sees as important missions for the United States government. The missions begin to take over his life and he becomes paranoid, only to have Alicia and his friends soon discover what the real story is.

A Beautiful Mind is based on Sylvia Nasar’s book of the same name, which is in turn of course based on the life of John Nash. The film’s narrative clearly differs from the real life account of Nash, as most biopics do, but there are some adjustments Howard and the screenwriters made that could have been better left untouched. Perhaps a smaller production would have brought out more of the controversial elements in Nash’s life and made for a more interesting, less romantic motion picture.

Nevertheless, Howard takes the “blockbuster” approach here and is saved by his great actors. Crowe is terrific, proving why he’s one of the best actors of his generation, and Connelly is a perfect accompaniment for him. She shares the screen well, her elegant beauty almost overwhelming and her character’s forwardness a sort of ideal foil for her counterpart’s natural shyness and eccentricity. This allows the film’s exploration of mental disorder to feel more legitimate, thankfully.

There are some interesting components to Nash’s life that could have used a look, including the actual chronology of his hallucinations and their nature. In reality, they were solely auditory. The device used by Howard to make them visual serves the purpose of a movie, of course, and allows for performers to step into the roles and captivate, but perhaps another approach could have made more out of the claustrophobia of hearing voices inside as opposed to seeing them manifest outside.

There is also the question of his relationship with Alicia. Nash, in real life, wound up divorced from Alicia in 1963 and the two worked hard to recommit and reconnect. His son, featured on the outskirts of the movie only slightly, was also a sufferer of schizophrenia. Nothing in this relationship is even faintly explored.

Overall, A Beautiful Mind still somewhat works as a beautiful testimony to the bravery of the human spirit and the power of relationships. It is fuelled largely by the great performances within, but Howard’s heavy-handed direction has sequences feeling a little too big and glossy for the subject matter. It’s too bad that the reality behind this biopic is so drastically different and, in effect, so much more interesting.

5.2/10

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June 18, 2009

Girl, Interrupted

Posted by Jordan Richardson under 1999, biography, drama, entertainment, movies, trailers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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Based on a true story or perhaps countless true stories, Girl, Interrupted is about how a 60s culture dealt with mental illness. We are given access to the story through the eyes of Susanna Kaysen, played in the movie by Winona Ryder. Kaysen’s memoirs of the same name were adapted for the screen by director James Mangold and Lisa Loomer. According to Kaysen, the finished product was a film with too much “melodramatic drivel.”

For the most part, Kaysen is correct. While Girl, Interrupted is well-acted and looks pretty good, it lacks the meandering quality of the memoirs and attempts too rigid a plotline. Instead of perhaps talking about the system of mental health care and how problems were dealt with at the fictional Claymoore Hospital (for Kaysen, the real facility was McLean Hospital), Mangold veers down a path of melodramatic posturing and blows momentum with a problematic third act.

Susanna is 18-years-old. She’s what we could call a typical teenager, except one day she downed a bottle of pills and chased it with a bottle of vodka. Who knows? Maybe that’s still typical teen stuff. Susanna “voluntarily” checks herself in to Claymoore Hospital and meets the supervising nurse (Whoopi Goldberg) upon arrival. She’s whisked into an almost magical world of various patients suffering with various conditions. They’re all jammed on to the same basic floor in the hospital, regardless of the severity of the condition.

There’s burn victim Polly (Elisabeth Moss), pathological liar Georgina Tuskin (Clea DuVall), the abused and self-abusive Daisy Randone (Brittany Murphy), anorexic Janet Webber (Angela Bettis), lesbian Cynthia (Jillian Armenante), and some others. The “leader of the pack,” so to speak, is a wild sociopath named Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie). As Susanna gets to know the various people in the hospital, she starts to make friends and realizes something she never had in the “outside world.” The cost of these friends turns out to be more significant than she ever thought possible.

Kaysen’s memoirs detail what is described as two years of life lost. She is now a “recovered borderline personality,” apparently, so perhaps those years weren’t lost after all. The events of her life are shrouded in some ambiguity, as the memoirs reflect, but Mangold’s picture leaves none of that to the imagination. Instead of psychological meanderings, we’re given direct, sharp plot points complete with a runaway trip to visit a released patient and a stupid conclusion in the bowels of the hospital.

But the reason to see Girl, Interrupted really has little to do with whether or not Mangold got Kaysen’s memoirs quite right. The real reason to see this movie has to do with the performances. Frankly, they’re all very good from the top to the bottom of the cast. Goldberg is comforting and amusing as the supervising nurse, while Ryder plays a convincing lead character yet again. Murphy puts forth what is doubtlessly the best performance of her haphazard and perplexing career, too.

It is Angelina Jolie, in her Oscar-winning performance, who really knocks it out of the park though. She’s a loose cannon in every sense of the word, launching herself headfirst into the role of Lisa with a sort of impish, disrespectful abandon. There’s nothing to her and there’s everything to her, all at once, as she’s able to shift gears on a dime and really give her character deep, weighty context. It’s easy to play a crazy person; it’s less easy to make that person relevant and ultimately human.

Overall, however, Mangold simply dropped the ball here. Despite being given the gift of solid performances and a great cast, he fiddles and fusses with the material too much to make much of an impact. There’s too much convolution outside of the hospital and too little concern with why these women are there inside the facility. It’s almost as though they become caricatures only saved by the quality of the performances behind them. As such, Girl, Interrupted is nowhere near as good as it could have been.

4.6/10

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June 17, 2009

Husbands and Wives

Posted by Jordan Richardson under 1992, comedy, drama, entertainment, movies, trailers | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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Husbands and Wives is one of Woody Allen’s most fascinating pieces of work. A deeply engrossing documentary-style motion picture that examines marriage via two couples, this is a film as much about the process of keeping a marriage going as it is about the process of finding love in the first place. Allen dissects marriage brutally at times, offering a very cynical point of view that later floats on wings of hope.

Allen’s personal life hit the rocks as soon as Husbands and Wives was released in 1992, so there’s a lot of interesting subtext to look for here. Allen seems to make some discoveries along the way that might have helped him out, but part of the tragic lining of the movie is reflected in the director’s own choices. It doesn’t help matters that Allen also stars.

Our story revolves around two couples, both of which have been married for a long time. The first couple is Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis). Jack is a businessman and is often out of town. They consider themselves to be very intellectual and very reasonable, although events throughout the movie reveal different sides to this perception. They are friends with the other couple in the story, Gabe (Allen) and his wife Judy (Mia Farrow). Gabe is an English professor at college and Judy works at a magazine with Sally.

Husbands and Wives opens with an event shot in frantic documentary style that sets the whole ball of wax rolling straight down hill and over everything in sight. Jack and Sally are splitting up and they approach the issue with such matter-of-factness that it disturbs Judy. She begins to question her relationship with Gabe, who in turn is drawn to a young student (Juliette Lewis). Judy becomes infatuated with a co-worker (Liam Neeson), but sets him up with the newly-available Sally anyways.

The magic to this film comes with watching the couples surround each other and weave in and out of each other’s lives. The combinations are endless, with each character meeting new love or finding love to be ultimately fleeting due to a variety of circumstances. While such a description might seem vague, Husbands and Wives is the sort of broad picture that teems with infinite possibilities.

Allen’s point about the durability of the featured “rational” relationships is not subtle. He removes certainty with consistency, telling us that the most “sensible” couples can often be the most fragile. If Jack and Sally can break up and face disaster, who’s really safe? The way the relationship disaster threatens Judy and takes her down with the ship is fascinating stuff to watch.

In the ultimate deconstruction, Husbands and Wives becomes more about self and less about relationships. It is about why we pursue what we pursue and the belief that relationships, especially those of the characters in the movie, are based on the desire to have the needs of the self met before meeting the needs of, well, the other. The failure comes not as the result of miscommunication or elemental disaster, but as the result of natural human selfishness.

The performances are terrific, especially that of Sydney Pollack. His ability to convey that sense of selfishness and absorption in the meeting of his desires is compelling, especially when his new relationship comes apart at the seams and undoes his limitations. Neeson does a nice turn here too, playing perhaps the only decent guy in the whole film.

Allen’s Husbands and Wives is one of his most fascinating character studies. His analysis of relationships as compartments of needs and conceptions of self might ring true to many viewers. Luckily, Allen doesn’t leave us wanting in terms of hope. The final frames of the picture are beautiful, with a sense of hope lining the screen with elegance.

9.1/10

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June 13, 2009

Me You Them

Posted by Jordan Richardson under 2000, comedy, drama, entertainment, foreign, movies, romance | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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Andrucha Waddington’s 2000 Brazilian film, Me You Them, is a careful piece of sex comedy that works because of the obvious compassion Waddington has for the characters. In Hollywood’s hands, the project would look completely different and, I daresay, completely unnatural. As it is, there’s something to the flow of Me You Them that is utterly intoxicating.

Instead of simply placing characters into a situation and letting them pantomime their way through it, Waddington’s picture develops the situation slowly and with care. It is set in a poor, arid village in Brazil with a shrinking water supply and lots of red dirt. Poverty is the norm, yet the people get by on their passions and on hitting up the local bar for dancing, drinking, and more drinking.

Regina Casé is Darlene. She is average-looking, which is comforting and accessible, and endlessly determined. As Roger Ebert puts it, “She has big teeth, she wipes her hands on her dress, she can work in the fields all day, and if she takes you to her bed, you’ll have your work cut out for you.” Establishing her character is vital, as Darlene really has everything to do with how and why this little story happens in the first place.

We first meet Darlene when she’s expecting a child and set to marry the father. In her wedding dress, she’s left at the “altar” with no husband. Darlene returns and finds her grandmother dead. She also discovers Osias (Lima Duarte) offering her a proposition. If she marries him, she can move in with him. Darlene has nowhere else to stay and is with child, so she takes him up on it and our story begins.

Now, Osias is a bit of a lazy ass. He lays in his hammock all day long, fiddling and fussing with his radio. He assigns Darlene to care for the goats and to go to work in the fields, so she does. A second child arrives, darker than expected, and there is some unspoken suspicion about paternity. Nevermind. Soon another man drifts into the picture. He is Zezinho (Stenio Garcia) and he is Osias’ cousin. He is kind, so Darlene takes to him instantly and they have an affair.

Zezinho moves in and cooks for Osias and sleeps with Darlene. Osias may or may not be aware of this, but nothing seems to disturb his hammock’d existence. Another baby arrives and it’s Zezinho’s and again there is some unspoken suspicion about paternity. Nevermind. Soon enough another man (Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos) drifts into the picture, moves in, and so forth.

Apparently this weird sex romp is based on a true story. It could be based on a thousand true stories. The beauty in it comes as Darlene is fully in control of these three men in her own way, owing in part to the subtle attractiveness she possesses and in part to her natural mothering instincts. She is a mother and a lover and a worker and a drinker and even a fighter to these three men. She owns them.

There are swirling complexities to the relationships here, but Waddington keeps things remarkably pure and simple. There are currents of polyamorous living and even a thread of positivity towards polygamy, but who the hell really cares? The end result is ultimate happiness and, without spoiling the picture totally, these characters reach it on their own terms with their own desires for control, sex, and food met entirely.

The movie is marvellously acted, beautifully shot, and tenderly paced. It isn’t a typical farce; it isn’t guided by music or whirling camera shots to evoke emotion. The purity comes from the characters and the situation, as it should. Me You Them is a nice surprise and Casé, a television presenter akin to Oprah in Brazil, is fun to watch as the dominant female.

7.4/10

 

June 12, 2009

Passengers

Posted by Jordan Richardson under 2008, drama, entertainment, movies, mystery, thrillers, trailers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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To say that Anne Hathaway has had an interesting couple of years would be an understatement. She may be on record for being one of the modern era’s most perplexing actresses, as she shows flashes of brilliance in films like Rachel Getting Married and Brokeback Mountain but then descends into utterly awful choices like 2009’s Bride Wars and this 2008 suspense offering, Passengers.

Directed by Rodrigo García, Passengers is a film dedicated entirely to its twist ending. It poaches many elements from M. Night Shyamalan’s structure of surprising the audience in the final moments, but the storytelling is weak and the pace is incredibly sluggish. García’s end product winds up being something that probably should have gone straight to video as opposed to seeing a small, incredibly limited theatrical release in October of 2008.

Now released on DVD where it belongs, Passengers stars Hathaway as psychotherapist Claire Summers. We meet her as she’s dispatched to treat a group of survivors from a plane crash. It isn’t long before Claire winds up in an “interesting” relationship with one of the survivors, a flirtatious young man named Eric (Patrick Wilson). Eric is, according to Claire, pushing down his true feelings about the plane crash and really needs to open up a bit.

Meanwhile, all manner of strange events are taking place. Claire is noticing that some of her patients are disappearing and a creepy guy (David Morse) that works with the airline appears to have something to do with it. Claire also has a neighbour (Dianne Wiest) and an aloof boss (Andre Braugher) to contend with on her quest for the truth. When that truth eventually does arrive, everything else feels like a colossal, insignificant waste of time.

García is a veteran of the HBO scene, having directed episodes of The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Carnivale, and In Treatment. When it comes to conducting things on the big screen, however, he has a lot to learn. With García’s HBO work, he reveals warmth to the human experience. With Passengers, that warmth is discarded in favour of clichéd sentimentalism and bland characterizations.

Of course, the director is far from the only individual deserving of blame for this soulless clunker. Writer Ronnie Christensen’s screenplay is intellectually lazy, boring, and needlessly gimmicky. The entire structure of the movie serves as a sort of movie-of-the-week build-up to an inevitable twist ending. Christensen’s twist, however, undoes any progression we’ve made with the characters and renders everything instantly and utterly worthless.

Hathaway is nice to look at in the role, but she’s given so little to go on and so little to do of interest that she barely seems to put forth much effort. At least in a big cash vehicle like Get Smart she was able to deliver some of her trademark charisma. With Passengers, Hathaway blends with the dreary scenery and manages to have her most effective “scare” wrestling with a blown newspaper. Freaky stuff.

The remainder of the cast looks good on paper, too, with Morse, Wiest, and Wilson all formidable talents. Unfortunately, this humourless and meaningless plot gives them nothing to do and they all wind up waiting around for the conclusion and, presumably, the paycheque.

On a personal note, it was slightly entertaining to notice that Passengers was filmed in Vancouver. Scenes are set against my fair city’s bleak backdrop, with the cloudiness and insistent rainy weather providing as dreary a setting as this picture deserved. In the end, though, even the blank skies and UBC’s lush environs couldn’t save it from ultimate despair.

1.0/10

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June 10, 2009

Early Summer

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The films of Yasujirō Ozu are noted for their character development and honesty. There was perhaps no greater filmmaker when it came to capturing minimalistic conversation and stories that simply exist in moments without pushing forward with too much action or movement. Ozu’s Noriko trilogy clearly emphasized his feminism, with the character of Noriko featured with a tremendous independent streak.

The second film in the Noriko trilogy is 1951’s Early Summer (the first film is Late Spring and the final picture is Tokyo Story). It is not essential to see the films in order, nor do they comprise a traditional trilogy as we might understand it in modern context. They do, however, feature the character of Noriko (Setsuko Hara).

Early Summer finds Noriko as a 28-year-old woman in danger of becoming an old maid. She is anything but concerned, however, and lives out her days with her friends enjoying food and expensive cake – it’s almost like a 1950s-era Japanese Sex and the City. Noriko works as a secretary in Tokyo and lives with the extended Mamiya family. Her parents, Shukichi (Ichirô Sugai) and Shige (Chieko Higashiyama) spend considerable time reflecting on their lives and the future.

Noriko’s brother, Koichi (Chishu Ryu), is a respected doctor. He lives in the home with his wife Fumiko (Kuniko Miyake) and their two young sons Minoru (Zen Murase) and Isamu (Isao Shirosawa). The film opens with a visit from an elderly uncle (Kokuten Kodo) and a reminder that Noriko is at that age where she should consider marriage. She is matched up with somebody by her boss (Shûji Sano) and her family begins to pressure her, albeit gently, to marry the proposed suitor.

Noriko is an independent spirit, though, and soon enough discovers feelings for a childhood friend (Hiroshi Nihonyanagi). After impulsively asked to marry this friend by his mother (Haruko Sugimura), Noriko accepts and discovers that real love was right in front of her all along. Her family is bewildered but ultimately supportive of her choice, largely perplexed and concerned by the idea of her husband-to-be’s child from a previous marriage. This is unheard of, but Noriko is confident that she can handle the situation.

Early Summer is named such not because it is the season in which the movie takes place but rather because it is the emotional climate of the characters. This is a joyful motion picture, for the most part, and it resonates with optimism and vibrancy. Ozu tells a tale of independence and spirit, utilizing the exciting character of Noriko and the sound of her laughter as a guidepost to human happiness. She follows her heart and so shall we.

Early Summer is quite a balancing act for Ozu. While many of today’s modern pictures feature ensemble casts, this ambitious 1951 effort features a whopping nineteen characters in significant roles. With sensitivity, Ozu places each character in a significant spot. There are those dealing with the new approaching world and the cultural shift, while others simply deal with raising belligerent youngsters. There are meditations on age and meditations on youth.

Instead of having us figure out where the characters are going to end up and how everything is going to connect, Ozu simply lets the movie breathe. It becomes about the trajectories of character emotion more than about outcome. It doesn’t matter so much who Noriko will marry; it matters IF she will marry, though. Ozu plays with that distinctive difference through the film’s divisions, setting it up in the first act with the visit of the uncle and pursuing the natural emotional course right through the remainder of the picture.

To see an Ozu picture is to breathe deeply. Nobody captures the ins and outs of life quite like him. With Early Summer, a story about marriage, age, roles, and family winds up existing on screen without pretence and without acting. These characters, given existence by talented performers, are real and compelling. The film is an unquestionable masterpiece.

9.9/10

 

June 8, 2009

The Boxer

Posted by Jordan Richardson under 1997, drama, entertainment, movies, sports, trailers | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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Jim Sheridan is pretty much the go-to guy when it comes to movies about Ireland. The Dublin-born director started things off with the brilliant My Left Foot, establishing a working relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis at the outset. The two would collaborate again with 1993’s In the Name of the Father. Their third collaboration, The Boxer, stands as a bleak and desolate piece about change and the hunger for peace in Ireland.

Day-Lewis is Danny Flynn, a member of the IRA with a promising boxing career. His life was put on hold when he was imprisoned at the age of 18 for his terrorist associations. The film picks up with Flynn finally leaving prison after 14 years. He refused to name his fellow IRA men, increasing the length of his prison term. Upon his release, Flynn is sent into a community that is attempting to negotiate peace with the British. Head IRA man Joe Hamill (Brian Cox) is trying to work out a peace agreement.

The process is far from easy, though, and Hamill has his hands full with various members of the IRA. He especially struggles with a militant faction of the group, led by Harry (Gerard McSorley). Flynn, meanwhile, rekindles a past relationship with Maggie (Emily Watson) despite her marriage to another imprisoned IRA member. They embark on a dangerous relationship, with the IRA watching their every move and threatening death for any man caught having an affair with a prisoner’s wife.

Flynn has no interest in the activities of the IRA, having long ago paid his debts and spent his energy on the “cause.” He just wants to fight and pick up his tattered boxing career, so he joins with his old manager Ike (Ken Stott) and reopens a local gym for young boxers to train. Flynn’s sense for “getting on with it” soon becomes a motivating factor for many in the community and boxing becomes an outlet for much of the pain and violence of the past. The gym is opened for both Protestants and Catholics, but it soon becomes a lightning rod for Harry’s militancy.

The fights are great fun to watch, presenting with a sort of gritty hope. Day-Lewis was trained by Barry McGuigan (the Clones Cyclone) and it shows. He is in great shape for the picture, adding a sense of realism and explosiveness to his normally subdued character. His Danny Flynn speaks in hushed tones, for the most part, choosing his words carefully even when in the presence of the love of his live. He is reserved and appears to have learned his lessons well, so the boxing becomes the real fountain of any lingering angst.

Sheridan’s movie is very carefully constructed and very bleak, very gray. The dialogue is often delivered softly and secretly, as though there is always someone watching. Sheridan effectively captures the tone of uncertainty, spreading his story out as though sudden moments of violence can disrupt the whole damn thing. We get the sense that the love affair, the fighting, and the violence in the streets are all interconnected.

The Boxer is not a perfect motion picture. It sometimes struggles with its own ambition, as though it weighs out the importance of each scene and is forced into making a choice. Sometimes the boxing can feel like a superfluous act, as though the film’s three fights really aren’t needed to develop the character of Danny Flynn. Nevertheless, Sheridan does attempt to instil the scenes with importance. One fight that ends with Flynn showing mercy on his opponent serves to showcase the true nature of this changed man.

The Boxer is an effective, bleak narrative that tells an important story of tentative peace and those who act against it for nothing but their own interests. It is a story of both selfishness and selfless love. It is well-acted, well-directed, and well-scored by Gavin Friday.

8.4/10

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