Tag: drama

Movie review: Black Swan

Finally caught up with Jean on seeing this one. He saw it on a plane. I decided to wait for a full-size screen and stereophonic sound: I watched in on DVD on my BluRay player.

Black Swan poster***½ Black Swan (December 2010) – Rental
Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis. Ballet dancer struggles to portray The Black Swan in Swan Lake as her mental health deteriorates.

She says: Incredibly riveting even though it doesn’t have that much plot—Nina gets the lead role in Swan Lake early on, then spends the rest of the movie struggling to portray the seductive Black Swan as effectively as the virginal White Swan. The drama is all internal, as Nina is in an increasingly fragile mental state, but since we see the movie through her eyes only, we, like her, can never be sure what’s real.

Portman is great, as is Kunis, as her stand-in for the role, a person she comes to fear is plotting to replace her. The movie looks amazing and had one of the most effective surround sound audio I’ve ever experienced; for example, a knock on Nina’s door startle me almost as the character, as it really sounded like a knock on my door way off to the right (though my door’s actually on left)…

He says: It was a good movie, eh? Pretty disturbing, though.

Movie review: Foreign-language Oscar nominee Monsieur Lazhar

Last weekend, we saw Monsieur Lazhar, Canada’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. (And expected to lose to the Iranian film in contention.)

**** Monsieur Lazhar (February 2012) – Theatre
Mohmed Fellag, Sophie Nelisse, Emilien Neron. After a teacher’s suicide, an Algerian immigrant is quickly brought in as a substitute. Despite the culture gaps, he’s able to form a bond with the students. French, with subtitles.

She says: The synopsis makes this sound like one of those well-made but dreary Canadian movies, but it’s not. The traumas like the suicide and the tragedy that led Lazhar to leave his native Algeria happen mostly or entirely off-screen. On-screen is a lot of warmth and humour, as Lazhar fumbles his way through Canadian norms that are strange to him. There are moments of anger and sadness, but they’re never overwrought.

The movie tells a very simple story but deals with complex cultural, political, and emotional issues. The lead actor is great and the children are just astounding in showing how this unexpected teacher is just what these kids need.

He says: I feel like I missed the message of this one. Like I wasn’t evolved enough to understand it. And I kept waiting for more to happen.

Despite that, weirdly enough, I still liked the movie!

Movie review: A Dangerous Method

***A Dangerous Method (November 2011) – Theatre
The birth of psychoanalysis, through Carl Jung’s treatment of Sabina Spielrein, using Freud’s theories. Starring Keira Knightly, Michael Fassbinder, and Viggo Mortenson.

She says: I was going to say that this is another movie about marital infidelity, but although that occurs in this movie, that’s not really what’s about. It’s about the birth of psychoanalysis, as Carl Jung tries Sigmund Freud’s “talking cure” on a female patient of his, to great success. The two men eventually meet, and debate both the theory and practice of their new field. The patient, Sabina Spielrein, also studies to become an analyst. At one point she and the married Jung begin an affair, despite their doctor / patient relationship.

It’s an interesting movie. Keira Knightly is quite good in the role, and this movie made me feel that Spielrein also made a contribution to the field and ought to be better known than she is. (I’d never heard of her before this.) It’s also probably the least violent Cronenberg movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a bit notorious as the film where “Keira Knightly gets spanked”, but those scenes are filmed pretty discreetly. There’s no doubt what’s going on, but you’re not getting any close-ups.

But I wasn’t really sure what the overall point of the movie was—what its message was. Not that every movie needs a big message. It just seemed like this particular movie, so focused on ideas and the nature of human condition, should have one. So while worth seeing, I wouldn’t call it a complete success.

He says: I didn’t mind the movie. It wasn’t sexy at all, but I guess he wasn’t going for that.

The L.A. Complex

Three episodes in, I remain fairly impressed with The L.A. Complex, a new show about a group of young Canadians (actually, I’m not sure if they’re all supposed to be Canadian) in Los Angeles, most of them living at the Lux, all trying to make it big. Which as I write it, sounds a little lame. But it works because the scripts are fairly smart and engaging, not sugar-coating the gargantuan tasks these people face in trying to become, or stay, successful.

It’s a bit of a soap, with the cast intersecting and hooking up in various combinations. That makes it kinds of sexy and fun. There is a fair bit of humour as well, as the aspiring actors, dancers, or comedians do not always lead lives of dignity. But there’s a real core of sadness underlying it, too, because these people’s lives are kind of miserable.

Abby Vargas is a young, pretty Canadian who can sing, and possibly can even act. But six months after moving to L.A., her biggest role is as dead hooker, in body bag. She is broke. She lived in her car until it broke down; now she’s crashing with Nick (more on him later) and having to take the bus everywhere.

Connor Lake looks as though he, at least, has it made. He’s been cast in a lead role in a big medical drama, and has moved out of The Lux for more luxurious digs. But he’s having trouble keeping up with all the lines, and the producers are insisting he see an acting coach. He’s trying to anesthetize with sex, drugs, and most recently, self-mutilation.

Raquel Westbrook used to be big. Everyone remembers her from that cult show 12 years ago, which had the terrible time slot and so was cancelled after one season. She knows everyone, but at this point, she’s reduced to trying out for dead hooker roles, and losing those to younger actresses. (Because 32 is so old!) It’s making her a little edgy, and she’s drinking too much. All her hopes are now pinned on a great script she read by a couple of unknowns.

Nick Wagner works at a coffee shop by day to pay the bills, and tries his act out at comedy clubs by night. So far, he’s bombing, both professionally and personally. He’s the guy every girl wants “as a friend”, and he’s low on funds. I was thinking that of all characters, he’s the one who really should pack it in, but last episode he finally hit on a comedy groove, based on mocking himself.

Tariq Muhammad expected to make music during his internship at a record company, but mostly he’s been running errands and washing cars. That is, until he secretly sent Usher some “beats” that proved he had talent. He’s now assigned to work with tough rap star Kaldrick King, and things are going well—they’ve really hit it off. If only they weren’t both in the closet, and wanting to stay there…

Alicia Lowe is a dancer who works hard at her craft. But so far it’s close but no cigar at signing up for a tour. To pay the bills, she works as an exotic dancer. (This means she has fewer money troubles than most of the cast.) Her latest gambit is to make a sex tape with a former movie star, in the hopes of gaining fame, Paris Hilton-style. Previews of the next episode indicate that’s not going to work out so well.

So that’s our merry crew. If you’re at all intrigued, you can catch up with all episodes online, and new episodes play Tuesdays at 9:00 (hey, that’s now–I love my PVR) on Much Music.

The Kids Are All Right; Cafe de Flore

This movie review set will mostly be a “She says”. And I didn’t set out to compare these two movies; they just happen to be the last two we’ve seen.

The Kids Are All Right posterThe Kids Are All Right, released July 2010, we saw on rental DVD. (The first DVD I’ve experienced, by the way, that has a special rental version that excludes the “special features”.) It’s about a lesbian couple in a long-term relationship who each have a child with the same sperm donor dad. After the daughter’s 18th birthday, the kids decide they want to meet him. His entry into the family’s life is disruptive, as both children and one of the mothers (Jules, played by Julianne Moore) by turns all find themselves drawn to him, while the other mother (Nic, played by Annette Bening) stays pretty frosty.

Donor dad Paul is played by Mark Ruffalo, a good-looking guy whose character is the epitome of cool–he drives a motorcyle, runs a gourmet bistro featuring local organic foods, and owns a wood-paneled house with a terraced backyard. Of course (almost) everyone is smitten!

Bit of a spoiler here, but Jules and Paul have a fling that, once discovered, changes the whole dynamic of the movie. Only, I knew most of that going in, and it didn’t really spoil the experience for me. It’s a well-acted movie with a lot of funny bits along with the dramatic undertone. You did end up caring about all the characters. The affair prompted the most discussion between Jean and I: Were Jules and Paul really equally to blame (as the movie suggests), when Jules was the only one in a committed relationship, and the really the one who intiated things?

Cafe de Flore movie posterThis brings us to Cafe de Flore, released December 2010 and seen at Waterloo’s Princess Theatre. It’s a French-Canadian film that explores some similar territory as Kids, but in a really different way.

Cafe de Flore switches between two stories: one in present-day Montreal, involving a 40-year-old, successful DJ (Antoine) who is smitten with his new lover, but his still haunted by ex-wife of 20 years, with whom he had two daughters. Do we hate this guy? No, we do not, as we are given insight into his psyche, through both an omniscient narrator and sessions with psychologist, and because Rose, his new love, is so beautiful and wonderful. But we can’t help but also feel for Carole, the ex-wife, as she is simply unable to move on from the only man she’s ever loved.

The other story takes place in Paris in the late 1960s, and tells us of Jacqueline (played by Vanessa Paradis), a hairdresser, and single mom to her only child, Laurent, who has Down’s Syndrome. Defying the conventions of the times, she won’t institutionalize him, and devotes all her energies to making him everything he can possibly be.

The parallels and connections between the stories come out slowly and when it’s all out there… The details don’t really matter. This movie is really about the ideas explored on the journey: Do we have soul mates? What is the nature and quality of love? What makes a family? It’s just a gorgeous film, with beautiful shots and fantastic cinematography, and its use of music is exquisite. For characters in both times periods, listening to music is a really important aspect of their lives, and I could really relate to that part of it.

Jean also liked this film, though we both thought, not as much as I did.

I would say that Kids is a perfectly decent, entertaining, 3-star movie. I think Cafe de Flore could be a 4-star. It’s one I’d definitely watch again.

Movie reviews: Two that were inspiring

*** Temple Grandin (February 2010) – Rental
Claire Danes, Julia Ormond. Dramatization of the young adult years in the life of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who had great career success.

She says: Claire Danes is terrific in portraying Temple Grandin, and the filmmakers do an interesting job of giving us a view into her world by filming parts in the visual, literal way that she sees it. I grew a little tired of the open door metaphor (that she saw literally), but that’s my only complaint. The movie would probably have been even more compelling if I hadn’t gone in knowing a fair amount about Temple Grandin.
He says: That was an interesting movie.

***½ Joyeux Noël (March 2006) – Rental
Diane Kruger, Benno Furmann. French, Scottish, and German troops decide to call a truce on Christmas Eve 1914, during World War 1.

She says: Very moving, and almost unbelievable, to see those who had been shooting each other hours before gingerly reach a cease fire through music, then find they have much in common. The DVD extras include an interview with the director (all in French) that shows how most of the events of the film are based on incidents that actually happened during that war.
He says: That was a really good movie. Hard to believe.

Movie reviews: Two featuring Kevin Spacey

***½ Moon (June 2009) – Rental
Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey. An astronaut miner is nearing completion of a solitary three-year contract to harvest helium 2 when he meets someone else up there: himself.

She says: Haunting and thought-provoking. A mix of suspense and science fiction with a philosophical undercurrent. It contains numerous twists are truly surprising, yet plausible in the context of the story. A strong script, a great performance, and a nice-looking movie on a low budget. Worth seeing.
He says: OK, that was disturbing.

*** Margin Call (October 2011) – Theatre
Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Zachary Grub. An investment firm risk analyst discovers that past miscalculation of complex new stock offerings have left the firm on the brink of ruin.

She says: The recent financial crisis, through the eyes of the 1%, which is a really weird perspective on it. As we see the situation only through various actors at this one financial firm, who aren’t all shown to be monsters, you kind of find yourself routing for them. Yeah, save yourself. Sell those junk bonds. Wreck the economy. But then you’re jolted back to the fact that these people’s jobs are not like anyone else’s, as absolutely incredible amounts of bonus money is dangled as a lure to do the wrong thing.
He says: Showing the characters with bits of humanity and ethics, on the edges, made it more interesting. It was a good movie.

Movie reviews: Two featuring George Clooney

***½ Fantastic Mr Fox (November 2009) – Rental

Animated. Directed by Wes Anderson, voice by George Clooney and Meryl Streep. A fox who had abandoned his thieving ways after the birth of his son plans one last heist.

She says: A thoroughly entertaining mix of the old-fashioned stop-motion animation and a kind of sly, modern humor. The extras make you realize that animators of this type have almost super-human patience.
He says: A good recommendation. I liked the style of this movie.

The Descendants movie image***½ The Descendants (November 2010) – Theatre

Directed by Alexander Payne, starring George Cloone. With his wife in a coma following a boating accident, Matt King is forced into reconsidering his relationship with her, his daughters, and his extended family.

She says: This movie is all aftermath. All the drama—the building of small family empire, the betrayal, the accident—happened before it begins, and we don’t even get flashbacks to it. It’s all learning about and dealing with what has happened. The script is tight, with bits of humour amidst a mostly tragic story, and the twists are unexpected. George Clooney is excellent, saying so much with those beautiful eyes.

He says: I liked that they didn’t go Hollywood with this. Where you’d expect a big fist fight, you got a tense argument. It made the whole story seem plausible, realistic. And I thought the actress who played the oldest daughter [Shailene Woodley] was very good.

Movie review: Moneyball

The conversation before the movie…

She says: How about we go see Moneyball tonight?

He says: Sure. What’s it about?

She says: Well, it’s about how a baseball manager manages to make his team better using statistical analysis… Or something like that. It’s supposed to be really good.

He says: It sounds boring.

She says: I know! It does. I saw the author of the book it’s based on on The Daily Show, and he said he thought it should have never have been made into a movie. But apparently they did a good job with the movie.

He says: You’re really not selling this very well.

She says: Brad Pitt is in it.

He says: Still not helping.

The conversation post-movie:

She says: So?

He says: You’re right. It was really good.

She adds: It really is quite a feat to make a movie on this subject (baseball crossed with economics) so gripping. The script is just excellent. Brad Pitt is also great, to the point where you basically forget he’s Brad Pitt.

**** Moneyball (September 2011) – Theatre
Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill. How the Oakland A’s Manager, Billy Beane, reinvented his team on a tight budget by using “sabermetrics” to recruit players of hidden value.

Movie reviews: Two films based on novels

One that I’ve read, one that I have not (but now think I’d like to)…

*** A Single Man (December 2009) – Rental
Colin Firth, Julianne Moore. A man decides to end his life after the accidental death of his partner, and enjoy his last day.

She says: I found this movie really compelling while watching it, and feel even more impressed after thinking back on it more. It’s very simple, really, all taking place on one fairly ordinary day, but rendered special by the main character deciding this day will be his last. I’d never seen the subtle but effective use of color tone to reflect the character’s mood. And the whole movie is gorgeous; get the Blu-Ray.
He says: That’s two hours I’ll never get back.

***½ The Help (August 2011) – Theatre
Viola Davis, Emma Stone. A white woman and a black housekeeper convince a group of other black housekeepers to contribute to an anonymous book about what their lives are like in 1962-ish Mississippi.

She says: I have no idea what this movie is like for someone who hasn’t just read (and enjoyed) the book. But I had, and I really enjoyed this adaptation. I thought they did a good job of capturing the essence of the novel, even with the necessary simplifying and condensing necessary for a movie. And it was a great job of casting.
He says: They did a good job with that, didn’t they! [He also just finished reading the book. Or whatever it is you call listening to the full audio version, which is what we did together on our last road trip…]