Robert Duvall as Felix Bush. "Get Low. Photo taken by Sam Emerson © 2009, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Ups and downs in Depression-era tale 'Get Low'

by Cate Marquis

Robert Duvall portrays a crusty, gun-toting backwoods hermit named Felix Bush in the dryly funny, sometimes touching Depression-era tale “Get Low.” The independent film's quirky premise, about the old hermit throwing himself a “funeral party” while still alive, provides both dramatic and comic fodder for Duvall, Bill Murray, Lucas Black and Sissy Spacek, who turn in well-crafted performances. The film has its bright spots but does somewhat unravel towards the end, when it backs down from its early promise.

One certainly cannot fault the excellent cast, who milk the story for every drop of character and period atmosphere, with wry humor and touching emotion. The story is based on a real person, Felix “Bush” Breazeale, who in 1938 rural Tennessee, decided to throw himself a living funeral, making him the focus of the national spotlight. Felix is presented as the ultimate country curmudgeon, who never appears in town and is apt to shoot at visitors to his log cabin deep in the woods.

When the old man finally comes to town, in a mule-drawn cart, the town people greet him with a mix of fear and disgust. Whispers allude to stories of violence and immoral behavior, tales they have heard about his unfitness for “decent” company, whispers Felix sullenly ignores.

The white-haired Felix figures it is almost time for him to “get low” - get buried. After Felix's request for a pre-death funeral is turned down by the local preacher, local undertaker Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) steps in. An outsider who was once a used car salesman before moving to the town to start a new life, Quinn is more drawn to Felix's wad of cash than repelled by his fearsome reputation. Yet Quinn sends in his young assistant Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black), a decent, kind-hearted young man working hard to support his wife and new baby, who has to overcome his own misgivings about the old man.

Felix's sudden foray into town brings another unexpected encounter, with Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), who knew him years ago but has only recently returned to her old hometown.

Felix wants the biggest turnout he can get, offering folks a chance to tell all the stories they have heard about him over the years with no threat of retaliation and capped by Felix's revealing the truth, a secret he has kept.

The film does a nice job of building the mystery and exploiting both comedic and dramatic possibilities. There are a few very nice scenes between Spacek as Mattie and Duvall as Felix, and Bill Murray is in fine comic form as the slightly sad-sack, slightly tipsy, always silver-tongued Quinn. Bill Cobb does nice work as an out-of-state preacher, who knows things about Felix no one else does.

“Get Low's” cinematography is appealing, creating a warm period feel. The locations are perfect - moody late-fall woods, Felix's ramshackle homestead, the old-fashioned small town - as are the appealingly period sets and costumes, all shot in loving sepia-tones.

But no matter how perfect the visuals nor how gifted the cast, the film falls apart in the end. Having built up expectations, the climatic funeral scene is a bit of a let-down, failing to deliver all that had been promised. It is as if director Aaron Schneider loses his nerve about showing all the sides of the main character.

The film is still worthwhile, with funny or touching scenes and nice work by Murray and Duvall especially, but it could have been more.

“Get Low” is now playing at the Hi Pointe Theater and Plaza Frontenac Cinema locally.

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Specialist Misha Pemble-Belkin (l.) and fellow soldiers from Battle
Company, 173rd US Airborne during a firefight at Outpost Restrepo during
combat in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. Korengal Valley, Afghanistan,
Kunar Province. 2008. A film still from the documentary RESTREPO by Tim
Hetherington and Sebastian Junger. Photograph © Tim Hetherington

‘Restrepo’ gives gripping immediacy of soldiers’ war

by Cate Marquis

The documentary “Restrepo” uses the hand-held camera technique we so often see in fictional war films, but here the soldiers we follow are real and so is the danger they face, terrifyingly so.

Writer/journalist Sebastian Junger, who penned the non-fiction bestseller “The Perfect Storm,” and cameraman/photojournalist Tim Hetherington are embedded with a unit on its way to Afghanistan. When plans were made, the Second Platoon’s destination was expected to be a safe, backwater location far from action. Instead, the Korengal valley became one of the war’s hottest spots.

The Second Platoon is tasked with building an outpost on high ground, a spot with a commanding view of the valley, despite constant enemy fire. They name the outpost for a charismatic platoon medic who was killed in the first days in country.

A documentary with searing emotional immediacy, “Restrepo” takes us into the Afghanistan war through the eyes of soldiers on the ground. The film is non-political, has no structuring view, just events unfolding as they do for these soldiers. “Restrepo” was a winner at the Sundance Film Festival and a hotly sought-after ticket when it played the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Mo., earlier this year.

Through the documentary, the audience lives with these young men. Viewers see them at their best and their worst, happy and silly as they kid around, scared or enraged in the heat of a fire fight. Junger and Hetherington lived side by side with the unit for a year, as the soldiers built an outpost and defended it, endured boredom and lost comrades, and waited for their time to be up.

The strength of “Restrepo” is that it has no agenda and no filter. It is only the soldiers’ experiences. The soldiers talk frankly in studio interviews sprinkled in with the immediate war footage. No experts offer analysis and no generals are interviewed. What we get is the inescapable, day-by-day reality of the soldiers’ war. The point is to give the viewer the feeling of being there, bored or terrified.

(Read more at the Current by clicking on this link: http://thecurrent-online.com/ae/restrepo-gives-gripping-immediacy-of-soldiers-war/)

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JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT as Arthur in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ sci-fi action film “INCEPTION,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Stephen Vaughan

‘Inception’ breaks through summer doldrums with innovation, originality

By Cate Marquis


Summer had settled into its movie doldrums of sequels, remakes and rehashed ideas, while the intelligent speculative fiction thriller “Inception” has blown in a fresh breeze of innovation.

The clever, original thriller about industrial espionage through invading dreams, “Inception,” is a revelation, and a promise fulfilled.

Christopher Nolan, director of “The Dark Knight” and “Memento,” offers a film that is not the technical marvel like the 3D “Avatar” and is not in fact a 3D movie at all, but is a fresh, imaginative film, something increasingly rare from Hollywood.

Both brainy and entertaining, “Inception” is speculative fiction, “what-if” science fiction, in the manner of author Philip K. Dick, who penned such mind-twisters as the basis for cult-favorite “Blade Runner.” Nolan co-wrote this screenplay but it shares Dick’s tendency to explore philosophical and humanly emotional issues within a science fiction setting.

(Read more at the Current by clicking on this link: http://thecurrent-online.com/ae/inception-breaks-through-summer-doldrums-with-innovation-originality/)

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Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) in 'The Girl Who Played With Fire.' Courtesy of Music Box Films

'Girl Who Played With Fire' proves great thrillers aren't all Hollywood

by Cate Marquis

Grade: B+

“The Girl Who Played With Fire” is an edgy, riveting crime thriller with a unique brainy and tough female lead character, a tattooed computer expert with a shady past, a film that puts most other entertainment films in theaters this summer to shame. This top-quality crime tale has enough mystery and surprises to please any movie fan. It is the kind of production Hollywood used to do so well yet delightful entertainment treat is no Hollywood movie - it is Swedish.

“The Girl Who Played With Fire” is the next film in the series based on the bestsellers by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. Like the first film, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” which is now playing locally at the Hi Pointe Theater, it is an international hit. As a gritty crime thriller, it is not dialog-heavy, so reading subtitles is less of an issue, but the well-crafted, unpredictable plot certainly gives those who like to tackle a puzzle more to work on than the average thriller. Seeing the first film is a plus but this new one stands on its own.

Read the full review in the Current:

http://thecurrent-online.com/ae/%E2%80%98girl-who-played-with-fire%E2%80%99-proves-fast-paced-thriller/

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Jennifer Lawrence as Ree Dolly in WINTER’S BONE, directed by Debra Granik
Photo Credit: Sebastian Mlynarski, courtesy of Roadside Attractions

 

Sundance indie hit 'Winter's Bone' uses girl's quest to explore meth-ravaged Ozarks world

by Cate Marquis

Authenticity and strong acting are the lynch pins of “Winter's Bone,” the audience favorite at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

“Winter's Bone” is based on the novel by Ozark-based author Daniel Woodrell, a story of courage and determination by a 17 year old Ozark girl. The story was inspired by real events and the hard lives of the traditional old families of rural western Arkansas-Missouri Ozarks, an area of early settlers among the hills and hollows, sharing cultural links with Appalachia in a line of migration stretching back through Kentucky and Tennessee. It is traditional world suspicious of outsiders, oppressed by poverty, but also one that preserves folk ways and music, values self-sufficiency and the bonds of blood relations. Now that old way of life is being ravaged by methamphetamine.

Filmed on location by director/co-writer Debra Granik after two years' immersion in the culture, “Winter's Bone” takes us inside a little-known world, not as outsiders but through the eyes of one of their own. Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence, in a star-making performance) is 17-year old girl from an old Ozark family who forced by circumstances to navigate through her own insular community, now breaking down under the sway of drugs, in search of her missing meth-cooking father. Ree cares for her 12 year old brother, 6 year old sister and nearly catatonic mother, possibly brain-damaged from the meth trade. Her father Jessup Dolly has built a reputation as a skillful cooker of meth but since his last arrest has now gone missing, after putting up the family farmstead for bond.

To hold out to the only thing they have, Ree must find him. Ree learns of the situation when Sherrif Baskin (Garret Dillahunt) comes to their backwoods cabin. But admitting anything to outsiders or enlisting their help is out of the question. To find answers, Ree must work within her own community.

The story unfolds like a mystery but at heart it is a hero's quest, with a relentless protagonist who must meet every challenge with courage and resourcefulness. In this case, the quest falls on the thin shoulders of a girl, tramping through the woods to knock on doors seeking answers while still juggling to responsibilities of caring for her family.

This is a chilly winter's tale, with bare trees and gray-brown earth. Anyone who has driven the back roads of the Ozarks will recognize that the film was shot on location and that care was taken to preserve its authentic look. The filmmaker had to work hard to avoid showing how pretty to area actually is, as too much natural beauty would have broken to film's dark tone. The practical clothes, the well-worn toys and ramshackle homes crowded with accumulated possessions like crocheted shawls and old photos add to the convincing feel of the film.

As she asks questions no one wants to answer, Ree's strength is revealed. In a traditional culture that discourages both intrusion and boldness in women, Ree must brings her questions to ruthless, violent people involved in the drug trade, although nearly everyone of them is also related to her.

Among the scariest people in this tale are her Uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes), her father's older brother, whom she first asks for help before setting out on her own. Ree often invokes kinship as she seeks answers but her position as a woman is embodied in the response of Merab (Dale Dickey), wife of the local kingpin: “don't you have no men folk can do this?” Her pleas for help always start with women, including her married half-sister Gail (Lauren Sweetser), but their ability to help is restricted by their place in society.

Many times she is reminded that by asking too many questions, that she may wind up “et by hogs,” a favorite way of drug lord Thump Milton (Ronnie Hall) to dispose of unwanted people.

Ree also confronts her father's drug-cooking partner Little Arthur (Kevin Breznahan) and eventually Thump, a man dressed on cowboy boots and Western finery, attending cattle auctions with an entourage of country toughs to rival any intercity gang. In fact, the parallels of this drug world to 1980s movies about drug-ravaged urban communities is striking.

Strong acting performances and a respect for the culture helps give this story gravitas. Jennifer Lawrence is remarkable but is greatly aided by John Hawkes, as Ree's hard, threatening Uncle Teardrop. The cast's mix of locals and actors boosts its authenticity.

But Ree's quest also explores her Ozark world, we she teaches her young siblings to hunt and where kindly neighbor Sonya (Shelley Waggoner) helps her out, taking in her beloved horse so it will not starve and bringing the family the making of a deer stew. Social exchanges take place in a polite, formal but dryly matter-of-fact manner, because this is a proud world, one where Ree cautions her younger brother “never ask for what ought be offered.”

The film captures the cadence and quirks of local speech, which sometimes makes the dialog difficult to follow but the director avoids cartoonish hillbilly accents. But most appealing is the traditional folk music at gatherings, where family and friends becomes singers, banjo players and fiddlers.

"Winter's Bone" is a movie that stands up to multiple viewings, for the little-seen world it explores and for the well-acted story of determination. It is an early favorite among critics for awards this year.

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'Avatar' entertains with heroic story, astounding 3D effects

by Cate Marquis

From a technical viewpoint, “Avatar” is the most astounding film of the year. The futurist fantasy's 3D CGI visual effects are as realistic and amazing as you have heard, a true leap forward in movie visual effects. Even for those indifferent to technical effects, the seamless realism of “Avatar's” futuristic adventure are astounding.

But what is even more amazing is that “Avatar” is also a really good film, entertaining and even thought-provoking, something too rare in special-effects films. Game-changing visual effects added to a well-plotted hero tale adds up to a film worth seeing.

The story is classic heroics but effective. Paraplegic ex-Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is offered a chance to earn enough for a medical procedure to restore his ability to walk, by taking the place of his recently-deceased twin brother, a research scientist in an experiment on the distant planet Pandora.

The experiment involves using a human mind-controlled “avatar,” a biological human-Pandoran hybrid, created by fusing DNA from two specific individuals. The avatars look like the 10-foot-tall, blue-skinned humanoid natives, called Na'vi, and when controlled remotely by humans attached to a computer in pods in the lab, the avatars interact with the native non-technological Pandorans, in order to study them and gain their trust.

Since Jake is an identical twin, his DNA matches his brother's, so he can replace him, if he can catch on to the training fast enough. Naturally, the researchers are skeptical of the Marine taking the place of a scientist who had trained for years for his task. There is even some resentment among the other researchers, including project leader Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver).

The reason all of them are on the planet is to assist a company hoping to mine a valuable mineral. The scientists are supposed to help the company reach an agreement with the Na'vi to extract it, with ex-Marines hired to provide security.

Eye-popping visual effects are reason enough to see “Avatar.” The integration of the CGI animation and the live action work is seamless, and coupled with 3D makes for a powerful cinematic ride.

But unlike special-effects-laden “2012,” “Avatar” is an entertaining and engrossing adventure story with some real human meaning, not just fast-paced but meaningless action. “Avatar” also gives respectful treatment to classic science fiction, while mining what is appealing about hero tales throughout human history.

The story is more classic than original. But it earns points for fearlessly tackling greed and the hubris of a technically-developed power seeking to exploit the resources of a less-technologically advanced one. In some ways, Avatar's story is “Dances With Wolves” in outer space but the hero tale is skilfully handled and introduces modern touches like private military contractors and science co-opted for profit. The futuristic story parallels modern multinational corporate exploitation of resources in poorer, developing nations, often with the help of military operations, although the practice of this kind of exploitation really goes back to the East India Company.

However, the story of an unscrupulous corporation claiming resources under someone else's soil has some people on the political right claiming that the film attacks capitalism, a characterization to which responsible, ethical businesses might take exception. Likewise, people seeing something anti-military in the film might note these are ex-military private contractors, which would make the story more anti-Blackwater than anti-Marine.

“Avatar” is unlikely to become a classic but it is highly-entertaining, technically ground-breaking movie that reminds us of the kind of adventure epics Hollywood once did so very well. With its the 3D effects and the epic scope, “Avatar” is one movie that absolutely should be seen on a big screen.

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