Fassbender, Knightley, Mortensen light up Cronenberg's Freud, Jung tale, 'A Dangerous Method'

Left to Right: Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung and Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud. Photo by Liam Daniel, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

by Cate Marquis

Grade: A

Rising-star Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley deliver powerful acting performances in “A Dangerous Method, ” director David Cronenberg's suspenseful and visually-beautiful historical drama about Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and lesser-known early psychotherapist, Sabina Spielrein.

There is nothing staid about this fact-based film, which features a raw depiction of mental illness and some steamy scenes of sadomasochism. “A Dangerous Method” is a passionate tale of ambition and deceit amid intellectual explorations and sexual deviations.

In 1904, a 29-year-old Swiss doctor a Zurich hospital, Carl Jung (Fassbender), is treating a challenging new patient. Beautiful 18-year-old Sabina Spielrein (Knightley) is brilliant, Russian-born and Jewish but also violently unpredictable. Jung decides to try the new “talking cure,” developed by Viennese neurologist Sigmund Freud (Mortensen).

The patient responds so well to psychotherapy, she is able to enroll in medical school. Jung and Freud correspond and collaborate on her treatment, and eventually a kind of intellectual triangle forms with Freud, Jung and Spielrein. Eventually, the young, wealthy Jung travels to Vienna to meet with his older, middle-classs mentor Freud, building on a friendship growing out of their professional relationship.

The film is based on the play “The Talking Cure” by Christopher Hampton. Hampton wrote this screenplay as well as the screen adaptation of “Atonement.” The play was inspired by a book, “A Most Dangerous Method,” based on information that came to light with the discovery of Spielrein's diary and letters to Freud and Jung.

This historical film even lifts some dialog from letters between these giants of early psychoanalysis. Although Freud and Jung discuss theories, the film focuses on personal conflict while offering a glimpse into pre-World War I attitudes on women, anti-Semitism and class divisions.

Director Cronenberg is known for skillfully-made, intelligent, edgy films like “Crash” and “A History of Violence.” The director brings these historical figures to life. The film was a hit on the film festival circuit, generating awards buzz.

The acting is brilliant, with Fassbender, Mortensen and Knightley all crafting unforgettable characters. Knightley gives a startling portrayal of mental illness in a fearless performance. Fassbender, a rising British actor who has been in a slew of films recently, gives one of his best performances in this film.

Fassbender maintains a cool and analytical facade as he and Mortensen engage in intellectual maneuverings. Mortensen even studied Freud's personal mannerisms for his role. Although based on real people, there is nothing academic about them. The director maintains a tone of calm reserve above roiling waters.

Vincent Cassel is also excellent as another patient, Otto Gross, a fellow psychologist gripped by sexual addiction and a nihilistic world view, an echo of Fassbender's role in “Shame.” Sarah Gadon plays Jung's lovely but socially-conventional wife Emma with a sad gentleness.

The look of the film is gorgeous, filmed on location at Jung's hospital in Zurich and at Freud's home in Vienna. The photography, sets and costumes are beautiful in this film, giving a dreamy air to its intellectual discussions and emotional fireworks.

As the story unfolds, its focus shifts from psychotherapy. Jung's privileged background makes it difficult for him to grasp issues obvious to Freud. Jung's elegant, coolly aristocratic Zurich mansion, with its manicured lawn and graceful sailboats, contrasts sharply with Freud's cramped middle-class home and office, with its cozy family atmosphere. Ultimately, Jung's growing interest in mysticism and Freud's rigid adherence to his views on sex, plus their differences on Jung's relationship with Spielrein, help splinter their partnership.

A powerful, well-acted, worthy film, “A Dangerous Method” opens Friday, January 20, at Landmark's Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

© The Current / Cate Marquis

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 - click here for my Top Ten list, and more on the best films of the past year.

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Clever, immensely entertaining 'The Artist' wows in tale of silent film star and early talkies

Jean Dujardin as George Valentin and Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller in Michel Hazanavicius's film THE ARTIST. Photo by: The Weinstein Company ©

by Cate Marquis

What's old is new again in “The Artist,” a clever, immensely entertaining film that is both an homage to silent movies and early sound movies and a crowd-pleasing piece of entertainment.

Making a black-and-white, mostly silent movie that is entertaining for modern audiences seems a stretch but “The Artist” surprises by being a gloriously entertaining, warmly affecting film with charm and wit to spare. That cleverness and charm has won over audiences across the country.

After having scooped up audience choice awards at countless film festivals, “The Artist” is opening at theaters and seems headed for Oscar gold. Here in St. Louis, “The Artist” won an Audience Choice Award at November's 2011 St. Louis International Film Festival. The St. Louis Film Critics, the local professional film critics association, honored it twice, giving it the Festival Favorite Award at the film festival and then choosing it as Best Film for its annual St. Louis Film Critics Awards.

For fans of classic movies, this is a must-see. Shot on location in old Hollywood, the story is about the transition from silent to sound films.

In 1927, handsome Hollywood silent movie star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) packs theaters with his romantic comedy-adventure films, in which the Douglas Fairbanks-like star performs amazing feats to save the day and win the girl, with the help of his little wonder dog Uggie.

When his producer Al Zimmer (John Goodman) tells Valentin about a new technology and urges him to switch to sound films, the confident star scoffs and refuses to change. Meanwhile a beautiful young actress named Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), whose chance meeting with Valentin at a movie premiere snagged her a spot as an extra, is poised to ride the wave of new technology to stardom.

The rising star - falling star story echos “A Star Is Born” but there is more to it than that. The film is cleverly packed with techniques of the era and movie history references and uses elements from classic films like “Sunset Boulevard,” “Singin' in the Rain” and the “Thin Man” films.

The film is thick with homages to great films of the era, a pure delight for film buffs. But the story has its own dramatic arc, a mix of romantic comedy and drama, that sweeps the audience up in the story. The story also recaps movie history and what happened to so many silent movie stars who quickly plummeted from fame to forgotten in just a few years. Although it was filmed in Los Angeles, this movie is actually a French production directed by Michel Hazanavicius, and what little dialog it has is in English.

A black-and-white silent film sounds like a gimmick, but actually is essential to this tale of the transition to sound. The film covers the time from 1927, when sound films almost instantaneously replaced silents, ending the careers of any actor who did not make that change quickly. The 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression that followed wiped out the fortunes of those now-unemployed stars, whose names quickly vanished from popular memory.

Director Hazanavicious and director of photography Guillaume Schiffman recreate the look of the '20s and '30s brilliantly. The black-and-white cinematography is astonishing, skillfully using the lighting and framing of shots of the era to add layers to the story. At the very beginning of the film, the screen is reformatted to the aspect ratio of silent film. There is little dialog but the film inventively uses its affecting score and techniques of the early sound and silent eras - sound effects, pantomime and visual storytelling.

But it is the heart-felt story and wonderful performances which make it immensely entertaining.

Both Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo are marvelous in their roles. Dujardin established his comic chops parodying James Bond in the two French “OSS 17” Bond spy movie spoofs. Here he plays a similarly smiling, egotistical character, convinced of his own charm, but softens him with a genuine human warmth and his kindness to the wanna-be star Peppy Miller. Home-towner John Goodman has a smaller role as Valentin and Miller's studio head but plays the part in style, as a movie mogul who is kindly and pampering towards his star but still sharply focused on making money.

James Crowell is marvelous as Valentin's butler/chauffeur Clifton. Other supporting roles are sharply drawn in the style of the era, such as Penelope Ann Miller as Valentin's bitter, blonde wife, Joel Murray as a helpful policeman and Malcolm McDowell in a cameo as an actor playing a butler. Some of the best comic bits are thanks to Uggie, the energetic little white dog, who steals more than one scene.

Visual storytelling techniques abound. A scene where the fading silent star encounters the rising star ingenue on a studio staircase shows three levels of stairs in long shot. People crowd the stairs but everyone is walking up while Valentin is walking down. In another scene, Peppy, still a movie extra, pantomimes a romantic caress using Valentin's jacket in a scene that is both brilliant and moving. Scenes with Valentin and his increasingly estranged wife recreate a similar sequence from “Citizen Kane.” Chases, comedy routines, drama and romance all get their due - topped off with the antics of that resourceful little dog.

Music is especially critical in this film. The score by Ludovic Bource music is a delight and underscores how much silent film depended on music to tell its stories. In early scenes, the playful music sounds like Charlie Chaplin comedies, while later more dramatic scenes seem to sample music from Hitchcock thrillers.

Although “The Artist” is sure to delight any fan of old movies and film history, it may have less appeal for movie-goers who never watch anything older than the '70s, as its imaginative cavalcade of old movie references will be lost on them. But for lovers of classic Hollywood, and especially silent film, this delightful romp through movie history is a big screen must-see.

“The Artist” is now playing at Landmark's Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

© Cate Marquis

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Cold War spies rule in intelligent LeCarre adaption 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'

Gary Oldman stars as “George Smiley” in Focus Features release of Tomas
Alfredson’s TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY. Credit: Jack English

by Cate Marquis

John LeCarre's classic Cold War spy novels introduced the public to real espionage terms like “safe house” and “mole” and there have been several film and TV adaptations of his brainy, complex spy thrillers. The latest adaptation of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” features Gary Oldman as retired spy master George Smiley, who is recalled to duty to ferret out a Soviet Union mole at the highest levels of British intelligence. The excellent drama also features a who's who of great British actors, including Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch.

The story is set in Great Britain, at the height of the Cold War with the then-Soviet Union. Before his sudden death, Control (John Hurt), the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, aka MI-6, had guessed that the agency contained a Russian double agent at its highest level. Top spymaster George Smiley is secretly called back from his recent retirement on a mission to find the mole. Each of the top spy masters, Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), Percy Alleline (Toby Jones), Roy Bland (Ciaran Hinds) and Toby Esterhase (David Dencik), is under suspicion and have been assigned a code name using the old nursery rhyme - tinker, tailor, and so forth. To help him uncover the truth, Smiley calls on select trusted underlings, like Peter Guilliam (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy).

Already a huge hit in Europe, the complex, intelligent mystery “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is a delight for those who are familiar with the book. But director Tomas Alfredson, who had a break-out hit with the brooding vampire thriller “Let The Right One In,” gives little help to those who do not already know that “Karla” is the head of the Soviet spy agency or that “The Circus” means the British MI-6 intelligence agency. The large cast of characters and complex puzzle are intellectually challenging enough without a little introduction at the film's start for the newbie. The lack of such a map to the story's shadowy landscape likely narrows the film's audience to those already familiar with the novels.

Nonetheless, it is an impressive film of shadows, loyalties and deceit. The smoke-filled meeting rooms lined with soundproofing and trench-coated operatives on half-lit, rain-drenched streets conjuror up the period and set the chilly tone for intrigue and intellectual machinations.

Gary Oldman certainly deserves at least an Oscar nomination for his performance. He is brilliantly effective as the stone-faced Smiley, the wheels of his crafty brain ever turning behind his horn-rim glasses. Unlike Bourne or Bond, these spy masters generally look more like accountants, fading into the blonde woodwork while their sharp eyes and ears capture every subtle clue.

The look of the film is overall the gray of the 1950s flannel suit, with the spare '50s mid-century modern furniture and drab beige colors permeating this world of secrets. What little color is found tends to blues and yellows, apart from re-occurring flashbacks of a colorful “Mad Men”-style drunken holiday office party.

The dialog is as clipped as their haircuts, which a few careful words sufficient to convey meaning. Knowing who to trust and who is lying is a big part of this tautly-plotted tale. Every character is well-drawn by this gifted cast, as each pursues his or her own agenda and fate.

By contrast to Smiley, Colin Firth's Bill Haydon is a more garrulous character, albeit still more businessman than Bond in demeanor. Only the assassin Ricki Tarr, played with power and passion by rising star Tom Hardy, has the kind of flash and skills one expects in a movie spy.

Despite the film's spy hunt plot, there is a great deal of underlying personal intrigue as well, about sexual longings, loyalty and lies. Smiley's feelings for his dissatisfied wife and the assassin Tarr's love for Irina (Svetlana Khodchenkova), an agent on the other side, add an unexpected theme of romance.

For LeCarre fans, this wickedly delicious new “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is a holiday treat too good to pass up.

“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is now playing at Landmark's Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

© Cate Marquis

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Spielberg's animated 'The Adventures of Tintin' is visually innovative adventure for whole family

Left to right: Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), Snowy, and Tintin (Jamie Bell) in THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, from Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures in association with Hemisphere Media Capital. (c) 2011 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

by Cate Marquis

“The Adventures of Tintin,” one of two Steven Spielberg directed films in theaters for the holiday season, is a rollicking “Indiana Jones” for kids. Spielberg's first foray into animation uses a combination of motion capture, animation and 3D effects, which makes this adventure an eye-popping entertainment for kids and parents alike. The film is based on the classic Tintin comic books by Belgian artist Herge but there is no need for young audiences to be familiar with the comics to enjoy this wild ride. A childhood favorite of Spielberg, the long-running comics began in 1929 and are still popular in Europe, as familiar there as Charlie Brown and the Peanuts characters are here.

Young Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) is a young investigative journalist. While there is quite a bit of Hardy Boys detective style, Tintin is more indeterminate in age although grown-up enough for his own city apartment, where he lives alone with his little white dog Snowy. Tintin engages in a series of adventures, laced with humor, that take him to exotic places, while investigating stories for his magazine.

This adventure begins when Tintin buys a model of a sailing ship called the Unicorn at an open-air market and suddenly becomes the target of forces bent on retrieving the model ship, which may contain the key to a treasure.

Although the original comic was set in Belgium and is in French, the cast of characters in the film are generally British. Featured are Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as bumbling, prat-falling lookalike police detectives Thompson and Thomson, Andy Serkis as drunken seafarer Captain Haddock and Daniel Craig as the sinister genius Sakharine, who is anything but sweet.

The story is great fun, a global-trotting adventure with the same old movie feel that made the original “Raiders of the Lost Ark” so entertaining. There are chases, harrowing near-misses, hidden passages and ancient secrets - all the essential elements of boyhood adventures and thrilling movie adventure. There is also plenty of comedy, with Serkis' talkative, forgetful Haddock particularly good and the small role for the silliness of Pegg and Frost right behind that. Although the original Tintin comics have some political commentary on their 1930s-1940s world, no need to worry about that for this film, which is just adventure and colorful Dickens-like characters.

But it is the visual aspect of the film that is really breathtaking. The combination of motion capture and animation, combined with 3D, makes this innovative film visually striking. The characters are produced with motion capture to create realistic body movement but then changed to make them into cartoon characters, a more pleasing look that mirrors the original comics. But retaining the more natural appearance in other aspects makes the action in the film grippingly realistic, allowing stunts that can only be done in animation to be startlingly real. It is a wild, heart-pounding adventure.

Along with Martin Scorsese's “Hugo,” it is the best use of 3D since “Avatar.” Still, it is the innovative technique of motion capture and animation that will likely pepper future films, despite the new ruling for the Oscars that motion capture is not animation.

“Adventures of Tintin” is great family entertainment, the kind of film that both kids and parents will truly enjoy.

© Cate Marquis


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Fincher's pared-down 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' delivers thrills

Rooney Mara stars in Columbia Pictures' "THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO," also starring Daniel Craig. PHOTO BY: Baldur Bragason COPYRIGHT: © 2011 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

by Cate Marquis

Director David Fincher's English-language remake of the Swedish-language thriller “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is a more pared-down thriller, starring “James Bond's” Daniel Craig as the journalist-turned-detective and Rooney Mara as the tattooed, pierced computer hacker girl.

Those who have not seen the 2009 film based on the late Stieg Larson's bestseller will not be able to make mental comparisons to the original “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” which is a good thing. Those who did see that kick-ass film may miss its complexity, as the story loses much of its convoluted mystery, the journalist's back-story and details of just how creepy the family being investigated really is. But mostly those viewers will miss the riveting Noemi Rapace as a darker, scarier version of Lisbeth Salander.

Still, this English version is a heck of a pulse-pounding action film. The photography and settings are effectively eerie and the film moves at a brisk pace. There are plenty of suspense and action, and the new version still includes the harrowing rape scenes from the original film.

Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is hired by aging business powerhouse Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to investigate a 40-year-old mystery - the disappearance of his favorite great-niece. Henrik suspects a member of his wealthy, powerful but not-so-nice family in the disappearance of teenaged Harriet, who vanished without a trace from the family's island compound. Although Henrik believes she is dead, what exactly happened is not clear and the mystery still haunts Henrik.

Blomkvist is still smarting from a legal run-in with another wealthy CEO, libel charges for publishing insufficiently-documented accusations in his investigative journalism magazine. But Vanger offers enough money to persuade the nearly-broke Blomkvist to research the facts behind the girl's disappearance. A bonus for Blomkvist is the help of a research assistant - a brilliant, taciturn young computer security expert with a multiple piercings and tattoos named Lizbeth Salander (Rooney Mara).

Despite their wealth and prestige, the Vangers are a sinister lot. Family members were Nazi sympathizers during WWII, which few of them now acknowledge, and there are other rumors of unsavory behavior. The family members are not close, to put it mildly, although most are living separate lives in widely scattered homes on the sprawling family estate on an isolated island deep in the Swedish back country. Among the family members scattered about the compound are Harriet's brother Martin (Stellan Skarsgard) and her cousin Anita (Joely Richardson).

Fincher's English-language version quickly re-caps most of the story's complex mystery, with its numerous red herrings and Nazi subplot, leaving just the last piece of the puzzle to solve. The more straight-forward thriller story allows the film's focus to fall more on the relationship between the journalist Mikael and the aloof young computer genius Lizbeth.

Despite her youth, Salander has mysterious past that made her a ward of the state, with an oily, sadist guardian (Yorick van Wageningen) to whom she must report. Rooney Mara's Salander is the quieter, more polite version of the character Rapace played in the earlier version. Mara's Salander tends to fade into the background despite her striking appearance, making her more an enigma than Rapace's more menacing, charismatic hacker. Mara is prettier and her shier version of the character will appeal to some. While Rapace's Salander's scarier facade keeps us from guessing her tragic history, Mara's more vulnerable Salander immediately invites those assumptions.

Overall, the acting is good, although there is less for supporting actors to work with. Daniel Craig creates a rather different Blomkvist, less shattered by his recent brush with vengeful power. Craig is better known for playing James Bond but had a string of other excellent action roles before that, in films such as “Layer Cake.”

How one feels about Fincher's “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” likely depends on what one thought of the first version or if one saw it. Those who loved the first “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” will be less enthralled with this version but those who were less enamored with it might be more please with this one. Otherwise, audiences coming to this tale for the first time should be caught up in the story of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.”

© Cate Marquis

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Michelle Williams amazes as Monroe in “My Week With Marilyn”

Eddie Redmayne as Colin Clark, Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller and Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in Simon Curtis's film MY WEEK WITH MARILYN. Photo by: Laurence Cendrowicz/ The Weinstein Company

by Cate Marquis

Nothing evokes the late '50s-early '60s era like the Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Unless it is Marilyn Monroe.

Michelle Williams is luminous as Marilyn Monroe, in the new movie “My Week With Marilyn.” Based on a memoir by a young assistant on the film “The Prince and the Showgirl,” where Monroe co-starred and was directed by Shakespearean great-turned-movie-star Lawrence Olivier.

Kenneth Branagh is fabulous as well as Olivier, in what turns out to be a fascinating film about the clash of two stars.

The film opens with Williams in one of Monroe's signature songs and dance production numbers, channeling the star in an eerie good performance. Marilyn Monroe was, and remains, the movie icon of her time, the curvy blonde sex goddess of the silver screen, but also a tragic, vulnerable figure who continues to haunt and inspire. Additionally, Monroe was married to baseball legend Joe DiMaggio at his peak and then playwright Arthur Miller, author of “The Crucible” and “Death of a Salesman,” perhaps the most iconic playwright of his time.

“My Week With Marilyn” focuses on the time when Monroe was newly married to the playwright, and working on a movie with another legend, Lawrence Olivier.

The film is based on the memoir of Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), a 23-year-old from an aristocratic British family, who lands a job as an assistant to Olivier, the co-star and director of the movie featuring the two luminaries. Hailed as the greatest stage actor of his time, Olivier sought movie stardom was well. Married to Vivian Leigh (Julia Ormond), the beautiful Scarlett of “Gone With The Wind,” the aging Olivier now declined to cast his talented wife, preferring younger leading ladies for his films.

“The Prince and the Showgirl” was the lightest of comedies. Both stars are eager to work together, Monroe because she seeks legitimacy as a serious actress and Olivier because he longs for popular movie star status, after so long as the reigning king of the British stage. But as the young narrator notes early on, neither gets what they hoped for with this film.

But it does make for an entertaining story. The film actually does a good job of capturing the foibles and personalities of these two legendary stars, as well as their professional clashes. Marilyn arrives late, with “Method” acting coach Paula Strasberg (Zoe Wanamaker) in tow, outraging Olivier, who disdains “the method.” Monroe also arrives with new husband Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott).

Branagh delivers a wonderful, entertaining performance as Olivier, frustrated by Monroe's lateness, forgotten lines and emotional meltdowns. The egotistical Olivier has his own emotional meltdowns, with verbal tantrums as he tries to find the clue to a happy, compliant Marilyn.

There is also a fabulous supporting cast playing various actors, assistants or production staff. Dame Judi Dench plays co-star Sybil Thorndike, a wiser head on set. Toby Jones and Dominic Cooper play assistants swirling around the stars, while Derek Jacobi portrays one of several British aristocrats hovering around the production. Emma Watson does well in a featured role as a wardrobe assistant.

Photography is beautiful and the film is lush with period style. Costumes are gorgeous and some of the story takes place in lovely English mansions and countryside. A significant amount of the film was shot on locations at Pinewood Studios where “Prince and the Showgirl” was filmed.

As things get tense between the insecure Monroe and the overbearing Olivier on set, Monroe plays hooky with young Colin, after her exasperated husband flees to New York.

Williams is breathtaking as the legendary Marilyn, capturing her mix of sexiness and child-like innocence, her insecurity and magic on camera. But Williams also conveys Monroe's guile and ambition.

“My Week With Marilyn” has all one might want in Hollywood fantasy - an intriguing, well-acted story about the clash of two cinema giants, set in a jewel-like world of 1956 glamor. “My Week With Marilyn” is worth the splurge for the big screen experience.

© The Current   Reprinted with permission.

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'The Descendents' have trouble in paradise but are headed for Oscar

George Clooney as Matt King and Shailene Woodley as Alexandra, Fox Searchlight's THE DESCENDENTS. PHOTO BY: Merie Wallace © Fox Searchlight.

by Cate Marquis

Grade: A

George Clooney gives the best performances of his career in “The Descendents,” a drama/comedy from “Sideways” writer/director Alexander Payne about a Hawaiian family, The film is the leading contender to win big in Oscar gold.

George Clooney stars as Matt King, a man coping with caring for his two daughters after a boating accident puts his wife in a coma. At the same time, King's family is debating selling a large chunk of land they inherited as descendants of both Hawaiian royalty and American missionaries.

As Clooney's Matt tells us near the film's start, living in a beautiful place like Hawaii does not mean their lives are untouched by life's tragedy - cancer, poverty, trash and urban decay.

“The Descendants” features very real people in real-life situations. Like “Sideways,” situations that sound like pure drama often have absurd, even comic elements, just as they do in real life.

Matt King describes himself as the “back-up parent,” who concentrated on his law practice while leaving the raising of their two daughters to his wife.

Things in Matt's family had not been going well even before the accident. Rebellious seventeen-year-old daughter Alex (Shailene Woodley) has been sent off to a boarding school, while ten year old Scottie (Amara Miller) has become increasingly sassy and difficult. Meanwhile Matt and his wife have drifted apart, with Elizabeth spending much of her time engaged in risky sport activities.

In fact, the film opens with footage of Patricia Hastie as Elizabeth King, reveling in the thrill of a speedboat ride, creates an image of an active risk-taker that lingers in the mind throughout the film.

While King is coping with his personal tragedy, he is faced with resolving a thorny land issue. King's extended family are the descendents of a Hawaiian princesses, one of the last descendents of the great King Kamehameha, and the son of American missionaries. The family holds in a joint trust the last big parcel of undeveloped Hawaiian land but changes in the law are forcing them to sell.

Their parcel of land represents the largest, last remaining piece of undeveloped land in the islands. Since it is the legacy of Hawaiian royalty, everyone he meets seems to feel they have the right to tell Matt what the King family ought to do with it.

The American missionaries and Hawaiian royalty story is a central one in Hawaii history. While the film alludes to it briefly, mostly this is a more personal story of this family.

Elizabeth's coma reveals some unpleasant facts about her, setting Matt off on a quest for answers, with Scottie, Alex and Alex's stoner friend Sid (Nick Krause) in tow.

The story has the absurdity that real life often has, where tragedy is no shield against the intrusion of banal problems. It is the total believability of Matt and his daughters, and their relationship, that makes this film work as both drama and comedy.

Like “Sideways,” this story is peppered with colorful characters and wonderful performances. Elizabeth's doting, combative elderly father (Robert Forester) clearly resents Matt, while his daughter could do no wrong. Beau Bridges is marvelous as Matt's cousin Hugh, a long-haired man in a flowered shirt whose laid-back manner conceals a more calculating mind.

Of course, the physical world around them is gorgeous, as it the polished cinematography. If this film does not make you long to visit Hawaii, it is not clear what would.

“The Descendants” is filled with great performances and features a great script. But what will really stick with viewers is how real these people are and the unexpected humor and touching moments in this wholly real-world story. The story has lessons of both sticking together as a family and being true to oneself but wrapped in the more charming and appealing of packages. There could hardly be a better film for a season that brings families together.

© The Current. Reprinted with permission

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'Rum Diary' charms with Depp as pre-Gonzo Thompson-like character

by Cate Marquis

“Rum Diary” is a worthy film adaptation of an early novel by Hunter S. Thompson, which describes the authors evolution into the gonzo journalist.

Johnny Depp plays the Hunter Thompson character, young journalist Paul Kemp, who travels to Puerto Rico in 1960 to take a job at a dying newspaper.

That Depp actually befriended Thompson doubtless adds depth to his portrayal. Although Depp occasionally slips into a bit of Jack Sparrow persona, he gives a better performance in the more dramatic scenes and when called on to be deadpan as the more normal one in the room.

And there are some very colorful characters at this island newspaper. Richard Jenkins plays the toupee-ed editor-in-chief Lotterman. Lotterman cannot seem to see the near revolution happening under the paper's office window but he is really focused on covering bowling. Jenkins' comments on keeping his struggling newspaper business sound strangely contemporary.

Lotterman's biggest concern is not to hire another drunken journalist, the kind that seem to fill his newsroom. Kemp's new assignment: writing horoscopes, with the help of a little reference book.

Kemp looks a little dazed although he is grateful to have a job. Michael Rispoli plays Sala, a photographer who becomes Kemp's companion and adviser on the inside scoop at the paper and island life. Like most of the paper's writers, he is just holding on for a payout when the paper eventually goes under. Giovanni Ribisi plays drunken Moberg, more a rumor than a writer at the newspaper, unless it is payday. Ribisi's Moberg turns out to be the strangest guy in the room.

In this decaying world, the charming, affluent, wheeler-dealer Sanderson (Aaron Eckert) looks like an appealing option, as does his gorgeous girlfriend Chenault (Amber Heard).

This whole story is set against an island backdrop that is part paradise, part political powder keg, Puerto Rico in the early '60s. Director Bruce Robinson, who also adapted the screenplay from Thompson's novel, strikes just the right tone that balance the serious and comic. The film is a kind of love letter to Thompson, as he describes the forces that created the gonzo journalist.

Anyone expecting the kind of hallucinatory outlandishness of the film version of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” is in for a surprise. While there are tales of drunkenness and general craziness, the whole film is much more grounded in the real world, and therefore more human and believable. It is a tale of a youthful experience in a strange land.

Taking a more realistic cinematic approach actually makes the outrageous much more so when it does happen. However, this is more a drama with humorous scenes, and the film does not shy away from exploring ethics, corruption, friendship and journalism.

Depp plays Kemp as a young, serious journalist, trying to find his place in the world. He may have a bit of a drinking problem but nowhere in the same league with some his new coworkers. The scruffy Sala takes Kemp in hand, tipping him off not to notice Lotterman's bad toupee, steering him away from the stumbling Moberg, who has a stunning vocabulary despite being in last throws of alcoholism and trying to clue him in about the charming yet treacherous Sanderson. On the other hand, Sala entices him into sharing his crumbling apartment, takes him on trips to cock-fights and drunken outings in his tiny dilapidated car.

Depp is overall very good as Thompson stand-in Kemp, especially where he does not feel compelled to play comic. Kemp is the island of sanity in this strange place. Ribisi is brilliant as the weird Moberg, who stumbles around in a robe and yet spouting erudite verbiage as he debauches. Likeable, overly confident Sala is the kind of guy who comes up with great ideas, that step by step go very wrong.

But the island scenery is lovely, especially at Sanderson's beach side home. Sanderson lures Kemp with a lucrative job writing copy for a real estate scheme brochure and the loan of a red sports car. Kemp's behavior is impeccably polite but the young writer cannot take his eyes off Sanderson's lively blonde girlfriend Chenault.

The film is just good storytelling but the film has depth as well, touching on issues of the haves and have-nots, greed and responsibility, and the duty of journalists to tell the truth.

Overall, “Rum Diary” is surprisingly involving film, a worthy adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's novel.

© THE CURRENT  Reprinted with permission
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Surprising '50/50' finds the truth, humor in facing cancer

by Cate Marquis

Grade: B +

A young man with a cancer diagnosis seems like an unlike basis for a comedy yet writer Will Reiser turned his own real-life bout with cancer into just that in “50/50.”

With a strong cast headed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, “50/50” finds the dry humor and heart in coping with a scary disease, while avoiding tear-jerking or false-seeming sentiment.

And who better to find that perfect balance than someone who has gone through that battle themselves? Will Reiser's personal experience enables “50/50” to find the humor in enduring chemo, the laughter in friendships formed with fellow patients and the embarrassments of the many indignities of the disease.

Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a quiet, unassuming 27 year-old who is so cautious that he will not even jaywalk. Life is good for Adam. He has a job he likes at NPR, a beautiful girlfriend named Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard) and longtime buddy Kyle (Seth Rogen) to hang out with, who helps Adam stay in touch with the goofy side. Doing the right thing is Adam's mantra. He recycles, flosses, eats right and exercises. It may not be exciting but Adam has a smug confidence that his play-it-safe approach protects him from life's worst.

The last thing he expects is a cancer diagnosis. His chances are put at 50 percent - 50/50.

Facing that shock with him are a host of beginners feeling their way through this very foreign territory. His support group includes his impulsive, crude friend Kyle, who thinks his buddy's cancer diagnosis is a good pick up hook for pity sex, his flighty, artsy girlfriend Rachel and his overbearing, nervous mother (Angelica Huston) who wants to hover over her only child. Add to the mix a newbie therapist named Katherine (Anna Kendrick) plus a host of incomprehensible doctors and a large confusing treatment facility. Everyone wants to be supportive but figuring it out is tough.

It is all so absurd, Adam has to laugh, which, as the saying goes, is the best medicine. Tragedy and comedy have always been closely linked, something exploited by earliest comic masters like Charlie Chaplin. “50/50” is about friendship, survival and love, all in one unexpectedly funny, touching and true package. There is not one false emotional note in this funny, human story.

The real-life based script is a great asset but so is the amazing cast. Joesph Gordon-Levitt continues to astound as an actor, giving Adam just the right doses of appealing vulnerability, irritability and hidden inner strength as he learns to let others help in their own odd ways. His character is always fully human, always complex, never pat and predictable.

Seth Rogen's comic instincts soar, but his character is also nuanced and surprisingly complicated. Few of the people turn out as you expect, with strong ones buckling and weak ones standing up, just as real life brings out the unexpected in people. Angelica Huston is wonderful as Adam's mother, with whom Adam has a prickly relationship, Anna Kendrick is a charming mix of warmth, well-meant missteps and disorganization.

The film is never maudlin and comedy is its heart. Yet sometimes one can express truth better with humor. The film avoids all the expected cliches and is always clear-eyed and honest. The guys Adam meets during chemo become like buddies at a favorite bar, trading jokes and insider tales about life with cancer. They also become like war buddies, trading quips with a similar dark humor and an acknowledgment that not all will survive. However this is a comedy, so do not look for gritty medical realistic details of the course of treatment and the disease. Those matters are handled with some taste and restraint.

“50/50” is a sure winner with audiences and likely to garner some Oscar buzz, especially for its gifted cast. Funny yet inspiring, “50/50” is accessible to those who have not experienced cancer yet true enough for those who have. It features brilliant acting and an inspired comedy script, present with a sure directorial hand. “50/50” is a must-see film.

© The Current. Reprinted with permission.

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Helen Mirren dominates as ex-Mossad agent in 'The Debt'

by Cate Marquis

Three young Mossad agents returned to a heroes' welcome in Israel in 1965, from their mission to captured a Nazi war criminal, the notorious “Surgeon of Birkenau.” But on that long ago mission they made a pact and, now middle-aged, Rachel Singer (Helen Mirrren) and her two fellow agents find the debt must be paid.

“The Debt” is a historical spy thriller, told partially in flashback, about a long-ago secret mission by the still-new Mossad working for the young state of Israel. This English-language thriller is a remake of a 2007 Israeli film “Ha-Hov” (“The Debt”), a gripping psychological mystery/thriller, which played at the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival.

Re-making the story in English for a broader audience than the Hebrew-language original could reach, “The Debt” is directed by John Madden, who also helmed “Shakespeare In Love.” Madden stays fairly close to the original plot, although the director had not seen the original film when he was given the script. However, there are changes and the tone of the film is shifted from a mystery with psychological thriller notes to a more pure spy thriller.

The cast is top-notch. Helen Mirren stars as the now-retired agent Rachel who, in 1997, has made a career by trading on her fame for the storied mission. Fellow agent Stephan Gold (Tom Wilkinson) has risen to the top of Mossad. Meanwhile, the third team member, David Peretz (Ciaran Hinds), has wandered the world, dabbling in various work, never fully recovering from their harrowing mission.

Read more at the St. Louis Jewish Light by clicking on link below:

http://www.stljewishlight.com/features/entertainment/article_3875cbba-d3de-11e0-aa90-001cc4c03286.html

Read my interview with the film's director John Madden by clicking on link below:

http://www.stljewishlight.com/features/entertainment/article_a54fb288-d3dd-11e0-ad17-001cc4c03286.html

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Rudd, Deschanel, Mortimer, Coogan are all hilarious in satiric 'Our Idiot Brother'

by Cate Marquis

Grade: B +

Every family has one: the relative who is a bit of an idiot. “Our Idiot Brother” explores that notion in tongue-in-cheek, satiric fashion, with a plot that mixes Chechov's “Three Sisters,” a bit of “Candide” and a comedic take on Dostoevsky's “The Idiot.” Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer, Hugh Dancy and Steve Coogan star in this oft-silly audience-pleasing comedy that debuted at Sundance as “My Idiot Brother.”

Paul Rudd plays sweet but clueless stoner Ned, an organic farmer who gets busted for giving, not selling, pot to a cop at a farmer's market. Released early from prison for good behavior, his dreadlocked girlfriend Janet (Kathryn Hahn) does not want him back, although she keeps his dog, Willie Nelson. Ned ends up staying at the family home on Long Island with mom, then couch-surfing at the homes of his three sisters in New York, where his sunny view of humanity and unfiltered honesty constantly cause problems.

There is a bit of the “Big Lebowski's” Dude in sweet Ned but he is more committed to his gentle life philosophy of assuming the best of everyone. While Ned has chosen the road less cynical and is the sibling with the least, there is plenty of idiocy of other kinds to go around among these East Coast trust-funders. Liz (Emily Mortimer) is the earth-mother wife of documentary filmmaker Dylan (Steve Coogan). Artsy bi-sexual Natalie (Zooey Deschanel) lives a sociable bohemian life with lawyer girlfriend Cindy (Rashida Jones). Ruthlessly ambitious, always-connected magazine writer Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) is willing to whatever it takes to land a gig at Vanity Fair. Even their wine-loving Long Island suburban mother Ilene (Shirley Knight) is a bit loopy.

The sisters reluctantly help out by offering sofas and job leads. Dylan finds Ned work on his film shoot, a documentary about an abused, beautiful Russian ballerina. Youngest sister Natalie gets him a job modeling for artist friend Christian (Hugh Dancy). But well-meaning Ned's blunt honesty causes disruptions in every sister's life. He always seems to say or do the wrong thing at the worst moment.

Unlike so many comedies, this one is sweet rather than raunchy. The comedy is dry and straight-faced but situations are absurdly hilarious. The truth is that his sisters need a shake-up and there is a kind of Zen wisdom in Ned's life view.

The talented cast is this comedy's greatest strength. Rudd is utterly charming, as well as very funny, as a well-meaning, basically-happy innocent leaving disaster in his wake. Actually, the whole cast is wonderful in this satiric silliness, particularly Steve Coogan as the impatient, self-impressed director. Deschanel is delightfully ditzy and Banks is breathlessly driven. As an ensemble, they are hilarious.

Directed and co-written by a brother-sister team, this sparkling, cheeky film gets the sibling dynamics right. Jesse Peretz directed and the script was co-written by his sister Evgenia Peretz, a writer/editor at Vanity Fair, along her husband, documentary filmmaker David Schisgall.

The film also hits the mark with characters, lampooning New York types - the artistic bohemian, the uber-mother, the pretentious filmmaker, the business woman grafted to her Blackberry, the affluent wine-drinking suburbanite - along with sincere organic farmer Ned. But the actors go far beyond those familiar stereotypes in crafting appealing characters.

The film's sunny, colorful visual style is the perfect tongue-in-cheek framing. The brother-sister writing/directing team clearly know this territory well. While the film runs a tad long, it wraps up in perfect, silly fashion.

“Our Idiot Brother” is a refreshing comic change from the pervasive bathroom and teenage boy humor. A light and silly satire of modern manners and families, “Our Idiot Brother” is comedy for grown-ups. Packed with winning performances by a talented cast, this late summer comedy treat is just the thing to close out the season at the movies.

© The Current

http://thecurrent-online.com/

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Sexy, quirky French romantic comedy 'Names of Love' explores multiculturalism

by Cate Marquis

The charming, intelligent French romantic comedy “Names of Love” has a great deal about the significance of names and what they say or don't say about one's heritage and family. Baya Benmahmoud (Sara Forestier) has a name no one else in France has, meaning she has to explain it constantly. Arthur Martin (Jacques Gamblin) has one of the most common names in France, meaning he is constantly mistaken for others.

Both names conceal and reveal things about them and their families. In Arthur's case, that his mother's parents were Jewish Greeks and his mother survived the Shoah in France as a hidden child. In Baya's case, that her father is from Algiers is in her name - although everyone seems to think the name is Brazilian - but that her mother is French shows in her looks.

This sexy, quirky comedy is delightfully funny and romantic yet “Names of Love” is also all about tolerance, diversity and cultural identity. It touches on anti-Semitism, Arab-Jewish relations and immigration, as well as the toxic nature of secrets and the scars of history.

Read more in the St. Louis Jewish Light by clicking on this link:
http://www.stljewishlight.com/features/entertainment/article_8f8fae44-ce79-11e0-aedb-001cc4c002e0.html

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'Point Blank' is non-stop crime thriller

by Cate Marquis

“Point Blank” is a crime thriller that runs full bore right out of the gate. This wild-ride of chase and thrills has a Hitchcockian everyman at its center, a male nurse who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets caught between warring crime figures.

How much talking do you need in a heart-stopping, kick-butt action thriller? Be honest - not much. Which is why the fact that the non-stop crime thriller “Point Blank” is French should not really matter to fans of the genre. Those who are not afraid of subtitles already know the French really know how to do edgy, breathless crime thrillers - having given us “La Femme Nikita,” and countless other gems of the genre.

Nurse Samuel (Gilles Lellouche) is assigned to care for an injured safe-cracker named Sartet (Roschdy Zem), whom the police nabbed in the midst of a crime. What the nurse does not know is that there are two sets of criminals who want the injured man and will do whatever it takes to get him.

Samuel's very pregnant wife (Elena Anaya) is kidnapped right out of their apartment and held hostage to force the nurse to deliver his patient to Sartet's associates. But the kidnappers are not the only ones who want to get their hands on the hospitalized criminal. This ordinary man finds himself in a race against time, rival criminals and trigger-happy police to save the lives of his wife and unborn child.

Directed by Fred Cavaye with producers Cyril Colbeau-Justin and Jean-Baptiste Dupont, this terrific race against time strips the genre down to basics but kicks up the thrill factor. The fact that the filmmakers eschew the over-the-top effects and go with more human, and therefore more visceral, stunt action makes the film feel fresh and make it highly entertaining.

The driving force of the film and the restless camera work mean heart-stopping near-misses are amped up. The whole film is aided by great editing and a driving score. The visuals are always perfect, which makes watching this film a special treat. Taut, spot-on acting helps complete the suspenseful mix.

Instead of the usual superhero fighting the baddies, there is something more tense and edgy about having an ordinary man forced to do extraordinary things, in the manner of classic Hitchcock thrillers.

This thriller runs like a train out of control, with hardly a pause in its twisting, turning path. If you like thriller action of the twisty-and-turning crime world type, where no one is what they seem and you never know when you are going over the next ledge, “Point Blank” is the film for you.

“Point Blank” is easily the most breathless and pulse-pounding fun of any action thriller in theaters now, which is worth reading a few subtitles. The film, in French with English subtitles, is now playing at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

© The Current / Cate Marquis

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Hathaway, Sturgess connect in romantic drama 'One Day'

by Cate Marquis

Grade: B

“One Day” follows a couple's off-and-on romance, friendship and lives, by giving a snapshot of their lives on the same day - the day they met - through twenty years. Starring American Anne Hathaway and Brit Jim Sturgess, this British-set tale is a three-hankie tearjerker. It is likely to please fans of “The Notebook” and other Nicholas Sparks adaptations, as well as some fans of the book, which bears the same name, from which this film was adapted. It is however not a film for every taste.

Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) meet on the day they graduate college, July 15, 1988. Although they attended the same university, Em comes from a working-class family in Northern England while Dex is a pampered child of privilege. What at first seems like a casual pick-up deepens into an unexpected friendship. Although they resolve to just be friends, an undercurrent of unspoken attraction remains.

There is romantic charm to both characters and some convincing chemistry between Hathaway and Sturgess. This is a laughter-and-tears tale, with each July 15 illustrating where they are in their lives, separate and together, and in their roller-coaster feelings for each other. The one-day-a-year technique - always the day they met - seems a bit contrived but works better in the film that expected. The film actually skips a year or two occasionally but does cover most of twenty years. The snapshots work well to cover a relationship that spans decades and the seasons of life.

Both the book and film are both set in England, which makes Anne Hathaway's wandering British accent is a major distraction. One has to wonder why the story was not re-set in the U.S. or a real British actress was not cast.

Apart from the indeterminate accent, Hathaway does well as the unassuming, self-effacing Emma. Hathaway is undeniably cute as Emma, an unconventional aspiring-poet, although having the beautiful Hathaway play what seems to be a role as a less-attractive woman is a bit unconvincing.

Audiences may recognize Sturgess from the Beatles pic “Across the Universe,” or possibly the adventure film “The Way Back” earlier this year. The actor is very good as the not-always-good Dexter.

The supporting cast is good, particularly Patricia Clarkson as Dexter's mother, although the episodic nature of the film makes character development in supporting roles a bit limited.

Visually, the film is very appealing - pretty people in pretty places - as befits this kind of romantic tale. Much of the story takes place in London but it also roams to Paris and other beautiful spots. The film also offers a bit of a cultural tour of the '90s and '00s, with fashions and fads appearing and fading.

Director Lone Scherfig's film is reasonably faithful to the novel's story but lacks its depth. Skipping from year to year gives one a sense of always skimming over the surface of the characters' emotional lives. Beyond their relationship, the film does not offer much insight on life, despite the sometimes devastating events the characters go through. While the yearly snapshot is a fresh approach to the relationship storytelling and the acting is good, in the end the film is far less profound than it could have been.

Although the long time-line gives the story a touch of epic and there are comic moments, at heart it is simply a good tearjerker. For fans of “The Notebook” and similar romantic dramas, “One Day” is just the ticket.

© The Current / Cate Marquis

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Sundance film 'Another Earth' offers human drama set in absurd sci-fi concept

by Cate Marquis

“Another Earth,” an indie film that was a prize winner at Sundance, crafts a human drama of two people linked by a tragic event but slips out of orbit by framing it with a preposterous science fiction concept.

On the night that beautiful young Rhoda Williams (co-writer Brit Marling) graduates high school with honors, poised to study astrophysics at MIT, a new planet is discovered in the solar system. A graduation party followed by a momentary distraction as she gazes up at the newly-discovered planet while driving leads to a tragic accident. The accident leaves two people with ruined lives - Williams, now headed to jail instead of college, and John Burroughs (William Mapother), a successful compose musician at the height of his career, whose family is killed.

Years later, released on parole, the once-promising scholar is reconciled to her life in the working class as an ex-con. Haunted by regret, she tracks down the man whose family was killed, perhaps to seek forgiveness. Confronted with a broken man whose life is as shattered as her own, instead of the rehearsed apology, she offers to clean his disheveled house.

Where the indie drama “Another Earth” focuses on the human interactions between a young woman whose early mistake ruined lives and her longing to make amends, it succeeds. The problem is the preposterous science fiction premise of a mirror earth bearing down on our planet.

The science fiction premise centers on a newly found planet that suddenly appears in the sky, moving ever closer to Earth. As it approaches it becomes clear that it mirrors our own planet. Oddly, this twin planet apparently on a collision course with Earth engenders only curiosity in the people of our Earth. Its gravitational pull seems to have no effect on tides or anything else.

While parallel realities is an old science fiction standby, this one simply tosses out all reality and physics in embarrassing fashion.

The film seems to be stretching for a sense of mystery with the looming second Earth. The image of the twin Earth hovering in the sky is haunting and evokes a sense of wonder. However, this human drama of unspoken guilt, unpurged grief and hoped-for atonement really would have been enough with just of sprinkling of “what-if.” Instead, director/co-writer Mike Cahill and co-writer Marling graft on a science fiction premise that is so wildly absurd as to be embarrassing, even laughable.

The characters are well-drawn and the story of a tragedy that links them makes the drama engrossing. There is a certain crackling energy between these two damaged people and the tension is underscored by the unspoken truth. The film is well-shot, occasionally with lyrical imagery, but essentially it is an actors' film.

However, the baldfaced scientific absurdity of the approaching twin planet undermines the film's serious tone. It really adds nothing to the story's human drama and mostly its improbability distracts and irritates.

As a human drama, “Another Earth” is worthwhile but jettisoning the unneeded and awkward science fiction frame would have made it a better one. “Another Earth” is now playing at the Tivoli Theater.

© Cate Marquis

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'Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes' soars on ground-breaking visual effects

by Cate Marquis

Grade: B+

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” delivers fully on fans' expectations, an origin story that is a great reboot of the series, with ground-breaking and stunning visual effects.

Weta Digital, the special-effects team behind “Lord of the Rings” and “Avatar,” offer another technical feat, motion-capture digital creatures on a real-world landscape.

But this is also just good movie-making. As an origin story, it is near-prefect, creating a great cautionary tale while outlining about how ape domination of the earth arose.

The first “Planet of the Apes” film was a ground-breaker in prosthetic makeup. This new technology takes it to the next plateau, giving us ape characters that are eerily human and undeniably convincing.

“Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes” proves that “Avatar's” impact was more in its ground-breaking motion capture performances than its 3D effects. Since “Avatar,” there have been a string of 3D movies, none as impressive. Clearly, the real break-through was motion-capture, which captures the nuances of an actor's performance and translates that into an animated creation. Instead of “Avatar's” fantasy world, this film takes place in a real-world San Francisco. It is a far more difficult feat but the result is remarkable.

The film's main character is actually an ape named Caesar (Andy Serkis), raised by Will Rodman (James Franco), a scientist working for pharmaceutical company Gen-Sys. Will is researching a gene-therapy cure for Alzheimer’s, a disease that afflicts his father Charles (John Lithgow). Will lives for his work but is close to his father, once a gifted musician, and has moved into his father's home to care for him.

One drug, ALZ-112, shows promising results in a chimp named Bright Eyes (Terry Notary). Eager to start human clinical trials, Will pressures his boss Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo) into a presentation for potential investors. The presentation is a disaster and his furious boss orders the program shut down and the animals euthanized. Breaking all rules, Will secretly takes home an orphaned infant chimp, naming him Caesar.

Will teaches the chimp sign language and Caesar soon shows signs of advanced intelligence. Pushing aside ethics, Will smuggles out samples of ALZ-112 and continues his research on his father and the chimp. A zoo primatologist named Caroline (Frieda Pinto) becomes Caesar's vet.

All goes well until an unexpected event sends Caesar to a primate facility run by John Landon (Brian Cox) and his sadistic son Dodge (Tom Felton, “Harry Potter's” Draco Malfoy). There, Caesar learns about the crueler side of humans and meets fellow apes, including former circus orangutan Maurice (Karin Konovak).

Andy Serkis deserves much credit for the remarkable ape character, as the power of the motion-caption effect depends on having a stunning performance to capture. Serkis is the same gifted physical actor who brought Gollum to life in the “Lord of the Rings” films. Terry Notary, who worked with Cirque du Soliel, serves as stunt coordinator in addition to playing two apes.

Franco, Pinto, Lithgow and other actors all craft characters we care about but the story's focus is on the apes in this cautionary tale about unintended consequences and greed out-running precautions. History is full of such stories, about exotic species introduced, for well-meaning reasons but with disastrous results. The science is fairly realistic, or at least not laughable.

“Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes” may be the entertainment movie event of the summer, with outstanding technical aspects, affecting characters and thought-provoking story. It is a must-see on a big screen and needs no 3D to boost its impact.

© The Current (reprinted with permission)

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Western/sci-fi 'Cowboys and Aliens' delivers lots of chases, little originality


by Cate Marquis

“Cowboys and Aliens” is a great movie title and an intriguing concept - alien invaders in the Old West. Mixing the Western and sci-fi genres has potential to yield something new but add a cast featuring “James Bond” star Daniel Craig and “Indiana Jones” star Harrison Ford, plus big-budget visual effects and seasoned director Jon Faveau, and how could it miss?

Yet “Cowboys and Aliens” is a near-miss, a moderately entertaining action film, What was billed as the movie event of the summer turned out to be surprisingly standard. Sure, the effects are great, there are plenty of chases (nearly non-stop in fact), a beautiful leading lady and lots of stuff blows up but there is little plot or character development.

Among the film's problems are its unflinching seriousness. Employing a number of Western cliches, and sampling several other films cries out for a bit of tongue-in-check levity. Rather than the sense of fun in modern Western classic “Silverado,” “Cowboys and Aliens” is usually as deadly serious as another modern classic Western, “Unforgiven.”

The film does start with promise. A cowboy (Daniel Craig) wakes up alone out in the Western scrub, bleeding from a wound in his side and with a mysterious, very un-1880s metal bracelet on his arm. He has no memory of how he got there or even who he is. Along come a trio of tough-looking hombres, who hatch a plan to take him prisoner, in case there might be a bounty on his head. It does not work out as planned.

Eventually, the nameless cowboy makes his way to the nearest town, Absolution. He is befriended by a local preacher but the stranger quickly becomes embroiled in a standoff with the town bully, Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano). Percy is the spoiled, hot-headed son of the local cattle baron Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), who rules the town with an iron fist.

Among the few townsfolk willing confront Percy are Doc (Sam Rockwell), the the town's bespectacled saloon-keeper/doctor (one of the most improbable job combinations ever) and aging sheriff Taggert (Keith Caradine). When Percy is arrested, Dolarhyde's Native American hired hand Nat Colorado (Adam Beach), who was tasked with keeping an eye on the boss' son, rushes back with the news.

The stranger's refusal to be bullied catches the eye of gun-slinging Ella (Olivia Wilde), who quizzes the amnesic cowboy on what he can remember of his past. He does no know his own name but it quickly surfaces that he may be a wanted man.

Having set up this mostly-familiar Western scenario, the brewing showdown takes a sudden turn - when alien spaceships show up, blowing up cattle, strafing the town and snatching residents with sky-hooks.

Of course, you knew there would be aliens. Apart from them, “Cowboys and Aliens” is packed with Western stereotypes, with town's decent folk residents cowering in fear of the cattle baron and his weak-bully son, the aging sheriff trying to do right, drunken cowboys, outlaw gangs and the stranger in town changing the odds. The aliens part is weaker and seems less thought-out, although it also samples its genre. The film's first scenes also have a lot of “Bourne Identity” and one could easily list other films that have been tapped to build this film.

While the film starts well, it then fails to catch fire. Make no mistake, “Cowboys and Aliens” does offer some fun, mostly in the action sequences. The film looks great, of course, with terrific effects, perfect Western details and top-notch production values. As long as everyone is shooting and running and things are blowing up, all goes well.

For some audience members, that will be enough. But having raised expectations by its ad campaign, the lack of story development and stop-and-go pacing may leave for other film-goers fidgeting and wondering 'why?' Why are these aliens here? Why are they kidnapping people. The answers given are lame and unsatisfying.

Director Jon Faveau plays this mix of genres and stereotypes with near-complete straight face, with hardly a drop of even comic relief on the dry landscape. A little more fun and a little more humor is needed if you are going to mix cowboys and aliens. The explanation for the aliens presence and their violent behavior is very thin but in a more rollicking action film, one would have hardly noticed.

Scenes ripe for comic fun are passed over yet there is not sufficient depth of character to really build drama. The scenes between Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde are among the best, mostly because there is a little humor. The actors give their best efforts and the script had potential, which means the blame for failing to make it all click has to rest with the director.

Despite its good cast and a clever concept, “Cowboys and Aliens” is only somewhat entertaining, a near-miss that could have been much more.

© Cate Marquis

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'Sarah's Key' is a beautifully shot, moving drama about little-known 1942 French round-up of Jews

by Cate Marquis

“Sarah's Key” is a beautifully-shot, deeply-moving and fairly faithful adaptation of Tatiana de Rosnay's novel about the little-known 1942 Vel d'Hiv Roundup, the round-up of Jews by the French under Nazi occupation.

This moving historic drama is a worthy film, one of two on the topic screening here. “Sarah's Key,” in French and English, with subtitles, opens Friday, July 29, at Plaza Frontenac Cinema. The other film, "The Roundup" ("La Rafle") is offered as a one-time screening the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival on August 4 (review and details below). Seeing both films is the best idea, giving one a fuller recount of historic events in "The Roundup" paired with one person's story and the aftermath of that history in "Sarah's Key."

American journalist Julia Jarmond (Kristen Scott Thomas) is researching for a magazine article on the La Rafle du Velodrome d'Hiv, which rounded up more than 13,000 Jews in Paris. Meanwhile, Julia and her French husband (Frederic Pierrot) are moving into a Paris apartment that has been in her husband's family for years. During her research, Julia discovers a startling connection with one victim, a girl named Sarah.

In 1942, when the French police come to arrest her family, ten-year-old Sarah (Melusine Mayance) tells her younger brother to hide in the closet, promising to return and let him out. Instead of being released immediately, they are taken to the Velodrome d'Hiv, a sports stadium packed with other Jewish families.

Sarah's story is used to outline events of the round-up. The appalling conditions in the Velodrome may recall images of New Orleans' Superdome after Hurricane Katrina for many.

Like the novel, the film alternates between present and past, telling Sarah's story as the journalist uncovers information. Meanwhile, Julia's research also reveals long-buried secrets in her husband's family. Switching back and forth seems awkward at first but as the story begins to grip the viewer that sense dissipates.

Despite its subject, the film tells its tale with emotional restraint, avoiding sentimentality and letting events speak on their own. The film is unflinching but touching, and horrofic event are sometimes framed with moments of great visual beauty, such as when Sarah and another girl joyfully escape through a wheat field. Family secrets are a running theme in both stories, as are moral gray areas, twists of chance and unexpected outcomes.

Credit also must go to the splendid cast. The amazing, bilingual Kristen Scott Thomas serves as the voice of conscience, relentless in her pursuit of truth, but mirroring human feelings as startling facts are uncovered. Young Melusine Mayance is engaging as young Sarah, a child whose charm touches all around her.

We follow Sarah's story to adulthood, with Charlotte Poutrel playing the grown Sarah with appeal. Niels Arestrup and Dominique Frot are excellent as a French couple who help little Sarah, as is Aiden Quinn in a small but pivotal role.

Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner, who co-wrote the screenplay, was drawn to this novel in part by his own family history. His grandfather, a Jewish German living in France, was exposed by French and perished in a camp. Novelist de Rosney approved of Paquet-Brenner's adaptation, and even appears in the film as an extra.

Overall, "Sarah's Key" is a compelling dramatic film with a little introduction to a too-little-known historic event and a worthy adaptation of the novel. 

© Cate Marquis

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'La Rafle' is meticulously-researched drama about 1942 French roundup of Jews

by Cate Marquis

St. Louis Jewish Film Festival bonus film, Aug. 4, 2011

When the French government quickly surrendered to the invading Nazi German army, many French people were outraged. But other Frenchmen, the fascists, rejoiced and joined the Nazis in their evil plans.

The divided nature of the French response to the Nazis is one of the historic facts highlighted in the meticulously-researched historical drama “La Rafle” (“The Round Up”). This well-acted, well-made French film explores the events of the 1942 La Rafle du Velodrome d'Hiv, when French police rounded up French Jewish families in Paris.

The film is being offered as a bonus presentation of the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival. “La Rafle,” in French, German and Yiddish, with English subtitles, will be shown on August 4 at 7 p.m. at Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

“La Rafle” was extensively researched by Rose Bosch, who both directed and wrote the film, and her staff. As the film notes in its opening credits, everything in the film is true. In fact, it opens with black-and-white archival footage of Hitler touring the sights of Paris, before it shifts to color for the dramatized film.

The film begins shortly after the Nazi invasion but before the round-up and depicts the weeks after the round-up. It focuses on individual stories of a handful of children, their families and key individuals.

It depicts French government officials as they devise a plan to conform to the Nazis' directive to round-up and deport 24,000 Parisian Jews. To avoid further outraging the French people by deporting native-born French Jews, these officials devise a devil's bargain, to round up Jewish immigrants, even with French-born children. To increase the numbers detained, French police were told to round-up whole families, not just the men, and hold them in the Velodrome d'Hiv, or Winter Velodrome, an indoor bicycle track and stadium in Paris.

Eleven-year-old Jo Weismann (Hugo Leverdez), his friend Simon Zygler (Oliver Cywie) and friend's little brother Nono (played by twins Mathieu and Romain Di Concerto) shrug off the silly yellow stars and new rules for where they cannot go. Most of their French schoolmates, teachers and neighbors reassure them the Nazi-mandated rules mean nothing but other neighbors embrace the Nazi's hatred.

Melanie Laurent plays Annette Monod, a Christian nurse. After the round-up, she is assigned to assist Dr. David Sheinbaum (Jean Reno), the lone doctor helping the families who are warehoused in the Velodrome d'Hiv. They struggle to save lives in the crowded facility despite the summer heat, lack of food and water, and failing sanitation.

The thorough research means this film's damning retelling of the French government's complicity in what happened to the Jews in Paris is both unassailable and horrifying. However, the completeness of the historical details also at times bogs down the dramatic arc of the film, when the personal stories are put on hold periodically for exposition, detailing the actions of the French officials, Nazi leaders and lack of response by international organizations.

The film is well-acted and presented with polished production values. There are scenes in familiar, pretty Paris locations like Montmartre and often the bright, colorful look of these early scenes, as the children play in Parisian streets, seem incongruous or maybe ironic is a better way to see it.

The fine cast does a good job of keeping the drama of the film strong. Many of the cast, such as Melanie Laurent and Gad Elmaleh, are themselves Jewish.

Laurent, Reno and the child actors turn in moving performances, bring this gripping slice of history to life. Raphaelle Agogue plays Jo's sassy mother Sura Weismann and French Morrocan comedian Gad Elmaleh takes on a dramatic role as his upbeat, inspiring father Schmuel, a Polish-born communist, a role he handles with considerable charisma. Other actors in numerous smaller roles, all based on real people, are strong as well.

The film gives us a chilling glimpse of Hitler (Udo Schenk) relaxing with Eva Braun (Franziska Schubert) at his mountain top villa and parties while coolly conferring with Himmler (Thomas Darching) or issuing instructions to his underlings for the destruction of French Jews.

Turning the collected real stories into a coherent dramatic film is no small feat, and writer/director Bosch has to be given credit for packing in so many facts and personal stories. However, there are times when the plethora of information overwhelms the film's dramatic arc a bit at times, making one wonder if it might have worked better as documentary. Still, this is powerful stuff.

Overall, director Bosch and this excellent cast do well with the challenge of turning dry facts into heart-breaking drama. “La Rafle” is compelling as a lesson in overlooked history, often moving as drama and not a story one will soon forget.

© Cate Marquis

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'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan' is pretty, sentimental but shallow

by Cate Marquis

“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” tells parallel stories of two women friends, one pair in modern China and the other pair in 19th century China. Inspired by Lisa See's bestselling novel of the same name, the film has lush period costumes, an attractive cast and a romantic beauty. The film is pretty, sentimental and sweet but does not hold together very well dramatically.

“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” in English and Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, opens Friday, July 22, at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

The director is Wayne Wang, who also directed the equally pretty “Snow Falling On Cedars.” Reportedly, this Fox Searchlight film is a special project of Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch's much younger Chinese-born third wife, Wendi Murdoch. Wendi recently gained some notoriety when she lunged at a British comedian trying to throw a shaving cream pie in the face of her husband as he testified before Britain's Parliament.

The film varies considerably from the novel. The novel begins with an aged Lily in the early twentieth century remembering her own female friendship, her laotong. The movie starts with a modern-day pair reflect that historic story, which is now a novel written by one of the women, inspired by one of her own ancestors.

A laotong was a traditional lifelong friendship between two women. Girls were joined in a ceremony, like a marriage, but it was made for emotional support, something husbands did not offer Chinese women in arranged marriages in the male-dominated, misogynist society of 19th century China. Unlike marriage, this was a relationship of choice. Laotongs shared each other's deepest thoughts and communicated using a secret, women-only written language, nu shu. In this story, messages were written on the folds of white silk fans, sent back and forth between them.

In the film, we follow two pairs of women friends, one set in the 19th century and one contemporary. In both cases, one girl comes from a poor family while the other is affluent. As adults, their fortunes are reversed.

In the historic story, Lily (Li Bing Bing) and Snow Flower (Gianna Jun) are bound as laotongs shortly after their feet are bound. Their foot binding takes place on the same day and they are born under the same sign but their social status is very different. Snow Flower's family is high-born and wealthy, while Lily's family is poor. But Lily's perfect bound feet makes her eligible for an advantageous marriage.

The contemporary women, Nina (also played by Li Bing Bing) and Sophia (Gianna Yun), also meet as girls, when poor girl Nina is hired to tutor the affluent, Korean-born Sophia in Mandarin. Sophia lives with her father and difficult stepmother in posh surroundings, while good student Nina lives in a cramped, rundown apartment with her poor but loving parents (Shi Ping Cao and Ruija Zhang). An aunt (Vivian Wu) introduces the girls to the old idea of a laotong.

After teasing us with tidbits of the historic roles of women, the film settles on a more standard melodrama, as we follow the both pairs' diverging paths. Much of the feminist aspect of the book is shunted off to aside story about a female artist, leaving a central tale that is shallow and overly simple. There seems to be a studious effort to keep things on the surface, then generate an illusion of emotional depth with swelling music and tearful close-ups.

The acting is fine although the shallow story gives little to work with. Both lead actresses do well with what roles they have, trying to create a connection between the women. Hugh Jackman has a nice little cameo as Sophia's Australian boyfriend and Hu Qing Yun is fabulous as the angry, manipulative stepmother Mrs. Liao.

Locations, sets and costumes are wonderful, in both the modern and historic story lines, which is the film's greatest strength. Besides the lovely scenes in old China, there are telling shots of modern Shanghai, where old neighborhoods are reduced to rumble beneath soaring skyscrapers. The posh modern offices where successful business woman Lily works speak of China's rising prosperity.

In the end, the cast's efforts and the film's visual beauty are not enough to rescue it from its too-thin script and penchant for melodramatic simplicity.

The bottom line: “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” is pretty, sweet, sentimental but shallow, exchanging the book's exploration of women's place in 19th century China for a modern melodrama.

© Cate Marquis

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'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2' delivers winning finish for series

by Cate Marquis

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” delivers a winning finish for the wildly popular series.

While “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1” worked out the personal issues between the three friends Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), HP7 Part 2 refocuses on the main battle between good and evil. There as hardly a pause in the high-energy, gripping wizardly battles pile up. It all culminates in a showdown between Harry and the evil Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

Growing up from boy wizard to worthy opponent facing down forces of evil, Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, supported by loyal pals Emma Watson as Hermione Granger and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley have aged with the characters from J.K. Rowling's bestselling books. Well, a little ahead of them, but close enough to keep the ever darker-fantasy story convincing for fans.

The eighth and final film is more action-heavy with plenty of magic, which looks splendid in 3D. It ties up lose ends and resolves lingering mysteries, in a way faithful to the book. An epilogue brings us the characters twenty years on, a nice touch that helps bring everything together.

It is not just action, the film delivers on the emotional level too. This last installment is rated PG-13 for its higher level of violence, meaning it might be a bit strong for younger audiences. However, its is must-see for fans of the series films. The film assumes audience members are up to speed on the story, but few are likely to see this without having seen some of the franchise.

In wrapping up, major characters from earlier films in the series return, sometimes in flashbacks, along with a dazzling array of other lesser characters. It gives us a parting glimpse of the impressive, mostly British supporting cast that the series accumulated over the years. Besides Fiennes, Michael Gambon as Hogwarts' headmaster Dumbledore and Gary Oldman as Harry's ally Sirius Black reappear in brief parts. Other featured stars return, like Helena Bonham Carter as the weird Bellatrix Lestrange, Alan Rickman as the ever-shifting Snape and Robbie Coltrane as beloved half-giant Hagrid. This sterling cast also includes Jason Isaacs, Maggie Smith, Warwick Davis, Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt, David Thewlis, Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent and many others. All in all, it is a virtual who's who of great actors over its run.

Not surprisingly, the acting is surperb, driving the film's energy as much as the spectacular visual effects and the climax of the storyline. Alan Rickman has a featured role as Snape, allowing him to show off more of his remarkable acting range. The younger actors, such as Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), also rise to the moment.

The final film was directed by David Yates, who directed HP7, Part 1 and several other films in the series. The series' films have had a string of directors, including some impressive names. The changing directors actually may have helped keep the series fresh and appealing to a mix of audiences, although some of the film were better than others.

Breaking the final, longest book into two parts turned out to be the right decision, as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” has plenty of story to fill its entire running time. In fact, the popular series ends on a high note, with the last Harry Potter movie one of the best in the series.

© Cate Marquis

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'A Better Life' is goal of immigrant father for teen son

by Cate Marquis

“A Better Life” revisits one of Hollywood's oldest themes, the worthy immigrant struggling for a better life in America, but with a modern twist. Now the hope for the better life is less for the immigrant himself than for his son.

Carlos Galinda (Mexican star Demian Bichir) was dreaming of a better future for himself and his pregnant wife when they crossed the border from Mexico into America. With his son Luis (Jose Julian, making his feature film debut) now fifteen and his wife gone, Carlos is still struggling to make a living and give his son a better life. The father and son live in a tiny, rundown home and make do with little as the father toils long hours as an assistant to a gardener. With his son tempted by gang life in their working class neighborhood, he is tempted by an opportunity to have his own yard service. Yet things unexpectedly go wrong, leading the father and son on a search.

The acting is powerful and moving but the story is familiar. The worthy immigrant struggling in the new country is one of Hollywood's oldest themes, going back to Chaplin's “The Immigrant” and “The Jazz Singer.” Then as now, waves of immigration were transforming the nation. But in those earlier immigrant tales, the focus was the struggle between immigrant and the American-born offspring. That is part of this tale but it is transformed by adding the issue of illegal immigration.

But it is the acting that lifts this film. Actor Demian Bichir, who is a big star in his native Mexico although he is less known here, delivers a sharp and affecting performance as the stoic, devoted father Carlos. The chemistry between the two actors playing father and son is the right mix of affection and conflict, with the generational divide complicated by the cultural divide. Young Jose Julian as Luis holds his own against the more experienced actor, showing some on-screen charisma.

Carlos and Luis both speak English, although Luis' greater facility casts him as translator with the English speakers and Carlos' native tongue has him doing the same for his son in the world of newer migrants. Each brings a knowledge of their own worlds that makes them a team and strengthens the bond already between them.

Another of the film's strengths are the realistic sets and locations, enhanced by some fine photography. The cramped, shabby house where the father and son live very convincing. A scene where they visit a Mexican rodeo and fair, hoping to locate a man for whom they are searching, is a visually charming way to highlight the culture and values.

“A Better Life” clearly has a message, aiming to humanize the illegal immigrants living in the shadows of American cities. The problem is that the film's characters are so noble and flawless, that the film strays into stereotype and melodrama. The stoic, strong father is ever the worthy underdog and even the somewhat rebellious American-born son, with one foot on the path to gang membership, is a bit too perfect. The film's intentions may be well-meaning but its heavy-handed execution is unlikely to change many minds.

Still, “A Better Life” is a sweet, touching morality play, enhanced by fine acting and a nice touch of visual realism. However, those interested in seeing a more real-world, less-idealized immigrant story might want to check out the harrowing, moving “Sin Numbre” (“Without A Name”), although reading subtitles is required. “A Better Life” is sentimental and predictable, although it is lifted by fine acting and photography.

© Cate Marquis

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'Le Quarttro Volte' is wordless mediation on life set in Italian village

by Cate Marquis

“Le Quarttro Volte” is beautifully photographed, nearly wordless mediation on life, set in a small traditional Italian village. Inspired by the Pythagorean idea of a four-fold transmigration of the soul, from human to animal to vegetable to mineral, director Michelangelo Frammartino crafted a contemplative film in four parts. The film opened Friday, July 15, at the Tivoli Theater.

In the film, these aspects are represented by a elderly shepherd, a new-born goat, a stately pine tree and the charcoal produced by a small old-fashioned charcoal factory.

Although “Le Quarttro Volte” looks like a documentary, it is not. Actor Giuseppe Fuda plays an old shepherd, the film's major human character. The old shepherd lives alone at the edge of the village, in old stone house with his sheep dog and his goats.

The film moves full circle, starting and ending with the charcoal pits, and reversing cinematic expectations by starting with the human story and ending with the inanimate mineral. Each life - human, animal, plant and mineral - are given equal footing as characters. The theme is birth and dead in an endless cycle, little changed by the centuries.

Image is all in “Le Quattro Volte.” Snatches of dialog are just incidental, ambient sounds with no more need of translation than the barking of the dog.

The photography is stunning in its beauty, and a major reason to see this film. The pacing is stately, embracing the rhythms of the natural world, and what action takes place sometimes occurs suddenly, with the unsentimental force of nature itself.

Every day, the old shepherd follows the same routine, taking his flock to pasture and back. In the mornings, he delivers goat's milk to villagers and picks up a folk remedy for his cough at the church. The film's second cycle begins with the birth of a goat and follows the kid's growth and struggles to cope with its world. The third life is a large, stately fir tree, on a mountain side near the pasture. The tree passes through the seasons until the villagers cut it down for use in an ancient festival. After the festival, the tree goes to the charcoal makers, who use age-old techniques to convert the plant material to mineral matter - charcoal.

Milan-born director Frammartino studied architecture, which shows in the choice of shots and their composition. The film lovingly examines all of its physical space - the uneven, cobbled streets of the medieval village, the pastures and paths the flocks travel, the towering tree on its mountain side, and even the curling smoke of the charcoal makers.

Filmed in Calabria, an area of Southern Italy, the film presents both its little-changed landscape and some of its ancient traditions. The region was both the home to the Pythagorean school that inspired the filmmaker and where his family originated.

While the film is a contemplation on the seasons of life, it is not without dashes of humor, thanks to the shepherd's dog and the young goats.

Those with a love of beautiful photography, who are content with a languid pace with no need of plot, will embrace this gallery-like film. The beauty of the images and the contemplative, philosophical nature of this pseudo-documentary film makes it as much an art work as a film. The experience is certainly relaxing although this is hardly a life-changing work.

© Cate Marquis.

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'City Of Life And Death' movingly portrays infamous 'rape of Nanjing'


by Cate Marquis

Grade: A


“City of Life and Death” is a near-perfect, searing Chinese war movie about the infamous Japanese occupation of Nanjing pre-World War II. In English, Chinese and Japanese and with stunning wide-screen black and white cinematography that evokes archival war footage, it is both a striking historic epic and more personal testament to the horrors of war. “City of Life and Death” is as good a war film as any ever made.

“City of Life and Death,” in English, Chinese and Japanese with subtitles, opened July 8 at the Tivoli Theater.

The film depicts the infamous events known as “The Rape of Nanjing,” when the Imperial Japanese army conquered the Chinese Republic's then-capital city. The Japanese killed perhaps 300,000, soldiers and civilians, and committed atrocities including gang rapes, all in six weeks. It was one of the most shocking incidents of the war and a searing memory still for the Chinese.

While the film has powerful battle action, it also gives a personal view of events through the eyes of a handful of individuals, on both sides.

On the Japanese side, events are seen through the eyes of a homesick young soldier, Kadokawa (Hideo Nakaizumi), troubled by all he sees. His story includes his brutal commander Ida (Ryu Kohata) and a young Japanese “comfort woman” named Yuriko (Yuko Miyamoto).

The Chinese story has several threads. One centers on a brave young soldier Lu Jianxiong (Liu Ye), who leads a band of resisters, including more fearful Shunzi (Yisui Zhao) and child soldier Xiaodouzi (Bin Liu). Another thread focuses on the Chinese civilians working with the international community in Nanjing. They include Christian teacher Miss Jiang (Yuanyuan Gao) and Mr. Tang (Fan Wei), secretary to Nazi Party representative John Rabe (John Paisley).

Impressive acting from the appealing cast makes this drama as moving and riveting as it is horrifying and soul-gripping. There are unforgettable, touching human moments amid this anguish. These individual stories are interwoven but, unlike the hues on screen, nothing is black and white in this dangerous, ever-shifting world.

Director Lu Chuan did extension historical research, drawing on diaries and correspondence of eyewitnesses and interviews with survivors, on both the Chinese and Japanese sides. The events took place in 1937, before the Nazi invasion of Poland, but foreshadow the genocide and inhumanity of the worldwide war to come.

Director of Photography Cao Yu's sharp black-and-white photography gives the look of archival footage. Wide-screen images add gravitas and the epic scope needed for this subject. Extensive use of hand-held cameras gives footage a documentary feel.

The film is both epic and human in scale, contrasting convincing battle action and sweeping vistas. The director employed 30,000 extras, which made for remarkable action sequences, but there are also intimate moments of human emotion and anguish. In one scene, Japanese soldiers rush into a half-bombed church expecting to confront the Chinese army but find it packed with frightened civilians, mostly women and children.

Locations were carefully chosen to recreate the per-Communists capital. Historical recreations with top-notch production values give the film the look of reality. One can feel the cold the characters endure in every frame of the chillingly desolate landscape.

Watching this film will make clear why so many Chinese hate the Japanese but the director wisely chose to balance the human perspective of events. Presenting the horrific events through human eyes on both sides underlines the toxic nature of war itself. Like those other great WWII films, “Iwo Jima” and “Schindler's List,” this drama captures the wartime unraveling of human values and the release of inhuman evil. But ultimately, “City of Life and Death” stands on its own as a masterpiece of cinema.

© Cate Marquis/The Current

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'Beginners' cleverly combines whimsy, wistfulness in touching tale

by Cate Marquis

Grade: A

Remarkable acting and fresh, playful, imaginative storytelling suffuse “Beginners,” director Mike Mills' partially autobiographical film. Ewan MacGregor plays Oliver, a solitary man with commitment issues who is struggling to come to grips with the recent death of his father. Into his life comes a lively Jewish French woman, played by Melanie Laurent, who changes his view of life's possibilities.

“Beginners” opens Friday, June 24, at Plaza Frontenac Cinema. Despite its youth-market ad campaign, this heartfelt charmer is a movie for grown-ups. It is proof that the words “intelligent” and “romantic” can go together in film. Whimsy and melancholy alternate but there is a sense of hopefulness in this warm, enjoyable film.

Following his father's death from cancer, Oliver (MacGregor) lives a quiet existence, working as an illustrator. Living in a nearly-bare apartment, he mostly keeps company with his father's dog. He and the dog have long talks as he processes his feelings about life and relationships.

It is not just his father's recent death that Oliver is coping with. An only child, Oliver was close to both his artistic parents, Georgia (Mary Page Keller) and Hal (Christopher Plummer), but the emotional distance between them gave him a pessimistic view of love. Five years earlier, immediately after his mother's death, Oliver's father shocks his straight son by announcing he is gay. The father then joyfully embraced an openly gay life that eventually included lover Andy (Goran Visnjic).

While Oliver is still processing all that, his solitary life is upended by a surprise, in the form of a playful, unconventional Anna (Laurent). An actress, Anna is unpredictable, fun and creative but she has her own issues with parental secrets. In post WWII France, her Jewish parents hid their true identities, traumatized by their families' loses in the Holocaust. When they finally reveal their Jewish identity to neighbors, 13-year-old Anna experiences discrimination for the first time.

The story is warm and heartfelt. Despite sad aspects, the story overall is a sort of hopeful adventure. It is an exploration in the land of human nature and relationships, as Oliver and Anna embark on their romantic journey.

Director Mills finds a fresh and charming visual way to recap emotional histories, creating flashbacks using family snapshots, archival photos, pop culture images and whimsical narration to recall the past and frame the present. The overall effect is a film that is just fun to watch.

What really wins one over is the excellent acting, creating complex human characters we care about. The acting is all superb. The romantic chemistry between Laurent and MacGregor is palpable, giving extra appeal. The beautiful Laurent seems to suddenly pop up everywhere following her starring role as Shosanna Dreyfus in “Inglourious Basterds.” Her Anna is charming, playful and touching, both an emotional opposite and kindred spirit to sad Oliver.

MacGregor has the most challenging role, but turns in an amazingly complex performance. The straight son has to find a way to come to terms with his father's new life, displaying compassion and warmth as he dutifully cares for his dying father. Plummer offers a striking performance as the father, delighted with the freedom social changes have given his to explore his long-buried feelings and peppering his somewhat dazed son with phone calls announcing his romantic progress.

Reversing the convention of parents' accepting challenging news from their children gives rise to comedy. Exploring the new world of modern gay life, Oliver's father Hal is like a teenager, casting his son in the role of worried parent. Paradoxically, the cancer diagnosis only increases Hal's wish to live life to the fullest.

The film offers parallel love stories - their parents' lives in the socially restrictive '50s when Oliver's mother set aside her Jewish identity as his father set aside his gay identity, Hal's explorations of new freedoms and the tentative contemporary romance of Oliver and Anna, both haunted by their parents secrets. It explores how lives are shaped by their era and views shaped by emotional history.

Although the story is specific, it is also universal, packed with moments with parents every grown child will recognize and truths about love in all forms. This enjoyable film is packed with charm, making it is one of the year's best films so far.

Anyone who enjoys a clever, intelligent human story should love this excellent film. “Beginners” is one of the year's best drama so far.

© Cate Marquis

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Real horse-whisperer charms horses and people in Sundance favorite documentary 'Buck'

by Cate Marquis

The documentary “Buck” spotlights Buck Brannaman, a lanky horse trainer with a pleasant cowboy face and disarming sense of humor, whose gentle but firm methods prove amazingly effective with difficult horses. Buck says he “helps horses with their people problems” and his rapport with horses is impressive. But his personal story of overcoming an abusive childhood is what makes this film so compelling and not just for those who love horses.

This fascinating, moving documentary won this year's Sundance's Audience Choice Award for documentary film. Buck was also featured at the True/False documentary film festival in Columbia, MO.

Calling Buck a real horse whisperer is probably unavoidable, although as one friend points out “I've never seen him whisper to a horse.” In fact, Buck did serve as a technical adviser on the movie “Horse Whisperer,” and director Robert Redford admits the character was partially modeled on him.

However, Buck likens what he does to “dancing” with horses. There is a poetic beauty to how he and horse meld after even a few minutes in the saddle. The film uses a mix of footage of Brannaman at work, interviews with him and people that know him, along with archival footage and stills of his early life, to tell its story of this charismatic, inspiring character.

Brannaman travels around the country most of the year, conducting horse clinics and helping break young horses to the saddle. The former cowboy and rodeo rider uses his knowledge of horse psychology and empathy, rather than punishment, to gain a horse's trust and persuade it to comply. His methods are a sharp departure from earlier, harsher methods of training, as the film makes clear.

“Your horse is a mirror to your soul, and sometimes you may not like what you see. Sometimes, you will,” Buck says during one of his four-day horse clinics.

Watching Buck work is both entertaining and educational. He is a natural-born storyteller. Conducting his clinics from horseback, Buck peppers his talk with humor and down-to-earth insights on life, and horses, while simultaneously working his magic on a particular animal. Impressive hardly covers it.

Yet what really makes this documentary compelling is Buck's personal story, growing up as an abused child who was a child star on the rodeo circuit. Decked out in cute cowboy costumes, Buck and his older brother performed blindfolded rope tricks, under the close supervision of their controlling father. Stories about child stars are often rife with trauma and this one is bad. Away from the audience, their father was an abusive drunk, whose beatings took on a new savagery after the boys' kind-hearted mother died. Buck's tales of his terrifying childhood, coupled with footage of the two little boys on early TV shows, are searing.

A coach at school noticed the welts on Buck's back and brought in the authorities, who placed the boys in a foster home. Buck credited his foster parents with rescuing him as a human being, and tells of his foster father teaching him to shoe horses and mend fences while teaching him about life and people.

It is an uplifting story of a man rising above horrific circumstances, bringing gentleness and understanding out of violence.

The film came about after first-time director Cindy Meehl met Buck at one of his clinics. Meehl does a marvelous job of taking us inside this fascinating story, and does so with considerable visual style. There is a sequence with Buck riding a horse, in a lushly green pasture with mountains on the horizon, that is suddenly transformed, as he, with no apparent effort, coaxes the horse into a side-stepping canter. It really does look like they are dancing and the shot is sigh-inducing in its loveliness. Meehl employs this keen eye for the perfect shot, with both visual beauty and meaning, through the film.

The film gives us Buck at work but also glimpses of his personal life. We meet his patient wife, the youngest daughter who sometimes works with him and his foster mother, who played such a critical role in his life. However, we never meet his other daughters or his brother, leaving a few questions lingering.

While there is plenty of footage of Buck doing amazing things with difficult horses, it is to the film's credit that we also see a horse beyond reach. Orphaned and brain-damaged at birth, one young stallion has been raised entirely wrong, creating a dangerously violent horse with a disdain for people. Yet Buck does not blames the animal, noting it is people who have failed the horse.

“Buck” is a touching, engrossing film about a remarkable person but also filled with insights and life lessons on both horses and people. This fine documentary opened Friday, June 24, at Landmark's Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

© Cate Marquis

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'Monte Carlo' is little summer escape just for pre-teen girls


by Cate Marquis

While the boys (and those embracing their inner teen boy) are off at “Transformers 3,” teen girls get their own movie summer daydream in “Monte Carlo.”

“Monte Carlo” is light, its pretty and there's not much to surprise. On the other hand, it has some good is harmless and has moments of charm, including a dreamy scene featuring the great Louis Armstrong singing a lovely “La Vie En Rose.” Reality is not part of the movie's premise but we do get some lovely, romantic locales in this mini-travelogue, a kind of Cinderella with a dash of 1950s romantic fantasies like “Roman Holiday.”

Ordinary Texas teen Grace (Selena Gomez, star of Disney's “Wizards of Waverly Place”) has saved up for a post-high school graduation trip to Paris, along with her best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy, former Abercombie and Fitch model and daughter of '70s pop star David Cassidy). Emma, a fun-loving high school drop-out, is also Grace's co-worker at the town cafe where they waitress. But Grace's mother (Andie MacDowell) and step-father (Brett Cullen) are a bit worried about sending Grace off with impulsive Emma as her adult supervision. They insist Grace take along her more responsible step-sister, ultra-serious college student Megan (“Gossip Girl's” Leighton Meester).

Once in Paris, the tour turns out to less than thrilling, with rushing from sight to sight and a dingy hotel. Accidentally separated from the group, chance brings the girls to posh hotel, where ordinary-girl Grace is mistaken for spoiled British rich girl Cordelia Winthrop Scott (also Gomez). The mistaken identity results in a series of unlikely events and the three jetting off to Monte Carlo to stay in a posh hotel, wearing fabulous clothes and attending fancy charity events, while the real rich girl sneaks off a beach on Majorca. Can romance be far behind?

There is not much reality to intrude in this wish-fulfillment fantasy but the locales are lovely, although Paris gets a bit of short-shrift in the rush to Monte Carlo. Using three very different kinds of girls, fulfilling their own kinds of romantic daydreams, lets it appeal to wider range of girls. The young cast also likely will appeal to the movie's target audience of pre-teen to young teen girls.

Performances are surprisingly likable and no one overacts, which keeps the film pleasant. Gomez is the expected sweet girl as Grace but gets to play really nasty as Cordelia, which is a bit of fun. While the story starts out with a deception, the girls step up to take responsibility in the end and a nice charitable theme underneath is a pleasant moral plus.

Formulaic but harmless “Monte Carlo” is best suited for its target audience but pre-teen and teen girls deserve a relaxing escapist day at the movies too. If you are a grown-up, you can skip this but younger girls may be charmed and parents can feel safe with the film's underlying moral message.

For pre-teen girls, “Monte Carlo” offers harmless if predictable romantic travelogue with moments of charm and likeable young stars. There is nothing to worry parents but not much here to interest grown-ups.

© Cate Marquis

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Teen romance 'Art Of Getting By' offers nice acting by Highmore, Roberts but little originality

by Cate Marquis

Actor Freddie Highmore graduates from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to high school in “The Art of Getting By,” an indie-style film about a fatalistic teen who has perfected the art of squeaking by, until a meeting with beautiful slacker Emma Roberts moves him in a new direction. The film is a sweet if unchallenging coming-of-age romance, with dashes of “Rushmore” and “Juno.”

“The Art of Getting By” deserves kudos for departing from the standard Hollywood teen movie playbook. However, there is nothing much ground-breaking in this little romance, which will likely disappoint those expecting something more art house and challenging like the aforementioned “Juno” or “Rushmore.” One of the most unsettling aspects of the film is its casual teen drinking, frequently even in bars, as if writer/director Gavin Weisen, in his feature film debut, forgot his characters are supposed to be in high school, not college. Although the non-Hollywood setting gives it a boost, a major reason to see this film is Highmore in a more mature role, which he handles with promise.

George (Freddie Highmore) is smart and talented yet by his senior year at a private high school in New York City, he has been determinedly honed the fine art of just getting by. Artistically talented, he spends many class periods doodling yet makes little effort in his art class. Early on, he tips us off to the reason for his fatalism - reading that everyone is born alone and dies alone. After that, he couldn't see the point of making an effort in between.

George's fatalism is seasoned with a dry humor and flashes of insight that keep his teachers trying to motivate him. A small act of kindness, taking the blame for smoking on the school's roof, brings him the attention of Sally (Emma Roberts). Sally slowly brings loner George into her social circle of wealthy slackers.

The boy-meets-girl romantic plot may be familiar but more interesting characters and a different point of view for the story help. The characters' world of privileged New Yorkers with flawed parents may not strike many familiar chords but there is some universal resonance in this modern Holden Caufield. Keeping the tone lighter and a bit focused on the romantic possibilities makes the film more accessible although it is still like many teen angst explorations. In the end, we can guess how this will all work out but the fine performances and believable, appealing characters brings us into George's world.

Basically, “The Art Of Getting By” is a pretty good movie that is more honest than many Hollywood products and a chance for Highmore to show off some potential. The acting elevates what seems a rather derivative script, with nice performances by both Highmore and Emma Roberts. Pretty Roberts looks the part and is good in this film, although one has to wonder at what point producers are going to let the 20-something Roberts graduate high school.

The film has nice performances in supporting roles as well. Rita Wilson plays George's overindulgent mother with feeling, with Sam Robards as his more stern stepfather. Blair Underwood, as the school's principal, is firm with George but refuses to give up on him. Elizabeth Reaser plays Sally’s wild-child mother, a continual embarrassment to her daughter. Michael Angarano plays a rising artist, an alumni of George's high school, who befriends him and plays a pivotal role.

The photography has some visual appeal and the lead actors are certainly attractive but it is hardly a film that has to been seen on a big screen to be appreciated.

“The Art Of Getting By” makes a pleasant date movie, if one enjoys coming-of-age tales or is just curious to check out the more grown-up Highmore. However, “The Art Of Getting By” is far from a must-see film and those expecting to see real art-house fare will be disappointed.

© Cate Marquis

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'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides' is tepid reboot of franchise

by Cate Marquis

Grade: C+

Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow, in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” the fourth in the swashbuckling franchise. Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa is back as well but not Keira Knightly's Elizabeth or Orlando Bloom's Will, in this pared-down re-boot of the series.

Movie series run their course but with new director Rob Marshall in charge, “Pirates of the Caribbean” series was poised for a re-set. After the third installment, the action/adventure franchise was showing signs of fatigue, having played out much of its original story line. Many thought the third film was too convoluted and the series had acquired a number of supporting characters. Marshall jettisons the previous storyline, along with several characters, to launch a new adventure with a few new characters.

This time around, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and crew member Gibbs (Kevin McNally) stumble into a race to reach the fabled Fountain of Youth, after a map left by Ponce de Leon surfaces. England's King George (Richard Griffiths) commissions privateer Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), Sparrow's nemesis to captain a ship to try to beat the King of Spain's flotilla and the notorious pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane) to the legendary spot. Among Blackbeard's crew is his daughter Angelica (Penelope Cruz), with whom Sparrow has a romantic history.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” is not so much bad as conventional and a bit dull. Unfortunately, Marshall seems to have simplified too much, stripping nearly all suspense from the plot. It becomes a straightforward race broken up with a series of swashbuckling battles, sprinkled with an amazing amount of rope swinging. Since every team has a map, it becomes a matter of finding a couple of essential items: a pair of golden chalices and the tear of a mermaid. The tone is lighter, more kid-friendly, less sinister.

Depp is still charmingly odd as the still loopy Captain Jack Sparrow. His scenes with Geoffrey Rush, looking especially crusty and crumbly in heavy makeup, are as delightful as ever. A brief scene between Depp and Keith Richards, as Sparrow's dear old dad, is among the film's best, along with a darker one of a sea battle with mermaids.

The best new character by far is Blackbeard, played with wonderful menace by Ian McShane. New characters are clearly meant to make up for the lack of story but apart from McShane offer little help. Penelope Cruz as a past paramour of Sparrow is clearly supposed to create a dynamic tension with a humorous mix of sexual attraction and competitive hostility between them. But a lack of chemistry between the two stars, who seem more like old pals having a lark rather than ex-lovers struggling with resentment and regret, negates almost all such tension.

Will and Elizabeth's tale is replaced by a subplot about a mermaid (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) and a missionary named Phillip (Sam Claflin), shanghaied onto the ship's crew. It adds a little romance but there is a lot of space to be filled with this thin plot.

There is plenty of action, especially swinging from ropes, chandeliers, palm trees and whatnot and this time, the action is in 3D. The CGI effects look good but there is nothing groundbreaking or especially memorable.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” is not essential viewing, although harmless enough and likely to particularly entertain younger fans. Still the franchise's characters remain likeable, so the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series will likely recover in time for the next installment.

© Cate Marquis

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