Higher Ground – A Promising Directorial Debut

With Higher Ground, Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, The Departed) flexes her directorial muscles in a subtle, affecting manner. Taken from the memoir, This Dark World, the film’s story focuses on the life of Corrine Walker (played by Farmiga) from her childhood to her coming of age in a close-knit fundamentalist sect.

During a Bible study class, a young Corrine (played by McKenzie Turner) is tentatively led by a fervent pastor (Bill Irwin) to invite Jesus into her heart. Later, as a budding teenager (played by Ms. Farmiga’s sister Taissa) Corrine’s passion for books and writing becomes apparent. She meets and falls in love with a hippie guitarist named Ethan (Boyd Holbrook, later Joshua Leonard) whom she later marries after becoming pregnant. A near-tragic accident propels the young couple to join the welcoming and exuberant evangelical group. Corrine is baptized in a lake; the lead pastor says “This is one fish the Lord has been trying to hook for a looong time.”

Corrine’s subsequent search for true faith and her growing disillusion with her life as a mother and dutiful wife during the 1970s in upstate NY, never feels condescending or preachy. Instead, Farmiga somehow, magically makes her characters seem sympathetic and real. She even gives some wry and fabulous sexual humor to one character in particular, Corrine’s best friend in the group, Annika (Dagmara Dominczyk). Annika is earthy, sensual—she speaks in tongues to God. Corrine feels most comfortable and even envious of the ease in which Annika slips into her faith.

But the patriarchal ways of congregation will soon cause Corrine to question her faith, her attachment to family and ultimately, her role in this quirky group of country Christians.

The movie to its credit, addresses religion in a respectful way and Rita recommends it to both believers and non- alike.

The Social Network – A Modern Parable?

In a few weeks, on February 27th, Oscar night, we will find out if “The Social Network” will win the Oscar for Best Picture among other awards. When all is said and done, whether it was a realistic portrayal of the founders of Facebook or just a really entertaining piece of drama, one will never really fully know. And honestly, does it matter? The Social Network is an excellent film, thoroughly entertaining and engrossing with an sharply executed script, finely edited, and excellent performances by all the major actors. Rita was waiting impatiently to see it all summer and finally caught up with it at the Quad. I was not disappointed!

By now, you may be familiar with the general plot: after getting dumped by his girlfriend, Mark Zuckerberg, Freshman at Haaa-rvard, goes back to his dorm to nurse his ego with a few beers, pulls an all-nighter and invents “Facemash”—a program that rates young women in colleges in and around Harvard on their state of attractiveness. This little bit of programming gets him in hot water with the authorities but it leads to being approached by two elite and privileged rowing athletes, Winkelvoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, who want to hire him to create a network of Harvard graduates. Zuckerberg strings them along, while creating his own version for a social networking site that he names “The Facebook” which eventually becomes “Facebook”.

In one ironic moment after another, “the social network” connects people through the invention of Facebook but the real drama goes behind the scenes to examine the complex friendship between Mark Zuckerberg and his buddy and financier, Eduardo Saverin, who sees something beyond Zuckerberg’s anti-social personality, at least initially.

On one level, we as a society are so much more connected, to the ends of the globe which each other, and at the same time, like Mr. Zuckerberg, extremely isolated, in so much as to without a clue as to how we got here, social niceties not withstanding.

But the film works on so many levels: friendships and betrayal; wanting to fit in, the haves-vs. the have-nots of the elite Harvard world, competition, who’s on top?

My favorite line of the movie: “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.” uttered by Sean Parker, the former inventor of Napster and scene-stealingly played by Justin Timberlake. His character will make you howl out loud with delight!

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guatananomo Bay

Harold and Kumar Escape from Gitmo picks up where the first Harold and Kumar left off, a few hours later. The movie opens to pulsating hip-hop soundtrack with our favorite buddy-buddy stoners, Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) getting ready to go to Amsterdam. Harold is dreaming of his beloved fantasy girl Maria and Kumar can’t wait to have the great Dutch weed smoke-out. However, things don’t go so smoothly as planned. On the trans-Atlantic flight, a concerned passenger mistakes Kumar for a terrorist—he gets caught smoking a “smokeless bong” in the restroom. Kumar and Harold get thrown in the clink – at Gitmo Bay, Cuba. After a prisoner breakout, they hitch a ride to Miami with some friendly Cubans and track down a college friend in South Beach. Then then drive off to Texas to track down Kumar’s ex-girlfriend, Vanessa (Danneel Harris) who’s about to get married. Her fiancé has White House connections that could clear their names.

Writers/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg upped the crude, vulgar, nudity and scatological humor to an unfortunate degree. The writing duo dropped the ball when it came time to do some interesting satire on racial profiling and the war on terror. Instead, they went for the easy, teenage laughs.

The soundtrack had a welcomed edge and cameo appearance by Neal Patrick Harris in the second half of the film almost saves the movie from banal absurdity but not quite.

Milk

Rita has seen Milk. So what’s the verdict? Did Sean Penn deserve the Oscar? He certainly lends a delightful humanity to Harvey Milk. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay city supervisor for the city of San Francisco. Tragically, he assassinated while in office by Dan White, his former colleague and nemesis. The biopic charts Milk’s migration from New York to San Francisco with his lover, Cleve Jones (played by Emile Hirsch). They open a camera store in the Castro district that blossoms into a close-knit community and drop-in center for the wayward. Milk rallies the nascent gay community take back the streets from the bigots. In the process of his grass-roots organizing, he becomes politicized and decides to run for public office several times.

The film explores some of Milk’s closest relationships and how they suffered as a result of his political ambitions.

Although the setting and realism of the film was spot-on, it lacked a strong dramatic arc. It reminded me of a made-for-tv movie. The documentary, The Life and Time of Harvey Milk still wins hands-down for its gritty and unsentimental portrayal of a remarkable man. And yes, Sean Penn certainly deserved the Oscar. He is in almost every scene and he captures the magnetism and sensitivity of Milk. Josh Brolin is also very compelling as the cowardly assassin, Dan White.

Milk is an important film that introduces a new generation to a gay icon and hero.

The Visitor

The Visitor

(Directed and written by Thomas McCarthy, starring Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai Gurira, and Hiam Abbass)

Rita saw a heartwarming movie that might have slipped under the radar. It stars Richard Jenkins, best known as the father character from “Six Feet Under.” Jenkins plays a shut-down man; a professor going through the motions at his dead-end job at an undisclosed university. He life is irrevocably changed when he stumbles across two “visitors” living in his rent-stabilized apartment in Manhattan. Tarek and Zainab are a couple—she hails from Sengal and he’s from Syria—living illegally under his roof. The girlfriend sells jewelry around NYU and Tarek plays the African drums at a bar downtown and in Central Park. This picture is a love letter to New York City and to all the immigrants that make up her dazzling mosaic.

The human connection is simply magnificent. The story builds subtly…it creeps up on you and by the time the plot turns, you may find yourself very heavily invested in the lives of these characters. Tarek, the musician and Walter, the professor, establish a great rapport. It is amazing to watch how one person can bring life back to another human being. The movie emphasizes the importance of human connection above and beyond the indifference of bureaucracy in immigration policy. And let me just add that the very lovely actress, Hiam Abbass, was a wonder to watch as a gorgeous, midlife woman. Her eyes alone spoke volumes. You must see this sleeper to truly appreciate it.
Rita rather not spoil the rest of the story for you so do yourself a favor and queue it up on Netflix and be prepared to be thoroughly moved. See link below to listen to Terry Gross of WNYC’s “Fresh Air” interview with Jenkins.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98261650&ft=1&f=13

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008) starring Adam Sandler, Rob Schnedier, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, John Turturro, Mariah Carey, John McEnroe and Lanie Kazan.

Adam Sandler plays a uber-studly Israeli commando who just wants to go to Ameri-ca and make hair “silky smooth” like his idol, Paul Mitchell. This over-the-top, campy satire on Israeli-Palenstinian conflict does thread on thin ice at times, with its ultra-crude, tasteless, and adolescent boy humor – but what did you expect from Sandler, Judd Apatow and Robert Smigel?

Sandler’s buff appearance seems digitally enhanced in the film while someone in wardrobe must have stuffed his crotch with extra large tube socks!

Zohan, in the opening scenes, is shown dancing with Isareli beauties on the beaches of Tel Aviv as well as displaying mighty feats of strength. But alas, poor Zohan becomes weary of his day job as a top-gun commando so he fakes his own death against his arch-nemesis, The Phantom (John Turturro) and stows away with two dogs on a plane to New York. He takes their names, Coco and Scrappy, and begins a new life for himself in what looks like Atlantic Avenue in downtown Brooklyn. After a humiliating interview at the Paul Mitchell hair salon on Fifth Avenue, Zohan finds his first job in Brooklyn as a floor sweeper for the sexy Dalia, a Palestinian owner of Rafaela’s beauty salon. (Emmanuelle Chriqui)

Many crude jokes abound about Zohan’s sexual prowress—he starts by servicing the mother of the cyclist he defended on the street, and then he shags the little old Jewish ladies who start popping up at Rafaela’s beauty salon for his 80s inspired cuts and the biss-boom-bah in the back office. Soon, there is a line down the block for Zohan’s unique (ahem) skills, until a Palestinian cab driver (Rob Schneider) recognizes him, then the jig is up. Zohan must face his past when a trio of Palestinians led by the irate cabbie try to bomb the salon with Neosporin. Uh, huh.

This hilarious, over-the-top comedy will surely offend some movie-goers of more delicate sensibilities but this reviewer, found it so silly and daring to take on such an unfunny subject as the on-going Middle Eastern conflict. I had to admit, it made me laugh out loud in more than one occasion although some of the more ethnic-poking jokes did go over my head. LOVED the parade of celebrity cameos, especially that of Mariah Carey and John McEnroe.
Don’t Mess with the Zohan is a silly, escapist fare for the summer.
Click on http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/youdontmesswiththezohan/site/index.html for more zaniness from the filmmakers.

Elizabeth: Yes! Elizabeth: The Golden Age, No.

Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) are both directed by Shekhar Kapur. I had seen Elizabeth almost 10 years ago and remembered liking it and Cate Blanchett, who is absolutely luminous as Queen Elizabeth, the so-called Virgin Queen. To refresh my memory, I watched it again and also saw its sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I prefer Elizabeth to the one made last year. Both films are a feast for the eyes, the set design—stunning, the costumes—stellar, and the acting by Blanchett—riveting. That said, something was sorely lacking in Golden Age. Visually, it is as captivating as the first Elizabeth, but something is missing. Perhaps the intrigue
wasn’t as compelling as the first. Some of the lines in Golden Age are just plain silly. Whereas, in the first Elizabeth, the queen-to-be is unsure of herself and has to navigate a battlefield of political assassins in her path to ascend the throne. In part 2, Spain, as her primary enemy, just does not seem so much a threat as a nuisance. The plot meanders and after awhile, her love interest, Sir Walter Raleigh, played by Clive Owens, was annoying and burdensome. The scenes between Queen Elizabeth and her main lady-in-waiting (Samantha Morton) were much more playful and sensual but I may be a bit biased in that department! Go see for yourself.

George Clooney – Three Recommendations

If you are one of the many fans who swoon at the sight of George Clooney, there are plenty of flicks to get your just delights such as Michael Clayton (2007) and Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? (2000) You can also see his smart side in his directorial debut, Goodnight and Good Luck. (2005) Let’s start with Michael Clayton, George is looking a little grizzled and haggard here. That’s because he’s burnt out from being the “fixer” for his law firm while coming to the assistance of his colleague, Arthur who has a nervous breakdown. Plus, he needs to keep the loan sharks are bay to pay off his brother’s debt. The film also stars academy award winner, Tilda Swinton, as the corrupt corporate counsel, Karen Crower. This is a solid, entertaining escapade that will keep you guessing until the ending credits.

Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? is a zany, steeped in sepia film by the Coen Brothers, one of the few movies of theirs that I can look out without averting my eyes. As usual, their film has spectacular visuals and catchy, folkloric southern songs that punctuate the film. Ever so loosely based on the Odyssey, (I should know, I had to read it in college.) our beloved George plays Everett Ulysses McGil. He is part of a chain-gang in 1930s Mississippi. He and his fellow inmates, Delmar and Pete (John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson) escape incarceration and among other things, face a series of eccentric characters and a KKK lynch mob. (one of the more spectacular scenes in the film) This is a wonderfully quirky movie, especially notable for its music, its historical setting, and George is funny and handsome, looking very much like a classical Hollywood actor from the golden years of film.

Last but not least, there is the stark black and white film Good Night, and Good Luck in which George directed. In it, he pays tribute to Edward R. Murrow, considered to be one of the best TV journalists. Murrow (David Strathairn) faces down Senator McCarthy, a powerful and bullying man who engaged in a witch hunt of American citizens accused of being Communists. Murrow and his CBS team expose the lies of McCarthy and bring about an end to his fear tactics.

Casey Affleck : Two Strong Performances

Two Casey Affleck dramas came out last year: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) & Gone Baby Gone (2007). The latter directed by Casey’s big brother, Ben Affleck. With all due respect to Affleck the elder, (he did an adirmable job directing his first movie) his little brother has emerged as having honed his acting chops. While Casey Affleck has been acting in various roles for over a decade, he is now hitting his stride. Casey had the lead role in Baby… and in the supporting role as the coward, Robert Ford, he was nominated for an Oscar.
In Gone, Baby Gone, he plays a baby-faced private detective who is hired along with his partner and girlfriend (Michelle Monaghan) to find the missing five-year old daughter of a drug-addicted mother. (played with raging intensity by Amy Ryan)

Based on a novel by Dennis Lehane who also wrote Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone nails the Bostonian working class neighborhood of Dorchester. Even the extras in the film lend a documentary-like feel to the sense of place. There’s a fierce sense of loyalty and insularity that is explored through the Affleck’s character Patrick. He can take a tough stance when challenged by the local barflies and a drug dealer when he starts asking too many questions. Or is that the denizens smell on Patrick that he got out of the hood, graduated to something better and he posters a swagger of superiority?

Then there is the question of the abducted girl—will she be found alive? Morgan Freeman plays the police captain assigned to the case and Ed Harris portrays a possibly corrupt cop. They add complexity to the storyline but the film belongs to Casey Affleck who is not necessarily the most likable character, but he is the most consistent and the plot twists will keep your interest. Rent this one!

In The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, (isn’t that a mouthful of a title?) Casey Affleck plays the coward, Robert Ford, in this compelling Western directed by Andrew Dominik. The moody and dreamy film explores a close relationship between the outlaw, Jesse James at the height of his notoriety and the quintessential sycophant, Robert Ford, whom becomes responsible for his downfall. The cinematography is brilliantly lit and the Blue Cut train robbery scene is an stunning example of how well-executed the recreation of this thuggish history is. Rather than detail all the plot action here, suffice to say, The Assassination of Jesse James… pulls you into a slow, rolling jar of molasses and doesn’t let you out of it so easily. It is a captivating yarn. The film is adapted from a novel of the same name by Ron Hansen.

Rita recommends…Infamous

Infamous(2006) Directed by Douglas McGrath. Starring Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sigourney Weaver.
The other Truman Capote movie, Infamous, follows the Oscar winning Capote almost a year later. Rita was advised to see Infamous to compare it with Capote and some had hinted they liked Infamous better. Well, I have to say I was a little disappointed with Infamous. The actor, Toby Jones, does seem to be Truman Capote’s doppleganger and the actor has Capote’s mannerisms down pat. That said, I did find the acting a bit stilted with almost all of the players except for Sandra Bullock. She lends a quiet melodiousness to the character of Harper Lee. The rest of the actors looked like they were “acting” which was disappointing. I wasn’t crazy about the talking heads interviews—from Capote’s editor at the New Yorker (Peter Bogadonavitch) to his high society ladies. (Hope Davis & Sigourney Weaver) The interviews broke up the action to fill in background information but it wasn’t dramatically believable.

One of the main difference between the two film is, whereas Capote hinted at a romance between one of the killers, Perry Smith, and Capote, Infamous all but lifts the veil between the two.

Because I already reviewed Capoteearlier in this blog, I only will cover the plot superficially: in 1959, Truman Capote reads about a grisly murder of a Kansas family in The NY Times. This story grabs himself so much so that he pitches to the New Yorker the idea of covering how the murders affect the townspeople. He takes his childhood friend, Harper Lee, with him. The process of writing and researching his literary sensation, In Cold Blood is what the movie explores in detail.

Both movies travail basically the same time period, although in very different ways. Even though I personally preferredCapote as a film, I think both are worthy of consideration in dramatizing a very fascinating, real-life writer and eccentric.