It seemed fitting on the coming of the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks that I cover a New York documentary made during that time. According to the producers, this documentary was meant as a “concert film” celebrating the Ashtanga style of yoga and it’s living guru at the time, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Affectionately known as “Guruji” which means teacher, he was on his last North American tour. During the making of the film, Guruji was holding master classes at Chelsea Piers with Ashtanga yogis from around the country. His family also accompanied him, his children, his wife, (whose birthday is on Sept. 11th) and his grandson, a beautiful young man named Sharath Rangaswamy.

This documentary is a loving tribute to all who love and practice Ashtanga yoga with devotion, especially the New Yorkers and their small studio on Broome Street. The devotees who are interviewed for the film exude a brightness and equanimity that comes through in their enthusiasm to try to explain their practice. Along with the regulars, there is also a few famous folk, among them, Willem Defoe and Gwyneth Paltrow who blend in with the regular devotees during the master class footage.

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois was 86 when he gave these last master classes and he appears to be in perpetual serenity or bemusement. He devoted his life to teaching this style of yoga and it shows in his dedication to helping out students with challenging poses. He is seen very focused on the students, participating in a ceremony, or receiving students touching his feet!

The film takes a turn in tone when on the day of Sept. 11th, the students and one of the main teachers from the NY yoga studio are seen giving a cupcake to Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’ wife. Then, immediately afterward, the awful footage of Sept. 11th burning Twin Towers, and the immediate response from the NY Ashtanga yoga community. The studio continues to hold the classes in the days following the attacks, to everyone’s relief and a special ceremony commemorates the people who died in the tragedy. One of the teachers tells the viewers that the prayers that are read during the ceremony are from ancient texts thousands of years old; it wasn’t just invented for the occasion.

The viewer gets a small glimpse into the power and saving grace of a devoted yoga practice. One of the most moving parts of the film occurs when Sri K. Pattabhi Jois is seen wearing a fireman’s shirt during a Ashtanga led class. He is giving instructions just as he did before but in clear solidarity. He doesn’t say much in direct address to his students but his presence is reassuring.

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.

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!

On the movie set of To Have or Have Not the real-life romance between Humphrey Bogart and his then 19 year-old leading lady, Lauren Bacall sizzled. Howard Hawks, the director, had chosen Bacall (a former model) to be his next “star” and was not thrilled about these developments because he had designs on her himself. So he had to an affair with Dolores Moran, the supporting actress instead. (That’s showbiz!)

The best reason to see To Have or Have Not is the onscreen chemistry between Bogart and Bacall. It is palatable and exciting to watch the leads fall in love with each other. Lauren Bacall also has the best lines in the film; she calls Morgan “Steve” and he calls her “Slim” (These were the real-life pet names that Hawks and his wife has for each other.) And who can forget the famous line uttered by Bacall in the best sultry siren voice: “You do know how to whistle, don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.”

Hoagy Carmichael, called “Cricket” plays smoldering moody and spooky piano numbers. He and “Slim” do a smoky rendition of “Am I Blue?” Delightful!

To Have to Have Not is very loosely based on the Hemingway novel. According to legend, Hawks bragged to Hemingway on a boating trip that he could make a movie out of Hemingway’s worst novel. When Hemingway asked him which one he meant, Hawks replied, “That bunch of junk, To Have or Have Not.” Thus, a film adaptation was born.

Hawks was attracted to the novel because he liked the protagonist of the book, Harry Morgan. To adapt it to the big screen, substantial changes were made to Morgan’s character, the setting and many plot threads of the book. In the book, the Harry Morgan is a fishing boat captain running black market activities between Key West and Cuban due to the poor economy. It was meant to be social commentary on the Great Depression. However, in the switch to the big screen, the setting is changed to Martinique, and the villains are the Vichy (Axis) regime, not the United States government.

Harry Morgan is turned into a compassionate hero who helps a pair of French resistant fighters escape the treacherous Vichy local police. He rescues his friend, Eddie, the rummy being denied liquor to get him to talk. Jules Furthman and William Faulkner are the screenwriters who turn the book into a cheap version Casablanca.

But the enduring reason to watch To Have or Have Not are Bogey and Bacall because they had it all…

The story unfolds innocently enough when Dix is handed an assignment by his agent, Mel Lippman to adapt a trashy novel for the screen. (Nicholas Ray and the screenwriter, Andrew Solt, subtly critiquing the Hollywood system and also reflecting the paranoia from the Hollywood blacklist from alleged Communist propaganda.)

Dix persuades a young hat check woman who has read the book to summarize it for him in his hacienda bachelor pad so he doesn’t have to read it. He sends her home with cab fare. The next morning, at 5 a.m. he is awakened by a police officer and taken down to the police station. The young woman was murdered and he was the last person to see her alive. Dix is a prime suspect given his past violent actions but his comely neighbor is called into the police station and she vouches for him. He’s released.

As the story progresses, In a Lonely Place the emphasis moves from the murder to the relationship that develops between Dix and his beautiful neighbor, Laurel. Humphrey Bogart inhabits an ugly character; he is at times, brutish and callous, and yet as he best with Laurel, tender and romantic. With her, he blossoms.

And Laurel is a great femme fatale as she playful keeps her distance but eventually falls for Dix and becomes his muse. Unfortunately, the pressure of the murder investigation takes its toll on the couple and what starts out as a whirlwind romance devolves into mistrust and paranoia. The acting is phenomenal and natural. Nicolas Ray continues his cinematic themes of protagonists battling against the world as outsiders, trying to come to grips with forces beyond their control.

The black and white setting of the film is pristine and the lighting is dazzling. This is one of the best Hollywood classics. Don’t miss it!

The original idea behind the first documentary was to show how social class in Britain largely determines an individual’s future. However, as the series progresses, this idea evolves into something much larger than a political rumination on class differences.

The kids were chosen by then researcher, Michael Apted, to represent a diverse range of social-economic classes and then see how their future lives would play out. The result is a intriguing look at how candid and bright-eyed kids are at 7 and how their human lives evolve, change, go through adolescence, young adulthood, marriage, career, divorce, disappointments and so on.

The first film was directed by Paul Almond and sponsored by Granada Television for a program called “World in Action.” Michael Apted took over as director in the follow-up films. Although he directed many award-winning feature films and other documentaries, this project is clearly dearest to his heart.

Not all 14 subjects in the original film agreed to be part of the subsequent sequels. The filmmakers that come to interview them every seven years are remarked by some to be “intrusive” and perhaps a reminder of dreams that perished or marriages that ended in divorce. But the ones that do continue in the series are reintroduced by a short, black and white flashback to the first initial interview in 7 Up and then are shown in color in the present day, responding to questions about their career, marriage, children (if they have any) and other life experiences common to all the participants.

My favorite subjects are Lynn, the librarian, and Neil, the one who goes through homelessness and mental instability and then becomes a local district councilor in northwestern England by the time of this film. Some of their British accents are hard to understand and Rita secretly wishes for English subtitles (!) like some films provide for certain regional English movies.

If you like documentary films with a unique twist, this one certainly has it. It isn’t often you have a documentary film that devotes such a span of time to its subjects. Michael Apted remarked that the film began as a political documentary but turned into a personal one, reflecting human nature and the nature of existence itself.

The fourteen subjects are Bruce Balden, Jackie Bassett, Symon Basterfield, Andrew Brackfield, John Brisby, Peter Davies, Susan Davis, Charles Furneaux, Nicholas Hitchon, Neil Hughes, Lynn Johnson, Paul Kligerman, Suzanne Lusk and Tony Walker. Here is a link to the PBS’s POV Web site which features more in-depth information on the film and filmmaker:

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.

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.

(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

Auntie Mame

“Live! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!”

Auntie Mame ( Rosalind Russell reprises her successful Broadway role) delivers this piece of advice with much aplomb to her mousy secretary, Agnes Gooch. (played by Peggy Cass)
Mame glides through the movie with permanent smile on her face, gesticulating fancifully whenever given the chance. She lives larger than life and encourages everyone around her to do the same.

The film opens with 10-year-old Patrick Denis, a recently orphaned boy being unceremoniously dumped into his Auntie Mame’s lavish lifestyle during a swinging party. Even though little Patrick is a bit of a prig, his Auntie Mame takes an instantly liking to him and assumes parenting with the gusto that she brings to all that crosses her path.

In the opening partying scene done in one long take, Auntie Mame flits about the party, introducing her young nephew to indifferent artists, socialites, pretentious academic bores, and the unconventional riff-raff. There is even a gaggle of masculine bulldaggers gathered together on the balcony in the background!

The plot revolves around Auntie Mame’s trying to give her nephew a broad and unconventional upbringing while her nemesis, Mr. Babcock, Patrick’s trustee, tries to do the opposite, and almost succeeds.

Auntie Mame is one of the last of the great witty and urbane liberal New Yorkers. Although it is never fully explained how a former actress can afford a posh Manhattan duplex on Beekman Place (during the start of the Great Depression no less) the movie spans nine years and follows Mame around the world on her wacky escapades. The cleverly written zingers and amusing pratfalls that befall Auntie Mame make her character appealing and touching. Rosalind Russell was truly a versatile female comedienne, able to deliver tongue-tripping dialogue rapidly while being able to execute physical comedy expertly.

The movie runs long, but the sharp dialogue and slapstick scenes should keep the viewer’s interest. If you enjoy an upbeat film, Auntie Mame is a great rental choice.