Rita Recommends…In Treatment

Just heard about this highly original HBO series from an interview with the star, Gabriel Byrne, on the Leonard Lopate show on WNYC this week. Well, Rita just had to see what all the fuss was about, watching therapy sessions with psychoanalyst Paul, who runs his practice out of a home office in the suburbs. Adapted from a popular Israeli series called “Be Tipul,” the show follows Paul Weston throughout his week as he sees different clients, Laura, Alex, Sophie, married couple Jake and Amy and finally Paul himself in session with his old mentor, Gina. (played by Dianne Wiest) The drama is absolutely riveting. I watched one free episode off the HBO website on Wednesday and by Thursday, I had viewed about 9 half-hour episodes in one sitting! The intensity of the acting and the writing is extremely compelling. Check it out.

http://www.hbo.com/intreatment/about/
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2008/03

Rita Recommends…Judy, Judy, Judy!

Believe it or not, Rita used to wonder what was the big deal about…Judy Garland. Can you imagine?
With only a childish perspective from multiple viewings of The Wizard of Oz, “Somewhere over the Rainbow” and perhaps, “Zing! Went the Strings of my Heart” were the only songs I had any passing familiarity (and like Louis B. Mayer in the movie review that follows, I was not so impressed).

By chance, I happen to catch the made-for-tv bio pic, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001) based on daughter Lorna Luft’s biography of her legendary show-biz mama. The very great Judy Davis (an Australian actress known for a few Woody Allen pics from the 90s) channels the haunted chantreuse quite unlike any living actor I have seen so far. Tammy Blanchett also does an admirable job portraying young Frances Gumm (Judy’s birth name before MGM changed it) auditioning for the imperious movie mogul, Louis B. Mayer. Judy becomes a big star but she pays a high price for her fame, a lifetime addiction to amphetamines that the studio prescribes to her to keep her weight down and her perky energy up. When she collapses on the set because of the bullying of her director, she’s only given 3 weeks to recover even though the doctor insists she needs 6. Her mother (Marsha Mason as the quintessential stage mother) and the studio push and push poor Judy until she is just a bundle of nerves but that voice…that voices flattens all in its path.

My favorite part is when Judy Davis as Judy is seen backstage revving herself up for her famous Concert at Carnegie Hall which is considered to be a once in a lifetime, star performance. A very famous critic is said to have wept openly at Judy’s performance. Picture perfect, the issue of that concert has never gone out of print. If one listens to that CD and sees the actual concert footage from Judy Garland: The Concert Years there is no doubt, you too shall also be converted to a die-hard Judy fan. Not just for gay men anymore (or Rufus Wainwright who had the audacity to try and recreate her concert.) Judy Garland was performer who gave of and above her humanity and she had the voice to do so. The documentary contains clips from the variety show she hosted on CBS during the 60s. Among the highlights on DVD are her duets with Barbara Streisand, her daughter Liza Minnelli, Lena Horne and Tony Bennett. Lorna Luft hosts the documentary and covers a happier time in the singer’s life, when she returned to her career as a singer and stopped doing movies, with the notable exception of her one-woman tour de force in A Star is Born. These are all must-see rentals.

Rita Recommends…Casey Affleck’s 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…Casanova

Rita and friends decided to add a few Heath Ledger flicks to the Netflix queue. Fortunately, we started off with a good one, Casonova, starring the late Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Oliver Platt, and Lena Olin. This romantic comedy is a charming and fun costume period piece taking place in 18th century Venice. It is very reminiscent of those Shakespearian comedies-of-mistaken identity such as As You Like It.

All the action takes place in sumptuous Venice and makes the city look extremely attractive place as any for cooing love birds, sex with nun novices, and the mistaken identity of a philosophical author.

The film opens with Giacomo Casanova running from a nunnery on the rooftops of Venice with the officials of the Inquisition in hot pursuit. They are desperate to get their hands on Casanova and make an example of him because of his free-loving ways. His faithful servant advises him to get a wife and fast so he can be made a reputable husband. He quickly becomes engaged to Victoria (Natalie Dormer) who is ready to bed him right there in the garden right after her father approves of the engagement. However, Casanova meets Francesca (Sienna Miller) at a duel he is about to have with Victoria’s spurned secret admirer, Giovanni Bruni (Charlie Cox). Casanova is instantly smitten. Francesca is an avowed feminist and despises everything the character Casanova stands for so he pretends to be someone else in order to whoo her. Things get tricky when it turns out Francesca is also hiding her identify under a nom de plume, Bernardo Grudi.

Rita does not recommend…Interview

Interview (2007) Sienna Miller, Steve Buscemi, Michael Buscemi.
Buscemi portrays a washed-out political journalist who is assigned by his editor to interview a celebrity actress (Miller) who is more well-known for her horror flicks, her steamy love-life, and her soap opera character than her acting.

This movie is a remake of the original in 2003 by Theo Van Gogh. Theo Van Gogh wanted to remake three of his films in America but due to his untimely murder, he didn’t. There are a few nods to him in the movie: a moving van named “Van Gogh Movers” and Miller’s character, Katya, mentions that her father is from Holland.

Steve Buscemi is fine as a director but the story itself is less than compelling. Both characters are extremely unsympathetic and the plot takes liberties. The “interview” between self-absorbed Katya and bitter Pierre starts in a Soho restaurant. After Pierre insults the actress by calling her “Cuntya”, are we suppose to believe that Katya will then take pity on the poor, misunderstood journo by inviting him up to her lofty loft after he sustains a huge bump on his head from his cab suddenly stopping because the cab driver is mesmerized by Katya’s beauty and celebrity???

Oh, come…on. The cat-and-mouse talky interview between them continues in Katya’s loft but in a short time, it grows wearisome and boring. Not only that, the things they “confess” to each other just makes the audience feel manipulated and trashed. It was an interesting concept but….no dice. Skip it.

Rita recommends….Breaking Away (1979)

Rita takes umbrage with a reviewer who called Breaking Away, “a silly little cycling movie.” P-shaw! This is one of my favorite movies from the 1970s….For all those cyclists out there, this little flick will warm your heart and justify those shaved legs….

How could you not be rooting for working-class hero Dave? (Dennis Christopher) He plays the earnest, cyclist fanatic who practices saying “Caio, bella!” in his passable Italian accent, listens to opera (much to the chagrin of his car-salesman pops) and pretends to be an exchange student to woo a pretty college student whose name is Catherine but Dave calls her “Katerina.” (Robyn Douglass)

Dave is one of four buddies who are townies from Bloomington, Indiana. They have just finished high school and rather than figure out what to do with the rest of the lives, they go to the defunct local quarry (now a natural pool) and dive to pass the time.

Dave is the one with the most ambition: he dreams of becoming a champion cyclist like the Italian racing team coming to visit Bloomington. Watching him prance around his working-class parents and be excited by his cycling and budding Italian lessons, is fun to watch.

Director Peter Yates handles the action cycling sequences with much aplomb. Those scenes are exciting, well-paced and well-written. The screenplay won an Oscar in 1979. I remember enjoying it immensely as a kid and after viewing it a second time, I know why. I highly recommend this heart-warming film.

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.

Rita recommends….Six Feet Under (2001-2005)

Created by Alan Ball (American Beauty), this dark drama series starred, Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick, Freddy Rodríguez, Rachel Griffiths with occasional guest stars, Lili Taylor, Patricia Clarkson, Kathy Bates and Richard Jenkins.

I can not rave about this HBO series enough. I am still working my way through the remaining two seasons on DVD. I love the character development and the concept of the show which goes as follows: the Fishers run a funeral home in Los Angeles. The father, Nathanial Fisher, dies in the first episode and from then on, each episode opens with a death, setting the tone. The two sons, Nate Jr. and David, inherit the family business. All of the family members cope with the loss of the father in their emotionally dysfunctional way.

It is rare indeed to love each main character but I can’t help but find something sympathetic and relatable about each one. Nate, as the errant, wayward son who got away from his uptight family, comes back to face his “responsibilities” as half-owner of the mortuary. As the eldest, I totally relate to his impulses to escape and be free.

Then there is younger brother David, the closeted gay man who did everything he was “suppose to” but resents it. Isn’t there a little David in all of us?

Nihilistic Claire whose boredom and attitude is just a convenient cover-up for the attention and guidance she craves. She is an adolescent on the verge of adulthood—you just want to give her a big hug and reprimand her for hanging out repeatedly with “bad boys.”

Poor repressed mother Ruth, who longs to let her hair down and travel the unpaved road of life, is one of my favorite characters. Among other things, her sexuality blossoms after her husband dies. She has not one but two male lovers, Hiram, the hiker, and Nikolai, the Russian florist. In a great episode, Ruth is invited by her co-worker to a graduation of a self-improvement class called “The Plan” and then decides she should take the course too. The self-improvement jargon she picks up at the weekend seminar is hysterical.

Nate meets his match in super brainy Brenda and her promiscuous tendencies. Brenda’s mentally disturbed younger brother, Billy is an intriguing, reoccurring character. David and Keith remind me of many gay couples trying to reconcile being openly gay in a heterosexist society.

The music choices are superlative—they underlie the ethos of the characters and what they go through.

Rita recommends…Top Ten Lavendar Films!

In no particular order, this is Rita’s recommendations for the top 10 lesbian films to rent for a crash-course on girl-on-girl action!

High Art (1998): Directed by Lisa Cholodenko, this is a moody, ultra-hip flick shot on location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Gamine Syd (Radha Mitchell) is an ambitious editorial assistant at a snooty photo mag called Frame. She hooks up with her neighbor, the world-weary Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy). Reticient and druggie Lucy and her washed-up, German actress girlfriend (the wonderful Patricia Clarkson) give the allure of “high art” and drug culture in New York City.

Desert Hearts (1985): (Directed by Donna Deitch and starring Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley) This is a classic lesbian favorite—a must for women who love women. It came out in 1983 when it and Personal Best were the only two mainstream American movies about lesbians. In my humble opinion, the sex scenes here are still some of the hottest up-and-down, good lovin’ womyn to womyn action ever filmed and it’s not just because it takes place in the desert heat of Las Vegas, aka, Viva Las Vegas! Based on a book by Jane Rule, the basic story is about an English professor, Vivian Bell, who comes to Vegas to get a quickie divorce from her husband. While staying at a boarding house, she gets more than she bargains for when she crosses paths with the owner’s daughter, Cay Rivers, a fun-loving lass who works in a nearby casino. A great movie soundtrack includes a few favorite songs from Patsy Cline.

Bound (1996): Cute girl (Gina Gershon) gets out of jail. Cute girl meets hottie girl (Jennifer Tilly) in the elevator. Corky and hottie girl, Violet, flirt in the hallway, and start having an affair under the nose of Violet’s mafioso boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano). Corky finds out that Violet is a moll for a petty mobster in Chicago. Violet wants out of the mob life but there is a million dollars at stake. Will Corky and Violet be able to pull one over the mob? Watch it and see. Director’s commentary by the Wachowski brothers is a little much but having Suzie Bright give her two cents and billed as the “sex consultant” is worth the listen. Apparently, Bright “choreographed” the sex scenes between Corky and Violet. Ah-ha!

The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls In Love (1995): Maybe you recognize Laurel Holloman, otherwise known as Tina—one of the main characters in the L-Word, as in Bette and Tina? This was her first feature film. Here she looks and plays a more androgynous character, Randy, who is in high school and works in a gas station. She falls for Evie (Nicole Ari Parker) who is African American and from an upper class background. This is a very endearing movie directed by Marie Maggenti that gives the overall, refreshing message that it is no big deal to be a gay teen in love.

Imagine Me and You (2005): This British romantic comedy came out a few years ago and is one of my favorites. The two leading ladies, Piper Perambo and Lena Heady are gorgeous and winsome in their respective roles as Rachel—the bride to be and Luce, the Flower Arranger at her wedding. It is love at first sight and even crusty cynics will be hard pressed not to be rooting for these two gals to be united. The obstacles? Rachel is uh, newly married to a charming man named Heck, not at all villainous. His best friend, Coop is rover and has taken a liking to Luce. Unbeknownst to all, Luce is gay. Before long, Heck is inadvertently pushing Luce and Rachel closer and closer together.
This romantic comedy is a winner, the women are hot, the men are alright blokes, and the ending is a nice resolve, no murdering, marauding lezzies or man-hating, or any of the other countless disappointing story endings.

Fire (1996): This under-the-radar film, is one of a trilogy by the extremely talented Indian director, Deepa Mehta. (She also directed “Water” and “Earth.”) It came out in 1997 and was banned by the Indian and Pakistani government due to its lesbian content. It certainly wasn’t due to any salacious scenes.

One of the many things that I love about this film is the two female leads, Radha (Shabana Azmi) and Sita (Nandita Das). They are sister-in-laws trapped in loveless marriages; Sita married to Jatin who is in love with another woman and Radha stuck in a 13-year marriage because her husband, Ashok, has taken a vow of celibacy in devotion to his swami.

In time, Radha and Sita look to each other for comfort, love, and passion. Radha, is the older of the two, and has a quiet beauty about her, while Sita, is the younger, pretty, and more rebellious. I appreciated the unfolding of love between the two women from a different cultural perspective. The longing for love and understanding, however, is, as always, a universal theme.

Aimée and Jaguar (1999): Based on the book of the same name, these are the pet names of two female lovers, one German, one Jewish. Their dangerous love affair is set against the backdrop of World War II in Berlin. The two principle players are Felice Schragenheim (Maria Schrader)—a Jewish woman who assumes a false name and works for the underground resistance and Lilly Wust (Juliane Köhler) —a housewife of four children whose husband is a soldier on the front line. The tension is heightened between a seemingly fearless Felice who first spots Mrs. Wust at an opera. Felice boldly approaches Lilly at the opera and then persuades her lover, Isle (Johanna Wokalek) to start dropping love notes to Lilly.
At an impromptu New Year’s Eve party, Felice, Isle, and friends take over Mrs. Wurst house. In one riveting scene Felice makes a pass at Lilly who rebuffs her but then runs out to meet her in the street and it is there that she realizes how deeply she has fallen for Felice. They begin a charged if doomed, love affair as the bombs are dropping around them and soliders are dragging Felice’s friends away to deportation to the death camps. It is a heartbreaking and poignant film. The music in the film is truly amazing and I wish I could find the soundtrack but I don’t think the filmmakers ever released it commercially.

Saving Face (2004) Directed by Alice Wu and starring Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, Lynn Chen. Saving Face is a fun, romantic comedy that you can bring your own mother to. It’s as much about coming out for the first time as it about adult mother-daughter relations and the cultural mores of Chinese-Americans. The protagonist, Wilhelmina Pang, is a surgeon whose life revolves around her work until she meets foxy Vivian, a professional dancer, who romances her. Wilhelmina is not out to her family and complicating matter is her mother, who moves in with her and mommy’s preggers but she’s not sure who the father is or she’s not telling… The leads are all great in their respective roles and the movie is entertaining and touching at the same time. And Rita loves seeing movies that blend other themes into the typical “coming-out” genre. Thumbs up!

Rita recommends…Capote

Capote (2005), aka the writer, Truman Capote, covers a very short time in the writer’s life, a span of six years, when he decides to do research into the 1959 murders of the Cultler family. He reads about the brutal murders in the
New York Times and is hooked. He calls his editor at The New Yorker and informs him of his decision to write a feature on this gruesome story. He brings his good friend, Nelle Harper Lee (Author of “Kill a Mockingbird”) as his assistant and emissary to try to connect with the local people of Holcomb, Kansas (pop. 308). Capote’s feature article on how the murders affect the small town turns into a six-year odyssey that would mark the pinnacle of his writing career and his ultimate undoing.

Capote does not hide his effeminate manners and as such, no one in the town wants to talk to him. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays him so artfully and captures Capote’s complexity; it is riveting performance. He has Capote’s mannerisms down cold but instead of playing him as caricature, (which would have been easy for an actor of lessor ability to do) he expertly captures Capote’s absolute steadfastness and total immersion in his subjects. Regardless of how much disdain is reflected in the face of the chief of police and his underlings, one marvels at how Capote gets access to his subjects, namely, one of the accused killers, Perry Smith. It is a testament to his writer’s tenacity; he is absolutely wedded to his obsession. He seems to become enamored with Smith (Clifton Collins Jr. ) and the interviews between them in the jail cell are a bizarre dance of the erotic and exploitation.