Away From Her (****)

AWAY FROM HER
Written for the screen and Directed by Sarah Polley



****

It starts off very small for Fiona and Grant. She mistakenly places pots and pans into the refrigerator or has trouble remembering the name of wine. Grant doesn't think she's afflicted--he feels that she's too young. Then while traveling on skis, she becomes lost; she doesn't remember where she is, and perhaps even who she is. Grant finds her miles away on a bridge looking over into the city lights. It is a fact, Fiona has become afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease.

Away From Her, the feature film directorial debut from B-movie actress Sarah Polley, is a devastating film about the unexpected things we encounter in life, and the tragic elements of Alzheimer's. Based on the short story "The Bear Came Over The Mountain" by Alice Munro, the film addresses how no matter how radiant someone can be, eventually, the erosion begins.

The film is the story of Grant (Gordan Pinsent), a shaggy haired and bearded fellow who has been married to Fiona (Julie Christie) for forty-five years, and has been madly in love with her for all of those years. Fiona is still beautiful and glowing after all this time, but now she must be forced to label the kitchen cabinets to make sure she knows the correct places to put the dishes. Finally, the moment comes when Fiona herself realizes that she should be placed somewhere where she might get better, at the chagrin of Grant's need for her.

Grant researches Meadowlake, a resting home near their winter cottage. He sees all the social interactions between all of the troubled elderly people who have already been there quite a while. When on his tour, he is shown the second floor, where people are placed when they have "progressed further", but what Grant sees is not progression, but many lying in an almost comatose fashion. "My wife will not be progressing to this floor," he tells his tour guide.

Grant distrusts the place, and there is something else he dislikes, he must be withheld from any kind of contact with Fiona for thirty days of her coming in. Grant tries desperately to change Fiona's mind, but she sees it as the best for her. With the aid of a helpful nurse named Kristy (Kristen Thompson), Grant is able to check on Fiona, and when he is finally able to see Fiona, she can barely comprehend him. Instead, she has become immersed with a wheelchair bound mute named Aubrey (Michael Murphey). "What are you doing with this man, Aubrey?" Grant asks the bewildered Fiona. "He doesn't confuse me," she responds.

The movie can simply said to be about the disintegration of the human soul. Grant wants so badly for Fiona to get better, but she has become diagnosed with something where she can only get worse. Slowly, she is disappearing from him, but Grant refuses to accept it. He thinks maybe she is punishing him for a number of affairs he'd had when he was a university professor. Perhaps it's a charade, he ponders, that she's putting on. The most tragic thing Grant learns is that it isn't a charade, it's life.

The film is intertwined with scenes in which Grant visits Aubrey's wife Marian (Olympia Dukakis). They both share the same pain, and even through Marian's stubborn anguish, they are able to find a connection. What they share is not love or even passion, but they share torment. In a world where no one is guaranteed eternal life, why must people be taken away even before the die? "It's bad luck," Gordon confesses to Marian. "No," Marian states, "it's just life."

I fear through my description that the film is coming off sounding very bleak. One of the most magical things about the movie is that through all the tragedy we see, it is all underlined with a message that is very life-affirming. Grant has never experienced anything more painful than having to watch Fiona forget he exists, but it does not stop him from visiting every day, equipped with books and flowers, or anything that might bring back the slightest memory. Before Fiona has become controlled by Alzheimer's, she reflects to Grant her gratefulness that Grant had never left her like all the other university professors who found younger women.
It can be said easily that Grant is motivated by that guilt, but either way, we see his incredible dedication.

The performances by Pinsent and Christie are some of incredible feeling. Pinsent's paunched belly and heavy eyes reflect Grant's undeniable helplessness. The folding wrinkles on his face are so large they almost cover his eyes completely. He gives his wife the space she needs to be comfortable, but still comes everyday just to be able to see her. The performance by Christie, though, is something to ultimately cherish. Her descent is something beyond sad, it is uncanny. Every time Grant comes to visit her, she gives him the same polite smile. She is bothered by his insistence that she remember, but she knows that he will come back the next day. She senses that he is around for a reason.

The movie is one of the most majestic of the year. Few films do as good of a job of portraying such bare emotion. Away From Her had many chances to fall back into tear-jerking melodrama, but it doesn't settle for that. The film knows that what is more effective is how people actually feel.

Enchanted (***)

ENCHANTED
Directed by Kevin Lima



***

When Enchanted opens, we see Princess Giselle; she is a cartoon and is summoning all her animal friends and expresses her wanting for "true love's first kiss". This is a statement that is repeated (frequently sung) throughout the movie, and is a good statement to start this wonderful film. In Princess Giselle's world, true love's first kiss is always a success, and there is always a happily ever after. When she's thrust into reality, she encounters it the only way she knows how, with a twinkle in her eyes and a beautiful smile.

Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) sees her possibility of happily ever after in Prince Edward (James Marsden), but issues lie with Edward's evil stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon). Not willing to give up her throne to the giddy, lovable Giselle, Narissa banishes her to a place where "there are no happy endings". Where is that place? New York City.

Giselle emerges out of a dirty pothole and is immediately confronted by the angry, narcissistic aspects that live throughout the city that never sleeps (including an angry little person she charmingly calls "Grumpy"). When she sees a castle door on a billboard she climbs up to investigate. She slips and falls, landing in the arms of divorce lawyer Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey). After being increasingly chided by his young daughter Morgan (youngster Rachel Covey), Robert conflictingly agrees to allow Giselle to stay in their home until Prince Edward can come to rescue her.

As she adjusts to life with an additional dimension, Giselle manages to turn Robert's life topsy-turvy. She calls all the animals of New York City (squirrels, rats, and even cockroaches) to help clean up the apartment. She sparks suspicion with Robert's serious girlfriend Nancy (Wicked star Idina Menzel). She also manages to conflict with Robert's job, which she can never understand because he seems to work toward taking apart the thing she truly believes in: true love. All this while being chased by Prince Edward, who also manages to reach New York; as well as being tracked by the evil Narissa.

All you have to do is see the preview to know that all the desirability of this movie comes from the intoxicating loveliness of Amy Adams. By now, most people should have seen Adams in the strange indie Junebug. Her sweet performance in that film brings a light to an otherwise dull, odd movie. In Enchanted, Adams is another showcase of her incredible talent and likability. Adams, for sure, is a rising star, if not a growing talent. Her wonderful smile and bright, big eyes goes hand-in-hand with the romantic idealism of Giselle. And again, her incredible likability sparks what would have otherwise been a hackneyed meeting of fairy tales and cynicism.

Giselle is able to direct cockroaches to clean, she's able to conduct an entire stage musical performance within Central Park, but most of all, she is able to move the heart of Robert, a man jilted and chilled by the disappearance of Morgan's mother, and the consistent conflict he sees at his job. She's able to let Robert believe that sometimes in life, there are fairy tale endings.

Of course, there is nothing that happens in this movie that is not predictable. It is a film for children, and will be enjoyed by many little girls (if hated by many little boys). But I'd be damned if the parents forced to join them are not touched by the powerful force of happiness Giselle exudes. It seems that there are many scenes where Giselle is supposed to be a nuisance to Robert and the rest of the real world (she likes making dresses out of his curtains), but there is nothing that she does in the film that makes her a nuisance to the audience.

GREAT FILMS: Before Sunset (2004)

BEFORE SUNSET (2004)
Directed by Richard Linklater

When we first saw Jesse and Celine, they'd met on a train, and spontaneously decided to spend the night together in Vienna. This is the plot of the 1995 film Before Sunrise, which is the story of two lovely, fleeting young adults who create their own idea of romance. Throughout the film they talked and talked, but underlying all the talking was a constant yearning to hold each other, to be with each other. So they promise to meet each other at the same train station in six months, where their wondrous relationship will continue and flourish.

Before Sunset takes place ten years after. They both have gotten older, grittier, and thinner. They've both become embittered by the way their lives have actually turned out, as apposed to their young optimism in the first film. Most important though, we find out that they had never reunited those six months later. Instead, they went on to live their lives--Jesse wrote a book about the romantic night and Celine got a job in the Peace Corps.

The film opens on Jesse in a bookstore in Paris. His book has been published, and this is one of the many stops on a promotional tour. He is feverishly trying to explain the ending to a handful of members in the audience (he leaves out that they never reunite in the book) and as he looks slightly to his right, Celine is there, watching him with a gentle smirk. Flabbergasted, Jesse concludes. They've not seen each other in a decade, but the moment they have seen each other it is like no time has passed. It is like they simply continue the conversation that they'd never finished.

They walk around Paris, ride tourists boats, sit in cafes, Jesse continuously dropping faint flirtations, even though they are both now involved in serious relationships. Ten years before, they were excited kids who couldn't wait to take on life. By this time, they've seen life, and they didn't care for it too much. The two have been haunted by the fact that their greatest romantic relationship was less than ten hours in Vienna. "When you're young, you just believe that there will be many people with whom you connect with," Celine says, "Later in life, you realize that it only happens a few times."

The film builds on conversations like these. They speak endlessly about the disappointing elements in their lives, but they do most of it with a smile, because now they're around each other. Jesse explains that he'd been thinking about Celine the whole ten years. Even driving toward his wedding, he saw a vision of her walking the streets. He has dreams where he sees her, and she's just out of reach.

More than anything, what this film presents is the second chance that most of us don't get an oppurtunity to have. We come in contact with people daily, but there are a few that actually mean something to you. Sometimes you don't realize it until it is far too late. There is such an underlying theme of regret that surrounds the story. Jesse's bad marriage is caving in, and Celine is patronized by dozens of ex-boyfriends getting married. The idea of what would have been is so tantalizing to them, and now they have that chance.

Jesse and Celine are played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Both seem to embody the characters so fully. Neither take the apparent melodrama too far. A breakdown scene in the backseat of a car could have gone terribly wrong if in the hands of the wrong actors. Instead, we get an incredible balance between pain and overall impatience to be around someone you have longed after for so long. Hawke's scruffiness and Delpy's sad eyes only add to the magnificence of the performances.

Of coarse, it helps that they co-wrote the screenplay with director Richard Linklater. Linklater, mostly known for his light-hearted comedies such as Dazed and Confused and School of Rock, creates something that is very hard: a film both heartbreaking and hopeful. It is by far Linklater's most emotionally jarring film. So many times, the characters are saying things without saying anything. Many times, they say things while trying to express the exact opposite.

The movie is quaint in it's 80 minutes. It is bold to make a film that hinders mostly on dialogue, and fortunately the dialogue in the film is tremendous if not sharp and cutting. The sexual tension between Jesse and Celine continues to build more and more throughout the film, culminates in a breathtaking scene within Celine's apartment in which she performs a "waltz" for him on her acoustic guitar.

The film ends ambiguously, much like the first film. Unlike the first film, though, it does not end with them saying goodbye. We do not know the fate of Jesse and Celine, what they will do in the future. What we do know, is that at the moment of the films denouement, they have successfully succeeded in reuniting the relationship. If it is never able to work out, they at least have this moment in time, in Celine's apartment, where they know that they feel complete happiness.

No Country For Old Men (****)

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Written for the screen and Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen



****

The setting for the new Coen Bros. movie, No Country For Old Men, is the vast empty space that inhabits the lonely areas within Texas. The movie opens on numerous shots of emptiness, with the voice of Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) speaking over the images. He explains the story of a 15-year old he sentenced to death after he killed a 14-year old girl. "The newspapers called it a 'crime of passion'," Bell explains, "But he told me, 'There ain't nothing passionate about it. Way I see it, I've been fixin' on killin' as long as I can remember. I'm goin' to Hell, reckon I'll be there in about 15 minutes'."

Thus, the stage is set for the most spectacular film I've seen so far this year. A film so tense and brutal, yet made with such skill, that it will stick with you long after you leave the theater. Based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy, the Coens have made a masterpiece centering on the disintegrating morality of humanity, and absolute evil.

The absolute evil is epitomized by the character of Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Chigurh is a killing machine (with emphasis on machine) with less mercy than the Terminator. He doesn't seem to be motivated by what motivates the other characters in the film: money, drugs, sex; he's just motivated by the chance to execute extreme violence. His calculated menace makes one of the most sadistic movie villains that I have seen in years. He walks hard, with his shoulders broad, continuously wearing the same combination of dark clothes and coat, and sporting a cutesy bob hairdo. These details combine to make him look like a cross between Charles Manson and John Lennon on the cover of "Rubber Soul". His weapon of choice: a cattle stun gun.

We also meet Llwelyn Moss (a tremendous Josh Brolin), a welder who lives in a trailer with his sweet, child-like wife Carla Jean (Kelly MacDonald). The plot of the film begins to unfold when Moss goes hunting in the vast desert, and stumbles across a drug deal gone terribly wrong. Many people have been killed (and a dog as well), and Moss finds an incredible amount of Heroin, and about $2 million in cash in a bag--he takes no time in taking the money for himself. He sees one Mexican man who is still alive (barely) who begs endlessly for water. When Llwelyn decides to go back to get this man water, it ends up being the biggest mistake of his life.

When he's nearly killed by some Mexican drug dealers, Moss hits the road. Anton is on his trail, following him closely from motel to motel. We're not sure who puts Anton up to this trek (everyone he talks to is either killed, or threatened with the idea of being killed), but he seems to be motivated by principles. It's not Moss' money, so he shouldn't have it, and he will die for this theft.

Trailing all the destruction is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Jones), who worries over the state of the world. He seems to get to the scene of every crime two minutes too late. He's never able to prevent crime; but he's always there to see the aftermath. He longs for the days when young people still said "ma'am" and "sir", and wonders if he's even cut out for his role in law-enforcement the way his father and grandfather were. He looks at the looming evil that has swept his society, and ponders if its worth fighting for. All the while, he is trying to find Moss and Chigurh before more blood is shed.

I will walk away from explaining elements of the plot for now, and move onto my praise for this tremendous film. It is bold, it takes it's time, and it is not afraid to use silence. Silence may be the best performer in this film. It hovers over essentially every scene, like a death cloud predicting doom for everyone--particularly those who come in contact with Chigurh. It is the Coen Bros. most exhilarating film since Fargo. It is violent, brooding, but sparkling with humor familiar in Coen films.

The movie attempts to exemplify the morality of a world filled with evil. In fact, it questions whether there is any morality to begin with, and offers nothing in the way of life-affirming themes. The film takes it's time with it's story. It could have easily been 30-40 minutes shorter, but then the overall effect would be lost. It takes the personality of it's vast landscape, and with the cinematography of Roger Deakins (a frequent collaborator with the Coens) it may just be the "best looking" film the Coens ever made.

The engine that makes this film run is it's first-rate performances. Josh Brolin's turn as Llewlyn is a career-defining performance. Moss is simply not as smart and equipped as he wants to be, but Brolin allows you to believe in this man's money-hungry, life-threatening journey. Tommy Lee Jones' performance as the world-weary sheriff is another in a line of performances that Jones has participated in the last few years affirming his substantial career (this year's In The Valley of Elah may very well be the best of his career). Kelly MacDonald is tender and heartbreaking as Carla Jean, in a roll that makes you completely forget MacDonald's Scottish background. Carla Jean is the one, small star in this bleak film.

And then, of coarse, we have Javier Bardem. His performance as Chigurh will make your blood curd. He does not seem to be part of the human race. He kills people based on his own delusional moral code, but is very conscious to not get blood on his shiny boots. When he comes into contact with a bounty hunter hired to catch him, Carson Wells (a delightful Woody Harrelson), he knows what he has to do. He even has the decency to sit him down in his hotel room and explain to him why. When a man asks Wells how dangerous Chigurh actually is, Wells responds, "Compared to what? The Bubonic Plague?".

When the Coen Bros. released Fargo, they'd made a perfect film. A film made with such astonishing skill, it is the kind of movie that seems like a miracle. This kind of thing rarely happens twice with filmmakers, but with No Country For Old Men, the Coens have established themselves as iconic members of movie society. No Country is not a conventional film (do the Coens ever settle for convention?), and it is brave enough to be what it is: an uncompromising story of the rising evil that is encasing the world.

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (**)

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD
Directed by Sidney Lumet



**

Sidney Lumet has already established himself as a masterful filmmaker. Few people in the movie business can boast credits that include 12 Angry Men, Network, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Verdict. It seems strange, then, a couple of years removed from winning an Honorary Academy Award, he proceeds to cap off his career with a film that is incredibly average, flat, and overwhelmingly melodramatic.

I want to stay away from the statement that the film has too much emotion, because that can never be an issue for a film. What this film suffers to do is comprehend that emotion in any other way than having their characters explode and yell, while giant veins burst out of their tomato-red foreheads. It's hard to get in touch with a character when the faces always look so strained.

The movie centers on the Hanson family, and all the dysfunction that comes with it. Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the oldest son, is a hot shot business man, who's encountered big time debt. He needs money--he needs it to pay his debts, to support his drug habit, and a pipe dream in which he plans to move with his wife Gina (Marisa Tomei) to Brazil. His younger, weaker brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) is dealing with child support payments, trying desperately to seem like something more than a loser in front of his daughter.

What is Andy's grand plan to pull him and his little brother out of their financial woes? Knocking off a "mom & pop" jewelry store. No guns, no violence, no victims. Insurance would take care of the owners of the store, so everybody walks away from the incident happy. There is one twist though, that mom & pop store is owned by their actual mother and father. And when the job goes horribly wrong, Andy and Hank both unravel emotionally, as they watch their neglectful father (Albert Finney) ponder who committed the crime.

I should take the time to say that I have a lot of respect for all the actors within the main cast, I'm just a bit confused about why Lumet felt the need to have them strain their faces to the point where the audience finds themselves uncomfortable. Albert Finney in particular, spends essentially all of his screen time with his mouth hanging open. The result is we have a character looking like he's staring down T-bone steak, rather than mourning. Hoffman and Hawke do so much eye-squinting and face-clenching, you wonder how badly their jaws cramped during filming.

Credit must be given to the screenplay by newcomer Kelly Masterson. She's invented a seedy world with desperate characters, and an ending that is true tragedy. Unfortunately, Lumet decides to turn the story into pure melodrama, and in the process makes the characters charmless and annoying.

Take the character of Gina. She meets Andy in rehab, but she is frustrated at the fact that he can't seem to be pleasured by her physically, and starts having an affair with Hank. It's a very dynamic, complex character. What is converted to the screen is an adulterous bimbo who spends half the time naked, and the other half sporting incredible cleavage. She's one-note, and it's hard to sympathize with that.

The film is buoyed by a virtuoso performance by Hoffman. His dependability as an actor comes through once again, cause he seems the only actor who's able to make sense out of his facial contortions. Hawke is sincere in his portrayal of Hank, but he falls back into the over-the-top tempo the rest of the film possesses. Albert Finney walks around the entire film looking like a zombie. His implausibility as a inept father may be the deciding factor to what goes wrong in this movie.

If there is some kind of award for trying, this film would win it. You can tell that the actors and filmmakers working on this film earnestly want to do their best, and it is that which stops this film from being unwatchable. After all, it's not the film itself that is unwatchable, it's the characters. When you make a film about the unexpected consequences when things go horribly wrong (a subject in a lot of movies lately), you have to have create people who you actually care what happens to.

American Gangster (**1/2)

AMERICAN GANGSTER
Directed by Ridley Scott



**1/2

In American Gangster we see the story of Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts. Frank Lucas is the most powerful man in Harlem, with the most powerful heroin empire of it's time. Richie Roberts is the good-natured cop on his tale. What follows is enthralling film of cat and mouse that stretches over 157 minutes, and provides us with as much violence and nudity needed to hold us over for that long. The film speaks with the power of a message film, but the message seems so misguided we leave scratching our heads about what we've spent the last two and a half hours learning. Drugs are bad? Organized crime is more profitable when headed by someone who's more of an entrepreneur than a criminal?

The story of Frank Lucas is impressive in itself. As an accomplice for "Bumpy" Johnson who ruled Harlem, Lucas learned the ins and outs of how to be ruthless, and when Bumpy dies, he takes over where he left off, and then some. Lucas goes on to buy 100% pure heroin right from the source in Southeast Asia, and by cutting out the middle man, he is able to sell better heroin for half the price. It's capitalism at it's best.

The story of Richie Roberts is less glamorous; he's a narcotics officer fighting a custody battle with his ex-wife and studying for an upcoming bar exam. He is exiled from his job at the local New Jersey police station when he turns in a million dollars worth of unmarked drug money. How can you trust a guy who's willing to turn in that kind of money, instead of sharing it with the boys? His peers don't attempt to find out because they've already lost the ability to trust him.

The action of the film starts when Roberts is given the chance to start his own circle of investigation into drug-busting, including several other officers he knows are as honest as he is. When they follow many popular mafioso into an Ali-Frazier fight, who is the guy with the closest seat? Frank Lucas, accompanied by his Puerto Rican beauty-queen wife, and decked out in elaborate furs. Through a series of lengthy investigation, Roberts and his men discover what was thought to be impossible: Frank Lucas, a black man, was able to work above the mafia, and make millions in the drug racket on his own.

Frank Lucas is played by Denzel Washington in a performance that is very much inspired, if not hackneyed. He's ruthless (the movie opens with him lighting a live man on fire) but has moments of mercy (he shoots the same man to stop his agony). This tennis match between the two sides of Lucas' character never seem to be very balanced. He has moments where he explodes with extreme violence, but yet he still goes to church with his mother on Sunday, and he's the one who says grace in front of Christmas dinner. He can trust the people who work for him, because close to all of them are members of his own family. It's one of those Denzel performances that elicits extreme authority (he shoots a man in the head in the middle of the busy Harlem streets with no consequence).

Frankly, the most intriguing part of American Gangster has nothing to do with gangsters. Richie Roberts' (Russell Crowe) investigation is told with such grit and fire, it seems to be a much more interesting cornerstone to place a movie upon. His paunched belly, five o'clock shadow, and the heavy bags under his eyes are striking and telling. He's an honest cop, and is quite at odds in a force filled with corruption. Unfortunately, his honesty as a law officer seems to be about the only good quality in Richie's personal life. His wife plans to leave to Las Vegas, taking their son with her.

The film stumbles around when it comes to it's storytelling. This screenplay is very raw and uncompromising, but somewhere along the line between being written and being put on the screen, it picked up many blemishes that signal tidy Hollywood filmmaking. Subtlety is a word that nobody in this film seems to have heard of, and this movie wants so badly to one-up the gangster pictures of the past with edge, it instead seems remarkably polished.

We have the character of Frank Lucas who is not sure whether or not he wants to be Don Vito Chorleone or Tony Montana, and Richie Roberts doesn't know whether he wants to be Frank Serpico or Vincent Hanna. The movie wants too much, including the recognition that those films received, and what we have is a movie that's not sure if it wants to be Little Ceaser or The Untouchables. I make references to so many movies because this film borrows so many components from them, and in the process has a serious identity problem within it's genre.

The biggest issue within the film's ideology is in the end. When Roberts has finally cornered Lucas, Lucas agrees to rat out a plethora of corrupt cops, in exchange for getting reduced time in prison. We see Lucas smiling as the cops are put away, but what does his face look like when thirty members of his own family are arrested as well? It's good that Frank Lucas exposed corruption, but do we have to make him a hero for it? In Goodfellas, they had the decency to explain that Henry Hill was still a bastard after he ratted out his compatriots, because after a life of immorality, he used even more immorality to get himself off the hook. Frank Lucas, on the other hand, is made to look like a saint.

The director, Ridley Scott, seems to do what he does in a lot of his films: take big, exciting ideas, and water them down for the viewing public. There's excitement in this movie--a very powerful drug bust scene toward the end pulsates with energy--and the movie is not dull. You just get the sense that you're being cheated because the movie takes the formulaic way out, rather than dealing with raw reality. It tries to take the stage of an epic, but the film's 157 minutes is fattened by a lot of scenes that are unneeded: Roberts' custody hearings with the usual ex-wife who demands him to make the choice between work and his son, as well as many scenes involving a strung-out Cuba Gooding Jr. playing a stylish drug dealer named Nicky Barnes.

The film reminded me a lot of another film: Heat. They both are stories involving a distressed, but honest cop trying to take down the sharp, but ruthless criminal. But that film attempted to blur the lines between good and evil, explaining that there is no good without evil (and interestingly enough, while Heat is probably twenty minutes longer than Gangster, it is not too long). This film, though, just wants all the glory of all the films that it samples bits and pieces from without having any of it's own innovation. It's not that easy, Ridley.

GREAT FILMS: Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957)
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick

"I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic."- J.J. Hunsecker

Sidney Falco is a hustling press agent, who finds himself in a bind, when J.J. Hunsecker has cut him off from his paper. Hunsecker is the most powerful, influential newspaper columnist in the city, and Falco makes his living on putting his clients in that column. So, why does Hunsecker cut him off? Because Falco had made him a promise that he didn't keep, and Hunsecker doesn't appreciate people who don't keep their promises.

Thus, the stage is set for the greatest story of sacrificed integrity in the history of motion picture. The promise made by Falco (Tony Curtis) was that he'd end a relationship between a girl and a jazz guitarist. The girl is Hunsecker's sister, and she is "the only thing I got left" he claims. So Falco is told to foil the relationship, and when he doesn't, Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) cuts him off, sending Falco into a whirlpool of deceit in order to make a living.

Burt Lancaster's portrayal of J.J. Hunsecker is one of the most villainous characters that was ever on the screen. He turns people inside out. With his power, and public opinion at his grasp he could turn the most innocent person topsy-turvy. Lancaster makes his presence large, and brooding. The character is based on Walter Winchell, an equally powerful and erratic columnist, who broke the taboo of being able to expose the private lives of public figures. Hunsecker takes that logic one step further: he doesn't want to expose, he wants to destroy.

What makes this film a masterpiece is the way it delves in to see into the souls of the characters, only to find there isn't any soul left. No one is safe from the power and corruption, and those who think they can fight it, end up in bad situations.

Falco's elaborate scheme to dismember the young relationship is sleazy if not impressive. Hunsecker wants him to break up the marriage, because if he were to do it himself--and with his power he could easily--that would only fracture his relationship with Susan (Susan Harrison), his sister. Falco can see that Hunsecker's unhealthy connection with Susan is partly deranged, but that is not his business. His business is getting his clients in Hunsecker's column, and if he has to break up a young, fleeting romance to do it, so be it.

Now, Falco is the most disreputable character in the film, the way he slithers around to get things done. Many note that he could get what he wanted if he just asked, instead of acting like such a snoop. We see him to get his stories in the papers by making a helpless woman sleep with one of the newspapermen. The scene is painful, but we also note Falco's desperation. Falco doesn't earn our full contempt because he does his work at the behest of Hunsecker. In a way, his hands are tied. He doesn't know how else to make money, because the only other example he has is Hunsecker.

In the end, Hunsecker is able to end the relationship, but he's become so blind to the situation at that point that he doesn't realize that he his left himself without an ounce of decency. He's spent a career ruining reputations and sometimes entire lives, and as the old adage says, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely". When the people he goes after are people of his own family and friends, he finds himself alone and pitiful.

Sweet Smell of Success is probably the greatest film ever made about corruption and what it does to the human soul. It is frank for it's time. Shatters taboos. More importantly, it doesn't let go to the characters and their mentalities, and no one is left unscathed.

Into The Wild (****)

INTO THE WILD
Written for the screen & Directed by Sean Penn



****

Most of the charm of Into The Wild comes from the persuasiveness of Christopher McCandless. Chris is an adventurous young man, just graduating from Emory University with great grades, and a full fund for his future years in law school. Unfortunately, Chris doesn't believe in that kind of life. He cashes in his law school fund, sends it to charity, and decides to go off on a life of "Ultimate Freedom".

Soon into his journey, Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) changes his name to Alexander Supertramp. He meets two wayward hippies, Jan and Rainy (Catherine Keener and Brien Dieker), and helps them in their unconventional, sometimes rocky marriage. He gets a job farming with the boozing, joking Wayne (Vince Vaughn), to whom he unveils the big plan of his journey: that is to go to Alaska, and live alone in the wilderness; nothing but him and the nature he adored in so many books by Henry David Thoreau and Jack London.

This journey is sparked by all those books and writers, but we learn through interesting flashbacks, that Chris' journey is also spurred by the emotional wreckage his parents made him and his sister (Jena Malone) endure during their childhood. His father (William Hurt) is a successful scientist, and his mother (Marcia Gay Harden) a boozer who started off as her husband's mistress in his first marriage--until she got pregnant. Chris has decided that he does not want to live the life that they have planned for him, because they are no more than materialistic phonies. Instead, he puts them through two years of torture of wondering where he is.

Sean Penn wrote the screenplay based on Jon Krakauer's book of the same name. The book is the true stories of McCandless, told through all the people whom he met on his journey. The film is striking in it's portrayal of McCandless. We believe in his journey, even though we believe, like all the people he meets on the way, that it is doomed. He gets to Alaska, finds an abandoned bus and makes it his home. He's equipped with nature-survival books (which he doesn't read very well), and all the novels that had inspired him on his trek. Everything is like how he dreamed, until he becomes trapped within his own isolation.

It seems Sean Penn, as he gets older, has become much less angry, and in the process, has become a much more rounded filmmaker. The film's beauty goes along with Penn's apparent adoration for the material. He creates the atmosphere of Chris so wondrously, and sometimes dangerously, suddenly the life of a "nature man" doesn't seen like such a bad idea, if only for about an hour. Penn's film though, is made so humane through the incredible performance of Emile Hirsch (known for little before other than Alpha Dog and The Girl Next Door), whose performance as Chris is more than acting. Every year, there is a performance so good you tend to worry about the health of the actor (Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator two years ago, for example); this is that kind of performance.

The movie's most touching moment, comes when Chris has come toward the end of his trip, and befriends a religious, war veteran Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook). Ron lost his family when they were killed by a drunk driver, and he has lived alone in his home ever since. He takes in Chris like everyone before, and cares for him like a grandfather would. Chris tries to teach him about the wonder of the wilderness, Ron tries to teach him about the importance of forgiveness (in which Chris refuses to do with his parents). Holbrook's entrance comes about two hours into the film, but he delivers such a warm, emotional performance that is the best of many highlights within the movie. Like all the others, Chris soon abandons him too, leaving Ron alone once again.

The movie is a majestic experience, in showing a lifestyle worth living-- a life of transcendentalism. Chris doesn't think he is homeless, he thinks he is free from homes. Penn acutely acknowledges this, because at all the points Chris tries to work his way back into society, he cannot function (he quits a small job he has at Burger King because they require him to wear socks). It's not that Chris is an incredibly skilled woodsman--he is never able to successfully hunt anything other than squirrels and berries--but the effort seems good enough. This is a film that stays with you long after you've finished watching, mostly pondering the incredible pain it must have taken to make Chris want to abandon society. Every person he meets really become enthralled by his zeal, and they worry and long when he leaves. Yet, Chris seems unmoved and continues the set path he's made for himself.

The movie is a bit bloated--it's safe to assume that 35% of it's 150 minutes is taken up by slow-motion, and music-filled montages detailing parts of nature and atmosphere--but since we are so sucked in by Penn into the world of Christopher McCandless, it doesn't seem to matter much. The film seems to adopt the personality of McCandless, free-spirited and uncompromising, and because of that, extensive looks into the wilderness seem almost necessary. McCandless' journey will come off to some as selfish, but this film documents a man who feels he must dedicate his life to something more than material objects. If that is not noble, I do not know what is.

GREAT FILMS: To Have and Have Not (1944)

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)
Directed by Howard Hawks

To Have and Have Not is a movie more remembered for it's steamy directions on whistling, rather than being a masterpiece of film. The reason mainly, is because the movie is not Casablanca. The two movies are similar in plot: a world-weary protagonist (Humphrey Bogart) lives in an exotic world with the French resistance fighting the Gestapo, while he has a love affair with a mysterious woman (Lauren Bacall) to the soundtrack of a bluesy piano man in an urban Martinique bar.

Sure, Casablanca may have an edge on this film when it comes to place in film history, but what it does not possess is this movie's smoldering sexuality. The sexual tension between Bogart and Bacall is so pulsating, and was considerably racy for it's time. Surely, it mirrors the true-life love affair the then-19 Bacall was having with the then-42 Bogart. Their romance further spurs this film's passion into the subconscious of the viewer.

The film is a very loose adaptation of a novel by Ernest Hemingway of the same name. It is about Harry Morgan (Bogart), a man who charters a fishing boat for hire, with his drunk friend, Eddie (the hilarious and poignant Walter Brennan). People pay to use their boat to fish in Martinique, France, but since World War II, business has been hard. When an American tourist tries to skip out on the money he owes Morgan, Morgan runs into Marie (Bacall), the tourist's date. Marie is tall, sexy, has sharp, glaring eyes, and a low rumbling voice. Harry is immediately fixed on her, and when the tourist is unfortunately killed by stray Gestapo bullets, Harry and Marie are sucked into the world of political unrest that was 1940's France.

We can talk all day about the political commentary within the movie (and there is a lot), but that is not what makes the movie so great. What I'll focus on is the romance between Bogart and Bacall; the greatest, most-telling romance ever shown on the screen. Bogart and Bacall also appear in Key Largo and The Big Sleep, but neither possess the passion that this movie possesses. Created by Howard Hawks, the master of romance within intrigue, this movie unfolds like a political message, but is really one of the great love stories ever told (again, like Casablanca).

The film is not really filled with passionate love scenes, with dialogue announcing the never-ending alliance between the two people. The movie takes a rougher perspective. Marie seems notorious--the first thing we see is her stealing her date's wallet. Harry, on the other end, is no push-over. He scoffs at the chance to help dedicated French refugees, and he's not afraid to tell them to their face. Marie, though alarmingly younger, may be the perfect girl for him, but Harry, so hardened by the world is not willing to find out. When forced to help the refugees because of debt, Harry gives Marie money to take the next plane home, to keep her out of danger, he says, but we know it is because he is afraid of what he may get into with her. In one of the more heart-tugging scenes in the movie, Marie sighs, "It was nice while it lasted."

The movie is an excellent expose of lovelorn relationships. The relationship between Harry and Marie in this movie lasts perhaps less than a week. In that short time we see passion, jealousy, dedication, and disdain. Marie's yearning is so heartfelt and agonizing, particularly coming from what we see is a very young, and naive girl. Meanwhile, Harry is a character best described as "essential Bogart". The character is brooding and selfish, but only a little connection with the right woman brings out the human side of him. This side sometimes scares Harry so much, he tries to destroy it all together.

To Have and Have Not is a masterpiece of steaming sensuality, which makes many romantic films these days look like a wet dream. The romance shown is powerful, but steady, and very sexy. "You know how to whistle, don'cha Steve?" Marie asks Harry in his doorway, "Just put you lips together and... blow." Very few films can have a line that strong, or the talent of Lauren Bacall to deliver it.

Early (VERY Early) Oscar Predictions

Because I have nothing better to do.....

BEST PICTURE
*Atonement
Into The Wild
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Joel & Ethan Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Mike Nichols, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR
Sean Penn, INTO THE WILD
*Joe Wright, ATONEMENT

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, MICHAEL CLAYTON
Daniel Day-Lewis, THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Emile Hirsch, INTO THE WILD
*Tommy Lee Jones, IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
James McAvoy, ATONEMENT

BEST ACTRESS
*Julie Christie, AWAY FROM HER
Jodie Foster, THE BRAVE ONE
Angelina Jolie, A MIGHTY HEART
Keira Knightly, ATONEMENT
Ellen Page, JUNO

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck, ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY COWARD ROBERT FORD
Javier Bardem, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Hal Holbrook, INTO THE WILD
Philip Seymour Hoffman, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR
*Tom Wilkinson, MICHAEL CLAYTON

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
*Cate Blanchett, I'M NOT THERE
Jennifer Jason Leigh, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING
Saoirse Ronan, ATONEMENT
Amy Ryan, GONE BABY GONE
Tilda Swinton, MICHAEL CLAYTON

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Judd Apatow, KNOCKED UP
Brad Bird, RATATOUILLE
Diablo Cody, JUNO
*Tony Gilroy, MICHAEL CLAYTON
Tamara Jenkins, THE SAVAGES

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
*Paul Thomas Anderson, THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Joel & Ethan Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Christopher Hampton, ATONEMENT
Sean Penn, INTO THE WILD
Aaron Sorkin, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
*Roger Deakins, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Robert Elswit, THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Seamus McGarvey, ATONEMENT
Rodrigo Prieto, LUST, CAUTION
Roberto Schaefer, THE KITE RUNNER

BEST ART DIRECTION
Dante Ferretti, SWEENY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
Jack Fisk, THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Mark Friedberg, THE DARJEELING LIMITED
Dennis Gassner, THE GOLDEN COMPASS
*Sarah Greenwood, ATONEMENT

BEST EDITING
Jay Cassidy, INTO THE WILD
John Gilroy, MICHAEL CLAYTON
Roderick Jaynes, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Tatiana Riegel & Dylan Tichenor, THERE WILL BE BLOOD
*Paul Tothill, ATONEMENT

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, THE GOLDEN COMPASS
Alexandre Desplet, LUST, CAUTION
Michael Giacchino, RATATOUILLE
Alberto Iglesias, THE KITE RUNNER
*Dario Marianelli, ATONEMENT

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Coleen Atwood, SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF THE FLEET STREET
Alexandra Byrne, ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE
Jacqueline Durran, ATONEMENT
Patricia Norris, ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY COWARD ROBERT FORD
*Lai Pan, LUST, CAUTION

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
*Ratatouille
Persepolis
Bee Movie

The Darjeeling Limited (***1/2)

THE DARJEELING LIMITED
Written by Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, & Jason Schwartzman
Directed by Wes Anderson



***1/2

The Darjeeling Limited is the tale of three overbearing brothers who reunite after a year of not seeing each other, and decide to embark on a spiritual journey throughout the religious temples of India. That plot summary in itself is a pretty good display of how off-kilter this film is for it’s entire 91 minutes. That said, this film is a very heartfelt, very funny movie about three people who want to be good people, and want to understand the things that happen in life. Unfortunately, they weren’t built that way.

When Francis (Owen Wilson) crashes his motorcycle into a mountain, his face is left covered in heavy bandages, looking like a low-budget Halloween costume. This life-altering experience leaves him to call upon his two brothers: Peter (Adrien Brody), a brooding fellow who seems destined to divorce his wife until he finds out she is pregnant, and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) an articulate writer, who’s been recently crushed by an ex-girlfriend, and occasionally calls her messaging service to check her messages. These three need help, and we find that out soon, as we watch them gobble down various amounts of muscle relaxers and cough medicine.

Francis wants the brothers to reconvene on a train, called The Darjeeling Limited, where Francis, along with his assistant Brendan (Walace Wolodarsky) make daily laminated itineraries with the planned trips and stops during the day. Francis seems controlling, constantly asking the brothers to settle on “agreements” such as Jack not being allowed to call his ex’s messaging service without letting the other two know first. Peter is openly resentful to Francis’ authoritative manner, even going as far as to steal his belt. Jack writes short stories documenting their half-baked plans to pick up their father’s car from a dealership the day of his funeral.

The movie’s plot cannot be explained much more than that, because that’s all it is. They run into little adventures--Jack has a small affair with the train’s stewardess, Rita (Amara Karan); Peter buys a poisonous snake--but essentially the movie does not move in any one, organized direction. There was a smart, deadpan style Wes Anderson created in his two great films Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, and then he sort of bent it with his film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The Darjeeling Limited seems to bend, then fix itself, and then shatter into a million pieces. The movie noodles around ideas of a plot, but all we are left with are three disallusioned boys in the bodies of men.

In a way, that is what makes this film so good. There is no target that needs to be hit. Take the make of train. Much like the mansion-home in Tenenbaums or the submarine/shrimping ship in Life Aquatic, the train is a piece of setting that is so colorful, but disjointed-- in a way, like the characters of the films, themselves. There’s no reason for any place to mismatch so many colors, but it seems like the brothers could not have ridden on any other train. That said, halfway through the film, the three are kicked off the train when they find Peter’s snake. The train leaves, and it is no longer part of the movie. The brothers are left to walk endlessly throughout the exotic country with their mountain of Louis-Vutton luggage.

Francis throws one surprise into the trip for the other two brothers: the trip will end with them meeting their mother whom they haven’t seen in years. Their mother (Anjelica Huston) has since become a missionary in an impoverished area of India. This is probably the most important, searching moment of the film. We see what the brothers have been looking for their entire lives. She can’t leave this place which is thousands of miles away from home, because the people need her. “What about us?” Jack asks hopelessly, in response. She doesn’t have an answer for them, and she disappears from them the next morning.

Many might get confused and say something along the lines of “this film doesn’t have a plot” or a “point”, but I think that is what makes the film magical. There are no amazing revelations, just many moments of various meanderings. Even the way the brothers approach the vast land of India, they are essentially tourists, but it doesn’t stop them from having long, confessing conversations in front of a stranger reading a newspaper next to them, or calling young Indian kids playing on the dangerous riverbank “assholes”. “I love the smell of this country,” Peter says, “It’s kind of spicy”. Nothing is meant to connect. There are times when we ask ourselves what exactly is going on, but we feel safe in the company of the actors and filmmakers.

Wilson and Schwartzman are experts within Wes Anderson’s broad dialogue and comedic timing, and Brody fits in nicely as well. There's something exceptionally piercing about the characters in Anderson films. They seem to stand there, doing nothing, but blurting out statements in monotone voices. Then suddenly, they have an explosion. The three actors especially embody Anderson’s tactic, and have no problems indulging in the “noodling” that is required for the roles.

The movie is an adventure--sometimes we feel like we’re the ones who are chugging down the cough syrup and pain medicine. It is a brave movie. With a shipload of young filmmakers trying so hard to be politically incorrect, I guess this is what it takes to be anti-establishment: just take the system and twist and turn until you have a story so convoluted and deceptive, maybe someone someday will call it art. I’ll give it a shot: This film is art.

Gone Baby Gone (***)

GONE BABY GONE
Directed by Ben Affleck



***

Ben Affleck has spent his entire career heading huge pictures, and consistently getting pounded by most critics for lackluster performances. For the most part, he seemed not much more than a figure of “handsome man” with nothing but “boyish charm”. This is, though, what makes his turn as director with Gone Baby Gone that much more impressive. An actor, who’s weaved his way in out of the public’s heart more times than he’d like to imagine, has made a film so filled with heart and power, we wonder why he hasn’t been making films before.

The film stars Affleck’s little brother, Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie, a private detective who works with his girlfriend Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan). The two are hired by a worried middle-aged woman (Amy Madigan) who wants them to help find her young niece who’d been kidnapped three days before. The child’s mother Helene (Amy Ryan), is a strung-out troublemaker, into drugs and pornography, who does little to help find the child, though occasionally breaking down to say how much she misses her.

Patrick and Angie meet Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), the officer in charge of the investigation, and the leader of the Crimes Against Children task force. He once had a child who was kidnapped and murdered, he mentions, and he doesn’t want other parents to feel the pain he felt. They also meet Det. Remy Bressant (Ed Harris), a tough-as-nails cop who’s not afraid to take illegal measures to imprison criminals he knows are innocent. Criminals who abuse children, he feels, are the worst kind of people. With all the people that Patrick must work around, it is inevitable that there will come mistakes in the police works, with people stumbling over each other’s findings. That, though, is where most of the fun of the film comes from, and it shouldn’t be revealed here.

The film’s setting is rooted in Boston, the hometown of the Affleck brothers. This film, much like Mystic River (both are based on novels by Dennis Lehane) really show the deep, dark underbelly of that town. Pain seems to strike deep, and the bad guys are much more colorful and harmful. The films are similar in style, but this film is much more ingrained into it’s setting. Affleck is said to have used a technique of filming many people around the Boston area without there knowledge. Nothing is known of whether or not the people gave their consent to be in the film, but what is accomplished is a feeling of supreme realism. All the characters are elevated by this technique, because everyone is just as spotty as everyone else.

The story itself is based on a novel Affleck once publicly christened as “His favorite”. Again, though, like Mystic River, the strength does not lie within the chase, but the chasers. These men become so enthralled in their search, it seems almost manic. As crime movies go, there are characters with hidden, darker motives, and they are revealed very skillfully. The film’s ability to give us the clues without us even realizing it is uncanny. Unfortunately, the film stalls toward the conclusion, and tries to play cheap tricks. The morals of the film, and the established beliefs tell us that the film should go in another direction. We hope that the ending can be as strong, and powerful as the rest of the film. That is not the case.

That said, what we are given is a troupe of actors so akin to their roles and motivations, it doesn’t seem to matter that it concludes unsatisfactorily. Casey Affleck solidifies his maturation as an actor, carrying this film without a beat. Patrick Kenzie seems to make choices the audience doesn’t agree with (sometimes he doesn’t agree with them himself), but that’s what makes the character so intriguing. His choices and mistakes surround him, till he wants to collapse, and many times his baby face is questioned about his age. Affleck’s performance is something coming-of-age, and you tend to wonder if the real acting talent in the family actually went to someone else.

Morgan Freeman’s Jack Doyle is not a character outside his range; meaning, this is the kind of part Freeman has been playing a lot the last couple of years: wise, authoritative and probably well-worn. Sure, he is not being challenged, but why challenge a man when he plays a kind of role so perfectly? The same can be said for Ed Harris. He seems to be yelling in movies now more than Al Pacino, but his brooding resentfulness creates one of the most colorful, dynamic characters in the film, and Harris has lived off of his dynamics for some time now. Michelle Monaghan is the closest thing we have to the “heart” of the film. She’s a caring woman, despises the scum she encounters, but overall, holds herself in high esteem. Monaghan doesn’t shy away from Angie’s self-sufficient personality. Amy Ryan’s portrait of disastrous parenting in Helene is probably the best performance in the movie. If anything, the film suffers from not having her on the screen more. She encompasses all the sloppy clothes and averted attention that we’ve come to know all to well in so many parents today.

When I think of this film, the adjective that I seem to think of the most is impressive. The film’s lead and the film’s director impressed me immensely, to the point that I wonder why I ever questioned their talent. The film is not perfect, but a lot of films aren’t. What matters is that the movie works. Affleck gets great performances from a great cast, and gets the most out of his dreary hometown of Boston. What else does he need?

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (**)

ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE
Directed by Shekhar Kapur



**

When watching 1998’s Elizabeth, there is always the sneaking suspiscion that what you are watching is not incredibly close to history. You tend not to notice or care, because you are so enthralled by what was one of the greatest studies of character that decade. Nine years later, we watch Elizabeth: The Golden Age and we do not walk away with that same impression. This film is less intelligent, less elegant, and without all the charm that was present in the first one. Not that a sequel should be expected to be anything spectacular, but there seems to be an element of disappointment with this film. They could have done much better.

The three main people of the original film come back for this one: director Shekhar Kapur, and actors Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush reprise their roles as Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Francis Walsingham, respectively. The film begins proclaiming the power of the Spanish Armada, and the fears of death threats toward the queen. On the other hand, Elizabeth still has to deal with the issues of being without a male suitor, and being the “virgin queen”. During a series of suitors that sweep in and out of the palace (a scene which seems like something out of a bad romantic comedy) in strolls Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen).

We have to dispel the fact the Queen would have been well into her 50’s at the time this film is set (circa 1585), and Raleigh would’ve been around 32. Instead, Elizabeth is made to be young and glowing, creating the intrigue between her and Raleigh that takes up most of the plot. The film revisits a theme that was in the first film: that the supreme and authoritative job of being queen England can be quite a drag on your sex life. That seems like a crude statement to say, but this film is so robust, and lacking of humanity, it leaves it victim to that kind of remark.

Anyway, the film chronicles the Queen’s struggle with death threats and attempts of murder at the hands of the fanatically Catholic Spanish who see her as a husband-less leader of a godless country (AKA protestant), and then also having to deal with Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton). And all the while, she has to deal with the pain that she’ll never be able to be with Raleigh, no matter how much she yearns for him (though he loses no sleep going after her patron). And who wouldn’t love the Raleigh who’s pictured in this film, as a swashbuckling, manly gentleman, who even has a seen where he swings on ropes during naval battle.

All that aside, what is so disappointing about this movie, is the lack of substance. This film is filled with such vast, sparkling sets and flawless costumes, it’s no wonder there seemed to be no substance within the humanity of the characters. How can you portray a character appropriately when you’re busy worried about scuffing the ruffles around your neck? The movie is pretty beautiful to look at, but a film with such talent in it’s cast could afford to add more depth to the story. The director Shekhar Kapur takes the elaborate art direction that he had in his first film and compounds on it so much, that all we are left with is a spectacle of great cinematography and empty humanity.

That being said, the film is not unwatchable. The brightest star within this movie is Blanchett. While watching this movie, I came to realize that she has separated herself as the most prolific and skilled actress in the movies today (knowing that she is spot-on here playing Elizabeth, and is already getting honored for a performance as Bob Dylan in I’m Not There is astonishing in it’s own right). Like she did in the first film, she commands the screen. She delivers the lines with power. Her yearning after Raleigh seems sincere, even if the concept of the love between them doesn’t. Nothing that happens in the movie makes you doubt that she is the authority, even as you see her lost in the inches of Elizabethan make-up.

Rush’s return to the role of the devilish, conniving Welsingham is one met with great nuance. He’s the Al Neri, so to speak, to Elizabeth I’s Don Chorleone. The role is so shrouded, and violent it’s impossible to believe that he spent these two films on the protagonist’s side. Morton’s portrayal of Mary “Queen of Scots” is also very commanding, though she is much less demonstrative than Elizabeth (perhaps because she doesn’t have to deal with the hackneyed Hollywood love triangle). What Morton shows is something a lot of film lovers already know about her, that she is probably the greatest actress of today that nobody ever talks about.

The Golden Age’s downfall is in it’s misguided filmmaking. It’s amazing that so many people were able to take part in this project without seeing the holes left behind in almost every scene. It’s disappointing to see a film filled with such acting talent essentially twist in the wind of creativity. The power is in the performances, and the weakness is in it’s human story. When you end up with that kind of lop-sided result, you end with a sloppy, so-so film.

Michael Clayton (****)

MICHAEL CLAYTON
Written and directed by Tony Gilroy



****

Michael Clayton is a “fixer” at one of the biggest law firms in the country. Got a big-time client who just ran someone over with their car? Clayton’s your man. “I’m not a miracle worker,” he tells a troubled client, “I’m a janitor.” He’s lauded consistently as the best guy for the job--and then his Mercedes bursts into flames in the middle of a forrest road. Michael Clayton, a masterful film by Tony Gilroy, is the best made, most thrilling film made so far this year. The suspense is pulsating, but the human element of the story is dealt with so grandly, that we are strapped in for a great piece of filmmaking.

Michael Clayton (played by George Clooney) is the best in the “fixing” business, but he holds other demons. When he takes his son to school, he has to face the facts that he really doesn’t know his son at all; and he’s becoming increasingly indebted by a bar business he adopted in case the role as “fixer” didn’t work out. This is all expository on the character of Clayton, the action of the story starts when Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) sabotages one of the law firms biggest cases, a class action lawsuit against the corporation U/North, and Clayton is forced into the most challenging “cleanup” of his career.

When Edens discovers the damage U/North pollution has done to farmers (including deaths), he kicks his manic-depressive medication and strips naked inside the deposition room. From this point on, Edens is frantically building a case against U/North using evidence only he has. The only person who seems able to pierce Edens’s core is Clayton. Clayton and Edens are friends, but Arthur has grown tired of being the “fixer” he’s been his whole career, he wants to do the right thing. As Clayton attempts to control Arthur before the firm and U/North find their own ways of controlling him, Clayton uncovers a dangerous world of deceit and murder, and is faced with some powerful decisions.

This is the directorial debut for Tony Gilroy, who has had much success as a screenwriter (the Bourne films, Armageddon). This is a polished film, and produced with much skill unlike that of a debut. Gilroy understands that this is a story where the characters are complex, not so much the story itself. He allows the film to piece itself together, and what we end up with is an incredible mosaic of intrigue and suspense, building to a satisfying climax. It is about as perfect an execution as you can have in the “legal thriller” genre.

Cinematographer Robert Elswit (Good Night, and Good Luck) makes much beauty out of the simplicity in the shots. Everyone is shrouded in some shadow. The film is edited by Gilroy’s little brother, John Gilroy, who is able to cut the film so smoothly, pushing the conversations to the forefront, but not ignoring the stylised quick cuts that make the film run at rapid pace. John Newton Howard’s score is one of brooding mystery. It is my favorite kind of score: a score which is constantly displaying the feelings and thoughts within the central character.

George Clooney seems to be at the peak of his acting career with Clayton. Clayton is seen driving his Mercedes, wearing a perfect, unwrinkled suit, and every hair in place. That is, until things are going wrong, and then everything becomes disheveled and unkempt. Clooney takes his time showing Clayton’s disintegration, wearing a face of discouragement and disappointment. Clayton doesn’t want to do what he does, but it is what he does best. He’d rather have a mundane life as a prosecutor, but the constant pressure from the heads of the firm, as well as bookies, keep him stuck in it. Clooney is excellent at showing all the emotions within Clayton, but he is best at showing his loss of integrity.

The film’s strength is in it’s cast, and Clooney is buoyed by a number of great supporting performances. Tom Wilkinson’s Arthur Eden is deranged and dangerous, but the heart of the character to do what is right probably makes the most poignant element within the movie. Tilda Swinton plays Karen Crowder, the cheif legal executive for U/North, who thinks she knows what it takes to be in charge of a cut-throat business, but may go a little too far. Swinton’s portrayal as the bewildered Crowder is another example of Swinton’s regal talent. Sydney Pollack plays Marty Bach, one of the partners within the law firm--Clayton performs his “fix jobs” at Bach’s behest. Pollack shows Bach as a kind-hearted man, but he knows the ins and outs and displays absolute authority.

Michael Clayton may be the best made film to come out this year, and is a masterful exercise within a genre made popular in the 1970’s. Clayton has no true moments of overwhelming idealism, nor is it a film with a specific significance, but as a film that executes, as well as entertains, you can get no better than this film.

Across The Universe (***1/2)

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Directed by Julie Taymor



***1/2

I must admit, before writing this review, that I’ve been a stringent Beatles fan since about age four. I’ll also admit that when brought forth the idea of a musical film, staged totally around the performances of popular Beatles songs, I sort of cringed. The film, expertly made by Julie Taymor exceeded my expectations though, making what may very well be the most beautiful film of the year.

The film centers on a young, Liverpool laborer named Jude (Jim Sturgess) who impulsively grabs a ship to America in search of his father. His father, rather unclimactically is a janitor at Princeton University. He soon meets the rambunctious Maxwell (Joe Anderson), and his sister Lucy (an angelic Evan Rachel Wood). When Maxwell drops out of college, him and Jude move to New York and shack up in an overwhelmingly communal apartment owned by the Janis Joplin-like singer Sadie (Dana Fuchs). Also, living in the quarters is the Hendrixian Jo-Jo (Martin Luther McCoy), the heartbroken lesbian Prudence (T.V. Carpio; she comes in through the bathroom window), and eventually Lucy.

Jude and Lucy fall for each other, Jo-Jo and Sadie have a steamy, but vile love affair, Prudence mopes cause she knows she will never have Sadie’s heart, and Maxwell is drafted into the Vietnam War. These are all basic plot points, and not what makes this film as enjoyable as it is. What I enjoyed so much about this film was such a successful execution in making such an enchanting movie with stories and songs that we are so familiar with.

This is a movie about the Turbulent Years of the 1960’s, illustrated by what I assume the filmmakers feel is the best pieces of music from that time. The Vietnam War is documented and protested, but not so much that you feel hit over the head with it (like so many Oliver Stone films). We see the antiwar movement, but more of how it affects the characters, than actually accounting it. Other than marijuana and Jack Daniel’s, we don’t see the characters really experiment with hard drugs, but the visuals within the film definitely suggest it. Basically, it has the images of any film about 60’s, but seems to keep a comfortable distance so we can get to know the characters.

It amazes me that I’ve gotten this far into the review without talking about the music. Which is inarguably great. The films spins the songs into meanings I would have never figured, when I danced to them as a toddler in my living room. Prudence sings “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” with such painful yearning, watching the hands of women she knows she will probably never hold. Rows and rows of plastic-looking soldiers strip down Maxwell for basic army training stating the ever popular Army phrase (and equally popular Beatles song) “I Want You” and the sequence evolves into Maxwell and other hopeless draftees carrying the Statue of Liberty exclaiming “She’s So Heavy”.

The movie has moments where it doesn’t work though. The defiant performance of “Revolution” comes off more as campy than rebellious, for instance. Eddie Izzard makes an appearance as Mr. Kite, in the film’s most creatively questionable sequence. It’s the only moment in the film where the song itself seems to be performed inappropriately. These minor flaws, though, are redeemed by sequences that both sound beautiful and are visual experiences. The constant splitting of Jude’s Pollack-like artistry with strawberries mirrored by Maxwell’s horrors in battle are played wonderfully over “Strawberry Fields Forever”.

There are cute little cameos throughout the film, such as Bono playing the shrewd Doctor Robert who sings “I Am The Walrus” while he takes his followers on a tie-dye ride on his Magical Mystery tour bus. Joe Cocker pops up as multiple characters including a stylish pimp, and a raggedy bum as he sings “Come Together”. Multiple Salma Hayeks seem to sprout out of each other, as she plays the Bang Bang Shoot Shoot nurses during a dreamy, but dreary sequence of “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” as Maxwell sits in a retro hospital, recovering from war injuries. There is also the affore mentioned Izzard.

I should mention that there is one spectacular sequence that is underwater. The characters float (most of them naked) as if caught in the absolute rapture in the moment as they sing “Because”. During this sequence, a group of teenagers got up in the theater I was in, and walked out. So to be forewarned, the film takes it’s time, and is made on an epic scale. The visuals are languid, and they can be obscure in terms of meaning, but as I think I stated earlier, most of this film is a visual experience. It’s a glorious mix of ubbeat, satisfying performances, and glorious dedication to arguably the greatest Rock & Roll band of all time. So don’t get caught up on how unclear the message may be, just enjoy the ride. Don’t Let Me Down (repeat three times).