Struck by the Rabbi's Color

     Yeah, I know, this is the part where I usually give you cute little teasers about the three films I'm going to be reviewing.  Today's post, however, is special because it is our first At Home Viewing article that includes 2013 releases, specifically Upstream Color and Struck By Lightning.  We are not, however, quite done with the 2012 films as I have about twenty left to do. Today they are represented by the animated feature The Rabbi's Cat.  Might as well get under way...

  Upstream Color - This is the second feature from writer/director/star Shane Carruth.  I have not seen his first film, Primer, but after checking out this movie, I'm more than a little interested.  Upstream Color is, quite simply, the most creative and original science fiction movie that I have seen in a long time (at least since Inception).  I don't ever say this lightly but I was quite literally blown away.  I went into the film with very few expectations one way or another (the picture is still quite obscure, flying under most movie goer's radars).  This is probably to the film's advantage because it is said air of mystery and uncertainty that is the film's greatest strength.  To that end, I am not going to give away any more of the plot than is absolutely needed.
     Upstream Color is not for the impatient or easily frustrated.  The plot is quite literally baffling in the film's first half.  It is the sort of film that you need to just let wash over you for a time until the pieces finally begin to come together.  Even when you have seen the whole film once, chances are that it will not all make sense.  I admit to re-watching it a couple of times myself almost immediately.  Of course, this means that I can say without reservation that this is definitely a feature that highly rewards multiple viewings.
     Besides its ambiguity, the only other real complaint that I've read about the film is the acting performance of director Shane Carruth.  I, however, found both he and Amy Seimetz's lead performances to be fantastic. They both come across as listless and emotionally disconnected, but there is a very good reason for this.  Just trust me.  I actually found that both of them gave multi-layered performances, letting you see glimpses of their more humanizing emotions seeping out through the cracks of their general disorientation.  Andrew Sensenig is also delightfully creepy in a supporting role and Thiago Martins absolutely terrified me in the first half hour.
     I guess at this point I don't really have to say that I HIGHLY recommend this picture.  Besides surely being one of the best written films of a year that is just getting started, and being very well acted, the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous.  You can once again thank the multi-talented (and multi-hat-wearing) Mr. Carruth, who also composed the original music and had a hand in the editing.  He instantly goes to the front of the class of exciting new auteurs with Brit Marling and Benh Zeitlen.  I cannot think of a more perfect low budget science fiction flick...5 of 5 stars.

  Struck By Lightning - This marks Emmy winning actor Chris Colfer's (best known for playing Kurt on the television show Glee) debut writing credit on a feature film. I have really enjoyed Mr. Colfer's work on Glee, especially the way in which his character has helped to change public perceptions of young gay men.  As such, I was very hopeful that this film would be just as much of a delight, whether it addressed similar themes or not.  Unfortunately, I cannot say that it was.  It was actually a rather flawed effort which failed to really go anywhere or say very much of anything.
     It tells the story of an ambitious young high school student who is trying desperately to effect his escape from the small town he feels is hampering his growth.  Or was that Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Rushmore? No, no...Election. Get it? Subplots include his relationships with his estranged parents.  His mother is a pill popping head case who acts as if she couldn't care less about him while his father is absent and plays no part in his life whatsoever.  Both of these relationships provide rich potential for development, but were never given enough time or focus to evolve into anything that would provide growth or insight to either the characters or the viewer.  Carson (Colfer) starts a literary magazine to try and improve his college chances and blackmails other prominent members of the student body into participating.  We never really see his plan's success or see him face consequences for his unscrupulous methods.  Some effort is made to insinuate that the students involved might have learned something about themselves through the process of writing, but this thematic thread doesn't go far enough, and sort of trail off into nothingness.
     Mr. Colfer also stars in the film, and I think that he may have been thinking more as an actor than as a writer during the process of conceptualizing his script.  Carson (his character), besides being bitter and witty, is left as sort of an everyman, the straight man (or voice of reason if you want to get really technical in a literary way) in a field of extreme personalities.  I can only assume that this was done to demonstrate that the actor possesses range well the flamboyant exuberance central to his characterization of Kurt on the show that made him famous.  This does not serve the plot as well as it could have, but it REALLY does a disservice to the young artist as an actor.  Mr. Colfer has tremendous talent, but it is as a CHARACTER actor.  This is not to say that he must always be relegated to supporting status, but standard everyman type leading characters are a waste of his rare gift for quirkiness and going over the top.
     The best things about this film are the performances of SOME members of the supporting cast.  Allison Janney is captivating as always even when delivering slightly stilted dialogue as Carson's mother.  Polly Bergan is likewise delightful as his dementia ridden grandmother, although we have certainly seen her play somewhat similar roles in the past.  Sarah Hyland (best known as the youngest daughter on Modern Family) does a respectable job although she, too, is cast to rather familiar type.  Allie Grant (who played young lesbian plus size model Isabelle Hodes on the first several seasons of Weeds) probably stretches herself the most as the uptight yearbook editor.
      Late in the film, Mr. Colfer tries to tie in some sort of metaphoric subtext about bitterness and "personal rain clouds".  Like most of the other threads of the script, this one comes off as frayed.  I do hope that Mr. Colfer gets another shot with another screenplay (or at least another leading film role) because I feel that he has a lot more to offer than just one great role on one good TV show.  Next time, however, I hope he gives himself a more interesting character that stretches his bag of tricks in some way besides being less obviously homosexual. I also hope that he takes a little more time with his other characters and situations so as to avoid quick and easy stereotypes.  Maybe even a story outside of the overly dramatized and over played struggles of American high school students...3 of 5 stars.

  The Rabbi's Cat - Typically, European animated films are quite different from their American counterparts in several key ways.  They tend to be aimed more at the entertainment of both adults and children (you know, like Pixar in the old days only more so).  They rely a lot less on musical interludes delivered in the style of a Broadway play (if at all).  The cast of characters in no way seem to have been designed with an action figure line already planned out.  They involve a little more thought (and wit) than cuteness (and fart jokes).  The biggest difference, however, is that Foreign 'toons seem to be written in a far more literary style, at least attempting to develop something a little more thematically complex than a one sentence moral presented in a far more clumsy and obvious way than Aesop ever did.  The higher meanings behind last year's Animated nominees, for example, could be summed up like this:
                                1. Don't be ruled by fate, but don't forget who you are.
                                2. Sometimes weird is good and even necessary.
                                3. If you set out to do the impossible you may succeed, but it will be an empty victory if your motivations are not rooted in love. (Which ain't half bad and is why Frankenweenie should have won)
                                4. Don't be ruled by fate, but don't forget who you are. (This would have been good advice to both the parent studio and its subsidiary.  Maybe if they'd paid attention to their own platitudes they wouldn't have both made the same cartoon last year.)
                                5. It's funny when stupid clumsy pirates get hurt. (Sorry Aardman, but this was such a make-up nod for nominating three films that were nowhere near as good Arthur Christmas for the 84th Oscars.)
     Which brings us, at long last, to The Rabbi's Cat.  It is not an "adults only" type of animated story.  It doesn't indulge in the sort of lusty sensuality (not to mention excessive overindulgence in alcohol) of Chico and Rita.  It IS, however, the most thematically ambitious piece of 100% animated film making that I have ever seen.  Race relations, the quality of truth, religious tolerance, the nature of faith, love (in a world beyond fairy tales) and tradition versus innovation are all topics that have been skillfully woven into the tapestry of this tale.  I cannot stress enough how refreshing it is that these serious subjects of thought emerged  organically from the interaction of the characters and events.  The Rabbi's Cat is no message movie, nor does it attempt to give pat or easy answers to the questions it raises.
     The picture is based upon the graphic novel of the same name by French actor/writer/director Joann Sfar.
Of course, he had help on the directing side of things from Antoine Delesvaux, and on the writing side from Sandrina Jardel.  I incorrectly assumed that having created the original story was Mr.Sfar's only qualification for these positions, but he actually had previous directing experience on Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (which I have never seen).  The translation from printed medium to dramatic representation was accomplished with sensibilities that show deft awareness pertaining to the requirements of the medium.
     I do have a couple of reservations about the film, however.  While I usually abhor dubbed translations on Foreign Language Films, I actually prefer them to subtitles (which this film implemented) when the film in question is animated.  In live action movies, the dubbing of (usually inferior) English interpretations of the lines detracts far too much from the power of the actors' performances.  In a cartoon, where every element besides the voice is supplied artificially, it is difficult to pull much depth of feeling from the words if you do not understand them. It is something of a lesson about how essential facial expressions and body language are to our perceptions of not only the craft of acting, but all observations of human expression.  At any rate, The Rabbi's Cat went with subtitles which is far too distracting from the animation itself, as it requires that you look at it to appreciate it.
     The only other complaint that I can muster is that the film ended a little too abruptly for my tastes.  While I understand that the thematic questions raised in this picture are far too expansive and elusive to enable neat and easy solutions over the course of one feature length cartoon.  Trying to wrap them up in the finale would have been disastrous.  The problem lies in the fact that even the plot lines seemed to just sort of rush through a denouma and end, without resolving any of the characters' plots.  Still, you have to give Mr. Sfar points for courage and chutzpah...4 of 5 stars.
     

A Price Beyond This Time

     Place Beyond the Pines is a film I have been looking forward to pretty much since I heard it was being made.  I quite enjoyed writer/director Derek Cianfrance's 2010 critical break out Blue Valentine, and the news that he would be re-teaming with "Valentine" star Ryan Gosling in the follow up was just icing on the cake.  I wasn't really sure what to expect out of "Pines".  It seemed from the early buzz and promotionals to have some heavy action elements involved, which seems a pretty far cry from the turgid love story of Blue Valentine.  I shouldn't have worried.  Cianfrance is proving to be a director who is capable of handling a variety of genres and tones with equal ease.
     If I had to pick one signature marker of the man's directing style thus far, it would be his pacing. Cianfrance takes his time to tell a story, creating films that unfurl at a speed much more akin to European dramas than most of their domestic counterparts.  He makes sure to show us more than he tells us, allowing us to draw our own conclusions about the characters lives, similar to the way in which we learn about our own.  This helps to create characters that seem less like mere functionaries of the plot, and more like fully realized human beings whose complex choices shape and guide the story.
     Speaking of pacing, editing team Jim Helton and Ron Patane (who return from Blue Valentine) do an exceptional job with this picture.  The story might be a tad slow for the average attention span, but (save for a SLIGHT lag in Act II), it suited me just fine.  Their true triumph, however, lies in the specific cuts they chose to use from scene to scene.  Often the transitional images enhanced each other's impact, or helped to tie the two scenes they bridged together thematically in ways that were notable without being obvious or cheesy.
     I fell in love with the work of cinematographer Sean Bobbitt when I saw Shame, giving him sixth place in my Best of 2011 series for the film (and it was a COMPETITIVE year for cinematographers).  He was an excellent choice for this film.  The images in "Pines" tell us just as much as the words that are spoken, consistent with a storytelling style that values demonstration over exposition.  The cross-country motorcycle ride vistas have set the bar very high for 2013's cinematographers.  Bobbitt's fine lensing will also be visible this year in Steve McQueen's Twelve Years a Slave.  I have no doubt that film will be beautiful to behold as well.
     Place Beyond the Pines is a story told in three acts, with each act focusing on a different actor.  Act One belongs entirely to Ryan Gosling, who is both a great rising movie star and a superbly talented actor.  What makes him a great movie star is partially his good looks, which are astounding.  His "star power" is more rooted, however, in that intangible "X" factor that just makes him infinitely interesting to watch and listen to.  Call it "screen presence", or just "charisma", he has it in spades and it can't be quantified.  It makes you feel consoled by the fact that you got to watch him even when he's in a film of less than stellar quality.  He is a great actor, because he is gifted and obviously serious about his trade.  He has enormous range of characters that he is capable of playing and commits to each role completely.  Here he plays a much more inept role than the uber-capable types he has mostly played of late, a man who tries very hard, but completely in vain.
     Act Two is the story of Bradley Cooper's character.  I regret to inform that this was the weakest of the three parts, in my opinion, the only time in the movie that I wanted the pace to pick up just a hair.  This is very minor complaint, however, as it was still MOSTLY riveting viewing.  Cooper continues to show that he has acting chops which extend FAR beyond broad comedy.  Not only does he demonstrate the ability to handle more serious material in way that is far more understated and naturalistic that what he was asked to do in Silver Linings Playbook, he has NO comedic elements to fall back on.  The actor does an excellent job, even if Gosling has already stolen the show a bit.
     Act Three is set several years after the first two and focuses upon a character played by Dane DeHaan, who first caught my attention last year in Lawless.  In Place Beyond the Pines, he plays a far stronger and independent character immediately impressing upon me that, like the film's other two stars, this young actor has the range and ability to surprise us.  He's a new talent to keep an eye on.
     Of course, the movie also features a whole host of supporting work.  Rose Byrne and Eva Mendes portray the two main women in the story.  Both give respectable turns in somewhat limited roles.  Emory Cohen (best known from TV's Smash) shows signs of possible crossover potential.  Ben Mendelsohn, as usual, proves himself an immensely gifted character actor, and Ray Liotta continues to carve out a niche as the go-to supporting heavy we don't root for.
     I have tried very hard not to give away too much about Place Beyond the Pines' plot, but I would like to say that (like Blue Valentine) it is a story that is rooted very much in showing the changes that are wrought in life over time.  In it, not only are the sins of the fathers revisited on the sons, but they rebound back on the fathers as well.  Derek Cianfrance shows us once again how the choices we make and the things we don't take note of can change our destiny in countless unforeseen and undesired ways...4 1/2 of 5 stars.


  Related Articles:  Innkeepers of Blood and Shame (Shame review), Dark Clouds Beautify "Silver Linings", Elena's Brave Law (Lawless review)

The Great Gay Film Festival of 2011

     There were also several films with gay themes of note that I failed to catch back in 2011, so I put three of them together to make this post.  Why the hell not?
     Today's "colors in the homo rainbow" include a teen transsexual, a man so far in the closet he's in Narnia, and a sci-fi thriller about sexual coming of age.  I am happy to report that this batch of movies was MUCH better than the 2012 version of the festival.  Less snark, more recommended viewing!

    Gun Hill Road - Believe it or not, this one was already on my viewing list and it JUST released on DVD earlier this month.  I believe it first came within range of my radar due to young star Harmony Santana's Gotham Award nomination for the Breakthrough Award which the young transsexual actress deserved in spades.  As Michael/Vanessa she gives a performance that is nuanced and pained, yet demonstrates a confidence and understanding of exactly who the character is.  No doubt many points in the film mirror experiences and feelings in her own life, but she creates a character that is far more than a stock personality.
     I also have to take a moment to compliment actress Judy Reyes, who plays Michael/Vanessa's mother.  Rarely has a performance captured such unconditional love of a parent for a child, or such yearning for a closeness to one's husband that seems just beyond the character's grasp.  The actress certainly proves that she has dramatic chops that go far beyond the comedic stylings of SCRUBS.
     Unfortunately, actor Esai Morales's performance seems slightly forced by comparison as the conflicted father.  We definitely get his frustration and confusion, and they ring true for the most part.  However, some of his scenes seem to degenerate into a stereotypical, macho "But he's my boy" litany that could have been played with a little more variety.
     This is the first feature for writer/director Rashaad Ernesto Green, and I hope that the limited commercial success of Gun Hill Road does not hinder his ability to make another.  The script is written with intelligence and sensitivity to ALL of the parties involved and his direction indicates an ability to draw truth from the performances of his actors.  I definitely recommend this film, especially for the parents and families of children whose sexual identity may fall outside of the norm...4 of 5 stars.

  Beauty - Winner of the 2011 Queer Palme at Cannes, Beauty is a South African film that tells the story of Francois van Heerden, a man in his mid-40's who enjoys sex with men (unknown to his wife and family), but hates "faggots" (which should be clear to anyone around him).  Francois is played brilliantly by actor Deon Lotz, who manages to make the character both horrifying and oddly sympathetic.  Excellent supporting turns are provided by actors Charlie Keegan (as the young man he develops feelings for) and Michelle Scott (as the unsuspecting wife), but make no mistake, this is largely a one-man show.
     Writers Oliver Hermanus and Didier Costet were previously unknown to me, but they have crafted a tale that lends real irony to the film's title.  Francois's inability to accept his own attraction to "beauty" leads him to live a life full of bitterness and ugliness.  It is a marvelous example of how living in the closet (or in any other form of denial) can turn a man into a monster.  Hermanus also directs, and he pulls together a tightly knit and expertly handled production.  Beauty is not an easy film to watch, but it is well worth the effort and discomfort...4 1/2 of 5 stars.

  Kaboom - In my experience, the work of writer/director Gregg Araki (The Doom Generation) is always trippy and surreal, but I don't think I've ever seen him have so much fun with a film.  Kaboom is one part sexual awakening tale, one part sci-fi thriller, and one part farce.  Somehow all of these disparate parts stew together into a wholly unique movie that is improbably cohesive in tone.
     The ensemble cast as a whole is great, but the film belongs (acting wise) to Thomas Dekker, who plays Smith.  It took me most of the film to remember where I had seen the young actor before I remembered that he played John Conner in TV's Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles.  This is a very different role, one that enables Mr. Dekker to show an acting range that lies well outside the previous one.  He does so marvelously, aided by one of the most hypnotic [pairs of eyes ever put on the big screen.
     Mr. Araki wisely understands the confusion and alienation experienced by college age kids who are just beginning to understand themselves and their bodies.  Smith's feeling that he is "alien" in some way and caught up in forces beyond his control is something of a metaphor for how everyone feels as a young adult.  This is the "serious" thematic core of the piece.  The fact that, in his case, there are external forces to justify said feelings only adds to the general hilarity and mystery. The ending is a LITTLE disappointing, but I can largely forgive the film maker because I had so much fun getting there...4 of 5 stars.

     Related Articles: The Great Gay Film Festival of 2012

A Late Rise of the Intouchables

     Today's wave of at home viewing options washes ashore a drama about string players, the French film that had the highest non-English language box office in the U.S. and worldwide in 2012, and an animated film about protecting childhood.  Let's sift through the sand....

  The Intouchables - This is not the first feature that Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano have written and directed together, but it is the first to break out internationally on this scale.  The Intouchables did great box office and was also picked as France's official submission to the Oscars last year, although it failed to make the final five.  Many criticized France for choosing this film over Jaques Audiard's Rust and Bone.  I can understand their resistance, this film is not nearly the equal of that masterpiece.  However, The Intouchables is a very good film on its own: touching, poignant, and fun to watch.
     The Intouchables' greatest strength lies in its two lead acting performances from Francois Cluzet (Little White Lies) and Omar Sy (Micmacs).  On the surface it would appear that Cluzet has the more difficult role. It undoubtedly has its challenges.  His character is stuck in a wheelchair and he is limited to what he can express on his face.  He meets every limitation inherent to his performance head on and does a tremendous job in this movie.  Omar Sy, however, may actually outshine him.  Omar has to be ALL of the movement in what basically amounts to a two man show and his physicality never lets you get bored.  He is also gifted with this amazing, shining on-screen charisma that comes across brilliantly in ANY language.
     The story itself has certainly been told before: unconventional caregiver brings new life to invalid patient.  It has rarely been told with this much heart, however.  The script could perhaps have been a little more innovative, but the directors chose to focus on the characters.  Judging by the performances of the leads, this was probably the correct decision...4 1/2 of 5 stars.

  Rise of the Guardians - Early on in 2012, I had a hunch that this film might wind up being the one to beat for Animated Feature at the Oscars this year.  I wound up being really wrong, as it didn't even secure a nomination.  Chock it up to the Academy's aversion to films with a holiday theme.  This bias kept Arthur Christmas out of the running the year before and it was FAR superior to most of the 2011 animated fare.  I personally found rise of the Guardians to be a very good movie, taking a topic loaded with cheese potential and crafting a tale that was full of adventure, excitement, and a childlike sense of wonder, hope, and fun.
     This film is a far cry from Rabbit Hole (even though it has a rabbit), screen writer David Lindsay-Abaire's most well known previous work, but its not his first animated film (he also wrote Robots).  I have not read the source material, but from that position of ignorance, this story seems fresh and very well told.  This was the first directorial effort from successful Art Director Peter Ramsey, but he handles the job like a seasoned professional.
     The cast is full of great voice talent.  Alec Baldwin's voice is unrecognizable under a flawless Russian accent as Santa.  Hugh Jackman is alternately sternly disapproving and, well, warm and fuzzy as The Easter Bunny.  Isla Fischler makes an adorable tooth fairy.  Chris Pine would actually steal the show as Jack Frost if not for the villainous delight with which Jude Law portrays the Boogey Man.  The animators should also be congratulated for giving the silent Sandman as much personality as any of them.
     If you have REALLY little ones, some parts MIGHT be a little scary.  Otherwise, whether you have kids yourself, or just like to indulge your own inner child every now and then, this one is well worth a couple of hours of viewing time...4 1/2 of 5 stars.

  A Late Quartet - This is the debut narrative feature from writer/director Yaron Zilberman who had previously directed the documentary Water Marks.  He seems to handle the job fairly deftly.  There is nothing all that ground breaking about the story itself or the composition of the film, but he does manage to pull the acting ensemble together in perfect harmony.
     Of course, we may have to wait until Mr. Zilberman's next film to discover how much of the credit he deserves, and how much of the finished product resulted from the excellent casting.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, and Christopher Walken all function like the peerless professionals that they are. Working alongside these three it would be easy to get lost in the mix, but Mark Ivanir holds his own with style and confidence.  Imogen Poots and the always delightful Wallace Shawn lend able support.
     In many ways, A Late Quartet is a pretty standard indie drama.  It IS a well told and believable one, however, with an outstanding acting ensemble that works together flawlessly.  If you are a fan of classical music you are in for a real treat as the film is replete with beautifully performed pieces...4 of 5 stars.

     Related Articles: Down With Sinister Lies! (Little White Lies review)