For Oscars, Go Country

Sometimes a film can be powered to greatness (or respectability) by a performance. Case in point, "Training Day". Such a film is "Crazy Heart", whose central performance by Jeff Bridges makes this film work well beyond its modest ambition. Other performances compliment Bridges turn as Bad Blake but they are window dressing. Maggie Gylenhaal is fine but decidedly miscast as Bridges love interest. She is simply to young and pretty to be truthful within the context of the story. But, again the performance is fine. Colin Farrell is way too, well, Colin Farrell to buy as a young country singer, but if that's actually him singing he really has a pretty good country/pop voice. Those are quibbles because it's all about Bridges. Tough and truthful, he manifests the character in subtle strokes, saturating Bad Blake in honesty and booze. You can hear the miles in his voice. He should win the Oscar. He has my vote in the SAG awards.
A word about the music. If you make a movie about a country singer/song writer, you better make sure the song score doesn't sink your movie (see post of "Nine"). They hired T-Bone Burnett. Oscar number two. (with a stipulation, since the music branch of the Academy is almost as looney as the documentarians) "Crazy Heart" is one of the best of the year.

Not a 10

"Nine" is a strange film. Directed with an assured balance that cuts deftly between real life, fantasy and flashback, it's a romanticized portrait of an artistic philanderer who is based on film director Federico Fellini. The film is at its best when Daniel Day Lewis (Guido-the fictionalized Fellini) is struggling with his mistress or wife while battling artistic constipation. It's intriguing when director Rob Marshal faithfully recreates or at least echoes scenes from Fellini's best films. That stuff is kind of cool.
It's the fantasy sequences (basically the musical sequences) that sink this film. They are not extensions of the story but rather interrupt its flow. Marshal doesn't have what he had in "Chicago", namely a quality song score. The songs aren't even close to engaging. It makes for a mixed bag that leaves us as an audience cold and distanced. But if you're a real Fellini fan, you might find enough here to make the film going experience worthwhile. Fellini's "8 1/2" (the source material for the musical) is a great film, but some stories just don't lend themselves to musical adaptation. I felt this way about the Broadway show as well.

Un-Complicated

"It's Complicated" is a fifty-something romantic comedy that's about as interesting as warm milk. Sure, the acting is nice, a good cast led by Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin try to lift this film out of the doldrums but they fail miserably.
This movie doesn't know whether to takes itself seriously or go for schtick so it tries to have it both ways. Sometimes it goes for insight with stodgy heart-string tugging dialogue. Sometimes it gets all Keystone Cops with Alec Baldwin stumbling off of rock walls while peeking through a window or Steve Martin doing his "happy feet" dance that hasn't been funny since 1978.
What's at stake anyway? If Meryl goes back to her husband, she'll have a nice life with her million dollar home and million dollar business. If she doesn't go back to Alec Baldwin I guess she'll have to fill her life with her great kids and soon-to-be-grandkids and luxury and a fulfilling job and maybe travel or adventure. Poor Meryl.
In the end Nancy Meyers wrote a white bread script and directed it with white bread predictability. Blah. When Meryl Streep can't save your movie....

The Road

This is the film that I most looked forward to this entire year, actually two years because it was due out last year and was delayed. I am an unabashed fan of the Cormack McCarthy novel. I think it's great modern literature even though I do not consider myself an expert in the field of modern literature. It did of course win the Pulitzer so maybe that corroborates my view. Anyway I couldn't wait. Do I sound like one of those Twilight teenyboppers?
Expectation is a bitch. Your favorite book very seldom becomes your favorite movie. In the case of "The Road" this holds true for me. It doesn't have the impact of the extraordinary novel. But it ain't bad.
This is a post-apocalypse road picture. A father and son, two "good guys", travel south searching for scarce food and scarcer security and trying to avoid the "bad guys" along the way. Sound trite? Not a bit. Those bad guys are lawless scavengers who survive by cannibalism. They'd just as soon eat you as look at you. It's a vicious, unforgiving and bleak world. But believe it or not, it isn't bleak enough. Had director John Hillcoat been more ruthless in his vision this might have been a masterpiece. A masterpiece that no one would watch. He's taken the edge off and provided a bit more audience accessibility. The result is that he has sacrificed the sharpness of the allegory for watchability. The novel is mankind's journey through darkness toward the light of salvation (religious or not). This movie, as it is, is more about humans than humanity.
Still, this is a damn fine film if you can take it.

A Single Man

You know when you meet someone at a party and they seem to expect to be the center of attention, like they want you to hang on every condescending syllable they utter? "A Single Man" is an entire movie like that. Every lingering look, every slow motion shot, every enigmatic line of dialogue is filled with self importance.
Colin Firth is a college professor circa 1962 who's long time lover, Jim, has died in a car crash. He's not even allowed at the funeral. His neighbor and ex-lover Charlie (Julianne Moore)tries to comfort him but really has her own heterosexual agenda. It's a slow march to suicide for Mr. Firth until the prettiest boy in the whole school gives him the time of day. (And I mean pretty in a Woddy Allen-esque, wish fulfillment sort of way) A lot of conversation dripping with subtext ensues. My neighbor Justin hit the nail on the head. He said the trailer looked like a Saturday Night Live send up of this kind of film. Julianne Moore's character is a forerunner of the that English redhead from "Absolutely Fabulous" without the satire. Colin Firth is excellent in the role but it can't save the film. This one you can skip.

Don't Shoot The Messenger

Somewhere in this blog I mentioned that the great thing about Independent Film is that it tells stories that aren't made for mass consumption and goes places that aren't always easy to see, places and stories that might otherwise be ignored. "The Messenger" is a classic example.
Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson play two soldiers on the Army's Casualty Notification Team. Their job is to inform the loved ones of fallen soldiers of their demise. The reactions are powerful, unpredictable and always break your heart. But it's the relationship between Foster and Harrelson that brings the story its sense of humanity. This film, when looked at with other powerful independent films from this year like "Precious" and "The Hurt Locker", make for a stellar year for the Independent Film Movement. Think 1939 in the Studio System era.
Ben Foster's performance should be recognized as one of the best of the year and Woody Harrelson finally puts forth some effort in a film that matches his talent. The result may be an Oscar nod.
Just a quick word about another co-star of "The Messenger", Samantha Morton. She is truly the most underused actress in film today. She's a major talent, clearly one of the best of her generation. In "The Messenger" she turns what might have been a wishy washy character into one you'll remember, honest and full of emotional complexity. See this film. It's one of the best of the year.

The Romantics

You know those English drawing room dramas that get all the attention around Oscar time? Sometimes they can be quite beautiful if you give them a chance. Other times they cure insomnia quicker than Ambien. I have to be in the mood for one these flicks. "Bright Star" put me in the mood.
This passionate yet chaste story tells of the romantic love and tragic end of poet John Keats who died at 25. That's not a spoiler if you where paying attention in your High School English class like you should have been. The lyrical love poems he wrote to his beautiful neighbor are the basis for his reputation as one of the greatest of the Romantic Poets.
But here the real artist is director Jane Campion. This is a story that needs a sure hand and Campion provides it, against her instincts, I think. She is usually a director with a rougher, almost gritty edge. "Bright Star" is told with much gentler brush strokes. It's the romantics after all. There is a stillness to her camera that allows for the boldness of her characters without adding to it.
And her characters are bold. Abby Cornish plays Keats' muse Fanny Brawne with restrained power. Ben Wishaw's Keats is ethereal and poetic without being, well, a wussy. These two don't really match physically but there is no doubt about the chemistry. 19th century sizzle. Next time love is messin' with your head, gather the kleenex and a pint of Haagen-Daaz and have at it with "Bright Star".
Oh and Abby Cornish is under serious consideration for my Best Actress list.