MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
(Back to posting tomorrow)
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
December 24: The Girlfriend Experience
The night before last, I had The Girlfriend Experience. No, I didn't hire an escort, I watched Steven Soderbergh's low-budget movie.
Soderbergh is something of a curiosity. He is perhaps the only director currently working in Hollywood who makes small films interspersed with big-budget movies. I particularly admire his skill with actresses, as he has elicited career-best work from several including Andie MacDowell (sex, lies and videotape), Jennifer Lopez (Out of Sight), Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich), and Natascha McElhone (Solaris). To that list can be added Sasha Grey, heretofore a porn star, now a cross-over performer based on her work in The Girlfriend Experience.
Honestly, I'd never heard of Sasha Grey before this film, but she's remarkable and very talented portraying Chelsea/Christine, a professional in a committed relationship with personal trainer Chris (Chris Santos) whom the audience follows over a period of a few days in the fall of 2008.
Chelsea isn't a hooker, she's an escort who will provide the whole "girlfriend experience" for the right price. Meaning, she'll dress appropriately, go wherever, do whatever, listen to your troubles and offer sympathy and sex. But she's not entirely happy despite having a great apartment and a guy who seemingly loves her. She wants more, so she seeks out ways to expand business and runs into the competition. One of her regular clients is brusque after an encounter and a few days later she spies him out with a new girl. She wants to enhance her reputation but when she seeks assistance from a so-called connoisseur she runs afoul of him. Chelsea and her partner experience some bumps in their relationship as his frustrations with his own stalled career and the opportunity to hobnob with wealthy clients in Las Vegas presents itself. The capper is that Chelsea meets a client with whom she connects and who may be able to offer her something different and more fulfilling than what she has.
When Soderbergh does these low-key, no-frills productions, the results can be uneven. I happened to really like Bubble but wasn't crazy about Full Frontal. For me, The Girlfriend Experience falls somewhere in the middle. I was bored at times (particularly when the movie focused on Chris) but other times I really got caught up in the story -- which is told in a nonlinear fashion. (Soderbergh shot the movie on digital video with an outline and some dialogue and then sort of scrambled the timeline in the editing room.) Grey manages to captivate and enchant when she's the focus of the film. The rest of the cast ranges from appropriately creepy (critic Glenn Kenny as the sex guru) to adequate (Santos as the boyfriend). This is clearly Grey's show and she is more than up to the challenge. In fact, it's almost a shame she already has such an established porn career; she easily could be the leading lady in any number of Hollywood films. If she makes the transition, she can thank Soderbergh.
Overall my "Girlfriend Experience" was a pleasant one, so I'd say seek this one out and give it a whirl.
Rating: B
Soderbergh is something of a curiosity. He is perhaps the only director currently working in Hollywood who makes small films interspersed with big-budget movies. I particularly admire his skill with actresses, as he has elicited career-best work from several including Andie MacDowell (sex, lies and videotape), Jennifer Lopez (Out of Sight), Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich), and Natascha McElhone (Solaris). To that list can be added Sasha Grey, heretofore a porn star, now a cross-over performer based on her work in The Girlfriend Experience.
Honestly, I'd never heard of Sasha Grey before this film, but she's remarkable and very talented portraying Chelsea/Christine, a professional in a committed relationship with personal trainer Chris (Chris Santos) whom the audience follows over a period of a few days in the fall of 2008.
Chelsea isn't a hooker, she's an escort who will provide the whole "girlfriend experience" for the right price. Meaning, she'll dress appropriately, go wherever, do whatever, listen to your troubles and offer sympathy and sex. But she's not entirely happy despite having a great apartment and a guy who seemingly loves her. She wants more, so she seeks out ways to expand business and runs into the competition. One of her regular clients is brusque after an encounter and a few days later she spies him out with a new girl. She wants to enhance her reputation but when she seeks assistance from a so-called connoisseur she runs afoul of him. Chelsea and her partner experience some bumps in their relationship as his frustrations with his own stalled career and the opportunity to hobnob with wealthy clients in Las Vegas presents itself. The capper is that Chelsea meets a client with whom she connects and who may be able to offer her something different and more fulfilling than what she has.
When Soderbergh does these low-key, no-frills productions, the results can be uneven. I happened to really like Bubble but wasn't crazy about Full Frontal. For me, The Girlfriend Experience falls somewhere in the middle. I was bored at times (particularly when the movie focused on Chris) but other times I really got caught up in the story -- which is told in a nonlinear fashion. (Soderbergh shot the movie on digital video with an outline and some dialogue and then sort of scrambled the timeline in the editing room.) Grey manages to captivate and enchant when she's the focus of the film. The rest of the cast ranges from appropriately creepy (critic Glenn Kenny as the sex guru) to adequate (Santos as the boyfriend). This is clearly Grey's show and she is more than up to the challenge. In fact, it's almost a shame she already has such an established porn career; she easily could be the leading lady in any number of Hollywood films. If she makes the transition, she can thank Soderbergh.
Overall my "Girlfriend Experience" was a pleasant one, so I'd say seek this one out and give it a whirl.
Rating: B
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
December 23: Southland Tales
Salon has recently launched a Film Salon section and currently various people are contributing a list of movies they are calling "films of the decade". So imagine my surprise and pleasure when Thomas Rogers listed Richard Kelly's maligned Southland Tales as his choice. I'd watched the film on DVD shortly after its release and rather enjoyed it but because so many people had been so negative about it -- and by this time I wasn't regularly posting my reviews (even though I drafted versions to post) -- I sort of let it slide. So many times in the past, I've been an audience of one. So it was with some interest and a bit of a relief to learn that I'm not the only one who thought the film had merit.
There a great deal of ambition in Kelly's vision and from what I recall reading, he faced some financing problems so he wasn't able to fully realize his vision on screen. There's a graphic novel that covers three chapters that are basically the set up for the film which comprise the final three chapters. Even without having read the novel, I could appreciate that he was aiming for something -- which so many filmmakers today don't or can't because of budgets, studio interference, whatever.
Southland Tales is set in an alternate world Southern California on July 4, 2008. When the film opens, America had engaged in World War III and the result was the break up of the United States into zones, all overseen by US-IDENT, a Big Brother government agency with cameras everywhere and all the power created by the Patriot Act. Los Angeles -- part of the titular Southland -- is a mess and home to a series of very curious characters ranging from a movie star with amnesia named Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) whom several people are searching for, a former porn actress turned singer (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who has ties to Boxer, a policeman (Seann William Scott) with a secret, to a group of underground rebels (Amy Poehler, Nora Dunn, Cheri Oteri).
The cast is large and rangy (I haven't even mentioned Justin Timberlake, Miranda Richardson, John Larroquette, Bai Ling, Wallace Shawn, Beth Grant, Zelda Rubinstein, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jon Lovitz, Christopher Lambert, all of whom add something special to this ragout) and the plot is a mix of science fiction, spy drama, low comedy and action movie rolled together.
I've watched the film several times again recently when it was playing on cable and each time I think I gained more of an insight into Kelly's vision. This is certainly not an easy film and I can see how some critics might dismiss it outright without giving it a chance. The right wing types are the villains, but the left doesn't get off easily either. It's sprawling, ambitious and almost visionary. One has to open up and just go with the flow -- but there's so much to admire and appreciate from Dwayne Johnson's pitch-perfect comedy to Seann William Scott's heroism to the oddball cameos. Kelly's influences range far and wide and that seems to be what some find most objectionable -- that he takes from David Lynch and Ridley Scott and Kathryn Bigelow and on and on. But what they apparently can't see is that Kelly HAS a vision. It's refreshing to see a film that challenges you -- that forces you to use your mind and to pay attention to the details. There's an intelligence at work behind the camera that I certainly appreciated.
I was a fan of Donnie Darko, Kelly's first feature, when it was released and I actually thought the director's cut brought elevated that film to a close to being a masterpiece. Southland Tales did not succumb to the sophomore slump as I saw it. No, if anything it tried to do too much -- but I would rather see a noble failure than a pallid cookie-cutter feature film.
Rating: B+
Southland Tales is set in an alternate world Southern California on July 4, 2008. When the film opens, America had engaged in World War III and the result was the break up of the United States into zones, all overseen by US-IDENT, a Big Brother government agency with cameras everywhere and all the power created by the Patriot Act. Los Angeles -- part of the titular Southland -- is a mess and home to a series of very curious characters ranging from a movie star with amnesia named Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) whom several people are searching for, a former porn actress turned singer (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who has ties to Boxer, a policeman (Seann William Scott) with a secret, to a group of underground rebels (Amy Poehler, Nora Dunn, Cheri Oteri).
The cast is large and rangy (I haven't even mentioned Justin Timberlake, Miranda Richardson, John Larroquette, Bai Ling, Wallace Shawn, Beth Grant, Zelda Rubinstein, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jon Lovitz, Christopher Lambert, all of whom add something special to this ragout) and the plot is a mix of science fiction, spy drama, low comedy and action movie rolled together.
I've watched the film several times again recently when it was playing on cable and each time I think I gained more of an insight into Kelly's vision. This is certainly not an easy film and I can see how some critics might dismiss it outright without giving it a chance. The right wing types are the villains, but the left doesn't get off easily either. It's sprawling, ambitious and almost visionary. One has to open up and just go with the flow -- but there's so much to admire and appreciate from Dwayne Johnson's pitch-perfect comedy to Seann William Scott's heroism to the oddball cameos. Kelly's influences range far and wide and that seems to be what some find most objectionable -- that he takes from David Lynch and Ridley Scott and Kathryn Bigelow and on and on. But what they apparently can't see is that Kelly HAS a vision. It's refreshing to see a film that challenges you -- that forces you to use your mind and to pay attention to the details. There's an intelligence at work behind the camera that I certainly appreciated.
I was a fan of Donnie Darko, Kelly's first feature, when it was released and I actually thought the director's cut brought elevated that film to a close to being a masterpiece. Southland Tales did not succumb to the sophomore slump as I saw it. No, if anything it tried to do too much -- but I would rather see a noble failure than a pallid cookie-cutter feature film.
Rating: B+
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
December 22: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
Adapted from a novel by Winifred Watson (what an alliterative name!) by screenwriters Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) and David Magee (Finding Neverland), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was a charming if fluffy way to pass the time.
Frances McDormand portrays Guinivere Pettigrew, a British governess in the 1930s who is a bit dour, very straight-laced and apparently unemployable. Despite repeated attempts to be placed by an agency, Miss Pettigrew gets the sack. The film's event unfold over the course of one day when everything changes. After losing her last gig and spending a night on the streets where she pretty much loses everything except for the clothes on her back, Pettigrew pilfers information about a possible employment opportunity and shows up at the door of flighty Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), a chorus girl with aspirations who is juggling a trio of lovers, including Phil (Tom Payne, handsome but shallow), the youngish producer who may be able to boost her to stardom, Nick (Mark Strong, debonair with a hint of cruelty), her sugar daddy who keeps her in apartments and fancy clothes, and Michael (Lee Pace, charming), a musician who knows the girl behind the dreamer she now has become.
The take-charge Pettigrew snaps to action. The one thing she can do well is size up a situation quickly and come up with plausible explanations. Along the way, she gets drawn into fixing another relatioship, that of Delysia's rival Edith (the always wonderful Shirley Henderson) and Joe (Ciaran Hinds, seemingly relieved at not portraying a heavy), her slightly older and gentler suitor.
On paper this is catnip and shortly after Watson's novel was published it was optioned for the movies to be a vehicle for Billie Burke as Miss Pettigrew. Personally I think that might have been a bit disatrous as Burke, like Alice Brady, tended to portray scatterbrains; she might have made a better Delysia. The project languished for nearly 70 years before it finally hit the screens and, frankly, McDormand is perfectly cast as the uptight governess/social secretary. Her Pettigrew is a masteful comic creation and she grounds the movie, becoming the placid center around which all the intrigue swirls. Adams is a bit chirpy and sacchrine at first but eventually she adjusts and plays her character in a less cartoon-like manner. As with many romantic comedies, it's painfully obvious which of her three suitors is more suitable just as the chemistry between McDormand and Hinds hints at an outcome that isn't too hard to predict.
Half the fun is getting there, though. The director, Bharat Nalluri (who helmed The Crow: Salvation), doesn't seem fully comfortable with the genre. The film lacks a certain panache. Still, the production design of Sarah Greenwood, the costumes of Michael O'Connor (who won an Oscar for The Duchess), and the cinematography of John de Borman (who shot Ella Enchanted, among others) go a long way toward creating the appropriate atmosphere.
The actors appear to be having a good time and that infectiousness eventually overcomes whatever shortcomings the movie has. There are some slightly darker elements as well, and the hints of the war to come layer this particular 24-hour period with a certain poignance. While not exactly a complete throwback to the old-fashioned studio produced romantic comedies of the time depicted on screen, Miss Pettigew Lives for a Day comes pretty close. It's an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half.
Rating: B
Frances McDormand portrays Guinivere Pettigrew, a British governess in the 1930s who is a bit dour, very straight-laced and apparently unemployable. Despite repeated attempts to be placed by an agency, Miss Pettigrew gets the sack. The film's event unfold over the course of one day when everything changes. After losing her last gig and spending a night on the streets where she pretty much loses everything except for the clothes on her back, Pettigrew pilfers information about a possible employment opportunity and shows up at the door of flighty Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), a chorus girl with aspirations who is juggling a trio of lovers, including Phil (Tom Payne, handsome but shallow), the youngish producer who may be able to boost her to stardom, Nick (Mark Strong, debonair with a hint of cruelty), her sugar daddy who keeps her in apartments and fancy clothes, and Michael (Lee Pace, charming), a musician who knows the girl behind the dreamer she now has become.
The take-charge Pettigrew snaps to action. The one thing she can do well is size up a situation quickly and come up with plausible explanations. Along the way, she gets drawn into fixing another relatioship, that of Delysia's rival Edith (the always wonderful Shirley Henderson) and Joe (Ciaran Hinds, seemingly relieved at not portraying a heavy), her slightly older and gentler suitor.
On paper this is catnip and shortly after Watson's novel was published it was optioned for the movies to be a vehicle for Billie Burke as Miss Pettigrew. Personally I think that might have been a bit disatrous as Burke, like Alice Brady, tended to portray scatterbrains; she might have made a better Delysia. The project languished for nearly 70 years before it finally hit the screens and, frankly, McDormand is perfectly cast as the uptight governess/social secretary. Her Pettigrew is a masteful comic creation and she grounds the movie, becoming the placid center around which all the intrigue swirls. Adams is a bit chirpy and sacchrine at first but eventually she adjusts and plays her character in a less cartoon-like manner. As with many romantic comedies, it's painfully obvious which of her three suitors is more suitable just as the chemistry between McDormand and Hinds hints at an outcome that isn't too hard to predict.
Half the fun is getting there, though. The director, Bharat Nalluri (who helmed The Crow: Salvation), doesn't seem fully comfortable with the genre. The film lacks a certain panache. Still, the production design of Sarah Greenwood, the costumes of Michael O'Connor (who won an Oscar for The Duchess), and the cinematography of John de Borman (who shot Ella Enchanted, among others) go a long way toward creating the appropriate atmosphere.
The actors appear to be having a good time and that infectiousness eventually overcomes whatever shortcomings the movie has. There are some slightly darker elements as well, and the hints of the war to come layer this particular 24-hour period with a certain poignance. While not exactly a complete throwback to the old-fashioned studio produced romantic comedies of the time depicted on screen, Miss Pettigew Lives for a Day comes pretty close. It's an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half.
Rating: B
Monday, December 21, 2009
December 21: Winter Solstice
I've really been trying to keep up with posting something daily. Today will be one of those days when I don't post a review. As everyone probably knows, there was a massive snowstorm that hit the Eastern part of the US.
Well, it caused several things to be cancelled and/or postponed. One of those was a co-worker's holiday party, which I was going to have to miss because I had a family party to attend. Instead, I was stuck inside and took advantage of the time to do some design work on my web pages. The site is by no means completed as I've got a backlog of older reviews to post and link to Rotten Tomatoes. So it's going to be an ongoing project for a couple of months. I hope to debut the new look in the spring, maybe earlier if things go well.
Today is the first official day of winter, although the weather seems not to have gotten that memo. It's also the solstice which has been marked by various cultures in history and which eventually the Christians co-opted and established Christmas. It's a time of renewal, rebirth, celebration, gift-giving and hope. So my suggestion would be for everyone to try to concentrate on sending out "good vibes" and remember that in the hectic rush and hustle & bustle of this "holiday" season, to take a minute and really stop and think about what it all means.
Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be able to resume the reviewing. I've certainly got a ton of stuff to watch.
Well, it caused several things to be cancelled and/or postponed. One of those was a co-worker's holiday party, which I was going to have to miss because I had a family party to attend. Instead, I was stuck inside and took advantage of the time to do some design work on my web pages. The site is by no means completed as I've got a backlog of older reviews to post and link to Rotten Tomatoes. So it's going to be an ongoing project for a couple of months. I hope to debut the new look in the spring, maybe earlier if things go well.
Today is the first official day of winter, although the weather seems not to have gotten that memo. It's also the solstice which has been marked by various cultures in history and which eventually the Christians co-opted and established Christmas. It's a time of renewal, rebirth, celebration, gift-giving and hope. So my suggestion would be for everyone to try to concentrate on sending out "good vibes" and remember that in the hectic rush and hustle & bustle of this "holiday" season, to take a minute and really stop and think about what it all means.
Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be able to resume the reviewing. I've certainly got a ton of stuff to watch.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
December 20: Snowy day -- Tom Kalin retrospective
I had seen Swoon years ago, but because I had recently read Simon Baatz's For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago (HarperCollins, 2008), I got my hands on the DVD to refresh my memory of it. Kalin, who worked on the screenplay with Hilton Als (who is now a theater critic for The New Yorker), put a new spin on the story which had served as the basis for Rope (1948) and Compulsion (1959), both of which fictionalized the case.
In the film, the relationship between Leopold (Craig Chester) and Loeb (Daniel Schlacter) is clearly a sexual one and the crime they plan is merely an extension of their feelings for one another. The amorality of the characters could be off-putting to audiences, but Kalin has couched the story in an intriguing manner. The film was shot in black and white by Ellen Kuras but Kalin and his associates Therese DePrez & Stacey Jones, who did the production design, and Jessica Haston, who did the costumes, add anachronistic flourishes that are at first jarring but eventually become part of the landscape. In so doing, Kalin and company invite audiences to view the events through modern eyes. It also has the balls to present the lead characters as sociopaths who happened to be homosexual, rather than depraved homosexuals who set out on a crime spree. In this way, the film is a spiritual brother to Gregg Araki's The Living End, however, Swoon is the much better film.
The leading actors are perfectly cast and deliver strong performances. Chester, of course, went on to have a career as an actor, writer and director. Schlachet, who had charisma to spare, forsook acting to pursue a career as an attorney. Together in this film, they create a perfect symbiotic relationship where sex is used as a controlling factor. Even after nearly a decade, Swoon hold up nicely and was the perfect complement to Baatz's book.
Rating: B+
For whatever reason, it took Tom Kalin almost 15 years to make another feature film. Again he chose a true-life story that had depravity as a theme and murder as a side note. Working from Howard A. Rodman's screenplay, which itself was adapted from the book Savage Grace written by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson, Kalin directed this tale of Barbara Daly Baekeland (Julianne Moore) and her unhappy marriage to plastics heir Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane) and her subsequently turbulent relationship with her troubled son Tony (Eddie Redmayne).
From all accounts Barbara was a handful, a fiery redhead who had once been a model and wanna-be actress. She also fancied herself an artist and strove to be accepted by "society", hence her marriage into the Baekeland family, whose fortune derived from Bakelite plastics. Brooks and Barbara hobnobed with the elite artists of the day, but cracks in their relationship soon shown through. Barbara was somewhat unstable, a heavy drinker who didn't censor her opinions and became noted for saying inappropriate comments and generally acting out. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, Brooks attempted to leave only to have Barbara attempt suicide. She was clearly a troubled woman and her life story could provide an actress with a meaty part.
She has delivered consistently interesting and often memorable performances. So, it's very easy to see what might have drawn her to playing this unstable woman. Moore does yeoman work but Rodman's screenplay doesn't really delve into the psychology of the Baekelands and Kalin's direction is a bit superficial. He doesn't dig beneath the surfaces, but presents set pieces that are meticulously designed.
Moore dominates the screen and while that may be appropriate to a certain extent, she should find a match in Dillane, who is wan and a bit of milquetoast in his scenes, and in Redmayne, who is outright miscast. He has no screen presence here and while it might have served to have the character begin as a cipher, he needs to develop into something. Redmayne seemed lost as to how to depict the character's instability and eventual descent into madness. True, he is not assisted by either the script or the director, but a stronger actor might have at least been able to shade his performance better.
Savage Grace could have been a much better film. It's as if during the long gap between films Kalin forgot the basics. It's almost enough to prove the dictum that those who can't do, teach.
Rating: C-
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