R.E.D, Conviction, Last Train Home plus more Dickens

LAST TRAIN HOME is a fascinating documentary about the eye opening mass holiday migration that nearly all of China takes at the same time--like what happens to a lessor degree in the Christmas holiday season in the US, but in China most factories close down for the two week period, and most everyone wants to go home to visit family since so many workers have left their families to find work in the city. Of course, there are never enough seats on the planes or trains to accommodate everyone at the same time, and this causes lots of emotional stress and a great expense of time and money just to spend what may end up to be a few days with their family. (If ever a country needed to space out their vacation time for workers, this is the one.) The film follows a family trying desperately to board an overcrowded train, and having to spend several days at a very packed train station waiting for room--it seems to be every man for himself. Then when they finally get to their destination, the stress of living apart takes it's toll, especially on the young kids, who resent living with grandparents apart from their parents. It's an emotional roller coaster of a film. Grade-----B

An action popcorn movie, easy to watch with some great moments by the actors including Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovitch and Mary Louise Parker, the film R.E.D (which stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous) soon disappears from memory within hours after viewing. The setup has the FBI trying to terminate a retired agent (Willis), but of course he's too good for them in spite of the 25 to 1 odds. He sets out to recruit some other ex-agents to find out why this is happening and discovers that the corruption comes from very high up. The bullets fly, there's lots of running around the country, and far-fetched plotting. Forgettable fun.... Grade-----B-

Two-time Oscar winner Hillary Swank seems to do her best work playing down home, lower class characters (such as her winning performances in BOYS DON'T CRY and MILLION DOLLAR BABY) and she is the main attraction here. In CONVICTION, based on a true story, she spends nearly twenty years trying to free what she believes to be the unlawful incarceration of her beloved brother for murder, going so far as to become a lawyer during the process. It is an intriguing story, but the film making is routine, making it feel more like a quality made-for-TV drama than a theatrical release. The story and the actors keep you interested, however. Grade-----B-

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The following eight films were shown as part of the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival held last week at several theatres. Three of them I saw screened at SIFF last May. But since they may not get anymore of a release than festivals, I'm writing about them as possible DVD rental options, since most were quite good.

Beautifully filmed in a Peruvian coastal fishing village, the Spanish film UNDERTOW tells the story of a young married family man with a child on the way, but he also has a secret lover--a sensual male painter/artist who is viewed with suspicion by the locals. Half way through, the movie takes a surprising turn towards the supernatural, but manages to become a heartfelt and moving love story about tolerance, acceptance and the importance of loyalty. Grade----A-

Documenting the likable comedians and singers from New Zealand, THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS tell the story of how twin girls born on a farm grew up to be the famous country/pop/folk singers and entertainers (and they yodel, too!) that they are today.
They are also fierce, but charming activists, fighting racism, sexism, global warming, nuclear proliferation and homophobia. And, yep, they are both lesbians, too. Delightful, funny and informative. Grade----A-

EYES WIDE OPEN (from Israel, in Hebrew with English subtitles) is a very thoughtful and intense drama set in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community. A butcher with a wife and children finds repressed homosexual feelings coming to the surface when he hires a handsome young outsider as his assistant. His happiness is quickly conflicted by the pressures of the insidious conformity that the community imposes on anyone who does not live according to the majority laws of their religion and responsibility. Beautifully acted and directed. Grade-----A-

SASHA (Germany/Croatia) is a young handsome teen living with his immigrant Croatian family in Cologne and trying to hide his sexuality from his girlfriend and parents, but when his sexy piano teacher announces that he is moving to Vienna, SASHA must make some big moves of his own. This comedy-drama is quite delightful as a wacky family farce, amusing romantic (mis) adventures, coming out drama, and showing the difficulties of trying to live someone elses dream. Grade-----B+

Oh, those Spanish twenty-somethings. A young man gets jealous of his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, so he decides to befriend the new boyfriend to stay close to his ex. Since she doesn't want him back, that is his PLAN B (from Argentina). The film moves very slowly as they get to know each other, and is surprisingly contemplative in it's theme of how carefully thin the line can be between homo and hetro sexual proclivities It also explores bi- and ambi- sexual natures in very subtle ways. It is interesting, but you will need a lot of patience to get through some of the long takes, some of which include gratuitous crouch shots. (It plays like the Spanish version of the French JEANNE DIELMAN. Or is could have been made by Ming-liang Tsai-- the director of GOODBYE DRAGON INN and THE HOLE and THE RIVER--but not as insightful or fascinating.) Grade----B-

From Tunisia and France comes a film called THE STRING, about a young man who returns after the death of his father, from France to his family estate in Tunisia. His well meaning mother (it's been a long time since we've seen Claudia Cardinale....she looked and seemed more like a grandmother than mother) wants him to marry but he has other plans, mainly the handsome handy man employed at the estate. It's exotic and watchable, as the family members struggle with tradition and change and open sexuality, but I wish it had a bigger punch to it. Grade-----B-

A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE (from Czech Republic) is a short 60 minutes, but quickly paced film (with too much herky-jerky camera movements for my taste) about a married woman's discovery of her gayness. Her husband is not too happy with her affair with another teacher at her school, and does and says a lot of typical mean things that we have seen before in other movies about infidelity---these things would have been said even if she was seeing a man instead of a woman. Perhaps that is what is so interesting about this film. The actors are quite natural and likable, and the tension between the characters feels real. Grade----B-

From the Bahamas comes CHILDREN OF GOD, an exotic and sumptuous-looking film of an interracial love between two men--an introverted white artist and a sexy, irresponsible black man, but their ethnic differences hardly matter in this ambitious but pointless, convoluted plot. Things get complicated when the black man's mother and his girlfriend (!) show up unannounced. There's also a sub plot where a preacher's wife is spear heading a political anti-gay crusade on the island--her own marriage is troubled by the preacher who has given her a venereal disease because he's on the "down-low." Not very subtle stuff here. Grade-----C

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On DVD this week was an eight hour BBC version of Charles Dickens MARTIN CHUZZELWIT (1994) with Paul Scofield and Tom Wilkenson. While not as delightful and eyeopening as the recently reviewed LITTLE DORRIT, this intriguing and in depth version was satisfying as drama and for it's cast of wacky, memorable characters. Every actor seemed to really capture something funny or unique about their character's personality. Grade------B+

Superb early story of John Lennon: Nowhere Boy

You don't have to be a Beatles fan or know anything about music to enjoy and be moved by the new film biography based on the early teen years of John Lennon called NOWHERE BOY. The universal story is a theme anyone can relate too. Raised by his stern aunt, the brilliant Kristin Scott-Thomas, the young John finally meets his erratic, flawed mother after 10 years. As played with fascinating skill by Anne-Marie Duff, we know why John is eager to integrate himself into this new family. As the film progresses, we see his interest in music evolve and his
rebellious nature develop. The film has some interesting moments that Beatles fans will recognize as the inspiration to certain songs, but mostly the comic yet moving story plays out as an excellent coming of age/leaving home saga with terrific casting. Aaron Johnson, who starred in last springs KICK-ASS is spot on as the young Lennon--this is a breakout role for him. GRADE------A-

DVD rentals from the library round out the rest of this weeks viewing. Based on the true story of Thailand's most famous kick boxer, BEAUTIFUL BOXER (2004) tells the unusual story of a poor young boy who feels that he is born to be a woman. His winnings from being a kick boxer help feed his family and ultimately fund his sex-change operation. The lead actor Asanee Suwan is very physical and emotional in the role (this is his first acting role--he's a boxer in real life) and is quite compelling. He won the Thai Best Actor award for his role. Despite what could have been a lurid telling, the film is laced with very dramatic scenes punched up with a lot of humor, and the feeling of authenticity in the fighting scenes. GRADE--------B

It took me nearly an hour to realize that I had already seen STEALTH (2006), a French, Polish, Swiss production that leaves a lot of questions and unresolved relationships in its wake. When a young gay French man discovers that his great grandfather may have been Polish, he becomes obsessed with everything Polish, to the point of dumping his boyfriend and trying to marry a Polish nanny staying in France to give her citizenship. When his unhappy sister "kidnaps" him for a road trip to Poland, he rediscovers his sexuality and other family heritage histories. The tone varies between comedy, tragedy, drama and farce, and the actors, while mostly good, seem betrayed by a script that can't decide what, exactly, it is trying to say about love, sex, family, heritage, and road trips. GRADE---------C+

James L. Brooks has made a lot of great films, including AS GOOD AS IT GETS and BROADCAST NEWS, but he has a miss-step with the comedy-drama called SPANGLISH (2004), which like STEALTH (above) has a tone that is all over the map. There is a decent idea here, which involves a newly emigrated woman from Mexico being hired as a housekeeper to an afluent L.A. family of eccentrics. The problem is that this family is so dysfunctional and at odds with each other that the housekeeper seems like the only sane/normal one. And she doesn't even speak English for the first hour of the film. I admired the energy Tea Leoni brings to the neurotic wife (of cook Adam Sandler), but she is so annoyingly contrary to the rest of the family's values and style that it is easy to hate her. The Sandler character is so laid back and obtuse to other issues that you want to slap him. Add to that the chaotic pantomiming and struggle for them (and us) to understand the Spanish only speaking housekeeper (Paz Vega) that the film becomes quite exasperating. Only the bemused, drunken "grandma" Cloris Leachman remains unscathed, and becomes, as a supporting character, the only one to root for in the film. GRADE------C

Let Me In: new "cult" classic? plus Never Let Me Go, Freebie (not classics)

Two years ago, the Swedish vampire film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN became a minor hit (for a foreign language film) in the US--and the rights were immediately snapped up for an American remake. The GREAT news is that the new film, LET ME IN is just as good as the original--in fact, some of the plotting makes more sense, and many of the scenes are shot for shot the same. When it first screened at SIFF several years ago, no one really knew anything about it, but it clearly was not what anyone expected. In fact it transcends it's subject matter, and even festival goers who do not like horror or "vampire" films were quite moved by the story which involves a 12 year old boy who is being ignored by his estranged parents, becoming involved with a young girl who has been 12 years old for quite a while. The film doesn't cheat on the classic vampire lore, but it creates a moody, fascinating story that is involving, creepy, satisfying and sympathetic towards its three main characters, although some may complain that the final scene aboard the train leaves more questions than answers. I wish that the producers could have taken the clue from the original on how to promote this new version better. The current picture on the poster of a child making snow angels just doesn't have the emotional depth or edge that the new picture delivers. I would urge you to give this one a try, even if you think you won't like it. This film gets under your skin and may haunt you for months.
GRADE------ B+

DOUBLE TAKE is an initially fascinating experimental film that unfortunately just doesn't jell. By using vintage clips and ads and an Alfred Hitchcock look-alike, the director tries to patch together a thin plot which has Hitchcock meeting his doppelganger (double), and then tries to conjecture that some of Hitchcock's films (with occasional clips) are influential in the Cold War maneuvers. It is all stretched pretty thin. Go see a Hitchcock film instead. GRADE-----C

A one-concept-idea, the new film THE FREEBIE is (what should have been) a 12 minute short film that has been stretched into 85 dreary minutes. A young happy couple talks themselves into giving each other a one time evening where they each can go have a one night stand (sex) with any one else with out feeling guilty or having to explain, etc. The execution is (of course) harder than it seems, and the next day (of course) is filled with remorse and regret. BLAH BLAH BLAH. GRADE------C-

The new film called NEVER LET ME GO, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote REMAINS OF THE DAY, wants to haunt you, too, but I found it to be too mild and obscure. The actors are well cast and the photography and the music are lovely, but the plot, about children raised to be organ (and other body parts) donors doesn't feel right. This is set in the mid 1970's to mid 1990's---where is the rebellion, the sense of righteousness, the social protest? Why do all the characters act so unimpassioned and docile? The film raises questions and red flags at every turn. Even the subplot of jealousy and a misdirected love triangle feels uninspired. I could hardly wait for the film to be over. GRADE-------D+

Back in 1974 when the Worlds Fair was held in Spokane, I went with my parents for a weekend stay. While they were sleeping in the motel bed next to mine, I watched for the first time, and on the late show-- IMITATION OF LIFE (1959) and sobbed so hard that my mother woke up and asked what was the problem. When I told her it was a movie on TV she just shook her head and went back to sleep. I have to say that I cried and cried all over again this past week. This glossy version of the Fannie Hurst novel has got to be one of my favorite tear-jerkers of all time, the it's a lot of fun to watch. Lana Turner has never been better, and John Gavin, Robert Alda, and Sandra Dee are all terrific as her two lovers and her daughter. But best of all is Juanita Moore who plays the good-hearted black woman who works for Turner and must deal with her selfish troubled daughter who tries to pass for white. GRADE------A-

On the same DVD is the first version of IMITATION OF LIFE (1934) which features Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers. Instead of wanting to become an actress which Lana Turner was so good at, Colbert starts selling a pancake mix based on Beavers recipe. Obviously in the 30's the portrayal of black and white friends was more carefully orchestrated. When they make it rich, they both live in the same townhouse mansion, but Beavers and her daughter live downstairs in the basement and Colbert and daughter live upstairs. (In the 1959 version, the mansion is quite large--they have their own wing.) There's a great emotional scene which has them parting, with one ascending and the other descending in the same frame. Beavers daughter also tries to pass for white, and the scenes carry a dangerous feeling of racial hatred. It is most interesting to compare the two pictures. Even though they both have the same story arch, the approach and emotional result is quite different yet effective in both versions. I didn't cry watching this version, but found it to be quite fascinating for its socio-economic milieu and for what-at the time- must have been a very provocative theme. GRADE-----B

Released just one year after the shocking success of Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, gimmick master and hack director William Castle tried to cash in with HOMICIDAL (1961), the picture with a "fright break," which was 60 seconds of a heart beating and clock ticking to allow frightened people to exit the theatre before the "shocking" ending. The film moves very slowly and oddly--the first murder seems to come out of nowhere, and then there's an hour before things pick up again. The murderess seems so completely psychotic that is seems strange that her boyfriend and their friends don't pick up on the problems much earlier. The finale is surprising, although my wife and I both made a comment half way through that surprised us by actually being true!!!!!! Interesting in an odd, stilted sort of way. GRADE------C+

I didn't remember much about the original movie version of SLEUTH from 1972, except that I thought that Laurence Olivier and Micheal Caine were both very good actors. The remake version of SLEUTH (2007)stars Caine in the Olivier role, and Jude Law as the younger man. It has been modernized and set in a cold stylized British country mansion, and the dialogue is pithy and sharp. The plot is basically a word game between the two characters over the older man's wife, that could turn deadly at any time and I was not emotionally engaged, but found it to be watchable. GRADE-----C

Grade "A" films for week: Social Network, Cell 211, and Life and Death of Col. Blimp

It's always a good week when 3 of the 8 films viewed rate an A- or better, and this past week was pretty good.

The first scene from the SOCIAL NETWORK, a new film by David Fincher (FIGHT CLUB) and writer Adam Sorkin (WEST WING), features the future creator of Facebook being dumped by his angry girl friend, mostly because he is inconsiderate, clueless and arrogant, and when she is done he angrily runs back to his dorm room and blogs lots of lies about her and vents his anger at women in general by creating a "vote for the most beautiful student" by comparing two different coeds and having each (mostly) male vote between the two on what becomes a very quickly popular web site. Subject matter aside, the scene is quite startling for several reasons. The first is that the characters talk incredibly fast--double time or maybe even triple time--and you must struggle to keep up to the college jargon and the ideas that are being tossed back and forth. Second is that you know exactly why this young man is being dumped even though he is unaware--you'd dump him yourself if you were in her position. And thirdly, the scene packs in more humor, wit, sarcasm, and drama than many films have in their whole 90 minute screenplay. The good news for the viewer is that this energy and sparkling dialogue keeps right on going, with ups, downs, double-crosses, sarcasms, genius outbursts, crazy parties, betrayal, sex--well, it may not be your college life or mine, but it makes you feel that it should have been. This is an amazingly smart, funny-tragic film, and even if you can't always follow the comupter-eze lingo, it is wonderfully intelligent and entertaining. It could be the movie of the computer-age decade. GRADE----- A-

One of the top films of this year's SIFF, and winner of the Best Actor award, CELL 211 from Spain, starts off with a bang, as a new prison guard, on his first day, is left behind on his prison tour just as the prison inmates begin a violent riot to protest conditions. He must convince the inmates that he is indeed a violent criminal, because if they suspect that he is a prison guard, he will be tortured, used for ransom, and/or killed. As you can imagine, things become very intense very quickly, and the film is very high on sustained tension and drama, with some horrific plot twists and ironic plot resolutions. GRADE-------- A-

I saw two films from the Spanish Film Festival last weekend, and both were well made. The first was RABIA, about a young couple who fall in love. She works for a rich couple as a maid in a huge mansion on the outskirts of town, and he is a short tempered construction worker. When he accidentally kills his foreman, he hides out, unbeknownst to his girl friend, in the attic of the mansion where she works, using the second phone line to call her at work, and stealing food from the kitchen when no one is around. She is pregnant, and lots of tension develops from this scenario---will he make himself know to her, will she be fired for being pregnant, will he be discovered by the couple or their family....?????? As tragic love stories go, this one kept me involved until the melodramatic ending. The second film, called AFTER was about 3 young forty-somethings who have been friends for a while and get together for a night of drinking, drugging, dancing, sex and talking, and then more drugging. The story is told three times from the three different points of view to include their lives outside of this one particular night. I kept thinking that these broken characters should really be over this type of careless behavior by now, and it was rather disturbing watching them self-destruct. GRADE for RABIA------B and for AFTER----B-

The new documentary WAITING FOR SUPERMAN tries to take on the exhaustive subject matter of EDUCATION in general, and ends up focusing on quality "charter schools" --in particular, how sad and frustrating it is for the small amount of kids to get accepted by them. The final 30 minutes is especially grim, as it shows the humiliating lotteries that will pick the small 5% of qualifying kids that can attend these special schools. The first 60 minutes are all over the map with charts and graphs that try to indite principles, teachers, the government, parents, racism and other issues as the reason kids are failing so much. These are ambitious topics to be crammed into 120 minutes--and there is a lot of information here, but the final effect for me was depressing and chaotic exhaustion. GRADE------- B-

Hot young actor Ryan Reynolds stars as an American working in Iran who is kidnapped and BURIED alive in a coffin, and has air and phone service for just 90 minutes to try to negotiate a ransom of a million dollars for his life. The whole film is set in the coffin, using light from his cell phone and a cigarette lighter only, and I kept wondering what cell phone company he was using because it had excellent, clear, multi-functioning, WORLD WIDE service that took forever to wear out, and where does one get a cigarette lighter that will last for an hour and a half with a giant flame like that?!?
Otherwise, the film is a gimmick and a rather tiresome one at that, but Reynolds gives it his all and the film does create some tense, claustrophobic moments. GRADE-------C+

Top pick for the DVD's this week was an excellent British film THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943) from directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who co-directed an impressive list of films including I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING, THE RED SHOES, STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN, and PEEPING TOM among others. This one covers the period from the Boar War through WWII, and during this 50 year period, charts the career and life and marriage and politics of Colonel Blimp, played with amazing skill and great humor by the remarkable Roger Livesey. Deborah Kerr delightfully plays three different women during his life, and Anton Walbrook charmingly portrays his faithful German friend. At times sentimental, funny, witty and dramatic, this three hour film is a magnificent character study of a staunch British soldier who has a hard time adjusting to "modern" times, and is the perfect example of the type of film that "they just don't make them like this anymore." GRADE------- A

Apparently one of Robert (AMC) Osborne's favorite films of the forties, ROADHOUSE (1948) left me feeling rather non-plussed. Ida Lupino plays the "singer" brought in by the psychotic Richard Widmark to draw in the crowds, but she falls for Widmark's best friend Cornel Wilde. Celeste Holm rounds out the foursome. The plotting was unconvincing, especially when Widmark frames Wilde for stealing the ROADHOUSE receipts. Lupino has a sexy, gravely singing voice and introduces the standard song "AGAIN"---and the cast is definitely the reason for seeing this film, but by the end I was rolling my eyes. GRADE-------C