A lot has been written about SOCIAL NETWORK by others as well as myself, but I want to add that this is the film to beat for the year end awards so far. I took my wife to see it on the last day of operation of the now closed Uptown Theatre on lower Queen Anne. I shall miss the Uptown because it was never hard to find parking nearby (unless there was a major event at the Seattle Center), never terribly crowed, had a nice urban neighborhood feel to it and was the closest and easiest "in town" theatre to reach for me--and right on the (single) bus line for me. I hope someone else can take over this fine theatre with three screens and get better programming for it. Seemed like they were always showing second runs and low key foreign films, and they were all held over for weeks and weeks. But as for SOCIAL NETWORK, the characterizations and actors continue to fascinate on second viewing, and the script is so sharp and literate and delivered at the fastest pace possible, that you marvel at the cleverness of it all.
GRADE-------A
Part documentary, part reality film, all dreamy ALAMAR floats by like a beautiful reverie. A young boy who lives in Rome with his mother, spends his first summer with his Mexican father and grandfather on a house built on stilts on a coral reef island off the coast of Mexico, and discovers the joys of swimming, boating, fishing, and watching a bird eat insects off the floorboards of this humble shack--in other words, communing with this lovely watery-world. He takes to it effortlessly and with great enthusiasm, and it is a pleasure to watch him discover the joys of nature. The film is unstructured--no plot to speak of, with only a little talking (subtitles), and at times the uncertain camera movements moving with the waves or in the boat can make you a little sea-sick, but if you are patient, the ethereal film becomes quite moving and affecting. GRADE-----A-
LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS benefits from having two very attractive leads (Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway) cavorting in the nude many times during this love story/sex story/disease-drama/comedy film set in the 1990-s. (They made a nice, effectively hostile married couple in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.) Unfortunately, the film wants to be all things to all viewers, so it throws in some vulgar sex jokes, dreary disease of the week cliches, satirical jabs at the medical drug industry, and unconvincing social commentary, and introduces characters only to never have them show up again. This is probably the last film of the recently deceased Jill Clayburgh, but after her first brief scene, she disappears completely from the film. It is watchable, thanks to the leads, and if they'd kept the film edgy, with the sex, nudity and relationship angles, which are the strongest aspects, then it would be much more satisfying. GRADE-----B-
The following were viewed on DVD from the library.......
The recent independent Mexican film SIN NOMBRE (2008) was quite a revelation to me. A lot of characters are introduced early in the film, but the film narrows itself quickly to a young man who is trying to break away from the violent gang life he leads when his girlfriend is callously killed by the gang leader, the newest, younger member still a child who he has pulled into the gang world and who is to become his downfall in powerful ironic terms, and a young girl who is trying to escape the poverty of Guatemala by traveling north to the United States with her father and uncle, and who finds a dangerous attraction to this ex-gang member. These characters all come together throughout the film at various times, and it makes for a fascinating socio-ethnic collision with very intense, sobering moments. The reality seemed so vivid that it's hard to believe that many of these characters were played by first time locals. GRADE------A-
A beautiful actress tries to hide her Jewish director husband from the Nazis in the basement of his theatre during occupied Paris in the low key film THE LAST METRO (1980). The film, directed by Francois Truffaut, seemed to romanticize the occupation, with many situations that could have been intense softened by humor or mugging or the glib actions of the theatre group. The final scene was particularly odd--it seemed to tack on a fairy tale ending to what could have been a tragic ending. Still, the film has some charm and interest, especially when the leads are the beautiful Catherine Deneuve and dashing Gerard Depardieu (about 100 pounds ago.) GRADE-----B
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941) is a curious film, beautifully photographed in black and white, and with a great soundtrack by Oscar winner Bernard Hermann (who did many of Hitchcock's great films) and featuring a terrific supporting role for Walter Huston (as the Devil Scratch). It's the story of a struggling farmer who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for some wealth and good fortune, but later comes to regret his decision. I was into this story all the way until the end, which features a not-so-convincing speech by the Daniel Webster character, and I didn't buy it. Still, oddly entertaining and well worth watching. GRADE-----B
One of Brigitte Bardot's most famous films, the once scandalous ...AND GOD CREATED WOMAN (1956) seems a bit tame by today's standards, but as usual, I found BB to be believable and enchanting as a young "wild" bride who causes havoc among her husband, his older brother and her would be older lover. This is the third BB film I've seen in the last two weeks, and in each she has some peek-a-boo nudity and some extended (!) dance scenes--in this one she dances with wild, sexual abandonment in front of all three men for what seems like 5 minutes, until finally her husband steps up and slaps some sense into her. Not too politically correct, but very watchable. GRADE------B-
Since I was in college, I occasionally have had what I call APOCALYPTIC dreams--where the world is on the brink of disaster and there I sit watching it all happen, helpless to do anything about it. Many films have exploited this theme, especially the recent 2012 where the whole world is destroyed while one (lucky?) family manages to avoid death dozens of times over while all around them are sent to fiery deaths. My dreams have witnessed the atomic mushroom explosion and cloud, the moon plunging to the earth, a fireball rolling towards me, the fall from a tall building, and many variations. Unfortunately, there are NO SPECIAL EFFECTS in the Stanley Kramer film ON THE BEACH (1959) which starts when the world has already killed off the northern hemisphere with massive nuclear attacks, and the resulting poisonous cloud has killed off everyone and is slowly making it's way to Australia, where Gregory Peck and Ava Gardener must decide whether or not they want to fall in love before they die. (He's lost his family in the US while he was in a submarine in the Pacific, and she's a drunk who's never known love). Ava's friend "Julien" has also never been in love (and possibly gay--played well by Fred Astaire) but has ambitions to be a winning race car driver (!!!!!) and submarine Lt. Anthony Perkins must deal with a young wife who can't face the reality of their grim situation. The premise is VERY SERIOUS to these characters, and there are no laughs in the story---it is handled without the hint of camp. I found it intriguing, but it made me think that I wish the story had been a bit more----LURID ? LIVELY ? SENSATIONAL ? It's thoughtful, but I missed the giant mushroom cloud heading their way. GRADE-------B-
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I would have said that the lack of special effects was one of the strengths of ON THE BEACH. Have you seen TESTAMENT? That one also avoids sensationalism. I feel too often we glamorize violence done to humanity as though because our own deaths are so significant to us, that they would somehow impact the earth itself in a dramatic way. Only in the Old Testament. The earth doesn't care.
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