I got a second chance to view THE HELP this week, and I will confess that last week I may have been too close having listened (on book tape) to the book so recently. I remember thinking about what was there and not there during the first viewing (a lot of details and extended relationship scenes, and some minor albeit entertaining scenes like the naked drunk man in Celia's backyard, etc) so that the cinematic experience was compromised, and I was not thinking in terms of whether the film really works as a film. The film works very well on second thought, without being condescending, laborious or petty. The actors are spot on, without much obnoxious caricature or shallowness. Even the over the top evilness of Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly seemed rather tempered on second viewing--her sneering grin seems to mask the insecurity she has as a supposed woman of stature in 1963 Jackson Mississippi. I've never been too fond of her roles (especially the horrid LADY IN THE WATER) but she does have a certain haughty presence in her last role HEREAFTER from last year, and in her next role, the upcoming 50/50. The reliable Sissy Spacek as Missus Walters is quite entertaining as Hilly's demented mother, and Octavia Spencer pulls off a potentially stereotypical role as the wise-cracking maid who becomes a life-saver to an unexpected character. I really like this movie--it has a chance to be one of the top movies of the year, and I recently upgraded THE HELP from a B to a......B+
Amazingly, 47 years after the road trip, home movies from the Ken Kesey bus tour he took with assorted friends featuring hipsters Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary and others, has been turned into an entertaining, lucid (!), fascinating documentary which really captures the times and would be potential of the drug culture, hippies, free love and the "beat" generation. If nothing else, MAGIC TRIP: KEN KESEY'S SEARCH FOR A KOOL PLACE shows how rather uneventful watching a dozen people tripping on LSD at a mountain lake can really be. GRADE--------B+
Speaking of trips, the new Miranda July film called THE FUTURE, is here to take audiences to a place they probably have never been before. Several years ago, her first film ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (2005) caused a stir at the opening night of SIFF with it's depiction of adolescent sexuality. It was still considered a provocative view of loneliness and alienation in people of all ages but very accessible due to the black humor. THE FUTURE continues with the alienation themes, but adds a bit of sci-fi (the ability to stop time) and is narrated by Paw Paw the injured cat--no kidding. It is not as ambitious as ME AND YOU...--July and Hamish Linklater play look alike lovers who decide to take a break from each other, but for those who are into her creativity and deadpan humor, this is a thoughtful and sad experience. This film really DIVIDED (as in Loved it or Hated it)the audiences at the recent SIFF. GRADE----------B
For nearly 20 minutes into the new "comedy" called OUR IDIOT BROTHER, I thought this movie was going to be a (stink) bomb--so leisurely and unfunny was the set-up. But I soon got into the pacing, and the story catches on. Paul Rudd plays a simple yet idealistic "organic farmer" (read: want to be hippie) who sells pot to a cop in uniform (no kidding) because he wants to be a nice guy. After his prison term, he moves around to the sofa's of his mother and three sisters (nicely played by Shirley Knight, Elizabeth Banks-who looks a lot like Parker Posey in this role-- Emily Mortimer and Zooey Deschannel) Unfortunately, his penchant for truth telling (as opposed to lying in any circumstance) gets him into a lot of trouble with his sisters and their families. This is a likable, low-key comedy-drama, and if you don't go in with high, knee slapping expectations, you will enjoy this modest little film. GRADE-----------B-
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The only DVD I watched this week was from last year, called EASY "A" (2010) which features the charming Emma Stone, who is on a big BIG roll this year with delightful turns in top movies like THE HELP (see above) and CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE (see previous blogs). This is a (sometimes way to) clever story about a high school girl who does a gay friend a favor by pretending to have sex with him in a very public way, thereby saving him from homophobic attacks, and keeping her from being known as an inexperienced virgin. Of course, things get out of hand, and although I didn't believe but half of the premise (do high school kids really talk like that?), the cast (including funny turns by Lisa Kudrow, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Thomas Haden Church, Malcolm McDowell and Amanda Bynes) has a LOT OF FUN. and so will you. GRADE------B
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