A newly minted revival of Stanley Donan's TWO FOR THE ROAD (1967) was the highlight this weekend, with the very attractive leads Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney in their prime. I saw this as a teenager when it came out--it was the bottom half (!) of a double bill at the time, and I don't remember what the main feature was, but I remember thinking that this was BY FAR the superior film, and seeing it again after nearly 10 years reconfirms my feeling that this is perhaps one of the most succinct films on marriage that cinema has ever produced. (Other films that spring to mind may be SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, UP, KRAMER VS KRAMER and JULIE and JULIA) The film cuts back and forth between four or five different time periods when the couple is traveling through Europe: the trip when they first meet, another trip on their honeymoon, a trip with another couple with an obnoxious child, a trip when they first meet his demanding boss, and another trip where they seem to be on the brink of divorce. The film is sophisticated, witty and very perceptive, with some great sight gags thrown in for good laughs. One of the great ones.......... GRADE---------A
It may not be great art, but THREE QUARTER MOON certainly hits all the right emotional notes. A six year old Turkish girl is abandoned in Nuremberg Germany after her grandmother ends up in the hospital and ends up bonding with a cranky old German taxi driver with problems of his own. There's an amazing long tracking shot that covers the emotional shock the taxi driver receives at a retail store that follows him out to the street, where another jolt of reality rocks him. And if the final resolution scene (ironically in a taxi) doesn't give you an emotional jolt, you don't deserve this lovely little film. GRADE--------A-
This was the SHORTS weekend, with a half dozen shorts programs. I saw the GROWING UP GAY program, and felt they were all quite good--clever, funny, insightful. Especially good was the last short called LITTLE ONES, a sardonic look at a gay couple and straight couple swapping home renovation stories and efforts to have children, over cocktails and a dinner that includes some dolls that the gay couple talk to like real children. GRADE-------B+
The Belgium film NORTH SEA TEXAS covers about 6 years in the life of a child who is growing up gay from an early age. The film starts when he is about 12 and discovers the pleasures of wearing his mother's jewelry and clothes. He also starts an affair with a neighbor boy about 3 years older, which lasts for several years. The subtle film is very serious and romantic in a way---he doesn't feel shame or abuse in this relationship, yet feels the sting when the older boy discovers girls. It's a film about the joy, heartache and frustration of first love, with some lovely actors really filling out the 1960's small town cast of characters. GRADE---------B
OVERHEARD 2 is a gripping thriller from Hong Kong that moves along at break neck speed. (This is a stand alone film---you don't need to have seen the first version.) A stock broker's car and home and office have been bugged by someone, and the police want to know who and why. There is a lot of discussion about financial markets, insider trading and dirty dealings, which mainly work like a McGuffin for what is basically a mystery chase thriller. GRADE-------B
It felt like the lush period drama BEL AMI was screened with the wrong lens, because it appeared extremely light and bright--with washed out colors. I talked to some who saw it on pay per view recently and they swore the film looks GREAT! The novel, by Guy de Maupassant, probably goes into much more detail--the film seems to rush through plot points. It is basically about a poor young man in 1895 Paris, who sleeps his way to wealth and power by seducing several wives of powerful men. The plot mechanics entertained me, and the cast including Robert Pattinson, Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas, was fun to watch. GRADE------B
Covering a dozen years, starting from 1939 up to about the early 1950's, this epic Swedish/Norway film SIMON AND THE OAKS explores the relationship between two Swedish families, Gentile and Jewish, and their friendship during the Nazi years and beyond. The first half centers on the two boys, one Jewish, the other (we soon find out) is half Jewish who struggle to find themselves, often in conflict with their two fathers. After the war, when the boys are young men, the film becomes more interesting, focusing on Simon, the half Jew, who struggles to discover his roots, as he reacts angerly toward his adopted family. I wish this had been directed by a stronger director--the film panders and wanders at times, when it should be juicing up the melodrama. GRADE------B
I've always enjoyed the films of Alex de la Iglesia (EL CRIMEN PERFECT 2004, DAY OF THE BEAST 1995) because he's often willing to go over the top in his direction. His new film AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT is also over the top in many ways, but I found it to be too unbelievable and, at times, too cruel to enjoy. When an unemployed ad man suffers an injury accident from which he cannot be moved, the whole event becomes an overblown (and a bit tedious) media circus. I got the point early on, but it is pounded home again and again. Watchable but unpleasant and distasteful. GRADE--------B-
Every couple of years, someone remakes LA RONDE in a different way, where multiple characters have sex, than interconnect with other lovers, until the drama comes full circle back to the first actors we have seen. (See CIRCLE OF LOVE, CIRCLE OF DESIRE, LA RONDE and others.) The sex in this new film called 3 6 0 is dominated by a prostitution ring that affects the lives of various characters, including Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Ben Foster and Anthony Hopkins, although I'm not sure what the Hopkins subplot --he's searching for his runaway daughter--was doing here. In spite of good production values, it becomes rather grim and depressing stuff, and I was unmoved. GRADE------C+
JOSHUA TREE, 1951: A PORTRAIT OF JAMES DEAN is a fictionalized account of what might have been the life of Dean before he became a big iconic star. It takes the more extreme view that he was a gay hustler, and seduced his way to the top with a producer, director and his gay writer roommate. There is a lot of low budget, soft core gay sex scenes and nudity, and it sort of threw me. Some of the dialogue is stilted and pretentious, and some of the actors are not so convincing. What this film does have, in spades, is style, atmosphere, cool cinematography, and a great, authentic looking actor as Dean. Interesting try. GRADE---------C+
From Canada comes EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE, which starts out awkwardly, with weak actors saying unconvincing lines and platitudes, then goes down hill from there. Could just as well be called NOTHING AND NO ONE. GRADE--------D
It had better production values than the above E & E, and the actors were better spoken and prettier, but the Spanish film COUSINHOOD was so manic and unfunny and illogical, that it literally drove me out of the theatre after a long, tedious hour, along with a dozen or more audience members. GRADE--------D
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