Katharina Otto-Bernstein’s
Absolute Wilson
Opens Friday, October 27, 2006

Starring: Robert Wilson, Suzanne Wilson, David Byrne, Susan Sontag, Philip Glass

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

We travel through the world unseen and unseeing; each with our own internal TV sets showing only one show: our show, our own personal view of the world. But then on the same pathway traveled by many, a Diane Arbus stops and takes a photo of someone walking on the sidewalk, a subject she saw that no one else saw. Or a Philip Perkis stops by the side of a road and takes a photo of a desolate field as other travelers whiz by asking, “How much longer, aren’t we there yet?”

Robert Wilson, the subject of Katharina Otto-Bernstein’s documentary Absolute Wilson, is an artist who definitely sees the world differently. Wilson was born and raised in Waco, Texas, the learning disabled homosexual son of the town mayor and his lovely but distant wife. Waco was then and is still a bastion of the Southern Baptist Church and the home to Southern Baptist Baylor University. Young Robert had trouble fitting in with his life. He was clumsy and did not talk until he was five and when he started talking, he stuttered. His only friend was the socially unacceptable son of his family’s black housekeeper.

And from this seemingly unpromising beginning came the artist Wilson. As a child he received some advice from his sister’s dance teacher Byrd Hoffman that he should simply slow things down. And slow things down he did and by doing so he saw a different world.

Young Wilson tried to fit in, even enrolling his dyslexic self in the University of Texas to study law. But it was to no avail. He was miserable until he “came out” to his family and relocated to New York to study architecture at Parsons. Once in New York of the 1960’s, he was fascinated by the revolutions that were taking place in theater and dance and he vastly preferred the joy of working in the artistic world to studying for school (he did graduate, barely).

Absolute Wilson tell the chronological story of Wilson’s life: covering his great successes in Europe; the play he staged in the Shah’s Iran that took seven days to perform; Einstein on the Beach (with composer Philip Glass); and his battle to stage the CIVIL wars during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics (it was never staged in its entirety). The film also tells the story of how although Wilson is revered in Europe he is less well known in the United States. And the film tells the story of Wilson’s work with disabled children including the deaf mute child that Wilson adopted. Wilson is fascinated with the way these children see the world and borrows what he perceives to be the images in these disabled children's internal TV’s.

Wilson’s lens on the world is from another dimension of time and space. He sees vivid colors, huge spaces filled with nothing, eloquence in silence and power in stillness. It is a different world and one well worth visiting. Bravo to Katharina Otto-Bernstein for telling the story and to Robert Wilson for simply being the
story.

For more on the film, log onto: www.absolutewilson.com.

Quad Cinema| 3 34 West 13th Street

Lincoln Plaza Cinemas Broadway | 3Between 62nd and 63rd

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Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s
Babel
Opens Friday, October 27, 2006

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella

Babel is not an easy sit. It is not a fun sit or a particularly pleasant one. It is, however, a sense-challenging, hypnotic and transcendent piece of cinema.

Like Amores Perros and 21 Grams before it, the film is a rather doomy and gloomy meditation on what unites humanity. Collaborating a third time, gifted director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and maze-obsessed screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga once again mess with traditional narrative space and time to create a potent visual and aural experience that seems to be warning us to take better care of our children.

Babel follows three different story-segments on three separate continents to deliver one punch of a flick. In Moroco, a reckless young boy aims a newly-acquired gun at a tourist bus, trying to prove to his brother that the bullets can reach that far. This lapse in logic results in the near-fatal shooting of an American woman, who is traveling with her husband after a family tragedy. Their children are back at home in the US being cared for by a loving nanny, who makes her own consequence-filled choice to attend her son’s wedding in Mexico. Finally, a sexually-awakened young deaf girl in Tokyo, who recently lost her mother to suicide, is spurned by each and every man and boy she attempts to seduce.

These plots, teeming with loss, lack of communication and the need for redemption hold Babel together pretty sturdily. Inarritu is a master of image maneuver, but here sound (or lack thereof) becomes just as important to the narrative. Editing is crucial as well, visually and sound-wise and the use of deliberately jarring cuts work most effectively.

Lest he be accused of filmic dazzle over substance, Inarritu has assembled a terrific cast who provide their own character nuances. They include: the fine Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt (who has a final reel phone moment that is remarkable), the ubiquitous Gael Garcia Bernal, the extraordinary Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barraza, in a heartbreaking turn.

Babel forces the viewer to examine his/her own prejudices. but is NOT contrived or pandering in the way last year’s Crash was. And although there is a connection between all these characters, it’s the human connection that is ultimately felt.

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Edward Zwick’s
Blood Diamond
Opens Friday, December 8, 2006

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella

An admirable filmic endeavor, Blood Diamond works more than it doesn’t but that is mostly due to it’s three lead performances.

A tale of recent horrific greed and what it does to men, the movie is set in Sierra Leone, Africa in 1999, and focuses on an amoral diamond smuggler and a native fisherman who’s family is torn apart by the explosive war caused by those seeking the coveted gems. Add an enterprising female reporter into the mix and you have the makings of quite an intense story.

Unfortunately, director Ed Zwick loves to fall back on his typical bombastic, action-adventure-y style (painfully evident in the irritating 2004 debacle The Last Samurai) which robs the film of a lot of it’s power.

Yet when he allows the human element to take center stage, Blood Diamond soars, specifically when depicting the plight of the Djimon Hounsou character in trying to find his family and, surprisingly, in the film’s love story. It is most refreshing to find a Hollywood film where two people ooze sexual chemistry but never even get to kiss onscreen (making the final reel all the more poignant).

Leonardo DiCaprio, as the mercenary Danny Archer, proves mighty impressive, acting the shit out of the part and making all the right choices. DiCaprio makes Danny real and believable even when the script does all it can to the contrary. Setting this performance side by side with his razor-sharp turn in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed places Leo at the top of the acting game in this country right now.

The extraordinary and underrated Jennifer Connelly imbues the all-too cliche’ role of the ambitious reporter with humanity and wit. Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda in The China Syndrome) and Megan Carter (Sally Field in Absence of Malice) would be proud.

Djimon Hounsou is raw, explosive and heartbreaking as Solomon Vandy, a man who will do anything to find his family.

Blood Diamond is very exciting to watch, although many of the more violent scenes feel repetitive and look too computer-generated. Zwick should have kept it grounded in realism instead of resorting to cheap entertainment.

But as the riveting Constant Gardener did last year in exposing the pharmaceutical industry, Blood Diamond should succeed in making anyone craving a diamond think twice before they make the purchase.

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Gaston Biraben’s
Cautiva
Opens November 9, 2006

Starring: Bárbara Lombardo; Susana Campos; Hugo Arana; Osvaldo Santoro; Noemí Frenkel; Lidia Catalano; Mercedes Funes; Silvia Baylé; Luis Gianneo.

Reviewed by John Harris

In some of our bleakest childhood moments, many of us have wondered, "Where did I really come from?" In the beginning of Gaston Biraben’s Cautiva, a young Argentinean woman celebrates her fifteenth birthday at an emotional gathering of family and friends. Soon afterwards, she is summoned by her Catholic school principal and told she must meet with a mysterious Argentinean judge. For children, there is no habeas corpus, no constitutional rights. They are compelled to do what they are told. When she asks to speak with her parents, she is told that will not be permitted until she speaks with the judge. A shattering secret awaits her which will completely change her life.

Cautiva is a film with subtle moral complexity There are two kidnappings committed upon Cristina (played by the incandescent Barbara Lombardo in her first feature film role), one by her adoptive parents when she was an infant and then the legal “return” kidnapping by her grandmother and the judge when she is fifteen. The Judge (played by Hugo Arana) tries to explain why he has committed this legal "kidnapping" and is returning her to her biological Grandmother. Her "parents" are not to know where she is going, he explains. He must go about his business furtively and in time she will come to understand why.

Cristina is turned over to her grandmother (played by Susana Campos) and her name is changed back to Sofia Lombardi. Slowly she begins to unravel the mystery of her past, going through an initial stage of denial, then anger, then finally acceptance of the fact that her own parent’s death may be in part attributable to the adoptive parents that she grew up loving.

All the actors give excellent performances in a morality tale told in shades of gray. Inspired by the book by Rita Arditti, “Searching For Life. The Grandmothers Of The Plaza De Mayo And The Disappeared Children Of Argentina,” Mr. Biraben has crafted a thought provoking cautionary tale on the abuse of power, and ultimately, on the nature of evil itself. There is no black and white in Mr. Biraben's universe, just an endless array of choices. The timing of the release of this film, considering the overwhelming results of our recent elections, should give us all pause to think.

Cautiva opens Friday November 10, 2006 at Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street

 

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Joey Lauren Adams’
Come Early Morning
Opens November 10, 2006

Starring: Ashley Judd; Jeffrey Donovan; Laura Prepon; Diane Ladd; Scott Wilson

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Actress Joey Lauren Adams, the memorable Alyssa in Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy, had a story she was dying to tell. It was a story about Lucy, a hard-times girl from the hard-drinking-God-fearing South, who just can't get her life together. Adams is from the South and according to the press notes, Adams first thought about playing Lucy herself. But then decided that she really wanted to direct and cast the lovely and talented Ashley Judd.

Judd is also the South; she is the youngest daughter of country star Winona Judd and definitely knew this world before. Judd has also played a lower class Southern gal before in 1993’s critically acclaimed Ruby in Paradise.

Here is a quote from the film’s press release: ”Come Early Morning tells the story of Lucy (Judd), a hard-working, Southern woman, whose personal life has been reduced to a spiral of late nights and one-night stands. When Lucy meets Cal (Jeffrey Donovan), a newcomer to town, she is finally forced to confront her fears as he challenges her accept a more meaningful relationship. Lucy must decide whether to push Cal away or face the demons that have left her incapable of intimacy and growth. She begins a spiritual journey toward love and redemption that takes her, and the film, to an entirely unexpected and original place.”

Adams has told a compelling story about a world that few outside the south know exists. It is a world populated by carousing ass-kicking drunks who occasionally haul their hung- over-asses to church on Sunday morning just cuz that is what they have always done and they like the music. They are not hypocritical Christians who act better than thou during they day. They are the real sinners of the old saying, “A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” L. L. Nash. And religion is as much a part of their life as beer and chicken-fried steak.

Ashley Judd does a fine job of bringing Lucy and all her complexities to life. Jeffrey Donovan gives a solid performance portraying the love interest that Lucy can't get her shit together enough to appreciate. And Bravo to Adams for bringing this, her first feature, to the screen. .

Come Early Morning opens November 10, 2006 in NY Metro area at the Loews Village 7, Clearview Manhasset Theater, Clearview Tenafly Cinema 4, NJ, and the
Clearview Cinema 100 White Plains

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Karen Moncrieff's
The Dead Girl
Opens December 29, 2006

Starring: Toni Collette; Brittany Murphy; Marcia Gay Harden; James Franco;
Josh Brolin; Rose Byrne; Giovanni Ribisi; Kerry Washington; Mary Steenburgen; and Mary Beth Hurt.

The Dead Girl is a dark sad film about the death of a drug addicted hooker and the effect her death has on a group of seemingly diverse people. There are five separate stories in the film and we only meet the “dead girl” Krista (played by Brittany Murphy) in the last story, which is the only one that takes place before the murder.

The first story (The Stranger) is actually the creepiest. Toni Colette plays Arden, a sad-sack of a woman who is the live-in caretaker for her verbally abusive mother (played by Piper Laurie). Arden discovers the dead girl and unwillingly becomes something of a local celebrity. This celebrity attracts the amorous attentions of Rudy, a grocery clerk played by Giovanni Ribisi. It seems that the dead mutilated woman is a turn on for Rudy so Arden and Rudy have weird bondage sex filled with dirty talk about serial killers. And this experience so liberates Arden (who fortunately walks away from her sexual encounter) that she is able to confront her mother. But don’t be turned away by my description, you won’t be able to turn your eyes away from this scene and may need a bath afterwards.

The next story (The Sister) tells the story of Leah, a clinically depressed forensic student played by Rose Byrne. Rose works on the body of the “dead girl” and sees some resemblance to her sister who has been missing for several years. Rose desperately wants to believe that this corpse is her sister so she can have some closure. In fact, just the wisp of belief that she may have found her missing sister, frees her to also have sex (with a lab student who has the hots for her). But her mother (played by Mary Steenburgen) refuses to believe that her daughter has been found. In the end, it is determined that the body is not her missing daughter and Rose returns to her sexless depression.

The third story (The Wife) is actually the psychologically darkest. Mary Beth Hurt plays Ruth, another sad-sack of a woman whose husband (Ned Searcy) has the habit of leaving for unexplained absences, leaving her alone to manage his storage business. Ruth (supposedly a devout Christian) believe he is sleeping with prostitutes and harangues him incessantly. But he leaves anyway, so one night she decides to investigate and finds some horrifying souvenirs in one of the storage units. She is then faced with a dilemma and makes a shocking decision which robs her of any semblance of a higher moral ground.

The fourth story (The Mother) tells the story of Melora, the dead girl’s mother (played by Marcia Gay Harden). Melora drives to California from Oregon to try to find out what happened to her now dead daughter. She goes to the run down motel that it her daughter’s last known address where she meets Rosetta (Kerry Washington), the drug addicted hooker who turn out to have been her daughter’s lesbian lover. The two women form an unlikely friendship and through the friendship Melora learns two secrets about her daughter’s life: one about why her daughter ran away from home and one that will change Melora’s life in a positive way.

And finally in The Dead Girl, we meet Krista (a fragile Britanny Murphy) herself. We see her interactions with one of her customers (a leeringly disgusting Josh Brolin) and her desperate attempts to get a ride to go see her three year old daughter on her birthday, the trip that cost her life.

This film is beautifully acted and is blessed with great dark cinematography (Michael Grady). Karen Moncrieff has done a great job of telling her story in Babel like fashion. If there is any criticism it is that the film is just too dark. It is hard to really feel for people when there seems to have never been anything worth living for in their lives. So the viewer becomes just a voyeur. But hey, this film has truly memorable voyeuristic moments.

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Gabriel Range’s
Death of a President
Opens Friday, October 27, 2006

Starring: Hend Ayoub; Brian Boland; Becky Ann Baker; Robert Mangiardi; Zahra Abi Zikri; Jay Patterson; Jay Whittaker; Michael Reilly Burke; James Urbaniak; Neko Parham; Seena Jon; Christian Stolte; Chavez Ravine; Patricia Buckley; Patrick Clear; and Malik Bader.

Tagline: Do not rush to judge.

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Let's get one thing straight: this film does not glorify violence nor does it incite violence. Instead it is a thought provoking exploration of the United States’ culture of violence and of our present administrations assault on our civil liberties.

Here is a quote from the film’s press release: Death of a President follows the investigation of the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush in October 2007. Combining real archival footage with a credible but fictional story, Death of a President presents a fascinating and thought-provoking political thriller.”

Filmmaker Gabriel Range has stated that he picked the fictitious assassination of President George Bush as a catalyst so he could explore how our present administration would react to such a horrific event.

The film is formatted like a documentary; Range uses actual news clips of President Bush interspersed with film he (Range) took of protest groups in Chicago. These film clips are interspersed with interviews with people who were supposedly with the President in Chicago on the day of the assassination and also with the Secret Service agents who were charged with his protection and with the FBI agent who was in charge of the investigation afterwards. The film also shows interviews with the wives of the two suspects: a Syrian engineer and the father of a slain African American soldier.

This film is riveting without being exploitative. You never see the President being shot, only the lead up to the assasination and the aftermath. This film is also incredibly sad. I walked out of the film depressed with this one thought, “How can a nation who was founded on the wonderful principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, have gone so far off course?”

For more information on this film, log onto: www.deathofapresident.com

For more reading on the subject of how we are now persecuting Arab Americans, not for terrorist acts but just because we think they look funny, read my theater column for June of 2006.
http://www.newyorkcool.com/archives/2006/June/theater_1.html.
Scroll down on the linked page to see the review of Alison Maclean and Tobiase Perse’s documentary film Persons of Interest.

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Martin Scorsese’s
The Departed
Opens Friday, October 6, 2006

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella

So Martin Scorsese doesn’t have a best director Academy Award. Neither does Robert Altman. What do the two master filmmakers have in common besides being seventies mavericks, without Oscars, who are still working? Well, both happen to be turning out some of the best films of the new millennium. Neither show any signs of slowing down. And both have made spectacular films this year (Altman’s is Prairie Home Companion).

Scorsese seems to feel most at home when he’s tacking crime. And The Departed, ironic title notwithstanding, is quite the filmically fascinating homecoming for him. Scorsese’s brilliant technique has gotten more interesting to watch and his ability to glean the best from his actor’s is perfectly evident in his new pic.

Gritty, grisly and especially bloody in the final reel, The Departed is also wickedly witty with moments of intense and dizzying suspense.

Loosely based on a Hong Kong thriller, Infernal Affairs, and inventively penned by William Monahan, the story revolves and unravels around a powerful mobster named Costello and the two cops who work for him--one of whom is actually operating as an informer. How these two VERY different officers (one a street-smart thug, the other an ambitious slickster) manage to try to outwit one another and Costello is part of the exhilarating plot.

Leonardo DiCaprio finally proves he’s deserving of all the praise that was heaped upon him when Titanic docked nine years ago. The ferocity he brings to the role of hothead Billy Costigan propels him to the ranks of serious actor. It’s a stirring performance.

The always dashing Matt Damon cuts quite the nasty yet paradoxical figure as Costello’s inside man, Colin Sullivan. Damon charms even when he’s cutthroat.

In a film filled with fantastic acting, Mark Wahlberg manages to steal every scene he is in as a vulgar, no-nonsense sergeant. If there’s any justice this overlooked thesp will finally snag an Oscar nomination.

Adding to the luster of the fine ensemble are wonderful turns by Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen and Ray Winstone.

The casting of Jack Nicholson as the feared mob boss Costello, may have appeared odd to some and I’m sure certain critics will yelp that Nicholson is simply doing his old shtick. Bollocks to those fools! Nicholson manages to etch a dastardly and horrific portrayal of a vicious brute who has grown rightfully paranoid. Yes, he’s a raving nut, but Jack tempers the character with a surprising bored-with-his-life spin. It’s one of the year’s best performances from one of our best and most treasured actors.

The Departed is like cinematic hashish. It makes you feel joyous. A rare emotion you want to keep alive...for as long as you can! Thank you, Mr. Scorsese!

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Bill Condon’s
Dreamgirls

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella

Four years ago Rob Marshall revitalized the movie musical with the delicious and delightful Chicago which went on to deservedly win the Best Picture Academy Award. Since then we have been assaulted with such hodgepodge cinema-horrors asPhantom of the Opera and The Producers, near destroying all hopes for the future of the genre...until now. Thank God for Bill Condon (the Chicago screenwriter, irony notwithstanding).

Condon has proven himself a fantastic filmmaker with the remarkable Gods and Monsters in 1998 (which won him the Best Original Screenplay Oscar) as well as the controversial and highly underrated Kinsey in 2004.

This year he has taken a so-so Broadway show and turned it into a dazzling, insightful and invigorating film. One that will be a force to be reckoned with come Oscar Nominations-morning,

The simple rise-to-fame story of a Motown-esque trio and the avaricious manager that guides them is given a fanciful and much-improved screen adaptation. Condon is a master of the visual (borrowing occasionally from Rob Marshall) and his magical use of mirrors and sweeping camerawork is a tribute to the original Dreamgirls creator, Michael Bennett.

The Broadway musical, Dreamgirls, was ‘loosely’ based on Diana Ross and the Supremes. Everyone figured that one out. The film version is even more tongue-in-cheek obvious with Knowles looking and sounding like Ms. Ross in key moments from her early career.

The joy of what Condon has done is that we never feel that the actors are bursting into song just to burst into song. The songs are actual performed musical numbers until halfway through the film when he seamlessly makes the transition to musical dialogue, culminating with Effie’s soul-piercing, “And I Am Telling You.”

While I highly recommend Dreamgirls, the film is not perfect. There are a few wince-inducing cliche’ moments and certain characters who don’t quite achieve three-dimensionally. But the good far outweighs the not-so-good.

The heart and soul of the film is Effie and she is brilliantly embodied by Jennifer Hudson. This is a staggering film debut and Hudson is assured an Oscar nomination and, probably, the award itself. (Her only real competition, in my mind, is Cate Blanchett who sears the screen with her raw intensity in Notes on a Scandal).

The aforementioned power-ballad, “And I Am Telling You,” long associated with Jennifer Holiday (who had a hit single with it in the early 80’s) makes the song her own in a marvelous moment of desperation. But it’s her second tour de force number, “I Am Changing” that proves the moving and defining showstopper of the film.

Beyonce’ Knowles’ Deena Jones isn’t a very strongly defined character through most of the film, but in the final reel where she belts the killer new song, “Listen”, we are finally allowed a peek into what makes Deena tick. It’s a wonderful moment for Knowles as she is allowed to express what she has been repressing for too long.

Jamie Foxx is saddle with playing a rather villainous cad but he gives the part depth and a strange poignancy. It’s good work from the Ray-man.

The much-ballyhoo’d turn by Eddie Murphy is, indeed, the best performance of his career--but, let’s face facts--that isn’t saying much! However, Murphy is strong and in his last few scenes, where he doesn’t say much, is quite impressive.

Broadway’s Anika Noni Rose near-steals all her early scenes with quite the comic gifts. The script seems to let her fall by the wayside, which is unfortunate since she’s another potential star on the rise.

Tech credits are outstanding across the boards with spectacular photography by Tobias Schliessler as well as fabulous costumes (by Sharen Davis), perfect period production designs (by John Myhre) and razzle-dazzle editing (via Virginia Katz).

One walks away entertained by the film and blown away by Ms. Hudson!

 

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Steven Shainberg’s
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
Opened November 10, 2006 (NY Only)

Starring: Nicole Kidman; Robert Downey, Jr.; Jane Alexander; Harris Yullin; and Ty Burrell.

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Steven Shainberg’s (of Secretary fame) film Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus is a dreamlike reinvention of Arbus’ life and an attempt to use the art of film to portray the inspiration that compelled Arbus (played by Nicole Kidman) to leave her semi-conventional life as the wife of a fashion photographer in Greenwich Village and become a world class photographer. In the same manner that a modern art portrait only represents the feeling or essence of a subject, this film does not attempt to tell the real story of Arbus’ life, but only a story about how Arbus might have felt.

The film is mostly set in the apartment house where Arbus (played by Nicole Kidman) lives and works with her husband Allan Arbus (played by Ty Burrell) and children. Her apartment is a marvel of 1950’s beige chic, as is Kidman at the beginning of the film and her parents (played by Jane Alexander and Harris Yullin) throughout the film. And one night, while hosting a fashion show for her father’s fur line, Arbus escapes for a moment to look out the window when she catches a glimpse of her new upstairs neighbor, Lionel (played by Robert Downey, Jr.). Lionel is wearing a mask so all she can see are his eyes, but that one glimpse bewitches Arbus and compels her to don a blue dress and make the journey up the stairs and into Lionel’s blue world. Lionel is a sophisticate who lives in an apartment with beautiful deep blue walls and a huge roman tub in his bathroom (I told you this was a fantasy). Lionel is also a wigmaker and former circus freak who suffers from a rare form of hirsuteness that makes him look like a sexy version of the Wookiee in Star Wars.

Lionel befriends Arbus and introduces her to his world of circus freaks. And by doing so, he opens her eyes to see herself as what she really is - a voyeur. The film then continues with her story as she tries to integrate her world upstairs (of the imagination) with her real life downstairs.

There are metaphors in the film. Arbus’ parents are famous furriers and Lionel is covered with fur and Arbus feels compelled to both liberate herself from the oppressiveness of her parents and to liberate Lionel from his earthly covering of fur.

This is also the kind of film that you either love or hate (I loved it). Arbus has become an icon to many people. She had an unflinching eye on the world and her portraits have attracted a cult following. And because she was such a powerful artist, most of her admirers feel like they own her and own their own interpretation of her. And many critics have objected to this fanciful portrayal of her life, stating that Arbus herself was the ultimate realist and not some piece of modern art to be interpreted at will.

But I think this film will survive the initial shock to the senses and develop a cult following. Because all art takes a while to “settle in” with the eye.

The film is extremely well acted and boasts a stellar cast. Robert Downey Jr. and Nicole Kidman have a lot of chemistry together; they work equally well as pals and as lovers. Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson (using Patricia Bosworth’s biography of Diane Arbus as inspiration) had written a sophisticated and fanciful script. And Shainberg has told his story of compulsion in a masterful way; it is a story of magnets and iron and their inevitable collision.

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Nicholas Hytner's
The History Boys
Opens Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella

Nicholas Hytner's impressively faithful adaptation of Alan Bennett's smash West End and Broadway hit play, The History Boys, retains the spirit of the stage production but loses some of the bite. Still, it's smart, sassy and insightful and how terrific is it that the entire original cast has been retained for movie (as well as the director)!

The stage version was directed quite cinematically at a dazzling, dizzying pace. The film is surprisingly less visually exciting but the dialogue crackles with sardonic wit and the performances are uniformly superb.

The setting is a Yorkshire school in the early 1980's. Eight boys are being prepped for their applications to the most elite of English universities. The character-driven plot revolves around the three different teachers who are in charge of guiding these boys towards their respective futures.

Richard Griffiths, outstanding in the stage play, delivers a wonderful performance here as the eccentric and grabby Hector, but seems more a supporting player. Stephen Campbell Moore is perfect as Irwin, the less artistic, more pragmatic educator who not-so-secretly lusts after one of the boys.

Rounding out the teacher trio is the incomparable Frances de la Tour (tired of teaching about "centuries of masculine ineptitude!"), who was fabulous onstage and is even better onscreen. Give this woman a Supporting Oscar nomination now! And give her more films! She is bloody brilliant!

As for the boys, Samuel Barnett, arguably the standout onstage, is perfectly fine but two other lads seem made for the big screen. The hyper-sexy Dominic Cooper charms as Dakin. This boy has movie star looks and the talent to back it up. Also showing major screen charisma is Jamie Parker as Scripps.

I think the film would have benefited from a longer running time since it feels abridged. And, as with the stage production, I was never keen on the seemingly contrived tragedy that ends the piece. But I was impressed with the way Bennett and Hytner handled the ending.

All in all, The History Boys is worthy effort, for fans of the play and for newbies alike.

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Douglas McGrath’s
Infamous
Opens Friday, October 13, 2006

Starring: Sandra Bullock; Peter Bogdanovich; Daniel Craig; Jeff Daniels; Hope Davis; Toby Jones; Gwyneth Paltrow; Michael Panes; Lee Pace; Isabella Rosselini; and Sigourney Weaver.

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Douglas McGrath has pulled off a stunning feat. He “remade” last year’s critically acclaimed hit Capote and has quite impossibly made it better.

The story is still the same: An effete Capote (played by Toby Jones) leaves his sophisticated-supper-club-Manhattan-lifestyle to travel to Holcomb, Kansas to write a piece for The New Yorker magazine on how the savage murder of an innocent farm family, the Clutters, has changed the town. This visit to the heartland morphed into a six year trek into the heart of darkness and produced Capote’s masterpiece, the nonfiction novel "In Cold Blood.” And the writing of “In Cold Blood” so changed Capote that he never completed another novel.

Infamous is based on George Plimpton’s oral biography, "Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career." So we see Truman through interviews with his glitterati friends: Babe Paley (Sigourney Weaver); Bennett Cerf (Peter Bogdanovich); Dianna Vreeland (Juliet Stevenson); Gore Vidal (Michael Panes); Marella Agnelli (Isabella Rosselini); Slim Keith (Hope Davis).

The film opens in a supper club with Truman sitting with his good friend Babe Paley (Sigourney Weaver), the wife of the head of CBS, Bill Paley. They are listening to Peggy Lee (Gwyneth Paltrow in a stunning bit part) sing Cole Porter’s "What Is This Thing Called Love?" Lee falters during the singing (seemingly overcome by some private emotion), and Truman is mesmerized, setting the tone for the story to come.

The opulence of the opening scene is in stark contrast to what we see next as Truman, accompanied by his childhood friend Nelle Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock) of the just-about-to-be-published "To Kill a Mocking Bird" fame, travels by train to Kansas to conduct his interviews. Taking Lee with him to Kansas was a brilliant move on Capote’s part because Lee (unlike Capote) has retained her small town Alabama ways and her “just folks” manner helps introduce Capote (who might as well have arrived from outer space) to the people of the town. And the contrast between Holcomb and Manhattan is beautifully depicted in Infamous. Dark and dreary scenes from Holcomb are juxtaposed with Truman’s return trips to Manhattan, where he gleefully regales his sophisticated friends with his “stories from the road.”

When Capote arrived in Holcomb he famously told the Alvin Dewey (Jeff Daniels), of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (who later became Capote’s friend and source) that he did not care if he solved the crime, he (Capote) was just there to tell the story of how the murders affected the town. Dewey, of course, desperately wanted to solve the crime (the Clutters were his friends) and he did. And when he did, Capote’s mission changed. What had started out as a brief visit to the heartland to write a small story, became his life’s mission ending six years later when the killers, David Hickock (Lee Pace) and Perry Smith (Daniel Craig), were executed by hanging.

Infamous delves deeply into Capote’s relationship with Perry Smith. Much has been written about how Capote was in love with Smith and how he exploited this love to get his story. Daniel Craig’s portrayal of Perry is dangerously sexual and the polar opposite of Jones’s effete Capote. To get Smith to trust him and tell him what happened that night, Capote exposes his heart to Smith They both suffered from the same abandonment issue:their mothers had committed suicide. But emotional attachment or not, Capote had a book to sell and this book could not be published into the situation in Kansas was “resolved.” So having made this emotional connection with Smith, Capote's book and his life could not progress until Smith was hanged. And hanged he was in a gruesomely compelling scene.

The cast for Infamous is stellar. All the actors give compelling performances especially Jones’s Truman Capote and Craig’s Perry Smith (Craig is the new James Bond). Sandra Bullock is a complete surprise as Nelle Harper Lee. She gives such a quietly grave performance she is almost unrecognizable. And the sets and costumes are incredible. It is such a treat to see upper class 1959 Manhattan; the Metropolitan Museum should really consider a retrospective.

 

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Clint Eastwood’s
Letters from Iwo Jima
Opens Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella

Clint Eastwood is one of the greatest directors working today. Quite simply put, in his twilight years he has managed to create some of the most original and indelible cinematic achievements ever.

In 1992, he reinvented the western with Unforgiven. Two years ago, he re-envisioned the boxing movie in a way that was startling and refreshing with Million Dollar Baby.

This year he wasn’t afraid to tell the complex and painful tale of the allies landing on Iwo Jima in Flags of Our Fathers, and the very disturbing and unpopular aftermath--once the flag boys came home.

Now, less than two months later, in a rare and admirable move, Warner Brothers and Dreamworks are releasing his companion piece to Flags, Letters from Iwo Jima, completely told from the Japanese perspective. It is, far and away, the best film of 2006.

I have seen many films this year (over 150) and some have been quite impressive. A few (Little Children, The Departed, The Queen) could have easily been chosen the best of any other year. Any year that did not include Letters from Iwo Jima.

The power of Letters lies in it’s telling a simple story in a new and exciting way.

In most Hollywood war movies, there are good guys and bad guys. The good guys die for the noblest of causes. The bad guys are evil and when they perish, we are happy. The twain shall never meet. It cannot. Who would the audience root for? And when there are Americans involved, they must always be the good guys. They have to be. And there is always honor in dying for a cause. There must be, otherwise we’d have no justification for war.

Eastwood chucks these notions out to sea and demands the viewer look at war and the “enemy” in a human way. The genius of his method is that he uses the structure we expect from the genre and then forces us to see different things from it. He shows us how quickly and easily the lines of friend/enemy blur. We see a people that are, gads, just like us--fighting for their beloved country and constantly thinking about their families back home. But isn’t that what our men did in WW2? Isn’t that what they are doing right now in Iraq?

These people are Japanese. They were part of the evil Axis of Power. We hated them. We wanted them dead. We nuked them.

Clint’s provocative decision to tell a sympathetic story about the Japanese must have raised many an eyebrow. His choice to have the film completely spoken in the Japanese language must’ve sent shock waves through both studios. Yet he achieved what no other American director could. He has made a foreign-language film that feels like it was actually made in Japan.

Finally, the story Clint has decided to tell is not of an arrogant, victorious group of soldiers, but of a people doomed to defeat, who go into the battle with this foreknowledge. They know they will die. They know they will never see their loved ones again. And still they fight. With dignity. And a touch of sadness. Not since Richard Attenborough’s underrated 1977 epic, A Bridge Too Far, has an ill-fated moment in history been so daringly depicted.

Letters takes great pains to make the viewer understand the Japanese mindset when it comes to dying for ones country, suicide and the importance of honor at all costs.

Inspired by a book of Japanese correspondences, the script was written by Iris Yamashita, based on a story by Ms. Yamashita and Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers). The main characters include: the suave Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) who masterminded the digging of the tunnels; Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya) a baker who has no desire to be a part of the battle; the gung ho Lieutenant Ito (Shidou Nakamura) and an Olympic equestrian Baron named Nishi (Tsuyoshi Ihara).

Unlike the aforementioned Bridge Too Far which was peppered with an all-star cast, Eastwood has chosen mostly unknown Asians, directing them in a language he is unfamiliar with. The surprising result is one the best acting ensembles of the year.

The film is nicely grounded by Watanabe’s dignified and nuanced performance. He commands the screen as he commands his troops. Ninomiya is a revelation as Saigo, a character filled with conflicting feelings. It’s emotionally rich work and he deserves recognition.

Made in thirty-two days on the Warners lot right after Flags completed shooting, with a budget of $20 million, Letters from Iwo Jima is a brutal, devastating and profound cinematic gem and placed with Flags, one of the most astonishing filmic experiences in the history of the medium.

I, for one, cannot wait to see what Clint is going to do next.

(On an interesting Academy Awards note, in 2004 the never-Oscared Martin Scorsese went into the homestretch as the front-runner with The Aviator. Out of nowhere Warners decided to release Million Dollar Baby months ahead of schedule. That film and Eastwood took home the Oscars. This year, Scorsese was pretty assured of his first Oscar for The Departed, that is until Letters was rushed into a year-end release, qualifying it for 2006. Now sentiment may rule the day and Scorsese may finally win his much deserved award. But if the Oscar was being given on merit alone, Clint would be taking home his third Best director trophy...)

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Little Children premiered at the New York Film Festival and opened Friday, October 6th

The less written about Little Children, the long-awaited follow-up to Todd Field’s riveting In The Bedroom, the better. Not because it isn’t a good film. Quite the contrary, Little Children is, by far, one of the best film’s of 2006.

Based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, the pic has been admirably adapted by Mr. Perrotta and Mr. Field to tell a startling and penetrating story. Field masterfully directs his actors, all of whom deliver rich and nuanced performances, some of the most intrusive you’ll see onscreen this year.

To give away too much about Little Children or discuss key scenes would be to rob the audiences of one of the most rewarding filmgoing experiences. Suffice to synopsize that the plot focuses on a gaggle of suburbanites whose lives intersect (mostly around a playground) in surprising, exciting, uncomfortable and, ultimately, profound ways.

But realize, Little Children is no contrived bevvy of manipulations along the lines of last years ridiculously overrated Crash.The film is filled with fascinating themes rarely explored onscreen so intelligently. And the tone is somewhere between where realism and melodrama meet.

The brilliant ensemble is flawless, beginning with a magically transformed Kate Winslet. Always mesmerizing, this is her finest hour (which is saying a great deal when you stack up her work in Sense and Sensibility, Titanic, Iris and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and solidifies her standing as the most outstanding actress of her generation.

Patrick Wilson, terrific in Hard Candy earlier in the year, delivers a career-making turn. It would be too easy to overlook the importance of his potent portrayal of a perfect looking, all-American jock who has never grown up.

Jackie Earle Haley is to be commended for taking on a difficult role and fearlessly diving into it with his entire being. It’s remarkable work from an actor who hasn’t been seen in movies in a few decades.

The beautiful Jennifer Connelly fascinates with her role as the perfect wife. Powerhouse Phyliss Somerville impresses as a fiercely protective mother. Noah Emmerich amazes in a role that could easily have been one-dimensional. Also of note is Jane Adams who appears briefly, yet leaves quite the lasting impression.

Little Children is an incredibly smart and extraordinary piece of cinema. It is unafraid to explore its characters, warts and all, and delve into their psyches. Sometimes what is discovered isn’t very easy to watch but is worth the anguish.

See it. You will not leave the theatre unaffected.

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Sofia Coppola’s
Marie Antoinette
Reviewed at the 2006 New York Film Festival

Yet another Queen has been anointed onto the New York Film Festival throne.

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella

Sofia Coppola’’s follow up to the sublimely meditative, Lost in Translation and her haunting directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides, proves that she’s a filmmaker to be reckoned with. Forget her pedigree. Okay, that’s impossible. So let’s blatantly announce that, like her genius father, she is capable of making small personal films as well as stunning, sweeping sagas. And, also like her father, her cinematic vision is distinctly her own.

Marie Antoinette is an exciting and invigorating film about France’s notorious 18th Century queen that has the power and majesty of Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth and mod satiric sensibility of Amy Heckerling’s Clueless.

Based on the 2002 book by Antonia Fraser, Coppola’s heroine is a lonely and confused teen thrust into an opulent, decadent world she was none too prepped for.

From the pink opening credits, set to an 80’s rock score, where Marie ‘eats cake’ and stares directly at the camera with a kind of jaded irony. to the scene where she must leave all of Austria behind and enter France naked, Coppola’s creates a sumptuous milieu, brimming over with protocol, pomp and pomposity.

Marie is quite effectively played by Kirsten Dunst, who, ironically enough, gave one of her best screen performances in Coppola’s Virgin Suicides. Dunst goes even further here etching a vivid portrait of a naive teen forced to take on ridiculous responsibilities and live under a massive and judgmental microscope. Dunst’s Marie is sometimes silly, occasionally vapid and usually perplexed. She’s alluring, but not deliberately so. And she’s naturally charismatic without being an egotist. Since the film basically hinges on the casting of the title character, Coppola can be applauded for choosing wisely.

Jason Schwartzman, nepotism notwithstanding, is an odd selection for Louis XV!, yet he brings an unexpected poignancy to the bland and usually impotent future King of France.

The divine Judy Davis plays the Contesse de Noailles and perfectly captures the court attitude of the day. The rest of the supporting cast includes Asia Argento; Shirley Henderson; Molly Shannon; Rip Torn; Marianne Faithfull and the chameleonic Steve Coogan. It’s a uniformly fine, if peculiar, ensemble.

Aiding Coppola in creating her “candy and cake” world are a splendid team led by awesome production designer KK Barrett, ace DP Lance Acord and genius costume designer Milena Canonero. Brian Reitzell is the terrific music supervisor and producer.

Coppola should also be lauded for spinning an ingenious feminist view on the story of Marie Antoinette. Scenes involving Marie being blamed by EVERYONE for her husband’s sexual inadequacies are quite off-putting.

Despite an unsatisfying ending (ten more epilogue minutes could have made the difference), Marie is one of the year’s finest film achievements.

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