Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook
You know, I have to hand it to David O'Russell.  There are not a lot of good dramas out there.  Oh, there are some that are diverting enough, I suppose, but nothing to write home about.  And most are sappy, formulaic, cookie cutter messes.  And then here comes David O'Russell (fresh off the equally excellent The Fighter) with his terrific adaptation of Matthew Quick's novel, Silver Linings Playbook.

Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) suffers from bipolar disorder.  As the movie begins, he is being released from the mental hospital, where he was sentenced after almost beating his wife's lover to death.  Now living at home with his parents (played by Jacki Weaver and Robert DeNiro), Pat is trying to get his life back in order and hopefully convince his wife to get back together with him...of course, that would involve finding a way around that darn restraining order.  The solution to his little problem presents itself in the form of Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a young widow who knows Pat's wife.  And she will pass on a letter for him if he agrees to help her with her dance competition.

So this sounds like a serious drama until you read the dance competition part of my synopsis, which makes this sound like just another one of those formulaic romantic comedies.  Well, yes and no.  There is a bit of a formula here, sure, but when it is so superbly acted, written and directed, you can still find yourself surprised by what you are seeing on screen.  And make no mistake, Silver Linings Playbook is superb, full of heart and humor and a lot of crazy. 

O'Russell supposedly wanted to make this film because his own son is bipolar.  He tackles the subject with a great deal of heart and wisdom in both his directing and writing.  But his greatest strength is the way he depicts family.  I don't think anyone working today is as adept at creating a real family dynamic as he is.  He showed this skill in The Fighter, too.  There are no neatly defined family "roles" here like in other films; this is family and it is messy.  They love each other, they hate each other, they talk over each other, play little manipulative games, bicker and feud, and then hug it out.  These scenes are among the most heartfelt and funny in the movie.

And the acting is excellent!  This is the first film in a long time that has received an Oscar nomination in all four acting categories, and deservedly so.  Cooper, Lawrence, DeNiro and Weaver all develop fully formed human beings, with both good qualities and bad.  Cooper shows a true depth and maturity in his performance that you would not have imagined from his other films like A-Team or The Hangover.  Let's give this guy meaty roles like this!  And as for Jennifer Lawrence...between X-Men: First Class, The Hunger Games, and Winter's Bone, I am beginning to wonder if there is anything she can't do.  All the supporting players are all terrific, as well, including Julia Stiles and Chris Tucker.  And where the hell has Chris Tucker been anyway?  He hasn't made a movie since 2007's Rush Hour 3.  And while I was growing tired of his shtick by that sequel, I forgot how effective he can be when he is used in the right way!

There is one thing that bothered me in the movie...it's a small thing, but it kept nagging at me.  The police are pretty clear that if Pat has one more bipolar outburst, he is going back to the mental institution.  He proceeds to have a bunch of violent and destructive outbursts (in public even!), and yet he is never sent back.  He just keeps getting more warnings.  But poor harmless Chris Tucker keeps getting dragged back for no reason.  Okay, this is a small complaint, but it bothered me.  Silver Linings Playbook is a great film, funny and touching, and I definitely recommend it.  Go see it!

MVP:
I know I should say O'Russell, but I just can't.  And here is why: Red Lights, Righteous Kill, Being Flynn, Little Fockers, Stone, Freelancers starring 50 Cent, for crying out loud!  Not DeNiro, but 50 Cent.  What has Robert DeNiro been doing the last few years?!?!?  It has been a long time since I have seen DeNiro knocking the ball out of the park in a good movie.  I don't know if it is the roles being offered or if he is just on a bad streak, but it's been far too long since I have seen him in something great.  And one of life's great pleasures is to see the arguably greatest actor of his generation do what he does best.  And he vanishes into the role of Pat, Sr., who has a very complicated relationship with his son.  It is a good part and there might be some under-the-table nature vs. nuture stuff going on here, because you can definitely sense some of Pat's violent tendencies coming from his obsessive compulsive father as opposed to just his bipolar disorder.  Pat, Sr. has a lot of anger and a lot of regrets in his life.  But at the same time, when he looks at his son, you see such love in his eyes, no matter how sick he is or how disturbed he can be.  Pat, Sr. could have been played for laughs, a one dimensional, walking OCD joke, but DeNiro captures the heart of the role.  He is terrific and I was so happy to see him back in all his glory.  MVP!

BEST LINE:
Pat, Sr: I gotta rethink this whole thing.  I didn't trust it before, but I gotta say, now I do.

TRIVIA:
Lots of interesting casting trivia on this one!  Russell originally wanted to make this film with Zooey Deschanel and Vince Vaughn.  Then Mark Wahlberg was in the mix.  Russell came to Cooper in a different way.  The two had been in discussions to collaborate on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  I think it was a good decision to make this instead!  For the role of Tiffany, Anne Hathaway was actually cast, but filming for The Dark Knight Rises interfered, so Russell looked elsewhere for his leading lady.  I think this all worked out for the best.  Cooper and Lawrence were both excellent!

Valhalla Rising

Valhalla Rising

Uh.  Huh?

Valhalla Rising is an odd duck.  It's one of those movies that I completely admire and deplore at the same time.  In many ways, I just can't make up my mind about it.

One Eye (Mads Mikkelson, Casino Royale) is a Viking slave, horribly scarred (he is missing one eye and his tongue) and forced to fight in bloody gladiatorial matches by his owners.  He is exceptionally good at it - and I mean brutally so.  These fights are pretty gruesome.  And of course, One Eye is such a good fighter that he escapes and kills his owner and all of this men - only leaving alive a small boy who begins to follow him around the highlands.  Eventually One Eye and the boy come across some Crusaders.  Together they all set off for the Holy Land, but their boat ends up hitting ground in a mysterious, densely wooded land.  I think this place is supposed to represent North America, probably Canada where Viking artifacts have really been discovered, so I would say they were pretty off course.  It might be time for a new navigator.

Anyway, the place is weird, evidence of the native life is eerie and dangerous, and the Crusaders begin to think they are in hell. You know this because every speaking character says at least once, "We're in hell."  This film has very little dialogue, and this repeated line probably accounts for half of it!  Okay, we get it. Crusaders don't like Canada.  Get on with the story, already!

But in all honesty, there is a lot to like here.  The acting is terrific, the costumes and art direction, though sparse, are very effective and well used.  The cinematography is superb.  The small budget is well hidden by solid direction by Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive).  And the pacing is odd...this narrative flows like no other movie I've seen...it's slow...with lots of staring.  Lots of staring.  The editing is all over the map, jumping through time, playing with filters and colors, and the music is monotonous.  Sometimes this pacing is effective, and sometimes it really hurts the movie.  At best, this creates an otherworldly feel...something that is genuinely hypnotic and fascinating.  At worst, all the monotony and staring grows tedious and boring...and then it gets weird.  The less said about the "let's drink some water and get high" scene, the better.  This is when the film just gets scary and I began to be concerned for director Refn's mental health.

So, uh, did I mention there is a lot of staring in this movie?

I kind of don't know what else to say.  This might be a case where the director is trying to be a bit too different for his own good.  Valhalla Rising is brilliant, frustrating, boring, fascinating, compelling and painful all at the same time.  I'm glad I saw it.  I'd probably watch it again...I think?

SPOILER: 
Do not read this if you have not seen the movie!  I am giving away the ending!!! 
So for all of you have seen the movie, what did you think of the ending?  I think it kind of makes no sense.  I don't mind One Eye being killed by the Native Americans, sacrificing his life so that the kid can live...And I understand the symbolic significance with the color filtering...the whole movie, we see the same shot of One Eye, the whole screen colored blood red.  There's a bit of a demon in this guy, a murderous and violent man.  But in the end, when he sacrifices his own life, we see the same shot, only now, he is bathed in heavenly white light.  So it is clear that One Eye is a changed man. But what makes him think that surrendering himself will save the boy?  The Native Americans never give any indication that they will let the kid live.  Where does this all come from?!  And what's the boy going to do now?  He's on the island by himself, with nowhere to go and no way to get off, with no food or water,  and surrounded by a hostile native tribe.  And the one guy who could probably keep him safe in a cool Lone Wolf and Cub kind of way just surrendered himself to be slaughtered. Huh?  Anyone else have any questions about this?

Anyway....SPOILER OVER!!!  

Best Line:
As I mentioned, everybody (except One Eye) says at some point: "We're in hell." 

Is that really the best line from the movie?  No, not really.  But it is certainly the most memorable because by the 415th time I heard it, I started to feel like I was in hell.

MVP:
Mads Mikkelson is pretty awesome.  Without a single line in the film, he is still easily the most compelling character.  Most of his emotions are displayed through body language.  Is he about to pounce and murder everyone?  How does he feel about the little boy that circumstances put under his protection?  What does he think about the natives?  You get it all from his stance or facial expressions.  Even then it is understated.  There are no grand gestures.  Generally, he stands still with a blank, lifeless look on his face.  But in the slightest variation in his shoulders or eye, and you know what he's thinking.  In a movie where you don't understand why the characters are doing or saying certain things, you never wonder about One Eye...it's pretty impressive work.

TRIVIA:
The original ending had One Eye flying away in a spaceship.  But Refn though that would be too easy for the audience to interpret, so he took it out. 

That is too easy for an audience to interpret?!?!


 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

I had never seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Can you believe it?  Embarrassing, I know. Here was one of the major films of the 1970s, a sci fi classic from one of the greatest directors of his generation, and I had never taken the two hours to just sit down and watch it.  So after kicking myself profusely, I decided to do just that.

Close Encounters is the story of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), who one evening has a run-in with an alien spaceship.  It is a brief encounter, but the aftermath has done something strange to Roy.  He starts to become obsessed with a mountain, constantly picturing it, ranting about it, and even shaping it in his mashed potatoes.  What does the mountain mean?!  Meanwhile, scientists led by Frenchman Lacombe (played by legendary French director Francois Truffaut) are making contact with the aliens, using musical notes as communication.  What does that have to do with Roy?  And about those other people who have also had close encounters?  How do they figure into the puzzle?

So since almost everyone has seen Close Encounters, my review is going to go a bit into spoiler territory. For the few who have not seen the movie: here is my summary - in many ways, this film is a masterpiece.  But Roy is such a tedious main character that it kind of ruins the whole movie for me. There you go.

Now for more details.  SPOILER ALERT.

So does this film live up to its "masterpiece" status?  In many ways, absolutely.  There are some brilliant moments of supreme filmmaking.  Spielberg's direction is superb and inventive.  The appearances of the alien spaceships, for example, are ingenious. Take for instance Roy's encounter.  He sits in his truck in the middle of the night, lost and frantically looking at a map.  The headlights of a car pull up behind him and Roy waves him by.  The headlights don't go around; instead they lift up above him, and when Roy looks up he sees the UFO flying over him.  I was struck at such a creative and cool way to introduce the aliens.  The whole film is full of inventive moments like that. The spinning ships chased by police cars, the alien arrival at Jillian's house (which truly is a terrifying scene), the arrival of the mother ship at the end of the film.  Spielberg uses the same technique he did in Jaws in that he holds back from showing too much until the end of the film.  Until the climax, you don't see any aliens; the ships are either moving too fast or are hidden by clouds, and what you do see is a kaleidoscope of light (brilliantly filmed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond). There are moments where the film transcends into something truly sublime; such as Lacombe's visit to India and the arrival of the mother ship.  That is when I felt like I was watching the masterpiece Close Encounters is reputed to be.

But there is a 'but.'  And it is a big one for me in this movie.  Roy Neary is a jerk.  His obsession tears his family apart.  And at the end of the movie, he happily accompanies the aliens to space and just leaves his wife and kids behind without a second thought.  Even Spielberg has said that this was probably a mistake and he would have played the ending differently had he made the film today.  But my problem goes back further, to even before the alien encounter fries Roy's brain. Because he is a selfish and obsessed jerk even before that.  Just look at the introductory scene, where he is playing with a giant train set assembled in his family's living room.  The house isn't that big and he's hogging most of the space with his trains.  His son needs help with his homework and Roy doesn't care.  His attention is completely on his models...and when he finally agrees to help, he tries to explain the math problem using the train set...in a way that doesn't even really make sense.  He already has a selfish and obsessed personality.  All the alien encounter does is amplify that.  So even if that makes the movie consistent, it still makes it hard to root for the guy.  He's just a jerk and not someone I want to follow around for two hours, even if I love everything else going on in the movie.  And the fact that he gets a happy ending that he frankly doesn't deserve...the fact that he basically tortures his family and then just deserts them and then gets to go live happily ever just really rubs me the wrong way.  And it sort of ruins the movie for me.

So there you go.  In some ways, this film is a real masterpiece, but Roy is too much of a problem and drags the movie down with him.

TRIVIA:
When designing the mothership, the special effects team hid all sorts of cool items on it, including model airplanes, a mailbox, a cemetery, and most awesomely, R2D2.

MVP:
I think I have to go with the Visual Effects team.  They really did some remarkable work that is still awe-inspiring today, decades after the film's release.  The use of the lights on the ships is a brilliant visual stroke, and beautifully executed.  And when you see those bright orange and red lights lighting up the clouds, it is truly an eerie site.  And I was in awe when I saw the giant cloud formation circling around the Devil's Tower, and then the mother ship emerging.  It was amazing.  When I heard it had lost the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, I was infuriated.  Then I saw that the movie that beat it was Star Wars.  So...well, okay then.  There's really no competition there!  It's Star Wars!!!

OSCARS: Best Cinematography, Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing

OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Best Supporting Actress (Melinda Dillon), Best Director (Spielberg), Best Visual Effects. Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Original Score (an amazing score by John Williams that would have won the Oscar if not for...well, John Williams' Star Wars, only one of the greatest film scores of all time!!!) 

BEST LINE: 

Organist (while having a musical "conversation" with the mother ship: "What are we saying to each other??"