French Movie Mercredi: Happening (2021)

 

L'événement (2021) Dir: Audrey Diwan. Starring Anamaria Vartolomei, based on the novel by Annie Ernaux.

I had L'événement, or Happening, on my to-be-watched list before Annie Ernaux was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature last week, but that award definitely bumped it up for me and luckily it was available to stream from several services. This 2021 movie is set in the 1960s in Paris and tells the story of Anne, a fiercely ambitious college student who gets pregnant at a time when abortion often meant death or prison. 

Anamaria Vartolomei isn't the only actor in the movie but she might as well be, so fully does she command the screen as Anne, who is determined to end her pregnancy one way, or the other, and continue with her studies. I think she's in every scene. It all hinges on Anne's drive and grit. Nothing comes easy. Even the people who try to help her seem like they either don't care or don't have the necessary power or agency to act. What would happen to Anne if she fell in line too?

It's a depressing movie for sure especially in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling which threatens to send us all back into the world she lives in, where abortion is talked about only in whispers, where a pregnant person's agency and freedom don't exist or exist only at the whims of whatever doctor they happen to run into. It's really terrifying and unfortunately all too real. One word will determine her fate.

It made me angry, and sad, and then angry and sad again. You should watch it.

Foreign-Film Wednesday: The Handmaiden

The Handmaiden (2016) Dir: Park Chan-wook. 

Based on Sarah Waters'  2002 novel Fingersmith, The Handmaiden transposes Waters' Victorian-Britain setting to Japanese-occupied Korea and concerns a pair of con artists and a woman yearning to escape her brutal and sexually-exploitative uncle who wishes to marry her for her money.

Sook-hee is a thief and petty criminal who poses as a handmaiden to a wealthy woman, Hideko, who has been raised by her aunt's husband, a collector of rare erotica. "Count Fujiwara" is an associate of Sook-hee's who is conspiring to marry Hideko with Sook-hee's help. Shenanigans ensue.

The first time I saw this movie, when it was in theaters in 2016, I didn't know anything about it nor had I read Fingersmith; I still haven't read the book but I want to. The movie is constructed in three parts; by the end of part one, what I thought was going on, wasn't what was going on. By the end of the movie, I didn't know what was going on, but it seemed like everyone got what was coming to them, more or less. So it was satisfying in that sense.

The movie has a lot of explicit and frankly edgy sexual content and I'm not talking about the sex between the two women. A friend of mine took someone on a first date to this movie and I would not recommend that. LOL. It's genuinely suspenseful, twisty and intense. It's beautiful to look at and the actors are graceful and convincing. There is some gruesome violence towards the end.  

It's a long-ish movie at about 2 and a half hours but you won't feel the time pass at all, so firmly will it grip your attention. Pop some popcorn and settle in for a wild ride.

My Brilliant Friend: The Re-Watch

Probably the best show on TV that's not filmed in English, My Brilliant Friend is the HBO series based on Elena Ferrante's best-selling quartet of novels. The first, from which the series takes its name, was published in 2011 by Europa Editions in the United States, translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein, who has translated the entire series. The books follow the friendship and fortunes of two young women growing up poor in Naples after World War 2. Elena and Lila are both bright students; they are each other's "brilliant friend," but it becomes clear which one is gifted and which is just driven. In the first book, which is the only one I've read, Elena and Lila go from little girls to young women on the cusp adulthood and already their paths are beginning to diverge.

HBO has produced and aired three seasons of the show so far, which correspond to the first three books. The first season is quite faithful to the book and I feel like the subsequent seasons probably are, too, though I don't know. Certainly they maintain a similar pace season to season. The young actresses who play Lila and Elena as children are quickly replaced by episode 3 with the women who will play them into middle age, Gaia Girace for Lila and Margherita Mazzucco for Elena.  In season 4 I gather two new actresses will take on the roles as the characters enter late middle age and perhaps beyond.

Season 2 was more or less balanced between the two characters but Season 3 has focused more on Elena as the women's lives go their separate ways. They stay in touch but don't see each other for years; the season ends with Elena delivering shocking news to Lila about the next stage in her life.

What will Season 4 bring? We know that the first episode opened with Rino, Lila's son, calling Elena because his mother has disappeared. And the story has been the story of Elena's memories, her piecing together Lila's story, reconstructing the trail so she can find her friend again, maybe. Or maybe it's time to let her go.

So I've been re-watching the show on Sunday morning one episode at a time to get ready for whenever it is that Season 4 finally drops. And I've been inflicting it on my husband since I watch enough science fiction lol.  It's a great show for a slow weekend morning breakfast, absorbing and engaging. HBO has said they are ending the show at Season 4 and I'm really glad they're not going to use it to jump off into the further adventures like happens sometimes with literary adaptations. It's a beautifully done small-scale epic, a well paced narrative that tells a moving story about love and life and all the people who give our lives meaning and grace.

(Non-French) Movie Wednesday

 

I finally got around to watching the film adaptation of Delia Owens's 2018 hit novel Where the Crawdads Sing, this past weekend. I read the book in galley as part of the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize; I've been a first-line reader for them for several years and I think that 2018 was my first year participating. I didn't review the book here but I remember enjoying it, a crime novel/melodrama about a sweet little lamb of a young woman living in the marshes of North Carolina who is accused of killing the town jerk/hottie by a sheriff who railroads her with a truly convoluted theory of the crime. Owens's writing hits that spot between popular and literary fiction- beautifully descriptive in some places, fairly pedestrian in others- and features a heroine who also ticks a lot of boxes- beautiful, gifted, abused and neglected, and finally victimized, first by a man and then by the whole community. Or is she?

What a setup.

The movie is about as good as it could have been with that material. It looks great- gorgeous scenery featuring blue skies, beaches, trees, the glory of the outdoors, all replicating Owens's lush descriptions. The actors look like they fit the part too. It-girl Daisy Edgar-Jones, late of Hulu's Normal People and Under the Banner of Heaven, is perfect for the role of Kya, the aforementioned America's Sweetheart protagonist. She played victims of various kinds in those productions, too. Maybe that's her schtick. Anyway she's pretty and makes her character pitiable and appealing. The two guys are kind of nonentities- the good one is blond, the bad one is darkhaired- and David Straitharn shows up as the kindly town lawyer who takes her case.

Like I said the movie is a solid adaptation of the book, faithful and true, and fans of the book will not encounter any surprises. Pretty to look at but kind of vacant, I enjoyed it for what it was- a pretty distraction- but that was it for me.

(Not French) Movie Wednesday

So, back in 2012 a book came out that I was a big fan of, Lawrence Osborne's The Forgiven (link is to my review). Both the film and the book tell the story of David and Jo Henniger, a wealthy couple on their way to a lavish party in the desert of Morocco. On the way they hit and kill a young man, Driss, who was trying to stop their car. They take the body to the party and then the family shows up.  What happens is both inexorable and agonizing. The book is lush and atmospheric and genuinely suspenseful, a vivid morality tale crossed with a travelogue. When I heard about the movie, which came out last year, I was nervous and hopeful.  Well, it was pretty great.

The movie stars Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain as David and Jo, along with Matt Smith as the party's host and Saïd Taghmaoui as David's guide and companion into the world of Moroccan Berbers. Fiennes get David's disdain and eventual transformation so right; honestly I don't remember enough about the book to tell you how faithful an adaptation it is but I feel like it's probably pretty close, and the filmmakers certainly get the tone and atmosphere and the characters. Matt Smith is great; his character reacts to the accident with enough concern to make him likeable and enough pragmatism to wear the edge off of his likeability just ever so much. Taghmaoui is an actor you might recognize from Wonder Woman (2017) among other things, and I just always enjoy the heck out of him. 

 

The movie touches on a lot of issues around colonialism, whiteness, culture clash and more. The characters don't exactly have secrets but everyone is more complicated than they let on-just like in real life. The one place the movie let me down was not giving Driss any character development or backstory like Osborne does in the book. There is one, sweet, character detail included that touches David deeply, not that it does him any good.

I'm not someone who believes the book is always better than the movie; here I think we have a very good book that was made into a very solid movie. It looks great, it sticks to the source and the actors bring it all to life. The run time is just under two hours but it really flies by. I was glued to the screen; you will be, too.

Movie Review: JULIETA (2016)

Julieta (2016). Dir: Pedro Almodovar. Starring Emma Suárez, Adriana Ugarte, Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta and Darío Grandinetti. R. Spanish with English subtitles.

Julieta is a middle-aged woman planning to move from Madrid with her boyfriend, a writer named Lorenzo; they live an affluent, sophisticated life full of books and art. But on the day of the move Julieta encounters a ghost from her past, a young woman named Bea who was once the best friend of Julieta's daughter Antía. It quickly becomes clear that Antía and Julieta are estranged; Julieta doesn't even know where her daughter lives, or that she has had three children. Running into Bea sends Julieta into a tailspin and her new life unravels as she attempts to reconnect to her past.

Julieta is gorgeous to look at. This is my first Pedro Almodovar film and I fell in love with the lush colors, the settings and costumes just this side of outlandish. The color red appears in almost every shot like a subliminal message; art and nature define and direct the characters' lives. Young Julieta is dressed like an 80s paradigm from her spiky hair to her shoulder pads and booties. Older Julieta is a sleeker sophisticate and played by a different actress as drawn and secretive and missing a piece of herself. Lorenzo assists in putting the two Julietas back together, but only maturity, empathy and love can do the job in the end.

Julieta is based on three short stories by Alice Munro from her 2004 book Runaway, "Chance," "Soon," and "Silence," and the characters and story have her trademark depth and authenticity but it's the two actresses, Emma Suárez as the older Julieta and Adriana Ugarte as the younger, who bring her to life. Julieta's crushing guilt at the fate of Antía's father is almost unbearable and both Suárez and Ugarte wear it like their own skin.

I really loved Julieta and would strongly recommend it as a film that shows the heart of a woman laid bare.

Rating: RUSH

Movie Review: HIDDEN FIGURES

Hidden Figures (2016). Dir: Theodore Melfi. Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe. PG.

When I sat down to see Hidden Figures, the previews included a movie about a little girl math prodigy whose parents are split over how to bring her up. It's fiction and you can tell it's going to be heart-wrenching, a pretty little blonde girl torn between dreamy Chris Evans and tight-lipped Lindsay Duncan. As much as I love Chris Evans and want to marry him,  you know this is a crap premise because if you have a smart little girl you educate her, period.

Which is the ultimate lesson behind Hidden Figures, the true story of some of the African-American women who worked behind the scenes on NASA's space program. It's not 100% accurate historically but it tells an inspiring story in Hollywood fashion.

Taraji P. Henson lights up the screen as Katherine Goble Johnson, a math prodigy who works as a "computer," literally one who computes, part of a group of African-American women working in an isolated calculation pool (like a typing pool but with math?) on the backlot of NASA, a full mile and change away from where the white guys do the work that makes the headlines. She's chosen to join the white guys and the story follows her and two other women, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan, as they try to rise through the ranks and be recognized and valued for their contributions.

It's a great movie and you will be cheering for these women as they push through all kinds of undignified garbage to be simply treated like human beings. Kirsten Dunst and Kevin Costner play characters who are either helpful or not, Dunst being a particularly galling antagonist and Costner portraying a cloistered, powerful egghead who is nonetheless capable of changing his ways.

But it's the three stars that make this movie shine. Why in the world Henson was not nominated for an Oscar I will never understand. I have been a huge fan of hers since "Empire" started three years ago. Maybe that's not long but she is always wonderful to watch. Octavia Spencer is moving and charismatic as Dorothy Vaughan, who taught herself computer languages so she could keep up with a fast-changing workplace so that she and her team could stay relevant and employed. Janelle Monáe rounds out the trio as tough Mary Jackson, NASA's first African-American female engineer. All three women have a passion for science and learning that makes me sorry I didn't try harder at math.

So you should see Hidden Figures because it tells a great story that we need to know about what all Americans have to offer and the importance of treating every human being like a human being. It will leave you tearing up and cheering for them and everyone who's struggled to prove their worth.

And while you're at it, read the book with the same title and get more of the story.

Rating: RUSH

Movie Review: PURPLE NOON (1960)

Purple Noon (Plein Soleil). (1960) Dir: René Clément. Starring Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforêt.

Concluding Unofficial Ripley Week, I wanted to write in more detail about René Clément's adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, which he called Plein Soleil but comes to us in English as Purple Noon.

 Clément changed a few things- the characterization of Dickie (here called Philippe) and the ending- but for the most part it's a pretty straight-up (no pun intended) adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1950 classic crime novel about the man who comes to Europe to bring home the errant son of a shipping magnate but instead becomes obsessed with him and his idle-rich lifestyle. What happens next is murder.

The movie starts full tilt in the middle of the story- when Tom and Philippe/Dickie are having a wild night together in Rome. Little by little the backstory unravels and we learn how little Philippe knows about Tom. Philippe's girlfriend Marge is no fan of Tom, and she and Philippe have issues too, like his skirt-chasing, which Tom tries to use to drive a wedge between them. The homoerotic elements of the novel are touched on just enough. Then the violence, then Tom's time passing himself off as Philippe, then the grisly ending that I for one did not see coming.

Purple Noon is a great movie to watch right now in the Northeast US as we struggle under temps in the teens and frequent snowfalls. Nothing will make you forget winter like Clement's sun-drenched Rome and Amalfi Coast, all that beautiful sunlight. But it's a dark movie despite the sunshine. Tom Ripley is full of spite and envy, beautiful but sinister and evil.

Definitely make some time for Purple Noon this winter. It's available to stream on Hulu, or on DVD from your favorite rental outlet.

Rating: RUSH

Movie Review: The Martian

The Martian (2015). Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

When Andy Weir's book The Martian came out, it was one of those "it" books that everyone in the bookstore was reading at the same time. At least, I remember considerable wrangling over the store's galley and excited conversations going around the store- who had read it, who was reading it next, what everybody thought. Because I'm not a big science fiction reader I was the absolute last person to get the galley and I'm a little embarrassed to admit I still haven't read it.

But I did see the movie this past weekend and it has definitely sparked my interest in the book.

The story is about a botanist named Mark Watney who is left behind on a manned mission to Mars, in what feels like roughly the present day. If the film referenced a date I did not catch it. Anyway Matt Damon plays the very likeable Watney, a smart and hardworking scientist who realizes very quickly that in order to survive, he is going to have to "science the shit" out of his situation.

The action cuts between three settings- Watney on Mars, the team of scientists, administrators and politicos on Earth who figure out first that he's still alive and then have to puzzle out how to get him home, and finally Watney's crew on their way back to Earth in the Hermes, a space vehicle roughly the size of my Disney World resort. Jessica Chastain plays his commanding officer on the mission and Jeff Daniels and Chiwetel Ejiofor turn in appealing performances as NASA officials. Sean Bean seems to be there to take the brunt of a "Lord of the Rings" in-joke. Kristen Wiig even shows up as a public-relations officer.

The Martian the film is a fun, entertaining movie with a predictable ending. I would definitely recommend it for a fun night out but it wasn't like all deep or anything. But like I said I am more curious about the book now that I've heard the book is somewhat different!

Rating: Popcorn

Movie Review: Gone Girl (2014)

Dir: David Fincher. Starring Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens. Rated R.

Are you Team Amy or Team Nick? Or have you not read the 2012 bestseller by Gillian Flynn on which this startlingly good movie was based? I read it and I loved it- it's a crazy-good thriller with twist after crazy twist, right to the bitter end. On the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary, Amy Elliott Dunne goes missing, and her husband Nick finds himself under suspicion. The story is set in Missouri after Amy and Nick have moved there through a combination of money problems and family illness. Amy is a trust-fund baby who's lost her trust fund, a native New Yorker who's not happy in a flyover state, as well as a woman with a deep well of anger towards her husband and men in general. Nick is a deeply flawed man who is also struggling to put their lives back together. Nick has secrets; Amy does too. Amy and Nick have had problems- serious, serious problems, and their relationship is one of the most disturbed fictional marriages I've seen. There is a trail of clues- actually more than one- and it seems like Amy might not be coming back.

But what's really going on here?

Gone Girl the book was a phenomenon when it came out and remained so. It was a hardback that became a book club staple (rare) and one of those books it seemed like everyone was reading. It's extremely well-crafted guilty-pleasure reading that touches on powerful themes- female anger, male anger, marriage and family- in dark, dark ways. And the movie has been one of the most anticipated of recent years for the bookish. Would David Fincher do it right? What about casting Ben Affleck as Nick? Gillian Flynn's writing powers the book; how would the filmmakers translate that to the screen?

Well, I'm happy to report that as an adaptation of the book the movie is more than solid.  I enjoyed every tense minute; it's well-paced and atmospheric, and Trent Reznor's musical score does a lot to enhance the creep factor. At 2.5 hours it hits all the plot points even if it doesn't go into as much detail with them as Flynn does in the book. The actors are great; I particularly liked Kim Dickens as the lead investigator and Neil Patrick Harris as Amy's creepy stalker ex. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike were excellent as Nick and Amy; Tyler Perry provided a little reality check as Nick's lawyer. The buzz was wrong; the movie is very faithful to the book, so if you've read it, there aren't going to be any surprises. If you loved the book, you'll love the movie too, I think. If you didn't like the book, maybe you should skip it, and if you haven't read it, what are you waiting for?

Here's my review of the book in case you're interested!

Movie Review: CLOUD ATLAS (2012)

Cloud Atlas (2012). Dir: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski. Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw.

I've finally seen the masterful, moving film adaptation of David Mitchell's amazing novel, and if you haven't guessed already, I loved it.

Directors Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski have taken Mitchell's multi-layered narrative and turned into one of the strangest and most beautiful movies I've ever seen. No, it's not perfect, and it's not even a perfect adaptation but wow they did a good job. I'm going to refer you to my review of the book for a plot summary. Mitchell tells his story by alternating several stories which are tied together by theme and language.The filmmakers interleave the stories by flipping from one to the next over and over, and even reusing the same actors in different roles in each story. The viewer leaps around in time, place, setting, plot, and sees the same faces pop up again and again, often in unexpected ways.

I'm not surprised the movie didn't fare well at the box office. It's weird, unconventional and difficult. But it's also incredibly beautiful and accomplished. The filmmakers made some changes in their adaptation; that's to be expected and for me the changes worked well, even the last change, at the very end. At first I went, "wait a minute, that's not how the book ended," but then I think I realized that even though the movie takes us a long way from the book in many ways, it remains essentially true to its spirit and the decisions the filmmakers made suit the screen just as Mitchell's suited the page.

Tom Hanks in particular stood out in terms of acting. He has an incredible variety of roles to play and he manages to be menacing, hilarious, moving, and just plain wonderful throughout. I also loved Hugh Grant's appearance. My favorite story in the book was my favorite in the movie, that of Timothy Cavendish and his "ghastly ordeal." I think I need my undefinable-in-terms-of-genre stories with a healthy dash of humor. I absolutely loved Hugo Weaving in this segment in particular. I'm not going to spoil it- just see it.

I would absolutely recommend you read the book before seeing the movie, but I've talked to lots of people who saw the movie first and enjoyed it a lot, so if you don't want to read the book don't miss out on the film. You'll probably want to read it later anyway, and you should!

Rating: RUSH

Movie Review: SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2012)

Silver Linings Playbook (2012). Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro. Dir: David O. Russell. Rated R. IMDB.

I've been a fan of director David O. Russell since his 1994 film Spanking the Monkey, though I haven't seen all of his movies. I loved his 1999 Iraq war film Three Kings, and I was excited that he had a new one. Of course, Silver Linings Playbook came with a lot of buzz and most of it not for him but for his stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, and the novel of the same name on which it's based. I haven't read the book and can't speak to how well it was adapted, but I will say that it's a very David O. Russell film about dysfunctional families and dysfunctional love.

The story centers around a man named Pat Solitano (Cooper), a former teacher who was hospitalized for bipolar illness following a violent physical attack on a man who was having an affair with Pat's wife. But as the story opens he's been released and is moving back in with his parents until he can take care of himself again. He's still obsessed with his wife Nikki, still thinks he can get her back, and he's not quite okay- not just yet. He refuses his medication and has episodes of instability; he also meets Tiffany (Lawrence), a widow with issues of her own, and the two form a tentative and slow-moving relationship of sorts. Then he asks her for a favor, and she accepts, but there are conditions.

I really enjoyed this movie. The actors were great- I mean, I'm no acting critic, but I thought everyone was wonderful. I think I'm a bona fide fan of Jennifer Lawrence now, and I didn't find Bradley Cooper to be annoying at all. I thought the portrayal of mental illness was realistic and sensitive, and I thought the way Russell portrays Pat's family was pretty realistic as well. Echoes of his illness show up both in his brother and father, while his mother copes as best she can to both direct the three men and keep out of the line of fire too. She was a great character, even if she didn't have the flashy role that Lawrence had. Pat's therapist is hysterical too. Pat's evolution is gradual and rang true for me.

I'd recommend Silver Linings Playbook to adult audiences looking for an intelligent and funny look at tragedy.

Rating: RUSH


FTC Disclosure: I did not receive tickets  to the film or any compensation for the review.

Movie Review: Les Misérables (2012)

Les Misérables (2012). Directed by Tom Hooper and starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried. IMBD.

So for New Year's Eve my husband I decided to go to the movies, and we wanted a "big" movie for a night like New Year's so we picked Les Misérables, the latest film adaptation of the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo and 1980 musical based on the novel. We picked right, because this movie is an epic and a contemporary classic.

I had seen the musical once a long time ago but I was more or less unfamiliar with the story past the basic premise. The story unfolds across the bloody tableau of 19th century France with all of its political and social upheaval. Jean Valjean is a criminal who had been sentenced to years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread. He's released but remains on parole; as a convict, he's a pariah and cannot support himself. After stealing some silver from a church, he decides to break parole and change his life. Years later he's a mayor and respected businessman who through a series of circumstances becomes foster father to a young girl, Cosette. Years pass. More stuff happens. But shadowing Valjean throughout his life is Inspector Javert, a rigid and righteous officer of the law who promises to hunt Valjean to his grave.

The novel is considered to be one of the best ever written; the musical has been hugely popular and an iconic theatrical spectacle. And the movie is just amazing. First of all, the actors all sing their parts. Hugh Jackman is a Tony award winner so we expect him to be excellent, and he is. Anne Hathaway as the doomed Fantine and Russell Crowe as Javert are incredible. Hathaway in particular will break your heart. Samantha Barks as Eponine was wonderful, too, probably the breakout star of the movie. I read on IMDB that she won the roll over Taylor Swift! I can't imagine sugary Taylor as Eponine but Barks is just great.

And the film, which is sung virtually throughout, is completely engrossing. There are no titles until the end of the film so when it starts, it really starts, and draws you right in. Jackman is unrecognizable for his first few minutes on screen and his transformations are fun to watch. The story travels through the revolutions and protests of Paris as well as its streets and houses and social classes. The movie shortens and simplifies lots of aspects of the book- but at over two and a half hours long, it's still got plenty of story and character to keep you going. Sometimes it felt like each character got about 10 minutes of screen time before his or her untimely death, but that's only because time flies when you're having fun, and Les Misérables, for all is unhappiness, is one of the best times I've had at the movies in a long time. Highly, highly recommended for adults and teens, make some time for it before it leaves theaters. It's worth seeing on the big screen!

Rating: RUSH

Movie Review: LIFE OF PI (2012)

Life of Pi (2012). Directed by Ang Lee and starring Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Rafe Spall. IMBD. PG.

This movie is amazing. Amazing.

Based on the bestselling, Booker-Prize winning novel by Yann Martel, Ang Lee's gorgeous film tells the story of a teen boy trapped on a lifeboat with a tiger after his ship sinks, killing his entire family and most of their menagerie of zoo animals. The family was moving from India to Canada, zoo owners hoping to sell their animals and start a new life. What happens next is an adventure you'll never forget.

If you've read the book, rest assured that the movie is very faithful to the book. If you haven't, I would urge you to see this movie in incredible 3D while it's in theaters, and then get to the book when you get a chance (but do get to it).

So, where do I begin? Lee makes great use of 3D, including the stunning opening credits sequence and the horrific sinking of the ship. Another reviewer mentioned Titanic (1997),  as in this sequence was the best ship-sinking on film since that memorable film. It's breathtaking and horrific. Then we settle in with Pi and the tiger Richard Parker for a long and trying voyage, replete with the suffering and beauty of the book. Lee creates some truly magnificent visual passages- a sea alight with jellyfish, a whale breaching, and one scene showing the sky indistinguishable from the water and the small boat looking as if suspended between the two. Suraj Sharma is great as Pi; for long stretches of the film he's the only person on screen but it always felt full. There was too much tension between him and the tiger, not to mention the ocean itself, to admit more characters.

The only thing I could have done without was the awkward and redundant framing device of having an older Pi tell his story to a Canadian writer. It just didn't need to be there, and distracted from the flow of story. I don't need to hear someone talking about telling the story. Just tell the story. I've said it before and I'll say it again; we don't need to have narratives filtered through the eyes of some Caucasian person in order to understand them. It's just not necessary. Martel didn't think it was; I don't understand why Lee made a different choice.

If you can ignore the frame, or if you're not bothered by it, you're in for a treat when you go to the movies starting November 21. There were tears and applause at the end of this film; it was that good. I can't wait to go see it again!

A word about the rating: the film is rated PG but I would not advise taking kids to see it. It doesn't have anything I would call adult content per se (there is violence among animals) but the kids present at the screening I attended were audibly unhappy. They were probably also confused. It's not a children's movie. Its themes are sophisticated and the narrative is mostly about death and loss. So just keep that in mind.

Rating: RUSH (the movie equivalent of BUY)

FTC Disclosure: I attended a free screening of the film as a professional courtesy.

Movie Review: COLD COMFORT FARM (1995)

 

Cold Comfort Farm (1995).  95 min.  Directed by John Schlesinger and starring Kate Beckinsale, Eileen Atkins and Joanna Lumley. IMBD. PG.

So I've already told you how much I loved the book Cold Comfort Farm; naturally I had to get my Netflix streaming going and watch the movie, which I'm glad to say is nearly as delightful as the book.

The movie is a sunny and faithful adaptation of Stella Gibbons' wonderful novel about the smart Flora Poste who moves in with her country-bumpkin relatives and goes about making their lives- and hers- better.  Kate Beckinsale is as charming as you'll ever see her at Flora  and a who's-who of English actors round out the Starkadders. Ian McKellan is unforgettable as the fire-and-brimstone Amos Starkadder ("There'll be no butter in Hell!") and Eileen Atkins is also wonderful as put-upon Judith Starkadder, who only wants to avoid the wrath of her mother, Aunt Ada Doom ("I saw something nasty in the woodshed!"). Rufus Sewell is a hilarious (self?) parody of the brawny farmboy beefcake Seth and Stephen Fry is great as Mybug. 

The story had a little more punch for me on the page than on the screen; if you're deciding whether to read it or watch it, I'd say read it, and then watch it if you want to. Although it's rated PG there are some sexual references. The movie is terrific but you really don't want to miss out on the book!

Rating: RUSH to see it! (movie equivalent of BUY)

Movie Review: The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

 

El Secreto de sus ojos (original title) 129 min. Directed by Juan José Campanella and starring

Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil and Pablo Rago. IMDB page. In Spanish with English subtitles.

The Secret in Their Eyes won Best Foreign Language Film in 2010 and oh my, did it ever deserve it. What a great movie.

Based on the 2005 book by Eduardo Sacheri (published in the U.S. in 2011 by Other Press), who also worked on the screenplay, it's a crime story crossed with a love story and you can read my review here for a fuller description of the plot.

And as much as I enjoyed the book, I think the movie is even better. Some small changes were made here and there but the basic story and structure are the same.  In other words, if you read the book first you'll notice some differences but there won't be any big surprises.

So anyway, the movie. Wow. First of all, the actors are amazing. The relationship between the leads, Soledad Villamil as Irene and Ricardo Darín as Benjamin, is low-key and repressed and passionate at the same time, and you see every emotion play out across their faces in the past and the present tense of the film. I loved both of them and rooted for them every time they were together on screen.  

The crime story plays out essentially as it does in the book. The film lacks some of the detail behind exactly how things unfold but director Campanella tells you what you need to know to get the point. He also plays up the social class difference between Irene and Benjamin and their relative positions in Argentine society, and how that affects what happens to Benjamin when the murder case becomes ensnared in the politics of the time.

I loved this movie. It has two endings, one to the crime story and one to the love story. One ending is chilling; the other is wonderful and perfect. Whether or not you decide to read the book, you should see the movie, like, today, even if you think you don't like arty subtitled Oscar winners. It's a winner!

It's rated R and includes gun violence and a graphic rape scene at the very beginning of the film.

Rating: RUSH to see it! (the movie equivalent of Buy!)