Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

In a Better World *****

 

 

A father becomes a peacemaker in the Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning drama In a Better World.

Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier explores violence, courage and responsibility in this rich, mature drama, her tenth feature. She’s known for complex, well made films including Open Hearts (2002), Brothers (2004) and After the Wedding (2006).

Mikael Persbrandt (Everlasting Moments) stars as Anton, a surgeon working in a Kenyan field hospital. While he treats refugees, he’s interrupted by bloody emergencies as a local thug, Big Man, butchers pregnant women for sport.

Anton struggles to rescue his marriage to Marianne (Trine Dyrholm), also a doctor, who lives in Denmark with their two sons. Often away from home, Anton spends quality time whenever possible with 10-year-old Elias (Markus Rygaard), a gentle boy who wears braces.

Elias is viciously bullied at school by Sofus (Simon Maagaard Holm) and his followers, who make anti-Swedish comments. School officials misread the dangerous situation and seem unable to take effective action. Anton urges his son to ignore Sofus. Fighting would accomplish nothing except to lower him to the bully’s level, he says.

Elias is befriended by Christian (William Johnk Nielsen), a quiet, intense boy who moves to the area after his mother dies of cancer. Christian advises Elias to fight back so others won’t dare pick on him.

Christian corners Sofus in a school bathroom one day, beating him with a bicycle pump and holding a knife to his throat. Horrified Elias looks on. Police are called, but charges are dropped when they are unable to find the knife.

It’s attack or be attacked, Christian tells his father Claus (Ulrich Thomsen). He accuses the man of wanting his mother to die. Claus tries to explain his complex emotions during his wife’s painful decline.

 

At the park one day, Anton breaks up a fight between a boy and his youngest son as Elias and Christian watch.   Suddenly Anton is insulted and slapped by the boy’s father Lars (Kim Bodnia).

Anton walks away and attempts to forgive. He swims off his anger later in the cold lake of his summer home. Elias asks his dad why he is such a wimp. Anton next tries to craft a teachable moment, revisiting Lars with the boys.  He speaks out and is slapped again.

Christian builds a pipe bomb using internet instructions, planning to blow up Lars’ van. Outwardly calm and serious, he urges Elias to accompany him. The explosion will happen early Sunday and no one will be hurt, he promises. Reluctantly, Elias agrees.

Back in Kenya, Big Man has been seriously wounded and is brought to the hospital.  The warlord orders Anton to save his leg, and offers him a bribe. The surgeon treats him because he must. When villagers take matters into their own hands, Anton is a helpless witness.

A flawed man struggling to live his truth, Anton chooses peace and surrenders the satisfaction of being right. He can’t change the world, but he can be present and loving. In a Better World suggests that all children belong to us.

Bier skillfully manages many story elements to craft a majestic film. Morton Soborg provides stunning camerawork. Screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen, composer Johan Soderqvist and editor Pernille Bech Christensen lend their talents.

If you like In a Better World, you might enjoy:  Win Win; The Kids Are All Right; Precious.

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In a Better World     2010  /  R  /     1 hour, 53 min

Cast Overview:  Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, Markus Rygaard, William Johnk Nielsen, Bodil Jorgensen, Elsebeth Steentoft, Martin Buch, Anette Stovlebaek, Kim Bodnia

Director:  Susanne Bier

Genre:  Drama, Thriller, World Cinema

Language:  Danish and Swedish with English subtitles

 

 

Top 10 Steps to Healing for Best Actor Colin Firth in The King's Speech

 

Best Actor Colin Firth transforms himself from stutterer to king in Best Picture The King’s Speech. Here are 10 steps for healing and self-discovery that he followed:

1. Overcoming the Stutter.  Firth plays a humiliated King George VI who fears that he will not be able to fulfill his new role. He faces subconscious terror.  Slowly, the royal begins to trust his new speech coach Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).

The new king exercised and practiced.  He used speaking strategies and learned to breathe more deeply.  He faced mystery with determination, finally believing that he could speak powerfully. Firth, who is classically trained in Shakespearean acting, painstakingly recreated the mechanics of the stutter and the king’s frustration. Like Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot, he crafts an inspiring example for the differently abled.

2. Friendship with a Commoner.  The future king had to step down from his pedestal and seek help from a speech coach of modest means and impressive skill. Logue insisted that he and “Bertie” treat each other as equals in the privacy of the speech studio. Mutual respect is necessary to achieve progress.  After the death of his father, the student realizes that royal and commoner are two parts of a whole. He begins to respect and befriend Logue.
3.  Forgiving His Father.  Bertie forgives his father King George V (Michael Gambon) after the elder monarch dies.  He realizes his father did his best, and was himself formed and limited by royalty. As a dad, the character has the power to recreate fatherhood. He understands that George V was well-meaning even though sometimes cruel.  
4.  Forgiving His Brother.  When his brother King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) indulges himself and chooses love over royal responsibility, Bertie sees a new future before him.  Perhaps he always secretly wanted to become king. Now his brother is stepping down and he has an awesome opportunity.  The younger brother forgives Edward, who exercises his right to seek personal pleasure and romantic fulfillment.  
5.  Becoming King – Personal Greatness.  As George VI steps into the role of king, his voice becomes vital to his ability to lead, inspire and reassure the English.  He begins to value his speech coach and depend upon his new friend. He honors ceremonial traditions yet expands on the often limited views of the monarchy. At his coronation, George VI insists that Logue accompany him.
6.  Public Speaking. The king strives to enunciate clearly and make an impact. He must prepare, practice, speak firmly and pause appropriately. The process on film was enriched by Firth’s meticulous training as an actor.    
7. Father.  Bertie is known for telling bedtime stories to his daughters Elizabeth and Margaret (Freya Wilson and Ramona Marquez).  After he becomes king, the new princesses curtsey to him.  He commands their respect in a loving relationship.  He’s a self-actualized man and father who is able to be tender and strong.   
8. Husband.  Bertie accepted his wife’s help long after he had given up hoping to speak publicly. Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) urges him to consult with the humble Logue after he exhausts all other possibilities.  The new king continues to partner with his wife as she guides and supports him behind the scenes.
9. Leading a Nation.  George VI learned about geopolitics as World War II approached. The king asked his people to pitch in to help save the nation. The king took the advice of Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall). He was forced to accept the resignation of Neville Chamberlain (Roger Parrott). He listened, considered and followed his inner guidance. 
10.  World Leader.  The new king taps into his true concern for the people. His own best qualities emerge: good character, maturity, sacrifice and hard work. His personal trials, and a world crisis, strengthen him. Before our eyes, George VI becomes a world leader.

Like Top 10 Lists? You might enjoy:  Top 10 Films That Change Us 2010 ©; Top 10 Steps to Self-Discovery for Best Actress Natalie Portman in Black Swan.

The Young Victoria *****

 

A surprisingly fresh love story lies at the heart of The Young Victoria, a drama about the early years of Great Britain's longest ruling monarch. Jean Marc-Vallee directs this delightful look at a quietly determined, opinionated Victoria who fervently aims to rule her people well, and especially to help the poor.

Livelier than most period pieces with well-paced action, it was filmed at stately Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and other royal locales. The Young Victoria won the Academy Award for costume design. It succeeds despite subdued passions, especially in the bedroom.

Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) captures the smart, playful rebel surrounded by stringent elders, stultifying rules and huge expectations. Brought up in strict isolation, Victoria displays daring in small and large ways. Breaking taboo, she candidly shares personal feelings with servants. She stands firm through a power play by scheming Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong), who in cahoots with her mother the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson), demands that she sign over her authority to him as regent.

Victoria is fond of Albert (Rupert Friend), son of King Leopold of Belgium and her first cousin. Over the years their attraction grows. Albert has been inculcated with his father's agenda and an emphasis on Belgium's best interests. Yet when Victoria and Albert are alone together, they share honestly their hopes and visions. The two correspond despite prying eyes that preview their letters.

At 18, she insists on taking the throne upon the death of her uncle King William (a tipsy Jim Broadbent), even though everyone tells her she's too young and dangerously inexperienced. Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) lends ongoing dramatic tension as the young queen's advisor. Victoria chooses to trust the controversial politician even though he contributes to a scandal early in her reign.

 

The queen learns from some early mistakes. The anger of her people pains her most. She genuinely loves them, and so much wants their love in return.

Victoria delays marriage, although clearly she has the honorable Albert in mind. She savors being single. As her wise confidante Baroness Lehzen (Jeanette Hain) advises, she will never truly be free. The push and pull of many parties and their disparate needs is ceaseless.

Victoria's coronation, her marriage and the birth of her child (the first of nine children), are shown with detailed richness. Especially interesting is the queen's resistance to granting Albert an active role in her kingdom. It seems he'd be helpful in repairing the palace's internal bickering and bleeding finances.

The Young Victoria shows the human side of the monarchy and the plump, stern widow who ruled until age 81.

If you like The Young Victoria, you might enjoy: The King's Speech; Another Year; An Education.

The Young Victoria 2009 / PG / 1 hr, 45 min

Cast Overview: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Thomas Kretschmann, Mark Strong, Jesper Christensen, Harriet Walter, Julian Glover, Martin Scorsese

Director: Jean-Marc Vallee

Genres: Drama, Romantic Drama, Period Piece

 

The Hurt Locker *****

 

Best Director Kathryn Bigelow redefines the war movie in the adrenaline-filled action thriller The Hurt Locker.

By zooming in on each mission of a bomb squad in the last 38 days of its tour of duty, Bigelow creates agonizing suspense and human interest.

Even those who are not fans of the war genre will find value here. This is not another mindless action movie with bodies flying helter skelter. In The Hurt Locker, Bigelow is in command of the story and each scene. No snazzy technical effects were needed. It's man versus bomb, moment by moment.

Although set in Iraq, The Hurt Locker could be about any modern war. These soldiers don't have time to think about the conflict's politics, public relations or morality. They're not concerned with which side wins or loses. They want to survive, to return home to their families.

Staff Sgt. William James (Best Actor nominee Jeremy Renner) is a specialist who defuses IEDs (improvised explosive devices). We see his predecessor, careful and reasoned, blown to bits when an onlooker uses a cell phone.

James swears and listens to heavy metal as he defuses each bomb. He barrels into situations and takes off his helmet. This raises tension with Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and other members of Delta unit.

Like any artist, James immerses himself in his work, losing track of time and space. He turns out to be a genius who "becomes one" with each bomb, sensing who planted it and how.

Some devices are amateur, homemade jobs. Others are sophisticated traps, planted horrifically in the least likely places.

The evolution of James and his fellow soldiers makes us care. James befriends an Iraqi boy who hustles DVDs. Sanborn is a responsible professional who carefully keeps watch over each operation. Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) is so nervous, we wonder how he got here.

Renner is known for his supporting role in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Mackie (Million Dollar Baby) and Geraghty (Jarhead) both appeared in We Are Marshall.

Two interesting cameos include David Morse as the bemused Colonel Reed and Ralph Fiennes as a hotshot contractor.

 


The first woman to be named Best Director, Bigelow (Point Break, Blue Steel, Strange Days) melds technical skill with crystal clarity.

The Hurt Locker won six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Best Screenplay was awarded to Mark Boal (In the Valley of Elah), a journalist who was embedded with a bomb unit in Iraq. It also won Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing awards, and a nomination for Best Cinematography.

Smart dialogue, excellent screenplay and strong direction make a violent story watchable. The Hurt Locker rattles and fascinates.

If you like The Hurt Locker, you might enjoy: Inception; Shutter Island; 127 Hours.

The Hurt Locker 2009 / R / 2 hrs, 10 min

Cast Overview: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, David Morse, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Malcolm Barrett

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Genres: Action, Drama, Suspense, Thriller, War

 

Avatar *****

 

The awe is back. Avatar, the Oscar-winning sci-fi fantasy thriller from director James Cameron, transforms science fiction cinema.

Impressive 3D technologies and motion capture techniques keep audiences spellbound for two and a half hours, after which they leave theaters feeling 10 feet tall.

Avatar immerses us in heaven (a phosphorescent land of brilliant orange flowers, shimmering trees and floating jellyfish) and hell (fierce, flying dragons and massive rhino-like Hammerheads). Over 500 plants and creatures appear.

Avatar's reverence for nature, with its theme of oneness and unity, reaches across time and culture. Indigenous wisdom here turns out to be quite advanced. Thus Avatar surpasses The Matrix and Star Wars, along with Cameron's previous films Titanic, The Terminator and Aliens.

Over 2,000 people worked for three years on Avatar, with a budget approaching $300 million. Cameron first envisioned the masterpiece 15 years ago, but had to wait for computer technology to catch up.

Strong, quiet hero Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a paraplegic ex-Marine has been asked to become an avatar, a genetically grown being resembling the Na'vi who inhabit planet Pandora.

The Na'vi are exquisitely blue with silver-white speckles, golden cat-like eyes and moving ears. They are slender, sport long tails and stand 10 feet tall. Jake is to mingle with the Na'vi as a spy. He is ordered to sway them to allow strip mining of a precious metal (unobtainium).

The Na'vi live within a huge tree that sits right over a rich deposit. Col. Miles Quaritch (gung-ho Stephen Lang) and his mercenaries seek to expel the Na'vi for a corporation that funds the scientific research of Dr. Grace Augustine (always superb Sigourney Weaver).

After some personality conflicts and information-filled dialogue, the film alights as Jake lies down in his Matrix-like pod. Here his mind controls a handsome, new avatar that in effect allows Jake to walk again.

With terrifying CGI creatures in pursuit, Jake is separated from a scouting party. Soon he's rescued by noble Neytiri (graceful Zoe Saldana). Neytiri is the daughter of Eytukan (Wes Studi) and the shaman Moat (CCH Pounder).

 

Neytiri scorns the alien Jake. "You have a strong heart, no fear, but stupid." Since she has received a sign from the Atokirina, delicate floating spores with pure hearts, Jake's fate is to be decided by Eytukan.

Jake is trained to become one with the Na'vi. Before long he's leading their efforts to resist the aliens he once worked for.

In one of the best scenes of the film, Jake tames a flying dragon who becomes his ally. Also stirring is the extended shock and awe battle as Quaritch makes his last stand against Jake and the Na'vi.

Avatar catapults Worthington (Clash of the Titans) and Soldana (Star Trek [2009]) into stardom. Weaver worked for Cameron previously as the heroine of Aliens. Giovanni Ribisi (Lost in Translation) is excellent as a murderous corporate lackey.

Avatar won Oscars for Art Direction, Cinematography and Special Effects.

If you like Avatar, you might enjoy: Inception; Hereafter; 127 Hours.

Avatar 2009 / PG-13 / 2 hrs, 30 min

Cast Overview: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Lang, Joel Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, CCH Pounder, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi

Director: James Cameron

Genres: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Sci-Fi Action, Sci-Fi Adventure

The Fighter ***1/2

 

A dysfunctional mother and son take center stage in The Fighter, based on the true tale of Lowell-born prize fighter Micky Ward. 

The Fighter is being released on DVD this week.

Christian Bale and Melissa Leo are so powerful here that their dysfunction eclipses Micky’s triumphs in the ring.  Both supporting actors won Oscars and Golden Globes.

Mark Wahlberg’s muted rendition of the main character is less than memorable, although he is in peak physical condition. Wahlberg worked out and practiced boxing for four years in preparation.

Bale and Leo’s formidable pair are complemented by the punch of Amy Adams’ tart barmaid Charlene, who becomes Micky’s girlfriend and insists that he surround himself with smart, healthy manager and staff. With Micky’s presence an afterthought, The Fighter lurches, disjointed.

Bale plays Dicky Eklund, Micky’s crack-addicted half-brother and onetime “Pride of Lowell” who supposedly knocked out Sugar Ray Leonard.  Dicky has been Micky’s hero since childhood.  Leo (so electric in Frozen River) becomes Alice, a Black Widow Spider of a mom. Her performance is nothing short of Oscar worthy.

Bale became skeletal for the film. Dicky hangs out in a dilapidated crack house with drug-addled friends, leaping from a back window more than once to flee the tirades of his enabler mom.  Dicky barely makes it to Micky’s practices, even though he is supposed to be his trainer.  After his prison release later in the film, Bale strides down the middle of the street, a store bought “welcome home” sheet cake in his arms. It’s one of two pivotal moments in The Fighter.

Chain-smoking Alice presides over a household of nine adult children, with a creepy band of seven sisters that can rival the entire Addams Family clan.  Her husband George (Jack McGee) dodges his wife’s iron skillets and verbal jabs.

Alice is Micky’s longtime manager, and bands with Dicky to urge him to accept the last-minute substitution of a heavier, stronger fighter (“Otherwise no one gets paid.”)  Clearly mom favors Dicky, barely noticing the brutal beating that Micky has taken after the lopsided match.

 

Charlene believes in Micky more than he believes in himself. She shows up on his doorstep after the humiliated fighter stands her up for their first date.  Adams (Doubt; Junebug) continues to display her impressive range, facing off against Leo and the sisters. Her explosive confrontation with Dicky is the film’s second turning point.

Micky finally gets his due in later fights, although his name isn’t even spelled correctly on his warm-up jacket. The film’s boxing scenes are bloody but not too visceral.

The best that can be said of Wahlberg’s performance is that it is understated. Wahlberg’s Micky is meant to convey a strong, centered man who learns to believe in himself as the craziness of his family plays out around him.

The real Micky and Dicky appear in The Fighter’s closing credits with evident brother love. Perhaps Ward’s contentious family did help him become a great junior welterweight pro boxer.    

The toxic family that stays together has been featured in recent films like Winter’s Bone (2010) and City Island (2009). In Rocky II (1979), Sylvester Stallone moved on to start his own family.

If you like The Fighter, you might enjoy: Conviction; Winter's Bone; True Grit.

The Fighter   2010  /  R  /  1 hour, 54 min

Cast Overview:  Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams

Director: David O. Russell

Genres:  Drama, Thriller

The King's Speech *****

 

The stakes could not be higher as Colin Firth portrays King George VI in The King’s Speech, a historical drama about a remarkable friendship and personal triumph over disability during one of history’s darkest hours. Tom Hooper’s film humanizes British royalty along the lines of The Queen (2006) and The Young Victoria (2009).

The King's Speech won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Writing (Original Screenplay), as well as a Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film. Firth won an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

Firth suffers from a devastating stutter. After his father dies, his profligate brother (Guy Pearce) steps up and soon abdicates the throne amidst scandal. The new king will be required to speak publicly – often to an entire nation. Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall) informs him that England’s declaration of war against Germany is inevitable.

The King's Speech swept many prizes, including a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Film Ensemble, and a Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film.  

Firth is nominated for Best Actor. He also won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for this role.

Firth is called upon to be a leader just as he’s ready to surrender. His wife (Helena Bonham Carter) has accompanied him to every speech therapist imaginable. Nothing has worked. In the excruciating opening scene, Firth is red-faced and furious, attempting to speak with a mouthful of marbles under a doctor’s direction.

Geoffrey Rush often steals the show with earthy, raucous humor. Lionel Logue is a bold Aussie and failed actor with plenty of experience coaching severe stutterers. In order for the treatments to work, Logue insists that the future king come to his speech studio in a rundown London flat. They must become “equals” and eventually friends. “Call me Lionel,” he insists.

Logue is no doctor. He doesn’t pretend to be. What he does share is ample wisdom and skill as the two men – a commoner and a royal – spar and get acquainted. Bertie, as the king’s family calls him privately, confides in Lionel about early childhood fears and his father’s cruelty.

 

Firth and Rush revel in their weighty roles, playing off each other superbly. Logue is as bold and expressive as the king is restrained and proper. Logue shares a warm and plain spoken relationship with his wife (Jennifer Ehle) and two sons (Dominic Applewhite and Ben Wimsett).

The speech coach brings just the insouciance needed to puncture the fears of the sensitive king. His is the perfect foil to royal stodginess. Bertie must learn to relax his tongue, breathe fully, and even lie down on the floor to loosen his diaphragm.

In one moving scene, Bertie shares a bedtime story with his adoring daughters Elizabeth and Margaret (Freya Wilson and Ramona Marquez). His wife, the future Queen Mum of England, looks on. Elizabeth is destined to succeed her father to the throne one day.

The king’s family and close associates cheer him on during a riveting three minute speech at the BBC. Logue accompanies Bertie into the sound booth, coaching him with silent care as the king urges the nation to stand together at the start of World War II.

Director Hooper is known for his Emmy Award winning miniseries John Adams (2008).

The film received an “R” rating due to a single scene where Firth spouts a string of expletives, desperate to vent his anxiety and express himself at last.

If you like The King's Speech, you might enjoy: The Young Victoria; Another Year; An Education.

The King’s Speech 2010 / R / 1 hour, 58 min

Cast Overview: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter

Director: Tom Hooper

Genres: Drama, History

Black Swan *****

 

Natalie Portman surrenders herself in Darren Aronofsky’s psycho-sexual thriller Black Swan. In a film of many superlatives, it is Portman who catapults it to greatness with her best performance ever.

Ballerina Nina Sayers has sacrificed her childhood, her mind, body and soul to the dance. Of late, she is keenly focused on the coveted Swan Queen role in Swan Lake. Slavishly supporting Nina is her mother, former ballerina Barbara Hershey (stupendous here).

Portman won the Oscar for Best Actress, as well as Golden Globe, Spirit and Screen Actors Guild awards for this role.
 
Black Swan swept the Spirit Awards, winning for Best Feature, Best Cinematography and Best Director.

In his new production, ballet director Thomas Leroy (ever driving Vincent Cassel) has raised the bar. The lead must play both the White and Black swans. Nina can play the virginal White Swan in a heartbeat, Leroy says. Can she manage her seductive, lascivious counterpart? He doubts it.

As The Wrestler (2008) reveres the male sportsman, Black Swan pays bold homage to the female dance artist. Both Aronofsky films show art consummated at the expense of the individual. In order to achieve wholeness, the Dark must roar alongside pure intention and high ideals without destroying them.

It’s striking how little self worth Nina really has. Brainwashed, she believes that being a perfect dancer is all. As little girl/woman, Nina lives sheltered in her mother’s Upper West Side apartment. Her bedroom is filled with stuffed animals and ballerina music boxes. Portman reveals a determined dance martyr who cracks her joints, hobbles on bloody, split toenails and purges regularly to stay thin.

Life, indeed reality, is what we make of it. Nina careens insanely in waves, relentlessly pushed by her own ego, her mother, the demanding Leroy, and wiley understudy Lily (ravishing Mila Kunis). As if this weren’t enough, she reels with guilt over the “retirement” of former company star Beth Macintyre. Winona Ryder wrings the last drop out of Beth, utterly used and violently crushed.

 

Audiences will lose track of what is real and unreal in Nina’s paranoid hallucinations. Portman has honed the self-destructiveness of Lauren in Heat (1995), and sustains it throughout. Action never lulls as Aronofsky depicts Nina’s inner and outer demons. The rousing cadences of Tchaikovsky billow like a sea beneath this adult fairy tale.

Kunis melds Lily’s smoky cattiness with just enough sisterly charm. Nina surrenders to her new friend. Knowing Lily is like walking through a dank museum basement filled with the Female’s dark artifacts: competition, raw hunger, erotic satiation.

Nina’s Black Swan emerges at last. She parties all night prior to morning rehearsal. Sex is her birthright, seduction her innate power. It’s a classic theme elevated by Portman, a revelation of both Hindu goddesses Kali and Lakshmi. Destruction becomes liberation as light and beauty shine. Portman performs most of her own dancing.

Cassel advances upon his prima ballerina to push her onto dangerous new ground. He transcends sexual harassment as he is able to control desire. “That was me seducing you. It needs to be the other way around,” he says.

Hershey’s needy innocence gives way to a mother’s overbearing rage, then morphs into teary adulation.

Several masterstrokes ensure the film’s success. Mark Heyman and John McLaughlin rewrote Andres Heinz’s original script to focus on Nina’s psychology. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique follows Nina and the action closely, making subject larger than life. Digital effects complement cinema verite. Blood flows. Feathers sprout.

Benjamin Millepied of the New York City Ballet choreographs. Clint Mansell created Black Swan’s rousing musical score. Much of the film is set in Lincoln Center.

In real life, Portman fell in love with co-star and choreographer Millepied. The two are engaged and expecting their first child, a boy, this year.

Creation. Destruction. Sacrifice. Black Swan’s ending will leave audiences yearning for Nina to embrace herself wholly.

If you like Black Swan, you might enjoy: I Am Love; The Ghost Writer; The Other Woman.

Black Swan 2010 / R / 1 hour, 48 min

Cast Overview: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Genres: Drama, Thriller

The Social Network *****

 

Geeky contemporary classic The Social Network, a 2011 nominee for Best Picture, highlights early struggles of the popular website Facebook while showing the personal battles of its super-intelligent founders. Aaron Sorkin’s smart dialogue and screenplay are central in this drama.

The Social Network won Oscars for Best Film Editing,  Best Music (Original Score) and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay).  The film received Golden Globe awards for Best Motion Picture, Drama; Best Director; Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.

What’s stunning is how Jesse Eisenberg lives in the uneasy, socially taboo state of loneliness. Eisenberg is more than a misfit as he plays the socially stilted yet very human visionary and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He shows us nothing less than the state of sabi, “the loneliness of the soul.”

Child-like in his blogging and programming, Eisenberg’s other-worldly focus on friendship and social status is like that of a wise old man. He’s the outsider who wants to be “in,” yet fiercely maintains his personal and intellectual independence as he looks inward. He revels and agonizes in it all at once. Can life be distilled onto a computer screen?

Eisenberg and co-star Andrew Garfield bring the techno-savvy pioneers and their high stakes maneuvering down to earth for the rest of us. As we travel with the pair from computer labs to campus parties to the courtroom, filmmaker David Fincher evokes the bittersweet taste of youth.

Garfield almost steals the show as Zuckerberg’s emotive (and only) buddy Eduardo Saverin. It’s Eduardo who funds and writes the business plan for “The Facebook.” A Best Supporting Actor nomination seems certain for Garfield’s angst-driven exploration of friendship, loyalty and brilliance.

What began in 2003 on a Fall night in the Harvard dorm room of computer programming major Zuckerberg has turned into a worldwide social and business phenomenon. His cold, online stunt to lash out at the girlfriend who dumps him (Rooney Mara) gains a record number of hits and crashes Harvard’s server.

Zuckerberg next meets the Winklevoss twins (both played by Armie Hammer), a pair of varsity rowing Golden Boys who hire him to build the social website The Harvard Connection. He is captivated by the idea, develops and runs with it in a much broader direction.

Could Zuckerberg foresee the mesmerizing effect that Facebook has on millions of viewers each day who, from the privacy of their own computers, seek to connect with others and enhance their personal and/or business status? It’s a way to belong that transcends social status, time and space while it mimics personal connection.

The obnoxious yet sympathetic hero leaves Harvard to become the world’s youngest billionaire, but not before he fights legal battles over intellectual property with friends and non-friends. Justin Timberlake does fine work as sleazy business adviser and Napster co-founder Sean Parker.

The Social Network contains many fictional details (including the breakup with girlfriend Erica). Zuckerberg and the tale’s other luminaries would not speak with Fincher.

Nevertheless the director succeeds in this film rich with history, biography and many layers of meaning beneath its action and story.

If you like The Social Network, you might enjoy: Greenberg; I'm Still Here; The Kids Are All Right.

The Social Network 2010 / PG-13 / 2 hours

Cast Overview: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, Joseph Mazzello, Rooney Mara, Rashida Jones, Bryan Barter, Dustin Fitzsimons

Director: David Fincher

Genres: Drama, History

Inception ***

  

Christopher Nolan’s creation falls short in the heavy-handed suspense film Inception. With ponderous self-importance, Inception is a ticket to a headache.

The originality of Inception, many great performances and excellent visual effects don’t overcome the clutter enough to create a truly enjoyable movie. Inception should have been much better. Nolan took the psychological surrealism too seriously.

Nevertheless, Inception won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, an expert thief who is specially trained to extract valuable information from the subconscious minds of targets by accessing their dreams. He assembles a team to help him on a new mission, including a dream architect Ariadne (Ellen Page). Wealthy industrialist Saito (Ken Watanabe) has hired Cobb to implant an idea into the mind of a rival businessman Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy).

The main incentive for Cobb is Saito’s promise to return him to his children at the successful conclusion of the mission. It’s one last plunge into the nefarious, multi-leveled dream layers for our hero.

The screenplay’s heavy emphasis on the labyrinth distracts significantly from character development. After an all-too-brief look at the characters, we are subjected to dizzying explosions, shoot-em-ups and earthquakes that fill the film. The dangers of this imagined world are so overplayed that finally we become numb. Sharper editing could have saved the day, especially during the film’s final hour.

Visually Inception is ambitious, especially in an enjoyable, M.C. Escher-like scene where Cobb and Ariadne walk amidst a collapsing Paris streetscape.

An excellent cast is led by DiCaprio and Page. Marion Cotillard undulates between life and half-life as Cobb’s troubled, dead wife Mal.

If you like Inception, you might enjoy:  The Ghost Writer; Shutter Island; The American.

Inception 2010 / PG-13 / 2 hours, 28 min

Cast Overview: Leonardo diCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite

Director: Christopher Nolan

Genres: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Suspense/Thriller