Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

Our Idiot Brother: Paul Rudd loves mayhem in smart comedy 4/5 stars

 

Ned (Paul Rudd) tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth in Jesse Peretz’s sweet comedy Our Idiot Brother. Rudd’s good-hearted, biodynamic farmer is beset by bad luck in this warm, funny film.

Ned loves others to a fault. Is he really an idiot? Yes and no.

Rudd plays a genial hippie lacking in social judgment. He’s so naïve that he sells pot to a uniformed police officer at the Farmer’s Market one day.

After he is thrown out by his girlfriend Janet (Kathryn Hahn), Ned travels to Brooklyn to crash with each of his three sisters.

Elizabeth Banks (Avery Jessup in 30 Rock) plays Miranda, an ambitious reporter at Vanity Fair. Miranda insists that being an adult means lying and taking advantage of others. The innocent brother can’t relate.

 

Liz (Emily Mortimer) is a mousy, tired wife and mom. She’s unaware of the shenanigans of her film director husband Dylan (Steve Coogan). Ned puts two and two together and spills the beans.

Natalie (Zooey Deschanel) is a club performer who reaches a turning point. Natalie withholds information from her lover Cindy (pep-talking Rashida Jones), and this threatens their relationship. Meanwhile Cindy, who’s a lawyer, helps Ned with his legal problems.

Ned drives his sisters nuts by spilling their personal secrets. This turns their lives upside down. It’s not that he wants to hurt anyone. He just can’t conceive of a world where people hide things from one another.

 

Unfortunately, neither Peretz nor the script coax much depth from the sisters. Pushy Miranda, overwhelmed Liz and flighty Natalie remain one-dimensional.

Finally, Ned’s mom (Shirley Knight, wonderful here) is the one who opens her home to him unconditionally. Mournfully, he accepts.  

Janet’s breakup with Ned is tough love. Living a back-to-the-land lifestyle, she’s a sermonizing spitfire. Ned is heart-broken when she insists on keeping Willie Nelson, his golden retriever and best friend.

The born-again optimist is unable to match any cynical, mean vibes. Ned loses it during a game of charades with his disillusioned siblings. The scene shows how hard it is for him to be in the world.

Trying a new age solution, Ned meets a know-it-all teacher and passes out in a sweat lodge called “The Win Tent.” Although he often seems to fail, the idiot brother occasionally enchants those he meets.

Ned is happiest playing with his 7-year-old nephew River (Matthew Mindler). Liz and Dylan enroll River in dance classes, hell-bent on grooming him for admission to an elite school. What the boy really loves is learning Tae Kwon Do from his uncle and watching Pink Panther past his bed time.

Like Ed Helms in Cedar Rapids, Rudd gives a standout performance as an oddball character for our time. What would the world look like if more people were like Ned? As he shakes things up, lives are transformed and healed.  

Rudd’s raunchiest moment is when Ned tentatively accepts a three-way with an amorous couple. He can’t go through with it. British comedian Coogan is brilliant as Liz’s wayward hubby. His arse-backwards nude scene is terrific.

The smart, funny script was written by Evgenia Peretz (the director’s sister) and her partner Anthony Bregman. Do you like happy endings? Dog lovers will appreciate this silly but positive conclusion.

If you like Our Idiot Brother, you might enjoy: The Trip; Barney’s Version; Cedar Rapids.

[email protected]

 

Our Idiot Brother     2011  /  R  /  1 hour, 30 min

Cast Overview:  Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Steve Coogan, Hugh Dancy, Kathryn Hahn, Rashida Jones, Shirley Knight, T.J. Miller, Matthew Mindler

Director: Jesse Peretz

Genre:  Comedy

 

 

The Whistleblower: sex trafficking exposed in dark thriller ****

 

If you are able to watch sex trafficking, cruelty and torture, see The Whistleblower. Rachel Weisz stands up to sex traffickers in this fact-based thriller about human rights violations in postwar Bosnia. Director Larysa Kondracki relays horrible truths using noir and cinema verite in her feature debut.

The Whistleblower does not let you look away from war atrocities. With a docudrama feel, it is suspenseful, violent and jarring. There is a graphic rape scene. Female slaves are kept in filthy, torture-chamber barracks. Nebraska cop Kathryn Bolkovac is the real whistleblower.

In the opening, Ukrainian teen Irka (the director’s sister Rayisa Kondracki) urges Raya (Roxana Condurache) to travel with her to a job opportunity in Bosnia. Neighbors and even family members lure young women like these. Desperate to escape struggle and poverty, Raya accepts.

A divorced mom, Bolkovac arrives in Sarajevo in 1999 for a six-month contract. The $100,000 tax-free paycheck will allow her to move closer to her daughter. Soon Bolkovac finds herself confronting police, local thugs, and even her fellow United Nations peacekeepers-for-hire.

Bolkovac is outraged to find that her co-workers are complicit or participating in the prostitution slave rings. Diplomatic employees have full immunity, and locals are unlikely to be prosecuted. Bolkovac’s employer at the time, security contractor DynCorp International, works for the United States today in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Best supporting actress Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) conveys the soul of the film. Bolkovac is urged to look the other way. She refuses.

Glib acceptance reigns. “Those girls are whores of war. It happens,” an agency commander says.

The ferocious activist faces off against peacekeepers and investigates brothels in the night, often alone. Unafraid, Bolkovac does her job. It’s a portrait of a true hero with no need for a costume or special effects.

 

Bolkovac backs the first successful post-war court decision for a domestic violence victim. She gets noticed. Vanessa Redgrave appears briefly as the real Madeleine Rees, then head of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Rees offers Bolkovac a position in the U.N. Gender Affairs Office, where she will investigate sexual assaults. Bolkovac accepts as her peacekeeping contract runs outs.

Other U.N. officials ignore Bolkovac’s revelations about the international sexual assault on girls. The activist eventually was fired from her U.N. position. She won a wrongful termination suit in 2001. Bolkovac co-wrote the screenplay with Eilis Kirwan based on her book The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman’s Fight for Justice.

David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck) is brooding and shifty as Peter Ward, an internal affairs officer who offers to help the whistleblower. Monica Bellucci plays a diplomatic burnout who sees a bit of herself in the idealistic American.

The Whistleblower is a Third World Erin Brockovich. It provokes questions that demand answers. It shows the war within war, violence against women, on a massive scale.

In a respite from violence, Bolkovac has an affair with one of her co-workers Jan (Nikolaj Lie Kaas). In real life she later married her co-worker.

This film conveys important information. I felt honored to watch a woman dare to stand up for justice. I also noted that The Whistleblower does not depict forgiveness from any party. Leaking information to the BBC seems to be Bolkovac’s only option.

Spiritual teachers including Marianne Williamson advocate brief meditation while surrounding horrific situations with light and love. Personal power can be exercised by imagining and intending a better world.

The Whistleblower is roughly hewn in a way that suits its ugly subject. It was filmed quickly on a low budget, mostly in Bucharest, Romania.

One important scene feels staged. The screenplay is choppy and sometimes preachy. Yet great performances from Weisz, Strathairn and others animate this relentless movie. Plato’s Cave comes to mind during a particularly tragic turning point.

A twisty ending provides little relief. The film closes with statistics about continued sex trafficking worldwide.

According to Foreign Policy’s Turtle Bay blog, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon invited Kondracki to show the film at U.N. headquarters “to top U.N. officials and representatives of governments that supply peacekeepers to U.N. missions.” The screening is scheduled for the week of October 10.

If you like The Whistleblower, you might enjoy:  A Call Girl; Miral; Lemon Tree.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews.

  

The Whistleblower     2010  /  R  /  2 hours

Cast Overview:  Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn, Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci, Roxana Condurache, Rayisa Kondracki

Director:  Larysa Kondracki

Genre:  Drama, Thriller, True Life, Drama Based on the Book

Languages:  English and Croatian with English subtitles

 

Sarah's Key: Kristen Scott Thomas stars in Holocaust drama ****

 
 

An American journalist living in Paris (Kristen Scott Thomas) is obsessed with a Holocaust story. Sarah's Key is a thrilling search for truth about France’s role in the Holocaust seen through the eyes of 10-year-old Sarah (Melusine Mayance). The film is based on Tatiana de Rosnay’s novel.

French director Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s film exposes the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup during World War II. Many moviegoers will learn about the incident for the first time here.

In the roundup, thousands of Jews living in Paris’ Marais neighborhood were forced into a sports stadium, torn away from family members, and shipped to concentration camps. Julia Jarmond (Thomas) convinces her editor to let her write a 10-page article documenting the 60^th anniversary of the roundup.

Two parallel stories unfold. Julia pursues leads and interviews witnesses. She discovers that she is personally connected to the Starzinski family, Polish Jews living in Paris during the German occupation.

 

Sarah Starzinski’s story is told in flashbacks. Police arrive one day. Sarah dashes to protect her young brother Michel. She locks him in a closet for safekeeping, sure that she will return soon. Days pass in the crowded stadium. Panic and disease spread. Desperate to return and rescue Michel, Sarah falls ill.

Under Nazi order, French police arrested 13,000 Jews in July 1942. The prisoners were forced into the Velodrome d’Hiver, an indoor bicycle racing track. With no access to running water or toilets, they slept in their seats or on concrete floors. Families were separated and herded into trains bound for French internment camps.

Thomas (The English Patient; I’ve Loved You So Long) and Mayance play off each other beautifully with moving character studies. Past and present feel immediate and urgent. Thomas is intent and driven as she speaks both French and American English. Her brilliance shines despite a script that often emphasizes the obvious. Mayance is a talent to watch, lively and convincing here.

Julia learns that Sarah escaped from the Beaune-la-Rolande camp in Loiret. She tracks down a farm couple (Niels Arestrup and Dominique Frot) who sheltered the girl from Nazi soldiers. The mystery of Sarah’s life deepens as Julia locates her surviving relatives, including William (Aidan Quinn).

Julia travels abroad to pursue the story. She argues with her French husband Bertrand (Frederic Pierrot) and reassures her teenage daughter Zoe (Karina Hin). In one of the film’s contrived moments, Julia learns that the Starzinski’s apartment was acquired by Bertrand’s family in 1942.

The director relates a powerful chapter of history. Tellingly, it is a French soldier who helps Sarah escape from the camp.

In real life (and beyond the scope of Sarah’s Key), other roundups followed. Prisoners were eventually deported to Auschwitz. In 1959, fire destroyed much of the Vel’ d’Hiver. Apartments and a Ministry of the Interior building stand on the site today.

Julia’s part was over-written and weighs down the narrative. Emphasis on Julia’s pregnancy and failing marriage is distracting. The epilogue feels too neat and becomes trite. Yet Sarah’s Key brings history to life with personal revelation. Paquet-Brenner has made a daring, important film.

If you like Sarah’s Key, you might enjoy:  Winter in Wartime; Of Gods and Men; The King’s Speech.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews.

 

Sarah’s Key     2010  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 45 min

Cast Overview:  Kristin Scott Thomas, Melusine Mayance, Niels Arestrup, Frederic Pierrot, Michel Duchaussoy, Dominique Frot, Gisele Casadesus, Aidan Quinn

Director:  Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Genre:  Drama, History, Books on Film

Languages:  English, French and German with English subtitles

 

Missing Pieces: Mark Boone Junior kidnaps his way to love ****

 

Kidnapping meets romance in the indie psychological drama Missing Pieces. Director Kenton Bartlett’s feature debut asks big questions and answers them with mind-bending originality. I want to feel something real. I want to feel happy. Why is this happening? It's now streaming online.

Missing Pieces investigates the brink of wholeness. Impressively crafted on a low budget, it’s a tale of dissolution and survival, a sly mix of Criminal Minds and the spiritual genre.

Mark Boone Junior (Memento; Batman Begins; Sons of Anarchy) is fascinating as David Lindale, a man whose life implodes after a head injury. With his mind and emotions fractured, he poignantly struggles to win back his exasperated ex-girlfriend Delia Greenly (Melora Walters). Soon his actions take a disturbing turn.

David seems gentle, but we don’t know what he’s capable of. Recovering from an accident, he has stopped taking his medication. While making his rounds as a delivery man, David meets Maggie Anderson (Taylor Engel) and Daylen Gordon (Daniel Hassel). With the sure insight of a damaged human being, he immediately recognizes that the two are missing pieces of their lives, too.

Using sparse, strong dialogue, Bartlett (who also wrote and produced the film) weaves in excerpts from a self-help tape. These represent David’s efforts to heal and to reclaim his life. The effect succeeds with preachy truisms like, “The only way to be happy is right here in this moment.” Loneliness becomes tangible.

David devises a plan: observe love. The world becomes his laboratory. If he can isolate two people and provide them with the right questions and instructions, can he reproduce the formula for happiness and love? Boone Junior reveals the monster within all of us.

Constant cuts to different lives and characters obscure the narrative. The logistics behind David’s grand experiment stretch belief. The harrowing journey runs a bit too long. Still this is a film worth seeing for its rich storytelling, challenging and original premise, and compassionate vision.

 

A turning point is reached when David realizes, “I need to give more.” He approaches Delia again.

Boone Junior creates an arresting portrait of despair and hope that anchors the film. Walters (Boogie Nights; Magnolia; Big Love) convinces as an aggravated woman who knows when it’s time to give up. Engel and Hassel debut with fine performances as Maggie and Daylen discover themselves and each other under extreme conditions.

Cinematographer Jonathan Arturo uses the camera in a full, free way that captures small, personal worlds in the context of sweeping, natural landscapes. Longing, fear and anger are evoked with a beautiful, understated color palette. Several scenes come to life like Andrew Wyeth paintings. Filmed primarily in Birmingham, Alabama, Missing Pieces was also shot in Colorado, South Dakota and Utah.                 

Richey Rynkowski (orchestrator assistant on Black Swan) creates original music that resonates and adds dimensionality.

Missing Pieces is a cry from the depths, a demand for answers from a seemingly indifferent Universe, a creepy trek towards self-actualization and love.

 If you like Missing Pieces, you might enjoy:  The Ledge; The Perfect Host; The Tree of Life.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews.

 

Missing Pieces     2011  /  NR /  1 hour, 57 min.

Cast Overview:  Mark Boone Jr., Melora Walters, Daniel Hassel, Taylor Engel

Director:  Kenton Bartlett

Genre:  Indie, Psychological Drama, Suspense

Terri: John C. Reilly feeds teen's big, hungry heart ****

 

Terri stands apart from The Art of Getting By and Submarine for one reason: John C. Reilly. The coming-of-age dramedy hinges on Reilly’s Mr. Fitzgerald, a vice principal who cares about kids in trouble. Jacob Wysocki stars as Terri, a huge oddball with a confused, hungry heart.

Reilly’s straightforward, unforgettable character walks his talk. He owns his own disappointments and shortcomings. Mr. Fitzgerald doesn’t pretend to have it all together, but he knows enough to share his homespun philosophy. When obese Terri lands in his office for daily tardiness, he sets up a weekly meeting to mentor the pajama-clad, good-hearted teen.

Terri’s inner monster is big, odd and misunderstood. He lives in a messy old house with Uncle James (The Office’s Creed Bratton, very good here) who’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Terri takes care of his uncle tenderly.

Trapping mice in the attic is necessary and gives Terri something to do. Glum and bored, he loiters in the woods each morning, watching his offering of dead mice on a log. When a raptor arrives, Terri yelps with excitement. It’s the first revelation of the big boy’s spirit.

An encounter with the bird of prey also sets this movie apart. The raptor is said to symbolize vision, power and guardianship. Connecting with nature is another way the boy heals. Mr. Fitzgerald suggests a new life perspective: “I like this person. I look forward to these days.”

Wysocki is extraordinary, an actor of imagination and warmth. Terri makes slow and painful progress. He aches, stumbles and has wise insights. He wants to fit in as he struggles to be himself. Patrick Dewitt’s understated dialogue rings perfectly. “The feeling is no feeling,” Terri tells his mentor.

 

Terri hangs out with two other outcasts, publicly shamed Heather (Olivia Crocicchia) and hair-pulling misanthrope Chad (Bridger Zadina). The trio reveals risky delight, a weird foray into friendship and experimentation. All three succeed with plain-spoken honesty. Director Azazel Jacobs captures odd beauty in this and other scenes.

Mr. Fitzgerald talks about life and possibilities from his heart and his gut. Reilly makes the character unique as a caring, competent man who admits his own shortcomings. The unapologetically odd vice principal grows on us throughout the film.

Terri finds Mr. Fitzgerald passed out in his car one Sunday morning in the school parking lot. He’s had another fight with his wife. The two share quality time, raiding aspirin from the nurse’s office and shooting hoops. The school’s motto towers above them in the gym: Pride. Tradition. Excellence.

In The Art of Getting By and Submarine, mentors are marginal and never fully developed. Here youth and age are both honored. Mr. Fitzgerald throws Terri a lifeline, and the teen gives him the opportunity to practice his life’s calling. There’s a boy within the man, and a man within the boy.

When Fitzgerald betrays the boy’s trust it’s devastating. He transforms the moment by apologizing. “Life’s a mess, dude, but we’re all just doing the best we can.”

In an imperfect world, Terri ends with a quiet, transcendent moment. This is not a feel-good movie, but one that celebrates flawed humanity and hope.

If you like Terri, you might enjoy:  The Art of Getting By; Submarine; Cedar Rapids.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

Terri     2011  /  R  /  1 hour, 27 min

Cast Overview:  Jacob Wysocki, Creed Bratton, Olivia Crocicchia, Bridger Zadina, John C. Reilly

Director:  Azazel Jacobs

Genre:  Drama, Dramedy

 

A Better Life ****1/2

 
 

A gang-bound son explores honor with his illegal dad in Chris Weitz’s drama A Better Life. In a rare drama told from the blue collar perspective, Demian Bichir is outstanding as Carlos Galindo, a Mexican illegal in East Los Angeles.

The best actors convey much with their eyes, facial expressions and movements. Bichir (Che; Weeds) paints desperation, patience, wisdom and confusion. From these contradictions emerges a decent and hard-working gardener who lives in the United States illegally. Frequent close-ups of Bichir propel the drama.

In his day-in-the-life existence, Carlos works long hours and sleeps on the couch. He shares a few minutes of quality time with his son Luis (Jose Julian). The man lives to work, scarcely realizing when it’s Saturday. Carlos wears the same jacket throughout the movie, but he is clean. Their meals aren’t homemade, but they are filling. Luis’ mother is gone, but it’s not until late in the film that her absence is explained.

Luis shows growing interest in the gang members he meets at school. His girlfriend Ruthie (Chelsea Rendon) is related to a few of them. Since his father has little money for Luis’ needs, the gangs’ wealth and social standing are enticing. An early death in the streets is sure to come with that wealth. Weitz portrays the gang members as human and even cautious about recruiting Luis.

Julian gives an excellent, understated performance, especially during a scene in a police station where his future seems inevitable. When Luis gets suspended it’s “no biggie,” he tells his father. The boy considers making a wrong choice for the right reasons just as his father did.  

Weitz shows an America of the affluent who are happy to look the other way and employ reasonably priced yard workers (who happen to be uninsured). Carlos and Luis seem invisible in society-at-large. In one scene Carlos rides home from work, surveying many cultures and ages mingling on the L.A. sidewalks. His sense of belonging and his isolation are palpable.

 
 

Contemporary American features often show immigrants in moral struggles.  Ben Kingsley gave a powerhouse performance as an Iranian suburbanite in House of Sand and Fog. In The Godfather, Part II, Robert De Niro plays Vito Corleone, a Sicilian immigrant in New York City’s Little Italy. Ramin Bahrani expertly explores moral complexity. In Man Push Cart, a former rock star from Pakistan becomes a coffee cart vendor in New York City. In Goodbye Solo, a Senegalese immigrant attempts to dissuade an old man intent on jumping to his death.

Prosperity drives these characters. Carlos’ turning point comes when his friend insists that he buy a truck which he cannot afford. Carlos doesn’t even have a driver’s license. A truck is a necessity though. Without it, he must wait for hours in a crowd to compete for day jobs. Carlos finally appeals to his sister, who raids her family’s savings on his promise to make good, succeed and repay her someday.

When the truck is stolen, honor and future are at stake. In one very uneasy scene, Carlos gazes mutely at a police officer, unable to ask for help. The emergency gives father and son a chance to bond. How Carlos pursues the thief demonstrates a gentle fairness. Gabriel Chavarria plays Ramon.

A Better Life is a pleasant surprise coming from Weitz, who is known for mediocre The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Weitz also directed About a Boy with his brother Paul.

The film’s predictable ending gives a sense of “huddled masses,” a seemingly endless stream of people who head to America to improve their chances and their children’s opportunities. Eric Eason wrote the script based on a story by Roger L. Simon.

The socio-political story is simplified here. Weitz sidesteps hot button issues including controversial state measures to punish Mexican illegals. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but Weitz could have reached for even more in this film. Certainly his cast was capable of handling it.

If you like A Better Life, you might enjoy:  Goodbye Solo; Man Push Cart; Welcome.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

A Better Life    2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 38 min

Cast Overview:  Demian Bichir, Jose Julian, Dolores Heredia, Joaquin Cosio, Chelsea Rendon, Nancy Lenehan, Tim Griffin, Gabriel Chavarria

Director:  Chris Weitz

Genre:  Drama

 

Buck ***

 

The real Horse Whisperer recovers from an abusive childhood as he trains horses and their owners in the documentary Buck.

Buck Brannaman consulted on Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer (1998). Nicholas Evans’ 1995 novel of the same name is based on the sensitive, gifted horse trainer. Buck won the Audience Award at Sundance 2011.

An excerpt from Redford’s film is shown. Buck’s guidance was instrumental in helping to calm a jittery horse for an important scene. In that scene Grace (Scarlett Johansson), who lost part of her leg in an accident while riding her horse Pilgrim, approaches the traumatized animal. Pilgrim shudders and jolts. Gradually, he calms down and allows Grace to touch him.

Redford was impressed with the horse trainer’s politeness and humanity when they first met. Interviewed here, Redford calls Buck “no nonsense” and “authentic.” Nevertheless, Cindy Meehl’s documentary about this extraordinary individual falls flat.

Buck travels 40 weeks out of each year to give four-day horse clinics. He misses his wife and daughter, he says. Meanwhile he restores calmness and serenity to the horses. Buck is known for his keen insights into the animals.

Brannaman schools horse owners, advising them how to approach and treat the animals with respect. “There’s a difference between firm and hard,” he notes. His approach is “90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.” As a young man, Buck attended a clinic given by Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt. The two were promoting a gentle approach called “natural horsemanship.” Buck had found his calling.

Yet this movie never captures a warm connection between Brannaman and the horses he trains. Where is the magic? First-time director Meehl is so intent on covering the breadth and scope of Buck’s work that she neglects its all-important depth.

Buck appears at event after event. He rides a jittery horse. The horse quiets and trots obediently. Owners comment on the miraculous transformations. They praise Buck’s special gift. What we don’t learn: Who are these horses? What are their stories? How does Buck calm them? What happens after they return home? Have they truly healed?

Focusing on Brannaman and paying scant attention to horses is a curious misstep. The creatures of great dignity, power and freedom are given only cursory treatment. For example, when Buck and his daughter compete in a lasso competition, their horses perform perfectly but look unhappy.

Had Meehl highlighted and developed several encounters between Buck and the horses, this film would truly satisfy. There’s a heartfelt connection between animals and people in movies like Born to be Wild and Water for Elephants. That connection is missing here.

 

Only at the end of Buck is one horse featured. Brain-damaged at birth and raised incorrectly, he has become violent. The horse maims a rider on screen. He has become “a predator,” Buck warns. Finally the owner decides to put him down.

Buck’s painful early years are slowly revealed. At age three, Buckshot (originally named Dan) began performing rope tricks with his older brother Smokie (Bill) under the management of their father Ace. The youngest stars on the circuit, the boys often performed blindfolded. They became famous, appearing in a Sugar Pops commercial.

The two were driven hard and often whipped by their alcoholic dad. Their mother had passed away. One day a coach noticed the bruising. The boys were removed from their home and adopted by a loving couple, the Shirleys. Brannaman still visits with his adoptive mother to this day.

Many horse lovers will enjoy this film, while others will yearn for more. Buck tells the story of a quiet, gentle man, but doesn’t reveal too much. Buck’s brother never appears in the film. His absence is not explained.

If you like Buck, you might enjoy:  Born to be Wild; Water for Elephants; Secretariat.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

Buck    2011  /  PG  /  1 hour, 28 min

Cast Overview:  Buck Brannaman, Robert Redford

Director:  Cindy Meehl

Genre:  Documentary, Animals

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 *****

 

Harry Potter draws on personal power, courage and love in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. Action, adventure and fantasy triumph in the epic finale based on J. K. Rowling’s novels. Harry proves his manhood amidst pain and loss, splendor and mystery.

Harry discovers a terrifying secret about his connection to Lord Voldemort, the most evil and powerful wizard of all. Dangerous adventures await him, and the stakes have never been higher.

The hero uses his personal power with wisdom and heart. Beyond spells, potions and wand skills, Harry and his friends have learned to use their wizardry for good. Here he shows mercy to those who have hurt him.

Harry’s homecoming at the Hogwarts School reveals that he is an inspiration for a new generation of wizards. Harry and friends have become way showers both on and off screen for millions. The films are part of a pop phenomenon and stunning commercial success based on character and bravery.

 
 

Brilliant! Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) first appeared together in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001). In HP7, Part 2 Radcliffe gives a solid performance as mayhem unfolds. Grint and Watson reveal deeper dimensions within Ron and Hermione.

Chris Columbus directed the first two movies in the series with a tenderness that honored childhood. Now director David Yates integrates grim realities and dangers into many dark scenes. The frontier between life and death is crossed again and again. Steve Kloves wrote most of the screenplays, including this one.

Awesome British talents help make the Harry Potter films rich and memorable, ensuring their place in movie history. Ralph Fiennes plays fearsome, evil Lord Voldemort. Alan Rickman is never better as enigmatic Professor Severus Snape. Professor Albus Dumbledore is resurrected by Michael Gambon, while his brother Aberforth is played by Ciaran Hinds. Helena Bonham Carter lends cackling menace to Bellatrix Lestrange. Maggie Smith saves the day as Professor Minerva McGonagall. John Hurt plays Ollivander. Evanna Lynch returns as Luna Lovegood. Tom Felton portrays dark mischief as Draco Malfoy. The impressive list goes on.

 

Powerful cinematography by Eduardo Serra, magnificent production design by Stuart Craig, Alexandre Desplat’s original music, and many visual effects, costume and makeup artists enhance the glory of this finale.

Scenes from past Harry Potter films add grace and power to this ultimate chapter. Life. Death. Love. Family. Immortality. These characters share a history together, and so do we.

Radcliffe will star in the horror thriller The Woman in Black (2012). Grint will star in another horror thriller Cross Country (2011), and next year in the dramas Wartime Wanderers and Comrade. Watson will star in the BBC drama My Week with Marilyn (2011) and a romantic drama, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).

If you like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, you might enjoy: Avatar; X-Men: First Class; Super 8.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2    2011  /  PG-13  /  2 hours, 10 min

Cast Overview:  Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Ciaran Hinds, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, Emma Thompson, Jason Isaacs, Matthew Lewis, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Julie Walters, Bonnie Wright, David Bradley, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Gemma Jones, Dave Legeno, Miriam Margolyes, Helen McCrory, Nick Moran, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Clemence Poesy, Timothy Spall, Natalia Tena, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Mark Williams

Director:  David Yates

Genre:  Fantasy, Adventure

 

The Tree of Life *****

 

A family drama interpreted spiritually and artistically, The Tree of Life is a sweeping tale from the beginning to the end of time. Terrence Malick’s epic masterpiece won the Palme d’Or, top prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly,” wrote Antoine de Saint-Exupery. To fully appreciate Malick’s fifth feature, we must experience it with the heart.

A mother asks why her son is dead, who God is, and why we are here at all. Set in 1950's Texas, the film is all yearning, exploring, imploring. It’s a stark contrast to the loud, violent fare filling modern multiplexes.

After Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) receives news of her 19-year-old son’s death, Malick returns us to our cosmic origins. Galaxies form. Earth develops. A couple meets. A child is born. Hundreds of beautifully composed images shape a quiet, elegant whole. Upheavals, universal and personal, take on a stately grace. The soundscape is lyrical. Even protozoa and dinosaurs demonstrate gentle intelligence.

Malick's sparse dialogue and interior monologues accompany these scenes like poetry. Lush cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki and the orchestral score by Alexandre Desplat are a revelation.

 

Mrs. O’Brien teaches her sons two ways through life. The way of grace accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked, insulted or injured. The way of nature (i.e., the way of the ego) dominates others, pleases itself and dwells in unhappiness. “Love is smiling through all things,” she says.

The Tree of Life shows the relationship of young Jack (Hunter McCracken in a stirring debut) and his strict, sometimes unhinged father (Brad Pitt in an Oscar-worthy dramatic performance). 

Pitt reveals a complex go-getter in the aerospace industry, a stern father who is an avid fan of Brahms. Yet O’Brien can’t reconcile the strains of a concerto with his family assembled around the dinner table. His sons never show him enough respect or measure up to his machismo.

Young Jack has begun breaking windows, stealing and tormenting small animals. “I’m as bad as you are,” Jack tells his father. Grace touches him one day and he experiences a change of heart. Jack apologizes to the brother (Laramie Eppler) he has hurt. He is kind to a neighborhood boy scarred in a house fire.

“The only way to be happy is to love. Unless you love, your life will flash by.” As Jack’s mother, Chastain is grace personified. She evokes a woman so gentle that a butterfly lands on her outstretched hand. When she disinfects a child’s cut and blows on it, we can feel her cool breath.  

 

Childhood innocence is gradually worn by the rules of society. “It takes fierce will to get ahead in this world,” Jack’s father tells him. The boy is forbidden to cross the invisible property line of a neighbor’s yard.

Sean Penn plays Jack as an angry, disillusioned man still grappling with his difficult father. Every year he lights a candle to commemorate his “true, kind” brother. Best Actor Penn delivers strong supporting work as he looks to the celestial skyscrapers of Houston for solace. They are a kind of postmodern church for Jack.

An asteroid strikes, causing massive tsunamis. Jack wanders a beach afterwards, filled with awe and wonder. It is a new beginning.

If we are open to it, The Tree of Life imparts a direct, mystical encounter between God and humans. Malick uses Christian references as the family attends church in Waco, Texas. The tree of life is an ancient symbol of heaven and earth in many religions.

The director continues his fascination with nature and the manmade world. The fields and forests of Jack’s childhood are a respite from searing inner conflicts. A universal perspective helps Jack heal years later. 

Douglas Trumbull’s special effects are natural and imaginative, resonant with the film’s ordered harmony. Superb editing is accomplished by Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber and Mark Yoshikawa. 

Malick makes films with great care and thought. After studying philosophy at Harvard, he directed four films over four decades, The New World, The Thin Red Line, Days of Heaven and Badlands.

"He is working within a Hollywood system, but in a unique and personal way, much the same as Kubrick did," according to Hannah Patterson, author of The Cinema of Terrence Malick: Poetic Visions of America. "There is that level of mystery that comes from not doing interviews and not being in the public eye,” she said. Malick allows his films to speak for themselves.

Three years in the making, The Tree of Life is the director’s most epic and spiritual film to date. It reveals civilization as an experiment, a tiny shard of all that is.

Malick’s newest project stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem and Rachel Weisz. It is scheduled for release in 2012.

 If you like The Tree of Life, you might enjoy: Of Gods and Men; I Am; 127 Hours.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

The Tree of Life     2011  /  PG-13  /  2 hours, 18 min

Cast Overview:  Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Fiona Shaw, Irene Bedard, Jessica Fuselier, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan 

Director:  Terrence Malick

Genre:  Drama, Indie, Period Piece

 
 

The First Grader ***1/2

 
 

Controversy erupts when 84-year-old Maruge enrolls in a rural elementary school with a simple request: “I want to learn to read.”  The unusual student spurs furious debate among parents, school administrators and the media in the drama based on a true story, The First Grader.

Passionate to learn, Kimani Ng’ang’a Maruge enrolled in a rural Kenyan grade school in 2003. He felt entitled when the country enacted universal free education. This led to widespread resentment. Why spend scarce educational resources on an old man? A Mau Mau veteran, Maruge swore an oath of allegiance to a free Kenya, leading to his torture and imprisonment. The Republic of Kenya was formed in 1964.

Oliver Litondo plays the farmer and Kikuyu tribesman with dignity and warmth. Tragedy haunts him. As Maruge meets resistance on all sides, he digs in his heels. Fashioning his own school uniform, he stands outside the school gate with his walking stick. Finally, one teacher cannot resist his determination.

What Maruge’s detractors missed was his innate value as a Kenyan elder and a citizen who passionately wanted to improve himself. Making an executive decision, Teacher Jane (Naomie Harris) names him her teaching assistant. Maruge’s delight in learning and helping his young classmates is clear. When he begins to share his patriotic beliefs during recess, the teachers become nervous.

Harris (Miami Vice; Pirates of the Caribbean) has created a potent symbol of the inspiring teacher who first believed in us. “Learning is about having fun,” she tells her class. This is a revolutionary statement about education in any culture or language. Anyone lucky enough to have had such a teacher remembers him or her right away. That teacher saw something special within us. Renewing our self-confidence, they suggested a life direction. They may even have changed our lives.

Harris is memorable as Jane Obinchu, a resourceful, caring principal and teacher. It’s remarkable how much excitement and zest she brings to her sparse classroom each day. Forget computers and PDAs. These children have nothing more than a sharp pencil a blank composition book. Teacher Jane’s arsenal includes a blackboard and some chalk. Still she engages each student. Challenging and praising them, and seems to genuinely love each one.

In an interview with Collider.com, Harris describes the making of The First Grader. "In a little movie like this, there are only seven of us that flew from England, and the rest were all local hires. We really felt like we were immersing ourselves in the culture and the community, and we were much more collaborative." Many of the child actors here had never seen a movie in their lives.

The First Grader loses focus with excessive flashbacks about Kenya’s fight against British colonial rule and Maruge’s torture as a prisoner of war. Justin Chadwick’s film lurches between learning and politics so often that its adult literacy theme stalls.

This National Geographic production feels Disney-like at times with social tensions simplified and resolved too easily. When students demand the return of Teacher Jane, her replacement suddenly turns tail and drives off into the dust. If only social change were this easy. 

Maruge’s visit to a Nairobi high school evokes the troubled, urban classrooms of Stand and Deliver and Dangerous Minds. He flees the rowdy school and barges into a meeting of national school administrators, insisting that he be heard. They listen.

Rob Hardy’s cinematography reveals rural beauty and urban social change. The trees of the bush symbolize Kenya as well as grisled Maruge and the idealistic young teacher who stands up to bureaucracy and personal threats.

Tony Kgoroge plays Jane’s husband Charles Obinchu, an education official who’s threatened by his wife’s notoriety.  Mumbi Kaigwa (The Constant Gardener) stars as the Secretary of Education.

 

Literacy is "the ability to read, write, compute, and use technology at a level that enables an individual to reach his or her full potential as a parent, employee, and community member," according to the international group ProLiteracy.

The right to literacy at any age seems to be the primary theme. ProLiteracy reports that, in the United States, 14 percent of those age 16 or older do not have the reading and comprehension skills needed to complete a job application. First Lady Laura Bush has championed family and women’s literacy worldwide.

This film also suggests the vast, often untapped wealth of knowledge and experience held by older citizens. Maruge exemplifies the student as teacher when he devises flash cards to help students who have trouble with word sounds and meanings.

The First Grader ends with satisfying irony. The media’s kneejerk reactions to those on the forefront of social change can run icy cold one day and warmly enthusiastic the next.

Eventually Maruge was invited to address the United Nations in New York City, becoming a source of pride for Kenyans. He was named to the Guinness World Records as the oldest person to begin primary school in 2004. Maruge died in 2009.

If you like The First Grader, you might enjoy:  Man Push Cart; Precious; The Blind Side.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

The First Grader     2010  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 43 min

Cast Overview:  Naomie Harris, Oliver Musila Litondo, Lwander Jawar, Tony Kgoroge, Alfred Munyua, Shki Mokgapa, Vusumuzi Michael Kunene, Mubi Kaigwa

Director:  Justin Chadwick

Genre:  Drama, Foreign Film