Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

Footloose: good date flick falls short of classic - 3 stars

 

See it for the dancing. Footloose (2011) updates the story of teen dance revolt in a small town. Craig Brewer’s faithful remake falls short of the original. Here’s how the two movies compare.

Ren MacCormack (now Kenny Wormald, who danced backup for Justin Timberlake; then Kevin Bacon in a breakout role) arrives in rural Bomont, where public dancing has been banned.

The preacher’s wild daughter Ariel (Dancing With the Stars’ Julianne Hough now; Lori Singer then) has a boyfriend. Handsome, smart and outspoken Ren catches her eye.

Exploding with energy and angst, the high school crowd rocks at the Hi-Spot. There they avoid cops and parents.

Dancing was outlawed after a car crash killed five teens, including the Rev. Shaw Moore’s son. As a result, he overprotects his daughter and sternly supervises the townsfolk. Rev. Shaw decries “this obscene rock-and-roll music, with its gospel of easy sexuality and relaxed morality.''

Pros and Cons:

The dance choreography is very similar in both movies. The remake is updated and features more dancing. Wormald performs the solo angry dance in a warehouse. Bacon did most of his own dancing, but had a double perform flips and complex moves.

Musically, updates of original songs like Kenny Loggins’ Footloose don’t always recapture burning passion.

Acting. Bacon aches as a high school senior desperate to break out and celebrate. He’s more understated and convincing than Wormald overall. Both deliver a great speech to the Town Council as Ren argues for the right to dance.

Hough and Singer are both moving. Miles Teller is great as Ren’s loyal friend Willard, an earnest dance clutz. The late Chris Penn played Willard in 1984. Ariel’s belligerent boyfriend Chuck Cranston (Patrick John Flueger now, Jim Youngs then) remains a jerk.

As preacher, Lithgow is passionate and moving, while Dennis Quaid overacts. Both capture well the reverend’s late change of heart.

Check out talented Sarah Jessica Parker as Ariel’s friend Rusty in the classic Footloose. Ziah Colon plays the new Rusty admirably. While no Flashdance, the original Footloose is better acted.

Strong female characters. Mourning the loss of her brother, Ariel’s daring road stunt shouts, “I matter too!” Ariel’s feat remains one of the great scenes in teen drama. It’s on par with Thelma and Louise’s final airborne journey, in my opinion. When Singer faces an oncoming train, she screams from the depths of her soul.

Both actors excel in a memorable scene where Ariel tells her father that she’s no longer a virgin.

Strangely, Andie MacDowell barely registers as the preacher’s wife. Dianne Wiest created much more interest as wife and mother in the original role.

The Accident vs. Ariel’s stunt. Footloose (2011) reprises the fatal crash that stuns the town. Footloose (1984) doesn’t show the past. It’s more dramatic when it shows crazy risk taking now. Ariel straddles two speeding cars in the face of an oncoming truck.

The Race. Ren and Chuck race tractors toward each other head on in the original. It’s simple, direct and scary. In Footloose (2011), a bunch of boys pilot old school buses. Multiple crashes and rollovers just don’t fit. Wasn’t this a contest between Ren and Chuck?

Sex: Powerful or Exploited? Hough is dressed like a porn star in some scenes. Singer’s outfits convey that she’s sexy and proud. Hough’s skimpy costumes distract from her excellent dancing.

For more about women and sexuality on screen, check out my review of Miss Representation.

Brewer also directed Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan. The late Herbert Ross (Steel Magnolias; Boys on the Side) directed the original. Which Footloose is your favorite?

If you like Footloose, you might enjoy: Black Swan; Water for Elephants.

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Footloose   2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 53 min

 

Cast Overview: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Patrick John Flueger, Andie MacDowell, Dennis Quaid, Miles Teller, Ziah Colon

Director:  Craig Brewer

Genre:  Drama, Teen Drama, Dance, Music, Romance

 

Restless: death haunts young lovers - 2.5 stars

Death lurks while two teens fall in love in Restless, Gus Van Sant’s Harold and Maude inspired drama. Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right; Jane Eyre) and Henry Hopper (Dennis Hopper’s son) star.

The opening is intriguing. Enoch (Hopper) is a glum high school dropout who wears black and crashes funerals. He grieves vicariously for his mom and dad who died in a car accident. Enoch survived. He likes to remind others that he was “dead for three minutes” and awoke from a coma.

Annabel (Mia Wasikowska) is an optimist who talks to her hero Charlie Darwin. A winsome sprite with a brain tumor, she has three months to live. Annabel admires birds and beetles, and dubs herself a naturalist. She has transcended anger, living in acceptance and humor.

The two meet at a memorial service. Enoch rebuffs her, but Annabel persists. She recognizes a kindred soul. “Seen any good funerals lately?” is a conversation starter for these two.

I like odd movies, and really wanted to like Restless. Sentimental and trite, it tries too hard with swells of loud music and distracting flourishes (Annabel’s vintage wardrobe is endless). Talented Wasikowska has her moments, but Hopper struggles as morose Enoch.

The movie lingers in a graveyard of clever banter. The action falls flat even with a flurry of bucket list antics. Annabel accepts death as a friend, making light of the inevitable. Enoch is more obsessive.

They must race to fall in love. Their relationship is believable and painfully finite. With no future, they must live in the moment. Death is their silent partner.

Henry helps Annabel make the most of her last days. Scene after scene is artfully framed. Annabel looks healthy and radiant throughout. Restless is a felt experience. A valuable dramatic experiment, it falls short with one note whimsy.

What does work is the ghost. Enoch’s friend Hiroshi (Ryo Kase) was a kamikaze pilot in World War II. Still dressed in his jacket and flight cap, he pops by for witty conversation or a game of Battleship. Hiroshi lends a playful, quasi-fantasy quality here with comic relief. His character suggests that life and death are one, an ongoing continuum.

As Enoch’s mentor, Hiroshi isn’t afraid to talk sense to him. They get into a fist fight, providing welcome conflict. Something keeps the pilot hanging around, which is revealed at the movie’s end.

Restless lacks the nuance and power of Van Sant’s Elephant, Paranoid Park and Milk. This film avoids exploring the mystery of death and the meaning of existence.

A chalk-on-asphalt drawing of two fallen teens holding hands is the tipoff. Restless draws a happy face on death.

Other movies you might enjoy:  50/50; Love & Other Drugs.

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Restless     2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 33 min

Cast Overview:  Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska, Ryo Kase, Schuyler Fisk, Jane Adams, Chin Han, Lusia Strus

Director:  Gus Van Sant

Genre:  Drama, Fantasy

Beginners *****

 

He may be late for the party, but Hal celebrates like it’s 1955. Smart and bittersweet, Beginners stars Christopher Plummer as a 75-year-old gay man who has just come out to his son Oliver (Ewan McGregor). Two parallel love stories are told. 

Beginners is masterfully directed and written by Mike Mills, whose own father came out late in life. Explored are the connections between father and son, father and new friends, son and father’s boyfriend, and son and girlfriend. This is a film of visual grace with a sensitive, vulnerable and thoughtful quality.

Plummer gives a vintage performance as Hal, a man who married for love in the hope that he could smother other desires within him. Fun-loving yet dignified, he’s diagnosed with cancer. The last few months of Hal’s life are reenacted with whimsy and directness, accompanied by Vaudeville tunes. “I don’t want to just be theoretically gay. I want to do something about it,” Hal says. As friends visit his sunny sickroom, he claims he’s getting better.

 

Patterns, shapes and forms represent life and love. After Hal’s death, Oliver adopts Arthur, a Jack Russell terrier who is more philosophical than most people. As Oliver talks with the dog, Arthur replies in subtitles. Their true friendship weaves low-key humor throughout the film.

Sex. Nature. Images of the sun, the sky and presidents past and present fill the screen. Oliver sketches faces of old girlfriends with captions. When he creates a sketch book for a rock band The Sads, they’re not taken with his images. All they wanted was an album cover. Sadness is unique for everyone. Oliver needs to savor and learn from it.

As Oliver begins seeing French actress Anna (Melanie Laurent, the theater owner in Inglourious Basterds), McGregor reveals insecurity and wisdom. The two meet at a costume party not long after Hal’s death. He’s Sigmund Freud. She’s Charlie Chaplin. He’s depressed. She has laryngitis. Playful and tentative, they explore each other and the world. He tells her about his father. “For the first time I saw him really in love.” 

Goran Visnjic is dark, intense and boyish as Hal’s young lover Andy. Hal must learn some new customs when Andy goes out on a date. “At least I’m the Number One boyfriend,” Hal tells his son wistfully. A scene between Oliver and Andy after Hal’s death is particularly moving.

Simple yet deep, Beginners discovers despair, emptiness and happiness. Deep, reflective characters live in a sweet, sincere film that will merit attention during Oscar season.

If you like Beginners, you might enjoy:  Barney’s Version; The Kids Are All Right.

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Beginners     2011  /  R  /  1 hour, 44 min

Cast Overview:  Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller

Director:  Mike Mills

Genre:  Drama, Indie, Romance

 

The Double Hour ****

 

When a hotel maid sees a guest leap to her death, her own identity fractures in the romantic thriller The Double Hour (La Doppia Ora). Giuseppe Capotondi's first feature film flashes back and forward with shadowy twists and genuine passions that dovetail perfectly.

Known for his music videos, Capotondi expertly crafts intrigue in the tradition of Hitchcock, Scorsese and Polanski. He’s a director to watch as he joins a new generation of psychological thrill-weavers including the Coen brothers, Christopher Nolan, Juan Jose Campanella and David Fincher.

A robbery. A coma. An old priest. A red bedspread. The action unfolds in Turin, Italy, yet it’s already happened. The future is uncertain – or is it? The director creates a landscape of furtive glances, secrets, lies and surprises. Vivid recollections may be real – or not. There is violence, but the film does not rely on it. Suspense is based firmly on direction, acting and editing. By the final scene, it all makes sense.

Russian actress Ksenia Rappoport achingly portrays Sonia, the hotel maid who goes speed-dating to forget the grisly suicide she witnessed. Guido (Filippo Timi of Vincere), a widowed, former cop now running security at a secluded mansion, is the last man she meets that night. He’s handsome, soft-spoken and honest, a far cry from the others. The two continue their conversation in an evening stroll along the riverfront. Both Rappoport and Timi won awards at the 2009 Venice Film Festival for their stirring, enigmatic performances.

 

A double hour, Guido tells Sonia, is the moment when hour and minute are identical. When a digital clock at the opulent mansion displays 23:23, Guido praises that magical time when wishes can be made and granted. As the plot unravels, several double hours mark turning points for the pair.

Capotondi cleverly manipulates man-made and naturalistic details to build suspense. Guido shows Sonia the long-distance mic that he uses to detect intruders. He has recorded afternoons of bird song at the estate too. Guido offers to create a relaxing, sensuous DVD just for Sonia.

Lending fascination are Antonia Truppo as Sonia’s co-worker and friend Margherita; Giorgio Colangeli as the old priest; Gaetano Bruno as the thug Riccardo, and Michele Di Mauro as persistent detective Dante.

The Double Hour was filmed on location in Carmagnola, Turin and the Piedmont region of Italy.

Outstanding writing by the team of Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi and Stefano Sardo makes The Double Hour a modest gem where everyday life holds drama and yearning. Guido Notari contributes superb editing.

If you like The Double Hour, you might enjoy:  Shutter Island; The Ghost Writer; The Secret in Their Eyes.

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The Double Hour     2009  /  NR  /  2 hours, 18 min

Cast Overview:  Ksenia Rappoport, Filippo Timi, Antonia Truppo, Gaetano Bruno, Fausto Russo Alesi, Michele Di Mauro, Lucia Poli, Giorgio Colangeli

Director:  Giuseppe Capotondi

Genre:  Thriller, Crime Thriller, Romance, Mystery, Foreign Film

Language: Italian with English subtitles

Midnight in Paris *****

 

Woody Allen’s magic is back. A charming, erudite frolic through Paris and the heart of an idealistic Hollywood screenwriter, Midnight in Paris lightheartedly explores past and present.

Midnight in Paris savors life and literature in the City of Light. Allen’s newest film looks and feels like Woody at his eternally searching, meditative best. Opening with shots of Paris by day and night, in sun and rain, he romances the vibrant hub of culture and romance.

Allen serves a visual and emotional feast as he did in Manhattan. He incorporates a hint of his legendary zaniness (Bananas, Sleeper) with mellow, “what if” curiosity. The director, 76, watches these characters fuss and fight with less anxiety and more insight, as if he’s been there, done that. He reimagines his best, creative work here.

As characters struggle inwardly and with one another, Midnight in Paris echoes The Purple Rose of Cairo with a nod to literature buffs. Allen seems less neurotic and more trusting in his latest film, a delightful culmination of his prolific career so far. Allen has written and directed a movie a year for over 40 years.

Delightful surprises after the clock strikes twelve are best left for viewers to discover. Owen Wilson is Allen’s on-screen persona Gil Pender, a shambling, successful screenwriter who daydreams about finishing his novel, fleeing Malibu and moving to Paris. “Paris in the spring in the rain!” is Gil’s refrain. “You’re in love with a fantasy,” carps his gold digger fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams).

Inez and her parents (Kurt Fuller and Mimi Kennedy) become more agitated as Gil grows more enchanted with Paris’ Golden Age, where “every street, every boulevard is its own art form.” Marion Cotillard is perfect as earnest femme fatale Adriana who loves Paris as much as Gil does.

It’s a career-changing role for Wilson (Wedding Crashers; The Royal Tenenbaums), who as artistic everyman is writing a novel set in a nostalgia shop. Gil explores the charisma of the past as he seeks to satisfy inner yearnings. Meanwhile McAdams (The Notebook, Morning Glory) plays the Woody Allen type of a shrill, controlling female.

Know-it-all intellectual Paul (Michael Sheen) flirts with Inez as he basks in her admiration. “Nostalgia is denial of a painful present,” he tells Gil. The windbag has the gall to confront a museum guide (beautifully played by France’s first lady Carla Bruni) over Rodin’s love life.

 
 
Fascinating actors contribute gems of performance as the story unfolds. Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Tom Hiddleston, Alison Pill and Corey Stoll add delight.

Filled with memorable Allenisms, the film’s best one-liners include: “No subject is terrible if the story is true and if the prose is clean and honest.” “You’ll never write well if you fear dying.”

In an interview with LA Weekly, Allen spoke about some dialogue he wrote for this film, that the artist’s job is “to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.”  "I don't know if I believe that myself," he said. "One could make a case for that – that the job of the artist is to show why life, despite all its horror and brutality, is worth living and is a valuable thing.”

One could argue that “it's not the job of the artist to do anything at all -- just to make the best art that he can, because art gives pleasure and pleasure gives distraction, and distraction is the only thing that gets us by, really,” Allen said.

Cinematographer Darius Khondji evokes gorgeous Paris from the opening scenes through the finale on a stately bridge between past and present.

If you like Midnight in Paris, you might enjoy:  Barney’s Version; Love & Other Drugs; Just Go With It.

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Midnight in Paris     2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 34 min 

Cast Overview:  Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Owen Wilson, Tom Hiddleston, Alison Pill, Marcial Di Fonzo Bo, Corey Stoll, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Lea Seydoux

Director:  Woody Allen

Genre:  Romantic Comedy, Romance

 

 

Water for Elephants ****

 

 

Beyond the big top, life is hell at Benzini Brothers Greatest Show on Earth. Animals are fed rotting meat and work until they collapse. Humans subsist on hooch and three squares, waiting weeks for a paycheck. Layoffs are dispensed by red lighting, with men thrown from a moving train.

The circus is home to a small, dedicated band seeking more than survival during the Depression. These beings want excitement and greatness, the chance to break free and be loved and accepted.

The show is built on illusion, but we may as well believe in this uneven adaptation of Sara Gruen’s novel Water for Elephants.

A madman drives this circus. Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) brings the most energy to the drama as ringmaster August. Bombastic, terse and menacing, Waltz plays a paranoid schizophrenic who pours champagne one moment and brutalizes his wife Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) the next.

Director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend; Constantine) crams too much of the book into this film, and peers most at its harshest realities.  As a result, the action lags occasionally and we are left feeling grim.

Robert Pattinson seems to play Robert Pattinson rather than orphaned veterinary student Jacob Jankowski, displaying a Twilight-like, flat affect with a hint of smolder. The actor achieves some chemistry with glowing Witherspoon, and he convincingly relates to Rosie the elephant and other animals.

The love of animals and a “sixth sense” about the beasts draw Jacob and Marlena to each other. Tai, the elephant who plays Rosie, looks mournful as she’s brought in to save the struggling circus. We learn that she likes whiskey and lemonade, and answers to commands in Polish. Rosie performs her duties with uncanny wisdom. She’s capable of flashes of humor and rebellion.

This film received the No Animals Were Harmed (R) designation of the American Humane Association.

 

Pattinson’s low key approach doesn’t always stand up alongside colorful Waltz. In one confrontation with August, Jacob seems to fade into a wall. A high point is an early scene where the two leap atop boxcars of a train snaking into dusk.

Hal Holbrook ties the film together with early narration. As Jankowski in his nineties, he visits a modern-day circus and tells his story to Charlie (Paul Schneider). “I had a good life, you know. A big life.” With melodious voice and teary eyes, Holbrook is a treasure.

Reese Witherspoon is a regal survivor. In keeping with the tone of the film, she remains cool and removed. Delivering some wonderful equestrian acrobatic scenes, she loses the Witherspoon warmth found in Election and Legally Blonde.

“Out there I got nothing, just like everybody else” says Marlena. “There is something better for you,” Jacob tells her.

An excellent supporting cast includes Jim Norton as the roustabout Camel, and Mark Povinelli as Jacob’s roommate Walter.

Despite its PG-13 rating, Water for Elephants is not a feel-good, family film. Ultimately uplifting (screenwriter Richard LaGravenese uses Gruen’s delightful surprise ending), it dwells in a sad, gritty place.

Several violent scenes are added late in the film. These depart significantly from the novel. There was no need for them, since Gruen’s vision and her beloved animals deliver a baptism that is powerful enough.

If you like Water for Elephants, you might enjoy:  Red Riding Hood; The Last Lions; Born to Be Wild.

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Water for Elephants     2011  /  PG-13  /    2 hours

Cast Overview:  Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Cristoph Waltz, Paul Schneider, Jim Norton, Hal Holbrook, Mark Povinelli, Richard Brake, Tai, Uggie, Ice, Major

Director:  Francis Lawrence

Genre:  Drama, Romantic Drama, Drama Based on the Book, Period Piece

Jane Eyre *****

 

Mia Wasikowska updates classic heroine Jane Eyre with passion and aplomb in Cary Fukunaga’s remake of the Charlotte Bronte novel. 

This is Wasikowska’s breakout role. Her talent and screen presence have attracted notice lately in The Kids Are All Right, In Treatment and Alice in Wonderland.

The Australian-born actor lends intelligent yearning to “poor, obscure” Jane. Gazing out a window at horizons she may never cross, she conveys inner strength and a vast spirit despite her humble circumstances as a governess.

Delightfully sassy with impertinent wit, Jane speaks out to her cruel aunt Mrs. Reed (Sally Hawkins) and to heartless headmaster Mr. Brocklehurst (Simon McBurney).  Amelia Clarkson plays young Jane.

Wasikowska does Bronte proud, revealing an advocate for women’s rights before such ideas had a name. This Jane stands in time alongside the heroine rendered by Samantha Morton (1997), Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996) and Joan Fontaine (1944).

Michael Fassbender embodies pain and sarcasm as Edward Rochester. What comes through is the character’s loneliness. One senses the isolation of Jane, Mr. Rochester and Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench), each turning to the other to meet their needs in some way.

Rochester’s stealthy handling of the madwoman in the attic bristles even while Fassbender reveals a sympathetic, conflicted man.

Jamie Bell plays pious and ultimately domineering St. John Rivers. Holliday Grainger and Tamzin Merchant shine as the supportive, nurturing Rivers sisters.

Jane Eyre fans will enjoy this film while remembering the over-the-top frenzy of Rochesters past (Orson Welles in 1944; Ciaran Hinds in 1997). They might miss more screen time for the violent madwoman (played briefly by Valentina Cervia), and a more dramatized fire scene in the master’s bedroom.

Chronology is confused with early cross-cutting. In the stirring opening, Jane flees Thornfield and is rescued by St. John Rivers. Next we see a brief review of her orphan days at the family’s Gateshead estate, and later at the Lowood Institution. 

Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) finally settles the tale into its natural dramatic arc with Jane’s arrival at Thornfield and her tutelage of Mr. Rochester’s charge Adele (Romy Settbon Moore).

Spare, powerful writing by Moira Buffini and impassioned delivery give Jane Eyre its ringing, memorable lines. “Children, I exhort you to with hold the hand of friendship to Jane Eyre.” “Mr. Rochester’s visits are always unexpected.” “You transfix me, quite.”

Cinematographer Adriano Goldman captures action in beautiful shades of pewter, contrasted with bright outdoor vistas.

 

Judi Dench is masterful as Mrs. Fairfax, opinionated, warm and manipulative. As head housekeeper, she rivals her master (and distant relative) Mr. Rochester even while pooh-poohing her status.

We see less merrymaking by elite Blanche Ingram (Imogen Poots) and her entourage. Poots adds interest with a Blanche who is more threatened by Jane from the start.

The heroine receives an inheritance, adding more power late in the drama.  A return to Edward would not be Jane’s only option. 

The final reunion scene lacks the outward fire of previous Jane Eyre films, yet it leaves much to the imagination in quiet beauty.

If you like Jane Eyre, you might enjoy: The Young Victoria; The Kids Are All Right; Red Riding Hood.

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Jane Eyre     2011  /  PG-13  /  2 hours, 1 min

Cast Overview: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Amelia Clarkson, Sally Hawkins, Freya Parks, Holliday Grainger, Tamzin Merchant, Imogen Poots, Valentina Cervi, Judi Dench

Director:  Cary Joji Fukunaga

Genre:  Drama, Romance, Period Piece, Drama Based on the Book

Certified Copy ***

 

 

Intellectual banter turns cat and mouse in the art house romantic drama Certified Copy. This walk and talk, European-style film by modernist Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami is his first Western creation. The circumspect filmmaker won the Palme D’or for A Taste of Cherry (1997).

Certified Copy is akin to My Dinner With Andre and L’Avventura.  Alas, it is short on interesting ideas, and long on teary hissy fits.

Playful, provocative and frustrating, the story is so thin and open-ended that it can be interpreted manifold. Was that the point?

Here’s one possible theme: Does real love accept what is or chase an ideal?

British author James Miller (opera singer William Shimell in his fine screen debut) is a quiet rebel who loves to find the authentic in what society considers “fake.” His book is called Certified Copy. 

After his book tour in Tuscany, he accepts the invitation of antiques dealer Elle (Juliette Binoche, Best Actress winner at Cannes for this role) to escort him on a day trip to the village of Lucignano. 

Elle passionately believes in authenticity, whether in art or in a man.

Men are not works of art, but works in progress.  Elle’s husband left her years ago. Her son is annoyingly happy-go-lucky. “No understanding of time!” she wails. Time and tradition honor Elle’s ideals. Accepting what is now drives her crazy.

Miller’s love life remains a mystery. It’s clear that he values beauty where he finds it, especially when it is overlooked by society. He seems immune to many sensual delights around him, including the charms of Elle.

The actors generate fascination, especially while Elle drives the visitor through the lovely Tuscan countryside.  Reflections move over the windshield as the two express their convictions. Elle reveals more of her heart. Miller stays safely within his head.

Miller admires the Cypress trees that line the road.  Each one is a “copy” of its ancestors, yet original and beautiful in its own right. Are we just replicas of our ancestors, or something more?

Cinematographer Luca Bigazzi captures gorgeous scenes along the roadway and in a cafe, museum, piazza and chapel. Mostly he studies the actors’ faces, with close-ups of anguish, longing and distance.

A cafe owner (Gianna Giachetti) shares her traditional opinions about husbands and wives. She mistakes the two as a married couple. Elle goes along with the deceit. Surprisingly, Miller does as well. The film begins to run aground.

 

As newlyweds mill about at a popular wedding site, Elle insists that the faux couple pose with a bride and groom for a picture. She pretends that they were married here 15 years ago.  This, along with a mirrored scene in a piazza, goes nowhere.

Are they or aren’t they a couple? This is part of the riddle that Kiarostami employs. The story becomes tedious despite its dry humor.  Binoche creates near hysteria as she insists on ideal love. Shimell grows wooden.

Elle zigs and zags between authenticity and role playing. She exhausts herself. Miller’s calm demeanor dissolves. He turns frazzled and out of sorts. Elle begins to pursue him. They circle and spar.  

Love is life’s meaning for Elle. Miller (and perhaps Kiarostami) dwells in existentialism. We create life’s meaning. Love happens – or it does not.

"There are no immutable truths in art," Miller says at the book tour. When romance is so muddled, can we ever begin again?

If you like Certified Copy, you might enjoy: 35 Shots of Rum; Somewhere; Mademoiselle Chambon.

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Certified Copy     2010  /  NR  /  1 hour, 46 min

Cast: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carriere, Agathe Natanson, Gianna Giachetti, Adrian Moore, Angelo Barbagallo

Director:  Abbas Kiarostami

Genre:  Drama, Foreign Film

Languages: French, Italian and English with English subtitles

 

Love & Other Drugs ***

 
 

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway fall into lust and love in the thought-provoking dramedy Love & Other Drugs.

Youth, good luck and ambition rule as Jamie Randall (Gyllenhaal) embarks on a new career in pharmaceutical sales. “It’s the only entry level job where you start at $100K,” his software millionaire brother Josh (Josh Gad) marvels.

Jamie meets sarcastic, sexy Maggie Murdock (Hathaway) while he’s shadowing Dr. Knight (Hank Azaria) during rounds. She bares her breast as he looks on. The catch – she has early onset Parkinson’s disease.

When Bohemian artist Maggie discovers that Jamie is a salesman and not an intern, she decks him in the parking lot.  The two won’t admit it, but it’s love at first sight.

Ravenous sex and manic energy give way to melodrama in the film’s second half.  Sex is the drug, an escape from life for both Jamie and Maggie. This becomes an uneven seesaw of tragedy and everyday triumphs.

Geeky Josh adds smutty gags after a breakup with his girlfriend forces him to camp out on Jamie’s couch. 

Director Edward Zwick almost succeeds in stretching rom-com into medical drama.  In Big Pharma’s world, disease is the focus, not the patient.  Zwick raises awareness, but zaniness no longer fits.

Jamie loves Maggie much to his terror. He’s never told a woman he loves her before.  Does Maggie love Jamie?  Jamie meets the husband of a stage four Parkinson’s victim.  Does he really want to stay with Maggie?

 

It’s 1998, the age of Big Pharma and medical miracles. Viagra is about to be released. Jamie is poised for super success. The little blue pill is the drug everyone wants! 

Oliver Platt is super as Jamie’s company mentor who dreams of topping sales records so he can settle down with his family in Chicago.

Maggie gives up. Jamie has dragged her to lectures around the country. Progress and even cures are documented with chelation therapy and other approaches.  Maggie insists there is no cure. She only believes in drugs. 

Talented Gyllenhaal and Hathaway needed better direction here. Nude scenes for both actors and plenty of foul language add to the bumpy ride.

Maggie is lovely and wary (with abundant close-ups of Hathaway’s radiant grin). Later she becomes a health advocate for the elderly.  It’s a big stretch for wisecracking Maggie.

Fine supporting roles are delivered by George Segal as Jamie’s successful doctor dad, and the late Jill Clayburgh as his radiant mom.

The film is loosely based on Hard Sell, a memoir by former Viagra sales rep Jamie Reidy.

If you like Love and Other Drugs, you might enjoy:  Blue Valentine; Up in the Air; The Kids Are All Right.

Love and Other Drugs   2010  /  R  /  1 hour, 53 min

Cast:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, Josh Gad, Gabriel Macht, Jill Clayburgh, George Segal

Director:  Edward Zwick

Genre:  Romantic Comedy, Dramedy

The Adjustment Bureau ***1/2

 
 
Free will is at stake as Matt Damon and Emily Blunt star in The Adjustment Bureau, a sci-fi thriller with a passionate but predictable romance.

The film doesn’t venture too deeply into its premise, that benevolent aliens (who look human) control our individual destinies – for our own good, they insist.  Wearing hats and suits, they resemble Men in Black more than angels.

The Adjustment Bureau is pleasing enough with fine work by Damon and Blunt. The chase scenes are exciting. The mystery of why the Bureau is so interested in preventing the hot romance between New York Congressman David Norris (Damon) and ballerina Elise Sellas (Blunt) is revealed gradually.

Yet those who have heard such conspiracy tales may yearn for a more original twist on the short story Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick. You won’t find that here.

First-time director George Nolfi did adapt the script successfully to appeal to a broad audience. He’s a director to watch out for as his honest, upfront work continues to evolve. Nolfi also wrote The Bourne Ultimatum (2007); The Sentinel (2006) and Ocean’s Twelve (2004).

Right after Norris loses a Senate campaign, Richardson (Mad Men’s John Slattery) tells him that following The Plan is best for his future and Elise’s. The proof? He and the other agents carry small, electronic books that show The Plan unfolding.  Any false move by Norris is immediately flagged and sends the agents scurrying.

The film is just realistic enough to make one wonder whether our own nationally elected officials have been visited by such Mad Men lookalikes.

When a big gun is called in to reason with Norris (Terence Stamp as foreboding Thompson), the upstart remains bull-headed.  Disaster looms. He’s warned that his decision could wreck the world’s future.

 

Agent Harry Mitchell (emotive Anthony Mackie, excellent here) befriends Norris.

Norris’ ultimate price to pay for disobedience would be a dreaded “reset” (the equivalent of a lobotomy). Only the Chairman, a man “we have all met” who could “look like anyone” has the power to intervene.

Cameos by Michael Bloomberg, Jon Stewart and other talking heads add authenticity as Norris pursues national political office.

Damon makes a dynamic, honest politician. A college mooning prank, offensive to voters, is not serious enough to keep Norris from running again for the Senate. Michael Kelly plays his loyal campaign manager.

The handsome visual style of the film reflects Nolfi’s love of architecture.  Production designer Kevin Thompson, location manager Rob Streim and cinematographer John Toll tapped New York City locations including the roof of 30 Rockefeller Center; the New York Public Library; the Custom House in lower Manhattan; the Waldorf Astoria Hotel; the South Street Seaport area; the West Village; the field at Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Park.

If you like The Adjustment Bureau, you might enjoy: Inception; The American; Conviction; Hereafter; Green Zone.

The Adjustment Bureau  2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 46 min

Cast:  Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Michael Kelly, Terence Stamp

Director:  George Nolfi

Genre:  Sci-Fi Thriller, Drama, Romance