Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

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.

Top 10 Steps to Self-Discovery for Best Actress Natalie Portman in Black Swan

 

In psycho-sexual thriller Black Swan, Best Actress Natalie Portman transforms herself on film and in real life. These 10 steps to self-discovery show her growth as a woman, a dancer, a daughter and a human being:

1. Daughter to Adult. Portman’s character Nina Sayers breaks away from her overprotective mother (Barbara Hershey). She does whatever it takes to secure the Swan Queen role. “Where is my sweet girl?” Hershey asks. “She’s gone!” Portman screams.  Nina becomes her own woman as she dances in her bedroom filled with stuffed animals and dance figurines.
2. Physical Stamina.  Portman reveals a determined dance martyr who cracks her joints, splits toenails and purges to stay thin. Self-mutilation is a disturbing part of her journey. The star performed much of her own dancing in Black Swan. At the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, Portman described dance as “expression through physicality alone.” She had to master every muscle, including “the detail on how the fingertips move, the eyes, the placement of the head.”
3. Mental Endurance.  Nina has practiced for hours a day since childhood, so it is not a stretch to work even harder to win a leading role. Great performers often lose themselves while immersed in their craft. What is troubling is Nina’s complete loss of self.
4.  Sexuality.  Dance master Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) raises the bar. In his new production of Swan Lake, the star must play both the White and Black swans.  Nina can play the virginal White Swan in a heartbeat, Leroy says.  But can she manage the seductive, lascivious Black Swan? Leroy hits on Nina, using sex to bring her out.
5.  Professional Recognition.  Nina finally secures the Swan Queen role, but intense preparation holds psychological perils. Former company star Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) confronts Nina and makes her reel with guilt. Beth is belligerent over her forced retirement, and seems utterly used up and violently crushed.
6.  Sister/Competitor.  Nina allows Lily (Mila Kunis) to befriend her. Lily initiates Nina into the dark side of art and creation as they go out for a night on the town. The two vie for the same role, yet they complement each other. Nina embraces her own dark, hidden desires. Lily is moved ever so slightly by Nina’s genuine innocence.
7.  Genuine Romance.  In real life, Portman fell in love with her co-star and choreographer Benjamin Millepied.  The two are engaged and expecting their first child, a boy, this year.  It’s a fairy tale ending that contrasts with Black Swan’s nightmarish course.
8.  Self-Love: Befriending the Self.  After Black Swan ends, filmgoers are left to consider self-love.  Will Nina ever be able to return to life after her peak experience onstage?
9.  Fame and Success.  Creation. Destruction. Sacrifice.  Black Swan dramatizes the life of a female artist. Society expects much from women. Women may raise that bar even higher. Is success worthwhile when the path demands so much?
10.  Darkness and Light.  Blending nightmare and fairy tale, Director Darren Aronofsky shows a woman who has lost perspective.  The Dance is one part of Nina’s life. She must learn that it is not her whole life. 

Like Top 10 Lists? You might enjoy: Top 10 Films That Change Us 2010 ©; Top 10 Steps to Healing for Best Actor Colin Firth in The King’s Speech.

Top 10 Films That Change Us In Some Way 2010 (c)

 

The Top 10 Films That Change Us In Some Way © for 2010 have been announced at Secret Agent Gal Reviews.  These excellent feature films captivated audiences with characters’ personal growth and transformation. The winners are:

1.     The Social Network.  Jesse Eisenberg is more than a misfit as he plays stilted yet very human visionary and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. His other-worldly focus on friendship and social status is like that of a wise old man. Eisenberg and co-star Andrew Garfield bring the techno-savvy pioneers and their high stakes maneuvering down to earth for the rest of us. Facebook becomes a multi-billion dollar social networking phenomenon.   

2.     The Kids Are All Right.  The power of a good film is that it can change our hearts and open our minds. The Kids Are All Right is one of those films. In the naturalness that the actors achieve, with arch comedic timing and a point of view that’s honest but not overbearing, stereotypes melt. Here is a form of family – and it’s genuinely all right. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore create bona fide screen history. Lisa Cholodenko directs.

3.     127 Hours.  What Aron Ralston seeks (and James Franco so eloquently discovers) is beauty in the strange and mysterious, a longing for the Divine. Danny Boyle’s film is unique as it portrays extreme sports action and Ralston’s inner life. The psychological suspense of this true-life adventure is intense even when we know how the story ends.

 

4.     The Secret in Their Eyes.  Ricardo Darin as retired detective Benjamin Esposito pours his passion into a true crime novel.  Juan Jose Campanella’s love story wrapped in mystery unfolds with considerable beauty and grace.  Love and truth emerge in the parallel story of Benjamin’s life. (Made in 2009, The Secret in Their Eyes did not open in the U.S. until 2010 when it won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film).

5.     I Am Love.  Tilda Swinton’s plunge into passion and sensuality reveals Emma’s parched soul in Luca Guadagnino’s breathless, primal drama.  A successful wife who fulfills her role with grace, Emma seems content yet drained. The tension between old and new is palpable within and around her. Our true passion may be right in front of us.

6.     Winter’s Bone.  Ree Dolly’s quest becomes her initiation. We reel in shock at what she is expected to do. Even the coldness of the hill folk’s criminal element thaws alongside Ree’s resolute stand. Jennifer Lawrence stars as a scrappy 17-year-old who shepherds her family on the brink of losing their home.

 

7.     The King’s Speech.   Colin Firth is called upon to be a leader just as he’s ready to surrender. Geoffrey Rush co-stars as King George VI’s speech coach in this true story of a remarkable friendship and triumph over disability during some of history’s darkest hours.

8.     Eat Pray Love.  How big the world is, and how it puts our personal struggles into perspective. Liz (Julia Roberts) meets a memorable array of characters in Italy, India and Bali as she searches for herself and the Divine. Along the way she finds gratitude for her friends and for life. Eat Pray Love is a lush travelogue of self-discovery.

9.     Black Swan.  Natalie Portman surrenders herself wholly as a strong yet self-destructive ballerina. Lavish and captivating, Darren Aronofsky’s film shows artistry and self-actualization. In order to achieve wholeness, the Dark must roar alongside pure intention and high ideals.

 

10.   Greenberg.  Ben Stiller reveals the human side of a prickly narcissist. Who Roger Greenberg is and who he’s being are very different. This is a mature, breakout performance for Stiller, as Greenberg finally embraces the life he never planned on.

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):  Conviction; Fair Game; Get Low; Hereafter; Solitary Man; The American; The Fighter; The Town; Secretariat. 

Reviews for The Top 10 Films That Change Us In Some Way © are posted at Secret Agent Gal Reviews. 

 

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

Greenberg ****

 

Ben Stiller delivers his deepest role yet in Greenberg, an indie comedy that becomes romantic. As a self-absorbed 40-year-old, fresh from a nervous breakdown, he confronts his failures as he house-sits for his successful brother in Los Angeles.

Greenberg’s previews do not do it justice. For all Roger Greenberg’s vices – he’s angry, bitter and unexpectedly mean – there’s a sensitivity and vulnerability. He hides behind narcissism. His humor is intrinsic, transcending the laugh aloud lunacy of Derek Zoolander.

Stiller’s is a mature, subtle performance that makes us care even if we don’t like Greenberg. Marked by his fateful decision 20 years ago to leave his rock band as they were about to sign a major record deal, he fled L.A. to become a carpenter in New York. 

Greenberg’s self-disappointment runs deep as he reconnects with old friends. His capacity for empathy shows only in his eyes. “Life is wasted on people,” he tells friend and former band mate Ivan (Rhys Ifans).

This film succeeds because Director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale; Margot at the Wedding) conveys such compassion for Greenberg and his companions. Cinematographer Harris Savides lingers on the bittersweet anti-hero after his sharpest barbs. Stiller’s talent is that he can make us identify with him.  Who he is and who he’s being are very different.

Greenberg’s growth in his on again - off again relationship with his brother’s personal assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig) drives the plot. Florence is a flaky but wise delight, a self-deprecating 25-year-old who says “thank you” to cars that let her into traffic. Gerwig evokes great poignancy during a clumsy groping by Greenberg, and again when she sings a heartfelt solo at open mic in a nearly empty club. 

 

“Hurt people hurt people,” Florence tells him.  Greenberg’s tirades against the sweet girl are painful to watch. It isn’t until Florence needs help one day that Greenberg moves past self-absorption and finally draws closer to his true feelings.

Ivan is beautifully underplayed by Ifans, a willing listener despite Greenberg’s decision to abandon the band. Ivan has survived detox and struggles to hold his marriage together. Greenberg chastises his friend, urging him to hold out for greater things than marriage and fatherhood.  Since he doesn’t compromise with life, why should anyone else?

Jennifer Jason Leigh portrays Greenberg’s ex-lover, representing his road not taken. At his urging they meet for coffee. Enthusiastically he recounts the particulars of their relationship. She barely remembers them, having moved on to motherhood and surviving a divorce.

Greenberg confesses his feelings to himself and to Florence at last. Ivan sums up the epiphany: “It’s huge. You’ve finally embraced the life you never planned on.”

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

Greenberg  2010  /  R  /  1 hr, 47 min

Cast Overview:    Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brie Larson, Juno Temple, Mark Duplass 

Director:  Noah Baumbach 

Genres:   Drama, Indie Drama, Indie Comedy, Romantic Comedy

 

 

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

The Kids Are All Right *****

 

The Kids Are All Right can open your heart and change your mind. Stereotypes melt with natural acting, arch comedic timing and an honest but not overbearing point of view. Here is a form of family – and it’s genuinely all right.

Director Lisa Cholodenko conjures an alchemy of female and male, new and traditional. When a filmmaker gives her characters the freedom to go all out, letting the story tell itself, it shows true maturity and mastery. She provokes thought without a sermon.

The film won two Golden Globe awards, one for Best Comedy Feature  and one for Best Actress in a Comedy (Bening). It also won a Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.

Perfect casting allows Cholodenko to realize her vision. The “momses” Nic and Jules (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) are a couple with two children, wise 18-year-old Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and wayward younger brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson). An anonymous sperm donor enabled both moms to give birth.

What Nic and Jules don’t know is that Laser is keen to meet his bio-dad Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Joni (being of age) contacts the donor agency to arrange contact. Ruffalo is perfectly suited as the dude who eventually meets brother and sister at his farm-to-table restaurant. He turns out to be a socially conscious hottie and motorcycle-riding bachelor.

Paul becomes a wild card in Nic and Jules’ marriage, not a member of their family but suddenly an admired mentor to their children. Never married, he is awed and intrigued by his newfound connections. Paul feels at home in this alternative family, so moved by its love and belonging that he’d take a shortcut to having one himself.

Laser’s relationship with an abusive “best friend” is examined as Paul mentors. Seeking answers, Laser finds some affirmation as Paul explains his decision to be a donor. “Hey, I’m glad I did it.”

Joni dares to ride a motorcycle against Nic’s orders, and revisits her own friendships. Both Joni and Laser begin to discern and make decisions newly as they integrate a man into their lives. True and direct, Wasikowska and Hutcherson show they are two actors to watch out for.

 

Bening is hilarious as enigmatic Nic, an uptight, overachieving M.D. with a proclivity for just one more glass of wine. Jules (Moore) is a free spirit, a onetime architect who yearns to launch her own landscape design company. Moore explores many faces of Jules, from wholesome to aggressive. Together Bening and Moore create bona fide screen history.

The emotions and possibilities of “what if” become supercharged. Paul’s presence highlights strengths and vulnerabilities in Nic and Jules’ marriage.

Great direction, acting and writing (by Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg) evoke an appreciation of family relationships and the resiliency of youth. In real life, Cholodenko and her female partner are parents of a donor child.

Love becomes apparent as the family drops Joni off at college. The film’s heartfelt crescendo focuses on marriage as a challenging work in progress.

If you like The Kids Are All Right, you might enjoy: Win Win; Terri; The Art of Getting By.

The Kids Are All Right 2010 / R / 1 hour, 44 min

Cast Overview: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson

Director: Lisa Cholodenko

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Indie

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

127 Hours *****

 
 

There’s a moment in the must-see drama 127 Hours where Aron Ralston (James Franco) straddles a spectacular rock formation in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. As the sun rises, the meaning of a man’s life is captured, along with the thrill of encountering the Absolute. It compels Ralston to plunge into the wilderness of his own being even as he daredevils over rocks and ravines. It’s a peak experience that flings him directly at life, death and eternity.

Accolades are piling high for Danny Boyle’s thriller based on Ralston’s memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place. The film was nominated for six Oscars and three Golden Globes. 

Franco won a Spirit Award for Best Male Lead, and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe Award.

Franco becomes a force of nature on equal footing with wind, sun, earth and water. Convincingly he plays a cocky 27-year-old who doesn’t tell anyone where he’s biking and climbing that weekend, a lover of metal music and speed, a ladies’ man who is truly at home by himself in the elements.

What Ralston seeks (and Franco so eloquently portrays) is sabi, which can be understood as a longing for the Divine. It is that moment of grace, that discovery of beauty in the strange and mysterious.

Boyle’s film is unique as it focuses so well on both the extreme sports action and inner life of Ralston. The psychological suspense of this true-life adventure is intense even when we know how the story ends.

Franco canyoneers, meditates and hallucinates, recalling his almost fatal mistake of leaving behind a Swiss Army Knife. While trapped, he speaks with Source via his camcorder. It’s here that he dictates his bodily functions, regrets and dreams to his human family past, present and future.

What Franco learns is a core principle of sabi. It’s vital to maintain a healthy connection with those around us. It is in relationship where love can be found, where Source touches us tangibly and grounds us. The thrill of solitary spiritual experience, like anything else, can turn into a lair of self-importance, an addiction to danger.

 
At just over 90 minutes, the length of 127 Hours is just right. It’s a survival tale with more punch than Cast Away (2000) and Touching the Void (2003). This personal tale turns mythic alongside the petroglyphs and pictographs of the canyon. Most harrowing is the amputation scene where Ralston decides to save his own life.

Kudos go to Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for dynamic screenplay, and to Glenn Freemantle for sound design. Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak achieve alluring nature and special effects cinematography. Vast wilderness encompasses intricate detail. Over a hundred camera angles build momentum, intertwined with A.R. Rahman’s stirring music. Boyle assembled much of his Slumdog Millionaire team for this project.

Franco was nominated for Best Actor for this role. His death defying bravado and snarkiness is enhanced by the performances of Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn, two attractive hikers who join him briefly as he guides them and shows off.

In a recent interview on Inside the Actor's Studio, Franco spoke about desire to become a director. Franco is enrolled in graduate literature studies at Yale and is the author of a collection of short stories, Palo Alto.

Ralston’s book is worth reading for filmgoers who want to delve deeper into this gem of action and self-discovery. It’s reminiscent of Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard, a lively addition to the nature adventure/inner journey genre. Ralston appears at the conclusion of the film.

If you like 127 Hours, you might enjoy: Winter's Bone; The American; Rabbit Hole.

127 Hours 2010 / R / 1 hour, 34 min

Cast Overview: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Treat Williams, John Lawrence, Kate Burton

Director: Danny Boyle

Genres: Adventure, Biopic, Drama, Drama Based on the Book

 

Fair Game *****

 

In a potent reminder of recent history, Fair Game shows the outing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame and its aftermath.

Naomi Watts deserves Oscar gold for her riveting performance as Plame. Best Actor Sean Penn does the honors as Plame’s ambassador husband Joe Wilson.

Fair Game roils with emotion and action as a public service career ends, a marriage hits the rocks, reputations are shredded and lives are lost overseas. It puts a personal face on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, where ideology apparently justified the use of false pretenses.

Doug Liman’s film will anger viewers whether they believe the war was necessary or not in the fight against terror. Fair Game is a fact-based story of two patriots who stood up to power. It reveals cowardice in the White House and the media.

Watts’ spot on rendition of Plame shows the foreign operative, wife and mother live through trying and dangerous days. The film is based on the memoirs of both Plame and Wilson.

Penn channels his righteous social anger into the persona of diplomat Joe Wilson. A subtext considers whether Wilson revealed the no wmd (weapons of mass destruction) bombshell to The New York Times out of patriotism, or to compete with his successful wife.

After Wilson speaks out, his family’s safety is compromised. The diplomat shares his plight, and his idealism, with fresh faced political science students.

Liman (The Bourne Identity) brings immediacy to the action. Fall guy Scooter Libby (David Andrews) brings to life the power-drunk, alternate reality of the Vice President’s inside circle. Bruce McGill plays a career intelligence official who consoles Plame, sharing his insights into the way things work at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

Some fictional elements were added, including a sub-plot about an Iraqi doctor (Liraz Charhi) and her brother (Khaled Nabawy), a former nuclear engineer living in bombed out Baghdad.

Fair Game will rank with All The President’s Men as a taut, fine description of everyman facing Washington power, even though truth and justice does not prevail in the more recent scenario.

Following the film’s release, Wilson appeared on The Chris Matthews Show and other national news programs. He expressed the hope that Fair Game reminds viewers to speak out against tyranny. Facing personal threats to one’s way of life is part of the price of democracy, he said.

If you like Fair Game, you might enjoy: Casino Jack; Greenberg; Please Give.

Fair Game 2010 / PG-13 / 1 hour, 48 min

Cast Overview: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Liraz Charhi, Anand Tiwari, Khaled Nabawy, Ty Burrell, David Andrews, Jessica Hecht, Norbert Leo Butz, Bruce McGill, Rebecca Rigg

Director: Doug Liman

Genres: Action, Biography, Drama, Thriller