Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

2012: Time for Change advocates "evolve to solve" strategies

Evolve to solve. Daniel Pinchbeck investigates how to survive and thrive during changing times in the wide-ranging documentary 2012: Time for Change.

Thoughtful and visionary, director Joao Amorim’s film transcends apocalypse hype by advocating action. It’s now screening nationwide and streaming via Netflix.

Pinchbeck walks his talk as he shares common sense ways to live consciously so that all can thrive on earth. The founder of the Evolver social movement and editorial director of Reality Sandwich interviews scholars and leaders around the world.

Animation is also used to investigate spiritual practices, sacred activism and new technologies to help us survive change with grace and ease.

Functional design, habitat restoration, ecological detoxification, intentional community, aquaponic agriculture, wind power, open source currency and diverse currency tools are among the ideas examined. The film is similar to the documentary Thrive and surpasses Armageddon dramas like Battle Los Angeles.

“Apocalypse” means “uncovering,” and doesn’t necessarily signal doom, according to Pinchbeck. “Focusing on what will happen in 2012 may just be the wrong question,” Pinchbeck told a meeting of the Left Forum in New York City. “We should just be really asking . . . . ‘What type of change can we bring about?’ It’s going to be up to individuals and then communities to make a profound shift.”

Archival footage of the “Leonardo da Vinci of the 20^th century,” design scientist R. Buckminster Fuller, is shown. Groundbreaking technologies for sustainable energy, health and farming have already been developed, says Pinchbeck. These advances have been suppressed by powerful special interests time and again, he maintains.

Futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard cites Fuller. “We now have the resources, technology and knowhow to make the world a 100% physical success for everyone without taking it away or destroying our environment,” she says.

Many cultural creatives have planted “seed ideas” to help humanity, Hubbard says. These are quietly growing and taking root. “The only way to get to the future [Fuller] was seeing was about completely transforming your consciousness, loving one another as yourself,” she says.

Hot button issues like water scarcity and depleted soil are reviewed. Michael Dorsey, Ph.D. of Dartmouth College notes that current economic and social systems do not deliver justice, environmental protection and human rights. “The system is broken,” he believes.

 “Water’s the next oil,” warns Maude Barlow, Senior Advisor on Water Issues to the United Nations. “Water scarcity has already reached a dire limit for two billion people in the world,” she says.

“As water becomes more corporately controlled, as water becomes more expensive because it’s controlled for profit, it’s going to be denied to people who can’t afford it. It’s already happening now in communities in the global south where water metering is going on,” according to Barlow.

The “Green Revolution” has led us to “an incredible amount of dependency on corporations to supply seed, to supply chemicals,” says Penny Livingstone-Stark, a permaculture designer. Monoculture farming, she says, serves to “disconnect people from their land, pollute water systems, deforest the earth.” Livingstone-Stark explains how using soil biology sustainably perpetuates living systems and increases crop yields.

Reclaiming our lost connection to nature is the key to healing individuals, societies and the planet, Pinchbeck concludes.

Policarpo Chaj, activist and executive director of Maya Vision, explains how past and future are cyclical in Mayan thought. The 2012 prophecy of earth changes and economic downturns is already happening, Chaj and other scholars say.

Filmmaker David Lynch, who has practiced Transcendental Meditation for almost 35 years, tells Pinchbeck that he overcame anger shortly after he began meditating. Looking within helped him “find infinite intelligence, creativity, bliss, energy, love, power,” he adds.

A weak link here is Pinchbeck’s use of a psychoactive root bark to jump start his self-discovery. Using a drug for self-empowerment seems counterintuitive and harmful.

British rock singer Sting, who co-founded the Rainforest Foundation and practiced Ashtanga yoga, notes that he also took the drug. Fasting and meditation are just as effective ways to connect with the Divine, Sting adds.

Pinchbeck sees an empowered “global tribe” replacing poor, suffering masses. His essay collection Notes from the Edge Times has just been published.   (4.5 out of 5 stars)

If you like 2012: Time for Change, you might enjoy:  I Am; Happy; Waste Land; 2012; Thrive.

[email protected]

 

2012: Time for Change    2010  /  NR  /  1 hour, 40 min

Cast Overview:  Mitch Horowitz, Michael Dorsey, Ph.D., Gaspar P. Gonzalez, Penny Livingston, Maude Barlow, Bernard Lietaer, Joel Kovel, Michael D. Coe, Ph.D., Policarpo Chaj, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Terence McKena, Steven Colbert, Sting, Dennis McKenna, Barbara Marx Hubbard, R. Buckminster Fuller

Director:  Joao Amorim

Genre:  Documentary, Spirituality, Science & Nature, Current Affairs, Animation

The Way: Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez heal heartbreak - 5 stars

Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez heal a father’s heart and find wholeness in the sensitive drama The Way. Set along the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago) from France to Spain, the film is directed by Sheen’s son Estevez, who appears as a ghostly muse.

The most powerful movie is sometimes the simplest. Sheen’s deep, rousing performance and Estevez’s minimalist, mood-centered direction fill The Way with meaning. Cinematographer Juanmi Azpiroz captures action along the breathtaking pilgrimage route.

Daniel (Estevez) has died in a freak accident in the Pyrenees, known for unpredictable weather. He was nearly 40 when he decided to postpone doctoral studies and walk the 500-mile-long trek.

Tom Avery (Sheen) just lost his wife a year ago, so losing his son is devastating. The conservative ophthalmologist travels from Ventura, California to identify Daniel and have him cremated.

The Way is the best father-son drama I've seen in years. It's nothing less than a healing for the male heart.

With Daniel’s backpack and provisions, Tom decides to complete his son’s journey. He will walk to the cathedral where the Apostle James is said to be buried. Local police warn him about the dangers. Tom is stoic. He has nothing to lose.

Sheen’s intensity and talent are mesmerizing. A winner of Emmy and Golden Globe awards, he’s played presidents and generals, fathers and coaches. Sheen evokes manhood with strength and sensitivity.

Tom scatters Daniel’s ashes at especially beautiful vistas. He remembers how his son pissed him off. “You don’t choose a life, Dad. You live one,” Daniel once told him. Tom speaks little, but you can feel his brokenness.

Tom sees Daniel wherever he goes. The son becomes father to the man. Tom appreciates the wordless visits. Still peace eludes him.

Empty but determined, Tom surrenders. Three travelers gravitate around the angry American. Numbness gives way to fury for the grieving dad.

Deborah Kara Unger plays Sarah, a sharp-tongued Canadian who wants to quit smoking. Yorick von Wageningen plays Joost, a friendly Dutchman who’s desperate to lose weight but loves regional cuisine. James Nesbitt is engaging as Jack, a bombastic Irishman with writer’s block who begins to chronicle Tom’s story.

His companions irk him, but Tom discovers himself by being around the others. Each traveler has wounds to heal. Finally Tom empathizes. He begins to understand why the journey was so important to Daniel.

Each must resolve personal issues and find truth. Gently insistent spiritual undertones never become overbearing. An encounter with a young gypsy thief (Omar Munoz) and his father (Antonio Gil) is especially moving.

A sense of community grows among the four and extends to others who walk. With references to cell phones, The Way also meditates on how disconnected we have become in the information age.

The Way allowed Sheen and Estevez to explore their Spanish culture and Catholic religion together. Charlie Sheen, the star’s other son, battled publicly with drug addiction as this film was made. The mystical bond between fathers and sons is tempered by real life frustration in this vision quest. 

Estevez has directed a dozen television shows and films. He starred in The Breakfast Club and Young Guns. Estevez and Sheen have made other movies together, including The War at Home and Bobby. 

The Way is a memorable exploration of manhood, heart and healing. Nature’s fearsome beauty unleashes a majestic resolution.

If you like The Way, you might enjoy:  The Music Never Stopped; In a Better World; Beginners; Thor.

[email protected]

 

The Way    2010  /  NR  /  1 hour, 55 min

Cast Overview: Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick van Wageningen, James Nesbitt

Director:  Emilio Estevez

Genre:  Drama, Independent

The Big Year: Steve Martin & friends hunt birder bliss - 3 stars

Three birders chase their heart’s desire in The Big Year, a quirky comedy about true success. Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson star as three oddballs who follow bliss, value freedom and appreciate nature. The film is reflective and gently funny.

The competitive birders postpone their everyday lives to chase birds and status. Nature and animal lovers will enjoy dozens of “aha!” moments in this film from David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada). Seen for a just a few seconds each, dozens of birds – many rare and unusual – make cameo appearances.

In one stunningly beautiful scene, a pair of American Eagles plummets in a sky-high, dramatic mating ritual. Birders nationwide are hailing this film for featuring the quietly thrilling sport and pastime.

You could say that Stu Preissler (Martin), Brad Harris (Black) and Kenny Bostick (Wilson) are embracing their gentle, feminine sides. Each yearns to fill a deep need within that goes beyond family and material success. They long to be fully human. For Kenny in particular, birding becomes a spiritual path.

Successful CEO Stu longs to retire and do what he loves. Birding and spending time with his expected first grandchild top the list. Martin develops real depth and interest in his character despite brief screen time.

Software tech Brad lives with his mom and dad after a divorce. He’s the oddly beautiful soul personified. Brad maxes out credit cards to finance his participation in the contest. His mom (Dianne Wiest) pledges her support, while his dad (Brian Dennehy) tells him to get a real life. Brad falls for another birder Ellie (Rashida Jones) who’s already spoken for.

World record holder Kenny, who spotted 732 birds last year, is intent on staying number one. As the admired and resented champion, he plays some dirty tricks to mislead his competitors. Kenny’s wife (Rosamund Pike) yearns to start a family. He keeps promising her that each Big Year will be his last.   

Doing a “big year” can be exhausting, uncomfortable, expensive and even dangerous. Competitive birders travel at a moment’s notice, just one step ahead of the violent weather that will drive the birds’ migration. The movie swings between different locations, bird sightings, and scenes from the birders’ lives.

The contest helps and hurts The Big Year. The initial excitement fades as the birders race to spot the most wild birds in North America within one year. The movie doesn’t focus enough on its three gifted comic actors. I wanted to spend more time with these characters.

The film captures a sense of community with nods to renowned, real-life birders. Anjelica Huston’s Annie Auklet is modeled on the pelagic guide Debi Shearwater. Kenny visits Phoebe’s Diner, a reference to the late Phoebe Snetsinger, who recorded over 8,000 lifetime sightings.

CGI effects jarred my attention away from the narrative, especially in a strangely funny scene out of Hitchcock’s The Birds. CGI is used to show details such as the Xantus’ Hummingbird’s gorget, and the Great Gray Owl’s “bow tie.”

The three main characters seem to star in their own separate movies. Only frenzied jaunts to spot wild birds connect them. Stu and Brad join forces to defeat Kenny, but their friendship doesn’t feel fully developed.

Howard Franklin’s screenplay is based on Mark Obmascik’s book The Big Year. A similar contest between three men really did happen in 1998.

After a heart attack, Brad’s dad begins to appreciate his son’s ambition. As the two trudge over a hilly trail to find an owl, Brad has an epiphany of his own.

The Big Year is less than successful, but its aim is true.

If you like The Big Year, you might enjoy:  Shopgirl; It’s Complicated; Midnight in Paris.

[email protected]

 

The Big Year    2011  /  PG  /  1 hour, 40 min

Cast Overview:  Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Brian Dennehy, Anjelica Huston, Rashida Jones, Tim Blake Nelson, Rosamund Pike, Dianne Wiest, JoBeth Williams

Director:  David Frankel

Genre:  Comedy, Dramedy

Everything Strange and New: an ex-bachelor confesses - 5 stars

 

A family man endures a mid-life crisis in Everything Strange and New, Frazer Bradshaw’s drama that simmers beneath middle class life in North Oakland, California. The film was nominated for Best First Feature at the 2011 Spirit Awards. It's now streaming online.

Jerry McDaniel is Wayne, a husband and carpenter yearning for the carefree days before his two sons were born. Wayne and his homemaker wife Renee (Beth Lisick) enjoyed each other much more then. Wayne didn’t yet know that she had a mood disorder. Renee lashes out at him often, usually about money. He reminds her to take her meds.

Their mortgage is now higher than what their home is worth. Adulthood becomes a monotonous struggle. Yet when Wayne takes his family to a restaurant, or reads a bedtime story to the frolicking four- and five-year-olds who ignore him, he seems like the perfect dad.

Everything Strange and New shows house after house in a low income neighborhood along Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard. Wayne stands on a rooftop, looking out over other rooftops like Larry Gopnik in A Serious Man. For a brief moment, I feared that he would jump.

Set in a liberal, economically depressed area, the film is punctuated by sudden, exultant strains of a post-modern jig. Melancholy is lightened with daily routines. Kent Sparling wrote the outstanding score. Saxophonist Dan Plonsey performs.  

Where’s the excitement, the sense of new possibilities? Wayne goes out with his buddies for beers after work.

It’s “easy to forget” how much he loves his wife and sons, and how much they love him. Meanwhile he renovates a Victorian home for another unseen family. The camera lingers at a window. Outside is a tree. You can imagine how beautiful the space will become, and sense the memories it will hold.

Bradshaw finds hope and possibility in everyday images, startling you with the avant garde. When Wayne opens the front door one day, he hears Renee talking to the kids. Like a stranger, he stands and listens. The eerie, alien moment lengthens. Who are they? Who is he? He turns to leave.

 

Wayne tells his friends Manny (the late Luis Saguar) and Leo (Rigo Chacon Jr.) that he wants to study electrical engineering. “I think I missed my calling,” he says. “It’s not about being happy all the time,” Manny tells him. “It’s about being happy more than not.”

Each friend faces his own crisis. Wayne discovers Manny in his car getting a cocaine fix. Not long afterwards, Wayne is surprised when Leo comes on to him as they watch the game. Divorced father Leo says he’s not gay.

McDaniel’s heartfelt, quiet voice-overs reveal modern angst. Arms and legs swing from his tall, lithe frame. Playing the sad clown at a birthday party, he wears baggy overalls.

Bradshaw weaves experimental elements into the narrative in a natural, enigmatic way. Families pose for portraits. Traffic moves backwards. Wayne appears in his clown makeup, imagining what he would really like to be doing. The gently surreal, futuristic feeling.

McDaniel also played a clown in the video Sonata (2004). Lisick has directed, written and acted in several short films including Sinking State and Diving for Pears.

Bradshaw also served as cinematograper, writer and editor for this film.

If you like Everything Strange and New, you might enjoy:  A Serious Man; Barney’s Version.

[email protected]

 

Everything Strange and New     2009  /  NR (language, sexual situations)  /  1 hour, 24 mins

Cast Overview:  Jerry McDaniel, Beth Lisick, Luis Saguar, Rigo Chacon Jr., Oliver McDaniel, Finnegan McDaniel

Director:  Frazer Bradshaw

Genre:  Drama, Indie

 

How to Start Your Own Country - 5 stars

 

Why not start your own micronation? Hundreds around the world have. Jody Shapiro visits a half dozen of the better known tiny nations in his comical documentary How to Start Your Own Country.

The Canadian filmmaker tickles and informs us with notions of country, patriotism and self-empowerment. Diplomats and United Nations officials share their views in this imaginative jaunt around the globe.

There are 192 member countries of the U.N. A few – Israel, Liechtenstein, Kosovo and Bosnia – asserted nationhood despite international disapproval. While new nations seek international recognition, “the U.N. is a country club,” says William Worster, a lecturer at The Hague University.

Shapiro follows the self-styled leaders with acceptance, rendering the wonderfully weird as noble and bizarre. You might call them patriots, kooks, or even true visionaries. These founding fathers are unique.

The countries range in size from 1.3 acres to a few miles. One has no land at all. There’s an “ecclesiastical principality” called Seborga, established within Italy in 820 A.D. with a population of 340. There are visionaries at The Seafaring Institute who expect to house 100,000 people at sea within 25 years.

Who knew that the smallest micronation, Molossia, was founded in 1998 in northern Nevada? President Kevin Baugh, wearing self-styled military regalia, shows us Molossian stamps and currency. His 1.3 acre nation boasts a population of six, including his three dogs. They operate on Molossian standard time.

Baugh admits that he’s required to pay taxes, and visits the United States often for supplies and services. Still, he relishes his independence. Inspired by Peter Sellers in The Mouse That Roared, he’s realizing a boyhood dream.

His Royal Highnesses Prince Leonard Casley founded Hutt River Province, 75 square kilometers (“about the size of Hong Kong”) in western Australia. In the face of national wheat farming restrictions, he seceded in 1970. Princess Shirley reigns by his side. Australian politicians seem skeptical, but give Prince Leonard his due. 

Going independent isn’t easy, and often means scarce supplies. “It’s a hard life but it’s our own life,” says Prince Leonard.

 

In the middle of Long Island Sound lies Dumpling Island, founded by President Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway and other futuristic technologies). Kamen proudly notes that the Dumplonian Empire produces its own wind and solar energy. This makes it a model for the United States, he says.

The New Free State of Caroline’s Founder Gregory Green has realized an “alternative option for empowerment.” Costumed like pop artists or Lady Gaga fans, citizens parade on the beach behind Green. As their national anthem plays, a flag flies high above.

Caroline has no land. Its location is variable, says Green. Over 1500 have become citizens just by contacting him. Caroline is “a state of mind” across borders, the leader declares.

The Seasteading Institute received a half million dollar grant from Peter Thiel, an early Facebook investor and the CEO of Paypal. Patri Friedman, executive director, says he’s inspired by the idea of a true frontier, the chance to experiment with “beautiful cities” floating on the ocean. The group is staffed with idealists in their twenties.

What about hurricanes and tsunamis? Engineers are studying ocean currents, wind energy and solar panels as they design and test the mechanical basis for seasteads.

What makes a country? There’s a common purpose and unifying mission. These groups enjoy a psychological liberation, according to Erwin Strauss, author of How to Start Your Own Country. 

Friedman envisions social advancement, the chance to revolutionize governments by experimenting with different ways of life. For Kamen, nationhood means “a shared understanding and a respect among people for a set of ideas.”

Shapiro is also known for directing the Green Porno short film series for the Sundance Channel.

 If you like How to Start Your Own Country, you might enjoy:  Happy; I Am.

[email protected]

 

How to Start Your Own Country     2010  /  NR  /  1 hour, 12 min

Cast Overview:  Kevin Baugh, Patri Friedman, Dean Kamen, His Royal Highness Prince Leonard

Director:  Jody Shapiro

Genre:  Documentary

 

 

Round Ireland with a Fridge: Hawks' excellent adventure - 5 stars

 
 

When comedian Tony Hawks’ career tanks, a pal bets him 100 pounds that he can’t tote a refrigerator around Ireland within one month. Round Ireland with a Fridge stars Hawks and is based on his bestseller of the same name.

Comedy director Ed Bye depicts a creative response to tough times. The light-hearted film starts slowly but gains momentum. Hawks can’t find his groove. Audiences only laugh at his old jokes and sight gags (like tapping a golf ball aloft 20 times in a row).

The Englishman surrenders and goes with the flow as he hitchhikes around the Emerald Isle. Beginning in Dublin, he visits Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Cork and Wexford. The film sends up Irish stereotypes as Hawks trudges along the countryside, visiting pubs and boarding houses.

A friendly salesman (Sean Hughes) gives Tony a lift, and alerts national radio host Dylan Dale (uproarious Irish comedian Ed Byrne). Dale roasts Tony publicly as he tracks his progress. Soon, Tony is hailed by strangers and new friends.

Hawks meets a pretty, wisecracking reporter Roisin (Valerie O’Connor, with snarky-good delivery). Although Tony makes a disastrous first impression, she is still attracted to the amiable bumbler.

Roisin is convinced that her being a single mom will turn Tony off. Fulfilling her own prophecy, she snubs him before he can reject her. Winning Roisin’s heart becomes his quest.

 

When life looks bleak, Tony talks to his fridge. Round Ireland with a Fridge becomes an existential gem, a heartfelt response to loneliness.

Hawks dubs the fridge Saoirse, the Gaelic word for freedom. She is autographed by well-wishers, becoming a “work of art.” In some of the funniest scenes, Saoirse goes surfing, and is “christened” by a couple of nuns.

Round Ireland with a Fridge reminds me of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s impromptu comedy The Trip.

“Hitchhiking is a rather noble pursuit,” the “Fridge Man” tells Roisin. “You set your ego to one side, plop yourself by the side of the road and wait for someone to come along and help you. And you know what? People do. ‘Cause they’re quite nice.”

Bye captures the feeling of a safe and trusting world for 90 minutes. Genuine human connection, warmth, and jolly mayhem prevail.

Hawks will star in the 2012 dramedy Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, which he also wrote, co-directed and produced. According to Wikipedia, Hawks lists The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle as “the book he would take with him to a desert island.”

If you like Round Ireland with a Fridge, you might enjoy: Cedar Rapids; Our Idiot Brother; The Trip.

[email protected]

 

Round Ireland with a Fridge     2010  /  NR  /  1 hour, 30 min

Cast Overview:  Tony Hawks, Ed Byrne, Josie Lawence, Sean Hughes, Valerie O’Connor, John Burke

Director: Ed Bye

Genre:  Comedy

  

Snow Flower never blooms in women's friendship tale 2.5/5

 

A woman’s bound foot is a knarled mass of black and blue. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan reveals this metaphor for women’s suffering. Bound feet were called “golden lilies” in ancient China. The soft bones of young feet were broken, making girls highly prized as wives. “Only through pain will you find beauty,” Snow Flower is told. Misery is just beginning for two pairs of friends in this uneven drama.

Snow Flower reveals Chinese tradition and modernity with respect. It’s filled with beautiful scenery and costuming. Still it never captures the depth that women’s friendships must have had then and now. The laotong – “old sames” who enter an arranged friendship and vow eternal devotion – hobble on impossibly tiny, misshapen feet. They communicate in a secret language called nu shu, writing messages in the folds of silk fans.

Unnecessarily complicating Amy See’s novel of the same name, director Wayne Wang (Chan Is Missing; The Joy Luck Club; Maid in Manhattan) adds a second set of friends in modern day Shanghai. He then forces a comparison between modern and ancient friends. Attempting to cover too much ground, the movie jumps back and forth in time. Finally the historic tale is more developed and intriguing.

 

Bingbing Li plays Lily, a bank executive. Gianna Jun stars as Sophia, a writer. As soon as we meet the two best friends forever, we are transported to 19^th century Hunan province. There, Li and Jun play Nina and Snow Flower respectively. The film cuts quickly back and forth to various points in the parallel stories.

Nina and Snow Flower enter arranged marriages and have children. Snow Flower’s husband (Jiang Wu) beats her, but she will not leave him. Typhus wipes out family members. Bands of rebels invade villages.

Under Shanghai’s modern, dim cityscape, Sophia rides her bike in traffic. She collides with a taxi. As Sophia clings to life in a hospital bed, Lily investigates her friend, hoping to find why they have drifted apart. Lily visits a modern art exhibit about foot binding. Images of disfigured feet line a wall. A pop art sign declares: (N)EVER BIND.

When Wang experiments with different cameras for the two eras, this adds to the unevenness. The comparison between past and present is strained.

Good acting by all cannot overcome the film’s awkward structure. In a distracting thread, Hugh Jackman appears briefly as Arthur, Sophia’s Australian lover and club owner. It isn’t the best role for talented Jackman, although he does sing in Mandarin.  

The eroticism of two women deeply devoted to each other is only hinted at in long looks and a near-kiss. Perhaps Wang believed it was not necessary to include lesbian love here. Acknowledging the characters’ desires more openly would have helped illumine these relationships.

Snow Flower ends too neatly with a message that misses the point. These suffering women don’t yet love themselves. True empowerment comes from within.

If you like Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, you might enjoy:  Queen to Play; Incendies; Mother and Child.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan     2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 40 min

Cast Overview:  Gianna Jun, Bingbing Li, Vivian Wu, Jiang Wu, Russell Wong, Archie Kao and Hugh Jackman

Director:  Wayne Wang

Genre:  Drama, Foreign Film, Movies Based on the Book

Languages:  Chinese and English with English subtitles

 

 

The Beautiful Truth *****

 

An Alaskan teen journeys cross country with his filmmaker dad to investigate a natural diet therapy for cancer in the eye-opening documentary The Beautiful Truth.

After his mother dies in an accident, 15-year-old Garrett Kroschel nearly flunks out of school.  His dad Steve begins to home school him.  Garrett becomes interested in cancer, diet and health after reading Dr. Max Gerson’s book A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases and The Cure of Advanced Cancer.

Garrett first meets with Gerson’s daughter, Dr. Charlotte Gerson, and his grandson, Howard Straus. He visits a Gerson treatment center.  According to Dr. Gerson, the therapy stimulates the body’s natural ability to heal itself and includes organic foods, juicing, supplements and the use of coffee enemas. 

Garrett speaks with scientists, researchers and survivors who confirm that cancer and other illnesses have been reversed as a result of The Gerson Therapy. He also meets with opponents of nutritional therapy.

The teen interviews Dr. Hal Huggins, an authority on toxic dental materials; Dr. Roger Eichmann, a chemist and practicing dentist who lectures on the hazards of mercury fillings; Dr. John Olney, a neuroscientist who has researched aspartame and MSG and their connection to brain lesions; and Jay Kordich who is a bladder cancer survivor. Kordich is also Dr. Gerson’s patient and a New York Times bestselling author known as The Juiceman.

 

Cancer treatment in the United States is a multi-billion dollar industry, according to sources.  Reports of suppression of natural cures have been made.

Inspired after his meetings with survivors, Garrett shares his findings with neighbors back home.  The Beautiful Truth presents natural alternatives for health conscious viewers and patients who have received “incurable” diagnoses.

If you like The Beautiful Truth, you might enjoy:  Forks Over Knives; Happy; I Am.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

The Beautiful Truth   2008  /  NR  /  1 hr, 32 min

Cast Overview:  Garrett Kroschel, Steve Kroschel, Charlotte Gerson, Howard Straus

Director:  Steve Kroschel

Genre:  Documentary, Science and Nature, Health, Mind and Body

 

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

 
 

Incendies *****

 

A daughter investigates her mother’s life and her own roots in the Oscar-nominated mystery Incendies. Denis Villeneuve writes and directs this suspenseful family drama that intertwines the daughter’s journey with scenes from her mother’s traumatic early years in the Middle East.

When their mother dies, grown twins Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) arrive for the reading of her will. They are stunned when Jean Lebel (Remy Girard), a notary public and their mother’s former boss, hands them two envelopes. Jeanne is asked to deliver a letter to their father. Simon is asked to deliver a letter to their brother.

Jeanne and Simon had no idea that their father was alive. They never knew they had a brother. Nawal Marwan (played by talented Belgian actress Lubna Azabal) had been quiet, and worked as a secretary. Bewildered, Jeanne tries to make sense of her mother’s words. If the twins deliver these messages, “the silence will be broken, a promise kept.”

Simon balks and remains in Montreal. He does not want to delve into the past. He’d rather abandon his family history and any unseemly details. The strain of his mother’s nervous illnesses has been enough for him. Simon urges Jeanne not to go.

A graduate student in mathematics, Jeanne seeks the advice of a professor. He compares mathematics to her complex relationship with her mother: “Now, you enter an entirely different adventure. The subject will be intractable problems that always lead to other problems, just as intractable. People around you will repeatedly say that your struggles are in vain. You’ll have no argument to defend yourself, for the work will be exhausting and complex. Welcome to pure mathematics, the land of loneliness.”

Jeanne insists on going alone if she must, compelled to hunt down the truth so her heart can be at peace. She sets out for the unnamed Middle Eastern country.

We witness the daughter following each clue, talking to people who knew Nawal, or knew of her. A group of village women is cruel and judgmental. Desormeaux-Poulin (Taking the Plunge) gives an intense but nuanced performance, filled with insatiable curiosity and growing dread. Much later when she faces danger, Simon rushes to her side to help complete the search. Gaudette (Polytechnique) conveys the male heart with pitch perfect acting.

Renowned Canadian actor Girard crafts a memorable character in Lebel, who guides and protects the twins. He assures them that their mother was of sound mind, but indelibly marked by her early years.

 

Nawal was beset by tragedy from early girlhood through the horrors of her country’s civil war. Key scenes from Nawal’s life are shown as Jeanne walks the same streets her mother once did. Azabal (Body of Lies) evokes great dignity which explodes into anger as she struggles to overcome unimaginably painful personal ordeals.

Nawal is rebuked by her Christian family when she falls in love with a Muslim. Her brothers track the lovers down in an orchard and murder her beloved. Later her grandmother helps her deliver a baby boy, who is quickly given up for adoption to save the family from shame. The grandmother tattoos three dots on the baby’s heel, an identifying mark. “I’ll find you again one day,” Nawal promises him.

Nawal is sent away to live with relatives. She becomes a student and political activist. Deciding to search for her son, she sets off on a bus filled with Muslims. When Christian extremists detain the group, Nawal pretends she is still a Christian to save herself. Helplessly, she watches as all aboard are massacred, flames exploding in the middle of the desert.

Rage takes over as Nawal joins an extremist group, assassinating a Christian leader while posing as a tutor. She is sentenced to 15 years in prison, where she is tortured and raped. Nawal survives by singing in solitary confinement. This enrages her captors. Jeanne and Simon eventually meet a midwife who worked at the prison. She remembers Nawal fondly as “The Woman Who Sings.”

Villeneuve defines the title Incendies as an inferno, “something totally destroyed, totally transformed . . . destruction that you cannot change afterwards.” Filmed in Montreal and Jordan, it is based on the play of the same name by the Lebanese-born writer Wajdi Mouawad. The scars that violence leaves, and its senselessness, are stark in Incendies’ explosive conclusion.

Beautiful and devastating, the film features wrenching imagery and ominous sound. As it opens, young Muslim boys are having their heads shaved, apparently being prepared for terrorist training. The eyes of one boy stare back into the camera, bottomless, empty.

“Death is never the end of the story,” Lebel reminds us. “There are always details.”

If you like Incendies, you might enjoy:  Nora’s Will; A Prophet; Lemon Tree.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

  

Incendies     2010  /  R  /  2 hours, 10 min

Cast Overview:  Lubna Azabal, Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Remy Girard, Abdelghafour Elaaziz, Allen Altman, Mohamed Majd, Nabil Sawalha, Baya Belal 

Director:  Denis Villeneuve

Genre:  Drama, Mystery, War, Foreign, Drama Based on the Play

Languages: French and Arabic with English subtitles