BEGINNERS :: Oscar Ritual 2012

March 15, 2012 (DVD)

Winner: Best Supporting Actor – Christopher Plummer

I wavered on watching this film, wondering whether it would be an “agenda” movie but also knowing it was a story about coming to terms with a parent’s death. Neither of these intrigues me on any normal day, but ultimately it was the strong recommendation by a critic that I love, who is also a Christian, that encouraged me to watch Beginners with an uncritical eye. I can honestly say that I’m so glad I did.

Christopher Plummer was awarded the Oscar last month for his portrayal of a 75-year-old man who determines to live his final years as an out-and-proud gay man after having been married to a woman for over 40 years. Ewan McGregor portrays the son who had no knowledge of his father’s homosexuality and is faced with getting to know his father as a different man while also walking with him through a terminal illness. Both actors are exquisite in their performances, with Plummer greatly deserving of his award. He is endearing and cantankerous and sweetly charming (as always), and the rapport between himself and McGregor is at once delightful and heartbreaking. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a moving, affectionate performance by a pair of actors. McGregor, in particular, brought me to tears many times throughout the film as his character repeatedly faced the reality of his father’s death. He also charmed me more in this film than he ever has in any other film before – and he’s charmed me quite a lot over the years! Beginners really is McGregor’s movie.

As the grieving son, McGregor is just beginning to find his way back into his own life when he meets a woman who enchants him in the most subtle and surprising way. The bulk of the film chronicles their fledgling relationship and examines whether two people consumed by intense sadness can possibly build a lasting love. Those answers do not come easily, but it is mesmerizing to watch the couple meander their way through. This film is so beautiful in its ability to provide sudden moments of true joy right in the middle of overwhelming grief. The fact that this is exactly like “real life” is what makes Beginners so captivating.

It’s not a perfect film, and there were segments that seemed unnecessarily crude and gratuitous (none of which related to Plummer’s character arc), but for the most part Beginners is delightful. One line stuck with me above all others as I watched the film, and it’s something that just might haunt me for years to come. At the most intimate moment of his new relationship, McGregor’s character says, “You can stay in the same place and still find ways to leave people.” The truth of that pierces my heart. What made me love Beginners is that it told a true-to-life story just as it actually occurs – no flash, no gimmicks, no heavy-handedness. Just honesty and truth of emotion. You don’t have to share beliefs and opinions in order to relate to stories such as this.

movie still via IMDB

MARGIN CALL :: Oscar Ritual 2012

March 9, 2012 (DVD)

Nominated for Original Screenplay

To be honest, I’d never even heard of Margin Call until the Oscar nominations were announced, and over the following month I kept forgetting entirely what the movie was about. Every time I saw the title I could not recall the premise of the movie at all. Then I would see a trailer and remember the phenomenal cast and the interesting story, and I would remember that, yes, I did think this film might be good. Right up until the week I decided to finally rent Margin Call I honestly could not remember what it was about. And that’s just odd!

The story centers around a high-powered investment banking firm that discovers a total financial collapse has begun and spends one frantic night attempting to make adjustments to minimize the impact. The setting is familiar – those first moments of the 2007 recession crisis – and the way that the senior executives decide to handle the crisis is despicable and shocking. And yet I expected nothing less, knowing what history has already shown about the impact of the crisis and how the industry leaders found a way to protect themselves from the chaos that ensued. I appreciate that Margin Call pulls no punches with the way the events play out and how the top players cut their losses to make sure that select individuals come out on top. What was surprising is how little loyalty existed among the firm’s ranks, and that is what makes this film engaging.

Kevin Spacey is at the nucleus of the story as a top manager who seeks to minimize the damage to the firm’s clientele, but the entire cast really shines. Simon Baker plays a senior executive with hatchet power, and Zachary Quinto portrays the young analyst who first recognizes the collapse. Paul Bettany is a supervisor to Quinto who helps him take the news up the ranks, and Demi Moore turns up as a risk assessment officer who originally failed to see the crisis when the warning signs first appeared. And then Jeremy Irons saunters onto the scene as the head of the firm who appears only to make the final determination, a decision that is just as devastating as the crisis itself. Each scene with each actor is powerful, and the story is taut in its telling. However, despite such talent and tale, I couldn’t help being distracted throughout the film. Again and again, from beginning to end, I felt assaulted by pervasive profanity, and I kept wondering just why so many Hollywood movies seem to fill every intense story with a steady stream of expletives. It’s as if writers don’t trust the actors to be able to convey strong emotion without uttering vulgarities at every turn! Just as I found in The Ides of March, so much profanity only became tedious and aggravating, and eventually I just got tired of the movie as a whole because of the onslaught of offensive language. Despite Margin Call‘s strong story, all I could think at the conclusion was how happy I was that my ears and my mind could finally have some relief. Unfortunately, that’s probably not what the filmmakers intended.

movie still via IMDB

THE IDES OF MARCH :: Oscar Ritual 2012

February 23, 2012 (DVD)

Nominated for Adapted Screenplay

The Ides of March is one of those films that I may have never watched had it not been nominated for an Oscar. I’m not really a fan of Ryan Gosling, despite his talent, and I tend to pick and choose which George Clooney films to see simply because I don’t always trust them to be my taste. In this case, the only real draw for me to Ides was the story and the fact that it was nominated for such. Of course, that was the very thing that finally did me in.

Interestingly, Gosling is the force of the movie – the entire movie, in fact – and his journey stretches from one pole to the other. He begins as an idealistic, loyal staffer for Clooney’s presidential hopeful when he suddenly learns a secret that changes his opinion of his boss and makes him question everything he believes about him. Gosling’s expressions truly carry the film and reflect everything I was feeling as the story unfolded. Clooney did work his usual charm, but I found his far-too-perfect candidate to be a bit too smarmy. Such perfection just begs to be shattered, and I wasn’t surprised that the story sought to do just that. What did surprise me was the underuse of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti. Both gave powerful performances, to be sure, but neither was given enough to do in the film.

Though Clooney did a terrific job directing this movie, I can’t say I actually enjoyed it. The story left me with a further distaste for campaigning and politics, in general. Perhaps because it rings all too true. If I had any faith at all in the electoral process (which I really don’t), The Ides of March would certainly have torn it to shreds. By the time the movie concluded I had a bad taste in my mouth and far too much unnecessary profanity ringing in my ears. Those things do not make for a pleasant movie experience.

movie still via IMDB

THE TREE OF LIFE :: Oscar Ritual 2012

February 11, 2012 — DVD

Nominated for Best Picture, Directing (Terrence Malick), and Cinematography

The world of art becomes so much more rewarding when we move past our initial reactions of “I liked it” or “It was boring” into the arena of reflection, listening, reconsidering, and, in time, revelation. – Jeffrey Overstreet, “Sean Penn, The Tree of Life, and the difference between prose and poetry”

These words are helping me digest The Tree of Life. The minute this film by Terrence Malick came to an end I sought out commentary from appreciated film writers simply because I couldn’t form my own words. I couldn’t quite grasp what I’d just seen over the course of nearly 2.5 hours. I expected this to be the case, of course, having experienced a couple of Malick’s films in the past. I expected to not understand it. The fact that so many higher-minded people have gone before without being able to truly express all that the film means to them told me that my first viewing would simply be an introduction to this film. And so it is. But what an introduction it has been!

The most challenging aspect of The Tree of Life is the languid sequences of nature’s creative process that not only begin the film but are continually interjected within. There was a point at which I had to force myself not to tune out. Perhaps we’ve seen too many Discovery Channel specials on volcanoes and single-cell organisms and evolution of life and even the circle of life. Ultimately, my mind wanted to simply skim over these vivid depictions that felt somewhat endless rather than contemplate them in the context of the movie’s family narrative. To be honest, I didn’t really want to think about it so much; I just wanted the movie to be a simple story that was laid out before me. But I knew better than to expect this; I even put off my viewing of the film until I was ready to sit with these sequences and pay attention! Even so, I was distracted during these artistic pauses and sometimes felt anxious to return to the parallel story: a young boy’s memories of growing up with a stern father, his relationship to his younger brothers, and his constant questioning of God’s role in all that he experienced in his sorrowful youth. That story, though told in dreamy voiceover by himself and his father and mother, is really what mesmerized me throughout the film. The actors, especially, were perfect in their roles: newcomer Hunter McCracken as the boy (Jack); Brad Pitt as his very difficult father; and a very ethereal Jessica Chastain as his long-suffering mother. Each was astonishing, at times, and each carried the film to new levels as the story progressed. Sean Penn is also featured in a few segments as the older version of Jack, but I had difficulty connecting with him. It was his young counterpart who truly captivated me and whose story I most cared to follow.

I cannot help but compare this film experience with my favorite Malick film, The New World, simply because both require multiple viewings and personal introspection. I initially struggled to enjoy The New World, despite its familiar story of John Smith and Pocahontas, but its beauty and its tranquil storytelling drew me back again and again until it is now one of my all-time favorite films (in the top 15, even). But I didn’t think I liked it at all on the first viewing. And then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What initially didn’t quite come together in my mind is now my favorite example of beauty and elegance in film-making. It is that very experience that stayed in my mind as I watched The Tree of Life. I knew I might not understand it enough to even discuss with others, but I also knew I wouldn’t be seeing it only once. Time will tell whether it haunts me in the way that The New World still haunts, but I’m excited to let The Tree of Life wash over me for a while and then return to it in short time. The one thing I do know from first viewing is that it’s worth a second and third look, if not many more throughout my lifetime.

image via Rotten Tomatoes

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS :: Oscar Ritual 2012

February 5, 2012 — DVD

Nominated for Best Picture, Directing (Woody Allen), Original Screenplay, and Art Direction

It has only been in the past decade or so that I’ve become a fan of Woody Allen’s films, and even then I’m reserved in my opinion. But when I do find one of his films interesting I tend to love it wholeheartedly. Such is the case with Midnight In Paris. The premise alone excited me – a writer finds himself transported to 1920s Paris while walking the streets of that city at midnight – and I was quite impressed with the casting of Owen Wilson as said writer. Yet the previews did not do the film justice. Had I depended solely upon the movie trailers I might never have seen the film since it simply did not give indication of the movie’s charm. Had I depended upon those previews I would have expected a comedy when, in fact, Midnight In Paris is far more romantic than comedic. It’s an exploration of life and love and the pursuit of dreams with only a bit of humor and wit thrown into the mix. Even with all of that going for it, it’s Woody Allen’s distinctive voice that truly makes the story come alive.

As the writer protagonist, Owen Wilson is a delight, as self-effacing as always but also incredibly generous as an actor, allowing the robust cast of supporting players to take center stage each and every time. The movie’s great wit comes with those supporting characters as Wilson finds himself face to face with such figures as Ernest Hemingway, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Pablo Picasso, and Gertrude Stein, among many others. Night after night Wilson’s character walks to a particular Paris street corner until he encounters a vintage Peugeot and is beckoned by its passengers to join them for that night’s fabulous party with extraordinary artists. After the fantasy of the experience wears off, Wilson begins to seek advice of his new friends regarding his disenchantment with life, his novel in progress, and his upcoming marriage. As the nights pass and he meets one legendary figure after another, the pieces of his life do fall into place, even as he begins to fall in love with a French woman of the past.

It is rather difficult to make a romantic movie about Paris that does not cause the heart to flutter, and Woody Allen uses that to his advantage in this film. The opening sequence is actually an extended montage of the sights and sounds of Paris. After such a beginning I almost didn’t care what came next! Thankfully, Allen used that romanticism to set the stage for a truly charming film. I was enchanted by the many characters that popped into the 1920s storyline and by the actors who portrayed them, including Marion Cotillard as the French woman of Wilson’s affection and Corey Stoll as the hilariously brash Hemingway – although Adrien Brody was thoroughly underused as Salvador Dalí and ended up playing him as a fool. I was equally impressed with the heart of the film, but I did tire of the “present day” story, as Rachel McAdams was utterly vapid, Michael Sheen was nothing more than a caricature, and the characters of McAdams’s parents were over-the-top in their ridiculousness. Having the present day be so extremely unoriginal was disappointing and unnecessary; Paris past would have appeared grand even without diminishing the current age. But perhaps I wouldn’t have been so enchanted with Wilson’s story. As it stands, I loved Midnight In Paris because I already loved the romanticism of Paris in the Twenties. I saw a lot of myself in Wilson’s character. And when the final moment of the film came along, I actually clapped at the outcome. I’m not sure there’s ever been another Woody Allen film that brought me to that.

movie image via Film Master Journal