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AUTUMN 2003 MOVIE REVIEWS

Dean's rating scale:  **** Exceptionally good, ***Quite good indeed, ** I liked some things about it, but found it to be something closer to average,* Not recommended.

I need to point out that I am not really as critical as my reviews sometimes sound.  Generally, anything two stars or better is something I have enjoyed, and even those to which I only give one star have some aspects I find redeeming, though obviously less so than others.  Anything with less than a star (that is 0 or 1/2) is a nearly absolute thumb’s down.  Four stars are given less often and only to those that have most moved me, most effectively depicted believability and/or given me the most food for thought.

Cuckoo	***1/2
In this World	****
Lost in Translation	***
Luther	**1/2
Magdalene Sisters	***
Mystic River	**
Pieces of April	***1/2
Thirteen	***
Veronica Guerin	**

Cuckoo – In Russian, Finnish and Lapp with English subtitles – It is 1945, World War II has nearly ended, and two enemy combatants, one Russian and one Finnish soldier, find themselves hosted by a Lapp woman who tends to their wounds, to their comfort, and to the reassembly of souls slow to disengage from conflict. Subtitled “War makes strange bedfellows”, and since none of the lead characters understand the language of the others, we are presented with a fascinating and gently amusing excursion into cross-cultural misunderstandings. I generally haven’t been so generous in my ratings of Russian films, and although this one suffers as others have from occasionally slow pacing, it eventually becomes a truly sweet charmer, and I would now have to rate it as my favorite of the crop I’ve seen come out of Russia. The film gets a bit superstitious at times, but that is in keeping with its setting and characters. In this day of hyperbolically-paced blockbusters, this film is mostly a casual walk in the country that takes the time to more carefully dissect special moments, smell the disagreeable odors of war and to listen attentively to the sounds of nature rather than to overly distracting movie soundtracks. It is also the first time I can recall seeing one’s own soldier (in this case, the Russian) portrayed negatively at the same time that one’s enemy (the Finnish soldier) is portrayed positively. You may be able to name American war films – i.e. Platoon, Apocalypse Now, etc. – that make some American soldiers appear less than noble, but try to name one that does it at the same time that it makes American enemies – i.e. Nazis, Japanese, or Viet Cong soldiers – appear more than noble. It’s worth your time to make your way to this film if it comes to your town or video store. (Kids – yes, for those who can read sometimes rapidly paced subtitles; Teens and adults – likewise) ***1/2

In this World – (In Pashti, Persian, Turkish, Italian, English, etc. with English subtitles) This film gets four stars not because it represents good cinema … it doesn’t really. Rather it gets four stars for the pure unmitigated chutzpah required to document such a risky journey. It’s a story that’s right up my alley, though perhaps not everybody’s. Two Afghan refugees attempt to make their way from a refugee camp in Pakistan over a dangerous overland route to London, England. Although a fictionalized documentary, much of it is far too real, and though it focuses on two individuals, the story represents the sort of harrowing experiences countless other refuges have faced. The refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan, near the infamous Khyber Pass, is one I visited in 1987 (see photo), permitted to enter only after paying a “gratuity” to a bureaucrat. The Afghan war has long since ended with the Soviet Union, and many in the camps returned home, though many more have arrived to the camps since the time of the American intervention into Afghanistan after September 11th, 2001. The route of the two refugees is filled with hazards … unscrupulous refugee traffickers, sticky-fingered officials, gun-brandishing border guards, suffocating container ships, and the brutal elements of nature. Anybody who’s crossed frontiers and faced down intimidating border officials in their travels, if they are like me, gets a little weak-kneed whenever they see it portrayed on film. Using small handheld cameras, director Michael Winterbottom manages to capture scenes that more obtrusive crews would probably have been prevented from filming. At times, the manner in which the cameras are used give the film a Blair Witch feel, and the story is such that it’s difficult to discern where the facts leave off and the fiction begins. To the extent that the story is scripted, the dialog is kept simple to permit it to be said believably by amateur actors. Still, this is one of those stories where the tragic impact leaves the audience in their seats until after the final credits stop rolling. (Kids – maybe bored, particularly if they don’t like reading subtitles; Teens and adults – worldly-minded ones. Note also that the film includes a few disturbing scenes, including a graphically shown slaughtering of a live cow). ****

Lost in Translation – For such a small plot, it’s amazing how much buzz this film has received. A certain amount of hype goes with director Sofia Coppola’s famous last name and the benefits of nepotism, but I don’t believe critics are merely being generous, because Coppola has deftly crafted an extraordinarily subtle, nuanced romantic comedy that manages to sweeten one’s heart without adding much syrup. Calling it a comedy overstates it, even though Bill Murray’s facial calisthenics, (less acrobatic and absurd but no less amazing or amusing than the clownish and rubber-faced Jim Carrey), provide comic relief from an otherwise more subdued look at restlessness in the face of loneliness, boredom, and lack of meaningful purpose. To fill the gaps and feelings of emptiness, Murray and his romantic foil, played by 18-year old Scarlet Johannson, improvise to regain some temporary sense of belonging and orientation. Set among the dazzling neon of Tokyo and the alternately frenetic and staid culture of modern Japan, “Lost” is apt for both internal and external disorientation, a feeling to which any experienced traveler can relate, though I’m not sure it is the kind of “lost” that home-bounds know as well. These, after all, are the problems of spoiled rich kids with too much money and time on their hands, struggling with the philosophy espoused by the old song “Love the One Your With”. Coppola, now 33, wrote the script as well as directed, and draws substantially from her impressions and experiences living and working in Japan during her 20s. After The Virgin Suicides and now this film, her stock among critics continues unabated. Interestingly, both films seem to emphasize the male perspective and fascination with young women. By contrast to that earlier film, “Lost in Translation” is not so plot driven, but mainly attempts to capture the subtlest of feelings. A kiss is just a kiss, but sometimes when it brings closure, it’s amazing how satisfying it can be. You don’t have to go to Tokyo to know the feelings that the film attempts to capture or to have been tempted by opportunities in the face of loneliness and boredom, but anybody who has spent too much time in hotels will have little trouble translating this to one’s own experience. (Kids – the film includes some nudity, and some kids might grow bored by the adult subject matter; Teens and adults – yes for the romantically minded) ***

Luther – Although I’m not religious, an agnostic like me can be thoroughly impressed with Martin Luther as a guy who thought outside the box and who managed to muster a most phenomenal courage for his convictions. He moved masses to equal or greater levels of courage. This epic film attempts to compress the vast earthquake of the Protestant reformation into two hours of historical drama, but is only partially successful. Though such an attempt was clearly a daunting task, the film could have been strengthened by providing a less broad and less clinical look at the historical record, and focused in greater detail on selected aspects. The editing is at times erratic and hardly gives you a chance to appreciate the potentially more moving moments. Most aspects that would give Luther a third dimension are given short shift, and we learn not so much about who he really was and what made him tick than we learn or already knew of what he did. His earth-bound inspirations, his fears and self-doubts, and his relationships with some of the people closest to him, most notably his wife, are given inadequate attention, and the film rarely strayed far from the bounds of historical narrative. Luther was such a colossal and extraordinary character in history that, rather than two hours, the film may have warranted the three-hour length of the Oscar winning film dedicated to another colossal and extraordinary character, Gandhi. Still, anyone who knows only a portion of the story of the origins of the rift between the Catholic Church and protestant denominations is likely to be edified by this portrayal of the principle character and his followers who made it all happen. (Kids – mature ones, perhaps; teens and adults – for those with an interest in the subject matter, absolutely) **1/2

Magdalene Sisters – A witheringly bitter indictment of the cruelty propagated by the Magdalene “orphanages” of Ireland, this is indeed a difficult movie to sit through comfortably. By extension, the story is yet another in a long list of highly critical indictments against the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, and their willingness to tolerate abuses and look the other way as long as money is pouring in. “Orphanage”, the last of which shut down in 1996, is truly a misnomer, since these places were used as something more akin to slave labor camps -- prisons for teenage girls and young adult women who became pregnant out of wedlock or committed such subtle “sins” as paying more than a passing interest in boys, or who were viewed somehow as unseemly by their families. The nuns who ran the orphanage are portrayed as some cross between the Wicked Witch of the West, Nurse Ratched (from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), and the guards at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The movie has the feel of a Holocaust survivor’s tale. My companion from Russia said it reminded her of the fears she once had of the Gulag prison system, and said she would never think of Ireland and the Irish people in quite the same light. The film paints a rather dark, unflattering picture of the Irish, which is truly unfortunate and misleading. There’s hardly a likeable character in the film, including the heroines for whom you desperately wish escape from the madness. This is not your light-hearted Waking Ned Devine or The Commitments, but rather the diametric opposite. Still, aside from some offbeat and unbelievable moments, the story is compelling, and most of us can leave feeling grateful we never had to face such miserable circumstances. (Kids – nope; Teens – mature ones only) ***

Mystic River -- With the exception of some brief powerful moments from Sean Penn and even more impressive acting from Tim Robbins, this latest effort from Clint Eastwood is otherwise rather conventional story telling of a murder mystery. Three childhood friends who lose contact with each other are rejoined later in life when the daughter of Sean Penn’s character is murdered. Kevin Bacon plays the adult version of one of the childhood friends who later becomes the detective investigating the murder. Robbins becomes one of those under investigation. The direction of the plot is not what I hoped, and in spite of the greater than normal length – two hours, 40 minutes – the story lacked the depth I would otherwise expect from that much time. (Kids – perhaps not due to momentary brutal violence; teens and adults – okay for those who are into murder mysteries, but it doesn’t stand out much from what you’d see on television) **

Pieces of April – To my mind, most independent films these days blow the hell out of mainstream films, and this one is no exception. This is the best one I’ve seen since one with similar attributes, Raising Victor Vargas, came out earlier this year. Funny, frustrating, touching, and with few exceptions thoroughly believable, we see another look at ourselves and our families. Well, maybe none of this will remind you of you or your family, but as mundane and occasionally odd as the story sometimes seems, it should also seem to every family oddly familiar. The ensemble cast is near picture perfect, particularly the mother and daughter team, Patricia Clarkson and Katie Holmes. Katie plays April, a goth girl who prepares Thanksgiving dinner for her family and who’s determined to do things right this time for parents and siblings who have nary a good thing to say about her. The artistry of the photography give a 1950s feel to a contemporary story.The story oscillates between the humorous, the sentimental, the cruel, and the affecting. One reviewer said that the film has a hidden heart, but it seemed to me, particularly by the end, that the heart is front and center. There is also an unmistakable liberal agenda glaring at you in the subtext. As a Thanksgiving American Gothic portrait, we’ve come a long way from the days of the pilgrims. This is a small picture in plot, budget, and length (90 minutes), but for relaxation and a laugh, it’s worth your time. (All ages – absolutely!) ***1/2

Thirteen – “Thirteen year old girls are the cruelest creatures known to man”, says Tom Magliozzi, of Car Talk fame. “Amen!”, we say affirmingly. This film, co-written by thirteen-year-old Nikki Reed and based partly upon her own experiences, offers proof of the observation, as if we needed more. Deeply cunning, cleverly manipulative, self-obsessed, self-hating, retributive, and brutally, cruelly honest when it’s most uncalled for, thirteen year old girls are perhaps the truest of true misogynists, celebrated victims of their senses, their raging hormones, and their desperate need for affirmation from their peers, their parents and, oh yeah, from boys. Although the film may be shocking to some, many of us know someone, or know somebody who knows someone, who may merely have been a variation on the theme demonstrated in this story. Reed plays a diva much more street-wise than her years and leads a willing and vulnerable Evan Rachel Wood just about wherever she wants to take her. Girls just want to have fun, right? Holly Hunter, as Wood’s mother, may be Oscar material again. She’s so convincing that it seems she’s drawing directly from her own experiences. The movie captures many of the risks to which young teenagers are prone, highlighting one particular form of self-abuse, while straying somewhat from more commonly seen topics such as drug abuse and the various risks associated with sexual promiscuity. What we don’t learn is the reason for the intensity of the anger, and what motivates the willingness of young girls to run roughshod over everything in their paths, including themselves, in order to cope with that anger. What we do learn is that as a parent, there are times when you allow a long leash or no leash at all, and other times when you hold on very tightly and not let go, sometimes especially when they most fiercely rebel. I suppose it needs to be pointed out that most thirteen year olds you know or have known are probably not well represented by the more extreme behaviors demonstrated in this film, but hmmm, how would you know for sure? (Kids – not recommended, unless you want to contend with a thirteen year old of your own; Teens – hell, your teen could probably write a similarly shocking script of their own) ***

Veronica Guerin – This being Washington, DC, I have suspicions that the 12 people in the theater with whom I watched this movie were probably journalists, perhaps coming to admire and find courage from the brave, brash Irish investigative journalist who lost her life covering stories of the drug underworld and sticking her nose in places where some thought it didn’t belong. Few others beyond journalists or natives of Ireland, where Veronica Guerin became something of a martyred hero in 1996 after her tragic death, know of her name. I knew of her from featured stories on 60 Minutes, and later went and found her name on a Wall of Rememberence for journalists, just a couple blocks from my apartment. This is just the kind of movie theme that would typically interest me, and although the film met most of my expectations, for anybody who had previously known of Veronica Guerin, the film generally lacked the emotional impact one might hope from such a compelling story. Hollywood almost always seems to take what could be told as a compelling profile, and instead emphasizes just the facts and whenever possible the thuggery. Kate Blanchett convincingly captures Guerin’s brashness, a brashness that often seemed to extend beyond the point of foolishness. Still, we don’t see a great deal of depth in the character nor do we learn much about what drove her to do the things she did. There is inspiration in this story, though far less of it comes from Guerin herself than from those who are moved by her death into action. (Perhaps appropriate for all ages, but the Irish dialects require some careful listening and there are some brief brutally violent scenes). **

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