misslv80

Shopgirl is about a young 20-something woman, Mirabelle (Claire Danes) who works selling gloves at Saks Fifth Avenue in L.A. She spends most of her day behind the counter with not much to do and at night she goes home alone to her apartment in Silverlake, with only her cat to keep her company. She dreams of being an artist and of a man who will one day sweep her off her feet and awaken her drab and lifeless existence.

Later on she meets two completely different men. The first one she meets is Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), who works as a font designer for a company that sells amplifiers to rock bands. Jeremy is hopelessly clueless about the nuances of romance, naive, bumbling, and goofy. However, Mirabelle does plant the seeds of ambition in his mind to go out and do something significant in his life, which he does in going out on the road with a rock band. Toward the end of the movie, we see that Jeremy has changed for the better, and he evolves as a person as well. He was very funny and the surprising comic relief in the film. The scene where the gold-digging rival shopgirl Lisa (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) mistakes Jeremy for Ray Porter was especially funny.

The second one is Ray Porter (Steve Martin), a handsome, rich, sophisticated older man who meets Mirabelle at Saks and buys a pair of gloves from her. He then sends her the gloves as a present and asks her out to dinner. Mirabelle is intrigued by Ray and decides to go out to dinner with him. She thinks it is flattering that he has noticed her. Once she gets to know him, she falls in love. Ray thinks he makes it clear to her that he isn't looking for a serious commitment. Mirabelle, however, is serious about Ray and loves him completely. This is where the complications ensue in their relationship.

Martin's performance was smooth, polished, and charming, but also emotionally detached, as his Ray Porter character struggles not to become emotionally involved with Mirabelle, but it was evident in the things that he does for her that he cared her for almost in a paternal way. I never thought of Martin as a dashing leading man, but he excelled in his role. No one else could have played Ray Porter, as it was his story and he understood the characters better than anyone. Martin and Danes exhibited a kind of wonderful chemistry together, a special kind of sexual tension that crackled on the screen, especially in the scene where she is waiting on his bed for him nude and they make love for the first time or when Mirabelle puts on the gloves that Ray has bought for her and she is wearing nothing else.

The character of Mirabelle is a girl one would consider a "plain jane", not the most physically beautiful, but Danes's performance conveyed a kind of inner beauty that radiated from within, very much a spiritual beauty. Especially in the scenes with Martin, she had a sensuality of a woman who really experiences passion and love for the first time in her life, and pain.

Throughout the movie we can see the kind of evolution that takes place from a woman who is shy, timid, and almost emotionless to someone who is more confident, more grown-up and self-assured. Why Danes was not nominated for a Golden Globe or an Oscar is beyond me. She was completely convincing and believable as Mirabelle and brought the character of the lonely, troubled, beautiful young woman to life.

However, this movie is not without flaws. One of the biggest is the score. I believe the score was meant to be like an homage to the old Hollywood movies of 30s & 40s, but it was intrusive, over-the-top, and very melodramatic. I believe less would have been more in the case of a movie like Shopgirl. Another flaw was the narration. Martin's narration of the scenes in the movie were self-explanatory and completely unnecessary.

Overall, the movie was excellent, wonderful, funny, sad and very faithful to Martin's novella. I would recommend reading the novella first before seeing the movie, as the novella is also very good. It is a good romantic date movie. Good performances by all, especially Ms. Danes. It took an interesting perspective on the May/December romance, through the eyes of a female protagonist, even though the story was written by a man. It also said a lot about what men and women expect from relationships, and how love can be heartbreaking and painful, yet wonderful and beautiful at the same time. It is also about a woman discovering more about life, love, and most of all, herself. Highly recommended.

Sideways is one of those rare movies where I read the book and then saw the film afterwards. It is one of those stories that translate seamlessly from the novel to the big screen due to the effortless direction of Alexander Payne and his attention to the nuances and subtlety of the descriptive narrative of the book, such as the sharp, witty dialogue, and the human warmth of the characters; it did not lose its warm and wonderful flavor when it was translated to the screen. In fact, while I was watching it, it never felt like I was watching a movie, which is a good thing. I never felt the actors were "acting". I felt like I was actually watching a documentary of these four peoples' lives.

Two buddies, Miles and Jack, venture off for a week-long trip to the California wine country. You could not imagine two more unlikely men being friends. Miles (Paul Giamatti) is a failed writer who has a novel that he is trying to get published. He is also trying to get over a divorce and his friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church) is quite the opposite, a happy-go-lucky ladies man who is engaged to be married. However, Jack is on the prowl for his last hurrah with Stephanie, played by Sandra Oh. Miles also meets up with a warm-hearted waitress named Maya (Virginia Madsen), who is also trying to get over a divorce.

The four characters are very well-developed. Never once does the action lag in the storyline. It has a great pace and rhythm. There was quite a bit of dialogue I recognized from the novel and many scenes from the novel that Payne did keep in that were integral to the storyline of the film that I was happy with. The movie is very faithful to the book. Of course, since I read the novel first, I noticed there were some plot changes to the original story, but I recognize and respect Payne's decisions as to why these changes were made and these changes actually made the movie stronger as a result. The split screen montages of Jack and Miles traveling through the wine country are reminiscent of cinema from the 60s or 70s.

Even though the story is very dialogue heavy, do not mistake this movie as something slow and boring, as some human interest films tend to be. No, you will not only be laughing hysterically, as it is one of the best dark comedies I have ever seen, but don't be surprised if it moves you to tears at times. The scene where Madsen's character Maya talks about the life inside a bottle of wine is probably one of the best monologues I have ever seen on film. This film will definitely make you think and it is one of those you will be recommending to your friends. However, I would recommend you read the novel first because it will put the story into perspective more. Excellent ensemble cast, first-rate directing, and wonderful cinematography. Its nomination for Best Picture was very much deserved. Recommended highly to all.