My First Mister

Jennifer Benson (Leelee Sobieski) is a seventeen years old misfit punk teenager that uses piercing, tattoos, wears only black clothes and dyed hair, self-inflicts injures and has fixation for death. She misses a father and a normal mother, since Mrs. Benson (Carol Kane) has trouble in the communication with her, and feels absolutely rejected. While looking for a job, she meets the forty-nine years old Randall Harris (Albert Brooks), a lonely man who owns a shopping store, and he hires her. They are opposites but with loneliness and lack of friends in common. They become close friends, and their interaction changes their behavior for good while secrets and feelings are disclosed.

This is the second work of the excellent underrated actress Christine Lahti as director that I see (the other one is the short "Lieberman in Love"), and also a surprisingly great movie. The original and the Brazilian titles are simply awful and vulgar, and do not mirror this sensitive story of loneliness and friendship. Leelee Sobieski has another great performance in the role of a disturbed and rebellious teenager, needy of love and care, who changes her behavior when she meets her soul-mate friend in a middle-age man. I am not fan of Albert Brooks, but he is great performing Randall Harris, the man who touches Jennifer in the heart. In the end, a toast to all special "F" words: to friends, family, fate, forgiveness and forever. Wonderful and touching! My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Meu Primeiro Homem" ("My First Man")

May to December can be the cruelest months if they're about a relationship between a young woman and an older man. `American Beauty' and more recently `Ghost World' carried the usual criticism of this socially questionable alliance, from downright damage in the former to uncertainty about how it could ever work in the latter.

In `My First Mister,' starring Albert Brooks and Leelee Sobieski, the union works so beautifully in the first half of the film I thought even I could try it. Director Christine Lahti, who won an Oscar for best short film, "Lieberman in Love," concentrates on the flowering friendship between a Goth girl who needs a friend and a job and a 49 year-old haberdasher who has jettisoned everyone in order to live out his life painlessly for everyone.

Jill Franklyn, who wrote the "Yada Yada" episode of "Seinfeld," pens perfect lines for the understated Brooks, such as when he first sees Sobieski: "Scram. Shoo. Why don't you go get your eyeballs pierced?" and another time when he says, "I want the smallest tattoo you have. Can you give me a dot, or a period?"

Director Lahti shows her originality by letting us painfully and slowly watch a purple-haired Sobieski pull out her nose and face rings. This film is the best I have ever seen to give respect to a much-maligned paring in movies. The 17-year-old punker helps him awaken to life's interesting couplings like cavorting mannequins, and he shows her love unalloyed. When the time comes for sex, as it always does in Hollywood, no one cares, even the audience, because the point is the friendship.

In the second half of the film Lahti lets go of her originality to indulge the genre with the usual fatal twist, easy reconciliation of family, and renewal for Sobieski found in a most unbelievable coincidence. Yet I can't forget that first half, where 2 human beings, unencumbered by any expectation other than their own need for connection, follow none of the formulas but love on its own terms.

If you asked me why I saw this particular film I'd like to tell you that I've seen all of Christine Lahti's films. Truth be told, it's because I'm middle aged white guy with a bad sense of humor and I live vicariously through Albert Brooks. Look at these character contrasts: young girl-old man, freak-straight, red-gray, latte-sanka, rap-jazz, pierced/tattooed-not either. And now the similarities- two lonely relationally challenged, uncommunicative, sarcastic.that feels better. We meet a poet-eulogist Jennifer portrayed by an almost unrecognizable LeLe Sobieski. Self described as "not a girl, but opposite a boy," Jennifer's self-mutilation clearly punctuates her pain. Her art is self-focused until she finds a purpose larger than herself. A Chaplin-esque Randall Harris (Albert Brooks) is introduced dressing a female mannequin. Jennifer's looking at him backward thru binoculars bothers him. This gives her perspective and the opportunity to fantasize. As their relationship develops his intentions seem noble - or repressed - and hers exploratory - and expressed. Controversial? Only in subtext since the age difference will raise questions and eyebrows. And there's the absent father issues. Comedic elements include distorted visuals, costumes, makeup and dialogue. The relationship is treated with such sensitivity - well as much as can be expected when dealing with an alienated teen and it speaks to the emptiness we feel when we're walking around among aliens. "Who do you talk to? Who are your friends?" asks Randall but like most accusatory questions, he could well direct it his own way. At the end of the film, you'll find a toast to go into your repertoire. Watch for it. This quirky film is a must see for all who need a refreshing look at relationships and personal growth. And who among us doesn't?

CyCy

This is a story of an unlikely couple, a 49-year-old clothing store manager (Brooks) and a rebellious 17-year-old girl (Leelee) just finishing high school. She needs a job, so she can move out of her parents' house, and he needs help in the back room sorting clothes. With her black clothes, black lipstick, black hair with purple strands, and multiple peircings, he chuckles at her and tells her to come back after she cleans up. She eventually does, she gets the job, they provide unlikely friendships for each other that each needed at that time in their lives. In the end they both gain something they needed. The film strongly implies that she wanted the relationship to a romantic one, but he learns to love her as a family member, perhaps the daughter he never had.

Leelee was in two films released in 2001, this one and "Joy Ride." In the latter I found her acting wooden and uninspired. However, in "My First Mister" she was a totally different actress, very effective, very believable. Brooks is his usual good self. John Goodman was effective as the girl's somewhat estranged and slightly off-kilter father.

The DVD image is very crisp and focused. I was especially impressed with the film's lighting and camera work. The many facial close-ups are almost three-dimensional, with a soft out of focus background. Really one of the nicer looking films. Although the sound is Dolby 5.1, most of the sound comes from the front channels

Good movie.

This movie is very cool if you like alternative, angst ridden teenagers trying to do good. The title is awfully deceptive because there is nothing illegitimate about the "older guy - younger girl" relationship at all - here's a short synopsis: Alternative goth chick meets conservative store manager. Neither of them have a life outside of work so they slowly learn to hang out together. The rest kind of falls into place as they see how "the other half" lives, and make each other better people. Great movie to watch with your parents (no drugs or sex) and sweet for an pick-me-up kind of movie. The soundtrack is cool too - it has the great older tunes like Sinatra and such - along with some Marilyn Manson and then some reggae as well.