Vitarai

I just saw this film as part of the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival in a screening at SFMOMA. What a work of art! A clear labor of love, this layered re-telling of the significance of, and meaning in Pieter Bruegel's masterpiece, "The Way to Calvary" is one of the finest embodiments of a canvas brought to life I have ever seen. Rutger Hauer is Pieter Bruegel, Sir Michael York is his patron, and the mesmerizingly beautiful Charlotte Rampling is the Virgin Mary. The unnamed figures in the painting (well over 100) are brought to life, and what a life it must have been in the 16th Century. Simple and with clear order, yet brutal and harsh. Not only is "The Mill and the Cross" a re-creation of the painting it is 16th Century Flanders (as Bruegel saw it). The film also acts as a Passion Play, and given I saw it Easter Weekend it couldn't have seemed more appropriate.

One of the best films of 2010, and for that matter the past few years. "Black Swan" is dark, disturbing, and beautiful. It is a focused film about one of the most demanding art forms: ballet. The ballerina, especially the prima ballerina must be in the most fit of physical conditions, and because it also demands so much expressive emotion the mental state of the dancer must always be affected by the stress and rigorous preparations necessary for a bravura performance. All of this is so artfully conveyed by the director Darren Aronofsky it seems almost effortless.

The film conveys the physical ordeal the dancer goes through, and literally represents the mental transformation of the main character who is tasked with playing both the White and Black Swan in Tchaikovsky's masterpiece Swan Lake. Natalie Portman is mesmerizing as Nina. She is virtually on screen throughout the film, often shot from behind to emphasize the first- person nature of the story. Aronofsky could not have chosen a more appropriate actress to portray his Prima Ballerina in the making. In fact the casting in this film is impeccable all the way around. Even the small roles give us a sense of authenticity from the other chorus girls, to the instructors, and massage therapist. Barbara Hershey as the cloying mother, Mila Kunis in a breakout performance as the "other girl/swan", even Winona Ryder's minor role as the deposed ballet star stands out in this strong ensemble piece.

It is as if each of the primary women in the film are different representations of the same psyche, so it seems clear the director needed a strong troupe of actors capable of giving and playing with and off each other in ways that would keep the audience on edge and at ease with how the story would be told. Vincent Cassel portrays the proto-typical arrogant ballet director, and yet somehow seems understated in doing it. This is a gifted actor we should see more of, and the director did a magnificent job keeping the tensions right at the edge. He and the other men all seem to have designs on Nina, and just like the women in the film seem to meld into one another.

The film is about mirroring, performing, becoming. Much of the film is shot either from behind the actors, or through mirrors, so what we are seeing is always but a reflection of reality. We are never quite sure if what we see in "Black Swan" even happens. Even in the last shot we are left to wonder if what transpires is real, or imagined, but we are sure that what we have seen is the perfection of art.

One of Terry Gilliam's better films. Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, and Lily Cole give stand-out performances. It's Heath Ledger's last film. He died during the film's production, and thanks to some inventive storytelling Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrel capably filled in to complete the film. While this may cause some film goers difficulty I found it rather simple to suspend disbelief as their appearance only occurs during those moments when the character resides within the Imaginarium.

Gilliam is clearly fascinated by the act and art of story-telling, a theme he has addressed in nearly all of his films from "Time Bandits", through "The Brothers Grimm." Here that act is essential for life itself and the Universe as a whole to continue. The film moves fluidly back and forth from a grim but real world and the fantastical world of dreams.

Christopher Plummer uses every trick he's learned over his very long and distinguished career to present a very complicated and difficult to completely pin down exactly who Dr. Parnassus might be. Surely we are presented some very clear possibilities, but with the number of layers Gilliam uses as the over-arching story progresses it would be very difficult to assume any one is definitive, and that is not at all easy for an actor to successfully achieve. Plummer shows us a loving parent, a drunken fool, a wise man of letters, a charlatan grifting for souls, a mystical priest/prophet, a homeless, penny-less bum. Opposite him is Tom Waits' creepy and devilish Mr. Nick. Once again showing us that this musician song-writer has some acting prowess that deserves to be used and seen more often.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is a film (or story) about choices. Ones we make, ones' we wish we'd make, and knowing right from wrong. It's not clearly black and white as I just made it sound, and the film ends cryptically enough that we know the story continues. Dr. Parnassus made a bargain many moons ago with an unsavory character, and must make amends, that's the film we see before us from Gilliam, and like Shakespeare he reminds us that the world is a stage and we are but actors rounded with a little sleep wherein we dream.