NRastro

I liked it a lot. Yes, it's very much indie and low-budget, but the point of the movie was to show things from the Chinese-American character's point of view, to show why the answer to "why don't you just come out to your parents?" can be a lot more complicated than others may imagine. Worthwhile and fun and sweet.

The style and acting was meant to be naturalistic, and the emotions are kept pretty restrained. I kind of liked the way the characters were very much depicted as pretty much ordinary guys, like the ones I knew growing up. The movie avoids extremes that are so common that we don't even think about them. There's no big, high-drama drug problems (at one extreme) nor no guys with jet-setting (perfect but empty) lives, and the funny "best friend" characters aren't so terribly arch. Seems pretty true to life, which forces you to concentrate on the story and message, which is pretty quiet, emotionally brave turf to tread. In that sense, it takes some risks in its simplicity.

I didn't see her first movie, and I'd always thought Margaret Cho was funny when I saw her on network TV, but nothing prepared me for this. A lot of my laughter came from pure shock value. She'd start on a topic and I'd think, "she's not really going to go THERE, is she?" -- and she goes RIGHT there.

Raunchy is definitely the word that fits, but I think what I felt was the glee that accompanies hearing taboos busted right and left. On top of that, when she chooses to get into more impassioned and serious territory, she is mesmerizing. (But don't worry -- she doesn't stay serious for long!)

Her comedy writing is solid, her delivery and timing are razor sharp, and the structure of the routine is impeccable.

I think I'll probably see this movie again in the theater while I can.

I rented this movie (`Hanging Up') and I found it devastatingly effective.

At the center of the movie is Meg Ryan, whose movies I've not seen a lot. Her character, Eve, is really the fulcrum on which the whole movie balances. Much as her character's car is boxed in by a parking-garage accident early in the movie, I got the feeling that the movie was a meditation on whether her life is of her own choosing and making, or whether it is something she has largely been trapped into.

Part of the art of the movie is, I feel, that the character doesn't really know. This isn't made explicit in dialogue -– rather, you can see it in her face as she repeatedly goes through situations in her life. And in her reactions to those situations, you can see the many little waves of emotion sweeping over her, all vying for the upper hand. It's as if she's perpetually trying to find her place and regain her balance.

And this may be what some people who saw the movie and didn't like it don't see: at times, you wonder if she's really going to crack. An example is the brilliantly conceived set of characters represented by Eve's mother (in a brief appearance by Cloris Leachman) and Eve's husband (who has slightly more screen time). Each very clearly rejects Eve's father. But, in doing so, each of them places, perhaps unwittingly, a huge demand on her. For Eve, to live in the world that is dictated by others' expectations and reactions, whether reasonable or unreasonable, is to deny herself. And yet, the paradox is that, while her continued interactions with her father and sisters represent a possibly destructive degree of self-denial, in all the caring she dispenses to others, she is her best self. Her use of the phone is the clear metaphor for that – she can't stand to stay on it, and yet she can't stand to stay off of it.

Diane Keaton's direction is very impressive in the movie, in my opinion. The staging and editing are first rate, and really frame the story beautifully. Her acting performance in the film is a little awkward, but her ability as a director to really get the actors to play with a subtlety and spontaneity in their reactions to each other (particularly in scenes between Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow) is very skilled.

I think that if a viewer sees the movie as just a light comedy or a succession of gags, they have really missed the point of what Diane Keaton is trying to do. I find that hard to fathom, because Meg Ryan's central performance clearly is meant to showcase the character's essential emotional confusion, and I feel like the direction emphasizes this repeatedly. Maybe some viewers are distracted by Meg Ryan's beauty, which may have had the effect of setting up some distance between themselves and the character. It could be argued that Keaton allowed Ryan to be so well dressed, often in extremely flattering outfits of pastel colors, that it's hard to take seriously that the character could be an emotional mess. Eve may have inadvertently been robbed of some of the character's gravitas as a result.

I see a lot of darkness in Walter Matthau's character as well, but the affection between him and the Meg Ryan character is also very clear. Adam Arkin contributes a fine supporting performance in the movie as Eve's husband. His character could have easily been so blandly cast that it would have sunk right into the background, but he is a confrontational, yet gentle, force in Eve's life, and helps call the question as to whether Eve's life is in the state it's in by her own choice or not.

So, to sum up, I think that to dismiss `Hanging Up' as a heartwarming bauble is to miss a lot. The central character is a woman that is pulled and tugged in so many directions, all in the midst of a life that looks deceptively normal given her stresses, but is really one that remains hers to define. By the end of the movie, you can see in Ryan's expressions (and judge for yourself) the degree to which she has, or has not, come to a level of acceptance about her lot.