Dois Lados do Amor: Ele

Saw this last night (I consider it one film, saw both parts back to back in that order). Such a lovely, touching film, and not at all what I expected when I first heard about the project. First off, I just want to say that I find the title really gimmicky and misleading. Okay, sure, it's technically not "wrong", but it just sounds like a lead-on for something it's not, such an easy way to grab audience's attention.

The basic plot point that leads to the whole film has been done before (Rabbit Hole did it just a few years ago) and the whole film isn't trying to be anything other than an honest, captivating look at two characters' lives and the way they deal with this tragedy. For some reason I thought it was going to be this really daring film. I was wrong and I knew almost immediately, but I didn't mind. The script is fantastic, and the two leads superb. McAvoy actually impresses more in Her, and as a whole he's not really in Chastain's level, but he has some really strong scenes and as of now I'd have him in my Top 10 for Lead Actor (and he's in my top 3 for Filth, which is a better performance but an inferior film in every way). What can I say about Chastain? Her best performance alongside Zero Dark Thirty, and may very well be even better for the fact that she's able to play a much more rounded character in terms of emotions. What I've always found incredibly impressive about her as an actress is that, not only is she technically impeccable in all her work to a fault like so many other acclaimed actresses are, but she's also able to inhabit a character fully to the point that her technicality doesn't feel like we're watching her at a distance emotionally. That's a problem I have with some actresses working right now. They can be great, yeah, but can also hit notes technically well while feeling too much like it's all for show at times. I've never had that problem with Chastain. Her work here is among the best of the year and it's a shame that neither her or the fantastic film she's in are even getting mentions from critic bodies. If its because of the stupid "Them" decision, then what a shame... but it's most likely not, and that's an even bigger shame

Honestly, I have never encountered a screening of such intensity and relativity to this day-to-day life and dogma governed charade.

What you as a viewer are about to encounter is a defiance against your deep down inner skeptical thoughts. For some, this might be perceived as an embodiment of pure heretics. But rest assure viewer, you might be a one who is objective in perspective, and ingest this screening as a wake-up call for what you are missing on in life, or... a certification for whatever life you lead with your significant other, for the latter I'm sure was not forced onto you but chosen, chosen by your true undeniable true tendencies.

Enjoy my dear viewer this piece of art from whatever display box you have at home.

It's very odd how much The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her gets right that Him just can't measure up to. I'm not sure whether it's because I watched it second, but it's way more clumsily executed. While it does pay off a lot of things set up in Her (and I imagine it'll work vice versa) when it offers an alternate perspective on a scene, that's its only strength. Where Her approached sappiness with its insights on romance, Him too often breaches that mark. It's a more lightweight film, which comes with its own delights with Bill Hadar and that subplot, but moments which elicited tears in Her revisited here had little effect. I'm sure that's not a case of diminishing returns. McAvoy is reliably great, not quite as good as Chastain in Her, but again he bolsters the material. The problem with this portion of the pair is that it paints Eleanor Rigby in a very unappealing light, one I hadn't even considered with Her. Here, I don't see why he's chasing her so much. Nevertheless, Him is still a very good film for when it does hit the spot, just doesn't match its counterpart.

7/10

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby…Him (2013)

This is part of a two segment movie about a couple recovering from tragedy (losing a young child) told from the point of view of the mother and father separately. Like "Her," this one is mostly about the protagonist, with some key elements from the relationship unravelling. And like "Her" there is very little about the grieving or the actual tragedy. We are supposed to be dropped into their lives long enough later to be in their individual recoveries.

The father here is James McAvoy, and he's good, but he doesn't have the intensity and range of Jessica Chastain, who carries the "Her" movie so well. The supporting cast is thinner here, too—Viola Davis makes only a tangential appearance, and there is little of Isabelle Hupert and none of William Hurt, who both make "Her" rather special. So here we have the somewhat clichéd "friends at a bar" as McAvoy's clan, and it's nothing much.

It's tough to judge all of this because I saw "Her" first and so the plot itself was new to me then, and here it is simply the retelling of the same story. So what was most interesting of all was the re-telling of the overlapping sections, seeing the events from different eyes. This wasn't pushed hard, which is fine (this is no "Rashoman"), and so it just makes the pair of movies gel.

Beware of the third movie, however—which has the suffix: "Them." I haven't see it (and won't), but it is apparently a mash of the first two, a shortened single version that apparently lacks the potentially probing aspects of the two halves seen singley or together. The two separate movies are sometimes shown or released as a marathon version that is not the same as the shortened, combined Them. So see one of the two single versions and go from there.

Advice: "Him" alone is not as satisfying as "Her," for commons reasons like the depth of acting as well as the range of characters. Chastain's version is better by far, but if you do see "Her" first, I think "Him" adds another layer that is satisfying, and not redundant except in just the right moments.

The Disppearance Of Eleanor Rigby (nothing to do with the Beatles song except a brief reference by a character) is a thoughtful, exceptionally well made film about a couple dealing with an immense tragedy that has put a weight on their relationship, forcing them to take some time apart. James Macavoy, an actor who continues to impress, and Jessica Chastain, always amazing, play the two with diligent feeling and palpable hurt. Now, there's three different edits of the film. His, which is mostly his side of events following the breakup, where Macavoy takes center stage and we see his life. Hers, which shows us where Chastain ends up, and how she is coping. The third version, Theirs, is a truncated version of both stories, leaving out a lot of key scenes and important beats. His and Hers together come out to about four hours of movie watching, but if you're going to invest yourself in their story, you owe it to you self to watch them both, starting with His. Because there is four hours of their story, they are allowed to develop and interact in a fashion that feels far more genuine and lifelike than a rushed two and a half hour movie. Macavoy is an aspiring cook who runs a small café with his friend and sous chef (Bill Hader, fiercely funny) and yearns for Chastain, angry at life for throwing them the curveball it did. He moves in with his father (Ciaran Hinds gives phenomenal work), a successful restauranteer. Chastain moves in with her folks as well, played by Isabelle Huppert and William Hurt. Hurt, who hasn't been around that much lately, makes up for that by anchoring a key scene with Chastain. It's interesting that he gets to play her father in a film, because they both share a measured, baleful, hypnotic grace in their work, and seeing them interacting was a treat for me, being an immense fan of both their work. Now, the film is more than the sum of its parts, but I mean that in a good way, since the parts themselves are so brilliantly done as well. It's what we expect from the romantic drama Avenue, but because we see an extended fluidity to the work, a narrative free from the fractured conventions of usual editing styles, we feel right there with our two protagonists, every step of the way. More films should break the mold and try to be more than just segmented movies, and use immersion techniques like this to draw us in. Coupled with that unique method of delivery comes a sincere commitment from actors and director alike, to explore an aspect of life and relationships that many see as unpleasant or upsetting, yet can still make for beautiful work. Well worth a watch.