nanvan108

When a father comes to visit his two daughters for what should be a day of remembrance and celebration, a series of very funny family dynamics are set in play. I caught this gem in a screening at the Chinese American Film Festival, and loved it. I won't spoil with full details, but an out-of-earshot argument between the two women builds to one of the funniest spats I've seen. Very fun, funny, well-written and performed film.

When I saw the cast list, I knew there would be some wonderful performances, but I was surprised at how they uniformly surpassed my expectations. I believe it's Bale's best work so far, and that's saying something. Likewise with Affleck, Harrelson and Saldana. The rest of the cast was wonderful as well.

There is one scene in particular (I won't spoil it here) where an actor lets loose in a way that careful directors and nervous producers would normally edit out. I applaud Scott Cooper for breaking the rule that films are meant to entertain (and earn millions), and raw emotion that feels too close to reality is to be avoided. It's inelegant, and not what we want to see from stars, especially attractive ones. Cooper lets people be people, and I find that incredibly refreshing.

I was immediately invested in the characters -- warts and all. As painful as many of their decisions were to watch, I went along for those very bumpy rides, because any other course taken would be untrue for these characters.

I recently saw "12 Years A Slave," and feel inclined to mention that I sense a new, somewhat subversive style of filmmaking emerge -- and maybe a wonderful new culture in Hollywood. (At least I hope so.) It's one where films about extraordinary hardship are treated a way that doesn't hold back, glamorize or otherwise mollify them.

In my opinion, when Hollywood slicks up violence (as it almost always does), it informs us that we shouldn't really be moved by its tragedy. We aren't shaken to the core and inspired to stop suffering wherever we can. That's shameful. So kudos to Cooper and to Steve McQueen for embracing a reality in their films that reconnects us with humanity instead of suggesting it's okay to blithely mock it.

If I have any criticism of this film, it's that two scenes where one plays out as a metaphor for the other may not have been necessary. Otherwise, I feel the writing is disciplined and at the same time very rich and rewarding.

The potential horrors of poverty and a lack of opportunity on display in this film are dealt with in a way that exempts political bias, and that in itself is a huge accomplishment.

A sense of hope exists amidst the heartache of this film. I will see it again.

We care about Adam. He's a nice, smart, occasionally reckless guy. And he worries about his dad. He's also from the poor end of town, and as such, is dissed by an ambitious, somewhat self-absorbed Ivy League beauty. Right there, we're invested as an audience in the high stakes challenges that await Adam. More than the script calls for? Maybe, but that doesn't mean this isn't an entertaining film. It IS entertaining.

Also, criticism that the plot lacks sufficient tension may be partly due to its lack of gore. There is danger, there is tension. There's not as much bloodshed as we've come to expect from thrillers. This is more Grisham than grisly, and some viewers, sadly, aren't down with that. I think that's a shame, mainly for those viewers.

Every morsel of Ford and Oldman's screen time is tasty, not surprisingly. And the story's inevitable romance is nice for those of us who appreciate that sort of thing.

I thought about the longstanding rivalry between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs during this film, and it made we wonder what may have happened behind closed doors at Microsoft and Apple that we haven't yet learned about. Probably nothing as diabolical as what these two rivals seem capable of, but it's an intriguing thought.

The visuals are nice throughout (and okay, that includes Hemsworth!), and the soundtrack is spot-on. I liked it.