Film Experience Blog

Craig here with Take Three



Take One: Security vans and alien lands

It’s a cheeky sidestep this week. More of a Take Six – although still in three bite-size chunks. For starters, there’s two roles in a couple of nifty, no-fuss genre hits that he contributed supporting turns to recently: Armored (2009) and Predators (2010), both directed by Nimród Antal. In the former he was one of six average Joes – disgruntled security guards feeling the blue collar recessionary bite – hedging their bets on a massive, self-devised and of course ill-thought-out stolen loot payout. Fishburne was Baines, the brawny, aggressive one to whom nobody gave any truck. Along with Matt Dillon, Jean Reno and Fred Ward he lent Armored a hefty dose of gruff gravitas. He got to exercise his infectiously throaty laugh, shoot people willy-nilly and royally show up many of the other supporting actors (Skeet Ulrich I'm looking at you) without too much in the way of visible strain.


Commanding, seasoned actors such as Fishburne may be seen by some to be slumming it in genre quickies like this, but he gives it as good as he always does. It’s decent work – teamwork not dream work – and Fishburne does plenty of heavy lifting, raising it head and shoulders above likeminded flicks. Likewise with Predators. Here he’s Noland, a bedraggled and paranoid ex-assault soldier hiding in the belly of an abandoned alien ship. So he’s literally slumming it here. He scavenges for food. He mumbles something indecipherably questionable over his shoulder to an imaginary friend (or perhaps his agent just off-camera) to the general bafflement of lead Adrien Brody, head of Predators' all-new grunt bunch. Then he leads the not-so-merry lot through twisty tunnels into a sneaky trap. Noland’s outlook was never good, but Fishburne by turns allows him a cool entrance (deceptively dressed as he is as a rogue predator) and a gleeful hint of disturbed menace – both things that another, less talented, actor may well have skimped on. Fishburne elevates these two recent genre treats nicely.


Take Two: The Matrix Reassessed (just not very thoroughly)

I don’t think I’ve ever written a word about any of the three The Matrix films ('Riginal, Reloaded, Revolutions -1999-2003) before. Any cursory dip into their vastly all-encompassing waters, muddied with plenty of techno/psycho-babble, simply confuses me and I run for the hills. The worlds-within-worlds, meaning-within-meaning slant to the films whooshes over my head fast as a bullet; my comprehension of them slower than bullet time. I saw all three purely for the nifty fight scenes and the spaceships with tentacles. Its “legacy” or its “symbology” I can leave, thanks muchly. That’s why my favourite bits usually featured Fishburne kicking Keanu Reeves in the face. Or vice versa. Or even when he fired two guns simultaneously whilst standing on top of a speeding special effect.


He was Morpheus, and although he wasn’t entirely free of spouting mystical, daft, brain-twisting nothings during some parts of the films ("Welcome to the desert of the real" – "The pill you took is part of a trace program. It's designed to disrupt your input/output carrier signal."), he also made for a no-nonsense alt-world figurehead for much of his screentime – spouting impractical, daft, meaningless nothings ("Switch! Apoc!"), which I could relate to far more readily. He’s indeed the most watchable and entertaining presence in the three films (closely followed by Hugo Weaving’s Mr. Smith).


Seeing him strut his stuff, dressed in obligatory Matrix cast member uniform of black leather and impossibly cool shades, was worth the combined three films' ticket prices alone. His career may forever be entwined with that of the Matrix phenomenon, but when you have an actor effortlessly delivering thespian goods – and more importantly, making us believe that the words Mjolnir and Nebuchadnezzar actually mean something – in a film series with more convoluted loose ends than a particularly tricky mathematical equation, you know it's a job done well. Who cares what colour pill to take – as long as it’s Fishburne shaped.

Take Three: An unlIKEable role


Fishburne’s best lead role was in What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993), for which he bagged his only Oscar nod. As Ike Turner, the whacked out, drugged-up singer who puts Angela Bassett’s Tina through the spousal abuse ringer, Fishburne essayed one vividly memorable role. Fishburne's deeply unlikeable Ike was played with such stern conviction, that he was more than just the flipside of fun in Brian Gibson’s acclaimed biopic. The (famous) man who beat and tormented Tina Turner was surely a complicated role to play (Fishburne allegedly turned down the role five times; only saying yes after Bassett signed on), but he ensured his Ike was a resolutely watchable character.

Fishburne can do mean and moody with ease. His impressive physicality and screen allure (and, here, confident vocal inflections – Fishburne also sang Ike’s songs in the film) surely assisted in his playing someone so monstrously pre-rendered. But he also managed to make human the troubled, abusive aspects of Ike’s character; there are times when you truly feel for him, despite the violence, which is solely down to Fishburne’s sincere, unshowy and very giving performance.



Fishburne and Bassett were a fantastic acting duo; their torturous scenes with hysterically hollered dialogue and intricately performed physical choreography still contain as much hard-to-watch power as they did seventeen years ago. Watching Fishburne flesh out the subtle differences between the fun, earlier days and the tumultuous events later – from living the chart-riding high life to that quietly creepy kiss he plants on Bassett’s cheek during a sombre performance – is compulsive viewing. What’s Oscar got to do with it? Fishburne’s performance itself is proof enough of his onscreen greatness.

Three more key films for the taking: Apocalypse Now (1979), Deep Cover (1992), Akeelah and the Bee (2006)

first and last images from a motion picture (excluding credit sequences).


first and last lines of dialogue if you need help though I'm not sure it'll be of help

first ~ [unintelligible whispering... I think it's "I not like her. Mr ____ not like her.]
last ~"Come on."

Can you guess the movie?

Highlight for the answer to check your work... It's GODS AND MONSTERS (1998). I wish more biopics were this good since they keep making 'em.

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Antenna looks at the year in Bollywood box office. Not a pretty story
Pussy Goes Grrrr on loving Julianne Moore
Mr Hipp "we all go a little mad sometimes"
If Charlie Parker... Sir Ian McKellen before and after.
popbytes Clint Eastwood wants Joaquin Phoenix and Leonardo DiCaprio as lovers for the Hoover biopic.


Twitch a teaser poster for Wong Kar Wai's The Grand Master
popbytes Kate Winslet's new man
Empire wait... they're still trying to make Ender's Game into a movie? Give it up already. Love the book but I am most decidedly not down with Gavin Hood after that atrocious Wolverine movie.
/Film four people watch Buried...while buried. That is SO not right as promotional events go. Shudder.
Serious Film thinks that Jesse Eisenberg is getting an Oscar nomination for The Social Network. Hmmm, I can't see it yet (the nomination, not the film. I see the film very soon)
Some Came Running brief notes to prepare you in the watching of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Damn, I wish I'd read this before the movie. Actually, I don't. I like to go to movies as blind as possible as to their content. But if you like a little more of an inkling, this is a good users manual.

By now you've heard that the great casting search of 2010 (distaff division) has ended. Rooney Mara has landed the role of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.


That's the role that Noomi Rapace played in the Swedish trilogy based on the best selling book franchise about men who really hate women. David Fincher rejected most of the famous names who wanted the coveted role of this short little sociopath. Little known fact: in addition to height and age requirements only actresses with double O in their name were considered for the famed Tattoo part.

Soleil Moon Frye was deemed too old, despite having come to fame playing short little sociopath Punky Brewster.

Speaking of double Os, it'll be nice to see 007 Daniel Craig again, won't it? Especially with Fincher's camera on him. Think of the multiple wonders Fincher's camera pulled from Brad Pitt over the years, give or take Benjamin Button.

In other strange double lettered casting news Marilyn Monroe ("MM") was supposed to be a character in two upcoming features with major actresses like Naomi Watts (Blonde) and Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn) playing her.


Now, supposedly there's a third Marilyn picture in the works. The author of the book "The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog", which is about the last two years of Marilyn's life as seen by the pet terrier that Frank Sinatra gave her, thinks that Angelina Jolie will play her in the film adaptation. But that sounds like an author delusion. What a strange movie that would make. Not that there's anything wrong with strange movies. We like them.

New Rule: In the future all movies must contain at least one scene involving a character named Marilyn Monroe so that every actress gets a chance to play her. Apparently they all want to.

Actors on Actors.

Paul: You need a fighting name. Like a movie star.
Michael: [long pause] Charlton Heston.
Paul: Look, love. Nobody's gives a toss about Charlton Heston. The man's a c***.
You're more the Charles Bronson type.

Michael: [sounding out the name] Charles Bronson.
Paul: Yes, Death Wish. Fits you down to a "t"... Perfect. Charlie F***ing Bronson.

Tom Hardy is such a freak in Bronson, chewing on each word like it's a bloody steak. And we love him for it.

It might be the single greatest song of the 1980s. It went a little something like this...



"Let's exchange the experience"... whew. That dance might be the most hypnotic-erotic fully clothed one in any music video, yes?

Everything about this video and song (the latter of which was released in the UK 25 years ago today) is perfect. The song has been covered a gajillion times since its release though oddly, you don't here it much in the movies or on TV. The Kate Bush song that the filmed arts have latched onto and beaten like a dead horse is "This Woman's Work."

To say that Kate Bush is a musical genius is as redundant as saying that right at this moment you're reading this sentence. Many musicians after her were influenced (Tori Amos, Paula Cole, Björk... the list is long) but there will only ever be one Kate. For a super long time when anyone asked me what my favorite album of all time was I would say "Hounds of Love" without having to wring my hands too much over the potentially difficult question.


Back in the late 80s I wanted to see a Kate biopic with Mary Steenburgen playing her. And then in the 90s when the great Miranda Richardson starred in Kate's video project The Line, The Cross and the Curve I suddenly dreamt up a whole epic Kate movie again.



Sadly no Kate Bush movie ever materialized and I'd since forgotten that I ever wanted one. But I do! I can even play "Symphony in Blue" on the piano, no joke.

Which pop stars do you most want to see with biopics? Which actress could do Kate justice today?

Yesterday I took in the Ken Russell film The Devils (1971) at the Walter Reade. It's part of RussellMania which goes on for a few more days still. We don't really have gonzo English language filmmakers like Russell any more, or if we do, they don't get any attention. Everything is so safe. Even the "daring" stuff. The Devils is one of his hardest films to find (not available on DVD and everytime it's going to be, it suddenly isn't.) I figured images would be hard to come by so in order to prevent me from doing something foolish and illegal with my cel phone, my friend Ed offered to draw me stills for posting purposes. You have to admit, he captures Vanessa Redgrave's EXACT likeness in character as a filthy minded hunchback nun.


Uncanny isn't it?

I had expected the film to be more camp and less serious, but it's actually quite a sober historical epic, a true story from the 17th century which kicks off with the political maneuvering of royals and cardinals in France, and then gets more regional, zeroing in on the fortified town of Loudun and the religious posturing of clergy and civilians alike. There's politics, personal power plays, organized religion as a petri dish of corruptions, both political and personal. Faux exorcisms, the plague, corrupt legal systems, and sexual misconduct beset the characters until it all comes crashing down including, literally, Loudun's white brick city walls (designed by Derek Jarman!) All that plus erotic and visual abandon because it's...

1. a Ken Russell film.
2. from the least prudish decade of English language cinema and
   
3. about a nun Sister Jeanne (a ballsy performance by Vanessa Redgrave) who desperately wants to get biblical with that lion of Loudun, Father Grandier (played by Russel muse Oliver Reed)

It's totally worth seeing if you get a chance. One of my friends went a few nights ago and sat two rows behind Vanessa Redgrave herself. (He reported that she cackled offscreen at her nusto cackling onscreen. How great is that?) Though it's less graphic than I'd been anticipating -- some of the scariest bits involving torture mercifully take place just offscreen -- it's hardly free of disturbing moments.


Though he's still working (supposedly there's a new version of Moll Flanders coming) the early seventies were arguably the peak Russell years. His 1970 release Women in Love won multiple Oscar nods (including a Best Actress trophy for Glenda Jackson) and other prizes and he followed that up in 1971 with not one but two films (The Devils, The Boyfriend) which went on to win him the National Board of Review for Best Director. Despite random scattered honors, success or infamy for later films like Tommy (1975), Crimes of Passion (1984) or The Lair of the White Worm (1988) he was only "awardable" in the 70s and even then he was never anything like an Oscar bait figure.

It's funny, really. He loves biographical epics as much as any AMPAS member ever has -- he made several -- but he loves them too perversely and too specifically; you can't mistake his films for someone else's.

The current RussellMania fest only covers his 60s & 70s work which is a shame because I was really hoping to watch Kathleen Turner don that platinum blonde China Blue wig and do unspeakable things that no A list actresses is ever supposed to do onscreen.

Have you ever seen a Ken Russell film? Do you think there's any director currently pushing the boundaries of "taste" that's also doing work worth celebrating nowadays?
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I have failed to mention that Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem are now married. You've probably heard this by now. But since the Film Experience loves both of them muchly, and has since 2006 and 2000 respectively, we throw virtual rice in their general direction (Spain is east, right?). To make things even more special we like to remember that Cruz made her first movie (Jamon Jamon) with Javier Bardem way back in 1992. They've known each other forever. They also both have acting Oscars which is quite rare in movie couples. Newman and Woodward did it but Newman has left this mortal coil. Even the Bening-Beattys won't be able to say they do when Annette wins since Beatty won his for directing.

Cory's Curiosities "magical pic of the day" awwww, Kermit.

As you know I like to track anniversary dates but somehow it had slipped me by that today it's been 25 years since Bob Geldof (pictured left) convinced a gajillion rock stars to sing for free to feed Ethiopia. Everyone showed. I don't really know the history of the benefit concert in general but this felt like the first one to me. Ah, the naivete of youth!

MTV, who would know such things, recalls the numbers. Here's a list of everyone who took the stage. Insanity. Imagine if you were making a biopic about this event, who you'd have to cast? I guess biopic isn't the right term. Historical epic! But whatever.

It was epic. I mean Queen, Mick Jagger & Tina Turner, Madonna





Whew...

Icons.

So, let's play Cast This!

Here's a visual chart of a some people pulled semi-randomly from the event that I thought might be fun to cast. If you're too young to recall these people -- not everyone can be Madonna and maintain ubiquity for centuries -- cast by their faces.


From left to right that's: Bob Geldof (your star!), Adam Ant, Madonna, Freddie Mercury of Queen (whatever happened to his biopic? There was one in development). Second row: Joan Baez (played by Julianne Moore sort of in I'm Not There), Sade, Bryan Ferry and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Go!
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Received a message on Twitter this morning requesting my thoughts on Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher. Seems she's in talks to star as the Iron Lady herself in an early 80s set film about the lead up to the Falklands War. [src]

My thoughts, eh?

Me think about Streep? Never! But with Great Hope Springs and this one, it seems that the two-time Oscar winner will just keep reaching for the bait until a third is hers.

Though I can already sense that the rest of the internet will be gung-ho about this idea, I would urge caution. Perhaps it's silly to get caught up in any "Meryl will win her third Oscar for Thatcher" speculation.

The rest of the internet seems to have forgotten that this film will supposedly reunite Meryl with her Mamma Mia! director Phyllida Lloyd. Since Lloyd couldn't even manage the basic building blocks of film in Mamma Mia! (camera placement, editing, etcetera) and since there'll be no buoyant ABBA tunes to gloss over film weaknesses, and since Thatcher won't give Streep the opportunity to win shocked/amused hearts by jumping around with boundless 'can-you-believe-I'm-practically-a-senior-citizen?' energy ... well, I can't really see this as a crowd pleaser or a serious Oscar bait project. Yet.

The cynicism comes from another more political place, too. Though I greatly admire Meryl Streep's political activism offscreen and love it when she gets political in her acceptance speeches at awards shows, I'm not sure she's a true fit for political films. The last time I saw Streep playing a conservative politican (The Manchurian Candidate) I found it to be one of her hammiest and most predictable performances. And the great actress's other recent political films Lions for Lambs and Rendition didn't interest the public or Oscar voters. In point of fact, none of her political films have.


Zero Oscar nominations for a movie set in the political world probably doesn't sound that shocking until you stop to consider this second fact: Meryl Streep has appeared in 43 pictures and she has been nominated for 16 of them. That 37% nomination ratio beats just about anyone in any field (save James Dean of course). Yet, this seems to be the genre that wins her no love.

But then there's the biopic factor. And that's significant. That could change things.

I am sad to imagine that Streep would have to resort to mimicry to win (For all that she's given the cinema, to use a commoner's tactic?) but it may come to that since they never have time for her as a "winner" and they always have time for biographical performances. Thatcher is certainly a well known figure with an instantly recognizable voice that people will love hearing Streep nail in the same way people loved those flouncy vowels from Julie & Julia. [Note: Julia could, come to think of it, destroy my thesis since she plays a government official's wife in that one and was nominated. But the kitchen is that film's true location, not the government.]

Here's a few pie charts I whipped up about the past decade in Oscar acting winning character trends: real people in blue, fictional characters in red.


One could argue that the Academy voters can only choose from what films are made and released and women are the leads in fewer pictures than men. It's possible (though I'd like to see statistics) that they get more "true story" opportunities than not because you can't exactly change someone's gender in a biopic for better bankability (let's leave the hugely depressing 'men are more bankable' factor out of the conversation). But regardless, it's clear that when it comes to the Best Actress category itself, The Academy values character creation less than character recreation. That totally disturbs me though I readily admit it disturbs me far more than it does your average Oscar watcher and more than once I've been told to shut up about it already. Maybe it's just a personal hangup.

So this is why I was rooting so hard for Meryl Streep to win in 2006 for The Devil Wears Prada and Johnny Depp to win in 2003 for The Pirates of the Caribbean. Creating a perfectly realized instantly classic character that people will obsess about for years to come, even if you're creating it from bits and pieces of real life figures of your choosing, is far more of an imaginative creative feat for an actor than recreating the vocal cadences and posture of a famous person.


That's all.

Are you excited to see Streep as Thatcher or do you wish she'd hook up with a true auteur who would challenge her mightily. Was Adaptation (2002) the last time?
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The Big Picture that Marc Webb Spider-Man reboot has narrowed the candidates down. I'm still not excited about a redo but I'm totally thumbs up on the idea of either Jamie Bell or Andrew Garfield... though it's weird to hear them referred to as "unknowns", you know? Alden Ehrenreich (Tetro), Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right) and Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) are also being considered.
Cracked "Which awful redhead stereotype are you?" Starring Lindsay Lohan"time bomb", Julianne Moore "sex fiend" and others. Poor gingers!


MTV Movies Logan's Run gets a new director in Erik Rinsch. It's so sad to me that the studio had issues with handing Alien 5 over to him. That's what that entire franchise thrived on... putting fresh visionary directors on the map before they were A list: Scott, Fincher, Cameron. If the Aliens franchise is about anything beyond the Ripley badassery and the acid blood beasties, that's what it's about. It's like the third most important element of that franchise. When you have the same story every time, you have to add the auteurial shakes up or you have nothing.
NY Mag sword and sandal epics and the evolution of Abs within them. Funny stuff
Vanity Fair has 30 portraits and profiles of Tony nominees for this past theater season including familiar faces like Jude Law.
Playbill Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch offered the CZJ and Lansbury roles in A Little Night Music on Broadway? ohmygodohmygod. Not that either of them would ever accept a "replacment cast" situation but if this happens a ticket MUST have my name on it.
Mental Floss '9 Copyrights Given to Charity.' Interesting list. I had no idea that Peter Pan was copyright free now. You'd think there'd be a sudden influx of Pan movies.
Just Jared more pics from the set of Mildred Pierce: Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood
Towleroad Madonna gets vampiric to sell sunglasses. It's very Deneuve/Hunger

Finally, the first pics of LL as LL have surfaced. Yes the alliterative Lohan/Lovelace porno biopic Inferno is coming your way... eventually. Oh No They Didn't posted the pics from photographer Tyler Shields who seems to have already removed them from his own website though there's still a lot of fun stuff there including a shoot with Glee's Jayma Mays, Zachary Quinto and plentiful rude portraits of Young Hollywood.

I'd love for Lohan to be able to pull this off but acting is like anything else. If you aren't committed to it, how are you going to get great at it?

Regular readers may have gleaned that I have a growing fondness for Ellen Page. The fondness isn't overtly displayed but that's basically a matter of caution. Young obviously talented stars can have inexplicably short careers and young obviously untalented stars can have inexplicably long ones and you just never can tell. That's why it's safer to love actresses of a certain age and depth of filmography. If you can survive a good dozen years in the Hollywood rapids with all the tossing about, you're probably in it for as long as you have the stamina for it.

Too often Page is connected with Juno (2007), her starmaking role, and because that film is so divisive, she tends to be. Once the fog of Juno dissipates (let's give it one more year) people will probably wake up to the fact that she isn't that pregnant smartass. She was just very smart about how to walk in her shoes and find her voice.

If more people had seen Whip It (2009) they'd already know that Juno was neither fluke nor prison. Page can carry a film and shift to accommodate a different character without any visible strain. That's the mark of a confident charismatic actor, if not always a sure sign of inevitable A List stardom.

I don't think anyone fully knows Page's screen persona yet... including Ellen Page. That's an exciting thing -- particularly since Ellen herself seems eager to experiment with her image -- provided Hollywood comes through with roles that challenge her and tease that star identity out. As a movie star isn't she still in larva stage?

It's one of the reasons I think about her with caution. I have no idea who advised her to be that spokesperson for Cisco but a ubiquitous endorsement deal near the beginning of your acting career seems like a decision made with only short term goals in mind. Endorsements can raise your profile but they don't do a lot for conceptions about your gifts (if anything they detract) and they definitely don't increase audience affection. Commercials, especially those which air frequently, tend to bring irritation. Will anyone ever look at Justin Long and not think of "I'm a Mac". And isn't it a crying shame that people are far more likely to think of T-Mobile when they think of Catherine Zeta-Jones than they are to think of the Oscar winning role that directly preceded that deal? By all means make money with your celebrity but big noisy endorsement deals aren't a good idea unless you're wrapping up your movie stardom.


Page will play Stacie, the mechanic girlfriend. It's an interesting choice for the actress given the rumors that have swirled around her own sexuality. Page's arguably butch energy could be fascinating in this fresh context. She's done thrillers, sports films, scifi and comedies. A dramatic political movie with a romantic anchor sounds, if artistically successful, like a sure bet to help audiences and Hollywood to see her with fresh eyes. It could even be an Oscar film. The Academy loves a good social issues movie and the documentary won the industry's top prize.

Ron Nyswaner is writing the screenplay. While he's most famous for writing Philadelphia (for which he was Oscar nominated) we can only hope that he'll get at something deeper and less two dimensional than an Issue Movie. It's always hard to know if any movie's screenplay has been undermined or abetted by the other elements: acting, directing and executive decisions can significantly alter any screenplay. But I'm hoping that the relationship heart of this film will be a lot closer in quality to another film he wrote, The Painted Veil. That film, roundly ignored in the annual glut of December releases in its year, succeeded in churning up complicated emotions and true depth of feeling.

There's no word yet on which actress will play the Laurel role but one assumes it'll be hotly contested. At the very least she'll need great chemistry with Page. Laurel was nearly 50 years old when she died (Stacie was younger) and there's plentiful 40-50something actresses that'd be wise to start fighting for it. And besides... what woman wouldn't want to wrap her legs around Ellen Page in friendship?

How does Ellen Page strike you as an actress or star? Which older actress would you love to see paired with her? And if you've seen the Freeheld documentary (unfortunately I haven't), please speak up.
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I've been hearing Ang Lee's next project The Life of Pi mentioned everywhere lately. When I attended the premiere of MicMacs at the Tribeca Film Festival, Jean-Pierre Jeunet even referenced the cinematic adaptation (his own that is, long abandoned due to budgetary problems). But today I'm hearing about another new Lee project that's also enticing even though it's a biopic. The masterful director has been given the right's to Teresa Teng's life and -- here's the enticing part -- Tang Wei may be playing the singer.


Their previous collaboration Lust Caution was a triumph as a film (ignore the way it was brushed aside -- it's marvelous) and especially as a star-making performance so any reunion between the two is fully warranted.

I had never heard of Teresa Teng (sometimes spelled Teresa Tang to confuse us) so I had to look her up. Turns out I had heard both her name and her music. And as ever it's the cinema that teaches me. She's the pop star that Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai obsess over frequently in a movie I have seen (and quite enjoyed) called Comrades Almost A Love Story (1996).

Teng was a massive figure in Asian pop where she reigned during the 80s. She died suddenly in the mid-90s from asthma complications. You know how early deaths tend to cement celebrity legends.

This is one of her biggest hits "The Moon Represents My Heart" and a Teresa Teng moment lifted directly from Comrades. (Argh! Now I miss Maggie Cheung.)



Do you look forward to a Lust Caution reunion? (If you haven't seen it yet, what's your excuse? Get on that.) Can we a get a cameo from Tony Leung in this reunion? No? How about Lee-Hom Wang?

In which all celluloid begins to bleed together, sickness wins out, and Nathaniel loses his mind (from now on, shorter festival trips!). But, just when all hope for sanity is lost as Sundance winds down, Nathaniel dances with Parker Posey at a party! Nathaniel is elated. And no, I don't know why Nathaniel is speaking in the third person either.


Cyrus
The Duplass brothers (Mark and Jay), have been steadily rising stars in the indie scene with contributions to films like Humpday, Baghead and The Puffy Chair among many others. Their latest, which they wrote and directed, looks like a breakthrough... at least where mainstream attention is concerned. This is why people cast "name" actors. It wins attention and quite often name actors are names for a reason: talent. There's not a dud performance in the film. John C Reilly plays a sad sack divorcee, Catherine Keener is his ex-wife who worries about him, and Marisa Tomei is the angel he falls for. Because this is a movie, she falls right back. It's all quite funny and just off kilter enough to be surprising. All this despite being the umpteenth billion flick to reinforce that venerable straight male fantasy: yes, any type of guy no matter his appearance, serotonin levels, aspirations, past history or employment status, can and will win incredibly hot chicks. One wonders where homely girls are supposed to go for love?

A few notes on the performances: Catherine Keener is playing warm Catherine Keener [there's two primary modes: smart-bitchy and smart-warm. Both are wonderful... though the most exciting are the performances that veer off into complicating Keenerisms like in Capote and Please Give]; Marisa Tomei continues to be one of the most enduring and endearing actresses of her generation. She's wonderful here as a fun-loving woman who loves too fiercely and impulsively not be blinded by it; Jonah Hill plays her needy manipulative son (he's very funny) and John C Reilly her needy and only slightly manipulative boyfriend. The film is smart enough to see the parallel even if it finds that more amusing than worrisome. B/B+

Finally, I ask you this: Parker Posey was the queen of '90s indies and Catherine Keener the queen of '00s indies. When exactly is Keener going to be dethroned? It seems like she's still pretty comfy on that throne. Or am I forgetting someone...

Nowhere Boy
Director Sam Taylor Wood, who previously made the great short Love You More (see previous post) and her star Aaron Johnson (soon to be seen in Kick-Ass), pictured right, were much talked about at Sundance. Both of their stars are rising (this is her first feature but she's already a famous artist, this is his first high profile role with a probable blockbuster to follow) and they're also engaged and pregnant... not just with possibility. She's 42 and he's 19 which helps with the 'much talked about' bit.

Nowhere Boy, which has already been up for film prizes in Britain, will make it to the States in 2010 hopefully and it's well worth seeing. It's a biopic on John Lennon. The Young John Lennon as it were. Like Capote, it gains a lot of impact by tightly focusing on one specific time period and arc in its subject's life. Taylor Wood definitely has a gift with visuals and the film is always pleasing to look at. Johnson holds his own in the central role as the cocky but emotionally confused Lennon but the true stars of the picture are Kristin Scott Thomas as "Mimi" (interviewed here a year ago) and Anne-Marie Duff (James McAvoy's wife) as "Julia" who play estranged sisters -- Lennon's aunt and mother respectively -- and the most formative women in the musician's life. Pre Yoko that is. Both actresses are wonderful, refusing any standard biopic reduction into "mother figure" and becoming as compelling and three-dimensional as John Lennon himself, without the aid of the audience's pre-identification or projection. The Beatle's teenage anger at his mother figures gets a little wearying before the movie is over (grow up already!) and it ends rather abruptly but, all in all, it's a fine first film. I can't wait to see what Taylor Wood does next.


Cyrus: B/B+ (leaning B+)
Nowhere Boy: B/B+ (leaning B+)
Dancing with Parker Posey: A/A+ (leaning A+)

Which celebrity would you most like to dance with? Do tell in the comments.

Previously
Day 1: Travel Nightmare
Day 2: Late Arrival for Asian Day: Last Train Home, Vegetarian
Day 3: Marathon Day: Waiting for Superman, Splice, Bran Nue Dae, Boy, Please Give
Day 4: I Am Love, Buried
Day 5,6: Holy Rollers, The Runaways, Mother and Child, Catfish
Day 7: Gay Day: The Kids Are All Right and Contracorriente

The day in which Nathaniel got sick (cough sneeze), wanted to jump on Ari Graynor (with love!), saw Paul Dano at a party (quite adorable), went to a gay party by himself (absolute torture) and saw a few movies. Which is what we're here to talk about. So here goes...

Holy Rollers
I've seen more than enough drug dramas in my lifetime but this one is about an ecstasy smuggling ring with Hasidic Jews as couriers. So ...that's new. Movies with unusual premises or angles win initial "potential" points right off the bat. Jesse Eisenberg plays Jesse Eisenberg again... only with payot. (somebody needs to start stretching. I'm just sayin'). He plays Sam Gold who, despite the fact that he's living an Orthodox life, he soon dives deep into crime with an older friend and fellow Hasid (Justin Bartha), as his guide. Ari Graynor, whom I love yet more with each new movie, plays their bosses arm candy. She enjoys torturing (i.e. flirting with) the Jewish boys and delighting me in my theater seat. There's a certain punch to a couple of the performances and the milieu is interesting, but I wish the movie were stronger. It lacks a certain urgency that's necessary for crime dramas (even non-violent ones like this) but the religious backdrop was refreshing. Holy Rollers also accepts and doesn't judge the way that people often retreat into religious ritual and habit, whenever they feel threatened by the waters they've tested outside. C+

P.S. At one point Ari Graynor offers Jesse ecstasy on her tongue. I've never done E but I've never been more tempted. I am becoming obsessed with Ari Graynor. Help me!

Mother and Child
The premise goes like so: Mother "Karen" (Annette Bening), pregnant when she was only 14, gave up Child "Elizabeth" (Naomi Watts) for adoption. Both of them live the next 37 years deeply affected by this decision. Mother spends the rest of her life thinking about this girl and who she might have become. Bening's performance, typically strong, is all brittle self-punishing defeat. Karen's anger isn't only internal, she's got enough of it to spread around, keeping potential friends and would be lovers at a (safe) distance. Bening has played icy women before but Karen feels like a fresh creation. There's no theatricality to her rudeness, no joy in her solitude.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, has become a skilled successful lawyer. Like her mother she also lashes out, only she knows she's doing it. There's an unsettling 'I dare you' challenge in her gaze and she seems to greatly enjoy undermining the happiness of neighbors and angling for power in her relationship with her boss (Samuel L Jackson). It's a difficult unlikeable character to wrap your head around. Watts is typically intense but she doesn't find a way to make the ice queen thaw feel like more than a forced screenplay choice. There's a third would be Mother in the film "Lucy" (Kerry Washington) and the film also runs into some trouble here. All the parallels and connections began to feel too schematic and less than organic.

Writer/director Rodrigo García's career from Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her through his television work and to Nine Things suggests that he loves actresses as much as I do. I thank him for that but next time I hope he loves them more spontaneously and energetically. Mother and Child has both sorrow and warmth but it needed more fire in its (pregnant) belly. C+

The Runaways
Joan Jett, Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart all came to town for the festival to promote this rock star bio film. And Sunday night Jett even performed -- she still loves rock and roll -- but I was not invited. The universe is cruel that way.


Though I had my worries about Kristen Stewart portraying this iconic 80s rock star, the mimicry seems to have encouraged her to drop some of the usual tics that she brings with her when playing fictional characters. She's fine here even though, as it turns out, she's nearly a supporting character despite her top billing. We meet Joan first but by the time Dakota Fanning takes the mic as the "ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb" jailbait, the catalyst for their success as the film argues, the film is hers. Or maybe it's Michael Shannon's? He gives the only comic performance in the film as their manager.

Director Floria Sigismondi has fashioned a visually exciting bio that is refreshingly punk in spirit: she doesn't shy away from the unsavory reckless behavior, the sexually fluid promiscuity (yes, Dakota & Kristen get it on), or the money-minded exploitation of underage Cherie. Speaking of: what will people make of the parallel exploitation of Dakota Fanning in this role? For all the snap of the music, the fun of the period details and the colorful aesthetic, The Runaways is hit and miss. Like many biopics, it suffers from a repetitive nature and some missed opportunities in focus and character development, particularly within the supporting cast who barely seem to exist. B

Catfish
The next day sidelined by general sickness miserabilism, I only took in one movie: the extremely buzzy documentary about... well, here's the catch. You're not allowed to talk about what it's about. I wrote a little bit more about it in my weekly Tribeca column. B+

What have you been watching this past week? Have you ever been to Sundance.
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My Sundance adventure is off to an extremely odd start. It's movie-less. I've been in Phoenix Arizona for so many hours now I feel like maybe I live here (gulp). And I don't know if you know this but Phoenix Arizona is not where the Sundance Film Festival takes place! Crazy ass rain and winds that want to grow up to be tornados have cancelled many flights. I was only supposed to switch planes! That was months ago.

Meanwhile, at the actual festival Howl premiered starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg. They say he's pretty good in it, even if the movie is a mixed bag. I wanted to see this one but after last week I'm afraid I'll never be able to see Franco again without thinking of horny Japanese body pillows and threesomes with Liz Lemon. Oh 30 Rock you spoil us so!

A Japanese body pillow sounds awesome right about now. The airport floor is killing me. It's carpet that feels just like cement.