The Sessions – Page 2 – The Movie Gourmet

kinopoisk.ru — Nicole Kidman in THE PAPERBOY

The best bet is still Argo, Ben Affleck’s brilliant thriller based on a true story from the Iran Hostage Crisis. It’s unquestionably the best Hollywood movie of the year so far.

But there are some other excellent choices. The Sessions is an uncommonly evocative, funny and thoughtful film about sex leading to unexpected emotional intimacy. The Paperboy is a deliciously pulpy crime drama, enhanced by a trashy Nicole Kidman and a canny Macy Gray. You can still find End of Watch, a thrilling cop movie that rises above the genre. I also liked the thinking person’s sci fi movie, Looper. Perks of Being a Wallflower is an authentic coming of age story. I also recommend the realistic indie alcoholism drama Smashed.

Two lower profile films are continuing their long runs. The zany French odd couple comedy The Intouchables is a crowd pleaser – and an attendance record breaker in France. Another good choice is the compelling documentary Searching for Sugar Man, about the hunt to uncover the secret fate of an artist who didn’t know that he was a rock star.

Paul Williams Still Alive, an affecting documentary about the songwriter, omnipresent in the 70s, but not now, is available on Video On Demand. History buffs will appreciate Ethel, the documentary on Ethel Kennedy by her daughter Rory Kennedy, still playing on HBO. You can skip HBO’s dreary The Girl.

The dark crime comedy Seven Psychopaths is well-acted by a very deep team of my favorite actors and is embedded with belly laughs, but, as a whole, it’s just not that satisfying. The Master is a visual and acting masterpiece, but the story fizzles out.

I haven’t yet seen the blockbuster sci fi epic Cloud Atlas, which opens this weekend. You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick this week is the most overlooked film of the year, Sarah Polley’s brilliant Take This Waltz. It’s a woman’s movie, but in the best possible way. It’s not a shallow chick flick and there’s no wedding scene. Instead, it’s an exploration of attraction and fulfillment from a woman’s perspective. Take This Waltz makes my list of Best Movies of 2012 – So Far.

We usually think of sex as the culminating manifestation of lust and/or romantic love. The Sessions is an exploration of sex (first) leading to emotional intimacy.

John Hawkes plays a man in an iron lung seeking to lose his virginity to his sex surrogate (Helen Hunt). The premise may seem farfetched, but it’s based on the life of Mark O’Brien, who survived childhood polio to graduate from UC Berkeley and become a poet and journalist. The kernel of this screenplay was O’Brien’s magazine essay “On Seeing a Sex Surrogate”, and O’Brien was the subject of Jessica Yu’s Oscar-winning Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien.

As I’ve written before, I particularly loathe “disease of the week” movies, but The Sessions is completely untainted by this maudlin genre. The credit goes to writer-director Ben Lewin, himself a polio survivor, who has made The Sessions more than a movie about sex and a disability. Lewin has embedded lots of humor, along with genuine emotions.

Hawkes and Hunt will receive Oscar nominations for the kind of performances that the Academy especially loves and rewards. Hawkes spends the entire movie horizontal on a gurney with his spine contorted by a device the filmmakers labeled “the Torture Ball”. Equally courageously, Hunt is often naked (really, really naked), frankly leading the couple through simulated sexual acts.

But don’t be put off by the showy aspects of the performances, which are authentic and riveting. Hawkes, who is best known for his scary and creepy roles in Winter’s Bone and Martha Marcy May Marlene, embodies a witty man who has overcome more than most, but who fears the depths of his own vulnerabilities. Likewise, Hunt goes very deep to express emotions that take her by surprise.

Beyond Hawkes and Hunt, The Sessions is uniformly well-acted. I especially enjoyed the performances of William H. Macy as a goofily sympathetic Berkeley parish priest, Moon Bloodgood as a poker-faced but playful caregiver and Ming Lo as an amusingly dense hotel clerk.

Lewin, Hawkes and Hunt have combined to make an uncommonly evocative, funny and thoughtful film. The Sessions was an audience fave at the Sundance and Toronto film fests. (Plus it’s a great date movie.)