Movies

The Sessions: sex leading to emotional intimacy

by

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.)

Ethel: an interesting woman who has lived an extraordinary life

by

Ethel is a fine HBO documentary on the life of Ethel Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy’s widow.   The filmmaker is Ethel’s daughter Rory, her 11th child, born six months after RFK’s assassination.  Rory Kennedy had the advantage of access to a trove of photos and home movies, along with on-camera interviews with her mother and her siblings.  The result is an affectionate and insightful portrait of Ethel, with the view of RFK’s career by his own family.  We are surprised to learn that Ethel was the most competitive member of the family.  We also learn of her impish liveliness, such as dropping “Get a new Director” into the FBI’s basement suggestion box.  Ethel is an interesting woman who has lived an extraordinary life.  Anyone interested in 20th Century American history should see Ethel.

Ethel debuted last week and is being rebroadcast on HBO.

Paul Williams Still Alive: now content in his skin

by

Here’s a treat – Paul Williams Still Alive, an affecting documentary about the songwriter, omnipresent in the 70s, but not now.  Because Paul Williams’ life story follows the arc of every episode of VH1’s Behind the Music (hits the show biz big time, does too many drugs, career crashes and burns), this film could have been trite.  Instead, it’s fresh and appealing, chiefly because filmmaker Stephen Kessler is such an unabashed  fan boy who glories in following Williams around, uncovering tidbits like Williams love of eating squid.

The documentary’s other cornerstone is that Paul Williams himself – now twenty years sober –  is a very appealing guy.  Williams doesn’t dwell on the time when he was rich, famous and unhappy.  He has an edge, and doesn’t suffer fools, but he lives in the moment and it’s fun to see a guy now so content in his skin.

Paul Williams Still Alive is available now on Video On Demand, including Amazon Instant Video.

 

 

The Girl: just dreary

by
Sienna Miller and Toby Jones in THE GIRL

HBO’s The Girl is the story of a beautiful young woman being sexually harassed by the much older and very unattractive male boss who is responsible for her career success.  In this case, the woman is Tippi Hedren, the boss is Alfred Hitchcock, and they’re making The Birds and Marnie.  Unfortunately, the movie just grinds along as Hitchcock becomes more twisted and Hedren becomes more wearily traumatized.  The story is based on a book by Donald Spoto, whose version of Hitchcock is not shared by other film historians.

The Girl wastes some excellent acting. Toby Jones and Sienna Miller are good as Hitchcock and Hedren.  As Hitchcock’s wife and secretary,  Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) and Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) are splendid.  The Girl, which is just a dreary movie-watching experience, is now playing on HBO.

The Paperboy: a trashy Nicole Kidman and a canny Macy Gray

by

Set in 1969 Florida, The Paperboy is a coming of age film nestled within a deliciously pulpy crime drama.  The story is centered around an overlooked younger son (talented up-and-comer Zac Efron) who is thrilled when his older brother (Matthew McConaughey) returns to their swampy backwater after making it in the big time of Miami.  The older brother is an investigative reporter who seeks the truth about a sensational death row case.

The strength of the film is in the supporting characters.  David Oyelowo plays the older brother’s cynical and self-absorbed partner.  John Cusack’s death row inmate is utterly animalistic, a real departure for Cusack.  Nicole Kidman plays the convict’s pen pal fiance; the younger brother falls for her, but she’s apparently screwing everyone except him.

But the surprise performance in The Paperboy is by recording artist Macy Gray, who plays the family domestic.  With complete authenticity, Gray is playful, hurt, dignified, angry, funny, tough, cagy and vulnerable and, as the narrator, she keeps the movie together.  It’s a really superb performance, and I look forward to seeing Gray in more high profile parts.

This is director Lee Daniels’ follow up to his heart rending Precious.  Once again, his  character driven story-telling is first rate.  The Paperboy is dark, violent, sexy and gripping with vivid characters.

Watch for Kidman’s particularly alarming treatment for jellyfish stings.

Argo: the first Must See this fall

by

Ben Affleck directs and stars in Argo, unquestionably the best Hollywood movie of the year so far.   In this true story from the Iran Hostage Crisis, a down-on-his-luck spy rescues six Americans hiding in the Canadian Ambassador’s Tehran home by pretending to make a cheesy Hollywood sci fi movie. The scenes in Tehran and Washington are pure thriller, leavened by the very funny Hollywood thread.

It’s a gripping story.  Setting up the audacious plan is only the beginning. It must be sold to risk averse government officials.  And it must be sold to the “house guests”, who clearly understand how risky it is.  The diplomats must learn their cover identities as Canadian filmmakers well enough to withstand interrogation.  And the team must be shuttled past layer upon layer of suspicious, trigger happy and completely unpredictable revolutionaries.  Helluva story, well told.

Thanks to director Affleck, editor William Goldberg and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, Argo is brilliantly photographed and constructed.It is economical story-telling at its best, with each shot revealing critical information – the lethal chaos in the streets of Tehran, the paralyzing fear of the house guests, the determination of Affleck’s operative.

It’s a deep cast.  John Goodman and Alan Arkin are hilarious as the movie industry guys.  Scoot McNairy and Christopher Denham are especially good as house guests.  Farshad Farahat is compelling as the commander of the final revolutionary checkpoint.  The rest of the cast is equally superb:   Bryan Cranston, Philip Baker Hall, Richard Kind, Michael Parks, Clea DuVall, Adam Arkin, Chris Messina and Victor Garber.  Watch for a bit role played by 80s horror maven Adrienne Barbeau.

This could have been jingoistic, but Affleck starts the movie with an animated historical primer to remind (or teach) the audience about why the Iranians were so angry.  And he generously included another American perspective during the end credits.  Much more nuance than the standard Hollywood movie –  good for Affleck!

Seven Psychopaths: just not the sum of its parts

by

Upon leaving the theater, The Wife asked the revelatory question: “How come it wasn’t as good as its parts?”.  True, 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.

Colin Farrell plays an alcoholic writer struggling to get past the title of his new screenplay. He expertly plays the straight man against an assortment of raging oddballs.  Sam Rockwell is brilliant as the writer’s not-a-good-influence friend who, underneath a shiftless exterior, is profoundly psychopathic. Christopher Walken hits another home run as a dignified eccentric. And Woody Harrelson plays a pedal-to-the-metal raging psycho crime boss as only he can.

The supporting cast includes the immortal Harry Dean Stanton, Abbie Cornish, Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Michael Pitt (The Dreamers, Boardwalk Empire), Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man), Olga Kuylenko and the always reliable Zeljko Ivanek.   The best performances are by Tom Waits (as a bunny-petting retired serial killer) and Linda Bright Clay (as Walken’s tough-as-nails wife).

But the story isn’t tight enough.  Writer-director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges) (who doesn’t admire Quentin Tarantino) here only delivers Tarantino Lite.  Instead, I recommend McDonagh’s brilliant In Bruges (and The Guard which McDonagh produced).  For those who like dark, dark comedy with lots of violence, Seven Psychopaths is entertaining.  For everyone else, nothing special.

Looper: thinking person’s sci fi

by

I liked Looper because it’s old school sci fi – based on an idea, in this case, what happens if humans learn how to time travel?  I think that much of the sci fi in that past thirty years hasn’t been idea-based, but more an excuse to clothe a monster movie or an action movie in cool-looking sci fi settings.  The credit here goes to writer-director Rian Johnson who has imagined a 2044 in which the richest 10% (including organized criminals) live pretty well, but the rest of us vie for scraps in decayed cities that haven’t seen any investment since maybe 2012.  In Johnson’s foul future, time travel is discovered, but by 2074, is used by criminals to dispose of their victims back in 2044.

In Looper, 2044 hit man Joseph Gordon-Levitt is confronted with the 2074 version of himself, played by Bruce Willis.  Willis is on a mission to do something in 2044 that will change an outcome in 2074.  The mission is shocking – would you murder a child to prevent him from growing up to become a Hitler-like monster?

In a year with many excellent performances by child actors, Pierce Gagnon plays one compellingly terrifying four-year-old.   As a bonus, one of my favorite character actors, Garret Dillahunt (No Country for Old Men, Assassination of Jesse James, Winter’s Bone) has a nice turn near the end of the movie.

As Looper climaxes, the audience needs to think along – if history is altered, how will the dominoes fall?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: authenticity in a coming of age story

by

In a fine movie debut, Stephen Chbosky directs the screen version of his novel.  A shy high school freshman in 1991 is adopted by two unapologetically misfit seniors, played by Harry Potter’s Emma Watson and Ezra Miller (very different here than in We Need to Talk About Kevin).  The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming of age story, and a very good one. We’ve all experienced adolescence, so my test for a film in this genre is whether the moments of adolescent awkwardness, peer obsession, self-doubt and discovery feel real.  I felt that authenticity with Perks.  In addition, the story is textured and unpredictable, and the performances – especially those by Watson and Miller –  are excellent.

Liberal Arts: promising, but hollow

by

I liked so much about Liberal Arts that I wondered why I felt so unsatisfied leaving the theater. I finally realized that the central character just didn’t work for me, making an otherwise good movie into a hollow one.

Liberal Arts is written and directed by TV sitcom star Josh Radnor, who also plays the lead character, Jesse, a college admissions officer in NYC.  Jesse is now 35 and adrift.  He returns to his old college to speak at the retirement of his favorite professor, falls back in love with college life and meets a spirited 19-year-old coed.  As Jesse examines where he is in his life, he is book ended by his world weary professors and by the naive young students that he meets.

That’s a promising premise and the very well written supporting characters provide some funny and thoughtful moments.  Richard Jenkins is brilliant as a man grappling with the end of his career, and Alison Janney has some delicious moments as a very tough broad whose expertise is Romantic literature.  Elizabeth Olsen is very good as the coed, and Zac Efron is downright hilarious as a college age stoner dude.

But it comes down to a main character that has it pretty good, but resists acting like a grownup.  He doesn’t get credit from me for figuring it out at least thirteen years too late.  The movie wants to give him credit for that, and for a “noble” decision that is implausible.

The Wife liked it, though.