In a Better World: an ambitious contemplation on violence

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How do we respond to violence without perpetuating a cycle of violence?  What and how do we tell our kids?  Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier (Brothers/Brodre, After the Wedding, Things We Lost in the Fire) takes on these questions through the stories of two 12-year-old boys and their well-meaning but troubled parents.

A schoolboy bully is handled through shock and awe, but the responses to other incidents of violence are far messier.  A parent’s teachable moment about pacifism doesn’t seem effective, and the boys fashion their own disproportionate solution.  One of the fathers, a do-gooder doctor who puts in time at a hell hole of an African refugee camp, must face pure evil in the form of a local warlord.  It’s an often tense drama.

In a Better World benefits from outstanding performances, especially by the boy actors, William Jøhnk Juels Nielsen and Markus Rygaard.

In a Better World won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Picture.  I didn’t like In a Better World as much as Brothers and After the Wedding, but it’s still an ambitious and successful film.

DVD of the Week: Somewhere

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This is Sofia Coppola’s (Lost in Translation) story of an A-list movie star (Steven Dorff) living at the Chateau Marmont with his expensive toys, booze and drugs and an inexhaustible supply of beautiful, sexually available women.  Without any purpose or connection to others, his debauchery is completely joyless.  To his surprise and discomfort,  his eleven-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning) moves in for a few weeks.   He slowly finds some connection to her, but then she leaves for summer camp and he is aimless, again.

Somewhere is an artsy portrait of a man so purposeless that he can find no pleasure in pleasure.

Fanning is great as the kid.  Surprisingly, Jackass‘ Chris Pontius shines as the movie star’s best bud.

Poetry: Learning to see what you’d rather overlook

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Early in his film, Korean writer-director Chang-dong Lee tells us his theme.  Holding an apple, the teacher tells his students that, to write poetry, you must first see, really see the world around you.  Mija is a 66-year-old pensioner in his class who works part-time as a caregiver for a stroke victim and is raising her sullen slob of a teenage grandson. She struggles with the poetry, but she does begin to see the people in her world with clarity – and it’s not a pretty picture.  What she learns to see is human behavior ranging from the venal to the inhumane.

The key to the film’s success is the performance of Jeong-hie Yun as Mija, a protagonist who spends the entire movie observing. Her doctor tells her that her failing memory is the start of something far worse.  Sometimes she doesn’t see what we see because she is distracted.  But sometimes she doesn’t act like she sees because of denial or avoidance.  Sometimes she is disoriented.  But she has moments of piercing lucidity, and those moments are unsparing.

This unhurried film is troubling, uncomfortable and very, very good.

Coming Up on TV: The two best Civil War films

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Jeff Daniels (center) in Gettysburg

The Civil War began 150 years ago this month, and TCM is broadcasting the two best Civil War movies on April 25.

Ron Maxwell’s 1994 Gettysburg is the gold standard of Civil War films.  It follows Michael Shaara’s superb historical novel The Killer Angels and depicts the decisive three day battle.  It was filmed on the actual battlefield with re-enactors.  Maxwell took great care in maintaining historical accuracy.  Civil War buffs will recognize many lines of dialogue as historical, as well as shots that recall famous photographs.  In addition, Gettysburg is especially well-acted, especially by Jeff Daniels, Tom Berenger, Stephen Lang, Sam Elliott and Brian Mallon.

The other very best Civil War movie is the 1989 Glory, which tells the real-life story of an all-black unit in the Union Army.  Glory has tremendous performances by Denzel Washington, Andre Braugher, Morgan Freeman and Jihmi Kennedy.

Updated Movies to See Right Now

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Saoirse Ronan in Hanna

The Must See film is Source Code, a gripping scifi thriller with intelligence and heart, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan.   Hanna is a rip roaring girl-power thriller starring Saiorse Ronan as a 16-year-old raised in the Arctic Circle to be a master assassin by her rogue secret agent father, and then released upon the CIA.  Potiche, a delightful French farce of feminist self-discovery is the funniest movie in over a year, and another showcase for Catherine Deneuve (as if she needs one).   Poetry is a troubling art film from Korea with a great performance by Leong-hie Yun. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

I haven’t yet seen In a Better World, which opened last week and had won the Best Foreign Language Oscar. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is Rabbit Hole.

Movies on TV this week include Glory, Gettysburg and North by Northwest on TCM.

DVD of the Week: Rabbit Hole

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Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhardt play a couple that lost their four-year-old son eight months ago, and are grieving in different ways and at different paces.  David Lindsay-Abaire’s screenplay is based on his Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play, and it’s as brilliant an exploration of the grieving process as I’ve ever seen.  There is just enough suspense and humor to make the film eminently watchable despite the grim subject.  Kidman, Eckhardt, Sandra Oh, Dianne Wiest and newcomer Miles Teller lead an excellent cast.

This is an exquisite film and is high on my list of Best Movies of 2010.

Best Movies of 2011 – So Far

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I’ve starting my running list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.  So far, I’ve included Source Code, Carancho, Potiche and The Adjustment Bureau.

There are some intriguing candidates coming out soon, including Poetry, In a Better World, Incendies, Meek’s Cutoff and The Princess of Montpensier.

My top movie so far, Source Code, is in theaters right now.  Here’s the trailer.

Hanna: girl power to the max

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Here is a paranoid thrill ride starring Saoirse Ronan as a 16-year-old raised in the Arctic Circle to be a master assassin by her rogue secret agent father (Eric Bana), and then released upon the CIA.  She is matched up against special ops wiz Cate Blanchett.

The story relies on two novelties. First, a teenage girl is raised to speak 20 languages fluently and kill people with her hands.  Second,  the same teenage girl is raised to have no familiarity with electricity, music and other teens.  Because Ronan is perfect and the pacing flies along, sthe story works. Hanna is ably directed by Joe Wright (Atonement, The Soloist).

Source Code: a gripping thriller with a heart

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I admired both this gripping thriller’s intelligence and its heart.  The key is a breakthrough screenplay by Ben Ripley.  The scifi premise is that supersoldier Jake Gyllenhaal can inhabit the brain of a terrorism victim for the same 8 minutes – over and over again.  Each time, he has 8 minutes to seek more clues. Can he build the clues into a solution and prevent the terrorist atrocity?  Gyllenhaal is excellent.  So is Vera Farmiga as his handler and Michelle Monaghan as a girl you could fall in love with in 8 minutes.  Jeffrey Wright chews the scenery with his homage to Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove.  Director Duncan Jones solidly brings Ripley’s screenplay home.

All New Movies to See Right Now

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Martina Gusman and Ricardo Darin in Carancho

The Must See film is Source Code, a gripping scifi thriller with intelligence and heart, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan. Carancho is an Argentine love story nestled into a dark and violent noirish thriller, starring Ricardo Darin (The Secrets of Their Eyes, Nine Queens), the Argentine Joe Mantegna.  Hanna is a rip roaring girl-power thriller starring Saiorse Ronan as a 16-year-old raised in the Arctic Circle to be a master assassin by her rogue secret agent father and then released upon the CIA.

Potiche, a delightful French farce of feminist self-discovery is the funniest movie in over a year, and another showcase for Catherine DeNeuve (as if she needs one).   The Music Never Stopped is a crowd-pleaser, especially for Baby Boomers. Certified Copy is a well-acted puzzler of an art film.  For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

I haven’t yet seen Poetry or In a Better World, which open this weekend. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is Le Cercle Rouge.

Movies on TV this week include Ball of Fire and The Outlaw Josey Wales on TCM.