(l-r) Kelly Macdonald and Irrfan Khan star in PUZZLE. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Competitive jigsaw puzzle solving does not sound exciting but the surprisingly engrossing PUZZLE is more about a woman discovering herself than completing a puzzle. The real puzzle she is solving is who she is.
PUZZLE opens with a woman in an old fashioned dress preparing her home for a birthday party. After we see her waiting on guests, cleaning up after them and bringing out the cake she baked, we discover it is her birthday. Her dress and the decor of the house suggest it is the 1930s or ’40s, so we are again surprised when, after the guests are gone and she is opening gifts, one of them is a smart phone – revealing we are in the present. She doesn’t seem too pleased with the phone but is more interested in the next gift – a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.
Oddly, it is the puzzle rather than the smart phone that changes her tidy, predictable life. Agnes (Kelly Macdonald) is a quiet, old- fashioned, traditional wife and mother whose life revolves around her family, home and church. She is not interested in the outside world and seems content, even happy, to care for her mechanic husband and two teen-aged sons. But it is a life of stifling routine, one without challenges, where she is marking time. Her chores done and with time on her hands, Agnes sits down to do her jigsaw puzzle.
While it is would take most of us several days to put together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, Agnes completes it easily in an few hours. Pleased with the sensation of accomplishment it gives her, she does it again before dinner.
It turns out Agnes is a jigsaw puzzle prodigy and a new hunger for puzzles leads her to a puzzle shop in nearby New York and a man (played with irascible charm by Irrfan Khan) looking for a partner for a jigsaw puzzle competition. But this film is not about the world of jigsaw puzzle competition but about this woman’s journey to self discovery.
Directed by Marc Turtletaub, PUZZLE is actually a remake of a drama by Argentinian director Natalia Smirnoff, a film which won praise at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival.
The acting is the strong point of this remake. The role gives Scottish character actress Kelly Macdonald a chance to shine, as Agnes figures out how her gift for puzzles fits into her life. Casting Macdonald was a brilliant choice, as it a perfect step beyond the servant or wife roles the actress frequently plays, such as in GOSFORD PARK and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Pairing her with Irrfan Khan, Agnes’ complete opposite as an oddball tech millionaire obsessed with competitive puzzling, is a perfect move as well, and their scenes together are crackling. The rest of the supporting cast are strong foils allowing Macdonald to explore Agnes’s inner life.
PUZZLE is an acting tour-de-force by Kelly Mcdonald as a woman reconsiders her assumptions about her life and herself.
(l-r) Jessie Buckley as Moll and Johnny Flynn as Pascal, in BEAST. Photo: Kerry Brown, courtesy of Roadside Attractions.
BEAST is a gripping, suspenseful film that mixes forbidden love, rebellion and murder, set on the English Channel island of Jersey, a place of natural beauty with a dark history, a stormy drama with a star-making performance by Jessie Buckley as the young woman at its center.
Moll Huntsford (Jessie Buckley) is a 27-year-old woman living with her parents in a stiflingly restrictive but affluent home on the island of Jersey. Her stern mother Hilary (Geraldine James) watches Moll like a hawk, and Moll spends her days is either supervising her mentally-confused father or working as a tour guide for the busloads of retirees who visit the picaresque island. By chance, she meets a stranger named Pascal Renouf (Johnny Flynn), a handsome, enigmatic man who makes his living as hunter and handyman. Pascal comes to Moll’s rescue after her night at the pub but the way he does it suggests he might be as much a danger as the man he drives off. With a mix of fear and fascination, she accepts a ride home from the mysterious stranger. Pascal is hard to read and has a whiff of menace to him but he also has a compelling mix of rough charm and sly humor, which sparks something long-buried within Moll.
When Pascal turns up at her family home the next day, Moll’s mother Hilary is hostile and clearly disdainful of this work-class character on her doorstep, yet Moll impulsively invites him to join them for dinner. At dinner, her mother asks Pascal if he is new to the island, to which he replies that no, he is a native whose ancestors have been on the island since the Norman conquest. He then adds, with a sly smile, “what are you doing on my land?”
The scene reveals something of Pascal’s nature, and also underscores the social gap between Moll’s family and him, establishing the tension between their two very different worlds. Meeting him reveals a wildness already within Moll that has been suppressed by her stifling family. Like Pascal, she has a history of violence, and they are drawn to each other like tamed and wild versions of the same species. While she recognizes they are kindred spirits, Moll is tore between her “dark side” and Pascal, and her family and a wish to “be good.”
BEAST is as brooding and haunting as the island it is set on, and powerful suspenseful tale that showcases some outstanding new talent.
One might wonder who is the “beast” of the title? Is it the raw, wild Pascal, a hunter who nearly blends into the landscape? Or is it Moll, tightly controlled by her family but with a hidden caged animal aspect? Or is it the killer stalking the island’s small rural community?
When Moll and Pascal meet, the island is gripped with fear and actively searching for a missing girl, the fourth one to have vanished. When her body is found buried near a farmer’s field, suspicion falls on Pascal, Moll is torn between defending the man she has fallen in love with or standing with her family and community.
There was a real Beast of Jersey in the 1960s, a child molester who evaded authorities for ten years. In his first feature film, writer/director Michael Pearce drew on his own experiences growing up on Jersey. The writer/director wanted to contrast the island’s wild natural beauty with its stifling small town conservative culture. Pearce describes Jersey as a place of stunning natural beauty where people feel safe but a place with a dark side, with legends of ghosts and witches, and a history of Nazi occupation and the Beast.
What fires up this film most is the riveting performance by Buckley, an Irish-born, stage-trained young actress with wild curly red hair and the capacity to morph from a shy innocent to a woman who might be capable of murder. Her chemistry with Johnny Flynn, an equally gifted actor, is electric yet it is Buckley who often dominates the screen.
Pearce wields his camera with impressive skill, offering formally composed and cramped scenes of Moll’s restrictive family gatherings and community events, and loose, impressionistic hand-held camera shot for scenes between Moll and Pascal. Among the most striking is a scene where Moll’s family gathers at the country club to celebrate her more-conventional sister’s engagement. The family is upset by Pascal’s slightly less formal attire. Pascal shrugs off their objections with a wry smile, as if he was aware he was pushing the limits, but Moll’s reaction is more emotional. A couple of other scenes where she engages with the community suggest that Moll is not always grounded in reality.
The film is not just about the murder mystery or the love story, but has layers of meaning about the balance between conforming to community expectations versus the impulse towards freedom, between an orderly built world and the wild natural environment. Pearce shot partly on Jersey itself, taking advantage of the island’s striking wild landscapes. That nature beauty was then contrasted against scenes of Moll giving the same scripted spiel about those landscapes to tour buses of retirees. While the story has a touch of “Wuthering Heights” at times, with the lovers and the landscape, this is its own unique tale.
The powerful performances of Buckley and Flynn keep us engrossed in this tale as it unfolds, although the ending is a bit of a let- down. Still, Pearce gets some much right in his atmospheric debut film, that one can look forward to more from him. Almost certainly, we will see more of the extremely-watchable and gifted Jessie Buckley,
BEAST opens Friday, May 25, at the Tivoli and Plaza Frontenac theaters.
Juliette Binoche as Isabelle in Claire Denis’ LET THE SUNSHINE IN. Courtesy of Sundance Selects. A Sundance Selects release.
Legendary French director Claire Denis teams with legendary star Juliette Binoche for a tale of Parisian artist who is searching for true love at middle age, in the French-language LET THE SUNSHINE IN (Un Beau Soleil Interieur).
Claire Denis takes us on as emotional journey with Binoche, one that leads more to self-discovery and insights than romance, as her character explores romantic possibilities. Surprisingly, this is the first film collaboration of these two giants of French cinema. The film is billed as romantic comedy but the comedy is both subtle and very French. Also very French are the conversations, which often tend towards the philosophical and world-weariness, but with a dash of idealistic hope.
Along her journey in search of true love, Binoche’s Isabelle tests the romantic waters with a varied series of men, each with his own flaws and appeal. In some ways, it is the kind of romantic quest we are more used to seeing in movies about men looking for “the one” yet it is specifically a woman’s story.
Beautiful, sophisticated Isabelle (Binoche) has a successful career as an artist, and lives in Parisian apartment with a studio where she paints. She seems to have it all but after divorcing her husband Francois (Laurent Grevill), she now is hoping to find true love. With her natural beauty, Isabelle has no trouble attracting male attention but love is another matter. The frustrating thing for her is that she keeps meeting men who aren’t emotionally available or are just looking for a fling at most.
Binoche is so gorgeous, it is a little hard to believe she doesn’t have men constantly falling in love with her, but maybe it is that Isabelle keeps focusing on the wrong ones. Binoche inserts a kind of desperation to be loved in this artist’s search, even reconsidering the ex-husband she left at one point. But she is looking for something authentic, something real and lasting. In her romantic quest, she encounters several men who, in an initial romantic glow, seem to offer that possibility but roadblocks appear quickly.
Binoche is very touching in the role, showing us all her character’s emotional vulnerabilities, her tendency to jump in too quickly at the illusion of love, and her dignity in picking herself up to try again. Binoche’s tender, honest exploration of Isabelle’s emotional roller coaster will resonant deeply for many women.
The cast also includes Nicholas Duvauchelle, Paul Blain, Xavier Beauvois and the legendary Gerard Depardieu, as a psychic Binoche’s character consults in an effort to resolve her love life.
LET THE SUNSHINE IN is a very French film, which will please Francophiles but maybe not all American audiences. Not surprisingly, the ending of LET THE SUNSHINE IN is typically French, leaving Binoche’s artist still on her quest for love but perhaps more comfortable with her journey towards the true love she deserves.
LET THE SUNSHINE IN opens Friday, May 25, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.
FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL is based on Peter Turner’s memoir of the same name, about his relationship with 40s Hollywood star Gloria Grahame. If one is expecting a biopic on the Oscar-winning Grahame’s career, you won’t find it here. Instead, this is about love and friendship that grew out of a chance meeting and unlikely love affair between an older woman and younger man. Although the affair didn’t last, the fondness did.
Aspiring young actor Peter Turner (Jamie Bell) did not even know who Gloria Grahame was when he met her at a British boarding house the catered to actors. Grahame was appearing in a local theater and although middle-aged, still beautiful. When she asked the young actor to help her practice her dancing, he couldn’t say no. Peter was smitten by the older woman but quickly learned about her mercurial nature when he mentioned her age. Gloria’s reaction suggested she imagined herself as a perpetual 28-year-old and ran in terror from any hint she was aging. Yet, love quickly followed. After a move to New York, love quickly dissipated, through misunderstandings, jealousy and secrets.
Peter had already fallen for the charming sexy older woman when the landlady told him Gloria had once been a Hollywood star but was in decline. “A big name in black and white films, not doing too well in color,” as she put it.
So Peter was shocked to get a call years later, telling him that she had collapsed at a Lancaster theater where she was performing, refused medical treatment and asked only for him. Peter took her back to his parent’s modest working class home in Liverpool.
Gloria Grahame won an Oscar for her supporting role in THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, playing the type of role she often did, what Jamie Bell’s character describes as “a tart with a heart.” She might be best known to modern audiences for her role as Violet in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. However, audiences should not expect to learn much about Grahame’s career in this film. The focus is on her later life and particularly her touching relationship with Turner. This is more Turner’s story, an ordinary guy who meets an extraordinary person, a more universal story in many ways while still unique to them.
Director Paul McGuigan’s previous films include LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN and WICKER PARK. The screen adaptation was written by Matt Greenhalgh who wrote the scripts for CONTROL and NOWHERE BOY, and some of the strengths of those films as personal storytelling surface in this one.
Bell’s performance is what really makes this story. The gifted Jamie Bell is heart-wrenching as Peter, drawing out a complicated array of feelings about Gloria, an elusive soul with a complex history. Annette Benning, in what is more a supporting role, is likewise excellent as Gloria, an opaque person more focused on presenting a certain image, even to the point of self-delusion, than honesty, yet surprisingly charming and charismatic. Despite her flaws, Gloria is surprisingly sweet. She is charmed by Peter’s working class Liverpool home and wins the hearts of his family as she won his. When she needs some care, she wants to be with them. Benning’s performance is just as charming, a far more approachable character than the one she played in last year’s TWENTIETH CENTURY WOMEN. It is a bit surprising she did not garner much awards notice for the character but more surprising that Bell didn’t.
Hollywood does plenty of romances with an older man and younger woman but rarely the reverse. Even then, the older woman is often portrayed as foolish or worse, although older men are rarely shown that way, which makes this (true) story of younger man who truly loves an older woman all the more remarkable, and moving. The real Grahame did have a penchant for younger lovers, which the film touches on, something that society has long accepted for men but not women.
That role reversal gives the film a little feminist boost but that is not the film’s point nor even Grahame’s view. In the film, Grahame’s capacity for self-deceit is startling, and she is more a female Peter Pan (a common syndrome among men) than anything, if a remarkably touching one.
FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL might disappoint someone looking for a Gloria Grahame biopic but this film is a touching, sometimes funny, sometimes heart-breaking, tale about the power of friendship and love, even if it is based on the true story of a real Hollywood movie star.
THE CLAPPER is an indie film about a different side of Hollywood, a kind of romantic comedy about an anonymous worker in Los Angeles who ekes out a living as a paid face in the crowd for audiences for infomercials. It is a job kind of like a movie extra but ranked much lower, as clappers are impersonating ordinary people in audiences in advertisements impersonating television programs. Clappers are part of the background that creates the illusion that producers are selling to their real audience.
Director Dito Montiel adapted the script from his novel “Eddie Krumble is the Clapper,” his second book after “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints,” which was also made into an indie film.. The story is semi-autobiographical, based on Montiel’s experiences after moving to L.A. and making living on Hollywood’s edge.
Eddie Krumble (Ed Helms) and his best friend Chris Plork (Tracy Morgan) are clappers, paid professional audience members for infomercials and other low-end shows needing a live studio audience but not popular enough to draw one from tourists and fans. The programs pay the clappers to look like ordinary people as they enthusiastically respond to the claims of infomercial hawker/hosts promoting whatever product they are pitching. Whether the program is promoting a real estate investment or a new kitchen gadget, clappers are amazed, delighted or cheering on cue. It is low-pay work on the lowest rung of the industry, paid by the gig with a little extra if the clapper is cast to ask a scripted question. The most essential qualification for the job is to look ordinary and to be unknown.
Eddie Krumble certainly fits that qualification. When the widowed Eddie moved to Los Angeles for a fresh start, he may have had some idea about acting but he has no such plans now. Still, Eddie is sincere about his work, taking care with his various disguises and practicing his lines in front of a mirror. He actually likes the low-key quirky job he fell into, although he would like to make a little more money doing it. He is pretty settled in his unambitious life, taking gigs as a clapper, hanging out with his pal Chris, and flirting with the pretty cashier at the local gas station, Judy (Amanda Seyfried).
But Eddie’s low-key life is disrupted when a notoriously mean late night talk show host, Jayme Stillerman (Russell Peters), spots him in the audience of several infomercials, and singles him and his job out for a routine of comic ridicule. The segment captures the public’s attention and turns into a pop culture craze, which as the host and his producer (Adam Levine) build with a media campaign to hunt for “the clapper.” While most people in L.A. would eagerly embrace this 15 minutes of fame, Eddie is horrified because becoming famous could cost him his livelihood. Eddie’s quiet life turns into a nightmare, as he is shoved into this unwelcome spotlight. .As the talk show stunt continues, it threatens Eddie’s budding romance with Judy as well as his job.
The cast is rounded out with Brenda Vaccaro as Eddie’s overbearing mother, who calls constantly from back home, and real infomercial hosts Wendy Braun and Billy Blanks, plus the late Alan Thicke as infomercial pitchmen.
There is a certain charm in this tale of people on the economic margins of L.A., although some viewers may disdain their lack of ambition. One wonders at first if the film will mock this unambitious man with the laughably odd occupation but director Montiel treats him with surprising sympathy. That view likely comes out of the semi-autobiographical nature of the source material, as Montiel based the story on his and a friend’s experience living on the lowest levels of Hollywood, where his friend worked as a clapper. There certainly is plenty that is laughable about being a clapper but the ridicule comes later when Eddie and his strange job become fodder for the talk show host. There is a classic good guy – bad guy thing in this film, and Montiel’s sympathy is with the kind-hearted underdogs getting by on the margins rather than the ambitious and ruthless types with the successful talk show.
Even before Eddie comes under that harsh gaze, there is a sense he is hiding. Unlike countless would-be actors, Eddie did not move across the country to L. A. to seek stardom. It is an odd choice for a fresh start, one which is never explained, but his weird job seems to give him a kind of self-expression he wouldn’t get as a cashier at Walmart, or as a gas station attendant like Judy.
In his comments on his film, director Montiel noted how people are drawn to Los Angeles by the myth of Hollywood, only to find living there very different from the dream. He was also struck by “what a blue-collar town Hollywood really is,” with many more people working as extras, carpenters, market researchers, and in other un-glamorous occupations than movie stars and studio heads. Some of the jobs are really odd – like professional audience members.
If you are expecting a biting satire on Hollywood, an in-depth exploration of an odd-ball profession, or a psychological study, you won’t get that with THE CLAPPER. Although it starts down all those roads, it then detours into a standard romantic comedy. It is too bad because while that makes an interesting backdrop for a rom com, the film leaves a lot of potentially more interesting and unique material unused.
Still, THE CLAPPER does have a certain charm, particularly in Ed Helms’ low-key, even sweet performance as a guy who likes his strange job and would rather just be left alone. The film raises a lot of questions with this character, like why he moved to Los Angeles, without really answering them, but Helms does what he can to suggest answers. Tracy Morgan likewise turns in a n unexpectedly restrained performance as Eddie’s loyal friend but whose lack of sophistication makes him easy prey for Adam Levine’s calculating producer.
While Eddie has no ambitions, Amanda Seyfried’s tender-hearted Judy does have one, to open an animal shelter in Mexico, for the discarded and damaged animals like the one-horned goat she adopted. That she has a goal, something the drifting Eddie lacks, may be part of the attraction. However, we do not find out because (and here is where the film goes wrong) the film once again does not delve into Eddie’s inner life. Instead, the film transforms into just romantic comedy, one that does not go beneath the surface of any of the characters. While there is a sweetness to the ending, one is left with a sense there could have been something more.
THE CLAPPER is not a film for everyone. It is a small film that has some charm as a sweet oddball rom com but which falls short in exploring its characters. However, someone expecting a raucous comedy laughing at losers scraping by at the bottom of Hollywood’s food chain won’t find that in this film.
Vicky Krieps stars as “Alma” and Daniel Day-Lewis stars as “Reynolds Woodcock” in writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s PHANTOM THREAD, a Focus Features release. Photo credit : Laurie Sparham / Focus Features
PHANTOM THREAD is a beautiful, seductive drama set in the rarefied world of high fashion in 1950s Britain. Director Paul Thomas Anderson re-teams with Daniel Day-Lewis, his star from 2007’s THERE WILL BE BLOOD, for a absorbing tale filled with mystery, danger and romance made more fascinating by Daniel Day-Lewis’ electrifying performance.
Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), a brilliant, successful but eccentric clothing designer who heads his own fashion house in 1955 London, where his clients include royalty, movie stars, heiresses, grand dames and socialites. Woodcock is gifted but he is also exacting, temperamental and ego-eccentric. Gifted and elegant, Reynolds can be charming or eccentric by turns. His sister and business partner Cyril (the wonderful Leslie Manville) takes care of all the practical matters of running the business, so Reynolds can concentrate on the creative. But she also manages the details of his personal life and daily routine, sharing the mansion from which they run their fashion design business. Cyril smooths over the ruffled feathers of clients when Reynolds is too blunt. Hyper-sensitive Reynolds loves routine and carries that over to his personal life, where the handsome confirmed bachelor woos, but never marries, a string of beauties, discarding them as he loses interest. Or, rather, delegating this unpleasant task to his sister.
Into this rigid routine, Reynolds brings a new love interest, Alma (Vicky Krieps), a pretty waitress he meets on holiday. Alma is a working-class immigrant from Eastern Europe with little education but Reynolds is intrigued by her freshness and independence. He sets out to transform her into a fashion model and then lover, as he has done with other women, but Alma proves far different from Reynold’s previous lovers.
One does not have to be particularly interested in fashion to be engrossed by this film. The fashion world of Britain in the 1950s seems an odd choice for a setting for this director but Anderson imbues it with the tension and darkness of psychological thriller, while embracing the inherent romance of the business. Like a theatrical performance, the surface beauty of this world obscures the tense struggle, competition and intrigue behind the scenes.
This is director Paul Thomas Anderson’s second collaboration with Daniel Day-Lewis. Like THERE WILL BE BLOOD, PHANTOM THREAD features a score by Jonny Greenwood, but unlike that previous film, the music here is lush and romantic, as smooth and pretty as one of Woodcock’s creations in silk and satin.
Visually, PHANTOM THREAD is a banquet, suffused with beautiful dresses and lavish sets, and all gorgeously photographed. Anderson has set this variation on Gothic romance, as it has been described, in an interesting moment in time. Britain is still recovering from the aftermath of World War II but embracing a new peace-time optimism with the lavish coronation of the young Queen Elizabeth II. It seems an odd setting, the fashion world, for an Anderson film yet he finds the dark and even seamy secrets inside to this pretty business. Against this backdrop, Reynolds Woodcock and his sister Alma work tirelessly to maintain the top-tier status of their prosperous business while minimizing changes to the comfortable routine of their personal lives. Alma, and the possibility of real love, unbalance this carefully built status quo, setting up power struggles among them, that impact their personal lives and their business. But the question is whether change is a threat or an essential element to keep the business vital.
This tense contest of wills is placed in an opulent world of gorgeous clothes, stately homes and the rich and famous. Reynolds Woodcock is a fictional character but as Day-Lewis plays him he seems vibrantly alive.. Day-Lewis” Reynolds is intense, fastidious, and gifted in his work. He is charming and elegant but also hypersensitive to little irritations,even the crunch of someone eating toast at breakfast can upset him. Cyril works to minimize these irritations, becoming an enabler of his quirks and crutch of sorts.
Day-Lewis’ performance is remarkable, and much the same can be said for Lesley Manville’s portrayal of his sister. Cyril is both his business partner and personal assistant, the one who takes care of all practical matters so Reynolds can concentrate only on the creative. There are hints of childhood hardships that forged a bond between the siblings, so they form a unit that shuts out the rest of the world. It is this protective shell that Alma sets out to crack. Vicky Krieps is also excellent as Alma, the person who intrudes in this closed world, and unlike others before, brings an unexpected force and will to the table.
Daniel Day-Lewis has said he is retiring from acting, which would be a shame. One might hope this excellent performance might win him yet another an Oscar as a parting gift but it has been a good year for films and for acting performances. Gary Oldman’s remarkable portrayal of Winston Churchill in DARKEST HOUR may shut out several worthy performances, including Day-Lewis’ gripping one in this film.
PHANTOM THREAD is an engrossing and enjoyable drama, a visually beautiful blend of taut drama and seductive romance heightened by the performances of a stellar cast. Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance is a big reason to see the film but it has much to intrigue, filled with layers mystery and unsettling, edgy drama set in the rarefied world.
Magical, evocative THE SHAPE OF WATER blends Cold War thriller, romance and monster movie genres in director Guillermo Del Toro’s best film since PAN’S LABYRINTH. In fact, THE SHAPE OF WATER is one of the year’s best.
Elisa (Sally Hawkins) lives a lonely life of unchanging routine as cleaning woman at a hidden military research facility during the Cold War. Mute but not deaf, Elisa’s best friend is her co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer), and she rents space in an apartment above an old movie theater from platonic friend Giles (Richard Jenkins), who is a marginalized person like them. Elisa’s quiet routine is changed forever by the arrival of ambitious, harsh military operative Richard Strickland and a mysterious creature in a water tank.
Rounding out the cast are Michael Stuhlbarg as a scientist and Doug Jones in a motion-capture performance as the creature. Fans of old monster movie will instantly note that this watery creature has a striking resemblance to another movie monster, which is no accident.
Cinematically and as entertainment, THE SHAPE OF WATER exceeds on all levels. There is fine acting by an excellent cast, a story that offers a thought-provoking twist on the monster genre, beautiful moody photography, magical visual effects, and brilliant direction. Then film draws on a number of Cold War era monster movies, such as THE BLOB and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON but also evokes the stifling conformity and judgmental tone of the era, an anti-gay, racist, pre-feminist time when those with disabilities or differences were also disdained.
Del Toro reportedly wanted to direct a comic book movie re-make of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON but was thwarted in that effort. That explains the appearance of the watery creature, but this film is a far better story than a remake, a better as well as more original film.
THE SHAPE OF WATER is a visual delight, often shot in a slightly greenish, slanting-light style that suggests a watery world even above the surface. The soft light of rosy dawn lights the face of Sally Hawkins as her character rides the bus to work in the morning. The second floor apartment she shares with the friend played by Richard Jenkins is above an old movie theater, and partly lit by the theater’s marquee. The military installation where she and her best friend played by Octavia Spencer work is lit by dim fluorescent lights, filled with the gray and green fixtures of the 1950s.
Sally Hawkins is amazing in the lead role, creating an appealing and mysterious character we fall in love with, all without speaking a word. Hawkins is a delight but the supporting performances are wonderful as well. Richard Jenkins plays Eliza’s friend, a painter and gay man, who is an outsider in the conformist culture of the 1950s. Michael Shannon represents that rigid culture but goes way beyond that in his cold character who is the true villain. Michael Stuhlbarg delivers a touching performance as a scientist with a conscience and Octavia Spencer is fine as sharp-tongued, sharp-witted Zelda, Eliza’s loyal friend. Doug Jones, dressed in a bulky, elaborate costume enhanced by motion-capture, in the role as the watery creature is the perfect movie monster in the mold of James Whale’s Frankenstein monster.
The combination of Cold War thriller, monster movie and romance plays to all of Del Toro’s strengths as a director. The sense of the magical in PAN’S LABYRINTH returns here, along with some other the powerful and the powerless, but this is a more hopeful film. The characters are grouped into the marginalized and the powerful, but the creature is the question mark in that equation.
Anyone who has loved either old monster movies or the Beast in the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast will be charmed by this wonderful sci-fi fantasy of outsiders, insiders, and monsters in THE SHAPE OF WATER.
(l -r) Hugh Bonneville stars as Teddy Hall, Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield as Diana and Robin Cavendish, Harry Marcus as their son Jonathan (age 10) and Tom Hollander as David Blacker in BREATHE, a Bleecker Street and Participant Media release.Credit: David Bloomer / Bleecker Street | Participant Media
Everyone wants to live life as they chose but in the 1950s, options were severely limited for someone paralyzed. At that time, paralysis usually meant a short life, confined to a hospital on a stationary breathing machine or in an iron lung. Being on a respirator meant not even being able to get about in a wheelchair. Robin Cavendish did not want that life, and thanks to his wife and friends, he did not have to live that way.
BREATHE tells the true story of Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield), who was paralyzed by polio at age 28, and his steadfast wife Diana (Claire Foy). The true story is Oscar-bait, inspirational, even amazing, and features a performance by Andrew Garfield likely to cement his position as a major star, if not earn him an Oscar nomination. The film is the directorial debut of Andy Serkis, the motion-capture actor who has been amazing us all since he appeared as Golem in the LORD OF THE RINGS series. However, the film itself is not as ground-breaking as the people it is about, but is a model of conventional British historical film making, with pretty golden light photography, lovely period details, and stiff-upper-lip characters who embody the upper class ideal of “carry on.”
British ex-army officer Robin Cavendish (Garfield) meets aristocratic Diana Blacker (Claire Foy) at a cricket match. The two are from classically British upper crust backgrounds but Cavendish is not well-off. Diana’s twin brothers, both played by Tom Hollander, try to talk her out of it, but Diana is in love, marries Robin and moves to Africa to live out a happy life as a tea broker’s wife. But as the couple awaits the birth of their first child, fate intervenes in the form of polio, which leaves 28-year-old Robin permanently paralyzed from the neck down.
BREATHE is being promoted as a romance, and it is that partly, but mostly it is a tale of indomitable spirit and the good luck of having very creative, brilliantly gifted friends. The couple is lucky in that neither Diana or their newborn son catch the disease but they are still forced to give up their beloved farm in Africa and return to England. Doctors caution Diana that Robin will only live a couple of years in the hospital on a ventilator. Robin does not even want to do that. Resourceful Diana is determined to give Robin as much of a life as possible, and along with some inventive friends, particularly engineer/inventor Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville), start inventing ways to do that. Their innovations leave a legacy that transforms the future for all people facing life with paralysis.
Garfield’s performance as Cavendish, a vibrant, active young man whose life plan is derailed by polio, is good enough to start Oscar nomination rumors. The film’s subject is both remarkable and inspiring subject, spotlighting a little-known story of determination and creativity that gave hope to others. The film’s lush period beauty may put it in line for an Oscar nod for art direction.
While the story of Cavendish and the heroic efforts of his wife and friends on his behalf, are inspirational and heart-warming, the film’s relentlessly plucky, what-what, upper-crust British optimism begins to wear and feel a bit forced as the film rolls on. Even when the family finds itself stranded on a remote Spanish road, with a broken breathing machine, no one seems very worried and turns it into a party. Nothing dampens the its-all-a-great-adventure spirit, which maybe accurate picture of the couple’s life view but seems a bit loony at times.
Still, it is an inspiring true story, and scenes like where doctors in a German hospital proudly shows off their state-of-the art room full of gleaming iron lungs are a striking illustration of how much Cavendish’s friends changed things for all paralyzed people. Cavendish had enormous luck in the friends that surrounded him who wanted to keep inventing new ways to improve his quality of life and mobility. We should all hope for such friends. Towards the end, the film veers to tearful, and can be a bit hard to watch.
BREATHE is an inspirational, romantic crowd-pleaser of a film about a couple who refused to accept things as they were and transformed the future for others.
Romance is perhaps the most coveted of the storyteller’s tools, one that can connect with anyone, yet open to an infinite number of perspectives, styles and genres. French filmmakers Stephane Berla and Mathias Malzieu have brought Malzieu’s own novel to life in the new computer animated feature film adaptation of JACK AND THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART. Having co-directed the film and adapted his novel into the screenplay, Malzieu is something of a renaissance man, as he’s also the lead singer for the French rock band Dionysos. This plays a crucial role in the development of the film’s fantastical, poetic nature and musical fluidity.
JACK AND THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART, also known as The Boy With the Cuckoo Clock Heart, tells the story of Jack, a boy born on the coldest day in the history of the world. So cold, in fact, that his heart is so cold and stone hard, that it must be replaced with a small cuckoo clock, the inner working of which allow Jack to maintain life. Madeleine, the ingeniously handy foster parent of broker children, is responsible for Jack’s clockwork heart but warns Jack of three rules he must obey, or else suffer the weaknesses of his man made engine of life.
First, Jack must never touch the hands of his heart. Second, he must never lose his temper. Third, and most importantly, he must never, ever, fall in love. With this last rule seemingly fated to be broken, Jack meets Miss Acacia, a petite girl with a powerful singing voice that instantly engulfs his heart. Having just found his true love, Jack ultimately finds himself thrown into an adventure after fleeing an accident mistaken as an act of violent aggression toward Joe, an older bully driven by his fear — and later on, his jealousy — of Jack, who truly would not hurt a fly.
The story begins in Edinburgh, where Jack was raised by Madeleine, but quickly evolves into a much larger tale taking him the Paris, France. Beyond the geographical range, the film envelops an even broader European sentimentality as Miss Acacia represents a strong Spanish influence through her flamenco-inspired dress and musicality, enhanced with a modern touch of pop. Her dress and even her unique characteristic evoke the very romantic nature of the red rose by which she resembles.
Years later, Jack’s journey opens into a boundless sense of imagination with a world of surreal landscapes and design that might illustrate a collaboration between Salvador Dali and Tim Burton. This becomes clearly evident when Jack reaches a small carnival like town filled with freak show inspired characters of oddity and the wonderfully strange roller coaster ride called Ghost Train, with which Jack acquires employment in an effort to reconnect with his long lost love to be, Miss Acacia.
Joe, antagonist of the film, originally voiced by Grand Corps Malade, is perhaps the strangest character in the film. The musical numbers for Joe are more of a spoken word or rap styling — and not always as smooth as intended in the English version — whereas the character’s visual presence evokes Keanu Reeves as imagined in a period piece by Tim Burton. Sadly, the character’s portrayal is as off-putting as it is dull and one-dimensional, but does the job of providing Jack an obstacle to overcome.
JACK AND THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART is driven primarily by the artistic visuals, but equally by its music, which drives the pace and flow of the film. The soundtrack is as eclectic as it is memorable, not for its familiarity, but for its theatrical presentation. The film portrays elements that may prove to make it a cult favorite over time, not unlike established favorites like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Nightmare Before Christmas or REPO! The Genetic Opera. The band, Dionysos, recorded a concept album based on the story, which became the source for the film’s music, having also provided the sound scape for the animated film A Town Called Panic (2009).
The animation used for JACK AND THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART is reminiscent of Laika’s trademark style, but not quite as polished. Regardless, the film still flows well, especially given its frequent foray into dreamscapes and mildly euphoric trippy sequences, usually set to another musical piece from Dionysos. As previously mentioned, this film is French, however the film is apparently being released in the Unites States with an English audio track, which sadly loses something in translation. This becomes apparent not only in the voice acting, that often feels either void of appropriate emotion, or rushes and poorly times for the mood, possibly in an attempt to fit a certain translation into the characters’ visual speaking queues. Whatever the reasoning, I would have preferred to see the original French version with English subtitles, however this is still a film worth experiencing and should inspire viewers to seek out the film in its purest form.
JACK AND THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART arrives on Video On Demand and in select theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Denver, Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, Houston, Orlando and Tampa beginning September 24, 2014.
I have a lot of respect for street performers. From music to magic and everything in between, street performer add a level of artistic vibrancy to areas otherwise typically bogged down in the dry, monotone corporate atmosphere. Have you ever been having a bad day, been walking along sulking in your grumpiness, then come upon a street performer who actually made you smile, even for a moment? If not, I hope you do, because it works… and, this is where THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN succeeds.
For a feature film debut, writer and director Lee Kirk does play it safe on some level. THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN certainly follows a fairly standard format of the romantic comedy genre. The humor is offbeat, quirky but never heavy-handed. The film may be playing itself safe structurally, but the content is what makes the film enjoyable. How many romantic comedies have we seen that are absurdly unrealistic or saturated in sappiness? It’s refreshing to see one like this come along that tosses those conventions to the wayside.
THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN stars hometown girl Jenna Fischer as Janice and Chris Messina as Tim. This is, of course, a story about boy meets girl, but there’s an underlying vein of existentialism that inks this map to our characters’ story ending “happily ever after.” Tim is an artist, at least he believes he is and can be, refusing to give up and supplements his journey as a street performer. Tim paints his face silver, hops onto stilts and throws on his silver suit and bowler hat, transforming into the giant mechanical man passersby see on the streets. Toss some change in his briefcase, and he does a little show mimicking a mechanical robot toy. Chris Messina sells these performances well.
Janice is a kindred spirit. With no true direction in her life, she works for a temp agency to make ends meet. Janice struggles with how everyone around her appears to happy, seems to have it all figured out while she really has no clue what she wants from life. However, its the constant pressure she gets from the world around her that makes her unhappy, not her lack of direction. Her younger sister Jill (Malin Akerman) and her husband are constantly on her case, pressuring her to figure things out, but all Janice really wants is to enjoy her life and find her own way.
THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN starts off at a relatively slow pace, but is hoisted up by the blunt, quirky humor that resides just below the threshold we’ve come to find familiar in TV shows like THE OFFICE, from which Fischer cut her chops. Not until Janice loses her temp job and begins looking for new work do things begin to fall into place. Meanwhile, Tim finds himself cut loose by his pretentiously hip girlfriend who deals a devastating blow to his ego, leading him also to find new work to make ends meet. Both parties find work at the zoo.
One thing leads to another, Janice and Tim meet, they fall in love, stuff happens… sadness… and so on. As I mentioned before, THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN follows a pretty standard romantic comedy formula. The difference is in how Lee Kirk fills in the blanks. There is a subtle sweetness to the film, just enough to pep you up rather than loading you so full that you slip into a diabetic coma. After all, isn’t that how life really is… filled with little moments of just the right amount of sweetness to make you remember everything will be alright?
Tim has an outsider-looking-in view of the world. He’s not depressed, nor is he a pessimist; he’s just a guy who sees others for who they really are and refuses to be someone other than exactly who he is, unlike so many he sees around him, always pretending to be whomever others will accept. Chris Messina puts a lot of stock in his eyes, giving his character a depth necessary to sell the performance. Jenna Fischer takes a few steps deeper into the emotional end of the pool and pulls it off swimmingly. Together, Messina and Fischer maintain on on screen chemistry that is honest and entertaining. For lack of better words, the two of them together are truly cute.
THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN is not real life, but it takes romance and the struggles inherent into territory not common to the genre. Tim and Janice are surrounded by self-absorbed, often nasty human beings, making them seem like the normal ones struggling to stay afloat in a world bent on keeping them under. Janice’s sister Jill spends most of the film trying way too hard to hook her up with a self-absorbed, nauseatingly fake and annoying self-help author named Doug (Topher Grace). He is primarily here for comic relief, and while Topher Grace succeeds at making us truly hate his character, it often becomes unbearable to watch.
Lee Kirk has crafted a commendable addition to the romantic comedy genre. THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN is a film I would happily watch again, especially since there’s a level of intelligence to the story and what the director appears to be saying about how meeting people and developing relationships in life is often a struggle for the more sensitive, outsider types that don’t fit into a common mold. THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN was shot in Detroit, played at the Tribeca Film Festival (also, being distributed by Tribeca Films) and is accompanied by an appealing soft indie rock soundtrack I look forward to hopefully being able to purchase someday down the road.
