Category Archives: 2008

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Independent, Not Feel Good

Frozen River (2008)

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From NetFlix:

On a Mohawk reservation on the Canadian border, Ray (Melissa Leo, in an Oscar-nominated role) teams with widowed tribe member Lila (Misty Upham) to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. Although the work provides the women with much-needed money, each trip puts them in danger. How long will their luck hold before the authorities close in? Charlie McDermott co-stars in this drama nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature.

Talk about gritty! Ray has two boys and an irresponsible Mohawk husband who disappears to gamble (with sources such as a mortgage payment). Hers is a life of barely getting by. In fact life on the reservation isn’t any better for anyone else. Ray is a gutsy lady fighting to keep her 15-year-old in school when he really wants to get a job. The opening slow pan onto her worn, depressed expression tells you we are in for tough sledding: the 15-year-old tries to invent a scam to steal enough to pay for their rented TV, the kidnapping business might be a tad dangerous, and there’s more! Think of this film as engaging reality TV. If nothing else comes of your watching, at least be grateful for what you have.

For another review see the New York Times review.

2008, Biographical, Could Be Sad, Drama, Feel Good Not For Children

The Secret Life of Bees (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Haunted by the death of her mother, 14-year-old Lily (Dakota Fanning) escapes the dreary life she lives on her father’s farm and heads to Tiburon, S.C., with her friend and caregiver, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), setting off on a life-changing journey of self-discovery. Set amidst the hotbed of racial tensions in the South in the 1960s, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s dramatic tale is based on the bestselling novel by Sue Monk Kidd.

Basically this is a really sweet and gentle film. Just ignore the incident of racial violence near the beginning that starts Lily and Rosaleen on their odyssey (and even that incident is not too hard to watch). Do I believe there was this oasis of black happiness somewhere in the South of the 1960s? Who cares! Just enjoy the conceit. Did Lily become awfully mature for a girl her age? Who cares! Did the film sometimes border on the maudlin? Who cares!

For some background on the author and her novel see the Wikipedia article.

2008, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Explicit sex, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Redemption, Suspense

The Reader (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) reflects on the formative sexual relationship he had with older woman Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet, in a Golden Globe- and Oscar-winning role) as a young teenager in this poignant drama set in post-World War II Germany. The passionate affair ended when Hanna disappeared. But years later, Michael learns she’s on trial for horrific Nazi war crimes. David Kross plays the teenage Michael in this film based on Bernhard Schlink’s best-seller.

I am still shaking after watching this powerful, superb, maddening film. I was and am still so angry at the male protagonist. Without giving anything away, he was such a “Hamlet” that he allows his female counterpart to suffer more than she need have. I refuse to accept that he was sparing her feelings. Hopefully one of you will have a different point of view and share it with us. Why on earth did he behave as he did ?

The acting is perfect. David Kross does so fine a job I could have strangled him.

Lots of sex, not for children.

2008, Drama, Not Feel Good, Play Adaptation, Religious Theme

Doubt (2008)

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From NetFlix:

In a Catholic elementary school in the Bronx, Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) begins to have doubts about one of the priests, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who seems to have become overly involved in the life of a young African American pupil. But Flynn isn’t the only one she has doubts about. Is she overreacting to the situation or is there a truth that needs to be discovered? John Patrick Shanley’s drama was nominated for five Oscars and co-stars Amy Adams and Viola Davis.

I first saw “Doubt” as the original play with exactly 4 characters: the priest, the two nuns, and the mother of the black student. It was excellent. For this reason I was reluctant to see a remake. That is to say, this film script is the original play greatly amplified by the same author. Fortunately the film is so good that it is a pleasure from beginning to end. The facial expressions of Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman are perfect. The young nun and the black boy’s mother are also excellent. I was relieved to see Streep do so well because when I saw her in a part of “Momma Mia” (I was so embarrassed by her performance that I could only watch part of the musical) I assumed she had begun her senility. Hoffman takes chances with offbeat films and I was glad to see him in a more traditional role.

I would be interested in learning how those of you who are not Catholic reacted to or enjoyed this film. I was a Catholic of the 50s and these scenes are completely accurate. However, Streep plays an embittered old grouch and I can personally assure you that was not at all like the nuns I had teaching me in parochial school.

So … was he guilty or not ?

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Could Be Sad, Not Feel Good

Rachel Getting Married (2008)

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From NetFlix:

When drama queen Kym (Anne Hathaway, in her first Oscar-nominated role), a former model who’s been in and out of rehab for 10 years, returns to her parents’ home just before the wedding of her sister, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), long-standing family conflicts begin to resurface. Directed by Jonathan Demme, this touching and humorous drama co-stars Debra Winger and was nominated for a Best Feature Independent Spirit Award, among others.

Leon Tolstoy in “Anna Karenina” writes the familiar “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” If you like disfunctional family films, this film is a doozy. At first I thought this film was a chick flick featuring a spoiled, self-centered, drug addled bitch named Kym. By the end I was hoping for some kind of happiness for Kym. Stay with the film and I challenge you not to get really involved in this well-made film.

Without giving anything away, for me there was one defining moment which seemed to place some real blame on one of the characters. I would be interested in hearing if you found the same to be true.

As unusual and interesting as the actual wedding celebration was, for me it went on much too long. Granted that we were supposed to feel Kym’s pain in the midst of such happiness, but enough is enough!

2008, Could Be Sad, DO NOT MISS, French, Not Feel Good, Redemption

I’ve Loved You So Long (2008)

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From NetFlix:

After more than a decade apart, estranged sisters Juliette (Kristin Scott
Thomas) and Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) try to rebuild their fractured relationship.
But the task is hardly easy, considering Juliette’s past. She’s been in jail
for 15 years — for killing someone. As she settles into small-town life with
Lea’s family, the locals can’t help but talk. Philippe Claudel’s feature film
debut garnered him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Do not miss this beautiful, sad, perfectly acted French film (with subtitles). Kristin Scott Thomas’ French is excellent. (She left England at the age of 19 to work as an au pair in Paris. She was married to François Oliviennes, a French obstetrician. They live in a 19th century country house with their children, Hannah, Joseph, and George.)

Part of the NetFlix description is misleading. Don’t worry about nosy neighbors except at one tense moment at a dinner party. Gossip has nothing to do with the film. Rather, the film is a warm testimony to the enduring and determined love of a wonderfully sweet younger sister (played to perfection by Elsa Zylberstein) for an older sister who has suffered an enormous amount. It is about the sister’s husband and children (and husband’s father) growing to trust and love Juliette. Above all it is about coming to terms with a sorrow that can never go away. You will probably guess early on what happened in the past, but that is nowhere near as important as some amount of redemption in the present.

2008, Biographical, Gay theme, Not Feel Good, Revenge

Milk (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Sean Penn (in an Oscar-winning role) stars in this fact-based drama about
Harvey Milk, the openly gay activist and San Francisco politician who was
murdered along with mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber) by disgruntled city
employee Dan White (Josh Brolin, in an Oscar-nominated role) in 1978. Director
Gus Van Sant’s compelling biopic (nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award)
co-stars Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Diego Luna.

Where to begin! That’s easy: First you could watch The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) which is an excellent documentary. More than that, ‘Milk’ often intersperses parts of the documentary into the film. Secondly, there is an excellent Wikipedia article on Harvey Milk which is long and very detailed.

I worry about a film which is an historical interpretation lest it become an historical distortion. For example, at one point Sean Penn says he thinks Dan White is really a closeted gay. Did the real Milk ever say such a thing? If not, I object to inserting such a gratuitous comment. However, the Wikipedia article together with the documentary lend much credibility to the Hollywood version. The article more than the film shows Harvey Milk as a complicated man who in fact did have many sexual affairs, who had a bit of an an attitude and could be very difficult to get along with, had several lovers involved with suicides (threatened and real), and who in his 40s was pushed into reacting and becoming involved politically by external forces. Granted any film has to focus on some aspect of the subject and there is too much to tell about Milk and his colorful era to put into one film.

Sean Penn captured Harvey Milk surprisingly close in looks but especially in manner as the documentary shows the ever smiling Milk. Josh Brolin looked like and captured Dan White to a remarkable degree. In fact, the very end of the film pairs photos of actors with their real-life counterparts, and the similarities are often striking.

The documentary (and, in all fairness, the film) made it clear that the double murder was meticulously planned. I wish the film had explained more what a joke the murder trial was (e.g. gays were excluded from the jury). The Wikipedia article explains how the “twinkie defense” motivated subsequent California laws which abolished “diminished capacity” as a defense to a charge.

2008, Acceptable Trash, Comedy, Explicit sex, Vulgar

Choke (2008)

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From NetFlix:

With his mother (Anjelica Huston) suffering from Alzheimer’s, medical school
dropout Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) devises a plan to pay her hospital bills.
At high-class restaurants, he pretends to choke, waits to be rescued and then
later asks his saviors for money. In addition to being a con man, Victor is a
sex addict who works at a colonial theme park. This film is based on the novel
by cult literary phenom Chuck Palahniuk ( Fight Club).

Sex is the subject, pure and simple. The film is so vulgar that after awhile you don’t even notice all the sex talk and acts. In fact that is the point: a sex addict learning to really love someone. Nonetheless, you could easily be offended by this film (especially if you are Christian). Just as some contemporary films use violence to a comic end, the sex is so outrageous that it comes across as comedy.

A challenge to anyone who takes a chance and watches this crazy film: at the sexaholics anonymous meetings there is an old man. Without taking a peek at IMDB, do you recognize this actor ? I nearly dropped dead, he has changed so much!

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Suspense, Underdogs win, Violent

Changeling (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie, in an Oscar-nominated role) is overjoyed when her young kidnapped son Walter is brought back home. But when Christine suspects that the Walter who was returned to her isn’t her actual child, the police captain (Jeffrey Donovan) has her committed to an asylum. John Malkovich co-stars as the crusading reverend who comes to Christine’s rescue in this gripping, 1920s-set drama helmed by ace director Clint Eastwood.

As soon as the movie began I stayed on the edge of my seat. It’s one of those films where the injustices are almost too much to believe. In fact only the script kept me glued because I was quickly disappointed in Angelina Jolie’s acting. Could it be that her forte is slithering almost naked out of the water with a long tail as she did in Beowulf ? Even John Malkovitch seemed to be reading his lines.

Read in Wikipedia about the true Wineville Chicken Coop Murders which the film follows carefully. At the end of the film there are follow-up lines saying what happened to the various characters in real life. Unfortunately, I was unable to read them. If any of you can read those lines, I would appreciate knowing what they said.

Not for children because of scenes of serial murdering and forced electric shocks used as torture by the psychiatrist in the pay of the LAPD. Tell me, has the LAPD ever cleaned up its act ?

2008, Not Feel Good

Brideshead Revisited (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Matthew Goode, alongside Michael Gambon and Oscar winner Emma Thompson,
stars as Capt. Charles Ryder, an officer stationed at England’s Brideshead
Castle during World War II, in this big-screen adaptation of the classic
novel by Evelyn Waugh. The suspenseful drama builds as Captain Ryder
becomes infatuated with the castle’s owners, the aristocratic Marchmain
family — particularly their grown son, Sebastian Flyte, and his elegant
sister, Julia.

This film version of “Brideshead Revisited” is excellent. However, the gold standard for “Brideshead” is the 4-CD version of the 1981 British TV miniseries. Matthew Goode rings true as Charles Rider. I finally got used to Emma Thompson as Lady Marchmain. But Ben Whishaw as Sebastian Flyte is just too diminutive compared to Anthony Andrews in the TV series. Of course it takes less time to watch 2 hours than to dedicate yourself to 4 CDs. I guess you get what you pay for.