Black Swan

I usually don't read stuff written about a film before I write my little review, but I saw Black Swan in the theatre and that was quite a while ago. So I checked out the synopsis on the website... and then I checked out a couple of other sources, and I have to tell you that a lot has been written about this film and most of it is... well, misleading? at best. This isn't a psycho-thriller... it isn't a story about a dangerous friendship... or rivalry in the world of ballet. Black Swan is about mental illness and the descent into psychosis. That the protagonist just happens to be a ballerina contributes significantly to the surreal nature of that psychosis, to be sure. Oh, and sex. It's definitely a movie about sex.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a talented ballerina striving for her first starring role. She's a cliche of sorts, dedicated to the point of having no life at all, living at home with her overbearing mother, childlike, naive and very, very needy. When her slightly sleazy director offers her the role of the Swan Queen, he maintains that he doubts she can handle the part of the Black Swan; she's far too virginal to play a seductress. To make matters worse, a new girl has joined the troupe, a sexpot named Lily (Mila Kunis) who seems interested in the starring role herself. As Nina is urged to explore her sexuality and to push her limits farther and farther, things start going ... odd. Is Lily out to destroy her or seduce her? What's with that rash? And can she really embody the guile and cunning of the Black Swan? Perfectly.

Natalie Portman portrays the fragile Nina perfectly indeed and earned every inch of that Oscar for Best Actress. Despite the fact that this story is deeply sexual, writer/director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) manages to keep things hot without letting it slip toward porn via clever camera angles and minimal nudity (the infamous lesbian scene is mostly implied.) But more importantly the onset of a psychotic break from reality is really pretty accurate. Little hallucinations gradually lead to bigger and bigger delusions until Nina (and the audience) is not sure what is real and what is not. And like most people with mental illness, Nina is primarily dangerous only to herself. For that, I applaud Mr. Aronofsky. I will try to forgive him the prerequisite overbearing mother archetype. And whether you enjoy ballet or not, the final dance is quite possibly one of the most breathtaking scenes on film. Period. Website here.

Stone

Robert De Niro is surely one of the greatest actors of his generation (think Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and forgive him the paycheck for Little Fockers.) Edward Norton may be one of the most gifted actors of his generation (think Primal Fear and American History X and forgive him the paycheck of The Incredible Hulk.) So why hadn't I heard of a film with them both? My guess is that this indie film was royally screwed on distribution, because if you want to watch two great actors do what they do best - you're going to love Stone.

"Stone" Creeson (Norton) is a fast talking low life doing time for arson to cover up the murder of his grandparents and when he comes up for parole he has to convince hard-case parole officer Jack Mabry (De Niro) that he's a changed man. He enlists the considerable talents of his wife Lucetta (Milla Jovovich) to the cause of breaking Jack down. But Jack and Stone have more in common than a lust for Lucetta, and as events unfold, the true nature of each man comes into question. In the end, redemption is in the eye of the beholder....

Norton creates a stunning portrait in Stone - and how his character emerges is brilliant and heart wrenching. De Niro is in top form (just when I thought he was destined to follow Nicholson and Pacino down the comedic road to the seventh level of acting hell.) But the real surprise was Milla Jovovich who held her own here and then some. Who knew that thirteen years after the band aid costume and orange hair of The Fifth Element, she'd become an actress? Sad that this film got lost in the process... see the website here. Interesting footnote here.

127 Hours

There are films that will change you. There are films that will entertain you or educate you or amuse, to be sure, and a great many that will cure your insomnia. But occasionally a film is made that has the power to do more - a film that sort of lifts us out of the ordinary and makes us very, very aware of what it means to be human. Danny Boyle is the kind of director who tries to make those kinds of films. Last year he earned an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire. This year he offers 127 Hours.

This is the accounting of five days in the life of Aron Ralston - a rugged self sufficient sort of fella - who in 2003 took off for a weekend of fun in the canyons of Utah and staggered out 127 hours later missing his arm. Perhaps you remember the headlines? Not only did Aron endure the elements, dehydration and blood loss, he cut off his arm that was trapped by a fallen boulder, rappelled down a cliff face and walked eight miles to be rescued. Just try to make this stuff up.

So how do you make a feature film around one guy? You get James Franco. Ninety four minutes of essentially one guy? Yep. James Franco. Of course he was nominated. This guy may be a complete douche for all I know, and there are rumors to that effect, but he sure can act. So he gives us an Aron that is all that and a bag of chips - so cocksure of himself that he takes off without telling a soul - and then shows us what real life, and mortality, brings to us all. It's a freak accident. And then denial. And then fear. And then survival. It's an amazing true story of the human spirit. Did it seem long? From the standpoint of chewing off my fingernails, maybe a little. But it wasn't slow. Was it grisly? Briefly and appropriately. Did it change me?
I think I'm a little more appreciative today, a little less hurried. And I'll NEVER give my kid a knockoff Leatherman for Christmas.... website here.

The Town

Ben Affleck. Well, he has those sort of classic old Hollywood good looks doesn't he? And he and Matt Damon were so darn cute accepting that Oscar for Good Will Hunting. And then.... welllll, things kinda went down hill to the tune of ... wince... Pearl Harbor. But then 2007 and Gone Baby Gone comes around and YAY, it seems Ben is back writing and belongs in the Directors chair after all and we can forgive all those tedious movies and be glad he found his true calling and we'll just let Casey be the actor in the family. Apparently wishful thinking. Cuz Ben not only co-wrote the screenplay and directed The Town. He acts in it.

The Town refers to Charlestown, a neighborhood of Boston notorious for producing thieves... and most specifically the sort who specialize in bank robbery and the like. Affleck plays Doug MacRay, the leader of a gang of loyal thugs who, like their daddies a fore them, rob banks. Pursuing some loose ends after a not so perfect job, Doug falls for the bank manager, but of course his buddies need him for the BIG SCORE. Car chases and shootouts ensue. yadda yadda yadda.

Despite the decent Boston accents that everyone handles acceptably - despite great character actors Pete Postelwaite and Chris Cooper in tiny underutilized roles - despite the fact that somehow Jeremy Renner managed to snaggle a nomination for Best Supporting (ensuring that he will continue to be typecast as a sociopath ad infinitum,) this is a predictable heist movie with extraneous amounts of foul language and unnecessary violence making up for anything close to character development. By the time the inevitable happens, I couldn't care less who was going to make it out alive. See the self congratulatory website here.

Winter's Bone

So you know that joke, "I hear banjo music - paddle faster?" Then you remember how totally skeeved out we all were when we saw Deliverance... quite possibly the most terrifying film I can remember back then because it was so... real. And raw. And even though a lot of that film was sort of ridiculous, the people it represented were real people who live off the ordinary map of suburban Americana. The people who live in poverty and who eek out an existence by whatever means available; back then it was bootlegging and edging toward the farming of marijuana and now it's come all the way to cooking meth. And those people will still creep you out in Winter's Bone.

So enter the world of Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) who is 17 and the closest thing to a responsible adult to her two younger siblings and her mom. Apparently Mom has just abdicated, and Dad is wanted by the law and missing. Just to make life interesting is the fact that Dad put the family home up for his bond, and if he doesn't turn up the family will be summarily evicted. So Ree mans up and heads into the woods and into a world where what and who you know will keep you alive or feed you to the pigs.

Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (John Hawkes) and Best Adapted Screenplay this is a film with amazing chops made on a shoestring with a virtually unknown director (guarantee Debra Granik won't stay unknown for long and she should have been nominated as well.) Lawrence and Hawkes are both crazy good and I was fascinated by the careful relationship that they create. This is just a great little film; both real and raw and sure to creep you out and break your heart. Because people really do live like this. Website here.

The Social Network

I admit it - I'm on Facebook. I started to keep in touch with my kids and don't consider myself a devotee; although I do check in daily and post occasionally and have... a few.... friends. Got back in touch with a few folks from high school, still keep up with the kids and have actually made some real live friends, as in the kind you genuinely care about, all on Facebook. So I was naturally curious to see the story behind the phenomenon. As stories go - The Social Network is entertaining; even fascinating from the perspective of how fast technology moves in our modern age. But as movies go, I have to say this is a one trick pony at best.

Not that Jesse Eisenberg doesn't work his butt off in a stilted, humorless genius kind of way. Mark Zuckerberg himself called the performance "interesting" in a stilted, humorless kind of way on SNL. Not that Justin Timberlake doesn't make you just hate on Sean Parker or that Andrew Garfield doesn't make you all squishy sad for poor undervalued Eduardo Saverin. The truth is that none of these people have anything that might be called a personality. Maybe that's true in real life, but it's certainly true in this movie. So aside from the events and their consequences, that Zuckerberg made an obscene amount of money in what may or may not have been a morally repugnant way, there isn't much in the way of movie. Which makes it kinda like Facebook.

I will go on the record as a lone wolf on this one; everyone else on the planet seems to think this film is Oscar worthy, it's won like a gazillion awards including Best Picture at the Globes, yadda, yadda, yadda. If you don't know the story, it's worth a viewing just to see what all the fuss is about. But I'm pretty sure you know the story, and the producers of this film are so sure about that that they don't even bother with a synopsis on the website. If you're looking for something about, I don't know, people with messy things like emotions, relationships or a conscience - look elsewhere.

Boy A

Been awhile since I've reviewed, mostly because I haven't seen much worth reviewing, but this little gem deserves your attention. Released in 2008, this brilliant film came to me from the blue... can't remember why I put it in queue, and when I got it I had no idea what it was about. Maybe that was the perfect way to approach the film, so I'll attempt to tease you without letting on too much.

The story opens with Jack (Andrew Garfield) choosing the name Jack. He and Terry (Peter Mullan) are constructing a life for Jack, and at this point we only know that Jack is twentysomething, incredibly innocent, and that Terry (social worker? parole officer?) is really adamant that they must memorize Jack's history and it must be perfect. Set up with a job and a room to live, Jack seems poorly up to the task; he seems so childlike - and flashbacks of his childhood are not happy. As we watch him come of age, finding friends and meeting a girl, we get the feeling something horrible is in his past... and that he won't escape it.

Andrew Garfield has a face that is as transparent as glass - every nuance of emotion is so raw there - that his Jack is heartbreaking. He is mesmerizing even in this rock solid cast. But the story stuck with me for days. This is the kind of film that leaves you full of questions about the morality of modern society and the hypocrisy of the standards by which we judge others. Dare you to watch this and not be changed by it. Dare you. If you want the whole story, see the website here.