“Yesterday”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a New York Times ScreenTimes advance screening of the new romantic comedy, “Yesterday”, written by Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle.

Synopsis

When a young man wakes up to a world where he is the only one who remembers The Beatles, can he become a music sensation?

Story

Jack (Patel) is a struggling musician.  Despite the fact that he’s been hoping to hook the brass ring of success for many years, his manager and childhood friend Ellie (Lily James) remains his biggest fan and supporter; while holding a job as a schoolteacher, she works hard to book every single performance she can grab for him, just so he’ll remain in his long-time pursuit of becoming a professional musician.  Even when Jack begins to lose faith in himself, Ellie is the one who keeps the faith in him.  Beyond being a good manager, she’s a good friend. 

When Jack thinks it’s time to pack it in, the planet earth experiences an unusual occurrence:  a worldwide blackout.  A variety of things occur when this happens, but one of them is the fact that Jack, while bicycling home, is accidentally hit by a bus and winds up being hospitalized.  After he is discharged from the hospital, he learns an unusual fact:  Jack is the only one in the world who remembers the musical group The Beatles.  Once he starts performing their songs, people believe he composed them all.  Thinking he’s written them all, they see him as a genius and soon he earns a recording contract which gains him great popularity.

As Jack heads out on the road to success, he meets such luminaries as popular music star Ed Sheeran and his manager Debra (Kate McKinnon), who sees him as the new Big Thing in the music industry.  Naturally, she gloms onto him once she realizes he’s a better songwriter than her current client, Sheeran, whom she virtually abandons in favor of Jack’s more promising career.  But as Jack’s success turns out of control, he realizes that he has turned into someone who he is not and this bothers him deeply.  Will he be able to bury these feelings and continue to pursue financial rewards or will his guilt force him to return to a world that is more in his control? 

Review

“Yesterday” is a pleasant, entertaining movie that the audience at this screening seemed to enjoy quite a bit; the film itself was enthusiastically applauded at the closing credits and when the filmmakers took the stage afterwards, they were warmly greeted with a standing ovation.  It is something of a hybrid genre: sci-fi/comedy (or sci-fi/romantic comedy – take your pick). One of the keys to enjoying “Yesterday” is buying its unlikely premise; if you are able to sufficiently suspend your disbelief for that, then it should wind up being a good deal of fun. Otherwise, it may very well wind up being a bit too hokey.  

The other key to whether or not you’ll like “Yesterday” is equally obvious:  both your knowledge and appreciation of The Beatles. Will younger people enjoy this movie, despite a limited experience of this world famous musical group?  It’s hard to say, but even if they have only a basic understanding of who The Beatles were and their impact on our culture, a younger audience might likely be able to latch onto the romantic comedy aspect of the film.  Of course, older folks – who don’t tend to go out to theaters quite as much – would have a deeper connection to this motion picture.  

Following the screening, there was a question and answer session with screenwriter Richard Curtis, director Danny Boyle and star Himesh Patel.  Curtis originally got the idea from another writer (who got a story credit on the movie). He was a big fan of The Beatles in his youth and it continued throughout the rest of his life.  Boyle contacted Curtis and asked if he had any material he should see; Curtis immediately sent him the script for “Yesterday” and Boyle wanted to make it into a film. Patel was informed about the casting and submitted an audition tape that included him singing a song by Coldplay and performing a monolog.  Ed Sheeran was not the original choice for the appearance in the motion picture; they first went to Chris Martin, who turned it down due to a scheduling conflict.  

“The Dead Don’t Die”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a New York Times Screentimes advance screening of the new comedy-horror, “The Dead Don’t Die”, starring Bill Murray and Adam Driver; written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. 

Synopsis

When a small town is overtaken by zombies, can its understaffed and inexperienced sheriff's office sufficiently defend its citizens?

 

Story

Things are usually pretty quiet in Centerville; as a result, Chief Cliff Robertson (Murray) pretty much has things under control, with the help of Officers Ronnie Peterson (Driver) and Mindy Morrison (Chloë Sevigny).  The town suddenly finds itself shrouded in strangeness when various odd behavior is noticed -- late sunsets, non-functioning cell phones and broken-up television and radio transmissions. Based on what’s being reported in the news lately, some people are of the belief that all of this is being caused by what’s referred to as “Polar Fracking” -- fracking occuring at the polar ice caps which have theoretically knocked the earth off its axis. 

Folks try not to make too much of this since they have their own lives to live -- until they don’t.  In the local cemetery, long-dead corpses suddenly arise from their graves and start trawling Centerville for victims -- in this case, these are not the brain-eating zombies that are familiar to many, but instead, zombies that consume human viscera and limbs.  It all starts when employees at the town’s diner are discovered murdered -- both of them eviscerated in a similar manner. Was this the work of a wild beast? A pack of beasts? The thought that it could’ve been zombies doesn’t even occur to Chief Robertson -- until, that is, he and his team start encountering the  roaming un-dead themselves.

Thanks to Officer Peterson’s familiarity with zombie lore, he explains to his team that the only way these beings can be neutralized is through decapitation.  So, armed with machetes, swords and shotguns to be aimed directly at a zombie head, Roberton and Peterson set out to rid the town of Centerville of this deadly scourge.  But the more they patrol the town, the more zombies they find. By the time they reach the cemetery, they find that the zombies have self-exhumed -- even those of the children, which were located in a separate area.  Seeing that they are now outnumbered, Robertson, Peterson and Morrison find that the hunters have now become the prey. Despite this, can they find a way to save the remaining town members?

 

Review

As a comedy-horror movie, “The Dead Don’t Die” is something of a genre hybrid.  Yet, it doesn’t altogether work as either. It is neither scary enough to be a horror movie nor is it quite funny enough to be a comedy.  Ironically, the reason why it is not scary enough to be a horror flick is due in large part to the comedy element; it is undercut by the fact that it doesn’t take itself terribly seriously.   Regarding being a comedy, there are certainly amusing moments, but precious little that could be characterized as laugh-out-loud funny. Many of the jokes are predictable and the humor isn’t terribly innovative; in some regards, the film is a little bit past its time as the zombie horror genre has already been parodied in a much more successful fashion (e.g., “Zombieland”, “Shaun Of The Dead”).

While “The Dead Don’t Die” isn’t a terrible movie, it is a bit disappointing when you consider all of the talent involved.  Judging from his past films, Jarmusch can be very funny when he’s not trying to make a comedy; here, however, he seems to be working a bit too hard.  At times, he almost appears to be trying to channel David Lynch-type weirdness. Additionally, without giving away too much, Jarmusch makes several attempts to derive humor from dialog that pierces the fourth wall, but most of it largely falls flat.  As entertaining as some of the performances may be when you see all of these famous names on screen together, it’s not nearly enough to elevate the rest of the motion picture (Tilda Swinton’s turn as a Scottish mortician is particularly memorable in its strangeness alone).    

“Booksmart”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a New York Times Screentimes advance screening of the new comedy, “Booksmart”, directed by Olivia Wilde.

Synopsis

When a couple of high school girls try to celebrate the night before graduation, will their friendship survive the experience?

Story

You can’t blame Amy and Molly (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) for feeling pretty good about themselves these days.  With their high school career soon behind them, they have already been assured that they will be going to an exceptional college.   For the past four years, they have been diligently studying and making a great many personal sacrifices such as foregoing socializing with their fellow classmates in order to remain focused on their studies.  Instead of dating and doing the many other fun activities teenagers engage in, they have remained dedicated to the task at hand. Understandably, they are rather proud of themselves for seeing their plan come to fruition.  

Not so fast, ladies.  As their school days draw to a close, Amy and Molly are forced to confront an unforeseen reality:  their fellow students who spent the past four years partying also managed to get into good colleges, too.  Neither of these young women can quite grasp this: Did they waste their time keeping their nose in their textbooks while the other teenagers were living their best life and having more fun than they were?  Is it possible they could have partied, socialized (and even lost their virginity) and still have gotten good grades and high SAT scores that would earn them acceptance into a quality university?

Clearly, these two young women need to re-think things because they have obviously made a rather severe miscalculation.  But just when they fear that things may be too late, it suddenly occurs to them: it’s the night before graduation! Many of the students from their school are going to be having massive blow-out parties.  All they have to do is attend one (or several) in order to have one memorable night and prove to everyone that they are not at all the dull, snobby anti-social types many believe them to be. But since they haven’t been officially invited to any of these parties, can they figure out a way to crash the coolest one of all?

Review

“Booksmart” is just the type of raucous, outrageous comedy that is the perfect start to the summer season (no offense to fans of action or super-hero movies).  It is the kind of movie you’ll want to see with as large a group of friends as you can gather together.  There are so many laugh-out-loud moments among the numerous jokes and sight-gags that you’ll feel you got your money’s worth (and then some).  Perhaps the greatest compliment one could give this film is that you’ll likely want to see it twice (at least).  Olivia Wilde’s feature film directorial debut is an unqualified success.

Inevitably, “Booksmart” will likely be favorably compared to films like “Bridesmaids” or a distaff version of “Superbad”.  If you found either (or both) of those movies to be uproariously funny, then you’ll probably enjoy “Booksmart”, too.  Without giving away too much, there is a scene that’s come to be known as “The Barbie Doll Scene” which is worth seeing the film merely for that alone.  It’s clever, original and raunchy – which could also describe the rest of the motion picture as well.  “Booksmrt” is a rollercoaster ride that’s topped-off with a terrifically satisfying resolution. 

Following the screening, there was an interview with the director of “Booksmart”, Olivia Wilde, and its two stars, Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein.  Feldstein said that Wilde required the cast to go off-book during the shoot (i.e., they were not allowed to have their copy of the script on-set).  Wilde stated that this idea was something she borrowed from Martin Scorsese; this way, she made sure that everyone knew their lines.  Requiring them to do extensive preparation gave them the freedom to loosen up and experiment in various scenes.  Wilde observed, “you have to know the rules in order to break them”. 

“Late Night”– Movie Review

This week at Lincoln Center, I attended an advance screening of the new comedy, “Late Night”, starring Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling (who also wrote the screenplay).

Synopsis

When a young woman gets her big break as a comedy writer for a talk show, will she be able to keep her job once the show is threatened with cancellation?

Story

Katherine Newbury (Thompson) is a television legend.  For over a quarter of a century, she has been the host of a popular American talk show based in New York City.  But over the past few years, that popularity has been on the wane. Her viewership has been in steady decline as she has been booking guests that the majority of the television audience isn’t interested in seeing interviewed.  Perhaps this can be traced back to the medical diagnosis of her husband Walter (John Lithgow), who has been suffering from Parkinson’s Disease for the past four years. Katherine’s interest in her television show has taken a distant second place to Walter’s well-being. 

One of the other problems with the show is that it is somewhat stuck in time:  Katherine’s writing staff is all-male (and all-white). Much to her chagrin, Katherine is forced to hire a writer that will add more diversity to her group.  That’s where Molly Patel (Kaling) comes in. A young woman of Indian descent, she applies for the job even though she has no professional experience either writing for television or writing comedy.  Instead, she’s been working as a Quality Control Analyst at a chemical plant. But there’s one thing she’s got going for her: she’s a big fan of Katherine’s work and has been following her for many years.

Desperate, Katherine hires Molly, who immediately encounters a great deal of resistance from the other members of the writing writers.  Over time, she eventually finds her place among them when she starts pitching jokes and ideas that Katherine decides to use on the air.  In fact, not only does she use Molly’s material, but since her jokes and sketches add a new voice, Katherine’s ratings start to take a turn for the better when they all start to go viral.  In spite of the fact that she’s finding a new audience, Katherine learns that a network executive plans on replacing her with a younger comedian. Can Molly somehow manage to help Katherine stay on the air and in doing so keep her job?

Review

Perhaps the nicest thing you could possibly say about “Late Night” is that it is quaint.  Unfortunately, that may also be the worst thing you could say about it, too.  It’s takes a great many swings, but doesn’t land enough punches – or is that punchlines?  While there are times when it connects with certain gags, a number of the scenes where someone is performing a stand-up comedy routine just fall completely flat.  At this particular screening, quite a few of the site gags got a better response than the verbal jokes themselves.  After failing so often, it can be difficult to regain an audience’s trust that subsequent jokes will hit their intended mark.

Mindy Kaling is adorable, as usual, but a good deal of the jokes lack the edginess a comedy like this needs and deserves; it seems her screenplay is more concerned with being nice than being funny.  It’s too bad, because there were many opportunities for her to take advantage of her role and give herself the best lines, but she didn’t want her character to appear mean.  Meanness was instead reserved for Emma Thompson’s character, who again, isn’t as funny as she should be.  Thompson is good at comedy so it’s distressing she was given a role that was a little too dramatic. 

“Late Night” is a movie of unfulfilled promise.  It has the look and feel of a movie that might have been more successful twenty or twenty-five years ago.  For this era, however, it is merely an inconsequentially tedious trifle.  No doubt, this film will find itself an audience – but realistically, it will likely be a significantly older crowd that believes it’s doing something “hip”.  They may not be able to help the producers earn enough to recoup its budget.  A diffuse resolution certainly doesn’t serve the motion picture well either; this occurs when Katherine must seek redemption for a misdeed from her past. At that stage, it feels as though the script was grasping for plot points because its main story was insufficient to carry it through.           

“The Souvenir”– Movie Review

This week at Film At Lincoln Center, I attended a sneak preview of the new drama, “The Souvenir”, starring Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke and Tilda Swinton. 

Synopsis

When a young film student discovers her boyfriend is a drug addict, how will it impact her career aspirations?

Story

No one ever said that being 24 years of age in England during the 1980’s was going to be easy for anyone – but it was especially difficult for Julie (Swinton Byrne), a young film student anxiously searching for her identity and voice in her artistic endeavors.  As challenging as her classes and projects were, she was also faced with something else that would take up a considerable amount of her time and energy: Anthony (Tom Burke), a stylishly dressed young man of surprising intellect and insight into matters of art and philosophy.  After exchanging many ideas on wide-ranging subject matters, a mutual attraction develops and Anthony winds up moving into Julie’s apartment.

As worldly and sophisticated as Anthony seems to be, it’s a bit unclear how he earns a living.  Julie, for her part, isn’t overly concerned with this because she’s enjoying Anthony’s company so much as they spend a great deal of time together going out to dinner and on exotic European trips But exactly who is paying for all of this?  It appears that this extravagant lifestyle may be, at least in part, subsidized by Julie’s mother Rosalind (Swinton). Regardless, it doesn’t appear to be too much of an issue – at least not yet, anyway. But once Julie learns that Anthony is addicted to heroin, that’s when she starts to take notice of some rather strange behavioral issues that are difficult to overlook. 

Eventually, it all becomes too much and Julie breaks up with him – but even that doesn’t last terribly long.  When they make an attempt to reconcile, things don’t exactly go as well as they both had hoped. By now, Anthony seems even more deeply consumed by his addiction and very possibly beyond help.  One night, when he was expected to show up at Julie’s apartment, he turns out to be a no-show. Has Anthony decided he no longer wishes to be involved with Julie or is there yet another reason for his absence?   

Review

Although “The Souvenir” has an interesting story that’s worth telling, it feels rather disjointed in areas and seems to leave too many loose threads hanging.  According to the filmmaker, this was done intentionally, to leave open areas for the audience to draw their own conclusions. However, it only leads to a confusing experience.  You wind up asking yourself what happened in a particular scene, why it happened or questioning its relevance to the rest of the story. For example, there is a scene where Julie gets sick; much is made of this but then it’s suddenly dropped and never referenced again.

Certainly, there are good performances and “The Souvenir” is lovely to gaze upon – not unlike the 1778 painting from which it takes its title.  But when it becomes something of a challenge to put together the pieces of the puzzle that is this story, it rapidly transmogrifies into a thoroughly exhausting experience.  There is also the matter of why Julie is so strongly drawn to Anthony, especially when he’s dragging her down so much. Aside from sex, they don’t appear to share too much (she doesn’t do drugs); the only conclusion left to be inferred is the fact that he’s terribly supportive of her career goals and she can enjoy deeply intellectual conversations with him. 

Following the screening, there was in interview with the writer/director of “The Souvenir”, Joanna Hogg as well as the film’s star, Honor Swinton Byrne and her co-star (and mother) Tilda Swinton.  As a semi-autobiographical story, Hogg said she started writing notes about it in 1988, approximately three years after the end of the relationship. The story is told in two parts; this evening’s screening was Part 1, which dealt with the relationship itself.  Part 2, for which shooting should begin in about a month, will deal with the aftermath of the relationship. Her style of filmmaking is non-traditional in the sense that Hogg doesn’t actually write a typical screenplay containing dialog; instead, she writes notes about the scenes and describes the scenes to the actors – if she needs a particular word or phrase used, she’ll tell them (otherwise they’re on their own).    

“The Biggest Little Farm” – Movie Review

This weekend at Film at Lincoln Center, I attended an advance screening of the new documentary The Biggest Little Farm. 

Synopsis

When a couple decides to run a farm, can they make it work despite all of the unforeseen obstacles they encounter?

Story

In 2010, John and Molly Chester lived in a small apartment in Santa Monica, California.  She was a chef and he was a videographer who specialized in wildlife documentaries.  One day, he covered a story about a woman who was keeping a ridiculous number of dogs in her house, which the authorities confiscated because they were not being well cared for.  Todd was one of those dogs.  Instead of winding up in a pound, John and Molly adopted him.  But that was only the beginning of their problems.  When they were both out of their apartment, Todd would bark incessantly, causing the neighbors to complain.  Eventually, their landlord threatened them with eviction.  Would they give up their apartment or their dog?

They decided that Todd was more important to them than their apartment.  In fact, they took this as an opportunity to pursue a dream of theirs and run a farm.  The only problem was that they didn’t have the money to purchase one.  Through friends and family, the word got out and when people heard about how the couple wanted to start a farm that would put the ecological system in balance with animals, investors contributed enough seed money for them to purchase land about an hour’s drive north of Los Angeles.  The land was arid and not conducive to supporting plant or animal life, so they had a great deal of construction work ahead of them. 

Fortunately, they had help in this area.  Since neither of them had run a farm before, they hired a world-famous agricultural expert to act as their consultant and advise them about what to do and how it should be done.  Despite facing various challenges like insects, coyotes and weather, they were able to figure out how to deal with each problem successfully.  But when their consultant passed away, they suddenly found themselves on their own.  By this time, however, they had been operating the farm for a few years and felt that they could pretty much manage anything that came their way.  Just when they thought they had a handle on things, they soon found that wildfires were surrounding the area and destroying nearby farms.  Would the couple be able to find a way to save their farm or would it be lost to the fires?

Review

At the risk of sounding dated, “The Biggest Little Farm” is a bit reminiscent of the old television situation comedy, “Green Acres”; for those of you unfamiliar with it, “Green Acres” was a series about a couple from New York City who purchased a run-down farm in the country and tried to operate it, despite the fact that neither one of them knew the first thing about how to do so.  While the two are thematically similar, “The Biggest Little Farm” is by no means a comedy – in fact, at some times, it seems to be bordering on a tragedy.  Either way, it’s a really amazing story. 

“The Biggest Little Farm” is perfect for people who are interested in either the ecology, wildlife or agriculture or some combination of those.  Most of all, it is about human resiliency, determination and dedication.  At its essence, the movie tells a story about how humans are able to stare down any challenge mother nature chooses to throw their way.  These protagonists are admirable because they have the philosophy of “failure is not an option” and because the adversities they face, they face together; instead of tearing them apart, the experiences serve to bond them even closer. 

Criticisms of “The Biggest Little Farm” are minor.  Perhaps the most notable aspect is their occasional dependence on cutesy animation intended to inform and entertain in order to fill in details that could not be put on film.  It was done in such a way that winds up ultimately distracting from the main story; animation could have been implemented in a better way.  The manner in which it was done here makes it feel as though you’re suddenly watching a cartoon and makes you question whether or not the film should be taken seriously.           

“Extremely Wicked…” – Movie Review

As the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival winds down, I attended the New York Premiere of the new Netflix production, “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile”, starring Zac Efron and Lily Collins.

Synopsis

When a young woman realizes that her fiancé is serial killer Ted Bundy, will she wind up as one of his victims?

Story

In 1969, Liz (Collins) was a young single mother who found it difficult to find dates in the Seattle town where she lived.  One night, while hanging out at a bar frequented by college students, she met a handsome and charismatic young law student by the name of Ted Bundy (Efron).  The two were immediately attracted to each other and when he didn’t mind that she had a daughter, that was certainly a plus; once he showed himself to be a good caretaker for her little girl, she immediately deemed him perfect.  Before too long, they became a couple and Ted moved in with her.

As things would turn out, Ted seemed to be a little too perfect.  Despite being attentive to his law studies, he would mysteriously disappear from time to time and had occasional run-ins with the police that seemed to be more than merely a coincidence.  Liz, quite understandably, was starting to become suspicious.  Ted is being picked up by the police in different states like Utah and Colorado and it always seems as though it’s for the same reason:  young women are reported missing, beaten or even dead.  So far, Ted has been able to avoid prison, but it seems his luck is about to run out.

Ted runs off to Florida and before too long, he is arrested as a suspect in the murder of a couple of co-eds.  With Liz having ended their relationship, Ted now finds himself being courted by Carole Ann (Kaya Scodelario), a former co-worker of his who has long had a crush on him.  Carole Ann upends her life to visit Ted in the Florida prison where he’s being held; with the case gaining greater visibility, she acts as his messaging surrogate, giving interviews to the media about Ted’s innocence.  But when it comes time for Ted’s trial, will he finally be found guilty? 

Review

If you are considering watching “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile”, the good news is that you don’t have to worry about the movie showing inordinate amounts of gore and violence.  In fact, there is virtually none of that. There are allusions to such acts in the courtroom case near the end of the film, but that’s about as close as they get. This is a good choice by the filmmakers to avoid sensationalism.  The bad news, however, is that the motion picture is a bit on the dull side; while it sometimes attempts a psychological profile of its subject, it can occasionally be a tad tedious. This is not to say that excessive scenes of gore would have made it less so, just that the picture as it currently stands is arguably less interesting than the killer himself.

The main reason to see “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile” is the performances.  Specifically, Zac Efron is disturbingly convincing as Bundy; between his good looks, swagger and easy manner, it seems less an interpretation than a clone.  As a single mother trying to hold her life together, Lily Collins’ portrayal of Liz unraveling reveals an aspect of the Bundy story mostly unfamiliar to the general public.  Kaya Scodelario, as the nerdy fan-girl Carole Ann, is, in her own way, equally jarring as Bundy himself. All of that said, perhaps the two best performances are cameos: one by Jim Parsons and the other by John Malkovich.  Parsons plays the Florida prosecutor and is comedically uncomfortable with the trial being on television. Malkovich, however, steals every scene he is in as the judge in the Florida trial who gets off some gems (note that the dialog in the courtroom scenes is a transcript from the actual trial rather than the creation of the screenwriter).

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Joe Berlinger and some of the cast members.  Berlinger said that the entire shoot (which took place in Kentucky) took a total of 28 days and no overtime was required.  He added that his intent for making the movie the way he did – telling it through Liz’s perspective – was because he wanted it to be a story about betrayal and deception.  The question he wanted to film to answer was, “What was Bundy like when he was not killing?”. He compared the Bundy case to the scandals involving Catholic priests: they appear normal in most cases, but hide secrets that are extremely dark. 

“White As Snow”– Movie Review

During the opening weekend of The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, I attended the International Premiere of the new French comedy, “White As Snow” (AKA, “Pure As Snow” or in the original French, “Blanche comme neige”), directed by Anne Fontaine, with Isabelle Huppert. 

Synopsis

After a young woman is kidnapped, she is rescued by strangers – but when the kidnapper learns of her whereabouts, her life becomes endangered.

Story

There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about Claire (Lou de Laâge) or the life that she leads.  She works for her stepmother Maud (Huppert) at a spa she owns and operates.  Maud is an exacting proprietor who is detail-oriented and insists on meeting or exceeding the expectations of her clientele.  Both Maud and her stepdaughter are extremely focused on operating the business.  Perhaps this is because Maud’s husband (Claire’s father) recently passed away and this is how they both deal with their respective loss.  But who can say?  Maud has always treated Claire more like an employee than a stepdaughter and this hasn’t changed.

One day while going out for a jog, Claire is abducted by some masked people who toss her in the trunk of their car and drive to a remote rural area far away from the city where Claire lives and works.  During the drive, the kidnappers have an accident; they swerve off the road and hit a tree, crashing the car and rendering Claire unconscious.  Later, she awakens in a farm house without a clue as to either how or when she got there.  It turns out that she was saved by a pair of twin brothers who found her wandering around a nearby the forest. 

What is behind the mystery of Claire’s kidnapping?  Maud – who is jealous of the effect the beautiful Claire has on other men.  When Maud learns Claire is alive and well, she hunts her down, determined to finish the job the kidnappers could not.  But when she finds Claire, Maud is stunned to learn her stepdaughter has transformed into a a carnal seductress who has many of the town’s men under her spell.  Infuriated, Maud becomes even more determined that Claire must go, so she enacts a plan to take out her stepdaughter.  But will Maud’s attempt to poison Claire succeed?

Review

In the years this blog service has been available, there have been reviews of movies that have attempted their own take on an adaptation of the classic story of Snow White (see here and here as examples).  Without a doubt, Fontaine’s “White As Snow” is the most clever and original that have been reviewed on this site.  Also, it is certainly the most entertaining not to mention the sexiest.  Make no mistake about it, this is an adult interpretation of the legendary fairy tale (the scene with the squirrels on the car’s windshield is priceless).   

It is always a treat to see Isabelle Huppert on screen – unsurprisingly, she is great in “White As Snow”.  But hers is not the performance that is most notable.  Instead, it is that of Lou de Laâge; her Claire shows immense range in her acting talents.  Claire starts as being reserved and conservative in both her behavior and lifestyle.  The turning point is her kidnapping where this young woman turns her life around; her metamorphosis is believable but also remarkable.  You are awestruck when you see her exploring her sexuality and becoming the life of the party.   

Following the screening, there was a question and answer session with director Anne Fontaine.  She did not originally plan to make a film based on “Snow White”; what she originally set out to do was to tell a story about a woman who was sexually emancipated and who meets men with whom she can share her sense of newly-found liberation without fear of punishment or judgment of any kind.  When she met with the co-writer of the screenplay to hash out the idea, it was the co-writer who observed that the concept bore some similarities to the legendary fairy tale; it was at that point they decided this was the best way to go.  Fontaine mentioned that many of the overhead shots used drones rigged with cameras due to the rugged mountainous terrain which made it too difficult to use typical equipment like cranes. 

“Standing Up, Falling Down”– Movie Review

At the start of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, I attended the World Premiere of the new comedy-drama, “Standing Up, Falling Down”, starring Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz. 

Synopsis

When a struggling comedian returns to his hometown, will a chance friendship with an older man help to rejuvenate his career?

Story

For the past four years, Scott (Schwartz) has been living in Los Angeles trying to break into show business as a stand-up comedian.  He’s found it tough going, to put it mildly, and decides to return home to Long Island, New York.  He’ll have to live with his parents – at least temporarily, anyway.  Scott’s new plan is to try to reinvigorate his career as a stand-up, despite the fact that his family isn’t terribly supportive of his aspiration; his father believes that since Scott’s now in his early 30’s, he should pursue something more stable.

While hanging out at a bar one night, Scott meets Marty (Crystal), a local dermatologist – surprising, given his current state of inebriation.  Scott makes an appointment with Marty, who treats him for a case of stress hives.  During the visit, the two seem to hit if off quite well and they start to spend quite a good deal of time with each other.  During this period, they share a great deal of personal information:  Scott, for example, admits to anxiety over his professional life and that he’s still pining over his ex-girlfriend, Becky; Marty talks longingly about his two late wives and both of his adult offspring, from whom he’s been estranged. 

After a few successful appearances at nearby clubs, Scott begins to get encouragement about his now-burgeoning comedy career.  Full of confidence, he decides to pursue Becky, who married another man after Scott left for California.  Marty, who’s dealing with a recurrence of alcohol abuse, decides to repair his relationship with both his son and daughter; they grew increasingly distant upon their mother’s suicide, which they blamed on Marty’s alcohol use as well as him having an affair with another woman.  Will the friendship that Scott and Marty forged prove to propel them in their personal life?  

Review

Over the years, it has been rare that many (or any) of the films that play The Tribeca Film Festival actually find a path to distribution.  “Standing Up, Falling Down” may actually turn out to be the exception.  This is not merely because of the the involvement of Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz but also because it is a rather pleasant movie.  While having many serious moments, there are quite funny ones, too – most notably the scenes between Crystal and Schwartz where they are provided the opportunity to comedically riff off of each other to great result. 

By no means is “Standing Up, Falling Down” perfect.  The story reaches a point where it challenges your suspension of disbelief; that is the point at which the audience is expected to buy into the fact that Scott’s ex-girlfriend, Becky (played by Eloise Mumford), remains stuck on him despite her marrying a much more handsome man after Scott left her to pursue his comedy career in Los Angeles.  What it was she saw in him in the first place is difficult to understand, especially since Becky is so good looking it’s hard to grasp why she was attracted to him.  

Following the screening, there was a question and answer session with director Matt Ratner, screenwriter Peter Hoare and stars Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz.  The movie was shot in only three days – due in part to its infinitesimal budget (Crystal seemed to suggest it was under a million dollars).  There is a scene that was shot in a temple, which Crystal claimed was the same one he attended as a child.  He said that his character presented something of a challenge for him because Marty was a complicated man and the role itself was a combination of humor and pathos.  Crystal added that he liked the script because it was reminiscent of his film, “Mr. Saturday Night”, which was one of his favorites. 

“Share”– Movie Review

This weekend, I attended the closing night of the New Directors/New Films festival, with the New York Premiere of the drama “Share”, written and directed by Pippa Bianco. 

Synopsis

When a high school student is victimized by a viral video, can she and her family recover from this experience?

Story

Early one morning, Mandy (Rhianne Barreto), a teenager, awakens, but she is not in bed; instead, she finds herself face-down on her parents’ front lawn.  How she got there is unclear, but she somehow manages to make her way inside, where she gets a much-needed good night’s sleep.  Eventually, she returns to school, where she attends classes and resumes playing on her high school basketball team.  Life, it seems, is back to normal – but this doesn’t last.  Before too long, Mandy’s friends contact her, informing her that there is a compromising video of her on the internet. 

From there, things begin to unravel for everyone.  Soon, the police are contacted, the school’s administration becomes involved and the salacious story is portrayed by the nightly news on television.  But the question remains:  who is the victim and who is the perpetrator in this instance?  None of the answers are crystal clear – including for Mandy herself.  She was at a party with her fellow students, then had an extended make-out session with one of them. After a night of binge drinking, she passed out and was then taken advantage of by that young man.

Soon, the community turns against not only Mandy, but also, her entire family.  When one of the boys in the video is suspended from school, his father engages in a physical confrontation with Mandy’s father.  Even Mandy finds herself under suspicion of the school when it is believed that she may not have been the victim she was originally portrayed to be.  Under suspension from her basketball team because of her drinking episode, Mandy finds her friends and teammates turning away from her.  With the entire family under the microscope, will Mandy be able to maintain her standing at the school when she discovers that she may have been a willing participant in this escapade?     

Review

In “Share”, there is an enormous degree of courage, nuance and complexity.  A great deal of this story’s complexity derives from the impact of technology – that is, the social impact which technology has had on all of us, regardless of our own individual demographic.  What that means is, culturally, we cannot see a clear right and wrong when viewing a movie such as this because rights and wrongs abound all throughout.  Clearly, the finger of blame may be pointed at more than one person and those targets are not necessarily ones who are the most obviously villainous. 

Pippa Bianco has created a film which will likely start a long, uncomfortable conversation for people regardless of political philosophy, gender and age.  Bianco tells her story by gradually peeling away layers of an onion; doing so makes for an interesting narrative choice but results in the audience being challenged.  We know whose story this is but have we been rooting for or against the wrong people?  The more we learn of the details behind the story, the more our view of certain characters changes.  As a result, the people whom we assumed were the protagonists and antagonists in the beginning may change as the motion picture progresses. 

Following the screening, there was an interview with writer/director Pippa Bianco, who said that this film started back in 2015 as a short with the same title; that version was basically the first portion of this movie and the feature (longer form) was the aftermath.  She shot the short with the hope and intention that eventually she would be able to turn in into a longer form eventually.  Towards that end, she did extensive research into cases such as this, which included not only victims, but also alleged perpetrators, school administrators, digital surveillance experts and many others.