Grey Gardens (HBO)

Grey Gardens is an HBO film about Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier Beale, an aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  The Beales came into notoriety in the 1972 documentary by the Maysles brothers.  This fictionalized account of the Beales, with Jessica Lange playing the mother and Drew Barrymore as the daughter, dances back and forth in time from 1936 to 1972, and it is wonderful.  The Beales were high society, and both mother and daughter loved to sing and dance.  Both were eccentric and didn’t quite fit in to the society that surrounded them.  They end up living by themselves in their huge mansion in East Hampton and letting it go to ruin.  I have always been fascinated by them and enjoyed the documentary by the Maysles brothers.  In this film, which uses the framework of the documentary being made, we are drawn deeply into their characters.  As acted with incredible authenticity by Lange and Barrymore, the Beales are unique and tender and tragic and funny.  The chemistry between Lange and Barrymore is very strong and their push and pull relationship as mother and daughter is very believable.  I found myself wanting them to find happiness in whatever form it took.

Lemon Tree

I just came back from seeing Lemon Tree, an Israeli film about a Palestinian widow whose life is disrupted when the Israeli Defense Minister moves next door to her home and beautiful grove of lemon trees, and his secret service people decide that they need to cut down all the trees so that terrorists cannot hide in them and shoot him.  The incredible Israeli actress, Hiam Abbass (The Visitor), plays Salma, the widow, who refuses to be intimidated by the order to destroy her life and means of support.  She hires a lawyer and fights the order to destroy her beloved grove of lemon trees, all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court.  Her courage and her struggle change the lives of the people around her, most especially the wife of the Defense Minister.  The film, which is based on a true story, gives an intimate and complex character portrayal and humanizes those who are effected by the years of prejudice, fear, terror, and politics.  It does not overdramatize or judge, although I think it does draw an unfavorable picture of some Israelis and their lack of regard for the Palestinians, whose  every day lives are impacted by the decisions that they make.  I recommend this film–look for it  at your video store or on Netflix.

Tropic Thunder

And on a lighter note….Tropic Thunder is a comedy that really made me laugh.  Many times.  Ben Stiller wrote, directed and starred in this movie about a group of spoiled actors playing soldiers in a big budget movie about the Vietnam War.  Disaster strikes and the men find themselves without a script or a director in the jungle, having to survive as the soldiers they were pretending to be.  The most interesting part of the movie is Robert Downey Jr., playing a white Australian actor playing the part of a black man for this role.  He stays in character all the time, no matter what is going on, and bounces off people with perfect comic timing.  The whole cast, Stiller, Downey, Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Jay Baruchel and others, keep it lively and funny without going too far.  I appreciate any movie that makes me laugh–many times–and so will you.

The Reader

Of all the movies I have seen lately, I thought The Reader, based on a German book by Bernard Schlink and directed by Stephen Daldry, was the best.  I had been resisting seeing it so I was completely surprised by how much I liked it.  The Reader tells to story of a relationship that begins in 1958 when Michael Berg (first played by David Kross and then by Ralph Fiennes) is only 15 and Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet in a stunning performance) is 36.  She helps him when he becomes sick with scarlet fever, and months later they become lovers.  She loves him to read to her and he does so, saying it is the first time he has ever felt that he is good at anything.  The story moves to 8 years later, when as a law student, Michael witnesses Hanna’s trial for war crimes when she was a young guard in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.  The film moves back and forth from the adult Michael’s perspective to the younger Michael and Hanna’s story, and then into what happens to both of them as they go through their lives.  Their relationship is completely believable.  The acting, directing, editing, cinematography, and pacing are all excellent.  The story is compelling and understated–the focus is on Michael and Hanna’s relationship even as it touches on aspects of the Holocaust and the struggle of German people about their feelings in the decades after the war.  It felt very complex, stirring feelings without throwing anything in the audience’s face.  I highly recommend this movie.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not a perfect movie (I think it could have used tighter editing), but it has a unique and original construct, and is worth seeing.  Based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the film tells the story of Benjamin, who was born old and ages backwards.  His mother dies in childbirth, and his father, horrified by the sight of a tiny baby who looks over 80 years old, abandons him at an old people’s home, where he is adopted by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson).  Queenie is a black woman whose job is taking care of aging white people in 1918 New Orleans.  She was my favorite part of the movie, embodying unconditional love, a major theme in the story.  And Henson is just wonderful. As Benjamin grows up in the old people’s home, a nurturing place for a young child in an old man’s body, he meets Daisy, a child there to visit her grandmother.  Their love story is at the core of the movie–how they find each other as he is growing younger and she is growing older.  Brad Pitt as Benjamin does a fine acting job.  Queenie tells Benjamin, “You never know what life’s gonna throw at you.”  Her message is to embrace life, to give love, and to let go when the time comes.  The movie is set against the modern day backdrop of Hurricaine Katrina, in a hospital room, where a dying woman is sharing this story with her daughter.  You never know what life’s gonna throw at you.  Be ready.

Revolutionary Road

There are a number of movies and television shows that explore the painful dilemma of bright women in the 1950’s who don’t fit into the conventional role of wife and mother in the suburbs.  Betty in Mad Men, Cathy in Far From Heaven, and Laura in The Hours exemplify these women.  Revolutionary Road is the story of another of these women, April Wheeler (Kate Winslet), who has a dream and an image of herself and her life, and feels trapped in a life and a marriage that becomes intolerable for her.  Revolutionary Road explores the Wheelers’ relationship, how she and her husband, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) begin with the same dream, and how their marriage dissolves as they lose their sense of who they are and their vision for their life together.  The acting is terrific, especially Kate Winslet, who expresses a huge range of emotions.  I didn’t feel like this film reached the level of greatness of American Beauty, also by Sam Mendes, but it is a very good film and well worth seeing.

Frost/Nixon

It is such a pleasure to go the movies this time of year and see movies that are intelligent and entertaining.  Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard, is one of them.  Like Doubt, it is an adaptation of a play.  Like Milk, it dramatizes events in history, in this case a series of interviews of Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) by David Frost (Michael Sheen) in 1977 and the surrounding  events.  It is the role of a lifetime for Frank Langella and he creates a beautifully complex, nuanced Nixon, who is both very shrewd and smart, as well as pained and devious.  It is fascinating to watch him, and to see the world through his eyes.  Michael Sheen is wonderful as Frost, playing him with a lightness and determination that challenges and contrasts with Nixon.  The characters are well drawn, and the story is compelling.

Doubt

I had a very interesting experience after seeing the film version of John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, Doubt, which was adapted for screen and directed by Shanley.  Doubt tells the story of an older nun, played by Meryl Streep, who is convinced that the progressive priest (Phillip Seymore Hoffman) is guilty of molesting the only black child in the Catholic school where they work.  My husband and I both felt that the film was much less ambiguous than the play and made us clearly believe that the priest was guilty.  Then I checked with two friends who had seen the film, and they both agreed that the film was less ambiguous than the play, but they believed it showed that the priest was not guilty.  So I guess that Shanley accomplished what he set out to accomplish, which was to explore the concept of doubt on many levels.  The film is beautifully acted by Streep and Hoffman, with outstanding supporting performances by Amy Adams, luminous as the younger, more innocent nun, and Viola Davis as the boy’s mother.  I had seen the play twice and still found the movie riveting.

Milk

I feel so connected to the story of Harvey Milk.  He grew up in Woodmere, very close to where I grew up.  He made his mark and met his end in San Francisco, when I was a relative newcomer here.  Harvey Milk led the movement for gay rights in San Francisco and became the first openly gay elected official in the United States.  His story is powerful and compelling, and Milk tells it in a way that honors his character and doesn’t leave out his flaws.  Sean Penn is believable as Milk, and one of the most surprising things about the movie to me was how much Milk accomplished in a very short time.  Emile Hirsh stands out as Cleve Jones.  Gus Van Sant directed.  See it.

I’ve Loved You For So Long

I saw I’ve Loved You For So Long in  New York when I was there for my high school reunion, and it has stayed with me in that way that rare and really good films stay inside you.  Kristin Scott Thomas plays a woman who has just been released from a 15-year jail sentence and goes to live with her sister (the wonderful Elsa Zylberstein) and her family.  The sisters have had no contact for 15 years and the film is about how they reconnect and how Thomas’ character begins to live again, after being closed down for so many years.  I was so moved by some of the scenes that I just play them over and over in my mind.  I highly recommend it. (in French, with English subtitles)