You really should see these movies: Pride & Prejudice, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and 12 Years a Slave

It was a weekend of classics: a film based on a classic novel, a classic American film, and a film that I truly believe will be a classic.

11/6/13 Pride and Prejudice, Best Art Direction B&W, 1940

You really cannot go wrong with Jane Austen, well, I mean I suppose you could if you really tried, but under normal circumstances, Miss Austen is tried and true. 2013 was the bicentennial of the first publication of Pride and Prejudice, a fact of which I was unaware until ten minutes ago, otherwise, I would have celebrated much more fervently. A few months ago I was lucky enough to see Pride and Prejudice at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis (a gorgeous theater with a thrust stage), so the dialog and characters are fairly fresh, and Austen is nothing if not about the witty dialog and the memorable characters. The Bennett family, led by long-suffering patriarch, Mr. Bennett's life (Edmund Gwenn also known for being Santa in Miracle on 34th Street), is overflowing with women, some silly(including Mrs. Bennett), some serious, needs to get five daughters married to men of means since they are unable to inherit from their father. Edmund Gwenn is Mr. Bennett, Austen's lines just rolling off his tongue. Greer Garson (Mrs. Miniver) is Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bennett, the eldest and like most elder daughters, the brightest, funniest and most observant. Lizzie is an astutely cynical and social observer, although she is not without her own 'prejudices' as Mr. Darcy (Laurence Olivier) points out. Austen gives Lizzie some great lines, and like many of her leading characters, a strong, independent personality, and when you think that the story was set in the early 1800s (women could not vote and had virtually no 'power' outside of their own home, if there), that's pretty incredible. Olivier is Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth's very capable sparring partner, and he handles the role of straight man, prideful snob (per Lizzie) wonderfully. Olivier employs a playfulness that you don't often see when he is being Henry V or Heathcliffe. Being a movie and not the book, there are things that are omitted, changed, etc., I stopped getting hung up on that stuff a long time ago, as long as the movie is true to the idea and heart of the book, I'm fine with some minor tweaks; some things just are better written than in film, or you make a movie that's three hours long. If you want to hear the mellifluous sound of Austen's words being spoken by amazing orators like Olivier, Gwenn, Garson, Ann Rutherford and so many others, then definitely check out this movie. It won't take anything away from the book and you can read the book as well. You can watch this with the whole family, and it might be a nice move to watch over the coming holidays, maybe on Boxing Day.

11/16/13 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Best Writing, Original Story, 1939

1939 was quite a year for movies: Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind as just two examples, so it's not totally surprising that Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which was nominated for a total of eleven awards, only won one, for Best Original Story (since Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz and Goodbye, Mr. Chips,were based on books, that kind of helped in this category). I was telling a few people, some of whom have seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and some who have, that Mr. Smith Goes to Washington should be required viewing for all members of elected government. It should be required viewing for everyone, really, not as a civics lesson necessarily, but to remind people that we have a participatory system and we need to participate. Frank Capra, the director (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and It's a Wonderful Life) and Sidney Buchman, the screenwriter, do not try to develop the complexities that are inherent in politics or real life, they paint a fairly black and white situation, the good guy is good to the core, the bad guys will stop at nothing to win. I don't have a problem with that, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a morality tale, and the moral of the story is that the good guy can win if he stays true to himself and his cause, to clutter that up with wavering or a character flaw would have muted some of the effect, in this case. I think Capra knows his audience, and knows they want they want their hero, Jefferson Smith (a patriotic first name with the everyman last name) played by American Icon, Jimmy Stewart, to triumph. Claude Rains (The Invisible Man, Casablanca) plays Senator Joe Paine, senior Senator from the same state as Stewart's Jeff Smith, is the direct antagonist to Smith, is eloquent and deceptively fatherly to Smith. Jeff Smith is a hero to all the boys of his unnamed state because of his 'Daniel Boone/Davy Crockett' persona, and appointed to the recently vacant senatorial seat because the political machine of his state thinks he will be a patsy for their projects. Smith is 'guided' by his wiseguy secretary, Saunders, played by Jean Arthur. Arthur also played a similar character in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town with Gary Cooper. Arthur holds her own as the main female character in an otherwise male-dominated story (politics was very much a man's world, except, Saunders does show she knows the game better than most). She was great, smart, cynical, beautiful, and convinced her new boss is the biggest chump in the world until she realizes how absolutely sincere and earnest he is, and then she uses her knowledge of Senate rules and the Senate to help him (it's not that easy of course, because the course of true love never ran straight or something like that). There is not a question of this being the most accurate portrayal of politics, but I would question anyone who gets too indignant over the scandalous depiction of the politicians, and ask if they have checked Congress's approval ratings lately. Stewart gives a wonderful portrayal of the naive, young senator, and his filibuster attempt is one of movie lore. I found myself fist-pumping as you feel the tide turn in his favor (another reason I watch movies by myself). Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a good movie to start a conversation about all kinds of things: politics, the political process, and movie making. It is on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Best American films. This is also a good family friendly film (there's some drinking and smoking).

11/17/13 Twelve Years a Slave, not yet nominated 2013

Breakfast and a movie with a friend, what better way to spend a Sunday morning? My friend and I both wanted to see Twelve Years a Slave, because we heard really good things, and I was feeling terribly guilty about not seeing more current movies (I mean Two Guns and Bad Grandpa were entertaining, but I'm not thinking they're going to win any Oscars). The movie was directed by Steve McQueen, who also directed Hunger about the Irish Hunger Strikes in the 1980s, clearly he doesn't shy away from difficult topics. That was a powerful film and starred Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands. If you can get this from Netflix, I totally recommend it. Chiwetel Eijofor (Kinky Boots, which if you have not seen, you should) plays Solomon Northup, a free black man from Saratoga Springs, New York, who is kidnapped and sold as a slave; Michael Fassbender, appearing in his third Steve McQueen film, is the crazed, slave owner, Edwin Epps (he reminded me a little of John Hurt as Caligula in I, Claudius) and he is magnificent (if that doesn't sound too twisted); Benedict Cumberpatch is the kindly plantation owner, William Ford who really does not want to own slaves, it's just the circumstances of the times and the place. Lupita Nyong'o, who is a newcomer to American cinema, plays Patsey, a slave who has mesmerized Epps, and is despised by his wife (Sarah Paulsen). Patsey is a pivotal role, with actually very little dialog, and I was blown away by Nyong'o. Actually, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty much blown away by the whole film: the direction, the acting (the cast is superb), the cinematography, the use of music, everything. Usually I'm pretty skeptical about movies that everyone 'loves' or that leaves everyone in tears, or whatever, I often wonder if people just don't want to say, ugh, it was horrible. But in this case, everyone I have talked to about this, I am telling them to see it. This is another movie that everyone (every American) should see, in part because of the subject matter, slavery, which is always seems so hard to talk about, even 150 years after it's been abolished in the U.S., but also because it is a beautiful bit of film making. I don't want to sound too 'professorial', because I'm not a film student, but one of the things I loved about the movie was space that McQueen left between the delivery of lines, or the transition between scenes; he's not afraid to just let the audience and the characters 'be', and have atmospheric/ambience music in the background. Terrence Malick did this to the extreme in Tree of Life and I almost cried from boredom, McQueen did this to great effect. He would go in for a closeup and just stay there and let the character's eyes tell the story. I was comparing it to Django Unchained where you, as a viewer, went from violent scene to aggressive scene and you almost couldn't catch your breath. Here, you might have a super violent scene, a whipping or beating and then you have five to seven minutes where the characters take minute to contemplate, breathe (I'm overusing that word, but that's the only thing that I can really think of) and move on. There's a balance, and while the movie definitely has disturbing moments, as a viewer you don't get a) immune to it and b) you don't get drowned by it, I feel like you give it the importance and the weight it deserves. Eijofor as Northrup is so good, he makes Northup (who was a real person) well-rounded as a character, he's not too good, too perfect, he is flawed, he is trying to survive while maintaining his dignity and humanity. I've read/seen other stories like this about Holocaust survivors. These are not black and white situations (irony not intended), these are survival situations. Brad Pitt plays Samuel Bass, a traveling carpenter from Canada, who has a negative view of slavery which he shares with Epps, befriends Northup, but even he has trepidation about helping Northup get out of his situation, he says he fears for his life if he helps. That is just one example of the ambiguity that people felt; Alfre Woodard plays the 'wife' of a white plantation owner, and she tells Patsey (essentially) it's all about surviving. This certainly isn't a 'family-friendly' movie, but after you see it, you may want to watch it with your older teenage kids, so you can have the discussions, answer questions. I remember watching Roots and The Holocaust when they were originally on television in the 1970s and early 1980s, and that was tough television, but so important to help advance the conversations around some really hard historical topics. And it's so well done.

Blogger's note: I've actually done more post-publication editing on this entry than others (which is usually none), but that's what happens when you stay up past your bedtime, you leave half-completed thoughts. My apologies...the thoughts may be wonky, but the intent should be clear...good movie watching to be had.