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.

Goldfingaaaaaaaaaaaa

If you watched the Oscars this past Sunday, then you know exactly what I am talking about: Dame Shirley Bassey singing 'Goldfinger' in the 50th anniversary tribute to James Bond films. It was a performance that I won't soon forget, mainly because I cannot get that hook out of my head, complete with dramatic arm gestures. It was only fitting that Adele won for the newest James Bond opening song. Without further ado, here is the first round of reviews for the 2012 winners. Goldfingaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Skyfall, 11/10/12, Best Original Song, Best Sound Editing, 2012

I was lucky enough to see Skyfall in the theaters on the big screen. Admittedly, I am not a huge James Bond fan in that I haven’t seen all the movies and probably don’t remember much of the ones I have seen; to me, they are in the moment movies, you don’t necessarily need to remember all the details for later, but you enjoy them while they’re happening. That’s how I feel about Skyfall, it was a lot of fun, with explosions and chases and great scenery, and an outstanding James Bond theme song by Adele. She won the Golden Globe, the Grammy and the Oscar for the song (and probably a dozen other awards); the song lyrics make more sense once you see the whole movie (as opposed to in the beginning). I don’t know if it just that Adele is so amazing, but it kind of didn’t seem fair for the other songs to have to compete with her. Javier Bardem will probably go down as one of the best Bond villains because he was creepy and evil and had this twisted enjoyment of being a bad guy. The movie ‘introduces’ Miss Moneypenny and shows Bond as more vulnerable than I think we’re used to, but it’s Daniel Craig and you know he’ll be just fine. This is the 50th anniversary of James Bond movies and I look forward to the next 50 (give or take), especially if Adele can sing all the songs.

Brave, 1/27/13, Best Animated Film, 2012

This is the only category where I actually saw all of the nominated films and I was not sure who would win. I kind of thought Frankenweenie might win because it was black and white, the writing was very clever and there were literary and historical references inserted subtly throughout the movie (enough to make me want to watch again and see what I missed the first time); but it wasn’t necessarily for younger kids and the subject matter (death and a lot of scenes in the cemetery) might have put a lot of people off from watching it. ParaNorman dealt similarly with death, with Norman being able to see dead people, including his grandma who takes up her seat on the couch. I liked ParaNorman too, and really enjoyed the special features on the DVD that talked about how the animation was done, from creating the molds, the scenery and the facial expressions. Wreck-It Ralph was fun to watch and you felt like you really were in the world of video games and the behind the scenes look at what Pac-Man did in his off time. I thought this might have the best chance at the Oscar. Pirates! Band of Misfits was probably my least favorite; it just seemed like it went on too long. But the winner was Brave, the story of a Scottish princess who is way too liberated for her parents when she decides to compete for her own hand in marriage (thus avoiding an arranged marriage and being required to give up her independence). It is one of the rare, really rare, movies (live action or animated) with a strong heroine (two if you include her mother), and I’m guessing that may be why it won. I think there’s enough action and pseudo-scary stuff that boys will like it too, but also encourage girls to pursue their dreams (although maybe not turn their mothers into bears).

Lincoln, 12/29/12, Best Actor and Best Production Design, 2012

I’m just going to say, at the risk of some controversy, that Lincoln was the Best Picture and Sally Field should have won for Best Supporting Actress as Mary Todd Lincoln. However, that did not happen. I will get used to that disappointment because Daniel Day-Lewis won as Best Actor for his embodiment of Lincoln. Lincoln won for Best Production Design; the sets were marvelous and seemed very realistic and 19th century, but I don’t know it could beat out The Hobbit or Anna Karenina. There has been a lot of criticism about some of the historical inaccuracies in the film, and I just don’t care, I loved it. Steven Spielberg and company pulled together a compellingly true story from American history with a powerful cast and brought it to life. Historical ‘misses’ aside, I told a friend of mine that her son (13) should watch the movie to get an idea of the debates that were held around ending slavery, even among those on the side of abolition; how it wasn’t just ‘let’s end slavery’, but there were different rationales and perspectives and justifications. If I was teaching, I would even use the historical inaccuracies as ways to start discussions in class (alas, I gave up the honorable profession before I even started, although many of my friends find me unbearably pedantic). Keeping the story together is the glue known as Daniel Day-Lewis. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie of his that I haven’t like (I didn’t quite get My Beautiful Laundrette or The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I’m not even sure I remember them); he is transcendent in his roles, embodying the characters, whether they are real or fictional. He brought a degree of humanity to one of our favorite and best loved presidents (so beloved we refuse to retire the penny, because Abe would be left with only the five dollar bill, and Lincoln and Jefferson would be on two forms of currency). He found a voice for a man nobody alive has ever heard speak; a man who gave some of the most important speeches in history, not just American history. Day-Lewis’s Lincoln has a most complex, yet seemingly very loving, relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field). A lot of people don’t like her; I’m not one of them, and I thought she showed everyone the juxtaposition of Mary Todd Lincoln’s fragility with her strength and belief in her husband (real or fictional, I do not care, she demonstrated those emotions). I believed was Mary. Tommy Lee Jones was up against some good competition in the Best Supporting Actor category (I thought Alan Arkin or Robert DeNiro would take it), but he was grumpy, passionate and savvy about the situation unfolding before him as Thaddeus Stevens. He got a lot of crap for the wig he was wearing, but, hello, it was the 19th century and perhaps he was more interested in the job at hand than his brown tresses. See this movie, discuss this movie and revel in the acting talent on the screen.

Variety is the Spice of Life

My movie selections for this past weekend did not yield the results I expected, which is another indication that I should stop trying to plan anything and just watch the movies. Of course, I do intentionally try to watch different genres and eras so the movies don't overlap too much, otherwise I'm afraid everything will blend together. Well, I had another weekend filled with great variety and diversity, and a couple of surprises. I hope some of these reviews or streams of consciousness prompt you to check out some of these movies, especially some of the ones that may be less familiar to you.
Shine, 1/19/13 Best Actor, 1996Geoffrey Rush won the Best Actor this year, and he did a great job as David Helfgott, an Australian pianist who suffered at the hands of his domineering and controlling father, eventually succumbing to a mental breakdown and being diagnosed as having schizoaffective disorder. I wanted to love this movie and have chills watching it. I had chills because it was -4 outside, but not because of the movie. I don’t know why, it’s a true story (always a plus for me); the actor who played the younger Helfgott (Noah Taylor) was as good as Rush and should have been nominated for an Oscar; Armin Mueller-Stahl, who played the abusive father; and it had great music. So, what’s the problem? I connected much more to the younger Helfgott, but just didn’t connect with the older man. I didn’t like the ending either, although perhaps it seemed like a good place to stop, with the death of Helfgott’s father. His father was his teacher, his tormentor and in many ways, his jailer. He exhibits typical abusive behavior, building David up, then tearing him down, saying he’s not good enough, and even beating him on occasion. David, and his father, are obsessed with Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Concerto, which is known for being a very complex and challenging piece (disclosure: I did not know this, I had to look it up) and after one successful performance in London where he is studying, David collapses and has a nervous breakdown. The story follows him back to Australia as he makes his way in a time where little is really known or understood about mental illness. People try to befriend him, but sometimes his behaviors and quirks are off-putting and push people away. He eventually meets his future wife, Gillian, and begins to revive his music career. Billy Bob Thornton was also nominated this year for his role in Slingblade, and in my opinion, he should have won, or at least I liked that movie a lot more, which had wonderfully rich supporting characters.


7th Heaven, Best Actress, 1927/1928

This is the second movie from this Academy Awards presentation that I have watched (Wings being the first), and while it is also set in Paris during the First World War, it is very different. Janet Gaynor plays Diane and Charles Farrell plays her initially reluctant rescuer, Chico. Gaynor won the Best Actress for this year (she also won it for two other movies because the award was originally awarded for the work of the artist for that year), and I think she was wonderful in the role of Diane. Her character evolves from a meek, frightened girl who is treated as a servant by her drunk sister into a strong, tough and determined young woman who refuses to believe that her husband was killed in the war. Chico starts his life as a sewer worker, but gets a job above-ground as a street sweeper, and in the hierarchy of municipal jobs, it’s a huge step up for him. He is a really optimistic guy, always looking up. He often refers to himself as ‘a very remarkable fellow’, and he is. After Diane’s sister, Nana, beats her in the street, Chico steps in to protect Diane, but attracts attention from the police, telling the police that Diane is his wife and so begins their unconventional relationship. Chico asks Diane to stay at his flat because if the police stop by and find that he doesn’t have a wife, he will be in trouble. So, she stays (Chico gallantly sleeps out on the balcony) and, sprinkle some magical movie fairy dust, and they eventually fall in love, although Chico refuses to actually say those words. Religion is a theme that runs throughout the movie, because Chico says several times that he does not believe in God (I think there is an indication that Chico and his fellow street sweeper are Communists with the Russian Revolution a few years off, if my timetable estimate is correct), but Diane does and her belief seems to carry her through the movie, and to Chico’s heart. I think they have one of the most romantic cinematic relationships. They don’t have time to get married before Chico goes off to war, so they get married in his apartment, exchanging their own vows, and religious medals as tokens of their love. Chico cannot say ‘I love you’, so he makes his own saying ‘Chico.Diane.Heaven’; the two of them repeat this several times before he leaves, but they promise each other that every day at 11:00 am they will say these words. They do this religiously (pun sort of intended) and it is how they ‘know’ the other is alive. I would never have watched this movie if it wasn’t for this task I set for myself, but it falls into the category of ‘happy accident’; I know a lot of people won’t watch it because it’s 85 years old has no spoken dialogue, may seem a little melodramatic, and doesn’t have any great CGI or animatronic special effects, but if you want to see something different, give this a try. After a while you forget that you can’t hear them talk because you get caught up in the story and the characters.

Pan’s Labyrinth, 1/21/13, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup 2006

I really don’t know where to start with this movie, it took me a little while to get sucked in, but by the end of it, I was marking it down as a movie I would watch again (once I get through the next 770+ movies on my list). It’s described as a ‘dark fantasy’, and that is pretty accurate. It was directed by Guillermo del Toro, and after watching this, I would have liked to see his take on The Hobbit, which he was supposed to direct. It is set in 1940s Spain, with the fight between the right-wing Francoists and the left-wing guerrillas as the setting. Ofelia and her pregnant mother go out to the country where her step-father, Vidal, is a captain in the military and in charge of tracking down the guerrillas/Maquis. Right away you just know this is not going to go well, he is one of the meanest, vile characters I’ve seen in a while and there is nothing to like about him. Her mother is very sick from the pregnancy, and Vidal is more concerned about his legacy than his wife. Mercedes is a local from the village who serves as a housekeeper/cook for the captain and grows very fond of Ofelia and her mother. Ofelia loves her books and stories and ‘discovers’ a hidden world ‘guarded’ by a magical faun. The faun believes Ofelia to be the lost princess of the magical kingdom and sets before her three tasks to complete. The relationship between Ofelia and the faun is fraught with complexity, the faun as a loyal subject, but also an instructor, a bully, a disciplinarian, and Ofelia a frightened little girl, with a sense of adventure and eventually, incredible courage. The actress who played Ofelia, Ivana Baquero, was wonderful in such an intense role; Mercedes, Maribel Verdu, was really strong and proved she was not a woman to be messed with, as Vidal found out. I liked that there was very little that was predictable about the story, you really have to hang in there until the end, and even at that point, you still may not be sure what happened. The movie won for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Makeup and I found it to be one of the most visually interesting movies I have seen in a while. The use of shadows and color is very captivating, kind of what I would expect from the winner of Best Cinematography; it captured the mood and the different environments in which the characters live. The sets of the Otherworld were rich in detail and imagination. For the makeup, they had me at the faun (played by Doug Jones who was also the Silver Surfer) and the creature with eyes in his hands (yes, you read that right), which was very creepy, and also played by Doug Jones. The movie was nominated for three other awards, including Best Foreign Film, but lost out to The Lives of Others, which was a very intense movie based on real events, and perhaps that’s why it won (which isn’t to say it’s a bad thing, it was an excellent movie, just very different from Pan’s Labyrinth). There were certain times in the movie where I thought this would be a great movie for teenagers and a nice introduction to foreign films, since the main character is a young teenager, perhaps even 10 or 11, but then there were some very intense scenes, so I am on the fence about that. I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre; don’t let the fact that it’s in Spanish turn you off, once you get into the movie, you might not even notice it’s in Spanish.

Do Not Ask For Whom The Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls, 10/6/12 Best Supporting Actress 1943

Full disclaimer:  Not a Hemingway fan, not a huge Gary Cooper fan, and yet, I didn’t hate this movie. I didn't love it, but it was not as bad as I thought I would be. I actually took a Hemingway/Fitzgerald class in high school and kicked myself for a whole semester, actually that’s not true, a good friend and I had fun mocking one of the 20^th century’s great writers. For Whom the Bell Tolls is the story of an American in Spain to fight with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. ‘Roberto’ played by Gary Cooper is an expert at bridge demolition and he connects with a group of Republicans, including Ingrid Bergman as ‘Maria’ (sorry, I didn't buy that either) and Best Supporting Actress winner, Katina Paxinou as ‘Pilar’. As I said, I read the book, and I liked the character of Pilar the best, and that would be the same in the movie. There is a passion and fire in Pilar that holds your attention and you want to know more about her (kind of the way Jane Darwell had a quiet intensity in The Grapes of Wrath). Roberto and Maria of course fall in love, but other than that, I won’t ruin it for you. It is interesting to watch this movie about a piece of history that many people do not know. The Spanish Civil War (the Republicans versus the Monarchy/Fascists and Francisco Franco) was a precursor to the World War in Europe, the way the invasion of Manchuria was in Asia. There are parts of the movie that are beautiful to watch, the cinematography and scenery are wonderful. The movie shows how and why civil wars are not easily understood, sometimes you join forces with your enemy against a common foe, but then perhaps turn on your former ally. Politics and war make strange bedfellows.

Sometimes Gary Cooper is so wooden you half expect to strings and a puppeteer, other times you totally believe him and his character. I love Ingrid Bergman, but this just didn’t work for me. Apparently, there wasn't an actual Spaniard in the main cast; in fact, you sometimes hear what sounds like Russian accents (really). Paxinou was a Greek actress. If you’re wondering if you should watch this movie, maybe, if nothing else is in your top twenty and you want to get a high level introduction to the Spanish Civil War and see a great Best Supporting Actress Performance (see the next review for a not Best Supporting Actress nomination), then yes, you should watch it; if you read the book, sure, watch the movie. Otherwise, you’ll survive if you don’t.