Sunday, August 30, 2009

The dragon is hungry

John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" is a riveting, tense film adaptation of his critically acclaimed play. Set in 1964, the film shows the rippling devastation of rumour and gossip. But what if what's said is not rumour and instead of gossip, is shockingly true?

Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) rules her Catholic school with an iron hand; any trangression, no matter its size and severity, is utterly punishable. In contrast, new arrival Sister James (Amy Adams) is friendly and gets on rather well with the students. One day, Sister James sees Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is possibly the second best actor in his age group working right now, after one Daniel Day Lewis), the well-liked priest, put something in a student's locker (at least, she thinks she sees what she sees). When Sister James tells Sister Aloysius of her suspicions that Father Flynn might have an improper relationship with a male student, a storm is unleashed for all three people.

Stage plays run the risk of becoming visually tedious movies, but this is not the case in "Doubt". Renowned cinematographer Roger Deakins (frequent collaborator with the Coen brothers) gives the period setting and parish a crisp wintery look which contributes to the ominous atmosphere of the film. Of course, it goes without saying that the performances are all award worthy. With its investigation of the fluidity of truth (the title has numerous meanings), and of how people can twist versions of events to their own agenda, "Doubt" is spellbinding even at just over one and a half hours.

Wild man in the ring

When Sean Penn won the Best ACtor Oscar over Mickey Rourke, I was miffed. I remember Rourke from "Johnny Handsome" and "Angel Heart", and I wanted him to seal the deal on his comeback performance as veteran wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson in Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" by taking home gold. He didn't, but he's cast as the villain in the forthcoming "Iron Man" sequel, so I guess things worked out ok for him.

"The Wrestler" is the simplest film Aronofsky has yet made. One American critic referred to the director's style here as "meat and potatoes filmmaking". Looking at this film, it's hard to imagine as from the director of "Requiem for a Dream" (still one the best films of the past century), the experimental "Pi" and the floundering but visually impressive "The Fountain". "The Wrestler" is visually as simple as its protagonist. Randy lives in a trailer (if he can afford the rent) and sometimes parties too hard. He likes a stripper from the local joint, Pam (Marisa Tomei), and has a stenuous (near non-existent) relationship with his daughter (played by Evan Rachel Wood). Randy experiences a moment that forces him to take a hard look at his life and what he's accomplished, and there's the film. It's predictable, and we've seen too many father-daughter face-offs similar to what this film gives us, but Mickey Rourke is breathtaking in giving us a fully fleshed out fighter who's losing big; "The Ram" is emotionally and physically laid bare.

As Pam, the underrated Tomei is the female version of Randy, to an extent, and her scenes with him are sensitively handled. The combination of Rourke and Tomei is what takes "The Wrestler" to the next level (a haunting closing credits number by Bruce Springsteen helps as well). So if the story takes a familiar route, and even if the camera tends to follow Randy too much from behind, it's a memorable viewing experience for its performances and because of the rare look at the mundane mechanics that shape wrestling performances.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Desperate times, desperate measures

Courtney Hunt's debut film "Frozen River" is a minor miracle - who on earth funds this kind of film anymore? Especially if the film is a bit of a downer, considering it's lower income protagonist (played by a solid Melissa Leo) is a mother of two sons who needs to secure their new house as her husband has disappeared (presumably to Atlantic City) with their savings. She meets up with a Mohawk woman from the nearby reservation and together they bring illegal immigrants across the titular river into Quebec (I think). This is not a thriller though, and one should not be fooled by the cover blurb by Tarantino who calls it a great thriller. No, this is a character study of two women, both with much to lose, who will do what's necessary to keep going, even as the viewer understands that they are caught up in life narratives that do not end in grateful resolution. It's a low budget film, and the digital camera work serves to enhance the immediacy of the characters' crises. It's brave film, nothing brilliant, but worth sitting through.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Road to Ruin

Sam Mendes's "Revolutionary Road", based on the acclaimed novel by Richard Yates, is an incendiary take on the mundane vacuum of suburban life. This is the best film Mendes has yet made; anyone who holds "American Beauty" in higher regard needs to urgently revisit both films and be honest with themselves. The "Titanic" team of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet here destroys the romantic myth they helped propagate in James Cameron's opus; Frank and April Wheeler may have been happy at some stage, but we don't get to see that. What we see is, a mere seven minutes into the film, a significant marital blowout that sets the tone for the rest of this beautifully shot drama.

The acting on all counts is superlative. Many suspect that Winslet's Oscar win earlier this year was more for this film than "The Reader", while DiCaprio continues to build an impressive repertoire ("Aviator", "Departed"). Appearing in only two scenes, well known character actor Michael Shannon, playing an apparently mentally 'unbalanced' mathematician, delivers an award worthy performance as a brilliant man who cuts straight through the veneer of suburban joy that his own parents desperately cling to.

This is a more accomplished film than "Slumdog Millionaire". Why did it not get any Oscar love? Maybe the recession is partly to blame; "feel good movies" are awarded while those movies that force the viewer to seriously take stock of their life are ignored. Each scene in "Revolutionary Road" is spiked with the potential for destruction, and it is awe-inspiring (in a George vs Martha kind of way) to see the leads work with that potential. Although set in the 1950s, the film's commentary on marriage, the illusion of romance, the need to work to maintain that illusion and the utter risk-aversion in contemporary life rings mercilessly true.