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The Book of Life (2014) ☆☆☆(3/4) : A colorful romp on Day of the Dead

Posted on December 31, 2014 by kaist455

While it is a little too silly and frantic for me at times, “The Book of Life” is a colorful animation film decorated with several gorgeous sights to enjoy. Its story and characters are rather thin and predictable, and my level of interest was decreased around its action-packed climax in which lots of animation characters run or bounce around the screen, but it leaves some good impressions on me mainly due to its overflowing quirky style which deserves a better story then the movie itself provides.

Once upon a time, as told to a bunch of visiting kids at some big museum during the opening scene, there was a town called San Angel in Mexico, and we meet the three main characters of the story: Manolo (voiced by Diego Luna), Joaquín (voiced by Channing Tatum), and María (vocied by Zoe Saldana). Manolo and Joaquín have been eager to get María’s affection since their childhood, and their early romantic competition on their mutual friend happens to draw the attention of two supernatural entities on the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday which I came to learn for the first time through Malcolm Lowry’s dark, harrowing alcoholic masterpiece “Under the Volcano” and John Huston’s equally unforgettable 1984 adaptation.

After watching on a love triangle between these three kids, La Muerte (voiced by Kate del Castillo), a feisty goddess who rules the Land of the Remembered, makes a bet with her husband Xibalba (voiced by Ron Perlman), a wily god who rules the Land of the Forgotten. If Manolo wins María’s love, Xibalba will never interfere with the matters of mortals, and La Muerte will exchange her place with Xibalba’s if Joaquín wins instead. La Murete gives her blessing to young Manolo later, and Xibalba gives young Joaquín a magic badge, which will make him invincible in any dangerous circumstance.

Several years later, María returns to San Angel after finishing her education in Europe, and two boys are ready to impress her. While he is more interested in pursuing musician career, Manolo has also been trained as a skillful bull fighter as demanded by his family tradition, and he is willing to enter the arena for María although he does not like killing bulls. In case of Joaquín, he has been regarded as the new defender of the town mainly thanks to the power of his magic badge, and General Posada (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui), María’s grumpy old father who is also the leader of the town, supports Joaquín’s wish to marry María.

After a number of silly comic situations involved with the courtships of Manolo and Joaquín toward to a woman they both love as before, María finds herself drawn to more to Manolo, but, unfortunately, he is soon tumbled into the realm of afterlife before María accepts his proposal. Determined to return to his woman, he starts his journey across the realm of afterlife, and there are several perils he must go through for reuniting with her.

As a fantasy story packed with larger-than-life caricatures whose personalities are mainly and instantly defined by their appearances, the movie does not feel the need to look realistic, so it gleefully goes wild with its own style. While they are digital animation characters, the characters in the film are imbued with the texture of wooden puppets, and that unusual rendering provides extra visual amusement for us. They certainly do not look that realistic, but they look more stylish and colorful as fantasy tale characters, and I must confess that I was rather amused by how some of the characters in the film look more like trolls or some other kinds of monsters because of their exaggerated body parts.

And the movie has plenty of things to unleash on the screen as the story steps into the realm of afterlife. Drenched in bright, vibrant colors, the Land of the Remembered are stuffed with lovely details as a place where everyone is always on festive mood, and the Land of the Forgotten makes a striking contrast through its dark, desolate landscapes where forgotten souls are soaked in their miserable solitude. There is also a wondrous place called the Cave of Souls, and we meet an ebullient entity called the Candle Maker (voiced by Ice Cube), who supervises the matters of the living while being surrounded by thousands of candles representing countless lives on the Earth.

As hopping around difference places during its later part, the movie throws more stuffs into the story, and that is where it becomes shakier. Its finale is involved with a bunch of nasty bandits who are going to wipe out San Angel and its people, and I began to feel a bit lost and tired as watching lots of frantic actions zipping across the screen. This sequence is not entirely without fun and excitement, but I have seen other similar animation action stuffs for years, and it did not particularly interest me much.

The actors are well-cast while providing nice voice performances to the film. Diego Luna, Channing Tatum, and Zoe Saldana handle their stereotype characters well with humor and energy, and Ron Perlman and Kate del Castillo are well-matched as two opposing forces who are still attracted to each other despite their rocky relationship. The most fun in the film comes from Ice Cube, and he certainly enjoys every minute of his scenes with lots of irrepressible jolly spirit for his avuncular character.

The director/co-screenplay writer Jorge Gutierrez did a competent job in making a good-looking animation film coupled with interesting cultural flavor, but “The Book of Life”, which was co-produced by Guillermo del Toro, is not entirely successful for several reasons. Its occasional use of modern pop songs are not that effective in many cases, and I have some doubt on whether the museum part works. I had a fair share of entertainment during my viewing, and it is surely a lot more cheerful than “Under the Volcano”, but I still think it could have been better.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Animation, Fantasy, Friendship, Romance | Leave a comment

The Boxtrolls (2014) ☆☆☆ (3/4) : A boy and little boxes below the city

Posted on December 30, 2014 by kaist455

“The Boxtrolls” is a charming stop-motion animation film which fascinates adult audiences with its technical efforts while exciting young audiences through the resulting wonder on the screen. While its story is a familiar fable of good and evil, its offbeat fantasy world shines with humor and imagination as providing many fabulous visual moments, and this is certainly enticing to watch as something different from usual digital animation films.

Its story is unfolded within a city called Cheesebridge, whose exterior appearance seems to be inspired by Pieter Brueghel’s painting “The Tower of Babel”. In this city filled with pale, ugly people who look like Hieronymus Bosch’s interpretation of Dickensian caricatures, there are a bunch of night creatures called Boxtrolls, and these small, gray creatures usually sneak around the alleys and streets of the city while wearing cardboard box which functions both as their attire and camouflage.

While they were merely night annoyance to the citizens of Cheesebridge at first, but one incident occurs to shock the whole city, and a guy named Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley) volunteers to take care of the city’s trouble with Boxtrolls. After persuading the incumbent (and incompetent) mayor Lord Portley-Rind (voiced by Jared Harris) that he is a man for the job, Snatcher gets a promise of class promotion from the mayor (he was promised to be accepted into the elite class of the mayor and his peers, which is represented by their white hat), and he instantly starts his operation to get rid of Boxtrolls once for all.

It is quite obvious to us (but not the mayor and others in the city) that Snatcher is a nasty evil man with big ambition, and we see how far he is willing to go for accomplishing his goal. Whenever the sun goes down below the horizon, everyone in the city locks their doors as ordered while Snatcher and his trio of henchmen (voiced by Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, and Tracy Morgan) look for any Boxtroll to catch and exterminate, and Snatcher accordingly gets more support from the citizens as his ambition grows bigger over several years.

Meanwhile, we are also introduced to a young boy who have lived with Boxtrolls in their underground world below the city. He was brought into this place by one of the Boxtrolls when he was very young, and he was named Eggs just because of a cardboard box he was wearing at that time. Not so surprisingly, Boxtrolls are actually gentle scavengers good at making or inventing various things from the scraps they collect from the city above every night, and Fish, who took Eggs from somewhere in the city under a rather mysterious circumstance, has kindly taken care of Eggs for several years along with his fellow Boxtrolls.

Eggs has naturally come to see himself as one of them despite his different appearance, but now their happy life below the city is under more threats from Snatcher and his thugs. When Fish happens to be caught by them during one night, Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright) decides to go up to the city to rescue Fish, and, as looking around the city under the broad daylight, and he is naturally horrified by the distorted image of Boxtrolls – and how that wrong image is accepted by the people of the city without any doubt.

Winnie (voiced by Elle Fanning), a plucky little girl who is the mayor’s neglected daughter, also believes that Boxtrolls are hideous monsters to be erased, but she is curious about them none the less. After she happens to be involved into Eggs’ circumstance, it does not take much time for her to realize how she and others are wrong about Boxtrolls, but then she and Eggs come to learn of something more than expected as Snatcher is about to commence the final stage of his nefarious plan.

While not hurrying itself, the movie gives us a number of spirited stop-motion animation sequences full of charms and details. I enjoyed the shabby but lovely sights of Boxtrolls’ underground place as looking around its painstaking details, and I also liked a frantic dance sequence at the mayor’s house in which various characters are busily dancing together in the hall as Eggs and Winnie are trying to evade Snatcher’s pursuit. A brief scene during the end credits later shows us that a considerable amount of time and efforts were put into every second of the stop-motion animation in the film, and you will appreciate more of what the directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi and their crew achieve on the screen. While they were certainly helped by CGI in some parts, the visuals in the film are still based on the real objects moved bit by bit under their meticulous operation, and that imbues the film with distinctive qualities to savor.

The actors cast for voice performances did a good job of injecting different personalities into their characters. As the villain of the story, Ben Kingsley has the most fun with his deliciously hateful character, and you will be further amused by the way his character gets his wish in the end. While Nick Frost and Richard Ayoade have small moments of humor as the henchmen who are quite philosophical about their existence, Jared Harris is suitably stiff and haughty as the mayor who usually cares more about cheese than his city, and Isaac Hempstead Wright and Elle Fanning bring innocence and spirits into their respective lead characters.

“The Boxtroll” is the latest work from the Laika company, which previously produced “Coraline” (2009) and “ParaNorman” (2012). Like these two animation films, “The Boxtroll” is made with care and style, and it is an enjoyable experience on the whole although it may require some patience from you due to its rather slow start. It is not great, but it comes with flavor like a tasty piece of cheese, and I enjoyed it with enough delight and amusement.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Animation, Children, Monster | Leave a comment

Two Days, One Night (2014) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4) : The Desperate Weekend

Posted on December 30, 2014 by kaist455

“Two Days, One Night” starts with a close-up shot of its heroine, and then it rarely looks away from her as she struggles through her several difficult days. She is reluctant about doing what she should do in her circumstance, and she is also not exactly in a good condition for the struggle which may result in more despair and depression for her, but she tries as much as she can anyway as the camera patiently follows her journey during one desperate weekend.

During the opening scene, we get to learn a few things about Sandra (Marion Cotillard) as she learns from her friend/co-worker Juliette (Catherine Salée) that she will be fired from her job. Although the movie does not go into details, we can infer that Sandra recently went through a bout of depression and then has been on a sick leave for a while, and, considering that she still looks fragile as trying to resume her daily life, this sudden bad news is surely a hurtful blow to her.

She was one of 17 workers in a solar panel factory, which has been going through difficulties due to its competition with foreign companies. It seems the boss decided during Sandra’s absence that the factory can be operated well even with 16 workers, and Sandra’s co-workers had to make a decision on whether they should object to that. Some of them have worked with Sandra as her close colleagues, but the voting result was overwhelmingly against her mainly because of the incentive offered by their boss; if they agree to Sandra’s discharge, each of them will receive a bonus of 1000 euro except a couple of contract workers who will receive a less amount of bonus instead, and they may earn more later through overtime work.

Sandra’s family will be under a difficult economic situation because of this. While her husband Manu (Fabrizio Rongione, one of the regular actors of the directors/writers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) also works to support their family, but his income is not enough for their current living, and, if Sandra remains unemployed, they will probably move back to cheap apartment building because they cannot pay off the mortgage on their current residence any more.

At least, Sandra manages to get a good chance when she and Juliette meet their boss at the factory. It looks like that their foreman threatened the co-workers before the open vote on Friday (whether he really did that is one of several unanswered questions in the film), so they demand a secret vote, and the boss allows the second vote to be held on next Monday.

The rest of the film is about Sandra’s efforts for persuading her co-workers to change their mind during the following weekend. She is not very willing to do this at first because she knows how awkward it will be for her as well as them, but she eventually decides to make a forward move after realizing during one small moment that she may actually reverse her co-workers’ initial decision, so she personally visits them one by one after getting their addresses through Manu and Juliette’s help.

While her petition to them functions as a sort of opening refrain in its narrative, the movie observes different responses from Sandra’s co-workers. While some of them decide to change their mind after meeting her, others still stick to their initial decision, and we see how it is a very difficult choice for each of them as they are being confronted by Sandra. Like Sandra, her co-workers are all struggling working class people, and 1,000 euro is something they cannot easily reject, and Sandra understands too well why some of her co-workers are still going to vote against her even though they really feel sorry about her. In case of one guy, he makes it clear to Sandra that he cannot vote for her because he must need money to support his family, and he clearly feels guilty about his decision as he awkwardly says he hopes she will win on next Monday.

The movie steadily accumulates its low-key suspension as the handheld camera concentrates on Sandra through its austere approach. Sensing her chance decreasing more or more, she feels more nervous and desperate, and she frequently pops prescribed pills into her mouth. After painfully reminded of her expandable position at one point, she finds herself driven to utter despair, and it is soon followed by one of a few dramatic moments in the film.

As the center of the film, Marion Cotillard beautifully carries the movie with her unadorned performance which is effortlessly mixed into the mundane background along with her co-actors’ equally realistic supporting performances. Like Cécile De France did in the Dardenne brothers’ previous film “The Kid with a Bike” (2011), Cotillard looks believable as an ordinary character even though she does attract our attention as a recognizable actress, and her commendable work in this film makes an impressive contrast to her recent turn in James Gray’s “The Immigrant” (2013), in which she fully immersed herself into a completely different mode as another desperate woman struggling through social hardships. These two performances of hers are quite opposite to each other in acting style, but both of them illuminate with each own human dignity thank to Cotillard’s immense talent, and they certainly exemplify her remarkable range as two of her best performances.

The Dardenne brothers have kept impressing us through the series of memorable social drama films since “La Promesse” (1996) while never having any misstep, and “Two Days, One Night”, which was selected as the Belgium’s official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 2015 Academy Awards (it did not make it to the final list, unfortunately), is another terrific work from these great director brothers. Through their dry but ultimately humane storytelling, they let us gradually have understanding and sympathy on not only Sandra but also other characters in the film, and we accordingly come to think about how they happen to be put into such a difficult situation like that – and what we would do if we were them.

After going through the period represented by its very title, the movie finally arrives at the point expected from the beginning. I will not go into details on what will happen in the end, but I can tell you that I was very satisfied with how the movie thoughtfully handles its ‘climax’ for the following ending. Its last line sounds simple, but it will linger on you along with the last shot of the film – and then you will probably see that the movie is more than what it seemed to be about at first.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Unemployment, Vote | Leave a comment

Chef (2014) ☆☆☆(3/4) : Here’s my compliment to the Chef…

Posted on December 28, 2014 by kaist455

“Chef” simply wants to do its cooking in its own way. With an ample dose of warm, gentle humor as one of its main ingredients, it wisely takes some time in preparing its dishes in the beginning, and then we are served with many delightful moments as our eyes are fixed toward a number of lovely cookery scenes which will instantly make our tongue and stomach crave for whatever will be served on plates.

When we meet Carl Casper (Jon Favreau, who also wrote, produced, and directed the film), he seems to achieve everything he has ever wanted in his career. Since he started his culinary career in Miami around 10 years ago, he has been rising to the top class of his field as a talented chef, and he is currently working at some classy restaurant in LA with his two colleagues Martin (John Leguizamo) and Tony (Bobby Cannavale).

But there has been growing discontent inside him during recent years. He is getting tired of serving the same dishes again and again to his customers just because these dishes have been popular among customers, and he really wants to try something different when a famous online food critic named Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) is about to visit his restaurant. However, his fastidious restaurant owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman) does not allow that at all, so Carl serves that critic in question with his usual dinner course as demanded by Riva, and, not so surprisingly, the critic writes a very harsh review on Carl’s cooking.

Deeply hurt by the critic’s thoroughly merciless attack on his dinner course, Carl happens to do his first trial of Twitter, and an unmitigated disaster happens after Carl sends an angry open message to Michel without knowing that everyone can see what he writes on Twitter. Carl gets fired as a consequence, and nobody in his field wants to hire him because of his resulting notoriety on the Internet, which may be forgotten someday but not at this point.

When it looks like he is totally finished, he gets a nice chance through his ex-wife Inez (Sofía Vergara), one of the hottest, warmest, and kindest movie ex-spouses I have ever encountered during recent years. While they divorced probably because of Carl’s failure to balance his life between work and family, they have no hard feeling between them as ‘good friends’, and Inez suggests him that he should start a small culinary business through the help from her first ex-husband (Carl is her No.2, by the way). It will not make much money, but it can solve his current financial problem while giving him the professional freedom he has always wanted – and it may provide some quality time between him and his young son Percy (Emjay Anthony), a smart boy who likes to learn one or two things about his dad’s profession.

Carl is not particularly enthusiastic about this business idea at first, but then he is eventually persuaded by Inez as they come back to Miami together with their son. After receiving a shabby food truck from Inez’s first ex-husband, he begins to clean, repair, and equip his truck step by step with a small help from his son, and they are soon joined by Martin, who gladly helps making the first step of their joint operation although he will be paid much less than before.

The movie lets them roll together along its relaxed plot, and it generates lots of warmth and humor as capturing the small moments of character interaction. While more honestly recognizing that he was not exactly a good father to his son, Carl imparts some of his professional knowledge and disciplines to his son during their work, and they become closer to each other than before as they spend more time with each other in their food truck.

They and Martin start their long journey from Miami to LA later in the story, and the movie is turned into a nice little piece of road movie at that point. While they mainly serve their customers with those Cuban sandwiches, Carl does not ignore local specialties, and we get more yummy sights along with the enjoyable selection of local music on the soundtrack.

The movie is clearly a labor of love for the director Jon Favreau, and he makes it sure that we appreciate every culinary moment in his film. Under the supervision of Roy Choi, a prominent chef who is well known for his Korean taco truck business, the various dishes in the film are presented well enough to stimulate our appetite, and it is also fun to watch various cooking ingredients being prepared on the screen as we are eagerly waiting for final results (yes, this is a film not suitable for empty stomach).

Favreau, whom I still remember for his likable supporting role in “Rudy” (1993), gives an amiable performance with big heart, and you may see an amusing parallel between his directorial career and his character in the film. While he is mainly known for his recent blockbuster films such as “Iron Man” (2008), his early movies “Elf” (2003) and “Zathura” (2005) were small family films with charms, and the movie feels like a refreshing return to his old form. Having established himself as a successful commercial director, Favreau could recruit a bunch of well-known actors including Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson to this personal project of his, and they certainly add flavors to the movie through their juicy supporting performances.

“Chef” is a sweet comedy film with lots of dishes and other goodies to enjoy, and I was satisfied with its service while also tickled by some introspective amusement coming from its food critic character. Maybe I am merely a snobbish amateur connoisseur of films, but I’d love to experience something new or good to write about, and I am always excited or happy whenever encountering such things at movie theaters. Though it does not break any new ground, “Chef” is a joyful experiment on the whole, so here is my little compliment to its chef Jon Favreau.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Chef, Cooking, Father and son | Leave a comment

Maps to the Stars (2014) ☆☆1/2(2.5) : The Depraved and the Dead

Posted on December 28, 2014 by kaist455

“Maps to the Stars” is a cold satire about the desperate denizens of Hollywood mired in despair, derangement, and depravity of their superficial life with more bottoms to hit. The movie feels like one of those tabloid articles digging into the seedy strata of Hollywood, but its clinical approach to its silly, grotesque characters generates a certain level of cool fascination which somehow makes us keep watching them hitting another bottom of their miseries.

The movie revolves around three main characters who are damaged in one way or another by their Hollywood life. Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) is a struggling actress looking for any chance of breakthrough, and she has recently been trying hard to be cast as the lead actress of the remake version of some famous film. Her actress mother Clarice Taggart (Sarah Gadon), who died due to a fire accident during the 1970s, received an Oscar nomination for her performance in that film, and Havana is desperate to gain her own fame through filling her mother’s role.

This neurotic woman is ready for her close-up, but there are a couple of problems; the director of the film is considering some other actress at present, and Havana begins to experience disturbing hallucinations. She keeps seeing her dead mother, and her mother, who looks younger and sexier than Havana as she did at that time, ridicules Havana’s pathetic attempts to reach for stardom. Havana has recently made a sensational claim of her mother’s sexual abuses, and her hallucinations make us wonder about whether that is just her another pitiful attempt to get more attention.

For stabilizing her mind, Havana has received massage therapy sessions from Dr. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack), who also has his own show business matter like many other people in Hollywood. His son Benji (Evan Bird) was once a popular young actor after appearing in a very successful comedy film, but then he unfortunately fell into a substance problem not long after that, and now he is trying to make a career comeback after several years of rehabilitation period.

On the surface, it seems things may go well for this spoiled, obnoxious kid who still does not understand well his changed reality. Thanks to his devoted mother Christina (Olivia Williams) and his faithful agent, film studio executives decide to give him a second chance through allowing Benji to reprise his role in the upcoming sequel of his previous hit film, and he also has kept himself being sober for several months, though he cannot miss his evening fun with other shallow Hollywood kids who are a little luckier than him. They sometimes exchange gossips, and we even hear about one weird business of obtaining celebrity’s excrement, which seems to be profitable for some vague reason I really do not want to know about.

And then Benji also begins to suffer from a mental problem similar to Havana’s. After his casual visit to a young sick girl dying from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he begins to see her ghost, and he becomes more nervous as the production of his movie is started. To make the matters worse, Benji begins to believe that his younger co-star is stealing the show from him, and we come to get a pretty good idea about where his unstable ego will eventually lead him into.

Meanwhile, we also meet Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), a mysterious young woman with burn scars. Thanks to her online relationship with Carrie Fisher (she appears as herself in the film), she is recommended to Havana as her new assistant as soon as she arrives in Hollywood, and she also comes to befriend Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson), a young actor/writer hoping for his big break while working as a limousine chauffeur or a waiter.

Right from her first scene, it is clear that there is something weird about Agatha, and our suspicion is confirmed when she approaches to the Weiss family. While Dr. Weiss is furious about that, Christina, who already has enough problems to deal with thanks to her son, becomes increasingly nervous and fearful for some reason – and we come to sense that there is a skeleton in their closet which may topple everything Mr. and Mrs. Weiss have desperately maintained for years.

Peppered with morbid moments of twisted humor, the screenplay by Bruce Wagner throws us into more desolation as these characters slowly slide down their respective destructive paths, and the director David Cronenberg maintains his usual cool attitude as observing many unpleasant behaviors of his unlikable characters. Although there are several scenes showing their human feelings, they are still superficial Hollywood caricatures even in the end, and their absurdity and depravity sometimes make the movie looks like a grotesque threesome between “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), “The Day of the Locust” (1975), and “The Informers” (2008).

Though the movie will not be their best moment, the actors in the film are willing to take a chance with their roles at least. Julianne Moore received the Best Actress award for this film at the Cannes Film Festival in this year, but I suspect that the jury members honored her courage in hurling herself into such an ugly caricature rather than the performance itself. While John Cusack and Robert Pattinson are stuck in their thankless roles, Evan Bird, Olivia Williams, and Mia Wasikowska are provided with more substances to play, and Wasikowska, who has been steadily climbing up in her advancing career, is both alluring and disturbing in her elusive performance.

I watched “Maps to the Stars” with both detachment and fascination, and I guess that is exactly what Cronenberg intended in his unusual attempt of black comedy. While being as superficial as its characters, the movie is not as pungent as other dark comedies about Hollywood show business, and it does not push itself enough compared to Cronenberg’s other memorably disturbing works such as “Dead Ringers” (1988) or “Crash” (1996). It is sort of fascinating, but this is surely not something you can watch for entertainment.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Actor, Ghost, Hollywood, Movie | Leave a comment

Belle (2013) ☆☆☆(3/4) : An extraordinary story of one different British lady

Posted on December 27, 2014 by kaist455

Looking at the evil of slavery through an interesting viewpoint to notice, “Belle” tells us an engaging drama based on the life of a real-life figure who grew up under an extraordinary circumstance. While she was kindly accepted into the upper class as her father wanted, she still remains as an outsider due to her origin, and she sees more of her conflicting situation as being more aware of her racial identity – and the injustice she cannot simply ignore like some people around her.

The movie tells us the life story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, a mulatto girl who was an illegitimate child of a British Navy officer. Although she lost her mother during her early childhood, her father Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) brings her to England while dutifully recognizing her as his daughter, and then he asks his uncle William Murray (Tom Wilkinson), who is also the 1st Earl of Mansfield, and William’s wife Lady Elizabeth (Emily Watson) to take care of his child while he is doing his duty outside Britain.

Because it is the late 18th century when slave trade was one of the prominent businesses in the British Empire and colored people were regarded as the individuals not equal to white people, Lord Mansfield and his wife and his sister Lady Mary Murray (Penelope Wilton) are understandably not so pleased about taking a colored girl into their house as their family member, but they eventually accept Sir John’s sincere plea, so Dido is allowed to grow up with Lord Mansfield’s another grandniece Elizabeth while receiving the same education to be a proper high society lady.

We soon see Dido having grown up enough to marry someone, and Dido, who is now played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw from this point, is as hopeful as her dear cousin Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon), but these spirited girls soon face the difficulties which will surely remind you of those complicated situations experienced by many of Jane Austen’s heroines. While Elizabeth must find someone who can marry her even though she does not have money to bring in, Dido’s situation seems more hopeless; although she receives a considerable sum of money from her recently deceased father as her dowry, it is highly possible that nobody in her class wants to marry her because of her race.

As she and Elizabeth prepare themselves as debutantes, Dido is more reminded of the line between her and others. Lord Mansfield and the other family members respect her as their equal family member with care and love, but they have to be contradictory as following the customs along with other members of their class, so Dido has to be left alone outside while her family and the guests are having a dinner in the manor. After the dinner, she is allowed to meet the dinner guests along with her family, but we can clearly see the guests’s condescending attitude through her eyes, and she comes to realize that she may follow the footsteps of her great aunt Lady Mary, an old spinster who has been depending on her brother for many years.

Feeling like a more social-conscious version of Jane Austen novel, the movie slowly incorporates its serious social subject into the story as Lord Mansfield, who has been the Lord Chief of Justice for years, happens to preside on the case involved with the infamous Zong massacre in 1781. It seems the crew of slave ship Zong threw more than 100 slaves into the ocean just because these slaves became useless cargos due to the crew’s fault, and this incident draws public attention through abolitionists as a legal battle continues between the owners of Zong and their insurance company.

After learning about the Zong massacre through John Davinier (Sam Reid), a local pastor’s son who comes to clash with his supporter Lord Mansfield due to his idealistic view, Dido comes to think more about her identity, and she and John gradually find themselves attracted to each other as spending more time with each other, but their romance is blocked by several complications. While he is not yet a proper gentleman with job, John is currently engaged to a local girl pushed to him by his mother, and Dido also gets engaged to Oliver Ashrod (James Norton). Oliver’s mother and brother are not so enthusiastic about this engagement mainly due to their racist prejudice, but they decide to be a little more flexible in front of Dido’s dowry, and Oliver looks like a good match for Dido, though this nice guy is a little too insensitive when talking about her race.

With Misan Sagay’s thoughtful screenplay which balances itself well between lightweight romance and serious drama, the director Amma Asante made a number of good scenes as her heroine becomes more active and determined in her struggle to find a place in her world, and the movie makes an especially interesting point when Dido comes to notice the double constraints on her social position. While she is not treated as an equal person because she is a slave’s daughter, she and Elizabeth and many other women in their time do not have many choices in their life as if they were virtual slaves; they get married in the end, or they are destined to live alone without much hope for their life.

Surrounded many recognizable veteran performers, Gugu Mbatha-Raw gives a powerful performance as the strong center of the story. She is always convincing and commanding as her character goes through gradual inner transformation along the story, and I guess we will probably see more of this talented actress in the future considering her good works in this film and “Beyond the Lights” (2014). While Sam Reid and Sarah Gadon are also solid in their respective scenes with Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Matthew Goode, and Emily Watson are dependable as usual, and Wilkinson is especially touching as subtly conveying us his character’s complex sides behind his calm, resolute appearance.

I later learned of many notable differences between the movie and the real-life story of its heroine, but “Belle” still works as a well-made fiction told well through competent direction and excellent performances, and I found myself touched by the emotions generated from its several dramatic scenes. Although certainly feeling lightweight compared to “12 Years a Slave” (2013), the movie has its own interesting story to tell, and it deserves to be watched for many good reasons including one of the breakout performances of this year.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Race, Real-life figure, Real-life incident, Real-life story, Romance, Slavery | Leave a comment

Jersey Boys (2014) ☆☆(2/4) : A jukebox musical lacking spark and energy

Posted on December 27, 2014 by kaist455

As the film adaptation of a popular Tony Award-winning Broadway musical with the same name, “Jersey Boys” is a muted experience seriously lacking spark and energy. As a jukebox musical movie, it surely serves us with many recognizable songs from the real-life musicians whose life and career the movie and stage play are based on, but the movie just keeps warming itself up as following its thin narrative which always gets its deficiencies exposed whenever the music exits. It finally finds some sparks after the finale, but, boy, it is too late for the boys as well as us.

The movie tells us the success story of Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) and the other members of the Four Seasons as moving around their respective viewpoints. First, we are introduced to Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza), a cocky young man who seems to know everyone in his neighbourhood in Belleville. While working for a local mob boss Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken), he introduces his close friend Frankie to Gyp, and Gyp quickly becomes an early supporter of Frankie, who has been a mere barbershop boy but may be a big star someday considering his fabulous singing talent.

Mainly through Tommy’s viewpoint, the movie shows us the early struggling years of Tommy, Frankie, their friend Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda), and their new member Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen), who happens to join the group through the recommendation of Tommy’s friend (and future Oscar-winning actor) Joe Pesci (Joey Russo). Although success seems to be forever out of their reach at first, they keep trying hard after they changed their band name to “The Four Seasons”, and they are eventually picked up by a well-known record producer Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle), who is apparently a gay but only baffles the boys as a rather odd guy (this is the 1950s, you know).

But then, as told to us by Gaudio at this point, they have to go through another stage of struggle. As they become frustrated with always being hired as the backup singers for other musicians, they come to realize that they need something really good enough to convince Crewe and others that they deserve a breakthrough, so Gaudio, who has been in charge of writing songs for the band, writes “Sherry”, which becomes the first major hit for the boys.

The screenplay by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, who adapted their book for the stage musical version, follows a familiar plot we have seen countless times from other movies about show business characters. While Frankie and the other band members enjoy more of their success with rising popularity, personal conflicts begin to grow inside and outside their band; Frankie comes to divorce his wife after long years of estrangement caused by his frequent tours and occasional infidelity, and Gaudio sees that the other band members are expendable compared to him and Frankie, and Tommy becomes far less responsible as his debt problem is getting bigger like a rolling snowball – and Nick is getting sick of being Ringo Star of his band.

Unfortunately, none of these conflicts is not equipped with enough interest or character depth to hold our interest. While continuing to give us the performance scenes of their popular songs such as “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (I must confess I never knew this song was one of their major hits even though I have been familiar with it for years), the movie becomes choppier as jumping from one moment to the other through many contrived plot turns, and we come to see more of its inherent flaws in story and characterization. Except Christopher Walken’s character, most of supporting characters are uninteresting in their thin characterization, and Renée Marino, who plays Frankie’s bitter wife, and her fellow actresses in the film are unfortunately stuck with a thankless job of playing underwritten characters whose main sole function is telling the boys how lousy they are with their life and women.

For the director Clint Eastwood, the movie was probably an attempt both interesting and challenging. While he previously made solid music drama films such as “Honkytonk Man” (1982) and “Bird” (1988), he had a little experience with musical films except his infamous musical performance along with Lee Marvin in “Paint Your Wagon” (1969), but I must say it is certainly interesting to see this 84-year-old director trying a new territory like another actor/director star John Huston did through “Annie” (1982) during his late career.

However, although Eastwood did not do any sloppy job in providing an appropriate period background for the story and characters, his leisurely direction does not help much in case of covering the flawed narrative of the film. The performance scenes usually feel reserved and hesitant even though they are not lazily executed on the screen, and, if you are not that familiar with the stage version, you may even come to wonder how the hell its stage version became a big Broadway hit.

While they are believable in their music performances as required, the main actors try as much as they can do with their rather bland characters. While Vincent Piazza brings considerable edge to his increasingly unlikable character, John Lloyd Young, who won a Tony award for his performance in the stage version, is wonderful in channeling that popular singing style of the 1950-60s, but I must point out that his character’s drama scenes do not come with enough gravitas to hold the ground. While Erich Bergen and Michael Lomenda do their job as demanded by their functional roles, Mike Doyle brings a sense of fun to the screen as a flamboyant record producer, and Christopher Walken effortlessly steals the show as usual whenever he appears in front of the camera. During one dramatic scene when his character has to take care of the boys’ very difficult situation as a favor to Frankie, Walken simply anchors the scene with his character’s no-nonsense attitude while never raising his voice, and you will see again why he is one of the most valuable scene-stealers in Hollywood.

“Jersey Boys” is not without good things, but it fails to excite me on the whole, and this will probably be remembered as one of Eastwood’s minor misfires in his bountiful directorial career. While some of his unusual attempts resulted in good works like “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995), this is not the case here, and we can only guess how the movie could have been much better as watching its lackluster ending being followed by something far more energetic than the rest of the movie.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Musical, Musician, Real-life figure | Leave a comment

My Love, Don’t Cross That River (2014) ☆☆☆(3/4): The last chapter of their long life

Posted on December 26, 2014 by kaist455

South Korean documentary “My Love, Don’t Cross That River” is about the last chapter of a long relationship which lasted for more than 70 years. Although the movie does not give much background information about its aging couple, its simple, plain presentation of their daily life lets us feel how close they have been to each other as maintaining their loving relationship for many years, and that is the main reason why it is sad and poignant to watch them coming to face an inevitable fact of life.

At the beginning, Cho Byeong-man and Kang Gye-young look fairly well despite their age. While he is 98 and she is 89, they still feel young at heart, and we watch them playfully interacting with each other at times. When he makes a small prank on his wife while she is working, she responds with her own prank on him later as a sort of ‘revenge’, and the audiences around me were certainly amused by this moment both funny and intimate.

The enduring bond inside their relationship is clearly visible as the movie shows more of their daily life. They always go around together while wearing their nice traditional clothes made by the wife, and one small moment shows how inseparable they are from each other; the husband takes his wife to the bathroom outside during one dark night, and, as waiting for her to finish her business, he begins to sing an old song for relieving her. They love each other as much as they understand each other, and it goes without saying that is the secret of their long married life.

As they reminisce about the first years of their marriage in front of the camera, we get to know a bit about their married life. She was very young when he came to her house as one of hired workers for her family and then eventually married her not long after that, and their first night was eventless because he did not want to hurt her as a caring husband. After he simply waited until she was more matured, they became closer to each other than before, and we are told that the husband cannot sleep well unless his dear wife sleeps near him.

Some of their children grew up enough to have their own children, and they visit their parents’ house along with their children from time to time. Everyone is usually glad to see each other during their family meetings, but then we get a particularly painful moment during the wife’s birthday party. The camera calmly observes a sudden quarrel between two family members who must have some old grudges against each other, and the wife and her husband silently watch the quarrel between their children becoming more intense and aggressive. They have probably seen such a ruckus before, but they are apparently embarrassed and saddened by their children fighting with each other in front of their eyes.

And we also observe their old hurt from the past. They still miss their lost children a lot even though it was a long time ago, and they go to a clothes shop together for buying some underwear clothes as the presents for their lost children. Their following conversation scene poignantly shows their simple wish to meet their children again after their death, and that will touch anyone with parenting experience.

They have been in peace with their own mortality as old people, but death feels closer to them lately. One of their two pet dogs suddenly dies, and they tearfully bury their beloved dog at a nice spot near their house. We hear that the wife was very sick not so long ago, and we see her going through treatments and examinations at a local hospital while her husband is always at her side.

But then the husband gets very sick with many coughs during nights, and he and his family are told that he is going to die sooner or later – and there is really nothing doctors can do except prescribing more medicines for relieving his pain before his death. His wife looks helpless in front of her ailing husband, but she stands by her man as before while his health condition becomes more deteriorated day by day.

When the idea of this documentary feature film was conceived by the director Jin Mo-young, it was originally intended as a mere companion piece to one well-received TV documentary episode, but then the director and his crew came across this unexpected turn in the life of their subjects, so the film was eventually turned into something more powerful in the middle of the production. Jin Mo-young wisely maintains the restrained mode of his film as its story approaches to the inevitable ending, and the audiences around me could not help be moved to tears by the plain, earnest depiction of deep personal pain and sorrow on the screen.

Although it was released at a small number of local theaters during late November, “My Love, Don’t Cross That River” has gradually received a wider release in South Korea thank to the strong audience reactions followed by word of mouth. In fact, it has recently surpassed the box office record of “Old Partner” (2008), another successful South Korean independent documentary film.

While I did not respond to the film strongly unlike others, I admired how the director and his crew presented their subjects with sincerity and respect, and the result is an engaging documentary to watch. I still wish it could tell more about its interesting old couple and their life, but it did its intended job humbly while not distracted by other things, and its tears are earned well through the heartfelt depiction of a genuine human relationship to remember.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Aging, Documentary, Husband and Wife, South Korean Film | 1 Comment

Into the Woods (2014) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4) : So they learned lessons….

Posted on December 24, 2014 by kaist455

In the era where modernization or deconstruction or any kind of reinterpretation of fairy tales has been a usual thing at movie theaters, “Into the Woods” has already lost some of the personality which Stephen Sondheim’s Tony award-winning musical once had when it was put on Broadway stage in 1987. As far as I remember, each fairy tale section in the musical got at least one modern treatment during last 27 years, and even its irreverent juggling of fairy tales has lost novelty since “Shrek” (2001) and its sequels.

While Sondheim’s songs are still nice enough to hum after you listen to them, “Into the Woods” is a passable musical adaptation which sometimes feels deficient during its key musical scenes. I was amused by several humorous touches in the story as enjoying the songs, but the movie becomes sagged at times due to its incoherent pace, and then it becomes less interesting when things get darker around its third act. It ultimately closes its curtain with a whimper, and we walk out of the screening room without much to remember.

Starting with its opening number, the movie introduces various characters who will get more than what they wish for: Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Jack (Daniel Huttlestone), Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), and Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt). While Jack wishes his cow can give milk, Cinderella wants to attend a party at the palace like her wicked stepmother and mean stepsisters, and Baker and his wife have been hoping for having a baby someday. In case of Little Red Riding Hood, well, this plucky little girl has no big wish for now, but she freely takes Baker’s breads just because she wants breads for her grandmother – and her, of course.

And we meet Witch (Meryl Streep), who lives next door to Baker and Baker’s wife. During her loud surprise visit to Baker’s house, she explains why they have failed to have a baby for years. Once upon a time, Baker’s father broke into the Witch’s precious garden for getting fresh vegetables Baker’s pregnant mother craved for, and he inadvertently caused the unfortunate transformation of Witch, who became uglier than before as a consequence. Witch naturally became furious about this unintentional damage, so she punished Baker’s father in two ways; she took away Baker’s newborn baby sister and has locked her in a tall tower where there is only one way of access (guess what her name is?), and she also put a curse of infertility on Baker’s family.

But there is still a chance to break the curse, so Witch gives our young couple a deal they cannot refuse; there are four necessary items for the magic potion she needs, and they must bring them to her within three day’s time. As Baker and his wife enter the woods, other main characters also go into the woods with very items Baker and his wife seek for. Wearing that famous red hood of hers, Little Red Riding Hood merrily walks into the wood, and she soon encounters a big bad wolf played Johnny Depp, who has a little insidious fun with his nefarious character during his brief performance.

Meanwhile, Jack leaves for the town to sell his dear cow as demanded by his mother (Tracey Ullman), and then he happens to come across Baker in the woods. In exchange for Jack’s cow, Baker gives Jack the beans his father stole from Witch, and he lies to Jack that they are magic beans. Of course, as we all know, they are really magic beans, so we soon see a giant beanstalk which has grown up to somewhere in the sky, and, not so surprisingly, more than one giant appear later in the story.

In case of Cinderella, she gets a chance to attend the party with her golden dress and slippers thanks to her dead mother’s spirit, and then she finds herself eagerly pursued by a prince played Chris Pine, who gets his own amusing moment when his character comes across another prince charming in the woods. They sing “Agony” together in a hilariously self-absorbed way, and that certainly makes their prince charming characters less boring than usual.

The more the characters go around here and there in the woods, the more the movie meanders as sometimes stopping for another song to be performed, and I was reminded again of why some of stage musicals are not very easy to be translated on the screen. It may be enough only with music and performance on the stage, but something more is required on the screen as our eyes depend on camera and editing, and the movie does not provide much in that aspect. For instance, a certain scene was clearly intended to be a dramatic showstopper during the last act, but it merely functions as one main character’s perfunctory exit in the movie, and the camera simply shows the character performing the song with no particular effect.

The actors in the movie acquit themselves fairly well as singing in front of camera. James Corden and Emily Blunt hold the ground with their likable performances, and Meryl Streep, who previously showed her musical talent in “Mamma Mia!” (2008), did a nice job on a couple of main songs with gusto and campy makeup. While Anna Kendrick brings some cheerfulness into her princess character, young actors Daniel Huttlestone and Lilla Crawford are solid in their delivery of Sondheim’s lyrics, and Christine Baranski, Lucy Punch, and Tammy Blanchard have a vicious moment of dark humor as their mean supporting characters try to block Cinderella’s path to her prince.

The movie was directed by Rob Marshall, who previously directed Oscar-winning film “Chicago” (2002). That musical film was a good fun despite its imperfect presentation of musical scenes, and it was mainly because of the spirited energy generated from its story and characters. Compared to “Chicago”, “Into the Woods” feels thin while being less enjoyable on the screen, and I felt more distant to what was going on the screen as feeling more coldness during the screening I attended in this morning. They learned lessons in the end, and so did I.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Fairly Tale, Fantasy, Musical | Leave a comment

Blood Ties (2013) ☆☆(2/4) : Blood is thicker than crime

Posted on December 23, 2014 by kaist455

“Blood Ties” is full of notes borrowed from other gritty crime films about policemen, criminals, families, and their mean streets. First, we have two different brothers who have been driven apart by their respective professions, and then we have an awkward triangle which puts everyone concerned in a difficult situation, and then we get your average fatalistic crime story which reminds its hero again that, yes, he can never get away from where he put himself into.

All these familiar ingredients could be mixed well into a substantial plot even if they were not refreshing, but “Blood Tie” performs its borrowed notes so flatly that it does not generate enough interest or intrigue to pull our attention to its pedestrian plot, and the result is a tedious bore which keeps wasting its potentials from the beginning to the end. The movie stumbles with contrivances as failing to generate any narrative momentum to propel its plot, and its good actors are stuck with bland, thankless roles which look incoherent and inconsistent in half-baked characterization.

The story set in New York during the 1970s, and it begins with a police raid by Frank (Billy Crudup) and other NYPD cops. After that raid which was not very successful, they have a reasonable suspicion that an ex-con named Scarfo (Matthias Schoenaerts) is involved with their case, so they come to Scarfo’s residence, but they do not find any incriminating evidence, though they luckily find something else which will put him in jail for a while.

Right from when he entered Scarfo’s home with his colleagues, Frank knew he got himself into a tricky situation. He broke up with his ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Zoe Saldana) under an unclear circumstance some time ago, and she is currently living with Scarfo as his girlfriend. Vanessa is grateful to Scarfo for his help during her hard time, and he promised to her that he will lead a clean life with her and their little daughter while never getting himself into trouble.

Vanessa thinks Frank gets Scarfo imprisoned because Frank has still has some feelings toward her, and Frank cannot deny that even though his handling of the case is strictly professional. He frequently hangs around Vanessa for his second chance, and, despite her initial anger toward him, Vanessa cannot deny what has remained inside her while becoming more conflicted between Frank and Scarfo.

Meanwhile, Frank has another personal problem to deal with. His criminal brother Chris (Clive Owen) is released from the prison after long years of incarceration, and Frank’s father Leon (James Caan) and Frank’s sister Marie (Lily Talyor) welcome Chris’ release, but Frank is not so comfortable with being with his brother. He does try to help Chris as providing him a place to stay and a job to earn clean money, but Frank’s boss and colleagues are not so pleased to see Frank being around someone on the other side – even though that guy in question is his brother.

And Chris has some grudges against Frank, mainly because Frank has been distant from him while he was in the prison. There is always visible awkwardness between Frank and Chris whenever they share the same space, and then we get a typical family meeting scene where they and other family members eventually clash with each other after a few frictional exchanges.

While his relationship with Frank becomes more strained, Chris eventually returns to his old criminal habits. He attempts a small legitimate business with his old friend Mike (Domenick Lombardozzi), but their small hope of clean life is literally burned down to the ground thanks to a petty political game, and he also feels dissatisfied with his menial job at a local garage. When one of his former associates suggests a ‘job’ to him, he declines at first, but you know he will soon take the job if you are not born too early to watch other crime films preceding this movie.

And you can surely predict that Chris’ another descent into crime will press his brother into a very hard circumstance. There is a sequence involved with a robbery and the following shootout during the latter part of the film, and Frank eventually arrives at the point where he must make a decision on which side his true loyalty is placed on.

But the movie curiously fails to establish an emotional ground we can hold onto, and its visibly weak screenplay is rather surprising considering that it was co-written by James Gray, who is no stranger to gritty crime movies as shown in “We Own the Night” (2007). While frequently hampered by its contrived plot turns, the screenplay feels loose and unfocused when it is required to be tight and intense, and most of its characters are no more than a bunch of plot devices for injecting more problems or conflicts into the story. Like David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” (2013), the movie tries to establish the authentic mood of the 1970s through various songs on the soundtrack, but they merely feel like being tacked onto scenes in many cases, and they only remind us of how they were more effectively used in other films.

It is also very disappointing to watch its good cast members being wasted on the screen. Billy Crudup looks passive and insipid throughout the film, and Clive Owen has not many things to do except playing a brooding tough guy role he can do during his sleep. Mila Kunis, Lily Talyor, Zoe Saldana, and Marion Cotillard try hard, but they had lots of disadvantages from the beginning because of their flat characters, and the same thing can be said about the other actors including James Caan, Noah Emmerich, and Matthias Schoenaerts.

The movie is actually a remake of Jacques Maillot’s 2008 film “Rivals”, in which the director/co-screenplay writer Guillaume Canet incidentally co-starred with François Cluzet as the brothers in that version. I have not watched that movie, but I can say that “Blood Ties” fails in many ways while attempting to emulate other senior crime films, and my disappointment grew minute by minute during my viewing. I later learned that the movie was 17 minutes longer when it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in last year, but this bad film is already too long.