From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses

My husband suggested we watch the German documentary film, From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses, on streaming Netflix. I didn’t need much convincing, as I’m sure you are aware I love all things cinema. This film by Rudiger Suchsland won best film at the Venice Film Festival in 2014.

Back when I was getting my undergraduate degree, I took an elective class in history. The theme was film as history, and we viewed several films and discussed whether the movie reflected the times it was made in, how factual it was, or if instead it projected the hopes and fears of America into the plot.

This English subtitled documentary reminded me of that class I took many years ago. Film was in its infancy coming out of World War I, and was still of the silent film genre. I wondered how those films shaped or reflected the society they were made in. German filmmakers were an experimental lot, and I had heard of some of the directors, Fritz Lang the most prominent. Some of the films I had heard of that are now deemed classics, were discussed in this documentary, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis the most well known.

The populace during this time period (1918-1933) didn’t know another World War would be on its way. They were happy, hopeful, carefree and unrestrained following the end of World War I, the war to end all wars. It was a time of social and cultural upheaval that seemed to parallel the roaring 20’s in America.

Brewing on the horizon is the dictatorship of Hitler. The film historians who are interviewed key in on the social climate of the times to explain the nature of the films that were being produced. The films were controversial even then, and when Hitler started to come into power, many actors and filmmakers were essentially exiled, leaving the country for their own safety. Hitler couldn’t very well have filmmakers exercising the freedom of expression they had been used to, and censorship was their fate.

I was surprised to see that Billy Wilder, beloved screenwriter in America, was a European of Jewish descent and had worked in the film industry in Germany. I understood once I heard about all the directors, actors and screenwriters who relocated to Hollywood when the political atmosphere became threatening. (See my previous review for the classic Billy Wilder film, Sabrina.) The exodus of these stars and creators of the German cinema to Hollywood are a lasting gift to American film lovers.

It is interesting to reflect that not that many years later, after World War II, with the Cold War and the alleged Communist threat looming, Hollywood screenwriters were blacklisted for their political beliefs, even jailed. The censorship continued on with McCarthyism, in the wave of paranoia and fear that swept the country.

I highly recommend From Caligari to Hitler if you are the least bit interested in the history of film.

Sabrina (1954)

The classic Billy Wilder film Sabrina appeared on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) while I was at my sister’s house on a rainy evening. I had seen the movie in the past, and was quickly drawn into the story once again. A bonus was that there were no commercials on TCM during the film. It stars the lovely Audrey Hepburn, Hollywood star Humphrey Bogart, and bad boy William Holden.

Sabrina is a rags to riches kind of tale from 1954, predating, or perhaps foreshadowing, the ever-popular Pretty Woman  (1990) kind of Cinderella story. But Sabrina is not a hooker like Julia Roberts character Vivian. Sabrina Fairchild is instead, the daughter of a rich family’s chauffeur in a time when the working class did not associate with the much wealthier family they served.

David Larrabee (William Holden) is a playboy kind of guy who barely works in his family’s business, and is much more interested in charming the giggling spoiled young girls who frequent their parties and clubs. Linus (Humphrey Bogart) is his responsible older brother who effectively holds the family fortunes together in his controlling and workaholic manner.

Sabrina has had a crush on David since she was a small girl. She is sent away to Paris in an effort it seems to both get her over him and to learn a trade. But when she returns as a sophisticated young woman, whom Audrey Hepburn played so well, David zeros in on her.

This disrupts the family, and Linus sets about seeing that David and Sabrina are kept apart. What happens during his efforts to occupy Sabrina’s time is not wholly unexpected.

The film won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for a Black-and-White film for Edith Head. She won eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design during her illustrious career, for everything from Roman Holiday to The Sting. If you like fashion, you’ll really enjoy the elegance of the gowns and really anything Audrey is wearing on her impossibly skinny frame. Sabrina won Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes for Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman. Billy Wilder is known by movie buffs as being the award winning director and screenwriter for such films as The Lost Weekend, Sunset Blvd., and The Apartment. Billy Wilder has here written a flawless screenplay romance that I appreciated very much.

I never thought Humphrey Bogart was all that handsome of a leading man, but apparently he was quite the Hollywood star in his time. After all, Lauren Bacall fell for him head over heels. He is charming, as is William Holden. I recognized Nancy Kulp (Jane Hathaway in The Beverly Hillbillies) who had a small role as a maid.

Many years later, in 1995, the film was remade and I intend to watch it again and review it on these pages. It stars Julia Ormond as Sabrina, Harrison Ford as the responsible brother, and Greg Kinnear as the charming younger brother. Until then, you may want to find the original romantic comedy of Sabrina for yourself.

I'll See You in My Dreams

I first became aware of this lovely film, I’ll See You in My Dreams, online through Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a source of crowd funding, where an individual posts the purpose and intention of their project, and then asks for donations, sometimes even as small as $1.00 to help the project along. The contributors each receive a gift for giving a donation, usually graded by how much they donate.

I gave a small donation to this worthwhile filmmaking project. For more about Kickstarter, click here:  Kickstarter 

I’ll See You in My Dreams needed some seed money to happen, and I saw that as a worthy cause. To my surprise it stars some fairly well known actors, including Blythe Danner and Sam Elliott, with supporting roles by Mary Kay Place, June Squibb and Rhea Perlman. It is rated PG-13 for sexual material, drug use, and brief strong language.

I was pleased by the excellent screenwriting of Brett Haley. The story is realistic, and is about an older woman, Carol Petersen (Blythe Danner), a widow of 20 years with one daughter living in another state. Her female friends all live in a retirement community nearby, whereas she has held onto her home and lives there with her dog.

She meets two very different men, Lloyd (Martin Starr), the man who cleans her pool, who is much younger than her, but it turns out they have a lot of interests in common. The other is the smooth and older Bill (Sam Elliott), more her age, who proceeds to sweep her off her feet.

Blythe Danner gives a wonderful performance. She has a fabulous singing voice. Often she delivered her lines without saying a word. Sometimes allowing the actors to convey just by their body language and the expressions on their faces is so much better than heavy dialogue. Brett Haley made a good choice with his writing in that regard.

I really liked this story. It was engaging and kept me smiling for a long time as the characters were introduced and we got to know them better. The film touches on the issues of older people, particularly women. Those decisions Carol is encouraged to make, moving to a retirement community or living on her own, are not easy ones. Is there more for her than playing bridge and golfing? You’ll have to watch to find out.

I also found it refreshing to see the relationship between Carol and Lloyd develop. We all need friends and Carol is at a stage in her life where friends are more important than ever.

The reality of life for women, whether widowed or divorced in their later years, is honestly depicted in this film, and especially poignant. I think that no matter what age you are, you’d find something in this movie to be inspired and touched by. It addresses the need for companionship, an outlet for talents lying dormant, and the search for meaning in one’s life. I highly recommend I’ll See You in My Dreams.

Into the Wild

I’d wanted to watch Into the Wild for quite some time, and had forgotten it was based on a true story. Sean Penn wrote the screenplay and directed this mesmerizing feature from 2007. It is rated R for language and some nudity.

In 1990, Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) graduates from college and takes off on a solo journey across the United States, rejecting completely his upper class parents (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden). The story is told through the eyes of his sister, and from his own journal entries writing of his travels. His ultimate goal is to go to Alaska and survive off the land. Alex Supertramp, the name he gives himself after he rejects his former identity, has little need for money. A couple of odd jobs doing hard physical labor please him more than any desk job ever could, one of which is for Wayne Westerberg (Vince Vaughn) who becomes his friend.

His family meanwhile is filled with sorrow at what appears to be his disappearance. Alex, however, knows exactly where he is. He is a thoughtful, deep, spiritual person who reads the likes of Thoreau, Tolstoy and Doctor Zhivago while living the solitary life.

He meets other free spirits along the way, and gives to them just as much as they give to him in return. By this I mean emotionally, a connection of love and genuine caring for each other. Jan Burres (Catherine Keener) and Tracy Tatro (Kristen Stewart) are two in the hippy camp he grows close to, and he becomes friends with an older man, Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook). The relationship between Jan and Alex is like the one neither had with their own son and mother respectively, and a deep father and son respect develop between Ron and Alex as well.

I seem to gravitate toward films depicting real life journeys, the stories of people who set out on their own, shunning civilization and the society that feels like a trap, a prison to be freed from by living in the natural world.

My husband commented that if Alex had not had the resources of a wealthier family, he would not have taken the risks involved in rejecting society and the 9-5 kind of life. I don’t know if I totally agree with that. If you have it in your blood to explore, walk, travel, you just do it. Cheryl Strayed in Wild and Robyn Davidson in Tracks set out on their treks with very few financial resources available to them.

The film’s cinematography is exquisite and visually appealing. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the story is put together; going back and forth in time to what preceded Alex’s arrival in Alaska where he is truly alone.

I recommend this film, especially if you are a reader and enjoy beautiful prose. There are many quotes throughout the film from the authors that Alex is reading, and it simply adds to the beautiful story of one man’s quest to be authentic and real.

Jason Bourne

The long awaited installment in the Bourne series is in theaters now. I eagerly went to see it, and was not disappointed. Jason Bourne is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and brief strong language.

Nicky (Julia Stiles) has hacked into a database with records from the covert training programs dating back to Treadstone. She finds Jason (Matt Damon) in Greece during protests that occurred there, with chaos reigning between protestors and military. With this as their backdrop, they meet and flee, with the man simply known as Asset (Vincent Cassel) in pursuit with orders to eliminate them. So begins the first over the top chase scene in this film.

At the CIA, Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) presides over the hunt for Jason and Nicky with the help of an up and coming agent, Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander). Heather is ambitious, with the smarts to get her up the career ladder, but is also vulnerable to the ulterior motives of Director Dewey.

Jason eventually arrives in London where he is attempting to meet with his original recruiter to Treadstone. The CIA cannot leave Jason alone and again sends the Asset after him.

Meanwhile, a big platform for an Internet company is being launched by Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed). This is the part of the film that draws us into the moral dilemma of our time. How much personal privacy must be sacrificed in the name of public safety? The last film with Jason came out in 2007. Information technology has skyrocketed in sophistication since then. Just how vulnerable is the average citizen to being monitored? Aaron states that privacy equals freedom, and he argues that it is a right to be maintained.

The social media atmosphere is central, everyone taking photos with their cell phones and filming everything that’s going on around them. Especially at the big conference in Las Vegas where Director Dewey and Aaron are both featured. It all comes down to that showdown, and the chase scenes that are in Vegas should definitely be left in Vegas, and only on the screen.

After the film, I overheard people talking about how those scenes were so over the top, dozens of innocent people getting in the way of the Asset and Jason trying to destroy each other, that if this were reality, those innocent citizens would all be dead. It is so unrealistic, exciting, yes, but I truly hope no one ever gets in the middle of a high-speed chase in real life. A comment was made that Americans seem to need to be stimulated, overly stimulated, with constant action. Those chase scenes feed that need apparently.

If there is another Bourne film, I hope it delves deeper into the story of Jason with a bit less flash and crazy adrenaline producing segments. This is a good storyline. Everyone in the theater was cheering for Jason, so expertly played by Matt Damon. I highly recommend you go to the theater to see it.

The Bourne Legacy

Some fans were skeptical about the fourth film in the Bourne series, The Bourne Legacy, as it didn’t feature Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Instead it starred Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross, another in a line of men recruited into the clandestine program that began with Jason. The Bourne Legacy is rated PG-13 for violence and action sequences.

The program called Outcome has evolved into biological engineering to create men with exceptional skills. Aaron is in training in the frigid wilds of the Arctic when he realizes he needs more of the pills he is being given as part of the program. When a drone attempts to kill him, he makes his way back to Virginia to the clinic that has always provided him with the drugs.

Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) is a physician dedicated to science, and when a coworker goes ballistic, she is drawn into the chaos. Aaron finds her and the two flee together, being tracked and pursued by the usual types of characters. Eric Byer (Edward Norton) wants to find both of them as they are attempting to shut down the operation by killing anyone who knows about it.

Aaron is a bit different from Bourne in that he has come to rely on the drug to sustain his superior physical and intellectual powers. Bourne was the first and they didn’t give him the pills. His intelligence would then appear to be innate. References are made to Bourne in this film, and Aaron becomes aware of his existence while holed up in a cabin in the woods with another operative. Aaron’s curiosity serves him well; always asking questions, he sets a good example in questioning authority.

Marta shows herself to be a compassionate woman, ultimately helping Aaron get the care he needs to thrive once again. Their globetrotting is exciting to watch, and the fight scenes and hot pursuit up and down narrow alleyways in Manila and on the streets leading to the sea are phenomenal.

I found it disturbing to watch Aaron and Marta referred to as targets, and equally disturbing to hear an assassin referred to as an asset. When someone dehumanizes, it is easier to kill, and that’s part of the training in the program.

Biological engineering is not some science fiction idea; it’s now reality what with GMOs and manipulation of genomes becoming all too commonplace. Tracking and surveillance of citizens is chilling to watch and again a reality. That’s why strong safeguards must be in place to protect average people.

Who knows what the military does to those select few who join elite forces. Do you really think that Navy Seals or other soldiers are just exceptional? With athletes taking steroids and other drugs to improve performance, I wouldn’t doubt that soldiers are given those types of drugs too, as a common practice.

I highly recommend this fourth Bourne film. Matt Damon as Jason Bourne will be back tomorrow! And I’ll be back in a couple of days with my review of it.

The Bourne Ultimatum

Jason is back, and the bad guys are after him in The Bourne Ultimatum. He discovers that an investigative journalist, Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), has uncovered the story of him and Marie. This is very unsettling to him and he seeks out the man in London to find out who his source for the story was.

The NSA is hunting for this journalist due to his asking around about the covert operation Blackbriar. Jason is soon involved in the cat and mouse chase, which globe trots us from London to Morocco and finally to New York City.

Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) with the CIA is asked to head up the search for Jason since she knows something of his movements, and what he’s likely to do. She is a skilled leader, and doesn’t ever give up on Jason. Jason is always one step ahead of the corrupt leaders who long to capture him and silence him forever.

Noah Vosen (Michael Strathairn) is an NSA chief intent on destroying anyone that gets in the way of keeping Blackbriar secret.  Since this film was released in 2007, it has some establishing scenes close to the beginning so as to remind us of what Jason has been going through. It also would make it easier if you happened upon this film without having seen the first two. A wise choice.

Jason is having troubling flashbacks about his initiation into the world of espionage and assassination. It’s troubling to the viewer also as he is essentially tortured until his mind breaks and he becomes the soldier they envisioned. Jason was the first it is proclaimed.

Jason runs into Nicky (Julia Stiles) while in Madrid and she soon reveals her soft spot for Jason, every bit of the accomplice that Marie was, minus Jason’s love that seems to be only for Marie.

The requisite car chases and a really stunning pursuit on foot in the alleyways and buildings of Morocco involving Nicky, Jason and an assassin really take center stage for what seems like an eternity. That any of them could realistically do what these scenes depict is of course incredible; suspension of disbelief required. Jason certainly is capable of everything from hot-wiring a vehicle to using technology to his advantage. He must have a really high IQ.

Jason truly is regaining who he is, a man of conscience and someone who works for no one, only himself and what he believes to be good and right. This was a great third Bourne movie, and we are left wondering what Jason will do next.

This film won Academy Awards for Best Achievements in film editing, sound mixing, and sound editing, all well deserved. It is rated PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action.

The following Bourne film did not feature Matt Damon as Jason, but brought us into the life of another trainee, played by Jeremy Renner. Come back tomorrow for a glimpse of the film that follows in the footsteps of Jason Bourne.

The Bourne Supremacy

The second Jason Bourne movie, The Bourne Supremacy, came out in 2004. This is a good sequel with Jason (Matt Damon) still being pursued by Treadstone, or what remains of it. The film is rated PG-13 for violence and intense action and for brief language.

Jason and Marie (Franka Potente) have been on the run, most recently settling in Goa, India. A great thing about these films is the ground covered, literally, as we go continent hopping with Jason.

Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) is a higher level CIA staff who stumbles across Bourne’s existence and ruffles feathers at Langley when she insists on seeing classified information about Treadstone and Jason.

Jason is not one to be underestimated, as Nicky (Julia Stiles) warns the team of CIA operatives. Jason is fed up with being pursued and targeted for assassination, and is always one step ahead of those pursuing him.

Jason still struggles with headaches and his amnesia, while staying in shape and being aware of his surroundings. He is plagued by flashbacks of things that have happened in his past, dark secrets he almost doesn’t want to uncover. Is he really this cold blooded killer inside, coexisting with the man who loves Marie so completely, the man who can fight with trained assassins and win, the man who won’t pull the trigger, who has a conscience?

Jason is anything but simple. He is a complicated man trying to find his way, protecting himself and Marie as best he can, trying to find the way out from under government surveillance.

Pamela is a sharp woman, stopping at nothing to solve this mystery. She seems to respect Jason ultimately, just as Nicky does. What Jason does at the end of the film is touching and shows the true nature of the man inside, the part of him that couldn’t be shaped and molded by the military.

This is another good Bourne episode, one with the requisite action packed fighting sequences and high speed chases that one has come to expect from films with espionage and intrigue. They are just over the top crazy sequences; almost makes Jason seem superhuman at times. But that’s entertainment for you.

Why I keep watching this is because Jason is a complicated character, human, someone who has been used by the military with no regard for his own life or for human life. It’s a theme that is relevant today when soldiers are used and then sent home damaged, unable to function in society, depressed, suicidal, with PTSD and a lot to deal with. The average soldier though is not the almost superhuman Jason Bourne and has no resources to deal with the damage that’s been inflicted on him.

So there’s my plea for funding of programs for returning veterans. If they’re going to be used that way for the purposes of empire and the selfish wants of global corporations, the least we can do as fellow citizens is help them return and heal.

Stay tuned for the next Bourne review.

The Bourne Identity

Many years ago, I read a couple of novels by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity being one of them. I never forgot about this excellent story. It was a good read, so when the film came out in 2002, I was excited to be seeing it. Especially as it starred Matt Damon, one of my favorite actors.

The Bourne Identity does not disappoint. I decided to watch it again on DVD, as I heard a new Bourne movie would be coming out July 29^th. So as a treat to myself and to you my reader, I am going to be reviewing all four Bourne movies prior to the new release.

I enjoyed this first film as much as I did when it first came out. Technology no doubt has advanced a bit since then, but any outdated parts to the script don’t at all detract from the story.

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) finds himself wounded aboard a fishing vessel off the coast of France. He has no memory of who he is. So begins his quest. As he finds the clues to what he’s been doing, he discovers hidden instinctual skills and talents. Jason is intelligent, rational, and physically skilled, with his body a trained weapon.

He encounters Marie (Franka Potente) in Switzerland and pays her to give him a ride to Paris. This is another thing that I liked about this film. The travel through Europe is shown to us as it is to Jason. Once in Paris, Jason finds not just himself, but Marie, has been placed in danger. After her initial shell shock, she becomes a willing accomplice in Jason’s quest to find himself and to end the hunt for him that unknown attackers seem bent on.

I won’t say anything more, as you should see this film or watch it again. It sets the stage for all the subsequent films. The Bourne films never skimp on action sequences, whether it’s hand-to-hand combat, car chases or simply drawing out the suspense.

There is one particularly quiet moment between Jason and Marie when they are at the Hotel de la Paix in Paris. Watch for it. Beautifully filmed, it is their own place of peace for a brief time in the frantic running from their pursuers.

The other thing that is not to be underrated is the deception of the government in how Bourne is set up. This is not a film that champions the CIA, quite the contrary. Government clandestine affairs are the bad guy. You figure this out very early on. Operatives include Conklin (Chris Cooper), Nicolette “Nicky” (Julia Stiles), with Clive Owen as an assassin.

The film is rated PG-13 for violence and some language. Matt Damon didn’t have long after his early Academy Award win for Good Will Hunting before he hit pay dirt in this franchise. Extremely capable and believable as Jason Bourne, he wins us over with his earnestness, and especially for the sensitivity he shows Marie.

Living is Easy with Eyes Closed

Any fan of John Lennon will embrace this unassuming little film from 2013, Living is Easy with Eyes Closed. I happened upon it by chance, looking for some light entertainment one evening. It turned out to be a Spanish film, taking place in southern Spain in 1966, when John Lennon was there filming How I Won the War. The film is said to be inspired by a true story. David Trueba wrote the screenplay and directed this engaging movie. It is not rated, although I’d place it at about PG-13 content.

The story involves three people: A school teacher obsessed with the Beatles and John Lennon in particular; a young lady fleeing her residence at a girls’ home; and a boy escaping his family, hitchhiking to nowhere in particular it seems.

Antonio (Javier Camara) teaches English to schoolboys by way of Beatles' poetry, and borrows a car to make the trip to Almeria on his quest to actually meet John Lennon while he is there filming.

He picks up first Belen (Natalia de Molina) at a gas station, and then Juanjo (Francesc Colomer) joins the two, thus beginning this road trip. It was fascinating to see Spain depicted during the 60’s, the barren hills leading down to the sea, the landscape of the coastal town, the simple life of the townspeople. The story pulled me along, just as enchanting to me as the poetry of John Lennon still is.

Belen is mature for her age, and yet so vulnerable. Juanjo is just learning to assert himself and has challenges to overcome, as the world then was as full of bullies as it is today. He wants to copy the Beatles’ hairstyles just like the boys in America did. Music was everything in the 60’s, and the musicians our role models for peace and love.

Antonio wants the lyrics printed on the Beatles' albums so he can better teach English to his students, and wishes to speak to John about this. He basically stalks him on the movie set. Meanwhile, the two young people must make decisions about their life direction, something that Antonio ostensibly helps them do.

There have been other films inspired by alleged encounters with famous people, and this one fascinates just as much. Pat Metheny composed the pleasing acoustic score and Charlie Haden is another featured composer.

This Spanish movie has the feel of an independent film, something I discussed in my last post on Frances Ha. You might classify it as an art house film, something I will blog about in a future post. You get both a foreign, and an independent film if you watch this one (unless of course you live in Spain).

Please feel free to comment on any of my blog posts. I know I have readers, the stats show it, and so I encourage some dialogue. If you have any films or genres you’d like to suggest, do that too. Until next time, here is the trailer for the enchanting film Living is Easy with Eyes Closed.

Frances Ha

Frances Ha is a black and white indie film from 2012. I had heard about it when Greta Gerwig, who plays the main character of Frances, was nominated for Best Actress at the Golden Globes. Although she lost to Amy Adams for American Hustle that year, I remembered how intrigued I was by the trailer about a young woman looking to make it as a dancer in New York City. I enjoy all things dance, so when it came to streaming Netflix, I decided that now was the time to watch.

Frances (Greta Gerwig) lives with her BFF Sophie (Mickey Sumner) in New York City. Frances is struggling. With finances, relationships, with her dance career. Not quite as talented as, for example, Rachel (Grace Gummer), another dancer in her company, Frances is passed over and not given the roles in significant productions that she used to dance. She is, however, a great teacher to little kids learning how to plie and pirouette in ballet class. She seems to have a knack for choreography as well.

Impulsive to a fault, she charges a very short trip to Paris, and finds herself without many resources available to her when she returns. She spends time with her family in Sacramento, a brief interlude I enjoyed. The scenes of her family celebrating at a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church were especially fun to watch as they are my chosen spiritual community, and I have never seen a UU church depicted on screen. I found it refreshing and a good fit with the character and her passions. (Greta was raised Unitarian Universalist, so that explains the inclusion of the affirming and uplifting scenes in church with her spiritual community.)

Adam Driver appears as Lev, one of Frances’ roommates, but other than Adam, I didn’t recognize anyone else in the ensemble cast. The story is all about Frances coming to terms with her strengths and weaknesses, making some choices, and ultimately coming through to a better place than she was when we met her at her first address.

The screenplay was written by director Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, whom I read are a couple. Noah and Greta developed a really engaging film in Frances Ha.

The film has a Woody Allen-ish feel to it due to the black and white cinematography, and the quickly fired dialogue, reminding me of Woody’s Manhattan. The dialogue was great, very witty, and natural at the same time. The story feels real, almost like it could be a documentary following the moves and travels of Frances as she attempts to navigate her life. 

I like indie films; they don’t subscribe to the Hollywood formulas as much, have more of a real feel to them, and often use up and coming talent. An indie film is simply original and creative story-telling by independent filmmakers. For a closer look at indie films, read this article: What exactly is an independent film? And then go spend 90 minutes or so with Frances Ha.

The Nanny Diaries

In search of some light entertainment, I hit upon The Nanny Diaries from back in 2007. The film stars Scarlett Johansson as a smart young woman taking some time off from her life post college to work as a nanny for a family in Manhattan.

I was intrigued by the opening, which featured scenes ostensibly taken from the American Museum of Natural History. Various life size dioramas show families throughout history. This sets the scene for a comedy right off the bat. Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) majored in anthropology, and sees this stint as a nanny as research, or at least that is how the movie progresses, her reflections as an anthropologist peppering the story line.

Mrs. X (Laura Linney) and Mr. X (Paul Giamatti) are a couple clearly not suited to each other. They have one son, Grayer (Nicholas Art), whom Annie quickly becomes attached to as she works day in and day out as his nanny. There is a little romance for Annie in the person of a young man referred to as Harvard Hottie (Chris Evans), who is a tenant in the building where Annie works.

Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, both former nannies, wrote the novel The Nanny Diaries that I have not read. It must be a scathing tale on the escapades of the very rich who farm out their kids to other people to raise.

I never could understand why a woman would choose to have a baby and then just turn it over to someone else to raise. Lots of cultures apparently do this, some out of necessity, as the mother needs to work outside the home for income, but others because they apparently have “better” things to do with their time than mind their own children.

Mrs. X is the latter, and it is not flattering. Paul Giamatti as her husband has nothing redeeming about him physically, or as husband material. The only one who seems to have it together is Annie. A caring, smart woman, who becomes so attached to Grayer that she cannot quit even when she finds that her life is no longer her own.

The Nanny Diaries reminded me of The Help in some ways. They are both peeks into two different cultures that give their children to others to be cared for. The Help was excellent in portraying the culture of African-American nannies caring for white children in the Deep South, who were probably even more taken for granted and underpaid than Annie appears to be.

I wonder about the book the screenplay was based on, and may look it up. I hope it is in the same format, kind of like a thesis on the phenomenon of child rearing among the upper class.

The film is rated PG-13 for language. And goes along with lots of comedy in between some really touching moments between Annie and Grayer. It’s a good film for some evening when you just want to relax, laugh, and not think about anything too serious.

Yes Man

Recently I watched Yes Man, a 2008 comedy starring Jim Carrey. I am a fan of Jim’s; I love the way he can screw up his face in so many truly bizarre ways. His antics always make me laugh. This film was no exception. Yes Man is rated PG-13 for crude sexual humor, language and brief nudity. Sometimes I don’t agree with the ratings, but I do for this one. It has adult content in it, but not enough to warrant an R rating.

Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is a depressed divorced guy who works as a loan officer in a bank. His friends, including Peter (Bradley Cooper), try to get him out of being in a funk, to no avail. Carl turns himself around though when he goes with a friend to a motivational lecture by a guru like teacher, Terrence (Terrence Stamp). Terrence publicly confronts Carl during his talk, and challenges him to say yes to everything presented to him. Carl begins to follow this directive. It got me thinking about another film of Jim’s, Liar Liar, where the main character cannot tell a lie. Both involve rigid ways of relating in the world, seemingly impossible to carry out.

But Carl keeps saying yes, and the results are surprising, kind of crazy (watch out for his neighbor lady), and ultimately results in his meeting the breath of springtime air he longs for in the free spirit of Allison (Zooey Deschanel). Their age difference is a bit much, 18 years to be exact (they share the same birthday), but somehow the love interest between them works. Allison is a singer in a funky band and has her own quirky way of approaching the world that Carl finds attractive.

Eventually, as might be expected, saying yes to everything without weighing the consequences can bring trouble, and it does. I really applaud the creativity of the screenwriters for their inventiveness in the situations that Carl finds himself in. I recommend this film. It kept me laughing all the way through.

I enjoyed seeing Zooey Deschanel in Yes Man, having seen her previously in Elf and in (500) Days of Summer. She is lovely, good at playing offbeat characters, and has a very nice singing voice.

Jim won two Best Actor Golden Globes for his performances in The Truman Show and Man on the Moon. I recall his acceptance speech for the second one where he commented that now he’s the Tom Hanks of the Golden Globes (Tom won two Oscars for best actor for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump).

My favorite Jim Carrey film, however, is The Majestic. If you haven’t seen it, you may be amazed at how good he is at playing it straight. His career is known for his physical comedy and outrageous faces, but in The Majestic, he shines as a fictional screenwriter in Hollywood during the McCarthy era. An inspiring, and touching film, I highly recommend it, along with the other films I mentioned in this review.

Room

Brie Larson was the best actress winner in the 2016 Academy Award race for her performance in Room.  She also won a Golden Globe, among other awards, for her greatly nuanced performance. Room was based on the best selling novel by Emma Donoghue. She also penned the screenplay.

I was a bit worried about what I’d have to endure in watching this film. It was rated R (turns out just for language), and I knew it was about a teen that was abducted, raped and gave birth to a son while in captivity. I also knew they had escaped. Other than that, I didn’t know much.

Thankfully, the gruesome details of what Joy (Brie Larson) endured when first kidnapped were not in the film. The perpetrator, referred to as Old Nick (Sean Bridgers), shows up briefly to give us hints about what Joy’s life was like during the seven or so years she was locked up in his shed, but the film focuses much more on Joy and her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay). Jack, now five years old, is old enough now that Joy believes they can successfully execute an escape. She sets into motion occurrences that ultimately lead to their release from captivity.

Once back in her childhood home, it’s not just mother and child that must adjust to the world, it’s also Joy’s parents (Joan Allen and William H. Macy) who have to come to terms with what happened to their little girl stolen from them at the age of 17. Joy and Jack get the therapy they need to recover, and her parents do better, and worse, with the sudden return of not just their daughter, but a grandson too. Not just any grandson, but one conceived by rape.

The chemistry between Brie and Jacob is great. I can’t imagine anyone else playing the inquisitive and brave Jack. The nuances of their relationship were believable, as was Joy’s meltdown after her escape. The strangeness of the world for Jack is artfully filmed, and their existence in a tin shed, how they interact and what they do daily, just serves to lay the groundwork for their eventual escape.

The media descended upon the two like the vultures they are, and I was reminded of the notorious instance of abduction and captivity of three young girls in Cleveland not that long ago. I wondered if the author got the idea for her fictional book from that incident. If so, she did a good job keeping the story focused on just enough details to let us see snippets of their life together in room, and then with Joy’s mother. Not too much detail, just enough to show us how they healed.

I recommend this film to anyone interested in the resiliency of the human spirit. Don’t worry about having to watch horrible scenes of abuse. This film instead focuses on the relationship between mother and child, the love that sustained them, and that sees them through to the other side of Room.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

It’s been a long time coming. Finally, a sequel to the ever-popular breakout film My Big Fat Greek Wedding written by Nia Vardalos. This film that came out in 2002 was a little sleeper that was not really expected to be a big money maker. Much to the delight I’m sure of the famous couple of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who were two of the producers of the film, it did very well, grossing over $222,000,000 by the end of the year it was released! Proving that a quality story and good actors can make a classic film for all time, and that word of mouth really works to draw people into the theater.

Nia Vardalos is a comedienne who wrote a great screenplay about her Greek family. Also starring in the film with Nia is easy on the eyes John Corbett (Northern Exposure, Sex and the City), and these two ended the first film in wedded bliss.

I like that Nia did not immediately do a sequel. She let time pass and developed a really great screenplay in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett) have a 17-year old daughter, Paris (Elena Kampouris), and she hates all things Greek, which is primarily her embarrassing extended family. She’s on the verge of leaving the nest empty for her parents when she goes away to college.

Meanwhile, Toula’s parents, played by Michael Constantine and Lainie Kazan, discover they were never officially married, and this causes much distress for them, leading to another wedding to be planned and executed. Lainie Kazan is perfect as Toula’s vibrant mother Maria, and her Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin) is back, never mincing words whether she’s advising Toula, Ian or Maria on the ways of love.

While the world may have changed in 17 years, some things about being Greek apparently never do. Is Gus really descended from Alexander the Great? Does everything in the modern world really stem from early beginnings in Greece?

We get to look in on Toula and Ian’s marriage as they navigate “middle-age” together. The sweet Ian remains tolerant of his Greek in-laws, as well as Toula’s over-protective focus on their daughter. There’s just enough memories and call backs to the first film to make it memorable all over again, although I think if you hadn’t seen the first, you’d still enjoy this film. It could stand very well on its own.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding II is rated PG-13 for some suggestive material. I thought it would be just another chick flick, but there was lots of laughter from the other people in the theater, and one man present was really guffawing. It is a feel good movie about the connections we make between family, spouses, and even friends. There should be more films made like this one.

I discovered that Nia Vardalos also co-wrote the screenplay for Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks, a cute little film you should check out if you haven’t already.

Purple Rain

Prince Rogers Nelson passed away on 4/21/16 at age 57, and I mourned along with the world. As therapy perhaps, I just had to watch Purple Rain again. Immediately after seeing it in the theater back in 1984, I bought the album, and later, after selling all my albums, I replaced it with a CD. Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain, will always be in my collection of music.

The film is rated R for sexuality, some nudity, language, and some violent content. The film is said to be quasi-biographical about Prince, who plays a musician named simply “The Kid”.

I liked Purple Rain then and I liked watching it now. I enjoyed seeing Prince perform again. His raw energy astounds me; the passion with which he delivers his songs is just intense. The era that the film was made was one of changing identities for men and women in the music scene. It is visually stunning in terms of sets and makeup. The story moves along fairly well too. A nice mix of intense drama and sometimes ridiculous comedy, often supplied by Morris Day and the Time, a rival band to Prince’s crew.

One of the film’s subplots deals with domestic violence. The Kid’s parents have an abusive relationship, and his father is played by Clarence Williams III of Mod Squad fame, who’s had a long career in film. The Kid’s father has broken dreams, never got a break in life where his creativity would be recognized, and when The Kid realizes this, it changes him. He has an awakening and transforms. It’s a very satisfying story in that sense.

Some criticisms of the film from other reviewers included that Apollonia and the girl group Morris Day set her up in were horrible. I agree that the song they performed, Sex Shooter, was awful. In fact, that song was nominated for a Razzie award for worst original song that year. But I would argue that Prince wrote it to be awful. (You’ll notice Sex Shooter is not on the Purple Rain CD, for good reason.)

Apollonia was selling herself short joining that little trio, and that horrible song fit in perfectly with the plot. As did all of his other exceptional songs in the film. If you look at what a good musical should project in its musical numbers, every song should tell a story and move the action along.

Prince received an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score, the last award given out in this category (no films have met the qualifications to even be nominated in the category since then).

Here is a link to the announcement of Prince’s win at the Academy Awards, and his brief acceptance speech with Wendy and Lisa accompanying him:  Prince accepts Academy Award

Watch Purple Rain again if you haven’t seen it in years, and if you’ve never seen it, watch it for the classic film it now is, and to see Prince’s musical genius. You will always be missed, Prince.

The Out-of-Towners

The Out-of-Towners is a remake of the 1970 Neil Simon comedy that originally starred Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis. This remake from 1999 stars Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn as two empty nesters searching for a way to redefine their relationship. The film is rated PG-13 for some sex and drug-related humor.

Henry and Nancy Clark (Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn) live in relatively small town Ohio, and are definitely not big city types. Their home now bereft of children, when Henry gets a job interview in New York City, Nancy follows him. Her presence leads from one comical situation to another as their trip to the Big Apple unravels.

Steve and Goldie are such fine comedic actors that there are many, many laugh out loud moments in this film. Plus, you get to see New York through their eyes as they experience it for better or worse. Some scenes are pure slapstick, and the film is timeless in that any empty nester could relate to the thoughts and feelings they’re having as they redefine their lives without their children.

At one point they stumble in on a group therapy meeting by accident, and none other than Cynthia Nixon, of Sex and the City fame, plays one of the group members. In her short time on screen, she plays the sultry, sexual woman that she embodied so well as Miranda Hobbs in SATC. I could see exactly why she was selected for one of the best HBO series of all time.

One of the reasons for enjoying this film so much is Steve Martin. He is one of my favorite comedians. His facial expressions are so expressive, his smile spreading like the Cheshire cat. He is especially funny when he accidently gets high, much to his wife’s chagrin. Goldie is beautiful and plays off of Steve’s shenanigans in her unique style. Goldie justifiably won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1969 for her role in Cactus Flower. And as for Steve Martin, his career achievements are just too many to list, but my personal favorite is All of Me with Lily Tomlin.

Goldie’s real life son, Oliver Hudson, has a small role playing the Clarks’ son Alan. John Cleese appears as Mr. Mersault, a pompous hotel manager I couldn’t see being played by anyone else.

Neil Simon has written an honest portrayal of a couple going through big changes and how overcoming adversity serves to bring them together again. The craziness that the couple encounters in their travels in NYC are nonstop, and I can only imagine what fun he had writing the screenplay. He is an accomplished and awarded writer, in television (The Odd Couple), on Broadway (Biloxi Blues) and in films (The Goodbye Girl), not to mention having won the Pulitzer Prize for Lost in Yonkers.  

I came across this film on streaming Netflix one night, and was glad we chose it. If you’re looking for a light, funny, classic comedy, this would be a good choice.