Jack, James and Lana

It's the 8th of February and I realise I'm a bad Jack Lemmon fan. I've never seen him in a bad performance, but I've not seen enough of his work - hopefully I can ammend that this year since I need to see his Oscar winning turn in Mister Roberts. Still, today is the birthday of this solidified star and if I have time after my exams I'll celebrate by watching one of the greatest cinematic performances of the 60s. 

If you could only watch one of his films today...which would it be? Or will you be seeing Peyton Place and Rebel Without A Cause celebrating Lana Turner and James Dean?

A Serious Man: Review

I have always been puzzled by the Coen brothers' films. Sometimes they come out with some great stuff like O Brother, Where Art thou?, Fargo and Burn After Reading. And sometimes they come up with some really weird shit that people mistake for brilliant masterpieces like Raising Arizona and No Country For Old Men.

 

Their latest film A Serious Man is one of the 10 nominees for Best Picture at the Oscars and it is one of the weirdest ones the Coen brothers have done yet. But this time, it's one of the weird ones that I'm actually able to understand. And it is quiet a fantastic movie once you are able to get what they are trying to do.

 

So A Serious Man is about Larry Gopnik, a man who had a relatively good life with his Yiddish family living in America in the 1960's. The film examines his life as it begins a downward spiral almost out of nowhere. Suddenly his wife wants to leave him for his neighbor, he finds out his daughter has been stealing money from him to save for a nose job, his son is a marijuana junkie, his brother who has been living with him is a wanted fugitive, he is being sued for not accepting a bribe from a kiasu Asian student and will be sued if he does accept it, and the Education Board is deciding not to grant him tenure.

 

So basically his quiet charmed life goes from sweet to shit in a matter of days. But Larry perseveres and tried to seek out the council of Rabbi Marshak, a spiritual leader to help him find the answers to all his problems.

 

The cast of A Serious Man comprises of mostly Braodway actors which was really great to see. Michael Stuhlbarg was fantastic as Larry Gopnick. Most of the time I watched this movie just to see if his character is going to go crazy or explode what with all the shit everyone is putting him through. Yeah I felt sorry for him but at the same time it's kinda cool looking at how much problems a person can take before finally losing it.

And my God the entire cast were ugly people. Seriously, these are by far the ugliest group of actors I have ever seen assembled in one film. But in terms of the character development for each of them, the Coen brothers did write a fantastic script that's is really funny but incredibly random for the most part.

But there was Amy Landecker who plays Larry's sexy next door neighbor. Damn I could stare into those eyes for hours hahahaha. She played her character in a really one note way with a very monotonous voice. But it was the deep sassy kind of monotonous voice, you know what I mean?

The premise around A Serious Man is very complicated. There were a lot of things that was going on that made no sense. For one, the opening 10 minutes of the film had absolutely nothing related the overall story. And I was left guessing a lot what the point of the movie was even after the credits ended. But when I started to think about it.. the Jewish themes, the problems Larry faced throughout the movie.. it finally snapped in me!

A Serious Man is a modern adaptation of the story of Job from the Old Testament of The Bible. It tells of a man who had a good life and honored God. But Satan made a bet with God that Job wouldn't appreciate him anymore if he didn't have the good life that he had. So God made job's life hell to prove Satan wrong. All over this film, it had references to various stories from the Bible. Larry Gopnik's shitty life- The trials of Job. The bribe from the Asian student- The temptation of Christ. And there is another scene where Larry watches his neighbor sunbath naked which was a throwback to David and Bathsheba.

I'm not spoiling anything about the movie really. Maybe you'll understand it better now that you know what this film was based on. I still have some trouble figuring out the final moment of the film though and how it related to the stories in the Bible. If you've seen it, could you explain it to me please??

RATING: 7/10

I Can’t Make Review This Movie

I resent the current state of affairs that made me wary about seeing Nine. Sure, I’m not one to quake and  I do often go against the crowd – just see my reviews of The Lovely Bones and Up in the Air and you’ll get the picture. It’s probably because 8½ was everyone’s drawing board for reviewing Nine, one of those timeless classic – yadda, yadda ya. Truthfully I’m not too fond of 8½. Granted, I’ve seen it once but other than a lovely Anouk Aimee I wasn’t too invested. Then there’s the fact that other than the visual parallels (which are admittedly milked too much) I never thought Nine was an adaptation of 8½ anyways. It’s like criticising West Side Story for not being faithful to Romeo & Juliet. It isn’t. It’s based on a Broadway play in turn inspired by Romeo & Juliet. The same goes for Nine. But I don’t want to start this out as a defence. I’m too prone to rebuttal and we can’t all like the same things – still, this was putting me in a bit of a quandary. I’m  experiencing the critical version of Guido I suppose, I’m suffering from a block. So – instead of a review - a list!

                   

I WORSHIPPED – the music. Naturally. I like Maury Yeston, he’s a poor man’s Stephen Sondheim , yes, and Nine is his piece de resistance. It’s a shame that some of my favourites were cut but each of the ten songs is beautiful to me. Even "Folies Bergeres" which always irritated me from the Broadway Cast sounds lovely here.                 

I ADORED – Carla and Luisa and Claudia. They’re the three women most important and I suppose each is perfectly cast. Certainly Marion Cotillard is the best, but Penelope is not  that far behind. She’s no worse than the company she keeps in that Oscar nominated batch, I only hope StinkyLulu has a space for me in his smackdown so I can salvage the imminent 2s and 3s she’ll be getting. Claudia was never a big role, but don’t tell Nicole that – she plays it like a lead, and that’s what any Diva does. She sings "Unusual Way" in an alto which is more haunting that Laura Benanti’s mellifluous soprano.

                       

I LOVED – "Be Italian". I’m glad they took out the line "Be Italian" you rapscallion and vocally Fergie is the best Saraghina I’ve heard and she’s easy on the eyes.

             

I GREATLY APPRECIATED – all things technical. Lighting, cinematography, costumes, hair and makeup and set design were all splendid.

           

I LIKED VERY VERY MUCH – Judi and Daniel. I’m probably alone on both counts. "Guido’s Song" just may be my favourite number and I just love how Daniel enunciates his words. When he sings "I Can’t Make This Movie" I wondered how anyone could doubt him… and Judi, darling Lilli Judi is great, as per usual. People recognise Streep isn’t doing her best work but love her nevertheless. It’s a shame the same can’t be said for Judi. She’s awesome, I like her French.

                             

I LIKED (with slight reservations) – Sophia and Kate. I like "Cinema Italiano", so I won’t go there. Stephanie is superfluous, but I can see what they were aiming at. Sophia just has to look majestic and Italian, and of course she does. I would have preferred if she’d actually song the song "Nine", but "Guarda La Luna" is a pretty number.

               

I DISLIKED – the cutting of "Simple". I know, songs will be cut (see above) but Carla needed an emotional number, it’s a pity they wanted to turn her into comic relief only.

                       

I DID NOT APPRECIATE – the story. The runtime is standard for a film, but it all flies by and so much more could have been addressed. The subplot of Guido’s childhood could have been explored so much more and though “The Bells of St. Sebastian” is not my favourite number it is necessary, though I suppose it is more of a “stage” number.

I UNDERSTOOD (but did not love) – Marshall’s approach. It’s not just Chicago redux, you can’t sing a number like "Folies Bergeres" in real time, it’s obviously fantastical. His attempts at making Nine a literal world of Guido is obvious, but more could have been done to focus on his indecisivenes and his growth as a man - sans women.

                    

I’m alone for the most part, but what’s new? Nine is imperfect, but it is inspired. I’m waiting for Marshall’s next musical since this is not the film from Hell that it’s been touted as and though he needs to bring all his talents together I know he can make something excellent in the future. His problem is not that he's a bad director, his problem is that he doesn't know to combine his talents. My prayers are with him, I hope the backlash doesn’t destroy his career.

B+
            
PS. Don't forget to play the GAME.

The Game

I’m throwing out a game of sorts for all you readers to participate in. I’m that playful (or so I say) but I like games. I was thinking what would be an appropriate prize. Posting prices are exorbitant (and I don’t have anything worthy to give) – but I decided on a prize (which is more of a task). Whoever wins will have the (dubious) honour of writing the first guest post on Encore’s World of Film & TV. No rules on the guest post – just something cinematic or television inspired. So here’s the task. The eight women below have something in common: three things actually, so it can be surmised in one sentence. So guess what is, and whoever’s closest to the answer (and guesses first) wins. Since sending emails can be a bitch, just comment below (so for the next few days all comments will be moderated). You have until Wednesday. Good luck.

 

Anne Bancroft

Ingrid Bergman

Bette Davis

Greer Garson

Viven Leigh

Anna Magnani

Ginger Rogers

Simone Signoret

             

It’s freakishly simple while being infuriatingly difficult…so ummm, good luck.

Two New Teaser Posters from The Last Airbender

Two new teaser posters of the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender has hit the net! The two posters feature Noah Ringer as Aang and Dev Pate; of Slumdog Millionaire as Prince Zuko. Check it out!

Now I'm still incredibly bummed out that Shyamalan took a great cartoon series where all it's characters were Asian and populated the cast with white kids. And Dev Patel is Indian, his character is a bad ass Bruce Lee Chinese kid.

But I am a big fan of Shyamalan which could be the only reason why this film just might work. The Last Airbender is coming out this July.

2009 in Review: Voicework (Females)

I'm biding time for the big awards beginning with some smaller pieces, so I hope this will salvage the situation while you wait for next week. Here are the nominees.

Who were the (female) voices that impressed you last year?

2009 in Review: Forgotten Characters

Some films always end up becoming forgotten when we look back on the year and having a small role in a forgotten film is a thankless job. Yet, some are able to make it work: not quite to their advantage, but they do their task nobly like:

        

Mare Winningham in Brothers

As Elsie Cahill

         

The scene I remember Mare in most is when Tommy finds out about Sam’s death and he goes over to his parents house. One can only imagine how Mare is grieving but yet she’s there for her son to comfort him. It’s an important moment to help us realise the type of woman she is – selfless. She remains on the sidelines for much of the film. She watches and tries to help Grace persevere; she tries to temper her husband’s resentment of Tommy all the while ignoring her own pain. It’s like the first dinner scene when Sam Shepherd pushes Tommy’s button – she’s obviously a woman turn and I love how she gives her character little tics like that wry look as she gets up to go after him. Then, the second dinner scene – she seems to know before anyone else that trouble is imminent. She plays the mother role well and it is a bit nondescript, she doesn’t exactly stretch her legs – but I like Mare’s performance here. It’s subtle but never bland, and it’s a testimony to her talent that she makes this character real. It probably will be forgotten soon, but not my by me.

              
Did you venture to see Brothers? Can you remember Mare?

Previously: Matthew Beard in An Education