The Kids Are All Right

“The Kids Are All Right,” a recently released film directed by Lisa Cholodenko, explores what family really means and the relationships of a family as it is being torn apart. Lesbian partners Jules and Nic, played by Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, together for twenty-something years have two teenage children conceived from the same sperm donor. Their daughter, Joni (Mia Wasikowska), a recent high school graduate is persuaded by her younger brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson) to find out the identity of their biological father. After initial contact with sperm donor Paul (Mark Ruffalo), the children and Jules begin to find themselves drawing him further into their family, as Nic feels herself being pushed further and further away.

The most wonderful part of this movie comes from the feeling of reality that is created with the story and the characters. Julianne Moore and Annette Bening perfectly play the couple reaching mid-life, mid-marriage crisis, relatable to all audiences, gay or straight. We see the tediousness that can come with years of marriage, as well as the love and devotion. The movie embraces Moore and Bening’s age beautifully. Fifty and fifty-two respectively, these two are not young hot lesbians being sexualized; but aged (though definitely not old) women and there are no attemptsat hiding it. This makes the movie feel that much more real, as though you are looking at your own parents. The children also fall so perfectly into their roles. Mia Wasikowska, playing Joni, an 18-year-old girl just learning about the difference between life with parents and the independence of being an “adult” going to college, acts the exact same way I did when I graduated high school and realized that soon I was going to be able to do things the way I wanted to. And Josh Hutcherson, while looking a bit too old for 15, is the classic afterschool special learning about peer pressure and how to be true to yourself. As for Mark Ruffalo, it’s nice to see him in a role where he is used to his full potential. I seldom dislike him, but sometimes his characters seem to fade into the background whether or not it’s a lead role. But in this film he embraces a wide range of emotions and expressions that give his role a more memorable substance.

The humor of the film also helps keep it grounded in the real world. Lately most comedy seems to rely on over the top, out of control scenarios where we find ourselves laughing at the misfortunes of others. “The Kids” finds comedy in everyday occurrences, like a game of Scrabble or way kids look at their parents when they find them embarrassing. The audience feels as though they are sitting at the family’s dinner table too, sharing the character’s experiences.

As the movie progresses into the more emotional, family torn apart drama the audience acquires a very well-developed understanding of the way each relationship in the family works between each mother and the kids, Paul and the kids, Paul and the mothers and the kids themselves. No relationship is really left unexplored and this allows for well-rounded characters and allows the audience to understand how each person’s story plays out.

The film’s only shortcoming seemed to come from the very end (which is hard to discuss without spoilers). The ending seems too easy and abrupt, with the weight of the story shifting to another earlier tangent that didn’t seem as relevant. Everyone either seems to get exactly what they want or they are left standing in the dust, everything seems almost too resolved after such an emotional spiral.

As I was watching this movie, I found myself wondering if this was really the genre of movie I enjoyed. Should I give up my desire for senseless action movies and cult classic mind benders and just stick to stories that talk about real life? Do I really like movies where people sit around eating, drinking, discussing their feelings and sometimes crying about those feelings? And then I realized that no, I don’t really like those movies, but “The Kids Are All Right” is a delightful, humorous, and interesting look at life that seamlessly engulfs the audience in a movie where they feel somehow involved but can still sit just far enough back to realize they are enjoying the story of someone else’s life.

And here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FocusFeatures?v=RixlpHKfb6M&feature=pyv&ad=5892204796&kw=the%20kids%20alright

The Only Way to Watch Movies...

Going to the movies these days has become an absurd expenditure. Movies in Boston cost around $12 and even in my fairly small home town, in our four theater large cinema, movies are still $7. By the time you tack on the cost of the 3-D glasses (for the movie you didn't even want to see in 3-D), over buttered popcorn and drinks that are more ice than anything else, you are looking at a pretty expensive evening. So this local find is a rare treat...

This is the Water Street Market Summer Cinema. Originally Water Street Market was built to be a series of stores to showcase local business, food and art for the tourists. I always avoided it, thinking it was a tourist trap, a place real locals would never show their faces. But over the years it's developed its taste and become a very community oriented place, supporting numerous free events to provide culture, awareness and just downright fun to all the people of New Paltz. And now you can go and see a movie for free. Granted, there's no new releases, no air conditioning and no chairs with cup holders. But there are old classics (which are better anyway), free popcorn, excellent company and a nice summer night under the stars.

Having just gotten home from watching The Princess Bride there myself, the only recommendation I can give is to bring a cushion because yeah, sometimes the ground can be a little hard.

Somemore of the their line up for the summer includes:
Harvey (July 10th), North by Northwest (July 17th), The Maltese Falcon (July 24th) and 8 1/2 (July 31st). And that's just the weekends, they run movies on week nights as well, so it's worth it to give the full schedule a look here:
http://www.waterstreetmarket.com/events.htm#cinema

If your not in the area it's definitely worth it to take a look around your town or city for something like this. Many libraries have family movie nights and as long as you're not making money off it you could even try setting up something like it yourself (fairly hassle free).

Get Him To The Greek: No Mother, It’s Not a Movie About Frat Boys

Get Him To The Greek, the unexpected sort-of sequel to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, looked like the kind of comedy where most of the funny moments were just in the trailer. Written and directed by Nicholas Stoller (also the mind behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall) it seemed like it would be exactly the same as every other Apatow Production: humorous underdog(s) come up with harebrained scheme and must get to final destination, handling poor choices that put them further behind and in more trouble while dealing with lots of intoxication and sexcapades. To The Greek does follow these traditional outlines: music lover, Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) gets the job he always dreamed of, bringing his idol, washed up rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) from London to an anniversary concert at the Greek Theater in L.A. in three days. And you better believe Snow isn’t going to make it easy for him. So the plot line of the film was fairly predictable, but I found it to be much funnier than I expected.

The most unexpected humor in the movie came from Sean Combs who plays Green’s boss, Sergio Roma. His character is confident, in control and gets to take every other character down several pegs with his stone cold delivery. His scenes were the ones I found myself laughing at the hardest. As for Jonah Hill, I happen to have a personal dislike for him; his perpetually stoned looking eyes and loud awkward delivery don’t really get my funny bone. And in this movie he plays the same character he always does: awkward, loud and trying too hard to be the cool guy. But Hill and Brand play excellently off each other. Russell Brand and his character Aldous Snow are both loud, confident personalities, that have no trouble making total fools of themselves and still coming out looking totally unshaken. So watching the two characters, Green and Snow, play off each other is really quite funny and their classic juxtaposition is excellent. One thing that is confusing though is if we go back and look at Forgetting Sarah Marshall: both actors are in that movie as well, Brand once again playing Aldous Snow and Hill, an obsessed fan. But in the transition from that movie to this one, Hill’s original character seems to have been forgotten entirely. He is no where near as pathetic and needy, leading us to wonder, “where did that crazy stalker go?”

Another wonderful part of the movie is the musical numbers, for after all Snow is supposed to be a rock star, the music is fairly important. The funniest songs are written by Jason Segel (star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as they are just the most absurd. But Brand’s voice isn’t half bad, the tunes are catchy, and the lyrics are absolutely hilarious. It’s like one big joke on the rock music industry: it doesn’t really matter what you’re singing about, be it “Bangers, Beans & Mash” or “Inside of You”, it’s all about the performance.

While Get Him To The Greek has it’s moments and shows extensive humor and creativity in creating songs and music that’s downright hilarious it doesn’t seem like a comedy you see more than once. The jokes are funny the first time around but the humor doesn’t really seem to stick and didn't seem as funny or relatable as Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It’s funny and enjoyable but I’m not taking to the rooftops to scream of its comedic genius.

Trailer (though most of the scenes aren't even in the movie) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckQEFV4mwIo

Something Worth Looking Forward To...

Finally, director Sylvain Chomet is coming out with a new feature length animation. It's been seven years since The Triplets of Belleville and it's about time for a new one. In the mean time, Chomet was involved in the collaborative film, Paris , je t'aime and directed my favorite short film in the collection, Tour Eiffel. His new animation L'illusionniste has already released in Europe but isn't scheduled for release in the States until Christmas Day, which seems odd as Chomet's last feature film was gritty and gloomy, not too much holiday cheer there. While I'm not the greatest fan of his incredibly dark stories (though Tour Eiffel was surprisingly warm and delightful), the odd characters and splendid style and quality of animation look to be as good as last time.

The trailer is included in the link to the film's website, but it's all in French, so here's the English version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHVG1JmbU30

The Secret Of Kells

(Click on the image for higher resolution)

While technically The Secret of Kells was released quite a while ago, it is still circulating around theaters and has yet to make it to DVD (and won’t until October 5th), so it’s still fair game.

The Secret of Kells is a rich and lavishly animated film about a young boy, Brendan, growing up in the Abbey of Kells, during the ninth century. As the vikings are invading Ireland, Brendan’s uncle, Abbot Cellach is obsessed with building a wall around his abbey to protect the people. Brendan finds himself drawn to a new arrival at the abbey, Aidan of Iona, a master illuminator, and wishes to learn everything he can about the book and the things that exist outside his uncle’s wall. As Brendan struggles to learn about the true beauty and difficulty of illuminating he must overcome the many adversities that exist between him and the completion of the Book of Kells.

Obviously the first thing to talk about, and the sheer strength of the work, comes from the animation. While the characters are very simple and not too different from what you might see on Cartoon Network, the backgrounds are extraordinary. From the moment the movie starts you find yourself entirely absorbed in the mesmerizing, colorful and excruciatingly detailed backgrounds. It is as though an illuminated manuscript had come alive in an animation. Even where there is a lack of excessive detail (which there rarely is), there are rich textures and variations that make every frame look entirely different. And unbelievably it’s all hand drawn.

In animations today there are several styles: traditional, like old-school Disney with the “Princess and the Frog” and Studio Ghibli’s “Ponyo”; Pixar, really need we say more; or anything that tries to be Pixar and comes up just a little short, like Dreamworks’ numerous “Shrek” films. While the shockingly realistic and beautifully crafted Pixar movies are always impressive, at a certain point it seems as though everything goes through the Disney/Pixar filter. The style never changes; everything is smooth, correctly textured and just slightly quirky. So going from that to the visual smorgasbord that is The Secret of Kells is an eye-popping transition. More studios should try for this originality in their work and keep the visual world more interesting.

It’s a good thing the animation keeps you so engrossed though because the story itself isn’t the very well developed. It felt as though there was too much trying to be covered in the film. There’s Brendan’s study in illumination, there are his trips to the forest and his meeting the spirit Aisling, there’s the vikings and suddenly the movie is over. The building up of Brendan’s childhood is played out nicely and we see and feel his struggles wonderfully but after the climax of the film it feels like loose ends are just trying to be tied up quickly. Finding the movie to be over was quite a surprise.

A gorgeous film and a refreshing change of imagery are what make The Secret of Kells so astounding (and well-worthy of it’s surprising Oscar nod). When the credits start rolling you will find yourself begging for more.

Get a sense of that wonderful animation in the trailer, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMPhHTtKZ8Q

Ondine

Ondine, a beautiful modern retelling of the ancient Irish selkie story, captures the ambiguity of a myth blurring with reality. Written and directed by Neil Jordan, the story follows the life of fisherman Syracuse (Colin Farrell) who pulls a mysterious and enchanting woman (Alicja Bachleda) out of the sea in one of his nets. She gives herself the name ‘Ondine’ meaning “she came from the sea” and Syracuse’s daughter Annie (Alison Barry) begins to believe that Ondine is in fact a selkie and her powers are bringing the family good fortune.

The greatest part of the movie is the story Neil Jordan weaves that asks us to question whether the selkie myth could exist in reality or whether it is a string of unbelievable coincidences. The plot twists lead us on and on and even in the end we still cannot be entirely sure what the truth is. As the story progresses we get to watch the growing bond between Syracuse and Ondine, as well as Ondine and Annie, which is acted out tenderly and wonderfully.

Making a movie like Ondine look gorgeous wouldn’t be too hard with two beautiful lead actors set along the scenic waterfront of Ireland. But the cinematography itself is incredible. That blurring between myth and reality extends into the camera work which also explores that similar feeling of unknowing. There are shots where we only get glimpses of things we can recognize; in particular as the camera bobs up and down in the ocean and we can feel the selkie’s tug between two worlds. As the end of movie draws to conclusion and we come closer to the reality of the situation the camera work, as well as the texture of the film, becomes much harsher and critical; everything feels less soft as we are shown the truth.

All of the acting is well done, especially by newcomer Alison Barry, who provides most the humor and spark to the film and keeps up easily with Colin Farrell and his superstar power; her character keeps him humble. Both Bachleda and Farrell do wonderful jobs and it’s nice to Farrell in a more tentative and gentle role. Though for those of us without an ear for Irish dialect, the dialogue can be a little tough to follow.

The weakest part of the movie is the end, which after the build up a beautiful story seems to be a bit hasty, but a longer runtime and we might tire and grow frustrated with the mystical dream state of the film. But this is little to complain about when the rest of the movie is as tantalizing, mysterious and alluring as the mystical selkie herself.

Catch the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80HzX8UGEKM