A LITTLE HELP

Laura knocks back a couple of Budweisers every day.  Not that she is a drunk per se, but she needs a buzz just to get her through her day.  She has a husband who is cheating on her with his secretary, a lying little brat of a son, a highly-critical nit-picking mother, a father who never stops talking about his brush with fame as an ex-sportscaster, and an over-bearing older sister who bears a grudge because she is not at pretty as Laura.

They all seem to collude to pick on Laura even after her philandering husband suddenly drops down dead  in their driveway. Everybody is unfairly ashamed on this hard-working New Jersey dental hygienist who is simply trying to make the best of the poor pack of cards she has been dealt with.  Her son only too aware that his father’s death had been aggravated by the fact that he had just been confronted about his affair, tells a whopper of a lie when confronted with questions from his schoolmates.  He claims that his real real estate broker father was actually a fireman who died in the 9/11 tragedy the previous year and the news instantly makes him the most popular boy in his class.

Laura’s relationship with her son is fraught at best, so she goes along with the lie, and even attends a special 9/11 Memorial Service at his school.  When he is inevitably found out, it is she that has the strength to get him out of the tangled web of deceit that he has created, which bonds them together at last.

Until then, there are only two men in her family she can stand: her nephew who uses his garage band as an excuse to avoid his controlling mother, and her rather handsome brother in law.  One of the most tender moments of this wee movie is when Warren confesses that to Laura that he had always been in love with her, and only married her sister so that he could be near her.

This rather touching little movie seems to have been made as a starring vehicle for a talented Jenna Fisher, who is usually seen in Steve Carrol’s shadows on 'The Office'.  And she puts in an excellent performance as a woman who just didn’t want to deal with the reality of a life that seems to have been chosen for her by everyone else.  

Don’t expect any dramatic revelations at the end, as there aren’t any.  And neither is there a great  moral message other than beyond just simply be open and enjoy what you’ve got, and avoid your relatives at all costs.   And maybe, ease up on the Budweisers too, it’s not really ‘the little help’ any of us need.  Or is it?

★★★★★★★

FOR A GOOD TIME, CALL .....

How much fun can sex be without actually doing the act? A helluva lot as Katie and Lauren find out in this deliciously potty-mouthed comedy when there is rent to pay and no decent jobs available for two nice well-educated girls.   They were bitter enemies at College but years later and a drastic change in both their circumstances force them to let the past go and become roommates.

Lauren’s long-standing boyfriend calmly announced one morning that their sex life was boring and so he was taking a job in Italy and she would have to move out of his apartment.  Katie meanwhile had inherited a fabulous spacious Gramercy Park apartment in NY but she is about to face eviction after the rent is hiked.  Their gay mutual best friend Jesse reluctantly brings the two together, and it is he who brokers the initial peace.

Lauren is laid off from her job almost the moment she moves in, and coming back from an interview one day she catches Katie having phone sex with a ‘gentlemen caller’. Lauren is not so much shocked at the discovery of how her roommate tries to pay her share of the rent, but she is horrified that the phone service that Katie works for, keeps almost all the money, and pays her such a tiny percentage. Lauren’s business acumen kicks in and she soon persuades Katie that they should go into business and set up their own Phone line.  At first the irrepressible outgoing Katie takes all the calls, and shy Lauren remains behind the scenes, until one day she cannot resist the temptation to start talking dirty herself.

It’s a gloriously hilarious movie that shows that raunchy girls can be really funny.  I never warmed to last year’s mega hit ‘Bridesmaids' but it does seemed to have paved the way for this new genre of refreshingly in-your-face girls talking about sex, and loving it films. It makes such a welcome change from all those smutty male comedies where women just serve as the butt of their jokes.

Despite the subject matter there is almost an old-fashioned sitcom feel to these bright single girls sharing everything as flatmates who fast become best friends (the hint about possible lesbian attraction was one of the few missteps of this wee story). Without too many spoilers let me just say that the girls are less experienced about life sans a phone than they pretend, and even good girls playing bad can find their own good man too.

The chemistry between the two actors Lauren Anne Miller and Ari Gaynor was exceptional good.   Miss Miller (also Mrs Seth Rogan) co-wrote the script, and I’m not sure if it was  way she generously wrote the part of Katie for Ms Gaynor as it gave her a wonderful role to be so effervescent and bubbly.  The camera really loved her, as I do now too.

I missed this one at Sundance when it premiered early this year, and I am so glad that I caught it now.  It’s an indie movie shot and promoted on a tiny budget BUT hopefully it will get to an Art House near you.

My final words here are not mine (for a change) but those of critic Elizabeth Weitzman of NY Daily News who aptly summed it up as ‘The most  adorable filthy movie you may ever see’. 

★★★★★★★★

COMPLIANCE

Sandra a rather harried middle-aged manager of a ‘Chickwich’ fast food restaurant in (god-forsaken) Ohio is rallying her troop of very young workers before the busy Friday night shift. She’s short-handed and also low on supplies after someone had left the Freezer door ajar overnight.  It’s going to be a tough night.

An hour later the phone rings and on the other line is Police Officer Daniels who is following through a complaint about a theft from a customer’s purse by Becky one of the young counter assistants. The Officer explains that as this is part of a larger  investigation into the young girl and her boyfriend, he is still at Becky’s house and so will need Sandra’s help until he can get there himself. She agrees and totally goes along with the Officer’s instructions, which starts off innocuously searching Becky and her possessions.  When this fails to uncover the missing cash, the Officer steps up his demands and insists that Becky is now strip-searched.

Although somewhat reluctant to go this far, Daniels uses both intimidation and flattery to keep Sandra co-operating especially as he has now convinced her that Becky is guilty as charged.  All logic has flown out of the window.

Whilst this is all going down, the restaurant is slammed and not coping well with the absence of the two women from the counter. So Sandra is continually distracted by the demands of her staff which leads her to follow the Officer’s increasingly obnoxious orders without questioning them fully. Even though they serve in humiliating a now naked Becky who is left cowering in front of one of her male colleagues with just a apron to cover some of her dignity.

When Sandra’s fiance Van turns up at the Restaurant he is persuaded to play the role of ‘warder’ so the others can now go back to deal with rush in the restaurant.   Daniels soon manipulates this easy-going construction worker into interacting with this naked young girl which turns this creepy experience into one of horrifying sexual terror.  Van flees the scene in disgust, and it is only when Sandra persuades her Yardman to take over watching Becky  does someone really start to question Daniel’s authenticity.

This nightmarish scenario is evidently based on a real incident that happened in a Kentucky McDonald's in 2004 (and about another 70 similar hoax calls nationwide were reported).  Its uncomfortably voyeuristic (even with the discreet camera angles we still know full well the grubby detail of what is happening) and is best described as downright creepy.   The fact that Sandra a seemingly decent woman of average intelligence should completely respect an (alleged) person of authority as society expects us to do is totally understandable, but the fact that she never questioned him at all when the instructions went way beyond any boundaries of decency still doesn’t sit right.   Is ‘obeying orders’ ever an acceptable and moral defense?

It’s the 2nd narrative from filmmaker Craig Zobel and he does exact some rather wonderful performances from his lead actors, in particular Ann Dowd who is quite marvellous as Sandra.

This reminds me of 'The Impostor.' another new movie about an incredible and real hoax, which after viewing I totally believed that such a ridiculously bizarre scenario could actually happen. But be warned, this story is less ‘entertaining’ and is extremely disturbing and unsettling as it makes one feel uncomfortable complicit just by simply watching it.

★★★★★★★★

THE MASTER

Freddie Quell is a real mess. After being discharged from the US Navy where he served in the Pacific Fleet in WW2 he has serious psychological issues and a  fierce short-fused temper that will not allow him to adapt back into civilian life at all, and so he drifts from job to job until one morning after yet another drinking binge he wakes up in California as a stowaway on an ocean bound liner. The ship is taking Lancaster Dodd an enigmatic and dazzling cult leader and his entourage to New York where they intend to spread the word about 'The Cause', the movement that Dodd founded and leads. For seemingly inexplicable reasons the two men take an instant like to each other fueled by the fact that Dodd appreciates that the only real talent that Freddie has is for making a lethal concoction made out of paint stripper and any other vaguely alcoholic liquids he can lay his hands on. 

Dodd, known by his followers as The Master, welcomes Freddie into his inner circle, but he is determined to control the fiery and stubborn potential new convert and subjects him to some of his very questionable practices designed to get him to discover his true self by revisiting his past lives and also sampling some future ones still-to come. At the same time, Freddie's relationship with  The Master swings dramatically like his own moods, from unbridled devotion one moment to fervent disbelief the next. The Master's extraordinary bond to his new disciple is not viewed sympathetically at all by his other followers who see Freddie as nothing more than a violent drunk. The Master's new wife in particular, thinks Freddie is a hopeless case and beyond redemption.

          

This exceptionally mesmerizing tale of these two men both heavily flawed in their own different ways somewhat inevitably must come to a crashing end, but not before Freddie completely loses the plot and explodes and on a manic rampage totally smashes up a Police cell where he has been detained after attacking Officers who were arresting The Master on fraud charges.

This unreservedly masterful movie is the 6th and latest from cinematic genius Paul Thomas Anderson. Although not based on the life of L Ron Hubbard the founder of Scientology is does bear a striking resemblance, even ending with The Master setting up shop in the UK exactly like Hubbard did before his demise. The movie reunites Anderson with Philip Seymour Hoffman for the 4th time ('Boogie Nights', 'Magnolia', 'Punch Drunk Love') and impossible as it may seem given his resume, Mr Hoffman gives his finest screen performance to date. He perfectly nails The Master as the consummate charlatan and highly successful  entrepreneur who just oodles charm to get his own way and when that fails simply reverts to bullying tactics.  It is hard not to take your eyes off him as his commanding magnetic presence dominates the whole screen when he goes into creepy preacher mode.

It is however very much Frankie's movie as played so passionately by one very scary Joaquin Phoenix. He is electrifyingly brilliant as he totally embodies the part of this unhinged damaged man in a career best performance that cannot fail to get him a Best Actor Oscar Nomination (along with Mr. Hoffman).  There was however this nagging doubt in my head as I watched Mr Phoenix rant and rave that with his infamous off-screen reputation for temper tantrums how much of this was acting, and how much him being real.

A nod too for Amy Adams who seems to re-invent herself in every role she takes, and this time as the power behind the throne as The Master's Wife she said little, but meant a lot.

Whilst we Brits may still be the experts in period costume dramas from other centuries, it takes an American such as P T Anderson to so perfectly capture the full richness of a real 1950's melodrama.  Mihai Malaimare, the cinematographer excelled himself with some sensuous and stunning photography to make this a total perfect experience.

This is one of those movies that stays with you long after the final credits, and I'm still trying to work out what really bonded these two men together just so.  I think it is not just the best I have ever seen from the two lead actors, but is also now my favorite movie of Mr Anderson.  If he ever starts his own cult, then count me in. 

★★★★★★★★★★

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

From the photo on the poster showing a rather stunned Sean Penn ‘dragged up’ as a lookalike of The Cure’s Robert Smith you sense that  there is another superlative performance in store in a potentially fascinating new movie.  But nothing is ever what it first seems, and the masterful Penn playing Cheyenne a bored and depressed retired rock star in a perpetual catatonic state is let down   with a rather inane story that is less about fading ex musicians that I expected, but more about hunting ex Nazi war criminals.  And the fact that he had a very inadequate supporting cast (except for Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch and old Harry Dean Stanton of course) who seemed straight out of drama school didn't help at all.

This rather odd and quirky wee movie is lifted with some stunning cinematography when Cheyenne leaves Dublin and goes on his travels, and it settles down to being a road movie.  There are also a few touches of some brilliant low black humor from Cheyenne as he trails the streets lugging his ever present shopping trolley behind, and also when he is being thrashed playing hardball by his dope-smoking wife Jane played by Frances McDormand in her usual hilarious way. Towards the second part of the movie, which drags somewhat intolerably, you realize that if you forget the plot (and I soon did) that this is essentially a character study of Cheyenne himself. But even when giving a rather insightful monologue, Penn’s performance is very much one-note, and that does pale on even the most ardent fan by the time the final credits are rolling.

Written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino (‘Il Divo’) this hotchpotch of a movie was made with Irish, French and Italian producers/finance and has been circulating Europe this year (its already out on DVD in the UK where I caught it.  It’s scheduled for a US Release in November 2012.

Definitely disappointing, but can you really pass up the chance of seeing Penn dressed up like this, even in a lame movie?

P.S. David Bryne proves he is no actor, but the music he wrote for the film is really quite wonderful.

★★★★★★

ANNA KARENINA

Even though this is the 25^th time that Tolstoy’s classic novel has been brought to the screen, I think this is the first version that I have ever seen.  The latest rendition has been re-written by leading playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, and I gather it sticks closely to the original plot even though he’s squeezed it into 2 hours. (Thank God!)

Its late 19^th century Russia and aristocratic Anna Karenina rushes off to St Petersburg to help save her brother Oblonsky’s marriage after his wife has caught him philandering with their children’s governess.  Whilst she is there Anna meets a very dashing young Army Officer, Count Vronsky, who was courting Oblonsky’s pretty sister in law but he soon loses interest in her the moment he claps eyes on Madame Karenina.  Anne, stuck in a loveless marriage to Alexei a very cold fish of a Government Minister, cannot resist his charms and they promptly embark on a passionate affair that soon becomes the talk of polite society.   Cuckolded Alexei cares more about his reputation than anything else and so agrees to let Anna, now pregnant with the Count’s child, keep her status in society as long as she promises never to see Vronsky again. She however is prepared to risk anything for true love.  Well, you would, wouldn't you?

The movie brings director Joe Wright back together with his favorite Leading lady Kiera Knightly, and the pair are no strangers to period dramas having made both ‘Atonement’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’ together.  This time Wright really shakes up the anti by setting so much of the proceedings in a theater although it is not performed as a play.  He uses the stage and backstage areas and designs them to look like particular locations and then the camera just morphs into the matching outside location.  It is stunningly clever and beyond brave, but the downside is that it does take quite a while to absorb and actually engage with movie as a whole because of it.  Nevertheless, Wright should be applauded for trying, and almost succeeding.

The latter part of the movie really kicks in though and you start to appreciate what a real cinematic treat it is.  Miss Knightly is the best she has ever been and really quite luminous, and if you a regular reader of this Blog then you will know from my usual take on her, that this is high praise indeed.  Her Anna is remarkably beautiful and the camera loves her, but we are never convinced that Vronsky actually does, as there is such little chemistry between the two.  He incidentally is played by a grown up Aaron Taylor-Johnson (‘NowhereBoy', ‘Kick Ass’) whose talent grows with his maturity just like his name has grown since his May/December marriage.

Wright peppers his cast with a strong cast of some wonderful Brit Actors that include Jude Law, Emily Watson, Kelly MacDonald, Olivia Williams, but it is the comic turn of Matthew McFadden as Oblonsky that really shines.  That said the real star of this Russian romp are undoubtedly the sumptuous gorgeous costumes that steal every single scene, and if they don’t get an Oscar for Designer Jacqueline Durran, then there is no justice in the world.

So if you have patience to stick out the confusion of the first part, then this is about as good as costume dramas get. 

And now I have finally seen an Anna Karenina flick, I can't wait to now see Miss Garbo’s take. And maybe even Vivien Leigh too. Watch this space.

★★★★★★★