****
It’s hard to resist unencumbered joy, and that’s what Young@Heart is all about. Most people who have seen the trailers for this film will remember the smile it brought to see a troupe of eighty-year olds singing James Browns signature song, I Feel Good. But the real story is how dedicated this group of seniors are to their audience, their choral leader, their fellow choir members and their music.
British filmmaker Stephen Walker caught the choir’s act in Britain several years ago. He traveled to Massachusetts to film the group and what he delivers is not just a view of great performances but the strength that lies behind the music: the sense of mission. Unburdened by wrinkles, bad eyesight, flaky skin, congestive heart failure and poor health in general, the individuals of the group overcome physical trivialities and even looming death in the spirit of a show that must go on.
Choral director Bob Cilman, just a kid at 53, has his hands full with this group but we don’t get into the “why’s and wherefores” of Bob’s appointed task. Instead, Walker delivers moments that reveal Bob’s hair-rending frustrations as director all the while showing the great regard and love he has for each individual in this extraordinary group. In this respect, the film brings to mind how easy it is to lump our older citizens into a category where they lose their identity. Our society homogenizes everything and it’s easy to forget that as people grow older they remain individuals with personalities and issues as real and important as any teenager’s.
There are several sobering moments in this film but Walker doesn’t dampen the joy of the message by dwelling in soppy sentimentalism. The wisdom of the group won’t allow it. During the making of the film two of the members passed away and while there was most certainly feelings loss and mortality, the group’s dignified response was to move on and complete the mission, honoring their friends. They couldn’t have been any more dedicated if they were astronauts on a mission to Mars.
One of my favorite moments is the performance at a local prison, where their octogenarian rendition of “Forever Young,” shatters the tough hard shells of young criminals. This is just one of numerous three hanky moments making Young@Heart the kind of documentary that people will be talking about for a long time.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Traveling Across Transamerica - DVD
****
Every so often I get sucker punched by a film. The hype and buzz draw me in only to leave me wanting my money and time back. There are films with great buzz but I know from the story line I’m not going to enjoy the film so I just don’t go there. “Broke Back Mountain?” Not going there. So, when I ran across “Transamerica,” on Netflix, I remembered all the buzz about it and almost decided, “Not going there.” Then I recalled Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) was nominated for an Academy Award as the lead, so I took a chance and rented Transamerica.
In this road movie, Bree (Felicity Huffman) is a self-motivated, male-to-female transsexual. Days away from the operation that will make him a physical woman, he receives a phone call informing him that he has a sixteen year old son from years past. Bree’s psychiatrist (Elizabeth Pena), won’t allow him to receive the operation unless he confronts his past. Bree flies to New York to bail his possible son, Toby, out of jail.
Toby (Kevin Zegers) is a teenage wreck. A male prostitute, druggie with a hard-case attitude, he is introduced to Bree believing she’s a Christian missionary case worker. Bree doesn’t do anything to change this idea, and after a discussion with Toby, Bree decides that they will drive back to Los Angeles together in hopes of reuniting him with his step-father along the way. This doesn’t work out and Bree has to take total responsibility for his son. “Transamerica” works because it doesn't present itself as a message movie. There is a smattering of transgender issues but the heart of the story is not the journey of a man who is becoming a woman, but about a person who is struggling to become a parent. This is the films sweet, funny and dramatic core. But, story aside, Felicity Huffman is startling as Bree. At first I was very aware her real sex and that acted as a kind of comfort zone through the early stages of the film until she was thoroughly established as a man, and then later as a woman trapped in a man's body. It was an incredible job of acting and no man could have pulled this off more convincingly.
Remote in hand I sat down with Transamerica waiting to be sucker-punched. Ready at any moment to go to the next movie. And I was sucker-punched . . . in the best possible way. I was rewarded with an extraordinary journey across Transamerica.
Every so often I get sucker punched by a film. The hype and buzz draw me in only to leave me wanting my money and time back. There are films with great buzz but I know from the story line I’m not going to enjoy the film so I just don’t go there. “Broke Back Mountain?” Not going there. So, when I ran across “Transamerica,” on Netflix, I remembered all the buzz about it and almost decided, “Not going there.” Then I recalled Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) was nominated for an Academy Award as the lead, so I took a chance and rented Transamerica.
In this road movie, Bree (Felicity Huffman) is a self-motivated, male-to-female transsexual. Days away from the operation that will make him a physical woman, he receives a phone call informing him that he has a sixteen year old son from years past. Bree’s psychiatrist (Elizabeth Pena), won’t allow him to receive the operation unless he confronts his past. Bree flies to New York to bail his possible son, Toby, out of jail.
Toby (Kevin Zegers) is a teenage wreck. A male prostitute, druggie with a hard-case attitude, he is introduced to Bree believing she’s a Christian missionary case worker. Bree doesn’t do anything to change this idea, and after a discussion with Toby, Bree decides that they will drive back to Los Angeles together in hopes of reuniting him with his step-father along the way. This doesn’t work out and Bree has to take total responsibility for his son. “Transamerica” works because it doesn't present itself as a message movie. There is a smattering of transgender issues but the heart of the story is not the journey of a man who is becoming a woman, but about a person who is struggling to become a parent. This is the films sweet, funny and dramatic core. But, story aside, Felicity Huffman is startling as Bree. At first I was very aware her real sex and that acted as a kind of comfort zone through the early stages of the film until she was thoroughly established as a man, and then later as a woman trapped in a man's body. It was an incredible job of acting and no man could have pulled this off more convincingly.
Remote in hand I sat down with Transamerica waiting to be sucker-punched. Ready at any moment to go to the next movie. And I was sucker-punched . . . in the best possible way. I was rewarded with an extraordinary journey across Transamerica.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
In Bruges
****
I love British films, but they leave me feeling as if I speak a foreign language. In fact I’m leading an effort to mandate that all British film imports to this country must come with subtitles for no less than the first third of the film. That’s about how long it takes for me to get any idea of what’s being said -- unless it’s the F-word, an expression easily translatable and abundantly sprinkled throughout In Bruges (pronounced Broozh).
This devilishly dark comedy has a grafted feel to it, a hybrid falling somewhere between Sam Peckinpah and Monty Python. Written and directed by Irishman Martin McDonagh (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) In Bruges is the crisp tale of two Irish gangsters who’ve been sent to Bruges, Belgium to cool off after their mission, a hit on a local priest, goes bad.
Watching these two is like watching an old rerun of the Odd Couple. The older, wiser and more experienced of the two criminals, Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is a killer with a heart, who has been at this dirty business far too long. His younger, more impetuous counterpart, Ray (Colin Farrell) is a newbie who, after bungling his first hit, is overcome with guilt. Their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes) eventually shows up to take care of business in an ending that is a bloody counterpart to the easy going opening of the film. Along the way there’s a racist dwarf, a cute hooker, a clumsy pimp, an art loving gun runner, three fat American tourists, and a pregnant landlady, all who round out the cast nicely.
What’s not apparent at first is that Bruges itself becomes a member of the cast. The quaint streets, gray skies and medieval buildings are not just the perfect backdrop to this story, but as the two gangsters tour the city it becomes a place as familiar and alive as the characters it hosts. By the end of the film you feel as if you’ve spent a week in Bruges.
I can’t recommend this film for everyone. McDonagh’s work is inundated with F and C bombs, some nudity and a violent but necessary finale. It’s also filled with rank humor, the kind that anyone on the PC train will find offensive. But, if you’ve got a bit of an edge to ya, then grab a pint ‘n sit ye down for a gud un. Understand?
I love British films, but they leave me feeling as if I speak a foreign language. In fact I’m leading an effort to mandate that all British film imports to this country must come with subtitles for no less than the first third of the film. That’s about how long it takes for me to get any idea of what’s being said -- unless it’s the F-word, an expression easily translatable and abundantly sprinkled throughout In Bruges (pronounced Broozh).
This devilishly dark comedy has a grafted feel to it, a hybrid falling somewhere between Sam Peckinpah and Monty Python. Written and directed by Irishman Martin McDonagh (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) In Bruges is the crisp tale of two Irish gangsters who’ve been sent to Bruges, Belgium to cool off after their mission, a hit on a local priest, goes bad.
Watching these two is like watching an old rerun of the Odd Couple. The older, wiser and more experienced of the two criminals, Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is a killer with a heart, who has been at this dirty business far too long. His younger, more impetuous counterpart, Ray (Colin Farrell) is a newbie who, after bungling his first hit, is overcome with guilt. Their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes) eventually shows up to take care of business in an ending that is a bloody counterpart to the easy going opening of the film. Along the way there’s a racist dwarf, a cute hooker, a clumsy pimp, an art loving gun runner, three fat American tourists, and a pregnant landlady, all who round out the cast nicely.
What’s not apparent at first is that Bruges itself becomes a member of the cast. The quaint streets, gray skies and medieval buildings are not just the perfect backdrop to this story, but as the two gangsters tour the city it becomes a place as familiar and alive as the characters it hosts. By the end of the film you feel as if you’ve spent a week in Bruges.
I can’t recommend this film for everyone. McDonagh’s work is inundated with F and C bombs, some nudity and a violent but necessary finale. It’s also filled with rank humor, the kind that anyone on the PC train will find offensive. But, if you’ve got a bit of an edge to ya, then grab a pint ‘n sit ye down for a gud un. Understand?
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