Stanley's Gig

Longtime ukulele enthusiast Stanley (William Sanderson) has a small dream of playing his ukulele on a cruise ship to Hawaii. He is invited by an administrator (Stephen Tobolowsky) to play for some seniors at a home, as a form of music therapy. They love his music because he plays all the old songs they know. He meets a cranky senior who used to be a pretty good jazz singer in her day (Marla Gibbs) and part of the film is his drawing her out to realize her talents again. He continues to visit her although she ignores him.

The other part of the story is Stanley trying in earnest to gain a place to perform on a ship, despite those making the decision thinking he and his instrument are old fashioned and corny. Stanley's status is also jeopardized by his alcoholism. He is helped by a friend (Faye Dunaway) who volunteers at the church, but she also is honest with him about his sometime childishness, which we see frustrates her.

Free event Pillow Talk

The Northbrook Public Library continues with some films starring Doris Day. The next screening is Pillow Talk, a comedy costarring Rock Hudson. When did the term “romantic comedy” come into use?


Pillow Talk
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane, Northbrook, IL

Past seven days

Latino Film Festival is winding down!  I experienced more technical difficulties at this fest than I've ever seen at a festival.  They are not newbies, so I hope they get their act together for next year!

Anita Takes a Chance
Crank
The Five Year Engagement
Game of Werewolves
Get the Gringo
Good Herbs
Griff the Invisible
Hotel Splendide
Semi-Toasted
Under My Nails
War of the Arrows

Spaceman

This low-budget sci fi looks like it was filmed in Chicago. There are really no actors I know in it, but it was written and directed by one of the guys who founded the satirical paper The Onion, Scott Dikkers.

The mysterious story--a boy goes missing, was it an abduction by aliens? Years later, some Feds analyze a mysterious spacecraft. There is also an odd looking man working in a supermarket (the boy now grown up)--think SNL’s Coneheads without the cone. He’s industrious and polite, stiff and non-social. His pretty neighbor thinks he’s a sci fi nerd, the type who goes to conventions and dresses up in costumes.

The Forty-First

In the desert, Maryutka, a female sniper in the Red Army, and her battalion ambush a Kazakh caravan, hoping to appropriate the camels for easier travelling. In the caravan is an important White Army officer, Govorukha, who has a confidential message he needs to deliver to an important General. The leader of the Red battalion assigns Maryutka to keep watch over him while they travel back to HQ so he can be interrogated. They bond when he helps her with a war poem. They are stranded during a storm and due to their Adam and Eve existence they fall in love. He is more learned and ideal, she's more rustic and realist but soon their views on the war creep back in, leading to a tragic ending.

The cinematography is simple/unfussy in the best sense (by Sergei Urusevsky, who also filmed The Cranes are Flying), filmed on real locations, with some actors (?) who look like real nomadic people. There is also a silent film of the same from the 20s as well as a book, so this story must be very popular in Russia. Some of the music also reminds me of works by Tchaikovsky.

Past seven days

Does it count if I walked out on a movie?  I really don't recommend Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day.  It's highly melodramatic and a waste of the actor's talents--the script and characters are poorly written, heightening the drama but not making it a realistic story about a woman's continued fight to reinvent herself after a difficult past.

On the other hand, I highly recomment In the Family, a drama about a gay man trying to define what it means to be a parent and loving person to some people whom he trusted.  It's a bit slow paced and long, but if it comes your way, find it and stick with it!

All Our Dead Ones
Design Behind Bars
Hear Me
I Am a Ghost
In the Family
Miss Representation
The Pirates: Band of Misfits
The Raid:  Redemption
Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day
Zero Hour

The Dresser

This movie is based on a play, which is based on the playwright's own experiences of being a dresser to a famous stage actor. It portrays the relationship of a theatrical dresser, Norman (Tom Courtenay), to a stage actor, only addressed as "Sir" in the movie (played by Albert Finney).

The time the story takes place is during World War 2, and the acting troupe go around England to entertain audiences and perhaps give them some respite to the drama of the war outside the theatre.  We see that Norman has been in the job for a very long time, and knows all of Sir's quirks, habits and needs, both physical and emotional.  We also see that Sir is in a mental and physical decline, often forgetting his lines or forgetting where he is, becoming sullen and acting almost like a child that Norman has to coax back to reality and get the play back on track.

Free event: Midnight Lace

The Northbrook Public Library offers a weekly film program. Tomorrow they are screening Midnight Lace, a thriller starring Doris Day whose sanity is questioned.

Midnight Lace
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane, Northbrook, IL

Miss Representation

Miss Representation is a documentary made by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, an actress who was dismayed by the lack of quality roles offtered to her, and who speaks frankly about her own issues of self-worth (eating issues, compensating for early death of a sister, sexual abuse).

The film talks about how views of women--on film, in the media, as politicians and business leaders--are for the most part formed by men--male decision makers, male politicians, men who own media conglomerates, talk shows dominated by male trash talk hosts, and perceived male buying power in advertising. The documentary is made for women, by women, and only gives a shade of thought to how it affects men/boys (mostly in the attitude that "we," i.e. women, need to teach them better).

Many women in power positions (business leaders, journalists, politicians, activists, actresses) were talking heads, with a few men (a couple politicians, a filmmaker, some writers who have written on these issues). Some high school aged students, male and female, talk about their personal experiences, with the girls' stories obviously more forthcoming and troubling.

Past seven days

The Siskel Film Center is currently hosting the Asian American Showcase, films about or made by Asian American filmmakers.  I saw two this past weekend, Daylight Savings and Knots, both independent films, and intend to catch two more this weekend.  I also recommend the new Cabin in the Woods by Joss Whedon, who injects a major twist on a standard horror story, making it a whole new genre picture.

Also playing is the Latino Film Festival, with eight on my personal lineup. 

Past seven days (albeit a couple says late):

Burke and Hare
Cabin in the Woods
Daylight Savings
Knots
Lockout
Page Eight
Road, Movie
The Trip

The Intouchables

The Intouchables is a well-acted feel-good movie, and although the two leads are mostly stereotyped movie characters, it escapes being cliched due to good onscreen chemistry. Based on a true story.

Francois Cluzet plays the rich quadraplegic, Phillippe. He is a widow with a teen daughter, and has a staff that does everything for him--feed him, bathe him, exercise him, answer his letters. He is not depressed about his condition, and often makes jokes about it. We come to see later why he has this lust for life, though it is due to a bittersweet reason. Currently he is interviewing for a new full time caregiver. We see Driss (Omar Sy), an unemployed young Senegalese, sitting amongst other stodgy white guys waiting for their interview with Phillippe. Obviously he looks out of place to us, but Driss gives no sense that he cares. He is only there to get a signature on a form to show he applied for a job so that he can collect unemployment benefits. Compared to the other dull men, all whom are more qualified, Driss' cheeky attitude and lively personality intrigue Phillippe and is pretty much hired on the spot.

Tamara Drewe

A modern adaptation of Far From the Madding Crowd, but a romantic comedy.

Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to her childhood home in the country after her mother's death, intending to clear out the house and sell it. She is a successful magazine gossip type writer, who was teased when young due to her large nose. Now that she has had a nose job, she appears more sexy.

Easy

Easy is a small budget, indie romantic comedy. A young woman, Jamie (Marguerite Moreau) says she wants true love but all she goes after are sexual relationships due to her fear of men not wanting to date her unless she has sex with them; thus the types of men attracted to her inherently makes the relationships short-term and non-commital. She re-meets a handsome poet, John (Naveen Andrews), who once taught a class she was in and they start a casual sexual relationship despite him being separated from his wife. Jamie's job involves testing new products to think of a catchy name for them, and a cable comedy talk show host Mick (Brian F. O'Byrne) thinks this is quirky and invites her on the show. This sets up the romantic triangle and Jamie's search to determine what sort of man she wants long-term.

The Village Barbershop

Indie film starring John Ratzenberger (from Cheers fame) as an aging barber in a small town. Art’s business isn’t doing so well, partly due to the recent death of his business partner as well as his own curmudgeonly and chauvinistic personality. When a young woman, Gloria (Shelly Cole), comes to town needing to escape her old life, she wrangles her way into Art’s life by becoming his new partner--slightly modernizing his barbershop, defending him against a seedy real estate agent, and eventually warming Art’s heart; the two opposites finally become friends.

Past seven days

Seven days, seven films.

Easy
Hanna
The Hunger Games
The Intouchables
Mirror, Mirror
The Muppets
Terri

Bluebeard (2009)

This French film is directed by Catherine Breillat, a filmmaker known for using sexual themes involving (usually) young women/girls.

Two sets of sisters relate the story of Bluebeard, the murderous wife killer of the old fairy tale. In the sisters of 1950s France, the younger of the two, Catherine, seems to know how to push her older sister Marie-Anne's buttons as they explore an attic in a country cottage. Catherine daringly taunts her about the story of Bluebeard, which scares Marie-Anne. The film goes back and forth between these girls and the girls of the fairy tale they are reading, which takes place in medieval times.

In the medieval story, teen sisters Anne and Marie-Catherine have just lost their father and since they are female, the well-being of their futures are dependent on marriage. As in the 1950s story, it is the younger sister, Marie-Catherine (Lola Creton), who is the central figure. She sees Bluebeard's castle in the distance and is captivated by the stories of him and the many wives who have disappeared without a trace. This doesn't scare her. In fact, when Bluebeard (Dominique Thomas) offers marriage to her or her sister despite knowing they have no dowries, Marie-Catherine is pleased to take the chance.