Red Hill

Sometimes I like a good action movie that is not too taxing, yet still highbrow enough to satisfy my artistic sensibilities.  This modern Australian western/police suspense story, although it has many old fashioned western movie aesthetics,  has some gripping action and a couple of sympathetic characters who are opposite sides of the same coin. 

Young cop Shane Cooper (Ryan Kwanten) has been voluntarily transferred to a countryside town, with his heavily pregnant wife. The reason at first is not explained why he elected to move to a smaller municipality. On his first day at work, there is an accident at a prison some miles away, and a murderer escapes, Eddie (Tom E. Lewis), an aborigine who was put away by Red Hill's sheriff Bill (Steve Bisley). We see the police department is pretty much an old boys network and Bill makes it clear to Shane that he is not very welcome. Bill's close-minded attitude also means he aims to lock down Red Hill and kill Eddie on sight if he comes, implying he is in the right to use such force because Eddie wants revenge for putting him away. Unfortunately for them, Eddie is a superior native tracker and bests the posse again and again, except for Shane, who for some reason he lets go at a critical moment when he sees they share something in common. During a long day and night as they first hunt Eddie, then become the hunted, Shane discovers some secrets of the town and has to decide who's side he is on.

Past seven days

Back in the swing of things.  A respectable eight movies this week!

@suicideroom
The Christmas Toy
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Moonrise Kingdom
Pursued
Red Lights
Sandman
The Three Investigators and the Secret of Skeleton Island

SilverDocs 2012

There seems to be some recurring themes this year at SilverDocs, the film festival devoted solely to documentaries. Two concerning cats, two about middle aged white guys marrying younger Asian mail order brides. The obligatory inner-city-school-plays-chess, musical docs, several about immigrants and several about senior citizens who have quirky pasts or do unconventional things. Several which take place in New York City, and as we know, "There are eight million stories in the naked city."

I looked over my last year's choices and of the 25, only five have been available to me here, of which I've seen two (Miss Representation and Pruitt-Igoe). Some of the others are short films I probably won't get a chance to see outside of a film festival.

For this year here's what looks interesting to me. I hope to find some of these by me in the coming year:

The Sentiment of the Flesh

Be prepared to open your mind!  In this French film, an anatomical/medical illustrator Helena (Annabelle Hettmann) meets an internist Benoit (Thibault Vinçon) when she goes for x-rays for back pain. He claims the spine x-rays are inconclusive so uses a more advanced machine, which she comes to realize is his way of seeing her, much as a painter will see his subject in his own particular way.

They start an affair where the physical knowing of each other becomes, literally, more than skin deep--he does an MRI to view her internally--and then she convinces him to "know" her in an extreme and dangerous way.

Olympic Dreams--Invictus

Okay, this movie isn't about a team going to the Olympics, but I thought I'd check out some sports related films in the lead-up to the London Olympics Summer Games this year.

Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring a couple of big hitter stars in the lead roles, this story tells about a South African rugby team that was used as a public relations tool to help unite the country after the divisive violence of apartheid.

Morgan Freeman plays Nelson Mandela, struggling to bring his citizens together, who still insist on personally dividing themselves.  Old staff who worked for de Klerk depart en masse when Mandela enters into office.  Members of his black security team grudgingly make room for white security men.  Now at his wit's end on what to do, he decides to take a back door approach.

The underdog rugby team, the Springboks led by Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), have little chance of going to the 1995 World Cup, until Mandela one day invites Francois to tea. They actually don't discuss much rugby, but Francois comes away with a feeling that Mandela thinks they can bring the nation together through its support of the team.  The Springboks do some unorthodox things like going to black ghettos to teach kids the sport (the team is all white except for the lone black who gets much love from the kids).

Meanwhile, Mandela's closest staff think he is spending too much time on rugby and not enough on his "real" job, thus not understanding his strategy. They warn him he will be accused of going solo when he should rely on his cabinet.

The Company of Wolves

A version of the Little Red Riding Hood story, based on some short stories. Directed by Neil Jordan who co-wrote with the original author Angela Carter.

It begins in modern day where Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson, about 12 or 13 at the time although she looks more mature here), is having a nightmare. In her dream, which is the majority of the film, the characters are also played by the actors playing her real life family.

A girl, who is her sister, is running through a surreal forest where she is chased and killed by wolves. Later in the dream, Rosaleen is sent to live with her granny (Angela Lansbury) for a while for her safety, and granny is often admonishing her to not “stray off the path,” both physically and metaphorically. While Granny knits a red shawl for Rosaleen, she tells several horror stories involving werewolves to demonstrate her warnings.

All of the stories depicted have sexual overtones.

Past seven days

I also got to screen a preview of HBO's new series, The Newsroom, created by Aaron Sorkin.  Does that count?

Cassandra's Dream
Handsome Harry
Heroes
Norwegian Wood
The Number 23
Ocean's 11 (1960)
Scum

Free event: Something the Lord Made

Taking place in an earlier generation where civil rights for African Americans was not yet established, this story tells of the influence of an intelligent black medical technician on the white doctor whome he worked for. Mos Def stars at the lab technician who helped the white doctor, played by Alan Rickman, on a heart technique for ailing babies.

Something the Lord Made
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
400 S. State Street, Chicago

For Greater Glory

There is so much history that is recent and yet I know nothing about.  This story tells about our neighbor down south.  It takes place in 1920s Mexico, when rebels known as Cristiada fight back after the Mexican government (whose President is played by Ruben Blades) outlaws religious freedom.  The government fears, since many of the religious leaders come from Rome and other foreign places, that outside influences will turn the citizens against the government. Soon foreign religious leaders are booted out and their continuing presence is restricted (including an old priest played by Peter O'Toole).

What the government didn't think would happen, happens.  The people band together in secret and while at first are a bunch of unconnected factions, finally decide they need to be cohesive; they hire a non-religious former general to lead their military strategy (played by Andy Garcia). He of course conflicts with a hothead (Oscar Isaac), discusses the religious fight with a priest soldier, and takes under his wing a boy who leaves his family to fight and whose death for the cause eventually led to him being beatified (a pretty good young actor, Mauricio Kuri). With Eva Longoria in a decent dramatic role as the general's wife. Many of these main characters are based on real historical figures.

Moments of Love

Moments of Love as was I expected.  Like its title, the dialogue wasn't very deep and most of its production values reminded me of a telenovella.  It’s a romantic drama from the Philippines, and its core love story is between two characters who live in different times.

Marco is on vacation in a countryside bed and breakfast with a couple of friends.  One day an old woman, Rosa, pushes him out of the way of a speeding car and she gets knocked over.  She remains in a coma while Marco feels guilty to be a survivor.  The old woman's granddaughter Lianne is distraught but warms up romantically to Marco.  Rosa's daughter--Lianne's mother--at the beginning is angry that her mother insisted on coming to this area but she too realizes the accident is not Marco's fault.

At the bed and breakfast Marco tries to make a phone call on an old telephone, and somehow he is connected to a woman living in 1957--Divinna.  Her father owned the plantation business the bed and breakfast sits on, which in her time was her family's home.  Divinna's father has promised her in marriage to the landownder to pay off debts, but the fiance is a selfish brute.  Divinna and Marco talk to each other about their mutual concerns, at first not realizing they are in different times.  Soon Marco figures things out and makes Divinna promise to meet him in 2006.

Lola Versus

Lola (Greta Gerwig) just turned 29.  Although he was the one to propose, her fiance (Joel Kinnaman) suddenly has cold feet and breaks off the engagement.  Lola spends the next year trying to figure out her relationships, and maybe even herself.

She takes comfort with her girlfriend (Zoe Lister Jones, the film's writer) and best male friend (Hamish Linklater).  Lola waffles between her feelings for her male friend and her fiance, and so do the guys with Lola and the girlfriend. Lola ends up feeling she needs her own space to get to know herself better, which she comes to realize by the time she turns 30. Bill Pullman and Debra Winger play her hippie-ish and open-minded parents.

Past seven days

A strong female-centric lineup this week: 

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Hemingway and Gelhorn
Lola Versus
Moments of Love
Paperback Romance
Safety Not Guaranteed
Tracker

Meet: WIGS

Although WIGS is a new venture by two male filmmakers, Jon Avnet and Rodrigo Garcia, the focus is on women.  It is an online film organization with content on YouTube, featuring short films and long series with a strong focus on female lead characters.  Many of the noted actresses have starred in big budget films, but also have a healthy independent film career as well:

Virginia Madsen (Sideways, The Number 23, Ghosts of Mississippi)
Dakota Fanning (The Runaways, Coraline, Hounddog)
Jennifer Beals (Lie to Me, The L Word, Roger Dodger)
Maura Tierney (Rescue Me, Diggers, Scotland, Pa.)
Jena Malone (Into the Wild, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Donnie Darko)
Rosanna Arquette (Silverado, Baby It's You, Desperately Seeking Susan)
Catherine O'Hara (A Mighty Wind, Beetlejuice, Home Alone)

Your Sister's Sister

The story begins a year after Jack's brother has died. Jack (Mark Duplass) hears his friends revering his brother at a gathering but angrily insists they didn't really know him as he knew the whole picture and said he was a bully too. His best friend Iris (Emily Blunt), who was the brother's ex girlfriend, says he needs some space so tells him to go up her family cabin to be alone, which he does.

 There he meets her sister Hannah (Rosemarie Dewitt) who also decided to go there to be alone, to nurse the pain of a breakup. That evening they commiserate, mostly about her, and end up having drunk sex, even though Hannah is a lesbian.

The next day Iris decides to visit on a whim and the threesome spend the weekend together in the cabin and many sibling emotions, good and bad, come to the surface.

Snow White and the Huntsman

This version of Snow White follows on the heels of the comedic but slight version starring Julia Roberts earlier this spring. In this version, the storyline follows a little bit more of the original source story and remains a dark fairy tale, but doesn't quite live up to its premise.

Kristen Stewart plays Snow White, whose father remarries when he is enchanted, magically or otherwise, by the beautiful Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Ravenna kills him and takes over the kingdom, and banishes Snow White to a dungeon where she is kept for a decade. Meanwhile, Ravenna continues to kill virgins to suck their souls and eats the hearts of birds, both to keep herself forever youthful. She is abetted by her brother Finn (Sam Spruell) who is more a minion than a beloved sibling. She is also advised by her magical mirror that when Snow White comes of age, she will be more beautiful than Ravenna, which convinces Ravenna that now is the time to take Snow White's heart to keep her eternally young. Thus when Snow White escapes her prison, Ravenna sends the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) after her.

He follows her into what is know as the Dark Forest, but Snow White's goodness protects her from the insiduous magic there.  Later, she and the Huntsman are befriended by some dwarf miners (there are eight of them), and she is able to draw out a magical elk in the fairy's forest, something that has not happened before. It is Snow White's goodness which is strong enough to defeat the queen. Snow White rallies her father's old friend the duke, who is the father of her childhood friend William, to support her cause.

Past seven days

Did you see my comparison of Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror, Mirror?  Two very different movies.  I didn't get to Moonrise Kingdom, it was all sold out!  (A good sign!)

The Chinese Feast
Snow White and the Huntsman
Strings
Venice
Your Sister's Sister

Snow White and the Huntsman vs. Mirror, Mirror

I thought I'd compare two recent movies about Snow White, one which is still on current screens.