Character, Actor, Oldman, Sound

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Gary Oldman is such a first-rate character actor who has does an excellent job of making himself into a household name.  All the roles he's played over the years are nothing alike.  Here's a taste of Mr. Oldman's résumé: he was Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Sirius Black in several of the Harry Potter films, and Commissioner Gordon in the most recent Batman flicks.  To say this guy has range is putting it mildly.  In Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy we treated to yet another great performance from Oldman as he and a cast that includes Mark Strong, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, and Colin Firth tackle some tricky material from novelist John le Carré. 

The frigid winds of change are blowing in the time of the Cold War.   Head of British Intelligence, Control (Hurt) is forced to resign after an operation in Budapest is horribly botched.  Control's top agent George Smiley (Oldman) is pressured into retirement with the departure of his boss.  Before stepping aside Control does drop the strong hint of there being an agent who has turned to the other side, a mole within The Circus (MI6 agency.)  Although Smiley is no longer officially with The Circus he is asked to investigate the matter of tracking down this supposed mole.  Rogue agent Ricky Tarr (Hardy) who has not been in good company with The Circus is mentioned as a possible traitor and should not be trusted.  In from the cold, Tarr shows up at Smiley's apartment.  He tells Smiley he has been behind enemy lines and has valuable information pointing to who the double agent is.  Smiley trusts Tarr and together they will get to the bottom of this top-notch spy thriller.

This film has a very complex, intricate, and at times complicated and confusing, multi-layered screenplay.  The script doesn't mean to be frustrating to us or is trying to mask some sort of underlying deficiencies in storytelling or filmmaking.   The screenplay is like that because the novel was probably constructed in a similar fashion.  Does that make Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy out to be an unfilmable novel, who's to say?  Only those who have read the book can truly attest to that.  As a piece of cinema however Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy comes off as a welcome change of pace to the typical outline and format we are used to seeing. This is not a film you want to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of.  There are so many characters, twists, and turns that occur throughout the two hour runtime you really have to pay attention to what the heck is going on at all times.

Because the story is so involving and your brain is trying to make sense of all that is going on, Oldman's performance might get overlooked.  If you find yourself at a point where you don't have to play catch up though, noticing everything he brings to Smiley is great.  Smiley's one of those characters that have lots of subtle nuances about him.  Oldman is so patient, practiced, and almost meditative in his performance that you forget that everything he is doing on screen had to be created by him and director Tomas Alfredson.  Smiley is so astute, keen, clever and sharp.  This is an excellent role for Oldman.  This is a character that may not appear to be much on paper but actually requires an immense amount of expertise in shaping and molding from someone who can give such a powerful yet so controlled performance.  

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a film that will definitely require multiple views.  What's nice about that is you'll be able to pick up on details that were missed whether it is in regards to the elaborate plot, the fine performances from the cast, or beautiful photography.  Alfedson has put together a mature piece of cinema for adults.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is no Bourne Identity, Mission Impossible, or Casino Royale.  There aren’t any big set pieces, action sequences, or MTV style editing techniques here.  A good script with some real acting is all you find from this film.  What a relief!       

When It Rains, It Pours...in Paradise

"The Descendents"

George Clooney's days of E.R. and Batman and Robin are long gone.  Clooney has proven that he is competent both in front of and behind the camera.  For his latest feature The Descendents, Clooney let's Alexander Payne take the wheel while he does his thing in front of the lens.  You may remember Payne's other works, Election, About Schimdt, and Sideways as all having solid performances and screenplays.  The Descendents is no exception.

Real estate attorney Matt King (Clooney) lives in Hawaii but it is currently hardly anything but paradise for him.  His wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) recently suffered an injury to the head from a horrible boating accident leaving her in a coma that she is now not going to wake from.  Honoring his wife's wishes as stated in her will, Matt will pull plug.  Elizabeth leaves Matt to raise their two daughters, Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alex (Shailene Woodley.)  Alex, the older and bad apple of the two, was originally sent away to a school that was supposed to deal with her misbehavior.  Matt then pulls her out so that she can help with Scottie's upbringing in setting a good (cough) example.  Matt also wants Alex to accompany him as he goes around alerting other family members and friends about Elizabeth's condition.  Alex breaks the news to her father that she caught her mother cheating on him.  Matt now has this to deal with too.  Oh yeah, him and his cousins are also in the middle of trying to figure out who to sell a huge piece of family owned property to.  Phew!  This guy has a lot on his plate.

The screenplay is rock solid.  It deals with multiple, heavy situations seemingly with ease.  Matt is struggling to cope with so many things and a lot of questions that need answering.  How is he going to raise his two kids?  How does he confront his wife about the man she has apparently been seeing but who's now in a coma and going to die?  Is it really a good idea to sell chunk of historical Hawaiian land that's been untouched for decades?  These are all very realistic questions that are dealt with in such a poignant manner.  Themes of love, loss, reconnecting, responsibility, and family are all in full force here.  

Clooney and Woodley make out to be a believable father and daughter duo.  Their dynamic is interesting to watch as the two of them butt heads on a number of issues.  Watching them go on this fantastic journey together and eventually coming to terms with everything that has happened over the course of a week is quite moving.  Woodley's performance comes off as so natural and unrehearsed.  She is able to hold her ground in the scenes with Clooney quite well.  Clooney conveys so many emotions without ever going out of control or over the top.  Considering how much stuff his character has to deal with he shows a great deal of restraint at times in expressing subtle but powerful feelings.

Alexander Payne is one of those directors whose choices you don't really notice until hours or maybe even days after watching the film.  His decisions appear so effortless but really they’re quite complex.  There's nothing fancy about them but all the little things he does makes all the difference.  Strong character development and well paced scenes are the foundation of this film.  The Descendents hits a number of good beats as the feature runs its course just in time for the Oscars.  When life throws you a curve ball, or two, or three how do you deal with it?  You deal with it as a family.  

   

She Still has a lot of Room to Grow

"Young Adult"

Screenwriter Diablo Cody seemed to turn enough heads with her screenplay for Juno so that it earned her an Oscar back in 2007.  In 2009 her second screenplay, Jennifer's Body, left critics and audiences alike running for the auditorium doors.  Was Juno merely a fluke for the thirty-three year old?  In 2011 Cody re-teamed with director Jason Reitman (from Juno) for a third project called Young Adult.  The result is a mixed bag that is stronger than Cody's second outing but not as potent as Reitman's previous directorial efforts. 

Famed author in the genre of young adult fiction, Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) is struggling to write her next novel.  The Kardashian watching, Diet Coke chugging, Minneapolis dwelling, thirty something year old bitterly returns to her podunk town where she grew up.  Why on Earth would Mavis want to return to such a poor, pathetic place such as Mercury, Minnesota?  The reason: Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson,) her high school sweetheart never left.  He now apparently is married and has a newborn baby.  Buddy sent out an e-vite announcing the event.  This of course attracted Mavis' attention.  She then gets the wild notion of somehow going back home to steal Buddy away from his family in hopes of reviving their lost romance.  Mavis' voice of reason (and drinking buddy,) Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) a loner from high school repeatedly tells her that all her delusions and fantasies of sweeping Buddy off his feet are crazy and hopeless.  Regardless, Mavis is bound and determined to get her Buddy back and for good this time.

Whether this is a good or bad thing, Young Adult in no way, shape, or form, resembles Juno.  All the whacky dialogue from the former is clearly absent in this film.  The plot is fairly thin making it more of a character driven piece much like Reitman's other works.  There's not much to like about Mavis because she is so self absorbed and lives in such a fantasy world.  Then again there's probably that one person we all know in our lives too.  People who haven’t moved on and still act like they are a teenager.  We want to feel sorry for her like some of the other characters do but Mavis never allows us to get there.  Her character doesn't change which proves to be the film's main downfall.

Reitman is an actor's director and he has Theron give a proficient performance as a woman who is caught up in her own little world and acts so immature towards everyone else.  It's surprising she can see five feet in front of her.  Young Adult is one those films that you can already see the climax way before the characters arrive there.  The premise itself is actually pretty silly and shortsighted much like Mavis' actions throughout the picture.  We can see the train-wreck that's eventually going to happen miles down the track. 

While this is the best thing Theron has done since winning at the Academy Awards for Monster she does remind us that she can act.  For Reitman, Up in the Air and Thank You for Smoking prove to be better watches.  Young Adult does have some good scenes that are quite pivotal to the plot but in the end they aren’t enough to truly hold the film together.  This is a decent third attempt for Cody but she still has a lot of room for improvement.  Hopefully she will stick to strong character driven ideas just with more redeemable individuals.    

Cronenberg Served Extra Lite

"A Dangerous Method"

Carl Jung.  Sigmund Freud.  David Cronenberg?  That's right, director David Cronenberg's latest feature is about the famed psychiatrist and neurologist and the friendship the two men had.  Now you're probably scratching your head and wondering why Cronenberg decided to make this his next project considering his two previous works were Eastern Promises and A History of Violence.  Well, for those who are familiar with the director's former features you should realize that a story about Freud and Jung is right up his alley.

Troubled and mentally unstable Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightly) is brought to a mental institution where she is given therapy sessions by Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender.)  What seems to be the matter with Ms. Spielrein?  All of Sabina's issues seem to stem from traumatic childhood experiences involving her abusive father.  Because of these events she now has a definite taste for masochism.  Who is to be the sadist for her?  Even though it goes completely against doctor patient protocol and despite the fact he is married, Jung goes ahead and has a relationship with her.  He believes it to be somewhat therapeutic for her after he gets the idea from another patient he is treating.  In typical soap opera fashion their relationship begins to get risky and complicated with Jung's pesky conscience getting in the way of their romance.  Feelings get hurt and emotions run high.  Oh what's the good doctor to do?

Notice the absence of Freud from the plot described above.  Yes, Freud (Viggo Mortensen) is in the film but he is very much a supporting character.  Oh sure Jung and Freud do talk about a new method of psychology called psychoanalysis but we are treated to very few of the details behind it.  In fact A Dangerous Method is quite tame and shallow in its presentation of a film that was supposed to be about Jung and Freud.

The scenes that do have Freud and Jung together are quite good but the film isn't really about them.  The screenplay only scratches the surface of a subject matter that could have been quite interesting.  Instead it's about the trite relationship between Jung and Sabina.  Their romance probably would have been more acceptable to watch had it not been for the lackluster performance from Knightly.  Her attempts at doing a Russian accent throughout the film prove painful to listen to.  She seems out of place and out of her element in this picture.  Keira, please do something with Joe Wright again.  Why Cronenberg cast her in the picture remains a mystery.

A Dangerous Method is by no means a bad film but it certainly isn't very engrossing either save for the Fassbender's and Mortensen's performances.  Everything about this film felt restrained.  Cronenberg was holding back from showing us something shocking and different like he always does.  The screenplay felt as though it was bound by a straight jacket.  The ideas and concepts talked about were never fully explored.  The characters lacked any real depth leaving us yearning for more information about these two historical figures.  It felt like Cronenberg was afraid to show us his true vision for the film and instead opted for something the studio could market to a mainstream audience.  Cronenberg and his cast have all done better projects than this.  For a film about sexual repression, the film itself felt repressed by its screenplay.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

"The Artist"

They are so many aesthetic qualities to films nowadays that we take for granted.  Camera, editing, acting, and sound techniques all had to be invented and improved upon to tell motion picture stories.  The Artist focuses on the last technique mentioned, sound.  Prior to 1927 there was no recorded sound used in major motion pictures.  Many actors were unable to make the change from silent to sound films.  The Artist tells the story of one of these actors.

It's the 1920's and George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is one of the hottest actors in Hollywood.  The public adores him.  He enjoys being an actor has been able to make a very decent living from his work on the silver screen for quite some time.  Then something new comes along that takes George by surprise.  In a private screening room George is treated to a film with spoken dialogue coming from one of the actors on the screen.  He is taken aback but quickly brushes it off as merely a fad that won't last.  This is the future of film?  Yeah right.  

Sad to say though his star begins to fade.  Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo,) is the new rising star.  After a brief but memorable encounter with George at one his premieres, her face is in on the front page of newspaper in town.  Peppy is later cast in one of Mr. Valentin's pictures and so begins her ascent into stardom. She is able to make the transition to sound without any sort of hesitation.   The acceleration of recorded sound takes a toll on George and everything around him as he struggles with the changing times.  

FYI this is a silent film.  The dialogue that occurs on screen is presented through title cards.  Just remember that although we can't hear what the characters are saying doesn't mean that we're unable to understand what is happening.  Everyone in the cast does a marvelous job of conveying such strong emotions through their physical and facial expressions.  This may look like an easy task to do but think about it.  In the old days if you wanted to communicate anything on screen to the audience the actors had to use big, over exaggerated movements and expressions to get their message across.

Dujardin gives such a tender, mesmerizing, and heartbreaking performance.  To watch him take on this character is really something to see.  Our sympathies are with George every step of way.  The struggles that he is going through are very relatable for anyone who's ever felt they were being replaced by something else deemed as "better."  Dujardin also has that silent movie star look and quality about him.  He fits perfectly into the time and place of the film.

The Artist is a real gem of a film.  Come Oscar time this one is going to be hard to beat for Best Picture.  This is such a harmless, pleasant, crowd pleasing piece of cinema; it's hard to find any blemishes.  It's interesting that Scorsese's Hugo and this film were released in the same year.  They are both beautiful celebrations of cinema and showcase some quality filmmaking.  Director Michel Hazanavicius has a clear and passionate vision.  The sets, costumes, camera lens work, and especially the score are all period perfect taking us back to a different time of Hollywood, a more glorious time.  If at all possible try to catch this flick in a theater that still shows 35mm films.  If you listen closely enough you might be able to hear the sound of the projector running behind you which only enhances the experience.