THE ILLUSTIONIST: A gentle journey

After being released in the U.S. in December, The Illusionist has finally made its way to Austin, and I took my daughter to see it this past weekend. It’s a gentle, beautifully animated story of a down-on-his-luck magician and the young admirer he meets during his travels. She hitches her wagon to his dimming star and, as if by magic, he changes her life. Or is it the other way around?

Though set primarily in Scotland, the film was made by French filmmaker Sylvain Chomet. It has a decidedly French flavor, right down to the original score, also written by Chomet. But it’s the story behind the story that’s the most fascinating part of all. The script was originally written back in 1956 by French filmmaker Jacques Tati. He died in 1982, never having turned it into a film.

Speculation abounds as to the inspiration for Tati’s story, which is widely believed to be semi-autobiographical. To his credit, Chomet revived the script, moved the setting from Czechoslovakia to Scotland, and turned it into the charming animated feature it is today – one that has been nominated for an Academy Award. Chomet paid homage to the late Tati by drawing the film’s main character in his likeness.

The Illusionist is rated PG, but before you pack up the kiddos and take them to see it, please note that it is still a foreign film in the grand art-house tradition. The story doesn’t resolve in a typical Disney fashion, something that didn’t sit well with my daughter. While she appreciated the film’s artistry, she felt completely ripped off at the end. Welcome to art film!! Sometimes the satisfaction is in the journey, not the destination.

While I, too, prefer my movies to come out neat and tidy, I did appreciate the journey Chomet and Tati took us on, including the literal journey through Paris, London, and Edinburgh. Animation is a perfect medium for the film, which, by the way, has practically no dialogue at all. It’s hard to imagine a modern-day movie without dialogue, but Chomet pulls it off masterfully, making The Illusionist a universal film that will never need translating.

See the trailer for The Illusionist here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZElAeVdDCDs

JUST GO WITH IT: It worked for me

My niece and I went to see Just Go With It last weekend, with about as much hope as anyone can have walking into an Adam Sandler movie. I mean, they can’t all be The Wedding Singer, can they? But guess what! Just Go With It actually worked. It worked for me, it worked for my niece, and judging by the reactions in the theater, it worked for everyone else in the audience.

This movie actually had more in common with another Sandler favorite, 50 First Dates, in that the leading man has a pathetic ruse that he uses to snare unsuspecting women. And yet in both movies he somehow manages to transform himself into a lovable guy that you’re rooting for all the way to the altar.

Now, what do The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates, and Just Go With It have in common? And Bedtime Stories too, come to think of it. Strong leading ladies. Drew Barrymore in the first two, Jennifer Aniston in the third, and Keri Russell in the fourth. I think the Sandler organization has finally hit on a winning recipe! I can’t wait to see who they team him up with next.

To be fair, all four movies also make good use of Sandler’s offbeat humor, and they all have a touch of the insane. In 50 First Dates it was Rob Schneider as “Ula.” In Bedtime Stores it was Russell Brand as “Mickey.” In Just Go With It, it’s Nick Swardson playing “Eddie,” who in turn poses as an Austrian sheep exporter named Dolph Lundgren. It’s complicated, but trust me, just go with it.

See the trailer for Just Go With It here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H3UJIMyo7c

ANOTHER YEAR: Life lessons from Leigh

My stalwart movie buddy L.W. and I saw Another Year the weekend it opened here in Austin. We’re both fans of British drama in general, and of director Mike Leigh in particular. He is notorious for starting film projects without a script, letting the actors who dare to work with him develop their characters over time in what is often a long-drawn-out process. It’s an approach that has been undeniably successful for him. Another Year is up for an Academy Award for best original screenplay – his seventh Oscar nomination.

The movie tells the story of a year in the life of Tom (Jim Broadbent) and his wife Gerri (Ruth Sheen). But it’s not really about Tom and Gerri. It’s about the peripheral people in their lives – friends, colleagues, and extended family members – who can’t seem to get their respective acts together. As such, it’s a cautionary tale, or rather a series of them.

Actress Lesley Manville leads the pack of peripherals as “Mary,” a friend of Gerri’s. In times past, it would have been Brenda Blethyn playing this role – what my friend L.W. referred to as an exhausting flibbertigibbet. Among the many lessons Mary and the others need to learn: Don’t drink too much. Don’t buy a used car without a warranty. Don’t chew with your mouth open. Don’t fall in love with men half your age. And for heaven’s sake, don’t be late to your mother’s funeral.

I hope it doesn’t sound funny, because it isn’t. In a recent interview, Leigh said, “The film is about different people looking at the future and at the past: for some of them, the joy of the future, and for others, the black hole, the horror of that.” The magical thing about Mike Leigh is his ability to blend the joy and horror into a sumptuous mixture, producing something that is eminently worthwhile and watchable.

See the trailer for Another Year here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilv0aVRJPps

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS: Harmless family fun

Movie Reviews for Mere Mortals recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. It all started with the movie Leap Year – a carefree jaunt through the Irish countryside with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode. The critics gave it zero stars, and I, in protest, started this blog.

And here we are, one year later, with yet another zero-star movie, Gulliver’s Travels. Clearly my work here is not done. For those mere mortals who enjoy Jack Black and who appreciate a good family film, let me reassure you – this movie is not the cinematic wasteland the critics have made it out to be. It’s fun, it’s funny, and it’s even clever in places. The effects are well done, the acting is sincere, and everyone learns to live together in peace, followed by a magnificent musical number. What more do you want?

Inexplicably, movie reviewers across the country have turned into orthodox Jonathan Swift scholars overnight, denouncing the movie for its many flagrant deviations from the sacred source material. Hmm. What do the eight-year-olds have to say about that? They probably think the critics are a bunch of Yahoos. And so do I.

Not only is it fun to watch, but it’s obvious that the folks who made it had fun doing it – starting with Jack Black, who is at his Jack Blackest here. And let’s not forget all the “little people,” that is, the miniature inhabitants of Lilliput, including Billy Connolly as King Theodore, Emily Blunt as his daughter, Princess Mary, and Jason Segel as her noble suitor, Horatio. They’re all so cute, you just want to put them in your pocket and take them home.

I can’t presume to know what Jonathan Swift would think about this movie if he were here today, but I have a feeling he would be thrilled to know that people are still drawing inspiration from his novel, some 285 years later. What’s more, if he had kids, I think he’d be grateful for the chance to take them to see a harmless family film.

See the Gulliver’s Travels trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGLifXe_Hm0

NO STRINGS ATTACHED: A racy rom-com

When traversing the minefield of romantic comedies, one must step carefully. They’re not all Sleepless in Seattle. Some of them are not something you’d take your grandmother to, or your preteen daughter, and No Strings Attached falls squarely into that category. I went with my niece to see it, and although she’s a grown woman now, I was still a little embarrassed. No Strings isn’t a rom-com. It’s a romp-com.

In case you haven’t seen the trailers, the movie is about two friends who decide to hook up, repeatedly, but without all the trappings of a normal committed relationship (e.g., snuggling and having breakfast). Needless to say, there’s an awful lot of dancing in the sheets. Fortunately for the audience, the dancers are played by Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, and they’re just so darn wholesome and charming, you can’t help but love them both.

Kutcher reprises his role from Valentine’s Day – he’s a happy, handsome sweetheart of a fella with a promising career and a cadre of good friends. As an MIT grad and devoted doctor-in-training, Portman’s character is troubled – but not in a Black Swan sort of way. She’s just a busy gal with a lot on her mind. Together, the two of them manage to take a tawdry storyline and turn it into something worth watching.

I honestly can’t imagine the movie succeeding without the two of them, but we will soon have a chance to find out if it will. Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis will be starring in a similar film this summer called Friends With Benefits. So if you like your rom-coms a little on the racy side, you’re in luck! Looks like we’ll have a bumper crop this year.

See the No Strings Attached trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubfcfs98MBw