FILM REVIEW: AUSTENLAND

A scene from Austenland.

So bore-joy-see

By Don Simpson

The first film I ever saw at the Sundance Film Festival, director and co-writer Jerusha Hess' Austenland might purport to be about becoming so immersed in the world of fiction that we no longer see reality, but in fact it is about making fun of people’s fantasies. The fatefully named Jane (Keri Russell) is a diehard fan of Jane Austen’s. This is supposed to be showcased by the decor of her apartment which resembles that of a 10-year-old girl with an unhealthy fetish for bric-a-brac from 18th century England; instead, it feels like the production design team threw a ton of nonsensical clutter into Jane’s apartment in the guise of being Austen-esque. We are also informed that Jane’s unhealthy obsession with Austen has hindered her relationships. Her dream man, Mr. Darcy, does not actually exist, so Jane will always be disappointed in whomever she dates.

Rather than accepting reality, Jane runs off to vacation at Austenland, a hyper-dramatized recreation of Austen’s literary universe, complete with actors who are charged with the task making the female guests’ Austen-esque romantic fantasies come to orgasmic fruition. Jane is joined in the Austen motherland by two other women from the former colonies — Miss Charming (Jennifer Coolidge) and Lady Heartright (Georgia King) — who are embarrassing caricatures of American tourists in England and whose motives seem much less innocent than Jane’s.

The three women are expected to compete for the attention of two men, Mr. Nobley (JJ Feild) and Colonel Andrews (James Callis) yet Jane’s attention quickly turns to a man of a much lower class, Martin (Bret McKenzie). This is where things get confusing for Jane — and us — because she also develops a rocky, love-hate relationship with Mr. Nobley; and so the entire third act of Austenland is committed to keeping everyone confused about Jane’s true feelings.

There might be a great movie idea somewhere deep inside of Austenland, but it is totally smothered by so much over-baked cheesiness. Parts of Austenland are just too ridiculous for me to stomach. Ludicrousness is confused with comedy, and plot is eschewed in favor of nonsense. Austenlandturns into an embarrassing mockery of all things Austen, when instead it could have learned a lot from Austen’s toned down approach to romance and melodrama.

THEATER REVIEW: NICKLE AND DIMED

A scene from Nickel and Dimed.

Good sense and bad cents

By Ed Rampell

Barbara Ehrenreich’s 2001 Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America is something of a 21^st century counterpart to Frederick Engels’ 1845 The Condition of the Working Class in England. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America grew out of an article for Harper’s magazine wherein the accomplished author clandestinely worked for three months in a number of blue collar low wage jobs to see if one could survive doing so. Playwright Joan Holden’s adaptation, Nickel and Dimed, is a superb, moving dramatization based on the then-50-something Ehrenreich’s undercover misadventures in minimum wage-land.

Zachary Barton is stellar as the protagonist who is alternately called “Barbara” -- when she’s in authorial mode -- and “Barb” when she is waitressing at the “Kenny’s” eatery chain, folding and sorting clothes at “Mallmart”, cleaning homes for “Magic Maids” and so on. Barton expertly expresses Barbara/Barb’s smoldering outrage. The veteran stage actress’ visage actually bears a resemblance to Ehrenreich’s face, and she is simply splendid and outstanding as the writer who proudly proclaims early in the play: “I’m a radical.” Later on a character ponders about Barb: “I wonder if she’s a communist?”

The ensemble cast is likewise first-class as (mostly) working class stiffs Barb encounters when she goes through the plebian looking glass. From restaurant to big box store employees, fast order cooks to cashiers, Veronica Alicino, Kathleen Ingle, Jackie Joniec, Carmen Lezeth Suarez, Johnnie Torres and Matthew Wrather all play multiple roles, and do so convincingly, with pathos and humor. These thespians are cannily cast, as they don’t, in general, have that glossy Hollywood pretty boy/girl look, but rather appear to be “real people” in various sizes, ethnicities, shapes and ages.

A standout moment in the play is when Wrather as a Mallmart manager seems to ad lib with audience members as he rationalizes the chain’s hyper-exploitation business model, which allegedly includes forcing laborers to work extra hours for no additional payment. (A bit about how the “Mallton” family members are among the richest individuals in America would enhance the dialogue.)

Kudos to Richard Kilroy, who adeptly directs the ensemble and also, tellingly, has the set design credit. This is crucial because Nickel and Dimed has many scenic transitions as we move from one of the peripatetic Barb’s places of employment to another, from Florida to the Northeast. The rapid set changes keep pace with Barb’s odyssey.

The oppressive, humiliating conditions of underpaid, non-unionized, hyper-exploited workers who are low paid and generally don’t receive benefits is first and foremost in the drama. But the rift between intellectuals and manual laborers is also explored -- the highly educated Barbara has options her blue collar comrades don’t. Spunky Barb is puzzled by what seems to be their subservience, as the least of those among us may have little, but much to lose if they get fired from their low paying jobs. Without much of (if any) a safety net, this wage slavery is all that stands between them and sheer, utter destitution.

Although Barbara may be an intellectual and author, the compassionate writer and Montana-born daughter of a copper miner remembers her own humble origins (Ehrenreich was also married to a Teamster organizer for 10 years), and yearns and burns to shine a light on their proletarian plight. Barbara’s crusade causes a fissure to grow between her and her white collar boyfriend (one of the many parts Wrather plays), but Holden’s script fails to resolve this plot-wise and to fully show how Barbara’s underground escapades among the wretched of the Earth have changed her.

But this is a mere quibble. Nickel and Dimed powerfully, poignantly demonstrates why the millions of unrepresented workers need to be unionized, and how this is arguably the cause of our time. (During the last Depression the unionization rate grew by 300%, and Ehrenreich founded and has been the president of United Professionals, a membership organization for white collar workers.) All those who argue against raising the minimum wage should be forced to live on it themselves.


Bright Eyes Productions’ Nickel and Dimed runs through August 25 at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038. For more info: 323-960-5770; www.pays411.com/nickelanddimed.

FILM REVIEW: EUROPA REPORT

A scene from Europa Report.

Specs for the future

By Don Simpson

 

For six months, the world watched as the Europa One — a private, multinational venture — ventured into deep space. By the time the mission feed went dead, the Europa One crew had ventured further than human beings have ever traveled away from Earth. Thankfully for us, thousands of hours of recently declassified footage has been edited into a feature length film. Ah, yes, Europa Report is a low budget, sci-fi found footage film, assembled from the Europa One’s many on board cameras that — despite the feed to Earth going dead — continued to monitor everything that happened on the ship.

 

Europa One’s primary mission is to search for signs of life on Jupiter’s fourth largest moon after receiving reports that seemed to suggest the presence of lakes beneath Europa’s frozen surface. As we all know, wherever water has been found, life has also been discovered. The journey to Europa is one of unabashed mundanity, claustrophobic emptiness and psychologically traumatic seclusion. The crew must make a series of difficult yet mathematically calculated choices (the first one being to continue the mission after losing contact with mission command) and sacrifice themselves for the ultimate purpose of history-altering, scientific discoveries. Despite their precision, the crew’s greatest enemies seem to be technical glitches, human errors and the unknown.

 

Director Sebastián Cordero’s Europa Reportexcels in its subtle attention to detail and logical grounding in scientific reality. Though we do not currently have the technology to support human travel to Jupiter’s moons today, Cordero and his production team created a fathomable spaceship for the future. It all makes perfect sense, and when things do go wrong — which of course they do — it never seems unfounded. Even the characters act (and speak) like scientists, not Hollywood action heroes.

 

In the found footage genre, the editing structure and camera angles are two of the most important components to consider in terms of maintaining a high level of realism. I often wonder what the motivation and goal is for the fictional person who accesses and reconstructs the found footage; we never get to meet that person or figure out why they did what they did. For Europa Report, it is overwhelmingly clear that the footage was assembled by a fictional editor who wanted to construct a dramatic film. The seemingly random, non-linear assembly of the footage is meant to derive tension and intrigue, but it ends up muddling the authenticity of the narrative. That said, Cordero’s unflinching dedication to only using authentic camera angles almost makes up for the haphazard editing. The bevy of on board cameras are purposefully placed, both in terms of the logistics of the spaceship but also in the framing of the narrative. When the static camera angles seem too boring, Cordero is able to cut away to the confessional handheld video cameras operated by the crew. So, even with its budget restraints and found footage techniques, Europa Report is a visually intriguing film that is also quite profound.

FILM REVIEW: THE SPECTACULAR NOW

Sutter (Miles Teller) and  Aimee (Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now.

Some finer drops

By Don Simpson

Despite its ability to break down the social and class barriers between Aimee (Shailene Woodley) and Sutter (Miles Teller), we can only assume that alcohol — or Sutter’s immaturity — will eventually come between them. Something horrible seems to be lingering on their horizon, but there is no way of knowing exactly what it is. I found myself mentally preparing for something horrible to happen, because it just seems like one of those films; the kind that requires a horrible tragedy in order to redeem and/or save its protagonist(s).

For a few moments, director James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now goes the way of The Christmas Story, as Sutter is able to glimpse a future version of himself. If Sutter continues down his current path, there is an extremely high probability that he will end up a lot like the failure of a man who is sitting across the table from him; but even this experience is not enough to shake some sense into Sutter.

It is the incredibly powerful final act that really puts the “wow!” into The Spectacular Now. This is a story that could go a million different ways, but the conclusion abides by the same surprisingly high level of realism that commands the rest of the film.

The Spectacular Now serves as an impressive treatise on teen alcoholism and the social pressures found in high school. Certainly more effective than any of those horrendous alcohol and drug-related videos that they show in school assemblies, The Spectacular Now might actually make teenagers think before taking too many drinks.