FILM REVIEW: EMOTICON ;)

Elena (Livia De Paolis) and Hanna (Carol Kane) in Emoticon ;).

Connections

By Don Simpson

Elena (Livia De Paolis) is fascinated by modern means of communication but she cannot seem to wrap her head around how to develop that interest into a graduate school thesis. But then Elena finds herself fully immersed into the very modern worlds of her significantly older boyfriend Walter’s (Michael Cristofer) adopted teenage kids, Amanda (Diane Guerrero) and Luke (Miles Chandler). This allows Elena to gain firsthand insight on how these two particular teens utilize different types of technology as existential tools to better understand themselves.

Though many of Emoticon ;)‘s comments on modern communication are annoyingly obvious, De Paolis’ directorial debut works well as a subtle contemplation of family that intimately observes how adoption and divorce may affect family units. Not only is there a natural generational divide between Walter and his kids, but they are not intrinsically bound by DNA. With sole custody of the teenagers, Walter has adopted a laissez-faire approach to parenting, focusing his time on teaching and dating. Having very little parental oversight, Amanda and Luke are forced to learn everything for themselves. Elena’s keen interest in their lives is resisted at first, but that tide turns quickly. Starving for parental support during their existential struggles, Amanda and Luke latch onto Elena. Not quite old enough to be their mother, Elena’s understanding of technology allows her to form an intimate connection with the Amanda and Luke, becoming their friend and confidant, something they have seemingly never experienced with a parental figure before.

Emoticon ;) also addresses the role that race may play in adoption. While Luke was able to easily adjust to his adoptive parents and their neighborhood (Gramercy, Manhattan) because he is Caucasian, Amanda basically had to ignore her Mexican roots and assimilate herself into their white, upperclass world. Once Amanda meets her first “brown” friend, her life is changed forever. Amanda is driven by the desire to learn about the biological past that has been hidden from her thus far.

De Paolis’ refreshingly feminine perspective is most apparent in her handling of unplanned pregnancies, specifically in the way the female characters are affected by these situations. Emoticon ;) serves as a perfect example of why we need more feminine directorial voices in the world of cinema.

FILM REVIEW: A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST

Anna (Charlize Theron) and Albert (Seth McFarlane) in A Million Ways to Die in the West.

Gun damn our history

By Ed Rampell

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

 

For those who enjoy genre spoofs and gross out humor, Seth MacFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West serves up a heaping pile of humor with a million mirthful movie moments. Others who prefer their comedy to be cerebral and refined, rather than raucous, may wish to hang up their spurs and sit this dizzy dosey doe out. While those minus any sense of humor at all should just stay at the old homestead, instead.

 

Although your critic also enjoys the dry wit of a Cole Porter or Noel Coward lyric, he belongs in the former camp and laughed (what’s left of) his head off. Around 40 years ago, when Mel Brooks unleashed Blazing Saddles on an unsuspecting public, scenes such as Mongo’s horse-punching and the campfire farting vignette were considered to be irreverent and outré. In a similar way, in our post-Brooks world, MacFarlane pushes the envelope of our more jaded 2014 sensibilities with scatological humor and jokes in bad taste (and that surely taste badly) that have rarely been seen on the big screen in a major Hollywood production. In terms of standards per onscreen behavior, this is MacFarlane’s Family Guy and American Dad animated TV series on cinematic steroids, raising crudity to the level of high art. (Although A Million Ways to Die in the West holds back when it comes to breasts and female genitalia, which Sarah Silverman as the droll hooker Ruth merely describes, whereas male genitalia is more graphically exposed. Why the shyness, Seth?)

 

As the auteur of A Million Ways to Die in the West (MacFarlane directed, co-wrote and stars -- although, unlike Brooks, he did not punch the holes in the sides of the celluloid), he takes deadly aim at the genre conventions of the Western. Indeed, for our continent’s indigenous peoples, the Westward ho! expansion from sea to not so shining seas was nothing short of a cataclysmic, genocidal catastrophe that is now also turning into an ecological nightmare. Underlying MacFarlane’s critique of the Western lies an awareness of this unadorned history.

 

Like numerous John Ford classics, part of A Million Ways to Die in the West was shot on location in Monument Valley. Mac the Knife satirically deconstructs and debunks cowboy clichés, stressing that in stark contrast to silver screen hagiography, the Wild West was an awful place to find one’s self in. There is an especially delicious joke about the “selfishness” of American Natives, and at the very end (warning -- don’t leave before all the end credits have rolled!) whitey gets his comeuppance for caricaturing newly free slaves at a county fair.

 

Like many a genre spoof A Million Ways to Die in the West walks a fine line in between making fun of the Western’s archetypes and tried and true traits. Sometimes the mockery devolves into becoming the very thing which the iconoclastic artiste has been poking fun at. Such may be the case vis-à-vis the relationship between Albert (MacFarlane) and Anna (Charlize Theron, who may be the horse opera’s most fetching, winsome gunslinger since Jane Fonda rode the purple sage in 1965’s similarly hilarious Cat Ballou, which co-starred Oscar winning Lee Marvin and what is, hoofs down, screendom’s most screamingly funny steed ever).

 

A Million Ways to Die in the West is at its satirical best when it lampoons the mythos of gunslinging. As gunman Clinch Leatherwood, Liam Neeson does a good job of harpooning not only the long-ballyhooed celluloid stereotype of the High Noon-type triggerman, but of the action hero/tough guy roles the actor, who once played Oskar Schindler has been, lamentably, cast in of late. Although it’s hard to assess the psychological impact of and quantify the romanticizing of gunplay in our culture, who knows how many Westerns that pathetic, demented mass murderer in Santa Barbara and others of his shooting spree ilk have seen since birth?

 

MacFarlane’s screen romp is also at its finest when depicting Native Americans, Hollywood’s perennial “noble savages.” A Million Ways to Die in the West portrays them as savage, then as noble -- enlightened heathens who, through psychedelics. lead Albert on an Oz-like trip wherein he attains clarity, if not a taste of enlightenment. Wes Studi -- who played Magua in 1992’s The Last of the Mohicans, the title character in 1992’s Geronimo: An American Legend and the Na'vi chief in 2009’s Avatar -- is, as usual, great, portraying Cochise. For my wampum, Studi steals the show (his niece DeLanna Studi is also a gifted thespian).

 

Neil Patrick Harris also co-stars as Foy, a cross between a city slicker and gunslinger who competes with Albert for the affections of Louise (played by Amanda Seyfried, who, unlike Theron, is not, for some reason, very attractive here). Look for comic Bill Maher in a clever cameo.

 

As for the plot of the movie, it’s very secondary to the boundless laughs for those tickled pink by sheep penises, hats full of excrement and the like. In other words, your humble scribe loved it and recommends it to those for whom this type of rude, crude comedy is their cup of piss -- uh, I mean “tea.” To paraphrase Horace Greeley, it made this reviewer say: “Go Seth, young man!”        

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

    

 

FILM REVIEW: GORE VIDAL AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA

Gore Vidal in Gore Vidal and the United States of Amnesia. 

Thanks for the memory

By Don Simpson

In capturing the life of a man who deftly re-imagined how we approach history and politics, it is unfortunate that Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia relies so heavily upon such an uninventive documentary format. Combining direct interviews with archival footage, director Nicholas Wrathall is lucky to at least have Gore Vidal’s natural charisma as the heart and soul of this documentary.

For those who are unfamiliar with his uncanny knack for highly-intellectualized wit and humor, The United States of Amnesiapresents Vidal in stark contrast to the perpetual stream of verbal diarrhea that spews from modern day pundits. Even when pitted against his nemesis William F. Buckley, Jr. during ABC’s coverage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Vidal transcended the stuffy intellectualism and presented his arguments with a poetic panache that made his elegantly barbed jabs all the more entertaining. Unfortunately, Vidal’s high-minded style of political discourse died with him on July 31, 2012.

Vidal’s lack of intellectual equals becomes increasingly evident as all of the other interviewees sprinkled throughout The United States of Amnesia pale in comparison to him. Their unabashed hero-worship does very little to contribute to the discussion of Vidal’s life, instead everyone seems much more enamored by his vibrant social life — as if to suggest that his friendship with Paul Newman or notorious feuds with Truman Capote and Norman Mailer are more important than his intellectual prowess. Even Vidal’s criticisms of John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are reduced to comical soundbites that are primed for tabloid headlines. In this context, The United States of Amnesia seems to cheapen Vidal’s opinions and arguments, abbreviating the sound bites into petty and slanderous slurs; its just a shame that Wrathall does not allow him to justify the statements.

While many viewers might only know of Vidal from reading his historical novels such as Lincoln or Burr, Wrathall opts to present a very human portrait of Vidal; focusing on his personality, The United States of Amnesia avoids any scholarly analysis of Vidal’s work. Hearing Vidal’s friends and admirers speak about him, it becomes increasingly evident that he was an enigma to everyone. Vidal seemed to enjoy the mysterious nature of his public persona, especially when it came to his sexuality. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), is recognized as one of the first major American novels to directly feature homosexuality, but Vidal was opposed to defining people in terms of being “homosexual” and “heterosexual.” Vidal wholeheartedly believed that sexuality is not as clear cut as those polarizing terms infer, suggesting that everyone is bisexual to some degree. This made Vidal’s purportedly asexual relationship with long-term partner Howard Austen all the more perplexing to those who knew him.

Our world may still need a more academic interpretation of Vidal’s work, but Wrathall’s documentary serves as an essential introduction to the man, the myth and the legend. The United States of Amnesia presents Vidal (who I share a birthday with) in such an approachable light that perhaps it will propel more people to become curious about his novels and essays.

FILM REVIEW: BICYCLING WITH MOLIERE

Serge (Fabrice Luchini) in Bicycling with Moliere. 

Circling the stage

By John Esther

A somewhat witty, certainly revealing, tale of clashing egos, the latest film by Philippe Le Guay – whose previous film was the lackluster The Woman on the 6^th Floor – two French actors get together to see it they can collaborate on Moliere’s The Misanthrope.

Gauthier (Lambert Wilson) is a successful actor with a wildly popular TV show about a surgeon who saves lives regardless of circumstances. Give the good doctor a plastic knife and he can save a young girl dying in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Already popular, rich and handsome Gauthier still wants a little more out of life. He wants something he can really sink his teeth into, like The Misanthrope, considered Moliere’s most demanding play for actors.

If he is going to pull it off, he will need the help of a fellow actor, Serge (Fabrice Luchini). For three years, Serge has led a hermetic life on the Ile de Ré, a posh area on France’s Atlantic Coast.

An expert on Moliere and a misanthrope in his own right, Serge would seem to be the perfect actor for the play’s protagonist, Alceste. But Gauthier wants to play Alceste, with Serge playing his Alceste's friend, Philinte, which is a smaller part.

Since Serge wants to play Alecste, too, the two of them agree to alternate rehearsing different roles. They may even do this for the play itself with the two alternating roles each week.

As the two rehearse over the next few days many conflicts arrive. Cellphones, bicycle accidents, a lover interest and bad plumbing interfere with the creative process. But what threatens any future production the most is the role of the egos of the actors. Every time progress is made, another setback comes along. On with the play, I say.

Certainly worth a view, Bicycling with Moliere has many charming warm moments about friendship, camaraderie and artistic and literary integrity in a world not to fond of that kind of thing; although France, in general, is significantly appreciative of great theater than the United States. You can bet far more French people, per capita, know a Moliere play more than Americans know one by Tennessee Williams or any American playwright for that matter. 

But the real strength of the play comes from watching the two experiencing the joys of working through a great piece of drama. How does one interpret a role, especially one from the 17^th century? How does one follow Moliere’s rhythm and still make it sound relevant to modern audiences...and other artistic/acting questions? While these can be great challenges to any actor, especially the more narcissistic ones, there are great joys to be found while playing with the play. Indeed, Bicycling with Moliere should not be missed by actors.