Movie of the Week – La Rafle

This week’s movie: La Rafle (2010)

In July 1942, French officials attempted to round up thousands Jews in Paris (and its surrounding region) to appease their Nazi occupiers and reduce France’s Jewish population, they captured around 13,000 (about 4,000 of which were children). The event is known as the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup. The French government did not apologize until 1995.

The film is written and directed by Rose Bosch who worked with composer Christian Henson and cinematographer David Ungaro.

The cast is very good. The film stars Melanie Laurent, and features an ensemble including: Jean Reno, Gad Elmaleh, Sylvie Testud, Anne Brochet, Denis Menochet, and Adele Exarchopoulos.

La Rafle is a powerful film telling one of the many truly sad Holocaust stories of WWII. When the war ended, President Charles De Gaulle promoted the idea of a France that did all it could to fight and sabotage the Nazis while they occupied the country – a France separate from the few who collaborated as part of the Vichy government, because he thought that the country needed to heal and put the truth (things like the extent of the Vichy government and the 1942 roundup) away for the moment. Instead, he hailed the French people as all being involved in the underground resistance movement, supporting the allied effort. Thus, France has grown up with this culture. Films like La Rafle remind us what horrors good people are capable of and that though it was Adolph Hitler and his Nazi party that wanted to eradicate the world of those it deemed undesirable good people too were compliant and apathetic. It reminds us that we must not simply allow evil to propagate because the alternative is difficult. The story also tells too of thousands of brave Parisians who hid around 5,000 Jews, also reminding us what good people are capable of when they dare to have courage. Other films well worth checking out in regards to France’s WWII occupation by the Nazis include Marcel Ophuls’s brilliant documentary The Sorrow and the Pity exposing many forgotten truths and the elaborate documentary series The World at War, specifically the chapters entitled: France Falls: May-June 1940 and Genocide:1941-1945.

Trailer: Here

Available on: DVD and Video On-Demand

Movie of the Week – Inglourious Basterds

This week’s movie: Inglourious Basterds (2009).

What if the Allies had killed Hitler and ended WWII early? Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds plays a bit like a revenge fantasy. It is split into five vignettes taking place in Nazi Occupied France that all tie together by the end.

Tarantino is one of independent film’s most celebrated directors. His films are mostly considered classics. With Inglourious Basterds, however, he made his most expensive (costing around seventy million) and subsequently most successful film to date (in terms of gross box office). He has said that it is the first part of a new trilogy, with Django Unchained being the second in the series.

Cinematographer Robert Richardson and production designer David Wasco produce brilliant work on the film, which overall is aesthetically fantastic (and maybe Tarantino’s best in that regard). The visuals (and especially the score, taken from classic westerns, war films and David Bowie) reference genre films that Tarantino grew up with.

As good as Tarantino’s writing is (and it is very good), the performances are maybe even better. The cast is universally wonderful, making stars out of a few European actors who before did not have that much exposure in the states. The ensemble includes: Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz (who won an Oscar for his work), Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, Jacky Ido, B.J. Novak, Gedeon Burkhard, Omar Doom, August Diehl, Denis Menochet, and Mike Myers, with voice work from Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel.

Inglourious Basterds was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, but only won one. It is my favorite of Tarantino’s films (and among my 25 favorite films from the last decade), and a must-see for fans of Tarantino’s work and war films. It is brilliant.

Trailer: Here

Available on: Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming

Beginners (2011) – Review

Review: Beginners is sad and honest, with a wonderful naturalistic/minimalist aesthetic. Writer-director Mike Mills structured the film to jump around in time to tell the story – both narratively (this is what happened then and is happening now) and emotionally (how Oliver got to be the way he is). While the film has a certain indie quirkiness to it (which is sort of standard for this type of film), Mills seems to put a premium on exploring the emotions of his characters in a very authentic fashion (though, there is somewhat of a typical Hollywood narrative formula at work as well). The audience can connect with Oliver, because he feels real and his emotions genuine. Mills is not afraid to explore Oliver’s loneliness and deep sadness (the fear being making a depressing film that isolates the audience), and it works both due to the emotions feeling substantial and tangible and to the humor and quirky charm that is sprinkled in throughout (plus a very cute Jack Russell terrier that gives his perspective, almost God-like, when things are not as they should be). The characters of Oliver’s dad Hal and his friend Anna also have a lot of life and kinetic energy that they bring to the film, which helps balance out the stunted Oliver. However, despite the loneliness and deep sadness of Oliver, the film has a refreshing and un-abating optimism to it – it is never too late to make a change or start over (as can be seen both in Hal, Oliver and Anna). It is the kind of optimism that is naïve, but necessary and brings a smile to our faces (we need and crave this type of optimism in our own lives). In addition to the narrative, the film has a very important and socially relevant (and political) message in relation the treatment of gay men and women (or just being different in someone’s eyes). The film compares what it was like to be Gay or Jewish in the 30s/40s/50s in connection to today. (Not to go off on a tangent but) it is ridiculous that even today all Americans (and humans) do not have the same rights under the law. The film has a very accepting and loving affinity to its characters (be them gay or straight), which makes it endearing and promotes such a positive vibe (even outside the narrative). Beginners is an excellent film with great characters and emotional resonance.

Technical & acting achievements: Mike Mills has had a successful career making music videos (a style that lent itself very well to a number of the sequences in this film) and also made the narrative film Thumbsucker (which was received with mixed criticism, and is not a film I liked much). Beginners is his best work to date as it shows his skill in writing very true characters and handling an interesting narrative structure. I, for one, am looking forward to what he does next. The composing trio of Roger Neill, Dave Palmer and Brian Reitzell produce a great score that works well with the emotional journey that Oliver embarks on. Kasper Tuxen’s cinematography is also very good, exhibiting a very natural look. Mills and Tuxen’s shot composition is also excellent – which it needed to be as Oliver’s job is in art and Hal’s is as a museum director, thus giving the film by way of its characters an artistic imperative. Shane Valentino’s production design is wonderful, playing off the indie charm and artistic minimalism to create fantastic sets (much like his work on Somewhere). The cast (comprised mainly of four actors) is fabulous. Goran Visnjic emotes so much empathy and love (though, tapered a bit with mistrust due to a life of being viewed as an outsider, which is a bit of a theme for all the characters – a mistrust of the good things in their lives, except Hal). Christopher Plummer has such grace and love for his character. He is brilliant as Hal. Melanie Laurent (in her second ‘American’ film) once again steals our hearts. She is able to play her character as being everything we would want in a partner (loyal, loving, cute, interesting) while still feeling authentic (no easy task; she is definitely a star to watch). Ewan McGregor is very good as well (probably his best performance in a long time). His character Oliver is so toned down that all his happiness feels a bit jaded as we can see the destructive sadness within. He uses his eyes so well.

Summary & score: Beginners is a special film in which optimism preservers in spite of it being engulfed in loneliness and sadness. 9/10

Stars to Watch: Part 5 – Movies Spotlight – June 2011

Cinema constantly has new talent each and every year, making good films and opening audiences’ eyes to new characters, stories and worlds. June offers three fantastic female performers to watch.

Jennifer Lawrence

What She’s Been In:

Jennifer Lawrence, 20, started acting in church plays deciding that she wanted to pursue it as a career – graduating early from high school and begging her parents to take her to New York to find a talent agent. She appeared in a few TV series and TV movies before getting her break becoming a series regular on The Bill Engvall Show on TBS in 2007. The show lasted three years and was not a favorite among critics, but it got Lawrence’s name, face and talent out there for producers and directors to see. She got small roles in the feature films Garden Party and The Poker House before landing her first notable role in Guillermo Arriaga’s (writer of Babel and 21 Grams) The Burning Plain. In the film she plays opposite Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger, winning an award for best young emerging actor/actress at the 2008 Venice Film Festival.  In early 2011, she had a supporting role in Jodie Foster’s strange dramedy The Beaver starring Mel Gibson as a depressed man who copes by talking through a puppet beaver.

Breakthrough:

Lawrence’s breakthrough role came in 2010 with her leading performance in Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone. The film won Best Picture at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010 and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Lawrence also received an Oscar nomination for Best Leading Actress. The film is about a young girl, Ree Dolly, in the rural Ozark Mountains of Missouri who must hold her family together when she learns that her good-for-nothing father has put her family’s house and land up as a bond for a court appearance. So, she sets out to find him and save the house. In a very difficult role, Lawrence is brilliant, making imagining anyone else in the role unimaginable (it was among my favorite performances of 2010).

June Film:

In June, Lawrence stars in X-Men: First Class opposite James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender (also a star to watch) in the role of Raven (who later becomes known as Mystique). The film is excellent and she has a major role and character arc in it, again showing off her acting talent in somewhat of a challenging part – mixing teenage angst and self-discovery with the isolation and self-deprecating loathing that comes with being different and an outsider. She captures the essence of the role very well. It is about the origins of the X-Men, focusing primarily on Raven, Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, it is a must see for genre fans. Here is the trailer.

Upcoming:

Now a hot commodity in Hollywood (after getting an Oscar nod for essentially her first real leading performance and film), Lawrence has a whole slew of films upcoming. In late 2011, she co-stars with Felicity Jones (who was great in Cemetery Junction) and Anton Yelchin (who she played against in The Beaver) in Like Crazy, which won the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize (Lawrence is a Sundance good-luck charm it seems). The film is about a British student who falls for a boy in America, only to be separated from him when she is banned from the U.S. for overstaying her visa. In 2012, she stars with Elisabeth Shue in the horror film House at the End of the Street about a mother and daughter who move to a new town to discover that their neighbors were murdered by their daughter. And, she won the very coveted role as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. Scheduled to be released in March, the film is about a young girl who joins a survival contest in order to save her community. The story is being done by writer-director Gary Ross (Pleasantville). Additionally (and hopefully), she will reprise her role as Mystique in future X-Men: First Class sequels. She definitely has a bright future.

Career Highlights:

1)      The Burning Plain (2009) – supporting [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

2)      Winter’s Bone (2010) – leading* [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

3)      X-Men: First Class (2011) – leading* [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

*Editor’s Picks

Elle Fanning

What She’s Been In:

Elle Fanning, 13, is the younger sister of notable child actress (and now actress) Dakota Fanning. Elle got her start playing the younger version of her sister in both I Am Sam and the Taken mini-series (sort of similar to Rory Culkin). In 2003, she finally got her first role independent to her sister in Daddy Day Care. In addition to doing a number of TV episode appearances, Fanning started making a ton of supporting performances in films: The Door in the Floor, Because of Winn-Dixie, Babel, Deja Vu, and The Nines. In 2007, she got her first leading role in Reservation Road, co-starring with Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Connelly in a film about a terrible accident and the two families that it affects. She followed up her wonderful performance starring in Phoebe in Wonderland about a young girl who seeks guidance from her strange drama teacher, as she does not quite fit in the world that surrounds her. Fanning again shined in the role. Next, she won a supporting role in David Fincher’s amazing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button playing a younger version of Cate Blanchett’s character (she also played Blanchett’s daughter in Babel). She brilliantly acts in the small role against Brad Pitt. She also got a small voice-acting role in Astro Boy.

Breakthrough:

While Fanning is good in Phoebe in Wonderland and Reservation Road, she blossoms into a wonderful actress and future star in Sofia Coppola’s 2010 drama Somewhere, which she won the Young Hollywood Award for Actress of the Year for her performance (the film won the 2010 Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival). In the film, she plays the daughter of a hard-living actor played by Stephen Dorff. It is a challenging role because the film is primarily just Fanning and Dorff playing out everyday life, only twisted by the strangeness of celebrity. The film and her performance are both beautiful and kind of sad. While it did not make my list of best performances of 2010, it was on the shortlist.

June Film:

In June, Fanning stars with newcomer Joel Courtney and Kyle Chandler in J.J. Abrams’s Super 8. The sci-fi mystery is about a group of friends in the summer of 1979 who are making a film together when they begin to notice strange happenings around their small town and decide to investigate. Fanning plays a member of the group of friends and the crush of Courtney’s character. She is steals a number of her scenes beguiling both the other characters and the audience, playing both the drama and comedy given to her character marvelously. It is a must see for sci-fi and adventure fans, and has a great nostalgic/homage feel and tone to it. Here is the trailer.

Upcoming:

With great performances in Somewhere and Super 8 and a strong resume of supporting performances, Fanning is set to become a big star in Hollywood in her teens. In 2011 (though the second two could be pushed to 2012), she is set to star in three great films. Working first with Cameron Crowe in his new dramedy We Bought a Zoo, she co-stars with Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. Scheduled for a December release, the film is about a father who moves his young family to Southern California to renovate and re-open a struggling countryside zoo. Then, moving on to her next role with an excellent director, she has a supporting part in Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt Now and Sunrise, which stars Val Kilmer. The film has been described as a gothic thriller that concerns Edgar Allen Poe. Production was finished last year, but it still has no release date. Lastly, she is set to co-star with Alfred Molina, Neve Campbell, Claire Foy, Sebastian Koch, and Max Irons in Vivaldi, a biography of Antonio Vivaldi – a priest who became a music teacher to illegitimate daughters of Venice’s courtesans. All three have great potential. As she continues to develop her talent and take on new roles and characters, expect big things.

Career Highlights:

1)      Reservation Road (2007) – leading [DVD/Rent]

2)      Phoebe in Wonderland (2008) – leading [DVD/Rent]

3)      The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) – supporting* [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

4)      Somewhere (2010) – leading* [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

5)      Super 8 (2011) – leading* [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

*Editor’s Picks

Melanie Laurent

What She’s Been In:

Melanie Laurent, 28,  began her film career in 1999 with The Bridge, after Gerard Depardieu discovered her on the set of Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar. She was there with a friend, who was watching her father work on the set. Depardieu liked her and got her a role in his next film. Laurent continued to take small roles in many French films and TV movies including the excellent films The Beat That My Heart Skipped (which she is very good in, despite having a tiny role) and Days of Glory. Then in 2006, she got the lead in Don’t Worry, I’m Fine, which was well received by critics leading to her winning the Cesar Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She also co-starred with a number of good French actors (like Romain Duris, Juliette Binoche and Fabrice Luchini) in Cedric Klapisch’s Paris, which she was quite good in. Another well received film in the States was The Concert, she plays a violin virtuoso. She has also directed two short films, and has plans to continue directing both film and in the theatre.

Breakthrough:

While Laurent has starred in a number of good French films, she was completely unknown in the States when Quentin Tarantino cast her in his WWII snuff fantasy Inglourious Basterds. Laurent plays the lead role of Shosanna, a Jewish girl whose family is murdered by Nazis in front of her. She moves to Paris and takes over the operation of a theatre. When the opportunity comes to kill Hitler and other high ranking Nazi officials, she puts a plan in motion. Laurent is fantastic in the film, in what is truly a star-making performance (and one of my favorites of the year).

June Film:

In June, Laurent stars in her second American film – the indie Beginners opposite Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and a very cute Jack Russell terrier. It is directed by writer-director Mike Mills and is about a man whose life is jolted when he finds out that his father is gay and has terminal cancer. He has also failed to find a deeply meaningful relationship, and then he meets Anna (played by Laurent). The film has received good reviews from critics in advanced screenings and will hopefully win Laurent more praise allowing her to appear in more films in the States. Here is the trailer.

Upcoming:

Laurent has a few projects due in 2011 in France. In the States, her WWII film about the 1942 Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup called The Round Up (La Rafle in French), which co-stars Jean Reno and Gad Elmaleh, may get a limited release. It has received mostly positive and mixed reviews. She is also rumored to be up for a role in Quentin Tarantino’s new film Django Unchained (due in December 2012) a western about a freed slave who looks for revenge on his former master (Leonard DiCaprio is also rumored to be starring in the film as the villain).

Career Highlights:

1)      The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) – supporting* [DVD/Rent]

2)      Days of Glory (2006) – supporting* [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

3)      Don’t Worry, I’m Fine (2006) – leading [Not available in the U.S.]

4)      Paris (2008) – supporting* [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

5)      Inglourious Basterds (2009) – leading* [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

6)      The Concert (2010) – supporting [DVD/Rent]

7)      Beginners (2011) – supporting* [Blu-ray/DVD/Rent]

*Editor’s Picks

Movie of the Week - The Beat That My Heart Skipped

This week’s movie of the week is The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005).

The film is about a shady real estate businessman in Paris who is at a crossroads: does he want to continue to make good money in the rough trade that he is currently in or completely change his life and follow his dream of being a concert pianist. The film is directed by the master French auteur Jacques Audiard (who also did the recent critical success: A Prophet), and it stars (my second favorite French actor) Romain Duris – who delivers a fantastic performance. It also features good supporting work from the wonderful Melanie Laurent and Niels Arestrup. The production crew for the film is made up of skilled craftsmen including the very talented cinematographer Stephane Fontaine, whose work with Audiard is phenomenally and artistically interesting, production designer Francois Emmanuelli, who perfectly captures Paris’s underbelly, and (as usually) a great score from Alexandre Desplat (the hardest working man in show business). What makes the film great is Audiard’s directorial skill and the way he uses his camera to focus and guide the viewer through the specific emotional journey that he wants the viewer to embark on, and Duris is again excellent. This is a must see for fans of French cinema and dramas. Check out the trailer.

Available on Amazon.com: [DVD]