Moving, intimate ‘Blue’ delivers on its prizewinner promise

October 25, 2013 by

Blue posterBlue Is the Warmest Color/2013/Sundance Selects/179 min.

I’m going to start with a sort of Spoiler Alert: “Blue Is the Warmest Color” is not a neo-noir, not even close. But I was curious about the movie because it created quite a buzz at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and snared the top prize there, the Palme d’Or.

Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, “Blue” is a coming of age/love story that follows a teenager named Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) as she navigates a brief affair with a boy and a lengthy intimate relationship with an older woman Emma (Léa Seydoux). Adèle also finishes school, finds a job as a teacher, makes mighty platters of pasta and sheds a lot of tears. In other words, it’s a richly detailed character study and an intense, unhurried exploration of a charming but ordinary woman’s everyday life. One day ends, another starts.

At nearly three hours long and containing rather graphic sex scenes, this is perhaps not the movie to go to with Aunt Ginger. I was a bit on the fence about it myself. But, happily, “Blue” never dragged or felt gratuitous, tasteless or solipsistic. What made it so engrossing for me was the sublimely naturalistic performances from everyone in the cast and a story that, while sometimes mundane, is also largely devoid of clichés. Moving and memorable, “Blue” delivers on its prizewinner promise.

“Blue Is the Warmest Color” opens today in LA and New York. In French with English subtitles.

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French drama ‘Polisse’ delivers raw story, rich performances

May 18, 2012 by
Polisse/2011/127 min.

Karin Viard

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Lately, I’ve been admiring the work of acclaimed actress Karin Viard, a sort of French Everywoman and the star of “Polisse,” a gripping cop drama.

Viard, 46, brings to her parts a blend of jolting spontaneity and what-you-see-is-what-you-get earthiness grounded by a subtle, thoughtful core. She reminds me of Laura Dern, both in her looks and her impressive versatility as an actress.

In “Polisse,” directed by Maïwenn, Viard plays Nadine, a cop with the Parisian police department’s child protection unit. Of course, it’s a grim day-to-day routine – confronting criminals, often abusive parents, and tending to damaged children – and the members of this tightly knit crew rely on each other to deal with their anguish and stress.
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They frequently let off steam over meals or after-work drinks; they know the details of each other’s personal lives. Nadine, for example, is going through a painful divorce, and confides in the tightly wound Iris (Marina Foïs), who is struggling with infertility.
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Through swift, sometimes dizzying, editing, the kaleidoscopic narrative weaves together chapters of the cops’ own domestic dramas and vignettes of cases the unit tackles. Raw, often repellent, and unvarnished, the crimes that unfold can be hard to watch. But, overall, the story is fiercely compelling.
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Director/writer/actress (“The Fifth Element,” “High Tension”) Maïwenn co-wrote “Polisse,” a child’s spelling of the word police, with Emmanuelle Bercot after researching and spending time with an actual police unit. They both act in the film; Bercot is Sue Ellen and Maïwenn plays Melissa, a photographer on assignment to document the team. This strand, inserting the photographer as an outside observer, strikes me as a misstep. It feels clunky and tacked on at first, then weirdly out of control once Melissa becomes romantically involved with Fred (French rapper Joey Starr).
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That said, Maïwenn elicits unforgettable performances from the cast, with Viard leading the pack. (“Polisse,” which played in Los Angeles at the COL•COA film festival in April, won the jury prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival as well as two César awards, Yann Dedet and Laure Gardette for best editing and Naidra Ayadi for most promising actress.) As the film spins to a devastating end, it makes a deep emotional mark. You have walked in these cops’ shoes and lived briefly in their world – dire, chaotic and sadly mundane.
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“Polisse” opens today in New York and LA.
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Nanni Moretti, Italy’s Woody Allen, prays for laughs in ‘Pope’

April 6, 2012 by

We Have a Pope/Habemus Papam/2011/Italy, France/IFC/104 min.

By Michael Wilmington

It begins beautifully, with a recreation, or creative imagining, of a Catholic election for a new pope, inside the Holy See, as the world awaits outside, done with a rare mixture of realism and whimsy. This brilliant scene culminates with the choice of a gentle soul, one Cardinal Melville (the great 86-year-old Michel Piccoli), a humble man who, just as he is about to be introduced to the masses outside St. Peter’s, howls with agony and confesses to his fellow churchmen that he feels unworthy and unready.

Desperate, the Vatican insiders (especially the smooth church spokesperson played winningly by Poland’s Jerzy Stuhr) try to cover up this huge problem. They hire an agnostic psychotherapist, Bruzzi (writer/director/star Nanni Moretti) to help the new Pope over this rather large spiritual hump, then hamstring Bruzzi with religious do’s and don’ts.

The cardinals, trapped together, take up volleyball. Melville wanders the streets and the city incognito, becoming entranced with a theater troupe playing Chekhov’s poignant masterpiece “The Seagull.” We await the word of God, or at least of Moretti.

The second half of “We Have a Pope” is not as mesmerizing as the first, and the jokes begin to get a little strained. But the ending is strong, and this is a unique work (from the often-excellent creator of Italian comedy classics such as “Red Lob” and “Dear Diary”), that at least is about something – about problems and people, and this world and (maybe) the next.

“We Have a Pope” was nominated for the 2011 Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, and his Cannes popularity is a measure of Moretti’s artistic stature – as opposed to, oh, say, Adam Sandler’s or Will Ferrell’s.

Can comedy, that old devil, get you into heaven? If that’s the case, all I can say is: Bless me father, for I have sinned.

“We Have a Pope” opens today in New York and LA.

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CIFF closes with ‘The Artist,’ Marilyn photo show opens in LA

October 20, 2011 by

The Chicago International Film Festival closes tonight with a much anticipated French film, “The Artist,” by writer/director Michel Hazanavicius. Described by the festival as “a love letter to the movies,” the story is set in 1927 Hollywood as silent films gave way to sound.

“The Artist” stars Jean Dujardin (he snared the Best Actor award at Cannes in May), Bérénice Bejo and John Goodman. It opens in the U.S. on Nov. 23.

I will posting in more detail about the films I saw and people I met at the fest as well as some ideas for retro chic dining in Chicago.

Meanwhile, in LA, the Hollywood Film Festival starts today at the ArcLight Cinema in Hollywood and runs through Oct. 24.

And on Friday from 7-9 p.m., the Duncan Miller Gallery is hosting the opening reception of 12 Photographs (and more) of Marilyn Monroe.

In addition to 12 large-format images from Lawrence Schiller, the exhibition features iconic prints from other photographers who captured Marilyn, including Philippe Halsman, Milton Greene, Bob Willoughby, Murray Garrett and Benn Mitchell.

The show runs through Nov. 26 at the Duncan Miller Gallery, 10959 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, 90034, 310-838-2440.

Marilyn Monroe image copyright Murray Garrett

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On the radar: Sugar and spice Sydney style in ‘Recipe For Murder;’ cherchez la femme; Cannes kudos

May 24, 2011 by

Sonia Bible's film focuses on three notorious women.

Yesterday I found out about an intriguing new movie, “Recipe For Murder,” and I look forward to speaking with writer/director Sonia Bible. It was news to me that in the early 1950’s, Sydney was a city in the grip of a deadly crime wave. In just over a year, more than 100 people were poisoned; most of the killers were women. “Recipe For Murder” tells the true story of three notorious perpetrators: Yvonne Fletcher, Caroline Grills and Veronica Monty.
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The 52-minute film combines gritty archive footage, film-noir re-enactments, interviews with witnesses and a score from “Animal Kingdom” composer Antony Partos. Last month, “Recipe For Murder” won a Silver Hugo award (documentary category, history/biography) in the Chicago film fest’s 2011 Hugo Television Competition.
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Rachel McAdams

B&W Boudoir: In the June issue of Elle, Rachel McAdams and the magazine’s creative director Joe Zee reinterpret Catherine Deneuve’s look in “Repulsion,” from 1965, by Roman Polanski. “Noir, Now” also features boudoir dressing suggestions, edited by Kyle Anderson. McAdams nails the film-noir vibe and it’s an excellent issue overall, particularly Cintra Wilson’s piece on how learning flamenco changed her life.

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Kirsten Dunst in "Melancholia"

In Cannesclusion: Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes film fest, which ended Sunday. Kirsten Dunst snared best female actor for her role in “Melancholia” by Lars Von Trier. Harvey Weinstein calls this the best Cannes in 25 years. Read Peter Bradshaw’s wrapup in The Guardian at http://bit.ly/iZXTeV.
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Coen Brothers’ ‘Man’ is darkly moody, handsomely shot

May 12, 2011 by

The Man Who Wasn’t There/2001/Good Machine, et al/116 min.

Scarlett Johansson plays a high-school student in this 2001 film.

What would life be without a dark and handsome companion at night? One I highly recommend is “The Man Who Wasn’t There” by master filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. This homage to vintage film noir, gorgeously shot in black and white by cinematographer Roger Deakins, conjures a guy you’ll always remember.

Set in 1949, the film introduces us to a choice cast of characters. Top of the list is introspective and blasé Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton), who has fallen into a comfortable, if dull, life in Santa Rosa, Calif. He’s fond of his wife Doris (Frances McDormand), both cynical and oddly sweet, but there’s never been any passion between them.

To earn a living, Ed cuts hair with his brother-in-law Frank (Michael Badalucco) at the family barbershop. (“I don’t talk much,” Ed tells us. “I just cut the hair.”) Doris is a bookkeeper at Nirdlinger’s, the town’s big department store, and together they have it “made” – after all, Ed points out dryly, they have a garbage grinder built into the sink.

When he’s not working or tossing scraps down their fancy drain, Ed kills time mainly by smoking and taking care of Doris after she’s had too much to drink, which is quite often. Doris passes the hours of their lives by playing bingo and having an affair with her boss at Nirdlinger’s, Big Dave Brewster (James Gandolfini), a blustery WW2 vet. Dave’s married to Ann Nirdlinger (Katherine Borowitz), whose family owns the store. Ed knows about the affair but, as he does with everything, takes it in stride.

Ed’s life changes forever the day that unctuous big-mouth businessman Creighton Tolliver (Jon Polito) walks into the barbershop as it’s about to close, gets a very quick trim and happens to mention that he’s in town trying to raise money to invest in drycleaning, which he’s convinced is “the biggest business opportunity since Henry Ford.”

Ed decides later that night that he wants in on the putative drycleaning empire and figures he can raise the requisite $10,000 by anonymously blackmailing Dave. No sooner does Ed get the cash than Tolliver takes off with it. And because Tolliver is so quick to bend ears and beg for money, Dave gets to the bottom of the blackmail scheme and intends to get his money back.

What Dave doesn’t count on is that Ed’s mild facade hides nerves of cold steel; when cornered, Ed’s response to him is quick, instinctive and deadly. But, after news breaks of Doris and Dave’s affair, Doris is arrested for Dave’s murder. [Read more…]

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