Fruitvale Station

 

Directed and written by Ryan Coogler

With Michael Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melanie Diaz, and Ariana Neal

 Every now and then a film comes along that reassures your faith in the cinema's

ability to really move you, to tell a story in a truly honest way with no Hollywood embellishments, to put you in touch with gut wrenching humanity.  The Fruitvale Station is this film.  It is based on events that happened on January 1, 2009 when a 22 year old unarmed black man, Oscar Grant, was infamously killed by a transit officer on the BART transit system in San Francisco. This harrowing film tells the story of what happened in the last day in Oscar’s Grant’s life. 

 The film begins with actual footage taken on the cellphones of horrified witnesses

that night.   Then, in flashback,  Oscar(Michael Jordan) is shown wearing a prison uniform as his mother(Octavia Spencer) visits him.

Fast-forward to December 31, 2007.  Oscar is  home with his girlfriend, Sophina(Melonie Diaz), the mother of his four year old daughter Tatiana(Ariana Neal) upon whom he dotes.  He has vowed to get his life together after being imprisoned for dealing marijuana.  He has since gotten a job in a butcher shop which he loses for being late.  It is clear he really wants to go straight but he hasn’t gotten it right yet.

 Fruitvale Station chronicles that last day of his life, an ordinary day. as he takes his daughter to school, gets a birthday card and a carrot cake for his mother’s birthday.  He throws away the pot.  In a prophetic scene, he comes across a dying stray dog who has been hit by a car.  He cuddles the animal’s head and speaks softly to it as he lays it alongside the road.

He attends a birthday party for his mother that evening where a huge extended family has gathered.  The warmth of the family and friends’ relationships is obvious.   Oscar and Sophina take the fated BART train into San Francisco to continue the New Years Revelries.  I promise you that the last few minutes of Fruitvale Station are as disturbing as any you’ve ever seen.

  There is clearly a sweetness to Oscar, a kind and decent young man who is also prone to instant rages, telling white lies to Sophina. But he is anything but a stereotype.  Michael Jordan(from TV’s Friday Night Lights) plays this role with extraordinary passion and pathos.  His Oscar is a flawed character and Jordan exhibits

 the despair that rules his life.

This is the debut feature of Ryan Coogler, a 27 year old graduate of USC film School.  This is his debut feature.  He is able to put the audience in touch with moral outrage as he immerses us in Oscar’s life and its end.   He had dreams, feelings, and cared for many people, and it’s all here in Fruitvale Station.

Director Coogler doesn’t preach about Ghetto boys having limited opportunities, getting a raw deal.  His strategy is to dramatize a young black man’s daily routines and pressures.  He is a normal Dad, worried about paying the rent, his daughter’s schooling, just paying the bills.  Coogler tells a compassionate true

story.  It all feels so real, shot with hand held cameras.

 Of course, the George Zimmerman acquittal has helped this film get the attention it deserves.   It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance film festival.  It is Academy Award material, if the Academy has any sense.

I will say this about  Director Ryan Coogler : A star is born.

The Bling Ring

 

Directed by Sofia Coppola

With Katie Chang, Israel Boussard, Clarie Jullen, Taissa Famiga and

Emma Watson

 

A most timely crime drama, “The Bling Ring” tells the story of celebrity-obsessed teens in the Hollywood hills who go on shopping sprees by burglarizing the homes of celebrities. 

You probably read about or have seen news coverage about the thefts that took place in 2008-2009. It’s all true.

The group of five wayward 16-year-olds included Marc (Isreal Boussard), Chloe, (Claire Jullen), Nik i(Emma Watson), Sam (Taissa Farminga) and ringleader Rebecca (Kathe Chang). 

They followed the social/celebrity media on the Internet and knew when their victims would be out of town. Believe it or not, some of the celebrities, which included Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, and Megan Fox, left their keys under the front doormat.

Once inside the homes, the gang would stuff clothing, jewelry and shoes into duffle bags, often spending time marveling at the lavishness of their victims’ homes. For example, Paris Hilton had giant silk cushions emblazoned with her photos in her ‘nightclub room.’ Actual footage of the inside of Ms. Hilton’s house is used in “The Bling Ring,” and the characters are shown going through her real closet.

The teens would post photos of each other wearing the loot on the Internet. They spent most of the money they pilfered in L.A. Clubs or on drugs. They amassed $3,000,000 worth of plunder.

“The Bling Ring” is Sofia Coppola’s critique of materialism, teen amorality, weak parenting and the celebrity culture. The kids lead unmotivated lives, devoid of financial hardship. Without moral compasses, they feel they can get away with anything.  

And no matter how much they get, they want more. They spend their days watching TV reality shows (keeping up with the Kardashains!), looking at slick fashion magazines, and browsing gossip websites. The nights were for clubs and drugs. The robberies were “shopping expeditions” to them.

Unfortunately, these teens became outlaw heroes to many. Their admirers want to somehow be connected to the rich and famous.

Ms. Coppola does not analyze, explain or excuse her subjects’ behavior. Her approach is impartial. The parents are mostly absent in the film. The parents you do see are intimidated by their kids and do not question their behaviors.

The acting is right on target. There is not much depth to the teens: they are shown to be shallow, fame obsessed teens gorging themselves on other peoples’ possessions. They are not happy just being wealthy. They envy the super rich,

Finally, they do get arrested. They do a little time and pay some restitution to their victims. And now they have the celebrity they were seeking.

“The Bling Ring” is a disturbing chronicle of materialism gone berserk.

Sofia Coppola has nailed it.

 

FRANCES HA

 

Directed by Noah Baumbach

Written by Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig

With Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver, and Grace Gummer

 

Greta Gerwig, who stars in “Frances Ha,” is like the puppy you always wanted to adopt. This beguiling film tells the story about a 27-year-old woman who is not quite ready for adulthood but too old for college.

Frances (Greta Gerwig) lives in New York with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner). The film begins with a montage of the two of them doing laundry, fake fighting, watching movies in bed, smoking cigarettes on the fire escape, knitting and, mainly, laughing. This is female bonding at its best.

The sweet and rather clueless Frances dreams of being a dancer in spite of her questionable talent. She works as an apprentice for a small dance company. Frances never gives up chasing her dreams. It never occurs to her that she may fail. 

She is crushed when Sylvia announces that she is moving to a better apartment. Next Greta is cut out of the dance group. But, never bitter, she moves on with a childlike optimism.

She lives in a series of apartments, always with friends, never with her name on the lease. She is always agreeable, helpful, never a pessimistic note, but she messes things up for herself. After charging plane fare she cannot afford to her maxed credit card, she flies to Paris for a weekend. Because of her jet lag she takes a sleeping pill. And sleeps though the weekend.

“Frances Ha” feels like Woody Allen’s earlier films. It is shot in crisp black and white in locations throughout the city. And like so many of Allen’s characters, Frances is on a crusade to find herself.

 

Director Noah Baumbach is known for his indie films (“The Squid and the Whale,” “Greenberg”). Greta Gerwig is his girlfriend and this film mightily showcases her appeal. Her character is effervescent, always honest and hopeful, often very funny, always appealing. 

There is a lot of cigarette smoking in “Frances Ha,” which viewers might find disturbing. It would be unfortunate if this is a trend among the 20 somethings.

The film is really about a moment in life, a timeless tale about the joys and sadness of youth. “Frances Ha” is a delight that makes you feel hopeful about life (except for the smoking!). The meaning of “Ha” is revealed in the very last moment of the film. Only a scrooge could watch it without a feeling of delight.

The Great Gatsby

 Directed by Baz Luhrman

Based on the novel by F Scott Fitzgerald

 

With Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Carey Mulligan,
Isla Fisher, and Jason Clarke

Discard any literary pretensions you may have regarding F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel

about the decadence of the 1920’s jazz age in New York.  Baz Lurhman’s film The Great Gatsby is a simply spectacular piece of razzle dazzle sight and sound filmmaking that stands mightily on its own.

Most of you have read the novel about Jay Gatsby, enigmatic rags to riches millionaire

who throws ultra lavish parties which he never attends at his grandiose mansion in East Egg Long Island.  His entertainments with legions of glitzy flapper girls, dozens of tuxedoed help and gallons of bootleg booze are the talk of New York.

Jay Gatsby(Leonardo DiCaprio)  has built his manor smack across the Long Island Sound from blueblood Tom(Joel Edgerton) Buchanan and his wife Daisy’s(Carey Mulligan) own mansion.  Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy, with whom he had a fling before she and Tom married.

Gatsby recruits his neighbor Nick Carraway(Tobey Maguire) to help him win back Daisy’s affections..  It is Nick who narrates the story.  Nick is also pursuing the American Dream.

 

There have been six film versions of The Great Gatsby.  Luhrman’s film is a glittery showcase of the early 1920’s with its bootleg behaviors, frantic flappers, and the frenzied search for more thrills.
The theme is nothing new: a girl is attracted to a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, but she marries the one with the money.  The poor boy makes good and tries to woo her back.  It doesn’t always work.

Leonardo DiCaprio embraces the complexity and mystery of Jay Gatsby.  His handsome

good looks got gasps from the audience with whom I viewed the film. Including me.

Carry Mulligan is perfect as the insubstantial, listless, pampered Daisy who wants it both ways.
Joel Edgerton is superb as the philandering, buffoonish Tom.  Tobey Maguire is excellent as the wide eyed innocent foil to DiCaprio’s sophistication.

Baz Luhrman’s Gatsby is homage as well as a blistering critique of the excesses of

Materialism.  The shimmering gowns and jewels, the high kicking sequined flappers,
the flowers by the truckload, the perfectly cut suits, the garish settings, the gleaming
vehicles are a resplendent, but also vulgar  feast for the eyes.  This Flashy Gatsby
captures the shallowness of that milieu.  It’s a delicious bon bon, not much substance, but oh so tasty.

Disconnected

 

Written by Andrew Storm
Directed by Harry Alex Rubin

With Jason Bateman, Alexander Skarsgard, Paula Patton, Andrea Riseborough,

Colin Ford, Frank Grillo, Hope Davis, Jonah Bobo, Max Thrieriot

 

“Disconnected” thrills with a timely and riveting story about the perils of an Internet-oriented society. Writer Andrew Storm and director Harry Alex Rubin have expertly woven three loosely related storylines that illustrate how seeking social connection on the Internet can lead to devastating consequences.

In one story, a couple, Cindy (Paula Patton) and Derek (Alexander Skarsgard), are grieving over the death of their toddler. It is too painful for them to share their grief with each other. So Cindy clicks on to a grief sharing Web site. Derek deals with his grief though online gambling, creating huge debt.

Their information is hacked and they become victims of enormous identity theft. They are now bankrupt, and hire a private detective, Mike (Frank Grillo) to help track down the perpetrator. It may take months to rectify the situation, so they take matters into their own hands.

Another story involves Mike, the private detective , who is a widower and is trying to connect with his teenage son, Jason (Colin Ford). Jason is friends with Frye (Avrad Bernstein). Both are smartass teens, constantly playing pranks. They target a lonely classmate, Ben (Jason Bobo) by creating a fictional girl online who elicits personal information from Ben. The information is posted online with a disastrous aftermath. Ben’s distracted parents (Jason Bateman and Hope Davis) don’t have a clue as to their bullied son’s silent suffering.

Another narrative involves an ambitious TV reporter, Nina (Andrea Riseborough) who does an exposé of teens being exploited for online sex. She goes online with an engaging Kyle (Max Theirot),an underage sex performer. She then exposes the operation, but there are fateful consequences.

All actors in “Disconnect” give fine and sensitive performances. The film is handsomely shot, with many in- your -face closeups. There is an intimate and real tone to the film. That you really “feel” for the actors is a testament to their acting.

All of the incidents in “Disconnected” are initiated either through iPhones, iPads,

or laptops. In each case there are severe consequences for sharing confidences
online. Not only is “Disconnect” a cautionary tale of living online, but
 it is a timely and moving meditation of the modern family. And it’s not “Leave It to Beaver.”

“SPRING BREAKERS”

 

Directed by Harmony Korine

With James Franco, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens,

and Rachel Korine

 

If you think “Spring Breakers” is an empty headed “Beach Blanket Bingo,” you couldn’t be more mistaken.  This film is about audacious as any you have ever seen.  It is a brilliant social commentary about what happens when teens and college kids have too much. 

They are bored with everything, always needing more—including booze, drugs, sex. The counter culture director Harmony Korine shows what happens when having a good time becomes very dangerous.

“Spring Breakers” begins with a sunlit hazy feeling. Four very pretty coeds, Faith (Slenena Gomez), Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) have been best friends since grade school. They are making plans to get away from their boring college campus and go to St Petersburg Florida for “Spring Break.”

The girls realize they don’t have enough money to make the trip. They come up with a plan to rob a local diner. They will “pretend it is a video game.” They don black hoods, and screaming, use water pistols and sledge hammers to terrorize the diner’s patrons and grab the money from the register. It was so easy.

Next they arrive in St Petersburg along with thousands of other spring breakers. For the remainder of the movie, all girls are bikini clad, although occasionally some wear no bikinis. Gallons and gallons of booze are drunk, many times through hoses. The drugs and the sex escalate. The music is deafening. The four girls get into trouble and are put in jail (wearing those bikinis). They have no money for bail and think their fun is over.  

But they are observed by Alien (James Franco), a local rapper/drug dealer who bails them out. He is a scary enough looking guy, with dreadlocks, tattoos and silver teeth. He charms them, and asks them to stay with him. Alien offers them the excitement they seek, which includes more drugs, booze, and much more dangerous stuff.

“Spring Breakers” is a hypnotic, sensory experience. Harmony Korman has filmed it in short sequences interspersed with brief flashbacks. It feels like a dream, or perhaps a pastel-colored nightmare. At times music is relentless. You can’t take your eyes of the perfect bodies, the excesses, the mayhem. The tone becomes increasingly ominous as the film progresses.

Mr. Korman’s film both celebrates and mocks the “Spring Break” experience. It is a vivid caricature of a youth culture in which it is cool to be audacious and arrogant, not caring about consequences. The girls throw caution to the wind with chilling results. “Spring Breakers” is a crazy quilt of unabridged hedonism, all in Day Glo colors. Social commentary can be very disturbing, but in this film it is also dazzling.

“Amour”

 

Directed by Michael Haneke

With Jean Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Rivas and Isabelle Huppert

 

“Amour,” directed by Michael Henecke, is not an easy film to watch. It graphically deals with mortality: the indignities and decline of aging. But this unsettling film will affect you emotionally long after you have left the theater. “Amour” has won the Palme d’Or for best picture and at least a dozen more awards, including the Golden Globes.

Anne (Emanuelle Riva) and Georges (Jean Louis Trintignant) are a cultivated octogenarian couple who live in a fine Paris apartment. When the film opens, they are enjoying a concert. They go home, chatting amicably. At breakfast the next morning Anne goes blank for a few minutes. 

Georges doesn’t know what to do, but she soon regains consciousness. They see a doctor. Apparently she suffered a stroke. She then has surgery that leaves her right side paralyzed.

She returns to the apartment in a wheelchair and forcefully demands that George promise he will never ever take her to a hospital again. “Amour” examines the bonds of love between the couple as Anne begins her downward slide.

Georges becomes her caretaker, lovingly helping her to her wheelchair, cooking and cutting her food for her. He is determined to keep his promise to her. Their daughter, Eva ( Isabelle Huppert), a self-absorbed woman, insists he put her in  a “home.” He won’t hear of it. He has no time for his daughter. He is alone in his grief and can only watch as Anne descends to helplessness.

Soon Anne goes from a manual wheelchair to an electric one. Initially there is physical therapy, then nurses, sponge baths, bed sores, and finally diapers. Anne cannot move or speak. She is confined to her bed, undergoing the indecencies that accompany it.

Nearly all of “Amour” is filmed inside the apartment. Mr. Haneke wants us to feel how totally confined Anne and Georges are. The camera lingers on them as they eat, sleep, and bathe. He wants us to feel how onerous everything is to Anne.

Emmanuelle Riva is magnificent as she shows Anne’s initial shame at being helpless to how she struggles to emit sounds to communicate at the very end. She is transformed from an elegant woman to an angry invalid. It is truly remarkable how Ms. Riva captures this decline. 

Jean Louis Trintignant, who is a French film icon, quietly shows Georges’ concern, his frustrations, his bewilderment. He dutifully responds to Anne’s each and every need. There is never a false note in his towering performance.

Director Haneke does not include the background music that might tell the audience how it should feel. The filming is restrained and at times “Amour” feels like a documentary. It makes the viewer regard his or her own humanity. It can be agonizing to watch, but it is a realistic look at what may lie ahead. Things happen to secure people like Georges and Anne and everything changes.

Is it better to die young and quickly or to live a long life then slowly lose your abilities one by one? “Amour” is potent filmmaking about the hardships and often horrors of aging, something usually not addressed in the cinema. This honest and totally unflinching film will make you think.