Company Men

Company Men

Written and directed by John Wells

With Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello, Kevin Costner, Craig T Nelson and Maggie Walker

Times are very tough for the executives in “Company Men,” an angry film about the devastating effects of corporate downsizing. This topical drama, directed and written by John Wells, probes what happens when people lose their jobs. We define ourselves through our work, so without our work, who are we?

Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is a hot shot super sales person at GTX Transportation Services. The film opens with a shot of his several-story colonial house with his Porsche in the driveway. James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson), the CEO, is downsizing GTX, cutting out the division that deals with shipbuilding. Bobby, along with hundreds of other long time employees, are let go. The mortgage on that big colonial house, Bobby’s exclusive golf membership, the Porsche and other expensive accoutrements become history.

“Company Men” focuses on Bobby, Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) and Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper), who are mid- to-high-level employees at GTX. They are victims of downsizing, and they deal with their job losses in very different ways. James Salinger, the boss, cares only about shareholders and the bottom line. His long-time business partner and friend, Gene, is the moral compass of the film. A man of conscience, he is deeply troubled by loyal employees getting the hatchet job. Salinger’s cold-eyed response to Gene’s pleas to curb the downsizing is, “My job is to run a business not a charity.” Then Salinger fires Gene. Salinger takes home $22,000,000 a year. He has no worries.

The fired employees are given office space at an outplacement firm from which to perform their job searches. They place calls that are not returned. They go to interviews where they are kept waiting or are part of cattle call of dozens of applicants. Things don’t look good at all. Sixtyish Phil, when let go, is told to dye his hair and to expunge any job history prior to 1990 on his resume, because it will make him appear old—and no one hires an old person. His wife makes him leave the house every morning with his briefcase and come home after 6 p.m. to keep up appearances. He thought he was important, but learns he is a nobody without the position at GTX. His is the most poignant story in the film.

But the main focus is Bobby and how he copes. He is not even 40 years old, has an MBA, but there are qualified younger men out there who will accept less salary. In the beginning he has little humility. He refuses to give up the golf membership, the house, the Porsche. That changes after months of joblessness when he realizes he can’t afford his life. His wife, Maggie, is more clearheaded and pragmatic, ready to make  financial sacrifices.

Director John Wells, who created ER for television, has created a perceptive and absorbing film. You empathize with the men, one day successful and respected, who the next day can’t get people to return their phone calls. Without their work they are “nothing,” to themselves or anybody else. “Company Men” is a film for the recession era.

Gene muses about the days when people actually built or made things for a living. People made an honest wage by actually creating or building something. Those days are long gone.

Blue Valentine

Blue Valentine

Scenes from a Marriage 

Directed by Derek Cianfrance

With Ryan Gosling, Michelle Lee, Mike Vogel and John Dorman

The most whimsical scene in “Blue Valentine” occurs when Cindy (Michelle Williams) and Dean (Ryan Gosling) do an impromptu song and dance routine together. He plays the ukulele and sings “You Always Hurt the One You Love” while Cindy tap dances. This is the moment when they fall in love.

It also foreshadows what happens down the road in their relationship. When they meet, everything is magic; by the end of the film they can barely tolerate each other.

“Blue Valentine” takes place in two time frames, six years apart. In the first,

Dean and Cindy are falling in love and in the second they can barely tolerate each other.

In the beginning Dean, a high school dropout, works for a moving company. While not ambitious, he has appealing warmth and a childlike playfulness. Dean’s tenderness is reflected as he moves an old man into a nursing facility. He thoughtfully and tenderly sets up the old man’s mementos.

Cindy is a pragmatic person with higher aspirations. She plans to get a medical degree. 

Dean first sees her visiting her beloved grandmother in the nursing home. He begins a campaign, which includes bouquets of flowers, to get her to date him. His sweetness and vulnerability finally appeal to her, and she gives in.

Six years later, Dean’s hair is thinning; he is chain smoking and drinking beer in the morning. He goes to work, now as a house painter, and comes home to continue the beers. He and Cindy are married. There is a daughter, Frankie, upon whom he dotes. He is happy being Mr. Mom, raising Frankie

while Cindy works long hours. 

Cindy, the main income earner, is not so satisfied. She works exhausting hours as a nurse, having given up her aspirations to be a doctor. Cindy asks Dean, “Isn’t there anything you’d like to do with your life?” He replies that he is living his dream.

They argue. She is tired of his flakiness and now finds him unappealing.

He tries to resurrect the marriage. They fight. She becomes humorless, looking at him with cold eyes. She wants out but he does not.

“Blue Valentine” accurately chronicles the pain that destroys a relationship.

 Dean continually screws up by either drinking or losing his temper when all he wants is to repair the troubled relationship. Intimate, raw scenes show Dean and Cindy having sex when they are falling in love and then again when love has been depleted. The contrast is painful to witness.

Director Derek Cianfrance lets us understand and feel the wounds of this marriage. “Blue Valentine” is written so you understand both sides.

Neither Dean nor Cindy is totally at fault. The scenes of the relationship’s beginning are filmed with color and light; later the cinematography has a bluish hue, capturing the sadness and bleakness of the crumbling marriage. Many conversations are improvisational: everything is up close and very real to the viewer.

The performances of Michelle Lee and Ryan Gosling do not feel like acting. Their tears, bitterness, tension and resentment feel like the genuine article.

Both actors gained 15 pounds for the contemporary scenes so they would appear older and more weary than they did in the beginning younger’scenes.

This is no movie for fans of romantic comedies or happy endings. “Blue

Valentine” is a heartfelt and honest story about marital misery. This is an intense drama of depth and sensitivity with extraordinary performances.

It will stay with you for a long time.

Somewhere

“Somewhere”

Directed and written by Sofia Coppola

With Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning

“Somewhere”

Nowhere Man

A shot of a Lamborghini circling round and round  in an empty desert opens  “Somewhere.” That vision is a metaphor for what follows in Sofia Coppola’s hypnotic new film. The driver, Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), is a movie star whose life is heading nowhere—but he is going there in style. This quiet film is about a pampered film star who is reassessing his life. The film examines the emptiness of celebrity.

Johnny lives in the Chateau Marmot, the Hollywood hotel famed for its decadent show business tenants. He may be surrounded by fans and gorgeous women, but psychologically he lives in isolation, having no taste for the excesses of stardom.

When identical twin pole dancers entertain him in his room he nods off. He falls asleep while having sex. He is blasé about the paparazzi. Unshaven, uncombed, he seems to always have a cigarette, a bottle of beer or a drink in his hand.   

He is always polite but also expressionless, aimlessly meandering from press junkets to parties. There seems always to be some kind of party going on, but he doesn’t participate in the fun. He drifts through life.

Women may throw themselves at Johnny, but he only has eyes for one. Chloe (Elle Fanning) is his 11-year-old daughter from his prior marriage. His ex has suddenly left town and asks Johnny to take care of her. Neither parent has made much time for the lovely Chloe but now Johnny has to get off his couch.

Johnny takes Chloe to ice skating practice and is dazzled by her gorgeous performance. They order ice cream from Room Service in the middle of the night. She plays video games on his 50- inch TV screen. In a way, she is teaching him how to live. With Chloe, he is forced to react.

Sofia Coppola both directed and wrote “Somewhere.” Daughter of director Francis Ford Coppola, she knows a thing or  two about Hollywood. Hers is a thoughtful film about the emptiness of celebrity. These themes were covered also in her “Lost in Translation” and “Marie Antoinette.”

Stephen Dorph inhabits Johnny Marco, acting in a very natural, minimalist way. Feelings barely register on his face. Elle Fanning is incandescent as the child who awakens the lost soul of her father. She and Stephen Dorph have terrific screen chemistry.

Nothing much happens in this film. It is filmed in the washed out but golden light of Los Angeles. The camera lingers on scenes much longer than movie viewers are accustomed to. “Somewhere” is a story about Hollywood, but by no means is it a Hollywood film. There is no action and no ‘big” scenes. The slow pace of this film will bore many moviegoers but this timing is intentional and reflects the ennui Johnny feels towards the world.

Incidentally “Somewhere”  won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival. It is an exquisite meditative story. If you want a traditional story with a well defined beginning, middle and end, see “True Grit,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Fighter” or many others.  “Somewhere” is completely different.

The Fighter

THE FIGHTER

Directed by David O. Russell; Written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamesy and Eric Johnson

With Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and Jack McGee

                                                                

                                                           Brotherly Love?

Chances are that you may not have heard of Micky Ward or his half-brother, Dicky Ecklund, but you probably have seen the film “Rocky,” about an underdog boxer who overcomes impossible odds in the ring. The biopic film ‘The Fighter,’ tells the story of a real life Rocky.

Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his half-brother brother Dicky (Christian Bale) live in the depressed town of Lowell Mass., a stone’s throw from their controlling mother Alice(Melissa Leo). She lives with her seven grown daughters, who are so dominated by her that they seem to cower en masse whenever she is around.

Dicky is an arrogant has-been boxer whose claim to fame is that years ago he knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard during a match. That made him a local hero, but he is also a short-tempered crack cocaine addict with a long police record. He and Alice have decided that the younger Micky, also once a boxer, should go back into the ring.

Laconic Micky couldn’t be more different than his jittery outspoken brother. He is easy going and satisfied with his job working on a road crew. Domineering Alice and his con artist brother convince him to fight again using Dicky as his trainer. 

Meanwhile Micky has a girlfriend, Charlene (Amy Adams), who sees how his family bosses him around. Charlene stands up for Micky, convincing him to drop Dicky as his trainer. The family hates her.

‘The Fighter’ is an absorbing study of this very dysfunctional family. Mom Alice favors Dicky, in denial of his obvious flaws. Micky’s father, George (Jack McGee), sides with Micky, but is diminished by the overbearing Alice.

The film examines the misplaced loyalty that Micky feels for his older brother. The coarse loud-mouthed sisters mimic everything their mother says. There is constant yelling and screaming in the household. This group is one big train wreck of a clan, and, as with a train wreck, you, the viewer, cannot take your eyes off of this group.

Director David Russell has succeeded in getting sensitive character work from his actors. There are many layers to each personality. He also definitely understands working-class family brawling. The scenes of the noisy, unbalanced family are very real. The boxing segments are sweaty, realistic, visceral and filled with the uncertainty that is part of such matches.

Christian Bale is the acting champ in this film. He is jumpy, nearly twitching at times, exuding the cockiness of someone who has not an iota of self-doubt.

Mark Wahlberg’s character is more bland, soft spoken. He underplays his role, creating a passive character who must live among a rough group of people. Amy Adams is terrific as the hardscrabble woman who will fight for her man, no matter what. And you can’t take your eyes off of the pushy outspoken Melissa Leo as Alice. You wish she would back off.

 ‘The Fighter ‘is a hugely satisfying, energetic story of family complexities. It is also happens to be an entertaining feel-good story about someone who beats the odds. And it really

A Star is Born

"True Grit"

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

Based on the novel by Charles Portis

With Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, and Matt Damon

Sometimes an old time Western film is just the kind of escapism you need. If you are one who is hungry for the comfort food of an old time cowboy yarn, get over to the cinema and see “True Grit.”

“True Grit” is nothing new. It was a 1969 Box Office hit starring John Wayne, who won his only Best Actor Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn in the film. It is faithfully based on the novel of the same title written by Charles Portis and the current version is as much a crowd pleaser as was the Wayne version.

Revenge, plain and simple, is the theme of “True Grit.” Directors Joel and Ethan Coen have recreated the story, adding their own comic touches.

The film opens with a three-way hanging in a dusty old Arkansas town. Among the onlookers is Mattie Ross (Hallie Steinfeld), a determined 14 year old girl who is looking for someone to hunt down the outlaw Tom Cheney (Josh Brolin) who murdered her father. She has decided that the beat up, usually drunk, one-eyed federal marshal Reuben J. “ Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) is the man to do it and hires him for the job. He resists, but tenacious Mattie wears him down. Mattie is one very tough cookie. She insists on accompanying him on this pursuit. Mattie wears pigtails, a big hat, and is primly attired in proper feminine garb. Smug La Bouef (Matt Damon) is a Texas Ranger also trailing Cheney to arrest him for the murder of a senator. This unlikely trio starts off together to find their man.

“True Grit” continues with the requisite shootouts, log cabin confrontations, campfire dinners (where beans are eaten from a can), and run-ins with some pretty bad and pretty dirty hombres—some fingers are even chopped off. The trio passes through miles and miles of expansive, often frozen landscapes.

There is nothing profound about “True Grit.” It is a straightforward and traditional tale of retribution. It is also a story of the extraordinary fortitude of a teenage girl. Mattie is courageous, single minded and is able to handle people who are many times her age. Rather than being lost in the sadness of losing her father, fearless Mattie takes up the reins to snare his killer.

The Coen Brothers are masters of storytelling. They have retooled “True Grit”

with trademark touches of their dark comic humor. The characters are nearly cartoonish. Rooster Cogburn staggers, grunts, and is never far from his whisky jug. He is a little too long winded at times and you wish you could better understand his slurred words. Nefarious Tom Cheney is an insane buffoon of a criminal. The bad guys are not only extremely depraved, but also vastly grimy and grubby.

Jeff Bridges is superb as the growling, crotchety has-been marshal who knows he is a mess, but doesn’t care. He won the Academy Award last year for “Crazy Heart,” and he is certain to be nominated best actor again this year. You barely recognize that Matt Damon is the actor playing the taciturn LeBouef. Even his voice is different. But the film really belongs to Hallie Steinfeld. Her character is well written, and she gives a powerful performance of a precocious, level-headed, teenager who is mature beyond her years. You will be seeing a lot more of her in movies yet to be made.

“True Grit” is a character piece that covers familiar territory. Who knew that a film about a stinky old drunk cowboy and a stubborn teen would be box office gold? But it is a lot of fun. Check it out.

The King's Speech

The King's Speech

Directed by Tom Hopper; written by David Seidler. With: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce, Claire Bloom, Derek Jacoby, Michael Gambon and Timothy Spall

 And the Oscar Goes to…

 Can a fact-based English period piece film be one of the cinematic pleasures of 2010? Just ask the exuberant viewers leaving the theaters showing ‘The King’s Speech.’ Far from being a stuffy historical drama, this film tells the very human, very engaging story of Prince Albert or ‘Bertie,’ (Colin Firth) who became King George VI and Lionel Logue, (Geoffrey Rush), his eccentric speech therapist.

Bertie is ashamed and humiliated because of a stammering problem. He gets little respect because of this disability and his inability to appear publicly. His wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), drags him from one speech therapist to another. One therapist tells Bertie that smoking would cure his problem; another has him stuff his mouth with marbles. Elizabeth insists he try one last specialist and takes him to Lionel Logue’s shabby office.

Logue is a failed Aussie Shakespearean actor, now a speech therapist, who believes that speech problems are often the result of psychological traumas as well as physical defects. Bertie wants none of this and is ready to give up.

It is the 1930s and Bertie’s father, King George V (Michael Gambon), is nearing the end of his life. The successor to his throne is Prince Edward, (Guy Pearce), Bertie’s older brother, who is not kingly material. He wants nothing to do with the royal responsibilities. Instead he is a Nazi- friendly dilettante besotted with the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson. He abdicates the throne to marry her.

Now Bertie is to become king, and addressing the public is part of his job description. England is on the brink of World War II. He must rally the nation but he is terrified. The sessions with Lionel begin.

Watching the relationship of the stuttering Prince and the Aussie wannabe Shakespearean actor as they go at each is other is pure joy.  Each man is a misfit in his own way. We learn that as a child Bertie wore painful leg braces, was teased mercilessly by his brother and was abused by a sadistic nanny. Lionel wanted to be an actor but was continually rejected by directors. Both men are in need of a friend.

The acting in this test of wills between the two men is impeccable. Colin Firth makes us sense Bertie’s self loathing; we squirm as we watch him sputter and try to finish his sentences. Geoffrey Rush puts a twinkle in Lionel’s eye but his face also reflects the genuine concern he feels about Bertie’s speaking terrors. The chemistry between these two characters changes from initial hostility to an ever-deepening friendship.

Helena Bonham Carter does some of her best work as the supportive, and loving, but tough Elizabeth. Guy Pearce is right on target as the slick spoiled King Edward VIII who has no desire to carry out any royal responsibilities, focusing instead on Wallis Simpson, parties and champagne. All supporting roles are excellently portrayed with one little exception. Timothy Spall’s Winston Churchill, while amusing, borders on caricature.

Director Tom Hooper was actually influenced by the real life King George. As a child he also had a speech impediment and the King’s struggle with his own problem was inspiration for Hooper to get help. His film deals with a part of English history unknown to most people. King George overcame his speaking difficulties to become a powerful leader who showed grace under pressure. Lionel was always by his side during his broadcasts.

“The King’s Speech” is a very carefully made, inspirational and satisfying period piece

of unusual human depth.  And Rush and Firth’s acting is as good as it gets.. I predict that

there will be Oscar nominations aplenty.

Black Swan

Ballet as a Blood Sport

Directed by Darren Aronofsky; Written by Mark Heyman, Andre Heinz, and John L McLaughlin

With Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder

‘Black Swan’ isn’t a film about ballet. This intense and in-your-face film tells a bizarre story of ambition and a descent into madness. It takes place during the preparations for a New York performance of “Swan Lake.”As the soloist Nina, Natalie Portman gives the performance of her life. You literally can't take your eyes off her because director Darren Aronofsky (“The Wrestler,” “Requiem for a Dream”) fills the screen with giant close ups of her face, her toes, her hands, her body.

Nina is a hard-working perfectionist selected by artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) to be both the white and black swans (Odette/Odile) in “Swan Lake.” She lives in a New York apartment with her overprotective mother (Barbara Hershey), a retired dancer who hovers over her, tucking Nina into bed each night after turning on a bedside music box with a ballerina on top.

You quickly learn all is not well with Nina when she starts to rip long strips of skin, first from her cuticles, then from her fingers. Or does she? The story is told from Nina's viewpoint, and Nina’s hold on reality is anything but secure. There are scenes of self mutilation, lesbian sex, drug overdoses, the word “whore” being written in lipstick on a bathroom mirror, toes being fused together, and so on. But it is left for you, the viewer, to figure out what is real and what is not.

Nina has a rival. Lily (Mila Kunis) is more spontaneous, more easy going than she. Nina is convinced that Lily is trying to steal her role in the ballet. Lily has tattoos of swan wings covering her back. At least that is what Nina sees. Lily is actually kind and encouraging,, but Nina's paranoia makes her see Lily as someone who wants to destroy her. She is panicked that Lily will replace her. And she acts accordingly.

Director Aronofsky clearly understands the behind-the-scenes preparations for the ballet, from controlled scenes of the company in rehearsal to its ravishing final performances. The obsessive perfectionism, rivalries, anorexia, and the brutal physical demands made on young bodies are the context of “Black Swan.” A hand-held camera zooms here and there, bobbing along with the dancers. You are in the middle of it all.

Natalie Portman gives a heroic performance. She did most dance sequences herself after months of exhausting five-hour-a-day practice sessions. Nina’s insecurities, her terrors, her hopefulness shape the features of her lovely face.

Vincent Cassel is perfect as the virile, pompous, domineering Artistic director. Barbara Hershey feels real as the smothering, but lovingly well-intentioned mother who is compelled to control her daughter. Mila Kunis does well as the light hearted and fun loving Lily. Winona Ryder performs her role as an ill-tempered demoted lead dancer with just the right amount of viciousness..

The film has an ominous aura throughout. Odd angles, darkened hallways, shadowy figures, shards of broken mirrors and trickles of blood keep the viewer on edge. Tchaikovsky’s score becomes more jarring as the story proceeds. To director Aronofsky ballet is every bit as savage as is the wrestling in his 2009 Oscar Nominated film “The Wrestler.”

“Black Swan” tells a totally gripping story about how a young woman’s quest for perfection unhinges her. And don’t forget Natalie Portman’s over- the- top performance. If you appreciate mind-blowing and bizarre entertainments, see “Black Swan.”  I promise you won’t be