Tag: Brit Marling

2013 Movie Catch Up

Catching up with 2013 gems like “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,” “The East,” “Short Term 12” and “To the Wonder”

I easily watch more new movies in December than any other month in the year. It’s a race to see what movies might end up on my year-end list and what movies I can start predicting for Oscar nominations.

Now both of those events have passed, and the urgency is gone. Still there are movies like “A Touch of Sin,” “The Past,” “Wadjda,” “At Berkeley,” “The Great Beauty,” “Bastards” and “The Wind Rises” that are beyond where I can easily access them (so maybe expect a part two to this post), but for those gaps that seemed most pressing, I finally amended them.

Rather than suffer through a full review for each long after the moment has passed, here are some capsule thoughts on recent 2013 movies I felt needed to be seen before they got lost in next year’s shuffle.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints – 3 ½ stars

Though featuring shots that seem lifted from “Badlands” and a story that would appear to chronicle that film’s aftermath, “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” isn’t quite Terence Malick-lite. David Lowery’s film details the end of jailbirds Bob and Ruth, but not their sordid beginning. Lowery instead explores the will of Bob to escape from prison and return to his wife and daughter he’s never met and Ruth’s determination to start anew. Bradford Young’s cinematography evokes the rustic earth tones present in Malick’s best and worst while Daniel Hart’s music channels Nick Cave with rhythmic pattering and trembling strings. But Lowery separates the spiritual poetry and narrated prose from the imagery, making this strictly a film about responsibility and parenting, establishing the close-knit tension from how seemingly close the characters are to accomplishing what they must. Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck only share a handful of scenes, but their chemistry is in the unspeakable ether. Affleck has a simple, matter of fact presentation of his jailbreak that categorizes the whole movie’s tender mystique and close to the bone authenticity. “Sir, I used to be the devil, and now, I’m just a man.” Continue reading “2013 Movie Catch Up”

Arbitrage

“What’s an Applebees?” Hedge fund CEO Robert Miller is so out of touch with the world and with himself that he can deliver a hilarious line like this and still be snidely condescending. He’s the anti-hero of “Arbitrage,” a character drama about a scummy guy with a lot of money and nothing to do with it.

Robert’s (Richard Gere) company Miller Capital is currently involved in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme as he tries to arrange a merger and avoid bankruptcy. It’s clear he has to get this merger, but the dialogue is strictly jargon, and at the end of the day, his need to get money and meet the bottom line seems self-serving.

But he’s also a fraud at home. Upon coming in late to his own birthday party, he grabs a stuffed animal and a package from a servant to hand to his grandkids as he walks in the door. When his family brings out the cake, he acts humble and surprised but has a speech in his back pocket.

And that’s not the worst of it. Robert is cheating on his wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon) with a young artist named Julie (Laetitia Casta). After missing her art show and upsetting her, he proposes the two of them drive off and vacation for a few days. But behind the wheel, Robert falls asleep and gets into a wreck that kills Julie. Fearing that he’ll be revealed for having an affair, he leaves the scene and peculiarly uses a payphone to call Jimmy (Nate Parker), a young black man from Harlem, to pick him up. The detective assigned to the accident (Tim Roth) then tries to pin obstruction of justice to Jimmy as a way of getting to Robert, and his resolve as a person is tested in his effort to stay clean.

The assumption would be that by the end of this mess, Robert will either be punished, learn the error of his ways or we as an audience will come away with more fodder for the class warfare argument. But writer/director Nicholas Jarecki has made a character drama first and a thriller second. “Arbitrage” is not a message movie. It observes how a man who for so long has been operating on earning more and more and staying that way can ultimately think no differently.

Gere is on fire in one scene where he talks about a copper mine that is such a sure thing that it is practically printing money. He comes across as so effortlessly indoctrinated by the idea that he can’t even begin to question the consequences. Gere is so cool and charming that he makes it hard for us to accept how heartless his character is. We want him to succeed, and we’re wrapped up in what will happen.

“Arbitrage” loses some points for not fully developing Robert’s wife as a tragic figure in this household, and it potentially has so much to say about these one percenters but holds its tongue beyond a few comments by Roth’s detective.

And yet there’s a beautiful shot where Robert steps into an elevator and lights flicker red like a devilish halo just above his head. “Arbitrage” distances itself from this besmirched man, but it’s riveting as if we’re drawn in at the sight of the Almighty Dollar.

3 stars

Another Earth

“Another Earth” is an ingenious mix between indie drama and sci-fi that explores the many depths of a very simple concept: If you could meet yourself, what would you say?

Rhoda (Brit Marling) is a bright teenager about to head off to college until she causes a drunk driving accident when a report on the radio distracts her. A planet like ours that could sustain life is very close to Earth and is visible in the sky. She looks for too long and kills the wife and child of John Burroughs (William Mapother).

Four years later after her prison stint, the world has changed significantly. The planet thought to sustain life looks near identical to Earth and is even larger than the Moon in the night sky. We call it “Earth 2,” naturally, implying we’re “Earth 1.” Scientists eventually contact the planet and in a simple scene has a gigantic, exciting twist that made me leap out of my seat and say “WOAH!”

The people on “Earth 2” are identical to us. They’ve lived the same lives, met the same friends and made the same choices. They’re us, but they’re not.

Immediately the movie asks existential questions, but the important thing is that the movie considers all these themes secondary to the strong character drama at the center. Most sci-fis are wrapped in their science, but here we get an understandable depiction of human nature. We discover new places and ideas, but our tendencies and our perspective on the world don’t change.

John is now living in squalor. He’s given up on his job and his life. Rhoda too is virtually broken, and in a desperate move for understanding, tracks down John to confess she was the one responsible for his family’s death. But upon seeing him, she can’t bring herself to do it and poses as a maid offering a free trial service. She helps clean up his home and the two proceed to repair each other’s lives.

Mike Cahill’s film is exactly how intimate character dramas should look and feel. The movie indulges in artful staging, handheld camera close-ups and philosophical themes told simply in voiceover monologue. But “Another Earth” earns all of its gravity and self-importance. Rhoda and John share deep, important conversations about love, human nature and the paradoxes of the story.

If Earth 2 is an exact mirror and you tried to meet yourself, wouldn’t your duplicate do the same? What “Another Earth” points out is that we’re always looking at ourselves, but from within. Sometimes it takes someone externally to hold up a mirror so we can ask what we’re doing with our lives.

“Another Earth” is all about big ideas and big moments. And yet for such big emotions and truths to come out of a film with a simple idea, from small, understated performances and from a movie that doesn’t overdo style or visuals is no small feat indeed.

4 stars