Marvel Magic
April 13, 2016
Benedict Cumberbatch joins the Marvel universe as Doctor Strange and the first trailer has hit the internet today. Joined by Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofer, and Rachel McAdams the good doctor’s movie looks a bit Inception-esq. The film will hit theatres in November.
Doctor Strange
A Trip to Italy
March 10, 2016
A Bigger Splash (2016).
D: Luca Guadagnino. DP: Yorick Le Saux. W: David Kajganich. Starring: Tilda Swinton/Ralph Fiennes/Matthias Schoenaerts/Dakota Johnson.
Loosely inspired by the 1969 film, La Piscine, Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s new film A Bigger Splash is a tense yet enjoyable experience handled well by its actors.
The film follows David Bowie esq performer Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton) as she convalesces in Italy after vocal surgery. Shacking up with her is her younger boyfriend Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) whose thrown when her former producer and lover Harry (Ralph Fiennes) shows up unannounced with a newly discovered adult daughter in toe. What results is an exploration of past and present and latent desire that pulses through an Italian villa and its swimming pool.
The central joy of The Bigger Splash is to see veteran Fiennes loosen up and play someone vivacious at life whether that is dancing or fucking. He cannot out due Oscar Isaac’s dancing in last year’s Ex Machina, but his character is something fresh for the actor and you can tell. Swinton’s Bowie-esq stage persona is far removed from the statuesque woman she presents in Italy. Her dead mother’s wardrobe she dons for most of the film was designed by Raf Simons the former head of Dior. Yet Swinton does a lot without speaking which gives credit to her face and body. She’s purposeful here and its memorable.
Belgian actor Schoenaerts is quickly a rising talent with studio films like The Danish Girl under his wing. He’s lithe and built like a modern Farmer Oak from Far from the Madding Crowd, but he doesn’t come across as just the favorable beef cake of the month. Dakota Johnson as Harry’s new daughter Penelope suffers as her age and Fifty Shades of Grey fame betray her. Yet she remains the most ambiguous character as her motives or gains are still hazy at the end, a testament to the story and her interpretation at least.
The film falters when it uses flashbacks to emphasize the love triangle between Paul, Marianne, and Harry. Nothing is gained by those sequences and they pull us out of gorgeous Italy, which is shot well by Yorick Le Saux. Not much is explored about Marianne’s fame, which is a nice touch as it is merely the context of the story. But a funny sequence towards the end with a detective reminds us that this life less ordinary is under a microscope.
Shameless Truths
August 19, 2015
Trainwreck (2015).
D: Judd Apatow. DP: Jody Lee Lipps. W: Amy Schumer. Starring: Amy Schumer/Bill Hader/Colin Quinn/Brie Larson/Tilda Swinton/Vanessa Bayer/LeBron James/Mike Birbiglia/Evan Brinkman/Randall Parl/Ezra Miller/Jon Glaser.
If you don’t know who Amy Schumer is at this point you might need to move to a new rock to live under. Whether or not you have seen her three years running comedy central show or any of her stand up specials, you will at least have seen her on a magazine cover or sadly express her condolences to the families of the two women killed in Lafayette, LA in a screening of this film. I do not want to dwell on the shooting as it’s painful being from Louisiana myself, safe to say she handled it with aplomb.
Regardless the Schumer penned first time acting film Trainwreck is the sort of modernistic romantic comedy you can enjoy. Rather than soapy clean rom coms like Something Borrowed or struggling adult ones like How Do You Know, Trainwreck barrels ahead with a lead who is messy and complex. The film follows Schumer as Amy in a period of her life where her ill father (Colin Quinn) is moved into a nursing home by her and her sister Kim (Brie Larson). At different places in their life with Kim married and stepmother, Amy struggles to deal with her father and a job at a men’s magazine where she is not writing work she’s really proud of. On an assignment to interview successful sports doctor Aaron Conners (Bill Hader) she grabs drinks with him and sleeps with him and he actually calls her again.
Schumer has publicly said she did not write the film for her to star rather for Judd Apatow to direct. This is in fact his first directorial effort on a script he did not write himself. But what Schumer is able to do is balance a touching journey with her ill father and different sister with practical 30-something trails of dating and workplace slumps. Hitting a lot of typical romantic comedy beats Schumer in voiceover makes fun of them yet uses them to expose her character’s decision to not have expectations or work through much in relationships. Rather than say Mindy Kaling’s interpretation of rom coms, here they are something to work against.
Trainwreck is similar in tone to Bridesmaids in its open humor about sex, with Schumer’s own twist on the female perspective. Schumer does well enough though her performance is derivative of her standup and her own persona. Yet she has excellent chemistry with SNL veteran Hader who is well cast here. The couple’s connection seems authentic and despite the film’s adherence to some rom com rules they seem to connect realistically. Quinn is touching as Amy’s father, but the steal away is probably Tilda Swinton as Amy’s magazine boss whose tight one liners are all the better coming from Swinton. Brie Larson is still one of my favorite young actresses out there, just see Short Term 12, just do it now.
Ultimately, Trainwreck packs most of its laughs in the first two acts and has maybe a few too many I love NY style shots. Also, the cameos border on Apatow ridiculous levels towards the end, which is frankly too much with Aaron’s already annoying friendship with basketball super star LeBron James. It’s a good first feature for a strong female voice and one that lets herself be a little bit messy and work through it. It might not be for everyone, but it’s different and shameless and that’s a great way to be.