Review by-Jarrett Leahy
Donna is an aspiring comedienne who enthusiastically infuses her personal life into her stand-up performances, so after losing her beloved daytime job and being dumped in the same week, Donna’s act has taken a turn to the dark side. Depressed by the uncertainty of her future, Donna sets out to drown her sorrows. But when a drunken, random hook-up leads to an unexpected pregnancy, she now must quickly decide whether or not to remain pregnant while trying to find the right way to inform the boy scout, would-be father about her sudden predicament.
Please welcome to the stage Jenny Slate. A spitfire personality with an adorably raspy voice, Slate’s star-making portrayal of stand-up hopeful Donna Stern is the piece de resistance of Obvious Child. A former Saturday Night Live alumnus (2009-10), Slate’s SNL career was short-lived after she infamously dropped an f-bomb during one of her on-air skits. Since then, Slate has spent the last few years bouncing from one comedy series to another including Parks and Recreation and Married. As Obvious Child’s lead protagonist, Donna’s believable depth and real life complexities and neuroses are brought to life on screen by Slate’s intrepid portrayal. Rarely do you find a rom-com female lead as emotionally complex or three-dimensional as that found in Donna, a bitter twenty-something who seemingly isn’t ready to be a mother. Slate’s delivery of Donna’s foul mouthed, unapologetically candid comedic style is a mixed bag of shake-your-head hilarity and awkward vulgarity, masking a frightened young woman unable to cope with many of life’s adult challenges.
Originally a 2009 short film, Obvious Child is the creation of writer/director Gillian Robespierre. After getting the opportunity to expand her story into a full-length feature, Robespierre re-teamed with writing partner Karen Maine along with first-time screenwriter Elisabeth Holm to pen this rebellious rom-com that, under Robespierre’s capable direction, deftly tackles a hot button topic with an amusing irreverence. Some will undoubtedly find the film’s matter-of-fact portrayal of the contentious topic of abortion to be a bit off-putting, but those with more moderate views will likely find Robespierre’s uncensored approach to such quarrelsome themes to be surprisingly forthright. Unfortunately, hampered slightly by a handful of rom-com conventions, not all of Robespierre’s narrative choices worked entirely, and one in particular involving Max (Jake Lacy), Donna’s hook-up, and Donna’s mother Nancy (Polly Draper) just came across as excessively implausible.
Overall, however, as a pragmatic examination of one of life’s most difficult, personal decisions, Robespierre’s debut film is a competent, satisfactory creation that exhibits quick-witted dialogue and a smattering of truly comical moments. The film’s ultimate contribution to the 2014 movie landscape is as a forum to highlight the comedic gifts of Jenny Slate, whose fearless, intrepid performance more than makes up for any of the story’s shortcomings. As I’ve harped on many times here, the only way female directors are going to get more opportunities to create lasting works of cinema is if we movie fans support worthy female-led projects. Obvious Child is a project worthy of our support.
Review by-Jarrett Leahy & Michelle Zenor
A former child actress, British filmmaker Amma Asante made her directorial debut with the 2004 drama, A Way of Life. A decade later, Asante has returned, bringing to the screen one of the most eloquent and moving period dramas of the year. Seen by some as an exotic curiosity, by most others as a grotesque abomination, Dido is a woman who has the lineage, wealth, and upbringing of a British heiress, yet she is prohibited from eating at the same table as the rest of her family during formal dinners. “How can I be too high of rank to dine with the servants, but too low of rank to dine with my own family?” This heartfelt inquiry is the perfect example of the agonizing conundrum this strong-willed young woman struggles with throughout the film.
Blessed with a natural beauty that rivals the likes of Kerry Washington, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, a relatively unknown English actress, was chosen to play the film’s title character. Shackled by the societal etiquette of the time, Mbatha-Raw’s character of Dido stoically suffers indignities most would find impossible to endure. These constraints placed on Dido highlight Mbatha-Raw’s instinctive talent to convey a variety of emotions with her impressively expressive countenance. Thanks to such a rare combination of beauty and artistry, I foresee Belle being the springboard to stardom for Mbatha-Raw, who more than held her own next to veteran stars Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson.
Vibrant cinematography and authentic period costumes add to the enjoyment of this stirring drama. Lord Mansfield’s vast, expansive estate is lavishly adorned with a saturated color palette of ancestral paintings and priceless artifacts conveying the aura of the aristocratic elite. In stark contrast, scenes shot amongst the common folk feel far more drab and monochromatic, offering a visual of a drastic disparity between the haves and have-nots in this severely stratified society. The film also deftly explores the demeaning rituals of 18th century courting in Great Britain. Eligible women were seen as a type of possession to be put on display and handed off to the highest male bidder, similar to the country’s slave trade.
Beautifully shot and highlighted by a breakout performance from the film’s gifted young star Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle is an opulent film experience that simply looks the way a British period piece should look. Not just a love story, Belle is also a compelling courtroom drama that explores the little known true story of Lord Mansfield’s role in the eventual abolition of slavery in Great Britain. In the year 2014, it’s a shame that a great movie from a female filmmaker is still such a rarity. But unfortunately, the world of cinema, for many reasons, is still an art form dominated by males. Belle proves yet again that if given the opportunity, female directors like Amma Asante can conceive and execute movingly elegant and alluring films that would make Ismail Merchant and James Ivory proud.-JL & MZ
Review by-Jarrett Leahy
Interstellar audaciously tackles some of the scientific world’s most debated space theories and phenomena including wormholes, black-holes, and the mind-bending effects of relativity on time. While an educated man, I won’t even attempt to fake having the knowledge to judge the scientific accuracy of the film’s depictions. What I can share is while exiting the theater, I happened to run into a friend who is a science teacher and former college professor. I quickly took the opportunity to pick her brain as to the film’s veracity, and she confirmed that a large portion of the science is within reasonable plausibility based on the current theories being debated in the scientific world. This didn’t surprise me knowing the single-mindedness of the film’s creator, Christopher Nolan.
Rarely are filmmakers who specialize in the creation of “blockbusters” ever considered or labeled auteurs, but the influence, style, and artistic control Christopher Nolan has been afforded over each of his nine films certainly fit the definition. When this generation’s list of the finest filmmakers is established, Nolan will undoubtedly be one of the select few at the top. Since his 2000 sophomore masterpiece, Memento, Nolan has been at the forefront of cutting-edge thrillers, contributing to the cinematic and pop culture vault The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and The Prestige. Interstellar, Nolan’s latest creation, is his most grandiose—a dramatic space adventure involving our never-ending fascination surrounding space exploration along with the search for a habitable planet as ours runs out of natural resources.
Speaking of our planet, has anyone on this big blue sphere had a better year and a half than Matthew McConaughey? Always a fan favorite, McConaughey spent most of the 2000’s creating a string of superfluous romantic comedies and forgettable blockbusters. Then suddenly, McConaughey’s career took an unexpected shift, highlighted in 2013 with the critical success of films Mud, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Dallas Buyers Club, which earned McConaughey the Best Actor Academy Award for his transformative portrayal of AIDS patient Ron Woodroof. With Interstellar, McConaughey continues his run of acting prowess, offering an expert balance of amusing bluster with dramatic sincerity. No matter how off-the-rails Nolan’s drama may veer, it’s the genuineness McConaughey infuses into his character that causes us the viewer to willfully accompany him on this harrowing journey.
This is the point in my review where I hoped to lovingly ramble on about the overwhelming genius of Interstellar, offering a slew of flowery superlatives including calling it one of the best of 2014. Unfortunately, I just can’t. Despite being almost 170 minute long, Interstellar at times feels convoluted and curiously hurried. This unnerving sense of haste is due in large part to Nolan’s decision to jam-pack his narrative with enough storyline to fill two or three films. Reminiscent of The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan’s excessive use of montage, most notably during large chunks of Earthbound scenes, only adds to Interstellar’s urgent feel. While I suspect Nolan’s attempt was to offer a type of visual of the effects of relatively on time, what came across on screen was a rushed desire to plow through much of the Earth narrative, affording Nolan more screen time to indulge in the dazzling visuals of space.
And oh how dazzling they are. Experienced in eye-popping (and eardrum-bursting) IMAX, Nolan’s depiction of deep space rivals any cinematic representation that has come before. What these stunning visuals mask, however, is a story that feels all too familiar in the science fiction sub-genre of space travel. Another of Interstellar’s shortcomings comes surprisingly from Nolan’s choices in casting. Fiercely secretive, the involvement of some of the industry’s biggest names were an unexpected surprise. But after the initial shock wore off, these superstar additions felt more distracting to the storyline than advantageous. While it’s amusing to see a group of big-name stars together on screen, Interstellar could have benefited from showing a bit of restraint, casting fewer A-listers and instead bringing in lesser known, more gifted character actors. Of all the miscasts, the most glaring was the inclusion of Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway. While no doubt extremely gifted, Hathaway’s portrayal of a brilliant scientist fell disappointingly flat and was unconvincing. The role also required a level of physicality that Hathaway lacked. I personally would have loved to have seen someone like Diane Kruger of Inglourious Basterds fame given the chance to tackle this role.
One would be hard pressed to top the sheer spectacle of Interstellar; it is undoubtedly ambitious. Unfortunately, once you move past the awe of Nolan’s magnificent visuals and deafening audio, you find a hectic and bloated production that suffers from a hackneyed, archetypal story, casting issues, and a final chapter that comes across as a bit far-fetched even by Hollywood standards. Based on past appreciation of Nolan’s talents and cinematic achievements, my expectations for Interstellar was a movie with end-of-year Top 10 potential. While I appreciated his valiant attempt at greatness, Nolan’s space opus never reaches the heights it strives for.-JL
Review by-Jarrett Leahy
Snowpiercer, starring Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, and John Hurt, is a film many movie fans probably have heard little about. Directed by heralded South Korean filmmaker Joon-ho Bong, this dystopian sci-fi has had to fight to find an audience here in the U.S., thanks in large part to totalitarian executive Harvey Weinstein, who bought the U.S. distribution rights back in 2012. Unfortunately, when Weinstein was shown Bong’s final cut, he feared the film’s allegorical storyline and bleak, ultra violence would be too much for us “dumb Americans” to understand or appreciate. Weinstein was reported to have told Bong to cut nearly 20 minutes of the film’s 126 minute running time, or it wouldn’t be released. Only after a swell of critical and internet backlash did Weinstein back off this demand. But instead of receiving the national release Snowpiercer deserved, Weinstein only gave the film a limited release back in July, causing many movie fans to miss seeing this visual feast on the big screen.
Based on a 1982 French graphic novel, Le Transperceneige, written by Jacques Lob, Snowpiercer utilizes the claustrophobic confines of its high-tech locomotive to increase the unease and anxiety of this tension-packed thriller. Like most films whose source material is a graphic novel, Bong’s creation requires a heightened suspension of disbelief. A film set on a futuristic train can’t be judged under the restraints of everyday reality. Snowpiercer’s visuals are an impressive combination of alarming, graphic brutality and dazzling artistry, creating an ominous, foreboding atmosphere that never lets up. Aided by the help of a drug-addled security expert, as our group of insurgents moves their way closer and closer to the front of the train, each railway car they encounter is more outlandishly exotic and treacherous. Armed with only rudimentary weaponry, our ragtag group of rebels is forced to battle their way through an army of soldiers, ax-wielding assassins, and trained killers, all trying to keep them from reaching the extravagant comforts bestowed to the elite inhabiting the train’s anterior.
Blessed with an uncommonly gifted cast, Snowpiercer stars Chris Evans, an actor best known for his recurring role as Captain America. Playing apprehensive leader Curtis, Evans ably captures the inner torment of a man haunted by past transgressions that can never be fully suppressed or forgotten. As truths surrounding this mysterious ecosystem are divulged, Curtis must decide how far he is willing to go, and how much he’s willing sacrifice, to see his uprising come to fruition. But as notable as Evans is, the film’s devious scene-stealing performance comes from the acting chameleon, Tilda Swinton. Cold, calculating, with a grotesque set of fake teeth, Swinton has yet again outdone herself with this slimy portrayal of Minister Mason. Charged with keeping everyone in their rightful place, Mason’s callous tactics of oppression and intimidation reach unthinkable levels. Together, Evans and Swinton, along with a supporting cast that includes Academy Award nominees John Hurt, Ed Harris, and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (2011 Best Supporting Actress, The Help), bring this bizarre and terrifying apocalyptic future to life.
While I personally found the film a bit more conventional and less revolutionary than it was originally sold as, it certainly deserved far better treatment and publicity than it wound up receiving from its U.S. distributor, The Weinstein Company. Not for the faint of heart and by no means flawless, Bong’s Snowpiercer is an ambitious piece of dystopian science fiction that offers a profusion of high intensity action that helps make up for any weaknesses some may find in the film’s narrative.-JL
Review by-Jarrett Leahy
Most years I average somewhere between 80-100 new movie viewings, a great majority of which fall somewhere between pretty good to pretty forgettable. But if I’m lucky, I stumble across a truly extraordinary piece of cinema that leaves me staggered with adoration. In 2014, I assumed I had seen my venerated film after experiencing Richard Linklater’s one-of-a-kind creation, Boyhood. But after Monday night, I must amend my outlook for the movie year, as Boyhood now has company with Pawel Pawlikowski’s hypnotically devastating drama, Ida. Originally a documentarian, Pawlikowski received critical acclaim for his second feature film, Last Resort (2000). With Ida, his fifth feature, Pawlikowski has achieved true greatness, creating an affecting drama that is both chilling and intoxicating in equal measures. Set in 1962 Poland, Ida captures the uncertainty of an area under the grips of Communism after escaping the tyrannical grasps of the Nazi regime. At only 82 minutes, I found it quite astonishing that Pawlikowski is capable of packing such an emotional wallop in such a short amount of time.
Reminiscent of a young Sissy Spacek (or Claire Daines according to my lovely editor), Ida’s unknown headliner, Agata Trzebuchowska, is an angelic beauty whose striking physical characteristics are only accentuated by the mesmeric effects of the black and white cinematography. Discovered by a friend of the director while out at a cafe, Trezbuchowska’s unique natural gifts as an actress are even more impressive upon discovering that she has never acted before. Quiet, solemn, earnest, Trzebuchowska superbly captures the sedate persona of this young woman of faith. In contrast, veteran Polish actress Agata Kulesza embodies the smoldering anger of a woman who has experienced some of life’s worst atrocities. Her raucous and foolhardy behavior masks an emotionally damaged individual who has tried to drink away memories too painful to accept. Together, these two women offer superb portrayals, carrying Ida to an emotional depth seldom experienced in today’s cinema.
Rarely will you find visuals as impeccable as Ryszard Lenczewski’s astonishing cinematography. Like a piece of fine art come to life, Ida is a beautifully shot black and white film. Filmed in 4:3 aspect ratio, Lenczewski’s utilization of atypical visual scale and unexpected camera angles plays off the film’s haunting images to perfection. The camera, so still for most of the film, seems to wait an extra count before turning away, making sure we amply grasp the full impact of what Pawlikowski wants us to see. Trying to pick a favorite scene is nearly impossible; I found myself hypnotized by the film’s eerie, dreamlike snowstorms, a smoke-filled jazz bar, Anna’s twirling in a sun drenched window curtain, and an impeccably shot view from the backseat of Wanda’s car as the wooded road rushes by in the periphery. If for anything else, Ida needs to be seen to witness the art of making motion pictures at its finest.
A poignantly absorbing masterwork, Powlikowski’s somber drama offers what might be the best black and white cinematography I’ve ever seen. Like a Maria Falconetti of the 21st century, Agata Tryzebuchowska has come out of nowhere to give a truly spellbinding portrayal that only grows in stature when one considers she is true newcomer to the art of acting. Awarded Best Film at the London, Warsaw, Gdynia, Gijon, Les Arcs, Minsk, Polish, and RiverRun International Film Festivals, Ida is one of the finest examples of what world cinema has to offer and is no doubt one of the best movies of 2014.-JL
AmateurCinephile.com 