Director Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of Larry Kramer’s AIDS activism ensemble drama The Normal Heart (B) tells a stirring chronicle of life in New York in the ’80s among gay men with the dreaded new virus sneaking up on the population with a slow burn akin to the zombies of modern myths. Mark Ruffalo has never been better as the lead agitator to the political powers that be; and Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Taylor Kitsch are excellent as the alternately spellbound and skeptical members of his inner circle. Julia Roberts is also effective as a driven doctor helping early casualties of the epidemic. Roberts’ inner Brokovich and Ruffalo’s inner Hulk bring the rage of the stage to the events that unfold. But the director of Eat, Pray, Love, not known for his sustained narrative cohesion, sometimes follows a formula of Meet, Yell, Scream and fizzles without resolution. When he gets it right, especially in the Ruffalo-Bomer romance and in framing a double tragedy, Murphy nails it. But there are other undernourished supporting characters and subplots that don’t propel the plot as effectively. Ultimately the film is a significant slice of history, told with care and resonance about a critical topic that still calls out for our attention. Thanks to commanding performances and an absorbing underdog story, there are great lessons to learn here.
Tag Archives: Drama
“On the Road” (2013) a Coming of Age Travelogue
Buoyant performances by Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley and impeccable period details in production design lift Walter Salles’ otherwise mixed bag of a coming of age travelogue On the Road (B-). Based on Jack Karouac’s classic novel about nonconformity, the film traces episodic encounters between friends and lovers, capturing the delirium that bonds young people in their quest for identity and escape. Hedlund is pretty magnetic in a role once earmarked for Brando. It’s a pretty intense mess but watchable. Good supporting cameos by Amy Adams and Steve Buscemi, and even (gulp) Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst are good.
“Dallas Buyers Club” is Great Drama
Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club (B+) is a powerful true story about an unlikely pioneer in HIV/AIDS drug treatment as embodied by Matthew McConaughey in a role that stretches him beyond anything folks have ever seen him do. His macho, emaciated and homophobic hero, coupled with a sympathetic doctor (Jennifer Garner) and a transgendered business associate (Jared Leto), experiences stages of rage, regret and redemption. Although the film squanders some of the narrative potential this trio could have plumbed, the film is nonetheless biting, bittersweet and insightful; and McConaughey is every bit as award-worthy as you may have heard, with his sly, sinewy delivery all the more poignant as he races against time to save himself and an adopted community. He and Garner erase the ghosts of rom coms past with this melodrama that often confounds expectations. Very much in the vein of People vs. Larry Flynt and certainly recommended.
Tom Hanks is “Captain Phillips” and It’s Great
Director Paul Greengrass takes a real-life news story about the cargo ship captain who saves his crew from an attack by Somali pirates and makes it surprisingly fresh and intense in Captain Phillips (B+). Tom Hanks gives a grizzled, commanding performance in the titular role; and newcomer Barkhad Abdi is a revelation as the armed leader of the shipboard trespassers. Greengrass gives the proceedings a documentary-style you-are-there intensity, unexpectedly crafting one of the year’s great human adventures.
Technically, “Gravity” is Great
A technical tour de force and a wonder to behold, Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (B) is nonetheless weighed down by an oppressive storyline, stock characters and a script marred with a touch of self-importance. Both Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are bit characters eclipsed by incredible outer space floating effects. It’s highly recommended as a showcase for 3D and efficient as a thriller with some nail-biting moments, but it’s also far-fetched and ultimately orbits a black hole of melodrama. Clooney basically plays Buzz Lightyear. Bullock’s CGI face and tears seem like they’re emoting pretty well, but in space, no one can see you act. Gravity barely gave its characters the acumen to operate an Easy Bake Oven, while a simultaneous release Captain Phillips depicted complete technical mastery amidst the maritime brinkmanship.
“12 Years a Slave” a Harrowing Masterpiece
Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (A-) is a harrowing true story told masterfully. Journeyman actor Chiwetel Ejiofor creates the role of a lifetime as a free man kidnapped in 1841 into a life as a Southern slave. Gorgeously art directed and unflinching in its brutality, the film earns its emotions and is gripping throughout. You’ll be challenged constantly about the dehumanizing system that plagued much of our country’s history and ultimately inspired by a courageous character. After Fruitvale Station and The Butler, this is another provocative and deservingly acclaimed work about race relations that demands to be seen.
“Spectacular Now” is Affecting Drama
James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now (B+) reminded me of the ’80s fave Lucas with a similar melancholy I found so affecting in Perks of Being a Wallflower, and lead actor Miles Teller as the effortless charmer harboring an alcohol addiction channels a sort of Say Anything era John Cusack, if he were on an endless bender while winning love with jambox held aloft. The theme is about intoxication, to alcohol and to first love: Shailene Woodley is devastating as the naive good girl heroine, filling her first boyfriend’s flask for him as he drunkenly drives her to a date he’s just dreamed up. It’s eerie how much this could have just been called the Lea Michele/Corey Monteith story. The take-away, that life and relationships are more enduring than the episodes between blackouts, rises above the potential afterschool special pitfalls.
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler” is Stirring
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (A) is a heart-wrenching Hollywood epic about American race relations through the lens of pacifist father (a solid Forest Whitaker) and action-oriented son (a revelatory David Oweloyo). Even Oprah Winfrey gets every note right as the mighty mom of a great American family. What may be dismissed as overly polished is actually one of the most stirring, touching films of the year. Civil rights teachers will be showing this to students for generations to come.
“Before Midnight” Bittersweet
Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight (B) tells an austere, autumnal next chronicle in the romantic saga of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy’s Jesse and Celine. This time it’s not all fun and games and wit and wordplay as we witness scenes from a marriage that is real and raw and may not still have much of the magic we remember from the young couple that met one night on a train nearly two decades ago. It is dramatic and tricky but sometimes a little stuck in its own rut. See it for the cannily observant viewpoints on keeping things fresh while aging together. And as fascinating as they are, let’s hope we’re not gearing up two more decades from now for a talky Amour featuring this duo.
Baz Luhrmann’s “Great Gatsby” (2013) Largely Succeeds
After about 45 minutes of Baz Luhrmann’s excessive whirling dervishness settles down and a captivating Leonardo DiCaprio finally arrives as the titular playboy man of mystery, The Great Gatsby (B-) becomes a pretty engrossing potboiler about forbidden love and tragic obsession. Nearly cloaked in all the razzmatazz, glamorous sets and anachronistic hip hop music is the morality tale of self-made nouveau riche versus entrenched American wealth. Tobey Maguire is his typical boring self as wingman writer, Carey Mulligan is only moderately enchanting as Daisy (really only captivating in her scenes with Leo) and Joel Edgerton is fairly menacing as Tom. Leave it to this spastic Aussie auteur to take a Great American Novel and turn it into the same Harlequin Romance he’s made five other times. A notch better than Australia though. Glad he didn’t add an exclamation point to the title to go along with the 3D.
“The Impossible” an Epic Survival Story
J.A. Bayona’s The Impossible (A-) is a rousing and resilient adventure set against the horrific backdrop of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Thailand. Italian is based on a real-life story chronicled by María Belón. A close-knit family played by talented actors including Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland find their idyllic holiday turns into a nightmare as black water devours nearly everything in its path. In the family’s darkest hour as they are plunged into chaos, unexpected displays of kindness and courage help punctuate their terror. Watts in particular gets an amazing showcase here and displays epic fearlessness and vulnerability, especially opposite remarkable child actor Holland. Cinematographer Óscar Faura should be deeply commended for recreating the disaster and its aftermath with such precision and accuracy. The film is spectacularly exciting and resists a tilt toward sensationalism as it depicts one family’s journey from separation to hope.
“Rust and Bone” Rewarding and Romantic
A single father/boxer and an aquatic animal trainer reveal physical and emotional wounds and forge an unlikely bond in Jacques Audiard’s French language film Rust & Bone (A-). Matthias Schoenaerts and Marion Cotillard hit all the right notes in an unsentimental drama that could have veered to all sorts of conventional places. Cotillard in particular is riveting as a woman so complex that losing her legs in a killer whale attack is only a small element defining her character. It’s a rewarding and romantic film discovery.