Chasing Fifty (orig. Padesátka) [2015]

MPAA (R)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CSFD.cz listing*
FDB.cz listing*

CervenyKoberec.cz (V. Staňková) review*
iDnes.cz (M. Spáčilová) review*

Chasing Fifty (orig. Padesátka) [2015] [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]* (directed by Vojtěch Kotek [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*, screenplay by Petr Kolečko [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*, story by Vojtěch Kotek [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]* and Jakub Prachař [IMDb] [FDB]*) is a technically excellent (if by nature of its genre, necessarily morally dubious ... :-) or :-/ ) almost "Seth Rogan"-like Czech "slacker comedy" that OPENED the 2016 Czech That Film Tour playing this month at Chicago's Gene Siskel Film Center.

The film takes place in the context of a fictionalized annual "Three Kings / Epiphany" 50K Cross Country Ski Race held at the quite famous (in the C.R.) Czech ski resort town of Špindlerův Mlýn on the Czech side of the Krkonoše Mountains [en.wikip] [cs.wikip]* separating Czech Bohemia from modern Polish Silesia.  (I say fictionalized because the actual race takes place in the Jizerské Mts [en.wikip] [cs.wikip]* 50-75 miles to the West, but Špindlerův Mlýn has similar races / activities during the whole winter season and is certainly the more famous resort town).

Now Readers note that prior to WW II the region on both sides of the Czech and now Polish border was inhabited primarily by ethnic Germans who were expelled from their lands (again on both sides of the border) after WW II.  Note also though that both Bohemia and Silesia were once (and during the Middle Ages for centuries) under the Czech Crown.  Further, the Krkonoše Mountains [en.wikip] [cs.wikip]* have had a special place in Czech consciousness as basically _its_ "true mountains" and  _its_ "true wilderness" that long predated WW II.

Indeed, the tale of the tragic deaths of two famous Czech cross-country skiers Bohumil Hanč [cs.wikip]* and Václav Vrbata [cs.wikip]* (in a late winter storm back in 1913 (! ;-) in the Krkonoše Mountains [en.wikip] [cs.wikip]* is recalled to this day with the same (perhaps even hokey) reverence by Czechs as the "Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald [YouTube]"[wikip] is recalled in the United States.  It was a tragedy, but ... (Indeed, there appears even a shot of the memorial [wikip] to these two fallen skiers up there in the mountains near the end of this film ... ;-)

And the Krkonoše Mountains [en.wikip] [cs.wikip]* were the site of the probably all but impregnable fortess that (half-by-legend) was going to be the site of the Czechs "Alamo-like" last stand if the 1938 Sudeten Crisis had indeed led to war.  It would have probably been pointless as the rest of the country probably would have been overrun, but THERE in those mountains they (WE) probably would have held out for a long time -- a Czech Masada.  I'm not kidding ...

ALL THIS IS TO SAY THAT the Krkonoše Mountains [en.wikip] [cs.wikip]* MEAN A HECK OF A LOT TO THE CZECHS ;-)

BUT ... the significance of the Krkonoše [en.wikip] [cs.wikip]* was _not_ simply one of Tortured Defense / Tragedy.

Especially during the Communist Era when Czechs (behind the Iron Curtain) couldn't really go anywhere else anyway THESE mountains (and then "ski resort towns" like Špindlerův Mlýn in particular) became places for young people to go "on break" (if not really on "Spring Break" then on "Winter Break") -- YES, ALMOST EXACTLY IN THE SAME SPIRIT as American students would go to Ft. Lauderdale or more recently to Cancún "on spring break" today (And it is different for Czech young people today as well.  Most of my younger Czech relatives now "save up" to go to Northern Italy to ski in the winter and/or to Croatia, Italy again or Egypt to go to the beach in the summer).  But the Krkonoše Mountains [en.wikip] [cs.wikip]* and then specifically Špindlerův Mlýn remain good local alternatives to Czechs (like perhaps Lake Placid in the Adirondacks or "Vermont" in general would be to New Yorkers today) for winter fun.

SO THIS IS THEN, FINALLY, WHAT THIS FILM IS ABOUT -- It's largely about Czechs "on both sides of 50" who've come to Špindlerův Mlýn to participate in (or now watch...) an annual 50K Cross Country Skiing Race around "Epiphany Time" (at the tail end of Winter / Christmas Break) and then to recall what it was like "back in the day" when they were young, perhaps skiing that race (with better times) and then focusing on "all the hormone driven action" that inevitably followed. 

That's how this film becomes "a well made Czech 'Seth Rogan'-like 'slacker' movie."  And really the film is quite good, for what it is.  AND MANY, MANY AMERICAN VIEWERS would actually be quite surprised to see just how "American" ("just like us...") the CZECH characters in this film are.

And that's not a bad thing to remember ... as we are all after all people, "created by the same God."


Anyway, while certainly _not_ an "instruction manual" on good moral living.  But it does offer a rather fun, indeed effervescent way to start this year's Czech That Film Tour ;-)

(More or less... ;-) good job!


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser. 

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Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping [2016]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (O)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars w. Expl)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McCarthy) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (G. Kenny) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review

I have to confess that I spent much of the film Pop Star: Never Stop Stopping [2016] (co-directed and screenplay cowritten by Akiva Shaffer and Jorma Taccone along with Adam Samberg) _happily_ "communing" with my memory of my past 20 year-old-self, recalling how much I had loved This Is Spinal Tap [1984] and wondering honestly if I was even "worthy" (as a Catholic Priest, hence of some _clear responsibility_ now) of writing a review of the current film.  But obviously, I knew when I started my blog that films like this would come and so I'm going to give it my best shot.

First, PARENTS, PLEASE NOTE that this film definitely earns (if often hilariously) its R-Rating -- mostly due to INTENTIONALLY "over the top" LANGUAGE and seemingly RANDOM (but again almost certainly INTENTIONALLY INCLUDED) shots of RANDOM PEOPLE'S (usually overly enthusiastic fans') PRIVATE PARTS (a _lot of people_ apparently want to have _all kinds of things_ "signed" ...) 

As such, this film is CERTAINLY NOT "for the little ones" (pre-teens).  HOWEVER, since both the language and the random bits of _intentionally stupidly added_ nudity are SO OBVIOUSLY OVER THE TOP, this could honestly be a quite good "parent / late-teen child" film to see, especially if the parents LIKED Spinal Tap [1984] of yore.

The film, a "mockumentary" about a fictitious three person contemporary "boys band" is obviously inspired by Spinal Tap [1984] yet updating it for the Justin Bieber / hip-hop generation:

Three childhood friends Conner (played by Adam Samberg), Owen (played by Jorma Taccome) and Lawrence (played by Akiva Schaffer) had grown-up to take the hip-hop world by storm with hits like "Karate Boy" (the opening lyrics: "I like to kick it ...  <kick>, <kick>" ;-) and a party dance number called "Donkey Roll."  Yet, as their fame / influence grew -- cameos of pop-stars / rappers / hip hop artists from Carrie Underwood (!? ;-) to 50 Cent to Mariah Carey to RINGO STARR (again, !? ;-) pop-up repeatedly to give ridiculously over the top testimonials to The Style Boyz influence on their lives / music -- so did lead man Conner (or as Conner4Real as he's come to call himself)'s ego.  And so early on in the story, he ditches the other two to pursue a solo career.

Lawrence decides to give-up on hip-hop to become "a farmer" -- in some super-desolate part of "eastern Colorado" where the 1930s Dust Bowl appears to have never really ended.  Owen, actually _doesn't retire_ but Conner relegates him to being the DJ for his act where despite thousands upon thousands of dollars of gear is set all around him, his only job is to simply hit "Play" on his iPhone to get Conner's preloaded set rolling ;-).

Conner's first solo album "Thriller, Also" had been a hit, but his new album "ConnQuest" ... eh, maybe ... not.  Perhaps it was his songs -- a very _late_ "song of support" for gay rights (where he spends half the song still explaining that he's _not gay_ ... but "if [he] was, it'd be okay..." ;-).  Then there's a rousing heavily choreographed number with his then girlfriend Ashley (played by Imogen Poots) dancing all around him on stage entitled: "F-me like we F-ed Bin Laden..."  'Course his publicist (played by Sarah Silverman)'s scoring of a "media tie-in" with "America's largest appliance manufacturer" did not help: Imagine how it would go over if "F-me like we F-ed Bin Laden..." suddenly started blaring out of every toaster / blender and washing machine in America ;-).  Would that be considered a "media coup" or ... some kind of _really odd_ (if actually "kinda hip"...) "terrorist attack" ;-)

Anyway, much ensues ... and my long buried 20-year-old self was smiling ... even as I was wondering how my current self could "write this one up" ;-)

Yes, this film "rocked-on" ... "to eleven" ;-)


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Me Before You [2016]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (O)  ChicagoTribune (2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (2 Stars)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (S. Wloszczyna) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review  


Readers here should know that Me Before You [2016] (directed by Thea Sharrock, screenplay by Jojo Moyes [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb] based on her novel [GR] [WCat] [Amzn]) is in the first place _about_ Assisted Suicide / Euthanasia.  (As such, though nominally rated PG-13 it probably should be R...  It's not a "light story").

In the opening minutes of the film, we are introduced to Will Traynor (played by Sam Claflin) a dashing (and super-rich) young man, a stock broker / investment banker of some sort (with a family that _literally_ "owns the castle" in the middle of their town somewhere in provincial England) and ... we watch him about to get hit by a motor scooter in a rain storm as he's crossing the street in front of his London place of business.  We hear the screech, we hear the bang ...

... The next sequence set some two years later, introduces us to Luisa ("Lou") Clark (played by Amelia Clarke) a cheerful / bubbly early-20-something y.o. woman about to lose her job (through no fault of her own, the business was simply closing) at a bakery/pastry shop in the "tourist section" of the lovely/picturesque provincial town from which Will had hailed (and, again, whose castle in the center of town Will's family literally owned).

It would seem therefore that Will's family had been "rich" for generations, since at least the middle ages and arguably since the beginning of recorded history ... In contrast, Lou, we find out as she's walking home (after having lost her job of 6 years...) lives with her parents (played by Samantha Spiro and Brendan Coyle), her sister Katrina ("Treena") (played by Jenna Coleman) and grandad (played by Alan Breck) in a blue collar "row house" section of town more toward its edge.  (One family seemed to have had it made, for generations, while the other had struggled, seemingly for ever ...).

With few jobs available and not a heck of a lot of skills, the jobs counselor at the local (gov't run?) employment agency suggests she take a stab at a "care taker" opening advertised it turns out by Will's parents (played by Janet McTeer and Charles Dance) to help take care of ... Will (who's become a paraplegic - confined to a bed / motorized wheelchair, unable to walk, indeed unable to use even his hands since his accident).

She interviews and despite being intimidated at first by Will's mom who did the interviewing (and let's face it, not a lot of experience in the matter of care taking) she gets the job.  Why?  Well, the "heavy lifting" (literally) was being done by an amiable physical therapist named Nathan (played by Stephen Peacocke).  Lou's job was to basically make sure that Will took his various meds and, well, to lift his spirits / give him someone to talk to.  Here Lou's cheerful disposition was in fact a useful indeed necessary qualification for the job (and cheerfulness / optimism has never been determined by one's socioeconomic class ...).

Much often predictable ensues...

Obviously, Will is quite depressed even if he had learned to fake a smile in his parents' presence as necessary.  He's also angry, angry among other things _at God_.

Will's anger at God / Religion  is made clear by a really quite awful (and seemingly off-hand)  comment about a recent French film Of Men and Gods (orig. Des Hommes et des Dieux) [2010] which in my review, I had called possibly _the best_ film about contemporary Catholic Religious Life _ever made_ (and I'm _not_ alone in that characterization, priests / religious across the U.S. have _loved_ the film and have used even it in vocation promotion ;-), which Will instead dismissively introduced to Lou as "French gay porn." There is NO SEX or even HINT OF SEX in that film ... Instead the film is about a community of French Benedictine monks in Algeria that despite increasing risk to their lives, decided to continue in their 100 year old mission there of both _praying for_ and _serving_ the people (mostly Muslim) of their town up onto _their martyrdom_.

Indeed, in that simple offhand / dismissive comment about "Of Men and Gods" is in fact "the true Crux" of the current one:  In that film, a community of Benedictine monks had rededicated themselves TO GOD / EACH OTHER and TO THE SERVICE OF OTHERS ... ONTO DEATH.  Yet in the current story, we had an angry rich young man (certainly angry with _some_ reason) who was REPEATEDLY CHOOSING to put HIMSELF ("Me") BEFORE OTHERS (his parents and ultimately in front of Lou, "You") in deciding to do with the future of his life.

IT IS FOR THIS REASON THAT I'VE CHOSEN ABOVE TO CHARACTERIZE THE FILM AS _ABOUT_ Assisted Suicide / Euthanasia (that's what Will, despite the love of his parents and later of Lou ... pursues) and NOT "A CASE _FOR_ ASSISTED SUICIDE / EUTHANASIA."

The film is sympathetic to Will's plight.  As a quadriplegic, he found himself unable to do MUCH of what he had LOVED TO DO prior to his accident (and there was _little prospect_ that this was going to change in his lifetime).  He was one who LOVED "doing things" ALL KINDS OF THINGS before his accident.  Now he could not _do_ most of them.

Yet the film is at least as sympathetic and arguably pleads the case of those around Will.  His parents and especially his mother LOVED HIM.  Lou also came to LOVE HIM and would have done basically anything (even SACRIFICE HER OWN DESIRES / FUTURE) to HELP MAKE HIM HAPPY.

But the film is about "Me" and "You" and who do WE _choose_ to put first.  And WILL (!) seemed dead set on focusing _on himself_ ... 

So this is a very intelligent story that does remind us that though we are always (and perhaps always have the right to be) "the Masters of our Lives" WE _ARE_ ALSO ALWAYS _MORE_ THAN WHAT WE "DO" (and that the Others around us ... Count as well).

Good / excellent job!


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The Knife (orig. Kaththi) [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
FilmiBeat.com listing**

New India Express coverage**

FilmiBeat.com (B. Bhat) review**
iFlickz.com (Sai Shyam G) review**
IndiaGlitz review**
KollyTalk.com review**
OnlyKollywood.com review**

Hindustan Times (H. Pudipeddi) review**
The Hindu (B. Rangan) review**
Times of India (M. Suganth) review**

The Knife (orig. Kaththi [2014]) [IMDb] [FiBt] (screenplay and directed by A.R. Murugadoss [IMDb] [FiBt]) is the fifth stop on my 2016 Indian Film Tour.   In the U.S., the film is available on a number of mainstream streaming platforms including Google Play and YouTube for a reasonable price.

Staring Vijay [wikip] [IMDb] a famous Tamil actor and pop-singer, the film was released in autumn 2014 in time for India's annual Diwali Holiday amidst a good deal of multilevel controversy due to:

(1) alleged links of the film's production company Lyca to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa (hated by many in Tamil Nadu for presiding over the brutal crushing of a Tamil insurgency in his neighboring island nation), with Lyca in turn accusing its accusers of forging the photographs allegedly linking them to Rajapaksa and his family [1]** [2]**

(2) specific accusations made in the film of high level corruption in India (in it's giving out of 2G spectrum cell-phone contracts)**

and even (3) accusations of plagiarism [1]** [2]**

The film became the highest grossing Tamil language film of 2014 and subsequently won three 2015 FilmFare (South) awards (India's closest equivalent of the Oscars) for Best (Tamil Language) Film, Best Director (of a Tamil Language Film) and Best Choreography (in a South Indian Film).  A Hindi language remake** of the film is scheduled to be made as well.

So what then is this film about?  Well, the film could be called "a typical Bollywood / Kollywood film" but with a social conscience.   Indeed, it's _almost two films_.

We're introduced to the main character Kathiresan (played by Vijay [wikip] [IMDb] [FiBt]) in jail with a reputation of being both a con-artist (that's why he's in jail) and an escape-artist (why we find him initially locked-up way up by Kolkata (in West Bengal) as opposed to his hometown of Chennai (Tamil Nadu).  As luck would have it, the film begins with another prisoner attempting to escape the (apparently somewhat more imposing prison by Kolkata than closer to home).  The guards, knowing that Kathiresan (or Kaththy, "Knife" for short) ask him (as one who's tried to escape many times before) for help in apprehending him, and ... Kaththy uses the opportunity to escape himself ;-)

The next scene has him back in Chennai, showing-up at his brother Dannu (played by Sathish [IMDb] [FiBt]) also a criminal though more of a small-time if more focused/disciplined pick-pocket.  Indeed, after Kaththy first asks him for money to "take the next plane out to Bangkok" and _then_
 because he falls in ... desire (big Bollywood Dance number there ;-) ... for a sweet young woman named Ankitha (played by Samantha Ruth Prabhu [IMDb] [FiBt]) that he mets at the airport TEARS UP HIS TICKET AND STAYS in Chennai, Dannu complains: "Kaththi, you simply don't know the value of money.  DO YOU KNOW how many OLD LADIES' PURSES I HAVE TO STEAL to pay for that ticket to Bangkok?  I'm NOT getting you another one." ;-)

Well, as they're going back home across some random overpass in Chennai, they spot some kind of  "a hit" take place below them.  Running then to the scene (to see if there'd be anything to take ... ;-) Kaththi is SHOCKED to see that the person who was shot _looked just like him_.

The two take the wounded man to the hospital and Kaththi uses the opportunity to change identities, taking the wounded man's papers as his own and asking his brother to fill out the hospital admission papers as if the wounded man were him.  He figures that whether the wounded man lives or dies, by the time the authorities figure out who he is, he'll be long out of the country (in Bangkok...) anyway.

Well the next day, as he's walking the street there in Chennai, he's picked-up by someone who knows, well, the wounded man.  Who was he?   A man named Jeevanantham, who turns out to have been an activist in the countryside _outside of Chennai_ defending the water rights of a small rural village named Thanoothu from a predatory multinational corporation that wanted to use the region's scarce water resources to feed a cola (soft-drink) plant.

Initially, both he / his brother could care less.  Indeed, they're even quite excited when a local government official appeared offering him an absurdly high sum of money (2 million rupees) to just "go away" which he had no problem doing because ... initially he had NO IDEA AT ALL what all the fuss was about.

But as he learns what's going on, Kaththi increasingly gets a conscience.  Taken "out there" (to the boonies) by someone, perhaps that government official promising him the money, he finds out that 6 men from the local "old folks home" (run by Mother Theresa's congregation) had actually committed suicide (slit their own throats) in a feed reservoir to the Cola bottling plant telling the guards, "Now you'll have to drink our blood mixed with the soft drink water if you proceed."  

And so Kaththi started to understand that even the money he was being offered "to just go away" was essentially "blood money" as well.  And so, he decides to help these poor villagers (whose Elders were in that "old folks home") defend their water, ... using the "skill-set" that he had ;-)

Now mind you, Kaththi, like almost all Indians, "knew something about Gandhi," but he ALSO knew a "heck of a lot about (petty) crime" ;-) ... So let's just say that his defense of the village and its rights was "a rather interesting mix" -- call it "Gandhi meets Jackie Chan [IMDb]" ;-)

Of course somewhere in the story, the young woman that he met at the airport becomes involved (Dear Readers, I'm not going to tell you how ;-).  And of course, "the good side" wins in the end.

What perhaps will interest Readers here (and _should_ indeed interest them) is that the battle over water rights in rural India (especially in the South, like in Tamil Nadu) is REAL.

Yes this movie has a generally quite flippant tone.  Yet, in a speech that Kaththi gives to the media (who all believe that he's still the social activist Jeevanantham) he actually articulates the problems of Rural India:

(1) In the last 30 years across India 12,456 lakes, 27,000 ponds, 7 rivers have been dried to support non agricultural uses;

(2) Nine elderly Indian activists actually did commit suicide to protest the destruction of their rural way of life;

(3) Indeed, for the last 10 years every 30 minutes a farmer in India commits suicide because he can no longer support his family, while more than 1 million farmers have abandoned their generations old livelihood in search of better paying (but often backbreaking) work in the cities, this in a country where

(4) 5,000 children die each day of malnutrition;

(5) Indeed, as in other parts of the world, what food is produced is often not used to feed people, but rather to make soaps (out of milk), "whitening creams" (from eggs, fish and carrots) and cosmetics (out of tomatoes, oranges and almonds).

Anyway, it all made for a very interesting twist to a film that at least initially seemed to be largely a "song and dance puff piece."  And perhaps this is _why_ all the various accusations (unfounded) were made against it in the months leading up to its release and why it ended up winning all the awards (back in India) that it.
 
A very interesting film indeed, and one that deserves to be more widely known about.  Good job! ;-)


** To load Websites from South and East Asia in a timely fashion, installation of ad-blocking software is often required.

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A Bigger Splash [2015]

MPAA (R)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
ChicagoTribune (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemire) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review  

A Bigger Splash [2015] (directed by Luca Guadagnino, screenplay by David Kajganich story by Alain Page [wikip-fr]*[IMDb] is essentially an updated remake of the classic French / Italian 1960s erotic thriller La Piscine [1969] (directed and screenplay cowritten then by Jacques Deray along with Jean-Claude Carrière, story by Alain Page [wikip-fr]*[IMDb]).

In the current film, Janis Joplin-esque euro-rock star diva Marianne Lane (played by Tilda Swinton) and her perhaps a few years younger photographer-turned-lover of six years Paul de Smedt (played by Matthias Schoenaerts) have successfully ditched the paparazzi to "hole themselves up" _in a drop-dead gorgeous_ "up in the hills" multi-acred / multi-leveled / terraced villa in the Sicilian countryside with, of course, an ocean view worthy of the Gods and a mosaic-tiled pool worthy of an Emperor.  Oh how they suffered so ... They were there in good part so that Marianne could rest her voice, which 15-20-25 years into her career was clearly wearing.

While out there in this Elysian retreat in Paradise, they're visited by (perhaps) a Snake / perhaps two (actually quite a few, the presence of _actual snakes_ seem to be a day-to-day nuisance there ;-) in the form of a record producer named Henry Hawkes (played devilishly annoyingly well by Ralph Fiennes) and his bored but gorgeous young adult (late teen - early 20s) daughter Penelope (played with _quiet_ "yes, I'm hot, but you're all old, so I'll take my time to mess with all of you as I wish and on my own timetable ;-)" perfection by Dakota Johnson).

Henry had been a former lover of Marianne's and past more business acquaintance than friend but also sort-of friend to Paul.  Indeed some 6-7 years previous, Henry had "bequeathed" Marianne to him (usually not a particularly good idea but he had been getting tired of Marianne and Paul, perhaps at least at the time, hadn't seemed that much of a threat to him...).  No one had really known of Penelope (not even Henry until a few years back).  But a few years after her mother had reconnected with Henry (perhaps _just_ to inform him that he had a daughter by her ... and ask for some money) they came to this (rather odd / awkward...) arrangement that during this particular summer, he'd "take her around with him" while he was traveling in Europe.

So there they were Henry and Penelope ... visiting (or perhaps "crashing in on") Henry's old friends Marianne and Paul, both of whom probably would not have wanted to see him.  (Honestly as I write this, I find myself having more sympathy for Henry that I thought I'd ever have...).

And while Henry was perhaps arriving with all kinds of regrets, there was also Penelope, bored, left to ... just look _great_ in a bikini, listening to "stuff" on her ipod, flipping through "stuff" in a bunch of glossy (Italian?) magazines, _perhaps_ journaling "more stuff" in her notebook as she sunned herself by the pool, while her "dad" (again, she met him a few years ago...) met up with people who didn't really want to see him.

So this couldn't possibly go well ... and ... you could probably guess ...

It makes for an interesting "coming-up to summer" movie and reminds me to perhaps start making a list of "summer vacations from hell" films ;-)

But teens, above all, _please_ be nice.  Try to remember that ONE DAY you'll be "like the old folks" too ... ;-)


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser.  

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Maggie's Plan [2015]

MPAA (R)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB () review
ChicagoTribune (K. Walsh) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemire) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review  

Maggie's Plan [2015] (directed and cowritten by Rebecca Miller along with Karen Rinaldi) continues a string of "next generation Woody Allen-esque" films that ever smiling / ever bumbling (how does she get herself into these convoluted Laurel & Hardy-like "fine messes"?) actress Greta Gerwig (playing here the lead of role of Maggie) is associated with.

Over the years of my blog, I've honestly _loved_ Greta Gerwig in her roles since first seeing her in the LOL (! ;-) _funny_ DEFINITELY _not_ "in distress" role of a hardworking / _earnest_ (but if need be _ruthless_ "one must keep the proper order of things...") leader of a thoroughly _random_ girls' clique at some random "small Liberal Arts College" somewhere in the North East in Damsels in Distress [2011].  In subsequent roles -- Lola Versus [2012], Frances Ha [2014], Mistress America [2015] (America's fun / lively, wonderful even _super-heroic_ "girl on the side ..." ;-) -- she's played "Woody Allen" roles (if one could imagine Woody Allen as an ever smiling, somewhat curvy (_not_ "fat" but definitely _not_ "anorexic" either) 20 or 30-something, generally blonde, young woman), who's _always_ studying for / has a degree in some _absurdly specialized field_ at/from some NYC based college / university.

In the current film, Gerwig's Maggie is a late 20-early 30-something adjunct professor at the City College of New York with a Masters in / teaching "Arts Marketing" and is introduced to us explaining her relational / reproductive dilemma to Tony (played by Bill Hader) who's half of the only VBFFs she has in the world -- Tony's wife Felicia (played by Maya Rudolph) is the other half of her _tiny_ circle of friends.  Her dilemma is this: Approaching 30, she's realized that she hasn't been involved in a single serious relationship that's lasted more than six months, and yet she'd really like to have a kid.  Not trusting the veracity of the CVs left by the donors at a typical sperm bank, she's literally found "A Guy" a former acquaintance named _Guy_ (played wonderfully throughout by Travis Fimmel) -- a bearded "granola-people" looking hipster who gave up on studying for a doctorate in mathematics to start a business making / selling "craft pickles" ;-) -- who's "fine with" leaving her "a load" (of his sperm) in a specimen cup for said purpose (of creating a kid) ESPECIALLY (to his relief) after she explained to him that she'd be fine with, even PREFER, him NOT having ANY RESPONSIBILITY for the child produced afterwards.  Why would a "slacker" former PhD Mathematics student turned "craft pickle entrepreneur" be "the perfect father" for her chid?  Well, at least she "really knows" who he is and comes with no (further) surprises ;-).

So that's "the plan" ... what could possibly go wrong? ;-)

Well, for starters, even as she's putting this relatively simple plan into motion ... Guy loses the first specimen cup ... she runs into and contrary to her best judgement gets progressively involved with "John" (played by Ethan Hawke) another adjunct professor at said CCNY campus, in "Ficto-Critical Anthropology" (yes, the field actually exists but it's "Postmodernist" boundaries are so vaporous that it's a field that one could study / write about apparently next to _anything_ -- from fiction to non, from poetry to critical essays).   When John appears on the scene, he's married to (as he describes her) a true "icy queen" named Georgette (played wonderfully by Julianne Moore) from some random Nordic/Germanic land (who amusingly proves absolutely incompetent at almost every winter sport / outdoor activity).  In actuality, if certainly quite "socially challenged," she's a far more successful (and tenured) Professor (of Ethnology at Columbia University) than either John or Maggie.  For a brew of unspoken if obvious reasons (insecurity, professional jealousy, etc), John latches onto the amiable / less threatening Maggie and ... just as he's about to inseminate herself with her Guy's sperm (provided by him "just offsite" in a second specimen cup that she provided him with ... John shows up at her apartment, proclaiming his love for her ... and ...

... three years later, we find her ... married to John, with a cute as a button 2-something year old daughter and ... getting kinda tired of John ;-).  John's, of course, divorced Georgette to "do the right thing" / marry Maggie.   His two older kids (with Georgette) are still rather confused / resentful about it all.  The ever very socially limited Georgette has of course taken the opportunity to write a characteristically hugely successful (both academically and commercially) if absolutely scathing "scholarly critique" of marriage (_her_ former marriage) and more specifically _husbands_ / her former husband) as a result ;-).  Yet at the end of the day both John and Georgette have taken to using the younger Maggie as a "go to" / de facto nanny for (all) the(ir) kids.

"Too bad you can't just give John back to his first wife..." says, offhandedly, Maggie's friend Felicia, the other half of her BBF couple introduced above, and ... that's where Maggie gets into her head the second half of "her plan."  A few years wiser now, "What could go wrong (again)?"  The rest of the film ensues ... ;-) 

Yes, to many / most readers of my blog, Catholic after all, the moral choices of these 20-30 something characters seem almost "extra-terrestrial."  And yet, actually, the story becomes almost a defense of (and certainly an invitation to a second look at) traditional morality.  Look at the veritable Pandora's Box that one opens when one starts "messing with the rules." ;-)

Anyway, PLEASE DON'T LIVE LIKE THIS but certainly it's a fun and even insightful movie to watch / reflect on ;-)


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Love & Friendship [2016]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB ()  ChicagoTribune (3.5 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (3.5 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB () review

The Guardian (P. Bradshaw) review

ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (M. D'Angelo) review  

Love & Friendship [2016] (screenplay and directed by Whit Stillman based on the novel Lady Susan [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by Jane Austen [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb]) should delight almost EVERY Jane Austen fan and ought to certainly earn Kate Beckensale an Oscar nomination for her utterly _spot-on_ / inspired lead role performance as the breathlessly shrewd, recently widowed (but _not_ exactly mourning... ;-) later-30 something "original desperate housewife" Lady Susan Vernon [wikip] [IMDb].

Interestingly enough, though Lady Susan was one of Jane Austen's EARLIEST WORKS (written between 1793-95) it was published ONLY LONG AFTER HER DEATH (Jane Austen died in 1817 while Lady Susan was published only in 1871 ;-).  And I _honestly_ "understand" ;-) as Lady Susan was such a delightfully / _devilishly_ subversive character capable of just cutting through "polite society" of the time like "a hot knife through butter" while disarmingly / infuriatingly smiling throughout.

I would also add that anyone familiar with some of Whit Stillman's previous films (he hasn't made many, only five over nearly 20 years) -- I've seen two The Last Days of Disco [1997] and Damsels in Distress [2011] (the former I remember to this day and the latter being one of my all time favorite films since I began my blog five years ago) --  would appreciate that probably NO ONE could have adapted the Austen's original material here as well as he could.  Honestly folks, this could be THE FUNNIEST JANE AUSTEN ADAPTATION in a generation (or, honestly, perhaps EVER ;-).

Okay, with SUCH A BUILDUP, what's the story about?

It's about Lady Susan (played again exquisitely, indeed inspiringly by Kate Beckensale) being "on a mission."  Recently widowed with only a mid-to-late teenage daughter, Frederica (played again wonderfully / naively by Morfydd Clark), she's realized that she needs to get her daughter and then _herself_ married-off to a couple of _very rich men_ VERY FAST.   And though she is breathlessly "Machiavellian (in a corset ;-)" about this, she also proves very _pragmatic_ and even _kind_ about it as well:

When Susan realizes that her still, let's face it, _teenage daughter_ really didn't appreciate the gravity of their situations (women in Jane Austen's time still couldn't inherit property ... hence if they didn't get married / remarried _quickly_ they were doomed...) and therefore Frederica "was holding her nose" at the prospect of marrying the man that Susan had initially lined-up for her, a certain kind / rich if dimwitted ("rattle of a man") Sir James (played once more wonderfully by Tom Bennett), SHE (Susan) proves willing to set her daughter up with the (again super-rich, pedigreed) guy that Susan herself was gunning for, a Sir Reginald DuCourcy (played by Xavier Samuel), while settling for the dimwitted (but rich) Sir James herself.  (But then Susan had already learned something that Frederica did not yet understand, that, as per the / Jane Austen's time, "first things first" a woman needed a rich husband to "provide for her / her children."  "Happiness" is really / merely "a secondary concern" that can be "arranged for" (in J.A. speak "procured") "by other means" ...

A desperate situation called for desperate measures and while the rest of quite polite society was, of course, "scandalized" by her machinations, Lady Susan was _not_ I repeat _not_ going to "end up poor" in her old age if she could help it.

So much ensues, and though one generally "needs a score card" to keep track of all of the characters in a typical Jane Austen story, writer/director Stillman amusingly PROVIDES VIEWERS WITH ONE (OF SORTS) right at the beginning of the film as he provides a caption by each of the characters as they are introduced, giving their name, their relation to the other characters, and then, most amusingly, the principal trait by which we should remember them.  The device works beautifully and immediately sets the tone of the marvelously, often laugh-out-loud, whimsical story that follows.

Honestly, this is almost certainly one of the best / funniest English language films of 2016 (and it's only May ;-).

A great, great (if also on another level, still distressing ...) film!


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