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50/50: Gordon-Levitt fights Big C with friends, humor

January 7, 2012 By

The smart, uplifting cancer dramedy 50/50 stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam Lerner, a 27-year-old with spinal schwannoma. Jonathan Levine directs.

Writer’s own story

Comedy writer Will Reiser wrote the outstanding screenplay based on his own diagnosis and struggle with the Big C.

Depression and anger are dealt with matter-of-factly, but the film never becomes sappy or too melodramatic. It’s just long enough at 100 minutes. Levine directs with deft insight.

Cautious character gets sick

Gordon-Levitt plays a soft-spoken Seattle radio producer who lives carefully. Adam jogs. His new girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) is just moving in. Adam doesn’t even have a driver’s license because he fears traffic accidents, “the fifth leading cause of death.”

Shaving his head on screen, Gordon-Levitt is wonderful throughout. His measured performance contrasts sharply with his wild, deranged Hesher.

Kyle’s friendship important

Adam’s best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen, excellent as a loyal, rollicking dude) helps him cope and make life changes. Rogen, who also produces here, infuses humor into the story seamlessly, even during Adam’s worst moments.

Adam meets two new friends at chemotherapy, Alan (Philip Baker Hall) and Mitch (Matt Frewer). The trio enjoy pot-filled macaroons courtesy of Mitch’s wife.

Rachel cops out

Rachael vows to stand by Adam when he breaks the news, but won’t go with him to weekly chemotherapy at the hospital. Dallas Howard sensitively portrays a flawed girlfriend with cool realism. Rachael simply can’t muster the strength to face Adam’s illness.

Adam goes through the phases of healing with the help of his doctoral student-therapist Katherine (Anna Kendrick of Up in the Air, sincere and memorable). Mostly Adam compartmentalizes rage and grief as he watches TV, not even calling back his smother-love mom (Anjelica Huston).

Adam’s social life

Kyle insists that Adam’s odds are not that bad. He urges his pal to keep seeking the right girl. Even walking Adam’s plaintive pooch Skeletori becomes an opportunity to cruise. Adam isn’t that enthusiastic. “I look like Voldemort,” he quips.

Surgeons are portrayed spot on here, with robot-like Dr. Ross (Andrew Airlie) and a somewhat warmer female neurosurgeon Dr. Walderson (Donna Yamamoto).

Bonding with his parents

Adam finally grows closer to his parents. In one of Gordon-Levitt’s best scenes, he bonds with his dad (Serge Houde) who’s suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Casting by Francine Maisler (casting director for Moneyball and The Tree of Life) is superb. Michael Giacchino composed the fine score.

Adam tells Katherine to drop the feel good talk. Death shadows him. (4.5 out of 5 stars)

If you like 50/50, you might enjoy:  Love & Other Drugs; Restless.

 

50/50     2011  /  R  /  1 hour, 40 min

Cast Overview:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston, Philip Baker Hall, Serge Houde

Director:  Jonathan Levine

Genre:  Dramedy, Bromance

 

Filed Under: Awaken, Character, Compassion, Heal, Healing - Traditional, Learn & Grow Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Help: women unite in Deep South drama

January 6, 2012 By

A black maid (Viola Davis) tells her story to a young, white reporter (Emma Stone) in The Help, a drama set in 1960’s Jackson, Mississippi.

Impressive female cast

The Help is about women: boss ladies and maids, saints and sinners, competitors and collaborators. Among them are quiet leaders.

Based on Kathryn Stockett’s novel of the same name, Tate Taylor’s film is made vivid by an impressive, diverse female ensemble cast.

The film steps gingerly around the racial hatred and violence of the segregation era. The assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers is reported on television.

Humor used sensitively

Oscar-worthy performances abound. These movie legends and young talents clearly cared about the project and shared a rapport that is evident on-screen.

Taylor, who adapted the screenplay, employs a lively pace and an upbeat tone even as anger ferments. He takes a big risk by using humor to upend fear and separation.

The maids earn 95 cents per hour with no Social Security benefits. The boss ladies live in beautiful mansions, play cards and gossip as the help raise their children and do the housework.

Reaching across color lines

Aibileen Clark (Davis) first agrees to help Skeeter Phelan (Stone) with her housekeeping column for the Jackson Journal. Skeeter tells her she’s writing a book from the perspective of black women. Aibileen is speechless.

Stone (Easy A) is outstanding as an earnest young reporter who remains true to herself. Allison Janney plays Skeeter’s anxious mother. Mary Steenburgen plays a profit-minded publisher.

Aibileen’s wisdom has been honed by indignity and tragedy. A writer at heart, she journals every night.

Speaking truth

Skeeter travels secretly to Aibileen’s kitchen to interview her for the controversial book. Aibileen can barely speak about her own son, who died after he was denied prompt medical attention following a work accident.

Oscar nominated for her supporting role in Doubt, Davis conveys understated soul. Aibileen is stoic and polite, a churchgoer who genuinely lives by Christian principles.

Her best friend Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) speaks out. “We livin’ in hell,” she tells Skeeter. “Trapped.” Spencer won Best Supporting Actress for her breakout performance.

“Livin’ in hell.”

Minny’s boss Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard, bracing and relentless here) is crusading for a Home Health Sanitation Initiative. Blacks are ordered to use separate, outdoor bathrooms where they work.

When Minny dares break the rule out of necessity, she’s fired. She has no choice but to work for the town’s social outcast Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain, marvelously batty in this role).

Chastain and Spencer forge a fascinating dynamic of respect and momentary equality. Sissy Spacek plays Miss Hilly’s senile, defiant mother. Cicely Tyson is regal as Skeeter’s mammy Constantine.

Dialogue filled with feeling

There’s a “Real Housewives of Jackson” feel to The Help that’s soon transcended. Aibileen’s voice is central. “No one ever asked me what it feeled like to be me. Once I told the truth about that I felt free.”

When Elizabeth (Ahna O’Reilly) scolds her daughter harshly, Aibileen has the girl repeat a positive message: “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”

Viola Davis interview

“I know those women,” Viola Davis told ComingSoon.net. “Those women are very specific in my history. My aunt Joyce, my mom May Alice, my grandmother . . . . I didn’t even have to search. I could just have emotional recall.”

When a crisis rocks the community, a host of women step forward to share their stories. This is the film’s transformative moment. Social change begins where it always must: within each of us. (4.5 out of 5 stars)

 If you like The Help, you might enjoy:  Precious; The Blind Side.

 

The Help     2011  /  PG-13 /  2 hours, 17 min

Cast Overview:  Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Sissy Spacek, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Cicely Tyson, Mike Vogel, Anna Camp, Aunjanue Ellis, Mary Steenburgen, Ahna O’Reilly, Eleanor Henry, Emma Henry

Director:  Tate Taylor

Genre:  Drama, Period Piece

Filed Under: Awaken, Character, Forgiveness, Heal, Healing - Traditional, Learn & Grow, Transformation Tagged With: , , , , ,

Hereafter: Clint Eastwood envisions lives, afterlives

December 29, 2011 By

A reluctant psychic, a journalist and a boy chase the afterlife even when they want to run from it.  Clint Eastwood directs Hereafter, a passionate exploration of life after death.  

George Lonegan (Matt Damon) is a former psychic in San Francisco who is fed up with death and has returned to the practical trade of dock worker. Marie Lelay (Cecile de France) is a vacationing French journalist who gets caught in a tsunami. Marcus is a London boy whose twin brother dies in a truck accident (Frankie and George McLaren play both roles).

Where do we go after death? 

In Hereafter, Eastwood brings all the richness and wisdom of his mature vision to explore who we really are.

Shot by shot and scene by scene, the characters are portrayed with integrity and respect. Fascination grows as each one searches: George for happiness, Marie for truth, and Marcus for a link to his lost brother Jason.

Marie has the most to lose. After drowning and being revived (her personal encounter with the tsunami an impeccable part of movie history) she is changed. Fame and fortune vanish as she takes time off from her national news program to write a book about Francois Mitterrand. But soon a new book topic chooses her. Thierry Neuvic plays her fickle lover Didier.

George has abandoned his popular psychic website. It hurt too much. He wants to focus on life now, not on death. He no longer gives readings, he insists. Still, a few desperate souls manage to find him, thanks to his brother Billy (Jay Mohr) who urges George to be true to his gift.

Gifted George no quack

The image of Damon’s big, burly hands briefly clasping those who seek him out is beautiful. In a world of psychic quacks, George seems to be the real deal. What is refreshing is his perspective. He can “connect” with those who have passed away, but affirms the importance of living here and now.

George lies on his bed each night, the words of his favorite author Charles Dickens wafting over him from the radio. His sensitivity and insights are rare, and he knows it.  Slowly, he realizes he must abandon blue collar work.

Bryce Dallas Howard plays Melanie, George’s perky cooking classmate and love interest. The Sopranos’ Steve Schirripa is delightful as sensitive Italian chef and class instructor Carlo.

McLaren brothers delight

The McLarens are up-and-coming actors to watch as Marcus evokes the tragedy of losing his best friend and twin. He wants neither sympathy nor understanding as he delves into the meaning of his loss. Lyndsey Marshal plays the boys’ addict mother.

In a sweeping climax, the paths of George, Marie and Marcus intersect at a London book fair. Eastwood, firm and self-effacing, helms a big story. His classical treatment of a spiritual theme makes the film great.

Director succeeds again

Until ten years ago, Eastwood was best known as action hero Dirty Harry Callahan. He began directing in the acclaimed Charlie Parker biography Bird (1988). Eastwood has created a succession of deep, fascinating films including: the Western Unforgiven (1992) which won an Academy Award for Best Picture; A Perfect World (1993); The Bridges of Madison County (1995); Absolute Power (1997);Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), and True Crime (1999).

More recently Eastwood directed Space Cowboys (2000); Mystic River (2003), and Million Dollar Baby (2004), which won Best Picture as well both the Academy and Golden Globe awards for Best Director. (5 out of 5 stars)

If you like Hereafter, you might enjoy:  Another Earth; Adjustment Bureau.

Hereafter 2010 / PG-13 / 2 hours, 9 minutes

Cast Overview: Cecile de France, Matt Damon, Bryce Dallas Howard, George McLaren, Frankie McLaren, Lyndsey Marshal, Jay Mohr

Director: Clint Eastwood

Genres: Drama, Thriller, Fantasy

Filed Under: Awaken, Character, Compassion, Heal Tagged With: , , , , ,