****

Philomena -  Early in the film we learn that Martin Sixsmith  (Steven Coogan), a former journalist, has lost his job as a Labor government (British) advisor and decided to meet Philomena ( Judy Dench) an elderly woman who as a teenager had an out of wedlock child at a convent and saw that child taken away for adoption. In her later years she unsuccessfully tried to find out what happened to him and never stopped thinking about him even after she became a mother and grandmother. She agrees to let Sixsmith help her try to find her, long lost but never forgotten, son and write a human interest story about this situation.  

The film is based on a non-fiction book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by the real Sixsmith which documents the journey of this unlikely pair. This movie about this human trauma was directed by Stephen Frears with a screenplay by lead actor Coogan and Jeff Pope. It takes a hard look at the attitude of the Catholic Church towards unwed mothers (at least in Ireland 50 years ago but which may not have completely changed today.) It pulls no punches in showing the cruel treatment of the unwed mothers who had to work in oppressive conditions  for a few years in return for having had their  child delivered and cared for by the nuns in the convent, only to see their little one sold to rich Americans who were looking to adopt a child. The details of the destiny of the children were hidden from the mothers and attempts to later trace them were covered up with lies and deception. There is an attempt at some balance by showing the contrasting lack of religious faith by the journalist compared to the almost all forgiving faith of Philomena but in the end the Church does not look very good.

The movie also reminds us of the painful discrimination towards people with HIV disease which existed in the United States, especially in the 1980s. Both Coogan and Dench are excellent as they convey their subtle emotions and the grand lady of theatre and film may be up for another of her many awards. The storyline of this film also deals with a psychological topic that one of us (MB) has been interested in from a clinical point of view as well as how it has been depicted in various movies. Lost or hidden family members is the subject and the incessant drive to find that person where the emotional connection is intensely built on the biological connection even  when the life experience together has been very little or even absent. Some of the recent movies which we have reviewed on this subject have been The Kids Are All Right,  People Like Us, Stories We Tell, Admissions   and Mother and Child. MB has also written about this with case examples in a blog titled PsychiatryTalk.com  which you can click here to view. This very fine film is not only another example of this phenomena but also stands on it’s own as a compelling dramatic production, (2013)

_****

_{The Fifth Estate- sp. If the “4th Estate” is a term that refers to people who organize and report the news what is the “5th Estate” ? It is basically the subject of this movie which is the story of Julian Assange (Benedtict Cumberbatch) and his assistant Daniel Berg (Daniel Bruhl) who ran WikiLeaks, the controversial website which is know for reporting secret  private government documents. On the day we previewed this movie the real Julian Assange who is living in the Ecuador  Embassy in London because of legal charges against him for being with underage girls, released a letter that he had written to the actor who plays him in this movie. In it he denounced the film and said it is based on “the two most discredited books on the market.” He also stated that he felt the  film intended to depict him and his work in a negative light. At our screening we met screenwriter Josh Singer, who has a law degree from Harvard and a MBA  as well has having been a writer for the TV show West Wing for three years. He contended that he researched the topic very thoroughly and spent time with many of the subjects in the movie although he never met Assange. WikiLeaks was originated by Assange as a website in which anyone could report evidence of wrong doing and be assured anonymity as well as having their report published on the website without editing. The small team of Assange, Berg and a few others would check out the sources before they would put it up for the world to see. They attracted whistleblowers from around the world and broke some major scandals. Everything came to head when US Army Private Manning leaked thousands of top secret documents about the US war in Afganistan which were to be jointly published by WikiLeaks, The NY Times, The London Guardian and Das Spiegel (a leading German newspaper). These documents were to include information about informants who were  living in war zones whose lives could therefore be in great danger. The question with which the film struggles is whether Assange is a very creative idealist devoted to uncensored free speech who has developed a new form of journalistic expression or if he is a personally flawed individual who is insensitive to the implications of the tool which he has developed and the manner in which he tries to use it. Or perhaps he is a combination of these two characterizations. The direction by Bill Condon is fast moving and quite creative as exemplified by showing the online chat room where the main characters communicate while they are traveling all over the world as an actual large interesting physical space. We must admit that we both found several of the scenes confusing as we were not exactly sure where they were taking place and why the characters were there. However, the story line did carry us along and the conflicts which unfolded did challenge and inform us. This adds up to a very worthwhile movie. (2013) Â} 

****

Enough Said rm– Once you get over the fact that you are seeing the late James Gandolfini’s last performance you will find that you are watching a very insightful and touching romantic comedy. This is the story of two divorced middle age people with flaws and baggage who encounter each other and develop a romantic relationship. Eva (Julia Louis –Dreyfus), a masseuse, is as expected funny but yet poignant as she finds chemistry with her new friend Albert (Gandolfini) but yet is unsure of herself and doesn’t really appreciate what she has found. She is greatly influenced by her old friend Sarah (Toni Collette) who would rather change her furniture than consider changing her misfit husband (Ben Falcone) as well as by her new client and friend Marianne (Catherine Keener). This film also examines the interaction between parents and daughters at the point where the daughters (Tracy Fairaway and Michaela Watkins) are going off to college. Screenwriter and Director Nicole Holofcener has weaved this complicated and poignant relationship into the story as both main characters are in this situation. There are some great comedic moments, which play off the big coincidence of the story, which the audience becomes aware early on and watches the characters come to their own meaningful realization. This movie is also a showcase for Gandolfini to demonstrate his versatility in showing vulnerability as a gentle man as compared to that trait in his role as a tough guy, for which he will forever be remembered in the Sopranos. (2013)

****

Short Term 12- rm This  film slices into the tragic plight of children who are deprived of a decent childhood because of circumstances of poverty and /or parental abuse.  The setting is a lovely group home that houses what appears to be a dozen youth for a varying amount of time who range  from preteen to age 18 when they must move on. We meet Sammy (Alex Calloway) a wide eyed young boy who is either trying to run for freedom or  is lost in his world of toy figures, Marcus,  (Keith Stanfield)an older teen boy who is filled with anger and hurt which he expresses through rapping and Jayden, (Kaitlyn Dever) a teenage girl who holds her story inside while she makes her self bleed or has terrifying fantasies. The staff seem to be mostly 20 something young people two of whom we get to know. Grace (Brie Larson) is a very capable counselor who related extremely well to her charges and who gradually reveals her own past life, mainly that her father is  serving a 10 year jail term for deeds he did to her and will be soon released. The other staff member who we come to know is Mason (William Gallager Jr, the actor who plays the likeable young news producer on the TV series Newsroom). Mason is a grateful success story, having been raised by foster parents who recently celebrated their 30^th anniversary. Outside of work he and Grace are a couple whose relationship is tested when she reveals the old and a new important event  of her life that will impact on both of them. The screenplay by director/writer Destin Cretton shows how hurt, angry mistreated young people can feel. We also see the difference it can make when someone understands, empathizes and even identifies with them. From our experience as therapists we know how youthful traumatic experiences which can disrupt personality development may bring about cutting and self destructive behavior that were shown in this film. The road to a happy ending requires time in therapy that these characters were just beginning. While this piece of reality may have been somewhat minimized in this story, the overall film experience was absorbing, insightful and very uplifting. (2013)

****
You Will Be My Son-sp -(French with subtitles) This is an intense drama involving family relationships, specifically fathers and sons. The characters and their personalities are clearly defined through the story line and the great acting. There is Paul de Marseul(Niels Arestrup) owner of a magnificent French winery who is self centered, arrogant and insensitive to the desire of his son to please him and follow in his footsteps. Martin de Marseul (Lorant Deutsch) is the owner’s son, college trained in the science of wines, married to Alice and living on the grounds of the winery. He is emotionally tortured by his father’s neglect. Alice (Anne Marivin) is Paul’s beautiful and supportive wife. Francois Amelot (Patrick Chesnais) is the Estate Manager of the winery, the man who has been the brilliant wine expert who knows when and how to harvest . He has been vital to the success of the business. He also lives on the grounds with his wife and is slowly dying of pancreatic cancer. Phillip Amerlot (Nicolas Bridet) is Francois’ son, an up and coming wine expert himself who has just left his last job and visits his ill father. Paul de Marseul the owner and honcho clearly likes Phillip and favors him over his son to take over the fading Francois’ position and ultimately the winery. The movie is filmed and framed in the lush French countryside. The winery itself is a character in the movie played by a vineyard estate with endless fields of growing grapes, modern harvesting equipment including shaking machines which remove the picked grapes from the vines, large temperature controlled vats where the wine ferments deep in the vast cellars where there are also thousands of stored bottles of valuable wine. There are close ups of the interesting attractive faces of all the characters as well as of the swirling glasses of wine which they are frequently analyzing and drinking during the dialogue. Wine aficionados will particularly appreciate the banter about wine and how the two sons seem to be measured by Paul de Marseul based on their knowledge in this regard. However even deeper insight into his feelings about his own son due to some unresolved grief comes out in a brief cemetery scene. Sometimes we complain that characters are too underdeveloped. In this case who they are is very clearly put forward, perhaps a tad too much. A little more subtlety in the writing and direction by first time director Gilles Legrand might have made this film even better than it turned out. Overall it was thought provoking, unpredictable, out of the ordinary and worth seeing. One more thought which is not very important for the enjoyment of this movie but worth contemplating when the film is over. That is the question of whether cell phones would work in a wine cellar? (2013)

****

Blackfish –sp  – Many of us have taken children to one of the Sea Worlds or other similar aquariums around the world and enjoyed with them the wonderful antics of the gigantic beautiful killer whales, known as orcas or blackfish, as they interacted with their talented trainers. This documentary film directed and written by Gabriela Cowperthwaite will change your understanding of that experience and may kill any desire to pay any such future visits. The film consists mainly of up close and personal interviews with several former Seaworld trainers intermixed with video clips of these killer whales (which can also  be properly identified as very large dolphins ) both in nature and in captivity. We come to understand that they actually are quite intelligent with larger and more complex brains than humans (seemingly in the part of the brain related to emotions), have methods of communicating by sound and are very family oriented as they exist in pods in nature. We follow the capture of one “small” baby whale, known as a calf as he is separated from this family much to their despair. This one is named Tilikum and we see video footage of him growing up and performing in captivity as we see others also in this position. They are trained by being confined to small places especially at night, rewarded by food (fish) or punished by the lack of it and molded into performing artists who seem to happily be interacting with their trainers to the delight of the public especially screaming appreciative children. Or are they?? We learn of some tragic “accidents” and see video clips of very clear incidents where trainers are injured and even one very experienced popular trainer, Dawn Branchaeau is actually viciously attacked and killed by Tilikum who is now the star of the show. It is suggested that we may be seeing frustrated dangerous animals who are living in unnatural circumstances. While the spokespersons for this multi billion-dollar industry has been trying to cover up and minimize these events, we learn of quite a different version. This film reminds us on one hand of the award wining film, The Cove. It may also be considered in the tradition of the great documentaries that first exposed the cigarette industry and certain aspects of the food or oil businesses. As in these cases, the things that have to be rectified don’t easily change. Just recently OSHA (the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration) successfully sued Sea World to keep trainers behind barriers during shows. However this may be a drop in the bucket in an attempt to return these beautiful creatures to their natural habitat. In fact, they are now being artificially inseminated and bred in captivity. The full story is yet to be written but this documentary will open your eyes.  (2013)

****

Romantics Anonymous- nf– (French with subtitles) This is a romantic comedy about an extremely anxious and shy woman (Isabelle Carre)  who is hired  at a chocolate factory to be a sales representative,  by the owner (Benoit Poelvoorde), who is equally anxious and shy. In fact, he sees a therapist on a regular basis who gives him little assignments to carry out to try to socialize him. She is in a therapy group of equally afflicted men and women who tell their stories while supporting each other. She is actually a talented chocolate maker but is afraid to let it be known because she feels she couldn’t handle the recognition. The screenplay is by Diane Bardinet and by Director Jean Pierre Ameris. The writing, direction and magnificent  acting  results in a laugh out loud comedy which also tugs at your heart and has you rooting for the characters. Perhaps it is characteristically French that even after the couple eventually have sex together they are still hilariously shy and anxious about being together. This is really a gem of a movie that should not be missed.(2011)

****

Still Mine – sp  The population is aging and many movie goers are ready for a good, interesting, tough, moving but heartening story about relationships towards the end of life. This is one such film which will get you behind the main characters, allow you to root for them, feel their anguish, appreciate their caring for each other and share their successes. Michael McGowan read about the Canadian man who was trying to personally build a house that could accommodate his wife when she returned from the hospital. He investigated the details behind this news story and ended up writing directing and co–producing this film. Veteran actors James Cromwell and Genevieve Bujold play Craig and Irene Morrison who live on farm not too far from their grown children. They find themselves in a changing world but Craig more than amply demonstrates that he has the skills and knowledge to build a new home for he and his wife. His quest to do this reflects a familiar theme that makes a great subject for this movie to examine. The execution is almost faultless as is the great acting which matches this excellent screenplay. (2013)

****

Before Midnight– We didn’t see the two prequels of this movie, Before Sunrise (1995) and After Sunrise (2004) and don’t believe it is necessary  in order to appreciate this superb examination of the relationship of the couple Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke)  now in their early 40’s. Director Richard Linklater reunites with his two stars and they collaborated in writing this  sequel which they filmed on the Greek Peloponnesian peninsula. The movie opens with  Jesse saying good-bye at the airport in Greece  to his 14 year old son who is returning to Chicago after a summer visit with his Dad. The parents divorced many years ago . Jesse now lives with Celine and their twin 9 year old daughters. He is a  successful novelist  clearly very happy with French born Celine and their family, but  obviously feels guilty that he will not be able to regularly see his son during his high school years. In the subsequent car ride back to where they are staying as invited guests for the summer at the home of a Greek author, as well as at a dinner with two other couples, we learn more about their back story. This dinner conversation unfolds and reveals the values and attitudes of three different generations. The main focus now spotlights Celine  and Jesse as they walk through the magnificent Greek location to a quaint hotel and then spend a special planned  evening together without their children. They become engaged in what turns out to be a no holds barred examination of their overt and hidden feelings. While the interesting specifics of their circumstances were unique to this couple, we recognized the conflicts, dilemmas and angst were universal and we could extrapolate them to familiar issues in many couples of different ages and generations. The unsolved and continued exploration of how a couple will raise children in this post feminist era is laid out in the back and forth recriminations of this couple. How do couples make decisions about where to live and which careers to support when both have career opportunities and there are children involved? How do you distinguish between being true to yourself and your love for your partner ? Does love and loyalty trump all and overcome an extramarital attraction or a fling? What will a couple say in the heat of an argument and can they forgive each other for what they might say? There were many long uninterrupted scenes which underscored the chemistry between  this trio (We have to include the unseen director). The subtle facial expressions which included anger and tenderness  added to our identification with Celine and Jesse. In the end we are left with a very stimulating movie to discuss. It becomes our challenge to also ponder how the next sequel will turn out. (2013)

 

****

The East– sp – This is a dark espionage thriller with an attractive secret agent going under cover to find and infiltrate the terrorists. This has vibes similar to the hit TV series Homeland. Instead of Claire Danes we have Brit Marling. Instead of a government agency we have our heroine working for a private security agency that does work for the some of major corporations. (We, in fact, did learn that in reality there are these very sophisticated FBI/CIA like operations that do this type of cloak and dagger work) Instead of terrorists striking the homeland being from Al Queda, the terrorists in this movie are all home grown American eco-terrorists who are bent on giving the corporations which poison the environment a piece of their own medicine. As for example a pharmaceutical company that might produce a drug with known serious side effects, which they down play or another company that knowingly, pollutes waters that give people cancer. So we have an exciting, suspenseful movie with social issues, ethical conflicts and a few surprising twists and turns. There was surgical operation on a kitchen table that didn’t ring true to us and a quick reveal that we would like to have had more of a set up but overall this was a very skillfully written film  by the female lead Brit Marling along with the Director Zal Batmanglij who previously collaborated together  on the screenplay of the well received film Sound of My Voice . The movie was very exciting and entertaining as well as stimulating in getting us to think about some important issues that maybe are being put out of sight. We recommend that you do see this one. (2013)