****

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)

***

Francis Ha – rm If you are a couple of generations  out of sync with Francis Ha you may find it difficult to  relate to this 27 year old woman (Greta Gerwig) who is trying to establish her life in New York City as a dancer, actually as an apprentice dancer who in fact doesn’t even have her own apartment. We  first meet her with her best buddy girl friend Sophie (Mickey Summer) who isn’t quite as immature as Francis (which isn’t saying much) and is able to move her life along. By the way, another one of her friends is played by Grace Gummer who is a dead ringer for Meryl Streep and happens to be her daughter. We found ourselves feeling sorry for the likeable Francis much as we felt when we caught some episodes of the popular television program Girls with Lena Dunhan as she stumbles through the singles scene in good old New York. It may still be true “that if you can make it there you can make it anywhere”. However, as these characters demonstrate, it may be much more difficult for young women to kick start their lives in today’s single scene in New York and elsewhere. In past generations we recall 20 and 30  something women  usually had jobs and were on their way to careers, especially if they were college graduates  and most had  serious relationships. This doesn’t seem to be the case today  in this story or in real life. Writer/ Director Noah Baumback (who wrote and directed  The Squid and the Whale and Greenberg) teamed up with lead actress Greta Gerwig who also starred in the latter film and are romantically linked. Their dialogue captures the essence of their characters, ie “ We are like a lesbian couple that doesn’t have sex anymore.”   The choice to make this film in black and white allows the audience to focus on the essence of these characters and perhaps also of New York City which doesn’t need color to show it’s stark reality. It should be no surprise that the movie suggests that everything is going to be all right although it doesn’t really show us why and how that should happen. Perhaps their next film will fill in the colors. (2013)

***1/2

New Year’ Eve –nf  This is a movie that is perfect to see with your lover, young or old and might be especially nice to curl up with this person on New Year’s Eve. It is also a New York film  and a good part of it includes Times Square, getting ready to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve as well as Mayor Bloomberg. The screen play, by Katherine Fugate, consists of several stories that show people’s various romances and loving situations  which is brought out in anticipation of the new year. So this a romantic film  in the traditional sense  with the usual clichés but it also includes the love between a mother and her young daughter and a daughter and her older father. The new year brings new beginnings and also new chances for the future. However, the film is also a comedy which should not be surprising since the Director is Garry Marshall. Part of the fun of this movie is to identify this amazing cast which is somewhat characteristic of a Marshall film. It  includes Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Ashton Kutcher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Katherine Heigel, Robert DiNero, Halle Berry, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Biel, Seth Meyers, Sophia Vegara, Mathew Broderick, Josh Duhamel, Jim Belushi  and others. These stars don’t just have walk on parts, as each one plays an important role in his or her mini-story. There are also acting and singing roles for Jon Bon Jovie and Lea Michele (of Glee fame). In the film you can also find Garry Marshall’s sister Penny, his wife Barbara, his granddaughter and a couple other people named Marshall. There is a small role for Hector Elizondo, a veteran actor and friend of the director  who     is in many of his films. The movie offers several surprises and in the end you should feel satisfied. If you stay for the credits you get a bunch of out takes which adds to the fun experience of seeing this film. (2011)

***

Celeste and Jesse Forever-nf  Two best friends Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg)  get married and although they are still good buddies, after a little while decide to get divorced. Maybe it is because he can’t get his art career going and she is a successful trend forecaster. He lives in the garage studio behind the house and eventually moves out but they still feel very close as they evolve to the singles scene. Even when one of them finds someone that seem right for him, the old feelings are still there.  In many ways this theme reflects what sometimes happens when first loves feel they need to move on  (hopefully even before they have tied the knot). Sometimes the separation is easier for one than the other and sometimes it goes back and forth. Maybe they will always love each other. Andy Samberg conveys the exuberance and youthfulness of the character he plays and only in subtle manner does he draw upon his comedic skills. Rashida Jones seems very comfortable in her role (perhaps because she co-wrote the script with Will McCormack who has a secondary role as one of her friends in the film). She seems a tad older and more mature than the Jesse character  but she struggles as she realizes what  is ultimately happening to her relationship with her soon to be divorced husband and best friend.  This film directed by Lee Toland Krieger is filled with an almost continuous musical wallpaper of  the contemporary setting which it portrays. It successfully highlights the theme of lovers forever even if they may have to move on. (2012)

***

The Kings of Summer –sp  We know that adolescents have the tasks of  asserting their independence from their parents.  In this comedic yet poignant film, we see how the parents can more or less “call the question” and bring about a unique method of trying to do this. Frank Toy ( Nick Offerman) is a widower who seems quite self centered and has no empathy for his 15 year old son Joe  (Nick Robinson). Mr. and Mrs. Keenan(Mark Evan Jackson and Megan Mullally) on the other hand were so well-meaning but intrusive to their son Patrick (Gabriel Basso) that we could easily see how life was unbearable for him. So during the summer Joe and Patrick agree to disappear from their everyday life and are joined by Biaggio (Moises Arias) another kid their age who is quirky and weird but very loyal. They go deep in the woods near their homes and find a clearing  where they cobble together a hidden sort of two story house in which they plan to live. They forage for food, even kill a rabbit and occasionally sneak out to a nearby Boston Market where they pick up the left over food. But they are really gone, out of sight and even the police can’t find them although they did figure out that they must have run away. Their house in the woods is of course an allegory for their burning desire to develop and build their freedom. This screenplay is by Chris Galletta and the direction by Jordan Vogt-Roberts who is spreading his own wings  on his first feature film. While they skillfully capture the essence of this time of life, it is the chemistry between the three adolescents which holds our interest and tells the universal story of young people who yearn to be free but ultimately must wait their turn and hopefully find the best vehicle to express themselves. This movie would seem to appeal to at least mid teenagers and everyone who remembers what it was like to be one. Interestingly though , the filmmakers chose to make an R rated movie just because of a few F words spoken quite naturally. This means that they can’t advertise the film to teens but will have to hope that they will end up in theatre along with the all the post teens who get the message that this is not just a kid’s movie. (2013)

***

Love Is All You Need- sp  This is a mostly romantic and somewhat comedic film. It is mostly a Danish film with  English subtitles when needed, but a somewhat English film with Pierce Brosnan. The Screenwriter and director is two time Oscar nominee  Susanne Bier who directed the  2011 Academy Award winning Best Foreign Film In a Better World . This current film opens with Ida  (Trine Dyrholm) having just completed her course of cancer treatment hoping that she is cured. She is about to travel to Italy for her daughter’s wedding in a beautiful mansion on the Italian Mediterranean where the two families will get together for the ceremony. On the way she bumps into Philip (Pierce Brosnan) the father of the groom. Everyone but Ida seems to be dysfunctional in some way or have some interpersonal and personal conflicts. As family and friends prepare  for the wedding their interactions reveal their  conflicted lives and relationships. The storyline is engrossing despite the fact that most of the characters are cardboard stereotypes which does allow for some good comedic moments. Nevertheless, you cannot help but be drawn to the heroine Ida whose inner and outer beauty shows through despite the results of her treatment for cancer, personal affronts suffered and even losing her suitcase on her trip to Italy. There are easily predicted outcomes, some surprises and an unanswered question. The photography of the beautiful setting is magnificent by Morten Soborg which compliments Ms Biers very fine directing. Dean Martin provides the familiar musical themes of Italy. (2013)

****

The Story of Luke- sp  If any of you know any young people  on the autism spectrum and some of the trials and tribulations which they may experience, you will appreciate the great accomplishment of this film. The credit for it goes to screenwriter/director Alonso Mayo and to Lou Taylor Pucci who plays Luke as well as an excellent supporting cast It is not surprising that Mayo’s mother runs a school for developmentally disabled people, many with autism, in Peru. Not only did he get his inspiration through his experience in knowing many such people but he also arranged for his lead actor to spend two weeks prior to filming, getting to know four individuals and their families who mirrored in many ways the character that he was playing. The result was a very sensitive, consistent and realistic portrayal of a young man in his early 20’s who was raised by his grandparents after his mother abandoned him to them While he has very little social skills, he speaks his mind which show the values that grandmother who raised and home schooled him provided . The grandmother has recently died and the grandfather passes shortly thereafter and Luke finds himself living with uncle and aunt and their children in a dysfunctional family. It becomes the most important thing in the world to Luke to somehow get a job and then hopefully a girl friend and to try to find a space in the world for himself. His brave determination in beginning this journey impacts and changes many of the  people around him. On one level this film is humorous because when Luke speaks his mind, he is saying the truth that  some may think but never say. Seth Green playing a very high functioning man with Asperger’s Syndrome, who becomes Luke’s mentor also provides comedic relief. But really, the over all effect of this movie is the poignancy, which is conveyed as a young man struggles to achieve dignity and his potential as a human being. (2013)

****

Admission –sp   When a movie starts with Tina Fey playing an Assistant Dean of Admissions at Princeton  and Paul Rudd as a teacher bent on getting one of his students accepted who has poor grades but near perfect scores on all the tests, you might imagine we are going to see a great comedy and satire of the whole admissions process. And that it was. Who among you is not familiar with dance of students, their parents and their counselors as they try to present the applicant in his or her best light whether it be some special kindergarten class, school or class for “ the gifted”, most private schools and “ the best college” possible.  When it is a Princeton multiply the frenzy by at least ten. Add to this mix the unforgettable character actor Wallace Shawn as the Dean of Admissions and Lily Tomlin playing the feminist mother of Tina Fey’s character with a tattoo on her arm saying “ Bella” (Abzug we presume). But actually the film was much more than a satiric comedy. It very poignantly dealt with issues of children out of wedlock , wanted and unwanted. It examined how people establish relationships, fall in and out of love and how parents sometimes have to choose a path which may be best for themselves or their child.

One of us writes a blog on psychiatry and mental health topics. The most popular piece by far in regard to readership in the past three years was one on the topic of unknown family members. It discussed the need to find a biological parent and how people respond when they meet a previously unknown parent or child. This topic has been the subject of other films in the recent past and was one of the central themes of this movie. Director and Producer Paul Weitz who is an  unlisted script contributor, along with Karen Croner who  wrote the screen play,  very skillfully and successfully weaved comedy and satire at the same time that they presented a very sensitive study of these real human conflicts.(2013)

***

Reality sp –  To fully appreciate this film, you have to suspend any tendency that you might have to diagnose significant mental illness, which is somewhat difficult for us to do. This Italian Fellinisque film is directed and co written by Matteo Garrone and it won second prize behind Amour at the Cannes Film Festival. It supposedly is based on a true story which happened to a relative of the Director who became obsessed with the Italian version of the TV reality show Big Brother . He is initially urged by his friends and family to try out to audition for the show where participants become avidly followed as heros  by the mass viewing audience as they live in a beautiful luxurious house and frolic with the others on the show. The main character Luciano (Aniello Arena) is married with two children and has a fish store in Napoli. He becomes convinced that he is on the verge of being chosen for this show and is being checked out by the producers who may be secretly observing him.  In what appears to be a paranoid delusion he begins to give away many of his possessions to people who are down and out,  to the consternation of his loving wife (Loredana Simioli) and other family members.  As he spirals deeper and deeper into this fantasy, if we can put aside our desire to put him into a psychiatric hospital, we perhaps can understand that we are being presented with a satiric  social commentary on the power of mass media, in particular, reality TV, on contemporary life. The background score by veteran movie composer Alexandre Desplat helps to create the mood which may help you lose your reality and appreciate the message of this film. (2013)

****

Moonrise Kingdom-nf

This PG-13 film would seem to be the perfect movie for a 12 year old boy or girl who feels misunderstood by most of the world, still enjoys child adventure stories and is interested how it might feel to be in love for the first time. Perhaps there is a little bit of this still left in everyone which gives this movie great universal appeal.  The setting is an island off the coast of New England in 1965  where a kid (Jared Gilman) attending scouting camp meets a local girl (Kara Wayward) his age . He is “picked on” at camp and unbeknownst to the camp is about to be rejected by his latest foster parents. She, lives on the big house at the end of the island with her sibs and parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand)  who clearly don’t  understand her or each other. These two peas in a pod make a plan to meet and run away together. He is the skilled little scout with his all purpose backpack and a trusty map . She has her suitcase filled with her favorite books and her kitten. They romp across beautiful fields, climb steep, curvy mountains and overlook beautiful water which they forge. They even allow themselves to have an experimental romantic kiss.  We then see the slightly nerdy but loveable scout leader (Ed Norton) realize one of his charges is missing and he mobilizes his scouts to find them Of course the parents of the missing girl are frantic and get after the island police chief (Bruce Willis) with whom mom previously has had a little hanky panky, to track them down. The chase on the island is somewhat like the keystone cops with ups and downs and back and forth. It is definitely a comedy but is also a young person’s romantic adventure but at the same time it  is a painful satire of how grownups make life painful for children. The screenplay by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola is outstanding and extra credit has to be given to Mr. Anderson not only for pulling together his unlikely story but for directing a band of kids throughout most the film. We can’t quite describe the original music background by Alexandre Desplat which helped carry the film mixed in with an exposition about the meaning of the instruments of the orchestra which we are sure had symbolism which we may have unconsciously appreciated. We did understand the meaning of a brewing of a big storm which was known to be on it’s way to threaten this island and it’s inhabitants. (2012)