***

After the Wedding-sp

This movie deals with hidden secrets and family relationships, a topic that has been dealt with from time to time in a variety of films. In this case, it is about a woman (Michelle Williams) who is confronted with her long-lost relative and her parents (Julianne Moore and Billy Crudup). Hidden secrets emerge including a fatal one. The setting of the film ranges from a poor orphanage in India to a posh office in New York City and a mega mansion in the suburbs. Julianne Moore (who in real life is married to the director of this film Bart Freundlich) is at the top of her game with a full range of emotions from the very subtle to the near hysteria. Michelle Williams, we thought was somewhat constrained but perhaps, that was hers or the director’s interpretation of her role. The film was well done on a delicate topic but we felt it fell short in believability and realism. (2019)

Gloria Bell-rm

***

Julianne Moore is glorious, beautiful and fantastic to watch as a middle-aged divorcee who is looking for a second chance for love She goes to clubs and gets carried away with the music and dance as well as drinking martinis. She falls for a man (John Turturro) who is smitten by her but has his own baggage. As expected, this middle-age romance is also complicated by their own children’s situations and their attitudes about their parents.

Chilean, director and writer, Sebastian Lelio, is apparently recreating an earlier film entitled “Gloria” which was set in his home country and received a great deal of acclaim. No doubt the current film is an acting triumph for Ms. Moore who is on the screen just about all the time and will deserve recognition for this role.

Upon reflection, as likeable the main character is in the film, we must realize that she is deeply flawed and doomed to repeat her neurotic choices unless she can gain some insight into herself. We also realize how all the men shown in the film were quite flawed themselves and not very nice people. A boyfriend who led her on and could not commit, her ex-husband (Brad Garrett) who seemed quite unconnected, her son (Michael Sera) who came across as a nebbish and one who is never around, her son-in-law to be, a surfer who also seemed quite superficial, and then there was a second guy she met at a club in Las Vegas who stole her purse and her money.

So, in conclusion, the Gloria Bell character desperately needs psychotherapy so she can appreciate her own makeup and the pitfalls of the men around her. (2017)

Your comments are welcome below

*****

Bel Canto-sp

Veteran director and co-writer Paul Weitz (recently known for the award winning TV series Mozart in the Jungle) took the well-received novel by Ann Patchett which we read four years ago (see bookrap.net) and brought together an international cast to make this magnificent film. The story is based on an actual hostage situation which occurred in Peru in the 1990s. It centers around a planned dinner party featuring a performance by a well-known opera star (played by Julianne Moore with the voice over by Renee Fleming).

The setting is a beautiful private residence where the president of a South American country was supposed to be one of the guests. Also present was a Japanese industrialist (Ken Watanabe) and other international guests. The private party was invaded by some rebels, who had planned to take the president of the country hostage, in order to attempt to free some jailed political prisoners. Because the president was not there and had sent the vice-president in his place, the rebels took all of the guests hostage. The dinner party guests are now hostages being guarded by their captors. What then develops is a beautiful depiction of what psychiatrists call, the “Stockholm Syndrome” where hostages develop meaningful relationships with their captors and in this case vice versa. The situation goes on for several weeks as negotiations take place. The mood is set by the beautiful voice and music of the opera singer. The very human stories and interactions of the cast of characters is enchanting as attention builds towards the climax.

While some of the points of emphasis may be slightly different than was depicted in the book, Mr. Weitz is true to the theme and is able to match the magnificent setting and the beautiful singing to the interesting and rich characters with whom he worked. The excellent international cast includes Sebastian Koch, Christopher Lambert, Ryo Kase, Tenoch Huerta, Noe Hernandez, Maria Coroy, Elsa Zylberstein and Olek Krupa. The entire film is skillfully woven together and should not be missed. (2018)

****

Freeheld-sp

This is a true story that needed to be told. It is about Laurel Hester, a gay woman, Ocean County police officer in New Jersey who developed end-stage cancer and wanted to leave her pension to her domestic partner Stacy, which was not allowed by the local government. Ten years after this event, filmmaker Cynthia Wade produced an award-winning short documentary film about this moving battle. Now, producers Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher decided to make a feature film to tell this story. They teamed up with director Peter Sollett and screenwriter Ron Nyswaner. Academy Award-winning actress Julianne Moore played Laurel and Ellen Page came on board to take role of young girlfriend along with an excellent supporting cast which included Steve Carell. The result is an emotionally touching experience that not only shows clearly the discrimination that these two brave women faced but also put us inside their hopes, aspirations and most of all their feelings for each other.

The outright unfairness of these women who were being denied that which heterosexual couples would take for granted is clearly put before the viewers. The subject of this movie is still being played out in the public arena today. The State of New Jersey did go on to pass legislation allowing domestic partners to be treated the same as married couples and of course the Supreme Court now ruled that same sex marriages are legal. Unfortunately, there is still the persistence of non-acceptance of this ruling in many places. It takes a film such as this one to tell the story in an unforgettable manner that allows the viewers to have an emphatic understanding of the people and the issues involved. (2016).

***

Still Alice- rm We were moved to see film because of all the pre Academy Award hype about the performance of Julianne Moore. After seeing this film we agree that she did a tremendous job playing a college professor who has Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease and probably deserves an Oscar. The overall movie disappointed us. Alice Howland ( Ms. Moore) is happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who is forgetting words and having memory lapses. She receives a diagnosis of this relatively rare disease which inevitably has a fairly rapid downhill course. Ms. Moore’s performance is nuanced and her struggle is very painful and easy to empathize with. Her facial expressions convey what we imagine are her internal feelings. Her eyes portray her fear and then the diminished attention and intellectual ability. It is a remarkable performance. It is helped by her gradual change in makeup and hair appearance. The screenplay which was written by director Richard Glatzer is based on novel by Lisa Genova, was focused almost completely on Alice despite having an excellent cast and potential story lines that could have made this in our opinion a much better movie. We learn in this film that this is an inherited disease and once you have the gene you will inevitably get the disease. It is possible to do genetic testing and that is offered to her three children played by Kristin Stewart, Shane McRae and Hunter Parrish. One daughter declined to be tested, one son tested negative and a third daughter who was trying to become pregnant tested positive. We are not shown anything about their struggle and their decision process, which is one of the major areas of ethical discussions in the world of modern genetics. Her husband is played by Alec Baldwin, who in our opinion turns in an uncharacteristically bland performance. Perhaps again it is the choice of the screenwriter/director to keep the main focus on Ms. Moore. This may be why we don’t see the internal struggle of the husband and his remarkable decision in what would seem to be the final phase of his wife’s illness, to decide to take a job out of town. It could have been a tour de force if we could more fully appreciate what this family was going through as well as the devastation conveyed so well by Ms. Moore. (2015)

*** 
The Big Lebowski nf – There is nothing like a cross-country plane ride to find an old film that you missed and think you might like. In this case for us it turned out to be The Big Lebowski starring Jeff Bridges and John Goodman. This movie is often affectionately referenced in various settings and we were curious to watch it. Bridges plays “The Dude” who might be described as a good old boy with a heart of gold who is usually content to mind his own business and hang out with his buddies at the bowling alley. He dresses as if he is walking around in his underwear, with a bathrobe thrown over him. He is, of course, very likeable. The biggest event in his life would seem to be the latest bowling tournament. That is until The Dude gets mistaken for some rich guy called The Big Lebowski and gets drawn into an apparent kidnapping and ransom scheme of The Big Lebowski’s wife. The Dude’s good friend Walter (John Goodman) gets involved. He sees himself as a tough guy who knows how to handle difficult situations but usually he makes things worse. But that doesn’t stop him from trying to help the Dude with some new twist that develops. These guys are the charm of the film. The more the Dude tries to work his way out of trouble, the deeper he gets into it. In fact, he gets punched out several times and there is always a very creative depiction of his journey being unconscious. The movie really doesn’t go any place. The Coen Brother who wrote and directed the film put together a supporting cast that includes Julianne Moore, Steve Bucemia, Ben Gazzara, John Turturro and others. In the end we see that life goes on. The Dude carries on his life. Perhaps we all know this guy in a small way or he is someone we think we know or maybe on some level he is us. (1998)

***

Don Jon- rm – Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a writer, director and lead actor takes on a complicated and difficult subject and that is relationships and sexuality. He also takes a swipe at the Catholic Church and what some might say is the stereotype of New Jersey women and men. Don Jon  (certainly a name to remind us of the great lover Don Juan), played by Levitt is a 30 something guy living a single life in New Jersey. He lives near his parents (Tony Danza and Glenne Headley) and is a working guy like his dad. He has a bachelor pad where he enjoys sex with his latest girlfriend. However, he enjoys watching pornography on his computer even more. Ms. Sugaraman (Scarlett Johansson), his new girlfriend is a knockout but she has definite ideas what a man should be like and thus tries to set the bar for Don Jon. This includes, going back to school, having a maid clean his apartment rather than himself (which Don would rather do), spend time with her and her friends together and most of all enjoy seeing romantic movies with her. Don tries to do all of this but still goes back to his Porn. All the Hail Mary’s ordered by his Priest after his Confession don’t help. He meets a slightly older widow (Julianne Moore) who shows him that sex and lovemaking can even be better than porn when the two people are really into each other. Levitt makes his points with good writing and great acting (especially his and Johansson’s). However, it isn’t clear to us if he is talking about the current state of sexuality in today’s society or if he is making a statement about the coming of age of his generation or both. In either case, he made a bold creative movie that may be able stand on it’s own. We suspect that Mr. Levitt who has established himself as an actor will be on the scene as a filmmaker for some exciting new movies. Perhaps we are seeing the the new Woody Allen. (2013)

**

Being Flynn- sp  Paul Weitz (American Pie) directed and wrote the screenplay of this movie based a real book about real people. Robert DiNero plays Jonathan Flynn a crusty old self proclaimed great writer who left his wife and child at very young age. The mother (Julianne Moore) tried her best to raise her son with two jobs but ultimately couldn’t handle things and ends her own life. The son Nick Flynn (Paul Dano) in trying to find himself, takes a job in a homeless shelter where his dad shows up, down and out, but still spouting how he is about to write the next great novel. The film is a great vehicle for DiNero who captivates the screen and hold the audience with his great character interpretation. Despite this virtuoso performance we couldn’t figure out if this man is a self centered narcissistic character or a man plagued by mental illness demons and the ravages of alcohol. This uncertainty for us made it difficult to understand and empathize with what it was really like Being Flynn. Dano is excellent as the young man who falls into his own depravity during his struggle. His own attempt at resolution only was half the story so in the end we couldn’t raise two thumbs for the movie.  (2012

****

Crazy, Stupid, Love, sp  Dan Fogelman, who wrote Cars and other successful animated movies wrote this well thought out comedy about all too human relationships. He wrote it having  Steve Carell in mind  as Cal , the middle age guy around whom all the actions swirls as his marriage suddenly falls apart. Carell loves the project and decides to produce it with Warner Brothers coming on board to make it a big studio film. The team of Glen Ficarra and John Requa are brought in to direct it. They have been working together since their college days at Pratt in New York City. They have written Bad Santa and  Bad News Bears as well as  recently directing I Love You Phillip Morris with Jim Carrey. After meeting these three talented people at our screening we can see how their chemistry worked for this character driven comedy with a wonderful cast. Ryan Gosling played Jacob, the cool single but obviously complex guy who takes the recently jilted Cal under his wing.  Julianne Moore is Emily, Cal’s wife who is going through what she describes as a mid-life crisis. Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon round out this all star cast with each putting just the right touch on their characters. Special mention should be made about young Jonah Bobo who plays Robbie, the 13 year old son of Cal and Emily whose emotional experience helps all the characters and the audience understand the essence of the movie. The result is not only a funny comedy but a touching story which examines love that  can start as teenagers and sometimes be destined to last a life time with trials and tribulations. It also looks at teenage “love” that may only just feel like love. The story line is close to being brilliant as the characters evolving relationships are charming, touching, surprising and fun to watch as well as being easy to identify with. (2011)

*****

The Kids Are All Right  rm- By now you know that this movie is about two lesbian parents who are raising two teenage kids. But actually it could be about any heterosexual couple who just happened to have their two kids by artificial insemination with the use of a sperm donor. (Technology these days overcomes physical infertility) The film raises the possibility of what might happen if one of children decides to track down his or her biological father. The system allows for a grown child to meet his donor if the donor is willing, In this case the 15 year old sibling convinces his 18 year old sister to make the telephone call to the Sperm Donor agency. The donor Paul (Mark Ruffalo) says he is cool on meeting them and then the complications begin. The script by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg is well written, creative, and insightful. It deservse Oscar consideration.  Jules (Annette Benning) is one of the parents, a successful hardworking obstetrician who doesn’t quite appreciate the frustration of her stay at home wife Nic (Julianne Moore) who put her career aspirations on hold and now is trying to establish a architectural landscaping business. This new man in their life is not only her first client but emerges as a lover. This becomes an examination of how people change in a marriage and find that their needs are not being met any more. Established roles may need to be reexamined. Are partners being appreciated for who they are and how they may have evolved? When you can put all these issues into a creative story that shows that a gay marriage can be just like any other marriage- good and bad, and you have a winning film. It is directed by Cholodenko who deserves  much of the credit for the perfect balance in this film about human relationships, sexual attractions, social commentary and real life issues with which most everyone can identify. (2010)