Monthly Archives: November 2013

The Christmas Note

Gretchen (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and son Ethan (Dylan Kingwell) have moved homes to be closer to her family, especially as they approach the holidays. Their small family is tinged with sadness, but Ethan especially is a gung-ho kid, determined to make the best of things, eagerly introducing himself to new next door neighbour, Melissa (Leah Gibson). Melissa is a bit shy, perhaps not as keen to return his enthusiasm, but it seems Melissa is destined to be tied to Gretchen and Ethan anyway.

While Melissa’s at work, her mother’s landlord rings Gretchen’s doorbell instead, asking her to deliver the news: Melissa’s mother is dead, and Gretchen needs to clean out her apartment post haste. Gretchen is reluctant to break this kind of news to a virtual stranger, but the again, she doesn’t have a lot of choice. Blame the goodness of her heart for volunteering to help with the clearing out; Gretchen’s really getting entangled, especially when they find a note from Melissa’s mom confessing a secret baby given up for adoption in the hears before Melissa was born.

Since Gretchen needs a distraction, she and Melissa go on a bit of a caper, combing their small town for bread crumbs that may lead them to this mystery sibling.

A bit of a departure for Hallmark, this Christmas movie isn’t a romance at all, it’s love in the form of family. And what could be warmer than finding Melissa a family just as she’s lost the only relative she had left. It’s going to be difficult, but young Ethan has an ace in his back pocket: he’s using his letter to Santa this year to call in a favour. 😉

As I Lay Dying

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William Faulkner published this novel in 1930; he described it as a “tour de force”, critics consistently rank it among the top 20 novels of the 20th Century, readers describe it as “difficult” and movie producers have largely considered it unadaptable, in part because of its stream of consciousness style, and the fact that it uses 15 different narrators.

Have no fear – there is one courageous writer\director in Hollywood known for attempts feats others consider impossible, and that man is none other than James Franco.
(Wha?)
James Franco co-wrote the script with fellow Yale graduate student Matt Rager. His first act as director was to cast himself in one of the lead roles, and then attempt to synthesize the many narrators with voice over and split screen techniques. Was I a fan of either? No I was not.

It’s an interesting story though. Addie is the mother who lays dying – well, for the first 5 minutes or so. And then she’s dead, while staring out the window at her eldest hand-crafting her coffin. She’s got 4 sons (coffin making Cash, played by True Blood’s Jim Parrack, James Franco as Darl, and Logan Marshall-Greene as favourite Jewel), a daughter, and a no-good son of a gun husband, Anse (Tim Blake Nelson). Her last wish was to be buried in her hometown so they load her unembalmed body into the old wagon and set off against all reason, and for mostly selfish reasons, it turns out. The trip does not go well. Even Danny McBride pops up to try to talk sense into them, and the minute McBride becomes the voice of aildstills314 reason in your movie, you know
shit’s about to go down.

Franco’s techniques are repetitive and amateurish, but damn if he isn’t ambitious.I don’t always understand Franco’s career choices, nor do I believe there’s necessarily a lot of forethought put into some of them, but I do admire his desire to try his hand at as much as possible. It just didn’t translate here. I was confused a lot of the time (despite the fact that I’ve read the book numerous times) and had to pause and rewind a couple of times just to be sure I had things straight (thanks, Netflix!). Maybe this one should have remained unadapted (and maybe Nelson’s teeth could have remained unrotted, while I’m wishing out loud). It’s messy and a bit cold and feels more like an art installation that accessible story-telling (an academic experiment? his thesis, maybe?). Yes, Faulkner’s words are weighty, but they’re also deeply affecting, and I think Franco’s biggest fail is that he hasn’t engaged me into a story that I know is all about the feels.

Boo.

Escape From Tomorrow

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The great thing about Netflix is that you get to watch free movies online. Okay, maybe not exactly free, but once you’ve paid your negligible monthly fee, there’s a whole buffet of movies just waiting for your fat ass to partake – and it’s all you can eat! Some movies are more salad bar, and some are more sundae bar, but if you take a little of each, you’ll end up with a nicely rounded meal.

I happen to have a soft spot for independent film, but those are like the shrimps of an all you can eat buffet in Vegas. Tempting, but dicey. You never know if you’re going to score with cheap and delicious seafood, or win a free trip to the nearest toilet, where you’ll stay for the rest of your vacation. But since I like to live on the edge, I gave Escape From Tomorrow a go.

A debut for writer and director Randy Moore, it’s a black and white fantasy horror that recounts the last day of a family vacation where the father has just learned that he’s lost his job. It was shot guerrilla-style in the Disney World park without Disney’s knowledge or consent. They kept scripts hidden on iPhones and used only handheld cameras that other tourists might use. They were never discovered.

The family vacation is not like a trip to Disney that I’ve ever been on. The rides and animatronics are familiar, they seem the same parades of characters, but poor unemployed dad starts to have some really disturbing visions. Like, super disturbing.

The film makers plotted the sun’s positioning weeks in advance since they knew they couldn’t bring it lighting, but chose to render it in black and white to help ease the issue. To avoid detection, Moore felt he could risk 3 or 4 takes of any given scene at most, and he had his actors wear digital recorders taped to their bodies rather than have visible mics. The cast and crew bought season passes to both Disney World and Disney Land, and despite the fact that they rode It’s a Small World over and over wearing the exact same clothes, they never attracted attention from park staff.

Moore was so paranoid about Disney finding out, he took the film to South Korea for editing. It debuted at Sundance under shrouds of secrecy – and you can understand that a film that shot illegally in its parks and depicted the princess characters who pose endlessly for photos with your kids as high-priced hookers for Asian businessmen might be frowned upon by the house of mouse. Reviewers encouraged people to “see it while they could” but a Disney lawsuit never materialized. They have widely ignored the film, choosing not to add to the hype machine that was quickly gaining steam.

At the end of the day though, I think this movie is more fun to discuss than to watch. Yes, it’s audacious and ballsy and possibly the future of film-making. But it’s only sometimes successful in its execution, and the surreal stuff pushes the boundaries a little too far. There’s an intermission an hour in (I could have sworn it was more like 3) – and I was ready to be done. Turns out, the worst was still to come. So did this little Netflix experiment turn out to be bad shrimp? It may have made me a little queasy, but I’m glad I gave it a chance.

The Place Beyond The Pines

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This movie was primarily filmed on location in Schenectady, New York. Schenectady literally means “beyond the pine plains” in Mohawk, so now you know where writer- MV5BMTcyODUxMjIzOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjE3MzM0OQ@@._V1_SX1500_CR0,0,1500,999_AL_ director Derek Cianfrance got the name (it’s where his wife grew up). As for what it’s about, well, that’s another story.

It’s about a motorcycle stunt driver played by Ryan Gosling who finds out he impregnated a carnival groupie the last time he was in town, so he drops out of the circus in order to be a Baby Daddy, except the groupie (Eva Mendes) already has someone to help raise her child (Mahershala Ali), so there’s not a lot of extra room for a bum. In order to show what a good provider he can be, he and his buddy (Ben Mendelsohn) start robbing banks. And you know what? It actually works. For a little while, they’re almost a happy family. But robbing banks is a risky business that eventually catches up with him. Enter trigger happy cop guy (Bradley Cooper). Later MV5BYTczY2U4ODctMGU3Ni00MmYwLTlmMDktOGUzZDcyMTM5OGEwL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjcyNzA2MjE@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,1500,1000_AL_ Cooper will be remembered as a hero but we’ll all know he’s dirty. And what do dirty cops do? They run for public office!

It’s an interesting movie because it’s about that place where two lives intersect, and how quickly they can change the course of each other’s lives. And it’s also about legacy, and the burden that the little carnie baby is going to carry with him for the rest of his life. The Place Beyond the Pines is a search for truth; it displays the emotional intensity that the Gosling-Cianfrance combination brought in Blue Valentine (which I love but can’t stand to watch). And it reminds us about the shades of grey in everyone: how the “bad guy” bank robber can rock his baby gently to sleep, and the “good guy” cop can be corrupt as hell.