Away We Go

Away We Go

A script about love at its deepest level, a script about a bond between two people that has survived through trials and tribulations, makes a heart-felt and surprisingly funny piece of cinema. In case you didn't read the title, this film is Away We Go by director Sam Mendes. The film focuses on the relationship between a boyfriend and girlfriend named Verona De Tessant (Maya Rudolph) and Burt Farlander (John Krasinski). While performing oral sex on his girlfriend, Burt notices that his wife "tastes different" which he thinks could be a sign of her being pregnant. After a short period of reflection of their lives thus far, they decide to travel to Burt's parents home, who are named Gloria (Catherine O' Hara) and Jerry (Jeff Daniels), to inform of them of the news. Upon receiving this news, Burt's parents inform them that they are moving to Belgium for two years a month before the baby is due. Angered at his parent's selfishness, they decide that they have no need to stay where they're living because they'll have no family left in the area. They decide to travel to a number of places to find the perfect spot to raise their child. The film continues to follow them on a very emotional and oddly humorous journey on their travels around the country. The incredible relationship between Verona and Burt that unfolds during the film is a joy to watch develop, and it becomes very realistic because of the emotional ups and downs that they experience. The dialogue of the film also shines as a point in the movie which delivers both meaning and humor at just the right times.

Burt and Verona are a couple that's about as un-Hollywood as they come; the couple is dysfunctional yet loving and always keeps a genuine connection between the two. Despite the fact that they are not married, they come across onscreen like an elderly couple that's been happily married for sixty years. This is due in large part to the great chemistry which the two lead actors share, and it would seems surprising to me if these two had not developed some kind of lasting friendship after making this film. Although this has been said time and time again, the two actors create a relationship onscreen that is very believable and authentic. The homely yet attractive Maya Rudolph plays the role of a confused but confident mother-to-be that never doubts her love for her boyfriend. John Krasinski, on the other hand, plays the quiet but somehow outspoken husband that would do literally anything to make his wife and unborn child happy. While this may sound very Hollywood, it is anything but, the relationship is anything but perfect and the couple experiences crises that no normal Hollywood couple would ever face. Considering that, the husband/wife team of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida wrote these roles, this comes as no surprise to this reviewer, because in my opinion the only people that can write about true love are the ones that are in it themselves.

The brilliant dialogue shared between the two lead actors is top-notch all the way through. The two banter back and forth, never missing a beat or a chance to make a quick joke along the way. Never mean and always caring, the writing in this film sets a standard (in my inexperienced opinion) for other films to follow. While some films become cheesy while trying to be emotional, this one avoids all of the clichés (i.e. the meeting and kiss in the rain) and goes straight for the metaphorical "emotional-gut" of the viewer. The quick quips, and comforting monologues, by both of the actors are wonderfully-crafted and spoken at the perfect moments. This is one film that I don’t think will got an Oscar Nom but certainly deserves it in my book.

So, while this motion picture may be flawed in a few ways (which I can't personally recall), the movie manages to come out swinging and deliver solid performances and a powerful script that will leave the viewer pondering many of life's great questions. I know that I was personally touched by this film on multiple levels and as I walked out of the theater and even went to bed that night, I was left reflecting on my own life and future (even though I'm 15 y/o). And not many films can make a cynical and stubborn teenager do that.

The Verdict: 8/10-Damn Good (on a scale from 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)

Departures

Departures

Departures, a film truly deserving of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, is a film so heartfelt and emotional that for those who watch it it is impossible to ignore it. The film centers around an aspiring Japanese cellist named Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) who suddenly loses his dream job after the orchestra he plays for is disbanded due to financial bankruptcy. Without anywhere else to go, he returns with his wife, Mika (Ryoko Hirosue), to his hometown of Sakata, Yamagata, Japan where his mother left him her home after she passed away a few years earlier. While looking in the Classifieds section of the local newspaper he spots an ad for a job with "high-pay" and "short hours" at a company called The NK Agency, which deals with the "departures." Upon going to the company, he quickly realizes that what he had thought to be some sort of travel agency is actually a company dedicated to the encoffinment of dead people. Encoffinment can be best described, in this context, as the elaborate Japanese ritual for the preparation of the deceased to ascend into heaven and/or the after-life. Another main character is introduced at this point, Shōei Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki), who is the president/owner of the NK Agency. Without giving away any more, the film then follows Daigo and Shōei as Daigo learns and perfects and perfects the art of Encoffinment. This film is much more than that though, it deals with many heavy themes with a kind of grace and elegance seen in few movies today. The main points that make this possible are the amazing cinematography used in this film and the incredible performances put on by all the actors in the film.

Beginning with the cinematography of the film, it is quite simply amazing yet simple. There are no fancy camera tricks or special effects to speak of; instead, what makes the cinematography stand is the immense meaning that each shot takes. Each shot seems to have meaning to it, rather than shooting something just to tell the story. The image of Daigo playing his Cello on the small hill while scenes of nature are interspersed to create a beautiful montage that shows the thin line between life and death and the graceful transition from life to death that all living things undergo. Unlike many films that simply "tell the story", Departures still tells it, but it in a way that stands out as incredibly innovative and unique. The scenes of the encoffinment ceremonies become a very prominent and exquisite part of the film simply because of the age-old traditions and values that it carries with it. Even in spite of the fact that they're dead bodies being prepared for cremation or burial, the ceremony manages the become a thing of joy and remembrance rather than grief and sorrow. It comes across as a time to remember the dead for the great people they were and the wonderful lives that they lead.

Without the high-level of acting in this film, all of the cinematography would have been meaningless. The level of emotion that the actors managed to reach is something that is highly commendable and admirable. The actors seemed to take their roles so seriously that at times the characters on screen began to look like real people, instead of a movie. Their performances were so powerful that is was impossible not to be impressed. Matoki for example brings a performance to the film that is quite literally one of the best I've ever seen; mainly because he seems to have taken his character to heart and found a real connection between his personal experiences and the character's. All of the supporting actors as well manage to put on an award-worthy performance. From Mika (his wife) to Shōei (the president of the company), all of the actors are astonishing in there particular roles, and none of the actors just go through the motions in order to earn a paycheck.

All of these details help explain the Academy Award that this film received, and in my opinion certainly deserved. This is a must-see film, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. In layman's terms, just go see the damn thing.

The Verdict: 9.5/10-Almost Perfect (on scale from 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)

The Messenger

The Messenger: a very touching and powerful examination of the emotional impact of soldier's deaths on their family members. The Messenger tells the tale of two Casualty Notification Officers, played by Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, who are assigned to inform families of the deaths of their loved ones. The film deals regularly with the hard emotional toll that war takes upon the lives of both soldiers and their families. Without giving to much away, the film's true story begins when the main character, Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), begins to develop a relationship the widow of a dead soldier, Olivia Pitterson (Samantha Morton), which slowly becomes more and more intimate. The film focuses not only on this relationship but also on the toll that war has on soldiers and their families. The film's amazing screenplay is one aspect that will stick out to any viewer, the second main point to note about this are the amazing performances delivered by all the actors in the film.

Ahh…scriptwriting, what a beautiful craft, the ability to have ideas and visions come off paper and manifest themselves beautifully on screen. The Messenger proves this point, the screenplay is written in one of the most carefully and artfully crafted manner this reviewer has ever seen. Everything from the bawling Woody Harrelson to the outwardly calm but inwardly distressed Samantha Morton help speak volumes for the amazing prowess in which this film is written. Everything seems intentional, nothing seems just to be thrown in to help move the plot along or keep thing interesting. This attention to detail helps to make the theme of the film, which you will have to decide for yourself, all that much more apparent.

The acting in The Messenger is superb by my standards, all of the actors are incredibly believable and emotionally powerful in their roles. Ben Foster plays the role of the disturbed soldier who is trying to regain his sense of humanity amazingly well. His performance is academy-award-worthy in every sense of the word, he plays his role with such realism that at points it the thought that you're watching a movie slips your mind, and you end up connecting with his character on multiple levels. The same goes for the other actors in the film, both Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton deliver wonderful performances as well, both of whom manage to effect the viewer quite heavily (i.e. each character managed to bring me to tears). Another note-worthy performance is the cameo appearance of actor Steve Buscemi, who plays the father of a fallen soldier whom Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson of his son's death in combat. He makes what few lines and scenes that he appears almost if not better than some of the leading actor's performances (watch for yourself and you'll see what I'm saying).

What this movie comes to do is this: war no matter distant or far-removed effects people here at home whether you personally experience it or not, and entire families are destroyed by the deaths of loved ones. Soldiers themselves pay a heavy price for what they've done, everything from emotional disorders to not even being able function in everyday society are unfortunate norms among veterans. I highly highly recommend this movie, " 'nuff said"

The Verdict: 10/10-Freakin' Flawless (on a scale from 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)

Note: The Messenger has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for Woody Harrelson's performance as Tony Stone

Waltz With Bashir

Waltz with Bashir

Get ready to give your Saturday morning cartoons a real kick in the ass! Waltz with Bashir is an unforgiving look at the harsh reality of war and genocide; one that will leave you questioning anything you thought you knew about the horrible subject. Waltz with Bashir, a 2008 Israeli animated film by director Ari Folman, chronicles the true and very personal story of Folman's and a number of other interviewees experiences during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by the Israeli Army. It mainly focuses on the events leading up to and during the Sabra and Shatila Massacres, during which 800-3000 (the exact number is disputed) Palestinians were massacred by the Christian Phalangist Militia., and all the while the Israeli Army was watching in plain sight. Spoiler Alert: While this may seem out of place, the film makes a sudden transition at the end to real footage of the after math of the massacre, and this sudden change from animation to live-action film hits the viewer emotionally like a baseball bat. Because Folman has some apparent "mental block" on his personal experiences during the war, he decides to try and again back, his memories through interviews while at the same time making an amazing movie. Don't think this is a documentary or a biopic, it is neither, what it truly is, is an intriguing and hardcore look on the effects of war on those who have experienced it firsthand.

One of the things that really stood out to me about this film was the almost dream-like quality in which the story was told; it seemed that it intentionally tried to blur the line between fantasy and reality. By doing this it gives a very distinctive view on the idea that in order to cope with the atrocities of war, the human mind must partially or completely block and/or distort events in the human psyche. The director's choice to use animation, which contains hand-drawn, flash, and 3D animation, gets this theme across flawlessly. This particular style of animation, which look incredibly real at some points and cartoonish at others, conveys the meaning of the film better than any other medium possibly could have. It invites the audience in to watch closely with its distinct feel and then throws a heavy narrative and theme at the viewer's face that no one could have seen coming.

The director's incredible attention to detail and his knowledge of what will have the strongest effect on the viewer appear to me to be second-to-none. The placement of each scene and it's emotion only help to further this idea. There is not a scene in the entire film in which the audience is either bored or detached from what is occurring onscreen. Each moment is delicately crafted to convey the nuanced meaning that the director wanted to get across at the specific point in time. Only by taking 4 years, which is about twice as long as the production time of most movies, to make this film could Folman have produced something so tragically beautiful as this. Only by viewing this film can one truly understand the incredibly deep meaning that this film has to offer.

Make no mistake, this is unlike any animated film I had ever seen before it, it is dark, gritty, and violent, not exactly something to enjoy with the whole family. But for those mature enough to understand it's meaning, I highly recommend it, hence this score

The Verdict: 9.5/10-Almost perfect (1 being the worst 10 being the best)

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

These pictures cannot properly do justice for the wonderful addition to the thriller genre that writer/director Werner Herzog has masterfully created in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which stars Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. A very loosely based remake of a 1992 film, this exciting and cinematically film satisfying centers around the fictional story of a New Orleans police lieutenant who finds himself addicted to a life of work, drugs, rape, and sex. In between all of this, he is assigned to the case of a quintuple (5-person) homicide in which five people were gruesomely killed “execution-style.” The setting and story may sound normal enough, but the way in which the story is both shot and told bring it to a level far above most cop dramas.

I’ll begin with the unorthodox storytelling which the move presents. The most intriguing detail of the story is that the main character doesn’t appear to be loyal to any particular side, although his true colors are revealed at the end of the move, one is still left slightly baffled about where his morals truly lie. This sense of suspense and wonder follow the viewer through the entire two-hour experience, which make it not only intriguing but very satisfying. Another interesting aspect of the film is the constant switch between good and evil that Nicolas Cage undergoes during the movie, for example one second he’s in a parking lot having sex with a young woman while her boyfriend watches and in another he’s arresting one of the biggest drug bosses in New Orleans. The story seems simple enough in that is starts with a homicide and ends with an arrest of a villain, but in between the movie seems to hop around in such a random yet rhythmical manner that one can’t help but be drawn in.

The cinematography is very noteworthy in this movie, it’s only the movie that I know of that contains shots from the perspective of a hallucinated iguana on heroin and the soul of a criminal break-dancing and being shot gunned to death. The sheer amount of creativity involved in the filming of this movie is simply amazing and is something that must be seen on the big screen to be enjoyed properly. From reptile point-of-view shots to close-ups of anger and drug-induced frustration, the movie covers the gamete of Hollywood filmmaking and some very un-Hollywood filmmaking as well.

In the end, this movie isn’t admittedly the best film every made, but what it does it does well. Everything from the unconventional story to the strange cinematography help weave together a movie leaves one feeling happy spending 10 bucks to have seen. For anybody fortunate enough to see this movie while it is still in Ventura, I highly recommend shelling out the cash to see it for the short time it’s still playing (because it’s independent).

The Verdict: 7.8/10-Very Impressive (1 being atrocious and 10 being a astounding)