Avatar

Being director James Cameron’s first non-documentary feature since his monster epic Titanic which was over twelve years ago, I was honestly expecting a great deal more, especially considering that this is a movie that he wrote, directed and produced. However, he does have a track record for technically advanced films that often fall short on plot and structure. And Avatar is no exception to this trend. This is probably the most overly hyped film of the year. Aside from the radiant special effects and masterful editing, there was nothing too impressive about this movie. Cameron had originally written an eighty-page scriptment some fifteen years ago and filming was supposed to commence immediately after Titanic. But he held off on pursuing its development and production because the visual effects capabilities were limited at the time. Cameron had a vision of what the film would look like and did not want to cheapen his foresight of this imagined world on screen. This kind of integrity for a filmmaker is indeed admirable, and I am not saying that this is a bad movie nor am I saying that Cameron’s work isn’t without merit. What I am saying is that Avatar simply isn’t as great as people have been making it out to be.

The self-proclaimed “King of the World” has created an entirely fictional universe centered around this lush Earth-like moon called Pandora. When a new deployment of soldiers from Earth arrive on Pandora, one of the commanding officers proclaims, “You’re not in Kansas in anymore,” which is a reference to Cameron’s favorite film The Wizard of Oz. As a satellite of the planet Polyphemus, it harbors enormous deposits of an extremely rare and valuable mineral called Unobtainium. Over 150 years into the future, humans have exhausted their resources on their own planet and have begun the relentless pursuit of this substance that is vital to the very survival of the human race. This aspect presents one of many gaps in the storyline; the backdrop as to what exactly happened on Earth is never explained and why humans are forced to travel light years away to recover this precious mineral Unobtainium. All this is unveiled early on in the film as the audience quickly realizes that the humans are the predators invading another species’ realm of existence. Sound at all familiar? Well, if you ever saw Hector Babenco’s At Play in the Fields of the Lord about an indigenous tribe that is being threatened by gold miners in the jungles of Brazil, then you can probably identify with Avatar. And this isn’t even the most compelling film comparison.

Now in all fairness, the conjoined art direction and special effects employed to create this alien planet is nothing short of spectacular. The two worlds of live action and computer-generated segments gracefully combine together on screen and in no way appear false or layered. Much of which is a direct result of the technological advancements made in the computer-generated images (CGI) filming process on this film. The use of digital images on screen began in1993 when Steven Spielberg integrated live action scenes with computer-generated dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. The visual effects team at Weta Digital of New Zealand has taken this process to a whole new level. For Avatar, Cameron made use of an augmented reality system called a "virtual camera" to view the computer-generated outcome of the motion capture process in real time, much in the same way video games manipulate images from various angles. This new virtual camera system fosters a brand new method of motion-caption filmmaking. All previous methods limited the extent of the virtual output profusely. Cameron proclaimed this development as a “form of pure creation where if you want to move a tree or a mountain or the sky or change the time of day, you have complete control over the elements.”

They also created a new system of digitally lighting massive areas so as to realistically create the atmosphere and nuances of the jungles on Pandora. But probably the most significant achievement was the design of a specialized camera that captured the intricate facial expressions of the actors themselves. This allowed the filmmakers to transfer 100% of the actors' physical performances to their digital counterparts. So the filmmakers don’t just create a computer-animated image in response to prerecorded dialog. The real emotions and reactions of each actor’s face are actually used to create the image of the generated character. Therefore, the depictions of the alien beings on screen are just as much performances as the actual humans are. Weta Digital’s procedure could possibly eliminate any future issues of considering CGI performances for acting awards. This was so controversial in 2002 when Andy Serkis was in contention for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his voice role as Gollum in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers which until now has been the most plausible character created in this manner.

The aliens on Pandora are the Na’vi, a ten-foot-tall blue-skinned species of sapient humanoids. They intricately co-exist with the nature on their planet/moon, and worship a Mother Nature-type being known as Eywa. Much of who they are revolves around the animals and plants, to the point where they can feel can the very livelihood of their surrounding environment. Dr. Paul Frommer, a linguist professor at USC, created the fictional language spoken by the Na’vi in the movie. Their tongue's phonemes include ejective consonants such as the "kx" in "skxawng" that are found in the Amharic language of Ethiopia, and the initial "ng" that Cameron may have taken from New Zealand Maori. While Unobtainium draws strong comparisons to society’s addiction to oil, the Na'vi draw obvious parallels with Native Americans. This faction presents obvious similarities with such films as Terrence Malick’s The New World which retells the story of Captain John Smith and British settlers invading the Powhatan Tribe in what is now Virginia, and Disney’s version of the same story Pocahontas.

The anticipated resistance of the Na’vi against the human invasion of Pandora entices alternate methods to infiltrate their world in a more diplomatic fashion. A group of scientists develop the Avatar Program, which telepathically implants the mind of a given human into a genetically engineered biological body of a Na’vi alien. These Avatars are genetically created from the DNA of its designated human occupant, creating a kind of sixth sense connection. Sigourney Weaver plays Dr. Grace Augustine, an exobiologist in charge of the Avatar Program. She brings a cursory sense to the role while still maintaining a presence of authority. From her Alien roles, we already know that Weaver is very capable of portraying such a strong intelligent female character.

Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) is a paraplegic US Marine who is recruited for the mission on Pandora after his twin brother is killed in action before he can partake in the Avatar Program himself. Because his DNA is of the same make-up as his sibling, Jake essential takes over where he left off. After waking up from a six-year cryogenic sleep, Jake finds himself on Pandora amidst the Avatar Program and all that embodies it. Once in his Avatar form, Jake fully inhabits his new part-alien, part-human body from its head to its prehensile tail. Revealing in his new found abilities to run, jump, and have complete use and feeling of his legs again. Worthington is tough, gruff and assertive all at once as the genetic pioneer turned insurrectionist. He fosters his character both as a human and an Avatar quite well. We believe that his remorse for his dead brother is genuine, but can empathize with his desire to be able to walk again.

Although physically emancipated, Jake is consciously bound to the corporation that put him in his Avatar. He is tasked to infiltrate the Na’vi culture and persuade them to cooperate with the mining operation. Jake soon meets a Na’vi female by the name of Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) who saves his life and brings him back to her clan. As Jake spends more and more time with her, a profound trust ensues and inevitably a romance blossoms between them. This angle is very cliché and becomes the obvious contradicting motive behind Jake’s do or don’t dilemma. Even though Saldana never appears on screen as anything but an alien, the melodramatic level to which she takes her character to is a huge saving point for the film. Saldana embraces the technology and allows her performance to transcend her character's unfamiliar appearance. You can almost feel the emotion in her eyes and hear the compassion and conviction in her dialogue, making you forget that you’re even watching a CGI hybrid of human performances. I could see Saldana being nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, which would make her the first to do so as a fully computer generated character.

Another performance that renders well is Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch. Lang creates a comic book-like character of masculinity as this marine turned warrior who seemingly can endure anything. He is consumed by his will and sees this as a do or die mission for the sake of all mankind; this is a common character type for Cameron. The scars on his face only reinforce that he is just as tough as he lets on. Lang reaches out and fiercely dominates this role, much in the way that he did earlier this year in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies. Colonel Quaritch becomes the bad guy you love to hate. The other token villain of the movie is Parker Selfridge, played by Giovanni Ribisi. He is the nasty corporate executive who will stop at nothing to overthrow the Na’vi and ultimately harvest their Unobtainium supply. Parker is the most ignorant of all and represents a cliché sense of Capitalism that is overly exhausted throughout the film.

Putting all the technical achievements and filming developments aside, the overall story of the film is not anything revolutionary. Too many people are consumed by the layers of special effects and forget that at there is a story at the root of it all. Cameron’s script is rooted in this contemporary eco-green mindset, nurturing messages and sympathies that are entirely predictable and unchallenging. When Jake infiltrates the Na’vi and falls in love with Neytiri, he begins to question his own values and the morals behind the Avatar Program. He is torn between two bodies and his two loyalties. This story has been told before, and before it, and before it again. Avatar too closely parallels other major films, namely Elliot Silverstein’s A Man Called Horse and Kevin Costner’s Academy Award winning Dances With Wolves, right down to the conflict of interest that evolves from the romance with a native woman and reverenced denouement for the tribe. Cameron’s characterizations and dialogue are often crude and simplistic, although the hackneyed dialogue does seem appropriate for the genre. However, it is notable that Cameron does attempt to use a classic three-act structure here, which is unlike most sci-fi and action films that have an aggressive opening scene to draw viewers in. When a film is regarded as highly as Avatar has been, it is only fair to expect a marvelously intricate and original storyline. Avatar fails at this and thrives only on its visual effects for mass appeal. This alone is not enough to constitute a great film.

James Cameron is a great overall filmmaker, even if his prose is shoddy and mediocre. Thematically, Avatar plays too simplistically into stereotypical nefarious white-man versus virtuous-native clichés. It is undeniable that he does have a knack for orchestrating movies that effectively forge a variety of aspects on screen. And he has gone to great lengths to create a movie that seeps with profound detail and has visually stimulating scenes. On a purely experiential level, the technical advances made will certainly be employed in future films to come and has raised the standards for all features of its kind. His relentless effort to bring credibility to science fiction cinema is an archetype of achievement. While Avatar may indeed be the most expensive and technically ambitious film ever made, it falls short on overall illustriousness for an epic.

Rating: ★ ★ 1/2
Bottom Line: Although a visually stunning spectacle, it is an overly hyped epic that is essentially just Dances With Wolves in Sci-Fi.


Leona Lewis: "I See You"

Up In The Air

Have you recently lost your job? Is your business suffering because the consumer market is on a severe down? Have you felt the repercussions of the poor economy in any way, shape or form? If you are living anywhere in America right now, you probably answered “yes” to one of these questions. And if so, I highly recommend that you see this film. Director Jason Reitman has once again crafted a movie that drives its message home by focusing on characters through lightweight existentialism. Much like his prior films, Juno and Thank You For Smoking, Up In The Air takes a typically nontraditional protagonist and gives us a rare window into their unconventional existence. Reitman co-wrote the screenplay with Sheldon Turner, whose previous work is limited to mediocre horror film remakes and a bad Adam Sandler movie. Although it is based upon Walter Kirn’s novel of the same name, the film takes a vastly different approach than the original story. I would not be surprised if both Reitman and Turner take home an Oscar this year for their lofty adaptation.

George Clooney & Director/Screenwriter Jason Reitman

Reitman brings this typically unspoken situation of losing one’s job into the limelight and parades the victims around in a less than exalted manner. And through this, we ourselves see venerability, fear, and honest human emotion. The film begins with a montage of everyday people’s reactions to loosing their everyday jobs. Reitman employed real people, not actors, for this segment. Each one had recently been terminated in their real-life jobs and were asked to reenact what they actually said (or wish they’d said) when they found out the bad news. This sequence was an excellent introduction into the storyline that relates present day economic realities without trivializing them. Now even if you’ve been fired yourself, you probably haven’t seen someone else’s response to such a situation. It is far more unpredictable than most have ever witnessed. Firing a coworker is typically the last thing that anyone wants to perform them self, nonetheless someone has to do it—enter Ryan Bingham.

George Clooney as Ryan Bingham

Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney, is a “career transition counselor” for Career Transition Counseling (CTC), an Omaha-based company whose sole responsibility is to intervene on the daunting task of laying-off employees for corporate executives who are too gutless to handle it themselves. “Anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it's because they sat there that they were able to do it.” This is Ryan Bingham’s borderline cliché response that he systematically feeds to people who are now eligible for unemployment benefits. In fact, much of the way Ryan manages his life is cliché. He believes in efficiency and opportunity above all, he lives for his job, and he has little affinity for anything else, including his home, his lovers and even his family. Clooney astutely combines his dramatic talents with the witty natured zeal that he has come to be known for. Ryan Bingham consumes us because of Clooney’s charismatic portrayal of this otherwise menial man. This is someone who spares no luxury while commuting from city to city for work, but lives in a barely furnished studio apartment that overlooks practically nothing. He boasts, “Last year, I spent 322 days on the road, which means I had to spend 43 miserable days at home.” Clearly this man has attachment issues. But putting the psychoanalyst hat aside, Ryan himself seems content with his impersonal existence and interprets this as “happiness”.

Clooney & Vera Farmiga

At a pivotal point, Bingham chance encounters another travel-holic in an airport lounge named Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga) who seemingly lives as he does. Alex is a leggy, intelligent, full fledged romantic operative, who is basically the female version of him. She is his match in more ways than one. Almost immediately after they meet, the two quickly swap stories and business experiences, comparing each other’s privileges and membership perks in a series of inquisitive double-entendres. For people of their background, this is an obscure form of foreplay that eventually leads to them sleeping together. Before calling it a night, Alex assures him, “I am the woman you don’t have to worry about.” Farmiga has a magnificent connection with Clooney in this film. Their chemistry forges the characters like two elements of hydrogen with oxygen. They play off of one another’s complications and leave most everything else beyond the bedroom at the door, so we think.

Clooney hasn’t been this well matched since Brad Pitt in the Ocean’s Movies, and he’s not even a love interest. Farmiga delivers a confident and assertive performance while still maintaining a Baby Boom sense of feminism. We have seen this from her before in Scorsese’s The Departed, but not in so intricately a manner. Alex exposes a side of Ryan that few people have been able to do and we begin to see a side of him that is vulnerable, compassionate and human. She inadvertently lures Ryan into new territory, becoming his “plus one” in more ways than one.

Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener

This revelation comes about almost directly as a result of Ryan’s recent interaction with his new protégé Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick). She is a fresh-out-of-college recruit who concocts the idea of conducting layoffs remotely over the internet in order to cut overall company expenses. This threatens Bingham’s very lifestyle and he immediately objects to the concept. He asserts that Natalie is too young and too inexperienced to understand just how difficult firing someone can be. As a result, his boss, Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman), assigns him to teach her the ropes. She soon embarks on her training under Ryan. From the very beginning, he imposes his travel standards upon her. One of his first lessons is on getting through airport security, “Never get behind old people. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love 'em.” Natalie righteously objects, “That’s racist.” “I'm like my mother, I stereotype. It's faster.”

Clooney & Kendrick with J.K. Simmons

Natalie quickly learns that there is a lot more to firing people than just reciting a memorized script and handing out unemployment packets. Kendrick creates a character that is naive not only about her new job, but about how the world works and more importantly, how people work. When her long time boyfriend breaks up with her via text message, she has a complete emotional break down. Ryan’s response is, “Wow. That's kind of like getting fired over the internet.” And so Natalie finds herself at a point in her own life where she too is left to question her circumstances. So many young actors are inadvertently bred to be lazy when it comes to matters of true emotion—not Kendrick. Her youth does not hinder her presence in this role in the slightest. Her Broadway background carries onto the screen as we witness a performer who capitalizes on individual expression and inner monologue before all else.

Clooney

Reitman has crafted another fantastic portrayal of human happenstance that everyone can identify with, even if they can’t relate to specific incidents. This kind of consistency in his films is a rare sign of true film genius. Clooney, who already has a reputation for his commitment to making quality films with substantial story lines, also manages to impress. He proves again that despite his movie star status, he has integrity in his work and depth in his acting abilities. Much of the reason why the story is so alluring is because of the circumstances that surround Ryan Bingham. When he says, “To know me, is to fly with me,” we believe that his existence revolves around frequent flying and business ventures that are anywhere but home. But he soon discovers that he is much more than that and in the process, we too discover that he is much more than that. In the beginning, Ryan thrives on his isolation and independence, but realizes soon enough that perhaps life is better with family, friends, and loved ones. This film stretches beyond just the predicaments of firing people from their jobs. It is a profound insight into this man's life and how he manages to find a more profound sense of happiness than he ever knew.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: A splendid contemporary glimpse into one man's ventures that induces us to reflect upon our own lives


"Help Yourself" performed by Sad Brad Smith

The Blind Side

“This team is your family.” This line stuck out the most with me, on a personal level. A very close friend and teammate of mine recently conveyed very similar sentiments to me, having not been playing with them or even around much this past fall season. This concept of a team being like your family is the overriding theme of this film. There is much to be said about anything that unifies people from different walks of life and improves upon their very existence. This is the reason I have always loved playing team sports. Very few things in my own life have afforded me the kind of trust in my comrades and belief in my contributions as playing football and rugby. And that is precisely what The Blind Side so auspiciously conveys. Sandra Bullock, who portrays Leigh Anne Tuohy in the film, commented in a recent interview, “A family unit doesn’t work unless everyone’s working together. The Team doesn’t work, if everyone’s not working together… Working as a team or a family advances people faster and better than someone by themselves.”

Quinton Aaron & Sandra Bullock

The Blind Side is a warm-hearted drama that is based on the true story of Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher. Director John Lee Hancock (The Rookie and The Alamo) first was inspired to turn Oher’s story into a film after reading Michael Lewis’ 2006 novel, “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game”. Lewis highlights Oher’s football career prior to the NFL, from his early days in high school and onto college. The book also focuses on the pivotal evolution of the very position of left tackle that revolutionized offensive football strategy during the 1980s. This occurred in large part in response to former New York Giant’s outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor’s significant blind side tackle of Washington Redskins' quarterback Joe Theismann which fractured both his tibia and fibula, ultimately ending his professional football career. Viewers in an ESPN poll voted the NFL’s “Most Shocking Moment in History” the injury, and The Washington Post dubbed the tackle “The Hit That No One Who Saw It Can Ever Forget”.

Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher

The movie itself opens with the very incident where Taylor snapped Theismann's leg. It connects the importance of the tackle position in football to the molding of Michael Oher and his uncanny protective instincts. The position brought unprecedented importance to the offensive lineman tasked with protecting the quarterback’s blind side from the pass rusher and befittingly preventing sacks. For my non-football-privy readers, the offensive tackle essentially became a “bodyguard” for the quarterback, with particular importance placed on the side that he could not see from while attempting a pass. Ultimately, this fostered a new dominance for the quarterback and placed an increased importance on the role of the left tackle.

Bullock with Patrick G. Keenan & Maria Howell

Sandra Bullock’s turn as Michael's vivacious foster mother is nothing short of marvelous. We have come to know Bullock for the numerous romantic comedies and action flicks she frequently stars in. It really wasn’t until Paul Haggis’ Best Picture Academy Award–winning Crash did we first see any glimpse of versatility from Bullock. She has broken the mold with this role and garnered a newfound respect as an actress. Her character, Leigh Anne Tuohy, truly is at the heart of this story. She is a wealthy Memphis interior decorator and socialite whose husband, Sean (Tim McGraw), owns several fast-food franchises. She clearly is the dominant one in her marriage and is somewhat of a control freak. But this doesn’t mean to say that she’s heartless. In fact, we quickly discover that she is actually very compassionate. When she first notices Michael Oher, he is interacting with her son S.J. (Jae Head) after school. She later sees him walking along a road after a school event in the cold. Knowing that he a friend of S.J.’s, she inquires as to whether or not he has a place to stay. “Don’t you dare lie to me.” She takes him home with their family and makes him a bed on their couch for the night. This begins her undertaking to help Michael in everyway she can.

Jae Head & Aaron

Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron), reluctantly nicknamed Big Mike, is a quiet recently transferred student on scholarship at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis. Based on his appearance alone, he is very much out of place among the other suburban kids being driven to and from school in their parent’s luxury cars. According to tests and conventional observers, Michael is a lost cause when he first enters Briarcrest. He is a 6-foot-5-inch, 340-pound giant with zero learning or communication skills, and a profound inability to indicate his own desires. Michael soon meets S.J. who gives Michael some advice on how to make friends, advising him to smile more so that he seems is less intimidating. But it is precisely Michael’s natural intimidation that proves to be an asset to him later on. Naturally, Michael struggles with the adjustment to the new school and his new life, but eventually find his nitch on the football field.

Aaron

Newcomer Quinton Aaron brings a subtle innocence to the role of Michael. Although Aaron has very few lines in the film, he still conveys an immense amount of emotion. Michael is curiously blank character despite this new opportunity for him to at Briarcrest. Hancock doesn’t really elaborate upon his past with the exception of a few menial flashbacks, which very well may have been a wise choice. Even when Leigh Anne is exploring his roots by visiting his former urban neighborhood and speaking with Michael’s drug addicted mother, the exposure is limited. This approach forces the audience to appreciate Michael as he makes his strides to improve himself and focus less on his former life of despair. Watching Michael go from this otherwise hopeless teenager to an all-around football star is quite endearing. We witness how Leigh Anne and the entire Tuohy family come to his aid and give him everything that he didn’t have before: a home, a family, love. One of Leigh Anne’s girlfriends eventually commends her, “You’re changing that boys life.” And she quickly responds, “No, he’s changing mine.”

Tim McGraw, Aaron & Bullock

This isn't a sports movie, any more than Friday Night Lights is a sports television show. As with that series, the emphasis is on the human story behind the game, and in particular on the selflessness and decency exhibited by the Tuohys and their new family member. From the beginning, Hancock viewed the The Blind Side as more than just another story of the underdog becoming top dog. While Lewis had used Oher’s story as a backdrop in his book to create a personal relation to the evolution of football, Hancock does exact the opposite and translates that secondary story into a feel good tale about human relationships. He saw Lewis' unconventional plot structure not as an obstacle but as an opportunity, “To me, it was all about the same thing: How did the stars align to shine so brightly on this one kid in the projects in Memphis?”

Quinton Aaron & Sandra Bullock

Hancock set his sights high by addressing the emotional journey of Michael and constructs a film that is so much more than just a sports movie. Sandra Bullock's performance is both devout and revolutionary and I expect will garnish her an Oscar nomination. There is a real life story here and that alone makes it endearing. This is a warmhearted drama that doesn't suffer too much from the emotional manipulation and trite platitudes that often plague such films about real people. True to Lewis' subtitle, "Evolution of a Game," the film highlights how even the most unconventional practices can evolve and develop given the right circumstance—just as Michael Oher did.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: Even if you're not a fan of football, you will appreciate the message behind this film. It's the feel good movie of the year!


Five for Fighting: "Chances"

Precious

With all the hype surrounding this movie, I had expected an extremely moving film about the hard knocks of life. That was a huge underestimation on my part. This film relinquishes any preconceived inner-city stereotypes that one might have, and exposes a down right horrific world of destitution and misfortune. To call Precious merely a social statement is like saying that Titanic was about a sinking boat. Director Lee Daniels has created a disarming film that doesn’t force false empathy or emotion from its viewers. The story line alone pushes the audience to feel for these characters without seeming constructed or imposing. With each scene there is a new revelation, some are hopeful but most are disarming. It is a rare occurrence for a movie to entice such a deplorable emotional reaction.

You cannot discuss this movie without considering the book that it was based upon. Not knowing anything about the book itself or having never read it won’t hinder your impression of this film. But it might just make you appreciate the film that much more. Geoffrey S. Fletcher adapted the novel “Push” by Sapphire in a way that maintains the overall sense of the story, right down to the dialog. Much in the same way that Sapphire did, Fletcher purposely implores a dialect that reiterates the main character’s illiteracy. Because the script was written in the first person, told from Precious’ point of view, the choice to spell words phonetically, such as "nuffin'," "git," "borned" and "wif", fiercely adds to the realism of the story. Despite the fact that you don’t actually see the words spelled out on screen. When Precious was first screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, it was listed under its original title “Push: Based On The Novel By Sapphire”. But because there was another film entitled “Push” being featured at the same time, Daniels changed it to Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire.

Gabourey Sidibe as Precious

Claireece "Precious" Jones, played by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, is possibly the most unfortunate of characters ever to appear on the silver screen. The hardships she faces in her everyday life are unparalleled and it only seems to get worse. Her parents verbally, sexually and physically abuse her and is an illiterate overweight teenager expecting her second child from her own father. In the opening scene, we find Precious sitting in class, dreamily trying to engage in the lesson, proclaiming, “I like math. I don’t open the book. I just sit there.” So begins a series of voice-overs throughout the film that provide insight into Precious’ random thoughts and explains how she copes with her problems. Sidibe’s breakout performance has been rightfully hailed as one of the most moving performances of the year. Her physical appearance alone resonates this forsaken girl, and not just the fact that she is so morbidly obese. Her weight overburdens her eyes, but nonetheless resonates of someone who been through much hardship. Sidibe consumes the character of Precious so believably that we begin to see them, not as an actress playing a role, but as one in the same.

There are several dream sequences throughout the film of Precious fantasizing about the life she wants. One is of her onstage at the Apollo, acting out a scene from Vittorio De Sica's Two Women and receiving a scarf as a talisman from a red-clad fairy godmother (played by former Essence magazine editor Susan L. Taylor). Another is of her being photographed in paparazzi –like fashion for the cover of a magazine, adorning flashy ensembles and over the top outfits. These scenes transferred much of what Precious envisioned in her mind for the audience. Daniels’ choice to include these sequences takes a bit away from the story itself, but presents an aspect of Precious that simply couldn’t have been done in the book. While I do understand the motives for including these soliloquies, they present a certain level of confusion in the story as to what is real and what is imagined.

Mo'Nique as Mary

The root of Precious’ problems can be attributed to her heinous home life. She lives with her drug addict father Carl and her unemployed dysfunctional mother Mary, played by comedian and talk show host Mo’Nique. From a very early age, Precious is continuously abused by both of her parents. Carl began to sexual molest and rape Precious from a very early age, and as a result Mary develops a severe resentment towards her and is threatened that he prefers their daughter to her. In reaction, Mary abuses Precious, physically, mentally, emotionally, and on a smaller scale, even sexually. Precious’ first child Mongo (short for Mongoloid) lives with Precious’ grandmother, but Mary still claims the baby as a dependant and receives welfare benefits accordingly. Mo’Nique is absolutely astonishing as Mary. She steals every scene she is in with her poignant and terrifying portrayal of this absolute monster of a human being, “You’re a dummy! Ain't no body want you, ain’t no body need you!” There is a riveting scene with Mary, Precious and Ms. Weiss, a social worker played by a makeup-free Mariah Carey, which is as emotionally powerful as anything else we’ve seen this year from anyone. It is quite surprising to see Mo’nique in such a highly dramatic role because audiences know her mainly as a standup comic. It is highly probable that she will take home an Academy Award next March for her performance.

Sidibe with Paula Patton as Ms. Rain

Early in the story, Precious finds herself being interrogated by her school principal Mrs. Lichenstein (Nealla Gordon) about the circumstances surrounding her second pregnancy. This administrator has very little compassion for her and does nothing to discover how she became pregnant again, what her home life dictates upon her, or why she is still in middle school at the age of sixteen. This lousy excuse of an educator’s solution for Precious is to expel her and pass her onto someone else by referring her to an alternative school called Each One, Teach One where she can get her GED. It is here that Precious meets Ms. Blu Rain, played by Paula Patton, a former school teacher who believes that everyone has a future, no matter how dysfunctional their past may be. The character seems to be directly derived from Sapphire herself, who used to be a literacy teacher in Harlem and the Bronx. When Precious first begins classes there, she is almost completely illiterate and understands very little. But over time, Ms. Rain teaches her to read and write and Precious slowly develops both as a student and a person. Ms. Rain is the first person to ever take an active interest in Precious and push her in a positive direction. She instills a sense of self-belief in Precious that never existed on any level. This is a huge contrast to Mrs. Lichenstein and we witness how the influence of a teacher can indeed impact a child.

Sidibe with Mariah Carey as Ms. Weiss

At the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, the film received a fifteen-minute standing ovation from the audience after the film was screened. Daniels responded that he was “embarrassed” and weary of showing his film there because he did not want to “exploit black people”. This has been an underlying issue for the film since its release. Certain critics have reprimanded Daniels for “demeaning the idea of black American life” to the world. There is indeed a constant bombardment of social issues throughout the film: incest, rape, teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, illiteracy. Which almost makes the story seem unrealistic and borderline cliché. We begin to wonder if anything else could possibly happen to this poor unfortunate girl. Dana Stevens felt that the film drags the audience “through the lower depths of the human experience” and “leaves no space to be able to come to their own conclusions.” Although the predicaments Precious finds herself in are no doubt horrendous and shocking, the film presents a subject matter that is not well known to the general public. And such awareness cannot be shunned upon, regardless of how demoralizing the story may be.

Lee Daniels directs Sidibe and Xosha Roquemore

Daniels’ film exposes a world that most people never knew existed or if they did, they pretend it doesn’t. I always speak about how certain directors foster a strong concept of realism into their films, but Daniels takes that reproach to another level. This film addresses the hard issue up front without sugar coating anything. It forces us to accept the fact that we do not live in a perfect world, not by a long shot. No matter how bad you may think your own life is, it is seemingly guaranteed that someone else is worse off. But that is not the message behind this movie. Precious is about cherishing what you do have, no matter how miniscule or depreciated it may seem. And instills a belief that there is always hope no matter how bad things may get. “The longest journey begins with a single step.”

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: A heart-wrenching story about the hardships of an abused and seemingly hopeless teenager in Harlem. Masterful acting performances take this film to a whole other level.


Mary J. Blige: "Destiny"

An Education

An Education is a coming of age tale about a sixteen-year-old girl who falls in love with a man twice her age. Relatively unknown Danish director Lone Scherfig has created a film that truly captures the innocence of youth. The script itself is based upon the memoirs of British journalist Lynn Barber who didn’t originally publish her story until this year. There was an essay written in the "Granta", a student publication at Cambridge University, which featured Barber’s personal story. Screenwriter Nick Hornby read this and immediately was draw to the story. He states that what appealed to him most was this “suburban girl who's frightened that she's going to get cut out of everything good that happens in the city. That, to me, is a big story in popular culture. It's the story of pretty much every rock 'n' roll band.” Hornby, a novelist himself, also wrote the screen adaptation for such popular films as High Fidelity and About a Boy, and applies his usual shrewd understanding of pop palatability again here.

Production designer Andrew McAlpine masterfully constructs a somber setting of post-World War II London. A feeling of repression lingers in each scene which so eloquently demonstrate what the city was like before the huge artistic counterculture of the 1960s. The period itself plays into the characters a great deal, because it is the foundation for so much of who they are and how they approach the circumstances before them. There is a vast contrast of moods created by the littlest things like a rainstorm or a costume change. Scherfig keeps the visual angels on screen low and close to the actors throughout the entire film. For such a character driven piece, this is a brilliant tactic by the director because it creates an intimacy where empathy otherwise might not readily lend to the audience. But ultimately, it is the performances that truly bring this story and this film to the limelight.

Carey Mulligan as Jenny

Young British actress Carey Mulligan astutely portrays the main character of Jenny. Up until now, she has been widely under the radar, appearing mainly on British television and in supporting roles in such films as Pride & Prejudice and Public Enemies. Scherfig had auditioned many girls for the part, but something about Mulligan captivated her. “Carey was always the one I liked best,” she says. “We adjusted the part a little bit to her.” She is attractive without being too glamorous and captures the essence of Jenny by fostering an intelligent yet idealistic adolescent. The way Mulligan interacts with her costars conveys an actress well beyond her years. Many have justfully compared her to screen legend Audrey Hepburn. But will Mulligan have the same kind of golden appeal to excite an Academy Award? Most critics have already deemed her as a lock for a nomination, if not the current front-runner, and I am most certainly in agreement. Mulligan’s performance clearly registers as one of the best of the year. You can see the determination and ambition in her eyes, while still maintaining a demonstrative sense of naiveté.

Matthew Beard as Graham, with Mulligan

“Carey has a sweetness to her that suits the film. If we had written it that way, I would worry the film was overly cute. But she is really like that, it comes to her naturally. I chose to risk a little more of that rather than focus on Jenny's lippiness and fighting with her father.” proclaims Scherfig. Jenny is the victim of her parent’s expectations. They seek to mold her into being an accomplished student and ultimately gain acceptance into the prestigious Oxford University. This is obviously more of her father’s notion than her own. Jenny herself fantasizes of a cigarette-smoking, music embellishing, French culture driven world that she has only read about. As naturally expected of most all suppressed individuals, Jenny seeks to rebel, but only subtly at first. She sneaks around with her girlfriends, smoking and gossiping, as any normal teenage girl might. She even has captured the fancy of a young boy, played by Matthew Beard, who courts Jenny early in the film under the surveillance of her parents. Until this point, it seems like Jenny’s life is pretty atypical. This all changes once she meets David.

Peter Sarsgaard as David

Peter Sarsgaard plays the part of David Goldman, an eccentric thirty-something year old who divides his time between extravagant outings and his so-called business endeavors. Sarsgaard reminds me a great deal of a friend of mine (Benji K.) who not only looks a lot like him, but has the same kind of restless ambition that is easily alluring. David not only manages to charm Jenny with his debonair style and whirlwind ideals of romance, but everyone else he encounters as well. David inadvertently stumbles upon Jenny in a chance meeting while he is driving by in his maroon colored Bristol, amidst a torrential downpour outside the studio where she has cello rehearsals. He implores her to save her instrument from water damage by allowing him to chauffer it to her destination. He assures her that he’s merely interested in rescuing her cello and suggests that she just walks along side the car as he drives. Jenny succumbs and soon enough, she too is being driven home by this perfectly charming stranger. So begins Jenny’s relationship with David, and the heart of the story.

Mulligan with Dominic Cooper as Danny

By today's standards, it would be easy to dismiss this courtship as immoral and inappropriate, considering their age difference. But that instinctive reaction is easily dismissed after it becomes very apparent that Jenny is courting David just as much. The encounters she has as a direct result of dating David force a sophistication upon her that she questionably may not be ready to coop with. Sarsgaard is both appealing and devious all at once. He certainly knows that Jenny is far younger than him, but asks her out just the same, “Do you go to concerts?” Jenny responds, “No, we don't believe in concerts.” “Oh, I assure you, they're real.” She accepts his invitation under the condition that he is able to gain her parent's permission. No easy feat considering just how controlling her they are, particularly her father Jack, played by Alfred Molina. But his suave tactics prevail, as David showers Jenny’s mother Marjorie (Cara Seymour) with compliments and manages to relate to Jack on his level. All of a sudden, Jenny is catapulted into a world where she no longer is just imagining this extravagant lifestyle; she is actually living in it.

Alfred Molina as Jack Mellor

Molina’s performance as Jenny’s overbearing yet sincere father is nothing short of brilliant. He adds depth and persona to an otherwise annoying character, by conveying true sincerity while still communal. His yelling and commanding tone reaches beyond just maintaining control of his household. Jack seeks to guide his only child to a path of certainty and security. And even though his constant bellowing may seem like him just being an overprotective father, Molina reveals himself to be much more, as a genuinely concerned guardian. Himself, a vastly underrated actor, Molina has finally garnished the kind of praise that may grant him an Oscar nomination next February. I think he deserved more attention for his turn as Diego Rivera in Frida, but it is better late than never.

Olivia Williams as Miss Stubbs, with Mulligan

Jenny can be categorized as the classic overachiever. She is studious, yet still popular among her peers. She romanticizes about exploring worlds beyond the realm of London and goes to great extent to study neighboring cultures, particularly French. There are a few key figures in her life, outside of her parents, who have the most influence on her. Well at least until David comes along. First, there is her Literature teacher Miss Stubbs, played by Olivia Williams. She regards Jenny as her prized pupil, one who she holds to the highest expectations. She imposes this ideal upon Jenny that students like her are “the reason” why she is teacher. And that concept is what weighs on Jenny’s mind throughout all of her explorations. Emma Thompson also bears some significance on her as the Headmistress of Jenny’s school. She often is tasked with grounding Jenny’s whims and continuously reminds her of the importance of being an accomplished, educated young woman. It is these educators who serve Jenny in the most practical of ways, and remind us all of how underrated and unappreciated teachers often are.

Emma Thompson as the Headmistress, with Mulligan

There are a number of things that come to mind when you think about coming of age stories. And while this may fall under such a story category, it most certainly is not stereotypical. There is so much simplistic beauty in An Education, but the film is nonetheless palletized with complex situations and characters. As we watch Jenny grow before our eyes, our appreciation for our own life trials is heightened. Most everyone can remember what it was like to be sixteen. For some, it was a time for exploration, and for others, a time for establishment. But not many of us truly experience such a worldly erudition as Jenny does at that age. The lessons that she finds herself engulfed in cannot be found in any book or taught in any classroom. Both Scherfig and Hornby must have carefully considered this in their creative processes. Carey Mulligan’s turn as this impressionable and bewildered girl with this undeniable thirst for culture and knowledge is nothing short of remarkable. She absolutely blossoms on the screen. Mulligan embraces an image of innocence while flourishing in the circumstances of her new found “education”. And as we watch Jenny out on the town, attending concerts and going to fine restaurants rather than merely dreaming of it all from her bedroom floor whilst listening to Juliette Greco records, we too are educated. Cependant “Si tu t’imagines”—life doesn't always turn out as you imagine it.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: A remarkably distinguished coming of age story that truly embodies the angst and emotional trauma of life's many lessons.


"You've Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger" performed by Beth Rowley

A Serious Man

There are two groups of people who should go see this movie: 1. anyone who is Jewish and 2. anyone who knows someone who is Jewish. Writers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen have done it again with their latest parody on American-Jewish culture in the sixties. The public has come to know their style of film making to be intricately elaborate and situationally extremist, and A Serious Man is most certainly both. Personally, I wish I had gone to see this with one of my Jewish friends, but only so that I would have had an on-hand expert to immediately clue me in on some of the scenarios depicted in the film. There were several scenes where the audience bursted out into laughter without any real premise to do so; it dawned on me that these must have been some sort of Jewish inside jokes, if you will. Despite my lack of cognition, the movie was highly entertaining and not just in a Coen Brothers sort of way. We have seen this approach from them before in such films as Raising Arizona and Fargo that embrace a known ethnology that we may not all know personally, but certainly know of. This pre-establishes a level of endearance to audiences because most can certainly relate to the idea of what these characters are going through. So even if you're not of any kind of Jewish decent, the predicaments are so intriguing that it arouses a curiosity to want to know about being Jewish. Or at the very least, want to know about these characters. This is what makes this such a great film.

Joel and Ethan Coen on set

The opening scene is a sort of flashback to another time and probably another country, where two married Jewish peasants find themselves entertaining an alleged neighbor who has just aided the husband outside. The couple debate aimlessly (entirely in Yiddish) as to whether this guest is actually their rabbi neighbor or a demon in disguise. Because there is a severe snow storm, it is inevitable that they invite him in. Amidst their conversation with this rabbi/demon, the wife finds the courage to confront their visitor in the most unlikely of methods and he finally leaves their home. The scene ends violently but enigmatically with the line, "Good riddance to evil." This sets an unnerving tone for the rest of the film that bad things do happen to good people.

Michael Stuhlbarg as Larry Gopnick

The central character is a middle-aged physics professor named Larry Gopnick, played by Michael Stuhlbarg. Larry finds himself hurled into a series of events that have little to do with his own actions and everything to do with everyone else. Stuhlbarg is relatively unknown beyond Broadway circles, so audiences do not likely have a prerequisite for his performance. This was probably a wise decision for the Coens. Stuhlbarg creates a spectacle for a character that isn't very interesting at all, but that in itself is the premise for the entire movie. On the surface, Larry has the seemingly ideal suburban life: a steady job, a home, wife and family whom he loves. But his ignorance towards understanding the depths of the people in his life, erupt into a downward spiral of events that leave him questioning his very existence and his faith. It's not so much that audience's will sympathize with Larry Gopnick, as much as they will be dumbstruck by his passivity. The Coens brilliantly intertwine various predicaments with Larry to create the perfect plight of sins of omission.

Stuhlbarg with Sari Lennick as his wife Judith

Larry's woes seemingly begin when his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) initiates a conversation about them getting a divorce. He is in a state of complete shock by this and questions why and how it has come to this between them. Although she insists that it is not because of another man, she admits to being romantically "involved" with one of their recently widowed friends Sy Ableman, played by Fred Melamed. To Judith, Sy is essentially everything that Larry is not. In reality, Sy is overbearing, presumptuous, and self-indulgent. He takes it upon himself to console Larry about him loosing his wife to him and even goes as far as trying to nurture him by hugging him, despite the obvious awkwardness Larry has around him. This is just one example of many characters in this story who force themselves upon our protagonist, altering his life as he knows it.

Stuhlbarg with Richard Kind as Uncle Arthur

On Sy's recommendation, Judith ardently implores Larry to move out of their home. Being the push over that he is, Larry concedes to them and takes residence at a local motel called "The Jolly Roger". He also takes with him his unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) who had been sleeping on their couch and imposing upon their hospitality. Although directly inconsequential to Larry's predicament, he obviously cares about his brother very much and is willing to endure the burden of looking after him despite Arthur's apathy and listless behavior. Kind is on point here with his portrayal of Larry's imposing mooch of a sibling who struggles with self-assurance and self-worth. There is a climactic scene where Arthur has an emotional break down, pleading to Larry his envy of his ideal life while his own is mediocre. The irony of this is bewildering because Larry believes the exact same thing about himself, and sees his life as anything but ideal. This is the kind of play upon situations that the Coen Brothers craft so extremely well.

Lennick with Jessica McManus as Sarah

Back in the late 80's, an offended moviegoer contacted the Coen Brothers about their film Raising Arizona. Apparently the use of so many Polish jokes and cultural parodies were so vexing, this man and his mother had abruptly left the theater in the middle of the film. He beseeched them to "Next time, why don't you make a film about Jews?" And although it is over twenty years later, this film is their response to that complaint. Ethan has dubbed this their "Jew film". As with most all of their movies, the Coen Brothers have already endured much negative criticism, this time from the Jewish Community. One reaction accused them of "turning on their own people". There are scenes that incorporate some very blatant caricatures on Jewish culture: kids falling asleep out of boredom in Hebrew school, rabbis who are depicted as puerile and incompetent, and a shallow daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) who aims to have a nose job done. This is the same kind of generalized reactions that have come against Larry David citing his "offensive nature (to) his own self hatred and selfishness". David responded, "I hate myself, but it's not because I'm Jewish." Jewish viewers should not to take this film so personally. It is after all a movie; we are talking about a work of art, of fiction, not about some real-life "shandah for the goyim” like Bernie Madoff. Besides, the Coens present a disclaimer in the credits that "No Jews were hurt in the filming of this movie."

Aaron Wolff as Danny

While Joel and Ethan Coen did grow up in suburban Minnesota and their own father was a college professor, this is clearly not entirely an autobiography. The scene where Larry is bribed by a South Korean student (David Kang) who has failed his class and is at threat of losing his scholarship did actually happen to their father at the University of Minnesota. However, not quite as it is depicted in the film. He had given the money back and reported the student to the dean without any moral dilemma, unlike Larry. The Coen Brothers do implore a father-son theme throughout the story; we learn more and more about Larry's son Danny (Aaron Wolff) and how he inadvertently manages to put his father's life into perspective through his own naivete. Many have incorrectly assumed that A Serious Man is directly about their own lives simply because they are Jewish. While I believe it to be drawn from many of their own experiences (what good story isn't), it shouldn't be seen as their life story, as much as a story about life's predicaments.

Stuhlbarg with Fred Melamed as Sy Ableman

My old film professor Louis Giannetti would be proud to know that his theories on visual style and overall tone were among the first things I noticed about A Serious Man. The Coen Brothers have fostered an elaborate Mise-en-scène once again, while maintaining a pragmatic approach to their comic stylization. Much like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, they implore the use of popular period music to cleverly envoke a distinct mood in the film; here, they recurrently use the song "Somebody To Love" by Jefferson Airplane as if it is scripture--which may very well be to the Coen Brothers. And as always, their attention to detail both with the scripted dialogue and visuals on the screen are sharp and vigilant. The movie opens with a Rashi-attributed quote, "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you," which epitomizes exactly how Larry Gopnick copes with life.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: A must see! Especially if you can appreciate the dark farcical style of the Coen Brothers.


Jefferson Air Plane: "Don't You Want Somebody to Love"

Inglourious Basterds

When anyone mentions the name Quentin Tarantino, a mélange of words come to mind: extreme, audacious, impudent. But much of his style is modeled after the numerous cult cinema classics and Inglourious Basterds is no exception to this. Tarantino not only has remade the original version of the 1978 film of the same name (only spelled correctly as "Inglorious Bastards"), but he has crafted a true parody on World War II films in general that rings to the tune of The Dirty Dozen, Where Eagles Dare and The Great Escape, to name a few. The drastic difference here is that Tarantino distributes an equal amount of screen time between the good and bad guys. Many of the more esteemed war epics often ignore that realm of contradictory regard. So while Tarantino may ignore the factual accounts of the period, he executes a balanced story that enhances the perspective of the enemy, though still diabolical, simply by allowing them face time. He focuses on the story, not just the history. This is precisely why he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction. And once again, his approach is indeed noteworthy and original, to say the very least.

Sonke Mohring, Til Schweiger & Brad Pitt

Tarantino himself has classified the film as a “spaghetti western, but with World War II iconography” and is essentially his tribute to the broad sub-genre of Euro War or Macaroni War films. The story is divided into five chapters, much in the same methods as Tarantino’s prior works. The film is 2 hours and 33 minutes in length. It’s not so much how long the movie goes on for, as it is how it converges in the end. While there are implications that tie each segment to one another, they could easily have been done as five separate short films. Inglourious Basterds probably would have been a great miniseries for Cinemax or HBO. There just aren’t enough cliffhangers or plot dependencies on each of the storylines. Much of the dialog is redundant and superfluous, particularly that of the Nazis, saved only by the circumstances of the characters. Nonetheless, it is still entertaining in a campy, interminable sort of way.

Denis Menochet & Christoph Waltz

The opening scene of the movie, like all Tarantino films, introduces several key characters and provides the back-story for later chapters. It begins with the simple line “Once upon time… in Nazi occupied France,” alluding to so many fictional tales before it. Here we meet the Nazi “Jew Hunter” Colonel Hans Landa, played by Christoph Waltz. Landa interrogates a French dairy farmer Perrier LaPadite (Denis Menochet) who he suspects of harboring a family of Jews within the confines of his residence. Amidst his vigorous inquiry, Landa asks for a glass of milk. After guzzling it down, he snidely remarks on LaPadite’s daughters and his cows, “à votre famille et à vos vaches, je dis bravo.” Although the literal translation of the word “la vache” means cow, it also has very derogatory connotations attached to it, particularly in the context of women; in French, it is common slang for bitch or cunt. This is a blatant and intentional insult towards La Padite, and he most certainly understands its fool meaning here.

Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa

Waltz turns in a dynamic performance here as
the central antagonist who sets the tone for the entire rest of the film. His very nickname details the obvious passion and efficiency he has for capturing Jews. Waltz creates a character that you love to hate. His Colonel Landa is profoundly knowledgeable on many levels, he is a romantic while still being sinister, and is charming despite his very obvious endeavors to execute anyone who goes against the Nazi credo. Although the part was originally offered to Leonardo DiCaprio, Tarantino ultimately decided to cast a German actor instead. Tarantino has said that he might be “the greatest character he's ever written” and attributes much of the character’s revered execution to Christoph Waltz himself. “He (Waltz) gave me my movie back,” Tarantino proclaimed. He received the Best Actor Award at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and is almost certain to receive an Oscar nomination come February.

Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine

Brad Pitt is obviously still the headliner of the film, who plays 1st Lieutenant Aldo Raine, who is better known as “Aldo the Apache”. Raine is a raunchy southerner from Tennessee with good ole fashioned ideals: shoot it, stuff it, or marry it. Pitt creates a character fiercely jaded by his days in the Secret Service and weaned on extreme acts of violence. Had this have not been a Tarantino film; Raine would be an unlikely protagonist. However, the very fact that it is a Tarantino film explains how such an unruly vigilante can be the hero. Pitt delivers his lines with a thick southern accent right out of the back woods of Tennessee. “You probably heard we ain’t in the prisoner-takin’ business; we in the killin’ Nazi business. And cousin, Business is a-boomin’.” The character himself is derived from many sources. Tarantino had written him as “a voluble, freewheeling outlaw” and a tribute to Aldo Ray, a relatively unknown actor from such war cult classics as Sweet Savage and Battle Cry, and who was crafted after comedian George Carlin’s Indian Sergeant. Pitt himself revives this parody very well, following in the footsteps of Kevin Kline and Robert Downey, Jr., and fosters a subjugator that even the squeamish can cheer for.

Eli Roth as Sgt. Donny Donowitz

Of the eight men who make up Aldo’s Basterds, probably the most memorable is Sergeant Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth), better known as “Jew Bear”. He is a vivacious, Boston-born Jew whose weapon of choice is a baseball bat. He has single handedly established himself as a legend among the Nazi Party as a ruthless threat of the worst kind and they outright fear him. Before he leaves for Germany, Donny gets every Jew in his neighborhood in Boston to sign his baseball bat with the name of a loved one in the war overseas. And he uses this bat to literally pummel Nazi skulls in. Roth proclaims that there is true irony in this—beating people with baseball bats. He had told Tarantino when he first signed onto the film “Do you realize that everyone in Boston has a baseball bat, and most bats in Massachusetts are used off the field?” Roth embodies the Jew Bear with ardor and vigor, adding a twisted comic relief as Aldo’s right hand man.

Til Schweiger as Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz

Til Schweiger’s performance as Sergeant Hugo Stiglitz is also noteworthy. He crafts a strong, silent & strange psychopath who says very little. Schweiger is able to convey so much through his expressions and mannerisms without ever saying a word. For such a dialog driven script, this an astonishing feat. Stiglitz becomes a Basterd out his own hatred for the Nazis. Aldo had recruits him from the Oberfeldwebel in the Wehrmacht where he killed 13 SS Gestapo majors. The character's name is a tribute to the famous 70s B-movie Mexploitation actor Hugo Stiglitz. Fittingly, the character's guitar riff theme is taken from Slaughter, a Blaxploitation movie starring Jim Brown. The scene in the basement tavern where they are drinking and playing games with Nazi officers, foot soldiers and spies alike, has Schweiger silently glowering and scheming his next move. Til Schweiger is a real gem in the Basterds rank-and-file.

Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus

Although the story presents itself in an angle that everyone is in this position of power, there is distinct ideal of female empowerment here. It is obvious that Aldo and Landa have dominant personalities, the women have a much more beguiling storyline with regards to this. Shoshanna Dreyfus, played by Mélanie Laurent, is a young Jewish girl who is hunted in the very beginning and narrowly manages to escape from Landa. Considering how much a typical Tarantino film bounces around, Shoshanna is probably the closest thing to being the lead character of the entire movie. In fact, Tarantino has said that he had always thought of her as a “main character”. What makes her so intriguing is that she seeks her revenge in a much less conventional way than Aldo’s Basterds and arguably is more successful than they are.

Diane Kruger as Bridget von Hammersmark

The other female protagonist is Bridget von Hammersmark, played by Diane Kruger. She is a very well known movie actress who moonlights as a German double agent. Her fame proves to be both an asset and a curse. While it allows her certain liberties that the everyday person, especially a woman, would not have, it also makes more susceptible to excessive attention. And she too, narrowly escapes persecution from the Nazis in her initial rendezvous with the Basterds. While they may not have a lot of direct power, both Bridget and Shoshanna do what they can and finagle their way into getting what they want. They present a certain amount of tension relief for the film that follows in the footsteps of such Shakespearean female protagonists as Lady Macbeth, Cordelia or Portia. Shakespeare cleverly had made his women more authoritative figures than the men, entirely unbeknownst to them, and so too has Tarantino. Although we know from his other films (Kill Bill, Jackie Brown) that female empowerment is a popular theme for him. Bridget and Shoshanna are creatures of patience, which fosters a longevity in their careers as anti-Nazi crusaders.

Though this is not meant to be a historical recap of the war in any way, Tarantino does manage to incorporate the history of the cinema a great deal. He works in a number of references to several German filmmakers, including Nazi Leni Riefenstahl, German silent-film comedian Max Linder and German director G.W. Pabst. And the film that premieres at Shoshanna’s theater is based on an actual movie produced by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Eli Roth & Brad Pitt

Christoph Waltz’s performance as the “sinister yet poetic pipe-smoking Jew-hunter” is enough of a reason to go see this film. Waltz crafts a Nazi who is right out of our worst nightmares: sophisticated, suave, and sadistic, all at once. He most certainly stole the show, from not just Brad Pitt but from Tarantino. If you have ever watched any of Tarantino’s previous films, you know his style and approach. You can expect the same extremist plot twists and developments with a touch of redemption for all our Jewish brethren. It does come off as a grandiloquence series of scenes, but not quite as collaborative as some of his other film. In the words of Lieutenant Raine, “We just wanted to say we’re a big fan of your work. When it comes to killing Nazis.” It is because of this same regard for Tarantino that one can tolerate this film’s deficiencies and simply enjoy it for what it is—film farce.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: Entertainingly glorifies violence in a way we have not seen in some time.


"Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" performed by David Bowie