J. Edgar (2011)

I saw this movie because Clint Eastwood directed and Leonardo DiCaprio starred, not so much because I have a fascination with J. Edgar Hoover. Apparently, critics have disliked the movie for all that it left out of this iconic and powerful figure of the 20th century. My hunch was that the film makers didn't want to overshadow the story of the man with details of the FBI - I was right.

J. Edgar traces a couple strands of the first and long lasting FBI director's life. His relationships with his mother and two very close secretaries combined with his determination to both keep the FBI funded and in his complete control. There are plenty of references to some of the defining events in his career (Lindberg kidnapping, Dr. King, and the communist pogroms), but the focus of the film is his obsessions, indiscretions and desire for defining his own legacy.

An intricate and detailed film with a steady pace and tremendous acting.

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Taking Woodstock (2009)

Ang Lee is remarkable in how diverse his projects are and this one pushes into remarkable territory. While he maintains the sensitivity that most of his films have, he captures americana during an era of transformation in a collision between rural and urban, the hippy and silent generations, and the peace that was necessary between all of the shifting tectonic plates of the 1960s.

Taking Woodstock takes the legendary summer concert to a personal level by focusing on the planners and more specifically, the family/town who hosts the hordes.

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Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Al Pacino at his very best, playing a desperate man on a suicide mission to save his lover. Based on a tremendously tragic story.

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Breakfast on Pluto (2005)

The Crying Game still haunts me even though I saw it nearly 2 decades ago. Its director delivers this true tale of an Irish transvestite's coming of age in a time of political, familial and religious turmoil. Cillian Murphy convincingly plays Kitty who is in search of his mother in London and meaning in his life.

Quite a beautiful film.

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Bent (1997)

So many films have been made about the Holocaust, but the subjects have typically been Jews. This film focuses on the persecution of homosexuals in Germany prior to and then during the war.

It is based on a play, so the film is beautifully composed and the dialogue is rich. Clive Owen and Canadian actor Lothaire Bluteau provide powerful bodies and characters to bring the story to life.

It is a desperately sad story, nearly devoid of hope.

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

Clint Eastwood presents this moral tale in the deep south. A magazine writer becomes entangled in a scandalous murder trial of a local celeb and self-made man. There big twist in the story is that everyone knows the defendant is gay, but when it has to come out into the open, people cease to support him.

The story is full of colourful characters and a twisting plot making it a fun watch.

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The History Boys (2006)

This is quite a smart film that does much more than The Emperor's Club and other prep school dramas about inspiring teachers and their disciples. The History Boys emphasizes the dark parts of the education system and of humanity - particularly their English and History profs.

A group of academically gifted boys give a small and not very prestigious British school some hope of legitimacy if they can pass their exams and enter some of the top universities in the country. As a young teacher is hired to prep them, the joy of learning begins to die as they pursue marks instead of knowledge.

Some great acting and writing (inevitable when it's based on a play).

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Brideshead Revisited (2008)

This film is based on a book that, again, must be a much better read than a cinematic experience. It is another restrained British period piece.

The opening lines of the film deliver a lot of promise that our atheist artist protagonist will undergo some transformation, but in reality he undergoes an infatuation and suffers the consequences. This young and impressionable middleclassman enters the world of the British upper crust - a very Catholic family living at Brideshead, a posh palace. There he is enchanted by the homosexual son and then by the lovely and confident daughter, but ultimately by the riches associated with the family.

The cinematography deserves some mention as it became a part of the story in the way it brought our attention to some of the small details, as a writer might describe a setting.

Because the characters are so literally detached from reality it makes it difficult to connect with them. A decent movie, but nothing to be infatuated with.

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Savage Grace (2007)

Savage indeed! This is one of those sad true stories that reveals the underbelly of a sinful race of humans, exacerbated by wealth.

Tony is born into privilege and to a psychotic mother and fed-up father. The family lives nomadically traveling from villa to villa in Europe. It becomes clear that Tony suffers from neglect from his father and unnatural attention from his mother. No good results.

From a cinematic perspective, the film scores high. The progression of darkness is steady and the tension brews for quite a while before a stark and brutal finish. The actors superbly perform as the camera gives us perhaps too much to see.

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Sling Blade (1996)

Launching his film career and securing a title of serious actor, Billy Bob Thornton writes and directs himself in Sling Blade - based on his play Some People Call it a Sling Blade.

Karl Childers has served a couple decades in the state mental hospital in the southern US for murder. Despite the brutal crime, he has not exhibited violence since the crime, in fact he is a gentle, simple-minded man with a predisposition toward Christianity. He returns to his home town where he begins to work for an engine repair shop and where he befriends a boy and his mother.

Karl plays the role of holiness and he does it with such humility that it is difficult to picture him dealing out judgment. He also plays the role of abused child and some of the stories he tells will break your heart.

This is an excellent film from start to finish. I recommend the director's cut - all 2 1/2 hours.

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Year One (2009)

Harold Ramis (a Ghostbuster and former SCTV member) directs this ridiculous comedy which blends biblical early history with cavemen.

Jack Black and Michael Cera are banished from their cave men tribe and journey to the end of the world (a nearby cliff) only to discover characters from Genesis (Cain & Abel, Adam & Eve, Abraham and Isaac, the city of Sodom, etc.). Every opportunity to weave in some sort of sexual deviancy (which isn't necessarily out of place in the Genesis story) is taken in this farce.

There are some wonderfully funny moments in the film, but it is still a "dumb comedy" and the few times when they try to make a great point, it has little meaning against its dopey backdrop.

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Before Night Falls (2000)

A biopic presenting both the life of writer Reinaldo Arenas and the oppression of Castro's Cuba.

Reinaldo grows up in a small village of abandoned women and their children in rural Cuba. His teacher recognizing his giftedness in writing, recommends that he continues his studies. He is nearly an adult when La Revolución hits Cuba and when he finishes his studies works at the National Library and begins authoring books. His books begin to draw attention and so does his homosexual lifestyle as homosexual activity is strictly forbidden in Cuba.

The strength of this film is that it intimately portrays Arena's struggle to be himself and express himself despite the ongoing persecution and censorship. Javier Bardem gives a strong performance that brings a pathos to what might be a typical story of hardship.

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A Single Man (2009)

It is evident from the beginning that this film is about style and mood. The two incredible aspects of it are the cinematography and the design bringing the viewer back five decades into the austere environment of the 1960's.

George is a university professor who has recently lost his lover. He is so consumed by his loss that he endeavors to kill himself that evening. As he prepares to leave the world, he loosens up and life slowly returns to his heart.

The issues of loneliness and the sterility of the society towards homosexuals are well presented through the stylish cast. Wealth and polite friendships can not substitute for the depth of relationships and love.

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Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

A prison drama with a fantasy element delivers surprising depth.

Somewhere in Latin America, Luis shares a cell with Valentin a political prisoner. Luis is a flagrant homosexual who despite repulsing Valentin, is able to entertain him with stories of a bewitching spider woman. Luis is bribed to spy on Valentin by the warden and the tension mounts as the viewer is teased by the possibility that Luis would give up his cell mate to the secret police for his own freedom.

The acting in the film is compelling and the simple story is overshadowed by real human drama. I must say that the dream sequences and story telling is a bit out there and difficult to correlate with the main tale.

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Le Goût des Autres (2000)

A business man, an actress, a body guard, a waitress, a chauffeur, an artist, and a home decorator give us a sense of the uniqueness of man and womankind. How The Taste of Others causes us to question our own.

Though nothing earth shattering may happen in this film, we are drawn into the lives of several people who are connected in some way to prickly entrepreneur Jean-Jacques. Jean-Jacques' passion is awakened when he attends a play. He begins to realize that he has more depth than he previously assumed. The people around him try to help him understand what he should be interested in, but he struggles to define his own identity.

The film is French and so food, the arts and sex must be explored - though tastefully, and with great humour and pathos.

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Brüno (2009)

Sacha Baron Cohen brings a second satirical character to the big screen with Brüno, an Austrian homosexual model with aspirations of being überfamous.

There isn't much point in writing a plot as the movie didn't have much of one nor did it need one. Similar to its first cousin Borat, the film is done in a documentary style with Brüno inciting his interviewees with outrageous comments, flagrant sexual depictions and come ons, and exposing America for what it truly is: homophobic, capitalistic, fame crazed, and cannibalistic. Cohen goes further by drawing the viewers into the film and shocking them into repulsion.

I have no intention of ruining the film by sharing the funniest/most disgusting parts, so I'll stop my analysis there, though I didn't find the film as compelling as Borat.

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Doubt (2008)

Faith and doubt battle it out in a Catholic school in New England in this star powered drama.

When the actions of a priest are brought into question by a head nun the consequences are repercussive through out the school irregardless of the priests innocence or guilt; there is enough doubt to cause damage to his reputation and to others around him.

The power in this film comes from the thoughtful script by playwright/director John Patrick Shanley (Joe vs. the Volcano and Alive). He manages to bottle the essence of what is required to believe something: relationship. Bringing important potency to Doubt is impassioned acting from its top players.

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My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Gus van Sant delivers a western version of Midnight Cowboy with a big splash of Shakespeare.

Mike is a narcoleptic male prostitute in Idaho who gets bailed out and cared for by a rebellious rich kid, Scott. Mike is on a search to find the mother who abandoned him. Scott playing the hustler to try his rich daddy.

The film is extremely melancholy. There aren't any scenes built in to contrast the despair which makes the film hard to watch. A long scene adaptation of Henry IV which is done in Olde English tortures us and makes us thankful for the normal scenes that follow. Keanu Reaves is his wooden standard while River Phoenix performs masterfully as the tortured kid.

While there are strong sensitivities exposed in the story, the main gist is that no one cares about this kid - except perhaps us, the viewers.

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Angels in America (2003)

Angels in America is a 6 hour epic set in the 1980's taking on American politics, the new plague of AIDS, and religion. It has a strong agenda against belief in a "good" god, but it has an interesting commentary on human nature and what should be most important: compassion and honesty.

Ronald Reagan is president and people are beginning to die of AIDS in the United States. A corrupt and high profile NY lawyer tries to get his protégé to be his flunkey in Washington. The protégé is also a Mormon closet homosexual whose wife is beginning to catch on to. He becomes romantically involved with a filing clerk whose boyfriend is languishing in a hospital in the final stages of AIDS. His mother flies in from Salt Lake City to talk him straight. They all have supernatural encounters with otherworldly beings (angels) that try to guide them into some truth.

The HBO miniseries features a star studded cast with Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Patrick Wilson, Emma Thompson, Jeffrey Wright, and Mary-Louise Parker. There performances as multiple characters gives the film more of a stage play feel (which is what it is based on).

I didn't agree at all with how they represented God as a being who had gone astray and was only seeking our participation for some selfish deed. Judaism and Mormonism were the lenses through which the characters understood their visions and everything had a very dogmatic feel without much concern that it might be touching on something real (as in, they can play with it because God doesn't really exist anyway). 

Well made, misdirected.

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Milk (2008)

Gus Van Sant delivers a biopic about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in America.

The film traces Milk's humble beginnings in politics as a photography store owner in San Francisco. As the gay community congregated in one district, they became easier targets for brutality. Milk responded with rallying the neighbourhood and running several times for a seat as city supervisor. As a side story, the relationship between Milk and another city supervisor who eventually becomes his assassin is developed.

Aside from Sean Penn's stirring performance as the flamboyant politician, the film really does amazing work capturing an era with costume and set design. It also explains the very different state of civil liberties in the country during the 1970's. Without this character's passion for helping Americans understand the plight of homosexuals, we would likely have witnessed more violence and prejudice than we still see today against gays and lesbians.

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