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Certain Women, uncertain concept?
Movies opening this week: London Town, A Man Called Ove, and more
Certain Women: “Go ahead. Criticize the sweater vest. I dare you.”
Movie
Certain Women ***
Don’t expect <em>Certain Women</em>’s tale of four disparate Montana women whose lives crisscross to end with the quartet comfortably telescoping in one central locale. The opening section, involving Laura Dern as a lawyer whose male client places more faith in the judgment of a man than a woman, is fairly standard stuff. But then Dern suddenly finds herself in the role of hostage negotiator, and it isn’t until she breaks free of the network drama constraints that filmmaker Kelly Reichardt (<em>Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy</em>) turns in the direction of exploring a favorite theme: where closeness lies within people. She comes to the conclusion that the odd connections one forms with strangers in passing is frequently stronger than the ones found in intimate relationships. A moonlight horseback ride between infatuated student (Lily Gladstone) and beleaguered teacher (Kristen Stewart) is at once this year’s most romantic and heartbreaking scene. Beautifully filmed and performed — the opening sequence using mirrors and doorframes to fuse the torsos of two characters to form a whole — is stunning, but in the end, the overall concept left me in the dark.
Scott decided to dodge this week’s Santa Anas by ducking into the cool confines of his local cineplex and staying there. Our man in the dark took in five features this week, and if it gets hot enough today he may even check out Madea’s Halloween movie. “How hot is it?”
“Madea hot.”
“Damn, that’s hot.”
First, the good news from Mr. Marks: the “beautifully filmed” (if somewhat baffling) Certain Women from director Kelly Reichardt, with whom he also chatted. (Actress aside: Kristen Stewart has put together a fascinating and varied post-Twilight filmography, what with this, American Ultra, Clouds of Sils Maria, and Cafe Society.)
Then the flabbergastingly not-awful horror sequel Ouija: Origin of Evil.
And then the surprisingly sweet London Town, which taught us all that rock ’n’ roll is not about personal freedom and chemically enhanced parties but rather loyalty, personal responsibility, and social justice. Who knew?
Marks was less enthusiastic about the grumpy old man bit in A Man Called Ove, and while he wanted to like the locally fashioned Answering the Call, he sounds like he was stuck admiring its effort and intentions. The sufferings of the aesthetic purist.
I, meanwhile, was able to overlook the aesthetic missteps of American Pastoral enough to give it a meekly positive review. This places me in the deep, deep minority and may arise in part from a particularly interesting post-film discussion with my brother. But there’s something to be said for a film that allows for particularly interesting post-film discussions, no? (And speaking of discussions, I also got to chat with star Jennifer Connelly.)
Besides, it was definitely better than my other assignments: the missed-potential spy comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses and the just bad Tom Cruise punching-pic Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Maybe it’s time for Cruise to do another sci-fi feature? I really enjoyed both Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow, and I didn’t have high hopes for either.
Opening but not reviewed: Kate Plays Christine.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Certain Women, uncertain concept?
Movies opening this week: London Town, A Man Called Ove, and more
Certain Women, uncertain concept?
Movies opening this week: London Town, A Man Called Ove, and more
Certain Women: “Go ahead. Criticize the sweater vest. I dare you.”
Movie
Certain Women ***
Don’t expect <em>Certain Women</em>’s tale of four disparate Montana women whose lives crisscross to end with the quartet comfortably telescoping in one central locale. The opening section, involving Laura Dern as a lawyer whose male client places more faith in the judgment of a man than a woman, is fairly standard stuff. But then Dern suddenly finds herself in the role of hostage negotiator, and it isn’t until she breaks free of the network drama constraints that filmmaker Kelly Reichardt (<em>Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy</em>) turns in the direction of exploring a favorite theme: where closeness lies within people. She comes to the conclusion that the odd connections one forms with strangers in passing is frequently stronger than the ones found in intimate relationships. A moonlight horseback ride between infatuated student (Lily Gladstone) and beleaguered teacher (Kristen Stewart) is at once this year’s most romantic and heartbreaking scene. Beautifully filmed and performed — the opening sequence using mirrors and doorframes to fuse the torsos of two characters to form a whole — is stunning, but in the end, the overall concept left me in the dark.
Scott decided to dodge this week’s Santa Anas by ducking into the cool confines of his local cineplex and staying there. Our man in the dark took in five features this week, and if it gets hot enough today he may even check out Madea’s Halloween movie. “How hot is it?”
“Madea hot.”
“Damn, that’s hot.”
First, the good news from Mr. Marks: the “beautifully filmed” (if somewhat baffling) Certain Women from director Kelly Reichardt, with whom he also chatted. (Actress aside: Kristen Stewart has put together a fascinating and varied post-Twilight filmography, what with this, American Ultra, Clouds of Sils Maria, and Cafe Society.)
Then the flabbergastingly not-awful horror sequel Ouija: Origin of Evil.
And then the surprisingly sweet London Town, which taught us all that rock ’n’ roll is not about personal freedom and chemically enhanced parties but rather loyalty, personal responsibility, and social justice. Who knew?
Marks was less enthusiastic about the grumpy old man bit in A Man Called Ove, and while he wanted to like the locally fashioned Answering the Call, he sounds like he was stuck admiring its effort and intentions. The sufferings of the aesthetic purist.
I, meanwhile, was able to overlook the aesthetic missteps of American Pastoral enough to give it a meekly positive review. This places me in the deep, deep minority and may arise in part from a particularly interesting post-film discussion with my brother. But there’s something to be said for a film that allows for particularly interesting post-film discussions, no? (And speaking of discussions, I also got to chat with star Jennifer Connelly.)
Besides, it was definitely better than my other assignments: the missed-potential spy comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses and the just bad Tom Cruise punching-pic Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Maybe it’s time for Cruise to do another sci-fi feature? I really enjoyed both Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow, and I didn’t have high hopes for either.
Opening but not reviewed: Kate Plays Christine.
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