The Artist

Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Writer: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo
Release Date: December 9, 2011
Length: 1 hour 40 minutes

    French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius does the unthinkable and goes back to the bare seeds of filmmaking, where cinema first began with the sincerely courageous, The Artist. This is the first time a silent film has been mass-released in quite a while and my, does this make up for the time without a film as ingenious and clever as The Artist to remind us of how lovable subtlety in movies can be.

    Set in the prestige age of 1920s Hollywood, the film tells the story of an actor at the top of his game, George Valentin, who could be a fictional version of Douglas Fairbanks or a 1927 equivalent of George Clooney. Valentin has a chance encounter with an up and coming beauty named Peppy Miller, who starts to make her way up the Hollywood ladder after having a small role in one of his films, A German Affair. Two years later, while Peppy is reaching her prime, studio head Al Zimmer (John Goodman) announces the end of silent film productions at Kinograph Studios, due to the rising popularity with the “talkies”. Nevertheless, Valentin believes films with sound is only a fad, so he decides to make his own silent film, assuming people will see the movie, still loving him as Hollywood’s leading man. However, as Peppy becomes Hollywood’s “It Girl” with a starring role in the film everyone’s talking about, Beauty Spot, Valentin’s worst nightmare comes true. The world stops caring about the silent film era and therefore Valentin as well, but Peppy wont leave her greatest idol in the dust.

    You will simply never have a more unique enjoyable experience watching a movie than when watching The Artist. Hazanivicius carries two important qualities in the making of this film, boldness and imagination. It is such an original and commendable idea to bring back the golden age of movies through an actual silent film but being the actual one to do it makes Hazanavicius praiseworthy enough for stepping up to the plate. There are obvious challenges and restrictions when it comes to making a silent film however, to Hazanivicius they are only ways to express his ingenuity, which make this film all the more lovable. With every frame, you see his love and enthusiasm for films of the now timeless era, and consequently find yourself falling in love with the style of filmmaking, whether you initially liked the style or not.

    His comedic and moving story makes you deeply connected to the stubborn and then pitiable Valentin, beautifully brought to life by the talented French actor Jean Dujardin. With his ever-entrancing moustache and handsome face, Dujardin carries the incredibly fragile film on his shoulders. Many people will have apprehension about seeing this film, but with Dujardin’s undying charisma and simultaneous weight in his character, you will be easily transported back to the era that once seemed so unfamiliar. Hazanvicius’ wife Berenice Bejo is impressively charming as rising star Peppy Miller as well, while John Goodman and James Cromwell also show off their acting skills in the different light of silent film.

    All the ardor and hard work given by the actors, producers and Hazanavicius is evident in each scene and gives off the same rewarding feeling last year’s Best Picture winner, The King’s Speech gave off. Realizing you have just fallen in love with the film, you just want to hug it when it’s over. The Artist is extremely clever, but it is also a poignant love story that warms your heart like nothing else.  As an original masterwork, The Artist is a winner that cannot be missed. 

Shame

Director: Steve McQueen
Writer: Steve McQueen
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan
Release Date: December 2, 2011
Length: 1 hour 41 minutes

    The writer and director of the critically acclaimed independent film Hunger, which revolved around the Irish hunger strike of 1981, Steve McQueen strikes astonishing and controversial filmmaking once again with the highly anticipated Shame. The film stars the 2011 male equivalent to Jessica Chastain, breakout star Michael Fassbender (Jane Eyre, X-Men First Class) as Brandon Sullivan, a highly successful and sex addicted thirty something living in New York City. 

    The film opens with a long shot of Brandon’s grief ridden and painful expression assumedly after masturbating in bed. When he makes the harsh sound of opening the blinds, a severe light comes across the shot of the bed, he has just gotten out of, setting the tone of McQueen’s excruciatingly long and real shooting. Watching Brandon’s “routine” so to speak, hiring a pricey call girl while ignoring a series of pleading voicemails from his sister, we see the very prosperous Brandon has no emotional connection to anything or anyone. 

    One day, Brandon returns to his posh apartment, to find his immature but troubled sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) in his shower, with all her things sprawled out over the rest of his apartment. After she persistently begs, Brandon agrees to let her stay with him for a few days, giving into her charmingly childish manner. As the film continues, with a magnifying glass we analyze McQueen’s heavily layered protagonist through his different relationships with few people in his life. Whenever Brandon is not experiencing the ecstasy of having sex or nearing it, he is a pit of wordless Shame and failure, which we see in his dysfunctional relationship with his sensitively needy opposite sister. To Brandon, sex is free of any emotion, a way to escape from his life, while to her, sex is a way to get emotionally closer to another person, and expresses her depression through an addiction to self harm rather than sex. Sissy’s emotional need to be close to Brandon and his more than cruel anger toward her make for a beyond distraught and almost creepy relationship. You are brought to a level of sadness because of the purely unfair aggression Brandon has against Sissy, and because of the realized familial love and care he has for her that comes to light later on.  

    When Brandon goes out on a traditional dinner date with a pretty co-worker, we are surprised at how awkward and cute he is in contrast to his suaveness and sexiness when he is strictly trying to lure women into bed. This part of Brandon helps make him a real character for the audience to somehow connect to, as opposed to an exaggerated manic sex addict, with no sanity whatsoever. Through all of his well thought out and commendably layered written work, McQueen wins us over with originality and intense realism. However, it is through his deep creation of the fascinating Brandon we are so utterly captivated. You just can’t guess that you’re going to walk out of the theatre sympathizing and almost empathizing for a violent and sex crazed character. 

    From the most incredible work of Irish actor Michael Fassbender, you get that bowled over connection. As the second biggest Oscar snub of the year, right behind Michael Shannon of Take Shelter, Fassbender, without almost any dialogue, instantly pulls you into the distressed mind of Brandon, something you might have been weary about before the film began. Carey Mulligan gives a performance that rises far above her beyond splendid work in her breakout film, An Education, showing how far the twenty six year old actress has grown in only two years. Her incomparable portrayal of the unbearably sensitive Sissy simply drains us of emotion, with a brilliant hauntingly slow and different spin on the usually upbeat “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra. 

    This film brings Mr.Fassbender and Ms. Mulligan to the height of some of the most extraordinary acting today, but not without the innovative mind of arguably the most challenging filmmaker today. McQueen’s exceedingly unique style of filmmaking turns Shame itself into a unique movie experience. Through his incredibly long, harsh and head on frames, he makes us understand that life does speed from getting onto a train, leaving it, walking to work, being inside the building. When there is any tension or important emotion that is trying to be conveyed on screen by the characters, McQueen makes you experience every anguished, awkward or painful second the characters have to go through. When Brandon is in an elevator anxious (as the audience is as well) to get upstairs, all I could think was “why can’t McQueen just cut to him walking into his apartment already?”.  

    It’s that painful realism though, that makes Shame the most authentic film of the year, and with its achievements in filmmaking and acting, Shame is by far one of the best films of the year. Though of course there are often almost unwatchable explicit scenes of sex, I can assure you it is not there for shock value or for pure vulgarity. With work from a visionary, performed by two masters of their craft, Shame will pull you through an emotional roller coaster, leaving you exhausted but extremely affected by this independent tour de force. 

Young Adult

Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Diablo Cody
Starring: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt
Release Date: December 9, 2011
Length: 1 hour 34 minutes

    The legendary and talented duo - director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody - give us a less quirky and cute and more darkly honest film than their 2007 Ellen Page hit Juno. Instead of an interesting romcom, they create a brutally revealing look at what happens to the girl who peaked during high school and has yet to grow up in Young Adult. Academy Award winner Charlize Theron plays that extremely unlikable and knock out gorgeous girl Mavis Gary, a ghostwriter for a young adult (teen) fiction series, living by herself in a cluttered Minneapolis apartment. Her morning routine is waking up to the Kardashians, chugging diet coke for breakfast, downing some bourbon, playing Wii and eventually sitting down to do her job. 

    When Mavis receives an unexpected baby arrival email from her high school boyfriend, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson), she decides to return to the hometown she so happily escaped years ago, Mercury, Minnesota. The annoying people she escaped from Mercury think of her as a glamorous writer in the city. Wow, are they are in for a wake up call and so is Mavis when she attempts to win back the happily married Buddy. Cody and Reitman, who were producers on this film as well, are successful, admired and well known enough to create something as bizarre as Young Adult. Without following an outline, without meeting any of our expectations and told through the eyes of a woman we never take a liking to, the film wins the rolling the dice award for 2011. The obscurity of Young Adult makes it surprisingly refreshing but also incredibly hard to sell. 

    From trailers, posters, etc…you may be expected to think that this is simply a weird comedy like Juno, but this is anything but. Of course, you will have more than a few laughs from Cody’s brilliantly clever writing, but you will find that every laugh has an upsetting undertone and that Mavis’ ridiculous comments purposefully become less and less amusing as the film continues. Maybe the idea of Mavis trying to win back a new father is not that funny. Young Adult has a slightly similar turn from humor to seriousness that Reitman’s last film Up In The Air had as well. Reitman is skilled at not making everything dramatic, but letting what is truly the matter with these characters surface to the screen eventually. 

    The unique collaborative effort Cody and Reitman have created was brought to life by no more than one of the best working actresses in Hollywood. Theron is pitch perfect as the endlessly immature Mavis, who has no idea of her actions upon others. Hearing a storyline about a girl trying to get back her old boyfriend who is now married with a kid seems absolutely ridiculous. However, Theron impressively makes us actually believe this delusional girl thinks her plan is going to work and she really does not care about anyone that she hurts along the way. No, we never actually take a liking to Mavis’ selfishness, but there is a point near the end where Theron surprisingly makes you feel so bad for this wasted childish girl, who will never get anywhere higher from the low point she is at now. 

    Though we have discovered a film can work with an unlikable protagonist, there still needs to be someone we can empathize with on screen, a “straight man” so to speak, and in the case of Young Adult that is comedian Patton Oswalt. Oswalt, who many know from his role on The United States Of Tara, plays the crippled chubby Matt Freehauf, who was permanently injured by high school bullies in a gay hate crime, besides the fact that he’s not gay. Matt recognizes Mavis at a bar when she comes home and forms an unlikely bond with her even though, she only treats him slightly nicer than she did in high school and seemingly only has an interest in getting wasted with Matt. He tries talking sense into Mavis, who he can tell is headed down a disastrous path. However, she refutes everything he says with her nonsense about the fact her and Buddy are supposed to end up together. Oswalt provides that much needed maturity, stability and self-deprecation that Mavis completely lacks and gives us a key character to empathize for as well. Patrick Wilson is also great as Buddy, someone you can’t help but empathize for. He just had a baby with his loving wife Beth (Elizabeth Reaser) and now his gorgeous old girlfriend comes back into town, expecting him to drop everything and move to Minneapolis with her. 

    The off-the-wall premise of a girl who thinks she has it all, but in fact has nothing, rings so burningly true in a story of choosing whether or not to grow up. Hauntingly affective, but far from rewarding, Young Adult is the best feel-bad movie of the year. 

New Year's Eve

Director: Garry Marshall
Writer: Katherine Fugate
Starring:...everyone
Release Date: December 4, 2011
Length:1 hour 58 minutes

    Hollywood’s latest installment of all its actors is the tasteless, banal, and completely ridiculous romantic comedy New Year’s Eve. From the forever-beloved director of Pretty Woman, filled with every pretty star you can name, and with the plot revolving around another non-religious holiday, this is essentially a sequel to Marshall’s similar money-stealing disaster of 2010, Valentine’s Day. Aw, but it seemed like this one would be so cute.

    The center point to this plot, which is all over the place, is the handsome Josh Duhamel as Sam, traveling to The Big Apple via any way possible to meet a woman he enjoyed his last New Year’s with, who he doesn’t know the name of. Now add a few connecting subplots to that like Jessica Biel and Seth Meyers as a young expecting couple on New Year’s Eve, or Hilary Swank running the big New Year’s show at Times Square, and you have one still probably cheesy, still probably clichéd, but cute and comprehensible movie. Add about as many sub plots as you can to be the highest grossing film of the year, and you are left with the perplexing story of bringing people together on one night in New Year’s Eve.

    I almost feel like just reposting my review for Valentine’s Day because I could directly apply the same critiques for New Year’s Eve as well. There are most definitely a few storylines, characters and actors you can take a liking to within the film, but you just wish that the entire film could revolve around them and only them because you only get to witness about five minutes of each relationship. However, even though you may find something you like, most likely the one that is headed by the strongest actors, you still have to get through the rest of the absurdly crafted stories and characters.

    Screenwriter Katharine Fugate crams cliché and predictability into multiple five-minute narratives, but she makes the biggest mistake of all by trying to add dramatic sub plots into the film. One character is a dying man that wants to see the ball drop once before he dies, played by Robert De Niro, and another is a nurse (Halle Berry) that dresses up to be with her husband in Iraq via Skype. It’s bad enough to add unexpected drama into what you thought was a light film, but to cram it in into three token emotional minutes of screen time just prevents any real appreciation of it. On top of the lack of depth or thought behind the plots, there is laughable dialogue you can’t take seriously either. For instance, when Sarah Jessica Parker’s character finds her daughter escaped from her room, the most screenwriter Katharine Fugate could come up with is “I fought so hard for custody” as she storms out of the room.

    As expected, the only strong aspect of the film is the acting from the comically talented and trained members of the cast and for any of them to shine through the lack of a script is praiseworthy enough. Head writer and star of SNL, Seth Meyers and Jessica Biel bring out the most laughs and are incredibly cute. Lea Michele, who plays a back-up singer about to do her first gig at Times Square, and Ashton Kutcher, who plays a New Year’s misanthrope are also somewhat sweet when their characters are stuck in an elevator together. Zac Efron is somehow still charming in his annoying subplot of helping a middle aged woman, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, in her search to complete her new year’s resolutions before midnight. Bon Jovi as the famous musician Jensen and Katherine Heigl as his old flame, Laura, seem completely unbelievable as love interests, especially because it is hard to believe that a global rock star had a long romantic history with a caterer.

    Excluding some funny one-liners brought out almost solely by Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara as Laura’s co-worker, the script provides nothing for the cast to work with and is what makes the film so unrewarding. When you can’t even enjoy a chick flick like this as a “I know it’s cheesy, but it’s cute” guilty pleasure, than it just shows you how much thought and time went behind creating the film. Something that also signals a bad movie might be when the most enjoyable part of the movie is the credits, when the actors mess up with lines and come up with better quotes than the screenwriter does.

    As for Mr. Gary Marshall, as bad as this may sound, after Georgia Rule and Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve hits the trifecta of disappointments from him. Though I once loved The Princess Diaries and Beaches, unfortunately, now I think I’ll tend to stay away from his films when they come to theatres, as you should with New Year’s Eve.