The animated film Epic is anything but, but it does have some nice things about it. Colin Farrell gives an engaging vocal performance as ... I can't really remember his character's name, not that it really matters. He plays a tough soldier, a "Leaf Man," and he gets to use his own Irish accent. I actually can't remember any of the character's names. It's a very ephemeral movie. It's undeniably sweet and pretty, but it's as fleeting as a summer's day. Maybe that's the point.
The animation is beautiful, set mostly in a magical forest. Comic relief comes in the form of Chris O'Dowd and Aziz Ansari, who are suitably amusing as a couple of snails — pardon me, that's a snail and a slug — who befriend young heroine Amanda Seyfried, who like Alice, gets magically miniaturized. Teenage Mary Katherine, or M.K., as she prefers to be called (I looked the character's name up on imdb) must help her new friends save the world from the evil Mandrake (Cristoph Waltz), who has cornered the bad guy market in recent films.
Less impressive are Beyoncé as a fairy queen and Josh Hutcherson as a smart-alecky teen. The movie shares some similarities to the other recent adaptation of a book by William Joyce, holiday fare Rise of the Guardians. Wise-cracking youth — check. Gorgeous animation — check. Extremely nasty villain — check. Fairy tale theme — check.
These are all actually great things to have in a kid's movie. I just wish that maybe the two young leads from different worlds, what's-her-name and who's-he-what, were just a tad more memorable characters. Still, considering that most of the multiplex fare is completely unsuitable to take the kid to, Epic is actually a fine and fun way to spend some time on rainy day.
I have to admit that I stopped keeping up with Woody Allen's films on a regular basis in the mid- '90s. Deconstructing Harry was probably the last one I saw in a movie theater until the recent Midnight in Paris. I have seen a few of his more recent output — Match Point is a definite highlight, a modern morality play similar in theme to his earlier, very dark Crimes and Misdemeanors. Allen seems to be drawn to filming moral dilemmas (as well as repeating himself) as evidenced by two of his British-set films that I caught up with recently — Scoop and Cassandra's Dream. Both films use murder to move along their plots, but Allen isn't worried about the body count — he wants the audience to know how he and his characters feel about the inevitability of death.
Woody Allen, Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman in Scoop
Scoop tries to work as an old-school Allen comedy. It features his most recent muse, Scarlett Johansson, as Sondra, a student reporter who starts getting tips from a deceased crack reporter, Joe Strombel (Ian McShane), after volunteering in two-bit magician Sid's (Woody Allen) on-stage show. Strombel, even after death, is wild to break the story of the Tarot Card Killer, and he urges Sondra to follow his leads, which implicate handsome aristocrat Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Sondra and Sid both start to see Strombel and team up to investigate Lyman. But Lyman soon charms the pants off of Sondra and she is falling fast. Is she falling in love with a serial killer? Does she even care? Scoop doesn't really work. Johannsen and Jackman have absolutely no chemistry. It's pretty unbelievable that he would be charmed, even moderately interested, in this gawkey, dopey girl. Allen is mildly amusing, and McShane is criminally underused. There is something too serious, too stilted to the pacing. The film and the comedy never take off. Maybe Allen couldn't shake off the mood of his previous film, Match Point.
Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman), "I just can't get the vision of you in your swimsuit out of my head."
Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson), "Oh I'm glad you liked it! It was marked down!"
Sid Waterman (Woody Allen), "The man is a liar and a murderer, and I say that with all due respect."
Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor in Cassandra's Dream
Allen made the much more interesting Cassandra's Dream right after Scoop, and returned to a more serious-toned investigation of murder. Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell play two brothers, Ian and Terry, who are faced with a dilemma. Terry (Farrell) owes a lot of money and is being threatened with harm unless he can come up with it. Enter their Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson), who will be happy to lend them the money and solve all their problems, if they can just do him one little favor — eliminate a pesky business rival. The brothers' different reactions to whether or not to do the crime and the resulting aftershock make up the rest of the movie. Both McGregor and Farrell are great — they seem to switch back and forth between who is the "good" brother and who is the "bad" one, leaving themselves and the audience hopelessly muddled in a gray area. The story itself isn't much; it's how the characters react to the choices (or lack of choices) they face.
Ian and Terry's Father (John Benfield), "Like the poet said: 'The only ship certain to come in has black sails.'"
Ian (Ewan McGregor), "He was right about one thing. Once you cross the line, there's no going back."
Supporting players in Cassandra's Dream include a lot of familiar, talented faces: John Benfield, Hayley Atwell, Sally Hawkins, and Jim Carter. Blink and you might miss some of them. Allen definitely likes the ensemble theater approach.
Watching these two films made me think about Woody Allen and actors. He likes to populate his films with the most talented and current actors around, but they frequently operate as position holders in his filmic chess games. Maybe he has never really been overly interested in them. The exceptions come when the actor has such a strong personality or film identity that they are able to transcend or avoid Allen-itis. Some examples of successful avoiders and victims of Allen-itis:
Midnight in Paris — Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard are appealing people and we connect to their acting personas. Rachel McAdams fares not as well, playing a classic Allen demanding girlfriend, her character and dialogue is caught in the Allen-itis loop.
Marion Cotillard and Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris
Celebrity — A complete mess. Watching (and listening to) Kenneth Branagh try to sound like Woody Allen is a painful experience.
Everyone Says I Love You — although almost all of the actors suffer from Allen-itis in this film, although it somehow manages to be less obnoxious because of the music (numbers performed by Edward Norton and Goldie Hawn especially) and light tone. Tim Roth's brilliant portrayal of an ex-con who temporarily sweeps Drew Barrymore off her feet transcends Allen-itis and the rest of the movie.
Husbands and Wives — one of Woody's best, thanks to Judy Davis, who is able to brilliantly channel Allen's need for a neurotic character into her own special, specific rhythms. Davis has worked with Woody many times (To Rome with Love, Celebrity, Deconstructing Harry, Husbands and Wives, Alice).
His movies with Mia Farrow — The Purple Rose of Cairo, Broadway Danny Rose, Hannah and Her Sisters, etc. Farrow is such a wonderful, human actress that even when he had her try to approximate his patter she was able to transcend Allen-itis, especially charmingly in The Purple Rose of Cairo.
His movies with Diane Keaton — Annie Hall, Sleeper, Manhattan, etc. Keaton has such a distinct personality that it is likely that she helped shape Allen's oeuvre in the '70s more than vice-versa. In fact maybe Allen-itis is really and truly Keaton-itis ...
"I never work with actors, I just hire them. It's the truth. You know, I hire terrific people. Who have I worked with over the years: Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Judy Davis, Helen Hunt, Tracey Ullman, Goldie Hawn, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh. I mean I've worked with these wonderful people who were great before I knew them. They come in, they're great. They do their part great. I don't speak to them much. I have very little to say to them. And they go. And everybody thinks that I'm handling the actors. But I'm not. I'm saying, you know "Change the script. Do what you want. Wear want you want. Walk where you want". You know, and they're saying "Oh, thank you." — An interview with Woody Allen by Lucy Cooper
"I never try to talk to them. There's no point. You have Anthony Hopkins. What am I going to say to him? I hire them to get out of their way. They've made great movie before me, they'll make great movies after me, and I just don't want to mess them up." — Directors Tell the Story: Master the Craft of Television and Film Directing By Bethany Rooney, Mary Lou Belli
“Woody doesn’t direct at all,” he told The Orange County Register. “Seriously, he says that all the time. He doesn’t know how to direct. He says he hires you to do your job, and then he fires you if you can’t. On Purple Rose of Cairo, he started with Michael Keaton, who worked for three weeks, and then he let him go. He couldn’t use any of it. Then Eric Roberts came in, and worked for 10 days, and then Woody let him go, too. A third actor came in, but I can’t remember who that was. And, finally, he got Jeff Daniels.”
“I had a different brother in Crimes and Misdemeanors for the first three days. Woody knows what he wants, but he doesn’t direct. He lets you completely on your own. He doesn’t want to talk about the movie. He’ll talk about the Knicks, about hockey, about anything. If the circus is in town, he’ll tell you how much he hates clowns. Anything to not talk about directing.” — Martin Landau on Working with Woody Allen and the Trouble with Writers: “They have all the characters speaking the same way” DailyActor
Maybe he doth protest too much? A Woody Allen movie is fun for the film buff, as one is sure to see some great and popular actors. Allen always works with top talent. He's an artist who knows what he wants. Like all artists, not every work is a masterpiece, but when he gets it right, he gets it very right, as evidenced by more recent films in his oeuvre, Midnight in Paris, Match Point and Cassandra's Dream. For a man who knocks out one film a year, it's pretty hard to argue with his method with actors.
Movies are a great form to tell stories, but some of the best out there forgo traditional narrative for a slice of life. These films offer glimpses into people's lives; lives that seem full and real and would go on whether the audience was in the theater or not. There may be a love story woven into the film, and dramatic scenes, but the romance isn't the point of the movie, nor is the drama engineered so that the characters learn some valuable lesson. They live and we watch them.
Syracuse and the catch of the day
Two great movies of this sort are Ondine andThe Station Agent. Both movies, apart from letting us spend time with some great characters, are also set in places that are off-the-beaten-track. They feature people who live outside of big cities, whose lives don't center around plots involving saving the world, or seeking revenge, or getting the girl (or boy).
I have to admit that besides the great acting, a big appeal that these films have for me is their total lack or need of anything big or big city about them. I love to watch a blockbuster movie, but not all the time. I also love big cities, and have lived in two (New York and D.C.) and visited many (London, Paris, Cairo, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Amsterdam) but at this time in my life the lure of a big town is about null.
When I was young and in my twenties being somewhere with a lot of visual and aural stimulation was great. I wanted all of that noise: "You've got to try this place, see this show" and so on. Being in the navel of the world, feeling that everything is happening in your town, can make you feel not just that your finger is on the pulse, but reassured. You're never alone. There are so many others there for the same reason, after the same, indefinable "it" experience. But now that I am more removed from that sort of hustle and bustle other things take more precedence. I notice nature more. Have time to shoot the breeze with total strangers. Get caught up in nuance. These films touch on that type of experience.
In Ondine, Syracuse (Colin Farrell), nicknamed "Circus," is a recovering alcoholic and fisherman. He is divorced and devoted to his only daughter, Annie (a very good Alison Barry). His life is pretty basic. trying to spend as much time as he can with Annie, make a living off the sea, and stay off the booze. His friends and neighbors aren't convinced he isn't still a drunk, but he is a man who is trying hard to live a better life. Annie is on dialysis, due to serious kidney problems, and must frequently use a motorized wheelchair. They have a close relationship, which can handle some teasing banter.
Annie, "You sure it's not some kind of wish-fulfillment kind of thing?"
Syracuse, "Where did you learn words like that?"
Annie, "I go to school."
Syracuse, "And I didn't ..."
Annie, "No. Let's be honest, you didn't. You move your mouth when you read."
As the film opens, Syracuse fishes a young woman (Alicja Bachleda) out of the sea. She tells him her name is Ondine, like the water spirit. When he tells Annie a story about a fisherman who found a woman in his nets Annie does a little research and becomes convinced that Ondine is a selkie. The movie strikes just the right tone between real life, despair, and fantasy. The setting, County Cork, Ireland, is gorgeous, as are the actors. It's a fairytale, but never twee — a lyrical film from the great Neil Jordan.
Alison Barry and Colin Farrell
In The Station Agent Peter Dinklage plays Fin — quiet, handsome, and a dwarf. A train enthusiast, he has inherited the station house in a small town in Newfoundland, New Jersey, from his recently deceased closest (and only) friend. He wants to keep himself to himself, but he can't help getting involved with four of the locals.
Fin, "You said you weren't going to talk to me if I sat here, Joe."
Joe, "I haven't said anything in like twenty minutes."
Fin checks his pocket watch, "Nine."
Joe "You timed me? "
Fin, "Mm-hmm."
Joe, "That's cold, bro."
One, Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), nearly runs him over as he walks down the road (twice). She has her own troubles — her young son died two years ago and she is separated from her husband and is trying to sort out her life. Another, Joe (Bobby Cannavale), a loquacious food truck vendor, as soon as he meets Fin is determined to be his friend whether he likes him or not. The third, Emily (Michelle Williams), a young woman who works in the local library, sparks his interest. And the fourth, a young girl named Cleo, shares his love of trains and wants him to come and talk to her class at school. Fin has spent so much of his life dodging stares and stupid "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" remarks that he is unprepared for people who like him for himself, aren't put off by his stature.
Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannavale
Fin, "I'm retired, actually."
Emily, "Aren't you a little young to be retired?"
Fin, "No, dwarves retire early. Common fact."
Emily, "Yeah, lazy dwarves."
Writer/Director Thomas McCarthy has assembled a great cast. Dinklage is wonderful, as are his costars, in this slice of life about love and grief and loneliness and friendship. They all make Newfoundland, New Jersey a great place to spend some time.
If you like to get caught up in nuance, or would like a break from the latest animated extravaganza, romantic comedy, high-tech thriller, or zombie apocalypse, I highly recommend a slice of life film. Ondine andThe Station Agent are two great places to start.
There are so many wonderful blogs out there for the movie buff. DVD Beaver may at first sight seem just a nice compendium for searching which DVD's are available for sale, but once you start to dig a little deeper, you might not be able to stop. One discovery leads to another. Not only are there links to hard-to-find films, but there are synopses, reviews, original posters and DVD covers, plus all sorts of technical info (DVD and Blu-ray specs, extras), too. My favorite feature — wonderful images from great movies:
tries to work as an old-school Allen comedy. It features his most recent muse, Scarlett Johansson, as Sondra, a student reporter who starts getting tips from a deceased crack reporter, Joe Strombel (Ian McShane), after volunteering in two-bit magician Sid's (Woody Allen) on-stage show. Strombel, even after death, is wild to break the story of the Tarot Card Killer, and he urges Sondra to follow his leads, which implicate handsome aristocrat Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Sondra and Sid both start to see Strombel and team up to investigate Lyman. But Lyman soon charms the pants off of Sondra and she is falling fast. Is she falling in love with a serial killer? Does she even care? Scoop doesn't really work. Johannsen and Jackman have absolutely no chemistry. It's pretty unbelievable that he would be charmed, even moderately interested, in this gawkey, dopey girl. Allen is mildly amusing, and McShane is criminally underused. There is something too serious, too stilted to the pacing. The film and the comedy never take off. Maybe Allen couldn't shake off the mood of his previous film, Match Point.
