Drive

Best Director Winner: Nicolas Winding Refn

A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

One thing that is for sure from my perspective and pretty much every other movie goers that I know of, is that this movie is completely different than what one expects having only seen the trailer. That may sound like a turn-off for some, but let me tell you, I welcomed and loved this unexpected movie. It’s not just a movie with fast cars and stunts and get-away chase scenes. It really is so much more.

We are introduced right away to the driver [Ryan Gosling]. We don’t know his name, we don’t know his story, we just know that he does one thing very well: drive. He part times at a garage, and is preparing to start driving in stock car races. He comes across a mother [Carey Mulligan] and her young child, neighbors of his, and becomes close with her. When her husband returns from jail a week later, he tells the driver that he needs his help getting out of some trouble. The heist, however, goes terribly wrong, and the movie takes a huge turn the rest of the way.

Despite our knowing nothing of this hero of ours, Gosling is able to draw our sympathies and our caring for his character and his situation. He gives a powerful performance and has really convinced me of his talent, something I wasn’t sure of in the past. I was under the impression that he was just a face in Hollywood, something we see a lot of. This is not case, and this movie is the only proof I need. The rest of the cast is a pitch perfect job of casting, especially with the vulnerable woman Gosling falls for, which Mulligan can do in her sleep. Other noteable names that show up are Bryan Cranston as the drivers mechanic, Albert Brooks as the sort of kingpin that gets the driver involved in this heist, and Ron Pearlman, the partner of Brooks’ character.

There is a very unique feel to this movie, accomplished by the direction, the writing, and the soundtrack, all of which I absolutely loved. Many people have told me of the fine work that director Nicolas Winding Refn does, but this is the first movie of his that I’ve seen, and man, what a first impression. Although it’s not my area of expertise, everyone else will note the film-noir style of the film, which with my little knowledge of, I’d have to agree. Even the font used in the opening credits backs up the personality of this film. The whole thing just feels real. I don’t even know if there was a single clip of computer generated images, something you likely never see in this age of films. The action is genuine, and sometimes even graphic, and we feel connected to the people and the reasons that they are in this action. It really is an incredible feeling. There’s really nothing bad I can say about the entire movie, like, at all, anywhere. And having said that, there’s really only one rating I can give it, right?

My Rating:

 4.0/4.0 – Cannes ‘Best Director’ winner Nicolas Winding Refn gives us a story reminiscent of the film-noir style of the past, a film with a story, characters, drama, and action that we can really feel.

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Melancholia

Best Actress Winner: Kirsten Dunst

Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

A film that from the trailer and synopsis alone has had many people very intrigued, and it ended up having a very good showing at Cannes, taking home the best actress award from Kirsten Dunst [Spider Man, Bring It On] and writer director Lars von Trier [Dogville, Breaking the Waves] was also nominated for the Palme d’Or. All of that combined with the list of the cast should be enough to intrigue any general movie-goer.

The film starts with a charmingly dark and troubling opening sequence of extreme slow-mo shots of what we assume to be the nearing of the new planet to Earth, with weird electricity shooting out of fingers and some outer-space views of the ever closer growing planets. You also see something very specific happen, but I won’t spoil it. I’ll just say that it is very telling of things to come. At least, not yet.

We then get into the story. Justine [Dunst] and Michael [Alexander Skarsgård] have just been married, and are having an expensive reception at a massive golf course estate, owned by Justine’s sister and husband. The entire family is fighting throughout with their own pasts and problems. Justine’s sister Claire [Charlotte Gainsbourg], the maid of honor-type trying to make the plans go along smoothly, their mother Gaby [Charlotte Rampling] reflecting all of her marriage problems onto everyone else, while Claire’s husband John [Keifer Sutherland] pays for it all. Everyone is suspicious and/or frustrated with Justine’s second thoughts. John Hurt plays Justine’s father Dexter, and Stellan Skarsgård as her boss. 

The events unravel, and Justine becomes depressed. All the while, a certain red star in the sky is noticed, and we learn bits and pieces about a planet called Melancholia that has been hidden behind the sun that is supposed to pass by the Earth. Claire is frightened that it could collide with Earth, and John, who has some sort of astronomy background, tells her of it’s passing Mercury and Venus without hitting, and assures her that it will not hit Earth. They can see it growing nearer in the sky every day, and Justine gets worse along with it. Random snowfalls, horses behaving strangely, John gathering supplies; the planet’s passing is clearly affecting many things on Earth.

The time grows closer to the point of the passing, and Justine is in a state of calm, speaking of things she says she knows, like that there is no life anywhere else in the universe. The night finally comes, when Melancholia rises over the horizon at an incredibly close distance, it’s passing rumbling and powerful. It turns out that John wasn’t as sure as he said when assuring Claire that the planet would pass at a safe distance. The air literally gets hard to breathe due to atmospheric effects, but they find that the planet is fading away.

Later that day, however, Claire looks again, only to see the planet is now getting closer. Justine notes that the horses have calmed.

This is where I tell you how the movie ends. It’s not necessary to read the next paragraph, and I will continue on as planned after it, without spoilers.

SPOILER ALERT

Claire looks for John to ask him what about it, and she finds that he has taken the suicide pills that Claire had previously bought in her state of paranoia and fear. Claire tries to flee the estate to go to the village, only to find that cars do not start. She starts off in a golf cart with her son, a pouring rain having developed, but does not make it far into the golf course, where the rain turns to hail. Justine stays behind, waiting outside in a serene state, seemingly accepting the coming fate. Claire returns and puts her son back to bed. Justine shoots down Claire’s request of ending it in some sort of peaceful manner. Justine continues outside where she finds Claire’s son, who says he’s afraid that the planet will hit Earth. She tells him that they can build a magic cave and be protected, and they continue into the nearby woods to gather sticks to build it. You see bugs and worms crawling out of the ground in the footsteps they leave behind. They build a small fort out of sticks, and Claire, her son and Justine all sit inside and wait, eyes closed, holding hands. The planet radiates a strong blue light, powerful winds start to blow, and we are given a straight away shot of Melancholia colliding into Earth.

END SPOILERS

Although I don’t think Dunst will win any other awards for her performance in this movie, her’s and Gainsbourg’s really are very true and worthy of praise. I just don’t think that there is enough air time for either of them to really win anything for it. The fellow cast also do great.

Trier delivers to us in Melancholia an apocalypse, but in an elegant and almost peaceful manner. The whole look and feel throughout the movie is not telling of such a conclusion, yet the end doesn’t really surprise or upset you. It is quite the combination of actual story and presentation of it. The visuals really are quite stunning as well, both the cinematography and the added in effects of the planet.

My Rating:

 3.0/4.0 – With an awesome all around cast, lead by great performances from Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lars von Trier delivers to us in Melancholia an apocalypse, but in an elegant and almost peaceful manner.

Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy is a story that most every person that I know personally is going to have additional connection with, and in this day and age, a lot of others will too. It is a film that offers insight into something that a lot of us have probably not really thought about.

We are introduced to a Bill, played by Michael Sheen (Underworld, Frost/Nixon), Kate, played by Maria Bello (A History of Violence, World Trade Center), and their son Sam, played by Kyle Gallner. We are given the hint at marriage troubles, but nothing is flat out said. Sam is away at school, and we can see that he is struggling with something, as he is on the verge of tears when he calls his parents, who know nothing of his troubles and only offer standard college parent advice. The following morning, all over the news are reports of a suicide shooting spree at Sam’s school. Later that day, Bill and Kate are met by police at the door, bearing the bad news. But there is more; Sam was the shooter.

The film continues to show Bill and Kate’s struggles as they try to live after an inexplicable tragedy.

Sheen and Bello really hold down this film, their emotion, sadness, confusion, frustration, and fright are palpable. They are playing a role not ever done before, and it gives one possible example of what such lives would be like, and its not pretty.

The movie itself is sort of frustrating, as for the parents, answers won’t be found for why such a thing would/could happen to them and their child. We are also left without answers, to questions like “Did we do something wrong?” and “Was there something we didn’t do?”. Director and co-writer Shawn Ku presents these questions, but no real conclusion is drawn. I do like the usual camera style of such personal movies, a hand-held-esque shot.

It is hard not to call it predictable, because it is not a story that is supposed to have twists or unexpected things happen. You should know that going in, because the story is really a straight shot. Once you understand the premise, you’re pretty much given the whole movie. It ends with a glimpse of happiness, but only a bitter one.

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I know that some people reading this could have issues with what message is sent in this movie, whether it be that people that perform these school shootings should have our empathy, or that all kids that are quiet and un-involved are capable of such things. If you do decide to watch this movie, I ask you to try not to take too much away from it, and approach it with an open mind. It is, after all, only a movie, designed and aimed to entertain us and allow us to feel differently than we normally would. I really did enjoy the film, and I would recommend it even to people who know this kind of tragedy as well as I do.

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My Rating

 3.0 / 4.0 – Beautiful Boy is a different viewpoint on an unfortunately common event, school shootings, and their effects on the parents of the culprit. Although it goes along how everyone probably thinks it does, the movie presents it in a good fashion.

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