Movie Review #5: Habemus Papam

Italy – Drama – 104 minutes – Italian – 2011 – Director: Nanni Moretti – Cast: Nanni Moretti, Michel Piccoli, Marghherita Buy, Jerzy Stuhr

One does not usually associate humor with Catholicism. Well that’s not entirely true.  One does not usually associate humor with the pope. Well that’s not entirely true either. But the Italian film Habemus Papam, directed by Nanni Moretti, is a uniquely hilarious take on the Vatican, conclave, and the election of a new pope. Witty and clever dialogue and funny situational comedy are found throughout its entire running time. Habemus Papam, which means “we have a new pope” in Latin, has humor that runs parallel to a story arc with strong character development. The mix of comedy with this character development results in a crowd-pleasing, “best of both worlds” comedy/drama film with both emotional and thematic depth.

The plot begins with a cardinal procession into the Vatican. After the death of the pope, all of the cardinals from around the world must gather together and elect a new pope from the pool of cardinals. After a nail-biting vote, the cardinals elect a man named Melville (Michel Piccoli). Upon receiving the alleged honor, Melville completely breaks down into tears. The other cardinals must kill time while Melville clamors over his apprehension; conclave cannot end until a new pope is elected and their name is officially announced to the public. A psychiatrist (Nanni Moretti), who is later revealed to be an atheist, is brought into the Vatican to unveil any internal demons Melville may be hiding keeping inside of himself. The interplay between Melville, the psychiatrist, and the other cardinals becomes the films main source of humor and drama.

From the beginning of the film, Habemus Papam presents the relatively serious event of conclave in a surprisingly humorous way. After the cardinals vote for their selection of the Bishop of Rome (who will subsequently become the pope), the announcement and counting of each individual vote has them all on their knees. The camera cuts to cardinals of different ethnicity, races, and languages who are all praying to God not to be elected. Watching men of power within the Catholic religion all acting like children when placed into a vulnerable situation is a clever way to present the process of conclave. It’s ironic; these cardinals are essentially praying to God and asking to have less of a relationship with Him, since the pope does theoretically has the closest, most meaningful relationship with the Christian God.

Once Melville is announced as the winner of the election, his character arc has just begun. The film is extremely effective at capturing the amount of intense pressure that is placed upon Melville through the editing and chosen shots. One character asks Melville if he will accept the offered position, as if he has a choice. The other 107 cardinals are all watching him, anxiously awaiting the news that they themselves do not have to fulfill the position. After receiving the news that a pope had been elected, the huge crowd of people surrounding St. Peters Basilica erupts in crazy applause. The shots of the crowd seem to be filmed in to resemble a documentary which contrasts to the way the scenes in the interior of the Vatican look. The realistic shots of the crowd that repeat throughout give film a sense of authenticity that would almost trick my brain into thinking I was watching the real conclave. This, in turn, makes the film as a whole seem more realistic.

The introduction of the psychiatrist introduces an intriguing dynamic and also brings up amusing conundrums based on the contrasts between his own viewpoints and the viewpoints of the church. The psychiatrist wants to get inside the subconscious of Melville’s mind, but the Catholic Church doesn’t believe that a soul and a subconscious can coexist. The psychiatrist also tries to delve into Melville’s inner sinful fantasies and desires. But he cannot honestly respond to these questions while surrounded by his peers. Much of the cleverness and of the film is similar to this kind of joke. The characters are mixing science and religion in order to help Melville get out of his funk, but the twos relationship acts like a blend of oil and water.

A game of cardinal volleyball is started to kill time while the cardinals are trapped in conclave. This begins another clever joke as the volleyball game incites a debate about Darwinism versus creationism between the cardinals and the psychiatrist. Besides this though, the volleyball scene in the film is one of the best scenes in the film. Watching a group of cardinals intensely focus on returning a serve is extremely amusing, especially when you can see their robes swiftly rise up and swoosh through the air as they dive intently towards the ball. And this is once again an example of the humor used in Habemus Papam. It mocks the seriousness of the entire event, and transforms these somewhat intimidating men into innocent children who are thrilled to be having fun and letting go of their professional stiffness.

Besides humor, the main way the audience can connect through the story is through Melville’s character. A viewer of the film must watch a man who simultaneously doesn’t think he can handle the responsibility associated with becoming the pope and also thinks that God must want him to get over his fears and accept the role. Despite the religious elements of the plot, it is not a spiritual story. Melville isn’t questioning his faith; he is trying to overcome some sort of personal anxiety and depression by looking for passion in what used to be his normal life before entering the church. Later in the film, Melville is able to escape from the Vatican and seeks refuge in normal life. Seeing the man outside out of his robes and in normal clothing allows the audience to physically see Melville as just a man and not the future pope.

Although religion serves as a catalyst for the plot and a source of humor, both believers and non-believers can find enjoyment in Habemus Papam. Although it jokingly refers to some religious ideas, it’s never mean enough to divide the audience of the film. Its story is surprisingly sweet and charming. Some might deem the ending a little dark given the jovial attitude of the film, but as a whole it still hits all the right notes.

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May 24, 2011

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Movie Review #4: Oliver Sherman

Canada – Drama – 82 minutes – English – 2010 – Director: Ryan Redford – Cast: Donal Logue, Garret Dillahunt, Molly Parker

War is a topic that is quick to receive the Hollywood treatment in film. The innate action and drama easily creates an exciting story for moviegoers. But few films in recent memory have focused on the effects of the violence and atmosphere of war on a soldier that has returned home in a non-melodramatic way. Oliver Sherman, directed by Ryan Redford, tries with all of its might to focus on these emotions of a returning soldier and the way they affect the people around him. What sets Oliver Sherman apart from other movies in the same vein is its character-driven plot that treats each of its 3 main characters differing viewpoints with equal attention and respect. In this way, Oliver Sherman becomes less than just simply a war story and more of a complex and emotional drama of a scarred man trying to assimilate back into what’s left of his normal life.

The title character of Oliver Sherman is, weirdly enough, Sherman Oliver (Garrett Dillahunt), a war veteran returning home after serving in an unnamed war. He has been released from a military hospital after having been shot in the head. Without any blood relatives to see, he goes to visit a fellow war vet named Franklin (Donal Logue) who served with him in his company. In fact, this particular soldier saved his life. Franklin has been out of the military for 7 years and has had time to adjust from military life to his current way of living. Upon seeing Sherman and his downtrodden, emotional state, Franklin feels like he needs to take him under his wing. Unfortunately, Sherman changes the dynamic of Franklin’s family, which consists of his wife Irene (Molly Parker), his four-year-old son, and a newborn baby.

The plot of Oliver Sherman is structured around the emotions of the three central characters: Sherman, Franklin, and Irene. Each character’s perspective and viewpoint exists on a continuum that is based on their overall opinions and feelings concerning Sherman’s state of mind. The audience watches as Irene becomes more and more uncomfortable with Sherman’s presence while at the same time Sherman’s emotions and subsequent actions creep further and further into grief and malaise. Franklin must balance his feeling of needing to take care of his old friend and his feeling that he should integrate his wife’s opinion into his own. We understand and relate to Franklin as he struggles to pick a side. He has been in Sherman’s shoes before, and knows how difficult those shoes are to fill. He must decide whether he should put the needs of his family over Sherman’s immediate psychological needs.

The best thing about Oliver Sherman is the way the screenplay treats such a complex situation. The opinion of each character is completely valid given their personal viewpoint and background. Characters all act rationally, or at least try to act as rationally as they can. Irene repeatedly tells Franklin that Sherman is just feeling sorry for himself, and this is partly true. Sherman constantly spends time in the library reading books about war and morality. He’s stuck in the past and is not putting forth any effort at all to pull himself out of his depression. At the same time, only Sherman really understands the way he is feeling. Who are the characters or even the audience to question his own understanding of his past? Thus, the plot of the film slowly builds to a difficult emotional gridlock. The situation becomes intense for both the characters and the audience; there is no right answer to their dilemma.

The acting from all three lead actors is great, and allows the film to be extremely effective at representing a complex and emotional scenario. Both Donal Logue and Garrett Dillahunt, who are most known for comedic roles in Grounded for Life and Raising Hope respectively, play each of their characters in a sincere and graceful way. All of the performers are believable as these characters and handle intensely emotional scenes with a hefty dose of subtlety. This only further increases the validity of each of the characters perspectives. Not one character seems over-dramatic, which could possibly lead to a disconnection between that character and the audience.

The acting and cinematography cleanly complement one another.  Shots in the film are not flashy or especially striking, but they do not need to be. Anything too edgy or visually disorienting might distract from the overall feeling and tone of the film. Most shots are medium-close ups of the actor’s faces. One shot in particular that repeats throughout the film is Sherman, Franklin, and Irene all sitting together at the dinner table. This scene becomes a visual representation of the emotional gridlock present in the film, with the camera individually cutting onto each character in a close-up. Despite a seemingly nice, quasi-family dinner, the shots give the feeling that the characters are emotionally separated from each other.

War is the only the context for the emotion contained within the film. Sherman’s feelings of both physical and mental isolation are ones everyone can relate to, without needing to have served in the military. The choice of Oliver Sherman as the title of the film suggests that the character is a bit mixed up. He’s a little off-kilter. And it can be said that this is true of the film as a whole as well. It’s almost there, but not quite perfect. It’s rather short running time of 82 minutes results in an abrupt and depressing ending that doesn’t fully develop the end of each of the characters story arcs well enough to be completely satisfying. But perhaps this is intentional, as the end of life rarely wraps itself up into a neat little package. Overall, Oliver Sherman is a quiet and quaint little movie that packs a surprisingly strong emotional punch in the stomach.

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May 24, 2011

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Movie Review #3: Sleeping Beauty

Australia – Drama – 101 min – English – 2011 – Director: Julia Leigh – Cast: Chris Haywood, Emily Browning, Ewan Leslie, Peter Carroll, Rachel Blake

Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty, although same is name, is nothing like the Disney fairy tale. It is equivalent to the prick of a finger on a spinning wheel, a painful look into a haunting, exotic world of solicitation of the female body and control of the consciousness of female characters. In spite of creating strong visual imagery and scenes that convey these themes of female objectification, Sleeping Beauty fails to build a story with characters that the audience can relate to. The film holds up purely as a thesis statement at the beginning of an essay, but a main character void of emotion and a tedious, slow pacing fail to allow its message to come across in a captivating way.

Emily Browning plays Lucy, a university student who works many normal jobs to earn money. She makes copies in an office, cleans tables in a restaurant, and even becomes a lab rat for some sort of experiment involving a balloon going down her throat. Upon seeing an ad in the newspaper about an atypical waitressing job, she steps into an underground erotic world. Her job interview consists of an inspection of her body compared to the ideal female form, and a warning of harsh penalties for any acts of indiscretion. After working as a waitress at a private party, Lucy is promoted to a new position. Men will sleep with her while she is both drugged and asleep. There is only one rule for her clients: no penetration is allowed during their visits.

Lucy as a character is cold and detached throughout the duration of the film. She seemingly finds joy in lying to strangers and her friends around her. She has the money to pay for her apartment, but chooses not to pay it just because she can. She propositions a man in a bar without expressing any sort of emotion at all. She snorts a line of cocaine in a bathroom and drinks at a bar with a friend, while confessing in her interview that she does not do drugs or drink alcohol. Lucy does what she wants when she wants to without seeing any sort of overtly negative consequences from her actions. For this reason, it’s difficult to connect to the character on an emotional level, or even feel sorry for her when horrific things start happening to her.

The way that Sleeping Beauty is shot gives the viewer the feeling that they are watching a series of pretty images rather than a dynamic motion picture. A majority of the time, the frame is static and does not move for the entire duration of a scene. These scenes are long-takes with minimal dialogue without a score or music. Just as Lucy is a cold and detached character, the film itself feels cold and detached as well. The analogy of Sleeping Beauty to a series of images is further reinforced by the use of fade-ins and fade-outs between each shot. A shot will end, fade to black and then fade in to a new scene. The long and static scenes merged together in this way create a pace that becomes increasingly slow, dull, and tedious as the plot moves forward.

As mentioned before, the emotion from the film does not rest within any of the characters. The only way Sleeping Beauty is emotionally expressive at all is through the power of the tone and color composition of the setting of each shot. Colors within the frame create a distinct atmosphere for the different settings of the plot. While Lucy is working at her normal jobs, objects, walls, and even clothes are white or off-white. More color is injected into the scenes of her home life, while the luxury and rich colors of scenes in the manor and the bed in which she meets clients really differentiates that world to the one she actually lives in. One shot the film refers back to repeatedly is that of Lucy asleep in a large bed. The innocence of Emily Browning’s character in this state, whose face and pale, glowing skin tone are reminiscent of a ceramic doll, highly contrasts with the strangely erotic actions that will eventually occur in the bed in later scenes.

From my understanding, Sleeping Beauty is trying to explore themes of consciousness and the objectification of women, as well as forming an opinion on the meaning of prostitution. Perhaps the purpose of the detached feeling of the film as a whole is to metaphorically represent the act of soliciting sex for money. Prostitution is sex as a means to an end. It is sex without compassion, love, or emotion, and the film tries to mimic this with a stiff and non-present style. At the same time, the men who use Lucy are objectifying her in the same way that females are objectified in other films and images: they are unconscious of it during the moment it occurs. The only emotion Lucy ever shows happens when she awakes while lying in bed with a client; a moment of huge emotional release comes when Lucy finally becomes present in the situation.

The plot of the film is obviously not Leigh’s driving force behind the film. It becomes increasingly obvious that Leigh is a novelist and Sleeping Beauty is her directing debut. Plot and story seem to be drowned out by the symbolism and hidden meaning of not-so-random objects. While simultaneously watching the film and trying to analyze its message, I realized that I didn’t care all that much. No matter how profound or meaningful some of the thematic elements might be, the audience’s lack of emotional investment to any specific character or any part of the plot makes any of its points that it could have made mute. With this in mind, Sleeping Beauty ends up as just a beautiful image that has the potential to say a lot without the ability to truly cause a viewer to feel anything.

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May 21, 2011

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Movie Review #2: Vile

USA – Horror – 88 min – English – 2010 – Director: Taylor Sheridan – Cast: Eric Beck, April Matson, Akeem Smith, Maya Hazen, Heidi Mueller, Elisha Skorman, Greg Cipes, Rob Kirkland, Ian Bohen

The state of modern horror movies is not one that is seen in the best light. On one end of the spectrum, you have black cats popping out of closets and best friends suddenly appearing in mirrors. On the other end, there is what has been so eloquently called torture porn: movies in which viewers can reap some sort of pleasure from watching nubile young adults have terrible and violent things happen to them. The newest addition to this sub-genre of horror is Vile, a horror film with a relatively original premise that still results in terrible, violent things happening to young adults. Vile manages to rise above other schlocky torture porn movies by not focusing on creating gore for gores sake. It focuses on creating and stirring up actual fear in the minds of its audience purely through the concept of violence.

Vile begins with a man strapped down on a hospital bed, with what the audience can only assume is a sick doctor inflicting various acts on this man that cause him pain. This particular man of medicine is interested in making a drug that is created by chemicals in the brain that are released when the human body undergoes sensations of pain. Later, we are introduced to a group of four campers. While at a gas station (of course), a mysterious woman asks to get a ride back to her car that is a few miles up the road. After being doused with gas that knocks them out, they wake up in a house with four other people. All of the doors and windows are locked, and a video informs them that they have a receptor in the back of their heads that senses these previously mentioned chemicals released when their bodies experience pain. A table lies in front of them with various tools and appliances, as well as an entire house full of random household objects that they can use to do the deed. They must produce a certain amount of these chemicals in less than 22 hours, or they will all die inside of the house.

It’s difficult to write a review of a movie like Vile without first comparing it to other torture porn franchises. Fortunately, Vile is not nearly as ridiculous as some of the later Saw movies or as gratuitously violent as the two Hostel movies. The death scenes in the Saw franchise get to the point where it’s too ludicrous to be scary and way too far off from realistic to even be that gross or disturbing. The timeline and plot of the Saw films aims to be smart and twisted but ends up being a convoluted mess. In contrast, Vile is relatively simple in its premise and doesn’t get caught up in a plot that twists and turns into itself. The simple story structure allows the film to focus purely on building an environment strictly for dealing out fear and dread.

The beginning of the film actually does try to introduce the audience to the four original characters by developing character arcs for each of them with a unique visual style in order to accomplish this. The camera establishes a scene of the characters in a field of grass and then fragments their bodies while they talk about their selves and ways they would prefer to die. We see close-ups of characters eyes, hands, knees, and fingers while they list the pros and cons of starvation, burning to death, getting shot in the head, and being stabbed to death. In sync with this sequence of images is a loud, thumping bass that the audience can feel in the gut of their stomach. The visual combination of the body parts, talk of death, and the knowledge of upcoming violence effectively creates tension and anxiety as you wait to watch the fate of the characters.

With the title of the film in mind, Vile is perplexing in that it is not that violent or gory when compared to similar torture porn movies. The film resorts to cutaway shots to other victims faces instead of showing any graphic images. It relies on the viewer to imagine what the violence actually looks like rather than showing it to them directly. Also, the methods of pain infliction that the film chooses to show are those that are generally not bloody or gruesome. The characters will put salt in a wound (literally), put their arms in pots of boiling water, or touch their skin on a hot iron. The film finds scares and creates fear by exploiting everyday accidents that its viewers have most likely experienced. By using exaggerated moments of pain that the audience can imagine, we are able to put ourselves in both the shoes and mindset of the characters.

Unfortunately, Vile still suffers from a common problem with small-budget horror films: sub-par acting and many silly lines of dialogue. The main actors are fine; they carry their featured scenes with acting that is neither melodramatic nor stiff. However, the actors and actresses that make up the minor characters behave mechanically given the intense situation that they find themselves in. In their defense, they aren’t given much to do other than wince, scream, and cry. As the movie gets closer to the intense finale, the acting becomes more and more of a problem. The overall tone of the finale was less effective than it could have been. The actors were unable to increase their emotional range in order to be believably frightened.

Despite its flaws, Vile leaps over the (albeit low) standard horror films of late. I challenge even the most strong willed and strong stomached of horror movie fans to sit through this film without squirming in their seat or contemplating closing your eyes. The film pulls this off not by showcasing a violent killer or complicated death traps. Instead, it uses the audience’s own mental ability and imagination against it. Fear exists only in the minds of humans. To this end, Vile sets up scenes that force the viewer to watch violence not within the actual film itself, but by viewing violence on the big screen inside your mind. And that is truly terrifying.

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May 21, 2011

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Movie Review #1: Angels Crest

Director: Gaby Dellal – Cast: Thomas Dekker, Jeremy Piven, Mira Sorvino, Elizabeth McGovern, Kate Walsh, Lynn Collins, Joseph Morgan, Barbara Williams – UK, Canada – Thriller/Drama – 96 minutes

Snow and mountains make up the backdrop to the film Angels Crest, while the story consists of characters that must confront grief and sadness after a tragic event shakes up a small working-class town. Despite its attempts, the actions and subsequent emotions of the entire ensemble cast leave the audience feeling cold. Based on the book of the same name, Angels Crest, directed by Gaby Dellal, feels more like a shell of a movie compared to anything else. It contains all of the conventional tropes of a dramatic, independent film on the surface with none of the genuine, complex emotion that the film is trying so hard to have at its core.

The plot of Angels Crest begins with the introduction of Ethan (Thomas Dekker) and his three-year old son Nate. During a spontaneous morning drive through the mountains, Ethan decides to leave his son carefully stowed away in the back seat of his truck. He spots a deer a few feet away and decides to track where it is going. A few minutes later, he returns to his truck and realizes that Nate has disappeared from the back seat. A search-party consisting of many citizens from the town finally finds the boy later that night, dead and frozen in a patch of snow. Suspicions and accusations roll through the town following this event that deal with the true cause of Nate’s death. Relationships between members of the community are tested as they start to analyze Ethan’s ability as a parent and his ability to cope with the loss of his son.

An unfortunate symptom resulting from the adaptation of Angels Crest from novel to the big screen is an overwhelming cast of underdeveloped characters that make up the citizens of the town. Each character has their own small subplot that adds nothing of value to the overall plot or tone of the film. Kate Walsh and Lynn Collins together play an extremely stereotypical, folksy lesbian couple who run an inn. It is revealed that their son, who has just gotten his girlfriend pregnant, is homophobic and isn’t entirely comfortable with being around them. This tidbit of information is mentioned once and is then never referred to again. This isn’t some small, minor characteristic; this is their entire story arc within the plot. It can’t be connected to the main plot of the film and isn’t developed enough to have a point even in a thematic context.

This lack of relevance continues with practically every over minor character. Jeremy Piven plays an district attorney who is charging Ethan with the murder of his son. The audience comes to find out that Piven’s character has lost a child of his own, and it serves as his driving force behind wanting to find Ethan guilty of a criminal act. The context of what actually happened to the character is left unsaid, which makes a pure emotional connection to the character close to impossible. There is also a romantic subplot between Angie (Mira Sorvino) and Rusty (Joseph Morgan), both of whom are friends with Ethan. Their courtship is neither scandalous nor romantic, and seems to only serve as an homage to what was more likely an important part of the plot of the book.

The acting of the entire ensemble cast doesn’t do anything to rectify their underdeveloped characters and respective lines. In fact, many of the actors seem to have attended the “not-so-subtle” school for acting. Thomas Dekker, especially, seems to think that the only requirement for inserting genuine emotion into a piece of dialogue is to scream it as loud as possible. Instead of feeling sympathy or sorrow for Ethan because of the tragic situation that he finds himself in, a viewer of the film is left feeling just awkward. You aren’t watching a man who is feeling the guilt of being partly responsible for the death of his young son. You are watching a young actor shouting lines with the intention of conveying these exact emotions, but failing to do so.

The cinematography, however, does look beautiful. Scenes filmed with the snowy mountains look great, and the white blanket of snow covering the town is effective at creating a somber look and tone of the film in a visual sense. However, this visual aesthetic is not exactly unique. The combination of the falling snow, run-down buildings, and old pick-up trucks is a style that can be found in a variety of better films. Also, the pacing of the film is not quick enough for the mystery of what really happened to Nate to truly capture the attention of the audience. The film identifies itself as both a drama and a thriller, but not once is there anything remotely similar to an intense or thrilling moment. As a director, Dellal has not yet found her own unique visual style. The camera lingers far too long on characters that have finished shouting their lines, further increasing the awkward feeling in the minds of the audience. This awkwardness does not result from witnessing an emotional event within the film, it is the reaction of the audience as they realize they are watching a bad movie.

It is apparent that the film and the source material are trying to explore themes of grief, guilt, and the meaning of parenthood. Each underdeveloped subplot can relate back to the relationship between parent and child: Ethan’s relationship with his absentee father, Sydney’s relationship with her mother, the district attorneys lost relationship with his child, the lesbians relationship with their son, and of course, the effects of the initial event on how Ethan views his own relationship with his late son. This might sound like the foundation of a film that effectively explores how the severance of the emotional connection between parent and offspring affects both parties involved, but it results in a convoluted mess of a film that can’t decide which characters to bring to the forefront of the plot.

The biggest disappointment within the film is the failure to grab at the heartstrings of its audience. In the real world, the events that play out would indeed be tragic. But in Angels Crest, the emotion seems so one-note. The audience never gets to see these characters in a range of differing emotions, which is another reason why all of the characters are not developed enough. The film is just one long drawn out moment of sadness, without any complex or at least genuine emotion that the audience can relate to. Angels Crest tries to be a character-driven movie, but its characters are largely underdeveloped archetypes present in other films. This combined with the contrived, and frankly, silly initial event of Ethan stupidly leaving his son in the car leaves the audience feeling emotionless and bored. In the end, Angels Crest feels more like a visual outline of the plot of a book, which is where the true emotion and feeling of the story can actually be found.

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May 20, 2011

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