 |
  |
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
Tragic,
Absurd War A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT: Written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, based on the novel by Sébastien Japrisot. Co-written by Guillaume Laurant. Produced by Francis Boespflug. Executive producer, Jean-Lou Monthieux. Cinematography, Bruno Delbonnel. Editor, Herve Schneid. Production design, Aline Bonetto. Composer, Angelo Badalamenti. Digital effects, Alain Carsoux. Sound, sound design, Laurent Kossayan. Costume design, Madeline Fontaine. Starring Audrey Tautou. With Gaspard Ulliel, Jean-Pierre Becker, Jodie Foster, Albert Depontel, Clovis Cornillac and Marion Cotillard. Warner Independent Pictures, 2004. R. 133 minutes.
Of all the wars of the 20th century, World War I is the most difficult for many Americans (including movie reviewers) to wrap their minds around. America entered the war late, but Europeans (as well Australian, Canadian and colonial troops) fought a brutal war of attrition in trenches across the world from 1914-1918. With autocratic power held by officers who did not fight, the generals' war used soldiers as pawns. Fought from the air as well as on the ground and with weaponry considered modern, the battlefields were simple killing grounds, where 10 million died. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's latest film, A Very Long Engagement, opens onto disturbing war images: a disembodied head and partial trunk hanging from a broken cross in a veritable no-man's land; the ravaged earth upended and strewn with bodies; barbed-wire holding up the dead; tall-sided, mud-gray trenches filled with corpses. It's a wonder anyone got out alive. The mystery of that slender hope infuses the story Jeunet tells, of a young woman left behind by her lover. Mathilde (Audrey Tatou) and Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) were childhood sweethearts before the war, as we see in romantic flashbacks, which could be hand-tinted postcards of the era. When the war is over, Mathilde continues to play magical games with herself to ensure Manech will return alive. But Manech doesn't come back. After three years, he is declared dead. Mathilde's Aunt Benedicte (Chantal Neuwirth) and Uncle Sylvain (Dominique Pinon) urge the 20-year-old woman to get on with her life, but she silently, stubbornly holds to her belief that she would know if Manech were dead, so he must be alive. Jeunet unspools the mystery of Menach's life or death in chapter-like sequences, interlacing a mix of scenes from 1920 Paris and the French countryside with flashbacks to horrific battlefields. The incongruity between peacetime France and the country beseiged by war is jarring. Worst is a long sequence, in which five soldiers condemned for self-mutilation walk to their fates through a claustrophobic trench hell called Bingo Crépuscule, in the Somme. The sepia-toned fields of grain, so beautifully windblown as the farmer Benoit Notre Dame (Clovis Cornillac) is conscripted for war, vividly contrast with the tortured mud and death-drenched trenches. These haunted places sound the dark note, which anchors Mathilde's determined search and keeps her quest free of whimsy and sentiment. But Jeunet (Amelie, City of Children) has not forsaken his masterful flair for fantasy here. He fills the film with colorful minor characters, who relate to the central mystery in a meaningful way. Mathilde hires a detective named Germain Pire (Ticky Holgado) to locate the wives or friends of the four men court-martialed with Manech. "The Peerless Pry," a dandy who's not afraid to get his gloves a little dirty, fares well. Mathilde herself searches for the elusive Tina Lombardi (Marion Cotillard), a black widow for whom revenging the death of her lover and pimp, Ange Bassignano (Dominique Bettenfeld), is a blood ritual. A gorgeous prostitute, Tina employs a diabolically creative method to dispatch of Capt. Favourier (Tchéky Karyo), who ordered Ange killed. Finally, Celestin Poux (Albert Dupontel), a trench survivor and cook, shows up with important information for Mathilde. Celestin's ebullient deal-making abilities during wartime are on a par with those of the inventive Milo Minderbinder, who plied his trading skills in Joseph Heller's WWII fiction, Catch-22. The film's warmest performance comes from Jodie Foster as Elodie Gordes, a widow, who loved both her husband, Benjamin Gordes (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), and his best friend, Bastoche (Jérôme Kircher). Foster is quietly impressive as the mother of many children, now bereft of support. Her French accent is flawless. A multi-layered film I look forward to seeing a second time, A Very Long Engagement joins my short list for the best of 2004. It opens at the Bijou this Friday, with my very highest recommendations.
Synergy
Run Amok IN GOOD COMPANY: Written and directed by Paul Weitz. Produced by Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz. Executive producers, Rodney M. Liber and Andrew Miano. Cinematography, Remi Adefarasin. Editor, Myron I. Kerstein. Original music, Stephen Trask. Production design, William Arnold. Costume design, Molly Maginnis. Starring Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson, with Marg Helgenberger, David Paymer, Clark Gregg, Philip Baker Hall, Selma Blair and Frankie Faison. Universal Pictures, 2004. PG-13. About 110 minutes.
This likable mainstream comedy by Paul Weitz (About a Boy) has a lot going for it. The affable Dennis Quad stars as Dan Foreman, devoted husband, kind father and director of advertising sales at Sports America magazine. Scarlett Johansson is Alex Foreman, an 18-year-old tennis contender, Dan's college-age daughter and a knock-out beauty. And Topher Grace plays Carter Duryea, the ambitious new marketing hot dog, who turns their worlds upside down. Corporate takeovers in the publishing industry have been endemic for a number of years, with print ownership falling into ever fewer fiefdoms, magazines rushing to fill specialty niches, and general readership magazines declining. But the physical body-slam of walking into your own office to discover you've been fired, downgraded or made redundant is In Good Company 's take-off point. Although millions of older American workers in blue- and white-collar jobs have experienced what Dan's facing, no one's had as much fun since Maggie Thacker's Draconian labor policies spawned the good-natured Brit flick The Full Monty. Dan is the same good-guy character Dennis Quaid has built his career playing. But now Dan is 50something, looking at career change, a new child coming (pregnant wife Ann is played by TV's Marg Helgenberger) and the financial challenge of more money for his daughter's NYU tuition. Insultingly, his new boss is a 26-year-old MBA, who's never sold ads before. Gulp! The movie's best moments come when Dan and Carter try to work out their unstable, new relationship. Although the men are alike in some ways, both change, which is remarkable in itself. Carter grows because he's finally found a role model worth emulating. Grace makes Carter's loneliness and need to be loved believable without being maudlin. For his part, Quaid's Dan swallows the bitterness of displacement and illustrates the maturity responsibility brings to his co-workers. If you're seen the trailers, you know something sly and delicious passes between Alex and Carter a short time before the ax falls on Dan's head. They meet in the elevator, and Carter confesses to this perfect stranger that he has no idea what he's doing. Forbidden, secret relationships have their own allure. In a manic cameo performance, Malcolm McDowell pockets the picture for a few minutes as the raving Teddy K, CEO of Globecom, the megacompany that bought the magazine and fired most of its staff. Teddy K is a blithering idiot, of course, spouting nonsense about synergy to the troops while demanding cutthroat tactics and unswerving loyalty. Think publishing giant Rupert Murdoch as a smarmier Werner Erhard-like character running an est group-training. Writer, director, producer Paul Weitz likes the characters he's created here, with the result that we like them, too, even corporate shark Steckle (Clark Gregg), the film's most easily despised character. And I appreciate Dan's advice to Carter about marriage: Find someone you want to be in the foxhole with, and keep your pants zipped when you're out of the foxhole. (Maybe Dan said trenches, but after seeing A Very Long Engagement, I can't go there.) Now playing at Cinema World and Cinemark, the engaging In Good Company is not a great film, but it is a really good movie.
OPENING
OR RETURNING: Alone in the Dark: Based on the videogame, this horror flick with lots of action stars Christian Slater, Tara Reid and Stephen Dorff. R. Cinemark. End of the Century, The Story of the Ramones: From their beginnings in a seedy Bowery bar, this band from Queens played a "violently new and raw sound," which "resonated with two generations of outcasts across the globe." Three nights only. LateNite Bijou. Fat Albert: Bill Cosby character debuts in a live-action and animated film based on Cosby's stand-up routines about growing up in Philly. Directed by Joel Zwick. PG. Movies 12. Flight of the Phoenix: Using Robert Aldrich's 1965 adventure film as his base, John Moore updates the main story, in which crash survivors in the vast, remote Gobi Desert attempt to put their fractured plane together and fly out. Stars include Giovanni Ribisi, Dennis Quaid and Jacob Vargas. PG-13. Movies 12. Hide and Seek: Robert DeNiro plays a recently widowed father desperate to break through to his daughter (Dakota Fanning), who has an imaginary friend with a terrifying agenda. Directed by John Polson, it also stars Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue, Amy Irving and Dylan Baker. R. Cinema World. Cinemark. Indigo: The story of a man in need of redemption and his psychic, gifted granddaughter, who changes everyone she contacts. Shows at Sat. and Sun matinees at Bijou ($10) and evening showings ($7-$10) at Cozmic Pizza. Lila 4-Ever: A 16-year old girl tries to escape the destruction of her community in post-Soviet Russia. At 7 pm on 2/2 in 180 PLC. Free. Million Dollar Baby: Clint Eastwood directed, produced and composed the music for this film. He co-stars with Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman in this story of a spunky fighter, a reluctant trainer and an ex-boxer who looks after the gym. PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. My Apprenticeship: Mark Donskoi's 1939 biography of Gorky's life, part 2. Gorky apprentices with a family which promised him an education but defaults. He learns to read, travels to Russia and witnesses the discontent and poverty that lead to the Revolution. In Russian with English subtitles. Plays at 7 pm on 2/1 in 115 Pacific. Free. My Terrorist: Yulie Cohen-Gerstel's documenary questions the cause of violence between the Israelis and Palestinians, and the filmmaker considers forgiveness of the man who almost killed her during a terrorist attack many years earlier. At 3 pm on 1/30 in Eugene Public Library. Free. Proctor: Supernatural thriller written and locally produced by UO students has its premiere on Thurs. Jan. 28 and plays two more nights. What begins as an evening of ghost stories among friends leads to the release of a murderous spirit, which must be banished even as people are killed, one by one. NR. LateNite Bijou. Sherpa: The Proving Grounds: Filmmakers Sarah and Win Whittaker present at screening. At 7 pm on 1/27 in 180 PLC. $4 gen., $2 students. SpongeBob SquarePants: Animated feature starring one of Nickelodeon's most absorbing characters. Voices by Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson and others. PG. Movies 12. Very Long Engagement, A: Jean-Pierre Jeunet's WWI film stars Audrey Tatou as a sweetheart left behind by the war. She refuses to believe her lover is dead and persists in unravelling the mystery of what happened to him during the war. Golden scenes from peacetime France contrast boldly with the tortured earth and death-drenched trenches of this horrific war. Refreshingly free of whimsey and sentiment, this film receives my very highest recommendations. Bijou. See review this issue. Films open the Friday following EW publication date unless otherwise noted. See archived reviews at www.eugeneweekly.com
CONTINUING: Are We There Yet?: In Brian Levant's new movie, Ice Cube takes his recently divorced girlfriend Nia Long's two kids on a road trip from Portland to Vancouver, BC, on New Year's Eve. Jay Mohr plays his best friend. PG. Cinemark. Assault on Precinct 13: Re-make of John Carpenter's 1976 low-budget classic about a remote police station under siege stars Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne and Maria Bello. French director Jean-François Richet works the urban thriller genre R. Cinemark. Aviator, The: Martin Scorsese's 169-minute film about lover, aviation pioneer and eccentric billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes, with Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Alan Alda, Frances Conroy and Ian Holm. DiCaprio is brilliant in the role, and Scorsese makes the film his own. One of the best films of the year. Very highest recommendations. PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. Online archives. Birth: Nicole Kidman stars in Jonathan Glazer's (Sexy Beast) new film, playing a woman who forms a relationship with a boy of 10, who seems to be the reincarnation of her dead husband. Lauren Bacall is her mother, Danny Huston is her boyfriend, Anne Heche is her girlfriend and Cameron Bright is the boy. R. Movies 12. Blade: Trinity: Vampire hunter Blade (Wesley Snipes) goes after vampire leaders bringing back the rejuvenated Dracula, their progenitor, who's now called Drake (Dominic Purcell David Goyer's film is based on the Marvel Comics character and also stars Kris Kristofferson, Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel, Parker Posey and Natasha Lyonne. R. Movies 12. Christmas With the Kranks: Based on John Grisham's Skipping Christmas, this comedy stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Julie Gonzalo and Tim Allen and is directed by Joe Roth. Also stars Dan Aykroyd, Cheech Marin and M. Emmet Walsh. PG. Movies 12. Coach Carter: Based on a true story. Samuel L. Jackson stars as a basketball coach in a Richmond, CA high school. His tough-love ethic requires players to keep up their grades and dress right. He makes national news when he benches the whole team for poor academic performance. Directed by Thomas Carter (Save the Last Dance). PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. Elektra: Jennifer Garner plays Elektra, a killing machine, based on the Marvel comic book character created by Frank Miller. The publicity material calls her "a lethal synthesis of grace and power," which means she wears skimpy outfits and jumps around a lot. Co-stars Goran Visnjic ("ER"), Terence Stamp, and Abby Miller. PG-13. Cinemark. Finding Neverland: Johnny Depp stars as British playwright J.M. Barrie, based on Allan Knee's play, The Man Who Was Peter Pan. Directed by Marc Foster, it also stars Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell and Dustin Hoffman. Winslet and Depp's performances are radiant, but the real star of the show is 12 year-old Freddie Highmore, playing the actual child, Peter Llewelyn Davies, who inspired Barrie's play. The picture is heartbreaking, gorgeous and probably too complicated for young children. PG. Cinema World. Online archives. Grudge, The: The curse of one who dies in the grip of a powerful rage kills and is passed like a virus from victim to victim. PG-13. Movies 12. House of Flying Daggers, The: Zhang Yimou (Hero) directs another martial arts film from mainland China about a secret society that destroys an evil, Tang Dynasty regional government. Stars the fabulous Zhang Ziyi, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Exciting, beautiful. Highest reommendations.PG-13. Cinema World. Online archives. I Heart Huckabees: Delirious, laugh-out-loud comedy from David O. Russell (Three Kings, Flirting with Disaster) stars Jason Schwartzman, Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Huppert, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts and Jude Law. Even funnier on second viewing, this is one of 2004's top films. Very highest recommendations. R. Movies 12. Online archives. In Good Company: Written and directed by Paul Weitz (About a Boy), this comedy is about the relationship between an older man (Dennis Quaid) and his much younger boss (Topher Grace). Scarlett Johansson co-stars. Sweet comedy about workplace changes and what really matters: career or home? PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. See review this issue. Incredibles, The: Writer, director Brad Bird and Pixar Animation Studios create an action-adventure story set in suburbia where a former top crime fighter, Mr. Incredible, gets the call to jump back into actions. PG. Cinemark. Online archives. Ladder 49: Stars John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix) as Baltimore firemen. PG. Movies 12. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: The misadventures of three orphans who fall into the hands of an evil count are popular with children and adults. Jim Carrey stars, with Meryl Streep, Timothy Spall, Billy Connolly, Luis Guzmán, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Adams and Catherine O'Hara. Directed by Brad Silberling and written by Robert Gordon. PG. Cinemark. Meet the Fockers: Jay Roach follows Meet the Parents (2000) with Ben Stiller's bride and in-laws to-be Teri Polo, Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner meeting his eccentric parents, Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand. Culture clash. Surprisingly funny and heart-warming, with a lovable performance by Hoffman. PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. Online archives. National Treasure: Directed by Jon Turteltub and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, adventure stars Nicolas Cage searching for treasure George Washington hid during the Revolutionary War. Sean Bean plays his British rival who's anxious to score the treasure first. PG. Cinemark. Ocean's Twelve: Director Steven Soderbergh returns with the gang: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts and newby Catherine Zeta-Jones. A recent group interview in Premiere makes reveals they had a blast making this sequel. Highly recommended for its unabashedly confident entertainment value. PG-13. Cinemark. Online archives. Phantom of the Opera, The: The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is brought to the screen by Joel Schumacher. It stars Emmy Rossum, Gerard Butler and Patrick Wilson. Unfortunately, under Schumacher's insipid direction, kitsch dominates. If you already love the work, you may enjoy the film, but the too-sweet sentimentality is too much for me. PG-13. Cinemark. Online archives. Racing Stripes: A farmer (Bruce Greenwood) and his daughter (Hayden Panettiere raise a baby zebra to become a champion racer. Live action, computer animation, with voices by Frankie Muniz, Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg and Snoop Dogg. PG. Cinemark. Ray: Jamie Foxx plays late, great Ray Charles in this musical, biographical drama, directed by Taylor Hackford. Co-stars Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix, Terrence Dashon Howard, Richard Schiff, Aunjanue Ellis and Sharon Warren. Outstanding performance by Foxx. One of the year's finest films. PG-13. Movies 12. Online archives. Saw: James Wan's bloodthirsty horror tale about a serial killer who commits suicide, leaving would-be victims chained up, stars Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter and Leigh Whannell. Movies 12. R. Shall We Dance: American remake of the sublime Japanese film of the same title. Sorry to report it, but Jennifer Lopez plays the dance teacher and Richard Gere the shy man who learns to dance. See the original to compare to this all-Hollywood effort. PG-13. Movies 12. Shark Tale: In this computer-animated feature, a lovable tropical fish with the voice of Will Smith takes on the underwater Mafia when he assumes responsibility for killing the godfather of the Great White Sharks. Other voices include those of Jack Black, Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie and Martin Scorsese; Eric Bergeron. Directed by Vicky Jenson. PG. Movies 12. Sideways: Fresh social comedy by Alexander Payne follows two guys on a bachelor week in California wine country. Great performances by Paul Giamatti (American Splendor) and Thomas Haden Church ("Wings") sweetens the tale, as do Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh. One of the best films of the year. Don't miss. R. Bijou. Cinemark. Online archives. What the Bleep Do We Know?: Through interviews with scientists and spiritual teachers, a new way of thinking about consciousness, intentionality and the ability to make a difference in the world emerges. But it begins with Amanda (Marlee Matlin). Highly recommended. NR. LateNite Bijou. Online archives. White Noise: Stars Michael Keaton as an architect who thinks his dead wife (Chandra West) is talking to him through electronic devices in their home. Geoffrey Sax directs this suspenseful thriller, which also stars Deborah Kara Unger and Ian McNeice. PG-13. Cinemark. Without a Paddle: High-speed comedy adventure stars Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard as clueless adventurers who go into the Oregon wilderness in search of lost treasure. PG-13. Movies 12.
MOVIE
THEATERS Bijou
Art Cinemas Regal
Cinemas Cinemark
Theaters
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
