Review: 'The Square'
You’ve heard the buzz, and seen its title proudly promoted by Netflix. A beautiful but haunting image of an angel with colorful wings, rising from a grey cloud captures your attention, a juxtaposition that perfectly describes one of the most powerful documentaries of the year to date. From beginning to end, the film is a heavy, emotional journey through the Egyptian political revolution and for as much blood being shed, twice as much optimism for the future is seen in The Square.
While it would help to have a general understanding of Egypt’s politics, it’s not necessary to jump right into the film. The beginning starts off heavy, delving right into the protest of President Mubarak and his ultimate fall from office. The celebration doesn’t last long as once thought hero Mohamed Morsi is elected President, and soon becomes the people of Egypt’s worst nightmare. The rise and fall of political leaders in a country struggling to have civil rights is a heavy subject to tackle, but director Jehane Noujaim makes this issue easy to understand and connect to, even from watching half a world away.
The Square is receiving critical acclaim for its journalism because of the urgency in the subject, and for its incredible, ruthless filmmaking.
The Square is receiving critical acclaim for its journalism because of the urgency in the subject, and for its incredible, ruthless filmmaking. There is no shortage of dark moments, so one needs to be mentally prepared to watch this film. The camera gets so close to bullets and blood that the audience feels as if they’re in the middle of the revolution too. It doesn’t get too graphic with the death scenes, although there is one scene that captures an incident when a group of protestors get run over by a tank. While it may be hard to watch, ultimately that’s what makes The Square a boundary-pushing, Academy Award nominee.
Aside from the obvious effects of raising awareness, The Square is an inspirational journey showing an unprecedented number of young people getting involved in their government. The main subject Ahmed Hassan is such a relatable, charismatic character; he serves as the perfect guide throughout the film. The Square doesn’t just follow a historical timeline of facts and politics, it delves much deeper than that; it observes the connection between people, regardless of religion, gender, etc, and the unity of working toward a greater good, which everyone can relate to. We can’t all relate to war, but we can relate to human connections.
When the film is over and the credits roll, we can discuss our thoughts and nod to the fact that this film opened our eyes to a situation we may not have been informed about. It’s heartbreaking to think that the film may span only 2 hours for us, but for the people fighting in Egypt, their struggle continues today. What we witness on-screen is a daily occurrence with danger lurking at any moment for Ahmed and Jehane and their families; for this reason and countless others, The Square should be on your list of must-see documentaries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvVvDYv-4AM
Review: 'The Pretty One'
The genre “dark romantic comedy” usually piques my interest, and while the packaging of Jenée LaMarque’s film The Pretty One seems colorful and elementary, its thematic tone is anything but; dealing with identity struggle, death, and coming of age, The Pretty One is a comical, yet emotional journey about a wallflower's struggle with breaking out of her shell, even if the shell isn't really hers.
Audrey (Zoe Kazan) and Laurel (again, Zoe Kazan) are identical twin sisters with personality differences. Audrey is into the glamorous lifestyle- she’s the type of girl you would see walking down the fashionable streets of West Hollywood. Her sister, Laurel, isn’t necessarily “anti” glamor, but her naive demeanor makes her more socially awkward, with no effort put into her appearance. Differences aside, they get along great, wearing BFF heart necklaces with the other’s name that, when combined, form a perfect heart as a symbol of their unity. However, the broken half-heart is an obvious foreshadowing of literal heartbreak as LaMarque leads into the next scene.
Kazan’s range is on display playing both girls, and her performances are equally convincing and charming.
As a gesture for their shared birthday, Audrey decides to treat Laurel to a makeover day, their first stop being the hairdresser. Laurel decides to mimic her sister’s style and takes a good 10 inches off of her hair, leaving the two looking like their own reflections. Their special moment doesn't last long; after an unforeseen tragedy strikes, Laurel wakes in a hospital room to Dr. Rao (Danny Pudi) and her father (John Carroll Lynch), crying. “Where’s my sister?” Laurel asks in a daze. “Laurel’s dead,” they say. First it's confusion, but then it hits her; everyone thinks she’s Audrey, meaning they think “Laurel” is dead. It’s at this realization when Laurel is at a crossroads; tell everyone they are wrong and that Audrey is the one who died, or live life as her sister, which means new friends, a new life, a fresh start.
Zoe Kazan brings her years of theatrical acting to this film, engagingly portraying the twins a la Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap or more recently, Armie Hammer as the "Winklevii" twins in The Social Network. Kazan’s range is on display playing both girls, and her performances are equally convincing and charming. It doesn’t hurt that she shares the screen with "New Girl's" charming Jake Johnson, who plays Audrey’s neighbor and tenant Basel. While Audrey was rude and wrote off the funny-man, Laurel gives him a chance and romantic sparks fly. Co-starring as Audrey’s secret on again, off again, boyfriend is the comedic Ron Livingston, whose screen time is short but impactful.
The Pretty One serves as director Jenée LaMarque’s directorial debut, and while her style isn’t revolutionary, it is a fun movie. You need a suspension of disbelief to enjoy the film, though, it’s not necessarily a realistic scenario all around, but isn’t that what seeing films is all about?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNx_R6LdB9o
Review: 'Like Father, Like Son'
Imagine raising a child, your only child, for six years until one day, a devastating phone call changes everything you thought you knew about your family. The little things you take for granted, like the way he looks while sleeping and seeing his artwork hanging on the walls, suddenly take on a whole new meaning. As a parent, you suddenly feel unjustly stripped of your feeling of contentment and security. In acclaimed director Kore-eda Hirokazu’s poignant family drama Like Father, Like Son, love is put to the test as two families discover that the son they’ve raised for six years is not biologically theirs, but the result of a switched-at-birth scandal.
The protagonist of the Japanese drama is Ryota; a stiffly portrayed businessman whose priority is his career and, consequently, allows his family to fall by the wayside. His wife Midori and their six-year-old son Keita share a special bond, similar to that of a single mother raising her child. Although their parenting styles differ, both of their worlds are rocked when they are told by an ashamed hospital lawyer that Keita is not their "real" son. They then learn that their biological son is being raised by the true parents of the child they have been raising. Upon meeting each other, it’s also evident that their parenting and lifestyles are completely different, which further throws them into a whirlwind of emotion. “Like Father” stays firmly grounded on the internal struggles of the respective families and ultimately asks the question, what really is family?
His style is minimalistic and natural; tightly composed shots give the film a meditative quality that leaves audiences in a state of reflection after the film’s end.
Director Kore-eda finds his strength in Like Father, Like Son not only as the director but also as the writer and editor. His style is minimalistic and natural; tightly composed shots give the film a meditative quality that leaves audiences in a state of reflection after the film’s end. The cinematography is another element that should be praised; the juxtaposition between sterile and natural plays against each other for a powerful look. One shot that stands out is the moment when Ryota and Yudai, the father who has been raising Ryota’s biological son, sit next to each other on a rock next to a flowing creek. It’s a wide shot; Ryota sits in tailored yet casual attire, his posture reinforcing the fact that he is the predominant character in the scene. His clean, brown loafers rest next to Yudai’s worn-in grey New Balance tennis shoes. The subtleness explains so much about the lives of these men. It’s a telling image portrayed without words.
The debate between what makes “a father” encourages the audience to think about our own fathers and, for better or worse, find sympathy with the protagonist Ryota. Is it purely one's bloodline that makes a family, or is it the time spent during childhood that gives accreditation to the word “father”? Kore-eda quite literally examines nature vs. nurture with top-notch acting from well-known Japanese actors Masaharu Fukuyama and Machiko Ono. Along with an authentically great performance from child actor Keita Ninomiya, this film is packaged to perfection. It's provoking storyline won over critics at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, earning the coveted jury prize. A festival favorite, Like Father, Like Son opened in New York January 17th and Los Angeles on January 24th and is not to be missed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ZuMKj-QBA
Review: 'The Wolf of Wall Street'
A flying midget, aimed at a velcro target and surrounded by a throng of middle-aged frat boys in ties, is wildly cheered on as booze, cocaine, and hookers flood the office. A shot of the circus' ringleader, a smiling Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) amidst the chaos escalating behind, sets a perfect stage for what's about to unfold in the next three hours in this Martin Scorsese neo-gangster film: sex, drugs, and a whole lot of laughs.
The Wolf of Wall Street is the unbelievable true story of a young money-hungry stockbroker, Jordan Belfort, and of his meteoric rise to the top of the New York financial game. Scorsese packages this comedic crack-epic in the vein of Goodfellas, a genre and tone that he single-handedly defined in the cinematic language, which is also sure to be an Awards contender. Dicaprio's portrayal of Belfort begins as a wide-eyed freshman; a newbie to the financial world. After meeting with a very charismatic stockbroker Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey), Belfort resorts to trading penny stocks to get his taste of the fast-paced world of trading. With his natural salesmanship, go-and-get-it attitude, Belfort turns into an overnight success. It's not long after he leaves the low reward penny stocks game to run with the big boys on Wall St., teaming up with Donnie Azoff, played by a preppy and cap-toothed Jonah Hill.
From there, the money, and booze start flowing.
Dicaprio and Jonah Hill make an oddly perfect on-screen duo, as their dryly humorous performances throw contrast to the film's real comedic bread and butter, all of the eccentricities flying around them. When Jordan and Donnie take drugs that they think are duds, leaving them temporarily paralyzed and left to dragging their gimp bodies across the floor, their loss of motor function make for hilarious slow-rolling gibberish. Also praiseworthy is newcomer Margot Robbie who plays DiCaprio's trophy wife Naomi, the typical blonde hair, big-chested prototype with a defiant edge. As a whole, the cast is spot on and deliver strong, strong, theatrical performances. If you look closely, you can even spot a cameo from fellow acclaimed director Spike Jonze.
Scorsese packages this comedic crack-epic in the vein of Goodfellas, a genre and tone that he single-handedly defined in the cinematic language, which is also sure to be an Awards contender.
Everywhere you look, Martin Scorsese's film is packed with A-listers in front of and behind the camera, but then again, who would expect anything less? Veteran screenwriter Terence Winter, known for such classics as Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos, adapts the screenplay from the memoirs of the book of the same name, The Wolf of Wall Street, written by the Jordan Belfort himself. The adaptation feels seamlessly natural, unlike more stiff or apprehensively handled book adaptations seen before. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, who includes Argo and Brokeback Mountain on his resume, captures Scorsese's classic vision in a new, dynamic fashion, keeping the audience guessing and wanting more.
The Wolf of Wall Street is definitely a guy's-guy type of movie, raunchy in the most chauvinistic yet hilarious ways. It's a fast paced, hard-R film, that actually needed to cut out even more of the sexuality and nudity then what's already included to stave off an NC-17 kiss of death rating. The irony runs further; on par with Jordan & Co.'s fast paced lifestyle, which is laughable to the average moviegoer, the gratuity on display might even serve as an of inspiration to some of Hollywood's young up and coming players.
It's a home run for both Scorsese and his cast, and will certainly be popular come Awards season. The Wolf of Wall Street may not be to everyone's taste. Depending on which side of the aisle you identify with, the "have's" or the "have not's," you'll definitely walk out of the theater blown away, from both the mastery in filmmaking and having witnessed the all too true real-life happenings of Wall Street's wildest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iszwuX1AK6A
Felicity Jones on 'The Invisible Woman'
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She's been dubbed the new "it-girl, " and by all means British darling Felicity Jones is making that title her own. From her movie choices to her daily wardrobe, Felicity impresses critics as Nelly Ternan, the naive mistress to a much older Charles Dickens in Ralph Fiennes' period drama The Invisible Woman. On the day of our interview, Felicity walks into the interview room in a chic A-lined dress, which subtly contrasts her shaggy bob and smoky eyeliner. “Somebody is anything but invisible today,” says one journalist. “I AM the visible woman,” Felicity exclaims, a giant smile covering her face. We begin:
WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING ASPECT OF NELLY THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO TAP INTO?
I think for Nelly, there was a real conflict in her; I don’t think she wanted to be a floozy mistress, that was so antithetical to her identity, but at the same time she fell in love with someone who had a very particular way of living and so it was this battle between wanting to be with [Dickens] but at the same time, obtain her own dignity and identity. I felt like my job was trying to portray that conflict.
NELLY IS STAR STRUCK WHEN SHE MEETS DICKENS, WAS THAT THE SAME FOR YOU WHEN YOU MET RALPH FIENNES AND KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS?
With Ralph, I was slightly intimidated; I thought he was going to be a bit like Voldemort.
[Laughter]
But Ralph is actually very sweet, a kind and lovely person and nothing like Voldemort at all. More like Ron Weasley! Kristin Scott Thomas is so tremendous; I mean it was so surreal, when I was in the read through I was sitting in between Ralph and Kristin and it was like being in “The English Patient.”
HOW WAS RALPH AS A DIRECTOR?
He’s very honest, so he would come up and say ‘That was awful, do it again but better.’
[Laughter]
So he was very focused on the performances as you can imagine, being an actor. He had a very strong idea about being totally true to the period, which I thought was really fascinating about his direction. Often when you make period films, you make them more appealing to contemporary audiences by being a little more lenient with the truth; Ralph was very particular about us retaining truth… and the austerity of the period.
YOU'RE NO STRANGER TO PERIOD PIECES, ALTHOUGH THIS IS AS FAR BACK AS YOU'VE GONE. YOU PLAYED MARGOT FRANK ["THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK"]... IS THERE SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT THIS ERA THAT APPEALS TO YOU?
I love the aesthetic; I love the sternness of the way women presented themselves. It’s interesting; I think English people are obsessed with telling stories from the past.
[Laughter]
I don’t know quite why that is, maybe that’s when England thought it was great.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT PLAYING NELLY THROUGH THE AGES, YOU PLAY HER AT BOTH 16 AND HER LATE THIRTIES.
Interestingly, she pretended to be a lot younger than she actually was. When she met [her husband] George Wharton Robinson, she was in her late thirties, but pretending to be twenty-three. This was a way of almost reliving her life, really. She didn’t tell anyone, she didn’t tell her husband or kids about her relationship with Dickens, it was very much kept a secret. It was much more fun [playing] older than younger, that’s one thing I realized.
THERE'S ONLY ONE SEDUCTION SCENE IN THE FILM, HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT DEVELOPING THE PACING AND THE EMOTION TO CARRY THAT AND BUILD TO THAT ONE CULMINATING SCENE?
I think you try and play each scene before that with truth and honesty; [Ralph and I] didn’t want it to be cheap in any way, we felt like they were very careful about their connection to each other. With Nelly, there’s something quite puritan about her because she’s having these sexual feelings for this older man but has no one to talk to about it, she doesn’t live in a world where that can be discussed with friends or family, and there’s this sort of guilt with it. It’s very important that [the build] is gradual and the audience is on both their sides and doesn’t judge them for it.
IN THIS FILM YOU PLAY THE OTHER WOMAN AND IN "BREATHE IN" YOU'RE ALSO THE MISTRESS, IS IT CHALLENGING FOR YOU TO PLAY THESE TYPES OF ROLES?
I do feel like I’ve played a lot of serious roles recently so I’m looking forward to something a little lighter, because I find that I take home that character as I’m playing them. I try to take each project as it comes to you rather than trying to contrive it. If I like the director and I think there’s something interesting that I can get my teeth into then I’m drawn to it.
Ralph Fiennes on 'The Invisible Woman'
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He may be known as "Lord Voldemort" to the younger generation, but Ralph Fiennes is so much more than just playing the bad guy. Growing up he studied Shakespeare and performed in the Royal National Theater and has since developed into quite the chameleon actor. In The Invisible Woman, Ralph finds himself playing the role of Charles Dickens as well as directing the project. No doubt, he was a busy man on set. I sit down with Ralph, looking sharp in a crisp button down shirt, and talk about making the project and his feelings towards the late Charles Dickens. We begin:
DID YOU CHOOSE TO STAR IN WHAT YOU'RE DIRECTING BECAUSE THAT WAY YOU DON'T HAVE TO ARGUE WITH THE DIRECTOR, OR IS THAT HOW YOU GOT THE FILM MADE?
No, I was reluctant, not because it was a bad part but it’s hard. How do you do justice to your own performance while making sure everyone else is taken care of, I was really under pressure… [The BBC said] if you want to play Dickens we would be happy and I said, ‘no, I don’t think I could’ but then I was saying to myself, ‘oh it’s a great part.
[Laughter]
I did approach another actor, but I got the sense that they didn’t like the fact that Dickens might be unlikeable, which is actually what I like about him… If I do direct again, which I’d like to, I won’t act in it- just direct.
BEING THE ACTOR AND DIRECTOR, WHAT WAS THE MOST STRESSFUL PART OF THE ENTIRE FILM?
The most stressful part has got to be the shooting; I probably shoot quite a lot of takes and this is a performance driven film. Great actors are in this film and they come prepared but I know from myself that you come ready, but you want to find this place where the bit of you that’s not prepared bursts out and there’s little moments of this weird thing called ‘The Truthful Thing’ where suddenly the actor/actress finds another level, and that takes time. And when you use up time, suddenly at the end of the day you’re going ‘oh, fuck, I’ve only got half an hour to shoot these three close-ups.’ That becomes stressful, but also kind of addictive.
SO HOW WAS "ACTOR" RALPH FIENNES AT TAKING DIRECTION FROM "DIRECTOR" RALPH FIENNES?
I tend to be quite fussy and a perfectionist about it. It’s never right, it can always be better. I really depended on my script supervisors [to speed me along].
ONE OF THE GREAT ASPECTS OF THIS FILM IS ROB HARDY'S CINEMATOGRAPHY; HOW DID YOU AND ROB GO ABOUT DEVELOPING YOUR VISUAL TONE THAT REALLY CREATES ITS OWN STORY?
My starting point was that this was a story of intimacy; I was seeing a lot of scenes of people in rooms, relatively static. It seems to me that what goes on in the face of Felicity, essentially, but also Dickens, is that the subtext is really important… There’s an observational quality about the camera that allows itself to watch, and to me that made me think about how you frame so that the frame itself is rich; it has a compositional consideration to it.
WHAT IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST ABOUT CHARLES DICKENS' LIFE?
What impresses me is his furious work ethic and energy. He was a man of crazy energy. He would walk these crazy distances, and then he would write, and not only would he write the installments for his book but he would then write in his journal. I’ve discovered him quite late; I didn’t know much Charles Dickens. I had somehow sort of blanked him as being an area I wasn’t going to be interested.
Review: 'Wrong Cops'
Leave it to Quentin Dupieux to bring together dubstep and comedy to create a film so off the beaten path, it feels more "performance art" than "arthouse." In Dupieux's latest low-budget sideshow film Wrong Cops, the French auteurist combines further elements, with an ensemble cast of seasoned comedians and one gothic rock star that gives the film a special seasoning of the absurd. Though it is immediately easy to pick up on the film's humorous tone, it takes a bit longer to acclimate to its weirdness. Though when both are combined, the result is another bonkers Dupieux classic.The film centers on a group of cops that are greedy, corrupt, and childish. Officer Duke (Mark Burnham) is the ringleader of the force, and whose problems are far worse than that of his colleagues'. Making side money by selling pot-stuffed dead rats to kids (the rats are meant to be inconspicuous), abusing brace-faced high school nerd David Delores Frank (Marilyn Manson), and accidentally shooting his neighbor (Daniel Quinn) in the neck are but a few of the crackpot events that make this character so deliciously weird.
Wrong Cops is the type of film you might expect to see playing on the after hours drug-laced TV channel "Adult Swim," but with more traditional odes to its B-rated grindhouse genre
Quentin Dupieux was a busy man on the set. Not only did he write and direct the feature, he also produced it and (once again) provided the original score under his Electronica-DJ'ing music alias Mr. Oizo. Before turning his career as director Dupieux was a big name in the French electronic music scene and is still very much active with the moniker today. The synth-gone-mad score here successfully influences the tone of Wrong Cops, felt right down to its hipster soaked dialogue and its overall composition.
After premiering at Sundance earlier this year, IFC Midnight picked up Wrong Cops and scheduled its theatrical release for December 20th. While it's certainly not a traditional holiday movie to watch with the family, its timely release and cult impressions could make for one very unforgettable, and one very Wrong, Christmas experience nonetheless.
Director Quentin Dupieux on 'Wrong Cops'
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After seeing Wrong Cops at the Vista theater, I knew that my interview with Quentin Dupieux would be a good time. His quirky directing style and effortless "coolness" is present in his latest directorial feature about a group of hilariously awful cops who break more laws than they prevent. As well as directing, Dupieux also produced, wrote, and edited the film. The music was composed under his stage name, Mr. Oizo, and rounded out the indie film's vibe. I sit down in an office on the 10th floor on Sunset & Vine as I wait for Quentin, and can't help but laugh at the fake hand covered in blood on the otherwise empty desk. He walks in a few minutes later, with his trademark button down shirt halfway undone, says hello and sits down. We begin:
I SAW THE FILM LAST NIGHT AT THE VISTA (IN SILVER LAKE), AND IT WAS AWESOME, VERY WELL RECEIVED...
Yeah, last night I felt a great energy in the room… I said I was going to pee my pants during the movie.
WHEN YOU STARTED TO MAKE THIS MOVIE, DID YOU INTEND TO DIRECT, PRODUCE, WRITE, COMPOSE IT... PRETTY MUCH DO EVERYTHING?
No, that’s just the way I’m doing movies now. “Rubber” was the first movie I edited myself. For my first feature I was working with a DP and an editor, but being in the editing room with someone else and trying to get what I want felt frustrating to me. I needed to do it myself. To me, that’s the best part, editing a movie.
SINCE THIS WAS AN INDIE I'M SURE THE BUDGET WAS PRETTY SMALL, WHAT WAS YOUR PRIORITY WITH THE MONEY YOU HAD?
[The budget] is really cheap, so I have to operate the camera, I have to edit myself, I have to do the music, because otherwise, the movie doesn’t exist. I like to use my music because it’s more personal, more my vibe. For this specific project, my goal was to get something funny on-screen every single day. The days are so compressed because we’d shoot 4-5 scenes a day so the only thing I’d think about is “Is this really funny?”
YOU HAD A GREAT ENSEMBLE CAST WHERE ANYTHING THEY DO IS FUNNY. HOW DID YOU GET THEM ALL TOGETHER?
Well I just loved Steve Little from “Eastbound and Down” and I offered him a part in the movie I did before [“Wrong”] and I loved working with him. I think he enjoyed working with me too so he came back for this one. I actually wrote the part for him. I was trying to get Eric Wareheim for the previous movie I did but he was busy, so I insisted for this one and he came.
I WAS REALLY SURPRISED TO SEE MARILYN MANSON, HE WAS THE PERFECT CHOICE. KIND OF SHOCKING TO SEE HIM IN THAT ROLE BECAUSE HE WAS REALLY GOOD!
Oh yeah he is really good. It was pretty shocking to see him without the makeup. Manson came to me because he was a fan of my movie “Rubber.” He sent me an email saying that the movie was his favorite of the year. He’s a nice guy, very funny and smart. He’s a really strong actor, I shot something new with him about two weeks ago.
HAS "WRONG COPS" SCREENED IN FRANCE?
Yeah, it’s coming out in the U.S. first but we’ve screened it in a few festivals in France, which was a different [experience]. It’s the same movie of course, but it’s subtitled and a different vibe, even for me! You don’t laugh at the same moments.