die my love

 

My review of the much-anticipated (and divisive!) Lynne Ramsay film, Die My Love, is now up at Film-Forward.

via Mubi

bread & roses

Sahra Mani’s documentary (co-produced by Jennifer Lawrence) Bread & Roses is a stark and unflinching portrayal of resilience amid oppression.

My Film-Forward review here.

mother!

The title mother! rhymes with "smother," which is a word that recalls the nature of many of Darren Aronofsky's films. His movies sometimes mix a "high art" sensibility with bludgeons of icky imagery. You feel for his miserable protagonists and the actors playing them because their suffering is bright, blunt, physical, breathy, and tear-stained. But there's also a strange sense of remove, as the incidents and the body horror (sanguine seeping wounds abound) in those character's lives, first pitched in a calming sense of reality, seem so outlandish. Very seldom does an Aronofsky movie have a settled place to land (think the ill-fated drop-to-mattress in Black Swan) or much humor. However, in the opening of mother!, there's the immediate cheekiness to the ridiculousness of the title (and the Shakespearean quill font presentation). The setting is peaceful, earthy and attractive with tinges of unease (throbbing walls, a delicate crystal glowing with bits of ember).

Jennifer Lawrence plays a reserved woman living with a poet (Javier Bardem) and obsessively renovating their remote mansion. The film, utilizing killer camerawork by Matthew Libatique, stays mostly in the constricts of Lawrence's point-of-view, with her long brown-gray hair and flowy white t-shirts, painters jeans, and nighties, moving throughout the rambling house. A couple (a pleasingly hammy Ed Harris and a perfectly calculating Michelle Pfeiffer) show up, disrupting the tranquil pale blue and taupe-walled household with discourteous behavior, neon underwear and smokers' hacking (this is a picture that refuses to breathe freely). Bardem eagerly takes them in while Lawrence expresses her displeasure to us through her vivid facial expressions (she's astoundingly good at this--doing so little to express so much with her countenance). It's this subplot where we see Aronofsky doing some of his best directing ever, with humor and unnerving tension. It's like a comedy of manners mixed with Polanski horror.

Then slowly, and in an increasingly garish way, the movie swings into screamy, gruesome farce with blatant shock scenes. Even though the filmmaker has been praised for this half of the picture, for his audacity, rabid energy and disdain for Cinemascore-squared mainstream audiences (you could physically sense the hatred in the theater for this movie after my showing ended), it also seems like an easy way (Aronofsky supposedly penned the script in five days) out of what seemed to be shaping up as a strong, sharp mystery. This is a filmmaker's film though, completely meta, in the vein of the rocket launchpad built on sand in 8 1/2, where the film scrapes away at itself until its destroyed (here, up in tacky CGI flames). There's also seemingly symbolic glimpses of the deification of artists, with worshiping crowds, badgering press and paparazzi, feeding off of the flesh of its targets. That poetry is the source of so much celebrity worship is also a good joke. The movie concludes sort of unsatisfactorily contextually and visually with a shimmer of Dan Curtis' Burnt Offerings. But both Libatique and Lawrence should be particularly commended for carrying us through this nightmare with skillful work and raw charisma. ***



-Jeffery Berg

mother!

Trailer for Darren Aronofsky's new film mother! starring Jennifer Lawrence, with Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

stills from passengers

New stills from highly-anticipated Passengers. Art direction looks good.

hypnotizin'

Look into our eyeeez.

The poster is ready.

Everyone is awaiting the trailer as of now.

a review of 'x-men: days of future past' by justin lockwood

It seems like every franchise is being “rebooted” these days, but 2011’s X-Men: First Class was better than most.  The prequel was able to re-imagine major characters and their relationships, and to ground the story in historical events that resonated with the series’ sociopolitical overtones.  Sure, the script was a little ham-fisted at times, and January Jones was at her most wooden as (appropriately enough) ice queen Emma Frost; the movie was still a lively shot in the arm.

Alas First Class under-performed at the box office, so the studio decided to blend the new cast with the old stars for this summer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, based on a celebrated two issue arc of the comics. Original helmer Bryan Singer returns to direct, and his secret is this: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, and Halle Berry return for glorified cameos, but the focus is mostly on James McAvoy (as young Charles Xavier), Eric Lehnsherr, aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), with stalwart Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in a 1970s milieu.  It continues the look and feel of First Class, with clever nods to the Kennedy assassination and Richard Nixon, while contrasting the period scenes with a dark future that echoes both the Holocaust (which Magneto survived) and James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The plot is convoluted and probably contains a dozen lapses in logic—fans are already debating alternate timelines and assorted loopholes—but it boils down to a good yarn that allows for meaty character stuff and inspired action sequences.  Ten years from now, shape-shifting robots called Sentinels have wiped out most Mutants, and nearly all of the survivors and their sympathizers are locked up in internment camps.  The remaining X-Men, who have allied with sometime enemy Magneto, hatch a desperate scheme to send Wolverine’s consciousness back in time to prevent the assassination that fueled the development of the Sentinels.  The mutton-chopped stud—given a crowd-pleasing butt shot early on—has to enlist young Xavier and Lehnsherr’s help to convince morally conflicted Mystique not to kill a prejudiced scientist (Peter Dinklage, further enhancing his geek cred) and set the whole horrific mess in motion.  It all seems a little clunky on paper, but Singer breezes through every beat with entertainment and style to spare.  One of his best bits is a show-stopping sequence in which Quicksilver—endearingly portrayed by "American Horror Story"’s Evan Peters—leisurely messes with Pentagon security guards within a few seconds of real time, all while listening to a hilariously mellow, lyrically appropriate 70s ballad on his headphones.  The movie has lots of fun with the period, from Wolverine waking up in a water bed to Quicksilver’s Twinkie stocked basement pad.  The actors are uniformly terrific: Lawrence is stunning, Fassbender brings pathos and killer cool to Lehnsherr, and Jackman, playing Wolverine for the seventh time (!) is so comfortable in the character’s skin it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing him—and he’s evolved fascinatingly over the course of the films.

Singer has been at the center of disturbing criminal allegations recently.  If proven, he deserves punishment for the charges of abuse and rape.  There’s no denying, however, that he’s a talented director; after a couple of high profile misfires, Days of Future Past proves that he’s still capable of delivering intelligent big budget moviemaking.  Time will tell if he’ll be able to continue his career, or undo it with his personal misdeeds.

Follow on Twitter: @JustinLockwood2.  

Think I’m spot on, or full of it? Drop me a line at justin.lockwood@gmail.com.

rosalyn's science oven

 My new mix of tunes inspired by Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle.

Rosalyn's Science Oven by Jdbrecords on Mixcloud

some december movies

American Hustle

I've long been fascinated with America in the 1970s, so I found the exaggerated 70s Long Island con artist world of American Hustle particularly gleeful to watch but I can definitely sympathize with the detractors of David O. Russell's indulgent, needlessly complicated style.  What a better lead to have to guide you through an indulgent, needlessly complicated movie than the indulgent, needlessly complicated actor Christian Bale? I loved him in this and the warmth and campiness (that bedraggled toupee that opens the movie... a pretty obvious set-up for a story of falseness and disguise) he brought as the spearhead of Abscam. This is flashy stuff: the camera's always moving, people are always conniving and arguing, and music is always playing (Could there have been a more unique, better array of 70s music though? But Duke Ellington's seductive and brassy "Jeep's Blues" figures nicely).  Like its characters, the movie is gussied up--all sound and fury with a pretty hollow center.  However, I still found myself reveling in O. Russell's boozy showboating and the sparks of the ensemble (Amy Adams and woozy, unhinged Jennifer Lawrence have some terrific moments as does Jeremy Renner and manic and permed Bradley Cooper; and also welcome are Robert DeNiro and Colleen Camp in small bits). ***1/2

Her

As Joaquin Phoenix's heartbroken Theodore falls in love with his operating system (the disembodied voice of Scarlett Johansson), writer / director Spike Jonze does some amazing world-building in his near-future L.A.-set Her. There's a lot of blazing orange, clean surfaces, high-waist pants, collarless shirts, buttoned-top buttons, and sardonic video games. I kept wondering what was going on outside of this relatively plush-looking, stream-lined yet slyly garish, lit-up metropolis because Jonze so effectively takes us into the closed-off psyche of Phoenix's eerily giddy romance. Even though Jonze hammers some things a wee too precious (Theodore's letter-writing job for instance), it's still fun to see such creativity on the screen. The photography by Dutch cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema is marvelous and the story, in many moments, is quite affecting. ***1/2

Inside Llewyn Davis

The Coens are adept at structuring movies in a unique, specific way. Appropriately, this one behaves and is shaped like a slow burn, earlyish rock era vinyl album, with a finale which mimics its opener.  Barely surviving, Oscar Issac plays the self-centered and desperate folk singer Llewyn Davis, trying to make a splash on his own after losing his duet partner to suicide. When the story departs from Llewyn's NYC life and joins in on a weird car ride with loquacious John Goodman, a Chicago audition and a snowy car-ride back, the movie is at its sharpest while still having the chilliest of hearts.  Except for the doofusy and fun "Please Mr. Kennedy" trio-ed by Justin Timberlake, Issac, and the ubiquitous Adam Driver, the T Bone Burnett-stamped songs were prettily sung by Issac and a little more dull and Mumford & Sons-pleasant than I had anticipated. ***

Saving Mr. Banks

Once in a while a movie comes along that makes me feel, perhaps irrationally, angry.  I just could not get on board with this movie at any level. And then I read about the real-life P.L. Travers and got even more annoyed. This is Disney's version of author Travers' (Emma Thompson: way too brilliant of a person and actress for this drivel) spars with Walt (Tom Hanks in a wrongheaded portrait) on his Mary Poppins. Bogged down by schmaltzy flashbacks, schlock psychology and the film's quest to turn a fascinating figure like Travers into an irritating, tight-permed tweed robot (just so you know, she hates anything cheerful and she hates pears), the movie slogs along until its false finale and inevitable portraits of the real-life people over the credits to try to make you feel that what you witnessed previously was somehow authentic. The Sherman Brothers' delightful tunes raise this half a star. *1/2


-Jeffery Berg

american hustle

Trailer for the new David O. Russell film American Hustle. Looks interesting!

liam at cannes

met ball '13 faves!

I love this time of year.

Here are some of my faves of the night! Who were yours?

Chloë Sevigny, in Proenza Schouler, with Repossi jewels

Beyonce, in Givenchy Haute Couture, with Lorraine Schwartz jewels

Anna Wintour, in Chanel Haute Couture

Jennifer Lawrence, in Dior Haute Couture, with Brian Atwood shoes

Sarah Jessica Parker, in custom Giles, with a Philip Treacy headpiece, Fred Leighton jewels, and custom Christian Louboutin shoes

Gwyneth Paltrow, in Valentino, with Wilfredo Rosado jewels. 

Claire Danes, in Oscar de la Renta, with Van Cleef & Arpels jewels.

Carey Mulligan, in Balenciaga

Alexa Chung, in Erdem

Kirsten Dunst, in Louis Vuitton

Taylor Swift, in J. Mendel with Lorraine Schwartz jewels

Blake Lively, in Gucci Premiere, with custom Lorraine Schwartz jewels

Alicia Keys, in custom Jason Wu, with Robert Lee Morris jewels

Elettra Wiedemann, in Prabal Gurung

Ashley Olsen, in vintage Dior

Linda Evangelista, in Marchesa, with Harry Winston jewels

Emily Blunt, in Carolina Herrera with Lorraine Schwartz jewels

Ginnifer Goodwin, in custom Tory Burch

Chelsea Clinton

Sienna Miller, in Burberry Prorsum, with jewels by Eddie Borgo and Genevieve Jones