Eva's 2009 Movies Most Worthy of Mention, in no special order * means Herman saw it too.
Doubt Dir & screenwriter John Patrick Shanley. With Meryl Streep as an un-naive mother superior, Philip Seymour Hoffman as either a kind priest or a pedophile (You decide), Amy Adams as a sweet young nun, and Viola Davis as the mother of the boy the priest takes under his wing. Set in the1960's. Plenty to ponder!
*Julie and Julia. Herman said afterwards, “I'd recommend that to anyone.” Written and directed by Nora Ephron. Based on My Life in France (and it faithfully captures the essence of that wonderful memoir) by Julia Child. Interweaves that with a rendering in film of Julie Powell's blog about spending a year cooking all the dishes in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. With Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, & Chris Messina. Meryl Streep, 5'6”, acts tall—Julia was 6'3”. She also does Child's verbal mannerisms to a T.
Milk Dir. Gus Van Sant, w/ Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, gay activist and San Francisco city Supervisor who, along with Mayor Moscone, was assassinated in 1978 by Dan White (Josh Brolin). Excellent, but not better than what I remember of the documentary made in the 1980's on the subject here dramatized.
The Reader based on the fine book by Bernhard Schlink.. Dir Stephen Daldry and screenwriter David Hare (The team that created The Hours, also based on an acclaimed novel), with David Cross and Kate Winslet as the callow youth and adult woman who have an affair in fifties Germany. For foreplay he reads to her. Hanna Schmitz' secrets are (Spoiler alert) 1. She's illiterate, and 2. She was in the SS and left prisoners locked in a burning building. “Why?” asks the war crimes judge in the 1960's. “That's obvious. We were guards.”
Herb and Dorothy Dir. Megumi Sasaki. Documentary about the Vogels, a postal clerk and a librarian, who amassed an art collection worth millions which they ultimately donated to the National Gallery, and visit once a year. “like a child who has gone out into the world.” It was a pleasure to contemplate Herb and Dorothy's devotion to each other and common passion for Art. People who really care about something are interesting.
*Gran Torino Dir. Clint Eastwood starring himself playing Walt Kowalski, a curmudgeonly retired auto worker who comes around to appreciating the family of Hmung immigrants next door. I liked the non-violent everyday life parts best, but the gang violence was not gratuitous. Opens & closes with a funeral Mass.
*Two Friends. Dir Jane Campion's first film. Very realistic drama about two bright 14 year old girls, friends since childhood, who were accepted at “City Girls,” an academically challenging H.S. Louise is clean cut, Kelly is sliding towards a troubled adolescence. The movie opens with Louise's parents attending the funeral of a teen dead of an overdose. In retrospect I take that to be a flash forward to Kelly's end, the rest of the movie limning the path to that sad event. Louise's mother dealt with the slings and arrows of parenting an adolescent admirably. This year I also saw Jane Campion's latest film, Bright Star, about John Keats, another quality film.
*Fighter Dir. Amir Bar-Lev, 2000. DVD. 86 min. Documentary about two friends, Arnost Lustig, 72, and Jan Wiener, 78, who return to the Czech Republic and reminisce in '99, the same year Herman and I visited that country. They both emigrated to Massachusetts around 1973 and became professors. Arnost spent his adolescence in Buchenwald. Jan got out of Czechoslovakia early in the war at age 19, had close calls, and ultimately made his way to England where he fought Hitler as a pilot. He spent 1950-55 in a Communist Labor Camp. Meanwhile Arnost was a member of the Party and had a comfortable life as a journalist. The communists had fired all the journalists over 25. The two old men argued about that. Both have children.
Every Little Step Play-within-a-play documentary by James D. Stern & Adam Del Deo about casting a revival of A Chorus Line. I liked the middle aged Asian woman who helped with the casting who was herself in the original cast. The original creator of A Chorus Line, Michael Bennett, died in 1987, but we see clips of him.
*When Pigs Fly Documentary by Eric Breitenbach & Phyllis Redmond about Lorrie, a quadriplegic who runs a pig sanctuary in FL. Lorrie, a truck driver, was disabled on the job when she was 28. Lorrie's “retired” parents help her. The pig population explosion was unsustainable. I've met Eric & Phyllis, friends of Coopers.
The Class (France) Docu-drama set in an inner-city Parisian High School based on a book, “Entre les Murs,” written by French Language teacher Francois Begaudeau. Begaudeau and his real-life students play themselves.
Classrooms are a bit tedious on the screen just like in life. I opined that the kids must've at least learned a ton from making the movie, but my friend Marigail is sure the kids even managed to waste that meta-experience.
In a Dream Dir. Jeremiah Zagar's documentary about his hippie parents, Isaiah and Julia . Seen at the MFA with Ezra.. If I'm ever in Philadelphia I'd like to visit the warehouses Isaiah rehabbed by covering them with mosaics. Jereniah kept documenting even after the long marriage almost broke up after some unfaithfulness. Julia said, “I've been sleeping with a liar. You embraced me night after night and now you tell me you felt nothing.” Jeremiah's gentle brother Zeke returns home mentally ill after his 10 year marriage went on the rocks.
Taking Woodstock. Dir. Ang Lee. A good half of the film is a dramatization of the preparation for Woodstock, and that's the part I liked best--the Catskills and the general ambiance of 1969, the seedy motel, screen doors slamming, and the Chamber of Commerce meeting. When the festival starts the movie never gets close enough to hear the music. The stoned love-ins did not make me nostalgic since I was never into that. With Jonathan Groff as Woodstock (well, Bethel) organizer Michael Lang, Imelda Staunton, Eugene Levy and Leiv Schreiber.
Food, Inc. Documentary by Robert Kenner. I spent half an hour telling Ezra and Herman facts the movie asserted. Ezra saw parallels with "The Omnivore's Dilemma," and in fact its author Michael Pollan is interviewed in Food, Inc. I like the movie's poster featuring a cow with a bar code. The movie is one more thing this year influencing my eating habits for the better. Another is DietPower, a program I used part of the year that not only graphs my weight but tells me what nutrients I am short on at the end of each day.
The Hurt Locker Dir Kathryn Bigelow. A drama about an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in Iraq. People who are willing and trained to disarm bombs are brave. (And I see a need for this skill to be available in civilian life too). George Keilbach picked this out. It got top reviews but I may not have seen it otherwise because I don't seek out war movies. The personalities of the three men in the unit were believably drawn too.
*The Soloist. DVD. Dir. Joe Wright (who directed Atonement, which made my list last year). Dramatization of a true story. With Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Ayer, a Juliard dropout now a middle-aged homeless busker. Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) of the LA Times writes a series of pieces about him. Catherine Keener plays Steve's ex, and fellow journalist. Ayer has outstanding musical talent and intelligence, and unstable mental health.
More Than a Game. Dir. Kristopher Belman A documentary about a group of 5 kids from the hood in Akron OH who form a basketball team at the Salvation Army Gym in 5th grade and remain together as a team through high school and as fast friends beyond. They win the National Championship repeatedly. Their coach, Dru Joyce II, is player Dru Joyce III's dad. His own sport had been football, but the father attended his son's bb games and was eventually roped into coaching. Dru Joyce III was on the St.Vincent/St.Mary High School varsity as a 5'2” freshman (different coach that year). In one video clip he came into the game and within 6 minutes made 6 straight baskets. The most famous of the fab 5 is LeBron James. All the rest went to college, but James went directly to the NBA. What each young man is now doing scrolled by in an epilogue.
Phoebe in Wonderland. Writer/Dir. Daniel Barnes. Phoebe (Elle Fanning) is a 10 yr old with a compulsive disorder that causes her to do inappropriate things like talk loud in a theater, spit, and call a classmate “faggot.” Her parents, who are a writer and an academic, are played by Felicity Huffman (she's been great in the two roles I've seen her in) and Bill Pullman. They do give Phoebe love and professional help, but they are at their wits' end. Enter Phoebe's drama teacher (Patricia Clarkson). who reaches Phoebe but gets into trouble with the principal (Campbell Scott). Costumes, toys, and fantasy sequences are well done too.
The September Issue Documentary by R.J. Cutler about putting out the Sept. 2007 Issue of Vogue. This movie did not stimulate my emotions, but I like watching people who are good at their work , and editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, and chief artistic director Grace Coddington, both Brits, are good at what they do. The graphic arts interest me, so the printing presses, the photo shoots, the process of choosing this image over that, and fashion as design also engaged me. I would have liked to have seen more of Anna's children, and anything of Grace's life outside of work. Anna is widely thought to be the model for Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada.
A Serious Man How could the NYer say “it's hell to sit through”? This is the 2nd Joel and Ethan Coen movie that I really enjoyed. The other was also set in Minnesota, the incomparable Fargo. I did not enjoy the other two Coens I've seen, No Country for Old Men and Raising Arizona, but the casting was great in all 4 of these.
*An Education, with Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Emma Thompson and Alfred Molina. This is the third movie I've seen by Danish dir. Lone Scherfig, and they've all been listers. In this one a high school girl in London in 1961 embarks on an affair with an older man who charms her parents who are asleep at the switch.
*Death at a Funeral dir. Frank Oz (Br). Shown at the Virginia Film Festival, followed by a panel on British humor. The casting was terrific, esp. the druggy nephew and the guy making the unwanted advances.
*9500 Liberty. Documentary about illegal immigration in Prince William County, VA. The directors Eric Byler and Annabelle Park, several interviewees, and an immigration lawyer were present to take questions. Ellie, Stauffer, Herman and I ate at a South African restaurant beforehand. The film was gradually released on Utube.
A Touch of Greatness, a Great American Teacher and the Lives He Influenced. (2004) Dir Leslie Sullivan. Library DVD watched Thanksgiving weekend with MaryDan and Ezra. Al Cullum taught all subjects to 5th graders in Rye NY 1956-1966. We see him 40 years later having a reunion with his students. Robert Downey Sr. photographed the all-school Shakespeare festival Cullem ran, where even kindergardeners performed. Cullum jettisoned Dick and Jane and cut right to Sophocles, Shaw and the Bard. For geography his class drew a giant map of the US in chalk on the playground, and ran a human serpentine Mississippi down the middle of it. For History each student acted out a president. Al had wanted to be an actor, “but obviously I didn't make it.”
Shooting Beauty Dir. Courtney Bent & George Kachadrian. Our Thanksgiving guest Erica is a nurse who works at a day center for people with cerebral palsy in Watertown MA. This is a documentary about Erica's clients. They were given cameras so they could show their lives from their perspectives, culminating in a show of their work at the Cambridge Multicultural Center. The 3 Coopers and I watched it together. Wonderful!
*Bigger, Stronger, Faster Dir. Chris Bell. Library DVD. Tiger Woods had an operation to improve his vision to better than 20/20. Where do we draw the line at which artificial enhancements are illegal? Chris and his two brothers are not famous athletes, but they've all taken anabolic steroids. Their nice mother wonders where she went wrong that her boys are not satisfied with the bodies God gave them. Olympic athletes are interviewed.
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