Day 6 started with me leaving the house, coffee in hand at 7:30 AM. By 9:30 AM I was nestled into my seat watching Paul Haggis’s excellent In the Valley of Elah. Following a Q and A session with Haggis and actor Tommy Lee Jones, I had time to grab a coffee (note, my second of the day), hop in a cab and barely make my 12:15 showing of Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. Repeat step two minus a cab ride, plus a third coffee and I found myself taking in Kenneth Branagh’s remake of Sleuth. And finally, a mere fourth coffee later I was watching Noah Baumbach’s wacky Margot At the Wedding and wondering when it would all be over. After the rush, I managed to find the proper train and bus that had me home only 14 hours after I left, at 9:30 PM. The result of such a busy day is a shortened report of the four movies I saw, but I trust they are still enjoyable and informative.
In the Valley of Elah
Paul Haggis’s second directorial effort is no less emotional or controversial than his first film, but is equally as good and could end up just as successful. In the Valley of Elah is uncompromising in its depiction of the brutal demons brought home by some of America’s young soldiers, and the resulting effects it can have on their families. In setting his film almost entirely in America, Haggis examines the War in Iraq from a unique perspective that casts new light on the same old questions. With near flawless direction and writing from Haggis and terrific performances from Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron, In the Valley of Elah is a great film and one that will surely garner some golden stated attention come Oscar season.
4.5/5 Stars
Into the Wild
When I walked out of Sean Penn’s mesmerizing Into the Wild I turned to my festival comrades and said, “THAT is the best film I’ve seen so far!” While most of them liked the movie, some had complaints with the length and pacing, but I shook them off gently and continued spewing adjectives of praise. Touching, gripping, emotional, meaningful, beautiful, poetic and ultimately heart-breaking, Into the Wild is all that and endlessly more. Christopher Johnson McCandless had a little bit of everything in him, which makes connecting with him that much easier and the eventual result that much harder to watch. But the film loses nothing because of its supposed anticlimactic conclusion, and it had me along for the adventure every step of the way.
5/5 Stars
Sleuth
Jude Law and Michael Caine; Milo Tindle vs. Andrew Wyke. Kenneth Branagh’s remake of 1972’s Sleuth follows two men engaged in a battle of wit and gamesmanship as they intellectually duke it out over, you guessed it, a woman. Originally a Broadway hit, the story is set entirely in the sprawling estate of the wealthy Wyke, an accomplished crime novelist who takes offense to the young actor stealing his wife. The two leads are absolutely magnificent as they single handedly sustain humor and suspense for 90 minutes of pure fun and games. An interesting side note: in the 1972 original, Caine played the role of Tindle to Lawrence Olivier’s Wyke, which adds an interesting dimension to this efficiently stylized contemporary version.
4/5 Stars
Margot At the Wedding
The disappointment of the day, Noah Baumbach’s Margot At the Wedding is a kooky and slightly disturbing slice of life for a neurotic mother and her zany family. It was funny at times and definitely very well acted, but I just did not “get it.” As far as I can tell, nothing really happened and no messaged was conveyed. It is all well and good for a film to be light-hearted and non-committal, but by no stretch are Margot and her relations a pleasure to be around. So with all of the misery and general discomfort it causes, I was quite disappointed that the film’s characters and their situations meant very little to me. As a result, all I could muster was a kind of empty sympathy for Margot and her struggles and in general, it just was not a very satisfying experience. The again, maybe I simply saw one too many movies today.
2.5/5 Stars
