Seasons of Love

Another Year

**** out of ****

Directed by: Mike Leigh

Starring: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville, Peter Wight and Oliver Maltman

Running time: 129 minutes

British writer/director Mike Leigh is known for deriding the traditional Hollywood manner of storytelling. As he once said, “Given the choice of Hollywood or poking steel pins in my eyes, I’d prefer steel pins.”

Leigh is also notable for his unconventional style of writing, directing and teaching. His films aren’t penned on paper; instead, he nixes the script and works with his cast to develop the concept and characters organically. Ironically, he has still received five original screenplay nominations. The latest one is for a humanist comedy-drama titled Another Year.

It’s a type of film that we rarely see pop up any more but need to see more of: thoughtful, charming and sympathetic, and more reliant on the character dynamics as its driving force than a rigid, complex storyline.

We are introduced to a couple named Tom (portrayed by Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), a husband and wife unlike the normal screen couple for two reasons. First, the conflict is absent. These two have such a rich, healthy, wholesome friendship that just a mild touch or brief statement can ignite the passion and companionship underneath. The second difference is that they are in late middle-age.

Tom and Gerri live a pleasant existence in their cozy Northern England townhouse. Their 30-year-old son, a modest and remarkably polite man named Tom, pops in from time to time to spread the love. They also commonly invite Mary (Lesley Manville), a secretary in Gerri’s office, to eat, drink and be merry with them (with the emphasis on the drink – the wine flows so often here, these British chaps make the folks in Sideways seem sober).

The film is divided into four snippets reliving the four seasons in a year in their lives – showing such highlights as a summer barbeque hosting by Tom and Gerri, the arrival of Tom’s girlfriend and a death in the family. Photographed with four different film stocks by Dick Pope, as we shift through the seasons, the film’s tone switches from cheery, casual warmth and happiness to become more bleak and discouraging. Or in other words, kind of like life itself.

Leigh, an astute observer of human behaviour, focuses our attentions on the actors and their ever-changing personalities and gestures, and not toward the advancement of story events. The film unfolds at a pace that is slow, but with such attention drawn toward the finely nuanced performances, one that is never dry or boring.

Lesley Manville is a standout of this rich, wonderfully diverse ensemble. Her character, Mary, begins as a comically cute and carefree spirit. We all know someone like Mary: a willfully optimistic gal with candor and confidence who likes to sell her happiness, perking up to her friends and drowning her stomach with wine.

Some suspect that she may be using this cheery charade as a mask to shelter her insecurity and regret - and this is exactly so for Mary. She is still on the hunt for the perfect man, but slowly coming to terms with how her time is indeed up. It is simply "too late" for her to get the romantic, fulfilling life she wanted.

The film begins with her as a mere supporting player, but by the haunting, unsparingly raw final shot – the camera gazes at her as she stares down, sorrowfully – Mary becomes the soul we remember the most. Under Leigh’s assured hand, it is the year's most heartbreaking performance in one of the year’s best films.

Super Bad

The Green Hornet

*1/2 out of ****

Directed by: Michel Gondry

Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz and Edward James Olmos

Running time: 118 minutes

The Green Hornet is the most juvenile and cartoonish superhero movie to zip onto multiplex screens in quite some time, except it isn’t aimed at children, there is no animation (save the closing credit sequence) and its journey to the big screen dates back to the early 1990s.

With almost 20 years spent in "development hell," and such names as George Clooney, Greg Kinnear, Nicolas Cage and director Kevin Smith reportedly attached, after viewing this insipid affair, it’s easy to see why this project had so much trouble leaving the ground.

The biggest hint is that Britt Reid, our protagonist who dresses up as the titular hero, is an irritating, egotistical loon. Portrayed by Seth Rogen in a project that he also co-wrote (with pal Evan Goldberg) and executive produced, these annoyances are embellished. Rogen veers from the subtlety he adopted on the set of Judd Apatow’s Funny People and goes back to slacking off in a half-hungover daze while half-screaming maniacally.

The synopsis does not tread far from what we’ve come to expect from the now laborious superhero genre. After Britt’s father, a newspaper mogul played by Tom Wilkinson, dies from an allergic reaction to a bee sting, our playboy protagonist befriends his father’s mechanic and coffee maker, the hard-working, ass-kicking Kato (Taiwanese musician Jay Chou, in his Hollywood debut) and decides to use his newfound freedom to fight crime.

The duo vow to protect the streets of L.A. by posing as masked criminals and taking out the gangs one by one, the most notorious of whom is led by a Russian named Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz, in a far cry from his performance as a hotsy-totsy Nazi in Inglourious Basterds).

The story isn’t quite fresh, but this conventionality could have been avoided had Rogen and Goldberg put more thought into formulating character nuances and story details than with gadget designs. Their jokes could have also been punchier had the writers (of Superbad and Pineapple Express fame) had the more vulgar freedoms of the R rating to work with. With a PG-13, however, the comedy is dim-witted and the gags are watered-down to keep pre-teen boys amused.

Even while the shrill attempts at humour come up empty, the performances are even more embarrassing. Brief appearances from Tom Wilkinson, James Franco and Edward James Olmos are a waste of their talent. Cameron Diaz, as Britt’s secretary, Lenore, is reduced to eye candy. The only thing we learn about Waltz’s Chudnofsky is that he’s the villain, a thin concoction without personality or menace.

This is a superhero movie that just couldn’t be saved, even with pop visual stylist Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) attached as director. Nevertheless, he is the sole source of flair, ably whizzing his camera while crafting superb action sequences. Most notable is an eccentric, no-holds-barred climax that creatively makes use of its setting, a newspaper plant and newsroom.

Thin, soulless and unfunny, The Green Hornet is a rushed and under-written attempt to cash in on the superhero (or is it the superhero parody) genre. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg hit the big time a few years ago for writing the fantastically crude Superbad, a title that would have served more appropriate for this lewd embarrassment.

Top Tens #2: My Top 10 Films of 2010

Below are my picks for The Top 10 Films of 2010. Half of the films on my list were bona-fide successes that raked in (or are still raking in) major coin at the box office. The other five were ignored by the general public (each made less than $5 million at the North American box office).

Enjoy, and please feel free to comment with what you think of the list, what your favourite movies were this year, etc.

Honourable Mentions (that just missed my list):

127 Hours, Black Swan, Buried, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Rabbit Hole, The Secret in Their Eyes

Special Mention:

I’m Here

(Director: Spike Jonze)

This 29-minute short, a major sensation at Sundance and an Internet hit, is presented by Absolut Vodka despite having nothing to do with alcohol. Except that it comes from the intoxicating Spike Jonze, still in tiptop form after 2009’s Where the Wild Things Are. Once again centering on outcasts, Jonze tells the story of an endearing, if deteriorating romance between two robots (voiced by Andrew Garfield and Sienna Guillory) living in modern times. The initial premise is sweet and poignant, but its second half culminates with an emotionally shattering conclusion. Look for this unforgettable short film online: it’ll take a piece from you.

10. Never Let Me Go

(Director: Mark Romanek)

Based off Kazuo Ishiguro’s beloved novel, this dystopian drama about three students (portrayed in their adult forms by Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley, all excellent) and their coming-of-age at the idyllic Hailsham Academy is haunting and mysterious. The boarding school is preparing its students for an unconventional future - although I’m not going to divulge here exactly what it beholds, the film deals with experiencing real pain in a largely manufactured life. Director Mark Romanek stays true to Ishiguro’s sterile tone and formality, and drains the film’s second half of warm colours to reflect the characters’ woe. This is the saddest film of the year and packs an emotional wallop; simply, it does just what the title says.

A Little Trivia: Time Magazine named Ishiguro’s novel, released in 2005, as “The Best Book of the Decade.”

9. Inception

(Director: Christopher Nolan)

First, let me get this out of the way: Inception is a tad too light on character, a tad too heavy on exposition, and a tad too satisfied with its own bombastic complexities. This is why the film isn’t further up on the list. Regardless, it is an enormous achievement – how many new releases can you describe as "spellbinding," anyway? With big thrills and even bigger ideas, writer/director Christopher Nolan has constructed a labyrinthian sci-fi universe that is – literally – a mind-bender. Conceptual dazzle aside, Inception is still a formidable action picture and features one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s most assured performances, as an espionage agent who steals from the subconscious of others. The problem is that he’s having trouble grasping hold of what’s reality and what’s only a dream. It’s a beautifully designed and ambitiously structured thriller that kept my head, well, spinning for days.

A Little Trivia: In the film, the Edith Piaf song, “Non, je ne regrette rien” is used as a plot device within the “dream world.” Marion Cotillard, who played Mal in the film, won an Academy Award for playing Piaf in La Vie en Rose.

8. Animal Kingdom

(Director: David Michod)

The best family-centric crime thrillers are now commonly found on cable TV, but this feature film debut from Australia is lean, meaty and packs a major punch. A teenager moves in with his grandmother and three shady uncles after his mother dies, only to find out that they have ties to Melbourne’s criminal underworld and plan to initiate him into their menacing retreats. Michod lingers the camera on the natural habitat early on, and takes its time introducing the family dynamic while only giving hints to their darker undercurrents – we can only sniff out the tension, and are oblivious to when the menace will strike next. Led by an exceptional Australian cast, notably Jacki Weaver as the ruthless grandma and the hypnotically creepy Ben Mendelsohn, Animal Kingdom knows when to pounce on an unsuspecting audience. It’s a new crime classic.

A Little Trivia: It holds the record for the most number of nominations garnered by a feature film at the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards, with 18.

7. A Film Unfinished

(Director: Yael Hersonski)

In a year packed with great documentaries, A Film Unfinished ranks as one of the finest. Back in 1942, Nazi filmmakers oversaw the making of a propaganda feature, “Das Ghetto,” set in the grim heart of the Warsaw Ghetto. A blisteringly manipulative account of ghetto life, the film had not been fully edited and sat in a German vault for decades. When a fifth reel popped up in 1998, it unveiled outtakes that clearly document how the Nazis deliberately staged the proceedings. The five reels are presented alongside voice-over narration from a Jewish figurehead’s journal (who lived in the ghetto and wrote about the filming), as well as the reactions of Holocaust survivors watching the footage. Hersonski’s film is a searing depiction of inhumanity, and also an unmissable triumph that bears witness to one of the crudest historical accounts ever captured on film.

A Little Trivia: Filmmaker Yael Hersonski is the daughter of a Warsaw Ghetto survivor.

6. The King’s Speech

(Director: Tom Hooper)

Colin Firth gives the performance of the year (and his career) as the stammering King George VI, who must face his fear of public speaking after his brother abdicates the throne. Challenged to work out the mannerisms, rhythms and inner plight of a character who struggles to open his mouth, Firth brings remarkable colour and depth to the role. Surrounded by an ensemble at the top of their game, he’s in good company. This tale of adversity is extraordinarily moving and often hilarious, thanks mainly to a touching script from 73-year-old David Seidler and the ping-pong banter between Firth and his shrewd speech therapist, played by Geoffrey Rush. The bond between the two is not as much about fixing a voice as it is about finding one. On a recent box office surge, The King’s Speech will likely take the Best Picture race down to the wire – and deservedly so.

A Little Trivia: Guy Pearce, who plays George VI’s older brother, Edward VIII, is actually seven years younger than Firth.

5. The Town

(Director: Ben Affleck)

Proving that his directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, and his screenwriting Oscar were no fluke, Ben Affleck shows that he’s not just a triple threat – actor, director and co-writer – but also an accomplished filmmaker and master storyteller with his latest film. Affleck plays a bank robber who falls in love with the manager he once held at gunpoint (Rebecca Hall) in Charlestown, the gruff “bank robbery capital” that gives the film its plain name. But this suspense/thriller is far from plain: it has a strong sense of character and place, concerned as much with the characters and their veering moral compasses as it is with taut, efficiently paced heist sequences. Ben Affleck has our attention once again, and they’re for all the right reasons.

A Little Trivia: The film's premiere was held at Fenway Park, which also served as a pivotal setting for The Town's climax.

4. Toy Story 3

(Director: Lee Unkrich)

Toy Story 3 is the best Holocaust film in years. Yes, you read that correctly. Packed with parallels to the finest WWII escape films and with some terrifying moments (including an unnervingly intense incinerator scene), this is Pixar’s saddest, coldest and darkest outing yet. That said, it is still a raucously fun ride. Woody, Buzz and Co. are clinging on to the last shreds of joy before their owner, Andy, leaves for college. It’s an exceptional sequel that works as a roller-coaster of exhilarating fun, whiz-bang inventiveness and sparking visuals (including the best, most nostalgic opening sequence of the year, crediting the boundless creativity of childhood playtime). It also excels as an emotionally grueling throat-grabber, an intelligent and moving meditation about growing up and moving on. Director Lee Unkrich and screenwriter Michael Arndt are often a stitch away from packing in too much, but understand that all of the mayhem is worthless without these characters we have such investment in. The finale to the finest screen trilogy of my generation, animated or otherwise, was well worth the ten-and-a-half year wait.

A Little Trivia: The Jack in the Box who yells “New toys!” after Andy’s gang arrives at Sunnyside is voiced by director Lee Unkrich. It is one of 302 characters in the film.

3. Trigger

(Director: Bruce McDonald)

This Canadian-made gem was rushed into production after its star, character actress Tracy Wright, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last December. (She passed away this June.) Trigger is Wright’s swan song, a terrific film that encompasses her versatile talents, from her scathing wit to her classy sense of cool. A struggling musician who has moved toward spirituality (Wright) and a successful music advisor in Hollywood (Molly Parker) meet up for a one-night-only reunion. They used to play in a punk-rock duo called Trigger and have not seen each other in 12 years. Together, they reflect on their fragile, dysfunctional friendship, as well as past triumphs and regrets. Playwright Daniel MacIvor, who penned the script, unleashes both blunt, gutless profanity between the women in the blistering opening scenes before settling into their inner demons, such as Vic’s memories of her sex- and drug-fueled escapades (in a brazen, anguished monologue, one of the film’s many highlights). Wright’s performance is high-velocity – energetic, poignant and passionate – and one would be hard pressed to imagine a more perfect way to honour her career.

A Little Trivia: Sarah Polley and Don McKellar (Wright’s real long-time partner) cameo in bit roles, as a controlling stage manager and Vic’s scrounging novelist boyfriend, respectively.

2. The Social Network

(Director: David Fincher)

Let’s get things straight: this film is not called The Social Network because it deals with Facebook. Instead, the title refers to the pursuit of a lonely Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg who tried to navigate toward the pantheon of social life – and he did so by creating that popular website. Riveting, insightful, entertaining, and with dialogue so sharp it could cut glass (courtesy of Aaron Sorkin), the film is also a terrific piece of journalism. It was based off an equally breathless non-fiction bestseller by Ben Mezrich, who only got one side of the story (that of the best friend and twin tag-team that sued Zuckerberg). So, director David Fincher structured the film by jumping back and forth between the events surrounding Facebook’s founding and the subsequent legal proceedings. It’s up to the audience to decide whether Zuckerberg’s a genius, or as many characters within the film put it, "an asshole." Jesse Eisenberg’s performance is cold and malignant, but instills Zuckerberg with such an inert pride and intelligence, we can't help but admire his genius (his misery and drive is the basis for the film’s rumbling, moody, electric score). This is certainly the year’s zeitgeist-defining film, one which uses Zuckerberg as a symbol for the impersonality of our tech-savvy era.

A Little Trivia: Jesse Eisenberg’s cousin works for Facebook, near the real Mark Zuckerberg.

1. Exit Through the Gift Shop

(Director: Banksy)

Directed by the elusive art-world icon known as Banksy, Gift Shop is a fascinating look into both the underground world of street art and the psyche of celebrity. Whether or not this howlingly funny and thrillingly original documentary is actually a non-fiction film at all is besides the point. The film tells the story of a bumbling filmmaker named Thierry Guetta who becomes obsessed with the rising world of street art in Los Angeles and around the world, insisting on filming these artists’ works for his own documentary. Watching the craft unfold on Guetta’s camera is fantastic, but Gift Shop is not merely an effort to broadcast the triumphs of a subversive movement. Instead, it targets the phonies and posers who withhold any artistic integrity, capitalizing on art’s commodity value rather than its expressive purposes (hence the title). When Banksy turns the gears in the final third, examining Guetta’s own motivations, he offers a potent, compelling analysis of the “meaning of art” in modern society. Is it all true, is it all a prank, or does Banksy’s manipulations actually add up to a greater realization of the truth? Whatever it is, Exit Through the Gift Shop is a sublime treat that celebrates art while also being a work of art worth celebrating.

A Little trivia: Swiss filmmaker Joachim Levy has accused Banksy of having stolen footage of his own and including it in Exit Through the Gift Shop without giving proper reference.

Marky Mark and the Really Funky Bunch

The Fighter

** out of ****

Directed by: David O. Russell

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and Jack McGee

Running time: 115 minutes

I was supposed to feel bad for Micky Ward, the heavy-hearted lightweight boxer portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter. At the film’s end, who I really pitied was Wahlberg himself.

The actor/producer spent nearly a decade working on this passion project. He trained for four years – even on sets of his other films – and had the real-life Ward nearby to help him prepare for the role and morph into the character. Wahlberg also went down for the count a few times after deciding to become his own stuntman.

So, this terrific story about a rising boxer being pummeled by the forces within his grasp (i.e., his family) has all the grit, guts and glory that Wahlberg and audiences want to see; unfortunately, every time the film focuses on our protagonist, Wahlberg gets pushed against the ropes to make way for three showier supporting performances.

Micky Ward was a courageous fighter in working-class Massachusetts. He grew up worshipping his half-brother, Dickie, (Christian Bale) known to the locals as the “Pride of Lowell” for beating Sugar Ray Leonard many years ago. Now, Dickie is the focus of a new HBO documentary - on the effects of crack addiction that led to his decline, although Dickie thinks it’s about his comeback - while Micky is struggling to win matches.

With his half-brother and mother (Melissa Leo) as his main sponsor – albeit less as a family member and more as an athlete – Micky abandons their help to take some time off, both to train as a boxer and get his bewildering folks off his case. He also starts a romance with a cool, feisty barmaid, Charlene (Amy Adams).

When the boxer protagonist is personified best by the chorus of the song he enters the ring with – Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again,” and surely you know the words – it is a sign that the character is stagnant and incomplete.

This should be Wahlberg’s film; instead, it belongs to three of the most overwrought performances of the year by three actors shrieking and intensifying their characters to such a level that their portrayals feel like one-note caricatures. Vying for an Oscar, these excellent character actors make the mistake of acting “the most” instead of being true to the supporting role they’ve been given. Bale, Leo and Adams overdo it to the point that we feel like we’re watching actors act rather than watching real people live and interact.

Bale, often insanely “method” (he lost 30 pounds for this role) and intense, has such a brash, reptilian charisma that he almost takes the entire story down with him. More time is focused on his drug problem and dysfunctional relationship with his brother than with any of Micky’s predicaments.

Leo, snarly and proud as Alice, has a poofy hairdo and biting tone but never gets to reveal more than her makeup and acidic tongue. Adams, also confined to expletive-heavy outbursts and bad-girl glares, rarely feels authentic.

These parts may have been more finely tuned had Russell, the director, not been vying for the same glittery prizes his performers want. Russell doesn’t so much unleash his inner Scorsese as imitate many of the director’s trademarks, themes and visual style. By the end, his references don't feel like homages but lewd plagiarism.

Long-winded tracking shot in a restaurant? Check. Gritty exploration of tough, fussy, mean streets? Check. Loud, physically aggressive characters? Check. Rock and roll soundtrack with a Rolling Stones tune? Check. Even in the ring, the camera angles and shot compositions feel as if they were copied and pasted with the ones from Raging Bull (except now in colour).

The Fighter could have been a contender, but it has no class. Full of cliches, cheap shots and caricatures, it never accomplishes its main goal: to honour the story of a real-life boxer.

By the time he’s back in the saddle and ready to work his way to a championship, we know so little about Ward that he is a hard hero to root for. The performances are overcooked while its narrative ambitions are underdeveloped. I’m not a lover of this fighter.