kellym40 film review

Exploring one’s potential in ‘Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’

Rating 4/5

Birdman was released in 2014 and captured four Oscars during award season the following year. And is it me, or do a majority of the films that get nominated seem to come out towards the end of the year? Anyhow, the film won for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography. Birdman also took home a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay and Best Actor.

What captivated me most about the film were the style of directing and the use of the camera. Alejandro González Iñárritu has a directing style apart from other directors. Iñárritu’s creativity shines with this production and is particularly effective in bringing the character intimacy to each character throughout the film. His use of a continuous flowing shot to move through the scenes in this film added to the frantic mood the protagonist was experiencing. Some may have been put off by this technique, but I felt it brought me closer to the characters in their moments.

Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, an actor who played a fictional superhero, Birdman, years earlier. Trying to find what is important to him and to revive his career he writes, directs, and stars in a play about to open on Broadway. His co-stars Mike (Edward Norton), Lesley (Naomi Watts), and Laura (Andrea Riseborough) examine their lives as they prepare for opening night and spend their days navigating the complicated game of life and the theatre world. Emma Stone portrays Riggan’s estranged daughter, Sam, and offers a strong performance.

Iñárritu adds another player in the film with the music throughout the scenes. Drummer Antonio Sanchez underscored scenes revealing Riggan’s thoughts and feelings through the beats and rhythm of the percussion. It brings out Riggan’s struggles as he deals with money, critics and his own personal ego to make sure this project does not come up short of the success he needs.

Maybe that’s another reason why I was drawn to this film. It is about actors and their craft. It is about the theatre world. Just about any film that deals with actors being actors and the daily circumstances leading up to opening night holds my interest because I have been in that world (mostly on the collegiate level) as an actor and a member of the production team, including sound designer. So I know how important light, sound, and music can be to a show.

Theatre is a collaborative art. Birdman is collaborative too. It is a beautifully crafted film, rich with exciting performances and originality. It is based on the story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” by Raymond Carver. From the writing by Iñárritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo, to the cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman explores the inner dilemmas (particularly Riggan’s) and the struggle to become more than a mere mortal.

 

 

kellym40 film review

Emotions are dug up in ‘The Lovely Bones,’ but don’t get past the surface

Rating 2/5

With a mixture of drama, a little suspense and mystery, and a dab of humor, The Lovely Bones presents a story that could be interesting and engaging, but it misses on a certain level. Writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens wrote the script based on the book by Alice Sebold. Some of the blame for the finished product might be put on them as they tried to adapt the book to film. Partial blame could also go to director Peter Jackson.

The story is about 14 year old Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) who is murdered and then seemingly lives in a sort of purgatory state as she looks down on her family as they deal with her loss. Caught between taking vengeance upon her murderer and allowing her and her family to move on in peace, she looks back on the events that led up to her demise and attempts to make sense of it all.

Her mother, Abigail Salmon (Rachel Weisz) is trying to move on, but her father, Jack (Mark Wahlberg), is having trouble letting go. He frantically pieces together anything that might be able to shed some light as to where she is. He really never gives up the hope that Susie is still alive. During his “investigation,” his oldest daughter, Lindsey (Rose McIver) begins to believe and tries to help her father. Meanwhile, Jack brings Abigail’s mother, Lynn (Susan Sarandon) in to help during their tragedy to help take care of the kids, especially the youngest boy, Buckley (Christian Ashdale).

The other key players are the serial killer George Harvey (Stanley Tucci), Len Fenerman (Michael Imperioli), the detective who investigates the case, Susie’s love interest Ray Singh (Reece Ritchie), and Ruth Connors (Carolyn Dando), a clairvoyant who helps Susie and later becomes involved with Ray.

While I liked the premise and story, it just seemed, at times, the film didn’t know what it was supposed to be – a drama, mystery, or fantasy, or maybe something else. That was a major setback for me. Because really, it had just enough to keep me into the narrative of the film but not enough to thoroughly enjoy it for what it was. The characters intertwine in this story that has promise but just misses the mark. That is to say the performances were adequate for the story, but it appeared the focus was on little Susie as she attempts to make sense of what happened and find her own peace and so that her family would be able to move on. In that, the action moved along well but seemed to abandon a lot of time to deal with the emotions from the family.

During the course of The Lovely Bones, the audience is on a journey with Susie (who also narrates throughout the film) to see how her family is coping and to see if they discover the identity of her murderer. It was one of those films where you would like to see everything wrapped up nice and neat with a happy ending. But even the ending, although there was some satisfaction, didn’t fulfill the needed emotions to be fully satisfied from watching Susie’s journey. It left me with some mixed emotions and I just wasn’t sure what to feel.

kellym40 film review

Feel good feeling about ‘The Patriot’

Rating 3.5/5

While the film may not be historically accurate, it was a good source of fun, summer entertainment when it was released in June 2000. Set in the backdrop of the Revolutionary War, The Patriot offers some good stuff that makes for an enjoyable summer film – action, developed characters, impeccable acting, strong dialogue, and so on – something that is typically not seen in a Roland Emmerich summer blockbuster.

Robert Rodat penned the script for Emmerich to direct. It doesn’t seem the filmmakers were much on making a historically accurate film, as they were to make a Hollywood film based on history. Taking events and battles from the actual war, Rodat places characters (based on actual historical figures) within that world making their existence seem more real, adding the Hollywood touch of a simple hero pitted against a seemingly unbeatable villain.

The Patriot stars Mel Gibson as Benjamin Martin (a character based on several actual characters from the War – Francis Marion, Elijah Clarke, Daniel Morgan, Andrew Pickens, and Thomas Sumter), a religious family man trying to put the ugliness of war behind him. He is a widower who has seven children he protects dearly. When the villain, British Col. William Tavington (Jason Isaacs), who is based on Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, arrives with his British soldiers on Martin’s property, kills one of his youngest sons, arrests Martin’s eldest son Gabriel (Heath Ledger) and takes him away, and burns Martin’s house down, this pushes Martin to the one thing he wanted to avoid – going into war himself. He pursues Tavington, with two of his other sons, to free Gabriel. With militia style tactics, Martin succeeds in freeing Gabriel and he is thrust into the war to take vengeance upon Tavington. Martin then helps organize a militia, and with the help from his friend Col. Harry Burwell (Chris Cooper), puts forth strategies to stop Tavington and the British. After a series of incidents where the American militia bests British soldiers, Gen. Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson) develops a hatred for these “peasants and farmers” and wants Martin gone too.

Gibson gives an effective, emotional performance, as does Ledger. He was a bright newcomer at the time of the film’s release at 21 years old. Just nearly eight years later, he passed away. He is gone, but not forgotten.

Isaacs plays Tavington straight faced and with conviction. He is virtually emotionless, always with a smirk and evil in his eyes. Wilkinson portrays Cornwallis as somewhat pompous and arrogant, which seems to be Hollywood’s take on the character. This creates another character to dislike and of course root for the hero to win.

Well-choreographed fight and battle scenes, great acting with developed characters, wonderful cinematography, and a musical score to punch the dramatic narrative through the film. It makes for a more satisfactory film than the usual bang, bang, big explosions, and heavy use of special effects.