Sleeping Beauty

So, I had heard about this movie all the way back when they were casting for the lead role and everyone had an opinion. Well originally Mia Wasikowska was cast but was replaced by Emily Browning when she dropped out to do Jane Eyre. I'm a fan of Browning's as I was one of the few who really enjoyed Sucker Punch and her terrific performance in it. I had however pretty much forgotten about this movie until I saw it last night while perusing the Netflix inventory. The movie comes from Australia from first time writer/director Julia Leigh.

The story, which shouldn't be confused with the recent trend of adapting fairy tales to make them more modern or dark, revolved around a young college student, played by Browing, who holds various jobs seemingly to pay for her expenses due to a codependent absent mother. She gets pulled into a world of secret perversions of the rich who desire lingerie-clad caterers and then ultimately a sleeping girl to do as they wish in bed. Browning finds herself caught up in this world and the audience is there for the ride.

Well I believe that Julia Leigh's favorite directors must be David Lynch or even Von Trier. The story was not as extreme as any of theirs and did have a linear storyline, it just raised more questions than answers. The atmosphere was dark and Browning's character was quite complex even though she kept a reserved facade. The sexual perversions of her clients were met head on in the script and was almost hard to watch at times, but through the cinematography it somehow kept it's air of elegance. Quite an oxymoron. While watching the movie, I was looking for answers and getting slightly confused. It was only after finishing the movie and looking back in retrospect was I able to see all of the questions and subtle clues that were given but left mostly up for our own interpretation.

The camera movements were smooth and the lighting soft and warm. It really did create a dramatic elegance to the film which contrasted greatly with the world the character was diving into. I think it was a smart choice.

Browning deserves loads of respect for this role. She was completely and utterly vulnerable in most of her scenes. A couple of the bedroom scenes were hard to watch and I can only imagine the bravery needed to do that. Besides the obvious, she somehow was able to pull off her performance with a cool and unemotional exterior while showing the audience that she has complex inner turmoil from subtle movements or actions. Her performance was definitely the pinnacle of the movie. The other actors showed bravery as well and I'll give some props to the old men who bared all for this movie.

Well, this movie is without a doubt not for everyone. There's actually no sex scenes in the movie, rather loads of nudity and perverse situations. Aside from the obvious, the movie also doesn't really answer any of the questions that it poses, instead it gives subtle clues that are left to your interpretation. It would make a great film to dissect. I think there were a lot of smart choices made in the movie and Browning's performance should add greatly to her resume. My admiration for the elements of the movie didn't match my entertainment as a whole. It's almost as if I enjoyed each element on its own but not necessarily the way it fit as a whole. That makes perfect sense, right? "The fear of death is the world's biggest hoax".

Daydream Nation

So yes, another Netflix instant movie. I really need to get out more. I passed over this movie a couple of time before deciding to watch the trailer. It promised to be a re-imagined Juno and the trailer made it look pretty interesting. Normally I'm on the fence about Kat Dennings, but I thought I'd throw caution to the wind and watch this movie. It's a 2010 movie from first time writer/director Michael Goldbach and stars Kat Dennings, Reece Thompson, Andie Macdowell, Josh Lucas, and Ted Whittall.

The movie centers around Caroline Wexler, played by Dennings, who moves from the city to a small rural town to finish her senior year of high school. She reminisces about 'the year that everything happened' from love triangles, serial killers, industrial fires, car accidents, and smoke-outs all the while navigating a small town high school.

There's a lot of plot in the movie but with the aid of the super slick editing, the story is tremendously easy to follow and quite entertaining. We're given numerous subplots, but they're believable and not overbearing. Denning's character's social commentary is so biting and witty, it was easily one of the best parts of the movie. Much like the social commentary found in Juno, but other than the fact that they're in high school, there's not many other comparisons I can draw between the two. Denning's character is flawed and she knows it yet she doesn't claim to be more than she is. Her character's attitude is really entertaining. The other characters are flawed as well and some already know while other learn it throughout the movie. There are different series of connected events, but they don't feel as contrived as most movies of this nature. The story-telling was superb in this film, which I believe was a combination of the screenplay and an awesome editing direction. The characters were quirky enough to be believable and entertaining without becoming a one-dimensional stereotype (in most cases). The quirkiness is nowhere near the amount piled unto Juno's characters. It is a highly fictionalized plot driven movie, but I ended up really enjoying it.

The cinematography, editing, sound, lighting were all perfect in the movie. The scenes were framed beautifully and the insert close-up shots were just perfect with the mood of the movie. There was slick editing with title effects, split fame, jump cuts, etc that just moved the story at the perfect pace without being confusing or over the top. You could see the pre-planning of the shots in almost every frame. Almost every single actor in the movie was extremely good-looking and with the softly diffused lighting in some of the scenes, they looked even better. The choice to use a warm color palette with some of the darker scenes was perfect in setting the mood. It created some dark plot points without getting overly dramatic and deep. Also the soundtrack, which was dominated by Metric's Emily Haines, was top notch. Her song, Telethon, fit perfectly in the scene it was used and is now on my ipod.

I really really enjoyed Kat Denning's performance in this movie. I just may have jumped off the fence and became a small fan. She did play pretty much the same character she usually does, but this time it fit with the character. The way she delivered some of her lines was so original it made the dialogue even better. Josh Lucas did a fantastic job playing the same character but having a completely different persona depending on his public and private persona. I also really enjoyed the performance of Reece Thompson's as he was able to pull off the geek/stoner while still making you want to be his friend. Apparently, Andie Macdowell doesn't age. One of my favorite performances in the movie, was from Ted Whittall who plays Denning's father. His role was quite comical and his rugged handsomeness was icing on the cake.

I ended up really enjoying this movie. Perhaps because I came in with low expectations, but nonetheless it was seriously entertaining. It was a fast-paced plot driven movie with superb social commentaries. I wouldn't exactly compare it with Juno, but maybe a Juno meets Mean Girls meets Scott Pilgrim? Something like that. I really don't know where the Juno meets David Lynch meets Donnie Darko comes from that's on the cover of the movie. "I'm not here to save you, I'm the main character of my own life".

Race You to the Bottom

So, this was another movie on my Netflix instant binge. Netflix said it was a independent drama about two best friends who give in to their growing attraction for each other, despite the fact that they both have boyfriends. It was a small movie from 2005 from a first time director, Russell Brown. The lead actress won an award for outstanding actress in a feature film at a small festival in Los Angeles.

The film picks up with two best friends/lovers, Maggie and Nathan, in the midst of an affair they are having together as they travel to Napa for a weekend trip as Nathan is a travel reporter. Yup, that's about it.

The story surprisingly picks up after the affair has already begun, which was somewhat disappointing. I am a girl after all and do enjoy the stories about the tension between two almost lovers. Sadly, we missed that in this movie. The course of the movie takes place over a single weekend, something else I think that hinders the story. We really don't get to learn much about the characters. We're thrown into the middle of the relationship and only get a couple of tiny cutaways to how they met. Both of the characters were self-centered and really could see nothing wrong with their affair or how they were treating their significant others. It was okay because Nathan was really gay, right? It wasn't that convincing. The plot action felt rather forced. Apparently they'd been taking these getaways quite often but this one was different, because . . . well there was no reason really, but somehow they destroyed everything in the meantime. Unfortunately, the ending felt rather thrown together. I feel like I'm being too negative. The story had a lot of potential. I think if they would've increased the time span of the plot and/or given us more character development, it would've worked better. Some of the dialogue was rather witty and insightful.

The movie was filmed quite nicely. It gave us that bohemian view of L.A. that, while somewhat fictional, is nice to look at. The shots were framed nicely and the colors were beautiful in the locations. The cinematography was above par compared to the other elements of the movie.

Amber Benson, who plays Maggie, won an award for her performance. Out of the characters, she was easily the most believable. Unfortunately, with microbudget movies sometimes some of the quality must be sacrificed. All of the actors were very good-looking, however they just weren't as believable as the characters they were trying to portray. Cole Williams, who plays Nathan, didn't quite pull off the self-confident charisma of his character. He gave a much more vulnerable portrayal which did not fit with the dialogue/actions of his character.

I think it was a nice effort with lots of potential. It was almost as if there was an argument behind the scenes about whether they wanted to do a run-of-the-mill romcom or a quirky indie romance. It just didn't pan out. I personally, didn't see the motives behind the character's actions most of the time and therefore the believability of the movie was lost. "I like my women aggressive and my men passive".

Attenberg

So, thanks to a Netflix recommendation I saw this unique film from Greece. It was made back in 2010 and was their submission to the 2012 Oscars for their foreign language entry. It's won 7 awards from various small film festivals around the country as well. I'm a sucker for foreign language movies if they have the little film festival olive branch thingys on the cover. Throw into the mix the story revolves around an awkward female hermit and I'm in.

The story is a character study revolving around Marina, a 23 year old Greek girl who's father is slowly dying of cancer. She's been brought up to live as a hermit with little contact to the outside world, save her best friend, Bella, who matches Marina's awkwardness with promiscuity. Marina finds herself opening up to the world as she must deal with her father's matter-of-fact atheist views in a small abandoned factory town.

I really enjoy how foreign films are not afraid of silence or sexual taboos. That being said, they were plentiful in this film. Marina's character was not a She's All That awkward, where she wears glasses but is secretly pretty cool. Her character was truly awkward and inept with social norms, be it carrying a conversation, kissing, or even the way she eats. There was enough plot action to keep this movie out of the mumblecore genre (which I'm not a huge fan of). The father-daughter relationship in the movie was written rather superbly. You really saw the connection through these characters.

The movie felt as though the director took the actors around to different locations and just filmed them some of the times. None of the shots looked planned out at all. There was very little framing, lighting, or anything typical of pre-planned cinematography. Most notable would be the handheld camera work and very jumpy rack focusing. While this type of cinematography veers to the raw side and some might be put off from it, I think it helped to give realism to the characters. Being a character study, it's about the characters and not the sets or plot. I think it was a smart choice by the director, although it may have also been due to the budget.

There was a genuine connection between these actors on screen. I must say that it portrays one of my new favorite father-daughter film portrayals. The actress that plays Marina, Ariane Labed, was a standout in the movie. In fact, two of the seven awards were for her performance. She somehow brought an air of innocence and extreme maturity to the role. There were some quite intimate scenes she had to do and pulled them off without hesitation. The three other main actors were right up there with her.

Even with the limited resources, this was a nice little movie. As with most independent foreign movies, there are some 'taboos' in the movie that won't appeal to certain mainstream audiences (example, I couldn't find an accessible picture of the movie cover that didn't cut off the bottom). "So much is said with one look the first time you meet a gorilla".