Venus In Fur

Tony Award-winning Playwright David Ives’ Venus In Fur is, currently, the most produced play in the United States.  Why?  At the Q&A following the Tribeca Film Festival’s premiere of Writer/Director Roman Polanski’s film version of the play, Ives related a story on the effect the Broadway play had on an audience member, an effect that would probably have been enhanced by the power of Polanski’s masterpiece.*

Writer/Director Thomas (Mathieu Amalric) has spent an unsuccessful day auditioning 35 actresses for the lead in his new play and is about to go home, when a 36^th candidate, Vanda (Emmanuelle Seigner), enters the theater, soaking wet from the storm, outside, and begs for a shot at the role.

After every effort to kick out what appears to be an ignorant hooker, Thomas becomes intrigued, when Vanda pulls from her bag a dress appropriate to the 1870 period of his play.  He relents and, as Vanda begins to audition, she becomes the exact character which he imagined for the role.  But, as the evening progresses, she becomes more than an actress and the power roles reverse as she begins to rewrite the piece and plumbs the writer/director’s character and soul.

Is she a muse?  Is this a dream?  Or, a nightmare?

Those are questions, hovering in the back of viewers’ minds from the outset.   However, the pace of the Polanski’s and Ives’ superb dialogue is so quick, the camerawork of Cinematographer Pawel Edelmon, is so fabulous, the music of Composer Alexandre Desplat is so powerful and the sound effects of Lucien Balibar are so interesting that the audience is too amused and transfixed to dwell on such issues .   Answers are not needed until discussions after the film is over.

With Venus In Fur, Polanski, again, demonstrates how powerful a filmmaker he is.  And, Seigner and Amalric have never been better.

I give Venus In Fur a 5 out of 5 and look forward to seeing it again. 

* If you want to know the abovementioned story Ives told, email me and I’ll send it to you.  It’s very funny.

Every Secret Thing

Director Amy Berg has moved from documentary films to feature films with the detective thriller Every Secret Thing, which had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

A baby has gone missing and the suspects are two 18-year-olds, recently released from juvenile prison after 7 years for having been responsible for the death of a baby they kidnapped as adolescences. 

But, which one of them was truly responsible, then, and what would be the motivation for repeating the crime, now, is the mystery.

With a star cast, including Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Dakota Fanning and Common, the film has excellent performances, but starts off like an LMN TV movie before Berg seems to find her way into making it a theatrical feature.  

Nicole Holofcenor’s flawed script and the dark camerawork of Cinematographer Rob Hardy are the main problems here, especially during the initial scenes. 

Still, this is a valiant first effort and with better material Ms. Berg should  develop into a fine feature director.

I give Every Secret Thing a 3 out of 5.

Rio 2

Fans of the original Rio may be disappointed in Director Carlos Saldanha’s rather pedestrian and formulaic sequel Rio 2.

When explorers Linda (Leslie Mann) and Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) find other Blue birds in the Amazon, Blu (Jesse Eisenberg), Jewel (Anne Hathaway) and the kids travel there and find Jewel’s family.  

Of course, Blu is not accepted because of his affinity for humans, but manages to prove himself when big business attempts to bulldoze the pristine valley.

 

Rio 2 is not up to Mr. Peabody & Sherman or Muppets Most Wanted, but I’ll still give it a 3 out of 5 for its message.

Draft Day

You don’t have to be an American football aficionado to enjoy Director Ivan Reitman’s Draft Day.  It’s a story of negotiation and, if you’ve ever bought a house, car or any tag sale item, you’ll quickly pick up on what’s going on.  However, if you are a fan of the game, you’ll enjoy it even more, as evidenced by the moans and cheers of viewers commenting on the rightness or wrongness of some of the on-screen tactics.

Kevin Costner is excellent as Sonny Weaver, the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns, trying to build the team previously managed by his recently deceased father. He’s backed up by Jennifer Garner as his lover and assistant.  There are also a number of real-life draft participants, playing themselves.

Thanks to Writers Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph, we’re never lost in the machinations of the gamesmanship and are led on an exciting exercise of one-upsmanship.

I give Draft Day a 4 out of 5.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Directors Anthony Russo, Joe Russo and Josh Whedon have teamed up to present an excellent theatrical experience in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Ed Brubaker’s plot as developed by Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, concerning the ease by which an over-dependence on security leads to totalitarianism, puts the action into today’s headlines and takes the film beyond the standard action genre.

Captain America (Chris Evans) is the perfect hero to root out the fascist enemies hidden within the Nation’s leaders and bring them to justice.  But, this time, the stakes are even bigger as he must fight The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), who turns out to be someone dear to him.

With Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Anthony Mackie as Falcon and Robert Redford as Senator Pierce to back Evans, the fun is fast and furious.

Even those, who are not normally action fans should find this film a pleasure.

I give Captain America: The Winter Soldier a 4+ out of 5.

Under The Skin

Director Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin is a pointless and nonsensical waste of time.

 The story, if you can call it that, concerns an alien (or is it perhaps several aliens?), who comes to Scotland’s Glasgow region, takes over a young woman’s body (Scarlett Johansson) and drives around in a van, picking up men, who she seduces and interns them in some under-earth gelatinous realm, supposedly to use their bodies for other aliens.  Or, maybe not.  But, who cares?

There are men following her, but we never know if they are minions, cohorts, handlers or an alien police team after her.  But, who cares?

A would-be rapist accosts her in the woods and, when he discovers the body is not real, burns her.  The end.  I guess Glazer is delivering some kind of message that rapists will save us.

Cinematographer Daniel Landin gives the viewer occasion haunting and even beautiful images, but why Ms. Johansson picked this piece of tripe to bare all remains a mystery.

I give Under The Skin a 1+ out of 5.