The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

*The reason for the title of this post will be apparent after reading all three reviews

Weekend (UK 2011) - 3-1/2 stars
Dir: Andrew Haigh
Starring: Tom Cullen and Chris New

It came and left Houston's River Oaks Theater in a mere week, but this British import might end-up on many a year-end Top Ten list (mine included). I admit to neglecting the genre known as "Queer Cinema" -- there are enough GLBT film festivals around the country for a cottage-industry of indie films (and bloggers) -- so I cannot say whether gay-themed films in the U.S. have been this bold and unflinching in depicting the beginnings of a homosexual relationship, not to mention doing it in the matter-of-fact style favored by Hollywood these days concerning young, heterosexual couplings ... always as romantic fluff ("No Strings Attached" and that already forgotten Justin Timberlake-Mila Kunis vehicle). But with "Weekend" the director makes a statement early-on: No Compromise, and No Apologies to the squeamish heteros who may be uncomfortable sitting in the theater watching this. That in-your-face quality makes this movie as honest and effective as it is.

The honesty comes from the natural, unselfconscoius performances by the two unknown lead actors: Tom Cullen as the quiet Russell and Chris New as Glen (imagine a British Ryan Gosling). The extroverted Glen gives voice to the film's attitude: at one point, he rails against having to hide his feelings in public and constantly defering to the sensibilities of others -- when those same people feel no shame in flaunting their heterosexuality in front of him. Having spent a weekend in the rough-and-tumble north of England (Liverpool) this year, I can imagine that being a gay man in Britain comes with a unique set of problems and prejudices. All of these are effectively realized in the working class Nottingham setting of the film. Some of the street scenes are so authentic you can tell the nonactors are unaware a film is being shot. A late scene at the train station is enhanced by this improvised, on the fly quality.

What makes "Weekend" refreshing is this honesty: the film foregos the traps of conventional storytelling to make the story charming or likeable: chance meetings and endearing quirks to ingratiate the characters with the audience are nowhere to be found. Instead, the movie focuses on what the lovers think and feel, and how they struggle to express that to each other. In doing so, it gets to a place that movies (about straights or gays) rarely have the courage to take us.

One Day (2011) - 2 stars
Dir: Lone Scherfig

Lone Scherfig is a Dane. Lone Scherfig is a Woman. Lone Scherfig is a Danish woman director who's gig is about to be up! Riding in on a wave of celebrated Danish female directors -- I can only think of Susanne Bier and her Oscar-winning "In A Better World" (do two people constitute a wave?) -- Scherfig wrote (and apparently directed--there is an odd uncertainty on IMDB) the well-received "Italian for Beginners" in 2000. She hit the jackpot two year's ago at the helm of the sweet (but overrated) "An Education" which catapulted cute Brit Carey Mulligan to stardom and a worthy Oscar nomination. The movie's many charms masked its many weaknesses -- most of the latter involving the leaden direction of scenes and mis-handling of the actors.

With One Day, Scherfig dips into that well yet again, with two similarly-attractive leads in a British love story, only this time with a weaker script, exposing all her directorial inadequacies to the glaring light of day.

Let's start with the source material (one of those popular/maudlin bestsellers you are glad you avoided reading). The movie's central conceit is not bad: checking-in on one couple on the same day over a twenty year period. As in her previous film, the fashions and hairstyles are the visual guideposts that bring you into the period (even though the early attempts to make Anne Hathaway homely and geeky are woeful). Once you are in the period, alas, you immediately realize so too are those same overbearing, self-involved twits you've been stuck with throughout the film. Why the novelist would construct a story around these two unlikeable characters -- not immoral, bad characters, just 'why should I care about them' characters -- is a mystery. The very likeable British actor Jim Sturgess has the more difficult task: his character is an irredeemable douche! (Even his dying mother -- an out-of-place Patricia Clarkson -- thinks so). What "Em" ever saw in "Dex" throughout the years they remained friends, then became lovers (no spoiler alert needed) is baffling.

True, as the characters mature and movie reaches its conclusion there are some heartfelt scenes, but those emotions do not feel earned.

Whereas newcomer Carey Mulligan carried the previous film on her pale, delicate shoulders, the casting of American Anne Hathaway was a huge mistake. I will defend her and Gwyneth and any other U.S.-born actress for taking on British roles ("Becoming Jane" and "Emma" were both delightful!) but here her attempts at an accent are painful. It is as if she decided only to accent every third word. [How is it that the reverse is not also true? Witness Ms. Mulligan's believable role in "Drive."] Only a director tone-deaf to the English language would have allowed that to pass. Lone -- your time is up!

Higher Ground (2011) - 1 star

Dir: Vera Farmiga

I have nothing but respect for the acting talents of the lovely Vera Farmiga ("The Departed"). This indie film, populated with New York theater actors and filmed upstate (most-apparently on a one-shoestring budget) marks her directorial debut. Let's hope it is her swan song as well. (Sorry to be hatin' on the ladies in this post!)

Culprit #1: source material! This messy, meandering, ill-conceived story is based on someone's memoir??? Apparently, the writer and her family fell-in with a cult-like group of evangelicals, and the story is her attempt to break free from the dogma of organized religion and forge her own relationship with God. I do not doubt her (or Ms. Farmiga's) sincerity in this venture: kudos to anyone who tackles religion and faith in a movie without tiptoeing around it or resorting to lazy caricatures.

Culprit #2: lazy caricatures! All the men in this flock are treated as unthinking-uncaring idiots, spouting pablum and ripe for derision (their idea of marital counseling is a group listen to a series of cassette tapes on how to please a woman). The Tony-Award winning Broadway actor Norbert Leo Butz draws the short straw in portraying the lead idiot. The sincerity of their underlying belief is undercut at every opportunity, just what you'd expect from a 'liberal Hollywood movie' (that's my attempt at caricature). One example: the movie appears to be set in the Seventies, but the clothes these unfortunate actors are forced to wear can only be described as Seventies-era Mennonite chic. How can the audience take these characters seriously when the director dresses them like clowns?

That leads to Culprit #3: Ms. Farmiga's insistence on unattractiveness. It seems to be her overriding directorial vision: make everyone in the film appear in as unflattering a posture as possible. The clothes, the lighting, the absence of make-up (forget real make-up, these people aren't wearing any movie make-up!) -- all conspire to give this movie its depressing and unappealing sheen. Even Ms. Farmiga's natural beauty is ill-served under the washed-out lighting that is the hallmark of a cheaply-made film. **Note the difference by watching "Weekend," where the light is harsh and unforgiving -- reflecting the reality of the characters working class milieu -- but it is never uncinematic. I call this whole exercise "Vera Farmiga's Anti-Vanity Project" (hence the title of this post).