Undertow

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 9/7/05 w/ Additional Edits.

Since emerging with his dreary, dramatic debut feature George Washington in 2000, the Arkansas-born, North Carolina-native David Gordon Green was becoming the new cinematic voice for the American South with his realistic outlook at the poverty of the South and its hazy beauty. Often channeling the influences of Robert Altman and Terrence Malick, Green was becoming a favorite among critics, notably Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert who highly praised the director and his debut feature. Green re-emerged in 2003 with his sophomore feature, All the Real Girls that was a more traditional, romantic drama starring Green regular Paul Schneider plus Zooey Deschanel and Patricia Clarkson.

The film received similar acclaim while Roger Ebert gave All the Real Girls like his debut feature, four out of four stars while champion him as one of the most gifted young directors he's seen. Green was also getting praise from independent film director Gus Van Sant. Another iconic director Green got praise from was none other than the reclusive but legendary Terrence Malick who not only loved his work but would also help produce Green's next project, an unconventional thriller/chase drama entitled Undertow.

Based on a story by Lingard Jervey that was later turned into a script by Green and Joe Conway, Undertow is a thriller about a reclusive, quiet family living in a farm in Georgia whose idyllic, quiet life is disrupted by a man's brother who had just returned from a stint in prison. Driven by envy, greed, and rage, the life of a man and his two sons are changed when murder occurs and the two young boys run away from their uncle. Taking influences from some of the Southern films of the 1970s plus the work and narrative style of Malick, Undertow is more than just an homage to 1970s cinema with a bit of Green's unconventional style of storytelling. Starring British actor Jamie Bell, Dermont Mulroney, Josh Lucas, Devon Alan, Kristen Stewart, and Shiri Appleby. Undertow is a brilliant, in-your-face thriller that brings beauty and danger to the South.

For the secretive Munn family from a secluded farm in rural Georgia, there’s not much to do but raise hogs and fix broken things in the town. Yet for the teenager Chris (Jamie Bell), he rebels against the safety of his father John's (Dermont Mulroney) as he causes trouble and gets chased by cops after breaking the window of the house of girlfriend Lila (Kristen Stewart). The day couldn't have been worse since it was Chris' ten-year-old brother Tim's (Devon Alan) birthday. Tim doesn’t mind if he celebrates his birthday with just his father and brother. John prefers to live quietly while still mourning the death of his wife and mother's children. The boys do nothing but raise hogs while John goes miles away for work with the ever-frail Tim refusing to eat normal feed while eating stuff like dirt and paint.

Though Chris might rebel against the quiet life that his father wants since it prevents him from seeing Lila, that begins to change with the arrival of his uncle Deel (Josh Lucas) who had just gotten out of prison. Deel's arrival only makes John uneasy though he needs him to watch over the boys. Deel helps out though he couldn’t notice of Chris' rebellion as he takes him out for a ride in his car. Deel asks Chris if he knew about any coins that John still had. Chris doesn't know where they are as does Tim. The coins were taken by John and Deel's late father from a Mexican ferryman and John claims the coins are cursed by the ferryman. Deel wants his share but John has had them hidden. Finally, after days of waiting, Deel terrorizes the home as he reveals a shocking family secret and demands for the coins as murder ensues. Chris and Tim run away with the coins as Deel tries to find them.

The boys keep on running till they stopped at the home of a poor but caring black couple named Wadsworth (Eddie Rouse) and Amica Pela (Patrice Johnson) where they received shelter with a bit of work for exchange. After learning that Amica called for Deel, the boys go on the run again as Deel keeps looking for them. Chris knew that they couldn't resort to stealing every time while the idea of going to their maternal grandparents often comes into question since they didn’t like their father. Chris tries to get work at the docks but because he wasn't of age yet, he and Tim continued to go on the run as Tim becomes frail. Chris does everything he can to steal and succeeds to help Tim only that Deel is getting closer into finding them. After arriving in a town by train, they meet a young homeless girl named Violet (Shiri Appleby) who takes them to her abode with other homeless folks as they know an upcoming confrontation with Deel is coming soon.

Most chase thrillers have a tradition of being on-going with a lot of action and a bit of a break in its usual structure. David Gordon Green's approach was not only channeling a bit of Southern Gothic drama but also the stories he read as a kid which are referenced in the books that Tim reads. The first half of the film is a contemporary, bleak drama with a lot of Southern Goth textures about family and mysticism about the coins with a morality point from the John Munn character. Then the film begins to change into a chase film through the South as if the audience is watching a lost episode of The Dukes of Hazzard but with some dark humor and no Daisy Dukes walking around. Green channels not just the Southern films of the 70s he grew up with but also starts the film off with a bang where Chris gets into trouble while the film credits have a 70s feel to it.

Green's ability to pay homage of the 1970s Southern films shows that his roots are still intact in where he came from. He encompasses the South just as it is. It's very bleak, it's also a bit dreary, and it has a beauty to it that is indescribable. It's that same idea that makes All the Real Girls an appealing film in itself. Green manages to capture an authenticity to the look, even as the film moves forward to its final act. There is very little humor in what Green carries, especially in the environment he's in as the kids talk about little mosquito-like creatures that leave out big marks on the skin that are called "chiggers". There's an unconventional style in how Green tells the story from the script and his directing approach since he makes the film its own with a bit of things he loved including a brief narrative style of Terrence Malick that broadens the story more.

Helping Green in capturing the authenticity of the film's look is his longtime cinematographer Tim Orr. Orr brings the realism of its look with very little lighting in the film's nighttime sequences, especially with fire as the source of light. In the film's scenes in the dirty, garden-like shelter the homeless people are in, there's something beautiful in its lighting with sunlight and all sorts of reflections that come in that are magnificent. Orr aims for realism and beauty, even in the ugliest of places as he goes for what Green wanted, a feeling that you are there and for those in the South, that's what it really looks like. Even in the film's production design from Richard Wright, the film has a distinctive look with the way the Munn home looks like where it looks a bit poor and broken but it's still holding in its own to the shops, garage stations, and the shelter where the places have an authenticity to it as does the costumes of Jill Newell.

Green's longtime editors Steven Gonzales and Zene Baker give the film a nicely, stylized editing structure that gives the movie its unconventional style and approach. Even in the way the film would look where the shots would suddenly go into different color schemes with some freeze-frame then fade-out editing styles. There's a nice rhythm and presentation into the way the film is edited. Even in the sound work of Christof Gerbert, the film has a realistic way of its sound from the creatures heard in the woods to the sounds of ships at the docks. Everything that is also captured in sound is the tense-filled score of Phillip Glass who brings in that mix of drama and tension that surrounds the film and the characters in their present environment along with some music ranging from country, blues, and rock that is played in its soundtrack from frequent Green collaborators Michael Linnen and David Wingo.

Then there's the film great cast that are filled with actors and non-actors. Small performances from Pat Healy as a mechanic, William D. Turner as a worm-eating dock worker, and Bill McKinney as the boys' grandfather are wonderful to watch as does the poverty-stricken but content couple of Wadsworth and Amica Pela played by Eddie Rouse and Patrice Johnson. Rouse and Johnson bring depth into their performances as a couple that lost some things but still pride on themselves for living and giving the boys shelter. Kristen Stewart and Shiri Appleby also give wonderful performances as the love interests of Chris with Stewart being the naive one in her illuminating presence as Appleby plays a grittier, desperate one who is helped by Chris.

Dermont Mulroney is brilliant as the strict but morally caring John Munn who does all he can to take care of his boys while protecting them from things he feel would trouble them. Mulroney brings a bit of humor but a lot of heart as a father who is still grieving while trying to teach his sons right from wrong. Josh Lucas gives an intense performance as the repressed, dangerous Deel with an intimidating presence that the audience will know will be scary to watch. Lucas steals every moment onscreen, even when he's being quiet and restrained in one of his best performances. Devon Alan is amazing as the young, 10-year old Tim with his affinity for books and eating weird stuff while proving to be a great companion as a kid who has an intelligence and a way he deals with things at a young age in what is the film's real breakthrough performance.

Jamie Bell gives a riveting performance as the trouble-making Chris who does all he can to rebel but when he’s faced in a situation that is life-threatening, he does all he can to take care of his little brother. Bell also displays a true Southern accent with all the quirks and schemes that makes him an authentic Southern boy. Bell brings energy, depth, and heart to an amazingly complex character that's a bit of Huck Finn and a bit of the rebellion of Kit in Terrence Malick's Badlands.

The Region 1 DVD from United Artists/MGM is shown in the 16x9 Widescreen format of 1:85:1 presentation plus 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound in English, Spanish, and Portugese plus French, Spanish, and Portugese subtitles. The DVD also includes several features including the film's trailer and promos for other MGM releases. Special features includes 2 deleted scenes with an introduction from David Gordon Green apologizing for the poor film quality of the deleted scenes but showed what they could've been. The first is an extended scene of Amica talking about her baby that later died and her remorse in a wonderful dramatic scene. The other comes very late in the film where Tim and Deel talk as he ponders the parallels between his relationship John and Tim's with Chris. The animated photo gallery is shown with one of the songs in the soundtrack playing in the background. Each picture moving with shots of the film's cast and crew playing around and relaxing as it includes an appearance from Gus Van Sant holding the camera.

The Behind-the-Scenes documentary produced and co-hosted by Josh Lucas with an optional introduction from the actor as he talks about making Undertow and his experience of making the film. The documentary called Under the Undertow is a 28-minute documentary shot by Lucas, Bell, and the entire cast and crew reveal the relax, laid-back style of everyone involved with a lot of hi-jinks and on-set arguments with a make-up artist and assistant director plus a car that got lost and never found. The doc also includes comments from the actors including Devon Alan who enjoys the acting and doesn't really want to do it for money but wants to have fun and make into a career. The doc also reveals the devotion to realism and authenticity in the 30-day shoot in the Spring of 2003 where the film was shot mostly around Savannah, Georgia and parts of South Carolina.

The final special feature in the DVD is an audio commentary track from David Gordon Green and actor Jamie Bell. Bell, who was watching this film for the very first time, talked about perfecting his Southern accent for weeks before the film and like many of the actors, everyone was in character, notably Devon Alan who was the most professional out of all of them, to the surprise of the older actors. Green discussed a lot of the locations and technical ideas of the film while bringing in a few friends from his films and character actors from movies he loved like Bill McKinley from Deliverance and references to other movies like Macon County Line, Bad Boys with Sean Penn, and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot by Michael Cimino.

Another discussion that everyone wanted to hear is the involvement of Terrence Malick. Green talked about Malick wanted to give Green a script for Undertow after seeing his debut film that Green began to work on with Joe Conway. Malick noticed how his influence was used and helped him out during filming as Green acknowledges him not just as a great film director but also a great mentor. Green and Bell's conversations are filled with hilarity and tidbits where they discussed how both Josh Lucas and Dermont Mulroney both injured themselves during the fight scene, Bell also got injured, and how Green wanted to find a Southern Billy Elliot for his film only to use Bell in the end.

Undertow is a brilliant, stylish thriller from David Gordon Green featuring amazing performances from Jamie Bell, Devon Alan, Josh Lucas, and Dermont Mulroney. While traditional thriller fans will find the structure a bit too unconventional, fans of Southern 70s films like Deliverance and Macon County Line will definitely enjoy the film and the references it has as well its ode to the South. The film has it all, witty dialogue, nice action work, some great drama, nice humor, a great atmospheric tone, and an authenticity to what it really was like in the South.

It was no surprise that the film received a lot of acclaim plus another four-star review from Roger Ebert who put the film in the top ten list of his favorite films of 2004. The real person who should be thanked for having this film is the legendary Terrence Malick who gave a young director like David Gordon Green a chance to create a unique vision as the young 30-year old filmmaker is truly becoming a future cinematic voice for American cinema.

David Gordon Green Films: George Washington - All the Real Girls - Snow Angels - Pineapple Express - (Your Highness) - (The Sitter) - (Prince Avalanche) - Joe (2013 film) - (Manglehorn) - - (Our Brand is Crisis) - (Stronger (2017 film)) - Halloween (2018 film) - (Halloween Kills) - (Halloween Ends)

© thevoid99 2011

I'm Not There

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 12/5/07 w/ Additional Edits.

Bob Dylan is known to the world as a poet, a folk singer, a voice for a generation, a rebel, an innovator, an icon, and everything else he's been called. Since his debut in the early 1960s, Dylan wrote and sang anthems about changing the world early in his career only to evolve by going electric, singing about whatever is on his mind and putting on a different persona. By 2007, he remains an icon revered by the world as his last album in 2006, Modern Times debuted at #1 in the Billboard 200 album charts proving his staying power through changing musical trends and the harsh world of the music industry. The story of Dylan is a journey that is sprawling and if it was made into a film, how would it be told? Iconic indie-auteur Todd Haynes has that answer in his new film about Bob Dylan named after one of his most bootlegged songs entitled I'm Not There.

Directed by Todd Haynes based on his screen story with a script he co-wrote with Oren Moverman, I'm Not There tells the story of the life of Bob Dylan through exaggerations, truths, legends, and other tales through seven periods of his life. In the role of Bob Dylan, Haynes devised a plan to hire not one but six individuals to play Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan through the different periods of his life. In those six include his Velvet Goldmine star Christian Bale along with Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, and Marcus Carl Franklin. Also starring Haynes' regular Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Charlotte Gainsbourg, David Cross, and Bruce Greenwood. I'm Not There is a whimsical, original, and inspiring masterpiece from Todd Haynes and company.

A young boy calling himself Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin) arrives on a train singing songs he claimed were his own as he talks about protests and such. Yet, as he jams with other musicians and hangs out with poor people, a woman tells him that he's singing songs from a different time as it is 1959. After getting kicked out of a train and being found by a rich couple, he is revealed to be a runaway juvenile as Woody is in search of his identity. A few years later at the Greenwich folk music scene, a new singer-songwriter named Jack Rollins (Christian Bale) became the wunderkind of the scene. With help of a folk singer named Alice (Julianne Moore), Rollins became a reluctant folk star.

With Rollins' fame rising, an actor named Robbie Clark (Heath Ledger) plays the folk singer as he falls for a Frenchwoman named Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) as they have a blissful relationship. Yet, as Clark's fame rise, he struggles with it as it would eventually take a toll on his marriage to Claire. With Rollins disappearing, a singer named Jude Quinn (Cate Blanchett) shocks an audience at a New England music festival by playing electric instruments and angering the crowd. During a tour in England, Jude gets the Beatles high on dope, evades the attention of movie star Coco Rivington (Michelle Williams) and talks to a journalist (Bruce Greenwood) during a huge interview for the BBC. With Jude changing gears on his music, he is facing a lot of heat from fans who claimed that he's betrayed the folk music scene while a man named Arthur (Ben Whishaw) is interviewed about why he isn’t singing protest music. Arthur instead, rambles on about what is going on while not giving a straight answer.

While Robbie's marriage to Claire is disintegrating and Jack Rollins disappears, a reclusive man named Billy (Richard Gere) is hiding in the woods unaware that a man named Pat Garrett (Bruce Greenwood) is hunting for him. While Billy is looking at the Western town in the middle of the woods, he wonder why he left the world and what happened to this gift he once had. Meanwhile, Jack Rollins returns as Pastor John who then sings nothing but Christian music.

Whenever a film biography of a musician or an artist is made. There's a traditional structure. Musician comes from humble beginnings, struggles to make it. Gets discovered, sign to a record deal. Becomes a huge success, gets involved with all the trappings of stardom. Then comes the decline and eventual resurrection and comeback. Yet, with someone as unique as Bob Dylan, that's a structure that is too easy to tell and at the same, the idea of one person playing Bob Dylan couldn't work. Why? It's because Bob Dylan was an individual who evolved through whatever moment he's in. In many ways, Dylan is just trying to be himself through whatever phase he's in his peculiar, unique life.

This is something Todd Haynes understood since a film about the life of Bob Dylan isn't going to work through conventional means because it's too predictable and it's been told so many times through the traditional medium of what music bio-pics are going through. It's a genre that at the moment is becoming not just stale but also parody, which is the case of the upcoming film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. So, what is there to do? If a movie is going to be made about Bob Dylan, certain periods of his life has to be shown which includes his early folk years in the early 60s, his controversial move going to electric, his personal life, his own rambling interviews, his reclusive period in the early 70s, and his Christianity phase in the late 70s. One actor couldn't do all of those periods as well as play up to the different personas of Dylan. That's why Todd Haynes has chosen to employ six different actors for the film. Two British actors, one Welsh and the other English. Two Australian actors, man and woman. Two American actors, a 50-year old white man and a 13-year old African-American child.

While the idea of using multiple actors for one role isn't an entirely original idea. The approach Haynes and co-writer Oren Moverman chose works to show each persona and period of Dylan's life. While the entire film is told in non-linear fashion in tradition to Dylan's narrative style of writing. Each period and persona is very different not just look but in performance. While the stories move back and forth, it unveils each period to where the character is at and how they're reacting at the moment. The story of Woody is based on Dylan's exaggerations from Dylan to journalists and people during folk scene in Greenwich as the look of the boy with his hat is a reference to hat Dylan wore on his first album. Jack Rollins' story is about Dylan in his early rise to fame from the folk scene and his moment of controversy during a Civil Rights Award.

The story of Jude is partially based on the D.A. Pennebaker film Dont Look Back but mostly insprired by the rarely seen documentary Eat The Document about Dylan's tour of the U.K. while making references to his friendship with Allen Ginsberg (David Cross) and his rumored affair with Edie Sedgwick. Robbie's story is about Dylan's personal life in his relationship with Claire who is a fictional character based on his 1960s girlfriend Suze Rotolo and wife Sara Lownds with a subtle reference to his 1975 album Blood on the Tracks. The character of Arthur has only one scene which is about Dylan interrogated about his evolution as the character rambles about his life and view of things. The story of Billy is a reference to Dylan's country music exploration as well as the film Dylan starred in Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

Haynes and Moverman understood what those periods and phases in Dylan's life meant and they certainly couldn't move on after Dylan's period when became a Christian. Dylan in the 80s would be boring and too predictable while the story of Dylan now doesn't seem that interesting and it's best for only Dylan himself to tell that part of the story. Haynes understands that while the film's plot is Dylan through the periods of his own life. The plot couldn't be very simple as it's presented on screen. Haynes' direction is superb and extremely unconventional. With the black-and-white footage on the characters of Arthur, Jude, and parts of Jack and the rest of the story on color. While mainstream audiences might feel baffled and confused by the approach, it's only because this is how Dylan lived his life.

Haynes' look for the Woody/Billy worlds really gets the film in full circle as Woody is a boy finding his identity with Billy running away from that world only to rediscover it. Billy's world is essentially a fantasy world in the way he sees things as if he is Billy the Kid. With everyone wearing clown makeup and a giraffe appears, it's all because it's part of Billy's fantasy only to be aware that Pat Garrett is coming to get him. The Jude sequence which is based on the Pennebaker documentary includes a moment of fantasy as if Jude is living a dream world while the world of Robbie shows a scene of the man dealing with his fame.

The result of the whole film is extremely avant-garde and whimsical yet it works to convey the sense of evolution in Dylan's life. Through the wide lenses, super 8 films, grainy footage, and everything else. It's an understanding of where Bob Dylan was and is in his life as he goes from one world to another. Haynes' direction through each different look is distinctive and imaginative as like the in the script and in what Dylan has said in the film's trailer. All I Can Do Is Be Me. Whoever That Is. That is what the film is about and its shows that before David Bowie, before Cher, before Elvis Costello, and before Madonna. Bob Dylan was the godfather of reinvention and with Todd Haynes' direction, it reveals on who this legendary man is.

Cinematographer Edward Lachman creates a look that is unique to each period of the film with Arthur's segment shot in grainy, 16mm black-and-white footage as if he's part of an interrogation, Jude shot in gorgeous black-and-white to emphasis the documentary style of Dont Look Back, and the TV, black-and-white footage of Jack Rollins that is shot in grainy color as if the whole segment is a documentary. For the rest of the film, the Robbie story is mostly shot with tinted blue palettes and sepia-toned colors to convey the world he was in as well as his troubled mood. Lachman's photography is given higher palettes of sepia for the dream-like look of both the Billy and Woody segments while the Pastor Jack sequence is more in the look of 70s style TV. Lachman's photography is extremely superb and truly one of the year's best.

Editor Jay Rabinowitz, who took over for the late James Lyon (whom the film was dedicated to), plays to the similar style of the film with use of jump-cuts for the Jude sequence, more traditional cuts in other parts while playing to the film's non-linear tone as his editing overall is amazing. Production designer Judy Becker does amazing work in creating the different look and times of the film from the delapitated world of Billy to the 70s like world of paintings and furniture in Robbie's world and the whimsical, stylish world of swinging 60s in Jude's world. Becker's production design is extraordinarily brilliant. Costume designer John A. Dunn does great work with the different looks of the film that mimic all the album covers, clothes, and shoes that Dylan was wearing those different periods. Jean-Jacques Dion does great work with the film's hair with some of the actors sporting Dylan-like hairdo while Christian Bale gets to sport a Jew-fro as Pastor John that looks hilarious.

Sound editor Robert Jackson does amazing work in capturing the atmosphere of each period through the waves of boos and music through the scene of Jude playing electric at a folk music show. Special effects supervisor Louis Craig and visual effects supervisor Louis Morin does great work in creating the weird, whimsical world for both Jude and Billy's own fantasies. The film's soundtrack supervised by Jim Dunbar and Randall Poster features an amazing soundtrack featuring original cuts by Dylan including the unreleased title track plus various covers performed by Sonic Youth, Cat Power, John Doe, Stephen Malkmus, Mason Jennings, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Calexio, Willie Nelson, and many more. Each song is used to convey the period and world of Dylan's life as it emphasizes his evolution with Doe, Malkmus, and Jennings singing the songs during the period of Jude and Jack Rollins with Marcus Carl Franklin doing his own singing while jamming with Richie Havens.

Finally, we have the film's cast that is wonderfully assembled by Laura Rosenthal. Featuring appearances from Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth as a folk singer discussing Jack Rollins, Craig Thomas as Hewey Newton and Benz Antoine as Bobby Seale of the Black Panther party who listen to Dylan's song while being massaged, Jane Wheeler as a TV host doing a profile on Rollins, Allison Folland as a journalist interviewing Robbie, Don Francks and Roc LaFortune as Hobos Woody meets, Richie Havens as a musician Woody jams with, Kim Roberts as the woman who gives Woody advice on what he should sing, Gabrielle Marcoux and Jessey LaFlamme as Robbie & Claire's daughters, Mark Camacho as Jude's manager Norman, and Kris Kristofferson as the narrator for film's opening sequence.

Yolonda Ross gives a brief but fine performance as Angela, based on Mary Alice Artes, who introduced Jack to Christianity and made him Pastor John while Julianne Moore plays a Joan Baez-like persona as a woman nurtured Jack's talents only to feel betrayed by him. David Cross is funny as Allen Ginsberg who has a great scene about Jude's possible selling out claiming he sold out to God in a reference to a Dylan concert in Berkeley 1965. Bruce Greenwood is great in a dual role as a British journalist who is the supposed inspiration to the song Ballad of The Thin Man while also playing the aging Pat Garrett in the Billy sequence. Michelle Williams is wonderfully sexy as Coco Rivington, an Edie Sedgwick-like actress who teases Jude while acting like a diva. The film's best non-Dylan performance is truly Charlotte Gainsbourg as Claire, the mix of Suze Rotolo and Sarah Lownds who loved Robbie but couldn't face with him not at home or his attraction to other women as she would become the muse for Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. Gainsbourg's performance is just amazing showing her evolution as the woman who was Robbie's soulmate to the unhappy housewife dealing with his fame.

Marcus Carl Franklin gives a superb, upbeat performance as Woody, a young Dylan who is trying to find his own identity, tell false stories and such while jamming along with other musicians and for other people. Franklin's performance is a real breakthrough as he proves he can sing and play while grabbing the attention early in the film. Ben Whishaw is excellent as Arthur, the Dylan who is interviewed as he rambles on incoherently while not giving any straight answers. Though Whishaw is only in one entire segment, he does the most to make himself memorable. Christian Bale is brilliant as the shy, evasive Jack Rollins as he performs while trying to be controversial at the same time. Bale's performance is the one that mimics Dylan the most in voice while he shows great humor in sporting a Jew-fro as Pastor John while his performance in inspirational proving that Dylan's Christianity phase isn’t something to make fun of.

Richard Gere gives a very laconic, subtle performance as Billy as he wanders around riding a horse, looking for his dog, and trying to see what is going on. Gere doesn't do any traditional, Hollywood style of acting as he is a man who does his best work when he's quiet while pondering his own existence as the veteran actor gives a masterful performance. Heath Ledger is great as the conflicted Robbie, an actor who is tempted by women and fame as he struggles with being a family man. Ledger's performance is extremely memorable while mimicking Dylan's voice in a unique way that proves his performance in Brokeback Mountain by Ang Lee was no fluke.

The film's best performance and certainly the most entertaining of all is Cate Blanchett as Jude Quinn. Wearing a sock that she put in her pants to walk and act like a man, Blanchett brings a lot of humor, angst, and attitude to the character as tries to evade Coco, hang out with Allen Ginsberg, and do all sorts of stuff. Blanchett's performance is truly a marvel to watch as she brings Dylan to life whether he's playing electric or watching news reels saying "I can't take anymore of this man" and saying some nasty things including comments about Coco's... you know. Blanchett is just fun to watch from start to finish and it's truly one of the best performances ever shown on cinema.

***Updated 6/6/08 for DVD Info & Special Features***

The Region 1 2-disc Collector's Edition DVD of I'm Not There presents the film in its original aspect theatrical ratio and in the widescreen format. With the film sound in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound in English for the film and the second disc in Stereo Surround Sound. The DVD also include English and Spanish subtitle for the film as well as English for the hearing impaired in both discs. The first disc is the actual feature film itself along with a slew of special features. First is a series of text introductions to the film. The first entitled Who's Not There: Six Faces of Dylan from Rolling Stone magazine reveals the six actors who play the personalities of Bob Dylan. The second entitled Tangled Up In Clues by Los Angeles Times music writer Ann Powers who explores the film through its various sources on its characters, look, costumes, and such. The first two text came from a CD-booklet of sorts that accompanied the film from its theatrical release. The third text entitled Encoding An Entertaining Enigma is pretty much a summary of the film and its characters.

The fourth and final piece of text introduction comes from famed music critic Greil Marcus. The writer who is also an avid fan of Dylan and wrote a book about The Basement Tapes recordings in a book entitled Invisible Republic writes down notes on this film. Entitled A Dream That Doesn't Demand Explanation is essentially Marcus explaining what Haynes wanted to do for the film as well as the mystery of Dylan itself through the various persona and characters being played on film. Marcus also touches on the film's title, which is an unreleased bootleg made during The Basement Tapes recordings. Now officially available in the film’s soundtrack, Marcus reveals the song's sense of mystery while though it's incomplete with Dylan just singing what he can come up with in his head. Marcus' notes are truly extraordinary for what the audience needed for the film.

The feature-length audio commentary by Todd Haynes is truly one of the most informative and enjoyable commentaries ever heard. Haynes discusses about the many mysteries and references of Dylan that's shown throughout the film. He also discusses Dylan's cultural impact in the 1960s and what he think that Dylan's motorcycle crash in 1966 really represented in relation to what was going on at the time. He also reveals why he didn't cover Dylan in the 1980s, 1990s, and so forth. What he revealed is that because of Dylan's 1966 crash, Dylan retreated away from the public and the media to live a private life and when the character of Billy hops on that train at the end of the film just as it began with Woody on the train. It shows that Dylan from 1962-1966 was definitely a high-water mark in pop culture and by the time he crashed, he stopped being this phenomenon and lived in his own terms as he's doing now in his Never-Ending Tour.

Haynes also reveals some of the film's technical tidbits while complementing the talents of his collaborators like producer Christine Vachon, cinematographer Edward Lachman, production designer Judy Becker, and editor Jay Rabinowitz among others. He also revealed the various influences he had for the film that included Federico Fellini and Jean-Luc Godard for its different look. He also talks about the actors he got for the film. Of the most professional, Christian Bale was the most serious about playing Dylan where during his scenes with Julianne Moore for the pictures, Moore ended up laughing through most of it as Haynes jokingly said she was very unprofessional.

Haynes also talked about Marcus Carl Franklin and Ben Whishaw, whom he both auditioned and enjoyed working with while with Richard Gere, he hired him not just because of his talent but of his filmography, notably Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. With Gere, Haynes told Gere to think of those early years while Gere helped him in finding a look for the town of Riddle in those segments. Haynes' discussion on Cate Blanchett were fun to hear as he talked about Blanchett's performance with such delight while revealing that she's the closest thing to looking like Dylan. Some of her performance, Haynes, revealed was improvised including her dance with David Cross as Allen Ginsberg.

Haynes complemented the work of Charlotte Gainsbourg for her performance of Claire who he felt did everything that a great actor, actress does in the tradition of Meryl Streep. Someone who doesn't know what to do when they're about to play a character as if they don't know how to act to begin with. Then there's Heath Ledger in whom, Haynes sadly spoke about since his untimely, tragic death back in January of 2008. Haynes talked about Ledger's plan to create a bio-pic on Nick Drake that he wanted to direct but didn't want to delve into the same type of structure that often hinders most bio-pics. Ledger, originally was supposed to take a break from acting to do the Drake project but once he worked with Haynes on this film. Ledger felt it would help him create the idea on his Drake project. Haynes talked about the close friendship he had with Ledger while watching those scenes as he admits to being very sad about his death.

The second disc includes a huge amounts of special features separated into four different sections. The first one is an entire collection of trailers featuring the two theatrical trailers for the film as well as unreleased trailers. The unreleased trailers involve all the six actors playing Dylan carrying large flash cards to the classic song Subterranean Homesick Blues in the same presentation that its seminal video did for D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back. There's eight versions of that trailer, six of them showing each individual actor carrying and throwing cardboard signs and two versions, short and long, with all the actors involved from their footage. It's a great trailer to emphasize the spirit of Dylan.

The second section entitled From the Edit Room features a slew of deleted scenes, alternate takes, extended sequences, and many more. The first segment is two audition tapes for Ben Whishaw and Marcus Carl Franklin. Franklin's audition with one of the casting people showed Franklin's charismatic, charming performance as he clearly plays the role of Woody with such ease as if he was a total natural. Whishaw's audition, taped at a restaurant, showed the British actor doing a passable American accent while giving the presence that was needed for his character. Two deleted scenes emerge in the film totally less than five minutes. First is a scene from Jude Quinn's segment as Jude, burned out and sick from pills is surrounded by two men arguing as they seem to recognize the singer. The second deleted scene from Billy the Kid's segment involves Billy running into a family with a dead pony and talking to a woman asking if she'a seen his dog, who ran from him.

Next is the extended/alternate scenes that are essentially the full-length performances of the songs performed in the film like Tombstone Blues with Ritchie Haven and Marcus Carl Franklin, The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll by Christian Bale miming the voice of Mason Jennings, Bale as Pastor John for Pressing On as he's miming the voice of John Doe, and Goin' To Acapulco in the Billy the Kid segment sung by Jim James of My Morning Jacket backed by Calexico.

These extended scenes and performances each do serve as great music videos as the songs themselves prove to be just as powerful as the scenes themselves. The four-minute outtakes segment is essentially a gag reel that shows all the mistakes and such that happens on the film through most of the production that included director Todd Haynes in the shot they were supposed to be shooting, a horse relieving and defecating, and other funny hijinks.

The fifth and final part of the post-production section is a touching tribute to Heath Ledger in tune to Bob Dylan's Tomorrow Is A Long Time. It opens with a deleted scene of Ledger playing the Robbie Clark character in a museum taking shots at the place with Charlotte Gainsbourg and then loads of footage and outtakes involving Ledger that proves to be extremely touching and a fitting tribute to the recently departed actor.

The third section entitled Look Back consists of three segments including the film's red carpet premiere in New York City, the making of the soundtrack, and a conversation with Todd Haynes. First is the three-minute red carpet premiere in NYC on November 13, 2007 that features brief interviews with Todd Haynes, actors Richard Gere, Julianne Moore, and Heath Ledger, and musician John Doe of X as they all talk about the film and Dylan. The twenty-one minute making-of soundtrack segment featuring Haynes, actor Marcus Carl Franklin, and the soundtrack’s producers Joe Henry, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, and Calexico's Joey Burns. Haynes discusses the plan to create a soundtrack for the film where Joe Henry said that the soundtrack was in the works at the time the film was in production. With Henry focusing on the Woody segment, Ranaldo on the Jude segment, and Burns on the Billy the Kid segment. Each producer were given the task of reinventing or reinterpreting the songs they’re given as they also try to capture each period.

Henry worked closely with Marcus Carl Franklin on the music they were making as Franklin, who is a musician himself, wanted to be faithful to Dylan's music and found himself more influenced by Dylan than ever. During filming, they contacted Richie Havens for Tombstone Blues with Franklin that ended up being an improvised jam with Havens later recording his own version for the film's soundtrack. Ranaldo wanted to update the songs he was given as he called on Eddie Vedder to sing All Along the Watchtowers and brought in Tom Verlaine for Cold Irons Bound while he along with several musicians including Verlaine and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley formed the Million Dollar Bashers. For the singing voice of Jude, they called in Stephen Malkamus of Pavement to sing just so he can capture that style of Dylan's vocals at the time.

Joey Burns of Calexico aimed for an Old World feel for the music that is more in the tradition of Americana as he called in Jim James of My Morning Jacket to cover Goin' To Acapulco, a song that isn't considered to be a major Dylan song among fans. Yet, its reinterpretation made it a surprise as did another obscure Dylan song, Pressing On from his Christian period. Ranaldo, who is an admitted super-Dylan freak, admits to not being grabbed on by that song in its original form but when heard John Doe's version, he was blown away and rediscovered the original song. Haynes said that the reinterpretation of these songs is great for even the hardcore Dylan fan to rediscover proving that they can be done in so many different ways.

The forty-three minute conversation with Todd Haynes segment is a collection of interviews with the director talking about Bob Dylan, the film, and how he made it. He revealed that in 2000, after living in New York City for 15 years. He decided to move to Portland, Oregon and went on a cross-country road trip where he brought a bunch of Bob Dylan music on the road. It was at that time, he was about to work on Far from Heaven as he began to re-discover Bob Dylan and also went through various bootlegs including the complete Basement Tapes recordings. After getting a collection of American folk music and early Americana, Haynes got the idea to create a Dylan film.

Yet, he and producer Christine Vachon were very careful about approaching an idea on making a film about Dylan. After going through troubling experiences with getting the music rights since Haynes' 1987 cult-short Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story is no longer being seen in public because of Richard Carpenter's refusal to let the music be used in the short and such. Haynes also went through similar trouble with Velvet Goldmine back in 1998 when David Bowie refused to give him rights for the music. Haynes contacted Dylan's eldest son Jesse, who is also a film director, and Dylan's manager Jeff Rosen about the idea. He gave them a description and then he had to write an idea about the project with some specific instructions as Rosen and Jesse Dylan gave the idea to Bob Dylan, who approved.

The film, shot in Montreal, was not easy to make because of a limited budget and shooting schedule while Haynes revealed that the actors knew they were in for a challenge in playing the Dylan parts. Haynes revealed that writing the script with Oren Moverman wasn't easy to do because Haynes wanted to tell so much of Dylan's story from the 1960s while not leaning towards the traditional bio-pic. He also revealed that Moverman, who is Israeli, really got into Dylan's Christian period and had some understanding into why Dylan became a Christian for a brief period. The only actor Haynes wrote in mind for one of the characters was Charlotte Gainsbourg in the role of Claire, as Haynes admits, she almost wanted to turn him straight. With everyone else, it was through the casting process as it proved to be a challenge but also fruitful in terms of its collaboration. It's a wonderful interview that doesn't get boring as Haynes is talking through film festival conferences, promotional interviews, and such.

The fourth section of the special features is Dylanography, a collection of text and articles exploring Dylan and notes of the film. The first is a sixty-six page article from New York Times magazine writer Robert Sullivan entitled This is Not a Bob Dylan Movie about the process Todd Haynes had to go through in making the film as well as his own filmography. It's an informative article that explored how much Haynes took into making this film about Bob Dylan while trying not to make into a conventional bio-pic. The next article is Haynes' one-page proposal to Bob Dylan on his project that was original titled I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan that shows the plans that he was going to do along with the text that he used where originally, there was seven characters. The character that never made it to the final cut was Charlie, a Greenwich kid that was supposed to be a link between the Woody Guthrie and Jack Rollins character. Next is a chronology on Bob Dylan that explores the time line and events of his life from his birth in 1943 to the release of his last studio album Modern Times in 2006.

The next three sections on Dylan are a collection of his work in music, film, and literature. The discography of Dylan explores every album he did up till 2006 including live albums, box sets, and the bootleg series. The filmography section explores the different section of Dylan on film including the documentaries like D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back, the rarely-seen Eat the Document, and Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary No Direction Home, concert films like The Last Waltz by Scorsese and two Dylan concert videos like Bob Dylan in Concert from 1986 and the 30th Anniversary concert in 1992. Plus listed are the film's he's acted like Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, 1978's Renaldo & Clara that he directed, Hearts of Fire from 1987, 1990's Catchfire, 1999's Paradise Cove, and 2003's Masked & Anonymous by comedian Larry David.

The bibliography section includes the five books Dylan wrote like Tarantula, Writings & Drawings, Lyrics, 1962-2001, Chronicles Vol. 1, and Drawn Blank plus thirty books about Bob Dylan himself and it's a big collection. The filmmaker's notes is a collection of drawings and story boards about the compositions and shot set-ups about the film. Finally, there's a stills gallery in six separate segments to represent each of the six personalities that play Bob Dylan. Shown in black and white and a bit in color, it's a wonderful collection of the photos of the actors and on-set production that goes on. The overall special features content of the DVD is truly amazing for not just people who enjoy the film. It's also a must-have for Dylan fans while paying tribute to the late Heath Ledger.

***End of DVD Tidbits***

With the music bio-pic genre starting to run out of ideas, I'm Not There is an amazing, superb, and truly original film from Todd Haynes and company. With a great cast led by Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Ben Whishaw, and Marcus Carl Franklin as Bob Dylan, it's a film experience that has to be seen on the big screen. While mainstream audiences might be baffled by the film's unconventional tone, anyone who understands Bob Dylan and his music will get it very easily while seeing things like Pete Seeger attempting to cut the wires with an ax (which wasn't true but a great legend) happen. While it's a film that subverts expectations, the result overall is truly amazing. For a film that defies conventions and tradition in the same way Bob Dylan lived his life in those times, I'm Not There is the film to go see.

Todd Haynes Films: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story - Poison - Dottie Gets Spanked - Safe - Velvet Goldmine - Far from Heaven - Mildred Pierce (TV miniseries) - Carol - Wonderstruck - Dark Waters (2019 film) - The Velvet Underground - The Auteurs #3: Todd Haynes

Related: Dont Look Back - No Direction Home - I'm Not There OST - Trouble No More

© thevoid99 2011

All the Real Girls

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 4/21/04 w/ Additional Edits.

Written and directed by David Gordon Green based on a story he wrote with Paul Schneider, All the Real Girls tells the story of a North Carolina womanizer whose life changes by the arrival of his best friend's little sister from boarding school.  While friends and family aren't sure about the relationship, it would have a major impact for the young couple.  The film is a study of relationships and family as it's set entirely in the South where Green grew up.  Starring Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Patricia Clarkson, Shea Whigham, Danny McBride, Benjamin Mounton, and Heather McComb, All the Real Girls is a compelling yet hypnotic romantic-drama from David Gordon Green.

For Paul (Paul Schneider), life as a womanizer in his rural North Carolina home was fun after a while. Now, with little ambition into getting out his bleak surroundings, he has decided to give up his womanizing lifestyle and suddenly, he found the right time. While he hangs out with his best friend Tip (Shea Whigham) and pals Bust-ass (Danny McBride) and Bo (Maurice Compte), he learns that Tip's little sister Noel (Zooey Deschanel) has returned from boarding school. He meets Noel one night learning how much she's grown and realizes how mature and innocent she is. For Paul, Noel gives him the chance to grow while he often works at a garage for his Uncle Leland (Benjamin Mounton) and sometimes, help out his mother Elvira (Patricia Clarkson) with entertaining sick children at hospitals dressing up as clowns.

Noel is intrigued by Paul's charm although Tip doesn't like the idea of his sister going with Paul because of his past reputation with women. Noel learns about it from Paul as she often hangs out with his buddies talking about escaping their bleak surroundings. Paul learns that Noel is a virgin and they began to have intense conversations about an incident that scarred Noel in many levels as he decided not to sleep with her. To Paul, Noel represents the rare purity in which, they get much closer much to the dismay of Tip. Tip is angry at this situation afraid that Paul might hurt Noel. Whenever Paul isn't with Noel, he is with Uncle Leland, his daughter Feng-Shui (Maya Ling Pruitt), and his mother. One day, Elvira gets upset over the time Paul has spent with Noel since he forgot to help her where Paul begins to wonder if the relationship is healthy for everyone.

During a date, Noel tells Paul she's going away for the weekend with some friends just to have some time for herself. Paul is fine with the idea as he spends time with his family and Noel's mentally challenged brother Justin (John Kirkland) where he teaches him piano. Paul also talks with Tip, who learns he's about to become a dad where Tip feels that Paul at least is doing the right thing with Noel. When Noel returns from her weekend with a new haircut, she tells Paul something that jeopardizes their relationship while she tells him that she loves him. Paul feels anguished over what happens in which, he refuses to talk to Noel.

One night, he encounters an ex-lover named Mary-Margaret (Heather McComb) where he asks what he did wrong to her. She's still mad over what he did where Paul found Noel with Bust-ass. Paul feels things went wrong where Elvira confronts him over his actions in which, Paul decides to grow up more. While he learns more now about women and his past actions, he wonders if what Noel did was his fault in which, he wants to know what is to become of them.

While the only flaw in All the Real Girls is that its pacing at times is a bit slow, David Gordon Green does manage to bring in a story filled with human elements and emotions with a bleak surrounding that everyone can appeal to. Green's direction is filled with a sense of romanticism in the scenes with Schneider and Deschanel while bringing out shots of the bleak surroundings of the North Carolina town and its mills. In the screenplay, the film plays up to a restraint sense of drama with a bit of comedy and rural studies of men and women. Particularly the lifestyle and workplace of the characters in the town they live in.

The film's bleak look captured by cinematographer Tim Orr is spellbinding in its minimalist use of fall colors of orange and brown without using lighting or fake sunshine to make it look glossy. Orr's brings a sense of rural realism to convey the characteristics of the town and its people. Even the film's score by Michael Linnen and David Wingo of atmospheric, Southern acoustic harkens to the rich, yet melancholic tone of working class American South.

The film's cast is filled with delight from its smaller performances from Maya Ling Pruitt and John Kirkland in the children's role to Heather McComb and Maurice Compte in their roles as the locals. Danny McBride brings some humor as Bust-ass where he brings out all these commentaries on the lifestyle and his ambition to leave the town to be in a band where McBride shines in his performance. Benjamin Mounton is excellent as the wise but hopeless Uncle Leland as he shares his experiences with women in his scenes with Schneider. Shea Whigham is wonderful in his performance as Tip who starts out as this yokel who in turn, becomes the protective older brother and he develops into a sadder yet sympathetic tone where he learns of his own wrongdoings and making up for it to become a father.

Of the supporting cast, the best performance easily goes to Patricia Clarkson as Paul's blue-collar mother whose sense of frustration over her son's immaturity and lack of responsibilities is very understandable. Clarkson gives a performance that is filled with wisdom and a wonderful monologue about aging which is why Clarkson is one of the best actresses working today.

In the leading performances, Paul Schneider and Zooey Deschanel are spellbinding in their subtle, yet enigmatic performances as they bring a chemistry filled with heartbreak and anguish where they grow up in ways where you're aren't sure who to feel sorry for. It's the kind of chemistry that is enchanting in its realism, the same way that was felt in Lost in Translation in the conversations that Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson had in the film. Schneider gives a performance that is more man than men usually do by playing himself in vulnerable positions in which, he can reveal himself and be funny and charming. In the more intense scenes, Schneider breaks hearts, as he doesn't want people to apologize for his past while we feel for his own anguish in a point of self-loathing over his own actions in relation to what Noel did.

Zooey Deschanel clearly, gives not just her best performance to date but also one of 2003's best performances from an actress in any age. Only in her early 20s, Deschanel brings in a subtle, stripped-down performance with intelligence and innocence that gives a sense of complexity to her character. Even as she explores Paul's past into her own action that would lead to a break in their relationship, she plays a young girl who is well wise beyond her years while exploring the world of adulthood. After some small but standout supporting roles in earlier films like Almost Famous, Mumford, The New Guy, The Good Girl, and Manic, Deschanel gives a performance that would serve as her break-out role into the world of indie and mainstream films.

All the Real Girls is an excellent, romantic drama from David Gordon Green with a superb cast led by Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, and Patricia Clarkson. Though some might not like the film's bleak look or restrained drama, it's a film that is filled with real human moments and working class ethics. It's really a film that studies the behavior of young men and women and the actions that make them react to themselves emotionally. It's a film that doesn't play up to gloss only to convey emotional honesty. In the end, All the Real Girls is a superb film of young adult relationships and rural morality.

David Gordon Green Reviews: George Washington - Undertow - Snow Angels - Pineapple Express - (Your Highness) - (The Sitter) - (Prince Avalanche) - Joe (2013 film) - (Manglehorn) - - (Our Brand is Crisis) - (Stronger (2017 film)) - Halloween (2018 film) - (Halloween Kills) - (Halloween Ends)

© thevoid99 2011

Atonement

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com at 1/20/08.

In 2005, an unknown director named Joe Wright brought another film adaptation of the beloved Jane Austen novel Pride & Prejudice to the big screen. With an all-star cast led by Keira Knightley, the film became an unexpected hit for the young director as Knightley herself received an Oscar nomination for her role as Elizabeth Bennett. Following the film's success, Wright's next plan was to adapt the beloved Ian McEwan about a love affair torn apart by a lie from a young girl who is trying to figure out her sins. The novel known as Atonement was a hit with critics and book readers as Wright chose to expand his ambitions into a huge film adaptation of McEwan's beloved novel.

Directed by Joe Wright with an adapted script by Christopher Hampton, Atonement tells the story of a young rich girl and the son of a housekeeper who fall in love only to be torn apart by a misinterpreted accusation of the girl's young sister. Following this supposed crime, the lovers try to come together during World War II while the young girl is trying to figure out her sins and the truth itself. Reuniting with Keira Knightley, Joe Wright takes a huge leap in making a film that is grander and more harrowing than his previous film. Also starring James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn, Harriet Waller, Juno Temple, Patrick Kennedy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Danny Mays, with film director Anthony Minghella, and in the role of Briony, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, and Vanessa Redgrave. Atonement is a rich, powerful study of sin and its effects from director Joe Wright.

It's the late 1930s as a young girl named Briony Tallis (Saorise Ronan) is completing a play she hopes to show when her eldest brother Leon (Patrick Kennedy) is set to return. Meanwhile, everyone is getting prepared as Briony wants to rehearse the play with her young cousins including Lola (Juno Temple) and twins Jackson and Pierrette (Charlie & Felix von Simson). Later that day, Briony talks to her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) about the housekeeper's son Robbie (James McAvoy) who is set to go to medical school with help from Cecilia's father. During a botched rehearsal for Briony's play, Briony sees a moment between Cecilia and Robbie that led to Cecilia jumping into a garden-infested fountain.

Later that day, Leon arrives with a friend named Paul Marshall (Benedict Cumberbatch) who wows Cecilia's cousins with chocolates. With Robbie invited to the dinner by Leon, Robbie's mother Grace (Brenda Blethyn) is amazed at how he’s starting to have a great future as he tries to write a letter to Cecilia about his feelings. Yet, when he sees Briony playing in the garden, he asks her to give the letter to Cecilia but then realizes he makes a mistake when Briony reads the letter that she gave to Cecilia. The night starts to become troubling when Briony catches Cecilia and Robbie having sex. Things become more complicated when Briony's behavior towards Robbie is aggressive when she is asked by her mother (Harriet Waller) to fetch the twins. When the twins aren't in their rooms, everyone goes for a search where Briony sees an incident involving Lola that changes everything.

Four years later in the beginning stages of World War II, Robbie is a soldier in Northern France as he is joined by Tommy Nettle (Danny Mays) and Frank Mays (Nonso Anozie) during a mission in France. Robbie accepted to become a soldier to avoid further jail time for a crime he didn't commit due to Briony's testimony years ago. Robbie thinks about a meeting he had with Cecilia six months before as she has become a nurse with a promise to her that he will return to her. Walking to the north beach of France with Tommy and Frank, the ill Robbie finally reaches the beaches of Dunkirk hoping to be evacuated with the rest of wounded soldiers. Meanwhile, Briony (Romola Garai) has become a nurse in training. Trying to figure out what she saw those years ago, she is trying to write a story while hoping to have contact with Cecilia through unsuccessful attempts. Briony finally understands the horrors of war where at one moment, she tries to comfort a dying French soldier named Luc (Jeremie Renier) as she tries to come to terms with her own misinterpretations.

When she finally finds Cecilia's address where three weeks before Robbie is sent to France, she meets her older sister and Robbie as she reveals what she really saw and everything. Yet, with so much bitterness towards her, Briony remains haunted until by the time she becomes 77-year olds and as a writer, Briony (Vanessa Redgrave) reveals what she wrote and the result of everything that had happened as she comes to terms of these events in her final days.

While Ian McEwan's story of sin and its effects, the film is a study of morality and how simple mistakes and misinterpretations can ruin the lives of people and such. Screenwriter Christopher Hampton and director Joe Wright creates a film about perspectives in the style of what happened and such. The first example is the broken vase scene where Cecilia dives into the fountain to retrieve a broken piece. The first scene is from Briony's young perspective and then the second is from Robbie and Cecilia's. This is a style of storytelling that is made famous by the Akira Kurosawa 1950 classic film Rashomon about a rape & murder told from four different perspectives. It's really a psychological film where Hampton and Wright are trying to get the audience to think about what they've seen and such.

The film is also a character study of sorts from the mind of Briony. Here's a young girl who saw a few things she didn't understand and then, when a crime that she witnesses turns out to go wrong. The motions in event happen as everything falls apart where this girl turned into a young woman is trying to figure out what she really saw and how she can atone herself from these incidents that she caused. Hampton's study of character and sin is really engrossing as the sadness and frustrations in both Robbie and Cecilia for their love together and how these events are forcing them to be apart. While there's an abrupt shift in that moment from Briony's life in World War II to her present time. It conveys the sense of Briony's state of mind from the previous event she just saw as she begins to think about as a 77-year old woman. The script is definitely faithful to Ian McEwan's novel in some respects while it really serves as a film that is part romance and part mystery.

Director Joe Wright whose lush, stylized approach to directing that made his feature-film debut Pride & Prejudice such a delight to watch now takes a huge step forward into crafting his style. The presentations, the compositions he creates as well as the atmosphere from the dream-like world of the Tallis estate with its gardens and ponds to the harsh, desolate world of Dunkirk beach that included an unbroken tracking shot from a steadicam that conveys the sense of horror and sadness. What is clear is that Wright is becoming more confident as a director as he takes the audience back in time to a period where things are tense and such that included such moments of horror during the war. Even Wright's dramatic presentation is more intimate as directs the actor in a theatrical approach, particularly in the Tallis estate scenes and the sequence involving Cecilia, Robbie, and the 18-year old Briony. Overall, Wright has now become a director who is on his way to fulfill his potential.

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey does some wonderful work with his lush presentation of the Tallis exterior daytime scenes with some intimate lighting in some of the darker, interior scenes in the estate. The nighttime sequences are wonderfully colorful as it conveys the sense of emotion while the war-time scenes are wonderfully shot to convey its horror. Notably a scene where Robbie with his fellow soldiers walk into the woods to see an act of horror that has McGarvey doing some amazing work. Editor Paul Tothill does some great cutting from the use of backwards movement to the perspective cutting. Tothill's editing is truly superb to convey the sense of emotion and action that goes on. Even through the very emotional scene of Briony, Cecilia, and Robbie that has a rhythm to confirm every moment of drama that goes on.

Production designer Sarah Greenwood with art director Ian Bailie and set decorator Katie Spencer do amazing work in the posh look of the Tallis estate with all of its period look in the furniture, antiques, and such while the war-time scenes are great to convey the dirty, working-class look. Even in the ruins of the Dunkirk scenes are wonderfully built to convey the sense of horror and tragedy. Costume designer Jacqueline Durran does great work in the period-style costumes from the swimsuits Knightley and Ronan wears to the dresses that Knightley wears at night and in the wartime scenes. Durran's costumes are wonderfully exquisite to the times as even the men whether in tuxedos or in army gear are great. The sound work of Catherine Hodgson, recordist Danny Hambrook, and mixer Paul Hamblin is wonderful in capturing the atmosphere of war in the arrival of the Dunkirk scene while it's in greater use to the Tallis estate scenes in some of young Briony's writing in mix with Robbie's writing a letter to Cecilia.

The film's music consists of operatic and classical pieces by Claude Debussy and Giacomo Puccini plus wartime music by Walter Kent & Nat Burton and the prayer piece Dear Lord & Father Of Mankind by John Greenleaf Whittier and Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry are featured. Yet, the music that dominates the film is the sweeping score of Dario Marianelli. Marianelli's score is truly one of 2007's best film scores with its huge arrangements and rhythmic orchestration that includes themes of Briony that is accompanied by a typewriter-rhythm while the more romantic score is very dramatic with flourishing arrangements. The music of the Dunkirk is also sweeping and dramatic with its sense of horror and tragedy as Marianelli creates a score that truly amazing in its own.

The casting by Jina Jay is superb with wonderful small performances from Belgium actor Jeremie Renier as a wounded French soldier, Nonso Anozie as Frank Mays who walks with Robbie in the woods of Northern France, Gina McKee as Briony's head nurse Sister Drummond, Alfie Allen as servant Danny Hardman, film director Anthony Mingella as the interviewer who interviews the 77-year old Briony, Charlie & Felix von Simson as Briony's twin cousins Jackson and Pierrette, and Pride & Prejudice co-stars Peter Wight as a police inspector, and Brenda Blethyn in a great performance as Robbie's caring mother. Harriet Waller is also good as Cecilia and Briony's mother who adores Briony's talents while in shock over Robbie's actions in the crime.

Patrick Kennedy is good as Cecilia's eldest brother Leon while Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent as the charming Paul Marshall. Juno Temple is also excellent as Briony's cousin Lola who manages to become a key player in an incident as she acts a precocious young teenager. One of the film's best supporting performances is Danny Mays as Robbie's fellow soldier Tommy Nettle who brings some humor with some comments but becomes the companion who tries to comfort Robbie in the dire of times.

Keira Knightley delivers a fine performance as Cecilia, a young woman who is deeply in love with Robbie though she couldn't show her feelings publicly. When the love is gone, she is a woman desperate for him as she refuses to have contact with her sister. While it's not as good as her previous collaboration with Wright in Pride & Prejudice, Knightley is at least proving that she's more than a pretty face. James McAvoy delivers an amazing performance as Robbie, a man with ambitions to become a doctor and Cecilia's lover who is good, kind man. When he’s accused of a crime he didn't commit and becomes a soldier, McAvoy's performance is just amazing for his observation and weariness as he sells the sense of frustrations and tragedy of his character. McAvoy and Knightley display amazing chemistry in the scenes they’re in as McAvoy has the look and presence of traditional leading men that came before him.

In the roles of Briony, the trio of actresses for the role are all superb in their performances. Newcomer Saorise Ronan is amazing as the 13-year old Briony, a young girl who has a crush on Robbie and has aspirations to be a writer as she conveys the misguided innocence of a young girl. Ronan's performances in the more dramatic scenes are great for her quick-wit reaction and angst that is displayed as her performance is just unforgettable. Equally as great as well as impressive is Romola Garai as the 18-year old Briony. Garai's performance is astonishing for her sense of restraint in how she tries to come to terms with her actions while not having contact with a lot of people.

Her scene in her attempt to atone for her actions is more surprising as she completely restrains herself from the more dramatic Knightley and forceful McAvoy. It's in that scene that Garai steals the show as she is proving to be one of Britain's finest actresses. Vanessa Redgrave is brilliant in her brief role as the 77-year old Briony who is still trying to find forgiveness in her final days as Redgrave's performance is just powerful for her look and weariness.

Atonement is a rich, powerful, and haunting masterpiece from Joe Wright and company helmed by fantastic performances from Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, and the trio of Saorise Ronan, Romola Garai, and Vanessa Redgrave. While fans of the book might have some issues with the adaptation, they will at least enjoy Wright's interpretation of the book. Those who loved Pride & Prejudice will be amazed in what Wright did as a director as his next film will definitely be one to anticipate for. In the end, for a rich film that questions sin and its consequences, Atonement is the film to go see.

Joe Wright Films: Pride & Prejudice (2005 film) - The Soloist - Hanna - Anna Karenina

(C) thevoid99 2011

Dottie Gets Spanked

Written and directed by Todd Haynes, Dottie Gets Spanked is 28-minute short film about a shy six-year old boy becoming fascinated by the world of spanking and sadomasochism. When he fantasies about having his favorite TV star being spanked, his reality becomes blurred into his new obsession. The film recalls Haynes’ interest in sexuality as well the theme of repression in the family home that would come in later films like Safe and Far from Heaven. The result is a fascinating yet strange short film from Todd Haynes.

It’s early 1960s America as Steven Gale (J. Evan Bonifant) is a fan of The Dottie Show that stars a woman named Dottie Frank (Julie Halston) and a man playing her husband (Adam Arkin). Steven’s obsession with Dottie is so big that when he sees her on the cover of a magazine with a contest to meet her. He signs up with the help of his mother (Barbara Garrick) though his father (Robert Pall) is appalled by the obsession. Upset, Steven dreams about being on The Dottie Show along with a man spanking a schoolgirl (Ashley Chapman) he knows. While he endures the taunting of kids from school about the show, Steve gets a big surprise when he wins the contest.

He goes to New York City from New Jersey to the studio where the show is being made. He meets the actor who plays Dottie’s husband and the real Dottie, who looks and acts nothing like her TV persona. Still, Steven was excited as he gave her his book of drawings. During a rehearsal for the show, Steven sees Dottie gets spanked which transfixes his mind as it led him to create more drawings. Yet, his obsession is increased as his parents become concerned which leads to another dream that ends up becoming a big moment in his life.

The short is a coming of age tale of sorts about a boy’s sudden infatuation with spanking and the object of desire he finds in a TV star named Dottie. What happens is that this weird fascination with this character and spanking would lead to a moment that would impact the boy and inspire his art. Haynes’ story is partially based on his own childhood as the short has a nod of sorts to I Love Lucy. Still, it’s a story that has Haynes explore the themes of repression in the family as the boy feels slighted by his father.

Haynes’ direction is very stylish as he goes for a mixture of 1950s TV with a more realistic yet colorful style of film. He also creates something that is very personal in the direction from the way he shoots the film from a boy’s perspective. Even as the TV and dream sequences are in black-and-white to play off the boy’s imaginative world. Still, Haynes creates an engrossing yet hypnotic short that plays to his themes as well as bringing humor to his themes.

Cinematographer Maryse Alberti does an excellent job with the film‘s colorful photography in creating a lush yet realistic feel to the scenes shot on location in New Jersey and New York City. Alberti’s work in the dream and TV scenes are also dazzling for the black-and-white sequences created. Editor James Lyons does a fantastic job with the editing in creating rhythmic cuts to gauge into the protagonist’s reaction along with a mesh of fast cuts to play into the kid’s dream. Production designer Therese DePrez, along with set decorator Scott Pask and art director Dan Appel, does a wonderful job with the art direction from the set that Steven visits to the dream world that surreal. Costume designer Eugenie Bafaloukos does an amazing job with the early 1960s period costumes to play up to the times along with the dream world where Steven wears a big crown.

Sound designer Brendan Dolan does a very good job with the sound from the hollowed yet busy world of the TV studio to the atmosphere at the park where Steven is at where he watches kids play. The film’s music by James Bennett is also good with its somber score to play up Steven’s melancholia along with some upbeat piano pieces to play up to his excitement.

The casting by Steve Jacobs is phenomenal with an array of memorable small performances from Robert Pall as Steven’s father, Lindsay Rodio as a girl who makes fun of Steven, and Ashley Chapman as a schoolgirl who loves to watch the same show that Steven does. Adam Arkin is very good as an actor playing Dottie’s husband while Julie Halston is funny as the woman who plays Dottie while bringing complexity to the actress who is really in control of the show. Barbara Garrick is wonderful as Steven’s sympathetic yet supportive mother who helps him reach his dreams to meet Dottie. Finally, there’s J. Evan Bonifant in an excellent role as Steven. A talented but shy kid who adores Dottie while being transfixed by spanking as it helps his art.

Dottie Gets Spanked is an excellent yet stylish short film from Todd Haynes. Fans of Haynes’ work must see this for his presentation of early 1960s culture that would play up to later projects like Far from Heaven and Mildred Pierce. It’s also a strangely accessible film that has a weird sense of innocence that works about the idea of spanking. In the end, Dottie Gets Spanked is a funny yet playful short from Todd Haynes.

Todd Haynes Films: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story - Poison - Safe - Velvet Goldmine - Far from Heaven - I’m Not There - Mildred Pierce (TV miniseries) - Carol - Wonderstruck - Dark Waters (2019 film) - The Velvet Underground - The Auteurs #3: Todd Haynes

© thevoid99 2011

Blog News 3/31/11 & Blogging Around

With the new month coming, I'm finally catching up not just on some projects but also finally getting a chance to work on personal projects including an outline for a screenplay.  I would definitely say the motivation for it comes down to one person.  Jena Malone.  She's an actress I've admired for many years in films like Bastard Out of Carolina, Donnie Darko, Saved!, Into the Wild, and other notable films.  While I wasn't impressed by Sucker Punch which I believe is to be the first real disappointment of 2011.  She was one of the few highlights for me as I felt that, along with Abbie Cornish, were the only actresses of their young age group to really put in some substance into their roles.  I'm glad some of my bloggers were able to give Jena some positive notices as I'm aware that she remains overlooked in the world of Hollywood.

In response, I finally felt motivated enough to work on a project with her in mind as the lead.  I'm not sure where I'm going with the project though it's been something I've thought of for years.  I hadn't really put anything into words until early this year as I'm often hesitant to really start my own screenplay projects.  I had completed two screenplays in the past but never felt confident enough to submit them into contests and such.  This will be the one project I'm going to work on from time to time and I would like to have some feedback if anyone is interested in reading it once the first draft of the script is completed.

Aside from the screenplay project that I'm working on, I'm also getting ready to work on the Auteurs profile on Todd Haynes which will arrive once I see all five parts of his TV miniseries adaptation of Mildred Pierce. Those are the two big projects I'm working on as well as other reviews. My music reviews at The Void-Go-Round might come around as I hope to have reviews of albums by TV on the Radio, Cut Copy, Fleet Foxes, and the Strokes. I'm just not sure what to do.

With new releases like Source Code, Hanna, and Your Highness coming this April which I hope to see all three along some art house releases. I'm going to devote most of April watching various movies I've recorded in the past month. Some of which will come for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival marathon as May will be a very hectic month due to family arriving for my sister's wedding. Among the films that I will see this month are Moon, Bright Star, Please Give, The Secret in Their Eyes, Fish Tank, White Ribbon, and others I can't remember right now. That's all I have for April and what's ahead at Surrender to the Void.

In the world other blogs, because of the disappointing response to Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch, there has been a wealth of excellent reviews that I enjoyed that chronicled why the film didn't work and such and what did work. Among them are reviews by CS at Big Thoughts from a Small Mind, Bryce at Things Don't Suck, Sasha at The Final Girl Project, and Alex at Film Forager.

Max at Anomalous Material has a great column about Film Criticism that I think every budding critic should read.

Andrew at Gman reviews asks What Kind of a Movie Would You Make?.

Finally at Cinema Du Meep, there's a review of Take Me Home Tonight along with various 80s retro films that are surely better than that film.

Well, that is all for today as I hope we get the 2011 film year rolling and it looks its coming off to a decent start.  Until then, this is thevoid99 signing off.