Argo

In 1979, Iranian revolutionaries storm into the US embassy, taking many hostages.  However, six Americans escape and find refuge in the Canadian embassy.  The CIA is given the task of getting them safely out of Iran, but there seemed to be no good ideas.  The best of these bad ideas comes to Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck, who also directs) from his son’s love of sci-fi movies: claim that the six are part of a film crew in Iran to scout out locations.  To pull this off, Mendez will need help from Hollywood, the president, the media and lots of luck to make them look like a real Canadian film crew.

Before you scoff at the absurdity of Hollywood aiding the CIA, remember that this is based on true accounts.  Mendez was a real CIA agent, who was later awarded for his efforts in this mission and the whole operation was deemed classified until the late nineties.

Alan Arkin plays Lester Seigel, a seasoned film producer helping Mendez make his fake movie look real.  He comes across as cantankerous old man, comfortable with himself, knows the ins and outs of the film industry with a hidden heart of gold.  While I love Arkin’s performances, this one didn’t scream Oscar status to me.  Sure, he does it well, but it doesn’t feel like anything new or exciting.  However, he does deliver the best lines in the film, like always.

What the film excels at, and shows off at the end, is how accurate the film’s setting and characters are.  It seems that a lot of attention was given to making the characters on screen look nearly identical to their real life counterparts over thirty years ago.  Iconic photographs of the time are recreated in the film, including the moment the embassy wall was breached, a man hanging from a construction crane and the deteriorated Hollywood sign.  However, the Hollywood sign was reconstructed in 1978, a year before this film’s setting begins, but I see Affleck’s idea incorporating that image to show how the film industry had lost its golden age luster and in need of reinventing.

While I appreciate this film and think that it was done to a high standard, I didn’t find myself connecting with it well.  It was taught, smart, visually compelling and kept me wondering how they would pull off the next round without getting caught.  There was just something missing that left me emotionally disconnected.  Perhaps the film didn’t get us close enough to the six hostages, or Mendez himself.  Or maybe that disconnection comes between the safe, pretend world of Hollywood and the harsh, volatile world of revolutionary Iran.  Bringing the two together is so jarring, and blurs boundaries.

Argo is nominated for seven Oscars.  While the film has a large following, I would not bet on it winning Best Picture.  Lately the film that wins Best Picture also wins best director, and sadly (leaving much of film community shocked) Ben Affleck was left out of that race.  But hey, this could break that long standing curse.

“Bad news, bad news. Even when it’s good news, it’s bad news.  John Wayne in the ground six months and this is what is left of America.”

The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!

So nice they named it twice.

With no ill intentions, a Russian submarine accidentally runs aground on a New England island.  Rather than radio in with an embarrassing international blunder, the captain sends nine of his men, two who speak English, ashore to find a way to free the sub.  Simply find a motorboat to push the sub free and go on their way.  The men, lead by Lt. Rozanov (Alan Arkin) stumble upon a the vacationing Whittaker family.

To give you a feel for the family, imagine Walt and June Cleaver thinking they’re under Russian attack and little Beaver won’t shut up.  The loudmouthed son, Pete (Sheldon Collins) spots the men sneaking around the garage and immediately runs his mouth announcing “Two of them got tommyguns. And they’re all talking some foreign language. They could be Russians or something!”  Of course no one pays much attention.  The father, Walt (Carl Reiner) seems the complaining type and we get the feel that this kid just constantly annoys his parents.

When the Russians come knocking on the door trying to pass themselves off as Norwegians, little motor-mouthed Pete instructs his father, “Ask if they’re Russians.”  Well, their cover is blown, so they brandish a gun, make it clear they don’t want to hurt anyone and once they’ve got their information (and station wagon), they leave English speaking Alexei Kolchin (John Phillip Law) to watch the family.  But little Pete pushes his father to take Alexei’s gun and Walt rushes to town.  The Russians aren’t in town long before everyone is up in arms thinking the Russians are invading.

Like a bad game of telephone, it escalates where the whole town thinks Russians have parachuted in and taken over the airport.  The town creates a makeshift militia, led by an oddball veteran with a sword.  The barkeep sees the opportunity to make a buck and soon alcohol is fueling the fire.  Icing on the cake is watching the town drunk try to wrangle his horse so he can spread the news to the other side of town.  He gets the best and final line in the film, which I’m sure you can guess.

The whole satirical situation is hilarious and the characters running around the town are hysterical.  They really show how typical ignorant townsfolk would turn the situation into a circus.  The thing I found funniest and most likely is that none of the people (except for the Whittaker family have even seen any Russians.

I found the whole film to be just a hoot; a real hardy laugh I could feel good about.  The comedy and story transcends generations, the situations are absurd and the whole thing feels zany.  Today, it is so rare to find a film that pokes such great satire (like American’s fierce fear of Russians) that doesn’t offend, try too hard or just fall flat.  I think present film makers need to look back to this classic and remember how good hearted satire is done.

“All they’re trying to do is borrow a motorboat.”

Little Miss Sunshine

This is my “newest favorite movie.”  By that, I mean than no movie in the past three (going on four) years has been as great as this.  As I explained to my husband earlier, Raiders of the Lost Ark is still my all time favorite, but if I were to meet a physical embodiment of the film, I would high-five Indiana Jones and give the yellow VW from Little Miss Sunshine a great big hug.  That’s just how they differ in my heart.

Little Miss Sunshine is the story of a modern family consisting of a mom Sheryl (Toni Collette), dad Richard (Greg Kinnear), brother Dwayne (Paul Dano), grandpa (Alan Arkin), little Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Uncle Frank (Steve Carell).  Of course there’s more to them than that, they all have their vices.  Except for little Olive, who’s just gotten word that she’s in the running for Little Miss Sunshine in California.  To see her dreams come true, her whole family will drive in a yellow VW buss for eight hundred miles.

A family road trip can be a defining moment in someone’s life, huh?  Well, not everyone can relate to having three generations in one vehicle.  My family drives from Indiana to Florida every winter, sometimes with grandma.  Being the oldest of three, I sometimes felt that I was in the gay uncle position (feeling out of place for a while, then egging on needless conversations for entertainment and offering my advice to the younger ones).  But in the end, it’s not always about the destination, but what we learned and lived through on the way.

The nucleus of this story is little Olive.  She’s so cute, sweet and innocent, everyone wants to protect her.  But the bitter truth is there’s only so much they can do.  She’s exposed to beauty pageants by her aunt (which is before the film ever begins).  Her grandpa shows her “these moves” and constantly swears.  Even when her parents think they’re doing and saying the right things, little Olive can pick up signals, (“Why is everyone upset?”).  One of the great things about this film is the fact that we will always expose kids to really fucked up things (not on purpose, of course), but as long as we keep that family unit and support the youngest generation, they’ll probably turn out all right.  With luck, they might not realize just how messed up everything was around them until they’re older.

Now, Little Miss Sunshine was given the R rating, making it dreadful to parents and more enticing to their children.  Please, if you were to cut out all but one of the fucks this would be PG-13.  In fact, I encourage this to be a family time movie.  I don’t mean round up your five year old and send them to pre-school with their new favorite phrase, “God damn fucking chicken!”  Here’s a good rule of thumb that may open the eyes of a few parents: if you’ve ever let your child watch South Park or anything from the Family Guy realm, Little Miss Sunshine is perfectly fine.  The sexual references in either of those cartoons are way more explicit than Grandpa saying he had “second degree burns on his Johnson.”  As for the unedited fucks, please, they’re barely edited out of those cartoons and your kids can figure out what they are (word gets around schools, by age eight or so).  The worst thing is a little thrill from hearing that famous word so clear.

At the Oscars Little Miss Sunshine was nominated for four awards and took home two.  It was beat out for best picture and Abigail Breslin’s nomination for best supporting actress, but took home top honors in original screenplay and Alan Arkin won best supporting actor.  Not bad for that little indie film from Sundance.

I could gush on this film for hours, but the two things that I believe make this film so wonderful and heartwarming is its sense of timing and showing the strength of a family unit.  Take that first dinner scene, as conversation grows, it’s edited perfectly so we see a specific person’s face react to what the other is saying.  When Uncle Frank is explaining his reasons for suicide, it’s directed mostly to Olive, but we see Richard’s disapproving face and Grandpa blows his nose at the perfect spot to get some awkward laughs from the audience.

Well, that doesn’t sound like a strong family does it?  Remember, that’s only the beginning.  By the time they roll onto Redondo Beach they’ve faced a broken clutch, heartbreaks and over eight hundred miles together.  To get their beloved VW going the whole family has to push it.  What a family exercise!  When everyone’s safe inside with mission accomplished their blood and adrenaline is pumping and there’s that sense of accomplishment.  Even Uncle Frank is all smiles shouting, “No one gets left behind!”

I dare you to find a better family film.  The Griswold family never had such heartwarming laughs or faced such heartbreaking events and they drove twice as far.  Little Miss Sunshine is what a family road trip is all about and once you open your heart to it you might be surprised at what it has to say.

“-You do what you love, and fuck the rest.

-I’m glad you’re talking again, Dwayne. You’re not nearly as stupid as you look.”