Manchester by the Sea

Manchester by the Sea is a powerful, emotional story of loss, grief, pain and family. When Lee (Casey Affleck) returns to his hometown after his brother’s death, he takes care of his nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges) and helps make arrangements. Lee is a loner, doesn’t care to interact with anyone and seems to just not care about anything. We think that he could deal with his brother’s death and taking care of Patrick better. Worse, there seems to be whispers following Lee as he gets things done around town. Later, we understand that awful past Lee left in this town.

Meanwhile, Patrick is a busy young man. He’s a hothead on the hockey team, is in a band, has two girlfriends and wants to keep his father’s boat that is about to break down. While Lee is a loner, Patrick is always surrounded by friends. It’s when he’s alone, that Patrick breaks down. The scene with meat falling out of the freezer is a raw and intense moment that really earned Hedges his Oscar nomination.

The most intense moment of the film, I cannot bear to really discuss, much less spoil for any readers. I will say that I cried tears of terror and sorrow seeing what Lee had brought on himself. The heartbreaking idea and images in his revealed past are genuinely haunting. What happened in Lee’s past makes us realize that he is not just a jerk acting aloof, but rather he is full of self loathing and an unbearable amount of guilt. No wonder he won’t accept even the smallest bit of kindness.

Casey Affleck’s portrayal of Lee is astounding. When we first see Lee, he is palling around with Patrick, who is around age nine. Lee seems happy, light and carefree here. In the present, Lee is morose, disconnected and seems to suck all the air out of a room. With this role, Affleck seems to have mastered the pregnant pause, avoiding eye contact and makes uncomfortable silences an art form. While Lee doesn’t say much to his ex wife in a chance meeting, we understand everything with the way he moves and can’t let her finish. On the opposite side of the coin, Affleck can make Lee lash out in an instant, like a furious explosion, usually after a few too many beers and on whoever looks at him wrong from across the bar.

Manchester by the Sea is nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture and original screenplay. Kenneth Lonergan earned his first nomination for directing. Casey Affleck earned his second acting nomination, his first for lead actor. Young Lucas Hedges earned his first nomination for his supporting role. And Michelle Williams earned her fourth acting nomination for her small, but very powerful role as Lee’s ex wife.

To be perfectly honest, Manchester by the Sea may be a tough film for some to watch. It’s the kind of drama you need a box of tissues for, but not a box of chocolate. The story is raw, powerful and cuts deep into the subjects of loss, grief and guilt without the characters actually saying so much about it. The writing is a work of genius, the photography is simple, yet poignant and the acting is superb. It’s for real people, the hurt living, stuck between the ice and the fire. If you’re looking for a great modern drama that will shake you to your core, this is it.

“I can’t beat it. I can’t beat it. I’m sorry.”

Gorillas in the Mist

The life of Dian Fossey is unique, beautiful and passionate, just like this film.  Under Michael Apted’s direction, Gorillas in the Mist is an exotic biopic that immerses us in Fossey’s world among the gorillas and celebrates her life’s work.

In 1968 we see Dian (Sigourney Weaver) leave her home, family and fiancé to live alone in the war torn jungles of Rwanda, to count the gorilla population.  Early in her stay, she is forced to leave by soldiers.  Not willing to give up, she sets up another camp outside the border, in the mountains.  As her research grows more impressive, she gains attention from the National Geographic, who sends photographer Bob Campbell (Byran Brown) to work with her.  Fossey and Campbell have a romantic relationship while up in the mountains, he even says he will leave his wife for her.  But this is not a love story, and if it were, Fossey’s true love is the gorillas.  

Sigourney Weaver is known for playing tough, tenacious women, and her role as Dian Fossey is no exception.  Anyone, man or woman, brave enough to live in a foreign jungle, alone and unable to speak the native language is already a force to be reckoned with.  Getting closer to gorillas than anyone ever had and learning to communicate with them is amazing.  And when she is fighting off poachers, who think she is a witch, she embraces their fear and uses it against them.  Her tactic used to frighten a young poacher enough to talk is one of my favorite moments in the film.

What impressed me most about this film is the fact that most of the scenes involving gorillas were filmed with real live gorillas.  A few scenes involve actors in a gorilla suit, but for the most part I don’t think I could tell the difference between the real gorillas and the fake.  They all seem very convincing and authentic.  And even better is how fearless Weaver is among the gorillas, she seems as at home as Fossey would be.  

In 1988 Gorillas in the Mist was nominated for five Academy Awards.  They include best adapted screenplay, best sound, best original score, best film editing and best leading actress, for Sigourney Weaver.  Unfortunately, Oscar night ended with this film coming home empty handed.  

Gorillas in the Mist is an enchanting film that would most appeal to nature lovers and animal activists everywhere.  With the film’s focus on Dian’s work, her battles against poachers and struggling within a war torn region, it is fascinating and thrilling.  However, with some brutal moments towards the innocent gorillas, young animal lovers should wait until their older for this film.  

“If I see or hear or smell you anywhere near my gorillas you’ll be writing with your other hand, and I’ll have an ashtray.”

Let the Right One In

Let the Right One In is a modern vampire tale done right.  The setting is a snowy Swedish town.  It feels as it looks, cold and lonely.  Right away, we are shown a situation that draws in our curiosity and sympathy: twelve year old Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), alone in his room with a knife, fantasizing about getting revenge on his bullies.  With only that, we are hooked, and the vampires and murders haven’t even started.

When they do, we are sucked in even more.  We watch an older man, Håkan (Per Ragnar), draw in his unsuspecting victim by asking him what time it is.  The poor kid seems to have gotten the lesson on stranger danger, but he get too close.  Soon he is hanging upside over the pure white snow as Håkan lets his blood drip down and drain into a funnel.

Enter our vampire, Eli (Lina Leandersson).  Oskar meets her outside his apartment complex.  He has no friends and is immediately smitten by this mysterious girl.  Could this be yet another vampire love story filled with adolescent angst?  It sort of is, but in such a great way.

After Oskar meets Eli, he seems to gain confidence against his bullies.  The three boys are menacing, even though they are still half grown, like Oskar.  In a scene that leaves Oskar with a scar across his face, we finally understand how dangerous they can be.  But when Oskar stands up against them, the consequences later are more than he, or us, expected.

Oskar’s problems are quiet and domestic compared to Eli’s.  She is more concerned with where her next meal will come from.  Either Håkan brings her back fresh blood, or she has to go out and kill for herself, a risky and messy chore.  And that innocent group of drinking buddies keep getting picked off by Eli.

Like I said, this is a vampire movie done right.  Though Eli is a little girl, she is a classic vampire.  She bites necks, can only drink blood, gets sick after trying candy and can’t go out during the daylight.  Best of all, one of her victims doesn’t die and we get to see what happens to a new vampire around cats and exposed to daylight (a beautifully horrific scene!).

This is the sort of film that unfolds perfectly.  Things are not revealed right away, but slowly, methodically.  The focus is on the relationship between Oskar and Eli, not on the blood, gore and horror.  However, I think that is a good thing.  This isn’t a horror movie filled with jump moments, but some moments are plenty gruesome and disturbing.  And while Eli is no Count Dracula, but simply a girl doing what she needs to in order to survive, I found the bullies just as scary as Eli, but not nearly as powerful.

Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In  is a great film, and I’m so glad I finally got around to seeing it.  I want to thank my dear reader, Anthony Lee Collins, again for suggesting it (twice!) for my horror movie marathon.  And I want to suggest it to anyone who wants to see a good modern vampire story.  Have faith, vampires are not over, there is more out there than Twilight!

“What happens if I don’t?  What happens if you walk in anyway?”

Dallas Buyers Club

Based on a true story, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) leads a fast and rough life.  He’s an electrician working in dangerous areas, a swindling gambler at the local rodeo, drinks heavily, snorts coke and has plenty of loose women.  When we first meet him, there is no denying his physical condition is atrocious.  He is sickly skinny with sunken eyes and blacks out the moment he gets home to his trailer.  After an accident at work, he wakes up in a hospital to the news that he is HIV positive and only has thirty days to live.

At the time, 1985, HIV and AIDS were stigmatized as a homosexual disease, so the news is a lot for a rough neck cowboy to take in.  After some initial denial and tension with his homophobic friends, Ron takes action.  He does some research and tries to get AZT, but the drug is only in clinical trials.  His searching for it leads him to Mexico, where a doctor is doing his own research on AIDS.  After nursing Ron back to a more manageable health, the doctor gives Ron a mixture of drugs and vitamins to smuggle into the United States to sell to others who are HIV positive or fighting AIDS.  With the help of a transvestite he met at the hospital, Rayon (Jared Leto), Ron takes to the streets of Dallas trying to give the HIV and AIDS community a better chance at life.  But the FDA, muddled in red tape, money and pushes out useless drugs, tries to shut Ron down.

Alright, alright, alright, let’s talk about Mathew McConaughey.  Between Dallas Buyers Club and his unforgettable cameo on The Wolf of Wall Street, this seems to be his best year yet.  He seems to have finally broken out of the pretty-boy rom-com roles and into more serious acting.  Best of all, his characters lately always come across as a bad-ass, always in control even when things are not going his way.  And his physical transformation to portray Ron is astounding and no doubt took some real commitment.  I just hope it was safe, we want him around for a long time.

And then there’s Jared Leto. He portrays Rayon, a HIV positive transvestite with a heart of gold that Ron meets in the hospital.  Right away, we see that he is genuinely kind, even when Ron is clearly uncomfortable with a homosexual in makeup befriending him.  What makes this such a great role is Rayon’s problems with drug abuse and his uneasy relationship with his father.  The hype has been with Leto long before his nomination, I’m curious to see how the Academy will vote.

Dallas Buyers Club is nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture, film editing, original screenplay.  McConaughey has earned nomination for lead actor and Leto for supporting actor, a first Oscar nomination for either of them.  The film is also nominated for makeup and hair styling, and between Leto’s makeup and whatever they did to McConaughey to make him look so sickly at times, I believe this film has secured the award.

Honestly, I feel a bit indifferent about this film as a whole.  I agree that this is a good movie, it is an important story that deserves to be told and the acting all around is great, but I just did not find myself connecting with it.  Maybe it was the way Ron seems kind of like a Texan Robin Hood, smuggling good drugs in and the FDA comes across like a money fueled Prince John scrambling to shut Ron down.  However, I would not discourage others from seeing it.

“What?  Hook me up to the morphine drip, let me fade on out?  Nah.  Sorry, lady, but I prefer to die with my boots on.”

Captain Phillips

I put off seeing Captain Phillips for a long time.  From the previews and commercials, I joked that Tom Hanks was just fishing for a new Oscar.  Even when the Oscar nominations came out, I was surprised and guessed the film depicting a recent big new story propelled it into best picture status.  When I finally watched it, I was pleasantly surprised.  The film became a fast paced, realistic thriller with a heart racing amount of tension.

The film is based on the true story of a 2009 hijacking of an American cargo ship by Somali pirates.  Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) is captain of the unarmed MV Maersk Alabama and runs a tight ship.  Knowing the warnings for pirates in the area, he keeps his crew on their toes, running drills to make sure they are prepared.  In the middle of a drill, two boats are spotted pursuing the ship and actions are taken to slow them down.  It buys Phillips and his crew some time, but Muse (Barkhad Abdi) is a threatening adversary, and his crew are persistent.  In a heart pounding scene with Phillips’ crew doing all they can, Muse and his armed men storm the ship.

Immediately, tensions tighten, Phillips has to think fast to help his crew and prevent any violence.  A great amount of suspense is created as Phillips leads Muse and his men around the ship, trying to keep his crew informed without Muse knowing.  When Muse has had enough, he and his men take Phillips hostage into a lifeboat, where they plan to take him back to Somalia.  As Phillips tries to survive the cramped quarters with his captives, the Navy is on their way to save the captured captain.

The film reminded me of Greengrass’ previous Oscar nominated film, United 93.  Both illustrated a hostage situation, didn’t shy away from the villains, utilized a realistic, almost documentary style of filming with hand-held cameras and the majority of the films take place in a cramped space.  While I remember being very moved and terrified through United 93, I felt more curiously anxious during Captain Phillips.  Though I know both films are based on true events, Captain Phillips felt more like a typical narrative with a main character I could find myself rooting and worrying for.

One aspect I was very impressed with was the photography within such a small space.  The last half of the film takes place mostly within a small lifeboat, about the size of a large SUV.  Inside are Phillips and the three Somali pirates.  Though the air is obviously stifling for them, we do not feel so cramped.  Somehow the filming here finds the right angles that we understand the space is small which makes the situation more tense, yet a sense of claustrophobia is avoided.

Captain Phillips is nominated for six Academy Awards.  Among them are best film editing, sound editing, sound mixing, adapted screenplay and best picture.  And in a wonderful surprise, rookie actor Barkhad Abdi has been nominated for best supporting actor.  Somehow with the thick field, Tom Hanks was denied the Oscar nomination this film seemed destined to bring him.

All in all, Captain Phillips is a good film, especially for those who enjoy realistic, tense situations.  It feels like it could have easily turned into a typical action movie, and I am very thankful it did not.  Phillips’ story got the movie it deserved, one that the average audience can enjoy as well.

“You said you were a business man!  Is this how you do business?”

Her

As I write this, I am sitting in a local cafe, alone with my laptop, while others around me share long conversations over food or coffee.  Like many characters in Her, I am comfortable being alone in public, so long as I have some electronic device to keep me occupied in my own head.  In Her, you don’t see many people on computers outside their home or office, but with an ear bud in their ear, talking to themselves, carrying on conversations, not with other people, but with computers.  This future (complete with hipster inspired high pants in fashion) does not seem very far from the present many of us are living.

Spike Jonze’s Her tells the story of Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), an urban writer going through divorce and suffering from loneliness.  From his work, writing personal letters for other people, we see that he is a guy very in tune with his own emotions.  Right away, we imagine he is very sweet and has a lot to give in relationships.  However, dates don’t go so well for him.  We witness one, thrilled for him as it goes well, only to feel his crushing disappointment when he ends up being rejected.  If that’s the norm for Theodore, it’s hard to blame him for eventually falling for a computer.

That computer operating system, or OS for short, is Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).  As Theodore sets up this operating system, only a couple questions are asked in preference to what sort of voice he’d like to talk to, for example, what was his relationship like with his mother.  From the start, Samantha has a breezy and welcoming personality.  Anyone might enjoy having her in their head, and the way Theodore is so alone, it seems natural that he would bond so well with this voice.  And what makes Samantha so interesting is that she, like any person, is constantly learning, evolving and changing.  The problem is that computers seem to do everything much quicker than humans can even imagine.

Honestly, I really loved this film, mostly because how for days and days after seeing it, my mind keeps wrestling with some of the issues it brings up.  I think about the inability to connect with people and the ability to connect so easily to technology (just as I can do in this cafe).  Disconnect must be normal in this world if people like Theodore are hired to write very personal letters for complete strangers.  The film makes me wonder about the human need for intimacy and how intimacy may not mean the same thing to everyone, including an OS.  And then that leads my mind into wondering how deeply sex, or just physical contact, can define a relationship.  The scene where Samantha brings a sex surrogate into the relationship is a very uncomfortable moment, with the best of intentions, but only brings awkward tears.

Her has been nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, original score, original screenplay and production design.  The Moon Song, a sweet and simple tune by Karen O, is nominated for original song.  I do suggest  giving it a listen and looking over the lyrics, which were written by Jonze.

Now, I know Her is being billed as a comedy, and it does have some hilarious moments, but to me it feels too heavy to really be a comedy.  It feels like a comedy like Kafka wrote comedies.  There is a lot of food for thought sprinkled among light moments and then heavier moments that, in a sense of those who are not  attached to these computers, feel like they may not matter much.  It is hard to describe the specific genre to consider this film.  The phone sex scene and video game scenes had the whole theater rolling, yet there are many heavier scenes where we feel that poor Theodore’s world is just crashing down.  And if Samantha doesn’t help him cope, she is the problem.  Odd and yet so close to home for anyone attached to their devices.

“I feel like I can be anything with you.”

12 Years a Slave

The twelve years Solomon Northrup spent in slavery are depicted as years of pain, torment and constant uncertainty as to whether he will live to see the next day, let alone freedom again.  The weight and realism of this subject, based on Northrup’s autobiography, can make the film difficult to watch at times, but also makes it that much more powerful.

Chiwetel Ejiofor portrays Northrup, a free black man from New York.  He has a wife, two children and makes a living as a musician.  His life seems ideal.  While his family is out of town, he accepts an odd job to play in Washington D.C. and ends up being kidnapped.  He wakes up in chains, in a small, dark, stone cell and immediately whipped for protesting that he should not be there.  He is sold into slavery, along with other free blacks.

After beating a white overseer (Paul Dano), Northrup is sold to a new owner, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender).  Epps is especially cruel and his antics are often fueled by alcohol.  He invites the slaves into his house to dance for him and his wife’s amusement, with Northrup playing in the band.  Epps repeatedly rapes one young woman, Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o), until she begs Northrup to mercifully kill her.  The tension brewing between Northrup, Epps, his wife and Patsey leads up to one of the most awful moments in the film.

The torments and hardships he and the other slaves endure are heart wrenching and brutal.  A mother is separated from her child, a heart break she cannot overcome.  Northrup and others are repeatedly beaten, sometimes to death.  Others are raped.  In one unimaginable scene, Northrup is nearly hung.  He is left alone with a noose around his neck, the rope tightened over a tree limb, but with one life saving inch before it chokes him.  He has to keep on his toes, in the mud for an excruciatingly long time.  If he slips, he will most certainly die.  The other slaves pass by, not daring to suffer certain punishment from helping him.

The film is nominated for nine total Academy Awards.  Among them are Best Picture, costume design, production design, film editing and adapted screenplay.  Steve McQueen is up for best director.  Among the acting nominations are Chiwetel Ejiofor for lead actor, Lupita Nyong’o for supporting actress and Michael Fassbender for supporting actor.  I doubt 12 Years a Slave will leave the award ceremony empty handed.

12 Years a Slave is one of those rare films where everything comes together perfectly under Steve McQueen’s direction.  The sets, costumes and cinematography hearken back to antebellum south.  The story feels very honest and faithful to a dark past, and yet fresh in this modern age.  Best of all, the acting is exquisite all around.  Ejiofor lets us perfectly understand Northrup, his fears, frustrations and helplessness, and leads us through this story with grace.  Nyong’o brings heartbreaking despair to such a sympathetic character.  And Fassbender portrays a frightening, powerful force that feels striking and more real than we would ever want it to be.

“In his own time, the Good Lord will manage them all.  The curse of the pharaohs was a poor example of what waits for the plantation class.”

Sophie’s Choice

I have sat through a good number of depressing films: Chinatown, Schindler’s List, The Hours.  The list goes on.  When I decided I needed to add Sophie’s Choice, part me me didn’t want to subject myself to another dreary afternoon of holocaust stories and unhappy endings.  But a bigger part of me, the kind that likes to explore, prod and see every movie ever, had to see it.

Sophie’s Choice is the story of three friends, their time together and Sophie’s past.  Stingo (Peter MacNicol) is a young, naive writer who moves to Brooklyn from the south, looking for more experience in life.  In his boarding house he meets a couple, Sophie (Meryl Streep) and Nathan (Kevin Kline).  Sophie is a beautiful Polish woman who survived time in Nazi concentration camps.  Nathan is an eccentric man, whose moods can shift from jubilant to angry-depressive bewilderingly.  The three becomes friends and along the way Sophie confides more and more of herself to Stingo.

Compared to the most depressing film experience of my life (watching Schindler’s List alone in my college dorm room on a Saturday night, which I do not recommend), Sophie’s Choice isn’t too bad.  Sure, we see that Sophie’s and Nathan’s relationship is only toxic or that Stingo probably won’t find happiness in Brooklyn, but not all their time together is awful.  Thing is, they do have some good times, wedged in between the spiraling downturn.

And then there are the holocaust memories.  No one wants those.  They’re so bleak and depressing but nothing shown is too awful.  Until Sophie tells Stingo the one thing she has never told anyone.  That, that awful choice, the one I knew was coming, nothing can really prepare you for it.  I imagine if you do have children, it’s even harder to watch.

A main problem I see in this film is that Stingo’s story seems a bit lost in the plot.  I understand that he’s not the main interest, that goes to Sophie, but he’s our narrator, the anchor in this story and we just seem to watch everything happen around him.  There are scenes that pique my interest about Stingo that just happen and are never referenced again.  What happened to that girlfriend of his, Leslie?  Was his writing getting anywhere?  How does he feel about becoming a third wheel to Nathan and Sophie?  But I have to remind myself that Stingo is simply our gateway to observing Sophie.  And this film was nominated for best adapted screenplay, so what do I know?

Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Sophie is amazing and obviously Oscar deserving.  While at first glance Sophie is meek and frail against Nathan’s strong presence, she becomes an amazing woman who has been through so much.  She is this beautiful combination of broken, struggling, painfully trying to find reason to live and yet able to enjoy life.  The worst has happened to her, she has survived, but perhaps she doesn’t know why.  And she can only move on with Nathan, or somebody, finding worth in her.  She has many endearing moments and unexpectedly hilarious lines that come out of Sophie’s broken English.  That Polish accent sounds authentic and must have taken a long time to master.  And that scene when she arrives at Auschwitz, it sealed that Oscar envelope.

The film was nominated for five awards total: cinematography, original score, costume design, adapted screenplay and lead actress.  Streep took home the only Oscar for her role.  Among the best picture nominees, Sophie’s Choice could have easily been swapped in for one of the films.  Probably not E.T. or Gandhi though.

Sophie’s Choice is one of those movies film buffs feel like they should eventually see, but may not.  It’s long, not a very fun ride, gets depressing and ends that way.  The main reason to see it is for Streep’s acting.

“-You were sent to Auschwitz because you stole a ham?                                                                     –No, I was sent to Auschwitz because they saw that I was afraid.”

The Prestige

Film is a magic trick.  Illusions of fictitious people and places fill a two dimensional space before us for an hour or so and we choose to believe it.  It’s not real and we know it.  Many times we know how these tricks are done, but that’s not the point.  When real magic flows from the screen, you’re not looking for the trick.  You want to believe.  I believe that is the point and spirit of The Prestige.

Readers, please be patient with how vague my following review may seem.  I want to discuss The Prestige spoiler free, yet I know that the slightest mention of an event can bring an avalanche of spoilers to the unsuspecting reader.  Believe me, this film is quite a ride the first time you see it, free of any preconceived notions.

In Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film, The Prestige, we witness an ongoing feud between two rival magicians in Victorian London.  Christian Bale plays Alfred Borden and Hugh Jackman plays Robert Angier.  They first work together as plants (volunteers that that seem picked at random from the audience) in an act, but after an incident occurs, they become bitter enemies sabotaging each other’s solo careers.  Robert yearns for what Alfred has: family and an gobsmacking transported man act.  He becomes obsessed with discovering Alfred’s secret to the trick and go to many lengths to create his own transported man act, but at what cost?

I have seen this film at least five times now, and I still find myself trying to wrap my mind around everything.  The first time I saw this, I was a bit lost at times, but always fascinated.  We are not shown everything in perfect chronological order, but rather the order to which will best pique our interest.  Like I said, Nolan is creating a film like a magic trick.  In every act he must show us the pledge, then the turn before revealing the prestige.  If it’s not leaving you searching putting the puzzle together, he has not done it quite right.

At the Oscars, The Prestige was nominated for only two awards: art direction and cinematography.  That would make you think it’s a very visual film.  It is, especially when the connections with Tesla come into play, but the strength the film carries is in it’s complexity and how it heightens our curiosity until the very end.

There are some fun, yet downplayed surprises.  David Bowie plays a role as the famed Nikola Tesla.  And only in my latest viewing did I realize that Tesla’s assistant was none other that Andy Serkis.  So nice to see him as a non-CGI character.  There is also Scarlett Johansson, as a lovely assistant, and Michael Caine as a manager connecting the two rivals from beginning to end.

I understand there is a point in the film that some people believe it breaks ranks.  Suddenly the film’s perceived reality is more than it seems.  I don’t worry about it, this film holds my suspension of disbelief.  What I always find intriguing is trying to figure out the difference between the prestige and the man in the box.  Is it really the same person?  What are the consequences?

While The Prestige is still a very young film, I believe that it is destined to become a classic.  It’s simply a tale of rivalry, but set to the era of early of magicians, like Houdini.  It becomes an intoxicating ride that twists and turns in ways you could not have expected, but love to believe.

“The secret impresses no one.  The trick you use it for is everything.”

Room at the Top

In Room at the Top, Joe (Laurence Harvey) is a young, headstrong accountant who has just found a job in a small town.  With the help of a friend, he gets joins a theater club to meet young and beautiful Susan (Heather Sears).  While Joe attempts to woo her, he becomes closer to an older woman, Alice (Simone Signoret).  Very soon, Joe experiences the struggles and strife of being with two women and ends up with tragic consequences.

Susan is a not only an innocent beauty, but a high class girl.  Her father owns a factory, and once Joe is in her family’s radar, he is seen as a threat.  You see, Joe comes from a town that is now largely piles of rubble from the war and is considered lower class.  Joe pursues Susan, partially for a possible future of gaining higher class status, but also just for lustful kicks.  But a clean cut girl like Susan is hard to get to, especially with such protective parents, and in the end will she even be what Joe really wants?

Then there is Alice, a friend Joe never meant to fall in love with.  While Susan is a wide-eyed girl, Alice is a strong, seasoned and careful woman.  She is ten years older than Joe and skeptical, (not so much of his intentions, she seems comfortable with casual sex) but of getting too serious.  Alice is a much more interesting and likeable woman than Susan.  She is smarter, more cultured with a lifetime more of experiences than girlish Susan.  Even better, she is a surprisingly modern feminist, seeing herself and her body as more than a plaything for Joe.  I did not expect these bold conversations from a film from 1959.  When Alice finally does fall completely and trust Joe, she falls hard, and losing him would tear her apart.

A film with so much lust, adultery and the idea of sex being an enjoyable act landed Room at the Top with an X rating by the ABC.  It was so racy for 1959 that film distributors were afraid to touch the film.  However, once it was released, it proved to be a big hit, both critically and financially, and ushered in a new age of adult themes in film.

At the Oscars Room at the Top was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture.  Jack Clayton was nominated for best director, Harvey for best actor and Hermione Baddeley was nominated for best supporting actress for only being in a couple short scenes, but making quite an impact.  The film won the award for best adapted screenplay and Signoret won the Oscar for lead actress.  The way she can put up walls and let them fall and become so vulnerable earned her that Oscar.

Readers, I am so happy to have finally seen Room at the Top.  It was worth the wait and such a surprise.  The acting is superb all around and the story is juicy, enticing and pulls you in so well that you end up just as crushed at the end.  This film is an amazing ride, and i really wish it was more widely available.  I got it off Amazon UK as a second hand DVD, the only one I could find.

“I own my own body and I’m not ashamed of it.”