Little Women (2019)

My little boy asked me what Little Women was about; he’s often curious about the movies I go see. I explained to him simply that it’s about four sisters growing up together during the Civil War. They help each other and others through hard times and celebrate the happy times. They play, laugh, fight a bit, and love each other to no end. He smiled and said that it sounds like our family. Perhaps that’s what Greta Gerwig, and Louisa May Alcott before her, had hoped for, that we would see the March family as our own, connect to their struggles, triumphs and misadventures. With the film’s PG rating, I half considered going again to take my son, but at 5 years old, movies without talking animals, robots or musical numbers aren’t likely to hold is attention. Maybe in a few years.

Never could I have imagined such a perfect cast for this story. Saorise Ronan leads the film as Jo, the second eldest March sister who dreams of being a writer and an independent woman, something very rare in 19th century America. In the present, she is living in New York, selling stories but comes home at the news of Beth (Eliza Scanlen), her younger sister, has fallen ill. The eldest sister, Meg (Emma Watson) has a husband, two little kids and quiet financial woes. Watson portrays this modest, yet happy lifestyle well, but with a twinge of longing for more. Amy (Florence Pugh), the youngest sister seems to feel left out at times and is often gone when life is at its hardest, either by inexperience or away with Aunt March (Meryl Streep). Timothee Chalemet plays Laurie, the rich boy next door who is often a playmate and potential romantic partner to the sisters as they grow up together. Laura Dern portrays the girls’ mother, a strong resilient woman who has to lead her girls alone while her husband, (Bob Odenkirk) is off at war.

I love how at times these actors are portraying children at play in one scene and grown women with children, personal, financial and professional problems in the next. It can often be hard to believe young people in their 20s portraying a young teen, but that rarely happens in this film. The magic is that they are so believable and recognizable in both instances. I loved Amy as a young, jealous sister, desperately wanting to keep up with Jo, and Pugh allows her to grow up gracefully while keeping that chip on her shoulder. Each actress does this with their characters so wonderfully.

One of my favorite, and most touching scenes happens towards the beginning of the film and helps set the perfect tone. It is Christmas morning and the girls wake to find a beautiful breakfast sprawled across the table for them. Before they begin, their mother returns from the cold to tell them that the woman down the road with five small children has no food for them and asks her girls to give their breakfast to her. There’s a moment of hesitation, they’re young, and looking at that food we can’t blame them. They all realize it’s the right thing to do. The image of them carrying picnic baskets together through the snow is wonderful, but the joy they bring to this poor woman and her children with so little is fantastic. You can feel the warmth of the kind act straight through the screen. You can imagine no greater joy has happened in that cold shack except that Christmas morning. And the girls are rewarded for their kindness.

This adaptation is so full of color, movement and life. We feel the exhilaration of the dances and galas the older girls attend. Meg’s wedding, while so modest by today’s standards, could be the envy of modern brides. It is so full of color, beauty and life. Moments of sadness are full of blue and gray shadows. The costumes, from modest coats and hats in the snow to beautiful ball dresses are all lovely and the color pallets seem to match the personalities of the character wearing it.

Gerwig writes the screenplay so that the saddest moment in the film as a focal point where the past and present timelines meet. It’s a wonderful trick to the writing and makes the idea of moving on even more poignant. This moment, which is no less devastating for those who already know that story, made the entire sold out theater I sat in cry together. It was a rare, beautiful moment. All around I could hear stifled sniffles and atmosphere was filled with silent, shared tears.

I could go on and on about Gerwig’s Little Women. I feel that its six Oscar nominations are not quite enough, I firmly believe Gerwig should have been nominated for best director. Best Picture, adapted screenplay, original score, costume design, supporting actress for Pugh and leading actress for Ronan are certainly nothing to take for granted. But instead of sounding too greedy, I must leave it at this: Never have I seen a movie that so perfectly describes the plight of these young 19th century women. Amy spells it out perfectly, how little rights and economic power she has and how marriage may not always be about love, but money and how complicated and heartbreaking that can be. Jo shows us this, as she struggles to be taken seriously as a writer while secretly longing for love. Meg shows us that while it is hard to struggle, love is worth it. And Beth breaks our hearts with her encouragement, music and kindness.

“Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for.”

Oscar Predictions 2015

Oscar Sunday is almost here!  Which means we are all making our guesses and predictions on what films will go down in history as Oscar winners.  Personally, I think this year has been a bit bland, but let’s have fun with it anyway.

First off, let’s have some fun and pretend this is before 2010 again, where only 5 films were nominated for best picture for the past 65 years.  If only five films could be nominated for best picture, this year’s list would only include

Spotlight                  Mad Max                    Room                    The Big Short          The Revenant

Personally, I hate to cut Brooklyn off, but I think it would have been cut because 1. some might see it as a bit straight forward and underwhelming and 2. Mad Max and Room already have female protagonists and Hollywood is still pretty sexist.  A quirky movie about white guys betting on the collapse of the American economy would probably be seen as “more important” than the story of an Irish immigrant girl.  Bridge of Spies is pretty bland and The Martian isn’t serious enough.  These are only my opinions about how The Academy would have whittled it down, just for shits, giggles and food for thought.

Anyway, here are my Oscar predictions:

Animated Feature

Honestly, I’ve only seen Inside Out, but I so love Inside Out. And it is the only other nominated film that also has another nomination (original screenplay).  Pixar will take it again.

Production Design

Mad Max: Fury Road is my bet.  The world created is so crazy, beautiful and immersive.  I love all the details.  Honestly, I’ll be kinda pissed if I’m wrong here.

Makeup and Hairstyling:

I think this is a toss-up between Mad Max and The Revenant.  Both excel here in very different ways.  If I had to choose, I’d go with Mad Max simply because there are so many different characters with many different styling needs.

Visual Effects

All these movies are so worthy of nomination, but Mad Max stands above and beyond here.  

Film Editing

I’m never good at predicting this category.  The Big Short has the most stylized editing, Star Wars does such a good job that it feels like one of the old trilogy, but I feel like both of those seem too obvious.  I imagine there is so much going on in Mad Max that the editing must have been exhausting.  Chalk up another for my love, Mad Max.

Cinematography

I think The Revenant will overpower Mad Max on this one, just barely though

Adapted Screenplay

To me, the way The Big Short was written is simply what makes it great.

Original Screenplay

Maybe it’s because I watch it 3 times a week with my son, maybe it’s because I’m still not over Bing Bong, but I would love to see Inside Out win this.  I think it is by far the most inventive and imaginative film and it works because of the perfectly woven story.  

Supporting Actress

I know she’s a long-shot, but I loved Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight.  

Supporting Actor

Ugh, I find it sad that no one really stands out for me here.  I’d bet on Tom Hardy in The Revenant.

Actress

Unfortunately, I’ve only seen Room and Brooklyn, so I don’t haven’t seen a majority of the performances.  I loved Brie Larson in room, maybe she can pull ahead of Lawrence and Blanchette who have already won before.

Actor

THIS IS LEO’S YEAR! 

Director:

As much as I would love to see George Miller win for Mad Max, I think Alejandro González Iñárritu has it in the bag this year, again. But really, I want to see some women nominated next year, dammit.

Best Picture

This year comes down to two outstanding films- Mad Max and The Revnant

What I think should win: Mad Max: Fury Road

What I think will win: The Revenant

While The Academy did rightfully nominate Fury Road in all its awesome glory, I think it is too rough around the edges, not refined enough for this crop of voters to bring home the big trophy.  The Revenant is just as well done, a lot less colorful and little less crazy.  They’ll play it safe.  

But years from now, which of these movies will be remembered?  I plan to take my son to the Mad Max: Fury Road 20th edition re-release (let me know when tickets are on sale).  And we’ll talk about the tragedy and triumph of Room, laugh about how The Martian is nothing like the recent Mars expeditions, and forget about the rest.  I hope we all have such high hopes for the future. 

Whatever the outcome on Sunday, I wish all of you a happy Oscar night!

Lincoln

It has been an interesting year in film for our sixteenth president.  Over the summer, he was portrayed as an ax wielding vampire hunter, which was just as entertaining as it was fictitious.  Now, Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis have brought Honest Abe to the big screen in a drama at the height of the Civil War to portray him as a great president truly working for the best interests of his entire country.

The film does an excellent  job of showing the audience everything that rests on Lincoln’s shoulders.  As president, his main agenda is to end the Civil War, but he realizes that passing the thirteenth amendment (which would abolish slavery) would bring a better end to the war and leave the country less divided afterward.  However, securing enough votes in the house of representatives is not an easy task, some minds cannot be changed.  The longer this debate goes on, so goes the war, with countless lives lost.

At home, Lincoln’s family life is in turmoil as well.  His wife, Mary (Sally Field) falls into deep despair often over the death of their younger sons.  She seems close to her husband, able to break down and tell him her true feelings, but seems to resent his power and responsibilities.  The strong smiling face she puts on in public is a heavy mask to bear.  Their older son, Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) wants to join the army, though his parents disapprove fearing for his life while Robert fears for his honor.  And their younger son, Tad (Gulliver McGrath) is asking many hard questions about the war, slavery and how slaves are treated.  Lincoln cannot fix the past for his wife, he’s trying to save Robert from being another loss to the war and he wants to make the future brighter for Tad.

Daniel Day-Lewis portrays Lincoln beautifully.  Physically, we get an aging, tired man who stands slowly, often leans on things and will wrap his shoulders in an old blanket.  His power is in his wits, his oddly humorous personality and his ability to connect with his people.  From the very first scene of the film, I was engrossed in and looked forward to Lincoln’s small stories to make his points.  These come in handy and carry the same tone whether he is talking to a few soldiers, his cabinet or an entire crowd.  And that voice Day-Lewis uses for Lincoln, a bit soft spoken, but never weak makes his Lincoln more easy to connect with.  His Oscar nomination is well deserved, another win, is nearly in the bag.

As well done as this film is, I got a little bored and didn’t find it very enjoyable.  In fact, it feels very preachy and drawn out.  Much of the film focuses on changing minds in the house of representatives in order to secure enough votes to pass the thirteenth amendment.  Spielberg tries to get us more connected to each of these key politicians, and a few do stick, especially Tommy Lee Jones’ character, Thaddeus Stevens.  However, there are just too many, their bickering and voting seems to go on forever and I know enough history that there is not much suspense.  Spoiler alert US history dropouts, the amendment will pass.

This is an excellent film that addresses Lincoln as a man, a president and a tactical politician.  Though it’s rated PG-13, many kids might be bored by the film, unless they’re really into history.  At some points I felt I needed to brush up on history and government knowledge, but the film never really held me back.

“I wish He had chosen an instrument more wieldy than the House of Representatives.”

The Help

I try to avoid other opinions of a movie until I have seen it myself, but it is much harder to avoid the advertisements.  By just glancing at commercials and posters for The Help, I got the idea that it would be a slightly quirky film about women, for women with some laughs and a lesson about racism.  When I finally saw it, I was shocked at what a great movie it was.  The drama and issues brought up were a lot heavier than that yellow poster can let on.

The film is set in Jackson Mississippi in the 1960s.  When Skeeter (Emma Stone), an aspiring writer, returns home from college, she notices more and more tension between white women and their black hired help.  She can tell that her ill mother (Allison Janney) is lying about their old maid, Constantine (Cicely Tyson), who raised Skeeter.  The girls she grew up with are all now married with their own help and finding new ways to deal with “the colored situation.”  Not realizing the full danger at first, Skeeter tries to recruit the black maids to provide testimonials about what it is like to work for these white women.  As Skeeter gets deeper into writing the book, racial tensions rise across Jackson, and the country.

The strongest things in this film are the acting, variety of full bodied characters and how they fit together.  Viola Davis provides a strong lead as Aibileen.  As an older woman, who has raised many white children, but hardly had time for her only son, now dead, she has become bitter.  That bitterness and loss helps her find the strength to tell her story to Skeeter.  Viola’s best friend is Minny (Octavia Spencer), a bold maid whose sassy mouth and defiant attitude gets her fired by Hilly Holbrook.  Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the queen bee of the white young women in Jackson.  What Hilly does, the rest do, which includes adding new outside toilets for the help, believing in racist propaganda about disease carried by black people, and shunning Celia Foote.  Celia (Jessica Chastain) is a sweet, ditzie young woman who lives outside of Jackson, whom all the white women think is white trash.  When she hires Minny as her first maid, boundaries are broken and big secrets are revealed.

There is a funny thing I have noticed about The Help, that I am not sure if it hinders or hurts the main idea about how real racism was within homes in the 1960s.  When characters like Hilly talk about ideas that the audience knows are backwards and outwardly racist, we tend to laugh at how absurd these women sound.  Thing is, Hilly is completely serious about “the colored situation” and other ignorant ideas.  To some degree I feel like she is being a comic character, a bit like George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove.  When she says, “They carry different diseases than we do. That’s why I’ve drafted the Home Health Sanitation Initiative.” we could compare it to when Scott says, “Mr. President, we must not allow a mineshaft gap!”  On some level, that works fine since we are in a future perspective where her traits are laughable.  We clearly hear something that can be funny, but other characters in the film may not.  And later, some of the things that happen to Hilly are outright hilarious, so much so that I do not want to spoil the fun.  While we see Hilly as comical, she is still an obvious threat to our heroines.  Laughing at a villain can be a dangerous thing to do in film.

The Help is nominated for four Oscars.  Of those, three of them are well deserved acting nominations for Viola Davis for Lead Actress, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain for Supporting Actress.   The other is for Best Picture.

I have seen The Help twice, simply because I enjoyed it so much the first time I knew I needed to see it again.  All the acting is wonderful, the whole cast creates a great ensemble.  While this is mainly a drama focusing on heavy racial issues from a perspective many of us may not have considered before, there are some wildly funny moments that help lighten the whole film.  And in the end, it feels like an inspiring film full of bravery and a heart of gold, without getting at all sappy.

“Minny don’t burn fried chicken.”

If the Academy wants to award a film with a perfect blend of drama, laughs and uplifting revolution, The Help will win the Oscar for Best Picture.