Week of Dec. 18 to Dec. 24 (Mann)

What's on at the Tropic
by Phil Mann

The year-end award season is heating up, and the Tropic is sizzling, with three of this year's most talked about movies opening this week.

Leading the parade is PRECIOUS: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire. Yes, that mouthful is the official title, and that's not the only thing unusual about this movie. The eponymous Precious is possibly the most non-Hollywood character ever to lead a major motion picture. She's fat, black, illiterate, abused by her mother and pregnant at age 16 from a rape by her father. But Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry think enough of her to have jumped in big time to shepherd the film's distribution. And it's been nominated for Best Picture by almost everyone, including the Golden Globes, the Independent Spirit Awards and the Satellite Awards.

The movie takes you deep into the life of this troubled girl. You'll be struggling with her and rooting for the few people who try to help her (played by Mo'Nique, Paula Patton and Mariah Carey, all of whom prove themselves to be first-flight actors). Gabourey Sidibe, a first-time actress who gives the term ingénue new meaning, is so convincing as Precious that people are shocked to discover that she's really a dynamic and popular college student.

Put PRECIOUS on your must see list. It could well be the Slumdog Millionaire of 2010.

FANASTIC MR. FOX is quite a contrast. Director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited) has turned to animation to bring us an adaptation of a classic Roald Dahl children's story. It's not Disney/Pixar animation, but rather stop-action using custom-crafted puppets and miniature sets. The details are incredible, with the animators carefully tweaking elements like the direction of the fur on a fox as he moves. Oh, I forgot to mention that the lead characters are a family of nattily-dressed foxes, voiced by George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Jason Schwartzman. As Salon.com puts it, "Anderson has pulled off the most elusive of goals: He's made a nonchalant masterpiece, a movie that feels dog-eared and loved before it's even reached our hands."

MR. FOX has been nominated as Best Animated Feature by almost everyone - including Annie Awards, Golden Globes, and Satellite Awards. Another must-see, but this is the one to see with your children. You'll enjoy it, too. Please note that the movie will be shown only on Friday thru Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday it moves out to make room for.....

UP IN THE AIR, another Oscar-bound hottie from director Jason Reitman (Juno). George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a corporate hatchet man who travels around the country firing people for employers who are too craven to do it on their own. Bingham has no life. He's more concerned with accumulating Frequent Flyer miles than relationships. Will Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a sexy female road warrior, change this? You'll have to see the movie to find out.

This flying saga has already won Best Film from the National Board of Review, and has nominations from the Globes and Satellites, as well as a bevy of acting and directing nods.

I guess you'll need two heads next week to catch all this. And don't forget that Tuesday brings another in the live-from-Europe opera series. This time it's Verdi's IL TROVATORE, from Barcelona. Live-live in the afternoon (2:00pm) and a delayed-live broadcast in the evening.

There's more, but I'm out of room. Check TropicCinema.com for full schedules and info.

Precious (Rhoades)

“Precious” Promises Oscar Nomination
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Not exactly a warm and fuzzy Christmas tale, unless you want to mutter “Bah! Humbug!” and compare this story of an obese, uneducated ghetto gal with Ebenezer Scrooge’s discovery that there is hope for a brighter future.

Best to take it for what it is: A story about overcoming all odds.

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” is currently playing at the Tropic Cinema.

We are introduced to Clareece Precious Jones, a 16-year-old Harlem homegirl with no prospects, and pregnant with her second child. Nonetheless she has dreams. “I want to be on the cover of a magazine. I wish I had a light-skinned boyfriend with good hair. But first I want to be in one of those BET videos,” she tells us in her halting dialect.

Escaping into fantasy is her only refuge from the hard, sad life she lives.
“Nobody loves me!” cries the girl.

Her teacher (Paula Patton) replies, “People do love you, Precious.”

“Don’t lie to me!” wails the girl. “Love ain’t done nothing for me! Love beat me down! Made me feel worthless!”

After all, her mother mentally and physically abuses her. And her father has impregnated her twice.

Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe gives a convincing performance as Precious. But it is Mo’Nique as her mother who might wind up with an Oscar.

In surprising dramatic roles are singers Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz.
I used to see Kravitz and his then-wife Lisa Bonet in the elevator when I visited a friend’s apartment on Christopher Street in New York’s East Village. Bonet was an actress, but he was merely a musician. This is his first feature film role.

As the title proclaims, the movie is based on a book by Sapphire. Born Ramona Lofton, she worked as an exotic dancer, a performance artist, and a social worker before immersing herself in writing poetry. “Push” is her first novel, a long unpublished manuscript until being discovered by a literary agent.

Director Lee Daniels says, “I read the book, and it just left me gasping for air. I couldn’t believe it. My mouth was open as I turned page after page. I was like, ‘What the [bleep]?’ And yet it was so truthful. I had never seen truth written in such a way. So, I had to have it. I became obsessed with it like a lover. I slept with it under my pillow.”

From his experiences of his own childhood, he identified with the abuse in the storyline. “It’s certainly something that I identify with,” Daniels says. “But through the abuse and through the darkness, I actually identify more with the sense of loving yourself, of finding self-love and ultimately loving yourself.”

Casting Gabby Sidibe was key. “I interviewed over 400 girls before I found her. She blew me away. Her smarts is what did it. She’s so smart!”

But comedian Mo’Nique’s performance was the mindblower.

Daniels recalls, “At the end of this thing, I said to Mo'Nique, ‘This is award-worthy.” He oughta know, having produced “Monster’s Ball,” which won an Academy Award for Halle Berry.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for Best Drama. And supporting actress Mo’Nique was tapped for a Special Jury Prize.

As for that Oscar? The film is “presented by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.” Can’t get a better endorsement than that.

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]

Precious (comments)

We'd love to have your thoughts on this unusual new film.

Séraphine (Rhoades)

“Séraphine” – an Angel In a Bridal Gown
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

You never know the talents people hide. I’m acquainted with a clown who’s a great sculptor. A handyman who carves marvelous canes. A bartender who’s a gifted potter. A street person who writes lovely poetry.

And a German art collector named Wilhelm Uhde had a cleaning lady who painted beautiful pictures.

That’s the subject of “Séraphine,” a biopic about French artist Séraphine Louis that’s playing at the Tropic Cinema.

In 1914 Uhde (portrayed by Ulrich Tukar) moves to a village just outside of Paris, hoping to get away from the hustle and bustle of his life in the city. The small room he rents comes with a cleaning lady, a middle-aged woman who is an object of derision by locals for her eccentricities. She scavenges odds and ends from the roadside, toting them away while the curious look on.

Turns out, she uses these scraps for paintings that she does at night by candlelight.
When Uhde discovers that crazy Séraphine (veteran actress Yolande Moreau) is a talented neo-primitive artist, he tries to encourage her work, but she’s suspicious of his patronizing attitude.

The film traces their relationship “through war and peace and Depression and madness.” They are separated during World War II when the gay art collector must flee for his life. Thinking that she died during the war, he’s surprised on his return to France to discover her paintings exhibited in a local gallery. Even so, she’s still living an impoverished life as a housekeeper. He tries to become her benefactor, but it’s difficult because the Depression thwarts his plans. And Séraphine is spiraling into greater madness.

After roaming the streets in a white bridal gown and hearing voices of angels, she’s interred in a psych ward. Ironically, her paintings have started to sell for big money. Wilhelm Uhde is frustrated in his attempt to help her, this sad woman with a hidden talent.

This 2008 French-Belgian production was directed by Martin Provost, best known for “Le ventre de Juliette” which won the Prix Tournage at the Avignon Film Festival. “Séraphine” won Best Film at the César Awards and the Newport Beach Film Festival.

But let’s not overlook the subject of the film, Séraphine. In addition to creating this faithful biography, Provost has tried to do what Uhde couldn’t – organizing a recent Musée Maillol exhibition of Séraphine’s work to preserve the memory of her naïve talent.

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]

Seraphine (comments)

If you saw Seraphine, please share a comment. Thanks!

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” from Foxy Wes Anderson
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

These days I’m acting as editorial director for The Saturday Evening Post. Going through its archives, in the August 1, 1942, issue, I came across the first fiction ever published by Roald Dahl. As you may recall, Dahl wrote such children’s classics as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach.”
Dahl also penned “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” an animal story that has been turned into a delightful film by director Wes Anderson.

This stop-motion animated film tells the story of a chicken-stealing fox who after a narrow escape vows to give up his old ways. Bu a few years later he relapses, using the excuse that he’s just a wild animal. Three local farmers decide to trap the varmint, but Mr. Fox digs his den deeper, linking his family up with other underground denizens. As things gets dicier, Mr. Fox and his gang raid the three farms, taking all the chickens, geese, and turkeys.

As you can imagine, the farmers redouble their efforts to trap the arrogant fox, bringing in such armament as guns, hoses, and bulldozers. But who will win – farmers or fox?

George Clooney lends his voice as Mr. Fox. A greater use of his talent than when he was billed on early episodes of TV’s “South Park” in the non-speaking role of Sparky the Dog.

Meryl Streep steps in as Mrs. Fox, the vixen who wants her husband to settle down.
And no Wes Anderson film would be complete without a couple of his regular actors: Jason Schwartzman (“I Heart Huckabees”) is the Foxes’ son. Bill Murray (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”) is the Badger, a lawyer. Owen Wilson (“The Darjeeling Limited”) is Coach Skip. Wallace Wolodarsky (“Rushmore”) is Kylie the Opossum. And Wes’s brother Eric Chase Anderson is cast as the Foxes’ nephew.

Also heard are the voices of Michael Gambon (the “Harry Potter” films) as one of the farmers, Jarvis Cocker (frontman for the band Pulp) as Petey, and Willem Dafoe (“Antichrist”) appropriately as the Rat.

If you like the cinematic eccentricities of Wes Anderson, you’ll love the inventive wit of “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” And everyone eight and over will enjoy the moral: What makes you different is what makes you special.

Just as true for people as for foxes.

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]

Fantastic Mr. Fox (comments)

Hey, what did you think of Wes Anderson's animated treasure?