Week of November 6 to November 12 (Mann)

What’s on at the Tropic
By Phil Mann

I don’t know why, but we seem to be in the era of fashion films. First there was The Devil Wears Prada, and in just the past few months we’ve had The September Issue (Vogue magazine) and Valentino: The Last Emperor. All were outstanding films. Now it’s COCO BEFORE CHANEL, starring Audrey Tatou, and the winning streak continues. This is the back story of poor Gabrielle Chanel who went from orphan to chanteuse to mistress before becoming an iconic designer. “Coco Before Chanel has it all -- striving, sensuality, romance and a bittersweet ending that turns out to be just the beginning” says Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post.

Well, maybe not all, since it doesn’t tell the rest of the story. Not to worry. Coco and Igor, the story of Mlle. Chanel’s passionate affair with Stravinsky, premiered at Cannes last spring, and is slated for early release. But you’ve got to see COCO BEFORE CHANEL to get ready. Francophiles, fashionistas and film fans unite!

While Coco Chanel is famous for her accomplishments, Amelia Earhart’s fame is mostly attributable to her startling disappearance at the height of her powers. AMELIA, the new bio-pic from director, Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake) keeps the flame alive. Amelia was beautiful, a pre-feminist feminist, the first woman to solo across the Atlantic. She was mentored by, and later married to, a publicity savvy publisher; and she was there in the 1930’s to bring cheer to America, when there was so little to be cheerful about. Her story has been told many times, including two TV movies (1976 and 1994), the most recent starring Diane Keaton. Why not? It’s the stuff of legends, and endlessly versatile Hilary Swank proves perfect for this role. She looks like Earhart, and she’s already played a boy (Boys Don’t Cry) and a prizefighter (Million Dollar Baby), which seems a perfect prelude to being a boyish-looking adventurer. “Most of all, Earhart wanted to be able to fly free as a bird above the clouds, and director Nair and star Swank make her quest not only understandable but truly impressive.” (Hollywood Reporter)

If Amelia is about a woman who refused to be a homebody, THE BOYS ARE BACK is about the opposite, a man who is thrust into that role. Australian Director Scott Hicks (Shine, Snows Falling on Cedar) has adapted the true story of a sportswriter who became an active single-parent to two boys. Just when the mother of his six-year old son died, a 14-year old son from a prior marriage decided to live with his dad. Clive Owen (Children of Men, Duplicity) performance as the father has picked up Oscar buzz.

It’s remarkable that this set of facts, so common for the other sex, should be deemed worthy of a movie. But rules in this testosterone-laden household depart drastically from those in the more-common female-supervised landscape. It’s more permitting than parenting, but the love is there as they all struggle with loss. Who’s to say what’s right? And the movie is “an intimate drama told with humor and emotion” (USA Today), “polished yet authentically moving” (Variety).

Parenting is also the theme of THE HORSE BOY, a documentary about the extraordinary journey of the Issacson family from Britain -- father, wife and five-year-old son – through Mongolia. They’re seeking help for the autistic boy, believing that it might be provided by Mongolian shamans. It’s “a deeply intimate and endlessly inspiring look at” autism (Austin Chronicle), which won the Audience Choice Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival.

Are you a veteran or on active military duty? Here’s your chance for a perk. Free popcorn all day on November 11. It’s Red Cross Veterans’ Day at the Tropic.

She Gods of Shark Reef (Rhoades)

“She Gods” Extols Wild, Wonderful Women
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

I’m a big fan of Roger Corman, the cheapie movie producer who reminisced about his career in a book accurately titled “How I Made A Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime.”

Of course, he never spent a dime in making them. At least, that’s what you’d think after watching a number of his low-budget productions.

He once joked that he could make a film about The Fall of the Roman Empire with two actors and a sagebush.

However, the secret of his success was more than just pecuniary tightfistedness. It was also his knack for picking up-and-comer actors and assistants. Among them: Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Peter Bogdanovich, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern, Jonathan Demme, John Sayles, Peter Fonda, and Robert De Niro. An impressive group of protégées.

No such luck in “She Gods of Shark Reef,” the Roger Corman film that’s showing tomorrow night at the Tropic Cinema. November’s theme for these Monday night classics is Wild, Wonderful Women.

This 1958 B-movie was directed by Corman himself. And it stars such unknowns as Bill Cord and Don Durant.

Cord and Durant play two brothers who escape to an uncharted South Seas island after one of them kills two men in a botched heist. As fate would have it, the isle is inhabited by beauteous female pearl divers.

The good brother falls for one of the wild, wonderful women (Lisa Montell). The bad brother seeks to escape before a Navy ship comes to their rescue – and arrest. They eventually make off in a rickety island boat, but let’s not forget the sharks in the film’s title.

You’ll hoot, you’ll holler, you’ll enjoy the campy adventures of this Roger Corman flick. If it’s not so great, give Corman some slack: he made 8 bargain-basement films that year alone.

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]

Amelia (Rhoades)

“Amelia” Flies Into Movie Theaters
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Writer Gore Vidal was a guest at this year’s Key West Literary Seminar. A boyish version of the acerbic writer appears as a minor character in the new film “Amelia.” Seems his father Gene Vidal had an affair with aviatrix Amelia Earhart.

As we all know, Earhart went missing in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world. Her disappearance was a bigger deal than if Christopher Columbus had sailed off the edge of the world. The American public had bought into her dream, the belief that an independent woman could do the same things as a man. Today, she’s considered a feminist icon.

This may seem like an somewhat antiquated concept, a woman having to prove herself as good as a man, but three-quarters of a century ago “liberated women” were not so common.

Among Amelia Earhart’s aeronautic accomplishments:

· Held the woman’s world altitude record: 14,000 ft (1922).

· First woman to fly the Atlantic (1928).

· Speed records for 100 km (and with 500 lb (230 kg) cargo) (1931).

· First woman to fly the Atlantic solo (1932).

· First woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross (1932).

· First woman to fly non-stop, coast-to-coast across the U.S. (1933).

“Amelia,” the slick new biopic about Amelia Earhart, is currently playing at the Tropic Cinema. This is the story of her relationship with her supportive husband George Putnam, sort of a grownup romance with aerial thrills.

Shut your eyes and you’d think it is Katherine Hepburn’s voice. But instead it is two-time Academy Award-winner Hillary Swank playing the famous aviatrix. Her Earhart is portrayed as “a shyly charismatic feminist/tomboy.”

Swank says, “I cut my hair off, I became blonde. She had freckles. Understanding how she carried herself is a big part of playing Amelia. The cadence in which she spoke, her accent -- for eight weeks I studied 16 minutes of newsreel on Amelia, which was really difficult. I think her accent was the most challenging accent that I've ever done in my career of accents. It was hard for me to get.”

Richard Gere co-stars as her husband. Christopher Eccle takes on a supportive role as her co-pilot Fred Noonan. And Ewan McGregor materializes as Gore Vidal’s amorous dad.

“I think Amelia was George’s beloved,” observes Swank. “And he really allowed her to have this life that she dreamed of. She did finally recognize what a gift that was on her final flight and, which she didn't know at the time was her final flight, of course. I think that that's so moving in life when you finally are aware of the meaning of life in a deeper way.”

Indian director Mira Nair (“Salaam Bombay,” “Mississippi Masala”) was determined to make the film accurate. The script by Ronald Bass was based mainly on the acclaimed books “East to the Dawn” by Susan Butler and “The Sound of Wings” by Mary S. Lovell.

Hillary Swank is counting on this film to generate her third Oscar. But if this doesn’t do the trick, she has “Betty Anne Waters,” an Erin Brokovich kind of film, in the works.

Hm. Better count on “Betty Anne Waters.”

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]

Amelia (comments)

Did you see this movie? Please share your thoughts.

The Horse Boy (Rhoades)

“The Horse Boy” Searches for Cure
By Shirrel Rhoades

What would you do if your child were diagnosed as autistic? Take him or her to John Hopkins? Hire a therapist? Fly off to a clinic in Europe? Explore alternative medicine? Pray? Attempt to learn more about the neurological anomaly?

This strange wiring in the brain affects about 2 out of every 1,000 children. Victims of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit impaired social interaction, among other symptoms. It usually manifests itself in children before they reach the age of three.

Journalist Rupert Isaacson and his wife Kristen have an autistic child, a five-year-old who is subject to uncontrollable fits of screaming and crying and acting out. Rowan is a child in need of a cure.

Giving up on traditional medicine, Isaacson and his wife choose to pursue an unusual course of action. Noting that Rowan seems calmer when around an old horse that belongs to a next-door neighbor, Isaacson gets the idea of taking his son to visit a shaman in Mongolia. After all, Mongolian tribesmen are good with horses.

Hiring a young cinematographer to document the trip, the family sets out on the long journey. “The Horse Boy” – as young Rowan has come to be known – is currently playing at the Tropic Cinema.

First-time director Michel O. Scott deserves credit for a good cinematic eye, his Hi-Def video camera capturing the beauty of the Mongolian Plains. You’ll marvel at the rugged, untamed countryside, almost making you wish this were a travelogue rather than a film about autism.

Trekking to a remote corner of the world, Rupert Isaacson is clearly in his element. In the past, he has written about the plight of Australian Bushmen and other unfamiliar cultures, so a trip to the far reaches of Mongolia seems almost normal to his journalistic view of life.

However, as we take this arduous journey with the Isaacson family, we come to understand the burden of having an autistic child. Young Rowan is difficult, given to fits and often incontinent. The film graphically shows it all.

You can’t help but wonder about Rupert Isaacson’s motivation. Is this truly a quest to help his child? A hare-brained adventure? A greedy ploy to produce a film (and book) about the experience?

Dunno.

But you will come away with no doubt of the Isaacsons’ love for their child and their saint-like devotion.

This inside look at the healing rituals of Mongolian shamans is interesting in itself – like a National Geographic expedition. The primitive life, the horsemanship, the holistic folk beliefs, you will find fascinating.

Undoubtedly, you will go to see the film asking did this mission help the child? I’ll let you share the Isaacson’s journey and determine that answer for yourself. But to be sure, there is something magical about this story.

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]

The Horse Boy (comments)

Have you seen this movie? Let's have your thoughts.

Coco Before Chanel (Rhoades)

“Coco Before Chanel” Channels the Fashion Diva
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

My mother used to spritz a little Chanel No. 5 behind her ear for special occasions. You’d think it was Love Potion No. 9. My dad seemed to like it.

This potent perfume was perfected by fashion maven Coco Chanel. Her signature fragrance was the first to have a designer’s name attached to it.

Although Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel was born in a poorhouse in 1883, she rose to the ranks of high society as head of a major fashion empire. Trained as a seamstress, she opened her own millinery shop. With the backing of several rich lovers, the modern-minded French femme parlayed this into clothing designs and jewelry and scents.

She once told Harper’s Bazaar that “simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” Her haute couture was a symbol of this design philosophy.

Chanel’s impact was so great, she was the only person from the field of fashion listed on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century.

“Coco Before Chanel” – a biopic about this designing woman – is currently playing at the Tropic Cinema.

Audrey Tautou stars as Coco. You’ll remember the French actress from her delightful turn in the film “Amélie.” And her more serious appearance in “The Da Vinci Code” with Tom Hanks.

Here, she makes a convincing Coco Chanel. “Coco Before Chanel” (or “Coco avant Chanel” as it was titled in French) tells us of the young Coco. The affairs, the drive, the fashion sense.

As it turns out, she never married. “There have been several Duchesses of Westminster,” she once explained. “There is only one Chanel.”

The company must have liked the film. Audrey Tautou is now the official spokeswoman of Chanel S.A. You might call it a commercialized reincarnation of Coco.

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]