Two New Films and Three Holdovers Add Up As “Plenty to See”
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Two new films edge onto the screens at the Tropic Cinema -- “Unfinished Song” and “Fruitvale Station.”
Once a pretty boy, now-75-year-old Terence Stamp acts his age in “Unfinished Song,” the story of a grumpy old widower who joins a chorus against his better judgment. Yes, it changes his life. Funny, serious, and a great performance by Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave, and Gemma Arterton. The Seattle Times describes it as a “gentle story of a marriage, and of how music can help make a broken heart whole again.” While the Chicago Sun-Times sees it as a “modest, tear-jerking charmer ….”
The other new entry, “Fruitvale Station,” offers a grim view of life in the Bay area. Winner of both a Grand Jury Prize and an Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, it tells the true story of Oscar Grant (played here by Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old who vows to change his life for the better … and does, sorta. But as the old saying goes, No good deed goes unpunished. The Denver Post says, “It’s hard not to watch ‘Fruitvale Station’ with a coiled dread....” The Sacramento Bee notes that the film’s “arrival in theaters corresponds with the outcry over the Trayvon Martin case.” And Reno News and Reviews calls it “One of the year’s best films.”
Still playing are those two wonderful coming-of-age films, “The Way, Way Back” and “The Kings of Summer” -- a counterpoint to the aforementioned embracing-old-age film, “Unfinished Song.”
“The Way, Way Back” has the ring of truth as it follows dorky Duncan (Liam James) on a summer vacation to the Massachusetts Shore with his mom (Toni Collete) and her mean-spirited boyfriend (yes, Steve Carell) … to a life-changing encounter with Owen (Sam Rockwell), the cool manager of the Water Wiz aqua park. New Yorker says, “Once again, the oppressed American teen-ager lopes and shuffles to center stage, there to display his woes.” However, The Atlantic counters that it “just may be the best movie of the summer.”
“The Kings of Summer” harkens back to “Stand By Me” as three disparate teens run away from home and claim their freedom in a tree house. The Miami Herald calls it “A warm and affectionate comedy about that last great summer when you're 13 or 14 and you don’t realize just how much your life is about to change and things will never be the same.” The Dissolve describes it as a “hand-me-down Wes Anderson.” Nonetheless, Creative Loafing says it’s “pretty much guaranteed to make viewers feel like a million bucks.”
Simply want a few giggles? Well, the Tropic is still turning up “The Heat,” the cop comedy that pairs Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy as odd-couple lawmen … uh, I mean lawwomen. Salon.com says, “There’s an edgy but rewarding chemistry between Bullock and McCarthy.” Movie Talk calls it “crude and rude,” but concludes that “as Bullock’s by-the-book prissiness collides with McCarthy's slobbish street savvy, its leading ladies strike scintillating comic sparks off each other.”
There you have it, two new films and three continuing offerings. Plenty to see at the Tropic.
srhoades@aol.com
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Unfinished Song (Rhoades)
“Unfinished Song”
Could Be About Terence Stamp
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Lately, we’ve been talking about coming-of-age films. Y’know, films like “The Way, Way Back,” “The Kings of Summer,” “Mud,” “Stand By Me,” “To Kill A Mockingbirds,” on and on. Yes, we all like to reminisce about the angst and travails that came with growing up.
But as we Baby Boomers get older -- and have now spent a lot of time thinking about our youth and the movies that remind us of those halcyon days -- there’s a new genre of film emerging. Let’s call it “embracing-old-age” films until a better term comes along.
These are movies about older folks (like us or our parent) who are coming to terms with growing old. “Quartet” was such a film. So was “Lovely, Still” and “Starting Out in the Evening” and “Robot & Frank.”
Now we have “Unfinished Song,” the dramedy that’s currently playing at the Tropic Cinema.
Starring Terence Stamp (you may remember him as the young Billy Budd in the same-named movie or the frightening Freddie Clegg in “The Collector” or Supreme Chancellor Valorum in “Star Wars: Episode 1”), here we have the funny story of a curmudgeon named Arthur, an elderly man who has all but given up on life.
Yes, Billy Budd (Stamp, that is) is now 75.
In “Unfinished Song,” Arthur grumpily objects when his cancer-stricken wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) decides to perform in a senior citizens chorus. What if she makes a fool of herself? And what if she uses up her last strength?
Spoiler Alert (although you’ll see as much in the previews): When his wife dies, Arthur winds up taking her place in the chorus -- despite the fact that his own musical tastes favor Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. There, under the direction of Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton), he must come to terms with life without Marion.
Blue eyes twinkling, Terence Stamp grins as he points out, “This is the first romantic lead I've been offered since Far From the Madding Crowd. And that was 1966.”
In his day, Stamp was quite the ladies man. He had a long-time affair with his “Far From the Madding Crowd” co-star Julie Christie. He had a tryst with Bridgette Bardot. And he was often photographed with his supermodel inamorata Jean Shrimpton.
As a young man, Terence Stamp was considered “the most beautiful man in film,” although he doesn’t see it that way when he looks at his early films. “I see a creature who was not that good-looking,” he says. "What they're seeing is the work of the lighting cameraman. I’m realistic enough to know I never looked that good in real life.”
Modesty aside, audiences of Baby Boomer women are going to see a still-handsome older man in “Unfinished Song.”
Stamp decided to become an actor at 17. He recalls watching television with his parents and saying out loud, “I could do that.”
“Son,” replied his stern father, “people like us don’t do that. I don’t want you to talk about it again.”
So he didn’t – until he won a scholarship to an acting school.
He became a star just as the phenomenon known as Swinging London hit with full force.
But bad career choices ultimately tripped him up. He turned down the title role in “Alfie,” instead recommending his roommate Michael Caine. It was the role that made Caine a star. And Stamp was considered as a replacement for his friend Sean Connery as James Bond, but he blew the chance.
“Work dried up in 1969,” he shrugs. “I was rejected completely by the business; I never rejected the business. It was a very harsh end of a career that came early.” The part of General Zod in the early “Superman” movies brought him back to the public’s attention.
Now? “I’m looking for roles where there’s a possibility of doing something I haven’t done before. Occasionally, there’ll be one from left field, like ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.’ You go through the fear barrier and emerge on the other side.”
“Unfinished Song” has that theme. And proves that Terence Stamp’s acting career is far from finished.
srhoades@aol.com
Could Be About Terence Stamp
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Lately, we’ve been talking about coming-of-age films. Y’know, films like “The Way, Way Back,” “The Kings of Summer,” “Mud,” “Stand By Me,” “To Kill A Mockingbirds,” on and on. Yes, we all like to reminisce about the angst and travails that came with growing up.
But as we Baby Boomers get older -- and have now spent a lot of time thinking about our youth and the movies that remind us of those halcyon days -- there’s a new genre of film emerging. Let’s call it “embracing-old-age” films until a better term comes along.
These are movies about older folks (like us or our parent) who are coming to terms with growing old. “Quartet” was such a film. So was “Lovely, Still” and “Starting Out in the Evening” and “Robot & Frank.”
Now we have “Unfinished Song,” the dramedy that’s currently playing at the Tropic Cinema.
Starring Terence Stamp (you may remember him as the young Billy Budd in the same-named movie or the frightening Freddie Clegg in “The Collector” or Supreme Chancellor Valorum in “Star Wars: Episode 1”), here we have the funny story of a curmudgeon named Arthur, an elderly man who has all but given up on life.
Yes, Billy Budd (Stamp, that is) is now 75.
In “Unfinished Song,” Arthur grumpily objects when his cancer-stricken wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) decides to perform in a senior citizens chorus. What if she makes a fool of herself? And what if she uses up her last strength?
Spoiler Alert (although you’ll see as much in the previews): When his wife dies, Arthur winds up taking her place in the chorus -- despite the fact that his own musical tastes favor Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. There, under the direction of Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton), he must come to terms with life without Marion.
Blue eyes twinkling, Terence Stamp grins as he points out, “This is the first romantic lead I've been offered since Far From the Madding Crowd. And that was 1966.”
In his day, Stamp was quite the ladies man. He had a long-time affair with his “Far From the Madding Crowd” co-star Julie Christie. He had a tryst with Bridgette Bardot. And he was often photographed with his supermodel inamorata Jean Shrimpton.
As a young man, Terence Stamp was considered “the most beautiful man in film,” although he doesn’t see it that way when he looks at his early films. “I see a creature who was not that good-looking,” he says. "What they're seeing is the work of the lighting cameraman. I’m realistic enough to know I never looked that good in real life.”
Modesty aside, audiences of Baby Boomer women are going to see a still-handsome older man in “Unfinished Song.”
Stamp decided to become an actor at 17. He recalls watching television with his parents and saying out loud, “I could do that.”
“Son,” replied his stern father, “people like us don’t do that. I don’t want you to talk about it again.”
So he didn’t – until he won a scholarship to an acting school.
He became a star just as the phenomenon known as Swinging London hit with full force.
But bad career choices ultimately tripped him up. He turned down the title role in “Alfie,” instead recommending his roommate Michael Caine. It was the role that made Caine a star. And Stamp was considered as a replacement for his friend Sean Connery as James Bond, but he blew the chance.
“Work dried up in 1969,” he shrugs. “I was rejected completely by the business; I never rejected the business. It was a very harsh end of a career that came early.” The part of General Zod in the early “Superman” movies brought him back to the public’s attention.
Now? “I’m looking for roles where there’s a possibility of doing something I haven’t done before. Occasionally, there’ll be one from left field, like ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.’ You go through the fear barrier and emerge on the other side.”
“Unfinished Song” has that theme. And proves that Terence Stamp’s acting career is far from finished.
srhoades@aol.com
Sunday, August 4, 2013
The Kings of Summer (Brockway)
Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway
The Kings of Summer
"The Kings of Summer" is a film in a genre that has been done to death and back again, but refreshingly the familiar coming of age film now has a resurrection.
Joe (Nick Robinson) is a fifteen year old stifled by his controlling and condescending father (Nick Offerman) who is portrayed as a forbidding walrus-man. The father makes his son's life hell, criticizing him, restricting him and watching his every move. Joe literally has no place to go to achieve tranquility. By way of coping, he imagines semi-surreal mind trips where his father is in a harmless capacity.
Joe's friend Patrick (Gabriel Basso) isn't faring any better. He's stuck with his emasculating chattering mother (Megan Mullally) and his milquetoast dad (Marc Evan Jackson). Patrick's parents give him actual hives.
Nothing goes right for Joe; he is bullied at school. To blow some steam he takes off for a party and is unceremoniously grounded. During a walk with Patrick, he finds an isolated area of rich verdant green with wilds, far removed from suburbia. It is Eden to them.
Joe resolves to become liberated, self-reliant and his own man. After some reluctance, Patrick agrees to join him. What follows is a rollicking, tilting tale of boys attempting to find independence through nature with stylistic nods to the films "Stand by Me" and "Into the Wild". While it is very much a comedy with some fanciful touches, it is also quite serious as we watch these boys dance and cavort like dark imps as they strive to provide for themselves. The story does not shy away from pathos. What starts out as something akin to Richard Donner's "The Goonies" soon becomes a "Lord of the Flies" precautionary tale, but the humor is never far afield.
The cinematography by Ross Riege is first-rate, in its illustrations of both the indifference and the whimsical varieties of the natural world. There are a few montages of the boys striving to be painted within nature as they run with machetes that speak of dark menace as if they were characters in a pint sized James Dickey novel of knives and savagery.
Special mention should be given to actor Moises Arias (Hannah Montana) who plays one of the strangest kid roles that I've ever seen---he's a bit like Peter Lorre or something from Poe--- but stranger still, as the stunted misfit Biaggio, he will steal your heart, or at the very least, as it occurs in the film, get into your mind.
One minor slight is in the portrayals of the parents who seem a bit blandly rendered in contrast to the resolute and passionate teens. But while this might play a little silly, it feels a tribute to every coming of age director from Steven Spielberg to Robert Zemeckis and John Hughes. Nick Offerman's character especially rises with a well rounded charge by the end of the film, and while Megan Mullally plays for giggles her distracted chatter that almost reaches a height of absurdity is instantly recognizable.
"The Kings of Summer" is vibrant and brimming with motion. The shifts in tone from lightness to a gray meditation are refreshing and unsentimental. This is a film that takes the teenage world seriously as an irreverent and festive experience complete with its own ghosts of fragility.
Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com
The Kings of Summer
"The Kings of Summer" is a film in a genre that has been done to death and back again, but refreshingly the familiar coming of age film now has a resurrection.
Joe (Nick Robinson) is a fifteen year old stifled by his controlling and condescending father (Nick Offerman) who is portrayed as a forbidding walrus-man. The father makes his son's life hell, criticizing him, restricting him and watching his every move. Joe literally has no place to go to achieve tranquility. By way of coping, he imagines semi-surreal mind trips where his father is in a harmless capacity.
Joe's friend Patrick (Gabriel Basso) isn't faring any better. He's stuck with his emasculating chattering mother (Megan Mullally) and his milquetoast dad (Marc Evan Jackson). Patrick's parents give him actual hives.
Nothing goes right for Joe; he is bullied at school. To blow some steam he takes off for a party and is unceremoniously grounded. During a walk with Patrick, he finds an isolated area of rich verdant green with wilds, far removed from suburbia. It is Eden to them.
Joe resolves to become liberated, self-reliant and his own man. After some reluctance, Patrick agrees to join him. What follows is a rollicking, tilting tale of boys attempting to find independence through nature with stylistic nods to the films "Stand by Me" and "Into the Wild". While it is very much a comedy with some fanciful touches, it is also quite serious as we watch these boys dance and cavort like dark imps as they strive to provide for themselves. The story does not shy away from pathos. What starts out as something akin to Richard Donner's "The Goonies" soon becomes a "Lord of the Flies" precautionary tale, but the humor is never far afield.
The cinematography by Ross Riege is first-rate, in its illustrations of both the indifference and the whimsical varieties of the natural world. There are a few montages of the boys striving to be painted within nature as they run with machetes that speak of dark menace as if they were characters in a pint sized James Dickey novel of knives and savagery.
Special mention should be given to actor Moises Arias (Hannah Montana) who plays one of the strangest kid roles that I've ever seen---he's a bit like Peter Lorre or something from Poe--- but stranger still, as the stunted misfit Biaggio, he will steal your heart, or at the very least, as it occurs in the film, get into your mind.
One minor slight is in the portrayals of the parents who seem a bit blandly rendered in contrast to the resolute and passionate teens. But while this might play a little silly, it feels a tribute to every coming of age director from Steven Spielberg to Robert Zemeckis and John Hughes. Nick Offerman's character especially rises with a well rounded charge by the end of the film, and while Megan Mullally plays for giggles her distracted chatter that almost reaches a height of absurdity is instantly recognizable.
"The Kings of Summer" is vibrant and brimming with motion. The shifts in tone from lightness to a gray meditation are refreshing and unsentimental. This is a film that takes the teenage world seriously as an irreverent and festive experience complete with its own ghosts of fragility.
Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Stories We Tell (Brockway)
Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway
Stories We Tell
Actress Sarah Polley (director of Take This Waltz) has a haunting aura reminiscent of a young Sissy Spacek with her fox-like eyes, translucent skin and thick reddish hair. In "Stories We Tell" she investigates the maze of her own family with the intensity of a Jungian analysis. The film is as entertaining as it is heartfelt and quirky, chock full with many askew personalities.
The documentary, which is a pastiche of recreated home movies (so masterfully done that they fooled me) and jarring interviews of Polley's family, starts with a jest, specifically the question of Polley's birth. The family repeatedly joked "Sarah, you don't look like your father." The jabs, humorous at first, were heard with such frequency that Polley began to take them to heart. In an interview, Polley's brother admits that he heard mom on the phone to someone admit that she was pregnant.
The mystery begins.
Polley's mom Diane is energetic and vivacious. She is a pixieish aspiring actress who bears a resemblance to Sandy Duncan. Everyone that went into her orbit said she was "the life of the party" In fictionalized home movies, portrayed by Rebecca Jenkins, Diane is a fire-fly never still or silent. In a theatrical production, she became smitten with a impulsive-acting guy by the name of Michael Polley who had the stage quality of a brash Robert Mitchum. Diane and Michael quickly married. But at home, under matrimonial weights, Michael grew cold and reserved, leaving behind his creative pursuits and sitting on the couch like a sterile tea-kettle.
On impulse, Diane gets an acting gig in Montreal. As told, Michael is secretly happy as he covets his solitude.
Sarah Polley's relatives swear that she has a distinct resemblance to actor Geoff Bowes, an amiable self-deprecating man who is quite surprised by the suggestion.
The star of the show, though, is the furry personage of the film producer Harry Gulkin with his wild Afro of snowy hair combined with his offhand manner, part romanticism, part existentialism. Gulkin loved Diane Polley more than life. He emerges as an Einsteinian Romeo.
Although Harry is the most colorful character, a good deal of pathos resides in husband Michael Polley who undergoes many changes during the film as does his rival. Under Diane's charge, the two men come to life as great libertines, but without her they are unkempt shadows, befuddled, abstract and without purpose.
Michael Polley is a chameleon in the film switching from a charismatic soldier onstage to a solitary gnome on the sofa bereft of Diane, only to rise once again as a glib sophisticate as he tells his story into Sarah Polley's microphone with all the varnish of a music hall production.
"Stories We Tell" is at times hard to watch with its questions of family loyalty, last moments and death. You will wonder who comes away with more : Diane, Harry or Michael? Or is Sarah Polley herself the main instigator in this personal drama, by making this revealing documentary?
No matter how you process this puzzle of personalities, some frenetic with warmth and heart, but all of them engaging, Sarah Polley is to be applauded for her courage in opening a universal, yet subtle cloak and dagger cupboard that lies within the heart of a Suburban family.
Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com
Stories We Tell
Actress Sarah Polley (director of Take This Waltz) has a haunting aura reminiscent of a young Sissy Spacek with her fox-like eyes, translucent skin and thick reddish hair. In "Stories We Tell" she investigates the maze of her own family with the intensity of a Jungian analysis. The film is as entertaining as it is heartfelt and quirky, chock full with many askew personalities.
The documentary, which is a pastiche of recreated home movies (so masterfully done that they fooled me) and jarring interviews of Polley's family, starts with a jest, specifically the question of Polley's birth. The family repeatedly joked "Sarah, you don't look like your father." The jabs, humorous at first, were heard with such frequency that Polley began to take them to heart. In an interview, Polley's brother admits that he heard mom on the phone to someone admit that she was pregnant.
The mystery begins.
Polley's mom Diane is energetic and vivacious. She is a pixieish aspiring actress who bears a resemblance to Sandy Duncan. Everyone that went into her orbit said she was "the life of the party" In fictionalized home movies, portrayed by Rebecca Jenkins, Diane is a fire-fly never still or silent. In a theatrical production, she became smitten with a impulsive-acting guy by the name of Michael Polley who had the stage quality of a brash Robert Mitchum. Diane and Michael quickly married. But at home, under matrimonial weights, Michael grew cold and reserved, leaving behind his creative pursuits and sitting on the couch like a sterile tea-kettle.
On impulse, Diane gets an acting gig in Montreal. As told, Michael is secretly happy as he covets his solitude.
Sarah Polley's relatives swear that she has a distinct resemblance to actor Geoff Bowes, an amiable self-deprecating man who is quite surprised by the suggestion.
The star of the show, though, is the furry personage of the film producer Harry Gulkin with his wild Afro of snowy hair combined with his offhand manner, part romanticism, part existentialism. Gulkin loved Diane Polley more than life. He emerges as an Einsteinian Romeo.
Although Harry is the most colorful character, a good deal of pathos resides in husband Michael Polley who undergoes many changes during the film as does his rival. Under Diane's charge, the two men come to life as great libertines, but without her they are unkempt shadows, befuddled, abstract and without purpose.
Michael Polley is a chameleon in the film switching from a charismatic soldier onstage to a solitary gnome on the sofa bereft of Diane, only to rise once again as a glib sophisticate as he tells his story into Sarah Polley's microphone with all the varnish of a music hall production.
"Stories We Tell" is at times hard to watch with its questions of family loyalty, last moments and death. You will wonder who comes away with more : Diane, Harry or Michael? Or is Sarah Polley herself the main instigator in this personal drama, by making this revealing documentary?
No matter how you process this puzzle of personalities, some frenetic with warmth and heart, but all of them engaging, Sarah Polley is to be applauded for her courage in opening a universal, yet subtle cloak and dagger cupboard that lies within the heart of a Suburban family.
Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com
Friday, August 2, 2013
Week of August 2 to August 8 (Rhoades)
Tropic Cinema Reminds Us About Coming of Age
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Summer generates two kinds of movies -- big blockbuster and small coming-of-age films. The Tropic Cinema seems to have cornered the market on the latter.
New to the Tropic screens is “The Kings of Summer,” a charming little coming-of-age story about three boys who build a tree house in order to run away from home. Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, and Moisés Arias star as the rebellious trio. Their bid for freedom comes with a message, that old saw about no matter of where you go, there you are. Still true. And told here with humor and a dash of magic. Miami Herald describes it as “a warm and affectionate comedy about that last great summer when you're 13 or 14 and you don't realize just how much your life is about to change and things will never be the same.” ViewLondon sees it as “a hugely enjoyable, acutely observed and frequently hilarious coming-of-age drama…” And Sly Fox calls it “a bona fide sleeper not to be missed.”
Another wonderful coming-of-age film is “The Way, Way Back,” the poignant tale of a kid (Liam James) stuck for the summer at the Massachusetts shore with his mom (Toni Collette) and her jerk boyfriend (Steve Carell). Luckily, he meets Owen (Sam Rockwell), the cool guy who manages the local Water Wizz water park. Fresno Bee says, “You would have to go way, way back to find a film as touching, funny and smart as this one.” And Cinemalogue.com calls it “... a tender and charming account of an angst-ridden teenage loner who finds inspiration in the most unlikely places during an otherwise disastrous vacation.”
“Stories We Tell” is not so much a coming-of-age film as it is a documentary about coming to terms with your family history. Sarah Polley went in search of a family secret. Why did she not resemble her siblings?Did her actress mother have an affair? Was her dad not her biological parent? Arizona Republic says, “What a great movie!” The New Republic describes it as “not just very moving; it is an exploration of truth and fiction that will stay with you long after repeated viewings.” And the Birmingham Mail concludes: “… complete with a twist straight from a soap opera.
“The Heat” offers am alternative to all that growing-up stuff, a silly comedy about a strict FBI agent (Sandra Bullock) and a loose-as-a-goose street cop (Melissa McCarthy). An odd couple buddy movie. UTV advises, “Prepare for some hilarious laugh enforcement.” And daily Telegraph calls it “a good cop/bad cop action comedy with the funniest two-women-above-the-title pairing in memory.”
So take a trip way, way back to when you were a king of summer with the stories we lived…
srhoades@aol.com
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Summer generates two kinds of movies -- big blockbuster and small coming-of-age films. The Tropic Cinema seems to have cornered the market on the latter.
New to the Tropic screens is “The Kings of Summer,” a charming little coming-of-age story about three boys who build a tree house in order to run away from home. Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, and Moisés Arias star as the rebellious trio. Their bid for freedom comes with a message, that old saw about no matter of where you go, there you are. Still true. And told here with humor and a dash of magic. Miami Herald describes it as “a warm and affectionate comedy about that last great summer when you're 13 or 14 and you don't realize just how much your life is about to change and things will never be the same.” ViewLondon sees it as “a hugely enjoyable, acutely observed and frequently hilarious coming-of-age drama…” And Sly Fox calls it “a bona fide sleeper not to be missed.”
Another wonderful coming-of-age film is “The Way, Way Back,” the poignant tale of a kid (Liam James) stuck for the summer at the Massachusetts shore with his mom (Toni Collette) and her jerk boyfriend (Steve Carell). Luckily, he meets Owen (Sam Rockwell), the cool guy who manages the local Water Wizz water park. Fresno Bee says, “You would have to go way, way back to find a film as touching, funny and smart as this one.” And Cinemalogue.com calls it “... a tender and charming account of an angst-ridden teenage loner who finds inspiration in the most unlikely places during an otherwise disastrous vacation.”
“Stories We Tell” is not so much a coming-of-age film as it is a documentary about coming to terms with your family history. Sarah Polley went in search of a family secret. Why did she not resemble her siblings?Did her actress mother have an affair? Was her dad not her biological parent? Arizona Republic says, “What a great movie!” The New Republic describes it as “not just very moving; it is an exploration of truth and fiction that will stay with you long after repeated viewings.” And the Birmingham Mail concludes: “… complete with a twist straight from a soap opera.
“The Heat” offers am alternative to all that growing-up stuff, a silly comedy about a strict FBI agent (Sandra Bullock) and a loose-as-a-goose street cop (Melissa McCarthy). An odd couple buddy movie. UTV advises, “Prepare for some hilarious laugh enforcement.” And daily Telegraph calls it “a good cop/bad cop action comedy with the funniest two-women-above-the-title pairing in memory.”
So take a trip way, way back to when you were a king of summer with the stories we lived…
srhoades@aol.com
Stories We Tell (Rhoades)
“Stories We Tell”
Tells Sarah’s Story
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
The other day I was up in my attic and came across a box of Super 8 home movies, flickering vignettes of my childhood recorded by my parents on an old Kodak movie camera. There I was at a birthday party, with my cousins, riding on my pony, and at the beach splashing in the waves. My childhood captured on tiny strips of celluloid.
Writer-director-actress Sarah Polley recreated her life with footage shot to look like a home movie. “Stories We Tell” -- the documentary that’s currently playing at the Tropic Cinema -- is the result of her genealogical exploration.
You see, people had always commented on how Polley didn’t much resemble her father. Her free-spirited mother laughed it off. Only later did Polley try to figure out if she had a biological father different from the dad she grew up with.
Did her mother have an affair?
“I’m interested in the way we tell stories about our lives,” Polley says. “About the fact that the truth about the past is often ephemeral and hard to pin down.”
Her brother remembers their mother as “a fun person at parties and that she laughed loud.” She belonged to theater groups. She was vivacious.
And sometimes she cried when no one was watching.
Diane McMillian Polley died of cancer when her daughter was eleven. It was a traumatic event for young Sarah ... and a departure that left many unanswered questions.
For this recreation of the family’s past, Polley used Rebecca Jenkins to play her mother in the simulated home movie clips. Jenkins was a friend of her mother. “Rebecca is an astonishing actress,” says Polley. “She’s done such an amazing job that a lot of people don’t realize, until the very end of the film, that those scenes are re-creations.”
As for other roles, she interviewed the real people, including her father Michael Polley, her brother Mark, and many others. The stories she got were often contradictory. She discovered that the truth depends on who’s telling it.
Born into a theatrical family, Sarah Polley was a successful child actress before becoming a filmmaker. Her actor dad appeared with her in “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” and TV’s “Avonlea.” Her mother was both an actress and casting director.
Although having acted in 55 films, she eschewed Hollywood productions for indies. Notably she dropped out of Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous,” the role that gave Kate Hudson an Oscar nomination. But she got her own Oscar nod for Best Adapted Screenplay with 2006’s “Away From Her.”
“I think you have to keep your distance from mainstream Hollywood in order to be a normal human being. I mean, I work there, and I like being there, but I love having an anonymous life. I think there’s definitely such a thing as being too famous.”
There’s a contradiction in Polley’s own words. Having an anonymous life is at odds with making a documentary about yourself and your family.
“I was exploring the themes of infidelity and long-term relationships in both my previous features and all of my short films,” she admits. “And now that I’ve made a movie about where the interest came from, subconsciously, I wonder if I now have to make fundamentally different films. It’s going to be hard to make a straightforward film again.”
srhoades@aol.com
Tells Sarah’s Story
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
The other day I was up in my attic and came across a box of Super 8 home movies, flickering vignettes of my childhood recorded by my parents on an old Kodak movie camera. There I was at a birthday party, with my cousins, riding on my pony, and at the beach splashing in the waves. My childhood captured on tiny strips of celluloid.
Writer-director-actress Sarah Polley recreated her life with footage shot to look like a home movie. “Stories We Tell” -- the documentary that’s currently playing at the Tropic Cinema -- is the result of her genealogical exploration.
You see, people had always commented on how Polley didn’t much resemble her father. Her free-spirited mother laughed it off. Only later did Polley try to figure out if she had a biological father different from the dad she grew up with.
Did her mother have an affair?
“I’m interested in the way we tell stories about our lives,” Polley says. “About the fact that the truth about the past is often ephemeral and hard to pin down.”
Her brother remembers their mother as “a fun person at parties and that she laughed loud.” She belonged to theater groups. She was vivacious.
And sometimes she cried when no one was watching.
Diane McMillian Polley died of cancer when her daughter was eleven. It was a traumatic event for young Sarah ... and a departure that left many unanswered questions.
For this recreation of the family’s past, Polley used Rebecca Jenkins to play her mother in the simulated home movie clips. Jenkins was a friend of her mother. “Rebecca is an astonishing actress,” says Polley. “She’s done such an amazing job that a lot of people don’t realize, until the very end of the film, that those scenes are re-creations.”
As for other roles, she interviewed the real people, including her father Michael Polley, her brother Mark, and many others. The stories she got were often contradictory. She discovered that the truth depends on who’s telling it.
Born into a theatrical family, Sarah Polley was a successful child actress before becoming a filmmaker. Her actor dad appeared with her in “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” and TV’s “Avonlea.” Her mother was both an actress and casting director.
Although having acted in 55 films, she eschewed Hollywood productions for indies. Notably she dropped out of Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous,” the role that gave Kate Hudson an Oscar nomination. But she got her own Oscar nod for Best Adapted Screenplay with 2006’s “Away From Her.”
“I think you have to keep your distance from mainstream Hollywood in order to be a normal human being. I mean, I work there, and I like being there, but I love having an anonymous life. I think there’s definitely such a thing as being too famous.”
There’s a contradiction in Polley’s own words. Having an anonymous life is at odds with making a documentary about yourself and your family.
“I was exploring the themes of infidelity and long-term relationships in both my previous features and all of my short films,” she admits. “And now that I’ve made a movie about where the interest came from, subconsciously, I wonder if I now have to make fundamentally different films. It’s going to be hard to make a straightforward film again.”
srhoades@aol.com
The Kings of Summer (Rhoades)
“The Kings of Summer”
Runs Away from Home
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Just this weekend my mother was reminding me how my two cousins and I used to disappear for weeks at a time during the summer, camping out and living off the land. Alone in the woods, we were the masters of our fate, free from the oversight of bothersome grownups.
That theme permeates “The Kings of Summer,” the new indie film that’s camping out at the Tropic Cinema.
In it, three teenage friends declare their independence by spending the summer building a tree house in the woods. Preparation for running away from home.
Joe Toy (Nick Robinson) is frustrated by the stern overcompensation of his single father. He’s joined by his pal Patrick (Gabriel Basso) and a weirdo named Biaggio (Moisés Arias) in this awkward quest for freedom.
After boning up on survival techniques at the library, the trio draws up floor plans for the tree house, gathers boards and nails, and clandestinely builds it. Then one night they steal away from their respective homes and move in.
The police think the boys have been kidnapped. Their parents go through recriminations. “I think I’ve broken my son,” confesses Joe’s dad.
Now on their own, the boys have trouble adjusting to self-rule. Joe can’t take responsibility for his bad behavior. Despite many speeches about the meaning of masculinity, Joe’s judgmental attitude is mindful of his father’s emotional bullying.
Patrick is more comfortable with himself, gentle and funny. A girl that Joe has a crush on seems more interested in Patrick. Tensions mount.
A newcomer, Biaggio remains remote and shy, a natural outcast. His deadpan delivery of non-sequiturs adds humor to the film. These witticisms are supplemented by the comic cops (Mary Lynn Rajskub and Thomas Middleditch) along with Patrick’s cooing parents (Megan Mullally and Marc Evan Jackson).
Think “Swiss Family Robinson” meets “Moonlight Kingdom.” A sweet coming-of-age film, but it does not match the stylish telling of that Wes Anderson masterpiece. Even so, it has its magical, surreal moments.
You may recognize Nick Robinson as a co-star on the ABC sitcom “Melissa & Joey.” Gabriel Basso has appeared in movies like “Super 8.” And geeky Moisés Arias is best known for a reoccurring role on TV’s “Hannah Montana.”
The screenplay by Chris Galletta was originally titled Toy’s House.
Newbie director Jordan Vogt-Roberts seems to have taken the blueprint for “Moonrise Kingdom,” some leftover boards from “Stand By Me,” framing from “Mud,” and a few nails used by John Hughes to construct this film. Perhaps that’s what makes Toy’s House seem a bit like the House That Jack Built.
srhoades@aol.com
Runs Away from Home
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Just this weekend my mother was reminding me how my two cousins and I used to disappear for weeks at a time during the summer, camping out and living off the land. Alone in the woods, we were the masters of our fate, free from the oversight of bothersome grownups.
That theme permeates “The Kings of Summer,” the new indie film that’s camping out at the Tropic Cinema.
In it, three teenage friends declare their independence by spending the summer building a tree house in the woods. Preparation for running away from home.
Joe Toy (Nick Robinson) is frustrated by the stern overcompensation of his single father. He’s joined by his pal Patrick (Gabriel Basso) and a weirdo named Biaggio (Moisés Arias) in this awkward quest for freedom.
After boning up on survival techniques at the library, the trio draws up floor plans for the tree house, gathers boards and nails, and clandestinely builds it. Then one night they steal away from their respective homes and move in.
The police think the boys have been kidnapped. Their parents go through recriminations. “I think I’ve broken my son,” confesses Joe’s dad.
Now on their own, the boys have trouble adjusting to self-rule. Joe can’t take responsibility for his bad behavior. Despite many speeches about the meaning of masculinity, Joe’s judgmental attitude is mindful of his father’s emotional bullying.
Patrick is more comfortable with himself, gentle and funny. A girl that Joe has a crush on seems more interested in Patrick. Tensions mount.
A newcomer, Biaggio remains remote and shy, a natural outcast. His deadpan delivery of non-sequiturs adds humor to the film. These witticisms are supplemented by the comic cops (Mary Lynn Rajskub and Thomas Middleditch) along with Patrick’s cooing parents (Megan Mullally and Marc Evan Jackson).
Think “Swiss Family Robinson” meets “Moonlight Kingdom.” A sweet coming-of-age film, but it does not match the stylish telling of that Wes Anderson masterpiece. Even so, it has its magical, surreal moments.
You may recognize Nick Robinson as a co-star on the ABC sitcom “Melissa & Joey.” Gabriel Basso has appeared in movies like “Super 8.” And geeky Moisés Arias is best known for a reoccurring role on TV’s “Hannah Montana.”
The screenplay by Chris Galletta was originally titled Toy’s House.
Newbie director Jordan Vogt-Roberts seems to have taken the blueprint for “Moonrise Kingdom,” some leftover boards from “Stand By Me,” framing from “Mud,” and a few nails used by John Hughes to construct this film. Perhaps that’s what makes Toy’s House seem a bit like the House That Jack Built.
srhoades@aol.com
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