Emperor (Rhoades)

“Emperor” Is Post-War

Thriller and Love Story

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

My former father-in-law served under General Douglas McArthur. He was there in Japan after the Emperor surrendered. He never forgave Harry Truman from firing McArthur.

By 1951, McArthur was becoming too powerful and defiant. After conferring with the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the Secretary of State, Truman decided to relieve McArthur from duty for what he saw as insubordination. The unpopular decision caused Truman’s approval rating to plummet to 23 percent, the lowest of any serving U.S. President in history.

McArthur had an imperious demeanor. After all, his successes were many. Not only did he become the Army’s youngest Major General, he eventually became Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Then after being called out of retirement, he served as Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area and was the only man ever to become a field marshal in the Philippine Army.

In addition to being a Metal of Honor winner, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross twice and the Silver Star seven times. And as we see in the new film called “Emperor,” he was the military leader who officially accepted Japan’s surrender on September 2, 1945, and oversaw the occupation of Japan. As Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), he served as the effective ruler of Japan from 1945 to 1951. So you may question whether the film’s title refers to Japan’s Emperor Hirohito … or McArthur himself.

“Emperor” is currently reining the screens at the Tropic Cinema.

In the film, Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones takes on the role of McArthur -- pipe, metals, and all. Matthew Fox joins him as MacArthur’s military protégé, Bonner Fellers. And Takatarô Kataoka portrays Emperor Shōwa (as Hirohito was later called).

The post-war storyline follows Fellers as he investigates the role of Emperor Shōwa in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He must decide whether or not to charge the Emperor as a war criminal. At the same time, the script by David Klass and Vera Blasi interweaves the story of Fellers’ love affair with a Japanese exchange student.

Fellers’s quest to find her in the ravaged post-war Japan enables him to remember his humanity and come to the momentous decision to exonerate the Emperor and his family.

Director Peter Webber (“Girl with a Pearl Earring”) says, “The fact that all this came wrapped up in a tense political thriller with an epic love story at the heart of it made it irresistible.”

“Emperor” was produced by Yoko Narahashi (“The Last Samurai”), Gary Foster (“Sleepless in Seattle”), Eugene Nomura (“Tajomaru”), and Russ Krasnoff (“The Soloist”).

Producer Yoko Narahashi says, “An amazing story – it’s always about a great story. US films have been produced about Japan. By uniting filmmakers from Japan, the US and the UK, we can bring light to the men who really changed history.” 

srhoades@aol.com

Spring Breakers (Rhoades)

“Spring Breakers”

Is Timely Subject

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Living in Key West, I see a lot of Spring Breakers -- college students off having a Girls Gone Wild moment between semesters.

And there’s a just-released movie about this coming-of-age ritual called (you guessed it) “Spring Breakers.” Of all places, it’s playing at the Tropic Cinema.

Movies about Spring Break are nothing new. Remember “Where the Boys Are,” the 1960 rom-com drama with Connie Francis, Delores Hart, Paula Prentiss, and Yvette Mimieux? It was one of the first teen films to explore the changing sexual attitudes among American college students. Now, more than 50 years later, we live in a more permissive sexual environment. As well as other views on morality.

So “Spring Breakers” is more of a crime caper than a lighthearted sex romp. In it, four college girls decide to rob a fast food restaurant to pay for their Spring Break.

Ubiquitous James Franco (you just saw him as “Oz the Great and Powerful,” but here his role is more akin to “Pineapple Express”) heads the cast as Alien, a drug gangster with more women than he can handle.

But it’s the girls we’re watching -- Faith, Candy Brit, and Cotty -- as played by Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine.

The attraction here is watching Good Girls Go Bad, being that several of them got their start as pubescent Disney stars.

Aside from starring in TV’s “The Wizards of Waverly Place, Selena Gomez is known as pop star Justin Beiber’s on-again-off-again girlfriend.

And Vanessa Hudgens eclipsed her “High School Musical” fame as heartthrob Zac Efron’s early-on girlfriend. But it was those sexting photos of Vanessa in the nude that made her an Internet star.

Ashley Benson is best known for TV’s “Pretty Little Liars,” although she got some notice for dating Justin Beiber’s former swagger coach Ryan Good and is now rumored to be dating James Franco.

Despite a few movies on her resume, Rachel Korine doesn’t require any history since “Spring Breakers” was written and directed by her husband, Harmony Korine. He’s best known for writing “Kids,” the sexually explicit indie cult film by photographer-filmmaker Larry Clark. (Note: I own several original photographs by Clark.)

In “Springer Breakers,” you will see these once-teen-idols perform in very different roles than their fans are used to seeing. Harmony Korine shrugs it off. “I thought it was an interesting counter to their perception and what they’ve done in the past. And I thought it was exciting for them. They were all at a place in their life where they wanted to try things that were more graphic, more extreme — a different type of acting. And it was great.”

How does this compare with previous Spring Break and coming-of-age films? “Adolescents, they always have the same urges, and at its base level, I would assume that it’s the same,” says Harm (as his friends call him). “But at the same time, the world has changed; and the way people communicate and socialize has changed.”

And how have times changed? “Back in the day, it was more about kids trying to disappear, or people trying to find themselves. It was more of a shadow culture. Now everything is on display, and filtered through some kind of technology.”

Like let-it-all-hang-out movies.

srhoades@aol.com

Emperor (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

Emperor 

The much awaited film  "Emperor" rumbles in with all the fanfare and swelling music of an historical epic, but makes for  some oddly hollow artillery.

The iconic and usually dependable Tommy Lee Jones stars as General MacArthur and the fault is not with his acting but rather that he is miscast. He seems like a caricature of a war general, a bit too flippant and most like you would expect the actor Tommy Lee Jones to perform---gruff and sour-- and not at all like the lofty MacArthur that many recall. Jones' role is rather staid without verve. That being said, his imposing repertoire tends to shield him like a cloak and it remains difficult to criticize such a performer. 

Matthew Fox (Lost, Alex Cross) co-stars as General Bonner Fellers. For his part he is dreamy eyed and earnest, a bit like a superhero. He is empathetic, direct and often wistful with nostalgia. Fellers is in charge with investigating the enigmatic Hirohito. What follows is a procedural drama with Fellers trying in vain to get at the essence of what kind of man and warrior Hirohito is behind the palace partitions.

There is the impassive and impenetrable Tojo (Shôhei Hino) who is entrancing in his solitude. He reflects only silence and gives up only one name in regard to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Fellers finds his way to the emperor's  closest advisor Koichi  Kido played with some much needed  mystery by  Masatô Ibu. Kido merely offers a tanka in explanation of Hirohito's motivation. 

Events are further complicated by Fellers' memories for his paramour Aya, (Eriko Hatsune) a young Japanese student. Fellers has not seen Aya since the war, their innocent love (no surprise) torn apart. If Fellers can exonerate Hirohito of warcrimes then perhaps his love for Aya can be restored.

This could fold into some compelling thoughtful material: The forthright but sensitive Fellers driven to discover the poetic forces behind the Japanese code of loyalty and the clash of two cultures.  

But we don't get much of a taste of this. There are a few standard phrases about devotion  and how the Japanese people think differently from Americans, but there is nothing specific here.

The narrative plods along slower than a Sherman tank and most of the scenes duly turn with the formality of a school  textbook, without much surprise or revelation. There is little vermilion juice to Aya, we never really get to know what kind of person she is, albeit known as outspoken. But there is little evidence of that in her invention. 

When  MacArthur is about to meet Hirohito it is almost a De Palmaesque moment: We see the emperor's shoes, his legs, his hands...all is revealed but his face. Then he turns: a shy and nervous man. 

"This is nothing about punishment. I need your help." The general states. It is the film's strongest seconds.

With the action of a picture taken, followed by a black and ashen Japan, there is a sense of emptiness and wanting more. 

In "Emperor" there are only the shadows of men engaged in the pose of  understanding and intrigue despite some red drizzles of suspense.

Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com

Week of April 5 to April 11 (Rhoades)

Tropic Cinema Adds More Mystery, Holds Onto Comedy

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Want to see a good thriller? It’s hard to choose which spine-tingler to tackle first, for Tropic Cinema is showing both “Side Effects” and “Stoker” in this week’s movie lineup.

Steve Soderbergh’s “Side Effects” is a medical thriller about two shrinks (Jude Law and Catherine Zeta Jones) who prescribe an antidepressant for a suicidal woman (Rooney Mara). However, her hubby (Channing Tatum) isn’t going to like the new drug’s unexpected side effects. This complex mystery has more surprises than hide-and-seek in the dark. Murder, betrayal, trickery, revenge -- it’s all here.

However, “Stoker” is a psychological thriller of a different pedigree. Sort of a “family that slays together, stays together” theme. Young India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) is not happy when Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) moves in after her father’s death. And he seems a little too friendly with her mom (Nicole Kidman). And why do people around them keep disappearing? A scary tale from Park Chan-wook, the director who gave us “Oldboy.”

Want to lighten up? Tina Fey co-stars with Paul Rudd in “Admission,” the comedy about a Princeton admissions officer who encounters a potential student who may just be the child she gave away. Humor with a touch of pathos, along with wry laughs, can be expected from this Saturday Night Live and “30 Rock” alumna.

Also in the lighter mood is “Quartet,” Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut. While this wonderful film about retired opera singers has a plot about recriminations and a life reexamined, it leaves you with a sigh of satisfaction. You truly will come to care about this Rigoletto quartet played (to perfection) by Tom Courtney, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins and Maggie Smith.

Meanwhile, “Barbara” is of a more serious vein, the story of a doctor (Nina Hoss) seeking to escape from East Germany. With the Stasi snooping about, she can trust no one -- not even the physician she’s beginning to like.

And topping off the Tropic’s lineup is “The Playroom,” a suburban drama that may remind you of “The Ice Storm.” Here, kids playing in the attic spin fanciful stories, while downstairs their parents and friends party. John Hawkes, Molly Parker, Olivia Harris, and Cody Linley headline this ’70s tale of dysfunctional families.

What a range of films. How can you ever go to the Tropic and not find something you want to see?

srhoades@aol.com

The Playroom (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

The Playroom

"The Playroom" is an indie return from last year's Key West Film Festival, directed by Julie Dyer.

The story focuses on the Cantwell Family and a group of kids, who are all well drawn, and their coping mechanisms in dealing with their dysfunctional and polyamorous parents, circa 1970.

Although the film is headlined by the excellent John Hawkes as the dad, the real highlights are the children. There is Maggie (Olivia Harris) who identifies with Patty Hearst, the cynical and sneaky Christian (Jonathan McClendon), the goody-two shoes Janie (Alexandra Doke) and the imaginative Sam (Ian Veteto). The Cantwell kids are neglected and verbally abused, treated as pawns in their parent's mind games. Because of this, they take up refuge in the attic where they are free to create their own wilderness and whimsy.

They tell elaborate stories of piracy and space travel, of marooned ships and meteorites. As each upsetting adult scene plays out below the kids, the tales  become more and more detailed.

When the mother (Molly Parker) returns from work, she is seen from far away, shot from ground level as a fragmented being: a pair of hands and feet that walk through a daily routine. Mom speaks in a halting stilted manner. She is a somnambulist in beige.

The dad, for his part is just as soporific with an odd fetish for spelling and all things technical.

The children hop about and forage for food, expressing pithy things to each other about brain-washing and society.

Although the film's drama is a bit tepid, It has an eerie feel that captures the 1970s very well, non withstanding its debt to Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" and the fiction of A.M. Homes.

The scenes of the kids scurrying about like dark-ribboned raccoons while the parents carry on their incessant maudlin charades are right on target. John Hawkes and Molly Parker also give the drama enough tension, although the confrontations seem a bit kitschy and melodramatic.

The most powerful images remain the children speaking alone as a camera creeps along the floor to capture all the orange and brown shag claustrophobia. A sable slated suburban roof at three a.m. is almost as frightening as a 1970s horror shocker as the youngsters climb to the roof. The nocturnal lights of a swimming pool tell of the eerie bestial behavior of the manipulative mother within.

Even though "The Playroom" is more style than original substance, it succeeds well in visually capturing an era. The film proves that the 70s can spell haunt and fear, in spite of the Naugahyde and fuzzy toilet seats or perhaps, more accurately, because of them.

Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com

Stoker (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

Stoker 

South Korean "Asian Extreme" director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Lady Vengeance)  offers his vision of The American one percent in his latest "Stoker". Chan-wook, an ornate and painterly director right alongside David Lynch, is known for his vivid and eerie Gothic tales of one-upmanship that unfold with the beauty of some murderous oriental birds' wings. His antiheroes are usually those up against it: the pale and vermillion kissed, banshees of the border who wilt and float upon piecemeal moons and ache to settle scores.

In "Stoker" we are placed in a completely encapsulated world as time-lost and ageless as Lumberton in "Blue Velvet". It is very much the 1950s as evidenced by the high school and soda shop despite the use of smartphones. Here is a big sprawling house, where nothing is out of place. India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) has been recently handed a savage mental blow when her caring father (Dermot Mulroney) suddenly dies in a car accident. India is disconsolate in grief. Abruptly without explanation, India's Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) appears,  taking on the role of Mr. Stoker as Mrs Stoker's (Nicole Kidman) new beau.

Charlie is a statue in Ralph Lauren attire. He speaks in a flat toneless manner, moving boxes around and  fetishising his expensive sunglasses. He is a bit like Norman Bates too, in his clean cut appearance. India slinks around a bit like Wednesday Addams or Christina Ricci in "The Addams Family". India is fond of bobby sox shoes, funereal customs and last but not least, playing Philip Glass style riffs on the piano. If it sounds corny, it is a bit. Or rather it would be under other hands. But Park Chan-wook has such a rhythmic sense of detail that he holds us in.

Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) appears as Aunt Gwen, a Polanski-esque woman with secrets to tell. 

And folks start disappearing before too long.

"Stoker" mimics the original "Psycho"  and Mary Harron's " American Psycho" (2000) for its swinging basement lamp (the Psycho house) and flat dialogue (the speech of Patrick Bateman), respectively. It is more than a bit kitsch, but there are beautiful images throughout the film that drip like violent haiku. Consider the multiple pairs of  two toned shoes that are arranged around India like an ambulatory circle of insulating pigeons, or the Daddy Longlegs spider as it creeps up India's thigh that symbolizes murderous danger or a loss of control--- its legs as taut as a piano wire garrote. 

What might make another repetitive outing for The Stepford Wives is here enhanced by the visual vocabulary of Chan-wook into a vampire tale for the Amagansett set and blood has never curdled with such origami design. And, there will be few who can resist the unending spool of Nicole Kidman's hair as it melts into a field of wheat, in true Park Chan-wook fashion, and by now a beloved trademark. 

This is probably the only film you will see where a sandcastle on the beach is as scary as Norman Bates's knife. 

Although the climax creates a lower case stoke to a suspenseful fire, the arresting visuals more than rise to the occasion.

Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com

Roger Ebert, In Memoriam (Lori Reid)

What a sad day for moviegoers everywhere with the passing of Roger Ebert today.

Roger Ebert wrote reviews for real people. When he talked about the movies on his television shows, his passion and love for the movies was so evident. His enthusiasm when discussing a new star, a new director, or a new issue that was being represented on the screen always made me want to see that movie, follow that new actor, or go back and watch a director's other movies. Even his negative reviews were written in a way that often provoked me into seeing a film. Many times our thumbs would point in opposite directions, but I'd go to see for myself if Roger was right.

He never seemed to become jaded or cynical in his reviews. He did not condescend nor did he patronize he readers. No movie was ever too small. If there were something in it that would grab his attention and make him want to share it with us, Roger would let us know.

His courage and endurance through so many struggles with his health were inspirational and his dedication to the art of filmmaking never seemed to waiver even in the face of those personal struggles.

I will miss Roger Ebert. I believe that those of us who find ourselves in the business of showing movies or just being avid movie lovers will greatly feel the passing of such a dedicated follower of the movie industry.

The End.