THE VISITOR
Movie (2008), 104 min
Director & Writer: Thomas McCarthy
STORY CAUTION Don't read the following entry if you don't want to know pretty much what happens in this story. Please return after you've read the book or seen the movie and leave a comment to tell us what you thought.
Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) is a bored, widowed, middle-aged college professor who goes to a conference in New York to deliver a paper. There, in his city apartment, he finds a young African couple who've somehow been scammed into renting the place (how this happened is never fully explained). Actually, it's visitors plural here, as Syrian Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), who plays the drums, is in the company of his Senegalese girlfriend Zainab (Danai Jekesai Gurira). Zainab fades into the background, though, as Tarek and Walter bond over drumming lessons.
Walter seems to come to some sort of life as he continues his lessons and gleefully sits in with a group of drummers, but darkness awaits. Tarek gets hauled in by the immigration police (both he and Zanaib are illegal). His mother Mouna (Hiam Abbass) visits him but can do nothing about his threatened deportation. Naturally, Walter invites her to stay at his place, and a subdued but warm semi-romance tries to blossom between them.
In the end, Tarek is sent home, and Mouna follows to help him. Walter is left with some new interests in life and is predictably angry about Tarek's fate. At this point the story left me behind, as my sympathy for illegal immigrants doesn't run very deep.
Still, this is a sweet story about a man who awakens to music and reawakens to the possibility of romance. The writing is straightforward and doesn't pull too hard on the melodrama strings. The lonely guy remains lonely but somehow seems the better for his seemingly pointless encounters with the visitors.
Writer and director Thomas McCarthy also created "The Station Agent" (2003). To me, "The Visitor" was another picture about a loner--like the station agent--who bumps into others, touches them briefly and is touched by them, and then moves on. It's all nearly too realistic for drama.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Movie (2008), 96 min
Director & Writer: Woody Allen
STORY CAUTION Don't read the following entry if you don't want to know pretty much what happens in this story. Please return after you've read the book or seen the movie and leave a comment to tell us what you thought.
OK. This is a Woody Allen film. But (against expectations) I expected something more.
Indecisive women (OK). Sexy man beyond their limited dreams (OK). Flamenco guitar heard in a garden (Yes!) But a bisexual angle for no particular reason or useful part in the story? (Gimme a break.)
Javier Bardem plays Juan Antonio, a painter who finds Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) beautiful, sexy, desirable. The trio plays out a stupid weekend adventure during which Cristina drinks herself too sick for sex, which she seems earnestly to desire. To get to the destination, the two women jump in a plane piloted by the painter. Right there you know they're both stupid enough to get into serious trouble.
Both women fall for Juan Antonio. But Vicky is already engaged to be married. Cristina only wants to play. Juan Antonio looks like a good guy to play with. Bardem wears his hair short and it is a treat to see him looking very attractive, in contrast with the dark murderer he played in "No Country for Old Men" (remember the pageboy haircut?). Turns out Juan Antonio's ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) is still what I guess you'd call his best friend. Juan Antonio nobly cares for Maria Elena after a suicide attempt. Cristina, who is by then living with him, tries to act accepting and sort of does, which is not believable in the least. "Believable" is not a word I'd use for this movie. But guess what? Cruz is a nominee for a supporting-actress Oscar. I don't get it.
This is a boring, sepia-toned (even if it isn't) movie about self-important people who go to Spain and then they go home. Barcelona! Music! Handsome men, beautiful women! Tapas! Too much wine! Thank you, Woody, but how about a story?
How could anyone in this dumb hodge-podge get nominated for an Oscar? Beats me. It must be Hollywood "politics."
Movie (2008), 96 min
Director & Writer: Woody Allen
STORY CAUTION Don't read the following entry if you don't want to know pretty much what happens in this story. Please return after you've read the book or seen the movie and leave a comment to tell us what you thought.
OK. This is a Woody Allen film. But (against expectations) I expected something more.
Indecisive women (OK). Sexy man beyond their limited dreams (OK). Flamenco guitar heard in a garden (Yes!) But a bisexual angle for no particular reason or useful part in the story? (Gimme a break.)
Javier Bardem plays Juan Antonio, a painter who finds Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) beautiful, sexy, desirable. The trio plays out a stupid weekend adventure during which Cristina drinks herself too sick for sex, which she seems earnestly to desire. To get to the destination, the two women jump in a plane piloted by the painter. Right there you know they're both stupid enough to get into serious trouble.
Both women fall for Juan Antonio. But Vicky is already engaged to be married. Cristina only wants to play. Juan Antonio looks like a good guy to play with. Bardem wears his hair short and it is a treat to see him looking very attractive, in contrast with the dark murderer he played in "No Country for Old Men" (remember the pageboy haircut?). Turns out Juan Antonio's ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) is still what I guess you'd call his best friend. Juan Antonio nobly cares for Maria Elena after a suicide attempt. Cristina, who is by then living with him, tries to act accepting and sort of does, which is not believable in the least. "Believable" is not a word I'd use for this movie. But guess what? Cruz is a nominee for a supporting-actress Oscar. I don't get it.
This is a boring, sepia-toned (even if it isn't) movie about self-important people who go to Spain and then they go home. Barcelona! Music! Handsome men, beautiful women! Tapas! Too much wine! Thank you, Woody, but how about a story?
How could anyone in this dumb hodge-podge get nominated for an Oscar? Beats me. It must be Hollywood "politics."
DREAMING WATER
DREAMING WATER
Gail Tsukiyama
St. Martin's Griffin, 240 pages
2003
STORY CAUTION Don't read the following entry if you don't want to know pretty much what happens in this story. Please return after you've read the book or seen the movie and leave a comment to tell us what you thought.
"Dreaming Water" is the story of a syndrome--Werner's--that causes people to age prematurely, becoming gray, wrinkled, and brittle when they reach puberty. Life expectancy is usually somewhere in the 40s and 50s. So this is a sad story with early death in sight from page one.
Tsukiyama, though, is a lyric writer, and she conveys the story of Hana, who describes her disease as if it were a person (Werner) living inside her, with the sense of mystery and beauty that is characteristic of her prose.
Though I love the writing style, I found this one hard to get through, not because of the subject matter but because it is so jammed with personal detail: feelings in the morning, at noon, at night in bed; memories, sadness, and regret over the loss of Hana's father; joy in the garden on the part of Hana's mother, Cate. But maybe I lack sufficient empathy living with a slow-motion descent toward death.
If you appreciate fine writing, "Dreaming Water" is a good addition to your to-read list. Two other great Tsukiama reads are "The Samurai's Garden" and "Women of the Silk."
Gail Tsukiyama
St. Martin's Griffin, 240 pages
2003
STORY CAUTION Don't read the following entry if you don't want to know pretty much what happens in this story. Please return after you've read the book or seen the movie and leave a comment to tell us what you thought.
"Dreaming Water" is the story of a syndrome--Werner's--that causes people to age prematurely, becoming gray, wrinkled, and brittle when they reach puberty. Life expectancy is usually somewhere in the 40s and 50s. So this is a sad story with early death in sight from page one.
Tsukiyama, though, is a lyric writer, and she conveys the story of Hana, who describes her disease as if it were a person (Werner) living inside her, with the sense of mystery and beauty that is characteristic of her prose.
Though I love the writing style, I found this one hard to get through, not because of the subject matter but because it is so jammed with personal detail: feelings in the morning, at noon, at night in bed; memories, sadness, and regret over the loss of Hana's father; joy in the garden on the part of Hana's mother, Cate. But maybe I lack sufficient empathy living with a slow-motion descent toward death.
If you appreciate fine writing, "Dreaming Water" is a good addition to your to-read list. Two other great Tsukiama reads are "The Samurai's Garden" and "Women of the Silk."
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