Three Movies in Four Days

Tags

ballet, dance, Dinklage, Fiennes, film, film review, Harve Villechaize, Jamie Dornan, movies, Music, Nureyev, Oleg Ivenko, Tattoo

Part 1: The White Crow

Overall, the time and money spent on this film was well worth it. If you love the ballet, it should not be missed. Since the primary subject, Rudolph Nureyev, was not a pleasant person, the emphasis on controlling an artist’s artistic freedom became an important, if not imperative, subplot. No apologies were made for the less attractive aspects Nureyev’s personality. He was what he was and no attempts were made to mask that aspect of the man.

Not many actors can be as gifted a director as they are as an actor. Fiennes is marvelous as Nureyev’s dance instructor but not quite there when in come to direction. Or maybe he needed a better editor. There were moments when the story came to a halt in the attempt to mine a juicy dramatic scene, especially when Nureyev (Oleg Ivenko) slogs through the decision to defect. The agonizing internalization goes on too long. Care with this kind of scene needs to be carefully considered and rendered. When emotions don’t translate across the screen, an actor can look constipated instead of in dire emotional turmoil.

On the other hand, the dancing is absolutely brilliant, exhilarating. Ivenko is splendid, a joy to watch. Nureyev had an aggressive presence on stage but Ivenko has the grace and beauty. I did appreciate the attempt to ease viewer transition from original fifties footage to present day cinematography.  That was cleverly done. The production departments caught the era and settings effortlessly, from the brutal poverty in Russia to Parisian elegance and self-satisfied sophistication. Nureyev’s absolute arrogance combined with his thirst for art in all its forms must have confused Parisians, perhaps as much as his hunger for the arts fascinated and made for appreciation. This is a must-see film for anyone interested in dance.

Finally got to watch: My Dinner with Harvé

Before Tyrion, there were so many other roles Dinklage performed that I am always in search for his works. It was well publicized that he was interested in Villechaize, who led an extraordinary and wretched life. As a person, Villechaize was ruthlessly objectified, misunderstood, and ridiculed. In doing so, the public never got to know an intelligent, well-educated and talented man.

Since I never watched Fantasy Island, I had no interest in Tattoo and knew little about him. Thanks to this HBO film, I learned that Villechaize was also a gifted painter. That was an upside, and the rest of his life, largely horrific. He did have a marvelous father, but no matter how he searched, he never found emotional relief for his mother’s disdain and disappointment, but he never let that or anything else stop him. Per Villechaize,“Just because a man is small he doesn’t have to act it.” He was proof that big brains can come in small packages.

This film is worth seeing for its touching performances and its backstage eye-opener about Fantasy Island. Dinklage and Jamie Dornan, as Sacha Gervasi, director and writer of the biopic, are excellent in their individual roles. It’s not a happy film, especially due to Harvé’s eventual end, probably due to his ironical conclusion that people are the same “addicted to the fantasy that something or someone would take away the pain of life.”  He resorted to pain relief with a gun.

Next up: John Wick 3 (no spoilers)

M.L Rigdon (aka Julia Donner)

Follow on Twitter @RigdonML

Blog: https://historyfanforever.wordpress.com/

Website http://www.MLRigdon.com

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WHEN ECCENTRICS COLLIDE

Tags

Ali, awards, classical, Dinklage, films, Green Door, inspiration, jazz, Mortensen, movies, Music, review

Now that the end of the year film releases have opened the spigot and flooded theaters, it’s time to hit the cinema. I’m eager to satisfy curiosity and test the offerings—and to make comparisons and observations—so off I trotted to the nearest cinema.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

I waited a long time for this one. I’ve said it before and will most likely be saying it again, if you can do comedy, you can do anything. Melissa McCarthy is brilliant. Her sympathy for the abrasive, abusive, and broken Lee Israel is utterly absorbing. She made accessible a thoroughly unlikable person and will be a strong award contender and should be a frontrunner for the SAG. Richard Grant is also marvelous. He and McCarthy bring to life the strange and desperate friendship between Israel and Hock.

I’m not sure why this film isn’t doing better at the box office. Perhaps it’s some industry-insider thing, which is shameful. The story is entirely character-driven, which makes some Hollywood exec types crazed, much the same way they used to bash Spielberg when he made “serious” films, which reminds me, HBO and Susan Lacy did a fabulous documentary about Spielberg.

Green Book

Already slated for numerous awards, I mainly went to see Viggo. The man has the ability, as does Olivia Spencer, to communicate reams of information in silence. Those eyes. He killed me with them in History of Violence, and this movie has some comparisons when it comes to violence, understanding and forgiveness. It’s a story about how defensive, and ingrained, prejudice can invert itself, remold to become acceptance and admiration, an outcome unbelievable, except that it did happen. Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) and Dr.Don Shirley, (Mahershala Ali) were vastly different men. Tony was raised in a close-knit community that denigrated blacks, and Shirley well-educated and gifted, could barely tolerate Tone’s crassness.

The film title comes from The Negro Motorist Green Book, written by Victor Hugo Green. The screenplay is co-written by Nick Vallelonga, Tony’s son. There has been some backlash from Shirley’s family, who disagree with the eventual relationship between the two men and are of the opinion that Ali does not portray the terror evoked then, and still today, living and traveling in the south for blacks. They have their opinion, but mine is that Shirley, or the storyline, seeks to portray the dignity and courage it took to do that tour. The two men aren’t worlds apart, it’s more like universes. Tony, so violent and gross of manner, is so blessed with love for his family, while Shirley, so gifted and elegant, is estranged from his. Shirley learns to accept and allow himself to see underneath Tony’s persona, a man who accepts who and what he is, adores his family and yet thinks nothing of smashing somebody’s face into a bloody mess. That which horrifies Shirley is just another day on the job for Tony Vallelonga.

Don’t get so involved in the story that you miss the connection made between these two fiercely brilliant actors. It’s the sort of interplay that makes for a SAG award.

I Think We’re Alone Now (DVD)

I’ve adored Peter Dinklage since his portrayal of a scary on-the-edge-of-freaking-out children’s book writer in Elf. And what sort of asshat doesn’t love the wickedly droll Tyrion Lannister?

This dystopian story dissects the emotional fallout of a catastrophic planetary event with none of the disaster/violence theme. Its haunting and quiet until it gets ugly. Character motivation is deep and complex with a few surprising twists. What you think is weird at the beginning is given relevance as the story unfolds. Buy it, rent it, whatever. It’s worth your time and money. I have yet to see My Dinner with Hervé, a story Dinklage wanted told.

Next up, I’m itching  to see The Favourite.

 

M.L Rigdon (aka Julia Donner)

Follow on Twitter @RigdonML

Blog: https://historyfanforever.wordpress.com/

Website http://www.MLRigdon.com

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/julia-donner

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LIVE & LEARN

Tags

dark humor, Dinklage, giveaway, Harrelson, humor, McDonagh, McDormand, movie review, Rockwell

There are some truisms we can’t get away from, especially the one about history repeating itself and people never changing. After seeing Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri those two and a few others come to smirking life. It’s a movie that slaps you in the face, a wake-up call like no other I’ve seen this year.

If a film has Frances McDormand in it, I go see it. The same when it comes to Sam Rockwell, who is vastly under-acknowledged. My favorite of his is the expendable crew/cast member from Galaxy Quest, since I’m a fan of the quirky, but now it’s the brutal and conflicted Dixon,  a brilliant piece of acting. No, there’s got to be a better description, because Rockwell mines every aspect and wart of man on the edge with a subtle and unnerving portrayal of violence about to go haywire.

The McDormand and Rockwell characters blast off the screen right into your face. I usually gush about ensemble acting but there is very little, if none, to be seen in this movie. The characters are all too self-involved and emotionally blinded, incapable of seeing/interfacing with others, unless venting anger and retribution. Everyone in the cast is astonishing, and each one crazy self-interested. It’s mesmerizing, like watching a car crash of the freeway pile-up order. The story flies along and there’s no escaping the wrecks about to happen.

On a side note, Mildred satisfies an urge we all wish we could realize, because she’s reached the point where there’s no turning back. She no longer cares what anyone else thinks, excepting her son. She’s become a reckless, avenging machine, and when two teens fling a mess on her car’s windscreen, she reacts to the schoolyard/high school fascism incident in a way we can only dream of doing. Go Mildred.

This is essentially Martin McDonagh’s sendup of how we are products of our environments and the vagaries of life. A lot of this script would fall flat and merely come off as vulgar, the messages lost, without the right delivery. IMHO, he is a better director than writer in this instance. There are a few ambiguous bits, the greasy burn smudges in the grass by the billboards that suggest the raped and burned girl had seen her end at that location, and the aggressive creep in the gift shop scene, who does and doesn’t commit to the murder.

After all is said, done, and acted, it’s just as Sheriff Willoughby (a polished performance by Woody Harrleson) summarizes in a letter to Dixon. It comes down to love, to forgiveness, to paying attention to another’s pain. Peter Dinklage’s sad-eyed James is the only citizen of Ebbing who has a clue, but kind as he may be, he also has an agenda. Having learned so many of life’s inescapable lessons, James doesn’t jump to conclusions and is ready to empathize, providing the moral of McDonagh’s theme. I believe every viewer will have a different take on this movie. For me it’s—what’s the point of living if we can’t learn to forgive others and ourselves?

Tis the season, so check out the freebies on 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway:

https://12daysgiveaways.blogspot.com/2017/12/ebook-winners-choice-from-mlrigdonjulia.html

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M.L Rigdon (aka Julia Donner)
Follow on Twitter @RigdonML
Blog: https://historyfanforever.wordpress.com/
Website http://www.MLRigdon.com
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/julia-donner
https://www.facebook.com/Julia-Donner-697165363688218/timeline