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It’s the name of a planet.

The H-Bomb:  It’s also the name of the mental disorder that afflicts the lead character, Justine (Kirsten Dunst).  After an Earth shattering opening sequence, the film proper starts on Justine’s wedding night, with her set to marry nice guy Michael (Alexander Skarsgard).  The marriage is being held at the secluded estate of Justine’s older sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and her wealthy, astronomer husband John (Keifer Sutherland), who has, as he reminds both Claire and Justine, footed the bill entirely for this lavish shindig.  The wedding is being attended by everyone from her big shot marketing employer (Stellan Skarsgard) to her divorced parents (John Hurt and Charlotte Rampling).

We get the feeling almost immediately that something is very wrong with Justine, that she just is not acting the way a young woman should on what is supposed to be the happiest day of her life.  In fact, we find that happiness is a feeling that is entirely alien to this girl.  It starts with her showing up two hours late to her wedding ceremony, then proceeding to act like a total flake-and-a-half throughout the reception, often disappearing to wander the estate’s eighteen hole golf course and do God knows what else.

It’s hinted that Justine’s oddness is hereditary, as both of her parents are both somewhat south of normal.  Her father shows up with, not one, but two girlfriends (hookers) named Betty, and her mom, whose just about as upbeat as she is, gives a speech at the reception that ends with, “Enjoy it while it lasts.”  After getting a load of those two, we certainly understand where Justine gets it from.  Anyhow, her behavior on this night, the specifics of which I won’t give away, leave her newly minted marriage in shambles and her promising career in ruins.

From there Justine is left in a deep, crippling depression.  The kind of which leaves her sleeping away most of the day, and so inert that she practically has to be carried to the bathroom and the dinner table.  She is being cared for by her sister Claire while living in her brother-in-law’s humongous mansion.  Even though Claire tells her, “Sometimes I truly hate you,”  in reality Claire is the only one who really cares for Justine, as she tries, with little success, to help her through it all.

Meanwhile, as if her sister’s problems weren’t enough, Claire has become concerned about reports of a planet called Melancholia, which is hurtling through space at an alarming rate, and may or may not be on a collision course with Earth.  John assures her that it’s not, that it will miss us just like it missed Mercury and Venus before.  But, the things she’s reading online tell a different story, as does Justine, whose own mental state seems to give her some insight into this matter.

Are we all doomed?  Is extreme depression just seeing the world for the way it really is?  That is one way Melancholia, the title with more than one meaning, could be interpreted, that nothing really matters because we’re all fucked anyway.  I certainly can relate to that sentiment, though I’m not quite that pessimistic, yet.  Written and directed by Lars Von Trier, Melancholia can be looked at as a follow up to his excellent (in my opinion) Antichrist- though I should state right now that we never get the wince inducing violence found in that film.

Both films came about by (what he alleges is) his battle with depression, but while Antichrist is a product of this depression, Melancholia could be looked at more as a dissection of it.  A portrait of someone trying to cope with it and, in vain, overcome it.  It puts us in Justine’s position, where she questions if it’s even worth overcoming, since because of her despair, she feels the whole world is ending.  Again, the feeling of any deeply depressed person, which Von Trier literalizes in the prologue and epilogue of this film, a visually stunning, purely cinematic pair of sequences set to classical music (Wagner).

The striking, painting like imagery is, with some exceptions, mainly limited to the beginning and ending, as the bulk of the film is shot primarily in that deliberately sloppy handheld style more in common with Von Trier’s Domge ’95 philosophy.  It definitely aids in getting us into Justine’s point of view, but it can also be a strain on the eyes, to the point of inducing a mild headache with this reviewer.

Melancholia has a sly, mischievous sense of humor in the first half of it, the half covering Justine’s ill-fated wedding, that makes it lighter going than a lot of Von Trier’s prior work.  Hurt and Rampling are amusing as the “eccentric” parents of Justine and Claire.  “Is there anyone in your family who isn’t stark raving mad?” John inquires of Claire after enduring the antics of his in-laws.  Udo Kier is also funny in his bit as a wedding planner who is so disgusted with the way his event is turning out, that he refuses to even look at Justine, covering his eyes whenever she is near.

But the wedding sequence ultimately introduces us to a lot of characters that, while interesting, we won’t see again once this sequence is over, and much like the famed wedding sequence of The Deer Hunter, it just goes on too damn long.  It more than establishes what it needs to establish, that Justine is nuts, her whole family is nuts, except for big sister Claire, who is always picking up after her.  It then keeps driving that point home over and over until we’re just begging for it to move on.

Once it finally does move on to after the wedding, Von Trier does intrigue us with where it might go from there, especially with the introduction of the threat of the planet, Melancholia.  Sadly, while I was never disinterested, I wasn’t as immersed in what was happening as much as I was in Antichrist.  I thought the scenes of Justine’s catatonic moping were repetitive, and by the time Melancholia (the movie, not the planet) reached its inevitable end- which was revealed in the prologue- I thought to myself, “Thank God!  Finally!”

I can only speak for myself, but I just never found it as gripping, or profound, or moving as I sensed it was trying to be, and Von Trier’s use of imagery, while again striking, came off as heavy handed and pretentious.

However, that’s not to say I didn’t like it, because I did.  This is mainly due to the many colorful supporting performances in the first half of the film, as well as those of the lead actors.  I’ve never been a big fan of Dunst.  I’ve found her to be a passable actor, but not a great one…  until now.  Her work in this is simply phenomenal, as she truly makes us feel the pain of her character’s condition.  She won best actress at last year’s Cannes Film Festival for her performance, and the fact that she was overlooked by the Academy for even a nomination only strengthens my growing lack of respect for that once great institution.

That’s to say nothing of the equally fine work by Gainsbourg, who was just as fantastic as the crazy one in Antichrist.  Here, she’s ostensibly the sane one, only her sanity starts to crack as she is burdened with caring for her truly sick sister, and her own anxieties, which start to grow as the planet Melancholia looms larger and larger in the sky.  Her transformation from calm and collected to absolutely frightened is one that Gainsbourg sells in spades.  And it would be irresponsible of me not to mention Sutherland’s terrific turn, as a man who appears to be in control and have all the answers, but as it turns out, the exact opposite is true.  Once again, great work.

Overall, Melancholia is one melancholy movie experience, and for me, a little oversold by the hype (Von Trier’s moronic comments that got him banned from Cannes didn’t help, either).  Though again, it is a perfectly solid film, if a complete and total downer.  It’s seems like one where more can be gleaned from it with multiple viewings, and I certainly do intend to view it again… someday.  Anyone who struggles with manic depression should probably skip this one entirely, as it will not help you with your problems.  At all.  Trust me on that.  And those with a disdain for all things “artsy fartsy,” should probably avoid it, as well.  But the thoughtful film-goers out there, who like a little substance with their entertainment, and those who can find enjoyment in downbeat movies that make them feel like shit, may just find something to like in Melancholia.

(4 People gave this 3.00 out of 5)

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“The only thing stronger than fear is hope.” – President Coriolanus Snow

Swift shot: Suspenseful, thought-provoking, primal, saga that will have no end, and I am dying to know more about the beginning. Not since 1977′s Star Wars has a saga captivated me in this way, where I wanted to know everything that led up to the small chapter that I just watched.  The Hunger Games is exactly like that, and when the film reveals how many “happy hunger games” there have been – my imagination was overloaded by the possibilities.  I knew almost nothing about this series other than it was set in the future and that districts would send children to fight to the death for some reason.  Once I heard that much, I put a moratorium on my friends from mentioning anything that might spoil the slightest essence of why this series is so popular.  And while the target audience is teenagers, unlike Twilight – this film was nothing short of EPIC!  Pay attention, or be the first martyred for your district.

Suzanne Collins came up with the idea for The Hunger Games, because she was fascinated with the Greek myth of Theseus and also noted the rampant up-rise of our reality TV and war coverage, wondering where the end might come, having found none, she created Katniss Everdeen. Most good writers put themselves in their protagonist’s shoes, and I can imagine she envisioned herself, or her daughter, as Katniss, pitted in a brutal lethal game for survival and penance.  And much like the boys and girls, sent every nine years, to fight the hideous Minotaur, her Tributes faced mortality for the amusement of others.

Jennifer Lawrence is going to have a problem, she is going to forever be Katniss Everdeen – she will go on to do other things, she will excel, because she is beyond incredible, all of 22 now though, her future is marked.  Maybe she will turn to Carrie Fisher for some advice, because she managed to avoid type-casting, but still, she will always be Princess Leia.  The casting department deserves to be, forgive the obvious nod, placed on a pedestal for recognizing Lawrence as the perfect fit for Katniss.  She damned near simply reprises her role from Winter’s Bone, where she plays the poor, destitute, starving care-giver for her siblings.  Katniss is no different, she sacrifices her life to protect her sister, Primrose, whom she lovingly calls little duck.  She is also handy enough with a bow that her family doesn’t starve, despite their coal mining district’s low place.  Apparently, the higher your number, the lower your status in Panem.  With 12 districts, and Katniss being from the 12th, she is the ultimate under-dog.

But, thankfully, each district is allowed two tributes, and her partner, chosen in a surreal lottery, known as Reaping Day, is Peeta Mellark who is played by Josh Hutcherson, oddly enough, he was in a little movie called Zathura: A Space Adventure, where a game approaches lethal risks.  So, casting Josh as Peeta was another no-brainer for the film-makers.  Josh impressed me, because he always had this air of attitude about him on screen that I never quite appreciated before.  He seemed to wear it as Peeta, but it wasn’t as overt and in your face, and he managed to add a real empathy to his character that I wasn’t expecting.  I am not sure if he will forever be labelled as Peeta, like Lawrence as Katniss, but I know he has a huge teen-scene following that is sure to endure.

The real show stealer has to be Amandla Stenberg, who takes so little screen time and creates a wonderful character, on screen, in District 11′s Rue – and in one touching scene, we see the world through her little eyes, a very powerful moment that Director Gary Ross handled beautifully.  Finally, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy and Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket all come to life because of Oscar-nominated costume designer Judianna Makovsky who magnificently captured the various conflict of society with her brilliant costume work.  Each district had a personality, a conflict could be immediately surmised and a comparison, felt, in a manner that hits you right in the gut.

The cinematography was stylized and balanced well to create the future – I didn’t notice any cartoonish effects either, even when what I am calling the Man-Bear-Pigs make their appearance, they felt very real!  The violence was brutal, but mostly takes place off screen, but you don’t have to use much imagination to know how people are dispatched.

This film, and this series, no doubt, will be dissected politically for years.  It is part Running Man, Logan’s Run, and The Lottery all with one rather disgusting twist, it’s the kids who must be sacrificed, and what is their crime?  Nothing, many, many years before they were born, their ancestors fomented some kind of revolution.  As a cruel reminder, the victorious controlling government, led now by President Snow (Sutherland) selects two 12-18 year old citizens from each of 12 districts to compete in a viscous battle where only one will survive.  One of the better lines of the film comes when Snow reminds his game-master Seneca Crane (the always creepy, Wes Bentley) that a little hope is why they allow a winner, but a lot of hope is dangerous.  This series is a political scientist professor’s wet-dream.  Power, control, sacrifice, revolution, penance, all the makings of a great debate!

What I find incredible about the film, and the novels (apparently) is that much like a Rorschach test, people are seeing different messages – yet they are all raising the same banner of appreciation.  Oddly enough, the Tea Party sees the fear of big government, whilst the Occupy Movement finds the disparaging juxtaposition between The Capitol and the Districts as reminders of the class struggle they so desperately want to maintain.  To true Patriots, might the subtle mention of 13 districts be a calling to revolution to battle tyranny, like the original 13 colonies?  Hell, even teenagers will take from it the perils of blind-obedience . . . to parents that would serve them up to slaughter.  This is why I give the film my patented Swift Six Stars, if you leave the theater and aren’t thinking all day and night about The Hunger Games – newsflash, you would be the first to die when they raise the pedestals, because everyone else is thinking about it.  I have even seen people on Pinterest posting work-out motivational images saying, “I don’t want to be the first to die in The Hunger Games!”

Better yet, listen to what another popular “young-adult” author Stephanie Myer had to say, “The story kept me up for several nights in a row, because even after I was finished, I just lay in bed wide awake thinking about it.”   That’s pretty much how I felt when I left the theater too, and while this was purported to be sci-fi, much like Star Wars, that wasn’t what interested me at all, it is the entire universe, the characters, the plight of the heroines and heroes, the mythology and wanting to know EVERYTHING about this fascinating saga – which is exactly how I felt in 1977.  I have to go now, I need to add The Hunger Games to my eBooks – you know, so I can sleep!

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Try saying that five times fast!

The H-Bomb:  Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) calls her sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson), out of the blue after two years of no contact.  Martha’s story is that she’s been living in the Catskills with some boyfriend all this time.  Lucy agrees to take her in for the time being and brings her to the gorgeous, lakefront vacation house in Connecticut that she shares with her husband, Ted (Hugh Dancy).

As glad as Lucy may be to have her younger sister back in her life, she and Ted both can’t help but notice that Martha’s behavior is a little… peculiar.  Martha’s quirks start out as strange but minor annoyances; saying inappropriate things (“Is it true that married people never fuck?”), doing inappropriate things (skinny dipping in the lake in broad daylight with people about), but it’s all nothing they can’t just shrug off and ignore.  However, Martha’s bizarre behavior soon escalates, with Lucy and Ted being especially disconcerted when Martha sneaks into their room and jumps into bed with them while they’re having sex, and from there they watch in alarm as she becomes increasingly erratic, confrontational, and even fearful that someone might be after her.

But why would anyone be after Martha?  Well, as we the viewers are already fully aware of, Martha has spent the last two years in the Catskills, but not with just some boyfriend…  she had fallen in with a cult.  A commune-like cult, of about twenty or so, run out of a farmhouse, and led by the charismatic, but quietly intimidating Patrick (John Hawkes).  We never really find out much about this cult, other than it takes in society’s young strays, teens and twenty-somethings, “cleanses” them, and gives them each a job on the farm.  For the women, it’s usually cooking, cleaning, working in the garden, or taking care of the many infants Patrick has fathered, all of whom, creepily, are boys.  It’s a patriarchal cult, with the men in charge of the women, and Patrick in charge of them all.  He even gives them all new names when they join his flock (in Martha‘s case, Marcy May), as one of his ways of asserting ownership of them.

At first Martha is happy here, but over time she sees things that make her disillusioned with her “new family,” and once she finally realizes how dangerous they and Patrick really are, she splits.  Now, living not so happily with her sister and brother-in-law, she has reason to believe that the cult members have found out where she is and are coming to get her…  or are they?

The film remains skillfully ambiguous about that, right up until the final frame, and that is part of what makes Martha Marcy May Marlene, a psychological drama from feature debuting writer/director Sean Durkin, so damn effective.  Maybe they’re really after her, maybe it’s all just in her head…  who knows?  The story is structured in a way that it’s constantly cutting back and forth between what’s happening with Martha at her sister’s house in the present, and glimpses of her time with Patrick’s cult.  Often times, it’s something Martha says or does in the present that triggers memories of the past.  And the more she remembers of what went on at that farmhouse, the more frightened and unhinged she becomes.

What really helps to elevate this understated thriller is the surprisingly incredible turn by Olsen, the younger sister of the Olsen Twins, and apparently sole heir to any acting talent in that family, as the title character (and many titles she does have).  She makes Martha (Marcy May Marlene) endearingly shy and awkward, and gives her a sense of paranoia that intensifies throughout.  This is a star making performance if I ever saw one, despite the film being a modest indie, and I can say with confidence that Olsen definitely has great things coming her way in the not so distant future.

Also delivering a knockout performance is veteran character actor Hawkes (Winter’s Bone), who is downright chilling as Patrick.  On the surface he’s calm and friendly, but almost immediately one can sense something much, much darker underneath that welcoming smile of his.  We see this when he “cleanses” the new women who come under his wing, by drugging them and then… doing something else.  He will scold his followers, should they step out of line, and get them to bow to his will, all the while never even raising his voice.  Hawkes makes it all look so damn easy, turning Patrick into one of the scarier movie characters I’ve seen in a while.

Paulson and Dancy are also terrific as the put upon sister and brother-in-law, Lucy and Ted.  They want to do the right thing by helping Martha, as they know that something has happened to her, but she’s not saying what, and they’re both gradually driven to the end of their patience by her crazy antics.  They do a fantastic job of conveying the couple’s feelings of helplessness and frustration.  Kudos to them both.

If there’s anything to put people off from seeing Martha Marcy May Marlene, it’s that it’s deliberately slow paced and quiet in it’s approach.  It’s a film, that while a thriller, prefers subtly disturbing the audience with suggestion over showing anything explicit.  In fact, there’s only one act of graphic violence, and even that is over very quickly.  In terms of being low key, it makes Drive look like a Michael Bay movie by comparison.  And much like Drive, Martha Marcy May Marlene is another terrific film that, despite some rave reviews, not very many people have seen.  I’d hate to fall back on this old cliché, but if Drive was the best film of 2011 that you didn’t see, then Martha Marcy May Marlene is most definitely the second best.  And now that it’s out on DVD, I’d say that now is the time to see it.

(2 People gave this 4.00 out of 5)

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Note:  I don’t remember watching the TV series “21 Jump Street”, so this review is based on the movie.

The year is 2007.  Schmidt (Jonah Hill) is a smart, yet unpopular, Eminem wannabe who has no luck with the ladies (his attempt to score a date for the prom fails miserably).  Jenko (Channing Tatum) is the opposite, a dumb popular jock.  Both have typical high school angst (bad grades, no prom dates, etc).

Fast forward to 2012.  Schmidt and Jenko are both in the police academy.  Schmidt knows his stuff but physically he has problems.  On the other hand, Jenko is physically fit but he doesn’t know the Miranda Rights.  While on bike patrol at a local park, the partners see a drug deal happening and they chase the drug dealers, but all does not go according to plan and the dealers get away.

After their miserable attempt at a drug bust in the park, the boys are sent to Aroma of Christ Church, headquarters of the Jump Street Division.  Their assignment:  go undercover at a local high school to discover the distributor and the creator of a new drug that the students are taking.  Their new boss, Captain Dickinson (Ice Cube) orders them to “Teenage the F ‘up”.  Their cover is that they are brothers and they move into Schmidt’s parent’s house and share Schmidt’s old bedroom.  Jenko is enrolled in easy classes, including drama, while Schmidt is enrolled in AP chemistry.  Their covers get switched; however, and Jenko ends up in the advanced chemistry class, while Schmidt is in drama class, where they are auditioning for “Peter Pan.”

While undercover, Schmidt becomes friendly with the popular kids in school, including Eric (James Franco) and Molly (Brie Larson), and Jenko ends up hanging out with the other students in his AP chemistry class.  So basically, it’s the opposite of how it was when our heroes were in high school, which makes for some crazy situations.

Other notable characters in “21 Jump Street” include Mr. Walters (Rob Riggle) the gym teacher, Mr. Gordon (Chris Parnell) the drama teacher, Ms. Griggs (Ellie Kemper) the chemistry teacher, and Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman).

This is NOT a movie for kids.  There was liberal use of the F word as well as many sexual innuendos.  There is also excessive drug use (surprise).  I wasn’t really expecting much from this reboot but I was pleasantly surprised at how hilarious it was.  I was laughing through pretty much most of the movie.  There were a lot of crazy hijinks going on, and Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were surprisingly well-matched.

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The “Signs” are everywhere . . .

I had seen literally no previews for this film, which is the way I like it, so I had no idea what to expect.  There was a bit of a delay getting the movie started, so I was listening to other conversations in the press section, and someone said this film was done by the same team that did Cyrus.  I hated Cyrus, I didn’t even post a review, because I felt like I had wasted enough time and energy, just watching that crap.  Now, I was worried, but my expectations were low – just don’t suck as bad as Cyrus, I thought, and I will be happy.  I was happy, in fact, I felt this film was better than you think it is going to be, but not the best it could be, but still pretty damned good . . . plus, it has Rae Dawn Chong!

It begins with a character, Jeff (Jason Segal), who lives at home with his widowed mother, Sharon (Susan Sarandon) who wants one simple thing from her thirty-something louse of a son . . . go to Home Depot, buy some wood glue and fix the one broken slat on their closet door.  She is hard at work, and wants him to aspire to more than smoking pot and other unmentionable things down in her basement.  Her other son, Pat (Ed Helms) is the quintessential douche bag.  Oh, he has gone places, he is married, has a modest home and a good job, but he is a complete asshole . . . and here Ed Helms steps away from his comfort zone a bit to play a completely unsympathetic character.

His wife, Linda (Judy Greer) just wants their marriage to work, she wants him to communicate, but mostly she just wants the love back.  But, back to Jeff, he has seen Signs more than six times, and is convinced that everything happens for a reason.  I will spare you his synopsis, but Segal delivers the Jeff character in an odd throwback version of the deluded Joaquin Phoenix.  In short, Jeff just REALLY ‘gets’ Signs, he thinks even the film was meant to plot out his own personal destiny.  So, when he gets a wrong number, hang up call from someone looking for Kevin, he decides this is it, this is his moment for destiny.  Did I mention he smokes A LOT of pot?

Now you just get to sit back and watch this adult idiot follow all the signs that lead up to his destiny.  But, as the film progresses, is it really his destiny, or is it his brother’s, or his mother’s?  Or is he just completely stoned off his ass and winds up in Sri Lanka selling souvenir cups to tourists at the duty-free shop?  I’m not spoiling that bit.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home is a nice visit to the theater, it is highly interactive and an enjoyable journey, that actually has a great message whilst seemingly having no message at all.  On a side note, Cyrus was also about a single mother dealing with an odd son – are the brothers Duplass dealing with some angst here?  But, where Cyrus went wrong, was the oomph factor, I kept waiting for it to just get a little bit better, and it never really did.  On the other hand, Jeff, Who Lives at Home has the same pulse throughout, and I found myself constantly chuckling, never laughing so hard it hurt mind you, and when Jeff realizes his destiny at the end, I would have made that scene more intense, but it would have changed the whole feeling of the film.  Go see, this little nothing film, hanging out the week before The Hunger Games, it will get you thinking and the script has enough color to keep you  chuckling to the end.

Oh, and Jeff, don’t get me started on Signs, these aliens travel across the universe to invade a planet COVERED in the one substance that is lethal to them . . . water, I mean, come on alien dudes, do some damned research!

(1 People gave this 3.00 out of 5)

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“The Hungry Rabbit . . .”

There’s something not quite right about seeing Katniss right by a Cinnabon!

Almost exactly a year ago was the first time I heard about the book series “The Hunger Games” from my dear friend in Jacksonville.  She was explaining the first book to me and all I could think was “that is so barbaric!!” . . . yet I was intrigued.  I saw the first book on sale at Target shortly after and I picked it up.  It sat on my shelf for awhile but finally the odd symbol on the cover could be ignored no more.  Once I started, I was hooked!!   I bought the other two books in the series and I’ve shared the series with several people I work with.  While the books are sometimes depressing, they are also fantastic reads.

I’ve been looking forward to seeing “The Hunger Games” since I heard that the movie was being made.  I had heard that fans of the book were unhappy with the casting, but I think Jennifer Lawrence is perfect to play Katniss.  I thought she was great as Mystique in “X-Men:  First Class”.  I haven’t seen “Winter’s Bone” but she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role from her role in the film.

So when I was asked to attend a press event for “The Hunger Games” I was pretty excited.  It was a mall tour, and it was also my first mall event.  I brought Jasmine Rose along with me and we headed to the Broward Mall in Plantation for the ensuing chaos.

We got there at four. Press check-in was at four-thirty, and the event was scheduled to start at six.  We checked in and got our press badges and headed to where the event was taking place, which was near the food court.  At first the mall was nice and quiet, but as we got closer to the food court it got a lot louder.  But that was nothing compared to the volume of the crowd when the stars of the movie came on the stage.  The crowd continued to grow and grow.  There were a lot of fans of the books there!!

Before the interview, there was a DJ playing music.  It was a lot like before a concert, where they play music and people cheer when they see themselves on the TV screens.  In between shots of the crowd, playing on the screens were clips from the upcoming movie.   Shortly before the interviews, the DJ played the new Taylor Swift song, “Safe and Sound” (which I didn’t like at first but I will admit that it’s grown on me).  Then he played the song again.  And then it was time for the stars to come out!!

The cast members that were in attendance were Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss), Alexander Ludwig (Cato), and Amandla Stenberg (Rue).    The host of the event (a local radio DJ, I don’t remember his name though) asked questions that had been submitted by fans.

The cast was onstage for about 40 minutes and answered a bunch of questions.  I left them out because there were spoilers, and the audio wasn’t really great – but check this short clip out to see what you missed.

But, overall, it was an exciting experience for my first mall event.  I am looking forward to the next one!!

AND THERE WAS A COW!
<——— See?

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Review by Alyn Darnay

Directed by: Stephane & David Foenkinos

Cast: Audrey Tautou, François Damiens, Pio Marmaï

So if I wanted to make a lightweight, semi-comic, romantic film and I lived in France, the only actress I’d use is Audrey Tautou. You should remember her as that sweet fey faced beauty from Amélie (2001), The Da Vinci Code (2006), and Coco Before Chanel (2009). That’s exactly what brothers Stephane and David Foenkinos did to turn David’s runaway best selling French novel La Delicatesse into a movie, and as always she makes the film work. Or at least she and French comic star Francois Damiens, Heartbreaker (2010). Without them, I think it would have been a dull trip through the standard romantic universe.

As I understand it, in France there’s a controversy going on about the film. I know, I know, that’s not so unusual, there’s always a controversy going on in France, but this one is over the way the filmmakers approached their conversion from the written page to the screen. They took this beloved novel and “Oh My God” added scenes. (How dare they, even when the screenwriter is the person who wrote the novel.) It got thousands of fans of the book incensed. Not that they hated the film, which they didn’t, they just didn’t want the material played with like that. Besides, this stuff is great for conversation over espresso and a napoleon.

The story goes like this. Ms. Tautou plays Nathalie, a beautiful, happy, and successful Parisian business executive who meets, falls in love with and marries her true soul mate. After several years of blissful marriage, an accident leaves her a widow locked in the depths of despair. She throws herself into her work and for years lives a very solitary life, locking away her emotions, and disregarding everyone’s attempts to change that. Then, one day, for no apparent reason, Nathalie, possessed of a moment of madness kisses her co-worker, the odd Swedish employee Markus (Damiens). He, being the strange creature that he is, immediately falls head over heels in love with her, and begins the first pursuit of a woman in his life. I should say inept pursuit, which against all odds, she begins to warm to. But nobody thinks this romance should happen. Not family, not friends, not co-workers, I suppose not even the homeless guy in the street.

Delicacy comes off as a sweet romantic story about two people who are too scared to let loose their inner demons and love each other. Their relationship runs the gamut from uncomfortable to genuinely loving. It’s different from the run of the mill romances we usually get these days and tugs at your emotions a bit as you watch it. I had some problems with the progression of the story, some things develop too fast while others progress way too slowly, but as I said before, the performances save the whole thing. You should enjoy the film.

Time: 1 Hour 48 Minutes

Swift shot:  I know, I don’t normally review theatre – I am more a theater guy – still, when I was given the opportunity to watch these young actors perform, I just couldn’t say no.  Being a performer, on any level, is not easy, to some it comes naturally, and others have to work at their craft.  Some scripts are easier than others, some roles fit you better, and some you have to force yourself into.  But, Diego De La Espriella was incredible, is incredible, and will stay incredible – and he is only in the eighth grade!  He delivers the final scene as Otto Frank with such power, it was almost surreal.  This was seventh-grader Rachel Rose Capo’s first lead role with Broadway Kids Studio, and she performed admirably as the passionate, chaotic, enduring, and endearing Anne Frank.

When I prepared for this invitation, I didn’t know what to expect.  This was my first time even hearing about the Broadway Kids Studio, and when I did a little research I saw that they had their own “Black Box Studio” – I had no idea how intimate that space would become.  To set this portrayal of the end of hope in such a dark, small, claustrophobic space was probably more convenience than genius, but it was an incredibly powerful venue nonetheless.  It trapped you in with the characters, you weren’t watching from the comfort of your seat a few rows back.  They were mere inches away, these actors, these children couldn’t call out for a line or feign interest if not the center of focus.  There was no escaping us anymore than they could escape the Nazis.  To call these “kids” anything less than professional would be an insult.

We all know the horrible story, the true story of the final years of a group of people forced to live in squalor while enduring the worst kind of fear imaginable.  The only thing they had was each other, and in the production’s final act, we are reminded that when Anne Frank met her sad end . . . she was alone, naked, petrified . . . alone.  As parents sat in the audience, when those words were spoken aloud, to think of your child meeting their fate with such cruel abandon – knowing you couldn’t be there to protect them, to shelter them, or even just to die with them, was something that an eighth-grader conveyed with a maturity some aged actors still can’t master.

All of these “kids” at some point in the show became their characters.  Each one of them had a moment where the scene was all about them, and they didn’t fail to impress.  When Sergio De La Espriella as Mr. Van Daan shouted down his wife for wanting to keep her fur coat, you felt his powerful desperation. When Edith Frank, Anne’s mother, played by Rachel Harrison finally connected with her rebellious daughter, she wasn’t a “kid” anymore.  She conveyed true empathy and understanding, and in that moment, she was a mother to a girl who finally cared for her mother.  The two, understood one another and accepted love.  When Griffin Marthe, who portrayed Mr. Dussel, had a few comedic moments, it was like the darkness in the box had abated some, and you could almost see the stars twinkling through a window that wasn’t there . . . only in a dream.  But before the nightmare of reality shrieked out, before that sad end, the play captured the joy of others, the hell of others, but also the overall enduring strength of togetherness.

Finally, when all was at its bleakest, in a crescendo of pain and sadness, there was one loud explosion of hope, as we learned the invasion had started.  As hope, which seemed like a four letter word earlier, became a pragmatic possibility.  But, sadly, this was a true story, no knights in shining armor would came to save the Franks or their friends.  In the end it was the Gestapo – they were betrayed by a faceless coward.  Regardless of the setting, the time, the heroes, or even the villains, this story always serves as a stark reminder that freedom is not something that should ever be taken for granted.  The next time you find yourself bored or miserable, think of the final two years of Anne Frank, a girl who would never become a woman, a writer whose only prose was in her youth, with such potential, cut down, wasted, lost forever.

In the end, we will all wind up in a box, alone, but with the grace of friends, family, and faith, we can endure as people and we can remember that humanity is only defined by us, what we choose to leave behind as a legacy of good or evil is our choice.  I think that was what the last entry of the diary really captured, Anne was surrounded by fear and misery, yet she still saw the good in the world, she still believed that people were inherently good and worth loving.  I hope we always are.