A Single, Serious, Solitary Man

This year we have Tom Ford's A Single Man, the Coen's A Serious Man, and Michael Douglas in Solitary Man. Confused yet? A Single Man has the very attractive cast, A Serious Man has the unknown cast, and Solitary Man...well that has Michael Douglas. If things go well for all three come awards season there's going to be a hell of a lot of confusion on those voting ballots. And just imagine the confusion when they announce the winners - I can just see the embarrassing blunders.

Anyway, considering all the chatter, I figured I would add more confusion and share some interviews and reviews.



Director Tom Ford discusses A Single Man with Indiewire’s Peter Gnegt (via AD):

“No matter how much you love something, there are those moments where you think, ‘shit, maybe I’m just way out on a limb and other people aren’t going to feel this way’,” Tom Ford said yesterday regarding his film “A Single Man.” “But then after the screening in Venice, we had a standing ovation for ten minutes. And it was amazing. It was very emotional, and it was just like a great release of ‘yes, it spoke to other people.’”

Ford optioned the novel from Don Bachardy, the deceased Isherwood’s longtime lover. Barchardy was somewhat hesitant given that “A Single Man” was Isherwood’s favorite book, and something very personal to himself as well (the character of Jim is largely based on him). And even though Ford chose to take significant (and necessary) creative liberties with the original work, Barchardy is quite pleased with the final product.

“I know what I want to say in fashion,” Ford said, “and I have said it over the years but I had to really stop and think: Why does anybody want to see a Tom Ford movie? Who needs another movie? What do I have to say? So finding something that had a message that I felt was important was really the most imperative thing. I read a lot of scripts. I had optioned a couple books I was working on adapting. And still nothing felt quite right. Until one day I was driving to my office and I realized I was thinking about this character George in ‘A Single Man’ - which I had read in my early twenties when I was living in Los Angeles.”

Tom Ford and star Colin Firth also answered questions at the Single Man press conference in Toronto a few days ago.


I realized that I haven't discussed the Coen's A Serious Man nearly as much as I've wanted - Richard Corliss from Time ends his review with this (also via AD):

As Fate keeps stomping him, he embraces Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. What he tells his class about the theory — "Even if you can't figure it out, you're still responsible for it on the midterm" — applies, in spades, to his crumbling life. And yet for most of the movie he hangs in there, behaving honorably, seeking the wisdom of his ancestors, trying to observe the Jewish concept of Hashem. "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you," says Elie Wiesel's Rashi. To absorb God's body blows, this disquieting, haunting movie says, is to be fully alive. To do otherwise could kill you.

Can't say I'm a huge Coen Bros. fan, and of the films they've crafted, I tend to like the ones nobody remembers or cares for. So, I'm naturally wary of the heaps of praise it's gotten so far.



And finally, John Foote from In Contention talks about Michael Douglas who he feels is the only good thing about Solitary Man:

He’s back this year with “Solitary Man” (*), and I am happy to report he is terrific in the film, playing the sort of role he is very good at, and that no doubt challenges him as an actor, because Douglas makes it very clear these days that he needs something very special to get him out of his house. However Douglas is the ONLY good thing in the film.

There is nothing particularly strong about the film visually, so it is left to Douglas to entertain us, and he manages to do that. It’s one of those films like “Street Smart,” a weak film with a brilliant Morgan Freeman performance. And the supporting cast has so little to do, one wonders why they even bothered to make the film? Only Danny DeVito seems to have a character that can really relate to Douglas, and that is stretching it.

Here we have a brilliant, daring performance from Douglas in a film that is a genuine chore to sit through. As much as I like him, I am not sure I could get through this one again. Pity.

The word from Venice: rave reviews for A Single Man

Based on Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel, A Single Man "depicts one day in the life of George, a gay middle-aged Englishman who works as a college professor in Los Angeles and whose lover, Jim, has recently died." [Wiki] The film, directed by Tom Ford had its world premier earlier today in Venice.

Emma Pritchard Jones from Grazia:

Should Tom Ford have stuck to designing his impeccable Gucci suits? Not if “A Single Man’ is anything to go by. The screenplay – which Ford co-wrote, produced and directed – could win more than the Best Dressed award at the Venice Film Festival. That’s already in the bag for sure – from the moment Colin Firth strides onto the screen in Ford’s trademark black, his 50-something professor character George is turned out like an Italian billionaire. We follow a day in the life of George, some months after the death of his gay partner of sixteen years. It’s set in LA but Firth doesn’t do American – instead he’s the perfect stereotype of an English gentleman, silently devastated by his loss.

Ford should be praised for making a film which isn’t just pleasing to the eye – gay or straight, George’s predicament speaks straight to the soul. The only problem is, his surroundings are so perfect you’ll be mourning his sorrow one moment, and coveting his lampshades the next.

In Contention's Guy Lodge says this is Colin Firth's "finest screen work to date":

But just as you’re tempted to dismiss the film as a gorgeous vanity exercise, it reveals a keen beating heart beneath the decor — and the match of Ford’s precise sensibility to Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 literary examination of the effect of grief on an overly compartmentalized life begins to make perfect sense.

In a graceful, meticulous performance that easily ranks as his finest screen work to date — and merits serious awards consideration — Colin Firth plays George, a British academic living in Los Angeles who finds his life slowing to an impasse as he struggles to recover from the death of his lover Jim (Matthew Goode). As he bides his time with increasingly indifferent teaching and melancholy get-togethers with his boozy friend and neighbor Charley (a tart, affecting miniature from Julianne Moore), the film follows George through a single day, wherein a key life decision gradually veers off-course.

It’s a spare, moving narrative of only-connecting, through which Ford initiates larger enquiries into sexuality, loneliness and etiquette: it’s easy to read Firth’s intriguingly opaque characterization as a mirror for Ford’s own personal and social insecurities.

Wendy Ide from Times Online praises Tom Ford:

...it’s a work of emotional honesty and authenticity which announces the arrival of a serious filmmaking talent. There will be critics who will be unable to get past the director’s background, but rest assured: Tom Ford is the real deal.

Isherwood’s novel...unfolds predominantly through an interior monologue, a device which is notoriously tricky to transfer to the big screen without resorting to pages of cumbersome voice-over. Ford sidesteps this by keeping the narration to a minimum and instead giving us vivid little glimpses into George’s bruised psyche with some well-chosen flashbacks.

In the role of George, Colin Firth gives one of the finest, most affecting performances of his career.

The film's new stylish trailer (via ONTD!) is below.

New clip and teaser trailer from Up in the Air

The trailer (via Awards Daily) will probably be taken down soon, so watch it before it does:

Update: I've replaced the trailer that was taken down.

The characters played by George Clooney and Vera Farmiga are superficial, always traveling, and addicted to their frequent-flyer miles. I suppose it's the chemistry between them in the clip that has me interested - they look like they're made for each other. A brand new clip (also via Awards Daily) from the film is posted at the bottom of the page.

The reviews are in from Telluride, which give us more on the film.

Todd McCarthy from Variety:

The tale of an aloof, high-flying exec whose millions of frequent-flyer miles can't keep him permanently above the emotional turbulence he seeks to avoid, "Up in the Air" is a slickly engaging piece of lightweight existentialism highlighted by winning turns from George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. Just as "Thank You for Smoking" and "Juno" did in their own ways, Jason Reitman's third film cleverly taps into specific cultural aspects of the contemporary zeitgeist, although in a somewhat less comically convulsive manner. Unlike many of the characters onscreen, nobody is going to lose any jobs on the basis of their work here, as a buoyant commercial flight lies ahead.

Clooney has scarcely ever been more magnetic onscreen than he is here as Ryan Bingham, a gun-for-hire who specializes in the dirty work some corporate bosses don't like to do themselves, firing employees. He's great at his job, expert at suggesting to devastated workers that new horizons in life can now be explored, and he loves the lifestyle of spending most of his time in business class seats and upscale hotels; given that, at last count, he's on the move 322 days per year, his modest apartment in Omaha resembles an undecorated motel room.

Indiewire's Anne Thompson:

The movie reveals where we are now. The opening credits set the tone, as a zingy cover of “This land was made for you and me” accompanies a montage of fly-over spots. Bingham starts up a flirtation with a fellow-traveler (Vera Farmiga) as they slap down rival credit cards and compare flier miles and mile high club banter. He wants to break the 10 million miles mark—in the past year he spent 43 days at home. The rest he was on the road. She seems to be his perfect match.

The movie does not offer easy solutions. Reitman interviews 25 real people who lost their jobs, who are genuinely moving. Over the closing credits he uses a song about job loss given to him by 50-ish Kevin Renick during filming on audiotape. “I like to ask questions with my movies,” Reitman said at the Q & A. “This is the most personal movie I’ve made and could be the most personal movie I’ll ever make.”

Stephen Farber from The Hollywood Reporter:

Cynicism and sentiment have melded magically in movies by some of the best American directors, from Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder to Alexander Payne. Jason Reitman mined the same territory in "Thank You for Smoking" and his smash hit, "Juno," and it's pleasing to report that he's taken another rewarding journey down this prickly path in his eagerly awaited new film, "Up in the Air." Boasting one of George Clooney's strongest performances, the film seems like a surefire awards contender, and the buzz will attract a sizable audience, even though some viewers might be startled by the uncompromising finale.

Kris Tapley from In Contention:

The film is a triumph. It drips with Reitman’s passion, his love for his wife and child, his assessment of his own journey into adulthood. He just finished telling the audience at the Chuck Jones Theater that it’s probably the most personal film he’ll ever make. One can certainly understand the sentiment.

I’ll get into this more later, but I consider it a four-star knockout that couldn’t have hit the country and, to speak personally, me, at a more perfect time.

Up in the Air opens December 4.

The word from Venice: Bad Lieutenant might not be that bad

Anyone who knows me is aware of my loathing of Nicolas Cage and his films. He's annoying and his films usually suck. But the trailer for Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans revealed that this would be one of the few movies that didn't have Cage racing through fire, manically trying to save the world from certain doom. Which is a good thing.

Variety's Todd McCarthy shows that maybe my instincts were right and the film does not entirely suck:

From the moment it was announced, there was something a tad loony about the idea of remaking -- or revisiting or reinventing or whatever they want to call it -- Abel Ferrara's 1992 "Bad Lieutenant," with Werner Herzog, no less, directing. Well, lo and behold, there's also something rather loony about the finished film itself. But there's also a sort of deadpan zaniness, stemming from a steadfast conviction in its own absurdity, that gives "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" a strange distinction all its own. Not at all an art film, the picture lacks sufficient action to sate the appetites of sensation seekers, but star Nicolas Cage's name means enough to offer some short-run B.O. traction and good home-viewing market returns.

...New Orleans is a bright, if blighted, city, and Herzog approaches it, as well as the depredations of the title character, with a straight face and unblinking lens, the better to catch a glimpse of the links connecting Katrina, the corruption of authority as seen through the outrageous behavior of the lieutenant, and the money, which lands mostly in the wrong places.

The film is offbeat, silly, disarming and loopy all at the same time, and viewers will decide to ride with that or just give up on it, according to mood and disposition.

The word from Venice: reaction to The Road is mixed

The first day of the upcoming glorious month of film (Venice, Telluride, Toronto, Austin!) kicked off yesterday with the opening of the 66th Venice Film Festival. The adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's acclaimed novel, The Road had its world premier earlier today.

Let's start with the good from Geoffrey MacNab at the Independent:

In the event, John Hillcoat has made a film of power and sensitivity that works remarkably well on the big screen. It plays like a Dystopian version of Huck Finn. "Tattered gods slouching in their rags across the waste," was how McCarthy described the father and son on their grim odyssey south across America toward the coast.

The film captures well the strange mix of heroism and seeming futility that characterises the journey. What is most impressive is the restraint the filmmakers bring to their material. The look of the film is muted and grey other than in the flashbacks to the pre-apocalyptic moments that the man (Viggo Mortensen) enjoyed with his wife (Charlize Theron) before the world ground to a halt.

Deborah Young from the Hollywood Reporter calls the film "intense":

VENICE -- In "The Road," director John Hillcoat has performed an admirable job of bringing Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to the screen as an intact and haunting tale, even at the cost of sacrificing color, big scenes and standard Hollywood imagery of post-apocalyptic America.

Shot through with a bleak intensity and pessimism that offers little hope for a better tomorrow, the film is more suitable to critical appreciation than to attracting huge audiences though topliners Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron will attract initial business.

...Hillcoat and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe create a frighteningly barren world virtually devoid of color, where everything is covered with fine gray ash and even the sea has become gray. Occasional flashbacks to pre-disaster life offer momentary visual respites of color, music and warmth.

Now, on to the bad from Variety's Todd McCarthy:

This "Road" leads nowhere. If you're going to adapt a book like Cormac McCarthy's 2006 bestseller, you're pretty much obliged to make a terrific film or it's not worth doing -- first because expectations are high, and second, because the picture needs to make it worth people's while to sit through something so grim. Except for the physical aspects of this bleak odyssey by a father and son through a post-apocalyptic landscape, this long-delayed production falls dispiritingly short on every front. Showing clear signs of being test-screened and futzed with to death, the Dimension release may receive a measure of respect in some quarters but is very, very far from the film it should have been, spelling moderate to tepid B.O. prospects after big fest preems.

...But Hillcoat, who played with heavy violence in "The Proposition" and made some of it stick, shows no talent for or inclination toward setting up a scene here; any number of sequences in "The Road" could have been very suspenseful if built up properly, but Hillcoat, working from a script by Joe Penhall, just hopscotches from scene to scene in almost random fashion without any sense of pacing or dramatic modulation.

Dialogue that should have been directed with an almost Pinteresque sense of timing is delivered without meaningful shadings, principally by two actors who have no chemistry together. Unfortunately, Mortensen lacks the gravitas to carry the picture; suddenly resembling Gabby Hayes with his whiskers and wayward hair, the actor has no bottom to him, and his interactions with Smit-McPhee, whom one can believe as Theron's son but not Mortensen's, never come alive. Tellingly, both thesps are better in their individual scenes with other actors; Mortensen gets into it with Robert Duvall, who plays an old coot met along the road, while Smit-McPhee registers a degree of rapport with Guy Pearce, practically unrecognizable at first as another wanderer. Generally, the boy's readings are blandly on the nose.

Finally, the mixed reviews from In Contention starting with Kris Tapley:

There is a moment maybe three quarters into John Hillcoat’s “The Road” when it becomes clear that atmosphere may have been preferred over characterization: Viggo Mortensen’s character — known simply as “The Man” in Cormac McCarthy’s original fiction and nameless here — sits by a fire, wary of a cataracts-ridden old-timer (Robert Duvall) who couldn’t defend himself, much less harm a child.

...This should take nothing away from Viggo Mortensen’s work as an actor in the film, which is considerably moving. It isn’t his finest work yet and probably doesn’t deserve the claims of “tour de force” that are waiting to be tossed about, but it is a refined piece of acting nevertheless. However, the effect is muted by Mortensen’s co-star, Kodi Smit-McPhee, whose shrill embodiment doesn’t take on the messianic quality to which the role clearly aspires.

But ultimately, the tale itself feels doomed as a piece of cinema, forever confined to a more effective state on the page, where it knows only the limits of your imagination. Here, it is a wandering sort of entertainment that doesn’t know whether to be shocking or profound. Ultimately, it is neither, leaving merely a bleak residue of style in the shadow of potential substance.

And from Guy Lodge:

The film is by no means an embarrassment, and certainly puts the lie to the belief expressed by many that Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was “unfilmable.” John Hillcoat and his team have indeed fashioned cinema out of McCarthy’s ravished American landscape and sparse familial romance (Hillcoat and Viggo Mortensen both branded the film “a love story” in this afternoon’s press conference), and have done without making significant detours from the narrative course of the novel. (Fears provoked by the trailer that genre elements had been played up are largely unfounded.)

But where McCarthy’s prose made a virtue of its languor, snowballing urgency and desperation from its day-to-day slog, Hillcoat’s film plays weirdly disjointed and repetitive, as emotional beats (principally fear versus trust) recur without variation in nuance or context — losing the taut sense of continuity in McCarthy’s mammoth journey has been lost. Mortensen is as empathetic and physically committed to the material as you’d expect; regrettably, he lacks a sufficiently strong scene partner in young Kodi Smit-McPhee, whose subtler gestural details are too often outweighed by shrill emoting.

The Road has reportedly been added to the Telluride Film Festival, which kicks off Friday.

A Leonard McCoy tribute

I feel like kicking myself from about two weeks ago. My name will forever be linked to doubts and suspicions about the new Star Trek movie. But, now that I’ve seen it, and the Star Trek hype train has slowed somewhat, I honestly don’t think I could love the film any more if I tried – flaws, typically faulty science and all. There has been the expected hoopla over both Chris Pine’s Kirk and Zachary Quinto’s Spock, and truthfully, it’s mostly all warranted. They’re not only better than I expected, they’re just damn good in their roles. Despite that, and the rest of the cast’s talents, one supporting actor always seems to get a bit lost. So, to end all that, I’ll forgo a typical review and make this into more of a tribute to Karl Urban’s slightly manic, but often hilarious depiction of Doctor Leonard McCoy. To warn you, there are some spoilers.



McCoy was without fail, Captain Kirk’s closest confidante, and in some cases, more of a sibling than merely a friend. McCoy was Kirk’s conscience, and his being Kirk’s voice of reason was no accident – his divorce left him world weary, and at times dangerously over-emotional, giving way to moments of irrationality. With J.J. Abrams’ reboot most of this is clear within the first few minutes of his and Kirk’s meeting aboard a ship. While Kirk is calm about their flight – McCoy is the polar opposite, and rattles off a list of horrifying, potential deaths in space ("One tiny crack in the hull, and our blood boils in 13 seconds"). He also, rather bitterly, mentions the divorce from a wife who keeps him from his child, who took everything and left him nothing except his bones. Though it’s Kirk’s relationship with Spock that gets most of our attention throughout the new movie, it is Kirk’s friendship with McCoy that starts first.



Although Karl Urban’s cast mates performances are nearly spot on (Quinto’s job being the hardest with Leonard Nimoy’s presence), Urban is the only actor who comes eerily close to his predecessor’s performance. It’s a near perfect match with DeForest Kelly’s McCoy, and everything from the rhythm of how Urban speaks to even his hand gestures are spot on. And yet, it would be insulting to call his performance an impersonation. It’s more like some sort of restrained possession, and even knowing some of Urban’s techniques (like using a dialect coach) isn’t enough to explain how it’s done. It almost feels like watching an actor’s magic trick, and there are moments when you feel he can’t possibly pull it off. Somewhere, somehow he will make a mistake – perhaps his accent will slip, or his line delivery will slow, perhaps this incarnation of Bones will be less cranky, less manic. But, it amazingly, never happens.



With Urban’s McCoy, it has become increasingly easy to see why some women and men, reject the Kirk or Spock adoration, and rather, fall quite hard for McCoy. This revived love for McCoy is more substantial than superficial (arguably more akin to Spock fans) even though Karl Urban himself is handsome. This love comes from McCoy’s sometimes inexplicable loyalty to Kirk, shown in one instance when McCoy smuggles Kirk onto the Enterprise even though Kirk has been grounded. This love comes from McCoy’s often unintentional moments of hilarity, the best example being McCoy’s attempt to cure Kirk of the temporary disease he gave Kirk in the first place. This love comes from the fact that Urban’s McCoy, like Kelly’s, gets the most memorable (not to mention xenophobic) lines, most of which are directed at Spock (“Are you out of your Vulcan mind?” “Green-blooded hobgoblin!”) If ever there were a salesman to bridge new Star Trek fans to the original show, it is Karl Urban’s McCoy. If he can’t hook them, nothing will.

I was surprised by the amount of humor in the new Star Trek movie, mostly because its misleading trailers have been so self-serious. But for all its action-as-filler, and idealism, McCoy is the movie’s humorous, world wise voice.

Spock as sex symbol

So, I've been reading through everyone's Star Trek hoopla and the one that has struck me the most is Annalee Newitz's over at io9.com. The article is a review, to be sure, but it reads as a bit of a lust love letter (or is it a tribute?) to the new Spock's sexiness.



Zachary Quinto's Spock, while still a slave to logic, can't hold back his emotions nearly as well as the old Spock could. The current Spock loves and yearns.

That isn't to say that the Leonard Nimoy's Spock didn't have a legion of fans who fell for him:

When celebrated science fiction writer James Tiptree, Jr. (AKA Alice Sheldon) started watching Star Trek in the 1960s, she wrote in letters to her friends about how the one aspect of the show that truly fascinated her was Spock. She wrote a fan letter to Leonard Nimoy, explaining that his sexual magnetism came from humans' natural exogamy, their urge to marry outside their own groups. An alien would be the ultimate outsider, the ultimate object of desire. In one besotted passage, she described Spock's "touching shoulder blades, the tremor, the shadowed and infinitely effective squint."

Tiptree's renegade nerd sexual desires have now gotten a lot closer to being the desires of the mainstream. Zachary Quinto's new Spock still has a thin, trembling body and the squint of a scientist, but he's emerged into this special-effects blockbuster of a film as a leading man, competent, virile, and sexually desirable. This triumphant sexualization Spock could only have happened in the early 21st century, when geeks are culture heroes and dork actor Michael Cera has become a romantic lead.

I haven't seen what Quinto has done with the role yet, but I'm struck by Newitz's observation. The original Spock probably resonates more with women who grew up in the late 20th and 21st century, where geek suddenly become chic (think David Tennant as Doctor Who). He would have been a much less likely sex symbol in 1969 than in 2009.

While Kirk is still the object of most people's desires, a large enough minority of people are drawn to Spock. At least among the large minority of nerd girls (a largely ignored group of comic book readers and sci-fi lovers who came of age sometime between Amidala and Arwen). Where Kirk is hot, Spock is cool - cold even. I figure that there are two types of straight women in the world: the ones that fell for Kirk, and ones that fell for Spock. I've always been a Spock girl.

Links for you: George Clooney 'Up in the Air' and Sam Rockwell is a busy man

The first photos of George Clooney on the set of Jason Reitman's Up in the Air have surfaced. Clooney plays a corporate suit who "specializes in 'career transition counseling'" (read: firing people) and is obsessed with getting 1 million frequent flier miles. [TheBadandUgly.com]


Sci-fi drama, Moon gets reviewed (it's great) in what Kristopher Tapley thinks will become a banner year for sci-fi cinema (sort of like what 2001 was for fantasy). Sam Rockwell, as usual, gets much of the praise. Each film he stars in has me convinced that will be the one role that gets him noticed. I've lost count of how many times that's happened. [In Contention]


And speaking of Sam Rockwell: he's now shooting Iron Man 2. Rockwell's character Justin Hammer is different from how we remember him from the comic books. [MTV via IESB]

Robert Downey Jr. sort of wanted to play Hugh Hefner. Now Hef wants Downey to play him. Can we get this thing made already? [Hollyscoop]



Star Trek isn't out yet (holy crap it opens tomorrow in my country!), but sequel casting is already underway (well, kind of). Star Trek writers Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci think Javier Bardem would make a great Khan. [ComingSoon via The Movie Blog]


My Life in Ruins is meant to be a comedy, but it's apparently unfunny. Sigh, and I had such high hopes for Nia Vardalos after My Big Fat Greek Wedding. [Variety]

And finally for your viewing pleasure from The Onion - Trekkies bash the new Star Trek film for being entertaining, fun, and watchable:


Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Ann Miller: A look back

All photos from Ann Miller Online

“[Fred Astaire] was a perfectionist. At rehearsal when you thought you'd got it perfect he would say, 'Go on, Annie, just one more time!' What I wouldn't give to do it just one more time.”

"I never played politics. I never was a party girl, and I never slept with any of the producers."

“At MGM, I always played the second feminine lead. I was never the star in films. I was the brassy, good-hearted showgirl. I never really had my big moment on the screen. Broadway gave me the stardom that my soul kind of yearned for.”

-Ann Miller on her career.


Ann Miller came of age in Hollywood at a time when stars were expected to do it all – sing, dance, act, and look good, while making it all seem effortless. Although Ann was an immensely talented tap dancer, a beautiful singer, and a charming actress, she never reached the level of stardom that she deserved. There was always another actress cast as the lead. But Ann Miller , like many supporting actors, often stole the show from the star. She was just more endearing, more flirtatious, and had better comedic timing, but most of all, Ann Miller danced like no other, and she sparkled on the screen.

Born Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier (she was named Johnnie because her father had wanted a boy) in Texas on April 12, 1923, Ann started dancing when she was just 3 years old. At the age of 9 she moved to California with her mother. During her childhood Miller danced in night clubs like the Black Cat Club, and the Club Bal Tabarin in San Fransisco to support her mother, who couldn't keep a steady job because of a hearing impairment. Tall for her age, an 11 year old Miller convinced her employers that she was really 18 years old. It was while working at these clubs that legendary television star Lucille Ball found Miller and helped her land a contract with RKO at the age of 13. Miller faked her birth certificate, and once again pretended to be 18 to keep her job.


By the late 1940s and early 1950s, with the help of MGM studios, Ann Miller had starred in some of MGM's most beloved musicals – Easter Parade, On the Town, and Kiss Me Kate. Her first truly popular role in Easter Parade nearly went to the iconic performer, and fellow Texan, Cyd Charisse, but Charisse lost the part due to a broken leg. Miller so impressed the studio heads that she earned a 7 year contract with MGM. By the early 1950s, she was so popular at MGM she was the initial choice for the role in Singin' in the Rain that eventually went to Debbie Reynolds. Many of Ann Miller's song and dance numbers appeared in the retrospective film, That's Entertainment! and its sequels.

Ann Miller married no fewer than three times to Reese Milner, actor Bill Moss, and Arthur Cameron. It was rumored that the head of MGM, Louis B. Mayer, proposed to her on numerous occasions. Miller's marriage to Milner was perhaps the most tragic – while pregnant with the couple's first child, Milner reportedly threw his wife down a flight of stairs, and she lost her daughter, Mary Ann Milner a few hours after her birth.



On the Town in which Miller appeared alongside Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, and Kiss Me Kate are among my favorite musicals. I believe she's best in the film that she loved most – Kiss Me Kate. The 1953 film is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, featuring music by Cole Porter. The film is presented as a play within a play, with its internal play being inspired by William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Most of Cole Porter's racy lyrics have been watered down for the film, but Miller's performance of songs “Too Darn Hot”, “From this Moment On”, “Tom Dick or Harry” (she gets to dance with Bob Fosse), “Why Can't You Behave? ”, and “We Open in Venice” are sensational and among the best on screen. Miller stars as stage actress Lois Lane, who has been cast as Bianca in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew.



As usual, Ann Miller plays the second female lead, and twice in one film, even while playing an actress – it's the epitome of art imitating life. She plays Lois and Lois-as-Bianca beautifully. In the role of Lois she once again steals a film from leading lady, Kathryn Grayson, who plays her rival Lilli Vanessi. Miller is spirited, mischievous, and sexy with her trademark black hair, ruby red lips, and slender legs (“Why that's absurd, I wouldn't dream of displaying my legs,” snaps an icy Grayson as Lilli. “What's the matter with your legs? Are you knock-kneed?” Ann as Lois retorts.) Towards the start of Kiss Me Kate, Miller performs one of her famous tap dance routines (the studio line that she tapped 500 times a minute was a lie), and she is brilliant during her performance of “Too Darn Hot.” You never want the routine to end and you can't wait to see what she does next. Reportedly, for a number of her films, she looped the sound of the sped up so-called 500 taps, while watching herself on film, and then danced on a tap board to match with her dance steps in the film.

I grew up watching Kiss Me Kate repeatedly, and it was one of the last of the great MGM musicals. It was filmed in 3D using the most up-to-date technology of the era, and though the vivid color is a bit fainter on the DVD, it's worth owning because Ann Miller is simply dazzling in one of her finest film roles. You can also watch Ann Miller in Easter Parade to commemorate her birthday this Sunday, April 12, 2009 on TCM at 7PM Eastern in the US and you can catch her in Kiss Me Kate on TCM on Monday, April 13 at 2PM Eastern.

The best French language films - part 5: 'Jean de Florette' and 'Manon des Sources'

Be sure to check out part 1, part 2, and part 3, and part 4 of the series.



I would rather discuss these films without giving away too much, because part of the beauty of the films, particularly Manon des Sources, are the plot's twists and revealed secrets. I'm revisiting these French language films mostly as an introduction, though I don't mind a discussion in the comments section with spoilers.

I think it's impossible to watch Jean de Florette without immediately watching its sequel Manon des Sources (Manon of the Spring). In many ways I don't consider the storyline to be made up of two different films – rather, I see the events as part of an extended film with a brief intermission. Both were filmed over a duration of approximately 30 weeks, and were released within a few months of each other in 1986, much like another adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's work. Directed by Claude Berri, (who passed away in January) both films are based on famed French writer, Marcel Pagnol's two novels, which combined, are entitled L'Eau des Collines (The Water of the Hills). The historical dramas are set in Pagnol's beloved Provence, during the 1920s. Both films are painful and tragic, yet while Jean de Florette will break your heart, Manon des Sources - though no less heartbreaking, leaves the audience with an ending that is far more satisfying.



The first film, Jean de Florette, presents the audience with the story of César Soubeyran (Yves Montand) often referred to as 'Le Papet', or 'grandfather' among the locals. César, played brilliantly by Montand in one of his last roles, is a greedy and affluent farm owner of the French countryside. His nephew Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil), a repulsive, dim-witted young man, is César's only remaining family member. Despite Ugolin's flaws, César guides him and attempts to steer Ugolin towards wealth, status, and a family in order to preserve the fading Soubeyran line. Ugolin presents a plan to his uncle to grow carnations, and César, realizing how lucrative the venture will be is satisfied with his nephew's plan. Unfortunately, carnations cannot grow in the dry climate of Provence. But, ever the schemer, César knows of a neighboring spring that can put an end to their troubles. To ensure that the owner of the spring will voluntarily sell the land, César and Ugolin obstruct the spring to render the land utterly useless. The new owner, a hunchback named Jean Cadoret (Gérard Depardieu), is the son of Florette (one of César's old lovers) who, along with his wife (Elisabeth Depardieu) and daughter Manon (Ernestine Mazurowna) wants to keep his inherited property and live off the land. In order to convince Jean to sell his land, Ugolin becomes his friend, but complying with his uncle César's wishes, never reveals the spring that could keep Jean's futile dream alive. What unfolds after these events is almost unbearable, with Jean desperately trying to find water to keep his farm alive during a drought. The betrayal is almost unimaginable.

Despite the dark subject matter, Jean de Florette is a rather cheerful, almost hopeful film. This is largely due to Jean – portrayed magnificently by an exuberant Depardieu – who believes that his goal will ultimately be fulfilled. It is his waning confidence during the drought that drives the story.


Manon des Sources begins some ten years later with Jean's beautiful daughter, Manon (Emmanuelle Béart ) living in near isolation as a shepherdess outside of town. Ugolin is till unwed, much to his uncle's disappointment, but soon, by chance, Ugolin falls in love with Manon. Disgusted, she refuses his advances and finds herself falling in love with Bernard Olivier (Hippolyte Girardot) who has just arrived in town. It's hard to discuss the rest of the plot in great detail without spoiling most of the ending, but the film's payoff is both shocking, and heartbreaking – it all plays out like a Greek tragedy.


Both films, Jean de Florette in particular, are near perfect films. This is mostly due to the cast's and Berri's ability to make each character – even the most villainous – into a human being. Even the most innocent character, Manon, does something cruel.

For anyone who is not used to foreign films and subtitles, the four hour run of these films will seem daunting. I first watched both films in my early teens, and I've always felt that my patience was worthwhile. You will never regret taking the time to see them. Both Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources are available on DVD, either separately or together in a box set.

The best French language films - part 4: 'Cyrano de Bergerac'

Be sure to check out part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 5 of the series.



I initially watched Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Oscar nominated adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) in middle school after reading the original play. It is, perhaps, the finest adaptation of Edmond Rostand's play, and since it's regarded as the one surviving version in the play's original language, it feels like the most authentic representation of Cyrano's melancholy life. As one of the most expensive French films in history, it's easy to understand why it's considered as the most sumptuous and detailed theatrical version of Rostand's play. The 1990 version is also noted as the first version of Cyrano de Bergerac in color, and it is, in my opinion, one of the greatest French films ever made.




The film stars renowned French actor, Gérard Depardieu as Cyrano de Bergerac and he gives one of his most exceptional performances. His performance is so stunning that not only was he the second actor nominated for an Oscar for playing Cyrano (José Ferrer actually won the Oscar for his 1950 incarnation), he is one of the few actors nominated for a French speaking role. By my count, no more than five actors were nominated for a French speaking role prior to Depardieu. All five of them were women.



The film tells the story of Cyrano de Bergerac - 17th century dramatist, poet, daredevil, sword fighter, romantic. At the start of the film, Cyrano disarms a nobleman for insulting his nose, and it remains one of my favorite scenes of the film. Certainly, the romance that unfolds is moving and tragic, but as a teenager it was Cyrano's bravado that delighted me. There is, quite frankly, something rather cool about him. He can disarm you with his words as brilliantly as he can with his sword.


Cyrano de Bergerac is a man who masks his deep shame of having a grotesquely large nose. He hides his humiliation behind a facade with bluster and wit, yet in his heart he yearns. He secretly loves the dazzling Roxane (Anne Brochet), but does not have the courage to reveal his love because of his looks. Tragically, Cyrano discovers that Roxane is besotted with Christian de Neuvillette (Vincent Perez), a handsome young soldier who is terrified of speaking in Roxane's presence. Cyrano decides to help young Christian win over Roxane, and when Christian realizes he possesses neither the wit nor the eloquence to gain her love, Cyrano becomes Christian's voice – he compiles love letters, poems, and even tells Christian what to say. Roxane falls in love with Christian, and Cyrano mourns his loss. Depardieu brings a great deal of sadness to a character often mistaken for being simply exuberant. The genius of his performance is his ability to balance the two sides of Cyrano's personality and he is all at once humorous, heartbreaking, and romantic.

Cyrano de Bergerac is a work that has been performed in France since 1897 and is still considered one of the greatest plays ever produced in France. This theatrical version, should be considered with no less regard than its original work. With its expensive 17th century sets, and gorgeous costumes – it's easy to see why it won the Oscar for Best Costume Design and was nominated for Art Direction. The screenplay adapted by Jean-Claude Carrière and director Jean-Paul Rappeneau allows the audience to hear the original French dialogue, and with linguist Anthony Burgess' translated English subtitles, the film preserves the iambic hexameter of the original play. All this gives the feeling of watching a poem acted out, like watching one of Cyrano's long romantic poems, rather than a play's adaptation. It's something I've grown to appreciate as I've gotten older – I suppose one year of college literature has something to do with it.



Cyrano de Bergerac is available on DVD and I really recommend purchasing it, because it's worth owning.

Go watch 'Hunger'

I saw Hunger a few months ago, and its finally opening in limited release in the US. If you get a chance to watch it, I recommend that you do. The film chronicles the final weeks of Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands. Its star Michael Fassbender and director Steve McQueen are a revelation. But A.O. Scott gushes over them a lot better than I do:

In early scenes of a prison guard (Stuart Graham) eating breakfast at his tidy home in Belfast, the camera lingers over tiny, sensual details, homing in on crumbs as they fall into a napkin in the man’s lap and examining the scabs and scrapes on his knuckles. This kind of unhurried watchfulness, as if filmmaking were entirely an act of observation rather than of reconstruction, conjures a sense of dread as well as intimacy. Nothing that happens at the Maze is hidden, euphemized or excused, though even the most harrowing scenes have a curious air of decorum, as if Mr. McQueen was trying to bring human dignity into a place where it has all but vanished.

...This parallel is made both explicit and more complicated when “Hunger” turns its attention to Bobby Sands, who starved himself to death, along with nine other prisoners, in the hunger strike that followed the blanket action. Sands, played by Michael Fassbender, is charismatic and full of impish life, and his choice of martyrdom is at once an act of rational, strategic calculation and a measure of his single-minded, overpowering zeal.

The best French language films - part 3: 'My Father's Glory' and 'My Mother's Castle'

Check out any parts of the series you may have missed - part 1, part 2, part 4, and part 5


It's difficult to decide which of the two films is better – 1990's My Father's Glory (La Gloire de mon père) or its sequel, My Mother's Castle (Le Château de ma mère). There is very little time lost between the two, with My Mother's Castle beginning at what seems to be mere moments after its prequel ends. They are the films that director Yves Robert is best remembered for.

Both are based on famed French novelist Marcel Pagnol's memoirs. Pagnol's work was also the inspiration for two other celebrated French films, Jean de Florette and Manon des source. In My Father's Glory, we are introduced to a young Marcel (Julien Ciamaca), who at the start of the 20th century spends his summer in France's southeast region of Provence. Marcel's boyhood days unfold before us, with an adult Marcel, narrating the film's events. It is here in Provence that Marcel watches a quarrel between his atheistic schoolteacher father, Joseph (Philippe Caubère) and his religious Catholic uncle, Jules (Didier Pain). It is here that Marcel learns the ways of Provence's hilly landscape from his new found friend Lili (Joris Molinas).





My Mother's Castle picks up where the first film left off, with Marcel and his family spending their weekends at a cottage in the country. It is a long, difficult journey on foot, and much of the film is devoted to the family's trips across country estates, simply to reach their cottage. In this film, Marcel encounters the lovely young Isabelle (Julie Timmerman) who beguiles him and lords over him.

As both films progress we see why Marcel longs for his days away from city life in Marseille. It is a setting in which we fall in love with Marcel's cicadas, his orchards, his wide night sky, his vineyards, his hills – oh, the hills. Provence becomes more than just his beloved countryside – it becomes another character, in some ways more real and engaging than most members of Marcel's family.


The one member who does rival Provence, is Marcel's father Joseph, played by actor Philippe Caubère. He plays Joseph beautifully and he is stunning as a good-natured, but distant and intellectual schoolteacher. It is in My Father's Glory that he truly shines. Marcel is both amazed by his father's intelligence, and yet also, disappointed with his father's difficulty in adapting to country life; Joseph's near disastrous hunting sessions with Uncle Jules are a source of dismay for young Marcel.

My Mother's Castle, like My Father's Glory is endearing, with childhood recollections seemingly too flawless to have even occurred. Marcel's mother is a simple home-loving woman, who organizes the family's weekly outings to the country. Marcel Pagnol's outlook on his childhood is picturesque – his boyhood in the country enthralling. There is no difficult situation that cannot be easily solved, the children are always near perfect – their clothes spotless, the family sits down to typical family celebrations with all the Mediterranean dishes of sunny Provence. With all its magic and wonder, an adult Marcel contemplates, “such is the life of man, moments of joy obliterated by unforgettable sorrow. There's no need to tell children that.” My Mother's Castle, unlike its prequel, presents passing moments of the deep agonizing pains children don't usually feel until they grow up - Marcel is getting farther and farther away from his childhood.





Both film's are sentimental, to be sure, but childhood's are often looked back on with rose-colored glasses. These films are meant to be the entrancing recollections of a young boy's summer life and weekends with his mother. They are the brief, narrow glances of youth before such fleeting joys are ultimately lost.

Yves Robert's tributes to Pagnol were beloved in France and despite some of the sentiment, it is easy to see why. Thankfully, both films are available separately on DVD.