Starring: Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby
Director: Jonathan Levine
Country: USA
Genre: Dramedy
Coming of age isn’t just for teenagers.
The coming-of-age film can usually be riddled with independent film clichés bogging down any semblance of tenderness the story may hold, but if the film is really driven from a personal place and passion it can usually overcome these obstacles. Such is the case with Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness. The cast is as solid as they come, with strong performances from both experienced veterans (Ben Kingsley = greatest actor ever,) as well as newcomers (the underrated Olivia Thirlby, and under seen Josh Peck.) It’s a tale of first love, a journey into manhood, and a huge slice of nostalgia as it takes place in the mid-nineties and boasts a soundtrack of the greatest era of rap music. Like the best independent dramedies, it balances its quirkiness with its darkness really well, and ultimately creates a portrait of what it was like to take the first step toward growing up at age 18 and at age 50.
Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Sharian
Director: Brad Anderson
Country: Various
Genre: Mystery
Twice the Bale performance at half the weight!
Brad Anderson, of cult classic Session 9 fame, crafts this Hitchcockian mystery of an insomniac trying to piece together the puzzle of his faltering life. Sometime between American Psycho and Batman Begins Christian Bale found the time to lose 63 pounds for this harrowing role, and ends up putting in one of his best performances. The film is chock full of the symbolism that mystery buffs drool over, but it’s all built on a very real human drama which is what gives any film longevity. The script, the acting, and the direction all work with such synergy that it’s hard to believe this film hasn’t received more attention than the “Christian Bale skeleton” film. It’s dark and twisted, but always has a sense of fun in its execution.
Starring: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle
Director: Niels Mueller
Country: USA
Genre: Drama
The road to madness is sometimes a familiar one.
When you have a film produced by Alexander Payne, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Alfonso Cuarón that stars one of the most dedicated actors in its lead role and a supporting cast of the highest caliber, you know you’re dealing with a quality film. Surely, this harrowing descent into madness is an effective one. It’s a little tricky in its manipulation though, making us sympathize and connect with a character that we know will ultimately commit some sort of heinous crime. We’re never fully certain what it will be, and, well it’s not pretty. But watching Assassination is to watch an incredibly crafted character study and one of Sean Penn’s finest performances. The film is as quiet as the person you wouldn’t expect to blow, but when it does… whoo boy.
Starring: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová
Director: John Carney
Country: Ireland
Genre: Musical
Everything works together in perfect harmony.
It’s hard to classify this as a musical when thinking of the genre as a whole. The term springs to mind images of corsets and top hats, so there’s an inclination to say this film is about music more than it is a musical. However, each song progresses the story and characters further down their path, and without them there would be no movie. Musicians Glen Hansard (The Frames) and Markéta Irglová head up this wonderful tale of, well, musicians who find each other by chance and inspire each others work. What is striking about this film is its candor. It’s almost like seeing the chunk of events that happen that inspire an album to be written. And the music is some of the most beautiful ever put on screen. Everything works together in perfect harmony to create a very special film.
Starring: John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Pitt, Andrea Martin
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Country: USA
Genre: Music
It’s not so much a performance as it is a genesis.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch serves up a bizarre viewing experience that’s half train wreck, half raw emotion, and half heart attack. The result is one and a half times the exploits of a normal film. The character is a bit paradoxical in that on the surface most of the audience shouldn’t be able to connect with a transgender lead singer of a punk rock band from East Berlin… but for whatever unabashed reason, it’s almost impossible not to. It feels outlandish saying it, but Hedwig and the Angry Inch wears its heart on its sleeve, and that opens up an emotional link with the audience that’s unavoidable. Did I mention it’s a rock opera? A performance piece? A pseudo-documentary? The character of Hedwig has so much depth, that John Cameron Mitchell doesn’t create so much of a performance as he does a genesis. I’d been putting this film off for far too long, after too many recommendations, and am finally glad to be recommending it to others.
Starring: George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, Vera Farmiga
Director: Jason Reitman
Country: USA
Genre: Dramedy
Airports have never been more appealing.
Reitman may have the Midas touch when it comes to independent dramedies. Thank You For Smoking gushed with style, Juno bled with character, and Up In the Air combines all of the things that make the aforementioned films great. With a script as spot on as one can get, and a cast as gifted as they come, this film really… um… ’soars’. Clooney has never felt more Cary Grant-ish than in this film which displays his talent for large amounts of dialogue and massive amounts of charm. It may not end up being a crowd pleaser, but it’s quality of filmmaking is undeniably stellar. Up In the Air is a wonderful story of a personal journey of opening up, and an insightful look into the current economic state of the country. When all is said and done, it’s an interesting statement on what’s important in life.
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Country: USA
Genre: Independent, Drama
“I’m a professional wrestler.”
“That’s probably not a good idea.”
Darren Aronofsky has taken a step away from his usual high stylized films to have an affair with cinema verite in The Wrestler. It’s hyper realistic, all down to the last emotion of which it has plenty. Rourke blazes like a phoenix out of the ashes of his old career in what is certainly going to be the performance of his lifetime, and of most people’s lifetimes, (matched only by maybe De Niro’s LaMotta.) To say the experience of watching this film is ‘tough’ is selling it short, both in that it can get excruciating and that the ‘toughness’ isn’t without merit. It all pays off, even if it’s not in the ways we’d wish it to. The Wrestler can stand with the best of tragedies in all of drama. It’s almost hard to believe that there was a screenwriter behind it. The only non-realistic thing is, and excuse my chauvinism for a moment, that anyone wouldn’t find Marisa Tomei attractive. I’ll save you the George Costanza monologue, but come on.
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby
2008 Films | this guy over here March 6, 2010 | 
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