Starring: Amy Brenneman, Maria Bello, Kathy Baker, Emily Blunt, Maggie Grace, Hugh Dancy, Kevin Zegers
Written By: Robin Swicord
Directed By: Robin Swicord
Based on the best selling novel by Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club tells the tale of five women and one man who form a book club with each member choosing one of Austen’s books to review every month.
The club is originally formed to help Jocelyn, a dog breeder, get over the death of her pride and joy breeding dog. However almost immediately the focus changes to Sylvia (Amy Brenneman) whose husband leaves her for another woman after twenty years of marriage. Prudie (Emily Blunt) is a French teacher who has never been to France, and whose marriage is on the rocks, the most recent traumatic event being her husband cancelling a planned trip to Paris for a basketball game. Allegra (Maggie Grace) is Sylvia’s beautiful, spoilt, daredevil, lesbian daughter who routinely ends up in hospital after one of her adventures. Bernadette is the oldest in the group, with six marriages under her belt and looking ‘for just one more’. Grigg is the lone male in the group, asked to attend by Jocelyn to get Sylvia’s mind off her current troubles, but who is obviously smitten by Jocelyn.
The groups personal lives reflect the various books themes and issues with everyone having a problem similar to one of the books they are reading. There is Jocelyn, never married, fighting her attraction to the younger Grigg, and selflessly pushing him onto her friend Sylvia. Grigg thinks that he’s being directed to the much younger Allegra, and is suitably confused when he finds out she is gay. Prudie is contemplating starting an affair with an 18 year old student and almost does until reading ‘Persuasion’ shows her how a couple who have fallen out of love can try to work at the marriage and succeed. Allegra falls in and out of love quickly, moving in with the girl she met while in hospital with a broken arm after a month, and dumping her with out a second thought after finding some stories she wrote, depicting events told to her by Allegra. This is much to the chagrin of her mother Sylvia, who sees this behaviour as a mirror of her husband’s and unacceptable. Bernadette is the most stable of the characters, in her private life anyway, and mentors the various women through their problems, particularly Prudie during her period of contemplation over whether to start an affair or not.
The supporting men in the cast also get in on the club with cheating husband Daniel (Jimmy Smits) reading one of the novels and realising what he has been missing by leaving his wife. Although seeing his wife being taken out to lunch by the attractive and much younger Griggs prompts him to act in the first place!
This is a light entertaining film with just enough moments of drama and tension taking place without ruining the over all comedic value of the film. As the women and Grigg proceed through their various romantic problems one grows to like and respect them all, even the extremely uptight, and often repellent Prudie. As in Austen happy endings abound in this film with true love winning over all.
This is an excellent cast of lesser known actors, generally from TV shoes such as Judging Amy and Kane, or smaller roles in films, Kathy Baker, from Cold Mountain, but they work very well together and bring a real charm to the film. An excellent cast, a well written script and a charming story all make a film worth going to see.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Juno
Starring: Elaine Page, Michael Cerys, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Alison Janney, JK Simmons
Director: Jason Reitman
Written by: Diablo Cody
Juno Mac Guff (Elaine Page) is a bored 16 year old American girl who finds herself pregnant after a one night stand with her best friend Pauly Bleeker (Michael Cerys).
Three pregnancy tests later she realises she is ‘fo’ shizz pregnant’ as she tells her friend on her hamburger phone.
Having originally decided to have an abortion, she backs out after the trip to the abortion clinic leads her past a lone anti abortion protester from her class, who tells her that her foetus has fingernail at this stage. As a result she tells her father and her step mom, (JK Simmons and Alison Janney) of her dilemma. They are shocked and dismayed, and had been hoping when she sat them down for this talk, that she’d been ‘expelled or addicted to hard drugs or something’.
Juno decides that the best solution to her problem is to look for adoptive parents for her baby, and sets about finding them in the local news paper. The answer to her prayers is Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garner) and Mark Loring (Jason Bateman), a local couple who’ve been trying for a baby for five years with no success. She feels immediately that they are the right people for her and signs the necessary paper work.
Juno’s nine months are difficult, dealing with the stares and whispers behind her back in school, and the physical side affects of pregnancy. However she forms a friendship with Mark, a composer, someone who’s into the same music and movies as her. Her step mother doesn’t agree with this burgeoning relationship, but Juno feels there’s nothing amiss and continues to visit him at home while his wife isn’t there.
A spanner is thrown in the works when Mark reveals to Juno that he’s going to leave Vanessa. One gets the feeling that Mark is interested in Juno but this is never explored. Juno is understandably upset by this revelation, telling him that the couple taking her baby was meant to be something beautiful and unbroken, unlike every other family.
The film deals with a lot of difficult issues, teen pregnancies, teen angst, relationships, marriage break downs, and handles them with aplomb. There are always comedic moments within the heavier issues and an excellent cast help this quirky movie to work very well.
The young Elaine Page, having been lauded in such movies as Hard Candy, carries the film well, with excellent back up from the rest of the cast. This film is along the lines of ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and others of this indie/comedy/tragedy genre recently surfacing at the movies, and holds its own with them. Well worth a viewing.
Director: Jason Reitman
Written by: Diablo Cody
Juno Mac Guff (Elaine Page) is a bored 16 year old American girl who finds herself pregnant after a one night stand with her best friend Pauly Bleeker (Michael Cerys).
Three pregnancy tests later she realises she is ‘fo’ shizz pregnant’ as she tells her friend on her hamburger phone.
Having originally decided to have an abortion, she backs out after the trip to the abortion clinic leads her past a lone anti abortion protester from her class, who tells her that her foetus has fingernail at this stage. As a result she tells her father and her step mom, (JK Simmons and Alison Janney) of her dilemma. They are shocked and dismayed, and had been hoping when she sat them down for this talk, that she’d been ‘expelled or addicted to hard drugs or something’.
Juno decides that the best solution to her problem is to look for adoptive parents for her baby, and sets about finding them in the local news paper. The answer to her prayers is Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garner) and Mark Loring (Jason Bateman), a local couple who’ve been trying for a baby for five years with no success. She feels immediately that they are the right people for her and signs the necessary paper work.
Juno’s nine months are difficult, dealing with the stares and whispers behind her back in school, and the physical side affects of pregnancy. However she forms a friendship with Mark, a composer, someone who’s into the same music and movies as her. Her step mother doesn’t agree with this burgeoning relationship, but Juno feels there’s nothing amiss and continues to visit him at home while his wife isn’t there.
A spanner is thrown in the works when Mark reveals to Juno that he’s going to leave Vanessa. One gets the feeling that Mark is interested in Juno but this is never explored. Juno is understandably upset by this revelation, telling him that the couple taking her baby was meant to be something beautiful and unbroken, unlike every other family.
The film deals with a lot of difficult issues, teen pregnancies, teen angst, relationships, marriage break downs, and handles them with aplomb. There are always comedic moments within the heavier issues and an excellent cast help this quirky movie to work very well.
The young Elaine Page, having been lauded in such movies as Hard Candy, carries the film well, with excellent back up from the rest of the cast. This film is along the lines of ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and others of this indie/comedy/tragedy genre recently surfacing at the movies, and holds its own with them. Well worth a viewing.
The Darjeeling Ltd
The Darjeeling Ltd
Starring: Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson.
Director: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman.
The Darjeeling Ltd is a Wes Anderson production starring Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson as three brothers brought together on a trip across India. Designed by Francis (Owen Wilson) as a ‘spiritual journey’ to bring the brothers together and to find out why they don’t trust each other any more, the trip . The three brothers haven’t seen each other since the funeral of their father a year before. Unbeknownst to Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman), Francis has an ulterior motive for this trip. He wants to find their mother who moved to the Himalayas and became a nun without telling her sons.
As the brothers meet again for the first time in a year, there is confusion and resistance to the trip from Jack and Peter, and a domineering attitude from Francis. Slipping easily back into the role of the elder brother, Francis orders food for his younger siblings and tells them where to sleep. Obviously this behaviour rankles the other two, and is just one of the many issues explored during the trip. The relationship between the three slips back into the realms of childhood, with petty jealousies springing up, and each of the brothers ganging up against one another.
Each brother has his own issues to deal with. Francis has just survived a terrible motorcycle accident and spends the duration of the film with his head bruised and bandaged and walking with a limp and a cane. Peter’s wife is pregnant, and he has come on this trip without telling her, convinced he will get divorced from her at some point, although not knowing why. Jack has recently left a relationship, which is explored in the short film, ‘Hotel Chevalier’, which precedes ‘The Darjeeling Ltd’, and adds a bittersweet twist to the ending.
Most of the action takes place in the cramped cabin of ‘The Darjeeling Ltd’, the train the brothers are taking across India on their epic journey. The tight physical conditions reflect and heighten the stress and pressure between the brothers. They are carrying physical baggage - the 12 or so pieces of monogrammed luggage belonging to their late father, which reflects their heavy metaphorical baggage and the way they resolve these issues reflects the brothers mental resolutions.
Typically in Anderson’s films, the message is subtle and filled with comedic moments. An exploration of relationships, patterns of behaviour and roles between the brothers, ‘The Darjeeling Ltd’ is a slow paced, thinker’s film, interspersed with moments of great hilarity and poignancy. With cameos by Bill Murray and Angelica Hueston, it’s a classic Wes Anderson film line up, and follows similar lines of exploration as in other films by this auteur. Well worth a viewing if you like his work, and an easy introduction to his world if you don’t.
Starring: Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson.
Director: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman.
The Darjeeling Ltd is a Wes Anderson production starring Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson as three brothers brought together on a trip across India. Designed by Francis (Owen Wilson) as a ‘spiritual journey’ to bring the brothers together and to find out why they don’t trust each other any more, the trip . The three brothers haven’t seen each other since the funeral of their father a year before. Unbeknownst to Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman), Francis has an ulterior motive for this trip. He wants to find their mother who moved to the Himalayas and became a nun without telling her sons.
As the brothers meet again for the first time in a year, there is confusion and resistance to the trip from Jack and Peter, and a domineering attitude from Francis. Slipping easily back into the role of the elder brother, Francis orders food for his younger siblings and tells them where to sleep. Obviously this behaviour rankles the other two, and is just one of the many issues explored during the trip. The relationship between the three slips back into the realms of childhood, with petty jealousies springing up, and each of the brothers ganging up against one another.
Each brother has his own issues to deal with. Francis has just survived a terrible motorcycle accident and spends the duration of the film with his head bruised and bandaged and walking with a limp and a cane. Peter’s wife is pregnant, and he has come on this trip without telling her, convinced he will get divorced from her at some point, although not knowing why. Jack has recently left a relationship, which is explored in the short film, ‘Hotel Chevalier’, which precedes ‘The Darjeeling Ltd’, and adds a bittersweet twist to the ending.
Most of the action takes place in the cramped cabin of ‘The Darjeeling Ltd’, the train the brothers are taking across India on their epic journey. The tight physical conditions reflect and heighten the stress and pressure between the brothers. They are carrying physical baggage - the 12 or so pieces of monogrammed luggage belonging to their late father, which reflects their heavy metaphorical baggage and the way they resolve these issues reflects the brothers mental resolutions.
Typically in Anderson’s films, the message is subtle and filled with comedic moments. An exploration of relationships, patterns of behaviour and roles between the brothers, ‘The Darjeeling Ltd’ is a slow paced, thinker’s film, interspersed with moments of great hilarity and poignancy. With cameos by Bill Murray and Angelica Hueston, it’s a classic Wes Anderson film line up, and follows similar lines of exploration as in other films by this auteur. Well worth a viewing if you like his work, and an easy introduction to his world if you don’t.
2 days in paris
Two Days in Paris
Starring: Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg
Written by: Julie Delpy
Director: Julie Delpy
'Two days in Paris' is the story of two lovers, Delpy and Goldberg, stopping off in Delpy's native Paris for two days on their way back from Vienna. Marion (Julie Delpy) is a photographer living in New York with her interior designer boyfriend, Jack (Adam Goldberg). They have been together for two years 'a miracle in these days'. The story is narrated by Delpy and is written and directed by her also.
It features sharp witty dialogue between the hypochondriac Jack and the more relaxed Delpy, although the dynamics of their relationship change greatly over their two days.
Starting off with a synopsis of their trip from Vienna by overnight train and arriving at Delpys apartment, on the floor above her parents apartment, it follows the couple through dinner with the parents, with the Delpy translating somewhat sloppily to her non French speaking boyfriend. Marions father in particular loves to insult the 'stupid American' and is amazed when he pronounces French authors names correctly.
The tone of the film is light and moves quickly from scene to scene.
Jack has never seen the 'French' side of Marion and is astonished by aspects of her personality that have never surfaced before – attacking an ex- boyfriend in a restaurant and abusing a rascist taxi driver in the cab drive home, leading him to suggest anger management classes when the return to New York.
The major bone of contention for Jack is meeting a number of Marion's exes during the course of their two days in Paris. She tends to conceal the truth revealing her relations to them, in order to save his feelings, although of course he finds out and these lies make the situation more difficult then it probably should have been.
The relationship starts to breakdown as mistrust enters and Marion's 'French ways' baffle Jack, leading him unable to comprehend her current relationships to her exes and view everything she does with suspiscion. This suspision is validated when he discovers dirty messages from Mathieu, an ex boyfriend, on her phone, and after some investigating, using the dictionary, shows him that the majority are from January, when Marion was over in Paris without him. This leads to the final most explosive fight and the culmination of the film.
This film is fast moving, and witty, although it loses something towards the end. It is a view into relationships and the small things that can send them off course, and discusses whether we should work to save them or let them go.
Starring: Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg
Written by: Julie Delpy
Director: Julie Delpy
'Two days in Paris' is the story of two lovers, Delpy and Goldberg, stopping off in Delpy's native Paris for two days on their way back from Vienna. Marion (Julie Delpy) is a photographer living in New York with her interior designer boyfriend, Jack (Adam Goldberg). They have been together for two years 'a miracle in these days'. The story is narrated by Delpy and is written and directed by her also.
It features sharp witty dialogue between the hypochondriac Jack and the more relaxed Delpy, although the dynamics of their relationship change greatly over their two days.
Starting off with a synopsis of their trip from Vienna by overnight train and arriving at Delpys apartment, on the floor above her parents apartment, it follows the couple through dinner with the parents, with the Delpy translating somewhat sloppily to her non French speaking boyfriend. Marions father in particular loves to insult the 'stupid American' and is amazed when he pronounces French authors names correctly.
The tone of the film is light and moves quickly from scene to scene.
Jack has never seen the 'French' side of Marion and is astonished by aspects of her personality that have never surfaced before – attacking an ex- boyfriend in a restaurant and abusing a rascist taxi driver in the cab drive home, leading him to suggest anger management classes when the return to New York.
The major bone of contention for Jack is meeting a number of Marion's exes during the course of their two days in Paris. She tends to conceal the truth revealing her relations to them, in order to save his feelings, although of course he finds out and these lies make the situation more difficult then it probably should have been.
The relationship starts to breakdown as mistrust enters and Marion's 'French ways' baffle Jack, leading him unable to comprehend her current relationships to her exes and view everything she does with suspiscion. This suspision is validated when he discovers dirty messages from Mathieu, an ex boyfriend, on her phone, and after some investigating, using the dictionary, shows him that the majority are from January, when Marion was over in Paris without him. This leads to the final most explosive fight and the culmination of the film.
This film is fast moving, and witty, although it loses something towards the end. It is a view into relationships and the small things that can send them off course, and discusses whether we should work to save them or let them go.
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