Reel Thoughts Interview: Frances Fisher's Sedona Adventure

It’s been six years since director Tommy Stovall released the gripping thriller Hate Crime, and he has been working on his follow-up film, Sedona: The Motion Picture ever since. The comic drama is a love letter to the town he and his partner Marc Sterling call home, and it shows. Their son Trevor even stars in the film as a young boy who wanders away from his two fathers (Hate Crime’s Seth Peterson and Matthew Williamson) in the Sedona woods. Frances Fisher anchors the film as Tammy, a high powered ad executive who has a run-in with a small plane on Sedona’s 89A highway, and ends up stranded in the New Age paradise. Fisher’s friend, Sordid Lives’ Beth Grant, suggested her for the role after scoring the part of the aura-reading salon owner Deb.

Fisher’s Tammy is oblivious to her beautiful surroundings and just wants to get out of town (like Bill Murray in Quick Change and Griffin Dunne in After Hours). Deb tells her that there is some reason that she’s stuck in Sedona, and Tammy finds herself flashing back to a traumatic incident that occurred on her birthday many years earlier. Coincidentally, it is Tammy’s birthday that day, and the town crazy, Claire de Loon (Lin Shaye) is running around demanding people sing “Happy Birthday” with her.

With hyper-saturated aerial shots of the gorgeous Sedona scenery and recognizable settings like the Red Planet Diner, Sedona: The Motion Picture captures the vibe of the funky and affluent town, and the cast is filled with actors you’ll recognize such as the sublime Grant, Barry Corbin from Northern Exposure, Christopher Atkins from The Blue Lagoon and Robert Shields of the mime duo Shields and Yarnell. The film’s low budget gives it a homegrown charm and Fisher is amazing, playing comedy as well as serious drama as her past catches up with her. Stovall’s son is engaging and adorably non-actorly, making you feel terrible when Peterson treats him so coldly.

The Sedona Chamber of Commerce could not have produced a better travelogue, and don’t be surprised if a certain statue prominently featured in the film gets a whole lot more people looking up its loincloth.

Frances Fisher is one of those striking red-haired actresses like Tilda Swinton who immediately imbue their characters with gravitas and integrity, be it as Deborah Saxon in the soap opera Edge of Night, Lucille Ball in Lucy and Desi: Before the Laughter or as Kate Winslet’s mother in Titanic. Despite feeling very sick, the star was gracious enough to talk to me about her role in Sedona and other work she’s done.

She was attracted to the role in Sedona when her pal Beth Grant suggested it for a few reasons. “Beth was in as Debbie and I like Sedona and I like playing someone who’s going through a transformation, because that’s what we’re all here to do on this planet, is to learn and grow.”

Fisher, who has a daughter Francesca with her conservative ex Clint Eastwood, isn’t shy about stating her support for same-sex marriage, and happiness with the recent Prop 8 ruling. “I believe that any two people who love each other should be allowed all the rights and privileges of any other two people who love each other legally and emotionally and spiritually.” Her Sedona director and his partner Marc Sterling are good examples of how conventional a same-sex marriage with children can be.

She had to hit the ground running, arriving late the night before filming commenced and wrapping up filming twenty-three days later. There were a lot of locations where they had to shoot, only allowing for one or two takes of any scene, but that contributed to her fish-out-of-water disorientation. “It was pretty intense,” she remarked.

Fisher received good notices for her performance as Lucille Ball, but she was sad that there was so little preparation time allowed. At one point when she was supposed to do Ball’s iconic comedy bit with a bass, the prop people handed her a fiddle.

She’s pleased to see Jessica Chastain, her costar from the 2008 Arizona-set film Jolene, receive such acclaim this year in The Help, The Tree of Life and The Debt. “(Jolene) was her first movie ever and I’m thrilled. She’s a great actress and she’s a good friend and I’m very, very happy for her success.”

Fisher will also soon be swept up in another Oscar-winning media frenzy when Titanic gets its star-studded 3D London premiere, which she will attend. It turns out that surviving the Titanic’s sinking onscreen was not the only disaster Fisher would escape. On Christmas day 2001, Fisher and her daughter narrowly escaped a fire that engulfed their home, with Francesca reportedly jumping from her upstairs window into her mother’s arms.

Fisher definitely brings that maternal fighting instinct to her role in Sedona, and you will love her passionate and comedic work in the film.

Interview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reel Thoughts: Friends in Low Places

One time… at Band Camp... actually, it was in a Creative Writing class... I was tasked with writing a story in which I used as much profanity as I could, since it was something I never did in my writing. The resulting story could have turned out like Jennifer Westfeldt’s Friends with Kids, but I succeeded much better than the Kissing Jessica Stein actress.

Definitely hoping to ride the wedding dress train of Bridesmaids, Friends with Kids is an adult-themed relationship film with raunchy bits grafted on like a bad science experiment. With Bridesmaids alums like Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolf and Jon Hamm, it is tempting to compare the films, but they really aren’t even in the same genre. Westfeldt is going for a Woody Allen-type ensemble comedy, but unfortunately, she is done in by two fatal flaws: her own blandly wooden performance, and the aforementioned badly done raunchiness.

Westfeldt comes off like Lisa Kudrow with all charm, quirkiness and charisma removed. She creates a void at the center of her own film, no matter how hard costar Adam Scott works to make up for her shortcomings. The misfired nastiness includes extended improbable discussions about vaginal tightness and yet another explosive baby diarrhea scene straight out of last year’s horrible comedy The Change-Up.

The premise of Friends with Kids really doesn’t hold water. After seeing how miserable all of their coupled friends are after having children, platonic best buddies Julie (Westfeldt) and Jason (Scott) decide that they should have a no-strings attached baby; that way they can share custody half the time and enjoy their single life the other half... what could go wrong? Of course, these pals are deluding themselves, because they both get jealous when the other finds a hot person to date, Ed Burns as a perfect gentleman in her case and Megan Fox as a Broadway actress starring in Chicago in his case.

The conflicts are as unconvincing as Westfeldt’s dirty talk, and because the main wedge in their friendship/baby timeshare arrangement is unbelievable, so is the resolution. Fox is made to be a child-hater, for instance, and Westfeldt makes Julie totally unsympathetic by having her throw herself at Jason when he is clearly in a relationship with Fox. How did she think it would turn out? All of the issues raised in Friends with Kids could have worked (and almost do at times), but Westfeldt is too involved with the material to realize when it goes off the rails. Also, what does it say when the two most unsympathetic characters are played by Westfeldt and her real-life honey Hamm?

Friends with Kids should be commended for putting New York actors to work, but I am surprised that Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santorum aren’t vilifying the movie for being a contraceptive device. The film made me never want to have kids, so it is more successful at birth control than condoms.

Reel Thoughts Rating: C

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: You've Got to Have Friends

As often as naive high school seniors pledge to "stay friends forever" and tell their besties "don't ever change" in their yearbooks, the harsh reality is that friendships do change over time. This is especially true once spouses/partners and children enter the picture.

Writer-director Jennifer Westfeldt captures the evolution of longtime friendships well in her new dramedy, Friends with Kids, which opens tomorrow. Westfeldt is best known in LGBT circles as the star of 2002's lesbian romance Kissing Jessica Stein. She also stars in her current film as Julie, a successful, single Manhattanite happy with her intimate but non-sexual relationship with similarly successful, single best friend, Jason (Adam Scott of TV's Parks and Recreation). Horrified as they are by the deteriorating marriages of their longtime friends Ben and Missy (Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig) and Alex and Leslie (Chris O'Dowd and Maya Rudolph) following the births of their respective children, Julie and Jason decide to have a child together the natural way without making an exclusive commitment to each other.

Though their friends are publicly supportive but privately offended initially by Julie and Jason's decision, they are impressed and eventually jealous of the non-traditional family once Jason and Julie's baby is born. The new parents' bliss proves short lived, however, once Jason falls for a hot Broadway dancer (the ever-hot Megan Fox) and Julie is drawn to a recently divorced man played by a surprisingly hunky Edward Burns, director-star of such popular indies as The Brothers McMullen and She's the One.

Friends with Kids is honest and frequently very funny even if the humor sometimes feels forced. Unspooling like a younger, raunchier Woody Allen film, especially in light of its lovingly-shot NYC setting, it is also representative of the growing genre of crude big-screen comedies like last year's hit Bridesmaids that focus on women. Speaking of Bridesmaids, Friends with Kids serves as a mini-reunion of its cast, notably Wiig, Rudolph, Hamm (who is also Westfeldt's real-life, longtime partner) and O'Dowd, who winningly played Bridesmaids' bewildered Irish cop. Their latest effort is better, smarter and less gross-out (despite a scene involving Jason and his infant's explosive diarrhea) than the somewhat overrated Bridesmaids.

"We don't know those people," Jason confesses to Julie at one point after witnessing their friends' at their worst. We can all be tempted at times to say the same of our longtime friends as all our lives lengthen and develop. Challenging and touching in equal measure, perhaps most especially during its potentially polarizing final scene, Friends with Kids makes for worthwhile adult viewing... especially for those with children.

Reverend's Rating: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: Going Crazy

Tourists and locals alike adorent Paris's famed Crazy Horse cabaret. Ranked alongside the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre as a must-see when visiting the City of Lights, the club's burlesque-style celebration of the nude female form has been running strong since its founding in 1951.

Frederick Wiseman's new documentary Crazy Horse, now playing the US art house circuit, gives viewers an unparalleled backstage look at the production. Not unlike a Gallic version of the new TV series Smash, the film intersperses extended discussions amongst the show's directors, producers and designers with brilliantly-conceived musical numbers. The best dance showcased here is set in a whirling, airborne hoop illuminated by a stained-glass lighting effect. Other elegantly erotic -- and frequently sapphic -- pieces are featured (the more shadowy interludes often reminded me of Maurice Binder's classic James Bond title sequences), as well as some numbers devoted to pure kitsch/camp.

The central conflict explored by Wiseman is between Crazy Horse's director-choreographer Philippe Decoufle and the production's financiers. After decades of little change, Decoufle wants to shut the club down for an extended period of re-design and renovation. The producers are understandably hesitant, tending toward the old "Why fix something that isn't broken?" argument, but eventually give in. Wiseman uses this showdown to compose a modern chapter in the classic, never-ending saga of art vs. commerce.

Wiseman is a celebrated, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker responsible for 37 documentaries, including the highly-acclaimed Titicut Follies, Public Housing and La Danse-Le Ballet de l'Opera de Paris. He tends to let the camera run with an apparent minimum of cuts and filmmaker interference, preferring to use the editing room to focus and finesse his findings. Wiseman's efforts in his latest work to show both the passion and the exacting process behind Crazy Horse gets tedious at times (the film runs well over two hours). Still, Wiseman provides a more thorough, less sensationalistic show business expose than most documentarians before him. Crazy Horse should be required viewing for adult students of direction and choreography for both theatre and film thanks to it's excellent treatment of the critical subject of artistic choices.

I was amused by insiders' frequent references in the film to Crazy Horse as "The Crazy," as well as when they identify talent who seem to have a particular understanding or appreciation of the club's aesthetic as simply "Crazy." Prudes and some gay men may object to the display of women's breasts and genitalia in Crazy Horse (there is a pair of male performers involved in the production but they are clothed). Call me crazy, but those who take issue ought to instead recognize the artistry and appreciate this troupe's dedication to achieving it over 60-plus years.

Reverend's Rating: B+

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: 2012 Oscar Shorts Round-Up

Flying books, last year's devastating Japanese tsunami, and an actress who famously kissed Elvis only to soon after become a nun figure into the unusual mix of subjects that constitute this year's Oscar-nominated short films. Thanks to Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International, moviegoers in Los Angeles, Orange County and New York at least have the opportunity starting today to view them prior to the Academy Awards ceremony on February 26th. Some are also available online.

Whereas each year's Live Action Short and Animated Short nominees have been released theatrically for several years now, this is only the second year that the candidates for Best Documentary Short have been made available. Alas, two of the latter -- God is the Bigger Elvis and Saving Face -- weren't available online beforehand for review. I am most interested in God is the Bigger Elvis, which recounts the vocational journey of Dolores Hart. Hart co-starred with Elvis Presley in 1957's Loving You and the following year's King Creole, and she made several other movies with such leading men as Montgomery Clift, Robert Wagner and George Hamilton. She left Hollywood, however, in 1963 in order to become a Roman Catholic nun. Today, Hart is better known as Reverend Mother and Prioress of her abbey in Bethlehem, Connecticut. Interestingly, she remains a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is therefore the only nun who gets to vote for each year's Oscar winners.

The standout for me among the 2012 nominees for Best Documentary Short and, I believe, the likely Oscar winner is The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom. Directed by Lucy Walker, it opens with devastating, first-hand video footage of the tidal disaster that swept coastal Japan on March 11, 2011 and killed an estimated 23,000 people. As one family took refuge on a nearby hillside, they recorded houses, school buses and neighbors being washed away. Subsequent accounts by survivors and rescue workers reveal their still-fresh grief, less than a year later. As one man tearfully states, "I lost everything that I lived for," including the best friend he watched die.

But the film also shows the re-growth that has already begun even as bodies are still being recovered. Intriguingly, the local cherry trees (many of them well over 100 years old) weren't destroyed and bloomed as usual soon after the tsunami. The trees and their beautiful blossoms, gorgeously photographed here by Aaron Phillips, serve as a potent metaphor for the impacted communities' recovery. Also featuring a Phillip Glass-ish score by alt rocker Moby, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom is undeniably moving and impossible to forget.

Among the nominees for Best Live Action Short is Pentecost. I couldn't avoid checking it out, drawn as I was by both its religious-themed title and plot. It is a very funny tale from Ireland of potential redemption from a Catholic perspective, as a young boy wrestles with his love of soccer and his responsibilities as an altar server. When the local archbishop comes to town for the titular holy day, preparations for Mass are likened to an athletic competition. Catholic liturgists will especially enjoy this one.

Due to a sometimes-weak Internet connection, I was unfortunately unable to watch the remainder of the Live Action Short contenders by deadline. On the plus side, though, I did view all five of this year's nominees in the Best Animated Short category. Disney/Pixar scored their now-seemingly obligatory nomination for the charming La Luna, although the studios' 2011 feature Cars 2 was notably excluded as a Best Animated Feature candidate. La Luna (which will screen with this summer's Pixar release Brave) spins a dialogue-free fantasy in which a boy's father and grandfather teach him the tricks of their unusual trade. As usual with Disney/Pixar, it is beautifully animated.

A Morning Stroll is an enjoyable, stylized romp that spans 100 years and involves zombies (both a phone app version and the real deal) as well as a wily chicken. In the process, the film transitions from black & white to color as well as from hand-drawn to CG. Canada's Dimanche (Sunday), meanwhile, is hand-drawn in a fairly simple style as it follows a child's weekend drive with his parents to church and then to his grandparents' house. Before returning home, he receives an unexpected lesson in the value of life.

This year's Oscar winner will most likely be either Wild Life (also from Canada) or The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (which, the filmmakers proudly proclaim, was made entirely in the great state of Louisiana). The former, subtitled "A Western," follows an Englishman with dreams of becoming a rancher to Alberta, 1909. This bittersweet saga by the talented Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby features lovely watercolor work in addition to frequent usage of Gilbert & Sullivan's classic tune, "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General."

The CG exercise in surrealism that is The Fantastic Flying Books... plays like something Salvador Dali and Ray Bradbury might have dreamed up. A withdrawn young man finds himself whisked away in a storm to a magical land populated by, yes, airborne works of literature. There, he finds himself tutored in the ways of life and love by Humpty Dumpty (who, curiously, also has a major role in the Best Animated Feature nominee, Puss in Boots). Touching and nicely scored by John Hunter, the short might just fly away with an Academy Award before all is said and done.

Reverend's Rating: A-

Los Angeles Release Date: February 10, 2012 Animation and Live Action at Landmark’s The Nuart Theatre, West LA and Regency Theatres’ South Coast Plaza, Santa Ana.

Los Angeles Release Date: February 17, 2012 Documentary Shorts at Laemmle’s Music Hall 3.

New York Release Date: February 10, 2012 Animation, Live Action and Documentary.

Note: Separate admission required for each program.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Interview: Liza with an L

I'm not aware of any other out lesbian writer-directors who have gotten to cross over from the visual arts and short films by making a non-LGBT feature starring such acclaimed actors as Linda Cardellini (Brokeback Mountain), Michael Shannon (Take Shelter, the upcoming Superman: Man of Steel) and John Slattery (Mad Men), but Liza Johnson has done so with absorbing results. Her very good military-domestic drama Return opens this Friday in Los Angeles and New York. It will also be available on VOD and iTunes beginning February 28th.

Cardellini plays Kelli, a wife and mother of two young daughters who returns home to smalltown Ohio as the film opens following a year-long stint serving in the National Guard during an unspecified war. It isn't long before Kelli's transition back to civilian life proves less than idyllic. Those who only know Cardellini as Velma in last decade's Scooby Doo franchise will be especially impressed by her performance here and Shannon, as her conflicted husband, is excellent as usual.

Johnson, whose "day job" is as Professor of Art at Williams College, is to be commended for her matter-of-fact approach to this story of a soldier's re-entry as well as for a refreshing lack of histrionics when the process doesn't go as well as expected. She recently spoke with Reverend about her experience making Return, which made its world premiere at no less than the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

"It isn't a gay movie," Johnson said, "but maybe there's a way it could be called a queer movie in that (Kelli) doesn't quite fit in and learns to live outside a traditional family." The filmmaker has been partnered for seven years and now calls Brooklyn home after her own upbringing in "Rust Belt" Ohio. "Sometimes, I am attracted to stories of people who choose to live outside the norm." Her crew on Return included Production Designer Inbal Weinberg, who worked on last year's Pariah, and Editor Affonso Goncalves, a veteran of such LGBT-interest projects as The Delta and Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce.

Johnson interviewed numerous women and friends who had recently returned from military service in Iraq, but she couldn't immediately recall whether she had spoken with any LGBT servicemen/women. "I believe that I did," she stated, and she shared one experience in particular. "I visited a friend of mine at Quantico, and I spoke with one woman there who isn't gay and is married but she checked me into the hotel there for significant others of military personnel. They couldn't or didn't ask our relationship (prior to the repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy), which is interesting." All in all, Johnson says she "had a great experience as an openly gay filmmaker working with military personnel."

Of working with her lead actors, Johnson reflected: "It was great. I worked with Linda for a longer time and did research with her; she took it really seriously and is very hardcore." Shannon, who will next be seen on the big screen as the villainous General Zod, was the first to be cast in Return by Johnson. "He is also very hardcore and committed to his work," she raved. "(Shannon and Cardellini) are both such powerful performers, the whole crew and film benefited from their seriousness."

Other movies in recent years have explored the experience of soldiers' return home from recent overseas conflicts, notably the lesbian-themed A Marine Story as well as Brothers and Stop-Loss. Return raises what could be a hitherto unasked question: what happens when what has long been considered home no longer serves its traditionally comforting purpose? In Johnson's assured hands (she actually has a PhD in coming-home-from-war narratives), the answer proves both enlightening and heartbreaking.

Reverend's Rating: B+

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: Grey Matters

If it takes intense trailers and commercials highlighting ravenous wolves, plane crashes and a sharp-shooting Liam Neeson to pack audiences into what turns out to be a meditation on faith and atonement, then so be it. Such is the case with this weekend's big release, The Grey.

Neeson gives one of his best performances to date as John Ottway, a petroleum refinery worker in Alaska. It's a great role that allows Neeson to display both the bad-ass persona popular in past films Taken and The A-Team with his more sympathetic traits previously seen in Schindler's List and Michael Collins (and heard as Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia films). Ottway finds himself one of only seven survivors after the jet taking his crew home goes down in the frigid wilderness. The cold becomes the least of their worries, as the men soon become prey to a pack of vicious, possibly metaphysical/metaphorical wolves.

As the gradually dwindling group makes its way toward what they hope is civilization, each man's past is laid bare. Most of them are guilty of sin in how they have mistreated their wives, children and/or neighbors. The film begins with Ottway reflecting "I don't know why I did half the things I've done," and wondering whether he's been "damned" or "cursed" as the result of his misdeeds. Increasingly, the men's plight takes on the semblance of a communal judgment day. Some come to greater faith in God, a few have the chance to make their peace before the wolves or the elements take them, and Ottway downright puts God to the test (against scriptural advice) before all is said and done.

The Grey was directed by Joe Carnahan, veteran of the similar morality thriller Narc as well as the big-screen version of The A-Team, in which he previously teamed with Neeson. Carnahan co-adapted his latest from a short story, The Ghost Walker. While the script is rife with now standard, profanity-laden macho dialogue, it isn't without humor or -- more significantly -- compassion. Poetry and even prayer figure in the mix too, with one survivor saying to God in all humility: "Thank you for sparing us and helping us. Keep that up if you can."

A classic theological theme of light vs. darkness becomes gradually pronounced, and is dramatized in particular through Masanobu Takayanagi's superb cinematography that utilizes a variety of styles: verite, handheld, standard and spectacular widescreen nature shots. The film's production company and press rep were kind to let me watch The Grey via streaming download since I was unable to attend press screenings, but this is a film that truly should be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated.

And then there are the fearsome wolves, brought to life through a combination of real animals, animatronics and CGI. Religious-minded viewers can debate whether the movie's lupine adversaries are demonic agents of Satan or are a justice-seeking force of God. It is intriguing that the wolves kill those unfortunate humans who cross their path but don't eat them, and that they maraud but also seem to police the men. I think it may have been more effective on Carnahan's part to show less of the wolves, a la Spielberg's handling of the infamous shark in Jaws, and leave their existence even more to the characters' and viewers' imaginations.

Different people will no doubt draw different conclusions from The Grey, depending on one's spiritual/religious background, physical endurance, emotional temperament, and admiration of or aversion to wolves. I look forward to hearing and reading viewers' reactions here and elsewhere. As far as filmmaking expertise goes, though, The Grey may ultimately emerge as one of this new year's better films.

Click here to access a special "film companion"/discussion guide prepared by Allied Faith & Family.

Reverend's Rating: B+

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: Bala to Ballet

Drug trafficking is estimated to be a $40 billion a year industry in Mexico, where most people live on the equivalent of only $2 in US currency per day. No one is immune -- not even children -- from being victimized by the country's pervasive and violent drug cartels, which have seemingly infiltrated the Mexican government itself.

Gerardo Naranjo's hard-hitting Miss Bala, now playing in Los Angeles and New York, provides a discomfortingly intimate glimpse into the complexities of the Mexico-US drug trade. Inspired by a true story, the film focuses on the unfortunate Laura (Stephanie Sigman), a young woman who yearns for beauty pageant victory but becomes the unwitting pawn of a vicious drug lord, Lino (the very impressive Noe Hernandez, previously seen in Sin Nombre and the Mexican HBO series Capadocia).

The scary yet protective Lino initially spares Laura's life during a dance club massacre. Laura feels compelled, however, to find out what happened to her best friend, who was at the disco but is missing post-attack. This brings Laura back into Lino's path. He exacts increasingly dangerous, degrading demands from her even as he works to help Laura achieve her dream of being crowned Miss Bala during a nationally-televised broadcast.

Laura serves as the naive lens through which viewers get an inside look into a dark, all too realistic world. As a character, I found Laura's cluelessness frustrating at times but Sigman's performance can't be faulted. Also worth noting in a brief role is James Russo, memorable as Axel Foley's loving but doomed best friend in 1984's Beverly Hills Cop. Naranjo stages the initial dance club attack, as well as a showdown between police and Lino's cartel in a freeway underpass and the assassination of a federal agent, with effective intensity.

Miss Bala was produced by Y Tu Mama Tambien acting duo Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. It is Mexico's official entry for Best Foreign Language Film in this year's Academy Awards but was excluded from the list of finalists in the category announced last week. Although I can't say I'm surprised by its absence, Miss Bala shouldn't be written off by adventurous moviegoers. It gives new meaning to the term "fashion victim."

From Bala to ballet, Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance is a revealing documentary about the groundbreaking dance troupe. It is having its sold-out world premiere this Friday, January 27th, as the opening night selection of NYC's Dance on Camera film festival and will make its West Coast debut on February 1st at LA's Colburn School. Whether one is a dance fan or not, gay or straight, it shouldn't be missed.

Narrated by Mandy Patinkin and produced, intriguingly, by Harold Ramis of Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day fame, the doc relates the biographies of dancer-choreographer Robert Joffrey and his longtime partner, Gerald Arpino, as well as the history of the company they founded. Though their romantic relationship had ended by the time of Joffrey's death from AIDS-related complications in 1987, the two men continued living together and remained virtually inseparable. The film incorporates considerable vintage footage of Joffrey at work in addition to interviews with former members of the company who trained under him. As one of them says of the closeted early years of Joffrey's and Arpino's love affair, "Everyone knew they weren't cousins."

And then there are the fantastic dance segments, past and present, through which the evolution of the Joffrey Ballet's unique mix of classical and modern dance styles are chronicled. They include "The Green Table," an anti-war composition that cemented Joffrey's reputation for daring excellence in the 1960's, and several scenes from the blockbuster, Prince-inspired "Billboards."

The company went through an inevitable period of decline in the wake of Joffrey's death and with the rise of modern masters Alvin Ailey and Twyla Tharp, but it has more recently rebounded following a move from New York to Chicago and under new leadership. Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance serves as a fitting if arguably too brief testament to an art form and its founders.

For more information about these and future US screenings of Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, visit the film's official website.

Reverend's Ratings:
Miss Bala: B-
Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance: A-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: Addicted to Dolly

My partner, Jim, is the world's biggest Dolly Parton fan... well, after Gary and Larry Lane, those adorable gay twins at the center of last year's documentary, Hollywood to Dollywood. Therefore, Jim and I had to go see Dolly's first big-screen movie in nearly 20 years -- Joyful Noise, co-starring the formidable Queen Latifah -- on opening day this past Friday. While some critics are dismissing this gospel-tinged dramedy as "fluff" and "cheese," I found it to have considerably more substance than they are giving it credit for.

Parton plays G.G. Sparrow, the bankrolling widow of recently-deceased church choir director Bernard Sparrow (a briefly-shown but effective Kris Kristofferson). When G.G. is passed over by the church's council to lead the choir in favor of single mom Vi Rose Hill (Latifah), tensions in their tight-knit, recession-ravaged Georgia town begin to rise. A budding romance between G.G.'s grandson, Randy (cute and charismatic Jeremy Jordan), and Vi Rose's teenage daughter (Keke Palmer, a lovely and gifted singer) only adds fuel to the fire.

A number of conflicts come to their head as the choir preps for the high-profile "Joyful Noise" gospel music competition, including Vi Rose's separation from her re-enlisted military husband (a nice turn by Jesse L. Martin of Rent fame). Vi Rose also has to deal with her son, who has Asperger's Syndrome but also could be gay based on an exchange he has with Randy. At minimum, the boy's medical condition can be read as a metaphor for homosexuality, and a conversation with Vi Rose in which he reveals his anger at God for his disability will ring true for any GLBT viewers.

Writer-director Todd Graff, best known for the indie hit Camp, is no stranger to plots where music, sexuality and faith collide. In Joyful Noise, Graff also raises the timely issues of economic instability and the challenges faced by military families. It's a busy, somewhat overstuffed and frequently predictable script but it incorporates a number of serious, affecting moments as well as some enjoyably quirky humor. There's no doubt, though, that the main draw for audiences is the promise of cat fights and musical performances by Parton and Latifah, and the film doesn't disappoint. While Latifah has the showier role (she also serves as one of the producers), Parton's trademark brand of corn-pone, self-effacing humor shines through. Parton also contributes a number of memorable new songs to the score, including "He's Everything," "Not Enough" and "From Here to the Moon and Back," the latter of which could easily snag her another Oscar nomination for Best Song next year.

Dr. Victor DeNoble probably wouldn't consider an addiction to Dolly Parton life-threatening, but he definitely feels otherwise about tobacco. As a strapping young doctoral student in 1980, DeNoble was recruited by cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, ostensibly to research ways to make tobacco less toxic. In the process, DeNoble discovered a previously-unknown, secondary chemical in cigarettes that actually made them more addictive. He soon found himself out of a job, while Philip Morris covered up his research and went on to market an even more dangerous product while continuing to deny publicly that tobacco was addictive.

DeNoble's story is recounted, primarily by the good doctor himself, in Addiction Incorporated (now playing in Los Angeles and opening January 20th in San Francisco). Charles Evans, Jr. makes an impressive directorial debut (he previously produced such acclaimed films as Johnny Depp's The Brave and Martin Scorsese's The Aviator) and utilizes animation, interviews with DeNoble's co-workers and footage from the 1994 Congressional hearings that ultimately doomed "big Tobacco." Philip Morris and other cigarette manufacturers were ultimately found guilty in a federal racketeering case, a decision upheld by the US Supreme Court.

While entertainingly constructed, Addiction Incorporated suffers at times from a too-comical approach. DeNoble and other commentators also sound excessively rehearsed, though this makes sense once it is revealed later in the film that DeNoble routinely gives his anti-tobacco spiel to school students. I also noticed (and I'm probably being too picky here) that some of the on-camera speakers have unsightly blemishes and/or shaving cuts that appear dramatically vivid in hi-def on the big screen. It wouldn't hurt documentarians from using make-up even while striving for naturalism.

Dolly Parton likely wouldn't hesitate to tell the Addiction Incorporated crew that the more make-up used, the better. Despite their flaws, I recommend both it and Joyful Noise for the valuable, even life-saving messages they have to offer.

Reverend's Ratings:
Joyful Noise: B
Addiction Incorporated: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Editor's note: The 2011 Movie Dearest Awards will continue tomorrow.

Reverend's Interview: Keeping It Real in Pariah

One of the most acclaimed films from this year's Sundance Film Festival, Pariah, will finally be making it to theaters this month. The semi-autobiographical drama about the coming of age of a lesbian teenager is scheduled to open in Los Angeles and New York on December 28th and will open nationwide in January.

I first heard of Pariah two years ago. It was initially a well-received short film, and producer Nekisa Cooper was then working hard to raise the funds necessary to expand it into a feature. Cooper and writer-director Dee Rees had an impressive endorsement letter from no less than Spike Lee, for whom Rees had worked on When the Levees Broke and Inside Man. Lee serves as one of the feature's executive producers.

Their hard work has paid off. The finished film is an authentic and moving exploration of a young woman trying to integrate her identity. Confident that "God doesn't make mistakes," 17-year old Alike (pronounced "Ah-lee-kay" and sometimes referred to as "Lee" for short) has to contend with her conservative-Christian mother as well as with other teens not yet as comfortable in their own shoes as Alike. Adepero Oduye gives a breakthrough performance in the lead role, and Kim Wayans (perhaps best remembered as Benita Butrell and other wacky characters from the 1990's TV sketch series In Living Color) is a revelation as Alike's conflicted mother.

Rees recently spoke with me from New York. "It's been a labor of love," Rees said of her six-year odyssey to make Pariah, first as a short and then as a feature. "Our audience reactions have been overwhelmingly positive; (the film) has universal appeal and has been shown not only at LGBT film festivals but at mainstream festivals." LGBT-friendly Focus Features, which has also released such popular movies as Brokeback Mountain and Milk, quickly snapped up the rights to Pariah following its Sundance screening. "It's every filmmaker's dream to have their film released by a major company," according to Rees. "Focus has been incredibly supportive."

Spirituality plays a major role in Alike's journey. Both Rees and Cooper were raised in devout Christian families, and Cooper's father serves as a Catholic deacon. "If anything, it's my spirituality that got me through the past six years," Rees reflects. "My spirituality and spiritual practice have actually gotten stronger than they were before going through this." While their parents will be invited to the official premiere of Pariah, Rees isn't sure how they will respond. "Hopefully," Rees said, "they will respond well so they can witness to other parents" of LGBT children.

With her profile on the rise in the industry, Rees just finished writing a new script for a thriller and is working with HBO on developing a TV series. She speaks appreciatively of all the support she has received, especially from two-time Oscar nominee Spike Lee. Rees calls Lee her mentor and states "He's been a great guiding hand."

"I'm not running, I'm choosing," Alike says in Pariah of a life-changing, climactic decision she makes. It's a statement Rees wholeheartedly agrees with. "I think questioning and affirming your identity is a universal theme, and I definitely want gay teens to connect with the film and see that it's ok to be them."

She concluded, "If you strip away race and sexuality, we are all searching for the same things when it comes to identity. That's what this film is about."

Reverend's Rating: A-

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: Close Call

Actress Glenn Close has been nominated for the Academy Award five times for her memorable turns in such films as Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attraction and The World According to Garp but she has yet to bring home the gold. That could soon change, given her current performance as a woman passing herself off as a man in Albert Nobbs. It is scheduled to open in theaters everywhere on January 27th.

Based on a short story that Close adapted into a play nearly 20 years ago, the movie's title character is the head servant in an upper-class, Irish guest house during the 19th century. Nobbs is respected by the headmistress (played by Brenda Fricker) and admired by the hotel's clientele, but Nobbs has a secret: he is really a she. Having begun cross-dressing as a young woman in the wake of a brutal attack, Nobbs has effectively led a male life for 30 years and dreams of one day opening "his" own tobacco shop.

Things begin to unravel, however, once Nobbs crosses paths with a hired handyman who also turns out to be a woman (Janet McTeer, giving a great, Oscar-worthy performance of her own). As Nobbs gets to know her and increasingly admires her marriage to another woman, Nobbs feels inspired to make romantic overtures to another servant in his household, the lovely young Helen (Mia Wasikowska). Alas, Helen only has eyes for attractive, impetuous Joe (Aaron Johnson), who soon gets her pregnant. Trouble for Nobbs and all concerned follows.

Close is startlingly convincing in terms of her physical appearance, voice and mannerisms. Though Nobbs is considered less than masculine by many of his co-workers, no one questions his/her gender. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) also appears as a closeted gay man who frequents the hotel. As good as the performances are, I found the screenplay and Rodrigo Garcia's direction tonally inconsistent. The unusual premise seems to be played at some moments for laughs and at other times with heavy-handed solemnity. This kept me from admiring Albert Nobbs completely.

This year's Oscar race for Best Actress is shaping up to be a tough one, with Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn), Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) and Viola Davis (The Help) likely among Close's competitors. As Albert Nobbs would probably say, "May the best man (woman) win!"

Reverend's Rating: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: London Ladies

The stage musical Billy Elliot includes the showstopping song "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher," a satiric ode to the long-reigning, conservative British Prime Minister. Appropriately, a new film biography of Thatcher, The Iron Lady, is arriving in US theaters this Christmas holiday season. Meryl Streep stars in the title role and gives yet another amazing, award-worthy performance (La Meryl has already won the New York Film Critics' award for Best Actress and been nominated for SAG and Golden Globe honors for her work here). If only the movie that surrounds her was as good.

The Iron Lady charts Thatcher's rise to power from her humble beginnings as daughter of a provincial grocer to becoming the first and only woman to date to serve as Prime Minister. It also explores her current and -- if the film is to be believed -- fairly demented status, conversing with her beloved late husband (wonderfully played by Jim Broadbent), bemoaning the high price of milk and saying things (not so dementedly) like "It used to be about trying to do something; Now it's about trying to be someone." Whether this is an accurate representation or not, Streep is especially good depicting Thatcher's later years and embodying an elderly woman in general.

As erratically written by Abi Morgan and chaotically directed by Phyllida Lloyd (who previously paired with Streep in bringing Mamma Mia! to the screen), the film is oddly constructed and shifts back and forth in time not only within minutes but sometimes within the same minute. It is at once convoluted and simplistic. To the filmmakers' and Streep's credit, though, The Iron Lady is never boring. I even wonder if it would work better as a musical, given Streep's and Lloyd's last joint success. Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I is even referenced at several points, with Thatcher and husband Dennis joyfully dancing together. Maybe Elton John and Lee Hall, who co-wrote Billy Elliot for the stage, can take The Iron Lady on as their next project.

Years after Thatcher's leadership ended, things aren't looking so good in London. Despite this year's lavish royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, London has been subjected to political and economic unrest, violent riots and terrorist attacks. One devastating act of terrorism in 2005 has inspired the powerful new drama London River, which is already playing in New York City and opens this weekend in Los Angeles.

Brenda Blethyn (perhaps best remembered for her high-strung "Sweetie Darling" turn in 1996's Secrets & Lies) plays Elizabeth, the rural mother of a London-based daughter. When her daughter fails to return her phone calls in the wake of coordinated bombings that killed 52 people and injured more than 700, Elizabeth goes to London to see what's going on. Once there, she learns that her daughter had been taking classes in Arabic and fallen in with a group of possibly radical Muslims. Elizabeth also meets Ousmane (the late Sotigui Kouyate, who won the Berlin Film Festival's Silver Bear for Best Actor), a French arborist searching for his son.

As they interview police, teachers and friends, Elizabeth and Ousmane must confront the growing reality that their children aren't the people they thought they knew and, worse, may have been at least partly responsible for the terrorist attack. Director Rachid Bouchareb (who helmed the Oscar-nominated Days of Glory and Outside the Law) draws excellent, haunting performances from Blethyn and Kouyate. Ultimately moving and cautionary, London River shouldn't be missed.

Reverend's Ratings:
The Iron Lady: B-
London River: B+

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reel Thoughts: Look Back in Anguish

In the 30 years since the AIDS crisis first reared its ugly head, it seems some people have forgotten what it was all about, how the LGBT community reacted then and how it changed the way we live and are more accepted today.  In the moving documentary We Were Here (now in select theaters and premiering today on Pay-Per-View and Video on Demand), filmmaker David Weissman and the four people who are interviewed on camera insist that people remember.

We Were Here pieces together what life was like in the Castro District of San Francisco in the '80s and early '90s as people first became terrified of the nameless afflictions that were killing formerly healthy men so quickly, then became angry as the government seemed content to let the disease run its course unabated through the gay community. It was before many people can remember, but there was a time when people like Lyndon LaRouche and Jerry Falwell were pushing legislation to quarantine people with AIDS and fought to stigmatize them at their most vulnerable time. Mostly, We Were Here shows how the LGBT community came together to help one another and fight for a cure.

People like nurse Eileen Glutzer, who is featured in the film, were among the few who would go into the rooms of AIDS patients and offer them care and love, when even her coworkers refused to do so out of fear of the disease. The other three people interviewed are men who lived through the disease and watched as more than 15,000 people died in San Francisco alone.

Despite its somber subject matter, We Were Here (which was recently named a finalist for next year's Academy Awards) is must-see viewing for everyone in the LGBT community. It is a powerful rallying cry to fight for the rights and protections we deserve. It also shows how different groups in our community can pull together in times of need, like the women's community, which provided life-saving blood drives in the Castro when gay men were prohibited from donating when the need was so great.

Times have changed and HIV is no longer a death sentence, but it is vital to remember the past so that it isn't repeated.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Toon Talk: Of Muppets and Men

The past twelve years haven’t been kind to the fluffy, felty band of misfit marionettes known collectively as the Muppets. In the dozen or so years since their last big screen outing (the underrated Muppets from Space), they have been relegated to fast food commercials and shoddy made-for-TV movies (Muppetphiles were hard-pressed to decide which was worse, It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie or The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz).

All that can now be forgotten (if not quite forgiven) with this past weekend’s release of their new hit movie, simply titled The Muppets. And while it doesn’t reach the Muppetational greatness of The Muppet Movie or The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppets does serve as an entertaining reintroduction of Kermit and Company to today’s audiences...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of The Muppets at LaughingPlace.com.

Reverend's Review: A Fiennes Bromance

Oscar nominated actor Ralph Fiennes, best known as the villainous Voldemort in the Harry Potter series, makes an impressive directorial debut with Coriolanus (opening today in Los Angeles and New York City for awards consideration and going wide in January). This modernized adaptation of one of Shakespeare's least-known plays is nothing if not timely for its provocative examination of how those in power manipulate the masses, at least until the masses get wise to them.

Fiennes also stars and gives a fierce, award-worthy performance as the title Roman general. In the wake of his military victory over the Volscians, led by sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius (300's Gerard Butler), Caius Martius "Coriolanus" is promoted by Rome's Senate to the powerful position of Consul. He initially secures the required consent of the Roman populace despite his prickly personality and thinly-veiled contempt for "the rabble." But when Coriolanus's political enemies expose and inflame his absolutist convictions, the public not only withdraws its support but votes for Coriolanus's banishment.

The enraged, humiliated general subsequently seeks out the Volscians and their leader and proposes an alliance against Rome. Surprisingly, Tullus Aufidius receives his former enemy warmly and something of a bromance begins between them. Alas, things don't end so well for the pair; Coriolanus is one of Shakespeare's tragedies, after all.

Not unlike other works by the Bard, Coriolanus contains its share of homoerotic elements. This is especially apparent in the devotion the Volscian troops show their new co-leader, shaving their heads to appear like him, toning their bodies and stripping down to tank tops. Fiennes and Butler make a potent combination physically as well as in their mastery of Shakespeare's prose, although Butler's Scottish brogue sometimes makes his lines difficult to understand.

Otherwise, screenwriter John Logan's savvy, streamlined approach to the source material makes Coriolanus easily accessible to movie audiences. The story largely plays out on big-screen televisions, cell phones and the Internet, and the military hardware employed is decidedly Bush-era. Those who have been following the "Occupy" movement will easily find relevant the rallying cry of those opposed to Coriolanus and the Senate: "The people are the city!" As the 99% continue to rise up today against the power-wielding minority, Shakespeare's work proves to be not only poetic but prophetic.

Fiennes' amazing supporting cast includes Vanessa Redgrave (giving her best film performance in years as the general's ruthless mother), Brian Cox and actress-of-the-moment Jessica Chastain, who won the New York Film Critics award for Best Supporting Actress earlier this week for her turns in The Tree of Life, The Help and Take Shelter. Director of Photography Barry Ackroyd effectively utilizes the same combination of hand-held cameras and sweeping vista shots he did in The Hurt Locker.

Coriolanus is challenging, as all Shakespeare is nowadays to increasingly untrained ears. It likely won't be a big hit at the box office but could reap some significant nominations if not awards and go down as one of the better modern interpretations of his work.

Reverend's Rating: B+

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reel Thoughts: Trouble in Paradise

Director Alexander Payne has been making great films since Citizen Ruth and Election, but chances are most people are more familiar with Sideways or About Schmidt due to their Oscar nominations. His new film, The Descendants, shares a tone and subtlety with those latter films, to the point where those with shorter attention spans may flee the theater for the latest Twilight saga. I prefer to think of it as playing on Hawaii time, since the film is set completely among the non-tourists of that laid-back paradise.

The Descendants is gorgeously shot and deceptively subversive in the way that it confronts non-native people's co-opting of sacred lands. It won't make you feel bad as you sip a pina colada at a Hawaiian resort, but then again, it might.

George Clooney plays Matt King, a rich lawyer who is a direct descendent of Hawaiian royalty, which makes him executor of a trust that includes hundreds of acres of pristine Hawaiian land that he must sell before the laws dissolve the agreement. Unlike his family of Jimmy Buffett-like cousins, he hasn't lived off the great wealth the trust provided, and he is more than a little conflicted about selling the land for development.
All of this is just a backdrop to what is happening in his life. His wife, Barbara, bored by his lack of attention, began "seizing life" and ended up in a coma from a speedboat accident. Now forced to be a full-time father, Matt doesn't know how to communicate with his younger daughter and has no idea that his older daughter is getting drunk at the pricey boarding school where he sent her to straighten up.

The majority of the film deals with Barbara's imminent death and how to prepare the family and friends, while Clooney's character must additionally deal with a shattering betrayal by his now-comatose wife. Clooney gives a terrific, nuanced performance that is especially heartbreaking when he is left alone in the hospital room with his duplicitous wife and has to make peace with her. He gradually learns through tragic and uplifting events how to reconnect with his daughters and with the great land with which he has been entrusted.

Actress Shailene Woodley, who is best known for her role in The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family, plays the a tough, wounded daughter who becomes privy to her mother's less-than-admirable behavior in The Descendants. I recently visited with the 20-year-old actress to discuss her breakout role.

About how she got into character: "I'm not one of those actors who approaches it and thinks too much about it. I don't think about ‘the character' and ‘her arc' and what her life is like. I just try to approach it and be as present and truthful in the moment. I really responded to this screenplay because it was so real and raw and truthful and human. And it's so rare, especially in scripts that I read that are geared toward my age range. They're usually glamorized and not quite truthful."

On the screenplay: "The screenplay was so brilliantly written that there was no improvising. Emotion naturally came up and I was so fortunate to work with such phenomenal actors who gave me so much to work off of."

On director Alexander Payne, who she didn't know before she auditioned, and co-star George Clooney: "Alexander Payne is one of my top five favorite human beings on a personal level, and George Clooney is a superhuman. Every positive thing that you've read about him is true and every negative thing is hilarious because that man doesn't have a mean bone in his body.

On the time she spent on location in Hawaii: "These were the four months that shaped my young adult life. It was magical. Being there on set, it was such a comfortable environment. George was never in his trailer, he was always there hanging out with us. No one was better than anyone else and Alexander is such a happy human being, he created such a happy environment, there were never any fights or any disputes."

On the films serious and funny moments: "Everyone in some way or another has to deal with death, whether it's someone close or a family member, and at the same time, this movie is very funny. Life is funny, and we as human beings are hilarious. My friends who are gay always seem more open and comfortable with life and with mistakes. I took one of my friends to see the film and he was crying through half the film and laughing through the other half. Afterwards, he said, ‘That's just like real life: you laugh, you cry and you don't realize how funny life can be until you remove yourself from the bubble and look back on it.'"

Review and interview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: Tomboy Joy

One of the best films of the year, GLBT-interest or otherwise, is Celine Sciamma's exquisite Tomboy. After winning raves and awards at various film festivals, it is being released theatrically today in Los Angeles and New York by Rocket Releasing.

Young lead actress Zoe Haran gives one of several beautifully nuanced performances in this sensitive, compassionate movie about a girl's efforts to fit into a new community by presenting herself as a boy. This naturally leads to complications. Both the central character and the film resist easy categorization but Tomboy provides many rewards. Despite its subtitles, even older children and teenagers may appreciate this French import.

Reverend's Rating: A-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend’s Reviews: Full Frontal Fassbender

2011 is proving to be Irish-born actor Michael Fassbender’s breakout year. After playing the romantic lead opposite Mia Wasikowska in Cary Joji Fukunaga’s take on Jane Eyre and his fine turn as the younger incarnation of chief villain Magneto in the otherwise shockingly overrated X-Men: First Class, Fassbender is ending the year with an even bigger bang… and I do mean that in a euphemistic, sexual sense.

Most immediately, Fassbender co-stars beginning today in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method from Sony Pictures Classics. He portrays the pioneering early 20th-century psychiatrist Carl Jung, who falls in with both a miscast Viggo Mortensen (Cronenberg’s go-to guy of late, having previously starred in the director’s Eastern Promises and A History of Violence) as Sigmund Freud, Jung’s mentor, and a deeply disturbed mental patient played by a Russian-accented Keira Knightley.

Fassbender is excellent, and Knightley could end up with an Academy Award nomination for her initially over-the-top but ultimately affecting turn. Although their sex scenes (which primarily involve clothed spanking) are more silly than scandalous, both seem to invest their hearts as well as their bodies in them. I enjoyed Mortensen’s livelier than usual performance as Freud but can’t help but feel busy Oscar winner Christoph Waltz would have been a better, more authentically European choice.

While A Dangerous Method is handsomely-produced and -designed, what should have been an intriguing story fell pretty flat for me. Cronenberg directs with no particular flair, and Christopher Hampton’s talky screenplay doesn’t delve enough into Jung’s hinted-at devotion to mysticism or the Jewish Freud’s cultural/religious insecurities (“Put not your trust in Aryans,” Freud warns cryptically at one point.) The film is now playing in Los Angeles and New York City and will expand nationally soon.

Fassbender also headlines and bares all in Fox Searchlight’s Shame, scheduled to open in select cities on December 2nd. The actor won the prestigious Best Actor award at this year’s Venice Film Festival for his fully-committed performance as Brandon, a contemporary NYC sex addict. All seems to be going well for Brandon both at his day job and with his indiscriminate nightly escapades. Once his rootless sister (Carey Mulligan) enters the picture, however, all hell truly breaks loose.

Screenwriters Steve McQueen (who also directs) and Abi Morgan heavily imply all manner of sexual abuse and incest in Brandon’s and Sissy’s pasts but hesitate from revealing anything definitive. As a result, Shame tends to wallow in its graphic sexual scenes (both heterosexual and homosexual, and far from arousing) rather than provide any illumination or redemption. I still can’t believe that the prospect of Brandon’s participation in a 12-step group for those suffering from sexual addiction is never raised, despite Shame being set in a city as chock-full of fellow addicts and support groups as Manhattan.

Fassbender and Mulligan may deservedly be honored with year-end critics groups’ citations for their arresting work here, even though Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar) and George Clooney (The Descendants) are the current front runners for the Best Actor Oscar. The strong-stomached will likely consider Shame worthwhile viewing based exclusively on Fassbender’s performance and/or his frequently displayed, admittedly impressive physical endowment. No offense, Michael, but I have every confidence you are made of stronger stuff and look forward to even finer, predominantly clothed performances from you in the future.

Reverend’s Ratings:
A Dangerous Method: C+
Shame: C-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.