Nora's Will: Grade A

A

Nora’s Will (2008)

Fernando Luján; Writer-Director Mariana Chenillo. (Spanish and Hebrew; subtitled)

An old retired guy (Lujan) finds his ex-wife has committed suicide, but not before setting an elaborate table for the Passover feast. The ex-husband calls his adult children and the ranking rabbi. He is a nonbeliever himself however, and is annoyed at the rabbi’s authoritarian insistence on details of the funeral, including the fact that it will have to wait four days because of the religious calendar. The body is put on ice.

The husband thinks all this is ridiculous and signs up for a Christian funeral service and burial just to get it done, and also to annoy the rabbi. Crosses, flowers, and a cross-shaped casket appear in the apartment. The rabbi is extremely annoyed, all the more when he is offered a pork, bacon and sausage pizza by the husband. But the rabbi ultimately has his way when he calls all the important Jewish cemeteries and advises them that they cannot take a suicide. So the family has a problem, reminiscent in some ways of Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying.

The acting by Lujan and several others is superb, and the script is scintillating. The humor is dry and subtle, yet at the same time, the dramatic moments are deep and poignant. That is quite a writing achievement. Costumes are perfect, and while the movie is somewhat setbound, the cinematography is excellent. A very personal, funny and moving picture that illuminates life.

The Believer: Grade A

A

The Believer (2001)

Ryan Gosling, Summer Phoenix; Writer and Director Henry Bean.

A Jewish boy in contemporary New York defies his Rabbi, questioning whether the teachings of the Torah are meaningful. He accuses God of being needy, moody, and selfish and defies God to strike him dead on the spot if this is not so. Fast forward to the young man in his twenties (Gosling) who has become a Nazi skinhead and spews hatred for all Jews, denies the holocaust and reveres Hitler. He and his thug buddies go around intimidating Jewish shop owners and plotting to blow up a synagogue. He becomes an articulate anti-semitic spokesman among his friends and even for a shadowy political fascist group in the city. But as each anti-semitic plot and incident develops, we see him showing thoughtful reverence, almost longing, for the Torah, for the Hebrew language, for Jewish ritual and custom, and for an integrated self. He becomes increasingly confused about his self-identity but remains oblivious to his own self-hatred. In the end, he makes a dramatic choice that is nevertheless driven more by pragmatics than by any insight or conversion of belief.

This picture is a close remake of the 1998 American History X that starred Edward Norton in the lead role, and it is just about as good. Gosling is a major acting genius and carries the role as well as Norton did his. This film is more psychologically nuanced, showing the character’s inner conflict extremely well, whereas American History X was more external and obvious. However, for this movie to work, you have to accept the almost psychotic self-hatred and identity confusion of the main character, which is a leap of imagination. The movie does not even try to explain the development of the character’s confused thinking, and the flashbacks to childhood do not help in that, so we just have to take it as it is. Once you get past that however, the acting is superb, and the script excellent – not one false note. Here is another case where I was rewarded for going into the stacks of older films when I could not find an attractive current release.

Doubt: Grade B

B
Doubt (2008)
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Viola Davis; Writer-Director John Patrick Shanley.

The harsh principal of a Catholic school in 1960’s New York (Streep) believes for no reason that the head priest (Hoffman) is abusing one of the boys in her class. Then one of the teachers (Adams) reports that the boy had alcohol on his breath after a conference with the priest, though that action was off-screen. In fact the whole movie is talking heads discussing other places, other actions, other conversations. No action is seen first-hand, making it a slow-moving movie, but not quite boring. The principal confronts the boy’s mother (Davis) who gives a knockout, memorable performance in her short scene. Acting by everyone is at a very high level, and that makes the movie worth watching.

The priest asks the principal if she has any evidence against him. She doesn’t, she admits, but she has certainty. The priest asks her if she has doubt, and she says no. So the theme of certainty without evidence becomes a parable for religious faith versus doubt. For those who are slow to pick up that connection, the priest gives several sermons to make it obvious. And that’s about it. Nothing happens, nothing is resolved. Dramatic tension is parasitic on recent cultural hysteria about priestly sexual abuse of children. The story does not develop its own tension. Costumes and sets are excellent, especially the dowdy parish offices and classrooms. The stench of church authority, delusional ritual, and small-minded thinking succeeded in getting up my nose. Exceptionally fine performances redeem a weak story.

Religulous: Grade C

C
Religulous (2008)
Bill Maher. Director Larry Charles.

Comedian Maher travels the world, supposedly trying to understand how seemingly rational people can believe the incredible stories told them by religion, especially in Christianity. It’s a lot of fun to have Biblical stories reframed by him, such as hearing the Garden of Eden scene described as two naked people and a talking snake.

His wit is sharp but he aims it at easy targets, making him seem mean-spirited. He visits a roadside chapel for truckers and informs them that none of the apostles were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life. They don’t believe him and some take offense. These are enormous, simple-minded guys in flannel shirts, uneducated, sincere, and well meaning. Maher’s intellectual challenges to their beliefs is all about him, not them.

He also interviews preachers, priests, ex-Mormons, and one scientist. Interviews are intercut with ironic news, movie, and commercial scenes, such as GW Bush explaining what God wants him to do. At the end of the film Maher goes pedantic and gives an unnecessary speech that reveals his lack of confidence in the effectiveness of the documentary.

Maher has some genuinely funny one-liners here and I love his style of humor, but the whole project seems juvenile. Of course religion is ridiculous; that much is clear to the most casual observer. Why not ask why it persists then; what psychological and social functions does it serve? A much better documentary on the absurdity of religion is Richard Dawkins’ Root of All Evil, although it is dead serious, only unintentionally funny. But perhaps Maher’s intended audience is children and young adolescents. For that group, this movie might be enlightening.

The Nines: Grade A

A
The Nines (2007)
Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy, Elle Fanning. Writer-Director John August.

This is more like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone than a serious narrative film, but it is extremely well acted, well photographed, and consistently engaging. The same characters appear in three short stories that represent different segments, or aspects of their lives. In one, Reynolds’ character is a crackhead video game creator under house arrest, monitored and befriended by parole officer McCarthy, seduced by neighbor Davis. In the next story, Reynolds is the writer-director of a TV pilot with Davis the network executive who forces him to fire his star, McCarthy. In the final story, the same three characters have yet different interrelated roles.

What do all the stories have in common? That’s the mystery the viewer must untangle. Confusion of reality and fantasy pervades all the stories (very Hollywood), but there is also a Platonic theme: is our life experience all that there is, or are we really prisoners in a cave, watching shadows on the wall while the real world is outside in the light? Compulsively watchable acting and sharp dialog keep this pretentiously heady film floating above metaphysical silliness. Two grating musical numbers disturbed the flow, but for the most part, the directing was competent. The big mystery of the stories is largely resolved, although there are too many loose ends and inconsistencies in characters’ points of view for it to end with a satisfying thump. Maybe lingering ambiguity and a sense of having been duped is consistent with the movie’s theme. I give it an A because of outstanding acting and a story that kept me on the hook.
A short DVD extra starring McCarthy is a bonus little gem.

Man from Earth: Grade B

B

Man from Earth (2007)
David Lee Smith, John Billingsly, Ellen Crawford. Director Richard Schenkman.

This is definitely a thinking person’s sci-fi story because there are no space ships, no aliens, no explosions, not even any developed characters or serious human relationships. It is 87 minutes of 6 professors discussing whether it is possible that a man born 14,000 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age, could have lived to the present time. The biology professor does the mandatory hand-waving to explain that it is theoretically possible, and we are off.

Professor Oldman (get it?) (Smith) claims to be that man. He stopped visibly aging when he was 35. The others are incredulous at first, but very quickly take leave of their critical thinking and become persuaded, to various degrees. Unfortunately, their questions gravitate to what Oldman experienced and remembers about Biblical times and characters, which is, to my mind, the least interesting topic they could possibly have chosen. Nobody, not even the anthropologist or the psychiatrist, has the wit to ask about the origins of human language, social patterns, the effects of population growth, technological changes, the meaning of the cave paintings, climate changes, medicine, the invention of agriculture… I would have had a very long list of questions. But these professors are only interested in whether he knew any Christian apostles.

Acting is no more than adequate, the same for directing. I liked the way the room became increasingly cave-like as day wore into evening, but I was annoyed by the contrivance of having characters erupt into anger, tears or threats for no reason other than to break up the monotony of conversation, for the benefit of those who find conversation monotonous. On the plus side, the directing was true to the Twilight-Zone genre, an homage to Jerome Bixby, author of the novel on which the movie is based, and who wrote for Twilight Zone and the original Star Trek. If you can visualize Rod Serling monotoning, “You unlock this door with the key of imagination…”, then you are in the right mind-set to enjoy this film.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley: Grade B

B
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
Cillian Murphy. Director: Ken Loach

Irish Republicans form a ragtag gang to resist the British occupation in 1920. The camera follows Murphy as he reluctantly joins the gang when his tolerance for British brutality is exceeded. The group trains in the fields, steals guns from British barracks. Members are captured and tortured. Most escape and continue to fight until some endorse a cease-fire proposal while others reject it and are killed by the Brits. It is a one-sided story, sympathetic to the Republican cause, so even though it makes you want to learn more about the conflict, this is by no means an educational film. The acting is quite good throughout the cast, but there is no thematic development. It is just one incident after another. No ideas are presented beyond Irish: good; British: bad. The accents are difficult to decipher, but since there is no real story to follow, it doesn’t matter. The cinematography is sensuous and saturated with color. The Irish countryside is gorgeous. Music includes beautiful Celtic songs. Directing is impeccable. Costumes and sets convey genuine 1920’s. The movie is a treat for the senses, if not for the brain.