Changeling

Tony Rivetti Jr./Universal Pictures
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling."

Eastwood remains one great director

March 20, 2009 Weekender

You are pretty much certain if Clint Eastwood is involved in a film, it will be pretty good.

The guy is 78, a time in which many artists have discovered their best work is long gone.

But Eastwood continues to churn out quality stuff, one of the most recently being "Changeling."

Wow! And it is based on a true story.

First off, the film takes place in the 1920s and 30s and you can just absorb the authenticity.

It starts in 1928 but main character, Christine Collins, in many ways is a modern woman, just wearing shapeless clothing of the period and unbelievably red lipstick, at least in Blu-ray.

Played by Angelina Jolie, Collins was a single mother who was a telephone operator. In fact, before her tragic story unfolds, she is offered a supervisory position, even though her boss admitted he was getting heat for even considering a woman.

(Note the supervisory job is so intense, she is required to wear roller skates to quickly get from one side of the room to the next.)

When she must go to work unexpectedly one night, she settles her young son Walter (Gattlin Griffith) in for the night and tells him to see the neighbor if he has any problems.

When she gets home, Walter is gone. She eventually calls police and a few months later, they say they have good news, Walter has been found.

She immediately says it isn't her son, but police say kids change rapidly at that age and it is indeed her boy.

So what can she do? She takes the boy home but discovers he isn't circumcised. Walter is. This boy is three inches shorter than Walter was when he left. His teacher doesn't recognize him. The boy doesn't know where his desk is at school. The dental records don't match.

Armed with this information, Collins confronts authorities. But the police are plagued by allegations of corruption by the Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), who has his own radio show. They aren't about to lose face after “solving” this high-profile kidnapping case.

So they throw Collins in a mental hospital where the key to leaving is admitting the new “Walter” is her son and she had been delusional.

She isn't the only “political” prisoner in this gripping drama. Others are drugged and undergo horrible shock therapy.

Meanwhile, a more sensitive detective, Ybarra (Michael Kelly), hears a fascinating story from a young man who tells of being kidnapped and helping a depraved man kill and bury 20 boys at a chicken ranch. The boy identifies Walter as one of the victims.

But there is more to the tale then this. The scandal is so pervasive, the community actually changed its name because of bad publicity.

The scenes, the costumes, the sets, the story all make for an eerie, top-notch movie experience.

You won't believe "Changeling" could have happened, but it did.

CHANGELING

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by J. Michael Straczynski

Runtime: 141 minutes

Rated R for violence, disturbing content

4 stars out of 5

Deception

Plot twists keep ‘Deception’ interesting

20th Century Fox
Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor in"Deception."

If you want to see an excellent, smart, popcorn-munching film, check out Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman in “Deception.”
The intricate plot, the situations, the characters, the actors jell very nicely in this suspense drama. Oh yeah, and there’s lots of sex, too.
Then again, that’s because there’s a sex club thrown into the plot.
McGregor plays Jonathan McQuarry, an accountant who lives, well, an accountant’s life. He’s nice but quiet, and it looks like his days are relatively uneventful.
His job requires him to review the books of various big companies around Manhattan. So every few days, he picks up his laptop and is ushered to the corner office of this or that business.
At an attorney’s office, he meets a guy who calls himself Wyatt Bose, played by Jackman. He’s handsome, he’s flashy, he’s friendly.
They strike up a conversation. They share a joint. They play tennis.
Nerdy McQuarry seems flattered this guy is interested in him.
But soon the film turns darker.
Jackman’s character, as they eat lunch in the park, says he must go to Europe for a time for his law firm.
When they part, they accidentally switch cell phones.
McGregor’s character gets a phone call, which was supposed to go to Bose. It’s a sexy-sounding woman who asks, “Are you free tonight?”
Wyatt’s influence has made McQuarry less inhibited, and he decides to meet the woman in a hotel, where they leave no doubt they have done the deed in any number of positions.
It seems McQuarry has stumbled onto Bose’s membership in a sex club.
With his friend apparently in Europe, he takes advantage of the situation — no lonely accountant nights with TV dinners for him.
This film weaves many different layers.
McQuarry is captivated by a beautiful blonde he sees while getting onto a bus. The woman, played by Michelle Williams, by coincidence turns out to be a member of the sex club, too.
McQuarry is smitten. This girl might be the one. He can’t bring himself to have just sex and lose her forever.
They meet outside the sex club. His life has changed so much since he met the friendly Mr. Bose.
Ah, but is Bose who he says he is? Is the beautiful blonde whom she appears to be?
What started as an interesting film turns compelling, like shivers down the spine.
OK, the ending starts to get a little far-fetched, but the journey to get there is great.
And you have seasoned actors, who certainly know their stuff.
Kudos to Mark Bomback for his screenplay and Marcel Langenegger for his tight directing style.
Sex, suspense, romance, thrills, surprises.
Hey, this film gives you a lot. Don’t be deceived. Rent it.
DECEPTION
• Directed by Marcel Langenegger
• Written by Mark Bomback
• Runtime: 107 minutes
• Rated R for sexual content, language, brief violence and some drug use
• 4 stars out of 5

After the Wedding

Sidse Babett Knudsen and Mads Mikkelsen in "Efter brylluppet."
‘After the Wedding’ is a complex story
Video Viper with BOB LEBZELTER for March 6, 2009

Jacob Pederson appears to be a Mother Teresa sort in the film “Efter Brylluppet” (“After the Wedding”).

Pederson, played by Mads Mikkelsen, lives and works in poverty in Mumbai (Bombay), India. There he assists in running the Anand Orphanage.

Some of the children become prostitutes. They go hungry. Without Pederson’s work, more would be destitute.

He brings meals to the street children. He is a father figure to many. He even adopts one of the children.

But his orphanage is nearing bankruptcy. He needs help.

A wealthy Danish citizen, Jorgen (Rolf Lassgard), is looking for a charity to give money to, and Pederson is invited to give his pitch. Pederson flies to Denmark and stays in a posh apartment.

Pederson pitches his orphanage. Jorgen seems indifferent to the orphanage’s plight but invites Pederson to crash his daughter’s wedding. Pederson needs the cash and figures he will get a better chance of obtaining the money by attending the wedding.

Talk about a coincidence. The girl’s mother just happens to be his old flame, Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen). Shock one.

Then when the bride, Anna (Stine Fischer Christensen), gives a little wedding tribute to her father, we get another shock. It’s a big shock. I won’t spoil it by telling you.

It’s a life-saving shock for Pederson, who eventually is offered the money but with the stipulation he stay in Denmark to handle the money.

But Pederson promised his young son that he would return for the boy’s birthday.

Yes, this guy’s goal of helping young orphans is complicated. But it gets worse.

This is a full-fledged story. In too many other films, plots appear underwritten, thin and predictable. But not in “After the Wedding.” The characters are also three-dimensional and complex.

The rich Jorgen comes off initially as an unfeeling jerk, but we later learn how noble and unselfish he can be.

And Pederson isn’t as Mother Teresa-ish as we at first believe.

Then there’s the new bride, who is so happy at the wedding but turns morose later.

Give credit to the actors but also director-writer Susanne Bier and writer Anders Thomas.

It’s a drama, it’s a soap opera, it’s an adventure; but most of all, it is a romance.

It works at so many levels. “After the Wedding” is worth seeking out.

‘EFTER BRYLLUPPET’ (‘After the Wedding’)

Director: Susanne Bier

Writers: Anders Thomas Jensen (screenplay) and Bier (story)

Runtime: 120 minutes

Rated “R” for some language and sexuality

Filmed in Danish, Swedish, Hindi and English, with subtitles

3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Mafioso

‘Mafioso’ from country that knows topic

Bob Lebzelter Video Viper for Feb. 27, 2009

ALBERTO SORDI returns to his stomping grounds and brings his wife in "Mafioso."

“Mafioso” isn’t your typical mobster film.

First off, there’s no sign of Joe Pesci.

This film stars Alberto Sordi, a popular Italian actor when this film was made in 1962.

He plays Nino, an amiable, hard-working foreman at a Fiat factory in Milan. Nino rarely takes time off. He appears to be a good, diligent worker.

But he decided to cash in money he has coming and take wife Marta (Norma Bengell) and two daughters to visit his family in Sicily.

Nino’s family lives a comfortable, upscale life in northern Italy. But wife hits some real culture shock when she vists husband’s extended family.

They are not what you would call sophisticated. Their living room has a beautiful view of the town, but has no walls or ceiling.

Their cuisine is plentiful, but, shall we say crude?

Marta seems more taken back by the whole situation, but comes off to Nino’s family as snobbish.

Immediately, Nino, who is so good natured and wants everyone to get along, tells his wife if they can stick it out, they will take the last few days of his vacation and visit her relatives.

Nino’s boss at work, who happens to be from Trenton, N.J., asks him to give the local Mafia boss, Don Vincenzo (Ugo Attanasio), a gift.

Nino knows the Don well, having pledged his loyalty during World War II, in exchange for protection.

Much of the film is a comedy, as the two sides try to get used to each other. Wife isn’t used to chickens under the bed. Parents think she is a snob.

Then there’s the cousin who was a noticeable mustache. This is a woman, by the way.

Like many films about people returning to their old home towns, Nino runs into old friends who haven’t changed much since graduation.

They spend their time at the beach, debating women, creating their own images of the perfect woman in the sand.

Wife finds some solace and fun in the beach and sand, until Don Vincenzo summons them to his house.

Eventually, Nino is invited to a weekend hunting party. Except it isn’t really a hunting party. Well, maybe a little.

Even though Nino pledged his support years before, Don Vincenzo has a job for him and Nino can’t refuse.

He must go to America, find a man in barbershop and murder him.

The final half hour of the movie is drained of comedy. The bubbly, happy Nino is suddenly sullen and scared.

He must perform a horrible act and then return to his factory job and pretend all is well.

It is quit a twist. To be frank, Nino’s back slapping and smiling, jovial attitude was wearing thin.

Sordi is a solid actor, well demonstrated by the final frames of this film.

It is directed by Alberto Lattuada.

There’s an authenticity to it you don’t find in American gangster films. But you can tell American directors were influenced by “Mafioso.”

MAFIOSO

• Directed by Alberto Lattuada, written by Rafeael Azcona and Bruno Caruso

• Not rated but includes mild sexual situations, language and violence

Runtime: 105 minutes

• In Italian with subtitles

• 3 stars out of 5

Edison: The Invention of the Movies

Thomas Edison as a movie maker

JOHN C. RISE kisses May Irwin in a film made April 1, 1896.

WEEKENDER, Feb. 20, 2009

Thomas Edison is America’s most famous inventor.

By 1888, his main interest appeared to be motion pictures. His studios experimented with short motion pictures from 1888 to 1918.

Much of this work survives and was made into an intriguing DVD set, “Edison: The Invention of the Movies.”

Compiled on four discs, it interweaves old, old, REALLY old film with comments and background by film historians.

You can watch the movies only, or you can watch with the historians’ introductions.

If you enjoy films and / or history, this gives you more background into this artform.

The problem is if you rent them from Netflix, as I did, you want to watch everything in a couple of nights so you can send them back. Each disc is 4 1/2 hours long, filled with short movies, some less than a minute, others up to 15 minutes.

At first, it is sort of fascinating to see people prancing about nearly 120 years ago. You are looking at people from another world, so far from our reality.

The first effort was tiny images spiraling around a modest-sized cylinder. Hmm, not too compelling, there.

The first real film is the co-inventor of the motion picture system, W.K.L. Dickson, waving to Edison. This film is shown to the press, which anxiously waits for news on this invention.

Other films get into manly sports like boxing and cockfighting. There is even a comical film showing boxing cats.

We see Native Americans dancing, women dancing, magic shows, snippets of what you might see on a Vaudeville stage during that period.

Commentators point out women would not have been able to go to a cockfight or boxing match, but were welcome to view the films.

Later films show the inside of blacksmith and barber shops

By 1894, the Edison Kinetoscope Parlor opened on Broadway in New York, the first place the public could watch movies.

A sneeze filmed Jan. 7, 1894 was immortalized in Harper’s Weekly.

More interesting was a firearms demonstration by Annie Oakley on Nov. 1, 1894.

What caused a huge stir was a kiss between John C. Rise and May Irwin, filmed April 1, 1896. We learn May was in her 30s but looked much older. In fact, she could have been mistaken for an ugly man. But the kiss caused sparks and Rise decided to go off on his own and give kissing lessons.

Irwin got another kissing partner to travel the country with and wow audiences, but he turned out to be a lousy kisser. The original two eventually got back together. This is entertainment?

Films got longer and more detailed. Everyone has seen “The Great Train Robbery” in 1905. Later, the film was recreated using kids.

The movies looked very stagy. The cameras are fixed, with actors walking into and out of scenes. A version of “Goldie Locks and the Three Bears” has Father Bear going into his house. The camera just hangs on the outside until he ventures out with the rest of the family.

Goldie shows up and goes through her routine, including watching some dancing teddy bears that must have been fascinating for the time. Teddy bears were popular because they were created with President Theodore Roosevelt in mind.

The films don’t always make a lot of sense. The bears return home and find Goldie. She runs. The bears chase her. A hunter shoots and kills Momma and Poppa bears and baby bear skips off with Goldilocks, leaving his dead parents.

In one film, where someone is pulled out of the water, the film characters’ idea of CPR is to grab the victim’s arms and alternately pull them up over the victim’s head and down to her side. When ambulance attendants show up, they take over, doing the same thing. Maybe they were pumping the water out.

One film has a man traveling the world, visiting painted backgrounds of the French Alps and pyramids of Egypt. Hilarious.

Eventually the novelty wears off and the films get boring. They are more interesting in small doses.

After awhile I dreamed of watching a loud, modern film with plenty of quick cuts and blaring music and closeups and professional special affects.

You can only spend so many nights with quaint.

EDISON: THE INVENTION OF THE MOVIES

• Literally hundreds of small movies with various directors

• Not rated but OK for entire family, although it won’t hold kids’ attention for long

• 2 stars out of 4

Snow Cake

‘Snow Cake’ allows Weaver to shine

Video Viper for WEEKENDER, Feb. 13, 2009

ALAN RICKMAN and Sigourney Weaver in "Snow Cake."

Sitting there quietly eating at a diner, Alan Rickman’s character in “Snow Cake,” Alex Hughes, could easily be mistaken for an English professor.

He’s reserved. He keeps to himself while finishing a meal in an out-of-the-way Ontario diner.

Unlucky for him but an outgoing young lady named Vivienne (Emily Hampshire) plops down beside him. She starts to talk and when he tries politely to tell her he’s not interested in a protracted dialogue, she continues anyway.

Hampshire, as does all of the actors in this film, does an outstanding job leaving a positive impression on the viewer. She has to do it quickly, because she’s not in the film for long.

She hitches a ride with Hughes, who we learn was recently released from prison after being convicted of a murder charge.

But before we can absorb this much, a tractor-trailer rig comes barreling down the road and smashes into his car, killing the girl.

The Rickman character is so distraught, he decides he has to visit the victim’s mother and explain.

The mother happens to be a somewhat functioning autistic played beautifully by Sigourney Weaver. Weaver is matter-of-fact about her daughter’s death. It appears Hughes was expecting her to break down in grief so they could discuss the tragedy and he could exact an amount of closure.

Instead, the Weaver character is worried about his wet clothes messing up her house and is highly upset he might wander into her kitchen.

It is obvious the Weaver character can’t really function. Her daughter handled her affairs and when daughter wasn’t there, she had her parents. But her parents are on a trip and can’t be found.

Feeling responsible even though he isn’t, the Rickman character decides to stay and help Weaver’s character identify the body and plan the funeral.

Her young daughter might be dead but Weaver is also greatly concerned the garbage needs taken out on Tuesday and she can’t handle garbage. So Rickman’s character agrees to stay, sleeping in a lower bunk to Weaver’s high bunk, until the funeral and trash day.

The film, as any good film does, runs from funny to poignant to sad.

It takes exceptional talent to pull off a character story when a main character pretty much has no character.

Adding to the mix is Carrie, played by Ann Ross. She’s a neighbor wants to help Weaver, but Weaver’s character thinks she’s a prostitute. This comment leads to a hilarious and embarassing situation later in the story.

Rickman garners suspicion amongst the town people. Why is he staying with the mother of the girl who was killed in his car?

But the townspeople only offer obligatory help to the Weaver character.

As the film progresses, we discover why Rickman’s Hughes was in jail and what prompted the murder. We learn something about redemption and forgiveness and humanity.

“Snow Cake” is an exceptional film and from what little I saw of Hampshire in this film, I’m looking forward to seeing her in future films.

SNOW CAKE

• Directed by Marc Evans, written by Angela Pell

• Runtime: 112 minutes

• Not rated although the fatal accident and viewing of the body are disturbing and there are sexual situations

• 4 stars out of 5

State's Evidence

'State's Evidence' trivializes teen suicide
DOUGLAS SMITH (center) plays a student who plans to kill himself, causing an even more disasterous chain in "State's Evidence." To his right is Majandra Delfino, top left, Kris Lemche and below him, Cody McMains.

“State's Evidence” may be a dangerous film for vulnerable teens to watch, in the way it normalizes — if not trivializes — suicide.

Directed by Benjamin Louis from a screenplay by Mark Louis, it lends itself to a "Blair Witch" style of filmmaking.

Douglas Smith, best known as the older son in HBO's "Big Love," plays 15-year-old Scott Myers, an intelligent California high school student who reads Emanuel Kant and for reasons never explained, decides to kill himself.

His father is a bit of an idiot, but his mother seems warm and loving. Scott seems to have genuine affection for his mother. His sister can barely tolerate him, by hey, that's what sisters are for.

He narrates into a camcorder so after he kills himself with a gun at school, he reasons the police and psychiatrists and psychologists can examine the recording and try to explain his actions. Thus, it becomes part of “state's evidence.”

Off to school he goes where he appears cooler than usual. That's cuz he's going to kill himself, right?

After letting one friend know about his plans, word spreads to many others, including the hot chick who gets hotter and his lunch-table buddies.

The hot chick gets turned on by the plans and nerdy Scott gets lucky. As happens in Hollywood movies (especially those that take place in California high schools) his friends all decide it would be cool to kill themselves as well.

Reasons they agree to this bizarre pact vary. A girl played by Majandra Delfino decides to kill herself because her mother is sleeping with her old boyfriend.

Kris Lemche plays a quiet, unassuming kid at the beginning, but creates real tragedy when his inhibitions go away because he will soon be dead.

The first part of the film is intriguing, the second part sort of wanders. The kids decide they can't really kill themselves that day. They need to go out and get more camcorders, collect more states evidence and kill themselves the next day.

In the meantime, the Lemche character gets bullied and decides he wants to seek revenge on those who did him wrong. He also wants to videotape up girls' dresses. Do high school girls wear dresses anymore?

And what the heck, while he's at it, why not rape and murder a little girl at a convenience store?

Yes, this film's final third turns dark and bloody. It goes over the top, the way another teen film, "Heathers," did years ago.

I suppose to most people, including teens, the conclusion would be met with disbelief and eye-rolling. But a few could relate to these kids and get ideas. That's where the danger of this film lies.

It is definitely not the feel-good film of the year and the plot fails the logic test. Characters make abrupt changes in their personalities.

The last few seconds, while implausible, are pretty strong. Watch it if you are not easily offended

STATE'S EVIDENCE

• Directed by Benjamin Lewis from a screenplay by Mark Brown

• Runtime: 89 minutes

• Rated R for strong disturbing violent content including a graphic killing rampage, child rape/murder, suicidal behavior, pervasive language and some sexual content - all involving teens.

• 3 stars out of 5