Departures

‘Departures’ takes you on beautiful trip to death

Masahiro Motoki (left) and Tsutomu Yamazaki in “Departures.”

Beautiful. Lyrical. Mystifying.
I was simply blown over by the creativity and sensitivity of “Departures.”
If you think this is a travel film, well, it isn't. But don't feel bad. So did the main character.
Daigo Kobayashi, played by Masahiro Motoki, is a cellist in an orchestra. He admits he's not particularly good, but buys an expensive cello the pros would envy. Unfortunately, the concert hall is more than half empty and the orchestra owner announces to the troupe, “The orchestra is dissolved.”
Suddenly Kobayashi has to pay off an expensive instrument and is out of work. His wife, played by Ryoko Hirosue, can support them both, but not the cello.
So Kobayashi decides to move back to the cluttered old home where they can live for free. His mother is dead, his father left home years ago.
But he still needs work and finds and sees an advertisement for someone who can handle “departures.”
So he goes for an interview and the kindly business owner, played by Tsutomu Yamazaki, offers him a job and an obscene amount of money, the resume left unlooked at.
Hmmm, lots of money to work in travel? No. The advertisement had a misprint. It's not “departures,” it's “departed.”
It seems in Japan, where this movie takes place, people used to prepare their relatives' bodies for burial. It was a ceremonial process of washing the deceased and and setting the relative up for burial.
But today, people in Japan hire the work out. This would be Kobayashi's new job.
Well, the first call doesn't go real well. The deceased is an elderly woman found three weeks after she died. Kobayashi loses his lunch and desire to work, but his boss feeds him cash and tell s him to take the rest of the day off.
The Kobayashi character's mother recently died, but his father left them when he was little. In his mind, his father's face is just a blur.
We are introduced to the process of getting the body ready for burial with Kobayashi's boss. The family sits while the body is washed, clothing is rearranged, covers are moved about. It is part religious, it is part haunting ceremony, it is part magic trick.
Slowly, Kobayashi learns the trade. He learns what this final act means to the families of the deceased, whether an elderly grandmother or a young child.
It's a film that will make you cry, it will make you pensive about this world we live in.
The film ends in a beautiful moment in which Kobayashi deals with his father.
And as if a movie can't be more beautiful and uplifting, Kobayashi spends his off time playing his cello, getting better at this trade as his sensitivity grows.
This is a film that simply could not be made in the United States. The film has gotten good word of mouth and is worth your undivided attention. Fortunately, if you have a Netflix account, you can stream this film at your leisure.
It's a film that will live on with you, long after you've forgotten most others.
Access hundreds of Viper movie reviews at videoviper.blogspot.com. Read Lebzelter’s general interest columns at bobleb.blogspot.com.

DEPARTURES • Directed by Yojiro Takita, written by Kundo Koyama • Runtime: 130 minutes • Rated PG-13 for thematic material • 5 stars out of 5

Lassie Come Home

Technicolor, a great dog and Liz Taylor, too

MGM
A YOUNG Elizabeth Taylor with Nigel Bruce in “Lassie Come Home.”

Oh man did Lassie have a time of it in the 1943 family film “Lassie Come Home.”
Filmed in Technicolor, child star Roddy McDowall plays Joe Carraclough, a poor boy growing up in England. But he is rich in that he has the best and smartest collie ever, Lassie, played by Pal.
Pal, by the way, was 3 when he made this movie and played Lassie again two years later in “Son of Lassie.” All Lassies in subsequent films and TV programs are descendants of Pal, who died at 17 in 1958.
The family needs money so dad Sam, played by Donald Crisp, sells the dog to the rich Duke of Rudling, played by Nigel Bruce, best known as Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes films.
The duke keeps his pooches in outdoor kennels offering substandard food and an unfeeling keeper.
What is really sad is when young Joe gets out of school and Lassie isn’t under the tree waiting for him. It is his mother, played by Elsa Lanchester, best known as the bride of Frankenstein, who lays out the cold truth. The family is destitute and needs the cash from selling the collie.
Meanwhile, Lassie won’t eat, loses weight and learns to escape by digging under the fence. Joe is overjoyed to see Lassie waiting at school, but of course she (played by a he) must go back to the duke’s home.
This time Lassie escapes by jumping over the fence. Pal is a tremendous actor. Kudos to his trainer! In one scene, Lassie gets back, runs and misses jumping over the fence. He (she) tries again, narrowly missing freedom. The third jump is half-hearted and doesn’t work. All seems lost. But the next jump and the dog is over!
Now I would think it is one thing to teach a dog to jump a fence, but to train it to try and fail three times and succeed on the fourth, all shot in one take, is pretty remarkable.
Of course, a malnourished Lassie must go back to Dr. Watson, er, the duke.
Oh, and the duke has a pretty young niece, who just happens to be Elizabeth Taylor. Be warned, Taylor has a minor role in the film.
Soon the duke and Elizabeth are off to Scotland with Lassie, who gets away again and heads off hundreds of miles to England and her family.
And a nail-biting adventure she has. She is shot, she nearly drowns, she is malnourished, she jumps from the second floor of a big building and is hurt.
Lots of suspense, lots of action. Let me tell you, you will be in there rooting for Lassie!
And you will have a bit of a tear in your eye at the film’s conclusion.
This is a fine family film, although it may prove too much for very young children. It’s best for those maybe 8 or over.
You can’t beat a well-done animal film, especially when the animal is the focus of the film.
So watch it with your family. Will Lassie make it back to her family and will she be able to stay?
As a sidenote, I watched the film on DVD. While it was done in a rich Technicolor, the movie looked worn and had dropouts and color splotches. This would be a great candidate for film restoration and ultimately a Blu-Ray version.
Just a thought.


LASSIE COME HOME • Directed by Fred M. Wilcox • Written by Huog Butler and Eric Knight • Runtime: 89 minutes • Not rated but suitable for all but the very young • 4 stars out of 5

I Am Love

‘I Am Love’ not heavy on plot

MARISA BERENSON and Alba Rohrwackher in “I Am Love.”

After watching the Italian film “I Am Love,” my reaction was, what the heck was this about?
It deals with a rich family, made wealthy because it owns textile industries.
The film seemingly drops into a point in the lives of these characters. We go along for the narrative. Meet the auxiliary characters. Watch them interact. Some die. Some have sex.
Then it’s over.
Tilda Swinton is from Russia and her character marries into a family of rich aristocrats.
She seems a bit uncomfortable helping supervise the birthday party for the family patriarch and keen business head, Edoardo, played by Gabriele Ferzetti.
Director Luca Guadagnino has a nice way of setting up scenes, building suspense through cutaway shots and closeups and swelling music.
We see early on what an opulent family this is. The color and pageantry could belong to an era 100 years ago, rather than the start of the new millennium.
The Swinton character feels strangely apart from the rest of the family, as if she doesn’t totally belong and will never belong.
The old man makes a grand announcement during his birthday dinner. He is retiring, which we learn is a good thing because he will soon be dead.
He flatters his son, played by Pippo Delbono, stating he is everything a father could hope for.
But the old man tosses in a ringer, he announces his son will operate the business only with the assistance of his grandson, played by Flavio Parenti.
As stated, this could have been a turn of the 19-century tale rather than 20th, with the grand dinners and fancy clothing and men taking command.
This is a family well established and cloaked in tradition.
Swinton goes to visit her daughter in another community and spots the chief who handled the party, played by Edoardo Gabbrellini. She follows him and — you guessed it — has sex with him.
Later she finds out her daughter, played by Alba Rohrwacher, is a lesbian. She really doesn’t react as a mother, but comments on how pretty the woman is.
And so it goes. Little revelations. Different well-staged scenes. But nothing I would call an interesting or compelling plot.
Little conflict until late in the film when the son unfortunately slips and falls.
It’s not actually a drawing-room drama. It’s a film in search of meaning and a beefed-up storyline.
Frankly, I was underwhelmed by “I Am Love.” It didn’t love it.

I AM LOVE • Directed and written by Luca Guadagnino • Runtime: 120 minutes • Rated R for sexuality and nudity • 1 star out of 5

Mrs. Miniver

‘Mrs. Miniver’ looks at wartime England
GREER GARSON and Walter Pidgeon in “Mrs. Miniver.”

“Mrs. Miniver” is an astonishly good picture about England early in World War II.
First off, it came out in 1942, when the bombings of London by the Nazis were still going on.
Greer Garson is a middle-aged Mrs. Miniver, looking lovely and married to Walter Pidgeon. They are described as middle class.
Early on, we learn the entire community participates in a competition to determine who grows the best rose. Mrs. Miniver is so respected, she is asked if it is OK to name a rose in the competition after her.
The Minivers have a super polite, handsome son, Vin, played by Richard Wilcoxon.
While described as middle class, they do, of course, have a maid and dress like they are going to the opera at all times.
Young Vin falls for highbrow Carol Beldon, played by Teresa Wright. Her grandmother, Lady Beldon, played by Dame May Whitty, is the upper crust of the community. She’s not sure if her grandmother should set sail as a Miniver. She might come up with something better.
Vin goes off to fight in the war, leaving his love at home, knowing their relationship could be interrupted at any point by death.
In one of the best scenes in the picture, the Minivers are hunkered down in the basement because of threat of an air raid.
Often they are false alarms. But just in case, they go to their sanctuary, complete with beds for the children and canned food and coffee.
The kids sleep while Mr. Miniver puffs on his pipe in the close quarters, wearing his suit and tie. Fortunately, this was before the time when smoking was dangerous.
The scene is gripping and realistic. You hear the whistle of the bombs as they are dropped from the planes and grimace while waiting for the loads to explode.
The plaster falls. The children scream. I jump. And suddenly, the scene switches to a train station, where young Vin is coming home on leave.
Your immediate reaction, why switch the scene when we don’t know the outcome of their home?
But when the family arrives home we get the answer. There are gaping holes in the roof and walls, but the family nonchalantly continues to live in the wrecked abode like everything is normal.
There’s a heartfelt scene between Garson’s Miniver and new wife Wright. Yes, they are in love. But the Wright character tells mom-in-law she’s smart enough at age 18 to know the war makes it possible that one of them may not survive. Let’s just say it is a harbinger of things to come.
William Wyler won an Oscar for best director. Garson was nominated for best actress and Wright for best supporting actress. It was also nominated for best picture.
It is a very human film with very real characters and high drama. At times you will gasp.
It is a great film about war, survival and determination. Oh yes, and a community than in the depths of rubble and destruction, still has time to stop and smell the flowers.

MRS. MINIVER
• Directed by William Wyler
• Written by Arthur Whimpers and George Forestall
• Runtime: 134 minutes
• Not rated but intense war scenes
• 4 stars out of 5

Dinner Game

‘Dinner Game’ filled with zany characters

Jacque Villeret is the idiot in "The Dinner Game."

“The Dinner Game” could almost be a done as a stage play, an exceptionally funny stage play.
This is a zany film stuffed with bizarre characters and unusual situations. In the 1930s, it could be one of those madcap films with Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn and directed by George Cukor.
But this film is written and directed by Francis Veber, the screenwriter behind the hilarious classic “La Cage Au Folles.”
This is a 1998 French film which spawned a recent American remake, “Dinner for Schmucks.”
The premise is simple. Rich executives who are full of themselves schedule weekly dinners. Each is supposed to bring an idiot, an eccentric weirdo whom they can pretend to be interested in but they are really making fun of.
For instance, there’s the man in full business suit who spends his afternoons in the park throwing boomerangs.
Then there’s Thierry Lhermitte, who plays a handsome, rich publisher, Pierre. He needs someone to take to this dinner. A friend meets Francois, played by Jacque Villeret, a short, chunky accountant who copes with being abandoned by his wife years ago by recreating famous structures with matchsticks.
So bizarre and boring is Francois, he appears to be the perfect idiot for the dinner.
He is working for the equivalent of the French Internal Revenue Service. When he gets invited to the dinner, he is told a book may come out of this. Cruel indeed.
So Francois is asked to stop at the Lhermitte character’s spacious apartment and they will be off to the dinner.
Unfortunately, Pierre has thrown out his back and his doctor prescribes bed rest, not dinner with idiots.
Pudgy Francois shows up and he is all of the idiot that Pierre could hope for. Unfortunately, Pierre is no shape to go anywhere. So he promises Francois they will go another time. Francois, who has already stumbled over Pierre and made his back worse, bids adieu but before he leaves, the phone rings. The answering machine gets the call. It is Pierre’s wife, stating he is going to leave him.
Francois, hoping to console poor Pierre, stays. In fact, a running joke in this film is that Francois frequently gets ready to exit, but something happens in the plot requiring him to stay.
Make no mistake, Francois is an idiot and hatches schemes but then messes up, making things worse. Pierre has a girlfriend as well as the estranged wife. His wife’s old lover shows up at the apartment, as does a tax agent.
Chaos and absolute hilarity ensues.
This film is an absolute hoot and I found myself laughing loudly in many situations.
You can’t take these characters seriously, but then, you can’t take the plot seriously at all.
I can’t vouch for the American remake, “Dinner for Schmucks,” which has Steve Carell as the idiot.
But the original “The Dinner Game” is a match you should play. You are guaranteed a good time.

THE DINNER GAME
• Directed and written by Francis Veber
• French with English subtitles
• Runtime: 80 minutes
• Rated PG-13
• 3 1/2 stars out of 4

Me and Orson Welles

Nostalgia drips from 30s-era Welles film

ZAC EFRON (left) and Christian McKay (right) as Orson Welles in “Me and Orson Welles.”

“Me and Orson Welles” just breathes nostalgia.
Zac Efron plays a young, idealistic actor named Richard Samuels who ditches high school to become a member of Orson Welles’ acting troupe at the Mercury Theatre.
This fledging but talented group is attempting to put on Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.” The pay isn’t too good. Nothing. The workload is heavy.
But the cast senses a greatness in Welles and vie to be part of the troupe and perhaps carve their own slice of fame.
As backdrops, Adolph Hitler is taking over in Europe. David O. Selznik is making a film called “Gone With the Wind.”
Efron’s character hungers to be an actor and Welles demands perfection from the start. Everyone must know their lines immediately and must know absolute pronunciation and voice diction.
There can be no room for error.
Welles, played by Christian McKay, is the absolute monarch of the troupe. All women must submit to him if asked.
Cast members know they can never disagree with Welles. When one member does, it eventually ends in dismissal.
In real life, Welles was called the Boy Genius and his talent was prevalent. While in his 20s he acted and produced “Citizen Kane,” a thinly disguised biography of newspaper magnet William Randolph Hurst. The film ranks No. 1 on most lists of the greatest films of all time.
But this takes place a few years before.
Claire Danes is Sonja Jones, an actor in the troupe. While there are numerous relationships amongst the cast, nobody apparently can seduce the lovely Jones.
Until young Zac comes along. And what kid wants to go to high school when he can bed beautiful actresses and appear in productions with the future Boy Genius of the entertainment industry?
Efron does an exceptional job as the young, naive actor, learning his craft and about life.
And McKay certainly looks and sounds like Welles. He nails down that distinctive voice made famous the world over when his theater troupe put together “The War of the Worlds,” the radio play that had the world thinking we were being invaded by aliens.
The Welles in this film knows how to be stern and absolute, as well as gentle and flattering.
Efron’s character gets a cold slap of worldly reality at the end of the film
There are many side characters, from actors to a young, would-be author the Efron character meets.
Richard Linklater directed this film. His wide-ranging talents are responsible for such films at “A Scanner Darkly,” “Dazed and Confused” and “School of Rock.”
This film got little notice when it was released in December 2009. It wasn’t in 3-D and Optimus Prime wasn’t a character.
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t deserving of attention. In fact, why not watch it as a double feature with “Citizen Kane?” Now that’s a good idea.

ME AND ORSON WELLES
• Directed by Richard Linklater
• Screenplay by Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo from a novel by Robert Kaplow
• Rated PG-13 for sexual references and smoking
• Runtime: 114 minutes
• 3 1/2 stars out of 4

Kick-Ass

‘Kick-Ass’ bloody fun, takes chances

AARON JOHNSON is "Kick-Ass."

I had a bit of a disagreement with a female co-worker.
She didn’t care for “Kick-Ass,” but her husband loved it.
I said I would be the tie breaker.
I found it a, well, kick-ass kind of film.
Sure it is a goofy movie, but it took a few chances with the story and characters that made it a little different and more engaging.
So here is the premise. What if people out in the world decided to use their talents to become crime fighters and wear costumes, just like in the comic books.
Certainly, you point out, there’s nobody from the distant planet Krypton who came to Earth with powers more powerful than mortal man, like Superman.
And nobody we know of has been bitten by a radioactive spider, creating Spider-Man.
But look at Bruce Wayne. He built himself up, trained his body and mind and became a superhero with no powers, Batman. Ollie Queen was able to use trick arrows to nab the bad guys as Green Arrow.
So what kid hasn’t dreamed at some point of being a superhero, whether with real super powers like Superman or just an athletic guy, like Batman?
Thus the appeal of “Kick-Ass.”
Dave Lizewski, played by Aaron Johnson, gets picked on at school and decides to become a super hero.
Now what should any self-respecting kid do first if he wants to battle the bad guys in costume garb? Why, build a Web site and get a fancy costume.
Trouble is, Dave doesn’t worry too much about the physical part. So when he tries to stop two guys from breaking into a car, he in his Kick-Ass costume and the baddies almost become incapacitated from laughter.
They also beat, kick and stab him.
So his first attempt at truth, justice and the American way ends up in a trip to the emergency room.
But Dave’s thoughts of being a super hero aren’t original.
Because Nicolas Cage has become the crimefighter Big Daddy, along with his ruthless 11-year-old daughter, played by Chloe Grace Moretz, who is Hit Girl.
They are battling a crime boss played by Mark Strong. With all of these super heroes showing up, the Strong character decides to use his son, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, as yet another super hero, Red Mist.
Now the only one in this sea of tights and capes who could be considered a super hero is Hit Girl. Sure she is only 11, but she can take out a room full of macho men in a blink of an eye.
She isn’t disturbed as she leaves a dozen bloody corpses in her wake.
There are some subplots. Somehow Dave captures the heart of the hot chick at school, even though she doesn’t know he is Kick-Ass.
There is no curbing of the violence in this film. When the crime boss captures the heroes, he shows their torture on TV. America watches as Kick-Ass gets his groin kicked to the point it is doubtful he will ever father children.
But don’t worry, he bounces back to battle the bad guys.
Big weapons, sharp knives, lots of blood. It’s been done before, but it works.
Now when I was a kid, there was a code for super heroes. You never killed anyone.
Not so in “Kick-Ass.” In many ways this could be called “Kill-Ass.”
Now I can enjoy an English drawing room drama where the most action is when the butler adjusts the Lord’s tie.
But the fast action, don’t-give-a-damn how bloody and politically incorrect it all becomes is appealing as well.
Give it a look and then maybe hang out at Dairy Mart, in case somebody tries to shoplift a carton of chip dip. Grab your cape and kick some ass.

KICK-ASS
• Directed by Matthew Vaughn
• Written by Jane Goldman, Vaughn and Mark
• Runtime: 117 minutes
• Rated R for violence, language
• 3 stars out of 4