A Hidden Life

The final movie in my winter break marathon (and my final movie for 2019) was A Hidden Life which I saw on New Year's Eve.  It tells the true story of Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II.  It is emotionally exhausting to watch but it is also beautiful and elegiac (and one of Terrence Malick's most linear narratives).  The movie begins by showing Franz (August Diehl), his wife Fani (Valerie Pachner), and their three daughters enjoying their simple life as hard-working farmers in a valley in the Austrian mountains.  Their idyllic life is shattered when they hear the rumblings of fighter planes overhead and Franz is called up for basic training.  He is horrified by what he sees (in the clever use of black and white archival footage of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis) but, after France is occupied and the war is presumed over, he is sent home.  But as the war rages on, he lives in fear that he will be called up again every time he sees a bicycle bringing a telegraph go by.  He is tormented by the fact that he will have to swear an oath to Hitler.  He knows that he cannot do something that is against his beliefs but he fears for what will happen to his wife and children if he is condemned as a traitor.  As a devout Catholic, he consults his priest and then the bishop, but they urge him to consider his family.  He ultimately refuses to take the oath, is put in prison in Berlin where he is routinely mistreated, and condemned by a military tribunal while Fani endures hostility from the people in her village.  A lawyer tells Franz that if he takes a non-combat role in the army the charges will be dropped but he will still have to take the oath.  Fani comes to visit him in prison and gives him the strength to do what he feels he must.  Jagerstatter is a man who refuses to take part in the evil he sees all around him so I found his story to be particularly salient for these troubled times and I was very invested in its outcome.  I also found it to be a profoundly spiritual exploration of free will.  However, the narrative moves very slowly (albeit with some beautiful shots of the Austrian mountains and valleys) so not everyone is going to enjoy it.  Both Diehl and Pachner give emotional performances and I also enjoyed Matthias Schoenaerts as a soldier who interrogates Franz and Bruno Ganz (in his final role) as a judge in the military tribunal who tries to understand his motives.  It was sometimes a difficult movie to watch but I would highly recommend it.

The Family Upstairs

Last night I went to a meeting of my book club to discuss the latest selection, The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell. We had a very lively discussion with a great moderator and I enjoyed it so much because I discovered many new insights that I had not thought about while I was reading it.  This riveting psychological thriller begins when Libby, who was adopted as a baby, turns 25 and discovers that she has inherited a large mansion in a highly desirable neighborhood in London. She also discovers that her birth parents and an unidentified stranger died in the house in an apparent suicide pact and that she has two siblings who have not been heard from since. She enlists the help of a reporter who once covered the case to help her find the truth and what she discovers is far more sinister than she could have imagined.  The narrative alternates between Libby's search for the truth, her brother Henry's recollections from the past about a charismatic man named David who moved into the house with his family and turned their lives into a nightmare, and her sister Lucy's struggle to survive in the present after the trauma of her childhood. All of the narrators are very compelling, especially Henry because he is so unreliable, and I read well into the night because I had to uncover the mystery of what happened in that house (which is almost a character in and of itself). It is incredibly suspenseful and there are quite a few twists and turns, some of which I wasn't expecting, My only complaint is that there are a lot of main characters to keep track of as well as quite a few secondary characters that are not as developed and do not add much to the story. This, along with alternating between the past and the present, sometimes makes it a bit confusing. As I mentioned, we had a great discussion about the themes of manipulation and how easy is it was for David to gain control of the vulnerable Lamb family, of trauma and how it continues to affect Lucy's decision-making even after leaving the traumatic situation, of identity and how learning about the past impacts Libby's perception of herself, and obsession with the past and how it consumes Henry's life. Almost everyone in the book club really liked this one (two women sitting near us who were listening in on our discussion came over and asked the name of the book because they thought it sounded so interesting) and I would definitely recommend it.

Note:  Next month's selection is Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano.  Go here for more information and to RSVP at a Barnes & Noble near you.  If you are local, consider joining us at the Layton Barnes & Noble on Feb. 4 because we have a fun and lively group!

Uncut Gems

Unbelievably, the next movie in my winter break marathon was Uncut Gems.  I usually try to avoid movies starring Adam Sandler because I think his humor is really crude but I am a huge fan of the Safdie Brothers and the trailer really intrigued me.  Howard Ratner (Sandler) is a jeweler in New York's Diamond District and he is also a gambling addict who is in over his head with a dangerous loan shark (Eric Bogosian) who wants his money.  After watching a documentary about opals in Ethiopia, he purchases a large rock containing rare black opals which he values at over $1,000,000.  He plans on selling it at auction in order to pay his gambling debts but Kevin Garnett (playing himself), who is a customer in his store, sees it and feels a deep connection to it.  He asks to keep it to bring him luck during his NBA playoff game later that night against the Sixers.  Ratner reluctantly agrees but keeps Garnett's NBA Championship ring as collateral which he immediately pawns in order to place a bet on the Celtics.  The Celtics win but he finds out that his loan shark canceled the bet and took the money from his bookie as partial payment.  Garnett, thinking that the opals brought him luck, doesn't want to give the rock back which causes trouble for Ratner who has scheduled it for auction.  Ratner becomes more and more desperate to get the rock back and pay off the loan shark which culminates in another wild bet on the Celtics to win Game 7.   Ratner is an outrageous character who is estranged from his wife Dinah (Idina Menzel), having an affair with Julia (Julia Fox), an employee, and hustling everyone in his life, including his father-in-law (Judd Hirsch), to get himself out of trouble.  Sandler gives the best performance of his career.  He obviously excels at portraying Ratner's frenetic energy but he is also surprisingly vulnerable, especially in a scene with his teenage daughter (Noa Fisher) and a scene where he realizes that everything is falling apart.  I was also quite impressed with Garnett because he is essentially a foil to Ratner.  Much like in Good Time, another movie by the Safdie Brothers, this features hand held camera work that follows Ratner's every move as if you were right there with him so you feel his ever increasing desperation.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole time because, even though Ratner is definitely an anti-hero, I found his journey very compelling and wanted him to succeed.  This movie is a profound exploration of what greed can do to a man's soul but it is filled with sex, violence, and profanity so not everyone is going to enjoy it.  I think it is brilliant!

Bombshell

Next in my winter break movie marathon was Bombshell which tells the true story of how the women of Fox News took down the head of the network.  When Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) complains that her fellow male anchors on Fox & Friends are sexually harassing her, she is demoted to a program at a less desirable time and then eventually fired.  She decides to sue the network but her lawyers tell her that she has a better case against Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) who has sexually harassed her as well.  Her lawyers also tell her that she will have a better case if other women come forward and many former employees do.  However, a current employee will have more of an impact but the network puts pressure on the woman to support Ailes.  Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), the most powerful female anchor at Fox, and Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie), a young associate producer trying to advance, eventually come forward.  The story is both compelling and very timely, particularly a scene which shows what all the women have to go through before going on air (there are rows and rows of brightly colored form-fitting sheath dresses and high-heeled shoes) and a disturbing scene where Ailes, while watching a live broadcast, screams to the cameraman to pull back so he can see the anchor's legs because that is what he is paying her for.  Theron gives an incredible performance, almost disappearing into the role, especially in a scene where she finally breaks down about the fact that the environment is so toxic at Fox.  I was most impressed with Robbie because her role is incredibly demanding and she definitely delivers!  There is a particularly charged scene with Lithgow where she is asked by Ailes to lift her skirt higher and higher and you can see her discomfort mingled with a desire to please on her face.  It is so uncomfortable to watch but incredibly powerful.  I found all of the actors playing Fox personalities, such as Kevin Dorff as Bill O'Reilly, Spencer Garrett as Sean Hannity, Bree Condon as Kimberly Guilfoyle, Marc Evan Jackson as Chris Wallace, Tony Plana as Geraldo Rivera, and Alanna Ubach as Jeanine Pirro, to be very amusing.  I was, however, a bit disappointed that Kidman did not have much of a role.  I also found the story to be a bit safe for a movie called Bombshell.  It was interesting and I recommend it for the performances.

Little Women

The next movie in my winter break marathon was Little Women which I saw with both of my sisters late at night on Christmas.  I could not have loved this movie more!  In fact, I loved everything about it!  This movie is an updated version of the beloved novel by Louisa May Alcott recounting how the March sisters, including Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh), and Beth (Eliza Scanlen), come of age in Concord, Massachusetts during the Civil War.  The movie begins with Jo pursuing her dream of being a writer in New York.  She is forced to compromise in order to sell her stories and her friend and fellow resident at her boardinghouse, Friedrich Bhaer (Louis Garrell), criticizes her for it which angers her.  There are then flashbacks to the trials and triumphs of her adolescence with her sisters and mother "Marmee" (Laura Dern), her neighbor Theodore "Laurie" Laurence (Timothee Chalamet), his grandfather Mr. Laurence (Chris Cooper), and her Aunt March (Meryl Streep).  In between these flashbacks we see Jo encounter sorrow in the death of a sister, disappointment in love with Laurie, redemption as she writes a story to be proud of, and, ultimately, love with Friedrich.  I really love the structure of the narrative because every time there is a flashback it is a memory that informs the present situation.  We learn why Beth is ill, why Meg wants beautiful things, why Amy wants to marry well, and why Jo is so determined to succeed.  The cast is absolutely perfect!  I really love Ronan's portrayal of Jo's strength, especially when she negotiates with her publisher for control of the copyright for her book, and her vulnerability, particularly when she rethinks turning down Laurie's proposal because she is lonely.  However, I was so impressed by Pugh's performance because Amy is a character that I usually dislike (I always want Jo to end up with Laurie).  She portrays Amy as precocious rather than bratty and I liked the fact that she secretly loves Laurie throughout the whole movie because it makes their relationship more understandable.  Chalamet is so charming as Laurie, Dern (who is hit or miss with me) is perfect as Marmee, Cooper is more sentimental rather than curmudgeonly as Mr. Laurence, and Streep steals every scene she is in as Aunt March.  I love the costumes, the production design (especially the attic in the March house where the sisters perform their plays), and the beautiful score by Alexandre Desplat (one of my favorite film composers).  I am sure that this is a movie that I will watch over and over again (I've already seen it twice) and I highly recommend it for a lovely movie viewing experience!