Big

Yesterday I saw Big, the next selection in the TCM Big Screen Classics series, and it was a lot of fun.  I remember seeing this movie on the big screen during its first release and, since that was 30 years ago, it was incredibly nostalgic (and it made me feel old).  Thirteen year old Josh Baskin (David Moscow) asks a fortune telling arcade machine called Zoltar Speaks to make him big after being denied admission to a carnival ride in front of the girl he likes.  Overnight he is transformed into a 30 year old man (now played by Tom Hanks).  When his Mom (Mercedes Reuhl) doesn't believe him, he seeks out his best friend Billy (Jared Rushton).  They try to find the arcade machine but the information won't be available for six weeks.  In the meantime, Josh goes to New York, finds a job at a toy company, and gets a girlfriend (Elizabeth Perkins).  When he and Billy find the arcade machine, will he want to be a kid again?  Most people seeing this movie for the first time might find the story to be a bit improbable with lots of plot holes but it is just so charming and what makes it work is the delightful performance of Tom Hanks.  He exhibits a wide-eyed wonder at every new experience and he replicates Moscow's awkward mannerisms to perfection.  I especially enjoyed the interactions between Hanks and Rushton because they both seem like thirteen year old boys, especially in the scene with the silly string.  I also really enjoyed the interactions between Hanks and Perkins, especially when they have the sleepover in the bunk beds and whenever he gets that goofy grin on his face.  I was happily reminded of why Tom Hanks is one of my favorite actors to this day!  This movie will be screened again on Wednesday (go here for tickets) and I highly recommend it for some nostalgic fun!

Note:  My favorite scene in the movie is when Josh and the CEO of the toy company he works for (Ben Loggia) play "Heart and Soul" and "Chopsticks" on a foot operated piano at FAO Schwartz.  I remember being so disappointed when I first visited the famous toy story on a trip to New York and discovered that the piano on display was much smaller than the one specially made for the movie!

Sorry to Bother You

Last night I went to my second independent film in as many nights, the absolutely hysterical Sorry to Bother You.  It is full of scathing social commentary but, if you are willing to suspend your disbelief, it is a wild and wacky ride that will keep you laughing from beginning to end as well as make you think.  In a dystopian future Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) is a young man living in Oakland who longs to make something of himself.  He gets a job as a telemarketer and soon becomes one of the company's best callers just as his fellow co-workers begin a strike for better wages and benefits.  He decides to cross the picket lines to take a promotion but soon discovers that he is promoting a company called Worry Free which has questionable practices.  Because he likes his new lifestyle he continues despite the protests of his girlfriend (Tessa Thompson) and co-workers (Steven Yeun and Jermaine Fowler) until he meets the eccentric CEO of Worry Free (a hilarious Armie Hammer).  This movie has a lot to say about identity, selling out, exploitation, and corporate greed but it never feels heavy-handed because it is a comedy of the absurd with a third act that will either work or not work for audiences.  It worked for me and most of the other members of the audience (another packed screening for an independent film!).  The visual style is surreal and I especially loved the scenes where Cassius is transported to the homes of the people he calls (these calls always seem to happen at an inconvenient time) and when his apartment is transformed in front of our eyes as he makes more and more money.  There is a really funny subplot involving a reality show called "I Got The S*@# Kicked Out Of Me" which has an interesting message about the pleasure we take in seeing the misfortunes of others and another one involving someone becoming famous after a video goes viral which is an interesting commentary on the nature of celebrity.  Stanfield is fantastic as is Thompson and the aforementioned Hammer.  This film is quite irreverent with a lot of profanity but it is one of the funniest and most original films I've seen in a long time!

Leave No Trace

Friday night I went to see Leave No Trace at a screening that was completely full!  I absolutely love it when an independent film gets a lot of buzz and this film certainly deserves the acclaim it is receiving.  It is a brilliant character study about a father and daughter relationship and I had such an emotional response to both main characters.  I have not been able to stop thinking about it.  Will (Ben Foster) is a combat veteran suffering from PTSD living off the land in Oregon with his 13-year-old daughter Tom (Thomasin McKenzie).  Their existence isn't idyllic (the brutal honesty is what makes this film so compelling) but it is what Will needs and it is all that Tom has known (there is not a lot of exposition but the scenes of them quietly going about their daily routine do more to establish their bond than pages of dialogue would).  After they are discovered and come under the auspices of social services, they begin an often perilous journey of discovery that ultimately leads to redemption for both of them.  I understood the choices that both of them make at the end of the film.  Will has a need to live off the grid because he cannot abide the rules and conventions that other people impose upon him and that is often very appealing to me.  Tom loves her father but often questions his choices and his ability to keep her safe.  She longs for stability and connections with other people (her interactions with the people she meets are so poignant in their portrayal of human kindness) and it is heartbreaking when she realizes that his life does not have to be hers.  I can relate to the need to let people go for your own good.  The redemption at the end of the film is painful but it is there.  I had tears in my eyes as the lights came on in the theater because it felt so bleak but there is a scene at the end where Tom leaves food in the forest for another recluse and that felt like a metaphor for Will's well-being. Foster is brilliant as Will but I was so impressed with McKenzie who more than holds her own with him in a physically demanding role.  I highly recommend this this very moving film.

The Phantom of the Opera at the Eccles

The first time I saw The Phantom of the Opera was on Broadway in 1998 with my sister Kristine when we were on a girls trip to New York City.  I absolutely loved it and have now seen it at least a dozen times, including once on my most recent trip to NYC.  The production of The Phantom of the Opera that I saw at the Eccles Theatre on Thursday night is an all new touring version directed by Laurence Connor (the original is still performed on Broadway) and, for the most part, I really liked it.  The story about a disfigured madman living in the catacombs underneath the Paris Opera House and his love for the ingenue Christine Daae remains the same as does Andrew Lloyd Webber's magnificent music.  The biggest difference in this production is the set (there is still a crashing chandelier) which portrays a darker, grittier, and more realistic theatre and we definitely see more of the backstage areas.  There is a giant rotating cylinder on a turntable that opens up to reveal Christine's dressing room, the Managers' office, the rooftop of the theatre, and the graveyard (my favorite change to the set).  This cylinder also becomes a spiral staircase by which the Phantom leads Christine to his underground lair and I also really liked this change because it actually felt like they were under the theatre rather than in some fantasy.  The choreography is also more realistic and the operas performed seem like actual productions rather than caricatures.  The only change that I didn't like, and I really hated it, was the staging and the choreography for "Masquerade" which has always been my favorite number in the show.  The dramatic staircase is no longer used and the choreography employs more ballet than the stylized dancing of the original.  I also didn't really like the new costumes because they weren't as theatrical as I thought they should be since it is a masquerade ball. Another change from the original is the emphasis on the relationships between the Phantom, Christine, and Raoul.  The encounter between the Phantom and Christine during "The Music of the Night" is much more passionate, in my opinion, as is their performance of "The Point of No Return."  I have always believed that Christine should end up with the Phantom (although the only person who agrees with me is my sister) and in this version she seems really torn between him and Raoul in "Down Once More."  I usually think of Raoul as a fop but I also really enjoyed his encounter with Christine during "All I Ask of You."  I could really see the appeal of both of them for Christine and I appreciated this change in staging.  Quentin Oliver Lee is a fantastic Phantom and I loved his performance of "The Phantom of the Opera" and "The Music of the Night."  I sometimes couldn't hear Eva Tavares as Christine because the music seemed to overpower her but her version of "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" gave me goosebumps.  I enjoyed this new production and I am glad that I got to see it (every performance is sold out!).

Summer Reading: The Women in the Castle

The next selection on my summer reading list, The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck, is one that I absolutely could not put down! I loved it! This novel is set in Germany during and after World War II and gives a fascinating perspective on the collective guilt felt by Germans. Three women, all widows of men involved in a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler, come together to live in a crumbling Bavarian castle after the war. Marianne von Lingenfels views the events of the war in black and white and holds herself and her children above the former Nazis around her. Beautiful Benita Flederman, who married her wealthy husband to escape her life of poverty in a small town, cares nothing for politics and wants life to return to normal as soon as possible. Ania Grabarek is tormented by the guilt she feels over her complicity in the events of the war and about the secret she is keeping. Over the course of the novel the three women must come to terms with what has happened to each of them, what has happened to their country, and what they have done to each other. The characters are very sympathetic and memorable (I felt very emotionally connected to all three of them for different reasons) and the story is extremely compelling because well-known events are told from a different vantage point than that of most World War II fiction. I found it interesting that the women crave understanding rather than forgiveness and I never felt like Shattuck was in any way condoning the more horrific events of the war. It is one of the most thought-provoking novels I have read in a long time because I have always wondered how Germans could have allowed the rise of Hitler to happen and how they rationalized it to themselves once the full extent of the atrocities were made public. Conversely, I've also wondered what it was that motivated people to risk everything in order to resist when so many did nothing. This gave me some context and I highly recommend it!

Note:  Have you read The Women in the Castle?  What did you think of it?