The Disaster Artist

        I had always heard of a movie called ‘The Room’, but I didn’t know much about it.  Arguably considered one of the worst movies ever made, it has gained such a cult following over the years that it regularly sells out midnight showings.  James Franco has an obvious affection (borderline admiration) for the story and man behind this train wreck of a film.  He brings the behind-the-scenes story of the mysterious and weird author/writer/actor Tommy Wiseau to the screen in ‘The Disaster Artist’.  The result is a thoroughly entertaining film about the magic of movies and the beauty of artistic creation, even if the results aren’t always attractive. James Franco shows that he isn’t afraid to put himself out there either as an artist in a story about the beauty of pursuing your dreams no matter how unlikely.  

In 1998 aspiring baby faced actor Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) meets the mysterious (creepy) Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) in an acting class and the two almost immediately form a unique friendship over their dreams of success in Hollywood.  Everything about Tommy sets of red flags with Greg.  He has an incredibly thick unidentifiable vaguely eastern European accent, yet insists he is from New Orleans.  He drives expensive cars and has multiple apartments, yet has no discernible source of income.  He also claims to be about Greg’s age, which is 19, but one can see that he is obviously not, even though his age is indiscernible.  Despite all of this, Greg finds Tommy’s confidence and complete lack of fear in pursuing his dreams mesmerizing and he agrees to follow him to LA.  Both struggle to find work, but Greg’s all American good looks at least provides him with limited promise of success.  Tommy is just too far out there to be taken serious by anyone.  That’ when inspiration hits.  Tommy decides he needs to make his own movie.

At one point, I thought that James Franco’s portrayal of Tommy Wiseau went overboard.  That is until the after credits that shows the two acting side by side in split screen.  Franco nailed not only Wiseau’s unidentifiable accent, but his mannerisms as well. While it was enjoyable seeing the behind-the-scenes making of ‘The Room’, I wish they would have tried to explore Wiseau’s mysterious past more. How does one, who is seemingly unemployed, come up with 6 million dollars to put together a movie?  Tommy is only briefly pressed on this.  I’m sure Franco thought that part of the artistic beauty of Wiseau was his mysterious past, but I felt a little more light on what drove him other than “his dreams” would have enhanced the film.  Wiseau’s vision of himself as an All-American hero (always named ‘Johnny’)  rather than allowing himself to be pigeoned-holed into foreign villain roles is inspirational. I would have enjoyed seeing where this drive came from.

That is a small critique in an otherwise completely enjoyable film.  While Franco’s performance is Oscar worthy, I don’t feel the film rises to that level.  However; I am completely glad ‘The Disaster Artist’ was made.  It has the feel of a film that only a true Hollywood insider could fully appreciate and unfortunately I am not one.  That doesn’t mean it’s not a fun and even inspirational film despite all of it’s weirdness. For those who enjoy movies and the beauty found in creating art, I highly recommend this film.  Kudos to Franco and friends for bringing this story to life.

I give this film *** stars out of five.

The Disaster Artist Trailer

Three Billboards Outside Ebbings Montana

       ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbings Missouri’ caught me off guard.  I had seen all the great reviews, but during the season most Oscar movies are released, many smaller low budget movies are over blown and over advertised in hopes of garnering Oscar attention.  Usually, I end up being disappointed.  Judging from the trailers, this just seemed to be another pretentious dark comedy despite it’s impressive cast. I had no intention of seeing this film, but so many friends and colleagues, whom opinions I respect, recommended this film to me that I thought I should reconsider.  Then when I saw that it was written and directed by Martin McDonagh of ‘In Bruges’ fame, I couldn’t resist.  ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbings Missouri’ is low-key, thoughtful, insightful, and an amazingly powerful film despite the simple dark comedy the trailers suggest.  I’m amazed an Englishman like McDonagh can so effectively capture  such a nuanced piece of Americana as small town life in rural Missouri, but he does it with the deft skill of a master filmmaker.  While not perfect, I give ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbings Missouri” my highest recommendation

The movie starts off in the rural life of Mildred (Frances McDormand) a year after she lost her daughter to an unsolved rape/murder.  Despairing that no justice has been found for her daughter and frustrated with the silence from the local police, she decides to rent three billboards calling out the Police Chief for his lack of action.  Police Chief Willoughby (played to perfection by Woody Harrelson) could have been portrayed as a two dimensional villain as small town police often are.  Instead, Harrelson gives a nuanced performance of Police Chief Willoughby who wrestles with his failure of not solving the case, but even more as he faces his own mortality as he is dying of cancer.  Nothing is done over the top or overly morose, rather it is a calm examination of the dynamics between these two people.

McDonagh definitely inserts some of his political agenda into the story, especially when examining the abusive and racist Deputy Dixon (another great performance by Sam Rockwell), but he could have made him much more of a characature than he did.  Dixon is not bright and definitely an abusive and racist person, but McDonagh is able to explore his character from less of a judgmental point of view and more of exploring his humanity.  I don’t say that it’s a forgiving exploration of his humanity, but more of an understanding of him as a person and what drives him, misguided as we may think it is.

There are no easy answers in this film.  Stories tend to be crafted to have a virtuous protagonist and evil antagonists.  As we delve deeper into Mildred’s story, we never once lose our sympathy or empathy for her pain of losing her daughter, but we do gain insight into that she has made mistakes along the way as well as her coming to understand that Police Chief Willoughby did not fail to solve the case  because of apathy.  Like I said, no easy answer on who is right and who is wrong.  It comes to a point where Mildred goes overboard and while we understand why and have little sympathy for those affected by her actions, we find that we cannot stand steadfastly by her.

I would be remiss if I didn’t call out the performances of James (one of my favorites, Peter Dinklage) who is the local dwarf who longs for Mildred and Charlie, (played by the under rated John Hawkes), Mildred’s abusive ex-husband who left her for a 19 yr old vapid girl.  They say in Hollywood that there are no small roles and this proves the adage.  While not primary to the film, both characters add to the rich tapestry of life in Ebbings, Missouri.  Both characters help us understand Mildred more as a person and relate to the demons that drive her.

I don’t believe there is enough buzz around this film for it to do exceptionally well at the Oscars, but it’s a shame, because this falls into one of my best films of the year, if not the best.  It is definitely Martin McDonagh’s best film to date (and that’s saying a lot).  I wish this film much success and I hope you find time to fit this into your busy Holiday Season schedule.

I give this film **** stars out of five.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbings Missouri trailer

The Shape of Water

       What do you get when you cross a B-movie Creature from the Black Lagoon with a Grimm’s Fairy Tale with a 1960’s Hollywood musical?  The answer is: “WOW!”.  Director Guillermo del Toro has long been known for his unique macabre visions in film, but with ‘The Shape of Water’, he has produced the best most unique film of his career.  As bizarre as the set up sounds, it will garner multiple Oscar nominations this season, if not actual wins.  ‘The Shape of Water’ has the feel of a 100 million dollar blockbuster, but del Toro made this for under 19 million.  Forewarning that ‘The Shape of Water’ plays out like a fairy tale, but it is R-rated with several scenes causing discomfort to the viewer.  Don’t let that scare you away though as this is a film worth exploring the edge of your comfort zone for.

Set in 1960’s Baltimore, mute cleaning lady Elisa (Sally Hawkins), leads a quiet life of longing (for what she doesn’t know) in the Baltimore slums.  Her only friends are her co-worker, Zelda (Octavia Spencer), who often interprets her sign language for her, and her elderly artistic neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins).  Her job at a government research facility provides her little excitement until one day the appearance of a team of government scientists arrive transporting a cylinder containing something they only refer to as ‘The Asset’.  Leading Security of the project is an intense zealot of a man named Strickland (Michael Shannon adding to his long list of memorable baddies).  Elisa and Zelda try to steer clear of the menacing Strickland, especially after hearing the unearthly screams that come from the research chamber, but one day when Strickland emerges from the chamber bloodied  and injured, Elisa and Zelda are tasked with the clean-up.  It is then that Elisa discovers that ‘The Asset’ is an aquatic man-like creature captured by the Government.  For some reason, unbeknownst to her, she is immediately drawn and fascinated by the captured creature.  In return, the creature seems to be equally captivated by her quiet presence.  

Elisa can’t get the creature out of her mind and as the top secret project’s cleaning duty has been assigned to her, she takes every opportunity she can to make contact with the creature.  This proves difficult as security is incredibly high for fear of the Russians infiltrating the facility to secure knowledge of the creature.  Strikland’s almost religious fervor for his role, in addition to his sadistic attitude towards the creature deters Elisa, although she does manage to provide the creature a daily routine of leaving hard boiled eggs.  Ever evading Strickland’s watchful eye, Elisa looks for any occasion to connect with the creature who constantly occupies her thoughts.

Reading what I have described would hardly want to make anyone rush out and see this movie as it seems cheesy from an era long past.  The genius of this film is the execution of Guillermo del toro’s execution.  Much like del Toro’s classic ‘Pan’s Labrynth’, he finds beauty in the macabre and forces us to see it as well. Much like we found Grimm’s fairy tales horrifying yet enthralling as children, del Toro is able to recapture that magic at an adult level while still keeping the child like charm and wonderment.  I can’t count how many ways this film could have gone wrong, but under del Toro’s direction he weaves a beautiful artistic tapestry of an unlikely love story.  

Ever the visual artist, del Toro tells most of his story through images that allows the viewer to be swept in and interpret what they are seeing.  One of the most profound scenes involves Elisa going home on the bus and moving her fingers along the beads of water on the window.  The camera lingers on her gazing at her tracings and while I couldn’t tell you what it was meant to represent, I felt it was full of meaning.  Equally, the musical dance sequence with the creature (yes, you read that correctly), seemed a bizarre choice to fit into the film, but it not only worked seamlessly, it actually enhanced the already incredible film.

There is no way around that this is just a weird film.  I won’t even try to deny that.  What is also undeniable is that you will walk out of the theatre marveling at its’ artistic accomplishment.  I haven’t seen all the Oscar contenders this year and ‘The Shape of Water’ has no real political agenda or social message that would make it an Oscar darling, but I want to go on record that I think this will be a highly buzzed about and controversial film come nomination time.  I predict nominations in all the major categories and from what I’ve seen so far this season, merits the Best Picture and Director spot.  

I give this film **** 1/2 stars out of five.

The Shape of Water trailer