REEL REVIEW: 2007 Oscar-nominated Live Action Shorts

The Oscars are upon us and this year I was able to do something for the first time in preparation for next Sunday night. I was actually able to go out and watch all five nominated Live Action Short Films. Last Friday, in a bizarre reversal, my wife and I had to cancel our babysitter due to my wife's migraine. So after our daughter was down for the night, I wound up going out to the movies with our babysitter. Before you get any ideas, it helps to know a little more. I had a greenlight from my wife, our babysitter is a good friend from church and she's around my mother's age. Paulette is an actress friend who shares the same passion for film that I do and we decided to make the most of the evening and head on over to the Landmark Theatres where both the Live Action and the Animated Short Films are showing.

Every time I watch the Oscars I have no idea what any of those Short Films are about. This time I'll at least know what the Live Action nominees are. All five films were shown for a regular $10.00 admission price. With all films being as great as they were, we definitely got our money's worth (well, Paulette's money's worth since she wound up treating me for my birthday). Alright, I'll look at all the nominees and then I'll let you in on my criteria for a good short film.

The 2008 Academy Award nominees for the category of Live Action Short are as follows and in order of appearance....

Tanghi Argentini - Belgium (2006) ****

written by: Anja Daelemans

directed by: Guido Thys

unrated

14 min.

language: Dutch

ACADEMY AWARDS HISTORY:

This is the first Academy Award nomination for Guido Thys.
This is the second Academy Award nomination for Anja Daelemans.
She was previously nominated for:

• FAIT D'HIVER (2002) -- Nominee, Short Film (Live Action)

FILM SYNOPSIS:

An office clerk with a desire and need to tango enlists the support of a workplace colleague as he prepares for a date.

That's the only description listed for this gem and that's all I'm gonna give. This short was just that....short yet lacking nothing. If you ever get the chance to see it, you'll see what a clever, funny and refreshingly sweet story.

At Night - Denmark (2007) ***

written & directed by: Christian E. Christiansen

produced by: Louise Vesth

unrated

39 min.

language: Danish

ACADEMY AWARDS HISTORY:

These are the first Academy Award nominations for Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth.

FILM SYNOPSIS:

The time is Christmas and New Year. Three girls between 18 and 20, are hospitalized with cancer. All three of them have serious problems, not just in terms of health, but also in terms of their relationships with their nearest and dearest. The girls find a haven in each other's company, where they are free from the fear of death and loneliness. A substantial part of the film describes their sense of humor, unrestrained candidness and uncompromising zest for life.

Truly a remarkable accomplishment in writing, acting and overall design. It's a real subject that has touched everyone at some point in life and this is a great look at three young woman who turn to each other for support and love as they face an uncertain future. Very moving but the longest short of the bunch (more on that later).

Il Supplente - The Substitute - Italy (2006) ***

directed by: Andrea Jublin

language: Italian
unrated

ACADEMY AWARDS HISTORY:

This is the first Academy Award nomination for Andrea Jublin.

FILM SYNOPSIS:

The arrival of an unusual newcomer galvanizes the students in a high school classroom.

This was the movie that got Paulette and I bustin' with laughter. It had a hilariously unexpected story that seemed almost improvisational. Not surprising at all that this came from Italy seeing as how most comedy that I see coming from that country is very funny while often making a poignant claim about society. A little disjointed at times but it succeeds nonetheless.

The Tonto Woman - United Kingdom (2007) ****

written by: Joe Shrapnel

produced by: Matthew Brown

directed by: Daniel Barber

unrated

35 minutes

language: English

ACADEMY AWARDS HISTORY:

These are the first Academy Award nominations for Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown.

FILM SYNOPSIS:

Based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, a cattle rustler named Ruben Vega (Francesco Quinn, yes, that's Anthony's son) discovers a woman named Sarah (Charlotte Asprey) living in isolation in a desert shack after being held captive for eleven years by the Mojave Indians. Intrigued by her solitary existence, he sets out to find why she lives in such an inhospitable place. He uncovers a tale of kidnapping, betrayal and of a woman discarded by society. This is the story of a woman who comes to realize she can regain control of her life and decide her own destiny.

This was the most beautiful looking film of them all. While I may be a lil biased cuz of my love for a good western, the wide-open vistas of the dry landscape (filmed primarily in Spain) was breathtaking. It was a nice switch to see such a strong female character in a western short. It was one of the films that I really wanted to see more of, which is good and bad (more on that later as well).

Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) - France (2006) ***

written & directed by: Philippe Pollet-Villard

unrated

31 min.

language: French

ACADEMY AWARDS HISTORY:

This is the first Academy Award nomination for Philippe Pollet-Villard.

FILM SYNOPSIS:

A pair of unlucky thieves find their fortunes have changed when they take in a deaf homeless boy.

Another hilarious short as you can tell by the above sentence. The film almost knows it's clever and a bit too cute for it's own good. Still, it's undeniably endearing and wacky.

One thing that stood out to both Paulette and myself even while we were in the theatre, is that these movies weren't all that short. Now, I think of a Live Action Short as being about 15-20 minutes max. Now none of them were bad, it's just that when you're sitting in a theatre watching a short and you find yourself invested in the characters after 20 minutes past, you start to wonder (well, at least I did) when this film will end. Just how "short" is this Short?

I tried to find out on Wikipedia, which only told me the following history....

This name for the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film was introduced in 1974. For the three preceding years it was known as "Short Subjects, Live Action Films." The term "Short Subjects, Live Action Subjects" was used from 1957 until 1970. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, "Short Subjects, one-reel" and "Short Subjects, two-reel". A third category "Short Subjects, color" was used only for 1936 and 1937. From the initiation of short subject awards for 1932 until 1935 the terms were "Short Subjects, comedy" and "Short subjects, novelty".

....hmmm, well that didn't help. No real description as to what (if any) are the time requirements of a Live Action Short Film. Is that a big deal though?

Well, yeah it became one for us as we discussed which one would be the best contender for Oscar winner. With that in mind and after much mulling, I came up with some criteria in order to ascertain a standout nominee. Since these films are called "Shorts" then a successful one should adhere to that. Crazy, I know.

A short film should be relatively short (15-20 minutes is decent to me) and not leaving you wanting more. The film gives just enough characterization and story that when it comes time for an end....you're not wishing it would continue. I mean that in the best way possible. You are content with the lil gem you were given. The problem I found with "At Night" and "The Tonto Woman" was that they were not only too long for me but they were so good that I wanted more. Say What? How is that a problem? Well, that doesn't fit the criteria I mentioned above. These two shorts were wonderfully done, unique dramas yet I woulda been fine seeing in a full feature format. The ones from Italy and France were a bit too cutesy for me. Although I laughed out loud more than once while watching these two yet it still didn't hold up to the surprising sweetness of "Tanghi Argentini".

Therefore, my pic would be the entry from Belgium. It may not be my favorite of the five but it did meet the critieria that we came up with. It'll be interesting to see what short is picked as the winner.

Cinematical's review of All the Oscar-nominated Shorts

REEL REVIEW: Cactus Flower (1969) ***

rated PG
1 hr. 44 min.

written by: I. A L Diamond, Abe Burrows (play "Cactus Flower"), Pierre Barillet & Jean-Pierre Gredy (play "Fleur de Cactus")
produced by: Mike Frankovich
directed by: Gene Saks

I happened upon this one the other night on television and was pleasantly surprised. I was fooling around with the free movies on my cable's free On Demand feature. I don't really go there that much for movies but on this particular Friday night, the selections were pretty dry. Not as dry as a cactus mind you (heh, sorry). Well, I saw that it was released in 1969 and it had Walter Matthew, an actor I just love and who's filmography I've been meaning to bone up on. I knew nothing about the film. The Turner Classic Movies guy came on before the film started and said something about how this was Goldie Hawn's debut feature film. Hmph. I hoped that her performance here was better than the majority of her work in the last coupla decades. I would see something fresh from her. I didn't even know about Ingrid Bergman was in it until I saw her name as the movie began. So, I was intrigued by this late night find from the start and found myself solidly entertained by this silly, well-written comedy.

Julian Winston (Matthau), is an easy-going, middle-aged bachelor dentist whose delicately balanced scheme crumbles under some unexpected circumstances. He's stringing along his dizzy blonde mistress, Toni Simmons (Hawn), by telling her he has a wife and children. When he learns that Toni has tried to commit suicide over him, however, he promises to marry her. Of course, he thinks that will resolve everything but it just snowballs more unforeseen drama, in typical fashion. Refusing to be a home-wrecker, toni is distraught and insists on meeting Winston's wife. He convinces his loyal and lovelorn nurse Stephanie Dickinson (Bergman) to help him get outta this dilemma by posing as his wife.

Stephanie refuses at first but once she follows through we not only see hilarity but also her character revealed. There plenty of typical twists, surprises and confusion for these three but it's Bergman who really carries the film. On Stephanie's unplanned journey out of her no-nonsense cocoon, Bergman simply glows with sweetness and confidence. At first, it seemed so odd seeing her in a late 1960's New York romp with Hawn and Matthau but then again I respected her all the more for it. It's clear that she is enjoying herself immensely, and it's infectious: as a viewer, it's impossible not to get drawn into the cheerful pandemonium of the movie. I regret to admit that his is only the second film I have seen Bergman in (I know. I know), the first being "Casablanca". Bergman is the type of actress who just got better as she aged. Not only is she beautiful but her talented range is apparent in the sheer variety of roles she took. I'm definitely going to work my through her filmography as well.

There are, of course, some other character s that get caught up in Julian's lies. He tries to hook Stephanie up with a boyfriend, using his actor-neighbor Harvey (Jack Weston) who is not just her total opposite but a buffoon. The other innocent bystanders is Toni's next-door neighbor, Igor Sullivan (Rick Lenz) a frustrated playwright and the only man closer to her age. Lenz is the other absolute joy to watch in this film. I never even heard of the guy and there he was with a delightful character. Looks like he did mostly television work after this which is too bad cuz he scenes really enliven the movie.

The film exudes a cheerful energy that might now be conceived as cornball but when you take it for the time it was made in, it's all for fun. It's evident that everybody (particularly Bergman) was having a good time making the film and that's always good to see. Nothing worse than seeing actors work in a movie where it look like just took a check. I found the film genuinely engaging from the very beginning where Toni is about to kill herself in her apartment to the setting up of a situation that we can't help but be interested in.

One gripe I have and it's something I absolutely detest of older movies is how the opening credits roll through everyone who worked on the film as the film has started. Nowadays, this is all done after the film and rightly so. Studios and directors have learned that it's distracted to the story and just plain off-putting. But that's really a minor gripe. Turns out I was right, the film was adapted from a Broadway production of the same name that starred Lauren Bacall as Stephanie. That play was actually inspired from the French play Fluer de Cactus. The film adaptation doesn't really lose the feeling that it could be a play, it has a low-key theatrical feeling to it that caters to the actors.

How was Hawn in her debut role? She was great! That's surprising to me cuz she generally annoys me. But here she makes Toni Simmons into a real person: perky, wide-eyed, innocent, and enthusiastic as a puppy, she brings an unassuming energy into all of her scenes. I couldn't believe that Hawn actually won a Best Supporting Oscar for the role! Wow. That shocked me even more than the film cuz it was equally Bergman who makes the movie. Most of Hawn's films from the 80's and on have come across to me as rather repetitious and somewhat annoying to me but it was great to see her fresh debut here.

The movie does sneak in a look at society's expectations of relationships. While it might have been something new to touch on May-December romances back in the late 60's, it seems kinda old news now. Still, it shows that the film is taking a modern outlook as it looks at and why it is usually acceptable for an older man to have a barely-21-year-old lover, but disgusting for an older woman to contemplate an affair with a younger man. Other terms like "old maid" and "eligible bachelor" are thrown around as well when we see Bergman caught in such stereotypical labeling. But a lesser actress delivering such pointed lines of social commentary surely would not have had the presence Bergman has as she gives substance and believability to a story's message. Like Bergman, the film has aged very well and I found it to be an enjoyable, funny, energetic, and well-made comedy.

A 1970 TV Spot for "Cactus Flower" is a

far cry from all they give away now.

The Skinny:

• The film was the seventh highest grossing film of 1970.
• The namesake of the film is a prickly cactus that Miss Dickinson keeps on her desk at the dentist's office. Similar to Miss Dickinson, the cactus is cold and inhospitable. However, by the end, both the cactus and Miss Dickinson have bloomed.
• Besides her Oscar win, Hawn also won a Golden Globe and she also received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress while Bergman was only nominated a Golden Globe for Best Actress.
• Tuesday Weld turned down the role of Toni Simmons.
• The three kids seen behind the GTO in the GM 5th Avenue showroom during Matthau and Hawn's NY walkabout are David and Jenny Matthau and I.A.L. Diamond's son Paul.

DVD REVIEW: Little Miss Sunshine (2006) ***

R (for language, some sex and drug content.)

1 hr. 41 min.
written by: Michael Arndt
produced by: Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, & Ron Yerxa
directed by: Jonathon Ayton & Valerie Faris

Here's a great family film that I wouldn't recommend for the whole family. It's definitely for the adults (mature or not) in the family. It's a fractured and fractious comedy, spiked with dark laughs and genuine affection for its dysfunctional characters. Arndt's subtly lacerating screenplay takes stock clichés and infuses them with quirks that approach reality, albeit an extremely heightened sense of reality; you watch the movie and see a splintered, spirited family unit grow closer and approach something resembling understanding. To lay out the twists and turns of Little Miss Sunshine would rob those coming to the film fresh.

The Hoover family takes a road trip from Albuquerque, New Mexico to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California, to fulfill the deepest wish of 7-year-old Olive (Abigail Bresson), an ordinary little girl with big dreams. Her father, Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a manic go-getter striving to sell his motivational nine-step technique to becoming a winner. Truth is, he's an annoying loser who insecurely leans on self-help to help others. Ironic. Her father, Sheryl (Toni Colette) has her hands full with her suicidal brother and Proust scholar Frank (Steve Carell) and Richard's caustic, drugged out, potty-mouthed dad (Alan Arkin). Then there's brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) is going on nine months as a mute, studying the nihilistic works of Nietzsche.

When Olive wins a spot in the prestigious Little Miss Sunshine pageant in, the family pile into a past-its-prime Volkswagen van and head out towards the promise of a glittering future in California. What's great about the movie is that it doesn't unfold in an entirely predictable manner, often zigging where you might think it would zag – lining scenes with a patently absurd vibe, music video vets turned feature film directors Dayton and Faris swipe a few pages from the Woody Allen/Wes Anderson playbook, electing to play gags straight ahead and letting the laughs evolve naturally. As I said, I'm not gonna get into all the various dramedic situations the family gets in due to their tensions and personalities. We all know the myriad difficulties that can arise during a road trip. The finale of the film presents a scathingly satirical depiction of child beauty pageants, in which elementary school girls model swimsuits and strut onstage to dance music. It's great to finally see Olive demonstrate to her family and the audience what she has learned from her grandfather's private dance routine rehearsals. It's Olive and this routine that ultimately brings this formerly dysfunctional family together.

In retrospect (I guess all reviews are) I almost see this movie as a live-action version of "The Simpsons". It has the dysfunctional family that underneath it all really mean well. The father is a bumbling, lovable idiot (like Homer), the mother is doing everything she can to keep the family together (Marge), Arkin plays his Grandpa character in a cross-between Moe & Grandpa Simpson, while Dwayne is an amalgam of Bart and Nelson. Haw ha! Of course, lil Olive is akin to Lisa Simpson in her sunny disposition and resilient nature. Just an observation.

The directors have assembled a cast brimming with impeccable comic timing; Kinnear, Collette, Carell, Breslin, Dano and Arkin take Arndt's screenplay and give it a loose, improvised feel – if the Academy weren't so predictably out of touch, I'd say that Little Miss Sunshine might be due a raft of trophies come Oscar time....but what do I know?

So few films truly worth sitting through have made their way into our multiplexes in 2006 that when a work like Little Miss Sunshine comes along, you can't recommend it strongly enough. It's a rib-tickling ray of light beamed from Hollywood, of all places, reminding you that, yes, in fact it is possible to be both moved and amused, with nary a toliet joke or product placement in sight.


Special Features:


Unfortunately, these features are a tad scant. They might have some thinking "double dip," (referring to they way studios have come out with "special additions" and "ultimate addictions") and indeed, as awards season begins to heat up, it's entirely possible that Fox could re-visit this title with a tricked-out special edition in six months, after the trophies have been handed out.

Nevertheless, what's included is worth at least a cursory spin: a pair of commentary tracks -- a "somewhat reluctant" one with co-directors Dayton and Faris and another equally chatty one with screenwriter Arndt, Dayton and Faris -- are here, along with four alternate endings, playable together for an aggregate of five minutes and all sporting directors' commentary with a music video for DeVotchKa's "Till the End of Time" completing the disc.


The Skinny:

• Originally written as an East Coast roadtrip movie from Maryland to Florida, it was shifted to a journey from New Mexico to California due to shooting issues.
• The role of the suicidal uncle was originally written for Bill Murray, the studios wanted Robin Williams, but eventually went for Steve Carell. Thanks you!
• Five identical Volkswagen Type 2s were used during filming.
• The movie was shot in sequence.
• The script was purchased from first time screenwriter Michael Arndt for $250,000.
• No filming was done in New Mexico; the Albuquerque scenes were actually shot in southern California. This explains why the family eats take-out chicken in a bucket from Dinah's Family Restaurant, located in Los Angeles.
• In another dining scene, the family looks at menus from Pann's, a well-known family restaurant not far from Los Angeles International Airport. However, the scene actually was shot in another restaurant.
• The scenes that took place in Redondo Beach, California were actually filmed in Ventura, California. There are no freeways that lead to the beach.
• Many of the freeway scenes were filmed on California State Route 14.
• The scene in the gas station was filmed in the Chevron station on Lyons Road in Santa Clarita, California.
• Although known to Comedy Central viewers for many years as a correspondent on the high-rated satirical news program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Steve Carell, at the time he was cast for Little Miss Sunshine, was a relative unknown in Hollywood. According to an article in Entertainment Weekly, the producers of the film worried that he wasn't a big enough star and didn't have much acting experience. However, between the time the film was shot in the summer of 2005 and its release in the summer of 2006, Carell became a huge success as the star of the high-grossing film "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" in August 2005 and the leading character of the popular NBC Emmy-winning television series "The Office", which premiered in March 2005 and for which Carell won a Golden Globe in 2006 for best lead actor in a comedy television series. In the span of just one year, Carell had become such a star that the producers had gone from protesting his casting to tapping him to do prominent promotion for the film.
• All the girls acting as participants in the beauty pageant, except Abigail Breslin, were veterans of real beauty pageants. They looked the same and performed the same acts as they had in their real-life pageants. Scary!
• Greg Kinnear and Paul Dano also star in the 2006 movie adaptation of Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation".
• On July 25, 2006 Fox Searchlight Pictures invited VW bus owners to a screening of Little Miss Sunshine at Vineland Drive-In theater in City of Industry, California. 65 VW buses were present at the event.
• The license plate of Frank's academic and romantic rival, Larry Sugarman (the #2 Proust scholar), reads "lost time", a reference to Marcel Proust's principal novel À la recherche du temps perdu or "In Search of Lost Time".
• Inside the convenience store, the price of Frank's slurpee and the pornographic magazines came to a total of $19.79. Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris had previously directed the "1979" music video by The Smashing Pumpkins.
• Bryan Cranston's character in Little Miss Sunshine has the same name - Stan Grossman - as Larry Brandenburg's character in the classic Coen brothers film "Fargo".
• Paul Dano's character has the same given name - Dwayne - as one of the main characters in the Kurt Vonnegut novel "Breakfast of Champions"; in addition, the referenced main character has the family name "Hoover."
• A scene shot in Phoenix, Arizona, as the family leaves the area for California, shows the family's bus traveling eastbound on the Arizona State Route 101, crossing beneath the juncture of the Interstate 17 freeway. In reality, they would be headed in the wrong direction.
• Most of the beauty pageant interiors were shot at the Radisson in Culver City. It is across the street from Dinah's, a restaurant where the interiors for the 'ice cream' scene were shot. Ironically, they use menus from "Pann's", another restaurant a few miles away (on LaTijera).
• Screenwriter Steven Conrad did an uncredited draft while the film was at Focus Features. The only thing kept was Richard's trip to meet Stan Grossman.
• Dayton and Faris directed a sketch in Mr. Show episode 404, Rudy Will Await Your Foundation, about a prenatal beauty pageant, one of many location pieces they filmed for the show. It featured one character, played by Becky Thyre, very similar to the pageant director in Little Miss Sunshine.
• In one driving scene, Olive is shown playing with the same happy face puzzle that the main contestant played with in the 2001 HBO documentary Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen.
• The first name of the Grandpa -Edwin- is revealed only once in the film.

NOMINATONS:

SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast, Outstanding Supporting Male Actor (Arkin), Oustanding Supporting Female Actor (Breslin)

PGA (Producer's Guild of America) Awards: Best Feature Film

Golden Globe Awards: Best Musical or Comedy, Best Actress in Musical or Comedy (Collette)

Academy Awards: nominated for Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Arkin), Supporting Actress (Breslin) and Original Screenplay (Arndt). Arkin and Arndt won their respective Oscars.

REEL REVIEWS: Capote (2005) ****

R (for violent images and brief strong language)
1 hr. 54 min.
written by: Dan Futterman (screenplay) & Gerald Clarke (book)
produced by: Caroline Baron, Michael Ohoven, & William Vince
directed by: Bennet Miller


A coupla Fridays ago, Adrian and I went and saw this movie after work.

My intention was to play catch-up with the list of all the movies that I've been wanting to see and this film happened to be one of them. Primarily those films that have received acclaimed reviews and award noms. It's hard to convince others to go see a movie that has been little seen but widely praised and is about a person not too many know about. I did my best to sell Adrian on it and after he saw the trailer online, he was up for it.
The movie is a biopic based on what Capote and those around him went through as he did research for his book, "In Cold Blood." In the movie, Capote coins the foreign (at the time) term "non-fiction novel". The book and his approach would go on to change the way people looked at and wrote about true crime and non-fiction stories.


"Capote" was on my list mainly for the talk of Philip Seymour Hoffman giving such a superb performance as American writer, Truman Capote. It was announced yesterday by the National Society of Film Critics that "Capote" had won the best picture award of 2005 and Best Actor for Hoffman. he also won Best Actor at the Critics Choice awards last night for this role. In recent weeks it has been awarded nominations for Best Actor from the Screen Actors Guild and Best Director for Bennett Miller from the Directors Guild of America.

The movie is that good to warrant all those noms and awards but it's not for those with short attention span or for those who are used to whiz-bang special effects out of there movie experiences. It's about real people and the effect one individuals self-absorption and obsession has on others.

By 1959, Capote (pronounced Ka-poe-tee) was writing for The New Yorker and was already quite famous for writing the novel that inspired the film, "Breakfast at Tiffany's." He was a well known figure among the wealthy Manhattan social circles. He was an eccentric character, openly gay, as much known for his high-pitched voice, outrageous manner of dress, and wild fabrications about acquaintances and events, as he was his literary talent. It was because of these characteristics that he was considered an outsider pretty much wherever he went.

Around this time he was looking for his next "great work" to write. He found it on November 15th, as he was reading he noticed an article about four members of a Kansas farm family who were shotgunned to death. This intrigued Capote enough to contact his editor William Shawn (Bob Balaban) and convince him that he should be sent out to Holcomb, Kansas to do an article on this story. He feels it presents an opportunity, he believes, to test his long-held theory that, in the hands of the right writer, non-fiction can be as compelling as fiction.

Capote also sees this tragedy as a clash of cultures coming together. There is the killer (or killers) and then there is the Clutter family, a middle-class, well-respected, small town family. It was reported that the entire family was murdered in the middle of the night after a break in. Why did this happen? Why was this family picked? What impact has this had on the townspeople? These are the questions that Capote initially takes with him as he travels to Holcomb.

Accompanying him is his friend from his childhood, writer Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) who kinda keeps Capote "in check. Because the personage of Capote is such a contrast, Lee acts as a sort of, translator. She understand him. She gets him where no one else would. Kansas folk may not know what to do with such a charismatic and eccentric character but they and she knows it. She is there for Capote and everyone around him in an effort for the well-known writer to be not necessarily respected but at least understood. She also serves as his conscience as he becomes obsessed in his pursuit of the story in an effort to help him keep any type of morality or sensitivity intact. Truly we see the story working on Capote as well as him working on the story.

First stop for Capote and Lee upon arriving is the local law enforcement where they meet Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper) the agent from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in charge of the case. As others around him are kinda put off by his peculiar behavior, Capote wins the acceptance of Dewey, yet not by much. In hopes of letting him know that he's just doing a story on the community, Capote tells Dewey, "I don't care one way or the other if you catch who did this," which doesn't sit too well with Dewey. It's his case and his community and he is determined to find out what happened to this family.

The way in which Capote goes about researching the event is often quite manipulative and at times creepy. He tried to relate to a girlfriend of one of the Clutter daughters, when he says, "Ever since I was a child, folks have thought they had me pegged, because of the way I am, the way I talk." Lee is there with him, she can see it but he does indeed succeed in gaining the confidence of the girl. He even somehow manages to view the four dead bodies in the funeral home. We see him look underneath the cloth wrapped around the mutilated heads of the family members. Later, he tells his lover, writer Jack Dunphy (Bruce Greenwood) over the phone that he found his private peek fascinating.

Then two drifters, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Richard Hickock (Mark Pelligrino), are apprehended and soon sentenced to death. Finding himself increasingly drawn to the story by the sentence, Truman begins personally interviewing the murderers, particularly Perry Smith, at their maximum security prison. Avoiding discussion of the murders themselves, Capote learns more about their lives outside of crime, finding a humanity never put into print before and causing him to extend his article into a full-length novel. It would be the first True Crime novel ever written.

His extensive interviews with Smith lead to a strange relationship open to many terms of controversial interpretation. He feels compelled to assist the men and lead the world's opinion away from demonizing headlines. Capote even goes to lengths to find them a decent lawyer for their Supreme Court appeal although that act seems to be more an effort to prolong their lives for his novel. Yet, it kinda backfires for him in a way. When we see him give a reading of the book in New York, the audience was unprepared to deal with such a humanizing look at such vicious attacks. It certainly reinforces for some Capote's reputation for the peculiar.

Cinematographer Adam Kimmel opens the film on a gray prairie where only the Clutter's lone house stands. It sets the color palette of dark tones and earthy colors that portray a quiet, cold feel for the film even in the New York scenes. At times, it was almost like watching an Edward Hopper painting come to life.

The film is yet another biopic that succeeds in peeling the layers of a famous character to reveal (in Capote's case) the insecurities and selfishness that propels him to greatness. There is no typical hard living, drug addictions, or affairs here that are common in most "based-on-a-true-story" films. Instead we see a talented master manipulator face himself and his muse in a way unseen till now.

I mentioned above that the movie isn't for everybody. that's probably why not too many have heard about it. Some may walk out and think it too depressing or slow. Well, that may be the case but it is also one of the most well-acted, character-driven, and enthralling stories on the screen in 2005. Unfortunately, this will never be a movie that will be number one at the box office (which is kinda fitting considering the main character was such an outsider) but it will be a movie that will linger with you long after it envelopes you.

REEL REVIEWS: Walk the Line (2005) ****

PG-13 (for some language, thematic material and depiction of drug dependency)
2 hrs. 15 min.
written by: Johnny Cash, Gill Dennis, & James Mangold
produced by: James Keach, & Cathy Konrad
directed by: James Mangold



It was kinda nice to have the day after Christmas Day and New Years Day off work this year due to the fact that both holidays fell on Sundays. It gave me an opportunity to recover from holiday festivities and also (like many of you) to catch up on some films. So between going to the theater or staying put on the couch, I found myself trying to catch up on some films I haven't had the chance to see. Being a fan of Johnny Cash, people were quite surprised that I had not seen the this biopic yet. As I always say, I don't get paid to see movies. I like movies. But, like anyone else, it takes time and money. Those two factors were aligned on both of these recent post-holiday days and I finally got a chance to see this here film.

Now, lemme first say that I did not become a Johnny Cash fan upon hearing about this movie or it's release. I've known of Cash and his music for quite a while. My father turned me on to Cash at an early age. I remember him humming the classic "boom-chicka-boom" sound that Cash originated way back when I was a wee lad. I had known about his legendary live concert prison albums from Folsom and San Quentin. I grew up in a time when Cash's life was known more for his legal and drug trouble rather than his great music.

Regardless of alla that, I knew when I heard his voice I was hearing something real. Cash's powerful voice resonated something true within me that made me wanna listen to him. His voice came from the blackest of nights with a stark solid beam of light hitting just the right chords. Cash sang of the down-trodden, of the guilty and of the wrongly accused, as well as songs of love and hope. His music and behavior would pave the way for rock, country, Folk, punk, and rap.

Cash has written about his personal transformation from self-destructive pop icon to the iconic "man in black" in both "Man in Black" and "Cash". He's a man who's faced down his demons, stubbornly fought for love, and learned how to walk the razor-thin line between destruction and redemption.

When I heard they were gonna make this movie I was quite nervous. I mean who could possibly portray the larger-than-life Cash respectfully let alone successfully. But, then I heard that Cash specifically selected Joaquin Phoenix to play him. I know Phoenix to be a talented, capable actor and with Cash hand-picking him, I wasn't gonna be too upset. Then it was announced that Reese Witherspoon would be playing June Carter Cash and somehow I just knew that'd be fitting. As the movie was released I had read that these two actors actually did their own singing as well. After watching the movie, I gotta admit it was one of the most dead-on performances I have ever seen. More on that later.

The movie starts out at Folsom Prison in Sacramento, CA on January 13, 1968. From outside the concrete & steel, we hear the roaring and cl aping of inmates combines with the thundering "boom-chicka-boom" of Cash's band as they all await his appearance. Cash is seen in what appears to be a shop room that he's using as a backstage room. His brow is sweaty and his gaze is fixed on the razor's edge of a table saw blade. Something keeps him there. Blocking all other sound he runs his finger along the blade and you just know there's somethin' goin' on behind that steady stare.

Then the movie takes you back to Cash's childhood years in rural Dyess, Arkansas where his hard-working parents raised him along with his brother, Jack and his sisters. He and his brother were best friends. He looked up to him and often felt like Jack was a better boy than him cuz his father, Ray Cash (Robert Patrick) often favored him. They grew up listening to gospel music on the radio and went fishing together. Young Johhny's world would forever be changed when in 1944 Jack died from wounds he received from a horrible table saw accident in the mill they worked at nearly teared the poor boy in two. The death was devastating to Cash because that day he decided to go fishing instead of help Jack work. It didn't help that the hard-drinking Ray blamed Johnny and even said to that God "took the wrong son." In the movie you sense that the drive behind a Johnny Cash song was defiance. He was going to sing it no matter what anybody thought....especially his old man.

Maybe it was his despair over his brother combined with his spite toward his father that drove Cash on his journey. He leaves Arkansas to join the Air Force in Germany where he writes his first song "Folsom Prison Blues" inspired after seeing the B-movie "Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison." When his service ended he came back to the states and married his first wife Vivian Liberto (Jennifer Goodwin) in Memphis and Johnny took a crack at selling appliances door to door. No success. At the same time he was trying to start his recording career and would practice songs with his band at night. Yet when he referred to "his band", Vivian would say, "your band is two mechanics who can't hardly play." Sadly, she was kinda right.

Cash happened upon Sun Records in Memphis where legendary producer Sam Philips (Dallas Roberts) reluctantly gave them an audition. After Philips didn't even let them finish their rehearsed gospel songs, he asked Cash if he had anything besides gospel songs. He starts playing "Folsom Prison Blues" and his poor guitarist, Luther Perkins (Dan John Miller) and bassist Marshall Grant (Larry Bagby) didn't know how to follow along as this was the first time they were hearin' it. It is at this audition where Phoenix's performance shows us that this is where Johnny found the sound he needed to be real. As they do their best to keep up with him and back Cash up you can hear the infamous sound come together.

"Walk the Line" isn't too far from many other musical biopics, in that there's childhood trauma, drugs, romance, & too much success. Then there's the recovery from the addiction (hopefully), finding and keeping love, and claiming a lasting stardom. The difference in each of these movies is that it's always different characters and music. Although they may go through the same drama, it's how they handle life's situations is what separates them and draws you to them.

Just like in real life, the movie would not have been the same without June Carter Cash in it. Witherspoon's performance is filled with endless energy and fierce vulnerability. June was a part of the famous Carter Family, the founding voices of country/gospel that he would listen to on the radio as a boy. By the time Cash finally meets her he is both starstruck and captivated. We see in the movie that June had developed a comedic persona onstage to make up for what she thought was sub par vocal talent. She is seen as having a knack for hooking up with the wrong men as she goes through a coupla of marriages. It would appear that Cash is just another wrong man despite how well they work together onstage. She holds him at a distance due to his marriage and even after his divorce, all the booze and pills.

The film's most harrowing scene shows Johnny onstage after an overdose, his face distorted by pain and anger, looking almost satanic before he collapses. What is most fearsome is not even his collapse, but the force of his will, which makes him try to perform when he is clearly unable to. You would not want to get in the way of that determination. When Cash is finally busted and spends some time in jail, his father is dependably laconic: "Now you won't have to work so hard to make people think you been to jail."

Although Cash's father (played with merciless aim by Robert Patrick) eventually does sober up, the family that saves him is June's. The Carter Family were country royalty ever since the days their of broadcasts from a high-powered pirate station across the river from Del Rio, Texas. When they take a chance on Cash, they all take the chance; watch her parents as they greet Johnny's favorite pill-pusher.

Knowing Cash's albums more or less by heart, I closed my eyes to focus on the soundtrack and decided that, yes, that was the voice of Johnny Cash I was listening to. Phoenix and Mangold can talk all they want about how it was as much a matter of getting in character, of delivering the songs, as it was a matter of voice technique, but whatever it was, it worked. Cash's voice was "steady like a train, sharp like a razor," said June.

The movie fudges some on the facts, but I was surprised to learn that Cash actually did propose marriage to Carter onstage during a concert; it feels like the sort of scene screenwriters invent, but no. Other scenes are compressed or fictionalized, as they must be, and I would have liked more screen time for the other outlaws, including Waylon and Willie. Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis make brief excursions through the plot, but essentially this is the story of John and June and a lot of great music. And essentially that's the story we want.

Whether you're into country music or not....the story of his life is compelling enough to move you as well as entertain you, of course.I saw it with my wife and she thought it was great and she isn't even as big of a fan as I am. Like last years "Ray", it doesn't matter whether you like the music, it's the characterization and the amazing acting that makes the this the best biopic of 2005 (sorry "Cinderella Man"). Now, "Capote" was great but to nail a role in both acting and singing is truly a feat that not many can do. Go see this for Phoenix and Witherspoon and see if you can't get caught up in a burning "Ring of Fire."