Into the Wild

First Hit: An amazing adventure which touched me in my adventurer’s spirit.

Emile Hirsch does an extraordinary job of capturing the spirit of Christopher McCandless.

It is at the end of the film when Director Sean Penn shows a real life picture of Christopher sitting in front of the bus where he spent more than 100 days do you see how well Emile captured Christopher’s spirit. Their smiles are one and come from that deep joyful place of adventure and spirit.

During the film I counted three times when Emile looks directly at the camera. One is very up front and obvious the other two times are more a little more subtle, however I think this helps to set off the photograph of McCandless at the very end of the film.

The narrative part of the film is handled in two ways: 1) The voice of Jena Malone, Christopher’s sister, and 2) The writings of Christopher which appear on the screen from time to time. Jena’s narration speaks of the family history in which she and Christopher were brought up in. This is an important key to this film and helps the audience understand part of the motivation.

I did find the film a little long; however I was entranced with the scenes with Hal Holbrook who just may receive an Oscar supporting nod for his role.

Overall: This was a very very good film and Sean Penn does an outstanding job with the screenplay and direction of Jon Krakauer’s book.

Feast of Love

First Hit: An interesting and pointed film about Love and relationships with a smooth underpinning.

Morgan Freeman is the smooth wise underpinning in this film.

He is where the film starts and ends. He has been fortunate in that he has been with “his love” for many years and together they are working through a tragedy and some regret in their lives.

Greg Kinnear brings to life the hopeless romantic who becomes blind in the development of, and during his relationships. The other players in this film also bring to bear different aspects of Love and relationships.

The acting, across the board, is very good which brings these familiar and sometimes painful stories to life.

Overall: I liked this film because I could see myself in one or more of the roles and they rang true.

In the Valley of Elah

First Hit: A very well done film on a relevant topic with some very fine acting.

Vietnam War films started arriving years after the conflict ended.

Today the film industry; I think spurred on by the advent of digital media, is moving faster to put relevant topics in front of us now.

In this case the Iraq War is far from over and this film, based on a true story, shares a one downside of this war. We only meet the subject through pieced together video clips, some dialog about him and one scene when he calls home from Iraq.

His father played by Tommy Lee Jones is a veteran of the Army and war and does an amazing (Oscar consideration) performance of reigned in anger and sadness as he pursues the death of his second son.

As a former MP and investigator he prods the civilian police led by Charlize Theron into really learning what actually happened to his boy. Susan Sarandon plays the mother and wife and gives a picture perfect performance of a mother who has lost her only two sons to the Army life. You can feel life empty out of her.

Although the film uses the death of their son as the subject of the film, the real aim of this film is to introduce people to a side of the war they are not use to seeing. It is a side that I know existed in Vietnam and appears to have expanded in the Iraq war.

The abuses and tactics used are killing us in more than one way. Our media makes attempts to recount these stories, but what it isn’t fleshing out is the effect on our young soldiers.

This film helps us to understand what happens to them (us) when life becomes more expendable. Don’t for a minute believe that the confession you listen to at the end of the film is just a Hollywood script, it isn’t. How do I know? I saw people act this way in Vietnam.

Overall: Paul Haggis directed another excellent film sharing a view of life not always seen or understood.

Silk

First Hit: Although some of the actors and scenes are visually really beautiful, this film was weak, flimsy and very unsatisfying.

The film has no bite and Michael Pitt mopes through this role bringing very little to the character except blank stares, mumbling, and a lack of letting the audience know what was going on within him.

Maybe that is why there were voiceovers in which he makes worse. Keira Knightley didn’t bring much more and I know she is more than capable of bringing something to the screen.

I’m not sure whether it was a really poor script or poor direction but I kept wondering if and when the film would kick into gear.

Although Francois Girard directed “The Red Violin” which was a rather good, this film seems lost from the beginning and stays lost to the end.

In a bright spot Koji Yakusho is very alive, sexy and worth watching in a role where she says nothing.

Overall: There is nothing about this film except the beautiful people and pictures that come up on the screen from time to time.

This Is England

First Hit: A very fine film of a young boy attempting to make sense of the world after the loss of his father. By embracing a group of skinheads he begins to find himself.

No doubt about this film showing a slice of England during the Falkland Islands’ War.

Although we don’t get much of this boy’s past relationship with his father, somehow you know this man was important to him. There was a safety and security that is now missing. He is picked on by other boys at school because of the clothes he wears and he chooses to fight back. You are aware he knows right from wrong and you understand his short fuse and outbursts of anger.

A group of skinheads befriend him and he begins to have fun again. This transition shows how easy it is for kids to become part of a gang (good or bad) because there is a sense of belonging. And with this sense of belonging we might do things we wouldn’t do otherwise.

The gang makes him feel like he belongs, they give him an place to express. He truly reflected the joy of the age when something as simple as “Doc Martins” can be so important. When the true leader of the gang gets out of prison and returns the film moves into high gear.

This is a wonderful story about a young boy finding his way and learning how to make decisions.

Overall: This was a wonderful slice of life that many don’t see but understand.