Sex and the City

First Hit: I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it and I loved one the themes of this film - forgiveness.

Because I haven’t had a television for over 15 years, I’d never seen the HBO television series of the same name. I didn’t know what to expect but I do know not many television series have converted well to the film medium (Think - Brady Bunch).

If the television series was as fun as this film was, then I might have enjoyed watching it the series. Four women, very different from each other yet connected through their femininity, love of the city (New York), and interest in men; share their differing life experiences together. Through all the ups and downs they, no matter what, are there for each other.

The major plot of this film is that Carrie (Played by Sarah Jessica Parker) is going to marry Mr. Big (Played by Chris Noth). Mr. Big, having been married twice before, just wants something simple and Sarah lets the wedding get away from her and it becomes the "talk of the town wedding". He just wants to be reassured that it is “just the two of us”.

The sub-plots are Samantha Jones (Played by Kim Cattrall) is living in LA as a manager for her much younger actor stud boyfriend. His work schedule is keeping him away from being home and giving Samantha what she likes, lots of sex. This is causing Samantha to wonder about her life and her hunky neighbor.

Charlotte York (Played by Kristin Davis) is the more straight and princess-like wife who couldn’t have a child and therefore adopts one. But then she becomes pregnant. She is in a happy marriage and is “happy most of the time” which is different from the other three girls.

Then there is Miranda Hobbes (Played by Cynthia Nixon) a tight lipped lawyer who thrives on her schedule but has a husband who is more open, kind, and flexible. These differences are starting to show and causing breaks their family unit and the scenes with the child in the restaurant and them together making love are especially telling.

With these 4 plots set in place this film unfolds in a clear, fun and thoughtful way.

Michael Patrick King is the film’s director and does a wonderful job of setting up the film for those of us who didn’t know the characters from television and then briskly moves the film along. Even though it is 145 minutes long, I was never bored and felt like each piece fit and brought something to the overall experience. What I liked most about the film is that there was this strong message throughout, which was forgiveness. It was about the forgiveness of friends, spouses, boyfriends, and fiancés.

Overall: Although there were some parts (1 crucial part) that didn’t work for me, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and the characters.

The Life Before Her Eyes

First Hit: An outstanding, thoughtful, beautifully photographed film.

Staring Evan Rachel Wood and Uma Thurman, both playing Diana. One as a high school senior and the other 15 years later as a wife and mother.

This film is extraordinary in both how it was put together and its acting. Young Diana is a rebellious type who is also deeply thoughtful and heart filled. She acts out in ways that have her labeled as a slut but it is, like most high school labels, incorrect. She spends a lot of her time high on pot and skipping school but is also curious about life in a retrospective way.

Her best friend Maureen (played by Eva Amurri) is a Christian and provides an interesting and insightful counter balance to their relationship. Young Diana wants her life to start and cannot wait for it to happen and she believes it will be away from the small home town she lives in.

Maureen on the other hand wants to marry her first love, have children, and spend the rest of her life right where she is. Uma, playing the older haunted Diana, is married and with a daughter who's as precious as she was when she was young.

Older Diana’s skittishness and haunting behavior is immediately revealed because the film takes place in the week of the 15th anniversary of a Columbine type shooting on their high school campus.

Young Diana was told by the killer just prior to the shooting that he might do it, however she disregarded his threat and feels horrible about it.

There isn’t much else to say about the plot without giving too many things away, however this film will stick with you and keep you asking questions about it long after you leave the theater. There are many levels to what the film is saying. Vadim Perelman directed this beautifully executed film. The timeline is not in sequence, nor can it be to give the real sense of the depth of remembrance for the older Diana. The scenes are beautifully shot and the collage of colors, sequences, angles, and movement between past and future is extraordinary. Uma Thurman is outstanding in her role and carries the energy, fear and wisdom the younger Diana. Evan Rachel Wood, gives another stellar performance. Just like in “13” and “Down in the Valley”, she makes you watch and engage with her as her character reveals herself during the performance.

Overall: This film is one of depth, beauty, and the complications of life laid out as life is, full of questions, doubts, and love.

The Visitor

First Hit: This is a wonderful film that is very well written, acted and directed.

Richard Jenkins plays Walter Vale a widower college professor who has lost his zest for life. He is sleepwalking through his courses and the students know it.

Marking this malaise is watching him whiting out the date on last year’s syllabus to put the current year’s date on it because there are no changes in the course and he is to lazy to make a new one. He is forced to present a paper, on which he only was a minor participator, at a conference in New York City which gives him a chance to stay in his apartment in town.

Arriving at his apartment he finds it occupied with a couple played by Haaz Sleiman (as Tarek) and Danai Gurira (as Zainab) who believe they have legally rented it. Both of them are illegal aliens and are afraid of being caught by the police.

Walter, feeling sorry for their plight of being put out on the street, lets them stay in his guest room. Zainab make jewelry which she sells on the street and Tarek is a drummer which intrigues Walter so Tarek gives him lessons.

As Walter learns the drum, for the first time in years, Walter slowly finds some joy and happiness in his life. The rhythms of the African beat give him life and he starts practicing and playing with Tarek whenever he can.

However, Tarek gets caught by the police and is sent to a holding prison. From there the story unfolds bringing in Tarek’s mother Mauna (played by Hiam Abbas) who helps connects all the characters and brings additional life to this wonderful picture.

The story is excellent and the acting is superb especially Jenkins who in a wonderful way opens small doors and windows to his soul all through the film. The direction by Tom McCarthy (who also directed “The Station Agent”) did a wonder job of moving the film along and holding scenes long enough that you sense and feel the emotions of the characters.

Overall: This is a wonderful film expressing one of our country’s more difficult issues, immigration.

Chapter 27

First Hit: I hoped for something possibly more insightful, but found the film disappointing. However, that could be because the ending is so depressing.

Attempting to better understand the mind of someone who actually killed someone I admired very much was the draw for me to see this film.

I knew nothing of Mark David Chapman before seeing the film and all I really learned by watching the film is that he both admired and hated John Lennon.

Jared Leto as Chapman was eerie and his mood shifts were ominous. As the film drew on I could feel the tenseness of how he kept stepping closer to the ending I didn’t want to happen.

In this vain, Leto is excellent and definitely takes you to this dark space. However, the whole film starts out dark and just gets darker. Lindsay Lohan (plays Jude) is convincing as a Lennon admirer and the way she befriends Chapman. She is enough of a groupie that she knows some of the Lennon family patterns and intercepts Sean Lennon and his nanny heading home from a walk in the park and knows them on a first name basis.

Overall: This is a dark film and is well directed in this way. It just is such an unhappy ending.

Never Forever

First Hit: I enjoyed this drama and it was tastefully acted and directed.

The wife, Sophie, (played by Vera Farmiga) of a Korean businessman, Andrew (played by David L. McInnis), is watching her husband become more despondent as they try over and over again to produce a baby.

There is enormous pressure by his family to have the next generation. Their marriage is complicated further because Sophie is white, knows little of the family culture, and is not religious.

The family goes to church each Sunday and Sophie is prodded into praying which she doesn’t know how to do. Andrew’s despondency is compounded because Sophie is doing all she can to make him happy.

She doesn’t tell him that his sperm is infertile because she feels it will put him over the edge. To resolve this she finds a Korean man which she pays to have sex with until she is pregnant. As you might imagine this complicates the situation.

Vera is wonderful at being the self controlled pleasing wife who loves her husband and then finds herself released into a more full and fulfilling experience in the arms of her chosen sperm donor. Andrew is OK as the suicidal distant husband whose life dramatically changes when he finds out Sophie is pregnant. And I found Jung-Woo Ha wonderful as Jihah the man who impregnates Sophie.

Overall: This could have been an overly dramatic piece of fluff, however the acting and directing brought out very good performances and the story is different and fresh.