Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq

First Hit:  The opening dance scene sets the stage for telling the story of the amazing and short career of Tanaquil Le Clercq.

I love watching films that give the audience a focused view of someone that creates from the inside out.

Whether it’s intellectual creativity (See “Tim’s Vermeer”) or visual creativity, like we have here, I think these films are worth seeing. Tana’s performances are amazing. When she is lifted, she knows exactly when and how she will be place down and in knowing this makes the entire lift ethereal. You feel her fly.

Her relationships with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are deeply explored and the angst that Jerome felt is very palpable. Seeing Tana dance on The Red Skelton show was so interesting because she made ballet so much more accessible to others. She also walked her own path.

Tragically, she was struck down with Polio early in her career. The film also shows how she re-engaged her career as a successful teacher.

Nancy Buirski wrote and directed this excellent little documentary.

Overall:  Well cut and edited documentary of some wonderful old footage of an amazing dancer.

Divergent

First Hit:  Not very believable, a little long, some good acting, therefore this film is all over the place.

The future looks grim if you think this film has any modicum of truth. If it is, then I’m not interested in being there.

Basically, the story is that one city, Chicago, is surrounded by a very high concrete wall topped by metal fencing that looks more like antennas. Is Chicago the only society left and how do we know? Society is made up of five different types of people. Really! Is it really possible to take 10’s of thousands of people have them predetermined and predisposed to fit into 5 or 6 personality types? No. These personality types are designed to fulfill certain societal roles.

The personality types (I won’t bother using the names they used as these words are as bad as the story) are:  People who govern. People who are brave. People who are peaceful. People who are intelligent. And, people who are truthful. Right, as if one is predisposed to truth, why can’t they be predisposed to also be peaceful? Oh, that’s where Divergents come into play.

The Divergents have no one predisposition. There is a “test” every young person takes which tells them what they are. Then after learning the results of their test, in a public presentation, each chooses a group to associate with. Although everyone can chose another role than the one they are predisposed, they don’t often pick something different.

However, once they chose a role they are stuck with it and cannot go back to their families or anywhere else. When someone fails the test, they are labeled a Divergent because they have no one predisposition and are considered a threat to society. Tris (Shailene Woodley) learns she is a Divergent but chooses to be in the brave group because they seem to have more fun and are active. As a recruit she excels at some things and struggles at others like fighting. She is mentored by Four (Theo James). Her mother Natalie (Ashley Judd) who is a govern (or is she?) tries to support her.

Her best friend is Christina (Zoe Kravitz) and her help each other pass the test to become a full fledge brave person. If one fails to pass their initiation test they become homeless. There is other stuff about a faction wanting to take over control of the government as led by Jeanine (Kate Winslet) as well but all this is part of an unclear story.

Woodley is very good and does her best with the role, but the whole thing is preposterous. James is good and the chemistry between him and Woodley is good. The downside of his acting or the screenplay is that his difference is telegraphed throughout the film. Kravitz was actually one of the best things about the film – I enjoyed the energy she brought to her role. Winslet was lost in this useless role. Judd was OK as Woodley’s mother and hid her secret well. Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor wrote a poorly conceived script from a published book. Neil Burger directed this and given the script and story it was OK.

Overall: This was so poorly strung together that the result was; it was too long and unbelievable.

Particle Fever

First Hit:  Amazing story about people who are committed to learning about our universe.

This documentary is about the building and launching the Large Hadron Collider in Cern, Switzerland. The goal of the collider is to find the building blocks of the universe and isolate Higgs Boson which is the block from which all other particles are derived.

The first part is about how they sent light through the tube for the very first time. Then there was a problem that caused a year or so delay. Then comes the highlight the first collisions and the data it brings. The immensity of the dedication of the 10,000 people who came from 100 different countries was up-front and center. It was great that I didn’t have to be a scientist to “get” what they were talking about and this is to director’s Mark Levinson credit.

Levinson did an amazing job of piecing together enough information to make this interesting to all audiences.

Overall:  This was an inspiring film.

Need for Speed

First Hit:  The cars were cool and fun to watch.

The story line was lackluster – except for the excitement Monarch (Michael Keaton) brought with his fervor for promoting his annual race. How we get there to this race is supposed to be a dramatic story that we’re interested in.

But, most of the acting and scenes are simply a bunch of clichés strung together. Small town guy Toby Marshall (Aaron Paul) who comes from a racing family is going to lose the garage his father left him because... . And that question is left open and unanswered.

He probably put himself in this predicament because it appears to the audience he likes hanging with his friends working only on stuff he likes to work on - race cars. And because of this the business is going under with no real effort to change his business model. So they do a Hail-Mary pass by fixing a rare Carol Shelby car that was never finished and owned by Dino (Dominic Cooper).

The plot twist is that this arch enemy (who also stole his girlfriend) is the person offering him this opportunity. Interesting thing is that they created the illusion that this was an unfinished Carroll Shelby car which we know couldn’t have a body because Shelby died many, many years ago. But because Ford is promoting their new 50 year old Mustang model in the film this is the draw.

Yup, we got a new Mustang body on a Carol Shelby chassis and engine designs. He fixes up the Mustang, gets pulled into a street race and loses his best friend in the process. For revenge he gets into the cross country street race that involves "winner takes all" (cars that is). The race is orchestrated by Monarch.

The cars: A Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, Koenigsegg Agera R, Bugatti Veyron Super Sports, Saleen S7, GTA Spano, and a McLaren P1. Of course the hero wins and gets basically nothing because the cars get destroyed in the film, but all’s right with the world because he settles a debt, and gets a new girlfriend Julia (Imogen Poots).

The cars were the stars – loved seeing them and wanted to drive them all. Paul was OK as the quiet type hero who does his talking through driving. Cooper was good as the guy who didn’t care much about how his actions hurt people. Keaton was great – the guy still brings so much energy to every role his does. My favorite today is still is role as Beetlejuice. Poots was really enjoyable and I enjoyed her role as it progressed in the film. George Gatins wrote a predictable script. Scott Waugh directed this and I thought it might have been better with less police interference and more open-street driving to see each car’s ability to perform because it was all about the cars.

Overall:  Just wanted more cars and less people.

The Lunchbox

First Hit:  A truly touching romantic film where the written word is the agent for change.

A lonely Mumbai wife tries to lure her husband into a more intimate and caring relationship by making him fantastic lunches which are picked up at her home and delivered to him by the infamous dabbawala which never makes mistakes.

However, Ila’s (Nimrat Kaur) lunches are being delivered to Saajan Fernandes (Irrfan Khan) an aging accounts clerk in a large Mumbai government agency. His wife is gone, he’s alone and he’s about to retire. Ila figures out that her lunches are not being received by her husband and ends up writing a note and putting it in the dabba (the container for the food).

Saajan gets the notes and responds harshly in the second note by saying “too much salt”. Ila begins to create more exotic lunches with the help of her “Auntie”. The note writing becomes more involved with them both sharing more of whom they are with the other.

Through this extended exchange, Ila becomes stronger by making a decision she needs to leave her husband who is having an affair. And Saajan becomes softer and less jaded to life by befriending Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) a younger, happy, and annoying man who is charged with taking over the retiring Saajan. This film evolves the characters in a very subtle way and the hook is that you root for everyone while not making this story over melancholy or artificially sweetened.

Kaur is divine. Her stoic look interspersed with her sweet beauty is perfect of the newer Indian woman who is willing to stretch her wings. Khan is sublime as the aging lonely repressed man at the twilight of his working career. As he slowly unfolds his own softness the audience is drawn into this complex person. Siddiqui is perfect as the happy enterprising man selected to take Saajan’s place at work. His annoying enthusiasm is a perfect foil to Saajan’s deeper brooding presence. Ritesh Batra wrote and directed this exquisite film. He accurately captures India, their transportation system(s), and the feel and the culture of a major Indian city. The story is subtle, yet wonderfully obvious and universal.

Overall:  I truly loved and enjoyed this film.