The Rum Diary

Mad Men in Paradise                                
by Mark Dispenza

     Hunter S. Thompson's first novel is brought to the screen in an entertaining gonzo-lite story that chronicles a writer's journey from alcoholic slacker to socially-conscious crusader.  .Although written early in his career, following a wealth of nonfiction output, Thompson's novel was not actually published until 1998.
     Johnny Depp, who plays protagonist Kemp in the film, has been interested in bringing this story to the screen since he played Thompson himself in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  At one time "Fear" co-star, Benicio Del Toro, was even attached to direct.  After many false starts, Depp finally succeeded with writer-director Bruce Robinson at the helm.  Robinson, who is best known as writer of 1984's The Killing Fields, had not directed a film since 1992.
     Although the film is opening with some positive audience response, its reception from critics has been lukewarm.  Don't worry about it.  This is not Oscar material and certainly not a highlight of Depp's acting career, but it is an entertaining film filled with beautiful location scenery, a Mad Men-era setting, and great character actors doing what they do best.  The stellar cast includes Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Amber Heard, Richard Jenkins (with toupee) and Giovanni Ribisi.  Fans of Thompson and Depp will find the film particularly delightful.

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp

     The film opens with Kemp's arrival in Puerto Rico to work for a newspaper on the brink of going under.  It is a match made in heaven, as Kemp's propensity to overindulge in alcohol and parties has left him barely employable.  Neither Kemp, nor publisher Lotterman (Jenkins), have a lot of choice in the matter.
     A local real estate promoter (Eckhart) soon latches onto Kemp, believing that his money and Kemp's desperation will be enough to pimp Kemp's writing ability to push a huge multi-million dollar resort development.  Forced to sober up enough to do the job, and smitten by his new employer's girlfriend (Heard), Kemp begins to feel a bit dirty and eventually rebels, threatening to publicly expose the secret deal behind the development.
     There are a number of Thompson-like digressions along the way, including Kemp's first-time experiment with LSD, but there is a coherent story here and a lot of very entertaining characters to hold your attention.

The Ties that Bind



Martha Marcy May Marlene                                              
by Mark Dispenza

     A young woman suffers the chilling aftermath of life as a member of an abusive sociopath's communal family in Martha Marcy May Marlene.
     The film opens with a young woman's escape from a communal farm in an undisclosed backwoods location in upstate New York.  Known to her real family as Martha (Elizabeth Olsen), and to members of the commune as Marcy May, she is frantic to get away and calls her sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson), to pick her up.  With their parents now dead, Lucy is Martha's only surviving family member.  Lucy has not heard from Martha in the two years since she ran off and disappeared without further contact.
     Happy to have her back, Lucy and her husband, Ted (Hugh Dancy), take Martha into their home.  At first they are puzzled by her weird habits and strange way of speaking, but as she becomes increasingly paranoid and violent, they fear that she is becoming a danger to herself and everyone around her.
     The scenes of Martha's acclimation to normal life with Lucy and Ted are broken up with flashbacks to Martha's life on the commune as Marcy May.  At first she is happy to find herself in a new family headed by charismatic leader, Patrick (John Hawkes), but Patrick's love comes with a price.  He demands complete obedience to a code of his making, and of course, primarily to his benefit, and he is able to rationalize and justify every act of abuse and violence he commits. Things come to a head when Martha becomes party to a terrible crime, leading to her break with Patrick and frantic early morning escape.

John Hawkes & Elizabeth Olsen

     But has Martha really escaped?  She is deteriorating psychologically and imagines (or does she?) that members of Patrick's deranged family are watching her, ready to reclaim her at any moment.
     Writer-director Sean Durkin won Best Director at Sundance for this film, an impressive feat given that it's his first feature.  There is already Oscar buzz surrounding Durkin and star, Olsen, who effectively embodies the emotional complexity and deterioration of her character in a subtle and effective performance.  John Hawkes, who excels at playing complex characters who defy easy stereotype, makes Patrick both appealing and chilling.
     This is a complex psychological thriller, with a number of ambiguous story elements left to the interpretation of the audience.  That certainly won't make it attractive to the masses of the movie-going public, but if you like this kind of mind-bending, thought-provoking story, you're going to have a great time wrapping your brain around this one.



Just Because You're Paranoid...

Take Shelter                                                                                              
by Mark Dispenza

     That dreaded feeling you have that the world is teetering on the verge of socio-economic disaster is given cinematic form in Take Shelter, in which writer/director Jeff Nichols poses the question, "are you just letting irrational fear rule your mind, or do you really have something to worry about?"  And the answer is, to quote an old saying, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't someone out to get you. 
     Curtis, a working man and father played by Michael Shannon, finds his sleep disturbed by apocalyptic visions of the near future.  The persistence of the visions are powerful enough that he feels he must act on them.  He begins distancing himself from everyone except his young deaf daughter, whom he feels he must protect, and he starts to build a costly and elaborate underground shelter. 
     His wife, wonderfully played by Jessica Chastain, grows more and more worried, not only because they cannot afford the cost of the shelter and he is placing his job at risk, but because Curtis may be losing his mind.  He is now the same age as his mother when she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and committed to an institution, where she remains today. 

Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain



     At first Curtis tries to rein in his own excesses, and becomes unsure of himself to some degree, although not enough to put a stop to his apocalyptic preparations.  He takes sleeping pills to get through the night, but that only makes the visions bleed into daylight reality, and Curtis begins to have waking hallucinations. 
     This is a very well-made film, although frankly I found the story to be predictable and did not feel as caught up in the suspense some of my fellow audience members seemed to feel.  The pace of the story is very good and the visuals are masterful.  Take Shelter did very well among both critics and audience members at Cannes and Toronto, and two weeks ago it took home Best Feature at Zurich. 
     I have little doubt that the film will do well as it goes into wider release this month.  This is a masterful second feature from a young director who is hitting it out of the ballpark again, with the first time being the critically-acclaimed Shotgun Stories in 2007, which also starred Shannon.  The depth of character and realistic performances from actors Shannon and Chastain will keep you riveted to the screen. 



A New Evil Gets the Horror Treatment

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil                                                 
by Zac Sanford

     In Tucker & Dale vs Evil writer/director Eli Craig flips the backwoods horror film on its head, playing against the tropes that have plagued the genre for far too long.
     Just like with many horror films, a bunch of beautiful and sexy college co-eds are on their way to a weekend of camping in the woods. As they trek along the winding road the first big scare to our campers is that they are out of beer. They all scream, but at least it will be an easy fix. As they stop at the last gas station for miles, the annoying college kids stock up on beer and other libations.
     Before they can set off and arrive at their destination, Dale (Tyler Labine) sees and is instantly smitten by the beautiful Allison (Katrina Bowden). Tucker (Alan Tudyk) persuades Dale to go up and talk to her. His self-esteem may be low, but he's a lovable guy. Dale waddles his way up to the group, scythe in hand, and barely mumbles his words of passion.
     This is just the beginning of a string of misunderstandings by the "evil" college kids. With stereotypes and preconceived notions of hillbillies, they never give Tucker & Dale the benefit of the doubt. As they drink and partake in other illegal substances, Allison is "saved"' by Tucker & Dale, but with a slanted view on our heroes, the college co-eds led by Chad (Jesse Moss), go on a quest to save their friend.


     From here on the movie stretches a single joke through the remainder of the film. As each of the campers accidentally off themselves in ever increasing over-the-top situations, Tucker and Dale feel they must protect themselves. They see the kids on a suicide pact and must protect the lovable Allison from her friends, who want her dead.
     Any fan of the slasher genre should be able to appreciate first-time director Eli Craig, who does a great job of blocking shots to play off the notion of misunderstanding between Tucker and Dale and their evil counterparts. The film plays heavily on the tropes fans have grown to love and eventually bore of. And since you can't help but love the two leads, you have no problem cheering them on as they avoid the evil college co-eds.
     Tucker & Dale vs Evil is currently playing in limited release and can be viewed on many VOD platforms.

Five Must-See Indies Now on DVD

by Mark Dispenza

     As another season of film festivals and Oscar campaigns begins, it's time to catch up on the must-see indies you missed this past year.  The Toronto International Film Festival is now over, and we are officially in the rush to the 2012 Oscars, or closer to my heart, the Independent Spirit Awards.  New American indies will be out in force over the next few months, screening at top film festivals across the United States from AFI-Fest to Palm Springs, Sundance and Santa Barbara. 
     You probably saw the films that took the major awards in 2011--127 Hours, Black Swan and The Kids Are All Right, but chances are you missed some real gems that swept through your town like a tornado before you even knew they were in the neighborhood. 
     Looking over my top five list of "the other indies," I can't help but note that they all have the same recipe for great dramatic film--a powerful story, a director of unique vision and extraordinary insight, and a cast of talented actors who went the distance to create characters of unusual depth and complexity.  Available on DVD and your choice of download service, here are my favorite American independent films of the season past...

Winter's Bone

     Debra Granik's sensitive yet gritty, noirish journey into the impoverished world of the Ozark Mountains made then 17-year-old Jennifer Lawrence a star.  Supported by an ensemble of acclaimed performances, particularly by John Hawkes and Dale Dickey, Lawrence dominates the screen as Ree Dolly, a teen from a poor family in the Ozarks who must find her drug-dealing father before his bail is forfeit, causing the loss of the family home and putting Ree, her invalid mother and her two younger siblings out on the street.  The screenplay was adapted by Granik and Anne Rosellini from the novel by Daniel Woodrell.  Granik showed real genius in drawing audiences into this forgotten community within our own country by combining a core of top Hollywood talent with local cast and crew, giving the film an unusual feel of authenticity.  Maybe this wasn't the best film of 2010, but it was pretty darn close. 

Rabbit Hole

     Chances are you avoided this film out of fear that it would take you to the depths of emotional despair.  After all, it's the story of a couple coping with the loss of their four-year-old son following a tragic auto accident.  But this is not a story that dwells on tragedy.  It's about the hard journey to recovery. Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart play the traumatized couple, and Miles Teller plays the teenaged boy who was driving the car on the fateful day of the accident.  Several months after the tragedy the three are brought together again in the desperate search for elusive closure.  Director John Cameron Mitchell's beautiful visuals are a fitting frame for a wonderfully insightful story by David Lindsay-Abaire and an outstanding cast. 

Mother and Child

     If you are a fan of actress Annette Bening and you missed this film, shame on you!  Largely lost in the massive marketing hoopla surrounding her appearance in The Kids Are All Right, this film showcased what I believe to be Bening's best performance of the year.  Written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, Mother and Child is the story of three women and their complicated relationships with children.  Bening plays a 50-year-old woman still unable to come to terms with the loss of the baby her parents forced her to give up following a teen pregnancy 35 years earlier.  Kerry Washington plays a barren woman who seeks to adopt a child of her own, and Naomi Watts plays a troubled young woman with a traumatic past who refuses to have a child.  The lives of all three come together at the end in a powerful climax that I won't spoil here.  Also noteworthy is a fine supporting performance by Jimmy Smts, who demonstrates that his acting talent is adjusting very well to middle age and a few more grey hairs. 

Jack Goes Boating

     In my humble opinion, Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut was the best romance of the past year.  Written by Robert Glaudini, this is the story of working class love between two people who are not the typical beautiful couple that ordinarily lead Hollywood love stories.  Amy Ryan delivers the goods as the object of Hoffman's romantic interest.  This is a couple with real world challenges who discover that love is indeed transformative.  John Ortiz shines in a supporting role as the best friend whose own marriage is on the rocks.  This is a story about love at its best--freely given and unconditional. 

Get Low

     It's become a foregone conclusion that any film starring Robert Duvall is worth seeing, and Get Low is no exception.  Supported by wonderful performances from co-stars Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray and Lucas Black, Duvall introduces us to the character of old hermit, Felix Bush, who one day shocks everyone by coming into town and arranging his own funeral--while he's still living.  Although the story opens with the type of curmudgeonly humor we've come to expect from Duvall and Murray, it eventually turns poignant.  It turns out that the funeral is an excuse for Bush to come clean about what really happened during the terrible tragedy years before that led to his exile.  Director Aaron Schneider's background as a cinematographer does much to enhance the look of the film.

Add This to Your Guilty Pleasure List

Drive                                                                                 
by Mark Dispenza

     Drive is the kind of film you get when you put an A-list cast and crew on a B-movie story.  Director Nicolas Winding Refn channels Sergio Leone by taking the "Man with No Name" (Clint Eastwood in Leone's films) and putting him in a noirish crime drama instead of a western. 
     In this case the Man is Ryan Gosling as the Driver.  He doesn't say much at all during the film, but when he does, people listen.  Gosling never disappoints, and he is brilliant here in his ability to convey the thoughts and emotions of his character by means of subtle facial expression instead of dialogue. 
     Refn, Danish by birth and New Yorker by upbringing, brings a European flare to the stylistic treatment of his subjects and scenes of explosive violence.  Like Leone, his attention to the subtle nuances of even the most minor of characters will keep you intrigued every moment of the film. 
     The story really isn't much, and you've seen it all before.  The Driver is a young man who works in a garage and part-time as a stunt driver for the movies.  He's also a driver in shady side jobs arranged by Shannon (Bryan Cranston), owner of the garage.  The Driver is a stoic, cold person who doesn't talk about his past, but he does have absolute confidence in his ability to drive, and there is nobody better behind the wheel of a car.  He doesn't laugh.  He doesn't love.  He drives. 
     That changes when he meets his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan), currently living as a single mom because her husband is in prison.  The Driver falls for Irene and will do anything to protect her and her young son, with whom he develops a powerful bond. We can only speculate as to how they somehow penetrate his tough emotional armor, as we are never told anything about the Driver's past, but somehow, without being told, we know. 

Carey Mulligan as Irene

     We know that the Driver had a hard childhood, raised by his mother, and that his father was absent from his life for reasons unknown, and we somehow know that he wanted his father to be there for him in a very bad way. Shannon, the only other person that the Driver cares about, has become the father he never had. He knows that Shannon is less than perfect, but he doesn't care about the man's weaknesses. He's always there and he's always got the Driver's back.
      But I digress. This is pure speculation on my part. None of it is in the script, but nonetheless we get it.  That's the beauty of what the best actors can convey for us, and this film is rich in great actors. Even the villains, headed by Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman, are fascinating.  It's easy to forget that Brooks is a comedian when he makes such a cool, calculating gangster. 
      The Driver's brief moment of happiness ends when Irene's husband is released from prison and returns to his family.  Some shady prison connections have their hooks in him, and unless he plays ball and commits a robbery for them, they will harm his wife and child.  The Driver finds out about it and agrees to help to protect Irene.  Unfortunately they've been set up and the job goes badly.  Everything goes to hell quickly after that, and no one the Driver cares about will escape the consequences. 
     Drive is the kind of film you really don't want to like.  The storyline is simplistic and its internal logic has more holes than a pound of swiss cheese, but the characters are so compelling that we are more than willing to extend that old suspension of disbelief.  We know that the Driver is a bad guy, and that becomes clear in moments where he loses his temper and lashes out at his tormenters.  By the way, those moments of violence are not for the squeamish.  You've been warned.  But we want him to prevail in spite of all that, because we want to believe that there's good even in the worst of us, and protecting Irene and her son is a good thing. 
     Drive is going to have legs long after its theatrical run is over.  It's the type of film you'll run into on late night cable, and you'll watch it again and again. 



   

Silent Bob Grows Up

Red State                                                                                  
by Zac Sanford

      After creating his own cult following of stoners and slackers, Kevin Smith grows as a storyteller and filmmaker with his latest low-budget film, Red State.
     I must start this post with a bit of an advanced warning. When I was young I was a fan of Kevin Smith. I was enamored with Clerks when I rented it on VHS, laughed many times at Mallrats with my friends and then fell in love with Chasing Amy. Amy still holds up as one of the films that I'll throw on and watch at least once a year. There's something about the honesty there, and it spoke to me as an eighteen year-old with a broken heart.
      After Chasing Amy I still thought there was some merit to Dogma, but I fell out of touch with Kevin as a screenwriter and filmmaker. My guess? I grew up. I got over the juvenile humor that is peppered through a typical Kevin Smith film. Also he didn't really grow to the next level as a filmmaker. The camera just held steady as his characters talked--characters that I could no longer relate to or care about their journey. But that has all changed with Kevin's return to the writer/director chair after his short stint in the studio system.
     Red State begins in typical Smith territory. There's three teens (Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner and Nicholas Braun) who have scored the opportunity for a threesome with an older lady. Once at her trailer, the film finally ramps up and moves out of the stereotypical Smith comedy. Sara (Melissa Leo) offers the trio some beers, which have been laced, causing them to all pass out.
     Jarod (Gallner) comes to and finds himself in a cage that is covered and being rolled out to a destination unknown. In the background a sermon from Abin Cooper (Michael Parks) starts.  He spews out all that is wrong in this world, not only to him, but to God. His words are full of hate of any view that doesn't fit with his own. Parks knows when to add a pause, when to add emphasis and where to add an extra bit of punctuation in what would normally be an overly long monologue just short of 15 minutes.
     About halfway through the film, the ATF is called onto the scene, as there is suspicion something sinister is going on behind closed doors. Joseph Keenan (John Goodman) is ordered by an unseen superior to go against his better judgement while handling the Cooper situation. The film explodes into a mix of gunfire and action that goes on a little too long. In the end no character is safe, nor is any character redeemable enough where you want to root for them to survive.

      The film hits the final point home in an epilogue that isn't entirely necessary. It gives the viewer some closure, but I feel it is Smith talking down to his typical fan, answering any questions they may have had about the resolution.
     Tonally Red State is all over the place, but for some reason it works for me. It jumps from a teen comedy to a horror film with a monster that could exist within the real world. Once the film gets to the halfway point it, jumps to an action film until it ramps down to a bit of social commentary in the end. Kevin doesn't only point the finger at the Cooper Family (inspired by the Westboro Baptist Church), but at the government and politics today. For those reasons, along with the strong performances of Michael Parks, John Goodman and Melissa Leo, I must give this a passing grade.
     Kevin Smith is currently self-releasing the film for one night only on September 25th in movie theaters through his Smodcast Pictures banner. The film is currently available by Video on Demand through the website www.coopersdell.com.