Movies: Mud ('Best of 2013' List)

Last year I finally got around to watching a film by writer/director Jeff Nichols called Take Shelter. The tone was pitch perfect, with an escalating sense of dread surrounding a paranoid protagonist that may or may not be reliable, or even sane. That film was such a pleasant surprise that upon finishing it I thought, "I must make sure to see what this Nichols fella does next".

Mud is what's next, and Nichols is the real deal. A true talent.

Houseboat residents on the Arkansas banks of the Mississippi River, Ellis, played by Tye Sheridan, and Neckbone (Neckbone!), played by Jacob Lofland, are two boys on the younger end of teenaged, sometimes helping out their financially strapped families by working (Ellis with his dad, Neckbone with his uncle), but otherwise getting up to mischief during the type of lazy summer most of us have experienced in our youth.

"Borrowing" Ellis father's motorboat, they sneak off for a day to muck about on an island down-river. While there, they come across Mud, a homeless man living on the island, played by Matthew McConaughey. As with the lead character in Take Shelter, Mud is a man who may or may not be a danger to himself and to those around him, and it's to McConaughey's credit that he pulls off equal parts charming and potentially-threatening in his performance, often simultaneously. Mud may or may not have a full grasp of reality, as he tells the boys elaborate tales of why he's on the island, and what might possibly be his life's complicated, criminal history. Or not. As I say, unreliable! But engrossing and inspiring for two 14 year old boys looking for summer adventure. The dangerous undercurrent is part of the appeal.

Part of the inspiration for Ellis is Mud's chivalrous side, which echoes his own philosophy. Ellis believes that if you love a girl (or a woman), that is The Most Important Thing, and you do everything in your power to protect that love, and be with her. Some of Mud's tales reflect that same world-view. The film smartly presents two sides of romantic love: as expressed by 14 year old boy it's naive but endearing, as lived by a forty-something emotionally fraught drifter, it's something else entirely.

Sheridan and Lofland give completely believable performances. Ellis is earnest and good hearted, but wounded, while Neckbone is an intensely loyal friend, but also has this pragmatic, "what's in it for me?" attitude that provides the film's natural comedy. These two young actors are going places.

In a recent interview, McConaughey said that in his forties he's realized life now is not about avoiding what you don't want to do (as he might have in his thirties), but about seeking out and doing what you really want to do. With the streak of, among others, The Lincoln Lawyer, Killer Joe (which I disliked, but he was great in), The Wolf of Wall Street, and Mud, this new career path is paying off, for him and for audiences. Those terrible romantic comedies he was churning out in the past can die a quick death, as far as I'm concerned.

More greatness:

• Again, it has a character in it named Neckbone. Neckbone!
• Reese Witherspoon finally has a character and film worthy of her last truly good work, Election (to be clear though, her character here is worlds apart from that one). She gives a terrific delivery of a line that gives you an insight Mud's character that effectively and poignantly cuts to the truth of the matter, all romanticized notions aside.
• Sarah Paulson, in a supporting but pivotal role as Ellis mom Mary Lee, sets someone straight. My reaction to that scene: "you're goddamn right!"
• Michael Shannon plays Neckbone's uncle.

Keep 'em coming, Nichols. I'm right there with you.

Movies: The Way Way Back ('Best of 2013' List)

The Way Way Back opens with a question addressed to quiet, introverted, 14-year-old Duncan (played by Liam James), posed by his divorced mother's new-ish boyfriend, Trent (played by Steve Carrell), while they're on the drive to a summer vacation beach house, and most of the occupants of the car are asleep.

The question: "On a scale of one to ten, what do you think you are?", with the follow-up, "I'm asking you how you see yourself". When Duncan half-heartedly gives a middling response, Trent opines: "I think you're a three".

Thus the stage is set for this unconventional coming-of-age story, which is funny and prickly and honest about how it sometimes sucks to be a teenager, and how it sometimes also sucks to be a divorced middle-aged mom, and how you have to figure out what's actually important in life in order to reduce the suckage. If "coming-of-age" stories normally make your teeth ache (as they often do mine, what with their typically being saccharine, clichéd crapfests), don't worry, this film respects your intelligence more than that.

Once at the beach house, we meet next door neighbours: hippie-cougar Betty (played by Allison Janney, clearly having a blast in the role), and her daughter Susanna (played by Anna Sophia Robb), who seems a little more grounded than her mom. The developing friendship between Duncan and Susanna is subtle, organic, and is one of the film's many strengths. In fact, all of the male-female relationships in the film, excepting those of Trent's, are shown to be wonderful, complex things (Trent's are complex, but they clearly aren't wonderful except possibly in the short-term, especially for the women).

Duncan finds a respite from his problems when during his explorations of the town he comes across the local water-park and its senior employee Owen (played by Sam Rockwell, who always gives terrific performances, seriously), who becomes Duncan's friend and roundabout mentor. Owen's relationship with his supervisor Caitlin (played by Maya Rudolph) is a realistic romantic portrayal: he knows he's lucky to have her, she has a higher opinion of him than he probably has of himself, and she respects him and herself enough not to put up with his puckish bullshit when it occurs.

For me, the surprise here is Carrell, who plays a pretty nuanced villain. "Villain" is probably too melodramatic a phrase for the realism of the character -- perhaps it's better to say "asshole". Trent has picked this vacation house because it's familiar old haunt for him, but the surrounding town is also a place where, in his circles, he is viewed both as the life-of-the-party and also the alpha-male (such as it is), and clearly he enjoys his status there (perhaps because it reflects his own opinion of himself). Carrell uses his own natural likeability and charm in the part, but for Trent it's a mercenary pursuit, in that he uses that charisma as a tool to get what he wants out of a given situation. Trent's often casually cruel to those around him, even those he professes to care about. There's even a moment later in the film where Trent loses patience when provoked, and a more threatening person emerges. Given all that, there are other moments where Trent is obviously trying to do what he thinks is the right thing, it's that his approach is all wrong, and that unfortunately for him it's probably too late to change who he is. It's unlike anything I've seen from Carrell in the past, and he handles the performance expertly.

As Duncan's mom Pam, Toni Collette is also superb, in the role of a woman who is brittle but not broken, and who as perfomed by Collete is sympathetic, not pathetic. We see how Pam could find herself with Trent, and how she wants to make it work considering her past failures, but we also see her become more and more aware of her situation as it actually is, rather than what she'd like it to be, which is difficult thing to portray and a tribute to Colette's skills as an actress that she does so seamlessly.

Other best bits:

• The aforementioned opening scene between James and Carrell. The writing/acting/directing trifecta of opening scenes - it's like a master class of all three.
• The writing and direction by writer-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (not to say that their previous screenwriting effort, The Descendants, was bad, I just found this work to be so much more satisfying, perhaps because they also directed this time).
• The acting by all parties (not mentioned previously, Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet in their roles as Trent's old friends)

"On a scale of one to ten...". I think you already know what I think.

Movies: Prisoners ('Best of 2013' List)

The blog has been neglected for the better part of a year(!), so in an attempt to rectify that, I'm going to throw up a number of 'Best of 2013' capsule reviews in the coming days. I've seen hundreds of films this year, but not all of them -- especially since there are still two weeks left before 2014 arrives -- so expect some obvious omissions (I still haven't seen Gravity yet, for instance). Also, not all of the films I've seen this year have been 2013 releases. That said...

Prisoners begins on Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., where the Birch family (played in part by Terrence Howard and Viola Davis) are getting together for holiday dinner with the Dover family (played in part by Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello). During the festivities, each family has a young daughter go missing while the two of them are off playing together, each later thought to have been abducted while the remaining family members were otherwise preoccupied.

Paul Dano plays Alex Jones, a peculiar young man who is the right type at the wrong place and the wrong time when potential criminals are being sought out.

Child abduction (and murder, potentially) is a hard subject, especially for an entertainment. Here, the talented Canadian director Denis Villeneuve and his cast work with a high level of skill, consideration, and grace, such that the result doesn't feel exploitative. Take note, however, that the film is a thriller first and foremost -- my expectaions of what I was about to see prior to seeing it were that it might fall more squarely in the pocket of pure arthouse-meditation based on it's pedigree. That's not a criticism by the way, as I like all kinds of films on the spectrum between arthouse and popcorn, and Villaneuve's previous films that I've seen have been first rate. What's most compelling about Prisoners is that it effectively works to contain aspects of both kinds of films at once: an edge-of-your-seat "whodunit" coupled with broader implications and discussions of morality.

Villaneuve has said he is influenced in part by the works of David Fincher. There are echoes here of Fincher's true-crime-drama Zodiac (including the casting of Gyllenhaal in a very different role), which I make as a complimentary comparison. Like Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake, the skill of everyone involved sometimes shows that the underlying material (the script and some of the thriller-tropes it tries to roll into the mix) is not quite at the same level as the other ingredients, but it's a mild criticism of an otherwise excellent film.

In the past, I've often felt that Jackman has struck false notes in his performances, where he seems to be acting-with-a-capital-A (which may be a reflection of his song-and-dance-man theatre training), but here there's none of that. It's his best, most naturalistic performance to date.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Detective Loki, who has been assigned to the case of the missing girls. Gyllenhaal gives Loki a facial tick: heavy-lidded blinking which he seems to do with more of his face than is necessary. As described here it might seem cartoonish, but it works surprisingly well in context, and becomes a tell for when Loki is agitated or uncomfortable, and sometimes as an indication that he's very motivated to crack anyone who would try to be a tough-nut in preventing him from solving the case and finding the girls (whatever their condition). Loki takes his cases as personally as he does professionally at times, especially here (linked to an excellent heightened scene in a car parked at an abandoned lot across from a liquor store, between Gyllenhaal and Jackman).

I understand that the central theme of the film will be off-putting for some at first glance, but if you find yourself in the mood for an intelligent adult thriller, Prisoners is definitely worth your time.

Best moments, no spoilers:

• Davis in her one scene with Dano.
• The aforementioned parked-car scene between Gyllenhaal and Jackman. (A few excellent "parked car" scenes in general).
• That ending. Perfect ending.