Mental illness has always been an intriguing subject in film. We have seen schizophrenia in A Beautiful Mind, obsessive-compulsive disorder in The Aviator, delusional disorders in Black Swan and clinical depression in Melancholia. Although they are serious afflictions that greatly affect the characters we watch, they provide a rather interesting viewing experience for the audience because we get to analyze these characters and how these illnesses influence the ways in how they act in their surroundings.
In director David O. Russell's comedy-drama, Silver Linings Playbook, based on the novel by Matthew Quick, the film takes a detailed and honest look into the lives and interactions with its two main characters as they try to help each other as they go through major life changes while having mental illness affect them.
Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) has just been released from a mental health facility after a violent episode of his bipolar disorder landed him in an eight-month period of treatment. Upon his release, he moves back in with his parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver), and plans on getting his life back together, including winning back his wife. After his first few days back, Pat's friend introduces him to his sister-in-law, Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who has suffered some episodes of depression after the death of her husband. Pat and Tiffany eventually connect over their problems. Soon after, Tiffany offers to assist Pat with trying to reconnect with his wife, and then asks him to participate in a dance contest with her in return. Through their time together, they hope to improve their lives with each other's help.
After watching Bradley Cooper in films such as The Hangover movies, Wedding Crashers and Hit and Run, it's a remarkable sight to see him become engaged in more dramatic material. We become acquainted with his character at the very beginning as he makes a promise to himself that he will become a better person. It is with this that we get an idea of his commitment to changing his life. The character is an intelligent individual, which is seen as he dedicates some of his time at home to reading books that appear on the reading list for the class of his English-teacher wife. Actually, the first time we see an example of his mood swings is when he's reading. He is passionately reading A Farewell to Arms, only to chuck it out of his bedroom window when he's unsatisfied with the ending. Cooper does a noteworthy job with expressing the struggle of Pat's bipolar disorder as he makes his shifts between his good moods and bad moods. Pat says that he doesn't have a filter on what he says, but a lot of what comes out of his mouth is both funny and insightful. Whatever he says, we want to listen.
Jennifer Lawrence gives another powerhouse performance that shows she is one of the most versatile actresses working today. Tiffany may be a standoffish character, but Lawrence plays her in such a way that encourages the viewer to peek into her mind to see why she is who she is. Much like Pat, Tiffany doesn't hold anything back when expressing his opinions. In one particular scene, she throws a furious temper in a diner, sending the contents of the table crashing to the floor. In the films I've seen with Lawrence, I've never seen her in such a fit of anger, and it displayed the outstanding range of emotion and talent she can bring to her roles. She exhibits anger, sadness, humor, happiness and everything in between with the confidence and ability of any veteran actor or actress.
Robert De Niro delivers his best work in years as Pat's gambling, OCD father. As a caring parent, he wants to do what's best for his son, but can't seem to stop seeing him as a good-luck charm for Philadelphia Eagles games. De Niro brings compassion to a character that can be hard to get through to, due to him persistently pulling his son into feeding his gambling addiction. However, there is more to this relationship than is seen at first, and underneath De Niro's pushy approach to his son, there is a softness and understanding that he gives to his family. With De Niro usually playing tough-guy characters, having him take on this type of role is a performance to remember.
The film uses some clever ways to express Pat's bipolar disorder outside of the actual illness, such as being torn between spending time with his family and Tiffany, as well as having both her and his ex-wife on his mind. Pat's character is all about shifting from one thing to another, just like his mood swings. With Tiffany's depression, there is an interesting use of color motifs, particularly with black, such as her black clothing, dance shoes and iPod.
The screenplay by O. Russell focuses greatly on the effects that mental illnesses can have on a family. It's not overly dramatic with its depiction of the characters' troubles, but rather adds some humor to the plot, all with O. Russell's superb direction. The characters are written in a way that they don't sit around and bemoan their conditions, but instead take the initiative to make their lives better. This allows for the humor to be effective when it comes as they help each other; particularly when Chris Tucker's character decides to help Pat and Tiffany for a bit with the dance competition. However, even though the story doesn't exceed with drama, that doesn't mean the script makes light of the situation. Despite the comedic elements, the story doesn't divert from the reality of the circumstances. Given the script's strong points, the only problem I found with the screenplay is that the ending is predictable in its romance.
Silver Linings Playbook is a creative and sensitive look at mental illnesses and the families of the individuals afflicted with those illnesses. The actors and actresses in the film don't portray their roles as caricatures of people with these disorders, but as real people dealing with what they have. As football comes into the plot, it factors into the overall theme that no matter the tackles that get you down, there's always an opportunity to get back up and improve.
Final grade: A-
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
A Master of Suspense, a Man Obsessed with Murder
At one point in the new biopic, Hitchcock, the prolific director (played by Anthony Hopkins) states, "All of us harbor dark recesses of violence and horror. I'm just a man hiding in the corner with a camera, watching." This quote sums up what many of the director's films never failed to capture; not just the unknown violence that people can hold, but also a self-reflexive view for the audience's desire to look. Hitchcock could be considered a pioneer in voyeuristic cinema, especially with his films Psycho and Rear Window.
In Sacha Gervasi's biographical drama, the story details the arduous work that went into the production of Hitchcock's famous film, Psycho. While it's an interesting look into the making of one of the most iconic films in the horror genre, it does spend quite a bit of time dealing with Hitchcock's personal life, which is almost the film's undoing.
Alfred Hitchcock is fresh off the success of North by Northwest. But, he now needs some inspiration for his next project. He begins to read Robert Bloch's latest novel, Psycho. After doing so, he is dead set on making it into a film. While facing some difficulties in production, Hitchcock also comes across some problems in his marriage to Alma Reville (Helen Mirren), who is feeling as if she's being pushed off to the sidelines because of her husband's fame.
Anthony Hopkins brings to realization one of the most famous men who sat behind the camera. Just as the great Hitchcock would address the audience in the trailers to his films, Hopkins addresses the audience in the beginning and the end of the film, carrying an air of mystery and menace in his personality, an air that also permeates Hitchcock's films. He carries the attitude of a voyeur, similar to that of Norman Bates, especially in one scene where he looks through the blinds of his Paramount Studios office and watches a woman as she walks past his window at a distance. He holds a blank expression on his face, making it look like he's not feeling anything, but the viewer knows he is. We see his stark determination as a director when he doesn't get what he wants as he films Psycho's shower scene. He unleashes a bit of fury as he brandishes the knife and encourages his leading lady to give him the blood-curdling screams he wants. Hopkins brings some unsettling and darkly funny quirks to the Hitchcock character, such as surprising people with his presence when they don't notice him at first. We can't be sure if the real Hitchcock was like that, but it wouldn't be surprising if he was.
Helen Mirren gives an expectedly wonderful performance as Hitchcock's resilient wife, Alma. Her character exhibits loyalty and support to her husband, and yet, she has an understandable need to be seen as someone other than a dutiful wife who accompanies Hitchcock to his premieres. She is a wife who feels the need to compete with the blonde leading ladies of Hitchcock's films, exemplified when, during Alfred's first meeting with Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson), Alma goes to the bathroom to apply some lipstick. She has a quiet frustration, one so that you could tell she's upset, but she doesn't become overly mad, all the more evident that she still supports her husband. Despite her troubles, we see some sparks of her wanting to express her creativity as she helps her friend, Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston), write a screenplay, as well as when she assists her husband with editing Psycho.
Scarlett Johansson has the classy personality of Leigh. Her character carries an admirable dedication to her role as the ill-fated Psycho heroine, Marion Crane, and has the womanly gentleness that can be seen in both Leigh and the fictional character of Crane. James D'Arcy comes very close to the mannerisms of Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates, nervously sitting and fidgeting as he has his first meeting with Hitchcock.
The screenplay by John J. McLaughlin, based on Stephen Rebello's book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, goes between Hitchcock's work on the set of the film and his troubles at home. While it is important to see the influences that his personal life had on the making of Psycho, it sometimes takes away from the intrigue of the movie-making aspect; the film particularly tends to drag in the scenes involving the interactions between Alma and Whitfield. The film sometimes diverges for lengthy periods of time to the tension between Hitchcock and Alma. During this, I wanted to get back to the set of Psycho and see the crafting of the film. By the time we reach the last 10-15 minutes of Hitchcock, and we get back to the studio during the making of the film, it feels rather rushed, and the production details I was hoping to see were left out. If the movie was a half hour longer, the story might have been able to devote as much time to the actual production of Psycho as it did with Hitchcock and Alma's personal lives.
The film also weaves in a few scenes involving Ed Gein (Michael Wincott), an American murderer who influenced the character of Norman Bates. While those bits are interesting, they don't fit in with the rest of the movie, and it feels as though they could be used to make a separate movie about him.
Although Hitchcock isn't quite the exciting and informative biopic that one would hope that deals with one of the greatest filmmakers of all time making his masterfully suspenseful film, the performances pick up the slack where the narrative lags. It doesn't provide as much insight into the making of Psycho as it should, but the production scenes it does have will satisfy any film buff. Hitchcock pulls back the shower curtain on a bit of film history.
Final grade: B
In Sacha Gervasi's biographical drama, the story details the arduous work that went into the production of Hitchcock's famous film, Psycho. While it's an interesting look into the making of one of the most iconic films in the horror genre, it does spend quite a bit of time dealing with Hitchcock's personal life, which is almost the film's undoing.
Alfred Hitchcock is fresh off the success of North by Northwest. But, he now needs some inspiration for his next project. He begins to read Robert Bloch's latest novel, Psycho. After doing so, he is dead set on making it into a film. While facing some difficulties in production, Hitchcock also comes across some problems in his marriage to Alma Reville (Helen Mirren), who is feeling as if she's being pushed off to the sidelines because of her husband's fame.
Anthony Hopkins brings to realization one of the most famous men who sat behind the camera. Just as the great Hitchcock would address the audience in the trailers to his films, Hopkins addresses the audience in the beginning and the end of the film, carrying an air of mystery and menace in his personality, an air that also permeates Hitchcock's films. He carries the attitude of a voyeur, similar to that of Norman Bates, especially in one scene where he looks through the blinds of his Paramount Studios office and watches a woman as she walks past his window at a distance. He holds a blank expression on his face, making it look like he's not feeling anything, but the viewer knows he is. We see his stark determination as a director when he doesn't get what he wants as he films Psycho's shower scene. He unleashes a bit of fury as he brandishes the knife and encourages his leading lady to give him the blood-curdling screams he wants. Hopkins brings some unsettling and darkly funny quirks to the Hitchcock character, such as surprising people with his presence when they don't notice him at first. We can't be sure if the real Hitchcock was like that, but it wouldn't be surprising if he was.
Helen Mirren gives an expectedly wonderful performance as Hitchcock's resilient wife, Alma. Her character exhibits loyalty and support to her husband, and yet, she has an understandable need to be seen as someone other than a dutiful wife who accompanies Hitchcock to his premieres. She is a wife who feels the need to compete with the blonde leading ladies of Hitchcock's films, exemplified when, during Alfred's first meeting with Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson), Alma goes to the bathroom to apply some lipstick. She has a quiet frustration, one so that you could tell she's upset, but she doesn't become overly mad, all the more evident that she still supports her husband. Despite her troubles, we see some sparks of her wanting to express her creativity as she helps her friend, Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston), write a screenplay, as well as when she assists her husband with editing Psycho.
Scarlett Johansson has the classy personality of Leigh. Her character carries an admirable dedication to her role as the ill-fated Psycho heroine, Marion Crane, and has the womanly gentleness that can be seen in both Leigh and the fictional character of Crane. James D'Arcy comes very close to the mannerisms of Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates, nervously sitting and fidgeting as he has his first meeting with Hitchcock.
The screenplay by John J. McLaughlin, based on Stephen Rebello's book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, goes between Hitchcock's work on the set of the film and his troubles at home. While it is important to see the influences that his personal life had on the making of Psycho, it sometimes takes away from the intrigue of the movie-making aspect; the film particularly tends to drag in the scenes involving the interactions between Alma and Whitfield. The film sometimes diverges for lengthy periods of time to the tension between Hitchcock and Alma. During this, I wanted to get back to the set of Psycho and see the crafting of the film. By the time we reach the last 10-15 minutes of Hitchcock, and we get back to the studio during the making of the film, it feels rather rushed, and the production details I was hoping to see were left out. If the movie was a half hour longer, the story might have been able to devote as much time to the actual production of Psycho as it did with Hitchcock and Alma's personal lives.
The film also weaves in a few scenes involving Ed Gein (Michael Wincott), an American murderer who influenced the character of Norman Bates. While those bits are interesting, they don't fit in with the rest of the movie, and it feels as though they could be used to make a separate movie about him.
Although Hitchcock isn't quite the exciting and informative biopic that one would hope that deals with one of the greatest filmmakers of all time making his masterfully suspenseful film, the performances pick up the slack where the narrative lags. It doesn't provide as much insight into the making of Psycho as it should, but the production scenes it does have will satisfy any film buff. Hitchcock pulls back the shower curtain on a bit of film history.
Final grade: B
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