Taking It Home: Precious

("Taking It Home" is an alternative review style in which I share my thoughts on a movie's themes and how they may relate to my life, while focusing less on the acting, writing, technical aspects, or even plot of the film. It's a collection of the ideas I took home, "because the movie experience shouldn't end in the theater".)

The most tragic "happy" ending you'll see in any movie this year...

Sitting through Precious in a movie theater is about as torturous a cinematic experience you can get these days outside of a Saw film. It is the most foul-mouthed, stomach-churning, disturbingly violent film I've seen in 2009, and despite the fact that little blood is actually shed, its characters (Precious in particular) are, along with the audience, beaten to unconscious submission during 110 minutes of unrelenting emotional violation at the hands of director Lee Daniels.

Yes, Precious delivers a knockout, battering us with so much vile depravity that we leave the theater unsure of what we're even supposed to feel, and unable to immediately understand that the abuse has been inflicted on us not to educate or evoke sympathy, but to make a tragic ending appear relatively uplifting. It's been called "unflinchingly gritty" and "brutally realistic" and all kinds of other hyperbole (most are accurate), but the most explicit truth in this film is left out: Precious Jones is dead.

REVIEW: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (A)

Background: The "New Wave" of Romanian cinema was officially embraced last May when Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. I haven't seen either 12:08 to Bucharest or The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, so my first foray is Mungiu's horrific feature on abortion in the darkest days of Communist Romania. A fixture on loads of critics' Top Ten of 2007 lists, the film stars Anamaria Marinca (Youth Without Youth), Laura Vasiliu, and Vlad Ivanov. Filmed primarily in Bucharest, 4 Months is based on a true story told to Mungiu and has most recently been buzzed about for having been snubbed for the short list for this year's Oscars.

Synopsis: In Communist Romania circa 1987, Gabita (Vasiliu) and Otilia (Marinca) are university roommates and best friends. Gabita is accidentally pregnant, but abortion is outlawed under Nicolae Ceausescu's regime. In an environment of ID cards and harsh criminal sentencing, such a procedure is hardly easy to get away with. Nevertheless, Otilia agrees to help Gabita seek an illegal abortion from a black market "professional" named Bebe (Vlad Ivanov). Having borrowed money to pay for the steep expenses, Otilia reserves a hotel room in Bucharest for the weekend and escorts Bebe through the hotel to the room where Gabita is nervously waiting. The procedure is simple; the terms are not. At this point we're witness to some extremely unsettling situations, to say the least. His work done, Bebe leaves, but so does Otilia, who has promised her boyfriend she will visit for his mother's birthday. While at their flat, neither we nor Otilia knows what's happening with Gabita, who is locked in the hotel room and won't answer the phone. Panicked, Otilia returns to the hotel to check in on Gabita. Cue second nightmarish scene. Otilia has one last task, and it requires her to navigate the dark streets of Bucharest. Remind me never, ever to walk those terrifying streets.

I Loved:
+ The amazing, absorbing long takes - they were incredibly natural.
+ The lack of a soundtrack.
+ The simplicity of the story - this is where other directors would misstep and try to add characters or plot lines that are totally unnecessary.

I Liked:
+ The excellent acting by Anamaria Marinca and Vlad Ivanov.

I Disliked:
- The shakiness of the camera work when Otilia is running through the streets. Effective in making me even more frightened, but nevertheless unenjoyable.
- Laura Vasiliu, only when her character was whiny and lying.

I Hated:
- Squirming through two of the most uncomfortable scenes of the last few years.

Grade:
Writing - 10
Acting - 9
Production - 9
Emotional Impact - 10
Music - 5
Significance - 5

Total: 48/50= 96% = A

Last Word:"Unflinching" is the best word I can use to described 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, one of the most disturbing movies in recent memory - and one of the best of 2007. I can only recommend it, however, with the disclaimer that it belongs in the small (but growing) group of recent films with scenes that sear your memory - and not in a good way. The Passion of the Christ, Cache, and Eastern Promises come to mind as well. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is not pro-choice or pro-life, it's just there - raw, real, and right in your face. We intimately experience the horrific measures that women go through when seeking illegal abortions, and we intimately witness the horrors of abortion itself. I haven't seen any of Cristian Mungiu's other movies, but I was very, very impressed with this. It's been a few days and I still don't know if I can call it "good" or say that I "liked" it - that would send a strange message. It's masterfully done and has given me some new insights about stirring subjects - certainly abortion, but also communism, friendship, and Romanian culture. And new insights, I should emphasize, are why I go to the movies in the first place.

REVIEW: Juno (B+)

Background: Brook Busey, a.k.a. Diablo Cody, was for a short time a stripper and City Pages blogger here in Minneapolis, though she hails from Chicago and now lives in L.A. A talent manager signed her to write "Candy Girl," a memoir about her stripping career, and soon after she wrote Juno, her first screenplay, which is directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking). It stars Ellen Page (Hard Candy) and Michael Cera (Superbad), with support from Jennifer Garner ("Alias"), Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development"), and Alison Janney ("The West Wing"). Also watch for Cut Chemist from Jurassic 5 as the chemistry teacher. Though the story is set in Minnesota, it was filmed entirely in Canada, as is always the case when taxes are considered. Based solely on the unprecedented local buzz surrounding Diablo Cody (remember, Minnesotans embrace any chance at the spotlight - she's not even Minnesotan!), I wouldn't be surprised to see her not only receive Oscar consideration, but outright win Best Original Screenplay. She already has several more screenplays in the early stages of production, so get ready for some overexposure.

Synopsis: Juno MacGuff (Page) is a 16 year-old Minnesotan high school student who is the definition of sarcastic. Paulie Bleeker (Cera) is her Tic Tac-eating best friend and the father of her unborn child. After considering abortion and telling her oddly excited parents (Janney and J.K. Simmons) the big news, Juno decides to give her baby up to adoptive parents Vanessa and Mark Loring (Garner and Bateman). During her pregnancy, Juno deals not just with her own relationship problems, but also Vanessa and Mark's. She has moments of cynicism, vulnerability and wit, and she is always acting older than her age. By the time the baby arrives, she has learned an important lesson about love (something cliched about finding "someone who loves you for who you are"), and everybody goes home happy.

I Loved:
+ The opening credits.
+ The last scene.
+ Michael Cera - a perfect combination of nerdy and cool, as always.

I Liked:
+ Jennifer Garner - she was terrific in this role, and not at all annoying.
+ Ellen Page - a rising star if there ever was such a thing.
+ Some of the throwaway lines: "All you have in your stomach is Taco Bell."

I Disliked:
- The complete lack of accents. I know Fargo was overdone, but if you're going to go to the trouble to set it here, you need to include them.
- The misrepresented diversity at Elk River High School. The student body in exurban MN does not look like a United Colors of Benetton ad.

I Hated:
- Parts of the first half hour, like the store scene with Rainn Wilson and the abortion clinic scene.
- Hearing the punchlines for the 27th and hopefully final time. What a classic example of trailers completely ruining the jokes.

Grade:
Writing - 8
Acting - 10
Production - 10
Emotional Impact - 8
Music - 5
Significance - 3

Total: 44/50= 88% = B+

Last Word: Juno is well-made in the hands of Jason Reitman, and it features great acting and a nice soundtrack. But I didn't find it "uproariously funny." It wasn't the premise or the characters that were off, but Juno's outrageous lines - and outrageous doesn't always equal hilarious. This isn't really a coming-of-age movie - Juno has already come of age, and she's a 30 year-old trapped in a teenager's body. As such, she was an annoying character for me a lot of the time. Diablo Cody, to paraphrase Michael Cera's character, was trying really hard to be cool, so much so that I felt like she should have been cast in the movie, since she clearly seems to think her humor is in a class by itself (though you could find it in both Rocket Science and 2 Days in Paris just in the last few months). I think Matt said it best when he said parts of it were "overwritten." The last half hour really saved the movie, because the characters were allowed to act and speak like real people would in those situations. In conclusion, Juno scores high on technical and artistic measures, but its main element of humor isn't universal, and its lesson about love is ambiguous and somewhat contradictory. Like the Lorings, Diablo Cody just filed for divorce - isn't love supposed to conquer all, with a sweet song at the end?