Bring on the quality!

12/3/07

It must be December. Some really good films are coming out.

Atonement
Directed by Joe Wright
Screenplay by Christopher Hampton, from the novel by Ian McEwen

Putting novels on screen is a tricky business. Especially when they're good. There's so much more at risk than when they're trashy, pulp fiction. So it was with some trepidation that TVOR approached Atonement, a novel she had read and liked. A novel that didn't seem like a great candidate for a screen adaptation. But fortunately, the filmmakers involved with this project did it right. Christopher Hampton wrote an excellent script, and the license that was taken with the novel made it, for the most part, a better film than a stricter interpretation would have been. (TVOR has a quibble with the final minute or two of the film, but that's a fairly minor flaw.) Joe Wright, the director, has only directed one film previously, the recent adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley. He really got this one right, though.

The story is one of a horrible mistake that is made, and the effect it has on all the people involved. The cast is made up of talented actors led by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. Many of the others will not be well known to American audiences, although Vanessa Redgrave shows up in a small but important role.

TVOR doesn't want to say too much about this film, but will leave you with this: This is a film in which sometimes bad things happen to good people. But it's one of the top films TVOR has seen this year. She thinks it's worth it.


The Savages
Written and directed by Tamara Jenkins

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney. Need I say anything more? Well, yes, actually. Tamara Jenkins. She wrote the script and directed these two fine actors in her excellent second film The Savages, a film that gives them fascinating, complicated characters to play, and room to work their magic. And they really do it. They play siblings whose father is losing it and needs institutional care. This isn't a film about the aging person falling apart, however. It's more a film about how two people, somewhat damaged but doing the best they can, deal with this and attempt to move on with their lives. It's the kind of subject matter that could get really goopy, and TVOR is happy to report that the goopiness level is zero. Jenkins' script and direction, and the actors' ability to be utterly convincing, make sure that doesn't happen. See it.

Video notes:

Tamara Jenkins made her first film almost ten years ago. (She's not prolific, but you can't argue with the quality of her work.) The Slums of Beverly Hills is a semi-autobiographical story of a teenage girl and her siblings whose divorced father is determined to keep his kids in the Beverly Hills school system. He accomplishes this by dragging them from one crappy apartment in the famous zip code to another. (Yes, there are crappy apartments in Beverly Hills). Natasha Lyonne plays the daughter, and Marisa Tomei and Jessica Walter are in the supporting cast. This is definitely one to check out on video.

The Namesake, Mira Nair's adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, is now out on video. The film tells the story of a family of Indian immigrants to the United States, but the issues are relevant to most of us in this country populated by immigrants. Take a look.

Waitress, writer/director Adrienne Shelley's last film, is also available on video now. It's lovely film and a wonderful tribute to this artist, who was deprived of the long career she should have enjoyed.