In the Dark-The Wackness

 Genre: Dramedy

 Tagline: Sometimes it’s right to do the wrong things

 Ebert gave it: 3 stars

 Let’s get a few things straight. The 90s were cool (I wasn’t cool in the 90s because I was in my awkward puberty phase for some of it), Ben Kingsley is cool (and sexy), despite what some say, drugs are cool (low key drugs), new york is cool. Ok The Wackness won the Audience Award at Sundance, my friend, let’s call her Suzanne (because that’s her name) loved this film and recommended it to me. Lucky for me I have a theatre just a few bus stops away that plays great artsy, independent movies so I’m able to see this stuff whenever I want for $10 a pop. Which in the time of stupid people and bad movies is a deal.

 

The Wackness follows young (and moodily hot!) Luke Shapiro through his journey of leaving the safe confines of high school and entering a new world. He trades pot for therapy sessions with therapist Dr. Squires who refuses to give Shapiro any sort of drug remedy for the so call depression he is convinced he has. Instead he tells him that life won’t get better and you might as well just get laid. These therapy sessions also give Dr. Squires some well needed help with his life that is falling apart.

In the Dark – Towelhead

Genre: drama/awkward 

Tagline: How can you find yourself if no one can see you.

Ebert gave it: 2 stars…NOT 2 thumbs up

I was tricked. I thought to myself a movie written by the guy who won an Oscar for writing a enthralling drama about a dad who is seduced by a high school cheerleader, who created my favorite tv show about a dysfunctional undertaking family, an actor who earned my respect far before Batman ever took to saving the streets of Gotham city-in fact who was a hot motorcycle boyfriend to savior Erin Brokovich (tho I didn’t know it until recently…it’s all in the eyes), and an actress who made me laugh in yet another dysfunctional family movie. Yes, Alan Ball, Aaron Eckhart and Toni Collette tricked me into see this movie.

Jesira (Summer Bishil) is sent away by her mother to live with her Lebanese father in Houston, TX after her mom’s boyfriend takes a liking to the 13 year old girl. Once under the strict rules of her daddy Jesira begins a journey into womanhood. The only person more clueless about what is happening is her father. Jesira’s doe eyed look and early boobs  make her the object of desire of her next door neighbor, Mr. Vuoso – an army dude who is waiting to be called up by Bush Sr. to go kill Hussein (remember what life was like before Jr. finished his daddy’s dream?)

In the Dark – The Savages

Genre: Dramedy

Ebert gave it: 3.5 stars

I love Phillip Seymour Hoffman, I also love Laura Linney and I love awkwardness in a movie theatre. And I love when an audience responds, sometimes with comments said aloud (though most time this makes me angry), with a movie.

Wendy (Linney) and Jon Savage (Hoffman)  are siblings leaving in different parts of New York state. Both are writers, both have passion for theatre, both are smart, neither knows how to be a supportive family member. When their dad, Lenny (Philip Bosco), acts up in his retirement community they must come together as the only family they’ve got to make the best of the situation. When they get to Arizona they realize the father they hardly know has become an even more of a stranger, but they decide to bring him closer to home. Wendy and Jon have had their ups and downs with dad growing up and are reluctant to how much caring they want to take into their own hands, but they love their dad unconditionally and try their best. Each with their own emotional baggage outside of their family crisis, they come to realize different things about themselves, their relationship with each other and their significant others. When they arrive in Buffalo the search is on for the perfect nursing home, but the final resting place is anything but. They learn how to deal with losing a father they never really liked and get to know each other in a new light.

There are so many moments in this movie that are laugh out loud hilarious, but you feel pretty guilty for laughing. Most of these moments are inappropriate and embarrassing times for Lenny – times you would never think of laughing if they happen in public. Seriously, every time Lenny had an “old person” moment I thought what if that happened to my dad? What if that were happen to me? I am going straight to hell for finding comedy in this…

This movie is all about the characters, and the actors bring them to life beautifully. Philip Seymour Hoffman lights up the screen with his hard, emotionless professor who is in love but afraid to admit it. He is the strong one, the rock, and the one who never lets his emotions make the decisions. He doesn’t believe in fluff and refuses to break down, but when he lets his guard down it is so real. Laura Linney is excellent in portraying an attention seeking sibling who feels the shadow of her brother. She shows guilt, remorse and forgiveness so often in this film, and lets us see that Wendy is indeed a very talented writer who lacks any motivation to get her ass in gear. She is endearing and sad, her life is depressing and she wants everything to change so desperately but isn’t sure how to do that. My favorite is Bosco, we never see what he was like before the dementia got his brain, but we see him go deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of age. His rage is so real, and yet he has his vulnearable moments that break your heart knowing that the real Lenny is inside somewhere screaming out, “why is this happening to me? Control yourself -  you shouldn’t need anyone to take care of you…” You get a real sense of a man who is trapped in his own brain and finally gives up the battle to be normal. It makes for an uncomfortable yet entertaining and pleasing performance.

The Savages does not seem like a happy, feel good, holiday movie and really it isn’t. It is a movie about reality, a reality that a lot of people, like Linney’s character, want to avoid. So many times death and aging is a topic movies avoid portraying in the light of truth – because really, who wants to face harsh topics in a theatre after they just paid to forget their real life. But The Savages hits the jackpot for me, it shows you that yes, shit happens but you have to have a sense of humor or you won’t survive. People live, people die, people come together, people break up, there is rejection, affection, disappointment, etc. It happens everyday but not everyone handles it with a grain of salt. There is a point in the movie where it is said that nice, grand nursing homes aren’t for the people in them, but for the people who put their loved ones inside. It makes sense, and I think this movie takes on the theme of being one of those no fluff nursing homes – it’s real, it’s raw and it doesn’t make you feel good. But it presents the facts with a light sense of humor that shows you how the world is. People get old, people die and life as you know it goes on.

My rating:

This movie is so unconventional and truthful that it earns my top rating. Expect to feel depressed and in need of a shower and maybe a confession at the end, but you’ll laugh and maybe cry along the way. Honesty is a virtue that doesn’t pop up in movies very often, thank god because all of us would be on Prozac, but this one is totally worth it. I wouldn’t recommend seeing this is you are on your way to the nursing home, or if you are putting your loved one in anytime soon…then again take your aging parents, scare them into thinking that if you don’t get what you want from now on you’ll dump them in a cold nursing home in Buffalo – just kidding that’s just mean…though it is a running joke at our house. I can’t stop talking about how great this movie was, how different it was, and how wonderful it felt to be uncomfortable and depressed.

In The Dark – Lars and the Real Girl

Genre: Dramedy

Tagline: The search for true love starts outside the box.

Ebert gave it 3.5 stars

This movie could have been awful, this movie could have been like that one movie with Christina Ricci, Pumpkin, where she falls in love with a handicapped boy and everyone hates her for it. But it wasn’t, this movie was a breath of fresh air.

I’ve been a big fan of Ryan Gosling for a while now, and totally fell in love with him in Half Nelson. Again Gosling takes a risk by playing Lars, a socially awkward, shy young man who is living in his deceased parent’s home with his brother and sister-in-law. Actually he lives in a room in the garage. Lars goes through life avoiding human company at all costs. But it all changes when he meets Bianca, the inflatable doll. They start a relationship and soon the community embraces Bianca, the missionary from Brazil who is in a wheelchair, in hopes of helping Lars out of this strange slump he has fallen into. Lars shows us that even his relationship has ups and downs, yet he proves to be a loyal, genuine boyfriend through it all.