Mini-Reviews

It's been almost a week since the very sad news about Heath Ledger's passing and I have grown quite disgusted with the endless prattle about how and why, covered ad nauseam on every entertainment news program. So I was quite relieved to hear some tasteful and honest tributes to the actor over the last few days. At Sunday evening's SAG awards, upon winning Best Actor, Daniel Day-Lewis said a few touching words about Ledger, viewable here, and also dedicated the award to his memory. And just this evening I discovered an article written by Christopher Nolan, the director of The Dark Knight, detailing his memories and sadness about Ledger's recent death. Both of these testimonials were far more prudent and sincere than the onslaught of gossip about the details surrounding his demise, and both honored the actor in a respectful and humbled way.

I've also written two reviews about films I've recently seen, both available on DVD.

• Away From Her : Julie Christie has Alzheimers. Sounds like a melodramatic Lifetime movie, doesn't it? But Sarah Polley's directorial debut (adapted from Alice Munro's short story, "The Bear Came Over the Mountain") does not go for cheap sentimentality in telling a very emotional story. Fiona (Julie Christie) and Grant (Gordon Pinsent) have been married for some 40+ years when Fiona begins to develop Alzheimers. She determines to live in a facility, unwilling to make Grant her full-time caregiver. The film is edited in a lyrical style, alternating between the time Fiona's warning signs became apparent, brief glimpses into their history together, and a time in the future where Grant has difficult choices to make about Fiona's condition. Interestingly, in this story, it is Grant who lives in denial, unable to accept the reality that his wife is fading, and Fiona who faces her diagnosis with clear-headed wisdom, lacking those overemotional histrionic reactions that have become so common in films about illness. The story develops more or less predictably (anyone who know anything about Alzheimers can guess what will happen as Fiona's condition worsens), but the film's surprises and successes come in it's approach. Christie gives a very subtle performance, reacting softly and sweetly to each horrible eventuality, emotion reflected in every expression and gesture, without becoming caricature. She has already received accolades aplenty for her performance (winning the SAG award on Sunday) and is the likely front-runner for Best Actress at next month's Academy Awards. He co-star, Gordon Pinsent, has not been mentioned as frequently, but has the more difficult job. We have to believe his character has been a good husband, despite past indiscretions, and Pinsent does a superb job of reining in his emotions, allowing us to feel them without always showing them. Grant is an intellectual and watching his attempts to reason the correct course of action are agonizing, especially as his heart is always pulling him in another direction. The film was made in Canada and seems set during an endless winter. The locations are always cold, barren, and lonely, which only further distinguishes them from the happy memories that seem to materialize from a brighter and warmer past. This is a well-made film, but given it's subject matter, it cannot be a happy one. It takes a cruel illness and follows it's development to a logical conclusion. The performances are lovely, the film is powerful, but if you're looking for something light, this is not a film you will enjoy.
• Stardust : Stardust is a film with elements of The Princess Bride, Lord of the Rings, and Pirates of the Caribbean all re-worked into a mish-mash of a story. It is a fantasy with witches and pirates galore, but certain scenes contain an ironic and bawdy wit. The story concerns a secret realm hidden within a large field, protected by a stone wall, and guarded by a single old man. We follow Dunstan, who sneaks into the hidden realm, meets a nice slave girl and finds himself a single father. His son, Tristan (Charlie Cox), grows up with the same impulse to pass behind the wall, but only to retrieve a fallen star. The star has materialized into a girl named Yvaine (Claire Danes), and she wears a necklace containing the crest of the future king. And we're not even done yet! What if I told you that the story also involved several princes in deadly pursuit of the necklace, the ghosts of several other dead princes providing amusing commentary, an evil witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) who needs the heart of the star to stay young, and an old pirate (Robert DeNiro) with a fey sense of style. That the resolution to the plot also involves Tristan's father, long lost mother and girlfriend (Sienna Miller), seems impossible in such a cram-packed film. By the conclusion, when all the disparate plot strands had finally found cohesion, I became genuinely interested in these characters. I also found that I had, for the most part, enjoyed their adventurous and clever journey. However, the beginning of the film takes too long to gain momentum as countless characters and story-arcs are introduced. I was not fully engaged until the 45-minute mark, and that is never a good sign. Pfeiffer has great fun playing the youth-obsessed crone, DeNiro plays against expectation with comical results, and the film contains a hilarious fight with a dead body that had me rolling. Overall, the film eventually gelled for me, providing enough moments of inventive folly to make it worthwhile. However, if you're not a fan of this genre or are not willing to wait for the surprises, I doubt it will suit your fancy.