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THE BREADWINNER (2017) [ANIME] - REVIEW

The Breadwinner (2017)


A headstrong young girl in Afghanistan disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.

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17 November 2017 (USA)  »

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Based on a children's novel by Deborah Ellis and executive produced by Angelina Jolie, Nora Twomey's animated feature centers on a young Afghan girl's resilience in the face of devastating circumstances. 

Movies are filled with scrappy kids who weather tough situations, but Parvana, the 11-year-old Kabul resident at the center of The Breadwinner, is a particularly memorable survivor. In a story that's as vibrant as it is harrowing, the Afghan girl steps into the vacuum left by her father's arrest and, disguising herself as a boy, ventures into the Taliban-controlled city in order to keep her family fed.
In her first solo stint at the helm of a feature, Nora Twomey, who co-directed the dazzling Secret of Kells, sugarcoats nothing about Parvana's story, even while layering it with a touch of enchantment. She and screenwriter Anita Doron, adapting Deborah Ellis' book, maintain the child's point of view in both strands of the narrative: the brutal day-to-day challenges that Parvana faces and the magic-tinged fable she spins to soothe and entertain her baby brother.

The involvement of Angelina Jolie will certainly boost the profile of the Ireland-Canada-Luxembourg co-production, which joins the ranks of such hard-hitting animated features as Waltz With Bashir and Persepolis in its artful alchemy of personal particulars through the prism of political conflict.

Novelist Ellis based her Breadwinner series of books on interviews she conducted with residents of an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan, and the filmmakers have taken similar care to ensure the cultural accuracy of their adaptation, from the realistic backdrops to the use of Afghan musicians and singers (recorded remotely) in the affecting score by siblings Mychael and Jeff Danna.

The action unfolds in 2001, when Parvana (voiced with spirit and intelligence by Saara Chaudry) regularly accompanies her father, Nurullah (Ali Badshah), on his trips to the central market, where he hawks miscellaneous items along with his letter-writing and -reading skills. A former schoolteacher, he instills a sense of history in his young daughter — specifically, the history of their country as the site of countless incursions and occupations over the centuries. Parvana sighs in boredom over the litany of invaders: Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and, in more recent years, the Soviets. But Afghan political history takes on a terrible urgency for her when the city's self-appointed moral guardians, the Taliban, cart the worldly Nurullah to prison for questioning their restrictive edicts.

The apartment that Parvana shares with her broken-hearted mother, Fattema (Laara Sadiq); argumentative older sister, Soraya (Shaista Latif); and toddler brother, Zaki, becomes a kind of prison, too. Under Taliban rule, women and girls can be out and about only in the company of a male, and shopkeepers fearful of retribution won't sell Parvana rice or any other household staples.

But once she cuts her hair short and dons the clothes of her deceased older brother Sulayman (Noorin Gulamgaus) — whose story is gradually revealed with minimal detail and maximum impact — Parvana navigates the streets and markets with relative freedom. She finds a kindred spirit and entrepreneurial partner in Shauzia (Soma Chhaya), another girl passing as a boy. Together they sell tea and take on odd jobs. Plotting her escape to the peaceful seaside, Shauzia alludes to a troubled home life, and, as in their treatment of Sulayman, the screenplay and direction convey volumes in just a few words and gestures.
Amid all the sorrow and struggle, there are moments of welcome humor, too, particularly in the tale that Parvana, carrying on her absent father's love of storytelling, tells Zaki. To set the story-within-the-story apart from the main narrative's simple line-drawn characters and naturalistic background renderings, Twomey adopts a stylized cutout animation style. The tale of a child's courage against a villainous Elephant King abounds in deep jewel tones and is punctuated with circular and other symmetrical arrangements.

That the allegory's protagonist is a boy ties him to the daring of Parvana and Shauzia as well as to the late Sulayman and the tot Zika, a sweetly gurgling embodiment of joy and innocence. An expression of strength and creativity in a world of constant danger, the story Parvana weaves gives shape to hope while acknowledging seemingly insurmountable difficulties.

Through it all, Parvana never gives up on trying to see her imprisoned father, if only to pass along the walking stick he's needed since losing a leg in wartime. One of his illiterate customers, Razaq (Kawa Ada), proves sympathetic and helpful, and the wordless moments he shares with Parvana, as his own devastating losses come to light, are among the most poignant in the film.

The threat of war and its bitter memories are everywhere; not long after Parvana crosses a desert littered with abandoned military tanks, the skies are darkened by new machines of destruction. Not unlike her gutsy protagonist, Twomey moves through the charged landscape with extraordinary agility. Combining gripping suspense with a quote from the immortal Persian poet Rumi, she creates a stirring final sequence from the rising chords of terror and resilience. Nothing is resolved, exactly, but for a breathtaking instant, love resounds more powerfully than any bomb ever could.

FINAL RATING: 8/10 for the genre and 7/10 overall. Nice and cute anime which shows what it means if you have nothing and how to survive every day with little things. Different and great at the same time because the movie shows what it really means to sell your body.


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WINCHESTER: THE HOUSE THAT GHOSTS BUILT (2018) [BIOGRAPHY] - HD TRAILER

Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built (2018)

Winchester (original title)

Eccentric firearm heiress believes she is haunted by the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle.

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(re-writes), (re-writes) | 1 more credit »

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Status: Post-production | See complete list of  »
Comments: Production wrapped the second week of May 2017 in San Jose, CA.
Updated: 13 June 2017  


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2 February 2018 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

The 13th Hour  »

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Trivia

The promotional image for the film of Helen Mirren sitting in the carriage in mourning clothes mirrors the only known photograph of the reclusive Sarah Winchester on the estate, which is seen on the tour of the mansion in San Jose.
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PHANTOM THREAD (2017) [DRAMA] - HD TRAILER

Phantom Thread (2017)



Set in 1950's London, Reynolds Woodcock is a renowned dressmaker whose fastidious life is disrupted by a young, strong-willed woman, Alma, who becomes his muse and lover.

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Status: Post-production | See complete list of  »
Updated: 16 October 2017  


Set in the glamour of 1950's post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants and dames with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock's life, providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love.

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25 December 2017 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

El hijo del fantasma  »

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$35,000,000 (estimated)
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1.85 : 1

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ONE OF US (2017) [DOCUMENTARY] - REVIEW

One of Us (2017)


 
 
 Penetrating the insular world of New York's Hasidic community, focusing on three individuals driven to break away despite threats of retaliation.

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20 October 2017 (USA)  »

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The title "One of Us" cuts deeply, in two directions. This documentary by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady zeroes in on three individuals who were once part of a tightly knit community of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn, New York. All three eventually left the tribe, as it were, because they found its conditions for membership suffocating, even abusive. 

All three are caught by the filmmakers in the process of transforming themselves into secular Americans living life in the mainstream, enjoying the freedom that comes from being about to make bold personal choices, but also feeling abandoned and hated by the family and friends who remained on the other side. They're becoming part of a larger world now—one of "them" as opposed to one of "us," or maybe the other way around. 


Teenaged Ari endured a horrendous crime as a child that was covered up by his community; it eventually contributed to his cocaine addiction (he's survived two overdoses). Luzer is a twenty something man who realized one day that he couldn't stand to live under the constraints of the community, got a divorce, left his family New York and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. Etty, now 32, has the most disturbing story. She was pushed into marriage with an abusive man at 19 and has had seven children. The entire extended family plus a wider circle of friends have joined forces to stop her from divorcing her husband and starting over. 

This is complex and often explosive subject matter, and in examining it, the excellent team of Ewing and Grady (“The Boys of Baraka,” “Jesus Camp” and “Detropia") tread as carefully as they can, given the constraints they're under. Specifically, they can only tell one side of this story: the Hasidim, who rail against the secular world and are suspicious of cell phones and the Internet, aren't about to sit for interviews with these filmmakers. That means that we're never going to hear their side of things. 
This is not to say that whatever we might might have heard would have created an "one the one hand, on the other hand" dynamic—clearly, all three of the filmmakers' subjects had excellent reasons for leaving the community, and even if their reasons had been flighty or specious, they should still have had the right to determine their own destiny without fear of being ostracized or punished. That said, the most fascinating, albeit quite brief, portion of the movie comes in the form of a history lesson: we find out that the Hasidic Jewish community sprung up as a response to the Holocaust—that they see themselves as holy replacements for the millions who were slaughtered in the 1930s and '40s. Everyone, including abusers, have reasons for doing what they do; a bit more on this subject might've made an already wrenching documentary even more powerful. 

Then again, "One of Us" is so strong as-is that its more harrowing sections—particularly Ari's account of his childhood suffering and the details of Etty's fight for freedom—are so already hard to watch that you might want to turn away. There's nothing more exhilarating or more terrifying than taking control of one's own life.

THE KILLING OF A SCARED DEER (2017) [DRAMA, HORROR, MYSTERY] - REVIEW + HD TRAILER

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)


Steven, a charismatic surgeon, is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice after his life starts to fall apart, when the behavior of a teenage boy he has taken under his wing turns sinister.

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3 November 2017 (UK)  »

Also Known As:

Egy szent szarvas meggyilkolása  »

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, ,  »

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Trivia

Second collaboration between Yorgos Lanthimos and Colin Farrell. See more »

Quotes

Martin: I wanted to say one more thing, I'm really sorry about Bob.
Steven Murphy: It's nothing serious.
Martin: No, it is. They will all get sick and die. Bob will die, Kim will die, your wife will die, understand?
Steven Murphy: No, I don't.
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Connections


A man who plays God for a living meets a boy who chooses to play Devil in Yorgos Lanthimos’ chilling and breathtaking “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.” Once again, as he did with “The Lobster,” Lanthimos is working in a deeply metaphorical register, using an impossible situation to illuminate relatable human fears. The result is a mesmerizing thriller, a movie that asks questions with no good answers and traps us within its terrifying and bizarre situation with little hope for a happy ending. With uniformly great performances throughout the cast and Lanthimos’ stunning eye for detail and composition, this is one of the most unforgettable films of the year.

From the beginning, something seems vaguely off with the relationship between Steven and Martin. The doctor introduces him as a friend of his daughter’s, but he’s not. And he buys the kid presents, even inviting him over for dinner. Martin becomes friends with Steven’s kids, and a romantic interest for Kim, but there’s a dark undercurrent here from frame one. Something’s just not quite right in the Murphy household, and it’s not only that the good doctor likes his wife to pretend to be under general anesthesia when he has sex with her. The Murphys seem to be just a little off, and Martin more than a little.

Then Bob can’t get out of bed. His legs don’t work. Not long after, he stops eating. Martin tells Steven what’s going on. It’s justice. Steven took his father, and now a member of his family must die. The scales must be balanced. Steven can choose to kill one of his family members and end the nightmare, but they will continue to lose the use of their limbs, refuse to eat, and eventually bleed from the eyes if he does not make a decision. Steven, being a man of science, turns to medicine to explain what’s happening to his family, refusing to believe that it’s some sort of cosmic karma coming to get him. Thematically, Lanthimos is playing with the differences between science and the supernatural. Steven plays God. He saves lives and he makes mistakes that take lives. And he sees the world in that kind of black and white. Martin breaks down his perfectly controlled worldview, and demands something rarely asked of the gods, personal sacrifice.

Working with his regular cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis again, and a multi-talented team of designers, Lanthimos delivers one of the most visually striking films of the year, a movie that recalls prime Polanski in its claustrophobic tension but more distinctly feels like an entirely new voice in horror. “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” takes place in a world of clean lines and kitchens as antiseptic as operating rooms. It's this world of suburban perfection that Martin, and Lanthimos, deconstructs with a waking nightmare. There’s something about the cool, detached world of “Sacred Deer” that makes it all the more terrifying. Of course, fallible man must be punished in a world this perfectly refined and lacking in common humanity. It almost feels like Martin gives Steven an out early in the film, inviting him to his more “everyday” world in which they watch “Groundhog Day” (tellingly, another movie about a man who must learn a lesson to stop a physically impossible situation) and his mother (Alicia Silverstone) demands he try her tart. But the God won’t deign to play with the mortals, and so he must be hurled from his throne.

And here’s where we get to the title. Late in the film, we learn that one of the characters wrote an A+ essay on Iphigenia, a Greek myth that centers on the killing of a sacred deer by Greek leader Agamemnon. Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, punished Agamemnon, and the only way to remove the punishment is for the leader to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia. Is the modern surgeon the equivalent of Agamemnon? Is the child who lost his father before he could talk about puberty with him Artemis? Lanthimos never draws straight lines, but the parallel is illuminating. He makes films designed to start conversations, to leave viewers startled and shaken. And he’s smart enough to use Greek myths, pitch black humor, and chilling horror in equal amounts.

It helps that he’s clearly at a point in his career where the right actors want to work with him. It feels like we’re finally at a time when we can recognize that Colin Farrell has been pretty great for a long time, choosing to work with challenging directors who bring out different edges of his ability even this late into his career. He’s phenomenal here, finding the shades of a man whose greatest sin may be his refusal to admit he’s only human. In the end, that may be the message of “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”—when you play God, you must deal with the consequences. The Lanthimos-Farrell dynamic is one of those relationships in which the creator and actor are so clearly on the same page that it’s invigorating.

That’s a good word for “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.” It’s a film that challenges viewers in such fascinating ways and feels so refined in its filmmaking that it’s invigorating to watch. It’s a rare movie indeed that can be this alternately terrifying, hysterical, strange, and heartbreaking, often in the same scene. Like the Greek myth that inspired the film, it feels powerful enough to be timeless.
This review was originally filed on September 10, 2017 from the Toronto International Film Festival.

FINAL RATING 8/10 for the genre and 8/10 overall. A fantastic and intense movie.


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GEOSTORM (2017) [ACTION, SCI-FI, THRILLER] - REVIEW + HD TRAILER

Geostorm (2017)



When the network of satellites designed to control the global climate start to attack Earth, it's a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything and everyone.

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When catastrophic climate change endangers Earth's very survival, world governments unite and create the Dutch Boy Program: a world wide net of satellites, surrounding the planet, that are armed with geoengineering technologies designed to stave off the natural disasters. After successfully protecting the planet for two years, something is starting to go wrong. Two estranged brothers are tasked with solving the program's malfunction before a world wide Geostorm can engulf the planet. 

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20 October 2017 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Geo-Tormenta  »

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Trivia

Dean Devlin's feature directorial debut. See more »

Connections

 
I am pretty sure there is a snide political discourse lurking underneath all the loud inanities of Dean Devlin's mostly static Geostorm.

Geostorm, which sees a minor character escape incredible cataclysm that probably killed thousands of innocent Hong Kong citizens with the help of an environment-friendly electric car only to end up dead by a speeding gas-guzzling coupe, has an American politician angrily protesting how his great country has turned into the world's open wallet, essentially pinpointing that the cause of the end of the world is not nature's vengeance but American political opportunism.

Devlin's film, with its pessimistic view of the heightened role of dysfunctional America in an impending apocalypse, feels like it half-heartedly aspires to be the first Trump-era disaster film.

Sadly, all possibilities of a Dr. Strangelove-style satire for the film is mired by the limits of what essentially is uninspired blockbuster film making.The film feels more like an Independence Day riff, except that this film's lionization of America is tempered by an overt distrust over prevailing institutions. Like Independence Day and many of the big-budgeted but small-brained works of Devlin, the film is a second-rate attempt to capitalize on the strange spectacle of computer-generated versions of cities being destroyed within mere seconds.

Given that all of this has been done before and with less of the nonsensical verbosity that makes this film such a slog to watch, Geostorm ends up magnifying the glaring faults and excesses of the genre rather than enriching it with current world relevance.

Geostorm's main storyline of the fate of humanity hinging on two estranged brothers, a rough-on-the-edges scientist (Gerard Butler) and a suit-wearing government type (Jim Sturgess), learning to accept each other despite their differences in world view tries to proliferate family values within the borders of formula but it only ends up failing in the most embarrassing of ways.

The film is funny for all the wrong reasons.

Its drama is skewed and awkward, while its jokes are all awfully timed, mostly spouted as needless banter in the middle of life and death situations. There is a little bit of romance thrown in for diversity but that romance is basically just an excuse to introduce a physically strong female support to counter the film's other women who are essentially there just to walk around the male leads.
The film is a discordant medley of mistakes.
It would have been a lot more enjoyable if Devlin, instead of sanctifying his film with Hollywood-style sentimentality and extravagant but needless fireworks, just surrendered to the fact the film’s conceit when mixed with the juvenile intents of immature characters will never work as a serious product.

FINAL RATING: 6/10 for the genre and 3/10 overall. Simply put, Geostorm is just mediocre entertainment. Also the know how of acting of the actors is not good enough for me to give it a better rating, since they do not have to be better, based on the story.

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BLACK PANTHER (2018) [ACTION, DRAMA, SCI-FI] - HD TRAILER

Black Panther (2018)

 

T'Challa, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king.

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(screenplay by), (screenplay by) | 2 more credits »

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After the events of Captain America: Civil War, King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from factions within his own country. When two foes conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must team up with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross and members of the Dora Milaje, Wakanadan special forces, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war. 

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16 February 2018 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Czarna Pantera  »

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| | | (DTS: X)| (IMAX 12 track)

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2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Black Panther was created in July 1966, two months before the founding of the Black Panther Party. However, many people mistakenly assumed the name referenced the Party, and so the the character was renamed the Black Leopard; however neither the readers nor the creators cared for that title and it didn't last for long. See more »

Quotes

Erik Killmonger: I've waited my whole life for this. The world's going to start over. I'MA BURN IT ALL!
See more »

Crazy Credits

The Marvel logo is shaded black. See more »

Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Kevin James/Michael B. Jordan/Bon Iver (2016)

JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017) [ACTION, ADVENTURE, FANTASY] - HD TRAILER (NEW TRAILER - UNSHOWN IN CINEMAS)

Justice League (2017)



Coming Soon

In theaters November 16.


Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy.

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Writers:

(screenplay by), (screenplay by) | 7 more credits »
Status: Post-production | See complete list of  »
Updated: 22 April 2017
More Info: See more production information about this title on IMDbPro
Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes-Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash-it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions. 

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17 November 2017 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Justice League  »

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1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ezra Miller is the youngest cast member of this film. See more »

Quotes

Alfred Pennyworth: [to Bruce] I miss the days whens one's biggest concern is exploding wind-up penguins.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Honest Trailers: The Bourne Trilogy (2016)
Thanks for reading and have fun watching Justice League, in cinemas November 16. 

THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED) (2017) [DRAMA] - REVIEW + HD TRAILER

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)

TV-MA | | Comedy, Drama | 13 October 2017 (USA) 


An estranged family gathers together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father.

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13 October 2017 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)  »

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1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In an interview at the Cannes Film Festival, Adam Sandler stated that he enjoyed working on the movie and with Noah Baumbach so much, that he'd do another project with Baumbach as soon as he offered it to him. See more »

Connections

Features The Awful Truth (1937)
 
Of the many human characteristics keenly observed in “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” the most powerful is the lonely sense of being the only something in one’s family. The only failure, the only daughter, the only one with no artistic talent—these are traits that, whether incontrovertible or questionable, are clutched like well-earned badges of honor by the Meyerowitz brood. The siblings fling their Purple Hearts with reckless abandon, sometimes to curry favor and other times to wound. These battles play out for the benefit of a father who, as the children should know by now, is too self-absorbed to really take notice. But a win, no matter how Pyrrhic, is still a win. In the never-ending battle of the sibling, the stats matter.

Dustin Hoffman plays Harold Meyerowitz, the family patriarch whose multiple marriages produced three children, Jean (Elizabeth Marvel), Matthew (Ben Stiller) and Danny (Adam Sandler). Like Gene Hackman’s Royal in Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums,” Harold possesses a charm that draws people toward him before his dark side keeps them at bay. Hoffman adds another layer to this familiar archetype, a comic brittleness that pricks the viewer like a cactus touching a balloon. No other actor is more masterful at conveying this kind of aggravating self-righteousness, whether aggressively or passively, than Hoffman. With Harold, everyone else’s feelings are secondary or non-existent, and in the rare moments he’s completely present and on your side, it still feels as if he’s there under duress.

It’s no wonder Harold’s children have issues. We first meet Danny, who is trying to find a parking space in the no-parking wonderland that is the East Village. Danny’s college-age daughter Eliza (Grace van Patten) has accompanied him on this visit to her grandparents’ house. This father-daughter relationship is far cozier than the one Jean has with Harold; Danny seems to be a self-consciously less antagonistic parent. The duo bond over a song on the radio and commiserate about the obnoxious New York drivers whose impatience keep wrecking Danny’s parking opportunities. Later, we’ll see that Eliza also has a good relationship with her uncle and especially her aunt.

Danny’s opening vignette sets the pattern for how “The Meyerowitz Stories” will operate. A title card appears, then a scene builds to a crescendo before abruptly being cut off by another segment. Some of the cuts are hilariously rendered, others feel like interruptions in one’s train of thought. But the gimmick is always well-executed and suggests that we’re privy to several interconnected short stories being told to us by writer/director Noah Baumbach.

We learn that Harold has had some modicum of success as a sculptor, though lately he hasn’t been as prolific as he was in his youth. Though a self-proclaimed failure, Danny appears to be the only one of his children who inherited some form of artistic creativity. He’s a songwriter who plays piano. Danny sings two songs written by Sandler, Baumbach and Randy Newman, who also provides the score. One of the songs is a lovely ditty about the relationship between Danny and Eliza. The other pokes fun at a faux pas Harold committed at one of his art shows. Coincidentally, Harold’s old university wants to put on a show featuring his sculptures—a move championed by Danny—but Harold doesn’t want to share the spotlight.

After introducing Danny and briefly highlighting his struggles with Harold, “The Meyerowitz Stories” pivots to Danny’s half-brother, Matthew. He’s only mentioned in passing in Danny’s first vignette, and he gets his own set of scenes with Harold before the film merges their plotlines. Unlike Danny, Matthew was no good at anything arty and instead has become a very powerful, very successful financial planner. Matthew ran for the shores of Los Angeles as soon as he could, and didn’t look back. When “The Meyerowitz Stories” takes Harold temporarily out of the picture due to a health scare, a deeper antagonism is revealed between Matthew and Danny. Matthew wants to sell Harold’s current house, a house Danny is attached to despite the fact he did not grow up there. Danny is angry at his brother for leaving.

As the two battle for control and the audience’s sympathy, Baumbach reveals several symbolic comparisons between the two men: Danny has a bum leg but Matthew’s neuroses are just as crippling. Matthew is rich and miserable while Danny is a failure but can at least find a ray of sunshine in his daughter. Eventually, the brothers come to blows in a wrestling match that’s so garish and true-to-life it will immediately conjure up memories for any guy who has a brother.
Observing all this, and occasionally contributing to the story, is Jean. The way “The Meyerowitz Stories” often demotes its funniest character to the sideline is a calculated, though not always successful, attempt at portraying Jean’s odd-man-out status as the only daughter in the Meyerowitz clan. She and Emma Thompson, as Harold’s hippie-ish drunk of a fourth wife, get some of the biggest laughs but still feel underutilized. Baumbach almost makes it up to Marvel when Jean finally gets her own title card and story, the result of which pulls the siblings together in an act of childish mischief disguised as revenge. It’s not enough, however; Marvel is so good in the role that one longs for a lot more of her.

Unlike his prior work, Baumbach is surprisingly humane here. He beats up on his characters, but he also gives them a salve to help heal the wounds. His charity extends to minor characters like Harold’s more successful rival (Judd Hirsch in an endearing cameo) and Harold’s first wife, (Candice Bergen, who gets a great monologue). Baumbach has also finally written a role for Stiller that doesn’t inspire outright hatred. But “The Meyerowitz Stories” shockingly belongs to Sandler, who is absolutely fantastic.

Sandler finds the perfect line between tragedy and comedy for Danny. He still does his hollering angry man-child shtick, but here it stems organically from the character and is never used as a comedic crutch. Additionally, he shades his performance with subtleties both physical and verbal. Some of his best moments involve just a facial gesture or a well-placed pause. His interactions with the other characters are rife with complex emotions unlike any he’s played before. Exasperation, joy and forgiveness flow through him in perfectly calibrated measures. It’s a rich, surprising performance.

With its often overwhelming familiarity, the subgenre of dysfunctional family dramedies has negated Tolstoy’s notion that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. While “The Meyerowitz Stories” is yet another one of these movies, it does manage to circumvent some of the more predictable clichés. It also manages to succeed when it occasionally succumbs to them. This is one of the year’s best movies.

FINAL RATING: 9/10 for the genre and also incredible 9/10 overall. 


Thanks for reading and have fun this really great movie.
 
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