I AM LOVE (2010). How devoted is Tilda Swinton to her craft? Thespians occasionally learn another language in order to play a certain role, but Swinton plunged even deeper: For I Am Love, she not only learned to speak Italian and Russian, she also learned to speak Italian with a Russian accent. Or at least that's what Swinton and director Luca Guadagnino have stated — for all I know, she could be speaking Italian with an Inuit accent. The point is that her fine performance is the cornerstone of this foreign import whose initially chilly demeanor will melt away for any viewer willing to stick with it. A drama centering on a wealthy family in Milan, this follows dutiful wife Emma Recchi (Swinton) as she embarks on a love affair with the younger Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), a splendid chef and best friend to Emma's sensitive son Edo (Flavio Parenti). Accustomed to keeping her emotions on a low simmer, Emma finds her senses aroused by her extramarital tryst. The plot threads involving the family business (textiles) aren't nearly as involving as the ones centering on the characters' various relationships, and I didn't buy the late-inning tragedy for one minute. But through both its bird's-eye view of a world of privilege and its personal look at a woman's self-realization, I Am Love is easy to admire.
DVD extras include audio commentary by Swinton and Guadagnino; 15 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage; and individual interviews with 11 cast and crew members totaling 70 minutes.
Movie: ***
Extras: **1/2
JONAH HEX (2010). Strip Jonah Hex of its closing credits and we're looking at a movie that clocks in at approximately an hour and a quarter. Such a brief running time would be OK if the film arrived, got the job done, and left, but that's not the case. Instead, this adaptation of the DC Comics series is primarily sabotaged by a choppy, truncated style that suggests it was edited with the same fire-licked hatchet used to scar its protagonist's face. Resembling nothing so much as a blown opportunity, Jonah Hex can at least boast of a well-chosen leading man in Josh Brolin and a few striking visuals. But the rest is a shameful mess, an obvious example of a film that was sliced and diced even after the cameras were rolling (original scripters Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have basically disowned the final product). The character of Jonah Hex is an interesting one: He's presented as a former Confederate soldier whose family was killed — and whose face was disfigured — by the ruthless Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich in one of his laziest performances). Years later, he's hired by President Ulysses S. Grant (Aidan Quinn) to stop Turnbull and his Tea Party-like followers from destroying the U.S. government with a doomsday device. Jonah Hex is one big rush, but not in the positive sense. Characters appear and disappear at will, jumbled flashbacks tell us things we already knew or surmised, and stiff Megan Fox occasionally turns up as a tough hooker with a soft spot for our anti-hero. Frankly, Jonah has more chemistry with his horse.
DVD extras include 5 minutes of deleted scenes and theatrical trailers.
Movie: *1/2
Extras: *1/2
THE KARATE KID (2010). If your parents are Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, you're probably going to get what you want, no matter how ill-advised. And certainly, mounting a remake of one of the 80s' definitive crowd-pleasers, a movie that led to major box office, a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Pat Morita and (alas) three inferior sequels, probably signaled some sort of career death wish. Yet The Karate Kid turns out to be a pleasant enough surprise (as well as a substantial commercial hit during its theatrical run). To be sure, there's absolutely no area in which it improves on the original, yet the basic plot remains durable enough that there's no harm done by this easy-to-take update. Jaden Smith plays Dre Parker, who's forced to move from his Detroit home when his single mom (Taraji P. Henson) lands a job in Beijing. Dre catches the eye of a cute schoolmate (Wenwen Han), but most of the time, he's being beaten to a pulp by a local bully (Zhenwei Wang) and his sycophants — at least until his building's maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), teaches the lad how to protect himself. This Karate Kid clocks in at 135 minutes, which seems absurd until one recalls that the original itself runs a lengthy 126 minutes. But that version flies by; this one proceeds in fits and starts. Chan and Smith are charismatic enough, though no match for Morita and Ralph Macchio.
DVD extras include a 20-minute making-of piece and the music video for Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never."
Movie: **1/2
Extras: **
PLEASE GIVE (2010). The Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio and Tim Burton-Johnny Depp partnerships have become famous in their own right, so why not the team of writer-director Nicole Holofcener and actress Catherine Keener? All four of Holofcener’s films to date have featured Keener heading impressive ensembles, and all have proven to be smart, engaging watches. In Please Give, Keener stars as Kate, who runs an antique furniture store in New York City with her husband Alex (Oliver Platt). The couple buy their items from the kids or grandkids of elderly folks who have just passed away and have no use for the dearly departed’s possessions. This morbid approach to business extends to their home life as well, as they’ve purchased the apartment unit next to them and plan to expand as soon as its 91-year-old tenant, the perpetually grouchy Andra (Ann Morgan Guibert), passes away. Tending to Andra is her sweet and shy granddaughter Rebecca (Rebecca Hall); doing her best to avoid the old lady is Rebecca’s tart-tongued sister Mary (Amanda Peet). With the exception of Rebecca, nobody in Please Give is a saint — in fact, most can be downright infuriating — but that, as always, is Holofcener’s strength as a filmmaker. Compare these wonderfully flawed, beautifully insecure and wholly believable characters with the preprogrammed mannequins seen in such chowderheaded efforts as, say, The Back-Up Plan or Killers, and the contrast is startling. Holofcener doesn’t dumb her women down, but neither does she place them on pedestals. Instead, she treats her females (and males) as real people, and that’s the highest compliment she could give them.
DVD extras include a 12-minute making-of featurette; an 8-minute Q&A with Holofcener; and 4 minutes of outtakes.
Movie: ***
Extras: **
THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES (2009). The most recent Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Argentina's The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos) is a dizzying mix of suspense, intrigue and romance. Cowriting the script with Eduardo Sacheri (the author of the source novel), director Juan Jose Campanella has crafted a story that's set in both the mid-1970s and roughly a quarter-century later. The '70s segment centers on Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin), a midlevel employee in the Buenos Aires court system. Esposito is smitten with his boss, Irene Menendez-Hastings (Soledad Villamil), and has his hands full keeping his perpetually drunk colleague Pablo Sandoval (Guillermo Francella) out of trouble. But such matters are pushed to the back of his mind after he's sent out to investigate a rape-murder, although various factions work against his best intentions. Twenty-five years later, Esposito, now retired, elects to write a book about the whole ordeal. He visits Irene and tries to get her help in reexamining the events of the day; clearly, a spark remains between them. To reveal more would be criminal, since one of the film's pleasures is the manner in which it doles out crucial information one parcel at a time. The relationships between the characters are fully formed, and Campanella proves to be as adept a director as he is a writer, as witnessed by a remarkable sequence set inside a soccer stadium. It's all exhilarating stuff, and it builds to a twist that will haunt — and satisfy — just about anyone who's ever mulled over the inadequacies of the world's courts.
DVD extras include audio commentary by Campanella; a 5-minute behind-the-scenes piece; and 10 minutes of screen tests.
Movie: ***1/2
Extras: **1/2
WINTER'S BONE (2010). Memorable movie characters often pop out at us from the most unlikely of places, and this understated indie effort surprises by serving up such a figure in Ree Dolly. Ree, played by Jennifer Lawrence in a breakthrough performance, is 17 years old, smarter than everyone around her, sports a lip that sometimes gets her into trouble, and takes a screen beating as impressively as anyone since Brando's Terry Malloy got clobbered in On the Waterfront. But Ree won't back down. Living in poverty somewhere in Missouri's Ozark terrain, she learns that her dad has skipped bail after putting up their house for collateral. Not thrilled by the prospect of being homeless, she sets out to locate her wayward pop, running into resistance from all manner of dangerous and ignorant people. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize (as well as a screenwriting award) at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Winter's Bone, adapted by writer-director Debra Granik and co-scripter Anne Rosellini from Daniel Woodrell's novel, is suffused with pungent backwoods flavor (the film was shot on location), which adds an unsettling authenticity to Ree's quest. An assured directorial effort from Granik, the picture offers a rare look at a region that will seem as foreign to most moviegoers as the forest moon of Endor.
DVD extras include audio commentary by Granik and director of photography Michael McDonough; a 47-minute making-of featurette; four deleted scenes; an alternate opening; and an extensive listing of music credits.
Movie: ***1/2
Extras: ***