Four Great New International Thrillers for Grown-Ups

Posted on March 26, 2010 at 8:00 am

It’s been a while since Hollywood has given us a great thriller for grown-ups. Fortunately, there are currently four from outside the US that are in theaters now and well worth seeing.

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is based on the international best-seller, the first of a trilogy by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. All three have been keeping readers up all night all over the world. A disgraced journalist joins forces with a damaged but determined and fiercely honest young woman to research the mysterious disappearance of a wealthy man’s favorite niece. An American movie version is in the works, but fans of the book should see this one now. It is a brilliant adaptation with a sensational performance by Noomi Rapace as the mesmerizing Lisbeth Salander.

“The Red Riding Trilogy” If you are a fan of “Prime Suspect,” you will love these three British films from three different directors that track a series of murders over more than a decade. It is based on David Peace’s The Red Riding Quartet. The first one, set in 1974, tracks a brash young reporter who uncovers corruption that may be tied to several murders. The second takes place in 1980 and focuses on a police officer investigating the “Yorkshire Ripper” murders. He is played by Paddy Considine of “In America.” The last, set in 1983, is about a lawyer (Mark Addy), the son of a policeman, who is finally able to put together what happened. The films are as dark and murky and twisted as the crimes, and completely engrossing.

“Mother” is a South Korean film about a woman whose shy son becomes the suspect in a murder case. It is up to her to prove him innocent. An award-winner at Cannes and Korea’s entry for the foreign language Oscar, this is filled with surprises up to the very last minute.

“Ghost Writer” is the latest and probably final film from legendary director Roman Polanski (“Chinatown,” “The Pianist”). It is the story of a writer (Ewan McGregor) brought in to fix the dull memoirs of a former British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan), now living in virtual exile on an island off the coast of Massachusetts. There is only one copy of the draft and it is kept in a locked drawer. I found it almost endearing that in this digital age a sole physical manuscript could become so sought after or that anything written by a retired politician could be considered incendiary.

Passing Strange

Posted on January 11, 2010 at 8:00 am

A-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	Very strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking, substance abuse
Violence/ Scariness:	Tense confrontations and risky behavior
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	August 28, 2009
Date Released to DVD:	January 12, 2010
Amazon.com ASIN:	B002T4GY50

Spike Lee’s latest movie is a film version of the Tony Award-winning musical autobiography, something between a concert and a play, about, by, and starring the one-named musician named Stew. He heads up the on-stage band, which functions somewhere between an orchestra and a Greek chorus, in this story based on his experiences leaving home to move to Europe and find himself.

Stew and his collaborator, Heidi Rodewald have put together a show that is very specific and autobiographical but also archetypal. It has a terrific script that perfectly captures the tug of home, the lure of away, the hunger for art, and the vulnerability of relationships. The main character’s only name is Youth to emphasize his Candide-ish qualities. The show is genre-crossing, with music that shows the influence of rock, pop, funk, gospel, and more. It explodes with electrifying performances by Daniel Breaker as Youth and a top-notch cast that instantly creates a range of international characters. Lee’s camera takes us into the heart of the action, even back-stage, seamlessly integrating three different performances.

Thanksgiving Movie: ‘Pieces of April’

Posted on November 23, 2009 at 1:12 pm

A girl makes a Thanksgiving meal for her estranged family in this bittersweet indie film filled with unforgettable characters. It is available this week only at no charge on Hulu.

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After the kids go to bed Holidays

I’m Through With White Girls

Posted on July 15, 2009 at 8:00 am

Another unexpected pleasure I came across on cable recently is a light romantic comedy with some shrewd and audacious commentary on race and gender, whose full title is “I’m Through with White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks).” Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Mayweather on “Enterprise”) plays an African-American man who creates graphic novels and uses a cigarette holder. After a series of bad experiences dating white girls (they break up with him and berate him for being inconsiderate), he decides that he should date an African-American girl, calling his quest “Operation Brown Sugar.” The first group of contestants don’t seem right. And then he meets Catherng (Lia Johnson), a writer with magnificent dreds who turns out to be “Halfrican-Canadian.”

What makes the usual romantic comedy complications so fresh and engaging here is the way all of the characters subvert stereotypes. Though Catherine’s book is very successful due to her voice as an author, her literal voice, which she describes as sounding like a Valley Girl, especially when she is nervous, makes her afraid of promoting the book at readings. Jay creates graphic novels (he keeps correcting people who refer to them as comic books), a field with few African-Americans. Meanwhile, his white roommate has to pretend to be (and then become) an expert in hip-hop in order to impress the girl he likes.

Johnson (who co-produced) and Montgomery are enormously appealing performers with real romantic spark. The conventional structure and understated tone help the racial and gender issues a part of the story rather than a political statement. But both the romance and the themes make this a neglected gem, well worth watching.

Parents should know that this movie has some mature material including sexual references and non-explicit situations.

Dan Savage Takes on “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody”

Posted on June 17, 2009 at 8:00 am

I am a huge fan of advice columnist Dan Savage and his essays for “This American Life.” His recent commentary on the death of his mother brought me to tears. And I am very impressed with his thoughtful assessment of the Disney Channel series “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.” As a gay man, he remembers the feeling of disconnection he had as a child who never saw on television characters who reflected his view of the world, how he felt, who he wanted to be. And now as a father, he sees his son watching the ostensibly wholesome “Suite Life” and finds it as disturbing a portrayal of heterosexuality as the over-the-top stereotypes of gays he saw when he was growing up. Ten-year-old Zach’s fascination with a pretty teenage girl, his advice about how to get “babes” by lying to them, his creepy come-ons, comments like “I’d better practice my kissing” — Savage says that his son has a “look of concentration” when he watches as though he is “filing things away for future reference.” Savage wants his son, a straight boy growing up with gay parents, to see positive models of heterosexual behavior in the media. But “stereotypes are patient,” says Savage. “They’ll wear you down.”