Discover Top Posts Tagged with #mediumraretv

Mistress America

Francis Ha’s Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig team up again in the off kilter, uber contemporary film Mistress America.

Tracy (Lola Kirke) is eighteen and just started school at a small university in New York. She is struggling to stand out in her writing program and with making friends, so she decides to reach out to her 30 year old step sister to be, Brooke (Gerwig). Soon, Tracy becomes enraptured by Brooke’s crazy, creative, and seemingly carefree lifestyle. Brooke wants to open a restaurant but when her boyfriend and business partner dumps her, Tracy agrees to help Brooke confront her ex-best friend Mamie-Claire (Heather Lind) for the money she owes her.

The way the actors are blocked and the way they speak their lines in Mistress America feels like you are watching a play instead of a film, which creates a surreal experience. The people on the screen don’t seem very real but the dialogue is fun and snappy and at times so relatable you might feel exposed, as if your inner thoughts are being spoken out loud. In the last scene Brooke has a short but beautiful monologue where she describes how her creative drive is limited because no matter how excited she gets about an idea, she still finds herself sitting in front of a computer watching TV or web surfing, something most 18-30 years olds can relate deeply to.

Mistress America also takes an interesting look on how we “worship” others. Tracy is infatuated with Brooke. In one scene, Brooke casually asks Tracy to buy some pasta for dinner and Tracy ends up over stressing in the grocery store, unsure of what Brooke would want and buys multiple kinds of pasta just in case. Though she is held in high regard by our main character, Brooke is not presented to us as perfect. She is manipulative, selfish, petulant and flighty. Brooke represents what Tracy could become, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. She is just one possible outcome for any young creative in a big city, trying to find an outlet for their energy that pays them a living wage. The struggle is real.

Mistress America is full of such beautiful soundbites, you might want your own copy of the script to read over and over and quote to impress at parties. Baumbach and Gerwig are very talented in their niche; writing contemporary tales of those stuck between youth and adulthood.

- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/mistress-america/#sthash.xULqttja.dpuf

#mediumraretv #noah bambauch #greta gerwig #mistress america

Unexpected

Unexpected is a simple but powerful movie about the nature of female friendships, the dynamic of teacher and student relationships and how the same experience can be starkly different for women at two ends of the economic spectrum.

Sam (Cobie Smulders) is a high school science teacher at an inner city school in Chicago that is in it’s final semester before closing. As a result, Sam is looking to switch gears in her career but is thrown off course when she finds out she is pregnant. Soon after, one of her students, Jasmine (Gail Bean), also becomes pregnant, and the two develop an unlikely bond as they deal with this new stage of life together.

Sam decides that it is her personal mission to help Jasmine get into a good college, despite her pregnancy. It’s an easy chemistry between the two, but underneath you can feel the tension as Jasmine realizes she may not want to sacrifice time with her child to go to a four year school. Sam loses herself in trying to help and push Jasmine to be her best, and is so focused on that, that she is not getting her own life and mind ready for her personal foray into motherhood. This soon starts affecting her marriage, her relationship with her mother (Elizabeth McGovern), and her professional life.

Smulders is perfect as Sam. Being pregnant herself during the shooting of the film, all of her insecurities about being a mother and bringing a life into this world while also striving to keep one’s personal professional identity is portrayed wonderfully. Newcomer Gail Bean steals the show as the whip smart teen, Jasmine. Bean plays Jasmine with a beautiful strength and wisdom beyond her years, but she is also just a kid who is vulnerable and unsure of her next steps. Bean is a talent to watch, and here is hoping Hollywood will pay the proper attention.

Unexpected is the rocky start to a beautiful friendship. Through their different situations and through their friendship, these two women find themselves wanting very different but equally good things for their babies. A delicate balance of understanding must be made for two such different people to be able to support each other in the ways they need.

- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/unexpected/#sthash.OVEfjLN6.dpuf

#unexpected #cobie smulders #kris swanberg #anders hom #mediumraretv

Boulevard

The late Robin Williams was known throughout his colorful career for playing loud and bombastic characters: Mrs. Doubtfire, Armand Goldman of Birdcage, Mork of Mork and Mindy to name a few. Ironically, Williams’ last role onscreen before he left us was of a quiet and mild-mannered man in the film Boulevard.

Nolan Mack is a very simple man. He works at a bank and has been married to his wife, Joy, for many years. They have an easy-loving chemistry together, but they sleep in separate rooms. One night when driving home from visiting his father, who is dying in a nursing home, Nolan makes a U-turn onto a street lined with prostitutes. After Nolan almost hits a male prostitute with his car, he offers to give him a ride. From there he begins a journey towards realizing that he needs to be true to himself and live the life he wants.

Williams does some amazingly layered work here as Nolan. Early in the film he says that he has a fear of “hurting people”; this may be the reason he denied his true nature for so long. Williams does a wonderful job in showing you a man desperate to be his true self but blocked by the comfortable life he has built around him. His relationship with Leo, the prostitute, is almost wholly one of emotional affection- they never have sex. Nolan simply wants to care for Leo, as he does his wife and his father. It is only when Nolan realizes that he must live for himself and not only for others that he truly opens up and starts finally being who he really is.

Boulevard, like Nolan, is a quiet and simple film that showcases the wonderful dramatic talents of Robin Williams. It may go down as “Robin’s Last Film,” but it also sends a message that you are never too old and that it’s never too late to live the life you want. To find your happiness.

Thank you Robin, you are and will be forever missed.

- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/boulevard/#sthash.4YJebJGw.dpuf

#boulevard #mediumraretv #robin williams

Of Girls and Horses

Director Monika Treut has painted an idyllic picture of ranch life in the German countryside with her film Of Girls and Horses. Though beautiful, the film is very quiet, and while there is something to be said about tranquility in gorgeous scenery, it proves difficult for an audience to connect to the characters and learn to care for them.

Alex (Ceci Chuh) is a sixteen-year-old high school dropout who is sent by her adoptive mother to a horse ranch to work off the angst. While there, she is mentored by resident horse whisperer, Nina (Vanida Karun). Alex is getting into the swing of things when another young girl, Kathy (Alissa Wilms), comes to the ranch with her own horse on holiday. Kathy and Alex strike up an immediate friendship, which turns into something a little bit more.

Of Girls and Horses deals with two couples. In addition to Alex and Kathy, there is also Nina and her girlfriend, Christine (Ellen Grell), who have a long-distance relationship that’s hard on both of them (Christine lives in Hamburg while Nina lives with the horses in the country). They reunite in the film with much passion and love, but when morning breaks, Nina is gone with just one phone call from the ranch about a horse with a minor injury. You may get the idea that Nina has more of a commitment to the equine then her human lover. Nina and Christine may be a future reflection of Kathy and Alex, who become smitten with each other. Kathy promises Alex a job at her father’s ranch so they can be together, but whether or not she can deliver on that promise is as sure as Nina staying the full weekend in Hamburg with Christine.

Like most European film, the action in Of Girls and Horses is slow-paced and the characters react to their lives with a kind of nonchalance. When Nina realizes Alex has stolen her prescription pills to buy weed, she goes out and looks upon the grassy fields for a bit of reflection and then calmly tells Alex she is disappointed by her actions. Then the two sit in silence while Alex rests her head on Nina’s shoulder. In another scene, Alex and Kathy wake up after a night of drinking and realize the horses have gotten out of their pen. What follows is a slow methodical search with the two girls acting like they are searching for a lost pencil and not four living creatures they were tasked to look after. In an American film, these sequences would have involved fast cuts, frantic music, and overt emotional reactions. In this German film, all action is dealt with with little to no fuss.

You’d have to be in a certain mood to truly enjoy Of Girls and Horses; it’s methodical and at times almost boring. In the last beautifully rendered shot, Alex and Kathy ride off together on the beach. The horses seem to show more urgency and emotion than their human counterparts.

- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/of-girls-and-horses/#sthash.po8EFHk3.dpuf

#mediumraretv #of girls and horses #german film #lgbt film #monika treut

Eden

Fans of electronic music may be interested in checking out Mia Hansen-Løve's "Eden," a film that traverses the garage and house scenes of early 90's Paris told through the eyes of an aspiring DJ. http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/eden/