Michael Douglas has been going through a family tragedy in real life, which only adds poignancy to the character he portrays in Solitary Man, a downbeat drama with compelling performances. He portrays Ben Kaman, a former hotshot car salesman who was once on the cover of Forbes Magazine. But a crooked business deal ruined him and now he can’t get his life together. It doesn’t help that he chases girls a third his age, including his girlfriend’s college-age daughter, can’t restart his business and is nearly estranged from his daughter and her family. Susan Sarandon co-stars as his ex-wife, and Jesse Eisenberg a college student he advises. It’s a tough sell, but Douglas shows why he’s one of our most gifted actors, adding even more depth to a character you’ll hate to be pulling for.
Agora is the best movie about an astronomer in ancient Egypt you’re likely to see. This would probably be true if they made fifty more films of this type, so good is Rachel Weisz as the main character, Hypatia, the first known female mathematician. Her world, saw conflicts between Christians, Jews and Egyptians who clung to their ancient religions. Rome was in its final age, and her world was a dangerous place. She is seen surrounded by adoring students—all young men—who are wracked by doubt and division. Believed by historians to be a pagan, her ideas of the universe as depicted here will inevitably be part of the maelstrom soon to overtake Alexandria, where the story is set. But this isn’t an ordinary sword-and-sandal epic. Instead, this movie takes a chance; it delves into her mind, into the conflict which raged around her and her determination to try to continue to enlighten the world.
Max Minghella, the actor son of the late director Anthony Minghella, portrays a young slave who “audits” her classes, so to speak, i.e. performs menial chores while she teaches, but who has his own ideas about what she preaches and who is in love with her. Thankfully, the movie never gives in to the temptation of concentrating on a romantic element, opting instead to portray a series of events which helped shape the direction of the ancient world.
Princess Kaiulani is one of those enormously satisfying films you hope won’t be forgotten in this early summer movie season when 3-D blockbusters tend to obliterate quality pictures with small budgets. It’s the true story of the last princess of Hawaii just before it was annexed by the United States at the end of the 19th century. German-born O’orianka Kilcher, who debuted as Pocahontas in The New World, is the title player, whisked away from Hawaii when skirmishes between indigenous Hawaiians and the U.S. Navy broke out in 1887 and a new government and constitution deposed the monarchy, giving suffrage only to landowners.
The movie is straightforward in its depiction of historical events. The Princess’ father, a Scotsman, accompanied her to Washington to plead her case to lame duck President Grover Cleveland, portrayed by look-alike Peter Banks, in a screen debut. Will Patton, perhaps best known as the assistant coach in Remember the Titans, portrays Sanford Dole, a cousin to the pineapple king, and one of the leading politicians during Hawaii’s transition from kingdom to protectorate to annexed territory. His was perhaps the most complex historical figure, for he evolved from support for the white landowners to helping champion the Princess’ cause of universal suffrage.
Some of the historical events have been condensed, but the movie gives the sense of the ruthless way our 50th state was forced to end its way of life.
Letters To Juliet stars Amanda Seyfried (of TV’s Big Love and the insipid movie version of Mama Mia!) as a fact checker for the New Yorker Magazine. She’s engaged to a chef about to open his own Italian restaurant portrayed by Mexican actor Gael García Bernal. They decided to take a pre-nuptial honeymoon in Verona, Italy, where much of the movie was filmed. Once there, they go their separate ways; he to wine auctions and local culinary events, she to encounter women who answer letters left by lonely hearts women beneath Juliet’s balcony. She answers a 50-year-old love letter written by an Englishwoman, then meets the writer, a grandmother portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave.
This movie relies heavily on gorgeous scenery, disguising the predictability of the script. Grandma has a snooty grandson, portrayed by Australian Christopher Egan. The more obnoxiously he acts, the more certain it appears the two attractive youngsters will fall in love. Off they go to Sienna seeking Grandma’s long-ago lover in this frivolous story. Franco Nero, Redgrave’s real-life husband, turns up at the end of the movie, which is sappy but never intolerable. Letters to Juliet is harmless, picturesque fluff.
Finally, currently in theaters, I recommend Mother and Child, though it’s saddled with a familiar structure. Annette Benning plays an embittered, lonely woman, caring for her infirm mother, unable to endure interpersonal contact. Jimmy Smits co-stars as a co-worker who reaches out to her with initially disastrous results. Two other parallel stories unfold. One stars Naomi Watts as an orphaned adoptee, an attorney who joins a Los Angeles firm headed by Samuel L.Jackson. Kerry Washington heads the third, as a wife eager to adopt. They will converge, and the characters are rich and the movie compelling.
