Wish a solid Disney product
The curse of the long-time artist is that you’re initially celebrated for your uniqueness, chastised from deviating from your established norm and ultimately condemned for doing the same old thing. I was thinking of this as I watched Disney’s Wish, the 62nd animated feature from the Mouse House, released to celebrate the studio’s 100th anniversary. Is it a classic that will be mentioned in the same breath as Pinocchio, Dumbo and Frozen? Not likely. Will it be forgotten like the misfires Oliver and Company, Home on the Range and Strange World? We’ll see…
Granted, the film does follow the Disney formula, but no one does this kind of film quite like Disney, and Wish is a solid example of the product that put the studio on the map. Its familiarity works as an asset, it benefits from a couple snappy tunes and is driven by an enthusiastic, nuanced voice performance from Chris Pine as Magnifico, one of the more interesting villains to appear in a Disney film in quite some time.
The locale is Rosas, a magical land whose citizens live lives of contentment and safety. This is provided by the wizard Magnifico, who asks a seemingly small price for the security they cherish. All one must do is give him your fondest wish. You will forget you ever had it, and it MAY be granted later. These wishes are stored in luminous blue globes that float in the wizard’s castle and have done so for years, no one objecting to this Faustian bargain. However, our heroine, Asha (Ariana DeBose), comes to realize not all is right in this Edenistic environment.
Interviewing to be Magnifico’s apprentice, she gets him to talking about his true purpose and comes to realize that his hording of dreams is more about maintaining control over his kingdom than protecting those who live there. Despairing, she makes a wish of her own, so powerful that it’s personified as an eternally smiling, luminous star. With it and her suddenly talking goat Valentino (Alan Tudyk), she sets out to expose Magnifico and make things right.
Again, nothing new here, but Welcome to Rosas and This is the Thanks I Get! are toe-tappers that rousingly move things along. And the timely nature of the film’s messages makes it noteworthy. The importance of never giving up on your dream may seem hokey, yet it remains vital, as does the notion that it is the collectives’ responsibility to oppose any dictatorship that may arise. The movie may be obvious in its intent and execution, but its theme still needs to be heard, especially when it’s done with the degree of conviction on display here. In theaters.
Performances shine through December’s muddled tone
I’m not sure what to make of Todd Haynes’ May December. Netflix has put forth the film and its performances in the comedy/musical categories for this year’s Golden Globes Awards. I’m sometimes not the sharpest tack in the box, so I watched the film a second time, just to see if I missed something the first time around. I hate to say that I didn’t laugh once during the first or second viewing of this fact-based drama of the Mary Kay Letourneau-Vili Fualaau child sexual abuse scandal. Now I understand that comedy is subjective, but claiming a movie based on this subject is funny is misguided and offensive.
I bring this up because I think its major flaw is its lack of a consistent tone. Is this supposed to be a parody of overwrought TV movies and telenovelas? It does have aspects of that at times. Is it an examination of psychosis in its various forms? It certainly is that, but is undercut by its flippant portrayal of this behavior. What emerges is a dual character study of obsessive women who are blind to the realities of the world around them, and as effective as that is, thanks in large part to the work of the film’s two leads, it fails to stick the ending because of Haynes nebulous approach and tone.
Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) comes to Savannah, Georgia, to visit Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) and her family. A Method actress, she’s doing research for a film in which she will portray her host, who was sent to prison for having an affair with a 7th grader when she was 35 years old. Having married and had three children together, the couple seems happy, though we are privy to cracks in this façade. The husband, Joe (Charles Melton), comes to the realization that for years he’s been manipulated by Gracie. These thoughts take deeper root as Elizabeth starts to probe the couples’ past and ingratiate herself into their lives.
The script by Samy Burch is very good, taking on a great many issues in an intelligent, layered fashion. Each of the three principals wears false faces which are chipped away at as the film progresses. As Elizabeth’s movie-star persona, Gracie’s domestic mother guise and Joe’s dutiful husband/father front each melt away, what we’re left with are three incredibly damaged people, each struggling to maintain their sanity in a world they refuse, or are unable, to be a part of.
These performances from the three leads are what make us hang on, eager to see just where Haynes will lead us. It’s no news that appearances are deceiving, that “insecure people are very dangerous,” as Gracie says, and that the media in all its forms will exploit others’ tragedies. What with the talent connected to May December, I suppose my expectations were too high. And while Haynes successfully updates his Douglas Sirkian-gaze by examining a modern version of domestic angst, I expected something more than just a restating of the obvious. Streaming on Netflix.
Scott’s Napoleon a portrait of insecurity
Director Ridley Scott delivers the sort of cinematic spectacle I’ve come to expect from him in Napoleon. What caught me off guard were its moments of high comedy, the barbed political commentary it contains and the fact that it proves to be a cautionary tale for our times.
Scott and screenwriter David Scarpa waste little time, starting with the execution of Marie Antoinette and informing us that Napoleon is an officer looking to advance through the ranks of the French Army. He gets his opportunity when he liberates the city of Toulan in 1793. Promoted from captain to general for his efforts, his next invasion is that of high society where he crosses paths with Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), a widowed mother having lost her husband, a military officer, in the revolution. Realizing Napoleon’s star is on the rise, she subtly seduces him, hitches her wagon to his and embarks on a passionate, destructive relationship with the general that ultimately provides them with more grief than pleasure.
These two plotlines are intertwined throughout, Scott alternating between depictions of Napoleon’s great military campaigns – his invasion of Egypt, the Battle of Austerlitz, the disastrous Russian war – with scenes of he and Josephine. They share occasional moments of bliss, though he spends more time raging over her infidelities and ultimately her seeming inability to provide him with a son. The necessity of his needing an heir becomes more pressing after he declares and crowns himself Emperor of France.
Scott and most viewers are not concerned about historical minutiae. Most come for the spectacle; the director has become known for staging, and he doesn’t disappoint. While Waterloo is a bit staid in its execution, moments during the Siege of Toulan are arresting, while the highlight is the climactic moment during the Battle of Austerlitz, a series of elaborately stage set pieces that underscore the man’s tactical brilliance, while driving home the horror of war.
Phoenix’s performance in the title role is calculated, a deceptive turn in which he initially seems to be channeling Buster Keaton, disengaged from all that’s swirling about him. Ultimately, the actor reveals his and Scott’s intention, Phoenix’s outsized, self-aware performance emerging in high comic moments. During a final credits crawl, Scott reveals that cost as having been quite high for the French populace, a total of more than 3 million soldiers having lost their lives due to his continued follies. The implication is that a constant need for validation is what drove him – his insecurities that plagued him caused France and its citizens much collateral damage in his efforts to assuage his ego. I’m sure that any correlation between Napoleon and current events is strictly coincidental. In theaters.
This article appears in Inside Illinois youth lock ups.
