REVIEW: Coco Before Chanel

Plot summary for Coco Before Chanel from IMDb.com:

Several years after leaving the orphanage to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar both. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing increasingly popular hats. When she falls in love with English businessman Arthur Capel further opportunities open up, though life becomes ever more complicated.

The biopic is a genre that has been mined in Hollywood since the beginning of cinema. From silent films like the Passion of Joan of Arc to Yankee Doodle Dandy to modern films like Capote and Milk, famous lives are always good candidates for screen time.

Recently we saw the French film Coco Before Chanel, chronicling the life of the famous fashion entrepreneur Coco Chanel. Now, most biopics follow a standard pattern: a difficult childhood, unexpected fame and fortune, descent into some sort of vice, followed by a glorious comeback. Thankfully, Coco Before Chanel didn't follow this pattern explicitly, almost the entirety of the movie is spent in the development of her character and confidence. Her actual success in fashion is barely shown, really only occupying the last few minutes of the film. While this was a nice change from the typical formula, Coco Before Chanel didn't especially break any exciting new ground in the realm of the biopic. One of the only things that really drew my interest was a lack of any sort of knowledge of Coco Chanel's life. She was a very interesting character with many complex relationships.

While Audrey Tautou and crew all did a nice job in this film, one major fault was the character of Coco wasn't very convincing. Throughout the movie characters referred to Coco as charming, exciting, and entertaining, but all we ever saw of Coco was Audrey Tautou moping in the corner smoking a cigarette. I often found myself confused at references to her as an "exciting companion" Also, the entire movie underplays her knack for design so well, that when she actually does become known for this (only the last bit of the film), I was a bit unprepared. Other than one brief love affair, the film only gives a skin deep examination of the character. It would've been nice to see it go a bit deeper, find the origins of her antagonistic design sense. And at times the film did seem a bit overlong, with Coco spending enormous amounts of time sitting around her friend's mansion. Definitely could have used a bit more trimming in the editing room.

Kinsey: 3/5 stars
Wade: 3/5 stars

REVIEW: An Education

The plot summary for An Education from IMDb.com:

Jenny ( Carey Mulligan) a very bright girl on the cusp of her 17th birthday, finds herself in a whirlwind romance with the much older David ( Peter Sarsgaard). Prior to meeting him, Jenny was working hard at secondary school to ensure getting to Oxford University. When she sees the lifestyle David can provide, one she never imagined could be hers, she's hooked and thoughts of Oxford are forgotten. Then, when things are looking pretty good for Jenny with the dashing ( yet a little too smooth) David, the truth hits her like a ton of bricks. Jenny goes from being a bright eyed school girl and a sophisticated young lady, all the way back to questioning if she really knows who she is at all. 'An Education' won the Audience Choice award and the Cinematography award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Life is about choices. Who we are with, what we do, where we go. It has always seemed unfair to me that the choices we have to make in our late teens/early twenties can often have the greatest impact on our lives, just when we're the silliest and least prepared to make them. I marvel that so many of us make it through this time without making a disastrous mistake. Jenny, the protagonist of An Education, has difficult choices to make herself. Does she go to Oxford as planned and go on to lead a "boring" life? Or does she live her life of "fun" with David, her much older lover? Yes, sounds like a tense coming-of-age film with drama, mistakes, and tragedy. And it is, but An Education is surprisingly funny as well, starting with some light and energetic opening titles and then leading into a humorous argument with her parents. There is the struggle of making sense of it all and the weight of decisions that will effect the rest of her life, but its presented in a manner that, while stressing their importance, still gives the feel of looking back at your young self and laughing at your own ignorance.

This movie is fantastic in that it feels like youth, exciting, romantic, scary, and magical. There is the furious joy of a first infatuation, the wonder of new experiences, realization that parents can fail and that you can disappoint. As a viewer, I felt sucked into this intoxicating feeling. The things Jenny was experiencing felt new and at the same time old and familiar. While Jenny makes the decision that alters the course of her life, I found myself thinking, "this is not the right choice, but I can't remember why..." Jenny's youth and way of thinking had convinced me, as the viewer, of the wisdom of her choice as much as she had convinced herself. In the end the lesson is learned (by Jenny and the audience) that some mistakes can be corrected, but you never get back your "first time" for life's experiences.

There has been a lot of talk about Carey Mulligan, the star of An Education, and she does a great job. But the performance that really stood out to me was Rosamund Pike. She does an excellent job playing the dimwitted friend of David. Playing dumb in an effortless manner is very challenging, but Pike is wonderful as this nitwit of a character and is completely convincing. An Education is wrought with fine acting, from Alfred Molina as Jenny's father to Peter Sarsgaard as the selfish David.

I think its safe to say that An Education may well be the best film I've seen this year, and I wouldn't be surprised if it makes into my top 5.

Kinsey: 5/5 stars
Wade: 5/5 stars

REVIEW: The Men Who Stare at Goats

Plot summary for The Men Who Stare at Goats from IMDb.com:

A reporter, trying to lose himself in the romance of war after his marriage fails, gets more than he bargains for when he meets a special forces agent who reveals the existence of a secret, psychic military unit whose goal is to end war as we know it. The founder of the unit has gone missing and the trail leads to another psychic soldier who has distorted the mission to serve his own ends.

Reality is how we perceive it. At least, that seems to be the message from the new Iraq War comedy, The Men Who Stare at Goats, starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey. The film flirts with reality both on and off the screen. On the screen, George Clooney's Lyn Cassady truly believes in his psychic abilities, which appear to maybe exist… maybe. I mean the guy does stop the heart of a goat. But, of course, we are also shown plenty of proof that this psychic stuff is baloney. Off the screen, the film is supposedly based on some true events. The film begins with the caveat of "More of this is true than you would believe." But as to whether, for example, there really were attempts to locate Manuel Noriega through remote viewing or whether this was entertaining fiction remains unknown to the audience. If, as Ewan McGregor’s character states, you’re looking for something to believe in, this movie may just show you a whole other side to the US Army.

This ballad of psychic soldiers is played surprisingly straight by all, which is great because I don't think I could handle a whole bunch of winking at the camera. It could really be summed up as a war/buddy/road film with "The Dude" as a major in the Army. There's another "reality" thing right there. I don't know if the "The Dude" could've made it in the Army.

This film was really funny, yet still addressed quite a few serious topics, religion, terrorism, torture, the privatization of the Iraq War, just to name a few. All these topics were broached in the same humorous, beyond belief approach that the psych material was presented. It created an interesting contrast; as an audience member, you knew and recognized aspects of true events, yet the way they were introduced or concluded left doubt in their reality. Overall this was an interesting approach and made for an enjoyable dilemma to watch. But for some topics this didn't work, especially at the end. Some of the topics just seemed too heavy for this light, playful manner of portraying them. It accounted for some awkward and confusing moments. The film also left events and topics very quickly, before fully satisfy the curiosity of the viewers. While this was consistent throughout the film, it did leave for a slightly unsatisfying ending.

The acting in the film was all very fun and believable - great cast. Overall, we'd recommend you go see this movie; while maybe not amazing it was an enjoyable movie experience. Its also a chance to find something to believe in…

Kinsey: 3.5/5

Wade: 3.5/5