Catching Up

Here's a quick catch-up since I haven't posted in a while. Of the movies I've seen in the last few months, here are a few I'd like to comment on:

AN EDUCATION (2009, dir. Lone Scherfig)

Based on the memoirs of British journalist Lynn Barber, An Education is a sharply focused coming-of-age drama with excellent performances. Jenny is a culture-hungry schoolgirl pressured by her father to attend Oxford. But when she meets the older and charming David (perfectly cast in Peter Sarsgaard) who introduces her to music, art, and the finer things in life, she thinks she's found a shortcut to getting what she wants and plans to bail on college. The best film I've seen in a while; highly recommended.

INVICTUS (2009, dir. Clint Eastwood)

Based on the early challenges of Mandela's presidency, Invictus might have been a great film, but it only manages to be a fair one. Mandela's story is certainly incredible: a man jailed for 28 years assumes the presidency and must immediately forgive his captors in order to unify the country. But the film does not focus on this part of his life. Rather, at the time of the film's story, Mandela has already completed his reconciliation, and is trying to teach his fellow South Africans how to do the same. As good as Morgan Freeman is at impersonating Mandela, he's "all dressed up with nowhere to go," as one reviewer put it. Told as a sports story, the film's climax is not as rousing as it should be, as it's hampered by sloppy execution.

UP IN THE AIR (dir. Jason Reitman, 2009)

Very similar to his last writing/directing project Thank You For Smoking, Up in the Air is about a smooth-talker with a heartless job who has trouble connecting with his family emotionally. A very hyped film that's merely an okay one, Reitman's work feels like a feature-length student film: hyper-real with excessive narration and unemotional but cool-sounding stats and figures delivered quickly.

CRAZY HEART (dir. Scott Cooper, 2009)

What's the point? Jeff Bridges is great in the starring role, but Crazy Heart is nearly identical to the 1983 film Tender Mercies, only not nearly as good. Both concern an alcoholic country singer estranged from his child who is taken in by a kind younger woman and her son. What makes the carbon copy even more puzzling is the fact that Robert Duvall, who won an Oscar for playing the country singer in Tender Mercies, is one of Crazy Heart's producers and has a small role in the film. Bridges showcases legitimate country music chops, but the drama of the film feels cliche when compared to Tender Mercies' poetic, Oscar-winning screenplay by legendary writer Horton Foote, who'd previously adapted To Kill A Mockingbird, also featuring Duvall.