Away from Her

Deeply moving and wondrously romantic, Away from Her marks a strong directorial debut of long time indie darling, movie veteran at a youthful age of twenty-eight, Sarah Polley.

Polley adapts the movie based on Alice Munro’s short story The Bear Came Over the Mountain. It is a story that many critics have called the greatest love story that the movies have given to us in recent years, but I find it equally divided between two eternal themes in our lives: love and aging. Grant (played by Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona (played by Julie Christie) is an intellectual couple married for 44 years. Recently Fiona starts experiencing loss of memory and is soon diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She insists Grant send her into a nursing home and while there soon develops affections for a fellow patient Aubrey.

Polley started acting at a tender age of six and is always famous for her expressive face among indie circles. She has purposefully shunned Hollywood major productions (she is pretty clear about what she thinks of Hollywood – at one point, Fiona gives her reason for not going to movie as all the Cineplexes are showing those American garbage) and only works in movies that interest her, including maybe her most famous performance as an incest victim in her mentor Atom Egoyan’s movie The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan is also the executive producer of Away from Her). With this new movie, she proves that not only does she look wise beyond her age, but she does have an uncanny knack for human understanding and an unerring eye for poetic beauty. Her writing brilliance first shines through her choice of the title for the movie. Throughout the movie Grant stresses that he cannot stay away from Fiona, but unfortunately he has to be away from her. There are many such paradoxes and ironies in this movie. While Grant may be away from Fiona in distance, but in his heart he is never far away. The best scene in the movie is one of the simplest. It happens at the very beginning of the movie. While Grant muses about love and life with his voiceover, Fiona and he studiously ski cross country style in the snow surrounding their cottage. At one time, they seem to have gone separate ways briefly, but then the next shot brings them back together. That scene says it all about life: it is hard work, it is tedious, it has tough patches, but the most wonderful and rewarding part about it is the togetherness you share with someone you love.

Many critics have emphasized on the romantic aspects of this movie, but it is also a lesson about aging. The first third of the movie may seem like the bottom third of Alzheimer struggle in Iris, however, Polley goes much further in her attempts showing the daily life in a nursing home and how aging affects every one of us. When Fiona comes out of the doctor’s office, she sees a baby crying in his mom’s arms. The shot poignantly displays the similarity between old age and babyhood – both are helpless; more than that, it lets us feel the fundamental difference between these two ages – one is full of hope ahead and the other only darkness and oblivion. In Away from Her, Polley seems determined to show us not just Fiona’s physical deterioration, but also what Grant goes through in his life. In literary work and on screen, we often witness the ordeal one faces when putting the loved one into a nursing facility, but we rarely see the aftermath: the loneliness and heartbreak one feels. It may be hard to take care of a sick wife, but it is no picnic to be left alone in a house with so many shared memories. Polley shows us the daily routine of Grant and Fiona’s life at the very beginning and then Fiona is gone and we watch Grant perform same household chore all by himself. His solitary figure pounds on our heart and makes us wonder between him and Fiona who has to endure the harder part.

The biggest asset in this movie are the actors, especially always wonderful Christie. Choosing these veteran actors may be the best decision Polley has made in directing this movie. I don’t mean to underestimate Polley’s skill as a director, but I doubt she needs to give much guidance to Christie and Pinsent. They have a natural chemistry between them and they cannot possibly be anything else to each other but soul mates. Christie, a screen legend, is still ravishing beautiful after all these years. When she looks into the camera, she can still seduce anyone watching her. That face, those deep blue eyes, the gray strands in her hair along with all the wrinkles make her a goddess desirable beyond any vulgarity sense but also not completely out of human reach. She can really teach a few lessons to those botox crowds. Aging gracefully and confidently is the best weapon against aging. Polley apparently is in the Chaplin school of close-up. She realizes the power of close-ups on audience emotion and besides who would want to take the camera away from Christie’s elegant face. In her long lustrous career, Christie has proved again and again that she is not just a pretty face. Here in maybe her best work ever, she captures Fiona’s fear, confusion, sadness, intelligence, fragility and style all in a seemingly effortless performance. In the middle of a dinner with her friends, Fiona forgets the name of the wine. She looks at the label, struggles with the French pronunciation that must be a second nature to her before. The pause in Christie’s movement, the despondency in her eyes, the shame she feels for behaving not sub par in front of her friends, all those feelings are delivered in that few seconds. For that alone, she probably should qualify for running in next year’s Oscar race.

There are some flaws in Polley’s work. I am disappointed that the camera always cuts off to another scene when it is implied that the characters are going to make love. It may not be Polley’s fault and MPAA may be the culprit, but if it is Polley’s decision, I find it gutless to chicken away from such natural but increasingly taboo subject in our culture. In a youth-obsessed culture, there are unspoken assumptions that old people making love must be disgusting. Who would be better to dispute that stupidity than Christie and Pinsent? Also Polley lets her political view obstruct the storytelling for a brief moment. When Fiona and Grant watch the news footages about American soldiers in Iraq, Fiona wonders aloud, “Does anyone remember Vietnam?” I completely agree with the statement, but it does not flow with the story and it feels abrupt.

After the movie, I heard people all around me commenting on the beauty of the movie and its star, Christie. I was walking behind an elderly couple with maybe their middle age daughter. They were voicing the same sentiment about Christie and were all quite taken by her grace and beauty at age 66. Then the daughter said, “So was she famous for singing with the Beatles?” I was shocked. This is Julie Christie we are talking about, someone who won Oscar for Darling, who famously wore a miniskirt to the ceremony, who made a bunch of influential 60s and 70s movies such as Doctor Zhivago and Shampoo. And this woman didn’t know who she is. Did she confuse her with the 60s rock bad girl Marianne Faithfull who used to sing with the Rolling Stones and dated Mick Jagger? At least the parents knew that Christie was famous for her Doctor Zhivago role. It is not really that woman’s fault for not knowing; it is our culture that doesn’t value anything classic and always chases some fresh young thing. To the delight of her fans, Christie has made a grand comeback and I can only hope she will come back more often to visit us on screen.

Son of the Bride (on DVD)

Years of watching foreign films have taught me one thing: people all over the world have more in common than we may realize. 2001’s Oscar nominated Argentinean film Son of the Bride is one such example. Restaurateur Rafael (played by Ricardo Darin) is going through a midlife crisis. His mom-and-pop restaurant has him on the verge of physical and mental collapse. When he decides to sell the business and live out his life in peace and quiet in Mexico, he comes to understand what he has truly been missing in his life. I have always loved this kind of small personal films and really rooted for this one throughout the viewing. However, instead of an intimate portrait of life in modern Buenos Aires, director/writer Juan Jose Campanella constantly veers toward melodrama. Yet maybe because my strong bias against Hollywood’s “bigger is better” mentality, I forgive the many clichés in this movie and still considers it worthwhile to rent. It shows us in a country thousands of miles away from us, everyday people also have to grapple with their aging parents, divorced spouses, shared custody of their kids, work pressure and demanding personal relationship. They may drink coffee with their Burger King, but deep down they are really not that different from you and me. As a side plot of this movie, Campanella tries to portray the marriage between Rafael’s parents as a great love story, but he gives too few pieces about their lives to make the love more than just adorations in their eyes and the proclamations of amour that Rafael’s dad constantly utters. All the actors are very likeable and Darin has done another fantastic if not too different performance since his 2000’s Nine Queens. He seems to be perfect as a selfish rascal with some redeeming quality, especially at the end of Son of the Bride. By the way, who is that American guy Dick Watson that all those Argentinean women are wild about?

The Pursuit of Happyness (on DVD)

2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness is wonderfully acted by Will Smith; for once he puts away his star persona and immerses himself in the character. In the movie, Smith plays a real life character Chris Gardner, even though the script mainly just keeps Gardner’s name and the basic form of his life trajectory while drastically changes the events in his life. Smith’s Gardner is a struggling salesman on the verge of financial ruin. On top of his money trouble, his wife leaves him and he insists on taking care of their five-year-old son, Christopher (played by Smith’s son Jaden). In order to have a better life and in the pursuit of happiness, Smith takes on a no-pay six month internship at a brokerage firm and hopes to become the only one standing at the end of internship. The ending is no surprise here and it is actually a good thing that the movie is predictable in that sense, because otherwise all the hardships that Gardner and his son have to endure will be simply too hard to watch. Writer Steve Conrad breaks down the film in perfect little segments and director Gabriele Muccino keeps our heart strings tucked by these two main characters at all time. Muccino directed 2001’s Italian movie The Last Kiss which was remade by American filmmakers last year. As in The Last Kiss, Muccino concentrates on characters’ emotions and has a knack for knowing how to have the audience forget themselves in these characters’ lives. He is one of rare foreign directors who is lured by Hollywood and end up directing a studio production even superior to his prior work in his native countries. The movie has a very authentic late 70s/early 80s feel – the Rubik’s cube craze sweeping the country and kids’ action figures with real clothes. Christopher goes to a day care in Chinatown and in Gardner’s apartment hangs a Chinese calendar that Chinese merchants like to give to their customers during holiday time. All these small details prove that Muccino and Conrad are meticulous with their research and they help pull the audience even closer to these characters. There is one minor flaw in the movie. As a five-year-old, Christopher is too well-behaved for my liking. I wish we could witness some temper tantrum from this little kid, but he is just too cute and too understanding to misbehave.

In the end, Gardner’s perseverance and hard work pay off and he realizes his American dream, but what shakes me even more about this movie is the long lines for homeless shelters and many of them may never rise above poverty. While I am happy for Gardner’s success, I cannot forget those unfortunate people at the bottom.

Year of the Dog

Year of the Dog may sound like a movie about Chinese zodiac animals, but in fact it deals with a subject probably quite alien to most native Chinese people, or any other developing countries for that matter. Saturday Night Live alum Molly Shannon plays Peggy, a secretary with a strong bond to her dog Pencil. After Pencil dies unexpectedly of toxic poisoning, her world turns completely upside down.

The film’s writer/director Mike White has quite a diverse writing resume, ranging from Jack Black star vehicles The School of Rock and Nacho Libre to indie darlings Chuck & Buck and The Good Girl. I have yet to see Chuck & Buck, but compared with the other three, Year of the Dog is his best work to date and also marks his directorial debut. In his interview with Los Angeles Times reporter John Horn, White said, “The idea of the movie is to embrace nonconformity.” To me, it is even more than that - it is also about our alienation with each other in current society. Peggy has so much love to give, but unfortunately nobody truly understands her and accepts her. The only creature who loves her unconditionally is her beagle Pencil. Pencil’s death is heartbreaking, but even more heartrending is the indifference and lack of sincere sorrow shown for Peggy’s grief. People around her all say they are sorry, but then are eager to move on to their lives or discuss what is really on their minds. It also reveals Peggy’s character to a new level – even under such duress, she still shows patience and compassion toward other people’s problems. In the end, it is her little niece that connects with her and summarizes her well, “Aunt Peggy, you love animals.” Why can’t we, the adults, keep all these simple understandings and tolerance?

Even though the movie is only 97 minutes long, White packs it with many interesting and different characters beside Peggy. Peggy’s two potential suitors are two polar extremes: one is an avid hunter and the other is a vegan. Her relationships with the two are also two case studies in love: in one she is being pursued and in the other she is the pursuer. Then there is her neurotic boss, marriage-obsessed best friend, her upper middle class brother and his unbearable wife. White’s script is full of crisp dialogue, unexpected turns and twists. The time flew in this movie and when it ended, I wasn’t ready to part with any of these characters.

White said that he wrote the script with Molly Shannon in mind and Shannon doesn’t disappoint us. She approaches all the dramatic moments in this movie with the same slightly overstated and stiff movements she frequently used in her SNL days to a less extent, but she doesn’t play it for the laughs and her demeanor and expressions fit the character perfectly in this case. She conveys Peggy’s social awkwardness with ease and grace. Laura Dern also gives one of her best performances in this movie. She plays Peggy’s sister-in-law Bret and captures her upper middle class superficiality to the bone. Because White himself is an established comedian, there are a lot of familiar funny faces in this movie, however, don’t let that fool you. The movie is not a comedy contrary to what the promotional trailer wants you to believe. At one point of the movie, I actually wonder how many tragedies White will pile up on Peggy. There are quite a few sad moments in this movie, but to White’s credit, he doesn’t dwell on it with sentimentality and sprinkles the whole movie with many realistic comic interludes instead of those typical cheap, low-brow humor found in so many comedies today. The movie’s ending does seem a bit abrupt and too neat, but after so much gloom, the audience perhaps deserves a little perk in the spirits. The optimist in me also would like to believe that our country, after all, is still a nice place.

While watching Year of the Dog, I did occasionally felt guilty. While the world is full of hungry people and war-torn regions, I am mourning for our cruelty toward animals. Nevertheless, through this movie, White teaches us that love is all encompassing and we are all unique individuals. Some of us may fight injustices on a much larger scale while others start with small things right around them. If we learn to be kind to all living creatures and accept people for who they are, we are indeed mastering the art to be a better person.