SHIRLEY

Elisabeth Moss     Michael Stuhlberg     Odessa Young     Logan Lerman

     Based on a novel written by Susan Scarf Merrrell about the horror/mystery writer Susan Jackson, this film portrays the underside of the lives of women finding themselves trapped in what appears to be an inescapable situation and the ambivalent relationships that develop as a result between women and between men and women.  It’s complicated and mysterious, yet leaves the viewer in thoughtful reverie afterwards.  I was mostly repelled by the characters at first (that’s why I use the word ‘underside’), but as the story progresses they become more likeable and people whom I could identify with, at least to some extent.  For instance, I think any woman who during some of her life has been “just a housewife” (wifey), will quickly understand Rose Nemser—and to some extent Shirley herself, both women caught in dominating relationships. 

     Rose (Young) is newly married to Fred (Lerman), and they are anticipating their move to a college town, he with bright prospects in academia, and she hoping to return to college when they’ve established themselves.  They are greeted effusively by Stanley (Stuhlberg), Fred’s professor, who has offered to put them up at his house when they first arrive.  A raucous party is underway when the young couple arrives, which is somewhat confusing, especially when Stanley offers room and board for them if they will do him a favor:  Cooking, cleaning, and looking after his frail wife Shirley (Moss).  Of course, we are all aware this means that Rose will be the one taking on that burden.

     Rose has a shattering first encounter with Shirley as she is ascending rather shakily up the stairs to go to bed while the party is in full swing.  Shirley’s uncannily perceptive and caustic comments send Rose into a spin.  But later, discussing it with Fred, he makes it clear that his position with the professor and the potential it holds for his career should take precedence—which it does, of course.

     Two couples living under the same roof is always a tricky situation, especially when they’re newly acquainted, so we are immediately intrigued about what is going to transpire.  And we will find that it takes us straight into the horror genre.

     The older couple in their individual ways exert cruel demands on the young couple who are trying their best to succeed.  Double binds abound, and we can admire (mostly) how Rose and Fred accommodate. It’s just that they are no match for old hands at the trade.

     The strengths of Shirley lie in the source material (Shirley Jackson’s work and Susan Scarf Merrell’s novel), the script (Sarah Gubbins), and the actors, all knowingly assembled by Director Josephine Decker (Madeline’s Madeline, Collective: Unconscious).  All of these elements combine to capture your interest—sometimes in curiosity, sometimes in horror, and sometimes in something disturbing that you might not understand.  This is enhanced by the casting of look-alike Young to play someone closely linked to Susan, played by Moss.  I’m sure it was intentional on Decker’s part, to highlight author Susan’s linking the subject of her novel to the real woman, Rose, who was caring for her.

     This is another in a long line of coups for Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, “Top of the Lake”), for which she should have won more awards. Here, she sinks her teeth into a role that displays a completely different character from the others she has played and nails it—as she always does.  Supporting her, Odessa Young and Michael Stuhlberg bring their considerable talent to bear in character elucidation of those held in her thrall.

Perhaps not a movie you will “enjoy”, but one that will shed light on female-female and female-male relationships in our recent past—and perhaps, even today.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

US

Lupita Nyong’o     Winston Duke     Shahadi Wright Joseph    Evan Alex              

Elisabeth Moss     Tim Heidecker 

     I’m not a horror movie fan (my reality base usually takes me out of the drama), but Us was successful in keeping me engaged—mostly.  Tense moments are right in the beginning when Adelaide (Nyong’o) as a child wanders off at an amusement park and goes into a hall of mirrors.  She is curious and exploring until…she comes to a figure who looks just like her.  She runs out as fast as she can to find her parents, who are beside themselves with worry.  Her trauma is framed as PTSD, and she overhears her parents discussing her with others we don’t know, one of whom suggests she needs to turn to the arts to help her out of the trauma.  And indeed, she becomes a ballet dancer.  Much of the sense of doom here and later on in the film is provided by composer Michael Abels (who also scored Get Out by the same director), whose music will be a profound influence on the way you experience the film.

     Years pass, and Adelaide is now married to Gabe (Duke) and they have a daughter Zora (Joseph) and son Jason (Alex).  Gabe is fun loving and seems always to be trying to bring Adelaide along on whatever venture he comes up with.  But she is clearly uptight and fearful.  When Gabe proposes they go to the beach house (which is near the amusement park she visited as a child) with their friends, the Tylers (Moss, Heidecker), who will be nearby, she is equivocal about it, but eventually gives in.

     They get to the beach, but when they meet their friends, the Tylers, it’s clear that Gabe feels inferior to Mr. Tyler in his house/car/yacht.  And Adelaide doesn’t relate to Mrs. Tyler, who seems oblivious to Adelaide’s reticence, and barrels on with conversations that hold no interest to Adelaide.  Adelaide’s whole attention is concentrated on her children, especially Jason, who—unbeknownst to Adelaide encounters the same house that Adelaide visited years ago.

     Everything is fine until the family goes home to the beach house, when suddenly they see replicas of themselves standing on their front walk.  At first, they don’t realize the four figures look exactly like themselves, and Gabe, doing the father-protection thing, goes out to reason with the intruders.  They don’t respond in the way he expects, so he grabs a baseball bat to go out and confront them again.

     Now, from here, you will witness a stream of horrors that will scare you, leave you perplexed, and exasperate you.  At one point, we see someone holding a sign that says Jeremiah 11:11 (which is:  Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.” “Is this a prophetic statement?”, you ask yourself.

     Unfortunately, toward the end, the story drags and takes you out of heightened alert. Jordan Peele is a master at revving up the suspense and evoking all kinds of associations in the viewer, and most of the time he does that here.  But somehow, towards the end, his message doesn’t come through. 

     Symbolism is strong throughout, but its meaning is not always clear:  What do “hands across America” (Reagan era) and “It’s our time now” symbolize? Who do the doppelgangers represent?  It is possible to relish the film without bothering to deal with this aspect, however.

A thriller with symbolism for the viewer to figure out.

Grade:  B+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE SEAGULL

Annette Bening     Saoirse Ronan     Billy Howle     Corey Stoll     Elisabeth Moss

Brian Dennehy     Mare Winningham     Jon Tenney     Glenn Fleshler

     Unrequited love and artistic aspirations take center stage in this production based on Anton Chekhov’s play written at the end of the 19^thCentury and performed onstage in the U.S. numerous times—a demonstration of its popularity. Director Michael Mayer indicated in an interview that he wanted to do a film version of the play, because it would allow audiences to get into the “soul” of the characters more than they could when it is performed onstage.

     And what a mix of characters!  Annette Bening plays the role of Irina, a successful and still adored actress, who has come to rely on her success and popularity to the extent that she finds it difficult to empathize with troubles of those around her, even those of her son Konstantin (Howle).  He is an aspiring writer/producer of plays, struggling to make it in the world his mother has mastered.  To add insult to injury, she has bonded with Boris (Stoll), a successful writer who seems oblivious to what Konstantin is trying to achieve.  Konstantin finds himself consumed in jealousy, not knowing whether he can ever become as accomplished as either of them. 

     The action takes place at the summer home in the country owned by Irina’s brother (Dennehy), so the majority of the characters are local to that area. One of the locals is the daughter of a wealthy neighbor named Nina (Ronan), whom Konstantin adores.  But the daughter of the manager of his estate, Masha (Moss) is hopelessly in love with Konstantin. (She contributes much of the comedy in the film, snorting coke and gulping vodka while making statements like, [the reason I only wear black is that] “I’m in mourning for my life.”  [Actually, that may be another theme of the film:  mourning for one’s life as it has turned out.]  The one longing after Masha is a schoolteacher (Fleshler), who isn’t very smart, “but is a good man.”  When they meet at this vulnerable time, Nina becomes star-struck and smitten with Boris, Irina’s mate.

     You can see, this is all set up to be a farce of shifting romantic liaisons; but it has more depth than that in its examination of art (idols are not necessarily to be worshipped and the issue of how much one is supposed to sacrifice human relationships for art); the challenge of continuing to pursue dreams and cope after rejection; and how much to “settle for” to have an intimate relationship.

     The actors are the strength of The Seagull, with Bening securing her place as a star performer. Impressive as well is Saoirse Ronan, always right on, and especially in her delivery as an ingénue in the film’s play by Konstantin (If I didn’t know better, I would swear she had never acted before!).  Billy Howle plays the young tortured artist with skill and pathos.

     The weakness lies in the film’s not being able to wrest itself from a staged performance.  It’s usually difficult to make this transition, and, unfortunately, this—along with other movies before it—does not succeed.  Why does this matter?  I’ve thought about it many times, and have concluded that seeing real actors onstage is very different from seeing actors in a film.             The former is more realistic because the actors are “real” people; whereas in a film, the reality shifts to a much broader field, all of which must be incorporated into the “realness.”  Plus, it also seems that actors deliver their lines very differently in a play vs. in a movie. 

This is a film primarily for those who love classical theatre and plays.  

Romantic charades in a beautiful country home setting.

Grade:  C+                                    By Donna R Copeland

CHUCK

Liev Schreiber     Elisabeth Moss     Naomi Watts     Ron Perlman     Jim Gaffigan     Morgan Spector     Pooch Hall

     The story of Chuck is not much different from so many other sad boxing tales in the movies (e.g., The Fighter, Hands of Stone, Raging Bull) in which the fighter comes from humble origins, doesn’t mind getting hit, is persistent against all odds, gets bruised and bloodied in the ring, indulges in self-inflated trash talk, and after he has a success or two gets into serious trouble that threatens his career and destroys his family.  In fact, the fighter in Chuck, Chuck Wepner, is the real person on which the character in the movie Rocky is based. 

     Chuck (Schreiber) has such a reputation for getting beat up in the ring, his nickname is the “Bayonne [New Jersey] Bleeder.”  He never shows pain, and when his wife worries about him or his daughter draws a picture of his battered face, his response is always, “I don’t mind getting hit.”  Chuck’s wife Phyliss, beautifully played by the talented Elisabeth Moss, is supportive, comforting, and a good sport; that is, except in cases where his flirtatiousness exceeds the limits of her tolerance.

     Everyone gets excited when Chuck’s trainer (Perlman) informs him that Don King, the influential boxing promoter, wants Muhammad Ali to fight a “white guy” at the world championship.  Chuck has won enough rounds with other fighters that he is considered and finally chosen to be that guy.  That’s enough to get his name on the map, because after the fight went through more rounds than was expected, Chuck became famous. 

     Thereafter, the story grows dark as Chuck has hopes of starring in Sylvester Stallone’s second Rocky picture.  (The first one was based on Chuck’s life, and even though he recognizes that it is actually the story of his life, he simply enjoys the compliment).  But by this time nightlife has done him in, and he fails to succeed in the audition.  He ends up being arrested for drug trafficking, and goes to prison.  That’s not the end of the story for Chuck, though.

     The script and the direction of this film by Philippe Falardeau is well done, and the acting by Schreiber, Moss, Perlman, and Watts is especially good.  Watts doesn’t really figure in until toward the end of the story, so in the interest of not being a spoiler, I won’t go into that.  I will say that the film could have done a better job of folding her character into the plot early on so that what finally transpires is more plausible.

     This seems to be a case where the movie is well done by all concerned, but because there have been so many predecessors telling the same tale, Chuck doesn’t have the punch (pun intended) to wow us as it may have intended.

Yes, another film about boxing, with the hero replicating his predecessors.

Grade:  C                        By Donna R. Copeland