PUZZLE

Kelly Macdonald     David Denman     Irrfan Kahn     Bubba Weiler     Austin Abrams     Liv Hewson

     This is a coming-of-age story not of a teenager, but of a devoted housewife and mother.  (About time, don’t you think?)  It’s significant that the film opens with Agnes (Macdonald) preparing a birthday party—and it turns out it’s her own.  Doing for others is the mantra of her life, and she rarely takes herself into account.  She is surrounded by a loving family, her husband Louie (Denman) and her two sons, Ziggy (Weiler) and Gabe (Abrams).  They are all appreciative of her, and although Ziggy has some inkling of her self-sacrifice, Louie is clueless.  He’s a big, huggable teddy bear who thinks telling her she is “cute” is a compliment when he is in fact putting her down.  He claims the traditional role of father (boss) in the family who is supposed to “protect” his wife from important decisions.  Gabe, who has given her a phone for her birthday—which, of course, she shies away from—keeps trying to pull her into modern times.

     Never underestimate the upheaval the liberation of a woman(women) can create.  In this case, it comes about through jigsaw puzzles.  Agnes has always been fascinated with math and patterns, and when she opens her presents by herself the day after the party, she tosses the phone aside and shakes the puzzle out of its box, a fateful step.  She quickly works it out and begins seeking out other puzzles. (Figuring out puzzles is clearly a theme for this whole story.)

     This takes her to New York City to find more where, once again, fatefully, she sees a notice “desperately seeking a partner for a puzzle competition.”  This connects her with the eccentric puzzle-master, Robert (Kahn), a disaster-obsessed Indian who has become wealthy off a patent he invented.  Here, too, the strait-laced Catholic woman who firmly believes in causality and human control bumps into the Eastern philosopher who says whatever happens is meant to be and outside our control.

     In a way, I think this is what the film—and Agnes, ultimately—are wrestling with: free will versus determinism. While Agnes is discovering the powers of free will (which also involves the concept of sin and guilt), she confronts Robert’s observations about fate and determinism, sidestepping the pain of guilt.  When this is considered, the way the film ends makes more sense, in that the filmmakers are making a point about this issue.  It’s slightly ironic, however, in its support of Robert’s philosophy until the end, when I found the worn “I’m sorry” remark as hollow.

     Puzzle is a quiet film, but make no mistake in assuming it is a “nice”, calm (boring) story about an ordinary family.  It is raw in depicting the emotional ravages that can occur within the family and among people in general when new ideas and ways of seeing the world and people are introduced at a gut level.  But it is sympathetic both to those wanting to hold onto the old and those who anticipate change.

     Praise is due for all involved in the filmmaking of Puzzle.  Director Marc Turtletaub has proven his value in producing the soulful hits Little Miss Sunshine, Loving, and Safety Not Guaranteed; Screenwriter Oran Moverman is credited with Love & Mercy, The Messenger, and I’m Not There; Dustin O’Halloran’s music uncannily syncs with the ambience of each scene; Kelly Macdonald is a tour de force in portraying her lead character, well supported by the exotic and mysterious Irrfan Kahn and the sometimes quietly, sometimes demonstrably emotive David Denman.  I absolutely loved the way all characters are presented sympathetically, avoiding the all-good/all-bad connotation.

Puzzle wrestles with the questions of free will versus determinism in a real-life family drama.

Grade:  A                                                By Donna R. Copeland

INFERNO

Tom Hanks   Felicity Jones   Omar Sy   Irrfan Khan   Ben Foster   Sidse Babett Knudsen

          Inferno is based on the fourth book by Dan Brown about Cambridge symbolist Robert Langdon (Angels & Demons, The DaVinci Code, The Lost Symbol), who solves puzzles and crimes by interpreting the symbols associated with them.  This film opens with Langdon (Hanks) in the hospital following a head wound and suffering retrograde amnesia.  He can’t remember what happened to him, at least for the time being.  He’s given some information from his doctor, Sienna Brooks (Jones), but when bullet fire begins, she helps him escape and takes him to her apartment. 

         It takes a fair amount of time, skirmishes, and new characters like Bouchard (Sy) Sims (Khan), and Sinksy (Knudsen) showing up for Langdon to get a full picture of what is going on.  In the meantime, he and Brooks are running from assassins while Langdon tries to solve the puzzle of why this is happening.  They’re in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence; then with more clues, they run to Venice, and finally must go to Istanbul to fill in the last of the puzzle.

     Director Ron Howard has made this an action film with much less time spent on presenting and deciphering clues as happened in the previous two works.  As a result, it is much less engaging.  The threat of a virus that has the potential to wipe out half of the world’s population adds some excitement, along with finding out more about the characters responsible (e.g., Zobrist, played by Foster).  But again, character development is weak, so we don’t know much more about him, only about his idealistic plan.

      Tom Hanks plays the befuddled hero well, as he has done with so many such characters.  Supporting actors Jones, Sy, Khan, Knudsen, and Foster likewise portray their roles well.  The ending with Langdon and Sinsky leaves much to be desired in its nostalgic parting of ways. 

          I’m not sure why this film was made.  I think maybe everyone involved signed on early on, but perhaps by the time shooting began, enthusiasm had waned considerably.

This is only for diehard Dan Brown/Robert Langdon fans.

Grade:  D                            By Donna R. Copeland

JURASSIC WORLD

Chris Pratt     Bryce Dallas Howard     Vincent D’Onofrio     Irrfan Khan

Anticipation has been keen for Jurassic World, especially for those with memories of previous versions, and I expect this one will not disappoint them.  Special effects are stunningly real enough to elicit gasps and screams from the audience, and the main dinosaurs somehow have enough personality to give you the impression you’re acquainted with them. 

I think the weakest aspects of the film are in the dialog and the characters portrayed.  It’s never been clear to me why millions of dollars are spent on special effects in films and so little attention paid to dialog and character development.  Most of the characters in Jurassic World are obnoxious:  self-serving know-it-alls who ignore experts (lots of these), a hoity-toity director of the park who also won’t listen and weigh advice given to her, a rat of an older brother, and a younger brother who is mostly appealing except when his ADHD propels him through the park at breakneck speed.

           The dialog could have been made much more interesting if there had been a genuine philosophical argument about using animals like drones in warfare.  All we get here is one man wanting to do it, and the animal trainer giving reasons why not to, but it’s only a brief argument in passing. 

           We meet the two boys, Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins), as they are saying goodbye to their parents and getting on a plane to spend a week with their Aunt Claire (Howard) at her dinosaur theme park.  Of course, she is a very busy woman and not exactly kid-friendly, so pawns them off to her assistant for the day.  (The assistant is not kid-friendly either, so we get an inkling of how the day is going to go.) 

           Claire has her hands full trying to balance the demands of the owner of the park (Khan), shareholders, and staff; in particular, the animal trainer Owen (Pratt).  This would make her sympathetic, but she is all business, figures, and academic terminology, let alone mile-high control needs.  Owen is about the only sympathetic, admirable character among all of them, but most turn deaf ears to his recommendations.  He has developed the ability to bond with four young raptors with astounding results, and of course, there are those just waiting in the wings to exploit them.

           To add to the intrigue, there is a lab on site that has been experimenting with a cocktail of genetic traits to develop a super dinosaur, which is being held in captivity.  The business people know/“think?” they need to bring out a new thrill at the park every few years to keep the public interested.  This creature will be their ace in the hole very soon.  But if only they realized how much they have been playing with fire, naively mixing genes and keeping an animal in captivity without socialization or training.

          Pratt is a fine hero who is a knowledgeable Johnny-on-the-spot in times of crisis, although I think the character needs a little more forceful strength than Pratt conveys.  Howard is a good actress, but her role as written (a bundle of female stereotypes) is unbelievable, the epitome of which is her running in high heels all over acres of jungle-like parkland.  Both Khan and D’Onofrio do well in their roles as misguided leaders with a little power.

           I loved Colin Trevorrow’s work as director of Safety not Guaranteed, and his direction is spot on here—although the script, to which he contributed does not measure up to his work as director.  A very strong asset of Jurassic World is the music by Michael Giacchino, soaring at times, dissonant at others, and lyrical during tender moments—although I must say Christmas music in the beginning was a bit too much to take.

If you like to be thrilled and terrified by dinosaurs… 

Grade:  B-                                    By Donna R. Copeland