BERGMAN ISLAND

 Vicky Krieps     Tim Roth     Mia Wasikowska     Grace Delrue     Anders Anderson Lie

            We meet Tony (Roth) and Chris (Krieps) as they are getting on a ferry to Fårö Island, home for 40 years of the renowned writer/director of Swedish films, Ingmar Bergman.  And you can see why he lived there so long; it is lush and evocative of special island places.  But place is not the issue or main point in this production.  Both Tony and Chris are Bergman fans.  He is older, a filmmaker considered as one of the experts on Bergman, and he has been invited to screen his latest production, hence his excitement about visiting the island.  Chris is younger and earlier in her career as a screenwriter.  She has had some success but is currently suffering from writer’s block.  Right away one senses the two are in different places in their minds.  And the story is primarily about their relationship.

            Krieps is the lead actor in this production written and directed by Mia Hansen-Løve (All is Forgiven, The Father of My Children), who was acclaimed for her last film (Things to Come).  Having read that she was a close collaborator and partner of the filmmaker Olivier Assayas and her penchant for semi-autobiographical films, I got the impression she identified with Chris, the character in this film.  She is quoted as saying, “the film really came together when I thought of the island of Fårö as a possible setting for the story”, and this line is uttered by the character Chris during the film when she is summarizing her thoughts to Tony about the script she is writing.

            In Bergman Island, Chris and Tony seem like a mismatched couple.  He is well established in his career, confident and decisive, but withholding in talking about his work with Chris.  (Although he did say he was writing about “how invisible things circulate within a couple”, which could easily be referring to the two of them, but of course he doesn’t elaborate.)  On the other hand, she is fearful (even of flying), lacks confidence in her abilities, and is frequently asking Tony for help.  When she goes into detail about her ideas for a plot, he interrupts her twice to answer his phone.  That is, there is a fundamental mismatch between them.  Although he denies his lack of interest, it seems obvious from his behavior that he gets bored.  And that’s not surprising, given the plot.

            Chris introduces her script plan to Tony by saying, “It’s a series of failure, betrayals, dramas…of impossible mourning and suffering overshadowed by a few memories” and I thought, “Who would want to see that?”  And indeed, one gets the impression her story  (told in film-within-a-film) is about a frustrated love interest of the woman Amy (wonderfully captured by Wasikowska) versus the much more thoughtful, planful first-love Joseph (Lie) who has enough insight to have a conscience.   He points out her ambivalences in relationships by saying, “You want to have two children by two different men.”  (And this is a reference to Chris’ earlier negative reaction when she was told that Ingmar Bergman had 9 children with five wives.)  Joseph’s condescension mirrors Chris’ earlier “harumph!”

            As a fan of Bergman films, I was all set to relish Bergman Island; and indeed there are many references to him and to his films (Through a Glass Darkly, Cries and Whispers, Persona), but none seem to relate to Mia Hansen-Løve’s plot.  Rather, it seems to be something of an autobiographical account of her relationship with Olivier Assayas, her partner for a number of years, and more generally with questions about a (female) writer claiming her own voice, particularly alongside a man of with a proven reputation.  There are mostly plusses for this film, but it could have been more explicit and decisive in its plot.

 

 

Not an ode to Ingmar Bergman, but a contrast between his career and that of a female screenwriter of today.

 

Grade:  B-                                         By Donna R. Copeland

ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Mia Wasikowska   Johnny Depp   Helena Bonham Carter   Anne Hathaway   Sacha Baron Cohen   Alan Rickman

          Constant artificiality in the emotional exchanges and CGI effects makes much of this film meaningless.  It’s like a stroll—or a run—through a garden of artificial flowers or being stuck inside a video game, as in the Russian film Hardcore; only this is for kids.  Case in point, Alice is congratulated profusely in the end, but it’s not very clear exactly what she did other than sail/burst around in a time machine that pops her out on the ground or the floor.  Traditionally, the hero(ine) is sent by fate through trials that establish her mettle, but we see none of that here.  The main point of the film—which is that you can’t change the past—is obscure, until Alice talks about learning her lesson at the end.  Otherwise, all the action of the film is trying to do just that, change the past.

         The film opens with Alice the captain of a ship in dangerous waters where she is willing to take risks (she doesn’t believe in “impossible”), even against the advice of her crew.  Of course—this being Alice—she makes it safely to her homeport, pumped about the next adventure.  To her dismay, her benefactor has died, and his son Hamish (a rejected lover) wants to reclaim her boat, has made a spurious deal with her mother regarding her home, and now wants her to work as a clerk.  What to do?

          As she is mulling this over, Alice gets a message from the Blue Caterpillar (Rickman) that she is needed back in Wonderland, so she goes through the glass portal to see what is wrong.  It’s the Mad Hatter (Depp), who has slipped into a dangerous depression following the disappearance of his family.  After discussing it with the White Queen (Hathaway), Alice pursues the possibility of going back in time to “get” his family and bring them up to the present.  The person in charge of the “Chronosphere” is Time (Cohen), and he warns against the plan.  Not to be deterred, Alice gets her hands on it anyway, and proceeds.  There follows lessons about the folly of trying to change the past, side issues of sibling rivalry, and the values of home and family.

        With CGI overwhelming the story, it’s difficult to see how children would really come away with the messages—as mundane as they are.  They are likely to enjoy the production design (Dan Hanneh) and special effects in and of themselves and the costumes (Colleen Atwood), but as far as deriving any edification about sibling rivalry, undoing the past, or the rights of females, I doubt those things come through.

A CGI bloated production with a weak storyline.

Grade:  C-                                    By Donna R. Copeland

MAPS TO THE STARS

Julianne Moore     Mia Wasikowska     John Cusack     Evan Bird     Robert Pattinson     Carrie Fisher

 

Maps to the Stars is something of a jumbled up mess.  We see a new arrival in town who doesn’t look like much but seems to have money to spare.  She overpays a driver waiting for a fare, and asks him if he has a map of Hollywood stars’ addresses.  He says no in a bored manner, and cites the few instances when he drove someone who was famous.  Agatha (Wasikowska) seems to have better connections, which he (Pattinson) doesn’t seem to get.  It turns out that Agatha knows Carrie Fisher (herself), who puts in a good word for her to Havana Segrand (Moore), a star desperately seeking work and needing an all-round assistant.  Havana is a bit put off by Agatha’s gloved arms covering burn scars, but hires her anyway, having no inkling about who Agatha is.

             Agatha is the estranged daughter of Havana’s “therapist” (Cusack), who with his wife is trying to keep Agatha away after she was discharged from a mental institution following an incident with fire.  They have aspirations for their son Benjie (Bird) to become a famous actor, and clearly want him to stay away from Agatha, particularly since he has just been released from rehab and his career can’t stand another scandal.

            Ah…parents have such delusions about their powers over their children.  Benjie and Agatha have always been close, and it is probably futile for anyone to think that they can be kept apart.

            David Cronenberg, the director seems to be on a quest exploring philosophical notions and the nature of human relationships (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, Crash, The Fly).  He says, “I ask questions, but don’t have answers.  Moviemaking is a philosophical exploration.  I invite the audience to come on a journey and discover what they think and feel.”  He has also said, “I think all my movies are funny.”  I didn’t find much humor in this one that seems to be making a statement about the Hollywood culture with its single-minded quest for fame, its repudiation of boundaries and limits, and its need for soporifics to avoid pain. 

            As observed by another reviewer, it’s hard to tell if Cronenberg is kidding or serious (Matt Zoller Seitz, http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/maps-to-the-stars-2015).  The view of Hollywood as presented in Maps to the Stars will likely not be surprising to anyone, and many may see it as a plausible account.  To me, the peek shown is too narrow to make it very encompassing of the whole scene.  So the film turns out to be more sensational than an insightful perspective.

            Certainly, the actors—notably Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Evan Bird, and Robert Pattinson—are truly fine in their portrayals.  I just wish the script by Bruce Wegner had more substance.

Go for the acting; not the story.

Grade:  C-            By Donna R. Copeland