SPENCER

Kristen Stewart     Timothy Spall     Sally Hawkins     Jack Nielen     Freddy Spry

Jack Farthing     Sean Harris     Stella Gomet     Richard Sommel

 

            The film begins by noting that it is “a fable”, and that does describe it as what I take to be a diatribe against the tradition of royalty.  It is not a bio-pic about Diana;  many/most scenes are made up by writer Steven Knight and presumably Director Larrain.  Not only does Spencer portray Diana as a spoiled, pouty diva-like person, it doesn’t show royal family members in a much better light.  (They’re shown as unempathetic.)  Diana’s costumes are beautiful (one of her marks in real life), but go over the top, seemingly to show the ridiculousness of royal dress in general.  The same goes for highlighting the elegant dining—I think it’s meant to be a criticism of a lavish lifestyle.

            Setting the film in the Christmas weekend Diana is deciding to part with Prince Charles is known as a stressful time, and one can imagine a very difficult one for Diana.  It’s hard for me to believe, though, that Diana’s behavior was so off-kilter that she was hallucinating.  It’s plausible that she was suspicious of the family’s motives toward her, but I find it hard to believe that she was as paranoid as shown.  One chilly scene that is supposed to capture the mood of the family and that weekend is Christmas dinner with almost no conversation and family members eyeing one another.  I find that hard to believe as well.

            Spencer implies that Diana was obsessed with her childhood home which, incidentally, is where she was born, but she only lived there a short time.  Much is made of her attachment to a scarecrow on the property and her taking its jacket and instructing her maid to clean it.  In the end, the scarecrow is dressed in a brilliant yellow outfit that Diana is shown to have worn at one time, a caricature of a royal family’s indulgences, I assume.

            The only part of Spencer I really enjoyed is the acting, particularly that of Kristen Stewart and Sally Hawkins, Diana’s waiting maid and confidante.  Stewart, who apparently has a positive attitude toward Diana researched the woman’s life and stated that her intention was to portray her as realistically and sympathetically as she could.  She achieves that, and the viewer can easily see her as Diana.  I haven’t been able to discern exactly what she thought of the script, but I wonder what she really thought about it, given its portrayal of a narcissistic, oppositional wounded woman.  Hawkins comes across as a servant devoted to her charge, always with kind and sensible responses to Diana’s upsets.  And their conversations are the only ones that seem to have a ring of truth to them.

            I adored Pablo Larrain’s portrait of Jackie (Kennedy), but this portrait of Diana simply doesn’t ring true—not that I knew her personally, as I’m going by my reading of news reports.  It must be that Larrain’s liberal political beliefs as in No, along with perhaps those of his writer Steven Wright (Dirty Pretty Things, Eastern Promises) brought out sentiments against a privileged class, which I appreciate, and can say spoke truth to me.  But I’m at a loss to understand the presentation of Diana Spencer as such a losing kind of woman.

            In sum, it seems unfair to concoct such a picture as this one of one weekend in a well-known, complex, multi-layered person’s life.

 

A princess new to royalty and deceived by her prince is portrayed as an oppositional, resentful woman, despite her being generally known as a real, caring person.

 

Grade:  C                              By Donna R. Copeland

PADDINGTON 2

Voice of:  Ben Wishaw      Sally Hawkins     Hugh Bonneville     Hugh Grant

Julie Walters     Jim Broadbent     Brendan Gleeson     Michael Gambon     Imelda Staunton

     This adventure centers around an antique book about London which Paddington (Wishaw) discovers in Mr. Gruber’s (Broadbent) shop, and wants to send to his Aunt Lucy, who has always longed to see London.  When Paddington learns that it is valuable, and he’s going to need lots of money to buy it, he immediately looks for work.  The barbershop doesn’t work out so well after the electric shears get the best of him, but he discovers he is an excellent window cleaner and works diligently with amazing acumen cleaning the windows of multi-story buildings.  And he gets close to being able to buy the book for his aunt.  Wherever Paddington goes, as we know from the earlier book and film, he charms everyone with his Aunt Lucy-isms (e.g., “If you look for the good in people, you’ll find it”) and helpfulness.  But this is a substantive kind of charm, illustrating so well how politeness, diligence, and seeing the good in others changes them.

     The story is not just about “nice” things, however; there is a villain named Phoenix Buchanan (knavishly played by Grant) who exploits what he hears from the innocent Paddington.  Putting that information together with what he already knows (that there is a valuable pop-up book that has been missing for years), he concludes that it could solve all his financial and professional problems.  (His magic acts have been failing and he is drowning in debts).  We get to hear about the history of the book and how it came to be, which is an interest heightening segue).

     From here, the story transforms into more of a thriller, with Paddington being accused of a crime, tried, and put in prison.  This takes all the resources of his beloved Brown family (Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville as parents), as well as friends he has made in prison, such as the grumpy cook Knuckles (Gleeson). (Paddington won him—and the other prisoners—over with his marmalade sandwiches.)  Along with his family, these newly made friends promise to exonerate him.  After seeing how well Paddington navigates the prison system, things take a turn, after which, we have some nail-biting scenes involving a prison break-out, trains, and near-drowning that make the film into a thriller.

     Paul King, director, and writer with Simon Faraday, based on Michael Bond’s story, has scored again with a Paddington story that interests and thrills viewers, along with providing thoughtful observations about humans and how we function.  They are optimally aided by musician Dario Marianelli and cinematographer Erik Wilson, along with a plethora of artists in production design, sets, costumes, and special effects.  The actors (Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Grant, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Brendan Gleeson, et al) bring it all to life in a way that is entertaining and thought-provoking for children and adults. 

     It’s so rewarding to see a film with so much humane, visual, aural, and technological artistry.  Would that all so-called “children’s” films were of such high quality.

Before the intense adventure, there is warmth and loving connections.  What could go wrong?

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Sally Hawkins     Michael Shannon     Richard Jenkins     

Doug Jones     Michael Stuhlbarg     Octavia Spencer     Nick Searcy

     The playful, loving nature of Sally Hawkins’ Elisa perfectly captures the nature of this film and Guillermo del Toro’s creativity and imagination.  She’s a complex character—as is the plot—and continually surprises us with her thinking and actions.  She is mute, but not deaf, and is one of the two housecleaners at a research facility, the other being Zelda (Spencer), who knows sign language and assumes a maternal stance toward her.  Elisa’s neighbor, Giles (Jenkins), a rather fussy, inhibited man who doesn’t seem to know that she does not like key lime pie, and goes ahead and orders it for her, despite her protests.  He knows sign language as well, and is able to express his appreciation to her for looking out for him.

     The research facility is an odd one, with Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (Stuhlberg) in charge, and he has invited Strickland (Shannon) to come to the lab to study a strange creature Strickland found in the Amazon Jungle.  Elisa is immediately fascinated with “Amphibian Man”, and sneaks a peak at it as often as she dares.  Then she gets bolder when she finds that he appreciates a boiled egg she has brought to him.  She teaches him sign language, which he rapidly acquires, and they begin to communicate.

     The story takes on more adventure and drama when we learn of the varying motivations among all parties to study the creature (Jones).  Strickland, a speculator wants to make dough and please the five-star General Hoyt (Searcy); Hoffstetler, a scientist (and more, which we don’t find out until later) has interests beyond the scientific; and Elisa, a good-hearted maid with strong moral principles, simply wants to protect it.

    Del Toro inserts quirky mannerisms for the characters and plot twists and turns to entertain us with while he is telling his story, which turns out to be a bit of a thriller.  For instance, take Strickland—not minding that the women are cleaning the men’s room—he proceeds to wash his hands before he pees, and expounds on his thoughts about washing before or after relieving himself.  Mystery is introduced when he leaves behind a trace of blood on the lavatory.  Elisa loves movies and dancing, and proceeds to tap-dance along her way when she is alone.  Giles makes odd pronouncements such as, “Corn Flakes were invented to keep people from masturbating.”  Zelda has a demanding husband, who doesn’t seem to do much of anything, which she endures with patience; but she’s good-hearted like Elisa, so they make very fine friends.

     All this is bound together with the flowing score of diverse but script-meaningful songs by the musically elite Alexandre Desplat and artistic camerawork of Dan Laustsen. 

    Del Toro likes to play with magic in his films, and he is like a magician himself in putting together in The Shape of Water all of the many elements of filmmaking to give us excitement, creativity, full-bodied characters, and visual displays that we can see as a true work of art.

     Bravo! Guillermo del Toro! 

Weird meanderings of a beautifully told story with an unexpected ending.

Grade:  A                                                Donna R. Copeland

MAUDIE

Sally Hawkins     Ethan Hawke     Kari Matchett     Gabrielle Rose     Zachary Bennett     Lawrence Barry

     The sheer beauty in this film is hard to fathom; it’s beautiful even in its pain.  The writer Sherry White and all the filmmakers together coalesced to produce a fine work of art visually, emotionally, and musically.  It sings in rapture through its joys and cries out through its grief.  I wept as much for its beauty as for its pain.  And there are liberal doses of all the shades of emotion and meaning throughout.

     The film opens on a scene of Maud painting with obvious effort and perhaps pain.  She is arthritic, but at the moment is clearly transported into the bliss of creativity.  Then we begin to see pictures of those in her life:  a stern aunt, a devious brother, an insensitive shopkeeper.  But some of the main delights of the film are to see Maud in action with all her canniness, fundamental kindness, and boldness, taking people by surprise all within the halo of her cheeriness.  We soon come to love this oddly shaped figure—as she calls herself.  “I was just born funny”, she states, with a smile and with all the insight into others she has developed over years of observation.

     Maud shows her industriousness and business acumen in humbly finding another place to live and support herself, much to her feeling-put-upon aunt’s surprise.  Another odd figure places a notice in the general store for a “housemate”—actually someone who will take care of him, overlook his acerbity, and have no opinions.  But Maud has no hesitation in seeing this as a way out from under her aunt.  The ad is placed by Everett (Hawke), who has his own background story of being orphaned and never having had the opportunity to taste the niceties of life.  He has no conception of those things.  Through a combination of gall and complete submissiveness, Maud lands a job with room and board and 25 cents a week.

Their adjustment to one another makes up the entertaining, insightful thrust of the film, which shows the lengths to which a person can go in successfully surviving an unkind world.  It takes grit and a whole bunch of other qualities

     Another hallmark of Maudie is its mercy, lent of course by Maud, who never holds a grudge and manages eventually to charm the most recalcitrant obstacle.  This is most evident in the way she is able to forge different responses from someone who has been so deprived:  Everett.  Their encounters are instructive to us all (seeing the power of simple kindness), but touchingly, laugh-out-loud humorous. 

     The direction (Aisling Walsh), cinematography (Guy Godfree), and music (Michael Timmons) give further testament to the quality of this film.  Performances by Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke could be lessons for striving actors in their ability to immerse themselves so completely into characters so different from themselves.

     Rarely does a film come along that is so well crafted, warmly human, humorous, and wise as Maudie.

Maudie is achingly beautiful with bountiful wisdom.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland