CYRANO

 Peter Dinklage     Helen Bennett     Kelvin Harrison, Jr.     Ben Mendelsohn

            Cyrano is a musical in which a princess, Roxanne (Bennett), is pining for love, to which her lady in waiting argues that “Love doesn’t last; what lasts is compromise and sacrifice.”  (She means that Roxanne should be looking out for her economic welfare over love considerations), which goes right over the beautiful young woman’s head.  Roxanne (Bennett) sings back that she never wants to marry unless she can find someone to love.  Her current suitor, the Duke De Guiche (Mendelsohn) could indeed be her future, but Roxanne loathes him, and only sees him for what she can get from him (e.g., theater tickets).

            What Roxanne doesn’t know is that her friend since childhood, Cyrano (Dinklage), has always loved her, but thinks that she will simply laugh at him for thinking she could fall in love with such a short man.  The story develops from there, such that the man Roxanne is attracted to (from just a glance) is Christian (Harrison), a handsome guard under Cyrano’s command.  The two exchange one glance from afar and both literally fall in love at first sight (or so it seems).

            When Roxanne confesses to her friend Cyrano her love for Christian, who has just been recruited into the guard, she begs Cyrano to mentor and protect her love.  Since he cannot deny Roxanne anything, he promises to do so, which puts him into a serious bind between his own interest and what he has promised.  This bind leads to his writing love letters for Christian to send as his own to Roxanne.

            It was serendipity that scheduled Houston critics to see Spielberg’s West Side Story the night before Cyrano, giving us the opportunity to contrast the two love stories.  And what a difference; where West Side Story, despite its performance value (and my usual admiration for Spielberg), seemed to me to be a tiresome, dated, story of machismo, Joe Wright’s Cyrano makes an elegiac tribute to a man in an older period piece (17^th Century), for whom compromise and sacrifice become very real to him, despite his acclaimed swordsmanship.

            Sprinkled throughout the drama are bits of humor (Cyrano’s claim that “Halloween is my favorite holiday” after he has been called a freak, statements like “Her imperfections are perfect”), insightful observations (a narcissistic young woman singing, “I need more”), the non-glorification of fighting—even in the case of war), and demonstrations of true love (seen in Cyrano’s letters, soldiers’ letters home, and the final scene).

            Screenwriter Erica Schmidt is the one who took a different view of Cyrano the character by focusing not on his nose, but making him a dwarf mocked for his stature, and one who believes no woman could love him as he is.  (There is tenderness in this concept in that Schmidt is married to Dinklage, and she wrote the part specifically for him.)

            Peter Dinklage has long been one of my favorite actors, and it is high time he gets an Academy award for his performance as lead in a major motion picture.  He has numerous other awards to count, but I think it’s time his nominations and awards for “Most Promising Actor” in The Station Agent (2004) and supporting actor for Game of Thrones and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri  be followed up with more than a nod from the Academy—for his acting.  Admittedly, singing is not his strong suit, but his resonant bass still pleases.

            Joe Wright’s previous films (e.g., Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, Darkest Hour) are testament to his talent in the art and craft of filmmaking.  Elements contributing to his success in Cyrano include Aaron and Bryce Dessner’s music, Seamus McGarvey’s cinematography, and Sarah Greenwood’s production design, some of whom have collaborated with Wright on other projects.

 

Cyrano, with the swagger and expert swordplay of Tyrion (Dinklage) in Game of Thrones has a much bigger heart and compassion to go with his more macho qualities.  He is a truly admirable soldier in this production, but as skilled in the art of language as he is in wielding a sword.

 

Grade:  A                              By Donna R. Copeland

PAN

Levi Miller     Hugh Jackman     Garrett Headlund     Rooney Mara     Amanda Siefried

          Special effects are really the essence of this prequel version of J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.  Here, Pan is left by his mother on the steps of an orphanage run by an evil conniving Mother Barnabas (Kathy Burke) when he was a newborn child.  Twelve years elapse, but Peter continues to wonder about his origins and question the motives of the nun who is still in charge of the orphanage.  When he notices that boys frequently disappear during the night, he takes notice and begins to investigate with his friend Nibs (Lewis MacDougall), first in the apartment of Mother Barnabas where he finds many treasures that confirm his suspicions.  But her chest of coins is a puzzlement.

        Soon after, he finds himself captive on a pirate ship owned by the infamous Blackbeard (Jackman) that sails through the sky as well as the ocean.  Their destination is Blackbeard’s mines in Neverland where he conscripts hundreds of boys to hammer through the rock looking for the fairy dust that will keep him forever young.  There, Peter meets Hook (Headlund), who is older but not wiser—more of an operator who takes every opportunity he can to forge an exit from the mines. 

      Through a series of misadventures, Peter comes to the attention of Blackbeard who learns enough about him to determine that Peter is the one to fulfill the prophecy of his own demise.  Of course, that puts Peter’s life in danger, and the rest of the story is his alliance with not only Hook, but also Tiger Lily (Mara), a fairy who has much to fear from Blackbeard as well, because the fairies could be Blackbeard’s undoing in alliance with Peter.

        To be a children’s movie, Pan has complex relationships and plot story lines that will go far beyond their comprehension.  Joe Wright is an accomplished director (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina, Hanna, The Soloist), but this film falls far short of his previous work, which could be attributed to a confusing screen play (Jason Fuchs) and special effects that essentially take over and obscure the essence of the story.  Case in point and major flaw is Blackbeard’s and Tiger Lily’s physical bouts that seem to go on forever. 

         Alas, connections to the original story and its principles are nowhere to be found in this modern rendition that looks more like a video game than an enlightening film for children.

Pan is sacrificed to special effects in this traditionally beloved story of Peter Pan.

Grade:  D+                        By Donna R. Copeland