2012. Dir: David Frankel. Starring: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell, Jean Smart and Elisabeth Shue. ●●●○○
Hope Springs is a film about middle aged couples sleeping. Admittedly there's a lot of chat about sex, a few love-making scenes played largely for laughs, and ostensibly the plot hangs on an intensive couples counselling course for frustrated housewife Meryl Streep and her stand-offish hubby Tommy Lee Jones. Yet the most significant change appears to relate to their night-time arrangements with Jones starting the film in the spare bedroom and moving back to the master suite by the closing credits (it's not a spoiler, were you honestly expecting divorce papers?) and the action is punctuated by Jones dropping off either in front of the TV or on the sofa-bed. This is a helpful hint to the viewer. It's OK to fall asleep during this movie. Go on, close your eyes, you won't miss anything...
Note, I am not saying David Frankel's film is boring (even if at 100 minutes it slightly outstays it's welcome) just that the movie is so relaxed, so gentle it doesn't seem to care if you nod off. Indeed it's almost designed that way.
Something is clearly wrong in Kay and Arnold's 31 year marriage. Meryl, as Kay, is ruffling her hair and adjusting her nightgown to entice Jones to an evening of sexual indulgence. Alas he's not in the mood - he even has a headache if you can believe it - so Meryl must return frustrated and flustered to her boudoir. The morning after, with it's lack of eye-contact and air of officious routine highlights the steady decline in their relationship, and seems to be the norm, unrelated to the previous night's snub. Spontaneity, romance, even those tiny signals of affection have all deserted Tommy Lee Jones in his twilight years.
Realising it's up to her to break the monotony, Meryl books the couple couple into an intensive course of relationship counselling (focusing on sex) under the watchful gaze of subdued Steve Carell. Over the course of therapy our wedded pair must remind each other of why they originally fell in love, away from the hustle and bustle of their schedules in the Maine town of Great Hope Springs. In order to reignite that spark Jones will have to face up to his bullying attitude and inability to address his own insecurities and fear of intimacy, whilst Streep will allow her confidence to blossom, opening up avenues in her sexuality.
Except that's not quite what happens. Like most therapy related movies the denouement is rushed to make the point - the problems in this marriage couldn't be fixed in five days, surely? So when they do have sex again it's not the fumble on the cinema back row, the champagne and strawberries or even the introspection and analysis that appear to be the catalyst. Instead it's Jones' fear of loneliness and the overbearing Annie Lennox singing "Why" on the soundtrack which is then dressed up as the answer to all their problems. Of course Jones still can't admit to his hangups and Streep has developed a shrewish streak, but in the world of Hope Springs they're finally shagging giving us the happy ending we want.
Streep and Jones make an interesting coupling. They're at their best when the two of them are alone, relying on their physicality more than the dialogue, able to reveal intense and significant shared histories through a glance, the smallest of gestures or the briefest of touches. Unfortunately when they have to connect with other cast members, especially during the counselling, Jones plays the "I don't want to be there" card so convincingly I thought he meant the film and Streep is working the facial tic for two - there's one scene where I swear she was about to launch into her Shakespeare monologue she was emoting so much. Thankfully Carell has the balance right, projecting genuine concern with just the right touch of forcefulness when required.
Frankel doesn't make his presence behind the camera known but there are some nice touches vis a vis the staging, with a story being told purely in the positions the lead couple take up at the counselling sessions. It's a shames the mood is occasionally jarred by the over-insistent soundtrack, painfully on-the-nose it appears to have been selected with i-pod shuffle on a fifty something's easy listening playlist.
Overall, in spite of all my misgivings, I did enjoy this movie. There are times in every relationship where you aren't getting the sex (either frequency or variation) you want so the central conceit resonates. However the film is neither a knock out sex farce nor the tragedy of a disillusioned marriage that it could be and going either way on that may have improved the overall experience. I would wait until it's showing on TV, and sit in front of it digesting a hearty meal. You might take 40 winks in the middle but the film doesn't seem to mind and the effect of being woken up by Streep talking about oral sex can't be underestimated.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Hope Springs
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Worse than your parents (Out this week - 14/09/12)
I am now 35 years old, half my life has passed since I lost my cherry, and I rather hope I will still be able (and willing) to enjoy a casual 69 when I've doubled that number again, however there is strange disconnect between ourselves and our elders. When my Mother was my age I walked in on her and my Step-Father indulging in carnal activities in front of the fireplace. I was shocked, partly because they'd thrown the dog off his normal stretching place into the cold hallway whilst at it, and appalled that they did that sort of thing. I have passed that strange semi-Oedipal jealousy, in fact I'm rather glad sex is still a part of their life. That said finding out that Meryl Streep still wants to get it on may just turn me into a prude again. All of which is a roundabout way of saying the Runs Like a Gay film of the week is Hope Springs
I rather overestimated the draw of Tom Hardy last week, possibly because I spend most of my time in the company of other gay actors and we obsessively fawn over the brawny talent and lose touch with reality. Not that his bee-stung lips didn't entice some viewers into the multiplexes for Lawless (even as Summer drew it's last breath) however more were interested in seeing Judge Dredd done properly. Interestingly enough Dredd is the first 18 rated movie to get to the top of the UK charts since Saw 3D in October 2010. This weekend could see a real slug fest between the major contenders with Streep pulling in the older crowd and Ray Winstone appealing to action fans however I'm guessing that the four weeks since Brave came out means kids are anxious for a new animation and ParaNorman could sneak it's way to the top of the charts.
Hope Springs
I'm not as much of a Streepaholic as many film bloggers out there but it's hard to deny the consistent quality of her performances, even when playing the less dramatic roles. So if this romcom about revitalising a lifelong marriage to Tommy Lee Jones seems like fluff, I am sure it will have a sweet, satisfying centre.
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Read on for Italian farce from a American auteur, ghosts goings on, a race through the streets of New York and every trailer for films released this weekend.
It's a likeable unstretching trailer that tells it like it is - it's about 60 something's having sex and that's OK.
To Rome With Love
It's difficult to know what you're getting into these days when you see a Woody Allen movie. Last year we had the enjoyable romp Midnight in Paris which almost cleared away the bad memories of the appalling Whatever Works. Hopefully this latest stop on his European tour, which sounds like a series of short stories cobbled together, will be pleasing and diverting, that's all I ask.
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About Elly
After the phenomenal success of Asghar Farhadi's Oscar winning A Separation it's no surprise his recent back catalogue is also making it to British cinemas. Still set among the Iranian middle classes this film explores cultural attitudes to women after a single teacher, Elly of the title, goes missing on a trip to the seaside.
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ParaNorman
Laika entertainment have proven that stop motion animation and scaring kids is a perfect blend before with Coraline and the button eyed other mother. Whilst this anarchic pastiche may not be as startling original look out for more than a few chuckles from the trailer alone, a knock cast that includes Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick and Casey Affleck, and what might be a key moment in equality.
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Premium Rush
For a while this looked like the most disappointing wide release of 2012, box office wise, (that is until The Words bombed out this weekend) which is a big surprise as there's some style to this courier thriller and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a rising star having a fantastic year with Batman and the forthcoming Looper. Maybe you just can't sexy up pushbikes no matter how hard you try. Michael Shannon co-stars.
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Snows of Kilamanjaro
Inspired by a Victor Hugo poem this French drama exposes the lengths of vengeance and obsession that we might all sometimes find ourselves at the mercy of, when an ageing couple are robbed by an acquaintance they get the taste of revenge and push for more and more punishment for their assailant.
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Barfi
Unconventional 1970's love triangle that nobly posit's that Love is blind and what you might perceive as challenges are irrelevant if you love the person deep down. Of course Ranbir Kapoor may be hearing and speech impaired but he's quite a charmer in this trailer so I can't argue with the theme.
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Keyhole
Guy Maddin's latest cinematic outing is certainly not for the faint hearted as Jason Patric, Isabella Rosselini and Udo Keir compete in an overacting competition of scene stealing in this expressionistic noir. Expect long shadows and unexplained dreams.
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Run Baby Run
It's true Inidan movies tend to come in three's these days. You get the Hindi film that will be a hit, see above, the Tamil film that doesn't bother to try, see below, and the Malayalam movie that apes Western cinematic tropes. Like this news room set thriller, which looks like a pilot for a new NBC serial.
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The Sweeney
Oddly the Orange advert which featured Ray "Regan" Winstone and Ben "Carter" Drew was far more satisfying than this over dubbed trailer which highlights all the problems of trying to bring back a half-forgotten TV franchise with 21st century levels of drugs and salacious violence.
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When the Lights Went Out
British horror that, allegedly, is based on writer/director Pat Holden's cousins and the Poltergeist that freaked them out in mid 1970's Yorkshire. Although in interviews he had candidly admitted the family were more stoical and the ghosts intent more mischievous than malevolent but where's the drama in that?
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Sundarapandinian
The trailer's not selling it I'm afraid, and that coupled with no IMDb page and no plot synopsis really halts any building enthusiasm for this Tamil action comedy starring Sasikumar.
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Twenty8K
British gangster pic that opened on Monday in a select handful of cinemas. Whether it intends to make any interesting comment on the growth of street gangs and turf wars in London remains to be seen, but it is nice to see a British film with Asian characters front and centre.
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