2011. Dir: Thomas McCarthy. Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Alex Shaffer, Burt Young and Bobby Cannavale. ●●●●○
Win Win is not the type of film that does well in cinemas, bereft of high-profile stars, difficult to classify it's genre and featuring small scale family situations that don't sensationalise reality it has all the hallmarks of an American indie film that drifts past the box office figures and doesn't stir up awards talk. This is a shame as Tom McCarthy's third film is as close a vision of realistic humanity that we will see in the multiplex.
Paul Giamatti takes the central role of Mike Flaherty, a schlubby (natch) lawyer, high school wrestling coach and family man in a small town trying to make ends meet with his one man legal practice. He is, on the face of it, a paragon of suburban American values; he tries to set a good example to his young children (there's an extended early joke about the daughter picking up on rude words), dedicates time to his community and is unafraid to unblock his office toilet. There's the small matter of hiding his slow financial position from his wife (Amy Ryan) and his panic attacks from his best friend (Bobby Cannavale) but these are understandable, humanistic faults.
Then, in an attempt to save his business, he does one wrong thing. He take son the guardianship of Leo - an elderly client suffering from early stages of dementia (Burt Young) - and quickly puts him in a Nursing Home, pocketing the $1,500 per month. Within days Leo's hitherto unmentioned teenage grandson (Alex Shaffer) arrives on his doorstep, homeless and on the run from his drug dependent mother (Melanie Lynskey) and blessed with an extraordinary talent at wrestling.
Whilst you can probably guess where the plot goes from there, this movie is never about the twists and turns, it merely presents the predictability of life, exploring the relationships that drive this unlikely family unit and asks whether a bad deed can - in the end - lead to a good result.
Giamatti and Ryan put in sterling work as the central couple, he's all everyman desperation she's flinty and pragmatic, and they balance each other perfectly such that every sentence, every look comes across as the normal affectations of a genuine marriage. You know it's hard for them sometimes, and perhaps there are days when they bicker about the shopping and mundane nature of their existence, but ultimately there's real love in the pairing, somehow these two will make it through life's journey.
Alex Shaffer, as their unexpected visitor, is an odd screen presence, monosyllabic and quiet it takes a while to tune into his performance but it's perfectly judged. Listless and diffident it's a teenager performance that doesn't seem cliched or precocious. Whether charting his first steps at bonding with the other kids on the wrestling team or the unexpected journey the character has to make he is able to convey the emotion without losing sight of the teenage inability to fully express their thoughts. Shaffer is a first time screen-actor (although his experience as a high school wrestling champ is clearly in evidence) and I sincerely hope that he continues to work in the medium.
Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor (as Giamatti's sad-sack assistant coach) are fine comedic foils to the main action, but have little to really do in the roles. The only missed note is Lynskey who overplays her neediness and whose character does not have the real-world nuances of everyone else.
Ultimately though as writer and director this is Tom McCarthy's film. He has returned to the rich mine of people struggling to make sense of the world around them and generally being missed in a crowd and has once again created characters and situations that we can all relate to and understand, ensuring that no-one is a saint or a rogue but a little of both, a combination of competing character traits. Whilst there is a general lack of ambition in the screenplay it doesn't matter so much when the content is as perfectly formed as the dramedy is here.
One annoying aspect is the product placement. Normally I would hardly notice the coke cans and computers however when one of the lines is "Oh, it's Wii Golf. You should try it, it's great." With more than one occasion of on-screen playing. All of these completely took me out of the picture.
This is a small film, about small things, but don't be fooled you will struggle to find a movie that presents such an intimate and true portrayal of average humanity this year.
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Win Win
Friday, 20 May 2011
Jack's Back (Out this week - 20/05011)
I don't really want to do this. I want to be able to turn back, to pretend my life, or at least my movie tastes, were different. But I will inevitably return to this point, one of those horrendous occasions where a film I have hoped to see, one that I championed from it's early onset arrives with all the hallmarks of a dud. Should I attempt to rewrite history, pretend my initial reaction wasn't so positive? I cannot, I must remain honest, retain my integrity even at the expense of my dignity. The film of the week is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Arriving like a rotting fish carcass brought in on the late tide the latest in the pirate franchise that keep Johnny Depp's children fed is here. Rob Marshall has replaced Gore Verbinski but no-one's changed the format. Of course I was salivating for this movie, number 6 in my 20 for 2011, but now I suspect it will be the film of the week choice I truly regret come the end of the year.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
Julia's Eyes
Spain is the new Japan insofar as horror movies go, as evidenced by this creepy picture where the heroine searches for her missing sister whilst her vision (literally and metaphorically) gets dimmer. Very good reviews, this is the film I probably should be choosing to represent the week.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Win Win
Tom McCarthy makes films about disengaged men finding meaning in their hitherto downbeat worldview, and in that respect the Paul Giamatti starrer looks no different from The Station Agent or The Visitor, not that it matters when he makes this sort of thing so well.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Blitz
The first of three low budget British films competing for the scraps at the box office this one stars Jason Statham and Paddy Considine as mismatched cops trying to takedown the mysterious and eponymous serial pig killer. Plenty of colourful vernacular is hinted at in the trailer but I expect the proper home for this is on DVD.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Bol
We're always so inundated with Bollywood movies it's easy to forget that neighbouring Pakistan has a thriving cinematic subculture, as evidenced by this internationally released dissection of the place of woman in modern Muslim culture and the responsibilities and challenges of parenthood.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Age of Heroes
Allegedly based on the true story behind Ian Flemming's World War II Commando unit and planned as the first in a new British spy trilogy. But I ignored all that once I found out it starred Sean Bean and RLAG fave Danny Dyer - he's no actor, but I get fantastically turned on by his diamond geezer persona and in time honoured fashion I've posted his pic (below) to celebrate one of his films being released.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Third Star
The final UK release stars TV's "Sherlock Holmes" (Benedict Cumberbatch) as a man dying from cancer before his time and taking a last holiday to the Welsh coast with his pals. It probably doesn't do much to get past that rather dreary and predictable synopsis.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Before I go I ought to mention a couple of movies I managed to miss from way back on 06 May 2011.
Life, Above All
Rare South African movie that confronts the issues of undiagnosed HIV infections and child prostitution in a nation that has historically brushed these embarrassing problems under the carpet. Heartfelt and powerful.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Zombie Diaries 2
Awfully familiar sounding tale of undead hordes overrunning the last vestiges of human civilisation. But really, what's the point?
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Tuesday Trailers - Win Win
The final trailer for May is one of my most anticipated movies for 2011, and from what I hear over in the U.S. that was a good call. Thomas McCarthy's The Visitor follow-up concerns a stressed small-town lawyer and wrestling coach (Paul Giamatti) who opens his house to the grandson of a client (Alex Shaffer). The reviews have been positive, and the box office staying power has been very impressive for a limited release. I doubt it will do quite as well over here where high-school wrestling doesn't exist, but I for one will be queuing up to see it.
Win Win opens on 20 May 2011.
Friday, 14 January 2011
20 for 2011: 15 - Win Win
The only Sundance entry on my list is number 15 Win Win.
It's difficult to know what to expect with this one. Thomas McCarthy's last two directorial outings have been the small scale dramas The Visitor and The Station Agent, both of which received plaudits for the initimacy of the vision, themes of lonliness and the performances he elicits from the cast. We should expect all of these comments to continue with Paul Giamatti taking the lead role of a disillusioned attorney/high school wrestling coach who lucks onto a major case which then gets a lot more complex than he first imagined.
It should be a meaty role for Giamatti, the sort of thing he does as bread and butter work, and for him alone I would probably recommend this one. I expect we'll hear more from Sundance soon.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Amy Ryan
Happy Birthday to
Amy Ryan
41 today
Like yesterday's birthday honouree Amy slogged away in the business for many years before breaking out in TV's "The Wire" and an oscar nomination for Gone, Baby, Gone - a performance so good Blake Lively was clearly channeling it in Ben Affleck's directorial follow-up this year. Next up for Amy in Win Win where she play the wife of part time wrestling coach Paul Giamatti.
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Paul Giamatti
Happy Birthday to
Paul Giamatti
43 today
Paul comes from very good stock, being the son of the late Yale President Bart Giamatti (I'm guessing the President is a similar position to the vice-chacellors at British Universities) and obtained a masters degree in fine arts from the college. Lots of projects coming up but I'm most interested in college wrestling comedy Win Win.
Friday, 30 April 2010
Burt Young
Happy Birthday to
Burt Young
70 today
Burt Young is one of those I-know-him actors, who contantly is doing great work in thankless roles. For instance he simmered in films like Chinatown, Once upon a Time in America and Last Exit to Brooklyn, as well as showing a touching side in Rocky (I confess he's been thanked a little for "Paulie", having returned for many of the lucrative sequels - including the most recent one - and garnering an Oscar Nod). He's also still showing up in great looking films, I'm still hoping to see New York, I Love You (maybe in September???) and he's also backing up Thomas McCarthy's follow up to The Visitor: Win Win.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Film News (16/01/10)
It's been an odd week for headlines, with some massive upcoming films that I've chosen to ignore. This could be because they're oddly dull - hello to Harrison Ford who's really keen on Indiana Jones 5 - or because I think the news is really bad - Sony are making a big mistake dropping Raimi and Maguire from Spider-man 4, don't they realise it was studio pressure that caused the drop in quality of the last film? Saying that there have been lots of other stories bubbling away...
The Chancellor Manuscript
Last year you couldn't move for news on Robert Ludlum adaptations. We had the Parsifal Mosaic linked to Ron Howard and David Cronenburg picking up the Matarese Circle and neither were a surprise following the massive populairty of the Bourne series. Both projects have gone quiet so this week it was the turn of The Chancellor Manusript about a novelist who gets entangled in a dark and dangerous plot to forever alter US policy (I'm guessing it's a foreign policy, or related to big business and not, say, about fishing rights).
Marc Forster has signed on to direct, clearly getting over the ribbing he got for Quantum of Solace, and Leonardo DiCaprio is looking to play the titular Peter Chancellor.
This is Robert Ludlum, by the way, complete with bizarre cigarette holder.
Consent to Kill
You hear a title like Consent to Kill and you can probably guess the plot... No?.. Well it's about a CIA assassin with a cowardly boss and a massive price on his head. Sound familiar? Of course it does, it's like a big mess of cliches, but apparently it is serious. We'll just have to wait and see what Devil's Advocate scribe Jonathan Lemkin can do with a premise like that.
Held by the Taliban/Nemesis
OK, so there's nothing David Rhode's diary of 9 months held in a Taliban stronghold has in common with Mark Millar's new graphic novel, except that both have some crazy rumours going round about who might be directing the big screen adaptations.
Kathryn Bigelow and Terrence Malick have both throw their hat in the ring for the former project - that's a big deal as Bigelow is extremely hot right now due to the stong Hurt Locker critical buzz and Malick, who has a superb track record and has never ben known to rush into things, very quickly said he was interested when news of Bigelow's involvement was released. Whichever way that goes it's worth keeping an eye on it.
On Nemesis Millar has announced on his blog that he's in talks with Sam Raimi and Guy Ritchie. That seems unlikely as both we surely be looking carefully at their current slates. Millar work is highly regarded though, so maybe there'll be some shifting to accommodate it.
Kill Bill 3
Quentin Tarantino has been mouthing off about his upcoming films by refusing to say what he's currently working on. He has said the third installment of the Kill Bill anthology is still planned for 2014, ten years after Bill died in volume 2. I can't remember why he wants to go back to the story, or who's turn it will be to wreck bloody revenge, but I expect it will be more self indulgent than enything he's done in the past.
The Outcast
Sadie Jones' novel about the teenage boy struggling to cope with the death of his mother in post-war Britain has been picked up by Blueprint Pictures. The book was a best seller back in early 2008 so it's hardly surprising it's been picked up, but as it has a tendency to focus on small gestures and character appearances to build tension it may be tough to adapt. We'll see.
Will
High concept comedies are very tough to get right, so it's with trepidation I turn to Will about a world where everyone's life is scripted in advance by angels except one day one of the writers quits leaving our hero free (free will geddit??!!) to make his own choices. Paul Rudd is Will, Zack Galifrankis is his striking writer, Little Miss Sunshine creators Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are calling the shots and the script comes from comic Demetri Martin. That's good pedigree and probably a team that can make this work.
Win Win
In the publicity tour for The Last Station Paul Giamatti has blurted out his next film will be Tom McCarthy's follow up to The Visitor. No details have been released about the film and so far everyone, including Paul's publicist is denying it, but it's good to see that soemtimes even the most experienced actors get so excitied about projects they spill the beans to reporters.
