Continuing with the religious theme, I finally dusted off the Netflix envelope containing Doubt that has been sitting on my desk for a month and popped the DVD into my computer.

Image copyright Miramax Films

Now, I am mildly obsessed with Amy Adams, and I think Meryl Streep is amazing, so when I say they exceeded my expectations, it has to be a truly outstanding performance.

Streep completely transformed into her character, Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the terrifying principal of St. Nicholas school in the Bronx. She is strict, unyielding, and deeply resentful of the male dominated hierarchy in the church. After the priest, Father Flynn (Hoffman) gives a sermon about doubt, she is immediately suspicious. She warns her fellow Sisters to be on the lookout for unusual behavior.

So when the young, virtuous Sister James (Adams) mentions how the Father has become a protector and ally to the school’s only black pupil, Donald Miller, Sister Aloysius suggests that the relationship they have may not be as innocent as it seems. She launches a witch hunt that is both terrifying and awe-inspiring in its intensity. She is utterly sure of herself, her conviction the only proof that she needs. The end results change the people around her, the parish, and herself – forever.

The movie is based on John Patrick Shanley’s play of the same name. Interestingly enough, he wrote the screenplay and directed the movie. While in some cases this may be cause for concern, he has enough finesse that the film is a testament to his writing and vision. Throughout the movie, there are quick cuts to faces, showing reactions and raw emotion that bring moments of humanity to the forefront.

Adams shines as Sister James, but I would like to see her in roles beyond the earnest, likeable innocent. She plays the type extremely well though, managing to be sweet yet not saccharine. It is precisely this sort of character that has earned her an Oscar nomination both in Doubt and the 2005 film Junebug.

Hoffman does not falter against Streep’s intensity. His portrayal of the priest only heightens the drama; he manages to convey righteousness, a man falsely accused, but falters just enough at certain moments that you can never be sure who is victim and who is the villain.

Streep carries the weight of the movie. She pushes it forward through the morality that at times threatens to weigh it down, and stays with you, right until the end.

Doubt is one of those movies that will stay with me for a while. And that is always a good thing.

Il dubbio è un film del 2008 un adattamento cinematografico all’opera teatrale di John Patrick Shanley. Scritto e diretto da Shanley e prodotto da Scott Rudin, il film è interpretato da Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, e Viola Davis, che sono stati tutti nominati per l’Oscar al 2009.

Leggi altre notizie su: | John Patrick Shanley | Meryl Streep | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Amy Adams

“La duda  [Doubt]” dirigida por John Patrick Shanley

 “John Patrick Shanley lleva a la pantalla su obra de teatro titulada DOUBT (LA DUDA). Se trata de una historia sobre la búsqueda de la verdad, las fuerzas del cambio, y las devastadoras consecuencias de una justicia ciega en una época definida por las férreas convicciones morales.”

Extraído de La Higuera.

Ver además:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Patrick_Shanley

http://www.muchocine.net/criticas/10380/La-duda

Los títulos recomendados están en la Biblioteca del Instituto Internacional. Si te interesa leer ésta recomendación puedes consultar su disponibilidad en el catálogo la biblioteca del IIE. 

La duda  [Doubt]. [DVD] / dirigida por John Patrick Shanley. — [S.l.] : The Walt Disney Company Iberia, D.L. 2009. — 1 DVD (103 min.) : son., col.

Idiomas: español, inglés ; Subtít. : español, inglés…etc.

Basada en la obra teatral de John Patrick Shanley

Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

No recomendada para menores de 13 años

D.L. M 11293-2009

ZW .S528 D6818 2008

Gostei muito do filme Dúvida, do dramaturgo John Patrick Shanley, que adaptou sua própria peça. O trabalho junto ao elenco é formidável. Desde a sutileza em que o garoto é apresentado, numa cena breve que já anuncia uma suspeita homossexualidade, até alguns detalhes incômodos, como a coriza da personagem de Viola Davis, a reticência de Philip Seymour Hoffman ou a imagem sempre espantosa de Amy Adams. Por sua vez, Meryl Steep e o diretor constroem uma rígida freira, onde o que seriam impostações caricaturais se tornam possibilidades positivas para a personagem, como se o julgamento fácil do público não pudesse nunca se justificar. 

Enquanto assistia ao filme, me lembrava de O coração da matéria, romance de Graham Greene. Em ambos os casos, é fascinante como profundas implicações morais do catolicismo encontram ressonância mesmo nas adversidades aparentemente insuportáveis. São obras que esclarecem aquilo que seria uma das maiores dificuldade da fé, o livre arbítrio que Deus concede aos homens. O fato do filme terminar numa dúvida que redime elucida um pouco esse mistério.

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Talk about yer star-studded evenings. Ann Blyth, Connie Stevens, Shirley Jones, Debbie Reynolds, Ruta Lee and Nancy Sinatra are among the sparklies set to honour indefatigable

REDGRAVE: Tennessee tribute

entertainer Mickey Rooney at the Thalians Gala this Sunday in Hollywood. (Did you know that Mickey, who married eight times, has been wed to his current missus Jan Chamberlin for more than 30 years? That’s gotta be a Tinsel Town record in itself!) … the late Patrick Swayze will be among the honorees at America Dances, the 24th Anniversary Jubilee of Career Transition for Dancers. Headliners for Monday night’s event at New York’s City Center include four-time Emmy Award winner Valerie Harper and Tony Award winner Ann Reinking. For all the details, including who’s hoofing, click here … and Eli Wallach & Anne Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, Marian Seldes, John Guare, Olympia Dukakis and John Patrick Shanley are among the marquee names set to participate in an

KASH: Harvest time

evening of poetry, theater, and reminiscences in honor of the induction of Tennessee Williams into The Cathedral of St. John the Divine Poets’ Corner next Thursday in Manhattan.

TRICK OR TREAT: Only three more chances to see dynamic duo Linda Kash and Paul O’Sullivan play multiple roles in Harvest. The Ken Cameron comedy is set to close Saturday night at Showplace Peterborough … the two-day Zoomer Show is set for this weekend at the Direct Energy Centre at the CNE … and the Royal Cinema on College Street celebrates the scary season tonight with a 7 pm Halloween Double

STROMBO: with Anne tonight

Bill: Zombies: When the Dead Walk, and The Houdini Code, two intriguing documentaries produced by Donna Zuckerbrot.

TOGETHER AGAIN: Your boyfriend George Stoumboulopoulos welcomes Anne Murray back to his red chairs tonight on The Hour to talk about her new autobiography All Of Me …  and speaking of autobiographies, recently I mentioned that I thought comedian Kathy Griffin’s new autobiography has the catchiest title of the fall literary season (yes, she  really did call her book Official Book Club Selection.)

MANDEL: Touche-pas!

But some close runners-up are now looming. Obsessively compulsive Howie Mandel calls his book Here’s the Deal: Don’t Touch Me. Paul Shaffer’s Letterman years memoir is called We’ll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives. Inside its pages, current headline-earner Andre Agassi is reportedly living up to the title of his tome, Open. And Don Cherry wants to make it as simple for us as possible, so he’s called his new collection of on-and-off-the-ice fables Don Cherry’s Hockey Stories And Stuff.

OUR TOWN: The 2009 International Diaspora Film Festival opens here Sunday with a wide range of unusual events. Highlights include David Amram’s

MURRAY: on The Hour tonight

evening of music and dance from the Middle East, At Home Around the World, on Tuesday 3 at Revival, and the Toronto premiere of filmmaker Teri McCluhan’s 2008 documentary on Badshah Khan, The Frontier Gandhi, on Wednesday at Innis Hall. For more info on Diaspora events, click here … dazzling dance demon Noam Gagnon returns to Toronto Nov. 6-7 in The Vision Impure, an evening of solos presented by DanceWorks as part of Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps series at the Enwave Theatre … and the seventh annual Weekend To End Breast Cancer saw 4,615 participants raise a staggering $11.6 million for Princess Margaret Hospital’s ongoing mission to conquer cancer in our lifetime. Organizers will broaden the base next year with The Weekend To End Women’s Cancers, giving walkers an option to designate whether the money they raise goes to breast cancer or gynecologic cancers research, treatment and care. Expect a HUGE turnout.

-/-

Just a quick announcement that University of the West’s Religion & Film Series will continue tomorrow with a screening of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt–the Oscar-nominated adaptation of his Pulitizer Prize-winning play.  The film stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis (all Academy Award-nominated for their work), and is described by the All Movie Guide in this way:

1964, St. Nicholas, the Bronx: The winds of change are sweeping through this tight-knit religious community, and charismatic priest Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is doing his best to adapt by revisiting the school’s notoriously strict disciplinary practices. Unfortunately Father Flynn’s progressive ideas stand in stark contrast to the longstanding beliefs of Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the iron-willed principal, who believes that an oppressive environment of punishment and fear is the only way to keep the student body in line. Suddenly into this tempestuous environment appears young Donald Miller, St. Nicholas’ first black student. When hopeful innocent Sister James (Amy Adams) reluctantly reveals to Sister Beauvier that Father Flynn and Donald have been spending an unusual amount of time together in the church rectory, the unrelentingly righteous headmistress begins a merciless crusade to reveal the beloved clergyman as a lecherous child molester and have him permanently expunged from the school. Yet despite her moral certainty that Father Flynn has committed such an unspeakable transgression, Sister Beauvier has not a shred of actual evidence to back up her audacious claim. Now, as Sister Beauvier and Father Flynn enter into an epic battle of wills, the shock waves set into motion by their explosive confrontation threaten to destroy one man’s reputation and tear apart the entire surrounding community.

A trailer for the film is at the end of the post.

I’ve previously blogged about my affinity for Shanley’s play, and you can read those thoughts here.

The screening starts at 7 p.m. in Room ED309.  It is free and open to the public.  A discussion will follow with me; Corrine Hinton, Coordinator of the Learning Center; and Corinne Medina, Executive Assistant to the President of the University.  We hope to see you there!

[Photo from Miramax Films.]

I’ll start this post off by saying, I didn’t find what I was looking for.   I was looking for structural elements to a scene.   There are very specific structural elements to well crafted scenes.  I did however, find lots of good content and scene development resources, so enjoy these until I find what I’m looking for and can offer that.

Formatting

Give up making this difficult.  It’s the easiest part. Here are a few quick links (great resources):

Screenplay Formatting Basics: http://www.scriptologist.com/Magazine/Formatting/formatting.html

Screenplay formatting continued: http://www.scriptologist.com/Magazine/Formatting/Formatting_II/formatting_ii.html

Further: http://www.screenwriting.info/04.php

And, finally: http://www.googobits.com/articles/p2-505-screenwriting-the-basics.html

Crafting Scenes

Here is a fabulous article on designing character, intent and drama in and between scenes: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/scene.php

The idea of Visual Grammar http://www.unique-screenwriting.com/rules-of-fight-club.html

Why scenes work: http://writing-dramatic-scripts.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_write_dramatic_scenes_for_screenplays

How to indicate special scene considerations: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Writing-Plays-Screenwriting-677/indicate-scene-B-W.htm

How many scenes? http://www.moviedeaths.com/phorum/read.php?1,3065

Great Rules for writing action and scene description: http://www.aboutascreenplay.com/storytelling-techniques/15-tips-for-writing-scene-description/

Make sure your scenes aren’t what they seem.  Great article: http://www.aboutascreenplay.com/storytelling-techniques/15-tips-for-writing-scene-description/

The Best of the Best, writing the perfect scene.  Don’t miss this interview with John Patrick Shanley on writing Doubt:  http://hubpages.com/hub/Screenwriting-The-Perfect-Scene <—-  Read this article!

Love scene guidelines – http://www.writing-world.com/romance/love.shtml

Character development and emotional character arcs, very good article: http://www.sff.net/people/alicia/artscenestructure.htm

Domino Theory. Moving the action forward http://www.reviewfuse.com/resources/lesson/3/

A Great Exercise

Write dialogue for a Nora Ephron Film. http://www.learner.org/interactives/cinema/screenwriting/page2.html

Just for Fun!

10 Qualities  of a Great Movie Spanking (Part 2): http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=111681588&blogID=285166715

Intolerance and Vocation

CLASSIFICATION     CP Catholic Patronage

RATING     Five of 5 Stars

Distributed by Miramax Films (released on 25 December 2008)

104 minutes

The Film

Doubt is the film adaptation of John Patrick Shanley’s stage play Doubt: A Parable, written in 2004, originally staged off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club on 23 November 2004, and winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Shanley writes and directs. It receives five Academic Awards nominations on 22 January 2009, and racks best actress and best supporting actress in eight awarding bodies.

The Preview

The Story

The film opens with her mother waking up Jimmy, an altar boy in the nearby church, to prepare to go to church early for that Sunday’s Mass. Donald Miller (Joseph Foster), another altar boy and the nearby school’s first black student, arrived just in time for the Mass to start. In the service, Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) gives a sermon on the nature of doubt. While the mass is going on, Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep), the strict principal of the parochial school, notices students whispering among each other or sleeping; so she stood up and slapped them to proper behavior. After the  mass, Miller approaches Fr. Flynn and tells him that he wants to be a priest like Fr. Flynn.

The following day and during the history class of Sister James (Amy Adams), Sr. Aloysius performs an inspection of the students and catches one child wearing an earphone while attending class. That evening she discusses the sermon with her fellow nuns of the Sisters of Charity of New York. And she expresses concern that something wrong might have happened around the place to merit the homily on doubt. She asks if anyone has observed unusual behavior to give Fr. Flynn cause for the preaching, and instructs them to keep their eyes open.

Fr. Flynn teaches Physical Education for boys in that school. Being so, he is close to the boys whom he once in a while treats with some glass of juice and talk about dancing with girls. One night the priest, with the bishop and another priest, had supper talking about a fat mother and laughing their heart out at it.

Sr. James, a young and naive teacher, observes the closeness between Fr. Flynn and Donald. One day during her class, she receives a call from the priest asking for Donald in the rectory. Sometime later, while watching the dancing class in the gym, she sees the priest place something in Donald’s locker. When she checks, it turns out to be the boy’s wet white undershirt. That afternoon, she told Sr. Aloysius of the incident in the classroom; and that when Donald returns to class, he looked “very frightened and puts his hands on the desk in a most peculiar way.” She smelled alcohol on his breath.

The following week, Fr. Flynn talks to a boy outside the principal’s office for talking in his class. Under the pretext of discussing the upcoming Christmas pageant, Sisters Aloysius and James confront the priest with their suspicions that his relationship with Donal may be inappropriate. The priest tells them to leave the matter alone as a private issue between the boy and himself. But the principal insists. So the priest relents, telling the nuns that the boy had been caught drinking altar wine. He had promised Donald not to tell anyone about the incident, and that he could remain an altar boy. Now, forced to break the promise, the Fr. Flynn tells Sr. Aloysius that he needs to dismiss Donald as an altar boy. The priest tells the principal that he is disappointed in the way she handles the issue.

Sr. James on the other hand feels relief, convinced that Fr. Flynn is innocent. But Sr. Aloysius remains unshakable with her suspicion.

In the following Sunday’s Mass, Fr. Flynn tells a story of a gossip-mongering woman who died and went to God. As a penitence for her misdeeds, God tells her to open up a pillow on her rooftop, throw away the feathers into the wind, and then collect all the feathers back into the pillow.

In the church’s ground after the Mass, Sr. James confronts Fr. Flynn about the undershirt she saw him leave in Donald’s locker, something she did not reveal to the principal. The priest tells her he found it in the sacristy and wanted not to embarrass the boy some more. They discuss their common loves for the children. Sr. James’ doubt receives assurance. And Fr. Flynn asks her not to let anyone destroy her compassion. After that Fr. Flynn makes some effort to avoid Donald.

The principal sends for Donald’s mother to reveal her suspicions. And Fr. Flynn discovers it. Mrs. Miller (Viola Davis) learns that Donald has been removed as an altar boy. But she shocks the nun when the mother asks her that the matter may not be pursued further because the boy only has until the end of teh school year (two months more to go) before going to a better high school. Mrs. Miller hints the nun of Donald’s homosexuality and teh physical abuse he suffered from his father. She begs the nun to drop teh matter, and rationalizes that Donald’s relationship with the priest protects him from his father and enhances his chances of going to college.

Despite having no evidence, Sr. Aloysius demands that Fr. Flynn tells the truth or she will go to his superiors. He repeats that there is no illicit relationship. But the nun conjures a story about his problems, having been moved to three different parishes in five years. And that she knows details from another nun in one of his previous parishes, which she refuses to identify. The priest was furious for her not contacting the parish priest instead, and breaking the accepted protocol of getting reliable information. She demands that he resigns. Unable to put up more to her willingness to destroy his reputation, the priest succumbs to her demands.

In his final Mass, Fr. Flynn talks about providential call that leads a person to wherever the spirit wants him to. After the sermon, Sr. Aloysius tells Sr. James that although Fr. Flynn has left, he is also appointed pastor at St. Jerome’s Church; in effect, a promotion. She admits to Sr. James that she lied about speaking to a nun at his former parish.

Sr. Aloysius concludes that one also pays a price for pursuing wrongdoing.

The film ends as Sister Aloysius breaks down into tears and she tells the younger nun that she has such doubt.

 The Review

Doubt is a complex movie of human motives as teh intention of uncovering the truth turned into a misguided quest for retribution based on a lie and twisted with pride. The story is tragic on the aprt of a priest who may have gained something towards reforming himself from a past clouded with a question on misdemeanor. But like any story of other people’s lives, there is always uncertainty because no one will ever know what is in a person’s heart.

Sin can be justified as a means to something good. Sr. Aloysius has naturally signed up to the idea that it is alright to commit sin in order to uncover wrongdoings of other people. The nun, who used to be a wife, operates with the usual reticence of pride which does not allow the possibility that she made a mistake, and prefers instead to destroy a priest’s reputation to admit her own mistake on the issue.

Pride can turn something good into something remorseful. Sister Aloysius, an inherently mistrustful and suspiciois character of a nun, started ti right to seek what happened in order to protect her student. That is part of her job as the principal. But her intrigue-predisposed mind overdid it by following her gut feeling, and let pride sets in to make her feel so self-righteous to plot for the downfall of the priest based on a lie not of the truth. Has she really wanted to know the truth and sought for it, she may find out something entirely different. In a way, she did not want to find out something different, something that contradicts what she believes in. She startedwith a desire to know the truth and ends up embracing a lie.

Pride led Sr. Aloysius to act on her own authority, breaking away from the established syste that governs proper way of placing a complain on a priest’s suspected behavior, violated her vow of obedience, and her vocation was in tatters.

A taste of sugar may make pleasures uncontrollable. Sr. Aloysius epitomizes an ultraconservative albeit undiscriminating attitude towards non-harmful pleasures of life such as a tasty food (use of three spoons of sugar in a coffee), convenience in writing (use of ball-point pens). She believes that what is pleasurable and easy can be come a beginnign in the breakdown of moral fiber. While this cautious approach to disipline of the body is philosophically valid, its application to things that requires no moral justification makes it so cold that it can stifle even teh good feelings associated with loving and compassion. And she has ceased to be loving and compassionate, way back her story starts.

Seggregationist beliefs alienates as well as hurts. The film proposes that even religous people may not be immune to their brand of seggreagationism, be it racism or not. And any action can be defended with intelligent arguments. What the sister did not know was the burden that Donald carry, which may have pushed him self-destruct–do something so bad that the school will expel him, relieving him on the pressure brought about his being black.

A mother’s care can be a stabilizing factor to a son. The love of a mother breathes out in the statement of Mrs. Miller–”I’ll be standing with my son and those who are good to my son; and I hope you’ll be standing with me there. This all-consuming love for her boy, shielded Mrs. Miller from the intrigues started by Sr. Aloysius.

The Verdict

Doubt  is a movie about intolerance, a subtle form of pride through an ego-centered self-righteousness, and the doubt it can bring into a person’s vocation in life. The film exlores the workings of pride in a Christian life, and the fruits of this cardinal sin–intolerance, untruthfulness, scandal-mongering, intrigue-making, and many more. It is a great movie for Catholics to watch and contemplate.

Reviewed by Zosimo Literatus

This is the second part (first part here) of a list that was initially conceived back in January. Since then it has been revised to include most of the titles I didn’t manage to see until later on, so as to ensure that those later releases were also given a chance. While managing to (just about) condense the list into twenty films, there are a number of films from last year that are also worthy of mention despite not making the cut:

Dear Zachary – Heartbreaking, terrible evil, is bound to make you cry.
Tôkyô! – Colourful, metropolitan, three unique slices of Tokyo life.
The Class – Bold, boisterous, the joys of opening up young minds.
Flame & Citron - War, intrigue, and the unstoppable breeding of mistrust.
Everything is Fine – Greyish land, crippling grief,  and bubbling teenage angst.
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures - Narcissistic, hilarious, untrue.
The Headless Woman – Slow, subtle, a dream-like portrait of self-destruction.
Speed Racer – Garish, sensational, like dusty Sunday morning cartoons.

Above are the eight honourable mentions that I believe to be worthy of… mention. Unfortunately, it’s been so long since I’ve seen most of them that they’ve simply been condensed into single sentence summations for now.  Though please feel free to add your own. Now, back to the rest of the list. Enjoy, and be sure to look out for the 2009 edition of this list which should be posted around January/February of next year.

10. Wendy and Lucy | Kelly Reichardt

Montana-born actress Michelle Williams has come a long way since her career-propelling turn on the hit teenage drama Dawson’s Creek. That was ‘98, and a bold move for a young actress who had already made her screen debut. As with many other young talents however, the stability of a six-season run on such a popular primetime show proved to be priceless. Since then Williams has made some… [MORE]

09. Flight of the Red Balloon | Hou Hsiao-Hsien

It’s always interesting to watch talented filmmakers move away from their native land to create in a new environment. Seasoned director Hou Hsiao-Hsien was born in China, grew up in Taiwan yet has also made films in Japan. Voyage du Ballon Rouge or Flight of the Red Balloon is his first film set and shot outside Asia and is inspired by Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 classic Le Ballon Rouge. Many words… [MORE]

08. Doubt | John Patrick Shanley

John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt is a film about faith and about uncertainty. Historically, the idea of doubt has been regarded very differently by those of faith, often both as a sin and as a virtue. Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote that “Christianity has done its utmost to close the circle and declare even doubt to be a sin.” which can be seen in the poetry of Frederick William Faber; “For right is right, since God is God, … [MORE]

07. Revanche | Götz Spielmann

Götz Spielmann’s Revanche is named after the French word for “revenge”, and one would be hard-pressed to find a single word that could better sum up this slick European thriller. We open on the imposing tops of dark green trees reflected in a forest lake as the opening credits come and go, eventually leaving us with the most profound silence and stillness. After a few moments this calm is shattered… [MORE]

06. The Wrestler | Darren Aronofsky

As a concept, Darren Aronofsky’s latest outing The Wrestler is the closest this oft-misjudged director has ever been to conventional cinema, and it works for him. It’s an intelligent move. Not only will the film reassure all those fans of his that were alienated after The Fountain, it will also undoubtedly win western audiences over in the theaters. For what is more American than wrestling after all? The story… [MORE]

05. Synecdoche, New York | Charlie Kaufman

Attempting to explain the premise behind award winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synecdoche, New York is like rushing to unravel a new roll of sticky tape with stunted fingernails. You think you’ve got it but you never truly have. You scrabble at the most accessible point until you break through, but in your enthusiasm realise that this has only exposed a deeper and stickier layer of… [MORE]

04. Still Walking | Hirokazu Koreeda

Someone recently pointed out to me that 2008 was a year for the family film; not those intended to entertain adults and kids alike but those created to portray the family dynamic in modern society. This is true in a sense, we have been treated to such family-oriented titles as I’ve Loved You So Long, Flight of the Red Balloon and Summer Hours from France alone this year. Then again it is also true… [MORE]

03. In the City of Sylvia | José Luis Guerín

Many tend to forget that film is the only popular medium in which one may tell a story without actually telling it. We forget that our good friend dialogue wasn’t present at the birth of cinema, nor was he expected. These days it seems that the screenplay is a critical step in the production process of a film, rather than an optional one. Works of the cinematic orientation conceived merely from a whispered concept are… [MORE]

02. Milk | Gus Van Sant

It’s taken a long time for Kentucky-born filmmaker Gus Greene Van Sant Junior to step out of his oft-tagged “indie” comfort zone and tackle a project of size. With Milk, the director has not only found his feet in more conventional territory, but also reignited a passion that seemed somehow dampened during his recent efforts. Milk is the story of California’s first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, and his… [MORE]

01. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | David Fincher

Which filmmaker do you believe best represents modern American cinema? Which filmography would you choose, if you could, to represent such a great country and its ever-increasing array of films? It’s a question that I’m sure many have thought about but, of course, there is no concrete answer. There is however a general consensus as to the recognised greats of American cinema and with The Curious Case... [MORE]

Thank you for reading.

Munro compliments Dr. Elliot's choice of primitives in "Congo".

(Frank Marshall, 1995)

September 6, 2009

by Joel Crary

“Congo” was a film I remember my friends in high school and I appreciating for its comic tone, specifically for the scene in which Delroy Lindo, costumed as a junta military leader, screams at a philanthropist to stop eating his sesame cake. When I put the film on for the first time in a decade-plus, I was expecting to be let down by time’s effect, but was surprised to see that “Congo” still works as a b-grade actioner, with performances that are laughably hammy when they need to be. It’s a film that features “The Evil Dead’s” Bruce Campbell meeting an untimely end in its first scene, and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s” Tim Curry playing a Romanian obsessed with finding a lost city. I choose to take it for what it is.

In addition to a decent turn from a laser-wielding Laura Linney, its other principle part is played by a gorilla named Amy, who is clearly a person in a suit capped with facial animatronics that cast doe-eyed looks at her surroundings. In fact, all of the gorillas look astonishingly un-gorilla-like, so much so that it plays effectively as camp. There are some funny gags as Amy uses a sign language machine to verbalize what she thinks, emitting the factual tone of a 10-year-old girl administering an automated telephone survey.

Amy’s keeper, Dr. Peter Elliot (Dylan Walsh), is looking for grant money to continue his research. Now that he’s taught Amy to talk, he wants to return her to the wild in order to spread her new-found knowledge to other animals. Amy’s home is in the Congo, and Elliot agrees to have the probably ill-intentioned Herkermer Homolka (Curry) fund the trip. A problem with Homolka’s credit card sends telecommunications scientist Karen Ross (Linney) to the rescue. She’s looking to find her former fiancé and return with a diamond powerful enough to run a leading-edge kind of communications satellite for her company.

This is all quite ludicrous, but fun. The group runs into a heap of political trouble once they hit Africa. Given the sight of terrorist bombs going off at the airport, crossing the border into then-Zaire seems to be a veritable suicide mission. Luckily, they’ve hired the cigar-chomping Captain Munro Kelly (Ernie Hudson), the type of man who seems to speak any language in any required accent. After diverting heat-seeking missiles away from their plane with flare guns over the border, the group parachutes into the Congo and find that their troubles have only just started.

Homolka wants to find King Solomon’s mines in the lost city of Zinj. Unfortunately, Zinj is guarded by a species of gorilla undiscovered by man. Aggressive by nature, they attack the group in bloody fashion, swarming like Morlocks in the underground caverns of George Pal’s “The Time Machine”. In one scene, machine gun turrets are set up to fire automatically when motion sensors are triggered in the jungle. I was reminded of a similar scene in “Aliens”, though that film keeps the pursuing creatures off camera, heightening the tension of their appearance and the mystery of their intelligence. This flick goes right for the gory detail, making the scent of singed gorilla flesh almost palpable.

“Congo” came out a couple of years after the phenomenon of “Jurassic Park” assured that Michael Crichton novels would remain sources of adaptations for years to come. Its screenplay was written by John Patrick Shanley, more recently known for writing and directing last year’s “Doubt”. “Congo” seems to know and cherish the conventions of “King Kong” and other man vs. unknown natural world films. It flaunts them pretty well, and on that level I enjoyed it.

• Stories Bookstore/Cafe in Echo Park kicks off the month in fine fashion, Sat 8/01 8pm, hosting Richard Lange (whose story collection Dead Boys won much praise) with his new LA noir, This Wicked World–poet John Tottenham (Inertia Variations) also reads; Sun 8/09, internet radio station DUBLAB broadcasts live from the store all day (I’m listening now, and it’s all over the place, in a good way); that’s an indication of the wildly eclectic programming at Stories, which includes: Storytime for kids most Wednesday mornings (next session Aug 5 10:30am); tarot card readings Thursday nights; and on Fridays, live music in the morning, and knitting at night; sign up for their newsletter, and check out their expanding cafe offerings (open 8am weekdays)

• at Book Soup in West Hollywood: on Sat 8/01, early hits of culture musical (Patti Smith at noon) and filmic (Werner Herzog at 5pm); Mon 8/10 7pm, what promises to be a terrific reading from the self-proclaimed pulpy litmag Hobart, featuring Tod Goldberg (whose second Burn Notice book is out, and whose new story collection Other Resort Cities is due out soon on Other Voices), and Alicia Gifford (Night Train fiction editor, and a fine writer herself)

• at Los Feliz’ Skylight Books: Tues 8/11 7:30pm, the scarily prolific William Vollmann with Imperial, his look at the tangled border between California and Mexico; Sat 8/22 5pm, Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens, the Frank Oppenheimer story, as told by K.C. Cole (a terrific popular science writer, whose Hole in the Universe introduced me to cosmology and quantum physics); and throughout the summer, Skylight offers ‘Hot Summer Nights,’ staying open till midnight on Fridays and Saturdays

• Fri 8/14 8pm, the New Short Fiction Series, LA’s live literary magazine, presents its annual Emerging Writers Showcase–this year featuring six writers, including two from my writers group, Susan Lindheim and J. Ryan Stradal

• on Sun 8/16 7pm, Cedering Fox’s WordTheatre presents “Thrill or Peril,” tales of adventure read by their author, or by notable actors like Sarah Clarke and Xander Berkeley; at the M Bar

• the following Sunday, 8/23, the Chinatown reading series Vermin on the Mount (so many worthy authors have read there I can’t begin to name them) celebrates their 5-year anniversary

• finally, the Deborah Geffner-directed production of John Patrick Shanley’s “Beggars in the House of Plenty” at Theatre 68 continues until Aug 16–I thought it was terrific; and it just got a stellar review from StageSceneLA

Mr. Shanley favors Provençal chandeliers, because they “have a lightness that belies their actual weight,” he said.

A painted Mexican wardrobe hides prized possessions like “the Oscar, the Tony and a lot of bed linens.”

Click through Mustard Yellow and Peppermint Green from The New York Times Home and Garden for the house tour of John Patrick Shanley, the playwright, director and screenwriter. The images and morsels of information are a poetic display of living: color, emphasis on the quarky details, and creating intimate spaces for loved ones.

Meryl Streep

Stunning… Disturbing… Masterful…

This is how I describe the film Doubt. I recently rented the DVD from Netflix. With a cast of powerhouse actors Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffmann, and Amy Adams, this movie with its amazing screenplay based on John Patrick Shanley’s stage play, Doubt is movie that leaves you recuperating mentally and emotionally for a while.

Amy Adams

It deals with extremes.  The story centers on suspicions that the parish priest ( Seymour) is a pedophile and is actively abusing some boys.  A novice nun ( Amy Adams) and Streep’s conservative militant superior nun character suspect and try to confirm it.

There is no real evidence only conjecture and gossip. Everything is based on appearance.  Convincing signs, but still no real evidence and the audience is pulled back and forth.  All these characters are flawed and played wonderfully by the principal actors.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams

The look of the film also adds to this feeling of uncertainty with its grey tones and camera angles. You are left still wondering about the primary question and be quite frankly, in doubt.

This film is not for faint hearted.  It is a masterpiece.  It is an actor’s film. It is a story that brings much to think about and leaves one feeling grateful for the art form known as film.

Gli antichi chiamavano κρίσις la capacità degli esseri umani di discutere e di discernere, usando il proprio spirito critico; servirsi di εἰρωνεία, specialmente in senso socratico, significava porsi domande ed evitare di tranciare sentenze irrispettose della sensibilità altrui. Oggi questi termini (crisi e ironia) hanno cambiato significato nel lessico comune; ma nella loro essenza resta l’eco della cultura classica in cui sono nati.

Terenzio diceva: Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto, ribadendo che sopra ogni altra cosa sta il rispetto dell’umanità insita in ogni persona.  Sofocle faceva combattere la giovane Antigone in nome delle leggi non scritte: i valori universali di amore e devozione che rendono l’uomo degno di questo nome.

In sostanza, di fronte alla complessità dell’animo umano e delle sofferenze altrui, il modo più equilibrato di porsi è il dubbio. Un dubbio pieno di carità e lontano dal grossolano  giustizialismo moralistico assuefatto al potere intollerante e al cieco integralismo in nome del quale gli uomini commettono le atrocità peggiori, impugnando come alibi la religione e la strumentale interpretazione della (presunta) volontà di Dio.

Negli ultimi giorni mi sono trovata a riflettere (nelle parole e nei fatti) su una questione che coinvolgeva un’altra persona (peraltro molto giovane), con i suoi errori e la sua fragilità ma anche con la sua intelligenza, il suo orgoglio e il suo disperato bisogno di comunicare – in modo indiretto e paradossale – il proprio disagio. Spero di essere riuscita a far riflettere anche altre persone (pienamente adulte) sulla necessità, di fronte a certi drammi e a certe problematiche, di cercare una dialettica rispettosa della dignità altrui, di mettere in discussione le proprie granitiche certezze, spesso basate non su prove realistiche ma su (pre)giudizi sommari. Il che non significa giustificare tutto o non essere rigorosi; anzi. Ma significa, pur nel rispetto delle regole, imparare a mettersi nei panni degli altri e assumere un altro punto di vista. Specialmente quando si lavora nel campo dell’insegnamento e dell’educazione.

Come cambia il punto di vista: planisfero visto dagli Australiani

Dopo questo episodio, ho capito che era arrivato il momento giusto di vedere un film che al cinema mi ero persa e che non avevo ancora avuto la predisposizione mentale (oltre, ovviamente, al tempo) di vedere.

Questo film è Il dubbio.

L’ho visto. Un capolavoro. Non credete a chi vi dice che, quando il film finisce, si resta con il dubbio che il protagonista sia o meno un prete pedofilo. Piuttosto, leggete questa recensione scritta da Roberto Escobar per Il Sole 24 ore l’8 febbraio 2009.

Nell’ultimo bel film di Shanley si racconta la storia di padre Flynn, coinvolto negli anni ‘60 in una storia di pedofilia. Vera o presunta?

È o non è colpevole, padre Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman)? Questa è, o sembra, la domanda che dà senso a Il dubbio (Doubt, Usa, 2008, 104′). Sorella Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), preside della scuola di St. Nicholas, nel Bronx, sospetta che il prete abbia abusato di Donald Miller (Joseph Foster). Donald è il solo allievo afroamericano. Forse per questo, per proteggerlo, padre Brendan gli dimostra affetto. O forse ha altre mire.

Girato e scritto da John Patrick Shanley, il film è ambientato nel 1964. Da un anno è stato ucciso John Kennedy, e da due è iniziato il Concilio Vaticano II. Padre Brendan è un prete conciliare, mentre Sorella Aloysius è rigidamente conservatrice. Lo è anche per l’uso della penna biro al posto della stilografica. Con la biro – dice alla giovane e dolce sorella James (Amy Adams) – i ragazzi premono sul foglio, e scrivono male. Di questo passo, commenta, che fine farà la calligrafia? La preside della scuola di St. Nicholas è convinta che il mondo debba restare quel che è, in conformità con un Bene immutabile. A questa certezza dedica tutta se stessa, senza alcuna simpatia per quel che è umano, e dunque imperfetto. Poco importa se questo la induce ad allontanarsi per un tratto di strada da Dio (cioè, a far del male). Quando l’intenzione è retta, spiega a sorella James, lo si fa per suo conto (noi diremmo: nel ruolo di adiutores Dei).

Nient’affatto rigido è invece il suo antagonista. Se lei nasconde lo zucchero nel periodo di quaresima, e poi fatica a rimetterlo in tavola, padre Brendan ne riempie la propria tazza di tè. Sono goloso, le dice. E in queste parole c’è la convinzione che la vita sia più importante di qualunque severità moralistica e punitiva. Non ha certezze, il prete, o almeno non le ostenta. Al contrario, ritiene che perderle, le certezze, apra alla relazione con gli altri. Proprio questo – così dice all’inizio del film, in un’omelia che subito mette in sospetto sorella Aloysius – è accaduto a tutti noi, subito dopo l’assassinio di Kennedy. Disorientati, ci siamo riversati per le strade, e là ci siamo ritrovati gli uni accanto agli altri. Alla fine il dubbio, anche quello relativo alla fede, aiuta a ritrovarsi, appunto. Quanto all’allontanamento da Dio per conto di Dio, certo padre Brendan lo considererebbe non un ritrovarsi, ma un perdersi.

È un film pieno di intelligenza, questo di Shanley. Splendidamente scritto e splendidamente recitato, si dà allo spettatore non come l’enunciazione di una verità, per quanto densa di sfumature, ma come un percorso attraverso psicologie, sensibilità, contraddizioni. Fra la consapevole apertura di padre Brendan e l’altrettanto consapevole chiusura di sorella Aloysius, c’è l’entusiasmo immediato di Sorella James, indifesa quanto basta per farsi influenzare dalla superiora, ma anche pronta a credere con generosità umana alle giustificazioni del prete. A lei, certo non a caso, nei titoli di coda è dedicato Il dubbio. [...] La vita è più complessa, e più tragica, di ogni nostra certezza. A proposito delle nostre certezze, verso la fine del film c’è anche quella che padre Brendan lo sia, colpevole. La pervicacia della suora sembra averlo costretto a confessare, almeno implicitamente. Ha telefonato a una suora di un’altra parrocchia, da cui il prete è stato allontanato, e quella ha confermato. Così sorella Aloysius dice e così noi crediamo sia accaduto. Al prete non resta che firmare una lettera di dimissioni. E a noi non resta che dar retta alla sua accusatrice, senz’ombra di dubbio. D’altra parte, quando tutto s’è compiuto, lei confessa che la telefonata era una bugia: un modo di servire Dio allontanandosi da Dio. Certo, qualcosa ha fatto padre Brendan nel suo passato. Ma che cosa ha davvero fatto? Questa è la domanda, il dubbio più importante del film di Shanley: il dubbio che ora esplode nel cuore della preside della scuola di St. Paul, e che per la prima volta vince la sua rigidità. Piange, la coadiutrice di Dio, e forse inizia a ritrovarsi.

• Sunday 6/21 7pm, writing group mate J. Ryan Stradal reads at Book Party–a reading series I’m unfamiliar with, at the Mandrake Bar (2692 La Cienega in Culver City).

• Sunday 6/28, the New Short Fiction Series (LA’s ‘live literary magazine’) and Other Voices (formerly a top-notch literary journal, and now, as part of the Dzanc family, publisher of fine books) co-sponsor an evening of readings from Billy Lombardo’s How To Hold a Woman and Gina Frangello’s Slut Lullabies–wine & hors d’oeuvres at 7pm, readings at 7:30–at LIME Studios, 1528 20th Street, Santa Monica.

• Theatre 68 in Hollywood rolls on with their 13 By Shanley series, an ambitious rotation of 13 plays by Pulitzer- and Oscar-winning writer John Patrick Shanley (don’t be put off if you were, as I was, disappointed with the film version of Doubt), now extended through Aug. 16: I can personally vouch for the Deborah Geffner-directed Beggars in the House of Plenty, Shanley’s most autobiographical play. Check out this don’t vote-style promo on YouTube.

• The PEN Center Emerging Voices fellowship program is accepting applications through Aug. 14–the program provides supportive but rigorous mentoring for emerging voices from a culturally diverse background.

• Friend and Pushcart Prize-winner Sage Marsters (a writer to watch out for) has a new story online at Open Letters (a new journal to me) called Yellow–aspiring writers would do well to observe how Sage adeptly packs her stories with telling details.

• Long-time mentor and popular UCLA Writer’s Program instructor Lou Mathews has a new story, “At the DMV,” in the most recent issue of Short Story, one of my favorite literary journals.

Doubt | John Patrick Shanley, 2008

John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt is a film about faith and about uncertainty. Historically, the idea of doubt has been regarded very differently by those of faith, often both as a sin and as a virtue. Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote that “Christianity has done its utmost to close the circle and declare even doubt to be a sin.” which can be seen in the poetry of Frederick William Faber; “For right is right, since God is God, And right the day must win; To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter would be sin”. Yet others have underlined uncertainty as a necessary part of faith and understanding, including Francis Bacon who wrote that “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties”. Just as the importance of doubt and certainty has provoked conflicting views between those of faith, here it is the cause of a war between two wills, that of Sister Aloysius Beauvier (played by Meryl Streep) and Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Sister Beauvier represents the stuffy, stricter side of the religious establishment. She is severity personified. Yet the imperial dominion she holds over the schoolchildren is now under threat from the new and more accessible Father Flynn, whose warmer approach to the kids begins to blow away her tyranny. Flynn’s approach is questioned however when a younger, timid teacher named Sister James (Amy Adams) notices he is spending a lot of time with one particular boy.

Doubt opens with Father Flynn delivering a sermon on the nature of doubt itself, pointing out that just like faith; doubt can be a unifying strength among people. This speech falls on bored ears, as the beady-eyed and ever-present Sister Beauvier prowls through the restless crowd. This is an extremely telling introduction by the director who shows us in one simple sequence the differing stances of each main character. Sister Beauvier represents the past as far as religion is concerned, she reads situations by the book and is experienced, ruthless and wily enough to take on even her superiors. Father Flynn on the other hand represents the future. Between these two juggernauts there is Sister James who represents in some way ourselves; innocent and unsure and entirely manipulable. At its lowest points Doubt exists as an effective drama but moves into something entirely different when Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman share the screen. Streep’s performance in particular is exquisite, she infuses her character with such ruthlessness that sparks appear to fly from her nostrils when the film’s final altercation commences. The most impressive thing about Doubt however is in John Patrick Shanley’s refusal to hand us any kind of resolution once the dust has settled. Ambiguity is sustained throughout, allowing us to perceive things completely differently depending on ourselves.

Our Rating:

Not unlike films about athletes making “big comebacks” (see yesterday’s review of The Wrestler), movies about Catholic clergy are typically one step away from lapsing into stereotypes–the severe and noxious nun, the old, kindly priest. Doubt (PC rating: 4/5 stars) certainly flirts with these problems; however, as its title implies, it invests its characters with enough moral complexity to keep things…well, in doubt. Indeed, by film’s end, the viewer is left not only wrestling with the fate of its two principal characters–Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn, played to perfection by Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman respectively–but with the upheavals in American Catholicism since the mid 20th Century.

La pellicola che vede come protagonisti i due premi oscar Philip Seymour Hoffman e Meryl Streep è un bel film drammatico che pone tutto il suo fascino e le sue qualità sulla sceneggiatura e sulla recitazione degli attori anche perchè oltre ai già citati protagonisti troviamo una brava Amy Adams (Come d’incanto, Una notte al museo 2) e una straordinaria Viola Davis (Come un uragano, State of Play).
“New York City, 1964. In una rigorosa scuola cattolica del Bronx, una suora sospetta che Padre Flynn abusi della sua autorità nei confronti degli studenti; é convinta, infatti, che il sacerdote nutra degli interessi nei confronti di uno studente di colore.” (fonte filmup.it)
Gli attori riescono in maniera sublime a trasmetterci le indecisioni, i sentimenti, i dubbi e l’agonia dei loro personaggi e la storia non ruota attorno allo scandalo o ai fatti accaduti ma alla ricerca della verità. L’unico limite è forse proprio questo, porre tutta la forza della pellicola sugli attori e i dialoghi lasciando così un pò in disparte il lato cinematografico dimeticandosi a volte che siamo di fronte ad un film e non all’opera teatrale da cui è stato tratta la pellicola, non bastano delle inquadrature leggermente inclinate, che riprendono gli attori dal basso o dall’alto per darci il senso del dramma che si sta sviluppando, questo non vuol dire che non ci sia una piacevole e significativa messa in scena, come la scenografia fredda e sempre in relazione ai sentimenti dei personaggi.
Si può dire che l’unico punto a sfavore della pellicola di John Patrick Shanley (realizzatore della stessa opera teatrale) non è un difetto ma la natura stessa del film, un film classico che forse nel panorama di oggi fatto di forte impatto e spettacolarizzazione non troverà un gran numero di pubblico ma che in realtà si distingue per la capacità di colpire lo spettatore senza urlare.
FILM: 8

il trailer:

trailer (em inglês)

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Título no Brasil : Dúvida

Lançamento: 2008

Direção: John Patrick Shanley

Leia a Sinopse

Efeitos em Mim: Gostei das atuações dos protagonistas (Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman e Amy Adams) e também da qualidade técnica do filme (fotografia, edição/montagem, trilha sonora). É um filme bem produzido.

Quanto à história em si, não me encantou, não impactou… talvez devido às tantas histórias reais sobre as “escapadas” dos clérigos.

Quanto ao confronto humano entre fé e dúvida, até rende alguma discussão, mas nada que tenha sido para mim tão intenso ao ponto de me intrigar ou perturbar… Achei um tanto “morno”…

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trailer (em inglês)

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Título no Brasil : Dúvida

Lançamento: 2008

Direção: John Patrick Shanley

Leia a Sinopse

Efeitos em Mim: Gostei das atuações dos protagonistas (Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman e Amy Adams) e também da qualidade técnica do filme (fotografia, edição/montagem, trilha sonora). É um filme bem produzido.

Quanto à história em si, não me encantou, não impactou… talvez devido às tantas histórias reais sobre as “escapadas” dos clérigos.

Quanto ao confronto humano entre fé e dúvida, até rende alguma discussão, mas nada que tenha sido para mim tão intenso ao ponto de me intrigar ou perturbar… Achei um tanto “morno”…

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