My Blueberry Nights, Fugitive Pieces, Stuff and Dough, Then She Found Me

My Blueberry Nights

Directed by Wong Kar Wai

Wong Kar Wai's first English speaking film has been talked about for some time now, especially considering it is the debut feature of singer Norah Jones. Her early Oscar buzz vanished very quickly when word got out that the movie was no good, and while "My Blueberry Nights" is somewhat of a mess, there is even to slightly recommend it, if you look hard enough. Jones plays Elizabeth, a young woman who has just had a nasty breakup with her boyfriend. She seeks refuge in a local diner owned by Jeremy (Jude Law), where she spends several nights with him discussing her life. Eventually she leaves New York and goes on a journey across America coming into contact with three different characters. One is Arnie, an alcoholic cop who is perpetually celebrating his last night of drinking, played perfectly by David Strathairn. The second is his estranged wife Sue Lynne, played by Rachel Weisz, and lastly is Leslie, a gambler who needs a lift to visit her father to get more money, played by Natalie Portman. In each encounter, Elizabeth learns a bit more about life and love and all that good stuff.

The highlights of the film are easily Jons and Strathairn, with the former carrying herself quite well considering she isn't used to this type of work. But the Arnie character really ends up being the heart and soul of the piece, and when he is gone everything somewhat falls apart. Weisz is certainly not doing her best work here, and by the time we get along to meeting the Portman character, you've certainly had enough. Jude Law does his typical Jude Law thing, which he hasn't deviated from in some time. But the films weakest link is easily Wong Kar Wai himself, who feels the need to throw in this very annoying stylistic approach to the story. Some scenes are some in slow motion, a few are through the camera that is placed at the top of the diner, and a song that Jones sang especially for the film is played several times during important moments, to the point where I could not take it anymore. He directs like a film school student trying to get artistic, when I know to expect better from him, despite him never exactly "wowing" me to the full extent of the word. "My Blueberry Nights" is a bit of a chore to get through, but the good aspects are exceedingly good to make it somewhat worthwhile.

**1/2 of ****

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Fugitive Pieces

Directed by Jeremy Podeswa

"Fugitive Pieces" opened the Toronto Film Festival last September in which I was at attendance, but was unable to get a ticket to the gala event. It finally opened in New York three weeks ago, to a final product that was quite disappointing. "Fugitive Pieces" is a rather emotionless independent drama about Jakob, a young boy who during WWII escaped from Poland where his parents are killed, and found himself in Greece under the care of Athos, a kind older man who takes Jakob under his wing. Podeswa decides to do a structure of flashbacks, showing us the adult Jakob before delving into his past. We see Jakob is clearly disturbed by something, which affects his marriage to Alex. Adapting from a novel by Anne Michaels, Podeswa is clearly trying to make something out of nothing, which is probably why he inflicts this type of structure on us. But the central performance by Stephen Dillane is quite dull, which could fit the emotionless character of Jakob, but I really don't think that is what he was doing with it. In addition the flashback segments offer nothing exactly, giving us the standard war story formula with the "wise older man" formula that we've also seen before. The film moves at a very slow pace as well, and the distance that the viewer has from the characters makes it a bit more unbearable. I read somewhere that the ending to the film has changed-the ending at the festival was apparently a bit of a downer. The ending in this film was somewhat hopeful, but I wonder what was originally there. Maybe it gave some kind of life to this very forgettable film.

** of ****

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Stuff and Dough

Directed by Cristi Puiu

"Stuff and Dough" is the first film made by Cristi Puiu, released in Romania in 2001. It was given a United States release probably after the success of Puiu's 2005 masterpiece "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," which had a decent run here in 2006-and it was indeed one of the best films of that year. "Stuff and Dough" has the possibility of being one of the best released films this year, and it shows that Puiu had the magic right from the beginning. I did miss the first minute or two of the film, but not enough to ruin any of the story. We are introduced to Ovidiu, who is enlisted by the rather shady man to deliver some "medical" supplies to a certain location by 2pm, in exchange for some money. Ovidiu's parents run a small kiosk in the back of their house, and Ovidiu wants to someday start his own. Going against the rules of going by himself to make the delivery, Ovidiu is joined by his friend Vali and Vali's girlfriend Bety. Ninety percent of the film takes place in the car on this trip, shown in shaky camera, which begins with conversations galore from little trivial things such as the asphalt-kind of like a Jim Jarmusch or a less pretentious Richard Linklater. And then the car begins to be followed by a mysterious red van, whose connections to the whole shady business are never exactly told.

Puiu manages to keep the tension constantly flowing with his realistic approach to the narrative-and a lean 90 minute run time, nearly an hour shorter than "Lazarescu." With this entire so called "Romanian New Wave" I have been so impressed with how several of these films take simple plot lines, and end up making such complex and engrossing films-the cat and mouse chase here, the all night deterioration of health in "Lazarescu," or even the real time talk show in "12:08 East of Bucharest," or just an abortion in "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days." I am very grateful that Film Forum showed "Stuff and Dough' for two weeks, and I don't think it stuck like "Lazarescu" because its gone now. It is certainly worth a look-see, especially for both fans of "Lazarescu," or these new Romanian films in general.

**** of ****

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Then She Found Me

Directed by Helen Hunt

"Then She Found Me" is the directing debut, and obvious pet project, of Helen Hunt, who not only directed and acts the lead role, but also wrote much of the screenplay, based off the novel by Elinor Lipman. What we get is a rather well made, well acted, and enjoyable little human dramedy, which certainly is not without its flaws and problems, but an endearing effort all the same. My problems with this film did not really surface until after it was over, and they still weren't that much anyway. Hunt plays April, a thirty or fortysomething woman that is getting to the age where she wants to have a baby. Recently married to Ben (Matthew Broderick, the casts weakest link who seems a bit awkward in his role), April is separated from him to quickly to conceive. After a break-up quickie on the kitchen floor, Ben disappears from town, and the distraught April begins to be courted by Frank (Colin Firth), the father of one of her students. To add to everything, April, an adopted child, is found by her birth mother, talk show host Bernice (Bette Midler), who suddenly wants to connect with her daughter after all these years. She does eventually become pregnant, but the father ends up being someone other than you'd expect.

There is quite a bit going on in the film to involve yourself in, and the three central stories that you can fall back on. April's story involving herself and her desire to want children. Working as a teacher she is able to experience distant relationships, but having one of her own is too important to her-she writes adoption off very fast. And than we have her love story(ies) with Frank, who is charismatically played by Colin Firth. Firth has been doing the same types of roles for a while now, but he seems like he is trying extra hard here, giving so much life to Frank that there is quite a bit to laugh at. You even feel his pain at times. And lastly is this mother/daughter story, and Hunt and Midler clearly have a good time playing off of one another-each other possibly talking quicker than the other. Several reviews for this have found a fault in Hunt finding the right tone for the piece, but I found that it drifted from comedy to drama and back again very well, despite the heavier dark tone of the third act. I also admired how Hunt directed the film, resorting to a few interesting shots. She actually looked like she knew what she was doing, or wanted to try a few things, as opposed to say Mike White's directing debut "Year of the Dog" last year, where his shots repeated to be the character speaking close up and in the center of the frame. All in all I enjoyed "Then She Found Me" quite a bit, and it seemed like what Hunt needed after lackluster roles in the last few years.

*** of ****