Sometimes a film demands you suspend disbelief and just go with it, not pick it apart ... perhaps remember that it’s aimed at kids.
I Am David is one such film, and the suspending is worth the effort.It’s curious the movie that tackles deep and ugly issues with a young audience in mind. And it’s admirable (hence the point of this blog: it ain’t all Shrek and roses out there, nor should it be).
David, played by a young British actor named Ben Tibber, has lived a good part of his 12 years in a post-WWII Communist labor camp, separated from his parents at an early age. He escapes, and we follow his bumpy trajectory from Bulgaria to Denmark: one step forward, two steps back. The bumps are small, however, and so the expected cinematic arc/construct doesn’t really take place. The film feels like it’s lacking a plot or real tension, when of course the entire story -- one of escape and survival -- is the plot, woven together by threads of fear, distrust, and the unknown, all of which should provide plenty of tension. It’s an odd feeling.
The last third of the film feels more tangible, perhaps more plot-driven, and the appearance of Joan Plowright is a joy (I didn’t realize how much I like her until now). And there are a couple of unexpected plot twists towards the end that are rewarding payoffs.
This is definitely for mature kids, ten or 11 and up (Netflix says nine, but ...). The brutality of life in a camp, of being separated from one’s parents at a tender age (there’s a heart wrenching moment when the mother is taken away), of not knowing life in the real world, is palpable and may be hard on some viewers. Son K was pretty entranced by it, and we got to work in some history lessons as David moved from country to country, e.g., What was going on in Italy after the war? What happened to Mussolini? etc.
It’s not a perfect film, but it’s a solid, entertaining, mature drama, one which may have mom in tears at the end. Kids seem curiously impervious sometimes...
The film is adapted from Anne Holm's internationally acclaimed novel North to Freedom, which sounds like a very good read.
"The single finest novel ever written for children of about ages 9 to 13." --School Library Journal
Remakes. And more remakes. We've already mentioned projects under way for remakes of the Wizard of Oz (groan), Karate Kid, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and a few others. Here's news on a couple more:
1984’s NeverEnding Story was a precursor to the fantasy craze in Hollywood, which saw big, big bucks from movies like the Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings franchises. NeverEnding Story did fairly well upon release, and has enjoyed a healthy second life as a rental (this should be featured in a Weekly Classics post by yours truly!). Now comes word that Warner Bros. owns the rights to a remake, and is in talks with various production companies, including Leonard DiCaprio's Appian Way, about the project.
Some diehard fans are up in arms; others welcome the opportunity for a visual spectacular to rival all others (one commenter on a forum suggests the director Guillermo del Toro, of Pan’s Labyrinth, as a suitable match; not a bad idea).
How do you feel about it? I confess I love the original, and think, even in retrospect, that the visuals were pretty cool.
My concern about a remake is that it will go over the edge and be too dark, too scary, too much. I hope I would be wrong.
Here’s a reminder as to how great the original was:
Jack Black is starring in a new version of Gulliver’s Travels, along with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt. Black plays Gulliver, who washes up on the beach of the Lilliputians, and Blunt is the Princess of the ‘putians, while Segel is one who befriends Gulliver. The director is Rob Letterman, responsible for Shark Tale, and this spring’s Monsters and Aliens. (Did you know about some of the voice talent in M&A? Try this: Reese Witherspoon, Rainn Wilson, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogan, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, and Stephen Colbert. There are more worth mentioning but I have to get on with it. That’s a big “Wow!” though, isn’t it?)
Feels like an odd pairing, Jack Black and Gulliver. Hmmm. In this version (don’t expect a serious treatment of the book!), Gulliver is a travel agent who ends up on an island of tiny people.
“Mandy Patinkin and Andre the Giant star in this oddball fairy tale ...”
Ok, you have to admit, there’s just something weird about that sentence. I started to open with it then stopped short, thinking, gee, that kind of says it all. Doesn’t it?
Okay, I’ll answer: yes. It’s an oddball pairing, in an oddball fairy tale, one that has certainly earned its “classic” status.
Rob Reiner’s offbeat 1987 comedy (the ‘80s were his best years: Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, When Harry Met Sally are all classics!) is a humorous, (mostly) family friendly fable, and the cast is stellar: it includes Billy Crystal, Robin Wright Penn, Christopher Guest, Peter Falk and Wallace Shawn. In another director’s hands, The Princess Bride could easily have become too soft, too sweet, too predictable. But in Reiner’s capable paws, we get clever kids’ fare (bad guys, sword fights, pirates, a pretty princess and a brave prince, fairy tale critters), carefully spiced with Reiner’s own brand of adult, caustic humor.
A great combo, no?
Come on, plenty of you out there who don’t even have kids have seen it. Some claim it’s a great date movie, too.
So if you need a little grown-up cinema fix, but it’s family night, this is a classic you can count on for all age groups.
(Er, almost all age groups; caveat about the PG rating: there are scenes like the prince threatening to cut off a man’s feet, hands, eyes, etc., with his fancy swordplay; it’s a rather graphic bit of scriptwriting. There is also a scene or two involving a “torture machine,” a semi-bloody attack by a giant rodent, sword stabbings, and a comment on the princess’s “perfect breasts.” So keep that in mind for your own kids. It might be best for ages nine or ten and up.)
It’s been a while since we watched a sci-fi movie with K, and so our viewing of The Incredible Shrinking Man was even sweeter the other night.
It’s a pretty innocuous film, from 1957, but there is something that stays with you afterwards in an unsettling, sort of creepy way. Now that I think about it, I think it may have simply aroused some very old memories of seeing a movie called Attack of the Puppet People when I was a kid. It made for fine Saturday afternoon television viewing, but I think I had bad dreams later that night. The idea of having a completely altered physical existence from the one you know and live everyday is pretty terrifying; imagine suddenly becoming tiny, gigantic, invisible, glowing green ...
In The Incredible Shrinking Man, a young, happily married man encounters a strange, radioactive cloud while out boating one day, and later notices some very strange things. He is, of course, shrinking.
The effects are surprisingly good. In the beginning, staging tricks make his wife appear larger, and his clothes are just a little more ill-fitting each day. Slowly, his physical frame appears child-like on oversized sofas and standing at windowsills he can barely reach. Soon he’s living in a dollhouse, and fearing the house cat, as well he should.
The artistry that went into the sets, and in creating objects many times their true size (scissors, straight pins, mouse traps, twine balls), was impressive. This “shrinking” film inspired others (such as Puppet People), but this is one of the best of the lot.
Without giving anything away, you need to know that it takes its time getting to the juicy stuff, but stay with it, as it’s well worth it. Our hero’s encounter with the spider (did they use a tarantula?!) is what you want to stick around for.
And my bad dreams, back in the day of Saturday afternoon horror movies on television? After reading up on Puppet People, I’m reminded that the disturbing thing about that movie was that the miniaturized people were kept in a state of suspended animation in bottles, like dolls under glass. What ten-year old wouldn’t be a little freaked out by that?
Ok, how hip are you? For a parent, or otherwise? If you need to up your cool quotient a tad, just name-drop the upcoming Big Man Japan flick at your next dinner party. “Oh,” you say dryly, “it’s a Japanese arthouse film, combining their love of classic monster movies with straight-up Japanese cinema weirdness ... It’s coming out in May....”
The storyline: A middle-aged slacker living in a rundown, graffiti-ridden slum, Daisato’s job involves being shocked by bolts of electricity that transform him into a stocky, stick-wielding giant several stories high who is entrusted with defending Japan from a host of bizarre monsters.. (From Apple Movie Trailers, where you can see a high quality and very bizarre trailer; not for kids!)
I was browsing the Daily Beast to see exactly what Meghan McCain wrote about Anne Coulter (good, hard-hitting points about Coulter’s faults and about how the GOP needs to find its’ “center,” nothing a lot of Republicans aren't muttering under their breaths) and saw the good news that Mickey Rourke is definitely playing the villain in the next Iron Man. Yeah! And Scarlett Johansson has scored the role of Black Widow. (I'm posting a photo here of Robert Downey, Jr, though, because I {heart} him...)
A great sequel in the making? I hope so. But I’m holding my breath, also hoping Jon Favreau doesn’t push the film closer to the border of PG-13 / R and keeps it family friendly (please?)! I’ve also read bits and rumors that Tony Stark’s drinking habits played a more prominent role in the original stories, and that it may be put front and center in Iron Man II. Hmmmm.
Do you need a very special Iron Man collectible? Check this out.
More on hip quotients: Jim Jarmusch’sThe Limits of Control is coming out in May! This dark crime caper stars Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, and the ultra-cool Isaach De Bankolé as a "mysterious loner, a stranger in the process of completing a criminal job."
In a small, seemingly fading town in South Carolina, an African-American man named Pearl Fryar -- the son of a sharecropper -- moved into what was presumably a white, middle class neighborhood, some 30 or 40 years ago. Although it’s barely mentioned in the film, a neighbor at the time apparently expressed fear that Fryar would not “keep up his yard” (while, in all likelihood, harboring all kinds of other wonderful racist viewpoints as well).
Whether this alone motivated our man Pearl to become the topiary wonder of South Carolina is never really discussed. It’s one of several points the filmmakers fail to explore in this otherwise fine little documentary about Mr. Fryar.
A Man Named Pearl is rated G, and it accomplishes quite a bit in its 80 minutes. Focusing on an intriguing and immensely likable fellow/horticulturist/artist, the film contains some great visual treats for the kids (really, some of his creations are astounding), and paves the way for important discussions about race, tenacity, courage, and human nature (it also offers the opportunity for early dialog about work, and finding your passion in life). Not only do we learn about this wonderful man who taught himself, after a three-minute “lesson,” how to grow, train and sculpt greenery with all the skill of Edward Scissorhands, but we hear his words of wisdom to college students about the artistic muse, and we feel his love for humanity in the way he greets neighbors and visitors, buses full of tourists and young students, and in the work he donates to the town. His nearly obsessive passion is palpable, and breathtaking. Can you imagine doing hard physical labor for 12 hours a day because you want to, when you hit 60 years of age?
We get a strong sense of all he contributes not only to his immediate community, but also to the larger, human community, like the proverbial ripple from a stone in a pond. His story is simply inspiring, in reminding us that we can achieve just about anything, if we put our hearts and minds to it.
And for all those reasons, it’s a recommended watching experience for the family.
As noted, it’s not a perfect film. There a few angles to the story that aren’t probed deeply enough, such as his history with “the neighbors,” and the transition of this very pretty, middle class neighborhood from predominantly white to what appears to be predominantly African-American. The film could have been edited even a bit tighter, as it feels a bit long, even at a tidy 78 minutes. And as far as kids go, it’s just a wee bit on the dry side, so you may hear a whine or two from your crowd (we did). But then something always comes along to liven it up a bit, so don’t let them sway you.
The only moment where a parent might squirm is when Pearl’s wife recalls the land around their house being undeveloped and open, “sort of a Lover’s Lane,” she says, and then recounts how they’d often find underwear discarded on the property. Your little angel may ask you what a “Lover’s Lane” has to do with underwear; now you’ve got some time to cram.
Here's a brief trailer for the film, plus some Q&A with Pearl from the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY:
If you have any Xbox/Playstation kids in the house, you may know of the game, The Prince of Persia. Son K has it, but I know nothing about it, so I can’t help you there.
But, I caught wind of the fact that director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) is helming a film version of the story, and Jake Gyllenhaal is in the starring role. I thought, Oh,that’s nice, until I saw some photos from the film set.
Um, I’ll just say that, if the rating is right, moms everywhere may be flocking to the theater with their kids in tow. (It comes out in 2010.)
(That’s girlfriend Reese Witherspoon's hand he's holding.)
I have not a new review for you today, I'm sorry to say.
Instead, I'm encouraging you to dig deeper into KidsFlix and will even give you a (meta)physical assist by driving you right into some titles especially worthy of your time.
It's easy to see from my fabulous tracking software that visitors don't tend to go much past the current month's offerings ... In fact, I may exhibit the same behavior when I hit a blog semi-regularly, come to think of it. Who has the time?
Ok, here are a few gems you should check out (and when I say "gems,"do I mean exceptionally beautiful posts created by your guide, or do I mean films? Hmmm. You decide!):
I just found out that one of K's favorite books of recent years, "The Lightening Thief," is being cast for film treatment by Christopher Columbus (director of a couple of Harry Potter films, Rent and some others). Logan Lerman (he was Christian Bale's son in 3:10 to Yuma) will take the starring role of Percy Jackson, who discovers his father is the Greek god Posiedon. Brandon T. Jackson (Tropic Thunder) will pay Percy's best friend, the satyr Grover.
K is extremely excited about this news. If you have a boy around age nine or 10, and don't know the Percy Jackson books, you need to seek them out! (Sorry if that sounds sexist; since I don't have a daughter, I'm a little lost as to what girls might like in this department. Are they into Greek mythology the way boys seem to be?)
Back in 1862, during the Civil War, Union Army raiders stole a locomotive named The General, running between Atlanta, GA and Chattanooga, TN, in order to disrupt service and do damage to the track, covered bridges and telegraph wires. The hijacked train was pursued not only by other locomotives, but also by handcar, and on foot. While the event did not exactly go according to plan, and several raiders were executed as spies, other raiders escaped their imprisonment and later -- back in Union territory -- received the very first Medals of Honor ever bestowed.
This exciting story has been told at least twice on film. One is in Disney’s The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), featuring Fess Parker (Daniel Boone!) as the conductor of the hijacked locomotive, determined to stop the Unionists. It gets good marks on both Netflix and IMDB, so check it out.
The Disney version is likely more a retelling of the story, where the Buster Keaton version, The General (1927), is more a feast for the eyes with fantastic stunt work and comedic genius (in silent film fashion) filling the screen.
In The General, Keaton plays a southern engineer (turned down by Confederate recruitment officers when they realize his value as a skilled engineer), aghast to learn his beloved Annabelle is on the hijacked train. He thus embarks on a chaotic adventure to recover the train and his love, and uncovers a dastardly plot against the Confederates along the way. Can he save Annabelle? Regain The General? Can he get word to the south about the impending attack?
It’s a fantastic story, and full of Keaton magic. As with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, there are many worthy films in this artist’s cannon, but we strongly recommend this as a starting point for Keaton. Kids are thrilled with the visuals, especially if you take the time to explain they are all quite real, no computer trickery, and that Keaton actually put his life on the line for some of these shots.
Here is a great little snippet from a documentary (courtesy of YouTube) about Keaton and the making of The General. The narrator reports, during one especially harrowing scene: “The camera man had orders to keep shooting until Keaton either yelled CUT, or was killed.”
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Sometimes a film demands you suspend disbelief and just go with it, not pick it apart ... perhaps remember that it’s aimed at kids.
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