The Father

Director: Florian Zeller
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Rufus Sewell, Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss
Running Time: 97 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)

Florian Zeller's The Father employs a brilliant narrative device in conveying the anguish and confusion that accompanies dementia, its entire stucture functioning as a full reflection of its themes and suffering protagonist's state of mind. Placing us inside the shoes of a man who's mentally and physically fading  by the minute is a big risk, but it proves to be brutally eye-opening in showing the impact of a disease that still very much carries stigmas and preconceived notions. That's it's almost unbearably difficult to watch is exactly the point, especially considering our disorientation from seeing this pales in comparison to the pain of those who have actually suffered from it.

Adapted from Zeller's own 2012 play, Le Père, it creates a self-contained world where time ceases to exist, events bleed into each other, and faces and names change. You wouldn't be blamed for assuming that's a description for a sci-fi story story rather than tragic reality, as most commericals and trailers haven't done it justice, selling the project as a Merchant Ivory-type production focusing on elder care. But in downplaying its chief conceit from ususpecting moviegoers, it's only all the more impactful when the pieces start coming together. And that's a courtesy never entirely extended to the main character, whose saddest, most devastating scenes arrive in fleeting moments of recognition, where he "knows" something's wrong, if not necessarily what. 

In a career of full of legendary performances, a good case can be made that this is Anthony Hopkins' best, finding inventive avenues to practically normalize the most abnormal behavior, actions and observations. While extremely uncomfortable to watch, this only seems to make its viewing that much more essential. Given all the attention paid over the past few year to films tackling important social issues, it would be a crime if this somehow managed to fall through the cracks.  

Anthony (Hopkins) is sufferering from memory loss and dementia, constantly misplacing items, failing to recall key names and events, or even recognize the most familiar faces in his life. When daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) visits him in his London flat and announces she's planning to move to Paris with her new boyfriend, Anthony's rattled. Confused as to who this person is and worried how Anne's impending absence could affect his routine, he becomes increasingly belligerent, digging his heels in and proclaiming he's not going anywhere, most especially a care facility. Having already gone through numerous nurses, the latest whom he accused of stealing his watch, a new caretaker named Laura (Imogen Poots) arrives, baring an uncanny resemblance to his late daughter, Lucy. 

Radiating wide-eyed optimism and a strong desire to help, Lucy's won over by Anthony's humor and charm, blissfully unaware that it won't be long before she's on the receiving end of his verbal abuse, however unintentional. While adamently denying he's suffering a cognitive decline, inexplicable occurances and the presence of an unknown man (Mark Gatniss) and woman (Olivia Williams) only further disorient Anthony. 

With Anthony rapidly losing his grasp on reality, Anne is pressured by her increasingly intolerant boyfriend, Paul (Rufus Sewell) to institutionalize him. Seemingly surrounded by so many, her father couldn't be more alone, with the disease's progression continuing to take its toll, completely isolating him in ways that seem almost unimaginable given the care and attention he receives. Through no fault of his own, none of it will be enough.

Every event that happens from the opening credits right through the final scene should be taken with a grain of salt. Under normal circumstances, this could be seen as a creative fault or labeled as manipulative by some. But it isn't long before you gradually catch on to what first-time feature director Zeller and co-writer Christopher Hampton are up to and how accurately this non-linear, zig-zag style structure reflects Anthony's plight, allowing us to see this fragmented world through his eyes. 

Regardless of how true it is, Anthony views his daughter's flat as his property, initially coming off as a cranky codger who would scream at kids to get off his lawn if he had one. Of course, that's the disease talking, making it impossible to form any concrete determination about his actual personality. With dementia fully taking hold, he can be an intolerable grump one moment, before coming off as a completely kind and engaging old soul the next, almost as if nothing's wrong. But it is, and Hopkins expertly flips that switch, giving us fletting glimpses of who he was before his faculties left him. 

As one of our great living actors, it's hard to call any Hopkins performance underappreciated but what he does here is remarkable, appearing to almost play entirely different characters throughout, gradually appearing more dissheveled and tweaking his speech patterns and movements according to how far along the illness has progressed. Ironically, the most apt comparision just might be his work in 1995's Nixon, where with the sheer force of his presence he seemed to physically will himsel into becoming the disgraced 37th President despite baring very little resemblance to the actual man.   

At various points, viewers will ask themselves why Anthony hasn't been put in a home already, wondering how much longer this man or those caring for him can possibly continue like this. That is until realizing we have no idea of measuring how much time has passed over the course of the film's running length. It could be a month, a year or even possibly longer. For all we know it could only be hours, but the screenplay doesn't ignore how it feels like decades for Anne or any of the aids who look after him. The strain on them isn't lost, and in one especially powerful dream sequence, she envisions a particularly cruel solution to the "problem," as if it isn't harsh enough describing him with that word. And yet Colman's performance is still so empathetic it's hard to judge the character or imagine anyone wouldn't also hate themselves for feeling the same way.

Anne's approach differs greatly from that of her boyfriend Paul's, which is viciously intolerant, highlighting the issue of elder abuse in its worst possible manifestation. But even here it's important to tread carefully when detailing events since we can't be sure they're happening exactly how they appear on screen. Like Anthony, the viewer is overcome with feelings of mistrust, disbelieving everyone and everything that's seen, until that frustration begins to turn to self-doubt. And despite being based on an acclaimed play and largely taking place within a single setting, most of what surrounds Anthony is constantly changing, sometimes in barely noticeable ways that challenge the audience to pay attention to even the smallest details within the apartment flat. This makes an emotionally triggering experience surprisingly ripe for repeated viewings in order to pick up on what was likely missed during an initial watch.  

Even when we're not completely sure what's happening, Hopkins ensures all the physical and mental signposts of Anthony's deterioration are present. Sometimes it's subtle, while at others it isn't, gradually worsening until it culminates in an ending that might be the most uncomfortable we've seen in years, with his entire state of mind regressing into childlike infancy. In personalizing the trauma by throwing viewers in headfirst, we're forced to confront the harsh truth of a rapidly vanishing mind. It would be flippant to call The Father an unforgettable experience since this material so painfully demonstrates that there's no such thing. Instead, it shows us that any memories, including those taking place over the course of this film, shouldn't be so easily taken for granted.

Hanna

Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng, Jessica Barden
Running Time: 123 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

For as many story plots get recycled and movies remade it's at least reassuring to know there's still new and surprising ways acting performances can blow you away. The one given by Saoirse Ronan as a 16-year-old assassin in Hanna is proof of that. It's one thing for an actress her age to summon up enough poise, confidence and physical presence to believably portray a trained killing machine but what stuck out most for me out when it ended were all the other scenes where she's also called upon to play a scared, awkward teen. Comparisons have already been made to last year's Kick-Ass, which featured Chloe Moretz as a tween aged, foul-mouthed superhero killer named Hit-Girl but that character was was more satirical in nature. Director Joe Wright is deadly serious here, and takes a huge gamble in the process. But when it ended I was left with the feeling I had witnessed more than your routine action thriller, even if no one could be blamed for thinking that when evaluating the plot on paper.  Half action movie, half beautifully twisted fairy tale, it's not for everyone and will probably put off as many as it thrills, but it's still difficult to claim you've seen anything exactly like it.

Raised and trained in the woods of Finland by her father, ex-CIA agent Erik (Eric Bana), 16 year-old Hanna Heller (Ronan) is ready to go out on her own. With just the flick of a switch, a transmitter alerts the government to their location, setting their plan into motion for Erik to escape and Hanna to eventually meet up with her dad following a trek through Germany. Getting in the way of that reunion and leading the charge in their capture is the calculating Marissa Zeigler (Cate Blanchett) an obsessive CIA operative with a personal connection to the case who clearly wants Erik taken dead, but also harbors a strange fascination with the girl. Moving at a deliberate pace that effectively builds tension and suspense, Hanna's journey at times more closely resembles a road trip than a manhunt as she falls in with a married couple (Olivia Williams and Jason Flemyng) on vacation and forms a friendship with their teenage daughter (Jessica Barden) but Marissa's always lurking in the shadows, as is her flamboyantly sadistic henchman Isaacs (Tom Hollander). Trained to kill but emotionally unprepared for the real world around her, Hanna must evade capture long enough to reunite with her papa in Berlin.

While the plot  may seem bare bones on the surface, but that's to its credit as the discoveries come in the details. Beyond the exciting action, this is really coming-of-age character study interested in exploring the psychological implications of an isolated child suddenly thrust into the real world without a life raft. Trained only to kill and protect herself, the most memorable sequences occur when Hanna's confronted with everyday life. This is a girl who can shoot someone in cold blood, but is scared to death of an electric kettle, giddily jumps up and down at the sight of an airplane, and has no idea how to work a remote control. She's been taught multiple languages and history by her father and is given a rehearsed back story to tell strangers, but there's no substitute for actual experience, which is why her journey is so scary. So far ahead of any child her age in terms of physical capability and intelligence, what stands out is how far behind she is emotionally. Because the script is so deeply interested in getting into the protagonist's head space it becomes more than your standard action outing, which could turn off some viewers expecting only chases and kills (not to say there isn't plenty).  There's an artistry at work that we're not used to seeing in a mainstream thriller in terms of the editing, performances, visuals and most memorably, an adrenaline fueled, pulse pounding score from the Chemical Brothers that couldn't possibly provide a better backdrop for many of the brilliantly choreographed action sequences.

Ronan's performance is flat-out unbelievable for precisely how impressively she handles Hanna's duality, shifting from scared little girl to trained assassin and back again at seemingly the drop of a hat. The underrated Eric Bana's greatest asset as Erik is his ability to invisibly slide into the fatherly role and not mind being upstaged by his younger co-star. As their nemesis, Cate Blanchett looks to be having the time of her life hamming it up as the "wicked witch" hunting the little girl, giving the kind of villainous performance that isn't too far removed from her work in Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull a few years ago (albeit this time in a quality film). Even while struggling a bit with what I think is supposed to be a southern accent, she makes Marissa Zeigler a cold, calculating perfectionist and I loved the small details that were put in to show that, like her obsessive dental hygiene and sterile apartment. She's a villain with an edge in a movie that not only feels edgy but also more "R" than "PG-13." Part of that could just have to do with the subject matter, though more of it probably has to do with presentation, visual style and tone.

There's one brief, but masterful performance that hijacks the movie and turns it into something darker and meaner. As Marissa's right hand man Isaacs, Tom Hollander almost seems to be channeling A Clockwork Orange's Alex if he were creepily reimagined as an effeminate tennis tracksuit wearing owner of a transvestite disco club. And how many villains have ever get their own catchy theme song, much less one so catchy even they whistle it? Hollander's total screen time probably doesn't even exceed 5 minutes but he makes each one of them terrifying, leaving the kind of indelible mark that deserves to be remembered come awards time.

If there's one small mistake hampering the script it's in revealing a key piece of information about Hanna that would have been better left unrevealed. One of the story's biggest strengths right from the gripping opening sequence was it's realism so there's disappointment in having a plot device introduced that's more common in a superhero or sci-fi movie, which this strives to be much more than. There's a thrill in believing for 2 hours that a young girl could be trained from an early age to do this stuff so providing a scientific explanation robs that notion of some of its mystique. If it's okay with the filmmakers I'll just pretend they never went there since that slight slip-up hardly hampers the enjoyment of the whole experience, especially with when you have an ending that not only makes ingenious use of an unconventional setting, but provides real closure. You can almost hear the book closing shut on the movie, concluding almost exactly as it began. But the best thing about Hanna is how it never seems to be wimping out in any way, taking risks while challenging the audience to appreciate details that push it out of the comfort zone we've come to expect from most mainstream action thrillers.

The Ghost Writer

Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton, Jim Belushi, Eli Wallach, Robert Pugh
Running Time: 128 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★ 1/2 (out of ★★★★)

The Ghost Writer is Roman Polanski's Shutter Island, minus the style and even much of the substance. That it was released in theaters at exactly the same time as Scorsese's film is just too ironic to ignore when you consider this really could pass as the poor man's version of it. Both are mystery/suspense thrillers that feature its protagonist trapped on island with untrustworthy and possibly dangerous people and attempt to shock with a surprise "twist ending." They're also both likely to enjoy an inflated reputation because of their directors, although this apparently more so. It just a sprinkling of thrills, mystery and suspense as it meanders for over two hours to a forgone conclusion that isn't worth the time invested from viewers. Maybe that wouldn't be so frustrating if portions of it weren't intelligently written and it contained a few strong performances, as well as some strange casting decisions.

The most surprising thing about the picture isn't the ending (one of the dumbest final scenes all year) but the fact that Polanski wrote and directed it, although he does do as good a job as humanly possible hiding just how ordinary it all is. When you have a film that's all build-up you have to be prepared to really deliver beyond the conventional. The constricting script prevents that, instead serving up another one of those reasonably entertaining government conspiracy cover-ups. There are aspects to admire, but unfortunately none have anything to do with the actual plot.

Ewan McGregor is the unnamed title character hired to ghost write the memoirs of Ex-British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), after the previous man hired for the job mysteriously washed up dead on the beach near Lang's Massachusetts estate. It was ruled a suicide but Ghost (as our protagonist refers to himself) has his suspicions and for good reason since Lang is embroiled in a bitter public feud with former political ally Richard Rycart (Robert Pugh), who's accusing him of war crimes. While that alone would make great material for an autobiography, Lange's personal life is also falling apart as he's been cheating on his cold but loyal wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams) with his assistant, Amelia (Kim Cattrall in an AWFUL performance). With the deadline quickly approaching, Ghost's goal moves from finishing the book to just simply surviving as he inches closer to the truth.

Leisurely paced but never boring, the film takes its time getting to where it needs to go by slowly dropping clues along the way as we discover along with Ghost key pieces of information that are clearly meant to lead to something big and revelatory about Lang. It's fun imagining just how much could have been done with the premise of a ghost writer getting in over his head and there are moments in the second hour when it seems the screenplay will take full advantage of that, but ultimately it just takes the easy way out. Lang is never really an interesting character and is given problems (both personal and political) that literally seem cribbed from the evening news and put to film. There's no effort to make his back story interesting in the slightest to the point where he's a walking political cliche, right down to his extra-marital affair. Brosnan, with his smooth and easygoing charm, is perfect as Lang (many probably imagine him as an ex-British Prime Minister anyway) so this isn't a big stretch for him, but he still brings as much as possible to a limited role. McGregor is a reliable, though not extraordinary actor, so he's in his comfort zone also as an ordinary guy thrust into dangerous circumstances.

The true standout is Olivia Williams who brings a lot to the table as Lang's wronged wife, Ruth than anyone could have reasonably expected from what's usually a thankless part. She suggests an entire history with her performance that's far more compelling than anything we're given, subtly conveying emotional pain and vulnerability that was above and beyond the call of duty for a story this pedestrian. It's a nomination-worthy turn, if only the movie containing it didn't seem so inconsequential. Making almost as much impact in a single scene is the always spot-on Tom Wilkinson whose, brief but memorable appearance as a mysterious college friend of Lang's teases a deeper, more interesting film that never arrives. A bald James Belushi, Timothy Hutton, the former "Mr. Freeze" Eli Wallach round up the curiously mainstream cast, dragged down only by Kim Cattrall, who besides struggling with a British accent, stops every scene she's in dead in its tracks with her capital A "Acting". Why cast a well-known American actress who has to attempt an accent when the role is a glorified cameo and contributes nothing to the story anyway?

With the exception of Alexandre Desplat's appropriately moody and suspenseful score, from a technical standpoint the movie is nothing special, with a generic look and feel that recalls the kind of cable thriller you might land on during a lazy Sunday afternoon. Say what you want about Shutter Island but it it had visual style and atmosphere to spare and Scorsese knew exactly what what he wanted that film to be. Polanski can't seem to decide whether he's making a cheesy B-level potboiler or an intelligent political commentary. As a result, it's neither and I don't even know what to make of him employing a plot point that involves Lang being unable to leave the country because of his crimes. The less said the better I suppose. That and a conclusion that plays as an all-out farce makes me wonder if he was even taking this seriously at all. It's not that the ending was at all predictable or saw it coming, just that I didn't care by the time we got there. The Ghost Writer is a well-meaning but generic thriller, regardless of who directed it, but admittedly a bit more disappointing when you consider who did. It works best for those who set their expectations low and have made it a point to avoid every other film of its type that's out there.