Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) heckled by his past, Birdman

What happens, then, when that yearning for artistic accomplishment has manifested beyond your wildest dreams but begins its nadir once the fickle public considers it passe and overdone? I will tell you what happens: that previous success will haunt you to such an extent, that plain old living will begin to ache all through your being. It will cause you to act in all kinds of uncomplimentary ways; it even will kill you. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue explores this evil that stalks every celebrity has been: the chase of the will ‘o’ the wisp called the comeback! The film stars Michael Keaton, who plays Riggan Thomson, an actor who became famous for portraying the superhero Birdman three times two decades earlier. Riggan is going for the comeback not in film but on New York’s Broadway stage in a play he adapts for theater from a collection of short stories by American short story writer and poet Raymond Carver. The play is called, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Here, Riggan anticipates revitalizing his career and receiving respectability among his fellow colleagues.

Riggan and Mike (Ed Norton) disagree backstage

Much of Birdman is shot in the bowels of the St. James Theater on West 44th Street, where we experience the director’s angst over the audience reception of the play, an egomaniac co-star, the make or break review from the theater critic, masterfully handled by Lindsay Duncan, and … of course … rehearsals. Iñárritu flawlessly folds within the narrative a critique of society’s preoccupation with the superhero in film and how this obsession eclipses if not beats to death the realities of the actor’s human experience; eventually, it undermines an actor’s ability to breathe life into new creative endeavors. Birdman verbally taunts Riggan for turning down Birdman 4, as did Michael Keaton who turned down Batman 3, and the gibes eventually get the best of Riggan, the actor.

Riggan and Lesley (Naomi Watts) discuss family issues

Birdman is a good film, but Iñárritu fails to explore fully the unexpected virtue; ending the film instead with an expected moment when the present achievement won by Riggan Thomson beats back his Birdman past.

Birdman plays through December 18 at The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln.

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Samantha “Sam” White (Tessa Thompson)

I just have one word for independent film director Justin Simien: Why don’t you tell us how you really feel? Well, they’re nine words that form a question, but that’s neither here nor there. My point is that Simien’s film debut Dear White People is a cinematic letter to … well … white people, and this director has produced a very provocative analysis of race-relations in the United States. Dear White People is in-your-face, and its delivery is as strong as a punch from legendary pugilist Muhammad Ali, and you take it as would a champ because you know the truth will set you free even though it hurts.

Sam confronts Kurt (Kyle Gallner) about his decision to eat in her residence hall cafeteria

Tessa Thompson, plays Samantha “Sam” White, a bi-racial media arts major and radio personality who hosts a show called “Dear White People” at an Ivy League institution called Winchester University. On that show, Sam broadcasts the absurdity of the many thoughts, words, and deeds white people embrace about black people in this so-called post-racial society; and, she is sure to put the spotlight on white privilege in the United States. Her wit is acerbic but it is ok because you know the truth will set you free even though it hurts.

She opens every show with “Dear White People,” and then begins with an observation. Here’s one: “Dear White People, the amount of black friends required not to seem racist has just been raised to two; sorry, but your weed man, Tyrone, does not count,” and another, “Dear white people, don’t touch my hair; what is this a petting zoo?”

Ivy Style @ Winchester University

Some letters come with a Post Script, and Dear White People has one for African Americans as the film ponders the intra-racial dynamics at play in the community; and, there is a P.S.S. for institutions of higher learning that turn a blind eye towards parties of white students dressed in blackface, among other costumes in this … uhm … post-racial society.

Dear White People plays through November 6 at The Ross Media Arts Center.

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Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud)

Sometimes I think plans and schedules, among other organizing tools, are gremlins that seduce us into thinking that we really can order our world. We know them all too well, but as the Scottish poet Robert Burns warns us, “best laid plans of mice and men often go awry!” Indeed, plans, calendars, reminders, etc. are folly to the gods, and I’d bet my last dollar that the gods dispense these mischievous gremlins to taunt us with the notion that we can control every minute of our day!

The late French Director and French New Wave devotee Eric Rohmer explores this reality in his emotionally intelligent film A Summer’s Tale. Set in the North of France, A Summer’s Tale is … well … a tale about a usual summer’s vacation taken by an ordinary young man named Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud), who, in a few weeks will enter the adult world via employment at a boring job.

He strolls the beach and plays his guitar all in anticipation of a call from his girlfriend, Lena (Aurelia Nolin), whom he hopes will join him for the excursion. In the meantime, Margot, a waitress (Amanda Langlet) becomes his companion; they take day trips filled with conversations about what is important in life and relationships. When he tells her that Lena is the source of his angst, Margot morphs into his confidant. Discouraged by the hit-or-miss situation caused by Lena’s non-committal attitude, he considers Margot’s suggestion to romance her friend Solene (Gwenaelle Simon), which is an easy transition since Solene is attracted to Gaspard.

A Summer’s Tale is finely-tuned story that forces us to think about how we resolve issues of intimacy when we change in the absence of our partners-in-romance. Rohmer, who died in 2010, left the film world this intimate tear sheet of a story that dispenses a sliver of light to ward off those nasty gremlins that taunt us over our best laid plans. In the midst of clearing them out of our space, we can turn the other cheek and smile in the knowledge that THIS is life. Margot and Gaspard and Solene do just that.

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Frank (MIchael Fessbender)

It all started with a father’s good intentions in Bluff City, Kansas. Mr. Burroughs (played by Paul Butterworth) knew there was no costume party, but he humored his fourteen-year-old son Frank by making for him a paper mache head to wear to this imagined event. Mr. Burroughs laments, “The worse thing to do with something like that is to pander to it,” — The “it” being what Frank thinks is real in his head.

Filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson directs an oddity of a film entitled Frank, a story about a musician wannabe named Jon Burroughs (played by Domhnall Gleeson) who lives in a small English village. Frank, played by Michael Fessbender, chooses Jon to join his looney-tunes band called Soronpfrbs that he leads with all of his idiosyncrasies in that paper mache head. He sleeps in it. Showers in it. Sings through it. Drinks food supplements through a straw; solid foods are discouraged. The head itself is a remarkable work of art, and Frank takes care to preserve it.

The Soronfrbs

The band isolates themselves in a cabin in the woods; there, they begin work on their album. Songs are arranged according to Franks’s own musical coding system; the band design instruments from string, glass, and wood; all band members participate in daily exercise required by Frank. Jon looks on Frank with awe, and his hero worship taps into Jon’s own obsession with stardom. The whole scenario is kind of weird; but Abrahamson succeeds in staging a play between mental illness and mental health masked by the sturm and drang that usually swirls within the world of celebrity pop rock. In the middle of Frank is a frail thread of a love story between Frank and his interest, Clara (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal). Throw Jon into the equation, and stories of The Beatles, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono come to memory.

Clara (Maggie Gyllenhall)

Fiona Weir, casting director, has gathered together a fine ensemble cast of band members who are: Scott McNairy as Don, Francois Civil as Baroque, Carla Azar as Nana, Shane O’Brien as Lucas. We have all heard their kind of music before, and it’s that familiarity that throws us off track with seeing, really seeing the dysfunction between members. Fessbender marvels as he merges the fake head with flesh and bone into a believable “dude with the big head” such that we forget something is a little off with Frank, or is there really?

Poppa Burroughs should not lament too much; a choo-choo train set or a game of Monopoly would not have brought Frank to his place at the close of the film. Lenny Abrahamson suggests in Frank that at the end of the crazy manic in our life, where we really want to be is with the family that we love and to love them all.

Frank plays through October 2 at The Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln.

Listen to the review recorded for Friday Live at the Mill! @ 28:12.

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Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss)

Have you signed up for counselling or therapy to discuss the complicated issues you are experiencing in your intimate relationship? Then cancel that appointment post haste and put your money on The One I Love, the new romantic comedy and film debut from director Charlie McDowell. You will see that this story will quiet those marital gremlins that show up at the oddest of times and wreak havoc on your happy home.

Wrapped within the jacket of science fiction, The One I Love is a smart and finely crafted curious film, starring Mark Duplass and Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss who play Ethan and Sophie. This couple is teeter-tottering on the cliff of separation, until they sit on the couch of the therapist, played by Ted Danson. The Therapist suggests to the couple a break from their familiar settings and retreat to a charming abode with a guest house full of magic. There Ethan and Sophie slowly but surely come to terms with their relationship but in the most mysterious of ways and in the company of people they do not expect.

Duplass and Moss amuse the audience, moving back and forth between the archives of the relationship to retrieve unattended matters such as jealousy and infidelity; distraction when a situation called for paying attention; and the most common of issue: the growth of your partner into someone your partner does not recognize.

Yes, McDowell’s The One I Love could be just the therapy you need to rekindle that spark of enchantment that showed up at your first encounter with each other. Plus, it’ll save you some money! Oh, a note of trivia: Charlie McDowell is the son of Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenbergen.

The One I Love plays thru Thursday, September 25th at The Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln.

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Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon take a break

Bring out your best bottle of wine, and sip and relax with The Trip to Italy, Michael Higgenbottom’s feature film composed from the six-episode BBC television series and his second installment after his film The Trip (2010). British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon team up once again for a restaurant tour, this time in Italy, and they intend to follow the route of the English romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Bryon.

Take a sip of wine.

The Trip to Italy will amaze you with its enchanting sea adventures off the Italian coast drenched in soundtracks of opera, classical music, and the sound of the waves; the petit dejeuners taken as evening pulls in the night; the poetry recited on the sea shore; poetry recited; the road trip itself opens up the grandeur of Italy’s natural surroundings and magnificent hotels. You’ll be taken inside the Greta Garbo suite at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo; the Terrace of Infinity where John Huston filmed a scene for his movie Beat The Devil in 1953 starring Humphrey Bogart and Gina Lollabrigida or the Bella Palazzo.

Take another sip of wine … You’re going to need it to watch the rest of this film. James Clarke’s cinematography is breathtaking; his high angle shots flaunt the splendor of Italy, and the tight framing showcases all of its warmth, its passion for life, its cordiality. Well, he has to because hanging out with Coogan and Brydon demands a respect for every rule your mother taught you on being polite no matter how uncomfortable you may feel.

Go ahead, finish off that bottle of wine. It will ease the pain.

The Trip to Italy plays thru Thursday, September 25th at The Ross.

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Stanley (Colin Firth) and Sophie (Emma Stone)

Whether or not we want to admit it, fall is releasing its slumber. The summer is nearing its end no matter how warm it may feel outside. Teachers have made their lesson plans. The children are in school; students are preparing the dorm rooms, and parents either are lamenting yet another absence of their young adult from the fold or are rejoicing over one more year of peace and tranquility. Whatever the emotion or event, before fall fully awakens and pokes winter in the eye, celebrate this annual change in seasons with a trip to The Ross to see Magic in the Moonlight directed by none other than Woody Allen. It’s a sweet heart of a film, sprinkled with the confection of fine acting by Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Marcia Gay Harden, and Simon McBurney.

Howard (Simon McBurney), Aunt Vanessa (Eileen Atkins) and Stanley (Colin Firth)

Set in the gay 1920s, Firth plays Stanley Crawford, a very bah-humbug Englishman, who parlays a persona as a celebrated Chinese magician named Wei Ling Soo. His friend, Howard Burkan (played by the lovable Simon McBurney), invites him to the fabulous Côte d’Azur mansion owned by the Catledge family. His mission: to expose Sophie as a charlatan. Played by Emma Stone, Sophie is an American who claims to be clairvoyant and that she can have conversations with the deceased. Stanley jumps at the chance given that he has no tolerance for that sort of poppycock, and thus, has made a reputation of being the most famous debunker of spiritualists. Upon his arrival, we meet Aunt Vanessa, played by the beloved English actress Eileen Atkins of Upstairs, Downstairs fame, as well as members of the Catledge family. What follows is a series of provocative conversations and meditations on evidence and proof vs. feelings and intuition between Stanley and Sophie. There is an amusing séance whereby Grace Catledge (played by Jacki Weaver) finds out if her husband Henry answers from over yonder if he was faithful to her over the entire course of their marriage. Hamish Linklater is superb as Brice, Sophie’s ukulele playing star-struck fiancé. Brice is rich, but after he sings a few bars of a song, you realize that’s just about all there is to him.

Woody Allen’s signature pulses throughout as the writer-director features a thickset of conversations —an art that is practically going the way of texting and checking facebook posts while in the company of others. Cinematographer Darius Khondji, who photographed Michael Haneke’s Amour, fine tunes the story with fabulous tight spaces and the glorious wide-open outdoors of the Cote d’Azur seen from a 1925 Alfa Romeo driven by Stanley. The interiors are made scrumptious by set designer Jille Azis. Sonia Grande’s costume designs are ethereal with characters dressed up in flapper glory with linens, cottons, furs, sequined headbands, and gowns. These film elements cast their own spell, and seduce you into what feels like Sunday twilight in a hammock.

But there is no ‘poof’ in the magic, and Stanley’s and Sophie’s interactions come off as this old curmudgeon trying to catch a child in a lie. Allen, however, settles on the usual romantic comedy cliché, and this turn in the end really undermined the story.

Mrs. Baker (Marcia Gay Harden) and Grace (Emma Stone) arrive at the mansion

Still, viewing Magic in the Moonlight is worth closing out and welcoming the inevitable: the change in seasons, the empty nest, back-to-school, the start/end of romance, the completion of a project; the end of one; happiness, joy, a new job …

Magic in the Moonlight plays through September 4 at the Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln.

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