Parents Take Note of "Bully"

“Bully” a Stern, Emotional Warning About the Dark Side of Childhood

By Skip Sheffield

If you are a parent, “Bully” could be the most important film you see all year.
“Bully” is a documentary film made by award-winning filmmaker Lee Hirsch over the course of a school year in five different locations, focusing on five victims of bullying.
Bullies are nothing new. Facing a bully is considered a rite of passage by many. The biggest problem is that when you are born different or you develop in a less than conventional way you can become a target.
All five of the five subjects are different in different ways. The most obvious example is a kid named Alex, 14, from Iowa. He wears thick glasses and has a flattened nose, receding chin and protruding buck teeth. Alex freely admits the kids call him “Fish Face.” He seems resigned to a life of ridicule and harassment. We learn in the course of the film that Alex was born prematurely after just 26 weeks of gestation. He wasn’t expected to live more than a day.
In a fair and just world people would be understanding and sympathetic to such a challenged, strange-looking boy.
The world is not just or fair, and children can be the cruelest of all.
Alex is one of the stronger ones. Seventeen-year-old Tyler Long of Georgia and 11-year old Ty Field-Smalley of Oklahoma committed suicide out of despair. We see them only in home videos.
Ja’Meya, a 14-year-old Mississippi girl, became so enraged by the constant bullying on her school bus that one day she stole her mother’s pistol and threatened to shoot her tormenters. She was charged with 26 felony accounts.
Kelby is an openly gay 16-year-old girl from gay-unfriendly Oklahoma. Her way of coping is to hang out with outsiders like her.
Director Hirsch was granted amazing access to school rooms, halls and most notoriously, school buses. No one looks forward to a long bus ride. That’s when tempers flare and bullies go about their dirty work. We see kids harassing, hitting and insulting other kids in full view of the bus driver’s rear-view mirror.
Perhaps something has broken down since I had to ride a bus every day from Boca Raton almost to Boynton Beach. If any rough-housing went on, the driver would pull over immediately and threaten the perpetrators with reprisal. In case after case in “Bully” we see teachers, principals and bus drivers turning a blind eye, or minimizing aggressive behavior.
There will always be bullies. This is a sad fact of life. What “Bully’ does is show it has reached a new level of epidemic. My favorite kid in the film was a little guy who said you just have to face a bully, even if you get beat up.
It was a lesson I learned as a wee lad. Bullies are by nature cowards, and they act out of feelings of inferiority. If a child, regardless of age or size can muster the courage to call their bluff, it can work wonders. Meanwhile, this film serves as a warning something is wrong, and we can’t just ignore it.

A Delightful "Delicacy" from France

“Delicacy” a Delightful Bonbon from France

By Skip Sheffield


“Delicacy” is the perfect title for a delicious French bonbon of a romance, starring delectable Audrey Tautou (“Amalie”).
Tautou plays Nathalie, successful Paris business executive madly in love with her husband Francois (Pio Marmai). When Francois dies tragically in a car accident, Nathalie plunges into depression and obsession with work.
Directed by brothers David and Stephane Foenkinos and based on David Foenkinos’ novel.’ “Delicacy” jumps ahead three years with Nathalie still in mourning and disinterested in romance.
Nathalie’s egotistical boss Charles (Bruno Toeschini) thinks he can move in on the attractive young widow so he confidently wines and dines her. There is one problem: he is already married.
Suddenly and impulsively one day in the office, Nathalie plants a big kiss on Markus (French comic star Francois Damiens) a shy co-worker from Sweden. Markus is stunned and confused and Nathalie is a bit embarrassed. Why did she do that? Markus is balding, pudgy and not particularly graceful or attractive. Yet slowly, tentatively they begin a relationship that is bound to lead to romance.
“Delicacy” is a movie for those cockeyed optimists who think anything is possible in love. Tautou has played this role of irresistible gamine before, but she does it so well.
The real achievement is Francois Damiens’ transformation from shy nebbish to virile leading man. “Delicacy’ may be a trifle, but it is oh so tasty.

Nicolas Cage Seeks Vengeance in “Seeking Justice”

The good news about “Seeking Justice” is that it is not the worst film Nicolas Cage has ever made. Cage has toned down his characteristic macho bravado and inserted a vulnerability as Will Gerard, a tweedy New Orleans high school English teacher married to the voluptuous Laura (January Jones).
But one fateful night after a theater rehearsal Laura is accosted, brutally beaten up and raped.
Will is beside himself with rage and sorrow. When a mysterious stranger named Simon (Guy Pearce) appears at the hospital and indicates he can do something about the perpetrator, a serial rapist, Will is intrigued. Unwisely, he is persuaded to have Simon and his shadowy group “take care of” the rapist. All Simon asks is perhaps “a little favor” down the way. What is that favor? Don’t even ask.
Aussie director Roger Donaldson (“The Bank Job”) knows his way around a crime thriller. Guy Pearce utilizes his considerable stage presence to communicate an air of growing menace and foreboding. We just know that Will is getting more than what he bargained for, so we are not surprised when his world begins to deconstruct.
Vengeance films have long been a staple of Hollywood fantasy. For people frustrated buy the legal and penal system, they are a welcome release. I am no fans of such films, but this one is pretty effective. Just don’t take it too seriously.

Children of the Holocaust in France

Children of the Holocaust in “La Rafle”

By Skip Sheffield


“La Rafle” is a new film this week at FAU’s Living Room Theaters. It is of special interest to students of the Holocaust and French history. “La Rafle” tells the horrific story of the roundup of the Jews of Paris in the summer of 1942.
While “La Rafle” (The Roundup) is a work of fiction, written and directed by Rose Bosch, it is based on real events, real characters and extensive research. It shares a similar subject matter with “Sarah’s Key,” but what makes this film so poignant is that it is told from the point of view of the innocent children of the roundup.
In June of 1942 Adolph Hitler was reaching the peak of his anti-Semitic hated and his own megalomania. Hitler insisted on nothing short of the extermination of all Jews in German-occupied Europe. The most despicable part of the story is the way the French military and Paris police cooperated with Nazi murderers.
French Jews could not conceive they would be betrayed by their own government. There was some resistance from compassionate French gentiles. Of the 23,000 Jews of Paris, 10,000 disappeared immediately into the protection of French sympathizers.
Joseph “Jo” Weismann (Hugo Leverdez) is an 11-year-old Jewish boy more clever and resourceful than most. Through his eyes we see the increasing discrimination and persecution of Jews up to the fateful day of July 16, 1942 when the roundup herded Jews to a large bicycle stadium where they would await shipment to the extermination camps to the east.
The heroes of this story are the Jewish Dr. David Sheinbaum (Jean Reno) and a Christian Red Cross nurse, Annette Monod (Melanie Laurent).
Of the 13,000 Jews crammed into the Velodrome D’Hiver, only 25 were known to survive. This film tells the story of one of them and touches on several others. While it depicts the darkest, most vile, despicable part of human behavior, ultimately it offers the hope of survival against all odds.

Glen Close Close to the Vest in "Albert Nobbs"

Oscar-Nominated Film “Albert Nobbs” in Boca

By Skip Sheffield

Now that Glenn Close and Janet McTeer have been nominated as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for this year’s Academy Awards, there should be a temporary surge in box office for the quirky little comedy-romance, “Albert Nobbs.”
Let me stress “Albert Nobbs” is not a laugh-out-loud comedy. It is hardly a comedy at all. It just has some ironically funny situations stemming from sexual role-playing and romantic misunderstandings.
The film is a labor of love for Glenn Close, who co-wrote the screenplay and starred in the play on which this is based almost 30 years ago.
It’s late 19th century Ireland. The character of Albert Nobbs (Close) showed at age 14 at Morrison’s Hotel. The hotel’s owner, Mrs. Baker (Pauline Collins) took pity on the waifish lad and added him to the hotel staff
It is now 30 years later and Albert is an esteemed but almost silent, almost invisible butler.
Albert’s unruffled, predictable routine is upset when Hubert Page, a boisterous outgoing fellow, is hired to do some painting at the hotel. The thing is, like Albert, Hubert is really a woman too. That fact is revealed somewhat humorously when Albert is forced to room with Hubert.
If that weren’t confusing enough, Hubert is married to a woman (Bronagh Gallagher) who may or may not know Hubert’s true sexual identity, and who cares?
Confusing matters even further is lovely Helen (Mia Wasikowska), a young maid to whom Albert is attracted. Helen likes little Albert OK, but she is stirred more by the brutish boiler man Joe (Aaron Johnson).
Yes, “Albert Nobbs” is a feminist fable- an allegory really- about oppressive social, political and economic dictates. Victorian England and Ireland were notoriously anti-female, yet at the time the U.K. was ruled by one of its strongest most steadfast Queens, Victoria Regina.
While Glenn Close’s performance as this bottled-up little person is impressive, there is little to like about the melancholy character. The character we really like is Janet McTeer’s Hubert. In this year’s Oscar sweepstakes she has a much stronger chance of bringing home the gold.
If you are interested in sociology and gender politics, “Albert Nobbs” is a film for you. I don’t think it stands much of a chance with America’s mainstream audience.

Giving Heroes Their Just Due in "Red Tails"

Black Flying Heroes Known by Their “Red Tails”

By Skip Sheffield


Most Americans have not heard of the Tuskegee Airmen. Perhaps “Red Tails” will correct that oversight and add some real-life black heroes for African-American children.
Founded, in 1881, Tuskegee Institute is a historically black university in Alabama where some of the most celebrated African-American scholars have studied and taught. When the United States entered World War II, Tuskegee Institute recruited a group of young men to be trained as combat pilots. The men were duly trained, but there was a major problem: the U.S. Armed Forces were segregated. Furthermore, a now-discredited Army study in 1925 alleged that blacks were mentally inferior and unable to cope with complicated machinery such as airplanes.
The Tuskegee Airmen, formally known as the 332nd Fighter Group, were deployed to Europe, but as of 1944 they had not seen actual combat. They were equipped with well-worn, obsolete P-40 fighter planes and had to be content with just doing practice drills.
A long-gestating project by George Lucas, “Red Tails” recounts the turning point, when not only did the Tuskegee Airmen prove themselves; they performed above and beyond the call of duty.
Lucas had a challenge financing the project because its principal cast is all African-American. The two box office names are Terrence Howard as Col. A.J. Bullard and Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Major Emmanuelle Stance.
The year is 1944 in Sicily, Italy. Back in Washington, Col. Bullard is pleading the case for his men. Finally the Tuskegee Airmen are given a chance to prove themselves in the extremely dangerous assignment of providing escorts for bombers.
“Red Tails” is an old-fashioned film that is a lot like any other war movie. The difference is the race of the characters and the additional obstacles they must overcome.
There is the hard-drinking squadron leader Marty “Easy” Julian (Nate Parker); fearless flying ace Joe “Lightning” Little (David Oyelowo); runty Ray “Junior” Gannon and flippant Samuel “Joker” George (Elijah Kelly), under the command of taciturn, pipe-smoking Maj. Stance (Gooding).
Director Anthony Hemingway and screen writer John Ridley show us pointed examples of discrimination and bigotry, but they also show the grudging, growing admiration of white bomber pilots, who came to specifically request the brave pilots of the 322nd as escorts.
The computer-enhanced air battles are much more convincing than war films of yore. There is even a token romance between Lightning Joe (Oyelowo) and Sofia (Daniela Rush) a beautiful Italian woman.
“Red Tails” is a bit corny, clichéd and rah-rah, but in a good way that makes anyone, black or white, proud to be an American

"Into the Abyss" of Life and Death

“Into the Abyss” a Documentary on Death

By Skip Sheffield

More people are executed in Texas than any other state in the union. Not surprisingly, German filmmaker Werner Herzog set his death penalty documentary, “Into the Abyss,” in Conroe, Texas.
The first person we meet is the prison chaplain, Rev. Richard Lopez.
“Why does God allow capital punishment,” he wonders out loud. “Life is precious.”
Apparently life isn’t very precious in the dusty, run-down town of Conroe. Ten years previously two teenage hoodlums talked their way into a woman’s home and then brutally killed her just to steal her red Camaro. They later return and killed the woman’s teenaged son and his friend.
Now 26, Michael James Perry has been on death row for ten years. His accomplice, Jason Burkett, plea-bargained for a lesser life sentence. Perry has reached the end of the line. He will be executed by lethal injection in one week.
Like many who are facing the final curtain, Perry has found religion. He is contrite about what he has done and resigned to his fate. He is even curiously cheerful.
In painstaking detail Herzog reconstructs the events of that terrible night by interviewing witnesses, survivors and family members. Again it comes as no surprise that both Perry’s father and his brother have done jail time. His father is in for life.
Herzog makes no moral judgments other than to say he doesn’t think it is right for the state to take away the life of a human being. I don’t believe “Into the Abyss” will change anyone’s mind about capital punishment, but it does help one understand how horribly wrong a young life can go, and the damage and pain it inflicts on anyone it touches. The only thing I know for certain is that I am really glad I don’t live in Texas. If ever there were a Chamber of Commerce nightmare, this is it.


“Answers to Nothing” is Nothing Much

“Answers to Nothing” is as vapid and vacuous as it title and setting.
Written and directed by Matthew Leutwyler, “Answers to Nothing” explores the sleazy lives of sleazy characters in the sleazy City of Los Angeles.
All right, not all of the characters are sleazy. One of them is a guy in a wheelchair preparing for the LA Marathon. Another is a cop grieving over the death of his wife. For the record the cast includes Dane Cook, Elizabeth Mitchell, Julie Benz and Barbara Hershey. I would humbling suggest something more uplifting. How about “The Muppet Movie,” or “The Descendants?”

Gorgeous George in Paradise

George Clooney Does the Right Thing in “The Descendants”

By Skip Sheffield

It was a choice between Martin Scorsese’s family film “Hugo” and gorgeous George Clooney goes to Hawaii in “The Descendants.”
Since Fox Searchlight had invited us to “Descendants’ first, and since Beth was driving, we decided to see what Mr. Clooney is up to.
“The Descendants’ is a breakthrough for Clooney as an actor, as he has to do more than just be handsome and dashing. Clooney’s character of lawyer-father Matt King is in fact not very heroic. His wife is at the hospital in a coma after a boating accident. Matt had been neglecting his wife before the accident. When he collects his sullen teenage daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), she informs him her mother had been carrying on an affair.
Matt’s potty-mouthed 10-year-old daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) is a disciplinary problem and is not doing well in school. When Matt learns his wife will never recover, he must tell his girls the truth.
That is the setup for a drama with ample dashes of comedy, based upon the 2009 novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, with screenplay by director Alexander Payne, whose last movie “Sideways” caused quite a stir in 2004.
Like “Sideways” “The Descendants” is about men behaving badly. Over the course of a family trip to the island of Kauai in search of the man who cuckolded him, Matt gains insight into what a crummy father and husband he has been, and how much everyone resents him.
Matt comes from an old Hawaii family that is in part related to Hawaiian royalty. Back in 1860 the family was granted 25,000 pristine acres on Kauai. Now Matt’s family wants to cash out and sell the land, but as executor of the estate, Matt has the final judgment.
Along for the ride at the insistence of Alexandra is her wiseguy boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause), who rubs both Matt and Matt’s father-in-law (Robert Forster) the wrong way.
The philandering lover turns out to be Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), a smarmy real estate agent who is also involved in the sale of the King land. Speer is a hypocrite of the worse kind: he is a married man with a loving wife (Judy Greer) and two adoring children.
Matt’s relatives aren’t much better than he. Led by the boozy, blustering Cousin Hugh (Beau Bridges), the clan is practically licking their chops over the prospect of newfound, unearned riches.
I have a particular interest in Hawaii and its history because my mother and her parents lived there for six years, starting in 1941, during the Hell of World War II. My parents first met there and my sister was born there.
Hawaii has some things in common with semi-tropical south Florida; particularly by the way its economy is driven by real estate.
“The Descendants” is ultimately a feel-good movie because characters learn to change and do the right thing. George Clooney did the right thing by choosing this role and proving he really can act.

Welcome Back Muppets

Triumphant Return of The Muppets

By Skip Sheffield

Who doesn’t love The Muppets?
I sure do. The Muppets bring back fond memories of my three daughters growing up in Boca Raton, watching “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show” on television.
Certainly I’m not alone in my nostalgic feelings, and that is exactly why the Jim Henson franchise is being rebooted by Disney in “The Muppet Movie.”
The motivating spirit behind this project to create a seventh Muppet movie 12 years after the last one is writer, actor and producer Jason Segel.
Segel is an avowed Muppets fan, and thanks to the success of his movies he has the clout and financial wherewithal to lead the charge.
Segel co-wrote The Muppet Movie with Nicholas Stoller, with whom he wrote “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek.” He also stars as Gary, a Muppets fan from Smalltown USA who lives with his “brother” Walter, who is a newly-created Muppet character.
Like Pee-Wee Herman, Gary and Walter lived in a cute little cottage that is more like a boy’s clubhouse. Gary does have a girlfriend named Mary (Amy Adams), but they have been together ten years and Gary has yet to pop the big question.
The setting of Smalltown is like an idealized 1950s TV show, with vintage cars, mom-and-pop stores, and smiling citizens who sing and dance at the drop of a downbeat.
In Fact “Life’s a Happy Song” pretty much tells the story as a song sung by Gary and Walter and later an elaborate dance number in the town square. The song was written by musical director Bret McKenzie, who wrote or co-wrote several other new songs to add to the Muppets musical library.
The set up for the story is Gary’s decision to give Mary her dream trip to Los Angeles. When Walter learns Gary and Mary are going to Los Angeles, all he can think is that it is the home of the Muppet Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. At the last dramatic moment, Gary tells Walter he is going too. Soon a 1950s-vintage Greyhound bus pulls up, and they are off.
Muppet Theater is no longer a working studio, but a museum; a museum which is on its last legs. A wheezy old tour guide (Alan Arkin in the first of many guest star cameos) takes them on a tour of closed offices and broken attractions.
The Muppet Theater is about to be sold to oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), who lets slip his real intention is to demolish the theater and drill for the oil he knows is below.
What is a Muppet to do? Put on a show, of course, to raise the $10 million it will take to buy the property. So begins a reintroduction to the Muppet characters, starting with an initially reluctant Kermit the Frog. You’ll have to see the movie to see all the comical details that go into reassembling the old gang, but trust me it is very clever and knowledgeable about musical comedy conventions, with characters breaking the fourth wall to talk about plot twists and motivations. I love the map travel concept. I’m surprised no one has thought of it before as a gag.
Muppets have never been real, but they have always represented the best of an optimistic, friendly, generous can-do America. Sly references to the current reality are many. I love that Fozzie the Bear is now performing with a Muppets tribute band call The Moopets. They are Muppets with a cynical edge, you see.
No, there is no room for cynicism in Muppetland, where even villains can see the light and get into the act. Yes, this movie will make tons of money for a corporation that already makes tons of money, but when it’s this much fun, I’ll let it pass. Jim Henson left this world in 1990 at the far too young age of 53. As long as Muppets can bring laughter and love, Jim Henson’s spirit will shine.

"Melancholia" Addresses Big Questions

“Melancholia” Addresses Cosmic Questions

By Skip Sheffield


When a film is titled “Melancholia” you know you are not in for a barrel of laughs.
“Melancholia” is an archaic expression for depression. It is also the name of a rogue planet on a collision course with Earth in Lars van Trier’s challenging new film of the same name.
“Melancholia” is challenging in a good kind of way. It took me a while before I could see where the writer-director was going in part one, called Justine. The opening sequence is pretentiously arty, with alternately dark and bright, mysterious celestial images, displayed to the tune of Wagner’s tragic, grandiose opera “Tristan and Isolde.”
The setting is an imposing seaside estate so large it has an 18-hole golf course. It is the wedding night of a young couple: Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgard).
Justine is not your typical radiant bride. While she smiles, kisses and show affection for Michael, she is clearly troubled by something. The story begins comically with the couple’s absurdly long limousine having trouble navigating the long, winding, narrow road to the estate.
It is a huge, elaborate wedding with full orchestra, gourmet dinner and scores of guests, overseen by a fussy, temperamental wedding planner (Udo Kier).
Nothing goes right with the wedding or subsequent reception, starting with the late arrival of the couple. It quickly devolves into an uncomfortable wedding hell.
The bride’s sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) warily tries to sooth the bride. Her father (John Hurt) seems three sheets to the wind. The mother (Charlotte Rampling) is an obviously embittered mess.
Claire’s husband John (Keifer Sutherland), the guy who is footing the bills, is angry and exasperated. Justine’s boss Jack (Stellan Skarsgard) is an egotistical jerk. Jack’s young assistant Tim (Brady Corbet) has a thing going for the bride.
Weddings tend to be emotional occasions, but this one careens out of control. The whole thing is an embarrassing spectacle. Clearly this marriage is doomed before it ever begins.
Doom is the main subject of the second part of the film, titled Claire. Doom is manifested by the aforementioned rogue planet called Melancholia, which was only hinted at in the first part. It is clearly visible on the horizon and looming larger all the time.
John insists Melancholia will miss planet Earth by miles. Claire isn’t so sure. Their 10-year-old son Leo (Cameron Spurr) simply wonders why everyone is so upset.
Leo seems to have a calming effect on Justine. In fact she seems preternaturally calm compared to her sister, who is falling apart.
If you’ve made it this far, the finale of the film is heartbreakingly beautiful. The performances are searing.
“Melancholia” dares ask the really big questions. What is the nature of happiness? Is true love possible? How does one face the inevitability of death? That von Trier can pose these really vexing questions in such visually beautiful, poetic manner is proof of his artistry. I have found von Trier’s earlier films angry, abrasive and depressing. This one makes up for that. Perhaps it is because von Trier himself was diagnosed with clinical depression, recognized the problem and got treatment for it. True art often come from a very painful place.

Fiddler on the Roof: The Back Story

“Sholem Aleichem” Documents Celebrated Yiddish Writer

There is a lot more to Sholem Aleichem than “Fiddler on the Roof.” Tevye the careworn Russian dairyman was just one of thousands of characters and yarns created by the most prolific, celebrated writer in Yiddish literature.
“Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness” is his story, now playing at FAU’s Living Room Theaters.
The writer was born Sholem Rabinovich near Kiev, Russia in 1859. Early in his career he adopted his pen name, which loosely means “peace be with you.”
There was little peace for Russian Jews in the 19th century. Aleichem was born into a fairly prosperous family, but it was not immune to the political, religious and economic oppression of the Russian Empire in pogram after pogram. This is a well-researched and beautifully presented documentary by Joseph Dorman, with appearances by actors Peter Riegert as Tevye and Jason Kravits as Menachem-Mendl. Aleichem’s own 100-year-old granddaughter Bel Kaufman is a major source of recollection, and “Fiddler on the Roof’ lyricist Sheldon Harnick tells how the writer inspired him. Other scholarly sources are Aaron Lansky, founder of the Yiddish Book Center and Mendy Cahan of Yung Yiddish, an Israeli center for the preservation of Yiddish culture.
You don’t have to be Jewish or speak Yiddish to appreciate the accomplishments of this endlessly-creative, hard-working artist. Sholem Aleichem is a writer for all time who crosses all political and cultural boundaries. This documentary is a fitting tribute.

"The Way" Earnest Family Project

“The Way” an Inspirational Film for Non-Religious People

By Skip Sheffield

“The Way” is tangible proof Martin Sheen is a good father. He’s a good grandfather too.
“The Way” is a family project for acclaimed actor Martin Sheen, his son Emilio Estevez and grandson Taylor Estevez.
Taylor Estevez, then 19, in 2003 undertook an 800-kilometer pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, from the French Pyrenees to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Actually Taylor drove the route with his grandfather, Martin Sheen, but the trip so inspired him his convinced his father, director-actor-writer Emilio Estevez, the subject was worthy of a film.
You could file “The Way” under “I” for inspirational, but it is not that simple. Emilio Estevez has crafted an entertaining fable about ordinary, non-religious people looking for meaning in their lives.
Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) is a California eye doctor whose son Daniel (Emilio Estevez) perished at the outset of a pilgrimage on “The Way” to Santiago. Avery drops everything to fly to France to identify his son’s body. When the body is cremated, Tom is inspired to undertake the pilgrimage himself to better understand his long-estranged son.
Along the way Tom meets three central characters who travel with him. The first is Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), a jolly Dutchman who is doing the pilgrimage simply to lose weight and get in better shape. Joost has an ample supply of pot and other mind-altering substances to make the journey easier.
Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger) is an angry divorced Canadian woman. Her quest is to stop smoking. Why she has to go all the way to Spain to do this is never explained.
Finally there is “Jack from Ireland,” a blocked writer of travel stories who would like to write a great novel.
Estevez freely admits he was inspired by “The Wizard of Oz,” with naïve Dorothy and three ragtag oddball characters she meets on a quest to see the Wonderful Wizard.
There is no Wizard in “The Way,” but there is a physical goal and an unspoken spiritual message to make the most of whatever life throws at you. This is a religious movie for non-religious people, anchored by the quiet power of Martin Sheen, an actor who knows how to convey grief, anger, frustration and joy without making a big show of it.

Good Germans as "Saviors in the Night"

By Skip Sheffield


Not all Germans were Nazis in World War II. Not all Germans were anti-Semitic either. A very small number of Germans risked their lives to save Jews from extermination camps. “Saviors in the Night,” playing at FAU’s Living Room Theaters, is the story of one such family.
“Saviors” is based in the best-selling memoirs of Marga Spiegel, played by Veronica Ferres in this Franco-German movie by Ludi Boeken.
Veronica Ferres is a delicately beautiful, blond, blue-eyed woman who like the woman she portrays, does not come across as the stereotypical “Jewish type.”
This was probably key to her survival, for Marga could move amongst the farmers and villagers of Westphalia and blend right in. For her husband Menne (Armin Rohde) it was a different matter. Menne was a horse-trader and looked the part of a Jewish entrepreneur. While Menne was popular and well-liked, his “Jewishness” forced him to go deep into hiding to survive.
The story begins in early 1943, as the Nazis were rounding up the last remaining Jews in Germany for death camps in “the East.” In the middle of the night Marga tells her young daughter Karin “We have to go!” Menne knew the Nazis were approaching, and in desperation he approached a local farmer, Herr Aschoff (Martin Horn) asking if he could take in his wife and daughter.
Aschoff agrees, though his wife (Margarita Broich) is fearful and his daughter Anni (Lia Hoensbroech), a loyal member of the Hitler Youth, is suspicious.
Because of her physical appearance Marga obtains Aryan papers through a ruse and clutches an Iron Cross for protection. The Aschoff family is Roman Catholic, and they take their Christianity seriously.
Marga is forced to disavow her husband and act like a loyal German, but there are many close calls as time wears on, eventually for two full years before the Allied liberation.
Not all of “Saviors” is grim. There are moments of humor and good cheer and even a little romance. In short “Saviors of the Night’ is not just another Holocaust story. It says in the Talmud “He who saves a single life saves the world entire.” This is an extraordinary tale of three lives saved at the risk of an entire community.

Real Steel Not Really About Battling Robots

Humans the Best Part of “Real Steel”

Would you play good money to watch robots box?
That questioned bugged me when contemplating whether or not to go to an advance screening of “Real Steel.” Since the screening was conveniently at the Cinemark Palace in Boca Raton, I thought OK, I’ll bite.
As it turns out, I enjoyed “Real Steel” more than expected. I am no fan of boxing or the Transformers movie series about giant fighting robots, but “Real Steel” has a more human component to it, thanks largely to the performances of Hugh Jackman as a has-been boxer and fight promoter and Dakota Goyo as his 11-year-old adoring son.
The screenplay was inspired by a 1956 short story by noted science-fiction writer Richard Matheson.
Charlie Kenton (Jackman) is in desperate straits when we meet him. He has borrowed money from everyone he knows, including shady characters who vow to extract their pound of flesh. His ex-wife (Hope Davis) has married a rich, obnoxious older guy (James Rebhorn) who plans an expended honeymoon in Europe.
That leaves Max Kenton, (Goyo) in the lurch. The older man takes Charlie in confidence and says he will give him $50,000 up front and another $50,000 on their return if Charlie will take Max, the son he abandoned not long after his birth, off their hands.
In a plot that much resembles “The Champ,” father and son
build a relationship while Charlie tries to rebuild his career with an obsolete old robot called Atom.
The computer-generated robot action looks pretty convincing, but it is the father and son stuff that give this otherwise silly movie its warm appeal.

Restless Not for everyone

“Restless” an Offbeat Romance Not for Everyone

By Skip Sheffield

Perhaps it takes a near-death experience to fully appreciate “Restless.” This very offbeat young romance is preoccupied with death, near-death, and what it means to be fully alive.
A couple of my writing colleagues felt it was boring, self-consciously arty and disconnected from conventional reality.
I on the other hand was quite drawn in to this far-fetched tale of doomed love, written by Jason Lew and directed by Gus Van Sant.
“Restless” marks the screen debut of the late Dennis Hopper’s son Henry. Hopper plays Enoch Brae, an alienated high school drop-out who has been in shock and withdrawal from ordinary life since both his parents were killed in a car crash he alone survived.
Enoch lives with his Aunt Mable (Jane Adams) who has moved into his parents’ house to take care of him.
It’s a thankless task for poor Mabel. It would be easy just to brand Enoch as a self-absorbed, self-pitying brat, but what Enoch has going for him is his imagination. Enoch’s best friend is imaginary: a dead Japanese Zero pilot named Hiroshi (Ryo Kase).
Hiroshi is a very friendly ghost, and he is Enoch’s best and only real friend until he meets a pretty young woman at a funeral. Enoch has the macabre habit of attending funerals of people he doesn’t even know.
To most people this would be pretty creepy, but not to Annabelle (the peerless Mia Wasikowska). Death is very much on her mind, because she has a tumor on her brain that will kill her within three months.
I never liked “Love Story,” which had a similar weepy scenario, or “Terms of Endearment,” which was also moving but manipulative.
The character of Annabelle is no typical victim or object of abject pity. Annabelle has accepted the fact that death is a natural part of life. Unlike a victim of accidental death she knows what is in store. Instead of wallowing in despair she is determined to live every day she has left to its fullest; like the songbird who every nightfall thinks he has died, only to awake every morning singing a joyous song of rebirth.
Those of us who have faced the end and emerged miraculously on the other side know there is a clear choice on how to live life. Like Annabelle’s character, who admires Darwin and sees the incredible beauty of nature in everything around her, I choose to be grateful and glad to be alive.
Corny? You bet! “Restless” maybe be sentimental and unbelievable, but it is a fantasy I embrace, and these two fantastic young actors beautifully embody that fantasy.

A Comedy (Sort of) About Cancer

Cancer No Laughing Matter, But is it Better to Cry?

By Skip Sheffield

Cancer is no laughing matter.
How then, does “50-50” find nuggets of humor in such a serious situation?
This is the most amazing thing about “50-50,” inspired loosely by screenwriter Will Reiser’s real-life battle with the deadly disease. Reiser was just 24 when a large, cancerous sarcoma tumor was discovered in his back. Helping him cope with this crisis was Reiser’s good friend Seth Rogen. Both Reiser and Rogen are funny guys by nature, and when this diagnosis came in 2003, they were both writers for Sacha Baron Cohen’s satirical television show “Da Ali G Show.” The germ of the idea to create a serio-comic look at cancer was born.
Seven years later the idea has come into fruition under the sensitive direction of Jonathan Levine. Likeable Joseph Gordon-Leavitt plays Will Reiser’s alter ego, Adam and Seth Rogen basically plays himself under a different name, Kyle.
At age 27 the otherwise healthy Adam is diagnosed with a cancerous sarcoma tumor in his spine. If diagnosed early enough, sarcoma is treatable with surgery, but because of the location of the tumor and the danger of the surgery, Adam is given only a 50-50 chance of survival.
A cancer diagnosis is awkward no matter how you look at it. If you are the person diagnosed, once you get over the initial shock and sorrow, a fear of the unknown sets in. You feel almost embarrassed to admit to your fragility.
For friends and family there is a tendency to over compensate with sympathy and/or total avoidance of the matter at hand.
All these things factor into Adam’s story. He undergoes the delicate surgery and his friend Kyle is grossed out when he has to change his dressing.
Adam’s girlfriend Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard) seems ill-equipped to deal with the seriousness of Adam’s condition.
Adam is assigned Katie (Anna Kendrick), a therapist just out of med school. Adam is only her third patient.
Adam’s mother Diane (Angelica Houston) goes into full denial mode.
It is only through a support group of fellow cancer patients that Adam gets some real understanding and tolerance.
I know none of this sounds very funny, but somehow it is. His head shaved as a consequence of chemotherapy, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt is fearless and engaging. Seth Rogen, who is also producer of this film, puts his money and talent where his heart is as Kyle. Anna Kendrick is absolutely adorable as the wide-eyed, still innocent therapist.
Perhaps I am biased. It was almost eight years ago that I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I opted for the radical solution of surgery. Sometimes you have to pay a steep price to keep on living. Through tears and laughter, “50-50” beautifully illustrates that process.

"My Afternoon with Margueritte" Romances Books

By Skip Sheffield

Love to read?
A romance does not have to involve sex.
“My Afternoons with Margueritte” is a very romantic film. Though sex is mentioned, it is irrelevant to the central story of an overweight, middle-aged loser and a highly educated, intelligent and compassionate 95-year-old woman.
Co-written and directed by Jean Becker, “My Afternoons” is a romantic fable about the joys and rehabilitative powers of literacy.
Germaine Chazes (Gerard Depardieu, fatter than ever) lives in a trailer in the garden behind his mother’s house in a small French town.
Bullied and humiliated as a child by other children, his teachers and his own parents, Germaine has withdrawn so much that he is functionally illiterate. Everyone in town thinks he is stupid except for Annette (Sophie Guillemin), a young woman who drives a bus. Germaine’s self-esteem is so low he does not appreciate Annette’s attentions.
One afternoon Germain sees an old lady in the park, counting pigeons. Viola! Germaine counts pigeons too, so he strikes up a conversation with Margueritte (Gisele Casadesus), a woman of great learning and experience.
Like Germaine, Margueritte is under-appreciated; by her nephew, who grudgingly looks after her at an assisted-living facility.
Another afternoon, Germain notices Magueritte reading a book. It is Albert Camus’ existential classic “The Plague” of all things. Germain asks Margueritte to read some of it to him. He is transfixed by the prose of Camus about a horrendous plague that struck Algeria, spread by rats. Margueritte offers to lend him the book, but he says no- ashamed to admit he can’t read Camus’ complex, metaphorical sentences.
So Germain’s afternoons are spent listening to Margueritte read rather than counting pigeons. Inspired, he goes to the library and asks for something simple and easy to read.
Running parallel with this blossoming friendship is the decline of Germain’s tyrannical, abusive mother (Claire Maurier).
There are a couple convenient plot twists that change the course of Germain’s life by film’s end, and it’s not just that Germain does indeed learn to read. This film has been criticized as being too treacley and sweet, but a little sweetness sometimes is good for the soul. I’ll admit I love reading, and I love the thought that people can change for the better late in life, even if it is just a movie. That’s why I loved this film.

"Moneyball" a Winner on All Counts

By Skip Sheffield

The premise doesn’t sound all that exciting. Manager of a cash-strapped baseball team hires a statistics whiz to help him scientifically predict the likelihood of success for any given player.
The good news is “Moneyball” is a rousing success, and you don’t even have to like baseball.
Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane is played by one Brad Pitt. Pitt had so much faith in the project he signed on as co-producer.
The Yale University statistics wizard, Peter Brand, is played by Jonah Hill.
Pitt and Hill are a Mutt ‘n Jeff duo. Pitt as a former player is ramrod straight, chiseled, and good-looking just this side of beautiful.
Hill is short, dumpy and pudgy, but behind his wire-rimmed glasses he radiates fierce intelligence.
“Moneyball’ is based on a true story, chronicled by Michael Lewis in his 2003 book: “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.”
The unfair part of all professional sports is twofold: the very best command the best salaries and the teams with the largest budgets can afford the best players.
As the 2001 season ended for the Oakland Athletics, they were reeling from the loss of their three star players to richer teams. Oakland was operating on a budget of $39 million. The New York Yankees had $141 million to play with.
Realizing he couldn’t compete in the money game, Billy Beane felt it was time to think outside the box. On his own initiative Beane went to the East Coast and hired recent Yale graduate Peter Brand on the spot as his assistant manager. Brand had no experience with baseball, but he did know his statistics. Using computer models, he could gauge the likelihood of any given player to hit or get on base. This cold logic ignores a player’s age, experience, attitude, physical appearance or injuries.
The conventional wisdom of baseball veterans making the decisions is subjective and therefore flawed. We meet the old pros who guide the Athletics, and watch them bicker, disagree and backstab. Nobody likes change. Billy Beane received formidable opposition for his revolutionary scheme to recruit undervalued players who given the chance, may play as well or better than the multi-million-dollar stars.
The screenplay by Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List”) and Aaron Sorkin (Social Network”) is a classic underdog story, but it is also a story of courage, ingenuity, heroism and true team spirit. Those who know baseball already know the outcome. I didn’t, so I got caught up in the Athletics’ uphill, against-all-odds battle.
Director Bennett Miller, who amazed Hollywood by winning an Oscar nomination for his debut film, “Capote,” understands a David vs. Goliath story, and unfolds the dramatic action accordingly.
Pitt the actor has never been better than in this immersion into the role of Billy Beane. Beane is far from perfect, and Pitt makes his flaws increase his appeal.
Like a veteran vaudeville team, Pitt and Hill have perfect comic timing, with knowing glances, pregnant pauses, and surprise quick decisions.
“Moneyball” is no simple “Rocky” story. It is about the harsher reality of 21st century life; the ruthlessness of business; the inevitability of change, and the crippling that comes with inability to adapt. Oh, but it still makes you feel good. Now that is an amazing accomplishment.

A French Thriller American-Style

“Point Blank” Violent French Thriller American-Style

By Skip Sheffield


“Point Blank” is one of those “ripped from headlines” kind of stories reflective of our violent, cruel, chaotic world. It opens Friday at FAU’s Living Room Theaters along with the eye-opening documentary, “If a Tree Falls.”
This French thriller from Fred Cavaye begins with a bang: the attempted hit on a motorcyclist, and does not slow down until the final credits.
Gilles Lellouche plays Samuel, a young male nurse trainee who attends to a wounded man brought to the hospital under heavy guard. The victim is a tough criminal boss named Hugo Sartet (Roschdy Zem). He was wounded in an attempted assassination and there is a whole squad of bad guys who want to finish the job.
If this weren’t trouble enough, when the bad guys botch another attempt to kill Sartet, they snatch Samuel’s very pregnant wife (Elena Anaya) from the hospital and seize her as a hostage.
Fred Cavaye in 2008 wrote and directed a film called “Anything for Her” which was remade American-style as “The Next Three Days,” with Russell Crowe as a mild-mannered professor who is forced to take extreme measures to free his unjustly accused wife from jail.
In much the same spirit Samuel is compelled to rise to the occasion, forced into an alliance with the vengeful criminal Sardet to save his wife as bullets fly, bad guys chase, and cars screech and skid, fly through the streets while killers invade the subways of Paris.
Cavaye certainly keeps up the tension and the pace, but the incredible plot turns strain credulity. It’s as if Cavaye is trying to outdo the Americans in violence and high-speed mayhem.
Though I have not had a chance to see it, “If a Tree Falls” seems a much more worthy prospect for a thinking adult. It’s inspired by the true story of the rise and fall of the radical Earth Liberation Front, which resorted to violence and sabotage to further their radical environmentalist goals. Does the end justify the means, or were they just home-grown terrorists? Perhaps this Marshall Curry film will spur debate.

Same Time, One Day

If You Love Love, You’ll Love “One Day”


By Skip Sheffield


A lot can change in one day. In the romantic comedy “One Day,” two college graduates meet on St. Swithin’s Day, July 15, and have an impetuous fling that changes their lives- but not right away.
St. Swithin has no bearing on University of Edinburgh graduates Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) other than it is a funny name reference in David Nicholls’ novel “One Day.”
Nicholls adapted his novel and tapped Danish director Lone Scherfig (“An Education”) to helm this project. While the story somewhat resembles the play “Same Time, Next Year,” there are important differences. This is not about an affair. It is about friendship that blossoms into love.
The fact that Scherfig is a woman with subtle sensibility helps balance the equation. “One Day” is equally about man and woman, and how they love.
On that fateful graduation day July 15, 1988, Emma and Dexter meet. She is a serious-minded scholar with big Harry Potter wire-rim glasses and minimal makeup. He is a glib, handsome, frivolous playboy type rather spoiled by his doting mother (Patricia Clarkson) and a gruff but loving father (Ken Stott).
Even when she is dressed-down, Anne Hathaway (with convincing British accent) is a radiantly beautiful woman. Jim Sturgess is a remarkably good-looking guy, so they make an appealing couple. When they impulsively make love on the night they meet, we intuit this will be more than a one-night stand, even though the morning after in the glare of day they vow to “just be friends.”
And so on July 15 over the course of 20 years, Emma and Dexter meet and part again and again. Her trajectory is upward. She becomes a teacher, then writes the book she has always been threatening to do.
Dexter’s personality and good looks make him ideal for television. For awhile Dexter’s career and finances soar as host of his own vapid, glitzy TV show.
Emma acquires a determined admirer in Ian (Rafe Spall), an aspiring comic who works a day job at the same restaurant Emma works.
Ian is a fool, but he is played with great dignity by Spall, and Emma is such a compassionate person, we can see her befriending him out of pity.
But we the viewers and readers know Emma and Dexter are destined for each other. When they meet in picturesque locales such as Paris and Calais, the mood is rapturous. Guided by Scherfig, Hathaway and Sturgess make us feel the giddy elation of love. Conversely, we feel love’s flip side, the depths of despair.
“One Day” is a first-class weeper. It is also an ideal date movie. I suggest seeing it with someone you love. You may just get lucky.

"Anita" a Tale of Survival and Hope in Argentina

“Anita” a Story of Survival and Hope

By Skip Sheffield

Argentina is a fascinating country on the other side of the world from the USA, yet in many ways familiar.
There are probably more European immigrants in Argentina than any other South American country. Both former Nazis and Jews fleeing from persecution resettled in Argentina before, during and after World War II.
I offer this as background for an Argentinean film called “Anita.” The Anita of the title is a young Argentine woman with Down syndrome. Anita lives with her mother (award-winning Argentine actress Alejandro Manzo) in Buenos Aries. Anita’s mother runs a small stationery shop she inherited from her late husband. One morning her mother leaves Anita in the shop so she can attend a Jewish anti-defamation league meeting. She locks the door and cautions Anita not to leave.
A horrendous explosion occurs while Anita is up on a footstool. The blast blows out the windows and door of the shop. Anita is knocked unconscious, but she recovers and wanders out through the wreckage in search of her mother.
Writer-director Marcos Carnevale was inspired by an actual anti-Jewish terrorist attack in Buenos Aries on July 18, 1994. The attack claimed the lives of 86 innocent victims and injured hundreds more. It was the single deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history. The perpetrators have never been located or prosecuted, though the origins of the attack are strongly suspected to be in the Hezbollah anti-Israel, anti-West hate group in Iran.
But “Anita” is not about politics, violence or religion. It is about one mentally-challenged woman’s survival, with the help of complete strangers. “Anita” celebrates human compassion. Not all of Anita’s protectors are willing or selfless. Some pass the buck, so to speak, but conscience inevitably draws them back in.
For this reason I find “Anita” a wondrously hopeful film. If you believe in the inherent goodness of human beings, it is the “feel-good” movie of the season.