 |
|
Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) shares a moment of
bliss with her husband Frank (Dennis Quaid) in Far
From Heaven, director Todd Haynes' homage to
1950s melodramas.
|
In this weekend's choices between bullets and tears, I choose tears, hands down. The tears belong to Far From Heaven, director Todd Haynes' drama about a 1950s suburban family and the unexpected events that tear it apart. The bullets are part of the latest James Bond film, Die Another Day's action package, along with babes, gadgets and wisecracks. Die Another Day delivers more thrills than recent action duds like Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever and I Spy, but it offers nothing to new to the Bond franchise. With the exception of Halle Berry's performance as the spy, Jinx, Die Another Day is riddled with stunts, characters and plot twists that have become familiar Bond clichés.
Great style, powerful performances and an intelligent story make Far From Heaven one of the year's best movies. I'm not very good when it comes to predicting year-end awards, but I know that Far From Heaven deserves a handful.
Its heartfelt story makes Far From Heaven more than a paint-by-numbers homage to 1950s Douglas Sirk melodramas. Dennis Quaid gives a realistic performance as the secretive husband Frank Whitaker. Julianne Moore is rock solid as Cathy, the wife determined to maintain her family's status quo. Dennis Haysbert, as the gardener, Raymond Deagan, who befriends Cathy, delivers the film's most satisfying performance. Cinematographer Edward Lachman re-creates 1950s suburbia with dazzling beauty, but Haynes keeps the film focused on its storytelling.
Moore has teamed with Hayes before, playing a sickly housewife battling toxins in the film Safe. Her performance in Safe was powerful, but her work in Far From Heaven is close to perfection. She's both engaging and slightly aloof as the dutiful 1950s housewife. Moore bursts through the period clothes, hairstyles and rigid dialogue to make Cathy warm and sympathetic. I imagine that other actresses would suffer under the film's extreme style. Moore uses it as a launching pad for something rich and unforgettable.
Early on it's clear that Far From Heaven is one of the most beautiful films of the year. Quaid's complex performance as the distraught husband, Moore's rock-solid presence as the wife who suddenly finds herself alone, and Haysbert's calm presence as the gardener who befriends her, help create a story that matches the visual beauty created by Lachman. Far From Heaven's opening scene, where a sea of red and gold fall leaves surrounds the lawn of Frank and Cathy Whitaker's suburban home, is easily one of the most stunning moments in a film this year.
Early in Die Another Day, the latest James Bond adventure, the iconic British spy appears unshaven, dirty and beaten. There's not a tuxedo or martini glass in sight, and you get the impression that director Lee Tamahori wants to shake up actor Pierce Brosnan and the sleepy Bond franchise.
But a tried and familiar formula remains Bond's greatest nemesis, and it's not long before Die Another Day slips into another comic book plot about a crazed mastermind holding the world hostage thanks to a deadly new weapon. Bond movies have always been about giving audiences what they want. The problem is that I want to be surprised -- and that's something Bond seems incapable of delivering.
On the Bond ratings chart, Die Another Day is punchier than Brosnan's last two Bond movies, The World Is Not Enough and Tomorrow Never Dies, but it still fails to match the thrills of his first Bond outing, GoldenEye. In the big picture, looking back some 40 years, this latest Bond movie falls nonchalantly in the middle of the pack.
Brosnan has settled comfortably in the role and, at age 49, still looks tough enough to play a globetrotting assassin. He's charismatic and likable, delivering the requisite wisecracking gamely, although I would prefer a Bond film without any wisecracks. Still, he can only do and say what screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (who also penned The World Is Not Enough) provide for him.
Between the film's action highlights, an explosive Hovercraft race through a North Korean minefield, an acrobatic sword fight in a London sports club and a lightning-fast car chase across the frozen fields of Iceland, Bond investigates mysterious industrialist Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) in order to uncover a traitor in the British Secret Service. Along the way, Bond crosses paths with Graves' pretty assistant Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) and the provocative Jinx (Halle Berry), another spy who's tracking Graves.
Tamahori surrounds Brosnan with plenty of action flash, but story-wise Die Another Day is disappointing. Stephens sneers and jeers adequately as Graves, yet I can't help losing track of his motive by the end of the film. Like many Bond adventures, this film would have benefited from a simpler story line.
Pike delivers the film's lone plot surprise, matching her pretty face with a confident performance. Rick Yune makes less of an impact as Graves' facially scarred henchman Zao, despite the fact that he sports a gadget-laden spy car equal to Bond's.
 |
James Bond takes aim at his latest adversary in Die
Another Day, his fourth outing as the iconic British
agent.
|
Berry enjoys the best entrance in the film, greeting her spy boy cohort after emerging from the ocean in a bright orange bikini with a knife strapped around her waist. She offers a beautiful face and pin-up curves, and her presence alone boosts the film.
Jinx is sexy, but Berry also makes her smart, tough and a relentless fighter. She's no female-in-distress, Girl Friday or Bond accessory. In fact, by the film's unbridled climax, a battle aboard a plummeting aircraft we've seen Bond face before, she enjoys a fight scene as rough and tough as Bond's. Berry is the one amazing thing in a film surrounded by clichés.
Far From Heaven CityBeat grade: A.
Die Another Day CityBeat grade: C.
Printer-friendly version
