Thursday, September 06, 2007
One Day in Philly
Over the Labor Day weekend, the ever-loving wife and I had a chance to head north to Philly to take in some movies that most probably would not wend their way south to Delaware. Along with two flicks ,we were able to catch a meal at Eulogy Belgian Tavern, a small 'n tight establishment in Old Philly, stocking over 100 varieties of beers from almost every beer-brewing country except Slovenia and Croatia. I’ve written before about Eulogy and their twice-fried fries (and yes, they have to be fried twice because a once-fry doesn’t load the fries with enough artery-clotting cholesterol).The movies?
Rocket Science and 2 Days in Paris.
Rocket Science, a pseudo-biography of the childhood of, Jeffrey Blitz who had previously gifted us with that great documentary, Spellbound, deals with high school, New Jersey, stuttering, and debate clubs. Each of those topics are potentially depressing and discouraging enough; combining all four subjects has got to be a death knell for a good time at the movies, right?
Well, just as he did with Spellbound, Jeffrey Blitz takes a squirmy topic, well actually 4 of them, and brings a quirky and a consuming view of them. Mr. Blitz, who both wrote and directed the movie, has put more of himself into this movie than in the documentary, Spellbound. But, there is no sugarcoating and no gratuitous easy solutions for the main characters. No John Hughes Sixteen Candles tie-it-all-up in a pantie ending, which makes it simply a great movie.
Reece Daniel Thomson, in the lead role of Hal Heffner, is simply brilliant; an Oscar nomination has to be guaranteed. Hal’s family are played by actors who lurk in your movie peripheral memory; semi-known but shadowy in their importance.
The plot deals with a stuttering Hal Heffner (Mr. Blitz stuttered when he was young and still has a slight speech impediment) and his being drafted by a young Woman of Interest into the high school debating club. I’ll leave it at that; I’m afraid of revealing anything more as each scene is a marvel.
Eff Barzelay did the music, which wraps the movie in the tense anxiety of teenagederdoom, without those overhanging notes of suicide premonition or pap that so many movies dealing with high-schoolers have. Think Little Miss Sunshine without the sunshine and with Jersey.
You should definitely see the movie and then Netlfix it; the dialog is outstanding as is the nifty turn that Heffner/Blitz pulls off at the end with his movie dad. Well, I’ll let you tell me what that turn is.
2 Days in Paris, written and directed by Julie Delpy, with Ms. Delpy and Adam Goldberg in the leading character roles of a transplanted French woman visiting family and friends on a short stopover during a visit to Europe with her American boyfriend (Goldberg), slowly rolls out the appeal/distrust/fear of having a French girlfriend. Within the two days stay in her newly purchased apartment, which is one floor up from her parents’ place,
The movie reminds me a bit of one of my favorite films, Bertrand Blier’s Préparez vos mouchoirs (Get out your Handkerchiefs). While one woman drives one man emotionally off the edge in 2 Days in Paris, Carol Laure successfully drives 2 men off that same cliff. The main difference is that Ms. Laure pulls off the misery so well, you (well a guy) would gladly step in as a human pin cushion for Mr. Depardieu or Mr. Dewaere. Must be because Ms. Laure is French-Canadian rather than simply French. Ms. Delpy, while pleasing to the eye, inspires no such voluntary masochism. 2 Days in Paris has its moments, usually when Mr. Goldberg is on the screen or when Ms. Delpy’s on-screen parents, who are also her parents in real life as we know it, eat up the scenery. It’s worth a DVD rental for fans of Mr. Goldberg (as I am) and for voyeurs who think having a French girlfriend is a positive step in one’s relational life. Well, the one thing one can certainly say is a benefit of a French girlfriend is that the caliber of the food rises as one's confidence in the relationship sinks.
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