Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Genre

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Director

Woody Allen

Country

USA

Cast

Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey, Dianne Wiest, Michael Caine, Woody Allen, Carrie Fisher, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Max von Sydow, Daniel Stern, Julie Kavner, Fred Melamed, Benno C. Schmidt, Joanna Gleason, Bobby Short, Lewis Black, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Christian Clemenson, J. T. Walsh, John Turturro, Rusty Magee, Sam Waterston, Tony Roberts

Storyline

During a Thanksgiving Day party, we meet Hannah (Mia Farrow) and her husband Elliot (Michael Caine), who is in love with Lee (Barbara Hershey), Hannah's sister in a relationship with an old misanthrope painter (Max von Sydow), and Holly (Dianne Wiest), the other sister who is going through a deep crisis.

Opinion

Woody Allen's directing career has had its many ups and numerous downs. "Hannah and Her Sisters" is arguably another up. The film indeed is a brilliant, thoughtful, funny and very, very smart mixture of comedy and drama about life.

Once again Woody deals with human relationships, and this time he does focusing on three sisters: Hannah, Lee and Holly. Once again the title of the film is not random, and Hannah is the only sister's name in it because she is the family's point of reference. All relationships revolve around her, which appears as a static, ethereal character in contrast to the dynamism, and the psychological and sentimental instability of the other sisters and other characters. 

Allen uses that contrast to emphasize the superficiality of being perfect. Hannah, as Michael Caine says, is a woman "who gives so much and needs so little in return". Therefore what's interesting about perfection? 

The atmospheres well highlight the importance of the relations that bond the characters, and even though Allen throws in some heavy themes revolving around life, love, and death, he does it so cleverly he doesn't allow them to overshadow the characters.

Allen's script is clever and filled with interesting and superb dialogue. His direction also is quite wonderful, and the Manhattan setting, music and photography are nice as well.

Michael Caine is terrific as Hannah's husband, and thoroughly deserved the Oscar. It was quite a shock for me to see a young(er) Caine as well as seeing him pull off such a performance. Woody Allen is very funny as the hypochondriac who tries religions in a search for serenity. Max von Sydow gives a poignant performance too. Mia Farrow and Barbara Hershey also do a great job, but Dianne Wiest is the standing out sister, as she gives a brilliant performance as Holly.

A week ago I bought a rifle, I went to the store - I bought a rifle! I was gonna, you know, if they told me I had a tumor, I was gonna kill myself. The only thing that might've stopped me - MIGHT'VE - is that my parents would be devastated. I would have to shoot them also, first. And then I have an aunt and uncle - you know - it would've been a bloodbath. - Mickey 

Joy (2015)

Genre

Drama

Director

David O. Russell

Country

USA

Cast

Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Édgar Ramírez, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Isabella Rossellini, Elisabeth Röhm, Dascha Polanco, Melissa Rivers, Donna Mills, Susan Lucci, Maurice Benard, Laura Wright, Alexander Cook, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Drena De Niro, Isabella Crovetti-Cramp, Madison Wolfe, Emily Nunez

Storyline

The story of Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence), a divorced, young mother of two, who rose to become founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty.

Opinion

Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper starring in a film directed by David O. Russell, how original. Anyway, I had high expectations for this film given the story and the people who worked in it: what a disappointment!

Bland but with a strong performance from its lead, Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy" doesn't quite live up to its title.

The story, a feel-good American dream kind of story, is loosely based on the true story of inventor Joy Mangano, and had Oscar material written all over. Then the screenplay happened. A terrible, atrociously written screenplay, which choose to focus on the dysfunctional family rather than the inventions and career path of the main character. Joy's family indeed has an important role in her life, but it takes over on everything else, and it ends up overshadowing Joy's growth, as she learns about the world of business eventually losing her innocence.

The fairly tale narrated by the dead grandmother is ruled by chaos, and it's quite hard to understand how such a simple and straightforward story ended up in a film that doesn't exceed by much the level of a soap opera.

The editing certainly does not help. The scenes, that seems to be cut with by a brutal butcher, feel like they were put together randomly at the expense of the decisions and motivations of the protagonist: it's not very clear how a haircut is connected and have the same value of the invention of mop. Of course, there's a path behind it, but the messing editing really doesn't help.

The production design is that of a Christmas film, but maybe that's what David O. Russell wanted, it was released at Christmas after all. The same applies for the poor music choices. Maybe it was someone's iPod on shuffle, who knows.

And lastly the acting. Jennifer Lawrence gives an incredible performance, the best it could have been given the role. She carries the whole film, and she brings some energy to the character - and film - without which we would struggle to find something interesting in the film. Did she deserve to win the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy? And over Amy Schumer? I don't think so. Robert De Niro is a great actor, I'd never dare to say otherwise, but I'm really tired of seeing him doing the same role over and over again. Bradley Cooper's performance is quite weak, but the rest of the cast is no better, that's certainly not the case.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Director

Wes Anderson

Country

USA

Cast

Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray, Stephen Lea Sheppard, Kumar Pallana, Seymour Cassel, Andrew Wilson, Alec Baldwin, Aram Aslanian-Persico, Irene Gorovaia, Amedeo Turturro, James Fitzgerald

Storyline

Royal (Gene Hackman) and his wife Etheline Tenenbaum (Anjelica Huston) had three children, Chas (Ben Stiller, adult - Aram Aslanian, young), Richie (Luke Wilson, adult - Amedeo Turturro, young), and Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow, adult - Irene Gorovaia, young). They were a family of geniuses but then they separated. After two decades of betrayal, failure and disaster the family reunites when the father announces he is terminally ill.

Opinion

After watching "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and loving it, I told myself I had to know better Wes Anderson. I'm just disappointed with myself because it took me so long to watch another of his masterpieces.

My second Anderson, but Anderson's third, The Royal Tenenbaums is a brilliant, appealing, funny, quirky, sarcastic, sentimental and poignant dramedy, perfectly balancing drama and comedy, whose strength lies in its eccentric characters.

Wes Anderson's direction is absolutely magnificent, and he manages to make interesting the daily life of a dysfunctional American family, and, through the irony of the characters, he manages to talk about feelings in a odd, soft way. The camera angles goes from right to left, top to down - or the other way around -, not never forward. 

The Anderson/Wilson writing is definitely unique, and witty, the storyline is bizarre, and the characters are quirky. I did love the chapters structuring, and the loquace narration by Alec Baldwin, which gives the same sensation of reading a book. The characters are all memorable, starting from the childish, dandy father, passing through the former infant prodigies in need of love, arriving at the loyal servant.

The scenography is lit up with bright, garish colours, and the looking-oldish cinematography is absolutely stunning. The soundtrack is sublime and appropriate, and among the songs definitely pops out The Beatles "Hey Jude" performed by the Mutato Muzika Orchestra.

The acting is top-notch. Gene Hackman plays the role of Royal with confidence, and delivers an intense performance. Gwyneth Paltrow is wonderful as the depressed Margot. Bill Murray also gives a great performance as Paltrow's cuckold husband. Ben Stiller and the Wilsons' brothers really surprised me: I ain't gonna lie, I was afraid they were going to ruin the film.

Royal: He saved my life, you know. Thirty years ago. I was knifed at a bazaar in Calcutta, and he carried me to the hospital on his back.

Ari: Who stabbed you?

Royal: He did. There was a price on my head, and he was a hired assassin. Stuck me in the gut with a shiv.