The Theory of Everything

This week I'm gonna talk about the biographic film of the physicist Stephen Hawking and Jane Wild, based on the book Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, who's author is Jane Wild. I was very excited to see this film because I knew that Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones were going to give life to these two persons, and they are great british actors whose careers are ascending year to year, and I have seen them perform since their beginnings.

The film is about the relationship of them: how they met, how they struggle together the disease of Stephen, their marriage, the climb in his career, and more. James Marsh, the director, takes us to another decade and manages the struggles brilliantly. All the time in the film he highlights the relationship of Stephen and Jane is such a sweet way.

To prepare for these roles, Eddie and Felicity did a lot of research about the ALS disease, they visited a clinic were people with this disease are treated, they met Stephen and Jane, and more. In Eddie's case, he worked with an specialist in London, showed her pictures of Stephen and tried to determine with her the stage of the disease: and in Felicity's case, when she met Jane, she tried to absorb her as much as possible.

For Felicity Jones this has been the most demanding role she has ever done, specially since the person she was portraying is still alive and she was afraid of doing it wrong. We have seen her in The Invisible Woman as Nelly who was the mistress of Charles Dickens (played by Ralph Fiennes), in Breath In as Sophie, an exchange student who gets involved with a married man (played by Guy Pierce), in Like Crazy as Anna, a british college student who falls in love with an american student (played by Anton Yelchin), and in other films, mostly independent.

And for Eddie Redmayne this has also been the most demanding job he has ever done for the same reason as Felicity and all the research he had to do about the disease Stephen had and his work as physicist and cosmologist. He became more know in the film My week with Marilyn as Colin a guy that gets involved with Marilyn and in Les Miserables as Marius who falls in love with Cosette.

The rest of the cast is amazing!! Emily Watson, Charlie Cox, David Thewlis and Harry Lloyd are in it!!

The Theory of Everything has received nominations for the Golden Globes in the categories of Best Motion Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Original Score. Good luck to the film in this awards season!!

Gone Girl......cautivating

The Awards Season is approaching and the bets have started. Different websites and blogs are commenting about their favorite films and performances. In my particular case, I will talk about all the movies running on this upcoming season.

So my first film to approach is Gone Girl.

When I saw the trailer I completely believe that the movie was about a husband that killed his wife to get rid of her to gain her money and have the possibility to be with his lover. Imagine my surprise when story reveals that Amy )played by Rosamund Pike) was a maniac!!! The story have a turn of 360 degrees and I LOVE IT !

My perspective changed completely from believing that the husband Nick (played by Ben Affleck) was a murderer and cold hearted to the idiot who underestimated his wife intelligence and now was losing in her game. Later on, I couldn't avoid to laugh when Amy comes back all covered in blood and tells Nick to thank her because he was scoured.And the ending, when Nick decides to stay with her for his kid, is surprising and disconcerting at the same time.

The combination of Gillian Flynn, the author, and David Fincher, the director, created a masterpiece, where we don't know what is going to happen next in David Fincher's words.

Regarding the performances, Ben Affleck is great as in Argo, where he was aclaimed as an actor and director. Rosamund Pike was extraordinary, her capacity to bond the sweet and maniac Amy was perfect! I couldn't believe that she was the same person who gave live to sweet Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (2005) and carefree Helen in An Education (2009).

I believe the movie is all up ascending and already has significant nominations in the 72th Golden Globe Awards, like Rosamund Pike as Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, Daivd Fincher as Best Director in a Motion Picture Drama, Gillian Flynn as Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score.

To finish, here is an interview of the actor, the director and the author.

The Invisible Woman

The Invisible Woman is a british drama film about the life of the writer Charles Dickens and his relationship with his mistress Nelly Ternan, and is based on the book of Claire Tomalin, The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens. The film was directed by Raph Fiennes who stars as Charles Dickens, and Felicity Jones stars as Nelly Ternan.The film was presented in the Telluride Film Festival on august, 2013, and then released for a brief period of time in the USA, and later in the UK.

The job of Ralph Fiennes portraying the relationship of Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan is brilliant, he focuses of the connection they have in their way of thinking, their love for stories, the capacity to understand each other...And also, the internal war Nelly has on becoming the mistress of Charles. She puts her values and believes to the limit. That internal war of Nelly, Felicity Jones brings to live brilliantly; and Ralph Fiennes gives live to a Charles Dickens that we love besides choosing his mistress over his wife.

Trailer

Remembering "Another Earth"

This movie was premiered at the 27th Sundance Film Festival in January 2011. It received great critics in the festival and Fox Searchlight Pictures got to distribute it. The film was directed by Michael Cahill and written by Brit Marling and himself. They also produced it, alongside Hunter Gray and Nicholas Shumaker. Also, the film stars Brit Marling and William Mapother (known for his role on the serie Lost as Ethan).

The story is about Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling) a brilliant 17 year old, who got accepted in MIT. Unfortunately, her live changes when she crushes into another car on her way back home after a party, and kills the wife and son of John Burroughs, while leaving him in a temporary coma. That same night, another planet was discovered and had similar characteristics to planet Earth. Since she was a minor, John wasn't able to know her identity. After 4 years in prison, she is released and just wants to be isolated, so she finds a job as a school's janitor.

Living full of regret, she goes to John's house to apologize, but she loses her nerve and presents herself as a cleaning lady that works in a firm that is doing trials. Thus, she starts going to his house to clean, trying to make his life better and less miserable. At the same time, she got in a contest to get to travel to the Mirror Earth. Rhoda's live starts to change as well as her relationship with John, who she falls in love with.

The film is incredible, from the scenes to the background music. All is well thought-out and made in such a way that it feels unique in every single thing. Brit and William are great on it, the chemistry is awesome, and the outcome of their relationship is perfect. You shout see this movie, it's a must do. And I must say that you will love the background music because it comes from playing the saw.

Trailer -Another Earth (2011)

Rooney Mara in Ain't them bodies saints......

 The other day I saw the independent movie Ain't them bodies saints that debuted in Sundance this year. It's a criminal drama directed by David Lowery. The plot is about a couple, Bob Muldoon (Casey Affleck) and Ruth Guthrie (academy nominee Rooney Mara), that gets separated when Bob goes to jail by murder and years later escapes from prison to get back to her and their child. 

The director emphasizes a lot the reactions of the actors, the movements and the background. That allows him to gives life and transmit the feeling of being in a place like that. It reminded me a lot to the Tree of Life by Terrence Malick and Drive by Nicolas Winding. For me, he used those ways expression.

In the movie, Rooney and Casey were great and their chemistry was incredible. One wants them back together the hole movie. What I kept asking myself was: that's the girl that gave life to Lisbeth Salander? Really? I liked the way she created her character. And Casey wins the show, he is Bob and Bob is him. The script is so well written and is so smart, you don't get bored at all. And most importantly, it is not a predictable story. You should see it. Here is the trailer to check it out.

Ain't them bodies saints - Trailer 

Let's "Breathe In"

Breathe In is a movie that was presented in the Sundance Festival 2013, directed and written by Drake Doremus. He's known for his previews film Like Crazy that received great critics. The cast is conformed by Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce and Amy Ryan. 

The plot of the movie begins when a Sophie (Felicity), UK exchange student, spends a semester with the Reynolds in New York. She feels attracted to Keith (Guy Pearce) who she lives with and is her music professor too. He starts seeing her in another light as he gets to know her. And respects her more for her abilities playing the piano. Their connection with music get them closer, and also gets Keith apart from his wife Megan. That relationship changes the lives of the Reynolds forever, and Sophie's too.

The chemistry of Guy and Felicity is amazing and shows the extraordinary British Talent there is. The cinematography is so refreshing and helps feel a nature in the scenes that captures the audience. The script is so clever that you don't see Sophie as the worst person, but as a well-behaved girl that can't help feel attracted to Keith. And one even wants them to go way together at some point, which is confusing for the moral values I have.  I fully recommend it, there will be no regrets.

Breathe In - Trailer

Getting to know "Lore"

Lore is a foreign movie, australian-german, that allows us to see the change in life of a german family when World War II is over.  The movie follows the perspective of Lore, who has been raised under the believe that Hitler was a great lider and a person with high values, while the american were "monsters" who wanted to kill them. It's a great movie with a different perspective of World War II, from the eyes of a nazi family.

The journey of Lore begging when her parents leave her in charge of her siblings, her father went to fight back the american and her mother gave herself up to the authorities. She follows her mother's instructions: go to the house of her aunt in Hamburg. All the weight is on her shoulders since she has to take care of her sister, her twin brothers and her baby brother. In order to feed them and clean themselves up, she sells her mothers jewelry. Their situation starts to get worse and worse until they run into Thomas. He is a young man that helps them in a situation with american soldiers and joins them in their journey.

I believe there begins an interesting dynamic in movie, because she threats him different for being a jew. Despite that, he gets them food and helps taking care of the baby. The interaction of Thomas and Lore evolves a lot during the movie, she starts trusting him and feeling attracted to him. One can feel the tension between them. There is no happy ending for them, the separation of their paths is quick and unanticipated. And she find her aunt in the end.

All Lore had to go thought changed her completely, even her perspective of the jews. The curious thing is that in the end, Thomas was no jew, he had the papers to help him travel. In my opinion, I believe he was a nazi soldier because of his harsh reactions, that he had the papers of the jew and the way he left.

The scenes, the script and the symbolism in the film were great. The film was directed by Cate Shortland, and written by her and Robin Mukherjee. The movie was selected as the Australian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. Finally, the young actress who gave live to Lore was Saskia Rosendahl, who received an award for best actress at the Stockholm International Film Festival. 

Lore (2012) - Trailer