Ahoy, squirts! Quint here trying to dig myself out from under this mountain of writing that threatens to crumble down on me like an avalanche filled with carpal tunnel demons.
It’s been a whirlwind 3 weeks which has seen me travel some 10,000 miles by car and plane, from the mountains of Colorado to the beaches of Puerto Rico and back home again. As a result I’ve gotten really far behind on my reviews.
I’ve got 9 movies to review to wrap up Telluride and while it’s very tempting to do mini-reviews and knock ‘em all out in one fell swoop that always feels like cheating to me. We’ll see how much I actually have to say about these movies. I might cop out with some mini-reviews if I run out of steam.
But first up is a pair of like films I saw at Telluride. I noticed a lot of commonalities between films at this fest and have another pair of like films that I’m going to review after this one is finished.
Up for discussion is AN EDUCATION scripted by Nick Hornby (HIGH FIDELITY) and directed by Lone Scherfig and FISH TANK written and directed by Andrea Arnold.
Both films are set in the UK, both are coming of age stories and both made me fall in love with their leading ladies.
AN EDUCATION is a period film starring the radiant and beautiful Carey Mulligan as a teenage girl who is seduced by a mysterious and charming bloke named David (played by Peter Sarsgaard). It’s not just his looks, gentleness or money that’s attractive to her. It’s his lifestyle. He’s free in almost every sense of the word. He can do everything she wishes she can and when he starts inviting her along, freeing her from the shackles of her strict parents and rigid boarding school the spell is set. She’s in love, nevermind he’s twice her age.
Like most romance tales and coming of age stories there’s a bit of a structure that you come to expect. That’s here, too, but Hornby’s greatest talent as a writer is his ability to make real, believable and likable people.
Pairing that writing with some brilliant casting gives this movie not only a charm, but a multi-layered ambiguity. Nobody in this movie is strictly good, strictly villainous. Even when things go to shit (and they do) everybody is complicit. There are no wholly innocent parties as the downward spiral begins.
After seeing the movie I was invited to a dinner that Sony Pictures Classics through. There were many tables featuring directors and actors from other SPC movies at the fest, including UN PROPHETE, COCO BEFORE CHANEL and THE WHITE RIBBON. Indiewire’s Anne Thompson was sitting with Michael Haneke at the WHITE RIBBON table and I was sat at the An Education table right next to director Lone Scherfig and two seats away from Carey Mulligan.
Now, after having seen the movie this had me a little blushy. It’s the job of any romantic film, be it drama or comedy, to make the guys in the audience fall in love with the girl or the girls in the audience fall in love with the guy. In this movie it’s not just a one or the other situation. I expect the ladies and more than a few guys even to swoon over Peter Sarsgaard, even with the situation being wrong. Sarsgaard gives that character so much depth and emotion and, most importantly, a likeability that even when though we know what he’s doing with this young girl is wrong you almost root for it to work out for everybody.
The other side of the coin is Mulligan. If Sarsgaard plays David as more boyish than his years, Mulligan plays Jenny as an old soul, mature for her age. She yearns to experience the fine arts, to walk the streets of Paris, to not have her life planned out years in advance by her parents.
If you do not fall in love with Carey Mulligan after watching this movie then you do not like women. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s just a fact.
So you can imagine how mortified I was when ugly, fat old me was plopped down at her table and expected to communicate without coming off like a creep. Thankfully she was just as sweet in person as she came across in the film and made it easy to converse. I didn’t get much chance to talk to her as she was in high demand. A parade of people including Todd McCarthy of Variety were brought over to fawn over her.
I did get a lot of time to talk with the equally lovely and talented Lone Scherfig who is a director to watch. She, of course, keenly knows the female perspective, but doesn’t ever devolve this film into a chick flick. Her eye for casting is top notch and her talent for storytelling is evident after the first 5 minutes.
When I left I bid my adieu to those at the table and when I got to Carey I told her “Ass-kissing and all flattery aside, I think you gave a star-making performance in this film.”
And I meant what I said. I think this is the film that will launch her in the states. That doesn’t mean I expect this to be a giant hit and suddenly she’ll be the face of Cover Girl, but I think this film will be seen by many people in the industry and she’ll become the next big thing. She’s already cast in Oliver Stone’s WALL STREET sequel.
Carey Mulligan has that perfect combination of cuteness, kindness and intelligence that made Natalie Portman a star. Expect to see her a lot.
Before I switch gears over to FISH TANK I need to mention a few more quality players in AN EDUCATION.
Alfred Molina is fantastic, as to be expected, in this movie as Mulligan’s comical, strict but in the “I have your best interests at heart, so keep plugging away at that Latin homework” way. Mulligan has to carry the film, but in many ways Molina has the most difficult character to play. He has to be strict, but loving. He has to be real, but comically out of touch with the world outside his door. He has to be a real man that you buy is just as charmed by Sarsgaard as his daughter is.
It’s a tough role, but one that is executed perfectly and is the kind of character that makes you smile every time he appears on the screen because you know you’re in for something good.
Olivia Williams (RUSHMORE) plays Mulligan’s teacher who is frustrated when she sees her most promising student slipping away, lured away from her studies by some boy. Little does she know it’s a man luring her away and not a boy, but the effect is the same. Williams plays Ms. Stubbs as someone you at first think doesn’t have a clue about the situation, but the more you come to know her the more you see that she is Mulligan’s real role model.
Dominic Cooper (HISTORY BOYS) and Rosamund Pike (PRIDE & PREJUDICE… and we’ll pretend she wasn’t the one who turned in that awful performance in DOOM) play Sarsgaard’s friends. Pike is the epitome of an airhead, constantly sticking her foot in her mouth without ever realizing it. Cooper is a bit more mysterious. Is he watching over Mulligan or pining for her himself? Or maybe both. Much like Molina, these two on the screen guarantee either a moment of real humanity or a good laugh, sometimes both together.
Emma Thompson has a brief appearance as the headmistress of Mulligan’s school. You’d think it’d be one of those good guy roles that would attract someone like Thompson… “Hey, you can come in for two days and get this pivotal role and come off looking like a hero!” But it isn’t. At all. In fact, the headmistress is a giant throbbing cunt of a woman, but not even in a “love to hate her” way. It kind of sneaks up on you.
Finally, I have to make a mention of Paul Englishby’s score for the film. He’s not a super known composer yet, but judging by his work here he will be. The opening credits score especially made me take notice of his work in the movie. It’s upbeat and very ‘60s without sounding like someone spoofing the ‘60s sound.
This flick goes into limited release October 9th. If it opens near you, definitely seek it out.
Now on to FISH TANK. I don’t think I have as much to say about this film as I did AN EDUCATION, but I liked it quite a bit.
Instead of being set in 1960s London, this film is set modern day, but has a similar coming of age thread. Young Mia (Katie Jarvis) explores a more adult side as she falls in love with an older man. This time it’s Michael Fassbender playing the boyfriend of Mia’s slutty drunkard mum.
Outside of those to connections FISH TANK is a radically different movie than AN EDUCATION.
Mia’s very insecure and stand-offish with other people. She’s always got a rude remark on her tongue and her fist clenched ready for a fight. She doesn’t smile, she doesn’t talk unless it’s a jab at someone and she doesn’t seem to have a passion for anything. At least that’s what it seems like on the surface.
We follow her as she watches a gaggle of girls trying to hip-hop dance, disdain on her face. She calls out insults, making fun of these girls trying to dance, and, naturally, gets into a fight. She’s so far above all that, right?
As is the case with most bullies, we come to find she herself has a passion… the very same thing she was making fun of the other girls for doing, actually. She’d never dance in front of anybody, but she’ll certainly make fun of others for doing so.
What makes this work is that she’s not a very good dancer. She goes into this abandoned apartment complex and sets up her CD player and speakers and hip-hop dances, doing the same few moves over and over again sloppily. Not badly, mind you, but what a real, untrained girl mimicking her favorite videos would do.
The more we see of her family life, her horrible mother, her entertainingly foul-mouthed 10 year old sister, etc, the more you see why this girl is such a bitch. It’s like a case study on who environment can make someone a bitter, ugly person.
When Michael Fassbender comes into the picture things change subtly. Jarvis is attracted to him, but not just physically. We’re not sure if there’s something skeevy to his kindness, but he encourages her, gives her a little nurturing TLC and Jarvis very slowly opens up.
Fassbender and Jarvis really make this work. FISH TANK is a low budget flick and could easily have become mired in the darkness of the world and the story being told, but Jarvis strikes the right balance of bitchiness and vulnerability so I never found myself flat out disgusted with her. If I had been pushed into that realm then this movie would have fallen flat. I needed to care about Mia and thanks to Jarvis and writer/director Andrea Arnold I did.
Fassbender is quickly becoming the actor to watch. His Archie Hicox in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS was a stand-out in a movie filled with stand-outs. He’s also the baddie in JONAH HEX.
In FISH TANK he is both despicable and likeable. I’ve known people like his Connor. I honestly believe his character has good intentions, but there’s darkness, too, and that duality is what makes him, and the movie, interesting.
I don’t know if this film has US release yet, but it looks to already be out in the UK and France, with more European territories over the next couple of months.
That’s two down. More to come!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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