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Capone's Art-House Round-Up with Tom McCarthy's WIN WIN and Michael Winterbottom's THE TRIP!!!

Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here, with a couple of films that are making their way into art houses or coming out in limited release around America this week (maybe even taking up one whole screen at a multiplex near you). Do your part to support these films, or at least the good ones…

WIN WIN
Writer-director (and sometimes actor, but never in his own films) Thomas McCarthy has made two wonderful films (THE STATION AGENT and THE VISITOR) about loners reconnecting with the world around them by making friends with strangers. But the first thing you notice about the lead character in McCarthy's third film, WIN WIN, is that Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti) is that he is by no definition of the word a loner. Mike is a lawyer whose business is struggling, but his family and friend base is strong. His wife, Jackie (Amy Ryan), is a rock; his co-worker (Jeffrey Tambor) is a good man; and his buddy and fellow high school wrestling coach Terry (Bobby Cannavale) is perhaps his greatest (and funniest) asset. The team that Mike takes time to coach after work is terrible but an essential part of who he is and was.

When Mike agrees to be the legal guardian of an elderly gentleman named Leo (Burt Young), who is past taking care of himself, it appears that Mike is doing a selfless deed until we find out he gets paid $1,500 per month for his trouble. Rather than allow Leo to live in his modest home, Burt unceremoniously puts him in a retirement community and pockets the cash. It seems like a great way to earn a little money, Leo is being looked after, and no one is getting hurt. Until Leo's grandson Kyle (newcomer Alex Shaffer) shows up on Leo's doorstep looking to live in the house. Mike allows the teenager to live with his family, and it's at this point that we realize Kyle is the loner in McCarthy's newest tale, and he becomes deeply engrained in both Mike's family and the wrestling team.

Much like McCarthy's other films, he doesn't bother loading his stories down with villains (although one could argue that "the system" is the adversary in his works), and it's refreshing to watch a movie where we don't have to wait for some trumped-up, manufactured to come and ruin everything. Some might find the mid-film entrance of Kyle fresh-from-rehab mother (Melanie Lynskey) looking for cash as a villainous role, but even she is written with softer edges and we find it difficult to stay angry at her by the time the film wraps up.

WIN WIN's real power is in the family relationship, and the way that Kyle is slowly brought into the dynamic of Mike's home. Ryan plays Jackie as a tough woman who lays down the law with Kyle right away, but there is something so compassionate about the character that we all want her to be our mother. And when I say family, I mean extended family. Cannavale is as much a part of the family as Mike and Jackie's kids or Kyle, and he's a riot as the voice inside our head, especially when it comes to the wrestling team.

But the real find here is Shaffer, a first-time actor who has a delivery and rhythm to his speech that is fascinating. He actually talks like a teenager, which is rare in films about kids, who are often written as speaking well beyond their years. But Shaffer is inexperienced enough to not worry about where the camera is and what side is his best. He's so natural that he starts to make those around him look over-prepared. He's also a phenomenal wrestler and gets dozens of chances to prove it. But even as the team advances toward the final, Kyle's story is not as easy to predict as you might think. In fact, very little about WIN WIN is predictable--another one of McCarthy's many talents as a writer (he and long-time friend Joe Tiboni are credited with the film's story).

The one thing we do know is going to happen is that Mike's deception will be revealed, but even that is handled in unexpected ways. I was pleasantly surprised at the third-act introduction of Margo Martindale as Lynskey's lawyer, who discovers what Mike is up to and uses it as leverage against him. There are some moments of genuine angst in WIN WIN, but the film's title gives us all the indication we need as to where the characters will land when all is said and done. I'll admit, it was good to see Giamatti play a nice guy. He's spent the last few years making a name for himself playing angry men (see BARNEY'S VERSION for the latest example of this), and while Mike is a flawed man, he commits his unethical act in name of keeping his family safe.

WIN WIN will not blow your mind or knock you to the back of the theater, but like all of Tom McCarthy's movies, it is filled with characters whose lives we truly care about. More importantly, I want to know where these characters will be in five years. While the ending of this film is hopeful, it is by no means guaranteed that Mike and his ever-growing clan will see smooth sailing from here on out. There isn't a weak link in WIN WIN, and it's remarkable how easy McCarthy makes it for us to settle in with these folks and become invested in their trials and struggles. That's a rare thing in a world where character development in becoming increasingly less important in feature films. I loved this little gem of a movie.

THE TRIP
I got a chance recently to catch Michael Winterbottom's marvelous THE TRIP, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, and now I want more. The film actually began life as a three-hour British television miniseries (which I just ordered a copy of and has been cut down to 107 minutes for the film), with the leads playing version of themselves, picking up the banter-heavy roles they played in Winterbottom's TRISTRAM SHANDY several years back.

In THE TRIP, Coogan is hired by a newspaper to tour the Lake District and review local restaurants. When his girlfriend Mischa (Margo Stilley) backs out at the last minute, Coogan invites his old friend Brydon to accompany him, and the movie is essentially a series of extended conversations during which the pair of brilliant comic actors engage in dueling impersonations and one-upping each other's reviews and popularity. Coogan takes on the persona of the more famous but most insecure, while Brydon has an easy-going nature with a laser-sharp way of stinging Coogan's weaknesses. It never gets old.

The aspect of the film that most have (rightfully) focused on are the impersonations, in particular, the dueling Michael Caines that pop up throughout the film. But there are other voices that Brydon, especially, absolutely nails, with Coogan not far behind. But the pair also talk about all manner of pointless topics, all of which they make interesting and engrossing. I loved that Coogan is deeply concerned that his girlfriend is cheating on him during a trip to America, but he never misses an opportunity to bed local beauties at each quaint hotel at which they stop on their journey. Meanwhile Brydon is ever-faithful to his wife (Claire Keelan) at home, the willing victim of his harmlessly perverted calls at night.

THE TRIP is a hilarious celebration of the dying art of conversation. Winterbottom never ceases to surprise and impress me, to go from last year's disturbing THE KILLER INSIDE ME to this film in one year would make most directors' heads snap, but Winterbottom does this all the time in a never-ending mission not to repeat himself. Coogan and Brydon are almost too good in their performances, to the point where I firmly believe that they communicate like this all the time, and the only difference here is that someone filmed them. Sometimes wicked and cruel, but also funny and entertaining, THE TRIP is a fantastic fictional account of this very real friendship.

For those lucky enough to live in Chicago, THE TRIP screens on Thursday, March 31 at 6:30pm at the Gene Siskel Film Center as the Closing Night film of the European Union Film Festival. Buy your tickets early, because this one will sell out.

-- Capone capone@aintitcool.com
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