The Housemaid (***1/2)

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that the rich “are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand.” South Korean director Sang-soo Im uses a remake of a 50-year-old film to explore this idea. At the same time, like its predecessor, it’s a psychological drama. Do-yeon Jeon (Secret Sunshine) plays the title character, whose sexual liaison with her wealthy employer begins a surprising and unfortunate chain of events.

When the original version of this movie was made, in 1960, South Korea was a poorer country, and the family the girl works for has struggled to afford a nice house. Here, although we never find out the source of the wealth, it’s clear that the husband has never wanted for it, and that his wife, pregnant with twins, shares his attitude of entitlement. There are a couple of other significant characters not found in the 1960 version. Notably there is an older servant who has been with the family four decades. As the film goes on, we find that she is more than a stock character, but instead a woman with her own resentments and motivation.

The older film is a well-made, but at times campy, melodrama that winds up being a bit like Fatal Attraction. Besides the issue of class being much more prominent here, the other difference is that the maid herself is a much more thought-out character, really a different one altogether. In the original, she veers wildly between heartsickness and vindictiveness in a way that suggests she’s simply a crazy girl. Sang-soo’s film is much more sympathetic to the maid. For her employer, there is another quote, attributed to Diogenes, the Greek philosopher, that seems apt: “In a rich man’s house there is no place to spit but his face.”

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viewed at Ritz 5 [Philadelphia Film Festival] and reviewed 10/24/10

Away We Go (***)

Expecting couple John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph decide to audition new home towns in this pleasant comedy-drama. It ranges from broad comedy—they visit a couple of wacky relatives and friends—to wistful romance, without becoming clichéed. Stops include Tuscon and Montréal, less common film settings. Krasinski (of NBC’s The Office) brings a low-key charm to the role, while Rudolph, whose only other lead was in Idiocracy, shows some dramatic skills. She’s one of the very few Saturday Night Live veterans who I’ve seen do something that didn’t just seem like an outgrowth of a skit. The two actors seem like a real couple, and another thing I liked was that in the whole movie they never fight, even though they disagree. It’s nearly a cliché of any road movie that the travelers at some point have to have a big blow-up. Here, they just pretend to have one, in one of the lightly comic moments in which the movie is at its best.

Director Sam Mendes has a résumé loaded with heavy (pretentious, some might say) films—American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead, and Revolutionary Road—but there is nothing to suggest that here. Partial credit goes to married novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, who make mostly successful screenwriting debuts. Mendes doesn’t make the movie any sort of a travelogue; instead, he reminds us that sometimes the most satisfying part of a trip is arriving home.

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viewed 6/11/09 (screening at Ritz East) and reviewed 7/16/09

Baby Mama (***)

Even as unwed motherhood is declining in the US, it’s becoming a minor epidemic in American cinemas. Unlike some of her on-screen sisters, Tina Fey’s character has been trying to get pregnant, but that hasn’t worked out. Enter Amy Poehler as the surrogate she hires, via an agency. There’s a slight parallel with Helen Hunt’s character in Then She Found Me (released a week later), who’s also nearing 40 and wants a biological child. However, the better parallel is to Knocked Up, in which Seth Rogen’s underachiever tries to mesh with the professional gal he’s impregnated. Baby Mama, a directorial debut for Austin Powers co-writer Michael McCuller, is less funny, but part of what both movies are about is class. At first blush, it seems like the Poehler character will simply be a crass and nutrition-averse pox on health-food exec Fey’s snooty Philadelphia house. Theirs is a forced marriage without the sex. But that only forms part of the story; both characters are sympathetic, making Poehler a female counterpart to Rogen, not Adam Sandler. Supporting characters account for some of the funnier parts, including Dax Shepard as Poehler’s low-life boyfriend, and Sigourney Weaver as the over-50, yet infuriatingly fertile, operator of the surrogate agency. Some romantic comedy elements come courtesy of Greg Kinnear, whose regular-guy vibe is a match for emerging star Fey.

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viewed 5/3/08

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (***3/4)

Last year’s trio of unwed-mother comedies—Knocked Up, Waitress, Juno—may have obscured the fact that, in the United States, more than 20% of pregnancies, unwed or otherwise, are not carried to term. Thus Juno’s real-life counterparts may be as likely as not to seek abortions, but one must venture overseas to see the topic explored on film. (Tony Kaye’s well-regarded documentary on the subject, Lake of Fire, has not received a theatrical release.) Fortunately, by virtue of its grand prize win at Cannes, Christian Mungiu’s tense Romanian drama has earned an American release. Equally fortunately, the film is worthwhile even for those not particularly interested in Romania, abortion, or life under late-period communism.

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viewed 2/12/08; reviewed 2/14/08

Juno (***1/4)

A funny, smart tale of a funny, smart girl (Ellen Page) who becomes pregnant and, after first deciding to “procure a hasty abortion,” opts instead to give the baby to an upscale suburban couple (Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman). The comedic drama succeeds by never becoming a “problem” movie. Indeed, Juno is so bright and careful, it seemed like she would’ve gotten on the pill months before having sex with her kinda-sorta boyfriend (Michael Cera). In any case, the story is more about Juno’s relationships with him and with the couple than about self-examination or teen pregnancy as an issue. Page, who essayed the equally self-assured lead in Hard Candy, has a wise-beyond-her-years quality (and speaking voice) that serves well. Juno might have been a friend to the acerbic duo in Ghost World, my vote as the best teen seriocomedy. Other than the fact that Juno decides against the abortion, first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody steers clear of the clichés you might expect and creates a unique voice for the character, though I did find the dialogue affected toward the beginning. For the director, Jason Reitman, it’s a worthy follow-up to Thank You for Smoking.

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reviewed 12/08/07

Knocked Up (***1/4)

With this movie, writer-director Judd Apatow establishes himself as a force to elevate the slob comedy to something an adult audience can both laugh at and relate to. As with his previous effort, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Apatow surrounds what Newsweek calls a “beta male” hero with a group of friends enjoying an extended adolescence and forces him to grow up.

Apatow’s avatar of maturation here is Seth Rogen, the shaggy veteran of Apatow ventures dating back to the beloved (by me, at least) Fox series Freaks and Geeks. A chance hookup with an out-of-his league TV producer (Grey’s Anatomy’s Katherine Heigl) leads to a sudden grow-up call when she becomes…expectant.

Rogen capabably handles the part of the slacker-cum-family man, and Heigl was a revelation. Did I believe they were a couple falling in love? No, I didn’t, and nor is there is it clear why no one ever brings up either abortion or adoption. The movie also feels a little longish; its segmented approach seems like it might have suited for an episodic, short-run sitcom. But even if you you don’t buy these two as a couple, you can probably understand them. The movie is full of tremendously funny punch lines that seem like things that the characters would actually say.

The other couple in the movie, played by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann (as the sister of Heigl’s character), is also worth mentioning. Unlike the slacker posse, they function as something more than comic relief or sidekicks. They’ve got a long-running marriage that seems to still be a day-to-day negotiation, and I loved this view of a relationship in which neither partner is the sole villain and which will continue to resolve itself long after the movie ends. It’s the view of a grown-up, but one who still likes a good dirty joke.

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reviewed 5/21/07

Waitress (***1/4)

This comedic drama is the story of an unhappily married diner waitress (Keri Russell) in a small southern town who finds herself, to borrow another film title, knocked up. Subtly condescending to her controlling, insecure husband, she finds solace in the arms of the town’s dreamy new doctor. “I was addicted to saying things and having them matter to someone,” she confides in a voiceover, by way of explaining her adultery, and of furthering revealing the late Adrienne Shelly’s gifts as a writer. The folksier, more comedic diner scenes reminded me of the 1980s TV show Alice, with Cheryl Hines as the sassy waitress, director Shelly as the dowdy one, and Russell as the (soon-to-be) single mom hoping for something better, perhaps utilizing her skills as a sort of pie auteur. As with that show, there would seem to be too few employees for a diner, but never mind. Well-acted and warm as pie, this is a sweet treat with just enough crust on the outside.

(written 6/15/07)

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