With Oscar buzz fresh on everyone’s minds, I have noticed a marked lengthening of lines at theatre box offices. While I appreciate society’s ongoing love-affair with the movies, it has made it somewhat difficult to get a preview of many of the nominated films. I had hoped to write a bit about the nominees for the 2009 Academy Awards but, alas, sold-out showings forced me to improvise. Instead, I decided to discuss two award-winning actors and their latest offerings on the big-screen. Interestingly, though these two films are quite different in tone, they share many themes that I hadn’t considered until I sat down to write about them for this column.
The first is Will Smith’s newest big-screen drama, Seven Pounds. The film follows protagonist Ben Thomas (Smith) in his mysterious search for seven lives that he can change for the better. The audience is kept in the dark while the mystery slowly unravels as the film moves forward. We soon learn that Ben’s fiancé died in a tragic car accident, along with six other people. Ben not only feels responsible, but believes the only way to make amends is to sacrifice himself. During his search, he meets Emily Posa (played by Rosario Dawson), a young woman in desperate need of a heart transplant. Emily forces Ben to question whether his sacrifices are truly selfless or merely selfish.
The main theme behind the film is this concept of sacrifice. Although Ben believes that sacrificing himself for others will bring him redemption, his developing relationship with Emily changes the context of his sacrifice. The question put before Ben and the audience is this: is it better for Ben to carry through with his plan to sacrifice his life for the lives of seven others, or would the more noble sacrifice be for Ben to let go of his mission and bring light to what little life Emily has left. Ben chooses the former and it is this extreme sacrifice which makes the drama of Seven Pounds all the more poignant. Unfortunately, the tragedy of the circumstances doesn’t leave the viewer with a pleasant or even a cathartic conclusion. While the magnetism between Smith and Dawson is riveting, it isn’t enough to save the film from its dark ending.Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Gran Torino, shares the theme of sacrifice, along with the idea of disconnecting with a past life and finding meaning in new circumstances. Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, an 80-something-year-old hard-ass whose wife has just died. Detached from children and grandchildren he views as soft, lazy and disrespectful, Walt forges on unlikely friendship with an immigrant family living next door. With surprising hilarity and endearment, Eastwood examines questions about racism, family, the generation gaps in our society and, finally, what true sacrifice really is. Kowalski's friendship with Sue and Thao is delightful to watch on screen. It's like watching what a grandparent/grandchild relationship should be: a certain level of respect is given from one side to the other only once it's been earned, and there is a overlying feeling of protectiveness that both sides feel for the other, for different reasons. Newcomers Ahney Her and Bee Vang play Sue and Thao, respectively, to perfection. I've been reading a few critics that were less than impressed by their rough, amateur acting but I think Eastwood had it right in casting these two in these roles. Her is especially charming; I really hope to see more of her in future films.
Eastwood is to film what Ernest Hemingway is to literature: a man’s man who’s gruff, says what he means and doesn’t pull any punches. There was some surprise in critics’ circles that Eastwood didn’t get an Oscar nod for this performance, although one astute reviewer asked, ‘Does Eastwood really care?’ True enough. The man is a legend, his work both in front and behind the camera is part of the American zeitgeist, and nobody needs to see him holding a little gold statue to understand this. Eastwood has a knack for bringing forward stories about the American experience that many directors might think have been either overdone or are boring. His talent lies in telling these stories in a way that resonates with his audience and brings us one more step along in understanding more about the strangers we share our everyday lives with.
Next up on the review list: Sukiyaki Western Django, Oscar comments and non-film reviews of Vancouver restaurants and First Nations author Drew Hayden Taylor! Yahoo!
Ondaatje has been a favorite author of mine since my undergrad (thanks, John Belshaw). I read In the Skin of a Lion for a history class on the Working Class in early 20th Century Canada. The novel was stunning. After, I sought out The English Patient and Anil's Ghost. Each novel was filled with this flowing, melodious prose that moves with perfect rhythm throughout the lines and pages. I was totally hooked. In particular, I have loved what Ondaatje himself represents for the Canadian Literature Canon. Born in Sri Lanka, Ondaatje immigrated to England and then to Canada in the 1960s. He studied in Canada and has written his entire body of published literature as a Canadian. His work, though often dealing with themes or ideas that many other Canadian authors have dealt with, has a distinct timbre that I have yet to find in the works of Canadians of white, European descent. While I must admit that my knowledge of the modern American Canon is quite limited, I have found that the well-known voices of modern American literature tend to have been born on U.S. soil, while the Canadian Canon seems to have a wider array of 'other' voices that are incorporated and lauded by our literary community. I have heard of these voices being present in the U.S. through my readings, but many have yet to break into the mainstream.
