A lot of cold-weather settings figure into Maggie’s Plan. In turn, they serve as a logical prop for Georgette’s (Julianne Moore) enveloping, artisan, wool sweaters and accessories. Her items’ weaves, stitches and looping are so sensual that they provoke hands to reach out to the screen and immerse palms into the items, as one would […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Maggie’s Plan’ (2016)
May 17, 2016 by
Life plans sound so solid and promising, but are often unreliable conduits to bliss. Maggie (Greta Gerwig), an affable, soul-searching millennial with an MBA, stable career and what she thinks is a viable agenda, is about to find that out. Written and directed by Rebecca Miller, and based on a story by Karen Rinaldi, Maggie’s […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘45 Years’ (2015)
December 12, 2015 by
When a marriage lasts nearly half a century, presumably the partners have figured out a way to romp in the garden without stomping on the flowers. But because every spring blasts new growth, who can predict what seasonal surprises lurk in the soil? In the case of Kate Mercer (Charlotte Rampling) and her husband Geoff […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Janis: Little Girl Blue’ (2015)
November 26, 2015 by
Amy Berg’s documentary about Janis Joplin, Janis: Little Girl Blue, doesn’t tell us whether the ‘60s R&B rocker was a serious student of astrology. But twice in the film Joplin notes she’s a Capricorn. Turns out the girl knew enough about her sun sign to aim high and not take no for an answer. However, […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Creed’ (2015)
November 25, 2015 by
What could be worse than being the son of an absentee father? Try being illegitimate, and having Dad – an iconic boxer – die before you were born. Those are the sizable issues gnawing at the soul of the protagonist of Creed, the sixth sequel in the Rocky franchise. Directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler, […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Brooklyn’ (2015)
November 4, 2015 by
Robert Frost wrote that home was the place where, if you had to go there, they have to take you in. Whether the guest wants to stay permanently is another matter entirely, and it’s at the heart of Brooklyn, a lyrical film about a young Irish immigrant to that titular New York City borough, who […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘The Wonders’ (2015)
October 29, 2015 by
Wonder-inducing stuff – experiences, events and feelings – happens both externally, through our observations, and internally, through grace. In The Wonders, awe comes from both within and without. Written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher, the movie, set in rural Tuscany, centers on Gelsomina (Maria Alexandra Lungu), a pre-teen girl. She’s the oldest of four children […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘The New Girlfriend’ (2015)
September 17, 2015 by
Men with a burning need to express more of their Feminine side typically do it by connecting with archetypal Venus – fashion, appearance and the arts – rather than the nurturing Moon. The New Girlfriend, written and directed by François Ozon, and adapted from a fictional work by Ruth Rendell, features the rare male protagonist […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Grandma’ (2015)
August 15, 2015 by
The grandparent-grandchild connection is invariably one that fuels hopes for the future, as age embraces optimistic and expansive youth. But the past is often a demanding guest in this generational interplay, generating a flood of memories of watershed moments in the older person. This phenomenon is at the core of Grandma, where an idiosyncratic and […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Ted 2’ (2015)
June 24, 2015 by
The non-human partner in cinematic interspecies-like procreation has typically been extra-terrestrial. It’s time to add plush toys to the mix, specifically, Ted, the teddy-bear BFF of man-child John Barrett. Co-written and directed by Seth MacFarlane, Ted 2 continues the saga of John, who was gifted with Ted in the mid-’80s. Ted, of course, turned into […]
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