High Fidelity (8/10): A great ensemble cast and a wonderful soundtrack make this a fun experience.

“Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”

Stephen Frear’s High Fidelity breaks the fourth wall from the very opening scene as Rob Gordon (John Cusack) begins sharing with us about his top 5 breakups right at the time his girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), is moving out of his apartment and leaving him. It is evident he is hurt, but he brushes it off by saying she doesn’t even rank in his list of the most hurtful breakups. That is when he begins listing who each one of them were while we get flashbacks of those memories intertwined with the present in which we are introduced to his job, friends, and his passion for music. Rob is a vintage record store owner and his two employees, Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black), are as much music snobs as he is, and they too enjoy making lists of their favorite things usually involving music. The more we get to know Rob, we realize that he isn’t the typical romantic character we’d find in a film like this. He is deeply flawed, he has cheated on his girlfriend, he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere with his life, and he is afraid of commitment. Somehow he always believes to be the victim in the break-ups, but from what he says we know that he has never been boyfriend of the year material. It is hard to root for a character like Rob, but John Cusack delivers such a charismatic and engaging performance that we accept his flaws and want him to get over the heartbreak. Along the way he realizes that Laura really belongs on the list and decides to revisit some of his past flames to discover what he has been doing wrong. 

Frears has directed some great films (The Queen, Philomena), along with not so good ones that feel like direct to TV movies, but High Fidelity belongs in his top list of best films. It is a romantic comedy that has an entertaining script, some great performances, and of course a wonderful soundtrack. The screenplay was adapted from Nick Horny’s book but instead of setting the story in London they bring it to Chicago and it absolutely works. Jack Black and Todd Louiso give strong supporting performances and you believe they actually are these snobs who are living music encyclopedias. They complement Cusack’s performance and deliver most of the comedic moments. As for John Cusack I believe this is one of his best performances although I still need to see a couple more of his films to solidify that claim. The romance in High Fidelity is also incredibly believable and relatable which is hard to come across by in most rom-coms. Neither Cusack nor Hjejle are portrayed as these perfect role models in a relationship, they are both flawed characters who have made some poor decisions.

Even though my music knowledge is very limited, I was able to relate to these characters because of their shared passion. I may not have that same passion for music, but I do for movies or sports so I understood where these characters were coming from and believed the culture this film created surrounding music. The screenwriters knew what they were writing about and each one of the actors delivered, and that is what has made High Fidelity such a cult favorite for many teens. It manages to be smart and funny at the same time. It is also one of the best examples of a film successfully being able to break the fourth wall and including the audience in the genius of the movie and its charm.   

My Review: Philomena (9/10)

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time."

Philomena surpassed my expectations considering I thought it would be just another pairing of two unlikely companions on a road trip (the terrible Guilt Trip comes to mind here), but I was surprised to see how well the two main actors played off each other sharing a great chemistry on screen and how well balanced the script was, allowing me to feel completely moved by the story. First of all Philomena is based on a tragic and upsetting true story, but somehow director Stephen Frears (The Queen) manages to tell it with such grace that it feels subtle and humbling at the same time. It never feels like Frears is trying to manipulate the audience through all the sentimentality, on the contrary he treats the subject with light heartedness. A lot of credit has to be given to Steve Coogan who adapted the script along with Jeff Pope (it's actually ironic that it was written by a "Pope" considering how bad the Catholic Church comes off here) because it is extremely well written delivering genuine moments with an honest tearjerker. The emotional weight was handled perfectly. I would have never thought a film dealing with such a dark subject could be so inspiring and uplifting, but it was mainly because Philomena decided to respond to the cruelty and injustice very differently than we would (which would be with outrage), and chose to forgive instead. That is how they turned a sad story into an entertaining and enlightened one. Simply put Philomena is a clever film with genuine emotions.

The film is based on the true story written by former BBC correspondent and political journalist, Martin Sixsmith (played in this film by Steve Coogan), The Lost Child of Philomena Lee. After a political scandal which leaves Martin without a job, he accepts to write a human interest story when he hears about Philomena (Judi Dench), a woman in her late 60's who had her son taken away when she was forced to live in a Catholic convent after getting pregnant as a young teenager in Ireland. Martin begins investigating her story which eventually leads to some surprising discoveries and a trip to America. Martin and Philomena learn several things about each other despite their differences and uncover some astonishing answers along the way. 

Philomena is a highly entertaining and feel good movie which reminded me a lot of Saving Mr. Banks in the way the story was told without being manipulative and looking for the easy emotions. Steve Coogan and Judi Dench also proved to be quite a powerful duo in this enjoyable film. Philomena is also extremely well balanced, mixing genuinely funny moments with dramatic ones. It also includes mystery elements and the actual procedural part of the film is what hooked me the most. I enjoyed the way in which the discoveries were being made and how they reacted to each new revelation. Philomena is a charming film that deserves the four Oscar nominations it received. The two main actors are given complex characters with a lot of depth and they deliver brilliant performances, however the secondary cast doesn't do much more than get the procedural moving. Philomena deserves to be considered amongst the best films of 2013.

My Review: The Queen (8/10)

¨That's the way we do things in this country, quietly, with dignity. That's what the rest of the world has always admired us for. ¨

The Queen will mostly be remembered for Helen Mirren`s Oscar winning performance as Queen Elizabeth II which was just remarkable. She absolutely nailed the role of this widely known public figure and really captured her essence. Her physical resemblance with the Queen helped, but her mannerism and expressions were also outstanding. The only disappointing thing about her performance is that it overshadowed some other important elements the movie had. First of all Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things, The Grifters) did a great job with the direction which gave him his second nomination for best director, Michael Sheen was also excellent in his portrayal of Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the most important element of all that has been overshadowed by Mirren`s performance was the screenplay that was beautifully written by Peter Morgan (The Damned United, Frost/Nixon, and The Last King of Scotland). Morgan wrote a very believable story about what happened inside the Queen`s summer residence during the week of Princess Diana`s death. The scenes felt very real and sincere and there were also several funny and clever lines as well. Morgan never takes any sides on the issue and gives a fair portrayal of what might actually have occurred on those days before Diana`s funeral took place. I think he deserved a lot more credit then he actually got because he really did a great job researching for the story and made the film look more like a documentary than an actual fictional one. Helen Mirren`s spectacular performance however makes it easy for us to overlook those elements.

The film begins with Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) winning the elections by a landslide and becoming Britain`s youngest Prime Minister of the century. Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) is watching the news on TV while she is getting her portrait drawn by an artist and regrets not being able to vote.  The Queen isn`t very excited about the new young Prime Minister, but they meet in Buckingham Palace and she makes the title official. The movie then jumps forward three months later when Diana suffers an accident in Paris. Real news footage is used for the movie covering the incident and we see how the Royal family receives the news in their summer residence in Balmoral Castle, as well as Tony Blair back in London. Blair`s director of communication, Alastair Campbell (Mark Bazeley), writes a speech for him realizing that her death has had a huge impact in the world and that a live speech honoring her would be necessary. Blair`s popularity rises even more after his great speech in which he calls Diana ¨the people`s princess, ¨ a title that has stuck with her ever since.  The Royal family takes a different approach and decides this is a private matter and that no public speech should be necessary. Queen Elizabeth`s mother (Sylvia Syms) and Prince Phillip (James Cromwell) aren`t very fond of Diana and agree with Elizabeth that she is no longer a member of the Royal family.  Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) on the other hand recognizes that the public will see them as the enemy if they don`t empathize with their loss, so he asks Blair to try to convince her mother to make a public statement. The movie focuses on this dark week for the Royal family in which the tabloids tried to force the Queen to make some sort of statement, while she struggled with coping with her death privately and maintaining the Royal tradition.

The Queen is a very well written drama with some powerful performances and it is perhaps a very realistic portrayal of what went on inside the Royal residence during those days in which no public statement was made. Diana`s death was a very memorable event for those of us who were alive during the time and we all remember where we were when we first heard the news. It remains a very memorable event in our heads and that is why it was so important for the movie to feel real, and Morgan`s script contributed to that along with the performances from Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen. The scene where the Queen encounters the impressive stag was very powerful and serves as a great metaphor in this movie. There are several different views of what the stag actually represents, but I believe it represented royalty and how fragile it has become. The Queen identified with such a magnificent creature and realized that she would have to change her approach in order to survive. Blair was perhaps the only one from his office (even his wife, portrayed really well by Helen McCrory, was against monarchy) who identified with the Queen. The movie may only be remembered in history for Mirren`s excellent portrayal of the Queen, but I think there is much more to it than just that. 

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