Movie Review: A 'Fair' to Remember * * *
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Topic: Movie Reviews: September
Mira Nair, the director of the sexually captivating film, Monsoon Wedding, and the genius behind the vivid realism of Salaam Bombay, is back again with her own interpretation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 19th century novel, Vanity Fair. A delightful film, glamorized by the superb art direction of Lucinda Thomson and Sam Stokes, Vanity Fair transports us to the life of Rebecca 'Becky' Sharp played by the adorable Reese Witherspoon, as she uses her practical wits and patrician beauty to climb her way to the top of the 19th century British high society. Armed with a contingent of competent thespians and a facetious screenplay filled with witty banterings, Nair gives us a delectable feast not only for the eyes, but for the movie-going public's palate as well.

In the literary world, Rebecca Sharp has established an infamous reputation as a rabid schemer, who seduces men, not for the sole delusion of true romance, but as the means for her more practical ends. However, those who read the book must be forewarned that Thackeray's venomous lass is a bit tender in this film version, as a result of the film director's pragmatist leanings. The first hint of that pragmatism is seen in the film's opening scene in which the Marquess of Steyne (Gabriel Byrne), a rich patron of the arts, plans to buy the portrait of Becky's mother which is priced at three guineas. The young Rebecca is reluctant at first to let go of her mother's sentimental portrait, but later insists that the Marquess buys it for 10 guineas, a price that is, in her opinion, "difficult to resist." From here, Nair creates a dramatic foil between the pragmatic Becky, who is more willing to give up love and beauty for the sake of her ambitions, and the more serene Amelia Sedley (Romola Garai), Becky's good friend, who is madly in love to a pompous British Captain George Osborne (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) whose love for Amelia is anything but unconditional.

Eager to marry a rich man with a good name, Rebecca leaves her boarding school with Amelia, and heads out to become the governess at the Crawley mansion. However, Rebecca, being a woman with an exquisite taste for luxury and etiquette, finds herself disappointed at the sight of Sir Pitt Crawley (Bob Hoskin), the head of the household, whose unhygienic stature made Rebecca mistake him for a mere servant. The Crawley household which is depicted as a family lacking the manners expected of an aristocratic clan, and whose 'mansion' is just a bit cleaner than a horse stable, is used by Becky as her stepping stone to her bold ambitions. Fortunately, Rebecca receives the admiration of Sir Pitt Crawley's rich sister, Matilda (Eileen Atkins), who finds Becky as the only civilized person in the Crawley household. Matilda's admiration, partly inspired by Rebecca's fluency in French (a skill she learned from her Parisian mother), becomes Becky's ticket to London and to the British high society. But that admiration ended abruptly after Matilda learned that Rebecca married Captain Rawdon Crawley, Matilda's handsome nephew played by James Purefoy. Even though we see Rebecca as a practical anti-heroine, it is interesting to note that her heart is still vulnerable to love. She could have married other men who could give her both money and reputation, but she chose Rawdon, a gambler and Sir Pitt Crawley's second son who does not inherit anything in accordance to the British tradition of primogeniture. In short, Rawdon's only contribution to Becky's ambitions is his aristocratic surname.

Mira Nair's Vanity Fair does not glorify Rebecca Sharp, nor does it justify her sometimes insensitive pragmatism. Instead, Nair reminds us that the theme of true love is mostly celebrated in the Bohemian streets of Paris (as so magnificently depicted by Moulin Rouge) and is more of a luxury than a norm in the 19th century British society. In reality, criteria like financial advantages and family name are normally considered in British and Indian marriages, and it is no surprise that we see such reality and pragmatism in this film that has a vision created by two Calcutta-born artists-- Nair the film-maker, and Thackeray the writer. In Nair's Monsoon Wedding, we see its heroine Aditi (Vasundhara Das) turn her back on her true but hopeless love and welcomes Hemant (Parvin Dabas), the man picked by her parents to be her husband. We see the same dilemma in Becky's situation as a young girl, when she chooses between giving up her mother's portrait or upholding its sentimentality. However, these two women do not just choose the practical way for the sake of expediency. Aditi accepts her arranged marriage after she realizes the comfort she feels being with Hemant, while young Becky gives up her mother's portrait after the price is raised from three guineas to ten.

As a result of this pragmatic stance taken by the film's director, we see Rebecca Sharp as a strong-willed woman rather than a covetous mountaineer, and this transformation is aided by Reese Witherspoon's fine performance. Maybe it is the feel-good Elle Woods aura in her that makes Becky Sharp a much more lovable screen character than Thackeray's heroine, but one thing is for sure, Witherspoon delivers an enigmatic performance that is consistent with Nair's goals. Even though the film does not visibly show Rebecca's physical progression, we can see how Witherspoon's character and emotions mature through time. Vanity Fair the movie may present a different perspective of Becky, but it retains the same sardonic contempt Thackeray has for the British aristocracy, and nothing demonstrates this more than the witty lines delivered by the deriding characters of Lord Steyne and Matilda Crawley, excellently played by Gabriel Byrne and Eileen Atkins respectively.

Production designer Maria Djurkovic and cinematographer Declan Quinn (who also collaborated with Nair in Monsoon Wedding) perfectly delivers the director's realistic vision of 19th century London, as we see the squalor of the city and the filth of urban life, making the film less romantic than the typical period films about England. Aside from the sometimes confusing storytelling that jumps from one time period to another without establishing the characters clearly, the audience will be satisfied by Vanity Fair's artistic efforts. The dazzling art production showcasing the colors of India and a Bollywood-inspired dance number, the exceptional acting ensemble, and the intertwined philosophies of two artistic visionaries with the same cultural backgrounds truly make Vanity Fair a magical fair to remember!

Directed by: Mira Nair
Produced by: Lydia Dean Pilcher, Janette Day, Donna Gigliotti
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Jim Broadbent, Eileen Atkins, James Purefoy, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Movie Review: Forgiving Garden State * * * 1/2
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Topic: Movie Reviews: September
The plane was about to crash. He was about to die. The people surrounding him were preoccupied by the erratic state of the airplane. "May day, may day," the pilot shouted. Yet 'Large' sat there calmly. Instead of worrying about losing his existence, he sat there passively, as if he was in a higher state of solemnity. He was about to die. At least, that's what the scene suggested. But in reality, 'Large' has already lost his existence since he pushed his mother when he was a small boy.

This is the opening scene to Zach Braff's debut film, Garden State, a satire on people who think that emotional maladies can be treated by taking sixty-nine tablets a day. Fortunately, what seemed like an imminent plane crash, is just a product of Large's functional but fried brain and an opener to the character's state of mind. Staying true to its title, most of Garden State is set in the beautiful but often impersonal state of New Jersey.

Andrew 'Large' Largeman (Zach Braff) is a modest actor in LA who works in a Vietnamese restaurant. He was excluded by Gideon Largeman (Sir Ian Holm), his father, after subconsciously causing an accident when he was a child that left his mother paralyzed. Consequently, his father, who is also a psychiatrist, forced him to live a lifeless life by prescribing numerous numbing drugs, believing that this will make his son forget the traumatic experience. However, instead of taking away the pain, Andrew led a sedated life. In his LA apartment, we see him lie on his bed surrounded by a sea of whiteness, as his father's recorded voice declares that his paraplegic mother just died of drowning. Normal people usually cry or condemn God upon hearing such sad declarations-- but not Andrew Largeman. And here we see a hint that maybe this person is not normal. He wakes up, and heads towards the bathroom. As he opens his cabinet, we see a huge array of neatly piled medicine. And this confirmed our suspicions-- Andrew Largeman is abnormal indeed.

After a 9 year absence, he comes back to his hometown to take part in his mother's burial and take a break from his sedating medication. At his mother's burial, tears fail to come running down Andrew's cheeks, yet it seems usual for an unusual man who never cried since he left home. In the cemetery, he sees Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), his long-time friend and a pot smoker, who now works as a grave digger and invites Andrew to a gathering which signals his imminent renaissance. In the sleepy suburbia of New Jersey, we meet Andrew's other childhood friends who all lead more vibrant and unique lives as knight waiters who walk around in a steel armor or millionaire inventors of silent Velcro.

With its premise having to do with the inability of drugs to heal inner ailments, Garden State presents quirky characters who come to Andrew's rescue and unexpectedly cure his emotional numbness. When he reveals to his father the two-second headaches he experiences, Gideon quickly refers him to a neurologist. As Andrew goes to the clinic, he meets Samantha, (Natalie Portman) an epileptic, pathological liar whose innocence and eccentricity quickly gained Andrew's elusive attention. "You were so good playing retarded," Sam comments. What supposed to be a praise for one of Andrew's engaging performance as an actor, resonates as if it is true. In a way, Andrew is retarded. But Sam is there to cure his emotional retardation.

Andrew Largeman's friends give him the life he yearns since he left home, yet his father still believes that neurologists and Prozac are the cure for his disease. In a way, Garden State echoes the suburban rebellion once emphasized by films like American Beauty and the Virgin Suicides. Yet, Garden State presents a much more profound statement about how quiet suburbs hide the maladies of life, just as Gideon Largeman hide the emotional maladies of his son. In the film, we hear a literary allusion to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, in which people take a hallucinogenic pill called soma, to numb every pain and emotion still left in their bodies, all for the sake of hiding any unhappiness in their lives.

Garden State is not a perfect film, but in the end, the audience will forgive its shortcomings just as they will forgive the abnormalities of its characters. We forgive Sam's lies and neurosis, because she revived Andrew's emotions and made him shed a tear. We forgive Mark's addiction to narcotics because he showed Andrew the infinite abyss of life. And finally, we forgive Gideon, because like Andrew, he has his own coping mechanism as well.

Zach Braff, famous for his TV series Scrubs, created a cinematic alterego in Andrew Largeman-- a man who feels responsible for his mother's paralysis and lives his life in a coma as his own form of self-flagellation. But this film truly showcases the talent of Sir Ian Holm whose understated and realistic portrayal of Gideon Largeman was the perfect characterization of a domineering man who reflects both guilt and remorse. Zach Braff is creative enough to present Andrew's state of mind not only through words and actions, but through situations as well. When Andrew reached the parking lot and found out that the gasoline pump is still in his car's gas tank, the audience gets a clear perspective of how sedated Andrew's life is. In the end, the film reminded me of a theme used by Kurosawa in his 1965 masterpiece, Red Beard, which states that "at the end of the day, we will all realize that every malady of the human body, is a deeper malady of the human soul."

Directed by: Zach Braff
Produced by: Gary Gilbert, Dan Halsted, Pamela
Abdy, Richard Klubeck
Starring: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Ian Holm, Peter Sarsgaard, Geoffrey Arend