Evening (2007)

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After she was gone, there would be no one who knew the whole of her life.
As Ann Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) lays on her deathbed, she recounts the story of her first true love and the events of 50 years ago that defined her life, to her two daughters, Nina Mars (Toni Collette) and Constance Haverford (Natasha Richardson). Much of what Ann tells her daughters is cryptic as Ann sees scenes of her youth and grapples with being called to death.

In flashback, we see the young Ann (Claire Danes) as she arrives at her good friend's family's summer mansion in Newport where her friend Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer) is to be married in a few days. Present are Lila's uptight parents (Glenn Close, Barry Bostwick) and Lila's brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy), who has always been smitten with Ann, has a drinking problem, and is convinced that Lila is marrying the wrong man.

When Ann arrives at the seaside mansion, Buddy introduces her to Lila's first love, Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), a doctor who the Wittenborn family has known most of his life because he is the son of the Wittenborn's maid. Ann is intrigued and is drawn to Harris, beginning the most passionate romance of her life.

Also in the cast are Meryl Streep as the mature Lila visiting the dying Ann; and Eileen Atkins as the dying Ann's night nurse.

Based on a novel by Susan Minot. Directed by Lajos Koltai.

Run time: 1 hour, 57 minutes.

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements, sexual material, a brief accident scene and language.

My personal rating: A-

Stage Beauty (2004)

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"It is not a question of acting a man. I can act a man. There's no artistry in that. There are things that I can be as a woman that I cannot be as a man."
In seventeenth century London, woman are forbidden from acting on stage so all female roles are played by men who have been carefully groomed and developed for their cross-dressing performances. Bisexual Ned Kynaston (Billy Crudup) is the most illustrious "leading lady" of his time. He's adored by his audiences and by King Charles (Rupert Everett) and Charles' vulgar mistress Nell (Zoe Tapper).

He's also secretly loved by his dresser, the beautiful Maria (Claire Danes). Maria has also carefully studied Ned's acting and she wants to act herself. When she has the opportunity to assume the identity of a man playing Othello's Desdemona, she jumps at the chance. She turns in such a brilliant performance that when King Charles discovers she is actually a woman, he declares that only real women should now be allowed to play women's roles.

This, of course, puts Ned in the very harrowing situation of losing his beloved work.

Also in the fine cast are Ben Chaplin as the Duke of Buckingham; Hugh Bonneville as Samuel Pepys; and Tom Wilkinson as Betterton, the theater owner.

Directed by Richard Eyre.

Run time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

Rated R for sexual content and language.

My personal rating: B+

Igby Goes Down (2002)

A Delicate Balance

Seventeen-year-old Igby Slocumb (Kieran Culkin) has every reason to be rebellious and sarcastic. His father Jason (Bill Pullman) is schizophrenic. His mother Mimi (Susan Sarandon) is self-absorbed and highly favors Igby's older brother Ollie (Ryan Phillippe) who is as cold and calculating as their mother and an elitist, too.

Igby intentionally flunks out of several prep and military schools which are paid for by his sleazy, amoral and very wealthy godfather D.H. Banes (Jeff Goldblum), who is brazen enough to invite his mistress to his party in the Hamptons, right under the nose of his wife Bunny (Celia Weston).

The only recourse for Igby is to escape to the Bohemian world of NYC where he pairs up with his first lover, the bored Bennington dropout Sookie Sapperstein (Claire Danes), a drug dealing, cross-dressing performance artist Russel (Jared Harris), and his godfather's heroin addicted mistress Rachel (Amanda Peet).

Can Igby clear himself of the dysfunction surrounding him and find a way to keep from "going down" into the depths himself?

Some of my favorite lines from the film include:

Sookie: What kind of name is 'Igby'?
Igby: The kind of name that someone named 'Sookie' is in no position to question.

Sookie: You call your mother "Mimi"?
Igby: "Heinous One" is a bit cumbersome. And Medea was taken.

Igby: Oliver is majoring in neo-fascism at Colombia.
Ollie: Economics.
Igby: Semantics.

I have to say, I was highly impressed with the acting talents of young Kieran Culkin in this fine character study and another of his films I saw recently and I'll be watching for his other films in the future. And I couldn't help but notice his remarkable resemblance in appearance, mannerisms and acting methods to Robert Downey, Jr., another of my favorites.

This film was written and directed by Burt Steers whose uncle, Gore Vidal, has a brief cameo as a Catholic priest. Rory Culkin, Kieran's brother, plays the young Igby in a few scenes.

Rated R by MPAA for language, sexuality, and drug content.

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viewed January 2008

Shopgirl (2006)

A Certain Tenderness

Wealthy, middle-aged Ray (Steve Martin) becomes the suitor of a young store clerk, Mirabelle (Claire Danes), who feels isolated and purposeless selling gloves in an expensive clothing store.

Eventually she longs for more commitment than Ray can give her and meets the penniless but sincere Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman). She wonders if it's time to give up one man for the other.

This is a bittersweet story flawed with some slow pacing and a fairly predictable ending, but there were some warm and rich sequences. I enjoyed it considerably more than the similar Lost in Translation.

From a novella by Steve Martin and directed by Anand Tucker.

Rated R for some sexual content and brief language.

My personal rating: B-.