Home Media Magazine - February 3-9, 2008 - (Page 14)

Edited by John Latchem REVIEWS I BROTHERS THREE Street 2/5 Vivendi Visual/New Light, Thriller, $24.99 DVD, ‘R’ for language and some violent content. Stars Patrick Wilson, Neal McDonough, Scott Michael Campbell, Melora Walters, John Heard. W riter-director Paul Kampf looks at family dysfunction backwoods style in his debut film. Peter (Wilson of Hard Candy and Little Children) receives an urgent letter from his brother Rick (McDonough of Tin Man) asking him to visit the family cabin, located in the middle of nowhere and a model of squalor. Aside from sharing blood, the college-educated, corporate-minded Peter has little in common with his siblings. Rick is an erudite outdoorsman with an erratic temper, while youngest brother Norman (Campbell of Brokeback Mountain) has a child’s intelligence and a misguided hunger for female companionship. The dynamic between the three men changes when Peter learns about the recent, violent death of their conniving, shifty father (veteran actor Heard of The Pelican Brief). Peter, who has his own crisis, then joins the brothers for several days of heavy drinking and life-changing confessions. Kampf certainly has enough dark secrets and brooding emotions to create a haunting character study, but his heavy use of out-of-context, inconclusive flashbacks slows the film’s pace while doing little to reveal the motivations of the three very troubled main characters and their relationships with their father. The performances are solid, especially from McDonough, but they can’t compensate for a script that gives the characters an emotional outlet, but little basis as to the reasons behind their feelings. Anyone looking for a film reminiscent of Sling Blade or A Simple Plan may find something to like in Brothers Three, but the pokey, and sometimes confusing, plot are considerable hurdles to overcome. – Pete Croatto I BECOMING JANE Street 2/12 Disney, Drama, B.O. $18.7 million, $29.99 DVD, $34.99 Blu-ray, ‘PG’ for brief nudity and mild language. Stars Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters. M y expectations for Becoming Jane were low to begin, and yet I still managed to be thoroughly disappointed by the film. As a fan of Jane Austen, I could hardly get excited about a Hollywood fictionalization of the life of the beloved literary figure. Despite the film being based on historian Jon Spence’s work, I fully expected to see historical inaccuracies and a generally disagreeable storyline. To that end I was not disappointed — it contains both. However, I was expecting a charming portrayal of Austen by Hathaway and, if it could not be agreeable, at least a convincing telling of the story. Unfortunately, the film does not deliver in either case. Hathaway’s performance of Austen has all the charm and complexity of a stiff board — showing virtually none of the spunk displayed in previous lighter roles. This observation became even more disappointing upon viewing the special features in which it is discovered that Hathaway herself was an Austen scholar in college. It would be decidedly unfair, however, to place all the blame on Hathaway, who had a bad script with which to work. The plodding, boring story moves at such a snail’s pace that not even the blatant lifting of dialogue from Austen’s own work can make it seem interesting. Instead it left me longing to stop the DVD and replace it with one of the many fine film adaptations of Austen’s novels. The film possesses only two saving graces, the first being the beauty of the Irish countryside where it was filmed, and the second being the performance by McAvoy as Austen’s supposed love interest, Tom Lefroy. He possesses all the charm Hathaway lacks and provides some real entertainment. – Kyra Kudick I THE BUBBLE Street 2/12 Strand, Comedy, B.O. $0.2 million, $27.99 DVD, Unrated. In Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles. he Bubble ditches stereotypes in favor of a refreshingly serious look at both the difficulties of being homosexual, and what happens when those difficulties cross an unbreachable political divide. Lulu (Daniella Wircer), Noam (Ohad Knoller) and Yelli (Alon Friedman) are three young roommates in Tel Aviv. Lulu says she wants a nice man, but falls for jerks while ignoring the sweet young activist who pines for her. Yelli dates a contradictory man — a very masculine, macho tough guy who is also very happy to be out of the closet. Noam falls for the one person he shouldn’t: Ashraf, a T Palestinian who is afraid to come out at home, especially since his sister is marrying a powerful militant. While sometimes feeling a bit like a gay-friendly Israeli episode of “Friends,” The Bubble features a tremendously likeable cast with an easy rapport. The dialogue feels real, as do the character’s physical and emotional attractions. Director/co-writer Eytan Fox’s subtle, deft touch saves many moments — such as Yelli’s funny coming out and the tragic daily humiliations at a border checkpoint — from being heavyhanded. The subtlety does wear out near the end; the politics encroach and the tone becomes sharper, like a finger poking you in your chest, insisting you take these issues seriously. However, if the goal is to tell the political impossibilities of Palestine and Israel through the eyes of everyday people who — regardless of gender, sexual orientation or nationality — love, party, work and die just like their enemies, Fox succeeds. Hopefully, this film also will cross boundaries and become more than just a gay film or an Israeli story, but one that many audiences will seek out and enjoy. – Laura Tiffany 14 Home Media Magazine February 3–9, 2008

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Home Media Magazine - February 3-9, 2008

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