Weekly Review -- End of innocence

Trust (2010) -- The advent of the Internet has done nothing short of breathing new life into our concepts of space and time. Placing us in the middle of news as they break, creating endless research resources and generally allowing communication to reach a milestone of speed, this invention has revolutionized the world we live in. Nowadays there is practically nothing that we are unable to access in terms of information, with a simple keystroke making the idea of a global village a reality.

However, there is a very dark side to this technology. One can always count on humans to abuse any tool that is initially meant to serve the purpose of good, and the Internet is no exception. From relentless cyber-bullying to viruses capable of annihilating entire businesses, the Internet can be a genuine web of destruction. One of its most revolting side effects involves pedophiles prowling for young and naive victims, committing crimes that are seemingly endless and that represent the subject of David Schwimmer's meaningful new film.

Annie Cameron (Liana Liberato) is a happy, well-adjusted 14-year-old. Her days go by in schoolwork, volleyball practice and occasional bickering with her frazzled and loving parents (Clive Owen and Catherine Keener). Everything changes when she receives a laptop for her birthday and starts chatting to a California high school student calling himself Charlie. Eventually, he concedes to actually being twenty years old; soon afterward, he tells her that he is twenty-five. Experiencing a teenage crush and yearning for attention, Annie decides to meet Charlie in person, an encounter that will shatter her comfortable world and alter her relationships with her family...

Let me start off by declaring that Trust should be mandatory viewing for parents. It is a cautionary tale if ever there was one, providing plenty of discussion topics. Having said that, some of its plot points do not make peace with logic. How come the parents are not monitoring Annie's use of the laptop? A child should not be left to their own devices when navigating the on-line environment. How come they do not know where she is when she is meeting the predator? Why does the counselor not explain to Annie immediately that the guy has simply been exploiting her? Still, even though these lapses can be frustrating, they do not diminish the chilling impact of the story as the ultimate nightmare of the digital era, a kind of urban legend that alarmingly comes to life.

On another note, I disagreed wholeheartedly with the entire "can't control everything" speech; then again, there is a difference between controlling and having control. A parent should not act like Big Brother. Instead, a parent can and should have control over what their child is doing, but this influence has to stem from authority based on mutual respect and communication. Annie's parents seem a bit clueless when it comes to these things, barely spending time with her and never really listening to her problems. It is no wonder that she runs and gripes to a stranger, who then uses the girl's vulnerability to destroy her. Lesson learned? Be a parent. Be a listener. Be there, lest your child should endeavor to find comfort with someone that they should be running away from.

The performances certainly add to the film's effectiveness. Owen is sheer determination as Annie's father, who will stop at nothing to avenge the attack on his daughter. The actor possesses a refined don't-mess-with-me aura, a gritty energy that serves him perfectly in roles requiring a dose of rough yet intellectual intimidation. Keener is excellent as the generally carefree mother, now unable to grasp just how tainted the comfort of home has become. The scene in which she tells Owen's character to get his act together is heartbreaking, because this is precisely the point when the viewer realizes that both she and her husband have always meant well. They have always been a good mother and father duo, but then somehow got lost within the frantic pace of modern living, and Keener's character's desperation paints this picture perfectly. Liana Liberato gives a breakthrough performance as Annie, a girl so starved for attention that she inadvertently endangers her life, and Viola Davis exudes sympathy as the counselor attempting to shed light on the situation.

Trust is a timely film that uses its space to teach and not preach. While it could easily have turned out to be a self-righteous after school special, it ends up being a sensitive and disturbing warning about the perils of an as yet unexplored realm. It manages to burst its protagonists' safety bubble, as well as slowly glue the pieces back together, by successfully showing that bytes and bytes of numerically abstract distances are never enough of a fence to keep monsters away from innocents.

8/10

Weekly Review -- Exploring the uncharted

Beginners (2010) -- Human emotion is difficult to grasp. Fragile as air, it can slip out of our fingers and never be found again, lost in a sea of mundane predicaments. If capturing it is complicated in reality, it is twice as hard to do in cinema, where the very nature of the medium heightens every sentiment. Therefore, kudos to filmmaker Mike Mills for showing an unpolished slice of truth with Beginners.

Graphic designer Oliver (Ewan McGregor) exists in increments of pragmatic contentment and melancholic boredom. One day, his elderly father Hal (Christopher Plummer) informs him that he is gay, having found the freedom to be himself five years after the death of Oliver's mother. Soon after coming out, though, Hal is diagnosed with terminal cancer and passes away. Through flashbacks, we see how Oliver has cared for Hal during his illness, how his childhood has shaped his commitment phobia and how a chance encounter with actress Anna (Mélanie Laurent) starts changing him, slowly but surely...

More than anything, Beginners is a treatise on the reluctance to and acceptance of change. All of the characters go through a metamorphosis, from Hal's self-discovery to Oliver's newly found openness to Anna adapting to Oliver's fractured self-worth. I like how Mills' screenplay, with its sparse dialogue, gets to the essence of its subjects' humanity by both exposing and sheltering their vulnerability. The nuances in the writing allow the characters to find their personal freedom, a feat achieved by having them plow through speed bumps on the relationship highway. The script introduces humor in all the right places, while never disregarding the fleeting nature of existence and our need to connect to other people.

The performances are masterful. McGregor channels fragility and confusion, dipping into Oliver's childhood lack of affection to create a truly lost figure. Plummer gives a touching portrayal of a man who has learned how to live in the twilight of his life, only to have the ability taken away in its zenith. It is a soulful, understated performance that moves mountains without any fanfare. As Anna, Laurent exudes charming spontaneity, imbuing the character with wide-eyed curiosity and joie de vivre and showing the same kind of artistic honesty she showed in 2009's Inglourious Basterds. She possesses a guileless charisma that not many actors have, and I hope to see her in more intriguing films very soon.

A fact-based story of courage in moving forward, Beginners is a film that everyone needs to see to enrich themselves and their relationships with others. Its candor will make you reconsider what it means being human and its message of hope will brighten your view of the future. Every tale, every transformation, every journey and every Oliver needs to start somewhere in order to turn over a new leaf and, in the end, what is life but a collection of springtimes?

10/10

Weekly Review -- The Tarsem Singh weekend

The Cell (2000) -- In honor of the Immortals extravaganza, I thought I would step back in time and return to the movie that instantly made me a Tarsem Singh fan -- his first feature, 2000's The Cell. It is one of those rare films that simultaneously fascinate and horrify the viewer with their themes and imagery. Although slightly deficient in the character development department, the film is an innovative and engaging post-millennial fantasy, and I am happy to report that its effects have not aged one bit.

**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**

Psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) has been working with a revolutionary new technology -- she is able to literally enter the mind of a patient. Her methods come in handy for FBI agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn), after the serial killer he has been pursuing falls into a coma. The killer, Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio), has been kidnapping young women, leaving them in an unknown location to drown and videotaping the crimes. His latest victim has less than a day to live, so Peter turns to Catherine for help in gaining Carl's trust and locating the girl. However, things go wrong once Catherine finds herself inside the wrecked mind of a psychopath...

I always go back to the visuals when I tell people about this film. I had never seen anything like it before or since, and was impressed by the colorful, often brutal, boldness on display. Many of the dream-like images were inspired by artists and directors such as H.R. Giger and Mark Romanek, giving the film a sculpted, surrealist feel, and yielding the kind of decor that Hannibal Lecter might approve of. Even the workplace and house interiors seem more like moody exhibitions than living or work quarters; one would be hard-pressed to find sets that are more elegant. Singh loves spaces and loves using his actors as set pieces within the cavernous areas, moving them around like chess figures in his cinematic game. This is particularly apparent in the scenes set in Carl's mind, where the design overwhelms the human figures involved in the best way possible. The film is a wondrous hybrid of Singh's imagination and computer graphics milestones, with each of its sequences revealing a new aesthetic side to the story. It is also a synergy of cultural influences reflected in all of the film's elements, from Tom Foden's eclectic production design, to Tessa Posnansky's darkly delightful set decoration, to Eiko Ishioka and April Napier's rich costume design.

As far as the cast goes, I thought that their performances were overshadowed by the visual spectacle, but they still represent the essence of the human element. Lopez alternates between acting intellectual and waxing analytical as Deane, although she is hard to buy when she veers off into the heart-of-gold territory. Vaughn shows off the most nuances playing Novak, occasionally hinting at a deeper motivation behind his actions and interacting well with Lopez. As the severely disturbed Stargher, D'Onofrio shows off a charismatic spectrum of emotions, going from sadistic to vulnerable to merciless and back again, while Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Dylan Baker offer solid supporting turns as Deane's colleagues.

In regard to Mark Protosevich's screenplay, I did not think that the characters were examined sufficiently within the intriguing context of polar opposites -- life and death, light and dark, innocence and evil. I also wish that a few of the characters' backgrounds had been explored further and put into play during Deane and Novak's search for clues, since there were some past events implied as being key to their present. These additions would have made for a more layered, more engaging narrative.

The Cell is a piece that warrants at least a few viewings, simply to be able to absorb the intricate production details. It plays out like a delicate art installation, framing its proceedings in a work of spellbinding distinction. Tarsem Singh has fused disciplines to create a unique film that entrances, shocks, divides and, primarily, provokes discussion. After all, is that not what art is about?

7/10