Room

The less you know about Room going in, the better. There are intense performances and disturbing revelations that make for a unique viewing experience from a story adapted for the screen by author Emma Donoghue from her award winning bestselling novel.

Filmed in Toronto, Room is an intimate psychological drama that puts us inside the mind of a 5 year-old child who has never seen anything beyond the walls of his room. He was born there and lives in Room with his mother. The room is all he knows and he is happy playing with his imagination and his Ma who is always with him. He even calls the world he lives in Room.

Room won the People’s choice award at this year’s recent TIFF40 (Toronto International Film Festival) and got overwhelming positive responses from audiences who saw it.

Jack’s mother keeps him busy with daily routines and teaches him to read and write, and about everything in the world. But Jack believes these are just made up stories that aren’t real. They couldn’t be real because he’s never actually seen any of those things in his room.

We only begin to realize what is happening when a man arrives in the room. Old Nick occasionally visits the room for a short while to bring food and toys, and takes mother with him to the bed. During this time Jack must hide in Closet until Old Nick leaves. This all seems fairly normal to Jack who has never known different.

One day when she feels Jack is old enough, Ma tells him that it’s time to leave Room, that there’s more behind the walls of Room and that the stories she told him are all true. Jack is curious but likes his room and is scared of leaving it. His mother knows that the world is much bigger because she was not always in Room. She grew up in the world and has been in Room since she was a teenager seven years ago.

Room explores the traumatic psychological effects of prolonged forced physical confinement and how as children we can adjust more easily to our environment no matter how difficult and deprived it may be. 

Abduction and its traumatic effect on the victims are not often talked about. This film delves into the issues of abduction from the victim’s point of view. Telling the story from the child’s perspective gives the film an added emotional dimension of fear and tension.

With Irish director Lenny Abrahamson’s skillful guidance and collaboration with the author/screenwriter, this Irish/Canadian production feels immediate and relevant in its portrayal of the powerful subject matter.

Ma, played by Brie Larson, and Jack who is portrayed by Jacob Tremblay, have a real intimate and honest chemistry that lends itself to a powerful and truthful performance as mother and son who in many ways need each other to survive.

Room grapples with some difficult and disturbing subject matter in a positive way that feels uplifting and inspirational. Audiences have come away from the experience of the film with appreciative and emotional reactions, which is a testament to the dedicated cast and filmmakers and attests to its status as the People’s Choice award winner in Toronto.

JP

El Clan (The Clan)

In Argentina, The Clan caused a sensation. People there still remember well the incredible true events depicted in the film of a seemingly normal well-to-do upper class family who made a business out of kidnapping and torturing members of wealthy families in their own neighborhood and holding them for hefty ransoms.

The horrifying stories struck fear into citizens as the victims were killed after the ransom was paid. Argentina was still struggling to throw off the curse of a dangerous military dictatorship and people could not resolve criminal issues by appealing to the police or government as they were just as likely to be involved in the kidnappings and killings. 

As it turns out, the man responsible for these horrific crimes was a seemingly upstanding citizen and family man, Arquímedes Puccio, a former high ranking official in the government intelligence agency, along with his wife, three sons and two daughters. 

Taking place over the course of four years from 1982 – 1985, The Clan reveals the strange family dynamics of the infamous Puccio clan. Living quietly in San Isidro, a wealthy suburb of Buenos Aires, their father’s illicit activities were a dark family secret that was kept hidden from the outside world.

Their athletic son Alejandro played for the country’s successful Rugby team, and when he wasn’t working in his surfing equipment store he was helping dad to kidnap his next victim. The victims were kept in the basement of the house they lived in, but the family seemed oblivious to what was happening right under their noses.

Argentine actor Guillermo Francella plays Arquímedes, a silver haired, steely eyed fox stalking his prey with a cool obsessive intensity. He has his meticulously planned extortion routine worked out like a pro with years of experience and is careful not to leave anything to chance.

Arquímedes also makes sure his family trusts him and understands the importance of what he’s doing. He makes sure that no one feels uncomfortable, but that doesn’t stop one of his sons from figuring out that daddy is bound to get caught eventually and when he does, it would not be beneficial to be anywhere near him. When he leaves on an overseas school trip he tells his older brother he’s not coming back and that he also better get away soon.

When Alejandro meets a girl that he wants to marry, the family business becomes an obstacle to his plans that can no longer be overlooked. And when a newly elected democratic government comes to power, Arquímedes can no longer rely on the old regime to protect him.

Using the popular music of the time, director Pablo Trapero skillfully edits between brutal kidnapping footage and the outer façade of a happy family life being portrayed to the outside world. It’s a surreal experience that’s as gripping and mesmerizing as it is disturbing.

Well researched, slickly filmed and powerfully performed with surgical insight, this intensely shocking tale has been winning awards at major film festivals around the world, including the Silver Lion for best director at the Venice Film Festival and has been selected as Argentina’s official Oscar entry for this year’s 88^th Academy Awards. 

JP

Dheepan

Dheepan is an unusual story that mixes the immigrant experience with rogue military guerrilla war elements within an urban gang turf war environment, and it works. 

Dheepan, a former Tamil soldier has had enough of war after a lifetime of violence and killing, and just wants to fit in and start a new peaceful, quiet life. He’s a mild-mannered newly hired immigrant, learning to work as a building superintendent in a suburb of Paris. He also has some secret hidden talents. 

Trained to fight a guerrilla war in the jungle since childhood, against government military forces, destroying army bases in an effort to create their own separate homeland, Tamil soldiers have been fighting a civil war against the Sri Lankan government since 1983 to protect their citizens and culture from ethnic marginalization by the majority Sinhalese government. These dedicated soldiers were known as Tamil Tigers. 

When their leader was killed in Jaffna, the government army wiped out many Tamil citizens living in the North of Sri Lanka in violation of international human rights laws. Many escaped to India, Canada and elsewhere in Europe.

Beginning at the end of this long brutal civil war, Dheepan follows one Tamil warrior as he tries to settle into a housing block community outside of Paris, France. After picking up a young Tamil woman and a girl who both lost their families in the final days of the war, they pass themselves off to the French Immigration officials as a family fleeing the civil war chaos of Sri Lanka.

What seems immediately obvious to the audience is unknown to the newly arrived refugees who believe they are living in a normal apartment community with normal, if poor French citizens. We quickly realize that they are in fact living in the middle of a drug gang community where there is an imminent threat of turf war.

Our new refugee family tries to fit in as best they can while also getting to know each other for the first time. It’s difficult to say the least. Not only are they dealing with culture shock in a strange new country, but they also grieve for their lost families while trying to start a new life with total strangers. 

The story grapples with the personal issues of the three main characters as they go about their daily struggle to set up a household, find work and learn the new language. As they eventually gain the trust of the locals, this new family begins to feel some hope and start

to grow more intimate with each other.

But when the inevitable power struggle breaks out, threatening to destroy the safety of their precarious family unit, Dheepan’s guerrilla tiger training kicks in and he’s forced to fight the only way he know how to defend his new family from harm.

The climax is bloody and somewhat reminiscent of the climax in Taxi Driver (1976), as Dheepan is again caught in the middle of a violent war. Deciding he cannot stand by while his Tamil girlfriend is in danger, he surprises everyone by taking matters into his own hands with brutal and violent consequences.

Winner of the Palme D’Or prize at this year’s Cannes film festival, Dheepan is a powerful and personal story of the immigrant experience in Europe that shines a harsh light on the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.

JP

Mustang

Young, wild and free-spirited teen girls just want to enjoy life playing on the beach, going out with boys, cheering at soccer games and dancing to music. It all seems so natural and innocent, unless you happen to live in a small town in Turkey dominated by religious and cultural oppression, where girls are seen only through a veil of sexuality and as domestic slaves to a male dominated society.

Mustang is a powerful and imperative film about the injustices of strict tribal and religious societies and their treatment of women in particular. The message is loud and clear, giving voice to issues of female oppression increasingly being echoed in powerful personal films like Dukhtar (2014), Wadjda (2012), Circumstance (2011), Offside (2007), Head-On (2004) and a recent new film from Tunisia, As I Open My Eyes (2015).

Five young orphaned sisters living with their grandmother in a small coastal village in Turkey have just finished the school year. It’s a bittersweet moment as they say goodbye to their favorite teacher but also look forward to an exciting and playful summer. 

But what the sisters of differing ages thought would be a fun filled summer, suddenly turns into a nightmare when the small town community they live in turns on them, deciding that they can no longer tolerate their freewheeling irreverent behavior which is getting the local boys all excited. 

Too much for the grandmother to handle, she is forced by the community to marry off the girls as soon as possible in the traditional ways of the Turkish culture. As their home turns into a school for domesticity they are told that girls must be pure, soft-spoken and well mannered, and they’re forced to spend their time learning how to cook and clean. 

Soon bars, gates and fences are erected all over the house to stop them from sneaking out to parties and having fun. Their home suddenly turns into a fortress of chastity to protect their virginity. But the girls will not be broken so easily. They are young and will not be bartered off to complete strangers who come around with their sons.

The situation however becomes increasingly dire for the girls as one by one they are forced to accept marriage proposals and leave the house with their new husbands. Lale, the youngest of the sisters, is particularly disturbed by the sudden violent turn of events as she witnesses her older sister’s suffering.

This scathing film is not without humor and irony and the genuine camaraderie between the girls who play the sisters translates beautifully and naturally on screen, giving a sense of the tight sisterhood bond they share as they support each other when faced with this crisis for which they are unprepared. The vibrant spontaneous performances by the children make this film a joy to watch even as they fight for their freedom.

We feel for them as their initial shock turns to desperation or resignation. We want them to somehow escape the horrors of their plight, so when Lale makes a sudden bold decision and takes matters into her own hands, we are fully on her side as she battles age old traditions and the wrath of not only family but also the entire community.

A moving heartfelt gem of a film, Mustang has been chosen as France’s official Oscar entry for the 88^th Academy Awards. They certainly have my vote.

JP

The Martian

From visionary director Ridley Scott - Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Gladiator (2000), and Prometheus (2012), comes the latest in the Astronaut in jeopardy genre that’s lately been gaining velocity, The Martian. 

Realistic space exploration films featuring isolated astronauts in life threatening situations have been around for years but were always considered to be cerebral speculative procedurals, of interest only to the hard-core Sci-fi fans. But with the success of films like Apollo 13 (1995) Gravity (2013) and Interstellar (2014) with their visually innovative spectacular images, and suspenseful scientifically accurate stories, astronaut films have become much more entertaining and popular.

A bold blend of Apollo 13 (1995) and Cast Away (2000), The Martian follows Mark Watney (Matt Damon), a stranded astronaut on an uninhabited planet Mars, some 401 million kilometers from earth, trying to survive long enough using only his wits and his considerable science knowledge, until he can find a way to communicate with NASA and come up with a plan to get home.

Mark is presumed dead during the evacuation of their Ares III site after a storm forced the crew to abort their mission and return home. When Mark discovers he is not dead, he quickly realizes that even if his crew and NASA knew he was alive, it would take four years for another mission to reach him, by which time he would have surely starved to death - assuming that he doesn’t die by any number of grisly means that could expose him to the hostile Martian environment and kill him instantly.

The Martian puts the science back into Sci-fi. It’s all about the science of surviving in space and the suspense of living in a place where small miscalculations can result in catastrophic accidents. We are constantly reminded that doing the math right can save your life. But above and beyond the math and science, you still need the courage and conviction to take risks.

Mark is seriously in danger of dying the longer he stays on Mars, but he has a healthy sense of humor which helps him get through some of his most difficult ordeals and keeps us interested in him and his predicament. As the obstacles mount his chances of survival quickly diminish. Not only is his food supply running out but he has to make his own water and oxygen, which are all in limited supply.

Based on the novel by Andy Weir, which started as a self-published e-novel, The Martian is quite a complex technical read, presumably limiting its audience to the hard-core Sci-fi fans. But the humanity of the story and characters is so compelling, it actually reached a far wider readership than anticipated and was eventually bought by a publisher and picked up for adaptation into a major Hollywood film.

This film has it all; a risky complex mission to Mars in jeopardy, space travel, science, suspense, a great ensemble cast of actors and a brilliant director at the helm, all coming together to give heart to this triumphant epic story of survival that’s inspirational and educational. 

If you choose to see The Martian on a big screen in 3D, prepare to be blown away.

JP