My Week with Marilyn

Movies to See this Week

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MONSIEUR LAZHAR

My top pick this week is once again Monsieur Lazhar, the story of French-Canadian fifth graders recovering from a traumatic experience with their replacement teacher, an Algerian immigrant. It’s an emotionally compelling film that was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

On a lighter note, Goon is a hockey comedy that manages to be violent, raunchy and sweet.

In Footnote, a rising Talmudic scholar sees his career-topping prize accidentally awarded to his grumpy father. This potentially comic situation reveals the characters of the two men.

Then there’s the searing and brilliantly constructed Iranian drama A Separation, which won the Best Foreign Language Oscar, and the Best Picture Oscar-winning The Artist. Both are still still playing in theaters.

You can skip Damsels in Distress, Whit Stillman’s misfire of an absurdist campus comedy.

I have not yet seen Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Five-Year Engagement or The Hunter, all opening this week. You can read descriptions and view trailers of these and other upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick this week is Michele Williams’ dazzling performance in My Week with Marilyn.

DVD of the Week: My Week with Marilyn

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Not only is Michele Williams one of our finest film actors (Wendy and Lucy, Blue Valentine, Brokeback Mountain),  but she has the courage to play that icon Marilyn Monroe.  And she does so in a dazzling performance.  Williams so inhabits the persona of Marilyn that we suspend recognition of the physical differences between the two.

My Week with Marilyn is about a young man observing the encounter between Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) during the making of the 1957’s The Prince and the Showgirl.  That movie starred and was directed by Olivier, who expected a high level of craft, promptness and professionalism from all actors.  Naturally, Marilyn, with all of her neediness, professional unreliabilty and reliance on The Method, was a bad fit.

Williams perfectly tunes in each frequency of the Marilyn dial, from the terrified, insecure actress to the confident sex symbol.  There’s a great moment – after we’ve already seen her as troubled, flirtatious, needy, mischievous and, above all, lonely  – where she announces that she will become “Her”; she flips an inner switch and becomes the Marilyn sex symbol persona, delighting a crowd of regular folks.

The underrated Zoe Wanamaker has a great turn as Marilyn’s Method acting coach. Judi Dench is perfect as a kind veteran actress.  Emma Watson (so good as Hermione in the Harry Potter films) has an unfortunately tiny role as a non-wizard young adult.  Dougray Scott, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormand and Toby Jones fill out the great cast.  Wanamaker, Scott and Jones play American characters flawlessly.

Movies to See This Week

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DETACHMENT

Yes, it’s Despair Week at the Movie Gourmet, where you can experience the hopeless human experience with my three top picks.  First, the gripping drama Detachment features a top-rate performance by Adrien Brody as a teacher in a hellish school system that decays teachers’ souls.  In a sizzling performance, Woody Harrelson plays a corrupt and brutal LA cop trying to stay alive and out of jail in Rampart.  The searing and brilliantly constructed Iranian drama A Separation won the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

Joshua Marston, writer-director of the brilliant Maria, Full of Grace, has made a fine drama set in Albania, The Forgiveness of Blood.  It’s slightly less depressing than my top three this week.

Safe House is a fine paranoid action spy thriller with Denzel Washington and the director’s pedal jammed to the floor. Thin Ice is a Fargo Lite diversion.

The Best Picture Oscar-winning The Artist is still playing in theaters.

I have also commented on the biopics My Week with Marilyn (thumbs up) and The Iron Lady (thumbs down).

I haven’t yet seen Footnote and The Kid with the Bike, which open this week.  You can read descriptions and view trailers of these and other upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick this week is Take Shelter, #2 on my list of Best Movies of 2011 and probably the single most overlooked film of last year.

Movies to See This Week

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It's not going well for Adrien Brody in DETACHMENT

The gripping new drama Detachment features a top-rate performance by Adrien Brody as a teacher in a hellish school system that decays teachers’ souls.

In a sizzling performance, Woody Harrelson plays a corrupt and brutal LA cop trying to stay alive and out of jail in Rampart.

The searing and brilliantly constructed Iranian drama A Separation won the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

Joshua Marston, writer-director of the brilliant Maria, Full of Grace has made a fine drama set in Albania, The Forgiveness of Blood.

Safe House is a fine paranoid action spy thriller with Denzel Washington and the director’s pedal jammed to the floor. Thin Ice is a Fargo Lite diversion.

The Best Picture Oscar-winning The Artist is still playing in theaters.

I have also commented on  the biopics My Week with Marilyn (thumbs up) and The Iron Lady (thumbs down).

You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick of St. Patrick’s week is the Irish comedy Waking Ned Devine.

Your Holiday Movie Guide

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THE ARTIST

As usual, some of the year’s very best films have been released for the Holidays.  I especially recommend these three:

The Artist:  A magical romance given us through the highly original choice of an almost silent film.

The Descendants:  Director Alexander Payne’s (Sideways)  family drama is set in Hawaii and contains a brilliant performance by George Clooney.

Young Adult, another of the year’s best.

Michele Williams gives a dazzling performance as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn, a lesser but satisfying film.  Here are my comments on some other current films, the sex addiction drama Shame, the Japanese gangster movie Outrage and the Freud-Jung costume drama A Dangerous Method.

Happy viewing!

My Week with Marilyn: a dazzling Michele Williams

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Not only is Michele Williams one of our finest film actors (Wendy and Lucy, Blue Valentine, Brokeback Mountain),  but she has the courage to play that icon Marilyn Monroe.  And she does so in a dazzling performance.  Williams so inhabits the persona of Marilyn that we suspend recognition of the physical differences between the two.

My Week with Marilyn is about a young man observing the encounter between Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) during the making of the 1957’s The Prince and the Showgirl.  That movie starred and was directed by Olivier, who expected a high level of craft, promptness and professionalism from all actors.  Naturally, Marilyn, with all of her neediness, professional unreliabilty and reliance on The Method, was a bad fit.

Williams perfectly tunes in each frequency of the Marilyn dial, from the terrified, insecure actress to the confident sex symbol.  There’s a great moment – after we’ve already seen her as troubled, flirtatious, needy, mischievous and, above all, lonely  – where she announces that she will become “Her”; she flips an inner switch and becomes the Marilyn sex symbol persona, delighting a crowd of regular folks.

The underrated Zoe Wanamaker has a great turn as Marilyn’s Method acting coach. Judi Dench is perfect as a kind veteran actress.  Emma Watson (so good as Hermione in the Harry Potter films) has an unfortunately tiny role as a non-wizard young adult.  Dougray Scott, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormand and Toby Jones fill out the great cast.  Wanamaker, Scott and Jones play American characters flawlessly.

Late November at the Movies

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Promising films coming out in the last part of November include:

The Descendants with George Clooney, director Alexander Payne’s first film since Sideways.

Into the Abyss:  Werner Herzog’s documentary exploring American capital punishment.

My Week with Marilyn:   Reputedly dazzling performance by Michele Williams as Marilyn Monroe.

You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To. Here’s the trailer to My Week with Marilyn.