Disobedience

On Tuesday I saw Disobedience, starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams.

Ronit (Weisz) is the daughter of a beloved rabbi who returns home to England from America following his death. Esti (McAdams) is the girl she once fancied, who is now married to one of their (male) mutual friends and still lives in their hometown. Because they are from an Orthodox Jewish community, the former tryst between the two women is not spoken of and Ronit is treated more as an intruder than a grieving family member. Nonetheless, the couple make space in their home for Ronit as she navigates her past.

At first, the interactions between Ronit and Esti are tense, as if they aren’t willing to acknowledge their shared history, but as the film unfolds—at a pace that feels slow, yet authentic—we see there was so much more to their story than a physical attraction between kids.

Each glance, each longing stare across the room exhibits how much emotion still resides within each woman with regard to their love for the other. Finally, when they get time alone in a space where there are no judgmental eyes watching them, they are honest with themselves and each other about their resurfacing feelings. But their renewed understanding is not without consequences. How can they move forward when one lives a life that is free in another country and the other has embraced a life of conformity at home?

The answers to this come painfully and somewhat surprisingly as the last 30 minutes of the film take us one way and then drastically another.

Brilliant performances are certainly key here, but the superb writing for me is what takes it to another level. The complexities of love, tradition, culture and friendship all erupt in beautiful and tragic ways. I was left thinking about these characters long after I left the theater.

~~~

Heaven Is for Real

Yesterday I saw Heaven Is for Real, starring Connor Corum and Greg Kinnear.

Colton Burpo (Corum) is an adorable four-year-old boy with a preacher, Todd, (Kinnear) for a father. Though the family struggles financially, they cherish what's most important: family and God.

After a particularly rough patch, Colton's appendix ruptures and his chances of survival are in danger. Todd questions his faith and his wife Sonja (Kelly Reilly) does her best to keep it together. Thankfully, Colton pulls through, but after he returns home, he begins talking about the supernatural experiences he had while he was in the operating room, including a visit to heaven.

At first, Todd assumes it's just his imagination, but when Colton begins telling him things about the family that he has never previously known, Todd is understandably rattled.

The town questions Colton's story; Sonja grows tired of Todd's obsession with it and the media descends on their close-knit community.

This is all, of course, based on the true events of the real-life Burpo family. We just get the highlights here, but I can imagine the circus it must have been when the real incidents happened.

Kinnear is easily believable as the sincere, conflicted Todd, and sweet little Corum clearly has a future on the big screen ahead of him.

In fact all of the performances were great—even those of supporting characters like Margo Martindale, who are only there to serve borderline-stereotypical purposes.

The film is enjoyable to watch, especially if you're open to the fact that Colton may really have met Jesus, etc. But aside from the cookie-cutter way the series of events is portrayed, there's not a whole lot to it.

I would've liked to see more "heaven" and explore more of why such a decent, hard-working family was struggling so much.

But for what it is, it was fine.

~~~

The Invention of Lying

Tonight I saw The Invention of Lying, starring Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner.

The alternate reality in which Mark (Gervais) and Anna (Garner) live in doesn't allow for lying. Actually, the citizens don't always just tell the truth—they say everything that comes to mind, even if it may be hurtful to the other person. It is a filter-free society, which makes folks like Mark miserable.

In the span of a few days, Mark loses his job, gets evicted from his apartment and has a disappointing date with Anna, whom he adores. As he goes to the bank to withdraw his last $300, the bank's computer system crashes and they can't check his balance. He knows he only has $300, but it's $800 he needs to pay his rent, so he says $800. And because everyone tells the truth, the teller has no reason to disbelieve him. She hands over his $800 and he's on his way.

He's invented lying.

He doesn't quite understand this gift, but when he tries it out on a few of his buddies (telling them he's a black Eskimo named Doug) and it works, he decides to use it to improve his life.

Soon he has enough money to stay in his apartment and take Anna on a second date, to a nicer restaurant. Things go well on that second date until Anna again confesses she can't be romantically involved with him because he's not a desirable genetic match for her (though he makes her laugh and makes her happy). During the date, his mother falls ill and the couple rush to her side in the hospital. On her deathbed, Mark realizes she's terrified of dying so he invents a story about a paradise afterlife to comfort her. Hospital officials overhear the fib and take it for gospel, alerting the news media to his wisdom, which prompts a mob of sorts to camp outside his residence.

He's not only invented lying, he's invented religion. And this is where the movie becomes preachy in the opposite way that films typically do.

Soon he's proclaiming edicts that sound dangerously like commandments (yes, there's ten) from a Pizza Hut box where he's scribbled them under the pressure of the crowd. Did I mention he's a screenwriter too?

The impromptu way Mark creates the rules of society is meant to highlight the absurdity of Biblical texts, which of course were recorded by men. God becomes "Man in the Sky" and houses resembling churches emerge to give folks a "quiet place to think about the Man in the Sky."

It all amounts to a great big wink in the direction of atheists who may be cheering, and an unflattering mirror to those devout.

I appreciated the clever dialog, the many cameos (Rob Lowe, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tina Fey), the performances by the two leads and the sweetness of their courting, but it all could have moved a bit faster.

At the heart of the story is heart—the message being that we should not live our lives simply to please our families or friends, or conform to society's expectations, even if our brains tell us that is right.

We should follow the instinct that lies deep within us to be good people and seek out someone who fulfills our every dream no matter what sort of package they arrive in.

I wish the film had focused more on that.

~~~

Religulous

Today I saw the Bill Maher documentary Religulous.

It was the topic of Cinebanter #61, which is available for download here.