Captain Fantastic

Viggo Mortensen, George Mackay,

Samantha Isler, Frank Langella

"He prepared Them for Everything

except the Outside world"

You will be wrong if you assume from its title that this is a superhero action filled movie. Instead, you will be mesmerized by this indie film with an unconventional plot with well developed characters that shall tug at your heartstrings. Well if you are so inclined because I admit not everyone can identify nor agree with the way these characters live their lives.

Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) lives in a deeply forested area (somewhere in the Pacific Northwest) where he has set up residence with his wife Leslie and their 6 children whose ages range from 6 to 18 years of age. Each morning, he awakens them with the sound of a bagpipe, then they have combat training where they are taught survival skills like hunting, weapons training, mountain climbing. 

During the evenings they all gather around a camp fire to read books about quantum physics and novels from radical thinkers like Dostoevsky, Karl Marx and Nabokov. The children are well versed both in survival skills as well as intellectually albeit their views are derived mostly from extremely left wing ideologies. Something which their parents have instilled in them since birth, no doubt. 

Early on, it is revealed that Leslie has been confined in some institution for bi-polar/depression by her parents who don't approve of her decision to live off the grid. Tragically, she kills herself so Ben must bring the grief stricken children out of the wilderness for her funeral. Something Ben is determined to stop as Leslie expressed in her will, she be cremated and her ashes flushed down the toilet. Yes, quite eccentric but that is how they roll. Heh!

The film turns into a long road trip to New Mexico where we see how difficult it is for the kids to adapt to the outside world where gadgets, pop culture and everything they have openly been taught to reject is now glaring at them up close and personal. 

Culture shock manifests itself and each of them react differently to their discovery of the 'real' world. It is an eye opener too for Ben as this experience raises troubling questions about his parenting style and how this alternative lifestyle might affect the future of the closely-knitted clan.

Viggo Mortensen, a very gifted actor who thinks out of the box and doesn't conform to the Hollywood type (which is a good thing, mind you!) is perfect as the authoritarian hippie whose radical views are extreme yet also has a soft heart when it comes to his family. The young actors portraying the children are very credible too. 

The cinematography is vibrant from the lush greenery of the wilderness to the colorful hippie-like attires of the characters. Running at almost 2 hours, it could benefit from some clever editing but its out-of-the-ordinary narrative was refreshing. Highly recommended!

FRANCES HA

Greta Gerwig, Adam Driver,

Mickey Sumner, Michael Esper

Frances (Greta Gerwig) is in a league of her own. She works at a dance studio but is not really a dancer. Merely one of the many alternates to the lead. Yet most of the time, she never gets her chance to take over the lead dancer. 

She lives in New York with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) and she describes their friendship as two girls who are basically the same but have different hair. Soon enough, Sophie moves out of their shared apartment to live in with her boyfriend which basically leaves Frances, homeless. Until she finds an apartment which she shares with two guys but is mostly too broke to pay the full rent. And perhaps to add on to the mysticism of Frances, director Noah Baumbach presents her story in black and white mode. 

But the truth is there is nothing mysterious or mystical about Frances. She is pretty ordinary yet it is admirable how she just never quits whenever the tough gets going. In her case, the situation is mostly tough going yet she just carries on in her insouciance ways. Other lesser beings in her shoes would certainly have quit or who knows gone into some deep depression but not Frances. 

In between her 'dance' gigs, she goes home to visit her parents and relatives in some suburban town. Once there, it seems that she is just one of the guys and fits perfectly well in her surroundings. She meets up with friends and relatives, goes to Church. Everything is just so ordinary. Even her parents are laid back. They don't hound her with questions about her job or her life in New York. She is there just for a visit and after a few days, she returns to her non-life in the Big Apple.

At another instance, at the drop of a hat, she decides to go to Paris just for ONE weekend. Never mind that she just got downsized in her job at the dance studio. Never mind that she has no itinerary. She just hops on a plane, charges it to a credit card which was sent in the mail by some telemarketer. But luckily she was able to stay at the Parisian flat of a friend of friend she just met who offered their place. She is mostly jet lagged, can't seem to get hold of a former classmate who lives in Paris and mostly just roams the streets of Paris without doing any touristy stuff. After all, she was just there for 2 days because she had a meeting on Monday at the dance studio.  Only TWO days in Paris??? Gosh who does that??? 

I guess in some ways, it is interesting to see how the present generation adapt to life. While, most of them are ambitious and very driven, Frances is the complete opposite. But in the end what really matters is that she is not a quitter because as the end credits roll by, you can't help but smile as things are finally picking up for dear old Frances. That somehow. one doesn't really have to worry for her well being as she is quite capable of coping with life and everything it entails. 

Good solid acting from Greta Gerwig in her typical subdued, subtle style. Most of the time, she looks like she doesn't know what she is doing but it is quite suitable for her role as Frances.  By the way, Frances Ha is the abbreviated form of her full name.  It didn't fit in the mail box of her new apartment so she merely shortened it to Frances Ha. An attitude which perfectly describes her personality!

YOUR SISTER'S SISTER

Mark Duplass, Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt

"A Comedy about doing the Right Thing
with the Wrong Person"

There are only 3 characters in this Indie (independent film) tale about relationships and all its complexities. Iris (Emily Blunt) offers her best friend Tom (Mark Duplass) to stay at her family's cabin in the mountains.  He needs to mourn his brother's death.  

While there, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) who is Iris's half sister shows up.  She just ended a 7 year relationship and needs some alone time to mend her broken heart.  Soon enough, Iris also joins them for the weekend.   It doesn't turn into a menage a trois (threesome) ... it isn't that kind of movie, mind you.

With no TV nor Internet connection to keep themselves occupied, they go on long walks and commune with nature.  The vast outdoors reflective of serene surroundings with a wide lake and densely forested trees is a good setting to turn inward and ponder about one's existence.   

Intimate conversations with siblings and friends is a pivotal point as secrets and hidden dreams are revealed. It is mostly dialogue driven until a simple twist is thrown in to complicate matters.

The underacting of the cast uplifts an otherwise mediocre film with great cinematographic scenes of the rustic setting.  Although the blurb states 'a comedy' I didn't find anything funny in it nor about it.  In fact, it was quite thought provoking especially the inconclusive ending of the film.

GREENBERG

Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans

"He's got a lot on his mind"

Noam Baumbach, the director of "The Squid and the Whale" pegs this indie film. The story follows Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) who returns to L.A. (from New York) in order to house-sit for his brother. Greenberg is forty years old and extremely neurotic. He no longer possesses a driver’s license, was hospitalized for depression and is content with doing absolutely nothing. Although he is a carpenter, by occupation. He seems comfortable with the idea of continuing with a lackluster existence. He spends his days writing complaint letters to the editor and walking Mahler, the German shepherd.

He meets his brother's assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig). Florence is a whimsical young adult struggling to find her place in the post-academic world, overwhelmed by thoughts of how to bring meaning to her life. She’s a likable character who tries to see the best in Greenberg – in spite of his routine temper tantrums, awkward demeanor, and disregard for the feelings of others.

I found Gerwig's easygoing performance entirely authentic and unaffected. Although sometimes I thought that Florence deserved a lot better in life than she gives herself credit for.

As for Stiller well frankly I never found his brand of comedy, funny. My first impressions of him were perfectly captured by his character in "Reality Bites". His first directorial film starring Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke.

As Greenberg, Ben Stiller has the gaunt and haunted look of a self-involved character who is suddenly confronted with the shocking realization that he has nothing concrete to show for at your age yet doesn't make any valid effort to correct his past mistakes. It was really sad and tragic. But a small part of me was telling myself, Greenberg deserves his sorry fate because truthfully he was one of the most unlikeable characters I've seen on the big screen.

To conclude, I think they were all generic indie characters who never seemed to have any internal motivation. Everyone seemed to behave like they simply have to accept their uninspiring existence which in essence can only work in an indie film.