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A Strong Adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s Brave True StoryLife is full of eye-opening and harsh realities. What will you do if it hits you and knocks you down? Some might say they will go to someone whom they can share the burden with. The others might say they will just suck it up and move on. Whatever the answer is, we all have our own way to deal with our problems in life. So does Cheryl Strayed. Adapted by Nick Hornby for the film, the script is based on Cheryl Strayed’s memoir ‘Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail’. The film centers on Cheryl’s decision to go on a hike, solo, in order to overcome her recent problems. Through flashbacks in the film, we will eventually see the reason why she actually experienced the problems. As the director, Jean-Marc Valee does a good job in capturing the essence of Cheryl Strayed’s adventure. He has this stylishly tender way in directing his films that can be seen in ‘Wild’. Seeing this film also reminds me of his previous work, ‘Dallas Buyers Club’, who won its stars peak achievements in acting. Speaking of that, he is also succeeded in bringing the best out of his two actresses in the film, Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. The former plays Cheryl Strayed and the latter plays her mom. This brings us to the acting department of the film. As a woman, Cheryl Strayed is flawed and complex. (SPOILER ALERT!). She cheats on her husband and abuses drugs. She is also brave and very affectionate especially towards her mother. In portraying her, Witherspoon gives a very strong and appealing performance. She makes us care about her character, which to me is one of the hardest things to do in acting. My favorite scene of her in the film is (SPOILER ALERT!) when she says goodbye to her husband. The emotion she displays there is just real and honest.
Not only Witherspoon, Dern also shines in ‘Wild’. She gives a heart-warming performance as Cheryl Strayed’s positive-minded mom. Although her part is considerably small compared to Witherspoon’s, it doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. There’s one scene that showcases Dern’s acting chops. It is when she is confronted by her daughter on how she is being so naïve in regards to the difficulties they’re facing. That scene really serves as her Oscar-moment. All in all, ‘Wild’ offers a look at how Cheryl Strayed, just like every single of us as a human being, tries to cope with problems in life. Anchored by fantastic performances from Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, this film is definitely worth of your time. Score: 4/5
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A (Surprisingly) Dark yet Charming Fairy Tale Musical To me, musicals are always fun to watch, whether they are in drama or comedy form. The reason is simple, it is because they usually have songs that go straight to your head and stay there for a couple of days or even weeks. Just about two years ago, one of Disney’s animated film did that. Yes, I’m talking about ‘Frozen’, an award-winning and influential musical animated film. I believe you still can see ‘Frozen’ footprints everywhere, especially in merchandises from your younger sister’s or her friends’ birthdays. Not to mention the songs, particularly ‘Let It Go’ that is still on the playlist of your local radios. Even one of the recent ‘Glee’ episodes features ‘Let It Go’ sung by Lea Michele’s Rachel Berry. Disney then brings another musical to the silver screen. Adapted from Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Broadway musical of the same name, ‘Into the Woods’ is directed by musical expert Rob Marshall. His previous films include Oscar-winning ‘Chicago’ (2002) and Oscar-nominated Nine (2009). His latest feature sets in the village whose inhabitants are very unique, such as The Witch (Meryl Streep), The Baker (James Corden), The Baker’s Wife (Emily Blunt), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Jack (Daniel Huttlestone), Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy), Prince Charming (Chris Pine), and The Wolf (Johnny Depp). One day, The Witch persuades The Baker and his wife to go into the woods to get a few things that she needs. In return, she promises to undo the barren (or mandul in Bahasa Indonesia) curse she once put on The Baker’s family tree. Since they have been wanting to have a child for so long, they take The Witch’s request. In the woods, all of the aforementioned characters will collide while The Baker and his wife try everything they can to collect the things that The Witch wants. As a musical, Into the Woods has a handful of sing-able numbers from composer Stephen Sondheim. My personal favorites are the opening song and the one sung by The Witch when she explains why she placed the curse on The Baker’s family tree. Another positive thing from the film is none other than the charm of the star-studded cast. All of them play the roles finely and sing so beautifully. Kudos to Meryl Streep, whose performance as The Witch is as malicious and creepy as she is charming and engaging. I really think she does deserve her Oscar nomination for that portrayal. Lilla Crawford also shines as the strong-headed and fearless Little Red Riding Hood.
Story-wise, ‘Into the Woods’ starts off really strong. Sadly, it gets weaker and unfocused as it goes through the second and third phase. Streep’s performance actually experiences a downward too, but it’s the script’s fault not hers. There’s another thing that came to my attention regarding the story. I first thought the film would be a whimsical and light musical, but I was wrong. Much to my surprise, the story is dark and grim FOR a Disney film. What I mean by dark and grim here may not be surprising for some of you who have read the actual version of the fairy tales, not the Disney’s one. So yeah, that’s a hint of how dark ‘Into the Woods’ is. In sum, ‘Into the Woods’ is a nice fairy tale film with charming ensemble and a few ear-catching musical numbers that is darker than it seems. If you want to bring your kids or younger relatives to see this, please make sure that they are mature enough to digest the film’s dark element. Score : 3/5 A Feel-Good Film with Equally-Good Soundtracks Music and sappy romantic story, same old same old. That was the first impression I got from seeing ‘Begin Again’ poster on the web. Originally titled ‘Can A Song Save Your Life’, this film tells the story of Gretta (Keira Knightley), a singer-songwriter who bumps into Dan (Mark Ruffalo), a once-successful music executive. Both just experienced a bad day of their life, the former just broke up with her boyfriend while the latter just got fired from his job. Together, they form a rather unique relationship that eventually helps them back on their feet. I have to admit that my first impression was wrong. The film does revolve around music and has romantic feels all over it. But the director (John Carney) successfully brings the mature-romantic tone into the film, not the one that will exploit you to cry your heart out. And here you can also see how good he is in handling the music aspect in the film. The music in ‘Begin Again’ is not just the background and sweetener. It drives the whole story and has real impact to the characters. This is actually unsurprising since Carney had directed another successful film with the same theme in the past called Once (2006). In fact, the film snagged an Oscar in 2008 for Best Original Song (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – Falling Slowly) which I believe some of you have heard. Let’s move on to the songs shall we. It appears to me that Carney also has a gift in choosing what songs suit the best for his films. Particularly in ‘Begin Again’, most of the songs work like a magnet to your ear. You can just humming them the minute you finish listen to the songs. Kudos to composer Gregg Alexander for crafting such pleasurable tunes! Off all the songs sung in the film, my personal favorite (and looks like everybody’s favorite too) is ‘Lost Stars’. It’s very, very addictive.
Story-wise, the film offers nothing new to the table. Thankfully, there’s this handful of charming cast that really elevate the story. Both Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo are irresistible and who knew that Ms. Knightley could sing really well? On the supporting bench, Adam Levine, James Corden, Hailee Steinfeld, Katherine Keener, Mos Def give fine performances too. Although a little bit more of Hailee Steinfeld would not hurt anybody. All in all, ‘Begin Again’ is a laid-back and at times heartfelt film. Armored with plenty of catchy songs, the tunes and the lyrics will definitely linger in your head long after the credit ends. Score: 3.5/5 |
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