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60 San Diego Reader April 6, 2017


MOVIES


versation at the end. It’s open to in- terpretation. I’ve been enjoying those discussions at the preview screenings. ML: Talk about developing the prayer that James says throughout the film, the one about being satisfied with his life and with today, and not envy- ing others. IF: We live in an age where self-help and these speeches we give ourselves to pump ourselves up are very common. We wanted to write something like that, something between a prayer and a self-help tactic. It fits with the way he uses the church to advance his real estate goals; we wanted to show this blend of the secular and the religious. ML: Speaking of secular and religious, you have a scene where James and his new girl are naked in bed together discussing belief in God, and I found it very striking. Especially the way she’s pressed up behind him as they sit on the bed; they’re so close, but not together. IF: James comes from a world that is based on the sense of touch; it’s very warm and it feels like a womb, very intimate. Then he goes into a world that is cooler and more minimal. For me, it was interesting to put these two characters who are discussing faith and whether God is judging them in a space where they are surrounded


by nothingness. Just the sparsity of the space, the white walls, not a lot of objects. Just a man and a woman sur- rounded by empty space, broadcasting what they’re thinking, where one is more involved than the other. ML: We get that same space again later, when James breaks down and begs God. The camera never moves; just holds at a middle distance. IF: When I planned this with Zack Galler, who shot the movie, it was important for us that the camera did not become a part of the story, that it didn’t rupture the intimacy. That we give Dan the space and seclusion he needed to give that type of perfor- mance. We wanted to keep the camera distant, and surround him with white space, so that the focus would be on him screaming up to high heaven. It was clear that this was a one-take type of performance, so we cleared the set and it was just me and Zack and then Dan just going at it. ML: Do you direct facial expressions? IF: Never. One of the benefits of work- ing with actors like Dan Stevens, Ma- lin Akerman, Oliver Platt, and Kerry Bishé is that your role as a director is not as a puppeteer. Your role is setting up a structure and an environment where they can work and make the choices they need to make. You get them to understand where they are in the world of the film, and then discon- nect them from the constant minutiae of a film set. ML: I thought the film’s score was


very fine, and played a role that mu- sic doesn’t always manage to play in shaping the way a scene came across. IF: I had the great luck of scoring Danny and Saunder to score my film. They’re real artists, and we spent a lot of time searching for ways to use music in a way that was more than just an emotional support system for what is happening in the film. We wanted the music to start small and get bigger, to mirror the lust for life and the kind of pulsating drive that James gains once he regains his sight. And we imple- mented elements to show his unravel- ing. I think they used wooden blocks that sound almost like a woodpecker. Someone knocking at your head, mak- ing you almost lose it. — Matthew Lickona


MOVIE LISTINGS


All reviews are by Scott Marks, Matthew Lickona, and Duncan Shepherd. Priorities are indicated by one to five stars and antipathies by the black spot. Unrated movies are for now unreviewed. Thousands of past reviews are available online at SDReader.com/movies.


Beauty and the Beast — Compari- sons — to Disney’s first live-action prin- cess movie remake (2015’s Cinderella) and to the 1991 animated tale of a Beauty who wants “much more than this provincial life” (and the Beast who must win her heart if he is to recover his humanity) — may not be unavoidable, but they are useful. Cinderella strove and succeeded at expanding and deepening the core fairy tale without sacrificing the story’s “timeless classic” feel. In sharp contrast,


FILM FESTIVALS


CHULA VISTA CIVIC CENTER LIBRARY 365 F St., Chula Vista 619-691-5069


Film Forum: Coming Through the Rye Emmy-winning writer and director James Sadwith’s film debut displays verve and charm in this memory piece about a prep school student (Alex Wolff) obsessed with Holden Caulfield, who writes a stage adaptation of “The Catcher in the Rye.” He and his quirky (girl) friend Dee Dee (Stefania Owen) hit the road on a roller-coaster odyssey to find reclusive author J.D.Salinger (Chris Cooper) and obtain his blessing. 2015. 97 minutes. PG-13. Mini concert at 5:30 pm featuring singer Rachel Herrera, followed by the film screening at 6:00 pm. Sponsored by the Friends of Chula Vista Library. Info: 619-691-5069. Wednesday, April 12, 6:00pm


GREEN STORE


4843 B Voltaire St., Ocean Beach 619-225-1083


Symphony of the Soil Film Night at the Ocean Beach Green Center. Drawing from ancient knowledge and cutting-edge science, Symphony of the Soil is an artistic exploration of the miraculous substance soil. By understand- ing the elaborate relationships and mutuality between soil, water, the atmosphere, plants, and animals, we come to appreciate the complex and dynamic nature of this precious resource. Info: oceanbeachgreencenter@gmail.com. Thursday, April 13, 7:00pm


JACOBS MUSIC CENTER 750 B St., Downtown San Diego 619-235-0804


San Diego Symphony: Wizard of Oz The film’s score will be performed live as it screens. Saturday, April 15, 8:00pm


LA JOLLA LIBRARY 7555 Draper Ave., La Jolla 858-552-1657


LIBERTY HALL THEATER AT PARADISE VILLAGE


2700 E. 4th St., National City Film Discussion Class: Spellbound Alfred Hitchcock mixes a little Sigmund Freud with a bit of Salvador Dali in his mesmer- izing tale of mad love. A psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) walks the fine line between lover and doctor to an amnesiac (Gregory Peck) who may or may not be a murderer. 1945. 111 minutes. With instructor Ralph De Lauro in Liberty Hall, on the second floor of Paridise Village Senior Living. Wednesday, April 19, 7:00pm


PEARL


1410 Rosecrans St., Point Loma 619-226-6100


The Ramallah Concert On August 21, 2005, during the week of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, an historic concert took place in the city of Ramallah, in the Palestin- ian Territory, given by a world-class orchestra of young Arabs and Israelis, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Barenboim established the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with the late Palestinian writer Edward Said in order to bring together young musicians from across the political divide in the Middle East. Their hope was that music would heal and help to bring understanding and tolerance of different beliefs and cultures. This was the first time the orchestra gave a concert in one of its members’ home countries. It was standing-room only in the 700-seat concert hall, and the atmosphere was electric. The programme included Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The event is sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, San Diego Chapter. Sunday, April 9, 1:00pm


Dive-In Theater A weekly “cinema social” combining eclectic film selections, food and drink, and conversation. The event takes place at the poolside lounge and theater located outdoors and connected to Eat at The Pearl. Scheduled films are projected onto a 10’ x 13’ foot projection screen with full sound, overlook- ing the vintage, oyster-shaped swimming pool. Guests are invited to enjoy a range of classics, blockbusters, foreign, and independent features from The Pearl’s private library. Showtime is at 8 pm, food is served until 10 pm, and bar’s open until 1 pm. Wednesday, April 12, 8:00pm, Wednesday, April 19, 8:00pm, Wednesday, April 26, 8:00pm


REMINGTON CLUB II


16916 Hierba Dr., Rancho Bernardo 858-673-6340


Film Discussion Class: Sleeper Woody Allen takes a 200 year snooze after an operation and awakens in a totalitarian future where he is enlisted by underground revolutionaries (Diane Keaton, John Beck) to help overthrow the police


Arrival When 12 mysterious spacecraft appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors. Movie special features begin at 5:30pm Wednesday, April 12, 6:00pm


Manchester by the Sea An uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy’s father dies. Movie special features begin at 5:30pm Wednesday, April 19, 6:00pm


Carlsbad Film Series: La La Land Nomi- nated for 14 Academy Awards, this original musical about everyday life explores the joy and pain of pursuing your dreams through telling the story of an aspiring actress (Emma Stone) and dedicated jazz musician (Ryan Gosling) who struggle to make ends meet in a city known for crushing hopes. Movie special features begin at 5:30pm 2016, PG-13, 128 min. Wednesday, April 26, 6:00pm


state. 1973. 89 minutes. Presented by the Con- tinuing Education Center at Rancho Bernardo, with instructor Ralph DeLauro, in the second floor Multipurpose Room. (858) 487-0464. Wednesday, April 26, 7:00pm


SCHULMAN AUDITORIUM AT CARLSBAD CITY LIBRARY


1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad 760-602-2049


Beauty imports a modern YA sensibility that extends beyond star Emma Watson’s empowered-young-woman demeanor — “provincial life” is so backward that Belle’s neighbors recoil at the sight of her teaching a child to read and destroy her labor-saving clothes-washing machine as if it were the devil’s handiwork, while the Beast is presented as the victim of a Bad Dad. And it extends further still, to the language — at one point, one character says of another, “We are so not in a good place right now” — and to the presenta- tion, as a homoerotic subtext is here and there elevated to text. (Credit for all this may go to co-writer Stephen Chbosky, of The Perks of Being a Wallflower fame, as much as it does to director Bill Condon, who helmed the last two Twilight movies.) On that score, your mileage may vary; it’s when you get to the animated Beauty that things get rough: Ian McKellan makes a fine, melancholy Cogsworth the clock, but the rest of the enchanted servants come off hammy and campy, while Kevin Kline seems lost as Belle’s father and Luke Evans turns alpha male Gaston into a bigger cartoon than the original. To say nothing of the workaday new songs and the lumpen inelegance of the CGI Beast. But oh, those fantabulous sets! 2017. — M.L. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


The Boss Baby — Surprise! Dream- works’ latest is not simply an exercise in sticking Alec Baldwin’s Scotch-mellowed tycoon’s rasp in the mouth of a CGI infant and chuckling at the juxtaposi- tion. Instead, this story of a boy’s troubles when his baby brother arrives serves as a rousing defense of familial love as a good that can’t be commodified, and the family itself as a community that can’t be corporatized. Most magical of all, it’s a celebration of childhood imagination — that old-fashioned force that imbues ordi- nary life with extraordinary significance and wonder, all without the benefit of any sort of digital device. (It’s telling that the parents’ cameras are old-style, and even The Boss Baby’s hotline to headquarters is a corded, rotary toy.) Director Tom


McGrath has the good sense to treat all this serious stuff with the lightest of touches, instead guiding the kiddies in the audience to focus on a battle between puppies and babies for human affection, the grown-ups on Baldwin’s quippery, and everybody on the oft-crossed line between fantasy and reality in the mind’s eye of a child. 2017. — M.L. ★★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Get Out — Cultural appropriation shifts from “problematic” to “horrific” in writer-director Jordan Peele’s sharp take on the scary world of stuff white people like — starting with the “total privacy” of isolated country estates, like the one black photographer Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) visits with his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) on a meet-the-parents weekend. (On the drive up from the city, the car hits a deer, and when Washington goes to check the body, there’s a telling shot of his foot leaving the asphalt and stepping into wilderness.) The jigsaw-tight structure is that of con- ventional horror done right — mercifully light on jump scares (instead opting for a number of disturbing reveals via moving camera) and mostly smart about mechan- ics. (Why go walking through a dark house in the middle of the night? Because you’re trying to sneak a cigarette, away from your disapproving girlfriend and her even more disapproving family.) And lay- ered atop that structure is a squirmingly funny portrayal of tortured race relations, even among people of ostensibly good will. It’s not subtle, but it is clever, and besides, this is a horror movie — one in which the black guy is determined not to die. 2017. — M.L. ★★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Ghost in the Shell — A hot mess of a philosophical cyber-thriller. The hot is provided by Scarlett Johansson as a gov- ernment agent (but corporate creation) built from a human brain and a synthetic body, the latter often on quasi-display in a shimmering sort of shell casing that she only occasionally uses as digital camouflage. The mess encompasses pretty much everything else. Philosophical: on the question of what defines us, memories or actions, the heroine explicitly comes


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