October is always one of the happiest times of the year. Even in Florida, one felt the change of seasons, maybe not in weather, but in decor! Pumpkins and witches, bats and ghosts, cobwebs and skulls at every house, on every classroom door, at every supermarket; horror marathons, all month long, on the TV; spooky specials, whether they be another "Treehouse of Horror" from The Simpsons or Cartoon Network's annual rerun of The Halloween Tree (though I think this was eventually taken over as a tradition by ABC Family, later Freeform). Ah, Halloween: that special time of year!
My family adores Halloween, none more so than my father, who loved helping us execute costumes and makeup from scratch. In high school, I spent not a penny when transforming into Raoul Duke - Dad loaned me sunglasses, a Hawaiian shirt, and a visor, then soldered a cigarette holder with cigarette at his garage workbench. Legendary is the time we came back from trick-or-treating with Mom to find Dad as a redneck zombie: face painted completely white, red smearing at his lips and neck, a noose around his neck his hiking flannels and hat completing the effect. Oh, yes, this was a big deal holiday for us.
The problem is, I cannot remember which costume I wore this Halloween. I have perfect recall of the Halloweens of Kindergarten through third grade and the ones of high school, but 4th-8th I can only remember four costumes, and I have no idea when I did each one. I don't think I even have pictures. The best I can figure is, I know for a fact I saw The Emperor's New Groove with my friend Tony in December, and I'm pretty sure the two of us went trick-or-treating together twice in this period, and I was The Phantom of the Opera one time and Charlie Chaplin the other, so I must have been one of those. Unless, of course, this was a year when Halloween fell during rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz, in which I played the Scarecrow, and the reason I can't remember the costume is that I was already in costume, while singing and dancing, though October would have been too early for a dress rehearsal.
Anyway, the movies of October were not so spooky.
Billy Elliot
release: October 13
nominations: Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Julie Walters), Best Original Screenplay
dir: Stephen Daldry
pr: Greg Brenman / Jon Finn
scr: Lee Hall
cin: Brian Tufano
In Thatcher's England, the son of a striking miner realizes he has a passion - and talent - for ballet.
Saw this one for the first time when it came out on video, rented it, watched with Mom, who said she liked it but saw the same story as an after-school special decades earlier and in 40% the runtime. I was under the impression I liked it more than she did, but it could have just been an observation on her part.
Anyway, excellent movie, love the writing and performances and how Billy's own pursuit of something he loves, even though he doesn't seem to understand it himself, affects the people around him, whether it's forcing his dad to peer out from his pit of grief to take stock of what his family actually wants and needs, inspiring his friend Michael to risk opening himself up completely to another, or waking the chainsmoking ballet mistress into an opportunity to actually teach, to mold. Even love how the older brother is written and played, a seeming antagonist who's just trying to match the one remaining parent's energy, filling the empty spaces that the mother's death has left. And, of course, there's Billy, beautifully played by Jamie Bell, simply A Boy, not articulate, but instinctual, often frustrated, yet undeniably drawn to this...whatever it is. Such joy in movement!
The Contender
release: October 13
nominations: Best Actress (Joan Allen), Best Supporting Actor (Jeff Bridges)
dir/scr: Rod Lurie
pr: Willi Baer / Marc Frydman / James Spies / Douglas Urbanski
cin: Denis Maloney
When the vice president dies, the President of the United States nominates a female senator to take his place - and the hearings that follow uncover a past that could put her appointment in jeopardy.
My friend introduced me to this movie in high school, a little bit after he introduced me to The West Wing and in the midst of my increasing liberalization. I still registered as a Republican when I turned 18, but it didn't take - much like the heroine of this film!
What qualifies someone to be a leader? Rather, what disqualifies someone? What relevance does a past, consensual, sexual act have to one's ability to lead, or even just support the leader of, the Free World? Gosh, if having fun in college 25 years ago is disqualifying, can we even call ourselves Free? A man can be a known womanizer and still be a successful politician, while a woman only has to enter politics for the jokes about kneepads to start, whether or not we know her dating history. Crude and rude.
So, it's a film built to argue about after, even when it leaves you with two rousing speeches set to a moving score. It tells you these are the arguments we should be having, even as it stacks the deck in favor of its protagonist. Well, why not? That doesn't make it any less provocative or thoughtful, and certainly, if the question is about what qualifies one to lead, someone like Laine fits the bill: willing to debate and consider all sides, defends her principles, great under pressure, photogenic (it matters!). What I find myself frustrated by is how much it stacks the deck in her favor, both in the editing (two rousing speeches set to a chest-inflating score??) and the writing: it's not enough that Laine is a great choice, we must have a thriller subplot to underline why the other possibility is an evil, wicked choice; and after two hours of being told the past doesn't matter, we get a final reveal that proves it does, at least to the filmmakers, at least enough to reassure the audience that they can root for Laine safely; and I could have used one more scene, hell, at least one more reference, from our heroine's Republican former Governor father, seems like that aspect should be a much bigger deal than it is?
STILL! Those performances! Gary Oldman, frankly, is the best as our antagonist, reptilian as a politicial operator, but not a hypocrite. Irritating, highfaluting, sexist, self-righteous, manipulative, sure, but he's a true believer. There's no mystery, either, why Joan Allen was nominated for her warm, determined performance, or why Jeff Bridges was nominated for communicating strength and hands-in-pockets political charm as a president whose own principles and competence are a complete mystery to me. And then, of course, there's Sam Elliott as the Chief of Staff (God, he's wonderful, probably the most believable politican in the movie), and single-scene wonders Philip Baker Hall as the aforementioned father and Mariel Hemingway as a compelling wronged wife. Watch it for the performances, don't think too hard about the last twenty minutes of writing.
Pay It Forward
release: October 20
dir: Mimi Leder
pr: Peter Abrams / Robert L. Levy / Steven Reuther
scr: Leslie Dixon, from the book by Catherine Ryan Hyde
cin: Oliver Stapleton
Tasked by a teacher with thinking about how he can change the world, a kid begins the idea of doing good deeds for strangers and asking the recipients to "pay it forward" to three other strangers.
First watched this in high school, in the same class that had us studying Remember the Titans. Watched it again later on for...hm...wait, maybe this past rewatch was only my second, but I remembered so much of it.
I want to tell you about the ending first: it ends in tragedy, one character devoted to good kids is knifed. Why? I guess so we can get a candlelight processional to show just how many people have paid it forward, across America, and therefore, it is implied, all over the world. Was there a way to show that without a Messianic sacrifice? Yes, they do right before they kill him off, but the story, the film, is determined to wring every drop of emotion from us, this being the final brick in its House of Overcoming Tragedy after 90 minutes of child abuse, alcoholism, bullying, poverty, deadbeat dads, sexual exploitation, and, uh, I don't know, what else you got? Now, to the movie's credit, it's sincere in trying to depict everyone as struggling with their own demons, rectifying their pasts, building walls because they've been taught that's the best way to survive. It's just that, well, like The Contender, how it leaves things makes for an experience that's more frustrating than enlightening.
Tomorrow, several October releases, proof that the fall movie season was gearing up...
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