GLORIA BELL (2019)

Rated:  R

STARS:  Julianne Moore, John Turturro
DIRECTOR: Sebastian Lelio
GENRE: Drama, Comedy, Romance

There are plot driven films and there are character studies. Plot driven films typically don't have much character development. Character studies are not heavy on plot. Gloria Bell, a remake of the 2013 Spanish language film, Gloria, is a character study. So the whole thing rests upon the likability and the nuance that Julianne Moore brings to her role as Gloria--a middle-aged woman with two grown kids who is putting herself out there again and is looking for love--a bit too eagerly--in all the wrong places.

In this case it's a Los Angeles area disco she likes to frequent--which gives us the opportunity to groove on some good dance tunes--and where she gets picked up by Arnold (John Turturro), an ex-marine and as unlikely a guy that a still hot woman such as Gloria is likely to go home and jump into bed with as you'll find. But that's what they do. The sex seems okay, but not earth-shattering from what we can see.    

Both Arnold and Gloria have this wistful look in their eye throughout the whole movie. They seem haunted by their pasts and somewhat baffled by the present. Gloria feels dissed when Arnold repeatedly takes calls from his ex or his kids while he is with her and doesn't give them the scoop about his new relationship. He has reasons for not acknowledging her to others, but it' s the kind of stuff guys always give out as a smoke screen when they like you but they're not totally committed. And Arnold has a baffling and frustrating habit of disappearing on her at odd times, ostensibly to get his head together. 

Director Sebastian Lelio obviously thinks if a little of something is good, then a lot more of it is better. So we get multiple scenes of Gloria singing off key while she's driving. We get multiple scenes of Gloria moving to the beat on a crowded dance floor. We get multiple scenes of Gloria's unclothed body (which Moore still likes to show off a la Boogie Nights) before, during, or after sex with Arnold. (I'm not complaining, mind you, about the latter.)

On the up side, there are multiple chuckles in Gloria Bell as well, as two damaged people try to figure out what love is all about when love is no longer as simple as a white picket fence and 2.3 kids running around in the yard beating the crap out of each other. It's a film about the melancholy state of people who are constantly searching for something or someone outside themselves to heal them. They never find it. But that doesn't stop them from looking.

With any luck, Gloria may find herself in the end.

Grade:  B +

JILL'S TAKE

Readers of our reviews often tell me they much prefer when Tim and I disagree. Well, get ready, folks! The two best things about this dreary, seemingly endless film are the music and the trailer. (That was what made me want to see it in the first place!) My mistake. I know I've made this point before but I strongly believe movie-goers must either love or hate the characters they're watching on screen. Or at the very least feel something about them. But both Gloria and Arnold are so...uninteresting, really. And the story, so predictable.

Okay, I've had my rant. As Tim already mentioned, Julianne Moore has—at age 58—well-maintained breasts. And she's been in some first-rate films. One for which she won a well-deserved Oscar. (Still Alice, 2015). But this role wasn't worthy of her. And while I'm on actors, John Turturro was terrific in the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink. In Gloria Bell? Not so much. His sad-eyed, creepy performance was pretty much the same throughout. As the end credits rolled, I was amazed how many well-known actors participated in this movie: Sean Astin, Jean Tripplehorn, Michael Cera, Brad Garrett.

I did love the score, though. It was consistently disco and, for me, the saving grace of Gloria Bell. (The only bell that rang true for me!)

Grade: D

  

DISOBEDIENCE (2018)

Rated:  R

STARS: Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola
DIRECTOR: Sebastian Lelio
GENRE: Drama

Pay close attention to the opening monologue in Disobedience, because the theme of the film is encapsulated there.  Rav Krushka,  the elderly spiritual leader of an orthodox Jewish congregation in London, is pouring it all out--as if these would be the final words he would ever speak. Immediately afterwards, he croaks. This sets up the return of his estranged daughter, Ronit (Rachel Weisz), a New York photographer who was exiled from the community due to her youthful penchant for her own gender--in particular her childhood friend, Esti (Rachel McAdams). Ronit is not welcomed back with open arms into the closed--and closed-minded--community, but she is invited to stay with Esti and their mutual school days chum, Rabbi David Kuperman (Alessandro Nivola), who is now Esti's husband.

It doesn't take long before the repressed passions between Ronit and Esti are rekindled, leading them to consummate their love for each other on the sly, which will set up the inevitable conflict for Esti to choose between desire and duty--whether to flee with Ronit to New York or stay and be the good wife for her husband and support him in his ambition to take over the leadership position that Ronit's father has vacated.

What to do. What to do.

Disobedience is about life in a closed conservative religious community, and it feels as real and authentic as you can get, right down to some great singing in Hebrew that even someone like me can appreciate. It's also about lesbian sex, as there's a really hot lovemaking scene between Weisz and McAdams. Oh wait a minute...it's not between the actors, it's between their characters--Ronit and Esti. Because in real life these two have male partners, and so of course they're just acting. Decide for yourself on that one.

But the central theme of the movie is what lies at the heart of existentialism, and it harkens back to Rav Krushka's monologue at the beginning of the film: Free will. The freedom to choose. The main tenet of existentialist philosophy is that with freedom comes responsibility. This plays out beautifully in Disobedience, as Esti has a lot more to consider in making her decision than just her own happiness. It all leads to a climactic scene (no, not that one) that's as touching as any I have seen on film. And while the first half hour or so of Disobedience is as slow as the molasses in January, the story will draw you in with three remarkable turns from Weisz, McAdams, and Nivola, and you'll be hooked in short order.

For me to reveal more than that just wouldn't be kosher.

Grade:  A

JILL'S TAKE

People who read our joint reviews tell me they much prefer it when our opinions are diametrically opposed. Well, get ready, folks! Maybe it's because I didn't like studying existentialism in college.  Or I have an automatic mad-on for stultifying religious communities.  But Disobedience left me disappointed and disgruntled.  

The film took forever to get started, as director Sebastian Lelio (who also directed A Fantastic Woman) wanted us to understand every little nuance of the plot.  I'm a great believer in bookends, i.e. starting and ending a film with the same visual. Disobedience followed this cinematic premise to the letter. But as a romantic (and a fan of Hollywood schmaltz), I believe love should triumph over anything else. Especially when the other choice is so depressing.  

When Casablanca first came out, the producers aired two separate endings:  one where Bogart and Bergman stayed together; the other where war and duty triumphed. (I didn't like that ending either!)

The acting is superb and that sex scene Tim refers to is tastefully done albeit highly erotic.  For you trivia buffs, it might interest you to know that Rachel Weisz (the wife of Daniel Craig aka "007") is having her first child at age 48. Obviously, she's a rebel in real life, too!

Too much thinking gives me a headache. I like my movies to be entertaining.  They can be violent.  Or scary.  Or even sad.  But when a philosophical  concept drives the storyline it makes me break out in hives.

Grade: C -

A FANTASTIC WOMAN (2018

Rated:  R

STARS: Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes
DIRECTOR: Sebastian Lelio
GENRE: Drama/Arthouse

The screen is a very powerful tool for social acceptance.
--Andie MacDowell

There still seems to be some confusion these days about transgender folks. I'm not sure that the Chilean drama, A Fantastic Woman, clears any of that up, but it is a poignant and sympathetic character study of one individual.

A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from their biological sex at birth. 
(Or as I like to say: the biology doesn't match the psychology!) Simply put, one's sex is about the body...one's gender identity is in the mind. A transsexual is someone who has taken steps to more physically resemble the gender they identify with through the use of hormones and/or surgical procedures. So, if anyone should ask... 

Were you to begin watching a A Fantastic Woman with no prior knowledge of what's what, you'd be in for a surprise as it is slowly revealed that Marina (Daniela Vega) is not a biological woman. Ya coulda fooled me, as the saying goes. There's no indication as to whether it fooled her ostensibly straight older lover, Orlando (Francisco Reyes), in the beginning, so we don't really know how or why they hooked up. But they have real passion for one another. Orlando croaks unexpectedly after they share an evening in bed together, with Marina rushing him to the hospital where a tense life or death drama plays out. It's the beginning of an odyssey of suspicion and bigotry directed toward Marina by the authorities--who suspect she may have had something to do with her lover's death--and Orlando's family, whose attitudes and subsequent actions toward Marina reveal that Chileans may have farther to go than even we here in the U.S. do in developing a live-and-let live attitude toward those who fall out of the mainstream.    

28 year-old Daniela Vega, who gets to display her impressive singing talents in the film, gives an understated (with occasional bouts of explosiveness), perfect pitch performance. She was the first openly transgender person in history to be a presenter at the 2018 Academy Awards broadcast. 

A Fantastic Woman won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. And while Jill and I frequently fall outside the mainstream with our opinions (yeah, I gave The Shape Of Water a C +), this time I'm falling right in line.
Grade: A   

JILL'S TAKE

And I'm falling in right behind you.  Almost.  Whenever I go to see a foreign film, I have to adjust my mindset. The leisurely pace, original camera work, unglamorized actors catch me off guard at first.  But I soon forget about the escapist entertainment Hollywood churns out and drink in those subtitles with unquenchable thirst.

A Fantastic Woman is a fantastic film.  And I loved the fact that the lead actor Daniela Vega is herself a tranny.  As appealing as she was as a woman, there were some dead giveaways that made me think "Not so fast."  Her large masculine hands, for one.  And her overly broad shoulders, for another.  Still, the one thing most men (who transition into women) can't hide is their Adam's apple.  Ms. Vega's managed to remain unnoticeable.  

I would quibble with the opening of the film.  The whole bit about the key and finding the locker (I'm not giving anything away here) seemed totally unnecessary.  I would have started the movie when our heroine was singing in the club.  But my far-more-intellectual movie buddy pointed out the symbolism: by confronting her own masculinity, she found her true identity.  To me, it was an anti climactic subplot.  (Sorry, I hate people who go into too much detail about a film I haven't seen yet!)

The score was seamless.  And that aria Daniela Vega sang at the end?  Oh, my.  It kept circling around in my head for hours after A Fantastic Woman was over.  Kudos to composers Nani Garcia and Matthew Herbert.  Because I don't want to parrot Tim's grade and I think the ex wife, ably played by Amparo Noguera, was miscast (too young-looking to have a grown son), I'll go down half a grade. After seeing this film, I'm going to make a concerted effort to see more foreign-made movies in 2018!

Grade: B+