Prodigious Songcraft Blooms in Sarah Jarosz - The Austin Chronicle

filmlistingsA Single ManGeorge Falconer (Firth) is a middle-aged, British ex-pat teachingat university in sunny southern California in 1962. A closetedhomosexual by cultural necessity, he’s possessed of monumentaloutward conformity. Inside, however, beatsthe heart of a true romantic. He’s the sortof fellow who keeps his tastefully decoratedmoderne home spotless and his reputationeven more so. “It takes time in the morningfor me to become George,” he explains inthe first of two voiceovers that bookend thefilm. “By the time I’ve dressed and put thefinal layer of polish on the now slightly stiffbut quite perfect George, I know fully whatpart I’m supposed to play.” On the face of it,the immaculately groomed and exceedinglydry George is preparing for yet another day inthe classroom – that’s his “part” inthe quotidian SoCal community inwhich he resides. But beneath thatacPICKD: Tom Ford; with Colin Firth, Julianne Moore,Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult, Jon Kortajarena,Ginnifer Goodwin, Paulette Lamori. (R, 99 min.)mask of staid conventionality liesthe real George, a heartsick shellof a man who has found himselfcaught in the riptides of grief followingthe accidental death of his longtimecompanion Jim (Goode). George hasdecided to end it all, but it’s still only 7amand there’s one last day of life for GeorgeFalconer to get through. Adapted from thenovel by Christopher Isherwood, A SingleMan is an exquisite and haunting featuredebut from the Austin-born fashion designer/icon Tom Ford. It’s a melancholy meditationon love and death and hidden lives, andFord brings everything he has to the film, notleast of which is his picture-perfect designer’seye for detail, composition, and the infinitesubtleties of narrative shading. (Spanishcinematographer Eduard Grau makes thefilm reflect George’s mindset; Los Angeleshas rarely looked so desaturated yet soinviting.) A Single Man is, ultimately, Firth’stour de force. He slips into the raw role ofGeorge Falconer with exactly as much precisionas George brings to becoming ProfessorFalconer (straight, no chaser), and the masksboth actor and character share are uncommonlyseamless. Likewise Moore, who showsup as Charley, George’s Tanqueray-drowningex-lover, closest friend, and only confidante.Their scenes together – they get trashedand dance around her place, then fall to thewhite shag, panting, smoking, and blearilyconfessing to each other like a pair of wellheeledhigh school kids – have the cleareyedsheen of those left behind, booze or nobooze. When, late in the last night of his life,George runs into one of his students, theimpetuous and alluring Kenny (Hoult, bestremembered looking considerably youngerin About a Boy) both Firth andFord seize on George’s equallyfervid and presumably final grabat life and love (of a sort), and thesequence, which ends up in theinky midnight of the Pacific Ocean,has a magical grace to it. Fewdirectors, much less big-screenneophytes, have conjured the ability to distillthe human byproducts of love and death withsuch ethereal, elegiac style as Ford doeshere. Fittingly, Alfred Hitchcock, who did justthat while driving Jimmy Stewart to madnessover Kim Novak in Vertigo, is referenced allover the place, from Abel Korzeniowski’sBernard Herrmann-esque score to an instantclassicshot that imposes Firth against amassive, piercingly blue image of JanetLeigh’s eyes on an outdoor advert for Psycho.A Single Man is an absurdly ravishing pieceof filmmaking. It’s not simply that Ford hasa ravening and righteous eye for cinematiccomposition and detail (you’d expect thatfrom the Gucci resurrectionist and onetimeguest editor of Vanity Fair); it’s that everythingfits perfectly, from titles to fin, but mostof all Firth, who dons the role of George likea fine bespoke suit. Which, Ford being Ford,it surely was.– Marc Savlov★★★★ Alamo Drafthouse South, Arbor62 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E JANUARY 15, 2010 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o mnewreviewsTHE BOOK OF ELI D: Allen Hughes,Albert Hughes; with Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, MilaKunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals, Evan Jones, MichaelGambon, Tom Waits. (R, 118 min.)Not reviewed at press time. After a longscreen absence, the co-directing HughesBrothers are back with this post-apocalypticvision in which a lone man carries the oneremaining Bible, which holds the key to savinghumanity. No Austin screenings were scheduledbefore deadline. – Marjorie BaumgartenAlamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, Barton CreekSquare, CM Cedar Park, Hill Country Galleria,CM Round Rock, Southpark Meadows, Dobie,Highland, Gateway, Metropolitan, TinseltownNorth, WestgateCHANCE PE DANCE D: Ken Ghosh;with Shahid Kapur, Genelia D’Souza, Satish Shah. (NR,130 min., subtitled)Not reviewed at press time. A strugglingdancer lives out his dream of becoming professionalin this Bollywood feature.– Marjorie BaumgartenTinseltown SouthTHE LOVELY BONES D: Peter Jackson;with Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, SusanSarandon, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli, Rose McIver,Reece Ritchie, Carolyn Dando. (PG-13, 135 min.)After helming The Lord of the Rings filmtrilogy, Jackson will forever be associatedwith Middle-earth. The filmmaker has movedon but, apparently, not so his interest in fictionalworlds. There are no elves or wizardsor hobbits in The Lovely Bones, no battlesfor world domination or one ring to rule themall. The alternate world in this film, whichis based on the bestseller by Alice Sebold,is the netherworld – the place between lifeand death, Earth and heaven, the placewhere souls linger when they are not yetready to part from life. The storyline is horrifyinglydisturbing and by all rights shouldbe a heartstrings-tugger: In 1973, a 14-yearoldgirl is murdered by a serial killer, andalthough her body is never recovered, hercorporeal presence lingers in the in-betweenworld observing her family. A story about theunbreakable bonds between parents andchildren, a story about thwarted justice andmonstrous revelations is diverted by Jacksoninto a story about the CGI wow factor of hisnetherworld. Colors are drenched and cornfieldsundulate provocatively despite theirswampy firmament, tree leaves fall away onlyto take flight as birds, the horizon is indeedeternal, and the landscape can be starkand foreboding or candy-colored and popdrenched.Jackson appears to have devotedall his energies into creating these alternaworldimages but, sadly, when you get rightdown to them, his images are fairly prosaicand commonplace. His attention to thepost-mortem wanderings of Susie Salmon(Ronan) caused Jackson to short-shrift hissurviving characters, which is a shamebecause their performances are all verygood yet fail to connect emotionally with theaudience. How the devastating story of thesenseless murder of a 14-year-old could bestripped of emotion is a feat in itself, thoughone of dubious achievement. Wahlberg deliverssome of his best work as Susie’s everfaithfuldad, and mom Weisz is at her mostcompliant and integrative. Ronan, as shedemonstrated in Atonement, is one of themost accomplished young actors of today.Tucci, who never fails to impress, shows hisrange this year by playing both The LovelyBones’ nebbishy murderer and Julia Child’slove-besotted husband in Julie & Julia, whileImperioli grows out his sideburns to play thesupportive detective on the case. Sarandon,however, as the hip, boozing grandma, getsthe short end of the stick by having her performance,though delightful in itself, serve asthe film’s comic relief. It grates all the more,because without experiencing the deep emotionsand tensions one might expect fromthis story, there is no need for comic relief.Why Susie would want to stick around withthese deadbeats is the movie’s only real mystery.Jackson needs to rediscover the humanelement of film. – Marjorie Baumgarten★★■Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, AlamoDrafthouse Village, Barton Creek Square,CM Cedar Park, Hill Country Galleria, CMRound Rock, Southpark Meadows, Gateway,Metropolitan, Tinseltown North, WestgateTHE SPY NEXT DOOR D: BrianLevant; with Jackie Chan, Amber Valletta, Madeline Carroll,Will Shadley, Alina Foley, Katherine Boecher, Lucas Till,George Lopez, Billy Ray Cyrus. (PG, 92 min.)Not reviewed at press time. Actionsuperstar Chan here takes the routecarved out by Arnold Schwarzenegger inKindergarten Cop by playing an undercoverCIA agent who turns out to be adisastrous babysitter for his girlfriend’sthree kids. The film was not screened forlocal press. – Marjorie BaumgartenBarton Creek Square, CM Cedar Park, HillCountry Galleria, CM Round Rock, SouthparkMeadows, Gateway, Metropolitan, TinseltownNorth, WestgatewZOMBIE GIRL:THE MOVIE D: Aaron Marshall, JustinJohnson, Erik Mauck. (NR, 91 min.)Ostensibly, we already know the story ofthis documentary and the trajectory it willtake. Zombie Girl: The Movie records theexperiences of Austin resident Emily Haginswho, in 2005 at the age of 12, made her firstfeature film, a zombie picture titled Pathogen.It’s an inspirational story, of course, and alsoan illustrative tale for would-be filmmakersof any age. Emily wrote the script when shewas 10, and once production starts, she alsobecomes the film’s producer, director, cameraoperator, casting director, and editor. Plus, sheperforms all these tasks while three cameramenwhirl about her making their own documentaryabout this atypical filmmaker and herproject. The history of how Emily arrived at thepoint of making her own movie is recountedin Zombie Girl: The Movie (and previous storieshere in the Chronicle and elsewhere) soI won’t repeat it now. Suffice it to say thatEmily’s saga has made her the crown princessof all geekdom, and this documentary abouther budding career was fittingly rewardedwith the Spirit of Slamdance Award when itdebuted at that festival in 2009. However, ifthat’s all there were to this documentary therewould be nothing to distinguish Zombie Girl: