ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

romantic comedy

Ana?s in Love – Life of passion

Does passion provide an adequate foundation for how to live a life? In Ana?s in Love, from director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, we watch a young woman who focuses her life around shifting passions that blow through her life. Does it lead to happiness? Will it ever last?

Ana?s (Ana?s Demoustier) is a thirty something student who is constantly behind on her thesis. Actually that lateness is one of the defining characteristics of her life. She is very frenetic, flighty, and egocentric. She is willing to dump a boyfriend when she feels a loss of passion. She jumps into relationships easily, but never seems to be willing to sustain them. Her fear of elevators leads to her meeting Daniel, who is much older and married. As their affair runs its course, she becomes entranced by a photo of Daniels? wife Emilie. She begins what can only be described as a stalking relationship, following Emilie to a writer?s conference, while blowing off a conference she is supposed to be overseeing for her thesis supervisor. Can the wife of her lover be the true love of her life?

Ana?s has a lot in common with the character Julie in last year?s Oscar nominated The Worst Person in the World. Both young women are likable even as we watch them tear through relationships without much concern for the pain they may cause others.

The subject of passion comes up in various ways through the film. Ana?s?s thesis is about the portrayal of passion in 17th century literature. When her mother has a recurrence of cancer, Ana?s wonders if this bad news is because her parents have lost their passion. Even in her relationships, we see them as passion driven, rather than personal. She is willing to have sex with someone, but doesn?t want to sleep with anyone. She?s not even going to commit to a night together.

Watching Ana?s stalk and seek to win over Emilie, is a humorous misadventure, but it tends to underscore Ana?s?s irresponsibility, to the point that we can?t see how she is ever going to find stability in her life. Perhaps she can win Emilie?s love, but viewers are going to have a hard time seeing that this will be any different than all the other relationships that she has entered and left. While Ana?s is very likable, and we want her to find happiness, we keep waiting for her inner child to start growing up. It is only then that she will have hope of something more than the desire of the moment.

Ana?s in Love is in select theaters and coming soon to VOD.

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

I Love America – Love and healing

?Forgiveness doesn?t heal the wounds of the past; it transforms them.?

Lisa Azuelos?s I Love America is structured as a rom-com, but that is really just the pretty clothing put on to attract us to a story of grief and healing. In a sense it is a story of being lost and not knowing it. So it makes it all the more important to have been found.

Lisa (Sophie Marceau) is a fifty year old film director who has come to L.A. to write a screenplay, although there is much more going on in her life. Her children are grown, and her mother, a famous singer who abandoned her for a career, has just died. But this trip is not just business. When she is asked at immigration what the purpose of her trip is, she replies ?I want to start a new life.?

On arrival she connects with her best friend Luka (Djanis Bouzyani), who has thrived in L.A. as the owner of a drag night club. Luka is determined to restart Lisa?s sex life, and sets her up on a dating app.  Luka has his own dating issues and while finding many partners, never finding one who will love him. But soon Lisa finds a great match in John (Colin Woodell). Their relationship grows quickly, but of course in true rom-com fashion, hits a serious roadblock.

But the film also flashes back frequently to Lisa?s childhood and teen years. Each of those flashbacks show us a bit of her sense of abandonment by her mother. Although she speaks of not feeling anything when her mother dies, we see in the flashbacks the great love she had for her mother, even if it wasn?t returned. This has become an important part of who Lisa has become, even if she doesn?t recognize it. A telling line (that isn?t emphasized, but clearly matters) is when she tells a date, ?I created my kids to make sure somebody loves me in this world.? Perhaps it?s said in jest, but it is a very real sentiment. It reflects both her love for her mother and the lack her mother?s love.

As the film plays out, it is by embracing the feelings?both love and anger?that Lisa held for her mother that allows her to move on into new relationships that are based in trust and being trusted. She and Luka each learn that there is more to love that just immediate experience and connecting sexually with others. It is more important, they find, to connect emotionally. It is then that love can have a chance to bloom.

I Love America is streaming on Prime Video.

A Grand Romantic Gesture – Love or marriage?

What does it mean to fall in love? What does it mean to be faithful? Is one more important than the other? How does happiness fit in to all this? Those questions lie at the heart of A Grand Romantic Gesture, directed by Joan Carr-Wiggin. This romantic comedy is a bit more cynical than we are used to in the genre. It seems to want to try to walk a line between the idea that we should follow our passions and that it will only bring pain to try.

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Ava (Gina McKee) is middle-aged Ph.D. who has just lost her job and will soon become a grandmother. With time on her hand, her husband encourages her to take a cooking course. Instead, she ends up in a drama workshop working on Romeo and Juliet. In a quirky bit of casting, Ava is cast as Juliet opposite Simon (Douglas Hodge), who is also married. The two quickly fall in love, although they drag their feet on acting on it. Much of their courtship is running lines, which take on the weight of their relationship.

From time to time, we see Ava in a bit of confession-cam setting, speaking about what?s happening. We also see Simon?s wife Ros (Linda Kash) also speaking of the events. Ros is by far the most cynical of the bunch. Her idea of love and marriage seem to be that the two ideas don?t really fit together. Indeed, each of the marriages in the film (including Ava?s daughter and her husband) is flawed to the point of our wondering why all these people are together. We may wonder if we should be emotionally wanting Ava and Simon to be together. After all, they are in marriages that seem to be based more on inertia than love. Does the passion that grows within them justify the disruption it might bring? And we might also wonder if the happiness that comes from passion is lasting.

The film?s tag line is ?It?s never too late to screw up your life?. That is what we watch happening. Not only are Ava and Simon screwing up their own lives, but there are ripples that flow out to those around them. In the end, there will be pain, no matter what happens to them as a couple.

The passion of love?s first flush may open the possibilities of happiness, but it may also be covering up pains that we haven?t really dealt with. That is part of what is happening with Ava and Simon, although we hear much more of the women?s reflection on events than men?s. In time the film comes down on the side of finding joy in the life you have, but it is never quite clear that such happiness is enough.

A Grand Romantic Gesture is available on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Paragraph Pictures.

The Worst Person in the World – Elusive happiness

?I?m standing on the sideline of my own life.?

Joachim Trier?s The Worst Person in the World is Norway?s submission for Best International Feature and has been shortlisted for Oscar consideration. Renate Reinsva was honored at Cannes as Best Actress. Trier, in comments before the Sundance screening, called this a Scandinavian take on romantic comedy, noting that this is the land of Ingmar Bergman. It certainly has the elements of romcom, but it also has existential darkness.

The film follows Julie (Reinsva) over a four year period arranged in 12 chapters (plus prologue and epilogue). In the prologue we hear her wonder when her life was supposed to start. Each section of the film shows us a bit more of her search for what her life should be. We see her fall in love with Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), who is ten years her senior. She moves in with him and all is well, until she meets Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), who is married. Their relationship begins with a sensual, flirtatious game of defining what constitutes cheating (a game that by its nature is cheating).

In a key chapter, as Julie marks her 30th birthday, she considers what her mother was doing when she was thirty?and her mother?and her mother?. While the role of women has changed over all those years, we can?t help but notice that Julie really has nothing permanent in her life. She may seem free, but without really committing to a man or career or much of anything, she continues to be rudderless.

While the romcom vibe is very real, this is much more a thirties coming-of-age tale. Julie is so engaging and vibrant (because of Reinsva?s performance) we like her and want her to find happiness and fulfilment. Yet we watch helplessly as she goes from one relationship to the next without finding anything that brings real happiness or meaning to her. It?s not so much that she can?t find what she wants; it?s more a case that she may not even know what she wants in life, work, or relationships.

It is also an exploration of the interplay between freedom and commitment. Julie constantly acts to be free from the restraints of commitment, yet she seems to long to have more to her life than she can have on her own. For all the sybaritic joy that fills her life, there is a sense that she is lost in a world that values connections with others.

The Worst Person in the World returns to theaters February 4.

The Last Right – Acts of Grace

?It?s the first right thing I do for him, and it?s the last.?

Doing the right thing is central to Aoife Crehan?s premier feature film The Last Right. But right for whom? And how do we judge the right among multiple values that all have a claim as right?

Daniel Murphy (Michael Huisman) is a New York tax attorney heading back to Ireland for his mother?s funeral. Next to him on the plane is Padraig Murphy (no relation), who is taking his estranged brother?s body back to Ireland after 30 years with no contact. He says that at least they can be together in death even if not in life. When just before landing Padraig is found to have died, it?s discovered that he has listed Daniel as his next of kin.

When Daniel gets home for the funeral, we discover he has a brother, Louis (Samuel Bottonley), with autism. Daniel?s plan is to take Louis back to the US and place him in a special school. But when the authorities seek Daniel?s help dealing with Padraig?s body, a series of unlikely occurrences leads to Daniel and Louis driving the family Volvo the length of Ireland with the coffin strapped to the top of the car so that he can be buried along with his brother. Also along for the ride is a women they have just met, Mary (Niamh Algar).

At the same time, the authorities have decided to hold on to Padraig?s body. The Garda is after them for bodysnatching. When the story becomes national news, many people see what Daniel is doing as a kind sacrifice. By the time he gets to the church, just ahead of the Garda, many have turned out for the funeral of these two lonely brothers.

Along the way there are revelations (including a major one about the relationship between Louis and Daniel) and a budding romance with Daniel and Mary. All of which must turn into conflicts before the right thing to do is finally achieved.

The film is about 50% road movie, 40% romantic comedy, and 10% Rainman. The romcom aspects are the least compelling part of the film, especially when you consider that this trip and the resulting relationship happens in two days.

This is a film that shows how grace can come from unexpected sources. Daniel, although under duress, acts as a grace giver in hauling Padraig?s coffin to be joined with his brother, just as Padraig acted with grace to bring his brother?s remains home. But Daniel also is the recipient of grace in many ways along the way. And it is important to remember that grace is by definition unmerited. Daniel, who essentially operates from selfish motives, finds his life open up in new ways as he comes to know and appreciate Louis. It allows Daniel, who finds grace so frequently in the film to become a gracious person who can set aside his own selfish ways to welcome others into his life.

The Last Right is available in theaters and on demand.

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters

?Don?t give up on the crazy; that?s what makes love love.?

Dennis Dugan?s Love, Weddings & Other Disasters begins with a spectacular breakup during a skydive, which ends up sweeping a wedding party off a dock, which becomes a viral video that earns florist Jessie (Maggie Grace) fame as ?The Wedding Trasher?. Soon, she gets her first job as a wedding coordinator and is determined to make it wonderful for the couple.

The wedding really isn?t the focus of the story. It serves as the background for various stories of people falling in love. They include Lawrence Phillips (Jeremy Irons), an overly finicky caterer from whom Jessie has taken over for this wedding, and Sara (Diane Keaton), a blind date he?s been fixed up with who really is blind; Captain Ritchie (Andrew Bachelor), a Duck Boat tour guide who has fallen in love with a woman he?s only seen once on a tour and is searching for her; nerdish Lenny (Jesse McCartney), who happens to be the brother of the groom, and Olga (Melinda Hill), a Russian stripper, who are chained together as part of a reality TV dating show.

Naturally, all the plans for the perfect wedding begin to fall apart, but when all the stories converge, we discover that it is not perfection that brings happiness, but finding the joys within another person that brings completeness to our lives together.

The various stories are somewhat uneven, but the ?Love Boat? style construction does manage to bring us some interesting situations and gags along the way. The film also includes some interesting and appropriate songs by Elle King, who serves as the Greek chorus bringing the stories into focus.

It is said early on of Jessie that she is busy working on weddings rather than getting married herself. That gives us a hint into the target idea of the film, that we can often lose ourselves in our work in ways that keep us from finding the happiness of love. That is expanded most clearly in the story between Lawrence and Sara. In fact, I?d have been content for most of the film to be their story (but that may be in part because I identify with the age of the characters).

The film is also a statement about the concept of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. The perfect wedding can easily be something that takes all the joy out of the celebration of love that should be the real focus.

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters is showing in theaters (where open) and on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Saban Films.

Brand New Old Love: Happily Never After

Brand New Old Love tells the story of Charlie (Arturo Castro) and Hannah (Aya Cash), two former high school friends who decide to make good on a promise they made to one another to get married if they were both single at age 30. Despite the fact that they haven?t seen each other in many years, Charlie and Hannah dive into their new life with both feet with enthusiasm? until they realize that they may not even like each other, let alone loveone another.

Written and directed by Catherine ?Cat? Reinhold,?Old Love?sets out to be a satirical exploration of the rom-com genre. Inspired by her frustration with the stereotypes associated with Disney princesses, Reinhold explores what happens afterthe couple get their ?happily ever after? when real relationship drama sets in. In her first full-length feature, Reinhold creates an engaging and entertaining world, based on an idea that?s common to many of us. (After all, who didn?t have a ?back-up? when they were growing up?) However, she serves the film well by bringing a dose of reality into the idealized setting. There?s an appropriate level of awkwardness in every scene, from the moment they first move into their apartment together to the various times they attempt to move out of the ?friend zone?.

Seeking to avoid the rom-com stereotypes, there are few moments of ?fireworks? in Old Love, reminding us of the effort that goes into relationships. Although they were best-friends in their youth, both Charlie and Hannah have since grown up and grown apart, creating a void that they naively assume will be easily overcome. Wisely, Old Love?doesn?t shy away from this gap, emphasizing the challenges that impede the fantasy of the perfect marriage. Subtle realities like taking out the garbage or where to eat allow Reinhart to explore the difference between simply being roommates and building a relationship in a fun and engaging manner. In Old Love, the greatest challenge is creating a spark, even when the fire is out. It reminds us that there is a commitment to love, even when there?s no romantic music in the background or starry-eyed glances between them.

In the end, Brand New Old Love?is a light-hearted film that is as concerned with creating an enjoyable rom-com as it is with usurping its stereotypes. Rather than look for high-concept scenarios, the film opts to live on the ground, creating its humor out of everyday realities. It?s only in these moments of struggle that Reinhard believes we can truly find our ?happily ever after?.

You can hear audio of our interview with Cat here.

Brand New Old Love?is on VOD as of August 28th, 2018

Finding Your Feet – Never Too Late for a New Beginning

It?s never too late to find a new outlook on life and love, at least that is what Finding Your Feet tells us. On the surface, this looks like a date night movie for the Leisure World set. But the wisdom the film imparts can be absorbed by people of any age.

Lady Sandra Abbott?s (Imelda Staunton) life looks rosy. Her husband is retiring from the police where he has risen to Commissioner and received a knighthood. They will have the time to enjoy life and travel. But at his retirement party, she discovers he has been having an affair with her best friend for the last five years. She goes to the only person she can think of, her estranged sister Bif (Celia Imrie) who lives a free-spirited life in public housing. The Odd Couple contrast between the up-tight and proper Sandra and her colorful sister makes for some difficult times, but of course, their time together will be healing for them both.

Sandra isn?t very fond of Bif?s friends, but when she begins to go with her to a community dance class for seniors, she begins to lighten up. When she begins to warm to the working-class Charlie (Timothy Spall), the film shifts into romcom mode, which often works well with people of a certain age, as it does here.

As one who is old enough to live in a retirement community, I can appreciate watching people of this age dealing with the struggles of falling in love at this point in life. I also appreciate the age-specific issues that provide the complications: including cancer, dementia, and grief. But although the film reflects issues that affect seniors more than younger people, in the end what it teaches is applicable for everyone.

This is a story of second chances. Not so much about giving people a second chance as much as being willing to take the risk to find a second chance. Sandra?s life, as rosy as it seemed at the beginning, quickly fell apart. Many of the friends she meets in her new world are all dealing with struggles of one sort or another. Yet as they come together to dance from week to week, they find something new in their lives. They get the opportunity to live with joy, even when there is darkness all around them.

Perhaps what makes this age group so appropriate for a film like this is not that seniors are more likely to face having to start over. ?Rather, by the time you reach this age, you may look back and understand that life is filled with these new beginnings. Therein lies the wisdom of the film. It teaches us, no matter our age, that change can bring joy yet again.

Photos courtesy of Roadside Attractions

The Wedding Plan – Do You Believe In Miracles?

?I have a hall. I have a dress. The apartment is almost ready. It?s a small task to God to find me a groom by the end of Hanukkah.?

The Israeli romantic comedy The Wedding Plan is all about faith?especially believing in miracles. Michal (Noa Koler) is 32 and wants the stability and respect that comes with marriage. But when her fianc? breaks off the engagement a month before the wedding, Michal decides to go ahead with her plans, counting on God to provide the man who will be the love of her life in time for the event.

She has spent ten years with matchmakers and figures that she has had 490 hour dates with 123 men. Yet there is no one that seems to be for her. But because she believes God is good and will be good for her, she sets off with this plan to have a wedding even if she doesn?t yet know who the groom will be. With two matchmakers setting up dates for her, she continues to meet men. Some might be willing to marry her, but it isn?t just being married she wants. ?She wants love.

It is of note that Michal is in the Hassidic branch of Judaism. She wants a Hassidic husband, but the ones she meets often have their own quirks. (E.g., one will not look at her during the date because he says, ?If I never look at another woman, my wife will be the most beautiful woman in the world.?) At one point she flies to the Ukraine to visit the tomb of Reb Nachmann (a 18th/19th Century Hasidic spiritual leader). There she meets a secular musician who teaches her how to find joy, but would he be a husband for her?

Early on, she is sure this will work out, even though her friends and family think the whole idea is crazy. As the date draws nearer, her faith begins to waiver, but others bolster her up with their own faith that a miracle will happen.

It is not coincidental that the wedding is planned for the last night of Hanukkah. That festival is itself a story of a miracle?of God providing what was needed in an impossible situation. For Michal this whole plan is an act of faith. However, others may not see it as such. When her family brings in a rabbi to talk to her about it, he cautions her against counting on miracles, which can be a sign of irresponsibility. He also questions what would happen to her faith if the plan were to fail. Is Michal truly stepping out in faith, or is she setting up God to carry the blame for her unhappiness? Can she assume that God?s will is going to prevail in this scenario she has created?

How do miracles fit in with concepts of faith? Certainly pastors (and others) are asked to pray for miracles from time to time. The Bible tells stories of miracles and churches often encourage people to expect miracles in their lives. But do we ask for those things without believing they will ever happen? Do miracles often not come because we didn?t really believe in them when we asked? Is the presence or absence of miracles in our lives because of our faith?

Oh, I haven?t mentioned whether this has a fairytale ending or if perhaps Michal discovers something about herself that makes that fairytale unimportant. Will a miracle happen? If so, will it be the miracle she wanted?

Photos courtesy of Roadside Attractions

The Lobster – When Love is a Chore

In a somewhat benign dystopia (The City) all people who are not in a relationship must go to a resort for single people. They have forty-five days to fall in love and become a couple, or they will be transformed into an animal. Yorgos Lanthimos (previous film: Dogtooth) brings us films that have very strange settings and allows us to see what seem to be fairly normal people in bizarre situations. So it is with The Lobster. This is a very different kind of romantic comedy than most viewers expect.

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David (Colin Farrell) is recently divorced and must check in to The Hotel and try to find a suitable mate. You would think people would be going crazy to pair up, but there is such a lack of emotion in this strange world that we?re not surprised that there are so many who fail. As David begins to close in on his end date, he manages to escape to the woods where there is a group of ?Loners?, people who choose not to follow society?s rules about being in pairs and carry on a guerrilla war. There are rules to being in The Loners, including no flirting, but soon David is attracted to ?Short Sighted Woman? (Rachel Weisz). Whereas in The Hotel such attraction would be encouraged, amidst The Loners, they risk being ostracized, so must develop their own way of showing affection.

There is a wonderful supporting cast that includes Olivia Colman (Hotel Manager), Lea Seydoux (Loner Leader), and John C. Reilly (Lisping Man). David is the only character with an actual name; the others are defined by their roles or their flaws.

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For those unfamiliar with Lanthimos (and since this is his first film in English, that will be most people), the kind of quirky world he has created might be compared to the films of Wes Anderson, although Lanthimos uses a more subtle and drier sense of humor. Here that translates into an entertaining look at what it means to love and be in love in a world where loving is not so much a joy, but a chore. For those in The Hotel, love must be found to survive, but that means it is not something that we experience so much as something that must be accomplished (or perhaps even faked). For David it is only in the freedom of the forest among the Loners that he finally finds love, but then it is forbidden. David and Short Sighted Woman must forge their own way to finding the joy that love represents.

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The film gives us a chance to consider the expectations of society that we fit a certain mold in our relationships. If we aren?t paired up, if we aren?t a couple, if we don?t meet certain criteria, we are outsiders. But then it seems the outsiders have their own set of rules. They expect conformity within their nonconformity. Trying to fit love into any set of rules may lead us to miss the kind of happiness that we find through the discovery of what makes any love unique.

Photos courtesy of A24