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DVD The Human Stain
Given the formidable challenge of adapting Philip Roth's acclaimed novel to the screen, it's a wonder that The Human Stain retains so much of what makes Roth's novel a masterpiece. As adapted by Nicholas Meyer, Robert Benton's film is inevitably a different animal altogether, and it's wide open to charges of miscasting and thematic diffusion. But at its core, this delicate drama succeeds in exposing the sins that stain all of humanity, forcing men like former welterweight boxer and esteemed professor Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) to forsake family and career to conceal his African American heritage. Light-skinned and passing as a Jewish professor of classics in a tony East Coast college, 71-year-old Silk sinks into scandal when an innocent remark is misinterpreted as a racist slur, and this--along with his affair with an illiterate 34-year-old janitor (Nicole Kidman), and friendship with a reclusive novelist (Gary Sinise)--forms the crux of Benton's multilayered inquiry into the oppressive aftershocks of guilt, shame, and mourning, and the effects of judgment (internal and external) on our ability to connect. Roth's novel was one thing, Benton's film is another. Despite differing degrees of success, both are worthy of praise. --Jeff Shannon
"The Human Stain" is an intense drama directed by Robert Benton who won both the Best Director and the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for "Kramer vs. Kramer" in 1979. He's also has 2 nominations for Best Original Screenplay Oscars for "Bonnie & Clyde" (1967) & "The Late Show" (1977) and a Best Director nomination for "Places in the Heart" (1984). His direction here might have gained more attention if the film had worked a bit better. Nicholas Meyer wrote the screenplay as he did for 1987's "Fatal Attraction" and his Oscar nominated Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Seven Percent Solution" (1976). This is the third Philip Roth novel I'm aware of to be adapted to film following "Goodbye Columbus" (1969) & "Portnoy's Complaint" (1972).
Anthony Hopkins who has an Oscar for "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) + 3 other nominations for "The Remains of the Day," "Nixon" and "Amistad" plays the aging professor Coleman Silk with a bravado and intensity. Phyillis Newman has a rare film cameo as his wife Iris Silk and has a wonderful heart attack scene where her arm flops uselessly. I kept wondering why Hopkins wasn't calling 911, but that might have cut the drama. Hopkins dances marvelously with Gary Sinise on the porch. Sinise who has a Best Supporting Oscar nomination for "Forest Gump" and is currently riding high on TV in "CSI New York" plays Ginger Rogers to Hopkins' Fred Astaire and does some lovely pirouettes on the porch. It's an odd scene, but it's interesting.
Nicole Kidman who won the Oscar in "The Hours" and played in that film with Ed Harris who was also nominated for an Oscar plays Faunia Farley. She does a great character performance of a sleazy trailer park trash janitor whose hard luck story of dead children broke her heart and her spirit. Now she is pursued by crazy ex-con Lester Foley who ultimately drives her to the drink. (Pun intended.) Harris is explosive and displays more spirit in his brief role here than in most of the "Empire Falls" mini-series.
The interesting part of the story has to do with the young Coleman Silk played by Wentworth Miller who is currently in the TV series "Prison Break" and also played in "Underworld." Miller has a brooding self-centered intensity that serves the film well. However, neither he nor Hopkins looks particularly black; so it becomes rather hard to believe. Anna Deavere Smith from "Philadelphia" (1993) and a horror flick with Jon Bon Jovi this year called "Cry Wolf" has several excellent scenes as his mother who realizes that her race makes her not good enough for her ambitious son. Jeff Perry from TV's "Nash Bridges" (who I knew long ago from Illinois State) does a nice cameo as a tennis player.
The cinematography and the performances glue us to the screen. But in the end, the film doesn't quite hang together. It's a good try. It offers a good evening's entertainment, given somewhat lower than Oscar expectations. Enjoy!
Watch for the flashbacks, not the present
This movie would have been wonderful if the focus was on Coleman's flashbacks to his college years, not on the jumbled-up present of his life. While the segments with Nicole Kidman's character drag on, the flashbacks present a wonderful picture of what it was like to be of a racially mixed background during racial tumultuous times. Wentworth Miller is wonderful as the young Coleman Silk (a role that should have given him more movie clout), and Anna Deveare Smith is stoic and touching as Silk's mother. Gary Sinise and Ed Harris shine in their present-day roles, but Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman are by far the weakest links in this movie. Or, perhaps, their characters are by far the weakest links.
A Moral Stupidity
From the other source, this film had a relatively low review, but I think it is a good film.
What this film makes great is the great story. I have not read the book, but I am sure it is as good as this film or even better.
The story itself is very sad but written so beautifully that its beauty can over-ride the sadness. The past scenes and present ones appear quite often in the way that reveal and unwind the secret. It is a drama, but I think this is more than that. It is a literature - a work of art... I am talking about the story now.
I am happy with the music and photography of the film. Also I find the acting great. The voice of Coleman's young lover sounded like it was always directly from a microphone, and I like the effect because it suites the way she speaks and also describes how this lady's existance sinks into Coleman's mind as though she was a nutrition he was missing so long.
The story is a miserable one, but which great literature does not contain a misery anyway?
The latest galvanizing and controversial film from Lars von Trier (Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, The Kingdom), Dogville uses ingenious theatricality to tell the Depression-era story of Grace (Nicole Kidman, The Others), a beautiful fugitive who stumbles onto a tiny town in the Rocky Mountains. Spurred on by Tom (Paul Bettany, Master and Commander), who fancies himself the town's moral guide, the citizens of Dogville first resist Grace, then embrace her, then resent and torment her--little realizing they will pay a price for their selfish brutality. The town is indicated by fragments of building and chalk outlines on a soundstage floor, stylishly pointing to the movie's roots in classic plays (particularly Thornton Wilder's Our... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Nicole Kidman - Lauren Bacall - Paul Bettany Director(s): Lars von Trier DVD Release Date: Released the 24 August 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Four extremely beautiful people do extremely horrible things to one another in Closer, Mike Nichols' pungent adaptation of Patrick Marber's play that easily marks the Oscar-winning director's best work in years. Anna (Julia Roberts) is a photographer who specializes in portraits of strangers; Dan (Jude Law) is an obituary writer struggling to become a novelist; Alice (Natalie Portman) is an American stripper freshly arrived in London after a bad relationship; and Larry (Clive Owen) is a dermatologist who finds love under the most unlikely of circumstances. When their paths cross it's a dizzying supernova of emotions, as Nichols and Marber adroitly construct various scenes out of their lives that pair them again and again in various permutations of passion, heartbreak, anger,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Mike Nichols DVD Release Date: Released the 29 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Collateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar track record with crime thrillers (Thief, Manhunter, and especially Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While Stuart Beattie's screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann's directorial trademark), Foxx does the best work... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tom Cruise - Jamie Foxx - Jada Pinkett Smith - Mark Ruffalo Director(s): Michael Mann DVD Release Date: Released the 14 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject--Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)--and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Leonardo DiCaprio - Cate Blanchett - Kate Beckinsale Director(s): Martin Scorsese DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Solidly built around a subtle yet commanding performance by Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda emerged as one of the most highly-praised dramas of 2004. In a role that demands his quietly riveting presence in nearly every scene, Cheadle plays real-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in the Rwandan capital of Kigali who in 1994 saved 1,200 Rwandan "guests" from certain death during the genocidal clash between tribal Hutus, who slaughtered a million victims, and the horrified Tutsis, who found safe haven or died. Giving his best performance since his breakthrough role in Devil in a Blue Dress, Cheadle plays Rusesabagina as he really was during the ensuing chaos: "an expert in situational ethics" (as described by critic Roger Ebert), doing what he morally had to do, at... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Don Cheadle - Sophie Okonedo Director(s): Terry George DVD Release Date: Released the 12 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject--Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)--and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction...