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Men, Women and Children

The latest movie by acclaimed writer/director Jason Reitman is the only one of today’s slate with any real chance at making awards noise - and a very small one at that. Men, Women and Children, an interesting screenplay based on the novel by the same name, is, like many of the TIFF movies I have covered so far, an amalgam of themes and plots that ultimately make the movie film gooey, and thus I predict it will not go very far even in the screenplay races.

The movie holds itself out to be about how information technology and social media have changed our relationships, particularly sexual relationships. But the movie at times tries to be about so much more, exploring themes about the meaning of life and the irrelevance of man, suicide, infidelity, and teen angst.

Indeed, despite the repeated scenes al a House of Cards in which people’s social media communications are shown stylistically on screen, the movie really is not about social media and its impact on teenage or other relations. The movie is about sex, pure and simple, and social media happens to be a part of humanity’s endless search for sexual satisfaction in the 21st Century.

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Garner deliver strong performances that could have easily been taken not seriously at all, and in my opinion pick up the movie a bit from the Mean Girls-type teenage comedy it almost turned into. But in the end, the filmmaker’s quest for a broader meaning of life or for something new and intelligent to say about how social media is destroying us runs into a buzz saw of the filmmaker’s own creations: all of the adult characters in the movie (the parents) are horrifically selfish, misguided, and at times dangerous individuals. Thus, one walks out and is unable to shake the feeling that it is simply humans that are screwing each other over, particularly frustrated middle-aged parents to their children, and not anything inherent about Facebook or text messaging.

Perhaps, then, the ultimate message of Men, Women and Children is "be kind to one another." If that is the case, then the movie works just fine as a vehicle for that idea, and has some genuinely hilarious moments to go alongside some more wrenching ones. I recommend this movie enthusiastically for what it is, but there should be no doubt that it does not achieve the high goals it clearly sets out for itself.

Men, Women, and Children will see a limited release in the United States starting on October 1st, with an expansion nationwide later that month.

A Little Chaos

The movie whose world premiere closed out TIFF this year, actor-turned-director (a theme!) Alan Rickman’s first feature film, was perhaps one of my favorites of this second installment.

Of course, this isn't saying much, as a Kate Winslet costume drama is of course going to be catnip for me. The plot centers around a woman who is awarded the prestigious task of constructing some of Louis XIV’s gardens at Versailles, and the challenges she faces as she becomes the target of envy and intrigue by a lot of the members of Louis’s court. Rickman himself plays the Sun King, while a delightful Stanley Tucci portrays his brother, the Duke of Orleans.

The plot itself advances slowly and at time seems disjointed, but I fell for Winslet’s troubled, demure character, and the way she confronts her demons as she works tirelessly towards the task at hand. The one scene between Winslet and Rickman is also memorable and enjoyable, as two movie juggernauts easily banter with one another in an afternoon adventure that proves emotionally fulfilling to the characters - both suffering their own internal struggles.

Criticism that the movie essentially lacks a point would be fair, but I nevertheless found the story of the construction of the gardens different than what we have seen before and always enjoy Kate Winslet on screen, even when she is clearly playing a role that poses little to no challenge for her.

And, of course, the movie has delightful music, scenery, and costumes, and is much more pleasant to the eye than some of the cheap-effects thrills I had to sit through during TIFF.

A Little Chaos is not a movie for everyone - certainly not for anyone seeking fast-paced compelling action or drama. But for those who enjoy more sensible story telling (and Mr. Rickman’s debut behind the helm of a movie is to me much more memorable than Paul Bettany’s), A Little Chaos, a tad chaotic in the plot as it is, provides an entertaining and sincere effort. It will open later this year in Europe and is likely to be released in the United States in early 2015.

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