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April 10: Film Society Discussion

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Life of Pi
At our next Film Society meeting, which will be held on April 10,  we will be discussing Ang Lee's Life of Pi, which took home 4 Oscars at the 2013 Academy Awards, including the Best Director Oscar. Based on the best selling novel, the film tells the story of Pi, who was shipwrecked after a storm and survived in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a male Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

This film is rated PG for emotional thematic content and scary action sequences.


In an attempt to expand our horizons, the Film Society will begin to engage in discussions about the themes of the movies we watch.  Our viewing enjoyment can be enhanced by thinking more deeply about the movies we watch and beginning our discussions online with everyone who wants to participate in the discussion with us. Please join us as we enjoy the film on April 10 and engage in thoughtful discussion with us about it here.

Questions for Discussion
Please leave your comments regarding these questions and any thoughts about the movie you'd like to discuss or share in the Comment Box below.

1.  Pi is a very religious person.  What are some of the themes involving religion and belief in God that are brought out in the film?
2.  The novel was about imagination and the movie is very imaginative.  Do you think the stories Pi tells are true of fictitious?  Are there clues in the film that hint at the truth?
3.  Names and identities are also a strong theme running through the movie.  What does this movie say about personal identity?
4.. How do the three themes or religion, imagination, and identity tied together in this story?


References

Life of Pi on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454876/

Life of Pi, Sparkle Notes about the novel
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lifeofpi/study.html

Life of Pi Questions on Shmoop
http://www.shmoop.com/life-of-pi/questions.html


Movie Trailer




Image Credits
http://www.themommy-files.com/2013/02/get-a-head-start-on-all-of-the-excitement-with-the-academy-awards-and-life-of-pi/
http://www.parentalguide.org/movieratingsguide.html

Film Review-Cash McCall

Cash McCall was one of the films in the Natlaie Wood movie collection we recently purchased and it was not one we had seen before. It was about what I expected from a romantic comedy from this era. I really enjoyed it, but many people will not enjoy it nearly as much as I did. I have to be honest the romantic elements of the film are thin, the comedy is dry and very dated, and the drama is contrived. This film gives you a very idealistic, isolated view of the nation at the time. Family values, traditional paradigms, and WASP visions of home and marriage dominate many of the rom-com films of the fifties and sixties and this one is not any different. Natalie Wood and James Garner make this film and give it modern relevance it would not have without them. The supporting cast is wonderful and has many greats from the time including Dean Jagger, Nina Fox, E. G. Marshall, and Henry Jones. Natalie Wood is Lory Austen in the film, a young and up and coming illustrator and the daughter of a well respected inventor and plastics manufacturer, who decides to sell his plastics company. James Garner is Cash McCall, a young, successful businessman, whose character is in question, as he has built his fortune by buying, retooling, and then selling companies. Cash McCall decides to buy Lory’s father’s company. It is fun to watch the predictable story take its’ odd path and watch the Lory/Cash romance unfold, though the romance is a bit strange. The costumes in Cash McCall highlight the styles and paint a beautiful fashion snapshot of the time. The sets are scaled well, fit each character like a glove, and reflect high décor prevalent in pop culture of the time. If you like romance films from the fifties or early sixties, give this one a try. I did and I do not regret it at all. 4 stars out of 5

Find out about Cash Mccall on IMDb here.

Film Review-Coco Chanel

I was expecting much more from Coco Chanel. This Lifetime biopic is about one of France’s most famous fashion designers, where is the drama? Coco Chanel clawed her way to her iconic status after being abandoned as a child, how much more dramatic a base could you have for a film? This is the woman who created one of the world’s signature perfumes, Chanel No. 5 and gave birth to idea of the little black dress. She was witty and funny and difficult, and was equally revered and disliked by her contemporaries. Unfortunately, this story, as written, is very tame; it does not have any bite. It shows nothing of the style and grace of the woman, only the elegance of her creations and her ideas. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed seeing the magnificent clothes, and the art design of the film couldn’t be better. From furniture, to appliances, from sets, to the details of each costume, this film is a visual feast. The personal relationships in the film are dead and the emotions are lifeless. The script isn’t a mess, but it is not pulled together in a fashion that makes the story pull you in. Shirley MacLaine was an admirable addition to the film, but she does not get much screen time compared to the rest of the cast. This film is worth watching to see Shirley or if you have an interest in clothing design or Coco Chanel. For everyone else, I think it is safe to say you can leave this one out of the queue. 3 stars out of 5.

Find out about Coco Chanel on IMDb here.

Film Review-The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a horrific tale with deep beauty, meaning, substance, and humanity. The story follows an upper class German family during the height of World War II. The father is a Nazi officer and his wife is willing to go along with all of this, as long as she does not have to be reminded of what is really happening and her family is safe. When Berlin is being heavily bombed the officer is reassigned to a small town and gladly excepts the assignment to get his family to safety, This small rural town houses a work/concentration camp and the father is to be the lead officer of the camp. The officer also has a young son and a tween daughter. Neither is very happy about the move to the country, away from their very comfortable lives in Berlin. That changes when the son meets a boy his age that lives on a strange farm nearby. He is perplexed by this strange farm, where everyone wears striped pajamas all the time, the farm is fenced in, and no one can leave. The two boys strike up a friendship and they begin to play together, well as best they can through the fence. Do not be fooled by this light description, because this film has a very dark undercurrent that sweeps you in and does not let go. Though it is not terribly graphic, this film saturates your mind and uses what you do know about this period to fill in all the disgusting details of what is really going on in the film. The cinematography is a visual feast, the music a fitting partner, and the sets and costumes perfectly scaled for the production. The entire cast brings this film to life, with characters that are not easy to define or pin down. You know these people; the awfulness, the goodness, the fear, the hope, the love, the tragedy and the horror these people experience feels true and that resonates to the audience in every scene. A film I highly recommend. 5 stars out of 5.

Find out more about the Boy in the Striped Pajamas on IMDb here.

Film Review-Sparkle

What a movie! I wanted to watch Sparkle after hearing about it, after falling in love with Dream Girls, when that film was released. Sparkle, made in 1976, has some obvious similarities to Dream Girls, but has many differences that set it apart from the Hollywood titan. Sparkle might be three decades old, but the story and characters are just as relevant today as they were when this film was made. Sparkle was probably made with a fraction of the cost of Dreamgirls, but shines just as bright and sounds just as wonderful, it just isn’t as showy in its’ delivery. The performances, both acting and singing, are nuanced and never seem contrived or misplaced. Sparkle is not a musical, but seats itself as a dramatic film, that follows the life of several women as they try to build lives in the entertainment industry. It also details how painful life is for those around them. Every choice we make has effects we do not often realize, with consequences we never intend, and this film is very good at exposing those moments, bringing the characters to life. The cast is incredible; they have a strength and power missing in many films and they make this film timeless. This film is a bit darker than Dreamgirls, but that adds to the movie; it does not burden it. Watching the eldest sister fall into a life of drugs and abuse is painful, but it is also entirely real and plausible. This film is not without some faults. The story is too often predictable and many times the era it was constructed in shows. The film seems a bit too melodramatic at times, but these slips are few and the film does not lose focus because of them. A classic film in my book; add this one to the queue. 4.5 stars out of .

Find out more about Sparkle on IMDb here.