02nd Jan2015

The Theory of Everything – Film

by timbaros

The Theory of Everything is not just the story of Stephen Hawking, it’s also the story of his relationship with his first wife Jane.

The Theory of Everything can simply be described as beautiful. Eddie Redmayne, in an Oscar-winning performance, plays Hawking, who at the age of 19 was found to have Motor Neuron Disease and was given just two years to live. But the film does not specifically deal with his struggle with the disease, it very successfully deals with, and is entirely focused on, him and Jane (played very well by Felicity Jones).

While the Theory of Everything does not include a timeline (as The Imitation Game did), we are swept up through Hawking’s life as a young healthy man to, at the end of the film, an accomplished and highly celebrated scientist. It’s beautifully told, shot, acted and crafted (the film is based on the memoir by Jane titled Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen).

The film begins with Hawking meeting Jane at a party. It’s a year or so into their courtship, and after his professors realize that Hawking is a genius, 30 minutes into the film his body starts giving him signals that all is not right. One day while at university he falls flat on his face on the pavement and is taken to the hospital, where’s he diagnosed. Feeling sorry for himself, he doesn’t want to see Jane anymore, but she tells him she loves him no matter what. They end up getting married, have a few kids, while Hawking is being lauded all over the world for his scientific theories. All the meanwhile Jane takes care of him, lovingly, careingly, without reservation. And these emotions are displayed in Jones’ performance.

Jane Hawking’s mother encourages her to get back to singing, so she joins a chorus, led by the handsome Jonathon Jones (Charlie Cox). He takes an interest in Jane, and her family, and helps out with the constantly getting worse Hawking. Slowly Jane and him develop feelings for each other. At a concert in Bordeaux where Hawking is invited, and while Jonathon and Jane have taken her children camping, Hawking stops breathing and is rushed to the hospital. It is then determined that Hawking needs a full-time nurse, and not Jonathon, to take care of him, so Jane hires nurse Elaine Mason (Maxine Peake). And eventually, Hawking fall for Elaine’s sense of humor, beauty and style. It is a bittersweet moment when Hawking breaks the news to Jane, she says she saw it coming so she accepts it. And it is Jane’s last relationship moments with Hawking, and it’s also a poignant moment for we know that whilst they have built a life with each other, Hawking still has more life left in him to fall in love all over again.

It’s amazing, and a miracle, that Hawking is still alive today, at the age of 72, after having been given 2 years to live at the time his diagnosis. And what is almost as amazing is Redmayne’s performance. Redmayne’s performance excellently captures Hawking’s progression of his disease – the slurred speech, the bent fingers, the inability to walk or to do anything for himself, and even to go the bathroom without help. Redmayne also captures Hawking’s excitement and thrill of making his discoveries, including the time in his life when Hawking wrote the highly successful and multi-million selling book A Brief History of Time, about the Big Bang and black holes. Redmayne is almost certain to win the Oscar for this performance. Jones, previously seen in Like Crazy and The Invisible Woman, ups her acting game in this film, which should excel her to Carey Mulligan league-like status. Director James Marsh, who previously directed Shadow Dancer and Academy Award winning documentary Man on Wire, gives us a story that is historical, memorable and beautiful.

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02nd Jan2015

Enemy – Film

by timbaros

Jake Gyllenhaal’s last film, Nightcrawler, was a critical and commercial success, earning him some of the best reviews of his career. His new film, Enemy, won’t.

Actually, Enemy is a strange movie. It’s a Canadian-Spanish film that was released in the U.S. in 2013 to generally good reviews, but only took in $3.4 million at the box office. It’s a psychological thriller, gripping, yet a bit silly. But it’s an original story, loosely based on a 2002 novel called The Double, which would’ve been a more appropriate name to call it. You see, Gyllenhaal plays two characters in the film; one is Adam Bell – a college professor/lecturer who lives in an almost unfurnished apartment (even his mother tells him ‘how could you live in a place like this’) with a pretty part-time blond girlfriend Mary (Melanie Laurent). Gyllenhaal also plays Anthony Claire, an actor (who goes by the name Daniel Saint Claire), who lives in a glamorous high rise with his blond pregnant wife Helen (Sarah Gadon). How do these two characters meet? One of Adam’s fellow teachers recommends a film to Adam that he recently saw called Where There’s a Will There’s a Way. Upon watching the film, Adam recognizes the actor playing a bellman – and the actor looks just like him! So Adam becomes obsessed on finding and actually meeting this guy – his double! And they do meet, in a motel room. But in keeping with Gyllenhaal’s shy Adam Character, he gets nervous and bolts out of the room. Eerily enough, one day Anthony follows Mary to work, and then he goes to Adam’s apartment and tells him that he’s going to be him for a night (and to sleep with his girlfriend), and that Adam will be Anthony for the night.

Confusing? Yes, a bit. But we never learn why Anthony wants anything to do with Adam and his girlfriend. What does he gain out of it? A night away from his pregnant wife? And Adam, who appears to be afraid of his own shadow, can he perform the charade and be Anthony for the night, and fool Anthony’s wife?

The best part of Enemy is the gripping soundtrack. It knaws at the viewer to expect an even more gripping scene is coming up. Yes, there gripping scenes come up, but it’s all for naught as the final scene has something to do with a spider, a spider that is seen in a previous scene in the film that felt a bit out of context. Gyllenhaal is fantastic in both roles (of course he is) and the two female co-stars are also very good, as is Isabella Rossellini in her too brief role as Adam’s mother. But Enemy is a bit of a let down when it all adds up. But both Jake, and the city of Toronto where this film was shot, look good.

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