The Square

The Square - Dir. Nash Edgerton (2008)


Everytime I think of Australia, I think of that episode of The Simpsons. However, the Aussies have more to offer the world than bootings, Crocodile Dundee, and Yahoo Serious. They’ve given us film noir down under-style with The Square. Directed by actor/stuntman Nash Edgerton, the screenplay was co-written by brother Joel and Matthew Dabner. The Edgerton’s work has already drawn comparisons to the Coen Brothers and their debut film, Blood Simple.

The Square follows the classic noir formula of films like The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. The formula centers on a man who thinks with his dick instead of his head, commiting an ever escalating series of crimes all for the love of a woman. In this case, The Square follows Raymond Yale (David Roberts), a construction foreman who is engaged in an affair with his neighbor, Carla Smith (Claire van der Boom), who is married to a low-rent, white trash crook named Smithy (Anthony Hayes). How white trash is he? He has a mullet.

Raymond takes kickbacks on the job in order to save enough money for the two to run away together. Carla grows impatient by the day. The answer to her prayers comes one fateful day when she spies Smithy stashing away a duffel bag full of cash. Carla convinces Raymond to steal the money. The originally reluctant Raymond hires an arsonist (Joel Edgerton) to burn the house down to cover up the theft. A serious of unfortunate events leads to the arsonist burning the house down with Smithy’s mother asleep inside. The web of deceit is pulled in tighter when Ray begins receiving blackmail letters. Suspicion grows on all sides building and building to a tragic conclusion.

The Edgertons offer nothing new to the genre. The characters are one-dimensional and unsympathetic and the story familiar. What the Edgertons have done well is create the mood. The dark happenings of the plot are set against the backdrop of a seemingly sleepy suburban neighborhood built along the banks of a river that’s possibly shark infested. The tension mounts with the passing of every scene keeping the characters and the audience on their toes.

Rating: ***

Whip It

Whip It - Dir. Drew Barrymore (2009)


After growing up in front of the camera, Drew Barrymore makes her debut behind it with Whip It. Barrymore’s first directorial effort is equal parts glib indie hipster comedy and equal parts misfit sports movie. Think Juno meets Bad News Bears and Slap Shot.

In fact, Juno starlet Ellen Page is cast as the lead, one Bliss Cavendar whose Eggo is a little less preggo here. Bliss is a high school senior in the one horse town of Bodeen which is smack dab in the middle of nowhere, Texas. She works part-time as a waitress at the local diner with her best friend Pash (Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat). Both are forced to serve their classmates who are mainly dumb jocks and stuck-up cheerleaders. Bliss’s mother Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden) is a postal worker who forces her daughter to compete in local teen beauty pageants. Bliss’s father Earl (Daniel Stern) is passive to the bone doing anything he can to avoid conflict.

Bliss is the proverbial square peg in a round hole until she discovers direction in her directionless life. She finds roller derby. She sneaks off to Austin, lies about her age, and successfully tries out for the league, despite the fact that her only pair of skates has Barbie on them. Bliss becomes a member of the Hurl Scouts, the league’s worst team and damn proud of it. Her teammates are a collection of colorfully named cuties like Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig), Bloody Holly (Zoe Bell), Smashley Simpson (Barrymore), and Rosa Sparks (Eve). Bliss is transformed into Babe Ruthless and becomes the league’s poster girl drawing the ire of rival derby girl Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis). The Scouts even have their own versions of the Hanson Brothers in the form of the Manson Sisters, a pair of deaf & mute enforcers played by real-life derby girls Kristen “Krissy Krash” Adolfi and Rachel “Iron Maiven” Piplica.

The two best performances in the film belong to Kristen Wiig and Andrew Wilson as Hurl Scouts coach Razor. Wiig has stolen many scenes in miniscule bit roles before, Knocked Up and Ghost Town, for example. Here, Wiig is given a more substantial part and a chance to stretch her acting muscles as the team’s resident den mother. Andre Wilson is the elder, lesser known brother of Luke and Owen. Yes, he’s the Zeppo of the Wilson Clan, but I doubt either of his bros could have played the role any better.

The script by Shauna Cross (the real-life Maggie Mayhem) is predictable and uses just about every cliché known in the playbooks of inspirational sports movies and coming-of-age tales. What makes the film work is its overwhelming sense of joy. Whip It is just too much fun not to enjoy.

Rating: ** ½

The Bounty Hunter

The Bounty Hunter - Dir. Andy Tennant (2010)


If there was ever a genre that needed serious reinvention, it is the modern romantic comedy. Aside from (500) Days of Summer, the rom-com has been a squalid and stagnant cesspool not unlike the putrid sump in Kurosawa’s Drunken Angel (pardon the film geek reference). While I’m all for change, I don’t think the sudden emergence of the rom-com/action movie hybrid is the way to go. This summer we’ll see Knight and Day (with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz) and Killers (with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl), both of which feature a ‘girl meets boy, boy turns out to be highly trained assassin’ plots. April sees the release of Date Night this complete failure of a film, The Bounty Hunter.

Jennifer Aniston is Nicole Hurley, a newspaper reporter, and Gerard Butler is Milo Boyd, a former cop turned bounty hunter following their messy divorce. They hate each other so much that it takes them about an hour and a half to realize how much they really love each other. Sorry, did I forget to mention spoiler alert?

Anyways, Nicole is working on a riveting story about parking tickets. Through a series of contrived events this leads her onto the trail of dirty cops and stolen evidence. She winds up skipping a court date for a traffic violation. Milo gleefully accepts the job and their romance is rekindled while the bad guys shoot at them. The paper thin story is filled out by a few subplots involving Jason Sudeikis as an overly amorous co-worker of Nicole’s, Milo’s gambling addiction, and the loan sharks he owes.

The Bounty Hunter is basically a poor man’s version of Midnight Run, except Butler is no Robert DeNiro and Jennifer Aniston is way hotter than Charles Grodin. But, that’s not nearly enough to elevate the film above it formulaic rom-com trappings. The action isn’t good enough to keep things interesting for the guys dragged to the theaters by their dates. Director Andy Tennant (Hitch) just doesn’t have a handle on how to shoot action sequences in a competent manner. The dialogue is purely functional meant to do nothing more than advance the plot and explain everything in great detail, as if the Byzantine screenplay by Sarah Thorp was too much for anyone of below average intelligence to grasp. The comedy consists mainly of Gerard Butler being tasered and punched in the balls.

There are absolutely no redeeming qualities about The Bounty Hunter.

Rating: DUD

Cop Out

Cop Out - Dir. Kevin Smith (2010)


Bruce Willis is Jimmy Monroe and Tracy Morgan is Paul Hodges, a pair of NYPD detectives who have been partners for nine years. After botching a drug bust, Jimmy and Paul are suspended without pay by their angry precinct captain. Yes, he does force them to turn in their badges and guns, but we never hear anything about the mayor shitting bricks.

With his daughter, Ava (Michelle Trachtenberg), about to be wed, Jimmy needs cash to pay for the ceremony and hopes to cash in on a valuable baseball card. Just as he’s about to have it appraised, the shop is robbed and the card snatched up. Jimmy and Paul are able to catch one of the thieves, a motor-mouthed practitioner of parkour named Dave (Seann William Scott). From him, they learn the card is now in the possession of a wannabe kingpin known on the streets as Poh Boy (Guillermo Diaz). This leads to a stolen Mercedes, a kidnapped woman (Ana de la Reguera) locked in the trunk, and Po Boy’s plot to take over the drug rackets on the entire east coast. Meanwhile, Paul is constantly worried that his wife, Debbie (Rashida Jones), is cheating on him.

Cop Out marks the first time Kevin Smith has directed a film not based on his own script. Smith is certainly an unlikely director-for-hire. His name certainly coming up due to getting along swimmingly with his fellow New Jerseyite on the set of Live Free or Die Hard. Smith, by his own admission, isn’t the most visual of directors. He and his long-time cinematographer David Klein have produced their slickest looking film to date, but the action is far too bland to excite.

The script (originally known under the far superior title of A Couple of Dicks) by Robb & Mark Cullen is a throwback to the Shane Black-style 80’s buddy cop flicks. Adding to the feel, the synth score for Cop Out is composed by Harold Faltermeyer of Beverly Hills Cop fame. But, the sad attempts at comedy here pale in comparison to films like the aforementioned Beverly Hills Cop as well as 48 Hrs. and Lethal Weapon. The movie strains under childish gags like Seann William Scott annoyingly repeating what other people say.

Bruce Willis essentially plays Bruce Willis here and that’s worked out well for him, but Tracy Morgan proves he’s not ready for a leading role. On 30 Rock, Morgan is hilarious in those short bursts. However, his Tracy Morgan shtick wears thin after an hour and forty minutes.

It’s said that every hero is only as good as his villain. If that’s the case, the heroes are incredibly weak considering their weak villains. Poh Boy and his gang are some of the least menacing and least memorable bad guys in recent memory.

Cop Out opens with Morgan interrogating a prisoner by quoting lines from random films like Jaws, Star Wars (it is a Smith film), Dirty Dancing, and even Die Hard. To paraphrase Roger Ebert, you never want to remind the audience of movies they’d rather be watching.

Rating: * ½

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker - Dir. Kathryn Bigelow (2009)


"The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug." – Chris Hedges, War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

American audiences have been reticent in rushing out to see movies depicting war and the current political climate. Not surprising, since they’ve more than gotten their fair share in the daily news. The majority of these films (Stop-Loss, Rendition) have fallen flat on their face. The Hurt Locker, a refreshingly apolitical take on the subject matter, is not one of them. It is a great deal things, a taut drama, a splendid action movie, and, perhaps, the best depiction of the Iraqi War to date.

Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and SPC Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) are members of an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit deployed during the early stages of the invasion in 2004. Their team leader, SSgt. Thompson (Guy Pearce), is killed in the opening moments by an IED (improvised explosive device). He is replaced by SFC Will James (Jeremy Renner) who isn’t afraid to literally get his hands dirty when defusing explosive devices. He tosses aside his protective suit at one point proclaiming, ”If I’m gonna die, I want to die comfortable.” In the aftermath of a bombing, he rushes off into the night to go after the perpetrators.

His recklessness immediately puts him into conflict with his comrades. Sanborn is by-the-books and with a little over a month left in their tour of duty only wants to get home in one piece. Eldridge is traumatized following Thompson’s death and carries the guilt over not pulling the trigger on the insurgent detonating the bomb.

James is not the typical maladjusted combat veteran. Yes, he is more at home on the battlefield than he is shopping for breakfast cereal with his wife (Evangeline Lilly) and son. Yes, he is something of an adrenaline junkie. But, he’s not callous. He’s simply learned to deal with the life-or-death situations in an emotionally detached manner. James tugs on a wire to find it attached to seven other bombs buried in the sand. With clinical precision, he simply yanks the connecting wires loose. He keeps a box of mementos under his bed, matter-of-factly explaining they are pieces of the devices that have almost killed him. As James, Jeremy Renner gives a star-making performance. There is an eerie calmness to his man trying to stay sane in an insane world.

One of the few female directors working in the action genre, Kathryn Bigelow, has a better grip of the on-screen happenings than most of her overpaid mail counterparts. She has already helmed a trio of underrated films in Near Dark, Strange Days, and Point Break (yes, Point Break) and she’s finally receiving well-deserved accolades for Hurt Locker. The film was shot on location in Jordan and Kuwait with four 16mm cameras covering the production. There’s immediacy and a sustained tension underlying throughout the movie.

Is it a perfect film? Far from it, the screenplay by former embedded journalist Mark Boal drifts off tangent from time to time. The most jarring subplot involves James’ befriending of a local Iraqi boy selling bootleg DVDs. Real-life veterans have criticized the inaccuracies in combat scenarios. Criticisms aside, The Hurt Locker is still one of the best war movies made by Hollywood and easily one of the best pictures of 2009.

Rating: ***

The Wolfman

The Wolfman - Dir. Joe Johnston (2010)


”Terrible things, Lawrence. You’ve done terrible things…”

Werewolves haven’t received as much cinematic attention as their bloodsucking brethren. Right off the top of my head, I can name several great vampire films. Let the Right One In, The Hunger, The Lost Boys, Nosferatu, Innocent Blood, Near Dark, etc. I can come up with maybe two great werewolf movies, the 1941 version of Wolfman with Lon Cheney, Jr. and John Landis’s An American Werewolf in London. Joe Johnston’s remake of the 1941 film will not be counted as one of them.

Set in the 1800’s, Benicio Del Toro is Lawrence Talbot, a traveling stage actor, who returns home upon the murder of his brother after years of absence. Talbot is still haunted by the suicide of his mother and is less than enthusiastic about revisiting Stately Talbot Manor. But, he is welcomed by his eccentric father Sir John (Anthony Hopkins) and his brother’s beautiful fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt). Investigating his brother’s demise, Lawrence follows the trail to a gypsy encampment just as it is being attacked by an angry and superstitious mob, complete with torches and pitchforks. And just to turn it into an all-out melee, a werewolf tears through anyone in his path, including Lawrence.

Bitten by the creature, Lawrence finds himself transformed into a beast on each night of the full moon. He desperately attempts to send Gwen away for her own safety while deep-rooted secrets about his family and his father come to light. Toss in a dash of Hugo Weaving as an inspector for Scotland Yard’s special muttonchops division.

The Wolfman has been mired with production problems beginning in 2008 with the departure of original director Mark Romanek. Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jumanji) stepped in and filming was completed that spring. The movie was initially set for release November 2008, but that date was continually pushed back before finally hitting theaters this February. The opening months of the year are generally a dumping ground for the studios. The score by Danny Elfman was replaced by another composer’s work before filmmakers decided to go back to Elfman’s. The indecision about the release date and music are indicative of the troubled production. No one seemed to know which direction to take the movie.

To Johnston’s credit, he has crafted a moody and atmospheric picture aided by the fantastic make-up by Rick Baker, the artist who also worked on American Werewolf in London. You marvel at the costumes and the sets until someone gets disemboweled. When the wolf strikes, limbs are ripped off and intestines are strewn about repeatedly. In Wolfman’s best sequence, Del Toro is strapped to a gurney in a sanitarium as his doctor obliviously lectures his colleagues on Talbot’s delusions. Of course, Talbot morphs into the wolfman freaking out the entire room. It’s not long before someone gets impaled and we watch a CGI wolfman tear-assing through London.

The movie switches back and forth from an old-fashioned slower pace to a modern, action-oriented approach. In the end, all of Baker’s wonderful practical effects are for naught as the climax involves two badly rendered CGI furballs ripping into each other. Come for The Wolfman, stay for Van Helsing?

On the surface, The Wolfman appears to be a picture deserving of being a tentpole release. It has an A-list cast. The acting is more than adequate with Hopkins bringing those same hammy sensibilities left over from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Instead, it’s a forgettable popcorn movie, passable for a rent. Well, at least it’s better than Teen Wolf.

Rating: **

From Paris With Love

From Paris with Love - Dir. Pierre Morel (2010)


Action impresario Luc Besson has been the man behind some of the genre’s best films such as The Professional and La Femme Nikita. Even the excessively garish Fifth Element had its moments. Besson rarely steps behind the camera these days, his output as a director waned after the failure of The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc which starred then-girlfriend, Milla Jovovich, as the title character. Aside from the fantastical rom-com Angel-A and the family-friendly Arthur and the Invisibles, Besson has been content to work as a writer and producer on other films including Unleashed and the The Transporter franchise. From Paris with Love is Besson’s latest actioner and it is directed by protégé Pierre Morel who helmed the parkour flick District B13 and the surprisingly excellent Taken. Morel does not complete the hat trick with the obnoxious and misogynistic From Paris with Love.

James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is an assistant to the American ambassador in Paris. He secretly moonlights for the CIA, but his duties usually entail switching license plates and planting bugs. Pleading to become a field agent, Reece is given more than he’s bargained for when he’s paired with Charlie Wax (John Travolta). Wax is a violent, foul-mouthed, testosterone case, the loose cannon of loose cannons. Wax drags Reece along on a bullet-riddled journey into the Parisian underworld. They follow a trail from Chinese coke dealers to terrorists planning the bombing the U.S. Embassy.

As with Reece, we’re just along for the ride, a ride chock full of profanity and derivative action sequences where plenty of Asians and Arabs are shot to hell. The shootouts and fight scenes are a pale imitation of John Woo mixed with the shakycam and whiplash editing style that has become so trendy in a post-Paul Greengrass world. All these herky jerky techniques help hide the fact it isn’t Travolta doing most of the stunts.

Speaking of the film’s star, the former Vinnie Barbarino goes for the same shaved head and goatee look from the Pelham 123 remake. He also goes for the same grating and manic acting methods making previous over-the-top efforts (Face/Off, for example) seem downright minimalist. Travolta probably had fun making From Paris with Love, but he probably had fun making Battlefield Earth and Old Dogs, so what does he know?

Jonathan Rhys Meyers who was very good in Velvet Goldmine and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead struggles as the desk jockey turned wannabe-Bond. The Irish-born actor overplays his hand when it comes to an American accent.

Despite already being an assault on anyone with an iota of intelligence, the picture blatantly rips off other movies far better than itself. Besson and his co-writer Adi Hasak don’t even bother to be subtle about their plagiarism. Wax coerces Reece to snort a pinch of cocaine and the rookie begins tripping out during a car ride ala Training Day. In one of the film’s quieter scenes (a rarity), Travolta refers to a burger as a “Royale with cheese.” I bet someone was patting themselves on the back for that reference.

There are dumb action movies and then there are movies just plain dumb. From Paris with Love is the latter. It’s an idiotic and unoriginal mess that tries to be the kind of buddy action-comedy which went out of style after the 57th Lethal Weapon knockoff. It makes you weep for the days of nuanced fare like The Last Boy Scout.

Rating: *

The Blind Side

The Blind Side - Dir. John Lee Hancock (2009)


“The feel good movie of the year,” has been the go-to quote amongst cheesy film critics. Those same critics were probably falling all over themselves when The Blind Side was released. This film is the very definition of “feel good” and Oscar bait. Adapted from the non-fiction book by Michael Lewis, Blind Side is based on the true-life story of Michael Oher, an offensive tackle who currently plays for the Baltimore Ravens.

Michael Oher (portrayed by Quinton Aaron) grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Memphis, Tennessee. His father, an ex-con ran out years ago, while his mother is hopelessly addicted to crack-cocaine. Michael, nicknamed “Big Mike” (for obvious reasons), bounced around schools and foster homes before being enrolled in a private Christian school. In class, he doesn’t say a word and tries to remain invisible. Homeless, he’s found wandering the streets in the rain by Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) whose kids Collins (Lily Collins) and S.J. (Jae Head) attend the same school. Leigh Anne was a star cheerleader and her husband, Sean (Tim McGraw), was a collegiate basketball player and runs several Taco Bell franchises.

The Tuohys welcome Michael into their home, despite objections from Leigh Anne’s circle of well-to-do friends. The family hires a sassy tutor named Miss Sue (Kathy Bates) and everyone works together to instill confidence in Michael. Soon, he’s excelling academically as well as on the football field.

Michael Oher’s true life story is an interesting tale, but the film tells that story in the most uninteresting of ways. John Lee Hancock (who directed another inspirational sports film in The Rookie) directs the proceedings with all the flair of a Lifetime movie-of-the-week. Hancock also wrote the screenplay which (no pun intended) whitewashes the story in order to remain inoffensive to mass audiences. At least a film like Precious isn’t afraid to show the world with warts and all, but in The Blind Side even crack houses and gang infested ghettos look like nice places to live.

Sandra Bullock has become a staple of awards season this year. She’s become the first actress ever to be nominated for an Oscar (for this film) and a Razzie (for All About Steve) simultaneously. Most of the time, actresses are glammed down for award-winning performances. Instead, Bullock is glammed up as Leigh Ann with perfectly styled blonde hair and tan in the can skin. She has the country fried accent down and plays Leigh Anne as a force of nature.

When you hear lines like, ”I’m not changing his life…he’s changing mine,” you can’t help but just roll your eyes. Yet, it’s easy to see why The Blind Side would play in Middle America. The picture is a Hallmark card brought to life. This is a crowd pleasing movie with a happy ending and easy answers.

Rating; **

District 9

District 9 - Dir. Neill Blomkamp (2009)


Following the mammoth success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, fanboys eagerly anticipated Peter Jackson’s next project. Their mouths salivated when it was announced Jackson would produce a big-budget blockbuster based on the mega-hit video game Halo. Jackson hand picked Neil Blomkamp, a special effects artist and commercial director, to helm the project based on a script by Alex Garland (28 Days Later). Could it be that someone would finally make a video game movie that didn’t suck? Sadly, we’ll never know. A co-production between Universal, Fox, and Microsoft, the proposed movie died due to escalating budgetary concerns and in-studio politics.

The collapse of the long-awaited Halo project has yielded something even better. Based on Blomkamp’s short film, Alive in Joburg, District 9 was shot documentary-style on a relatively low budget of $30 million. Much more than the excellent Moon (which only cost $5 million) and not even a drop in the hat compared to the juggernaut of Avatar.

An alien craft hovers above the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Inside the ship are refugees from another planet. They aren’t cute and cuddly like E.T. They don’t have superpowers, they aren’t here to better mankind or to conquer the world. They are confused, lost, and frightened. The aliens, derisively nicknamed “Prawns,” settle outside the city in a ramshackle shantytown known as District 9. A private military company, MNU (Multinational United), is tasked with policing the aliens, but they’re more interested in the Prawns’ biometric weaponry.

Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is an eager and officious employee for MNU. Mostly because he’s married to the boss’s daughter, Wikus is put in charge of MNU’s latest operation which calls for the relocation of the Prawns to a new refugee camp further away from civilization. While investigating a District 9 shack, Wikus is exposed to a mysterious liquid that slowly begins mutating him into an alien. MNU wants to dissect Wikus because the alien DNA in him can operate their technology. The same goes for Obesandjo (Eugene Kumbanyiwa), a Nigerian drug lord who believes consuming alien flesh in a ritualistic fashion will give him the power to do the same. Wikus’s only help comes from Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope) who distilled the liquid in the hopes of reactivating the mother ship and returning home.

The script was co-written by Blompkamp and Terri Tatchell, but the dialogue was all improvised. It’s a tricky proposition that’s handled incredibly well by the cast, especially the lead Sharlto Copley who has mainly worked in film as a producer. As Wikus, he isn’t a he-man superhero nor is he even an everyman hero; he’s more of a schmuck. He mugs for the camera during the opening like he’s Michael Scott on The Office.

As all good sci-fi is wanton to do, District 9 is filled with allegories involving xenophobia, immigration, human greed, and South Africa’s own history. The title of the picture comes from the Cape Town section of District 6 where over 60,000 minorities were forcibly removed by the government upon the institution of apartheid. Despite the highbrow themes, the third act turns into a series of special effects-laden action sequences. There have been many films that fail to live up to a great premise by descending into mindless violence, but District 9 isn’t one of them. The effects are realistic and incredibly well-done. The action is visceral and over-the-top but it’s hard not to enjoy all the exploding bodies and even death by flying pig. The power suits are way cooler than the ones in Avatar as are a lot of the weapons. You can see why Blomkamp was chosen to helm the proposed Halo flick.

If you missed District 9 in theaters, check it out on Blu-Ray. Shot in high definition digital, the film looks absolutely fantastic on BD.

Rating: ***

An Education

An Education - Dir. Lone Scherfig (2009)


The bourgeois, coming-of-age tale of a British schoolgirl isn’t exactly the type of film I rush out to the theaters to see. However, An Education was almost universally praised by critics and so I gave it a shot. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed An Education, but I shouldn’t have been. The cast is a collection of A-list British thespians and director Lone Scherfig helmed the Danish rom-com Italian For Beginners which I was equally surprised by, especially since it stuck out of the Dogme 95 movement like a sore thumb. I mean that as a compliment. The film was based on the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber and the script was adapted by Nick Hornby, the author of High Fidelity and About a Boy, both of which were turned into films.

Carey Mulligan (22 at the time of filming) plays the 16 year-old, Jenny, who considers herself far too sophisticated for the boys at her school. She excels in her classes and is well on her way to Oxford. Jenny enjoys art, existentialism, French pop music and French film, none of which hold much interest for her friends or her decidedly middle-class parents (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour). Her life forever changes on one fateful, rainy day when she and her cello are given a lift by the handsome David (Peter Sarsgaard). This dashing older man welcomes Jenny into his Bohemian existence. He introduces her to his best friend, the equally urbane Danny (Dominic Cooper), and his girlfriend, the dim Helen (the underrated Rosamund Pike). Jenny’s life becomes a whirlwind of art auctions, jazz clubs, concerts, and fancy restaurants. David even takes her to Paris.

And what do Jenny’s parents think? You’d figure they would blow the roof off their suburban home at the idea of a man dating their underage daughter. But, David pours on the charm and wins them over easily. He even convinces them he’s pals with C.S. Lewis. David’s proclivity for bending the truth should have been the first clue that something was up with him. Other clues stare Jenny right in the face when she witnesses David and Danny “liberate” an antique map from an old lady. However, David’s biggest secret isn’t discovered until the film’s heartbreaking climax.

Taking place in 1961, An Education is set at a time when Beatlemania and the swinging sixties London culture were still a long ways away. The duality between conservative post-war culture and forward feminist thinking is firmly in play here. Jenny’s father, in particular, wants nothing more than for his daughter to go to Oxford and make something of herself. Yet when David arrives, he sees a new opportunity. Why bother to spend thousands of dollars on university when he can marry her off right away?

Scherfig directs with an even hand with Jenny’s home and school portrayed in cold colors as closed places. This is in comparison to the warm and wide open spaces of Paris. Hornby has an excellent ear for dialogue, but it’s the cast who really pull the film together. Carey Mulligan deserves all the praise she has received for her star-making turn as Jenny. She’s witty, intelligent, yet vulnerable. With her hair done up, you can see a little of Audrey Hepburn in her, especially in the Roman Holiday-style sequence in Paris. Alfred Molina, known more for his villainous roles in films like Spider-Man 2, shows off his comedic chops as Jenny’s stuffed shirt father. Emma Thompson and Sally Hawkins, who shot their scenes in one day, add a level of gravitas despite their brief screen time. As David, Peter Sarsgaard is shockingly effective. His posh accent is so well-done, I had to double check his IMDB page because I didn't remember him being British.

An Education is a bittersweet story, one that is still full of life and romance.

Rating: ***