Monkey Movie Reviews

Here's two quick reviews of two films we watched recently here at Monkey Central:
Brick Lane is the story of a Bengali woman's life after she is sent to London to live with the man her father picked out to marry her. The man she marries is quite a bit older than her and he's not the best at adapting to the England of his hopes and dreams.

The film is a poignant take on the old adage 'Home is where the heart is.' It's a fine piece of movie making with some great performances, especially the three leads. Tannishtha Chatterjee shines as the women in what we think is a loveless marriage and she's easy on the eyes, she's very 'hubba hubba' worthy. Satish Kaushik is wonderful as her husband who only reluctantly recognizes that it's not his intelligence or lack thereof that is holding him back, it's the racism of the white folks in London. And finally as the young Muslim firebrand who in his heart of hearts loves the west with all it's moral decay, Christopher Simpson gives a great performance.

I recommend this movie because you'll get a take on the immigrant experience that you'd never otherwise see if you miss this film. And seriously, watching Bengali babe Ms. Chatterjee for an hour and a half is well worth the price of a DVD rental. The extras on the DVD are pretty pedestrian though so don't expect much there.

I'll admit I was prepared to hate Into The Wild. And I almost did. After all movies about dudes who hate civilization and cities and who pine unceasingly about living off the land and being true to and respectful of nature, even though they benefited from living in the same civilization they claim to hate, really don't interest me. I'm sorry folks, I never was into camping and while I love and appreciate nature, I have no desire to live off the land like they did in the olden days of yore.

********

But even though I thought the main character was a selfish inconsiderate Thoreau wanna be dolt, I got sucked into the film and ultimately I liked it. I've known for sometime that I am 'wired' differently than other people and some people, like the main character in this film, love living on the edge and off the land. It's fine by me that those people are out there and I can coexist with them as long as they don't get in my face and tell me what a horrid person I am for living in the city and not in some bum fuck wilderness somewhere. Basically this film is about a guy who loved living in bum fuck wilderness and he was so into it that he refused to let his family know where he lived or what he was doing. They only found out what he'd been up to after a couple of moose hunters in Alaska found his body after he had starved to death out in his precious wilderness.

********

Emile Hirsch is very good in the lead role. His transformation into the scared starving emaciated wilderness junkie is startling to behold. Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt are good as his repressed parents who he rebels against. As usual Catherine Keener turns in a good performance too. Vince Vaughn is good in a small role as well. And finally Hal Holbrook will break your heart in his small role as the lonely old man who reaches out to the doomed young nature lover right before he leaves for Alaska.

********

The film is told out of sequence which is annoying at times but overall I recommend this film. Sean Penn did a fine job with the screenplay and with the direction of the movie.