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Last Updated: Jan 15th, 2009 - 11:57:23 |
“The Day the Earth Stood Still”
Here come the aliens!
The new version of the sci-fi classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still” takes on the contemporary theme of global warming, the harm done to earth by humans, and how this harm has not gone unnoticed by beings in other parts of the universe.
Quick-paced, well-edited and filled with enough special effects, this movie fills the holiday action movie slot in good fashion while, at the same, actually addressing a real issue. And for committing this sin of relevance—and for starring Keanu Reeves—this movie is, no doubt, on the short list of films to be bashed by critics. (All the while, vapid and cynical fare such as “The Dark Knight” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is praised).
Remakes like “The Day the Earth Stood Still” carry their own particular baggage, primarily for many film critics and cinema buffs, who seem to cross their arms in defiance of the new upstart movie—even before seeing it. The original film produced in 1951 is still ranked high as a favorite by film lovers (no. 202 in the top 250 films on www.imdb.com).
For those of us concerned about the earth, interested in the possibility of extra-terrestrial life, or even interested in narratives that are not militaristic, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” provides a scenario of imagination and what-ifs. The story begins with Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), a biologist at Princeton University who is whisked away by federal officials for a secret, urgent mission. When a giant glowing sphere lands in Central Park in New York City, that mission turns out to be visitation to earth by aliens. Suddenly, Benson and her stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith), find themselves at the center of an effort that will lead to either the earth’s survival or its destruction.
Connelly does a decent job. She is developing the screen presence and charisma to carry a film like this, which would likely be better received if her character was a macho man. Smith is cast as the ungrateful, bratty stepson and he plays that role very well. As for Reeves, this is yet another role where he plays a robotic, larger-than-life being with a larger-than-life mission to fulfill. While such a role, with a limited range of emotion, may continue to stereotype Reeves, such stereotyping does not mean that he is ineffective in carrying the film.
The original film, in black-and-white, was set in Washington, D.C. and hinted about the paranoia of the Cold War. While some right-wing critics dissed it for possible “subversive elements,” it won a Golden Globe Award as the “Best Film Promoting International Understanding.” While the theme in 1951 was war and violence, the update for 2008 adds a new element to keep it timely for today.
“Doubt”
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| Jaden Smith (top right) appears in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and Viola Davis (bottom) stars in "Doubt." |
Getting more respect during the awards and top ten lists season is “Doubt,” a pensive and atmospheric production story starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Viola Davis (Antwone Fisher). Set during 1964 at a Catholic middle school in the Bronx, the story touches on the theme of racism, integration and social change in the North but delves more deeply into the issues of mistrust and suspicions about priests and pedophilia within the Catholic Church.
In the story, the peril faced by the school’s first black student Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II), who is integrating the school, is just a backdrop to the heightened drama and intrigue. Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep) has doubts about the piety and conduct of the parish priest, Father Brendan Flynn (Hoffman). At some point, she questions him about why he had a private meeting with Donald and also calls in the boy’s mother to tell her of her suspicions. Father Flynn defends himself and points instead to the idea that Sister Beauvier might be a bigot. He says that the sister has no sympathy for Donald’s adjustment at the school or for the fact that he is trying to provide a place of solace in a sometimes hostile new environment.
“Doubt” doesn’t present easy answers or conclusions to these arguments. And while we are in the swirl of the narrative’s questions, the black people included are not fully drawn characters, even though they are at the center of the drama. Despite her bit part, Davis is so powerful in her role (as another pained and conflicted Black mother) that she is raking in award nominations.
“Doubt” is written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, who also wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name that played off- and on-Broadway from November of 2004 to June 2006. The play was presented in one 90-minute act and it was written at the time that the second act began when audiences left the theater and began to debate who they believed: the priest or the nun.
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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