Felicity Season 4

"Anyway, in my closet, I found this thing on my wall. It's a list of all the people who lived in this room before me -- it went back to 1968. Randall Clark... Melissa Stone... Keith Bradshaw... Patty Tagliabue... I mean these names, these people I never heard of... you know, I just started wondering. I wonder where they are today, you know? How much they remember of their freshman year? I wonder if they're all still alive."

There are many things in life that seem impossible to put into words. Love for example, is one of those grandiose intangible words that can encompass so much while also falling short in meaning as well. And yet there’s something about nostalgia. It is precise in its description and when anyone uses it in a sentence it conjures images of warmth, of memory, of childhood, of the past, all of these things come surging through this one little word.

In hindsight I now see that there is a common thread of nostalgia to nearly everything that I love in my life. Every book, every song, every film, and especially, every TV show is ridden with this overwhelming sense of nostalgia: “The Wonder Years,” “Sports Night,” “Freaks and Geeks,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “Northern Exposure,” “The West Wing,” and of course, “Felicity.”

Watching the last season of the series feels very much like attending your high school reunion, except it isn’t dreaded and uncomfortable and you’re actually really happy to see everyone there. Its strange - I was a fan of “Felicity” from the moment that it went on air; I was a junior in high school when it began and I was a sophomore in college when it ended. But while I was always a fan and found myself relating to it more than I had any other ‘teen show on the WB,’ watching the last season over again now, at this stage in my life, it is clear to me that I never truly understood it.

It is a testament to the brilliance of J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, who, much like the god-like Aaron Sorkin, write human beings rather than mere characters, that nostalgia comes attached to every episode that you watch. You love all of these characters, all of these flawed people and the lives that they have built together, and so when they graduate or get married or break up or even almost die, it is as if all of these things were happening to you, that your life has been invested right along with theirs in those four years.

The greatest thing about “Felicity” and what rings true for me, is its honest portrayal of nostalgia, of those short periods of time in your life, whether it be through college or an internship or a new job, where you will befriend amazing people who will serve as your family for that brief moment in time and who you will love and cherish and understand like you never thought that you could. And while the unraveling journey that is life will undoubtedly pull you away from the comfort of these people and these moments in your life, you will never stop feeling nostalgic for them.

But no matter where you are or what you’re doing, you can always put on that song or pick up that book or see that film and you will be instantly transported to that one place and that one time when everything seemed to make sense.

That is what “Felicity” means to me. It is my nostalgic time machine.

- Lily Percy, Editor

The Talented Mr. Ripley        

Starring: Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport

Written/Directed by: Anthony Minghella

In the opening credits of The Talented Mr. Ripley one is confronted by a slew of revealing adjectives that set the mood for what is going to be an unsettling, unnerving, and suspense-ridden thriller, of a slightly Hitchcockian nature.

The film’s story line is so rich, harrowing and intricate that writing even a brief synopsis of the film will lessen the viewers’ initial reaction to the events that unfold before their eyes.

The talented Mr. Damon is nothing short of mesmerizing, bringing a newfound complexity to Patricia Highsmith’s infamous character. Unlike Alain Delon’s Ripley in Purple Noon (another adaptation of the novel), Damon’s Ripley is so terribly vulnerable that even in the most terrifying of situations you can’t help but empathize with his loneliness.

As Ripley himself states in a moment of unbridled honesty, “I’ve always felt it’s better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody”.

Therein lies the film’s greatest feat: making impostor’s of us all.

- Lily Percy, Editor

Amores Perros

Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Goya Toledo, Alvaro Guerrero, Emilio Echevarria, Vanessa Bauche

Written by: Guillermo Arriaga

Directed by: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

When Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu began making Amores Perros, his first feature length film based on Guillermo Arriaga’s explosive screenplay, he said that he wanted “to strike, caress, entertain, move and provoke."

By doing this he hoped to take the viewer up and down the extremes of a roller coaster ride, no breaks, and completely strip the characters naked before the camera without them or the viewer ever feeling embarrassed, evoking instead the perfect catharsis of the viewer watching himself. To say that he accomplished all of this and more seems like a gross understatement for what is undoubtedly the year’s best film (my sincerest apologies to Joel Siegel).

Amores Perros is divided into three stories: Octavio and Susana, Daniel and Valeria, and el Chivo and Mura, all united by one fateful car accident, a collision that, for better or worse, changes all of their lives.

Octavio, played earnestly and beautifully by Gael Garcia Bernal, is a young teenager who dreams of a better life, one that includes money, moving away from home, and more importantly, taking Susana (Vanessa Bauche), his brother’s wife, with him. Susana is undeservedly mistreated and abused by a husband who cheats, lies and steals, and whose ultimate goal in life is to rob a bank.

Octavio on the other hand, has loved Susana since they were kids and knows that she deserves better than the life that she has been handed, but also knows that without a steady income to support her things will never change. He decides to go the get-rich-quick route and gets involved in the latest local neighborhood trend: dog fights. But necessity and money can ruin your life just as quickly and surely as they can save it.

The second story, Daniel and Valeria, deals with the evolving relationship between a married man and his lover and the car accident that spins everything out of control. Daniel (Alvaro Guerrero) is a successful business man who after years of marriage decides to leave his wife and daughters for a new life with Valeria (Goya Toledo), a famous model with Cindy Crawford-like fame. Everything seems to be going as planned until Valeria gets hit by a car, is disfigured, and subsequently can never model again. Their May-December romance is suddenly put to the test and the outcome brings truths about themselves and their lives that they were clearly not ready for.

The last story, el Chivo and Mura, is by far the most complex and thought-provoking of the bunch. El Chivo is a former revolutionary and current hired assassin who through the years has developed a conscience and can no longer live his lie alone.

He needs and wants more than anything to be reunited with his daughter Mura whom he hasn’t seen since she was a child but he also knows that without money and a proper life he will never be granted the respect, love, or forgiveness that he so desperately yearns for. His struggle is the most heartbreaking: to start living anew in a world that has long forgotten him, in a society that no longer cares.

This is a film that is very dependent on it’s actors and their abilities to convince; even the smallest seemingly insignificant supporting role matters, and that is why these very intricate stories come off so well. But while each actor holds their own on screen, the film undeniably belongs to Gael Garcia Bernal as Octavio and Emilio Echevarria as el Chivo. Bernal’s facial expressions and blazing green eyes say more about hope, love, and innocence than one could ever think humanly possible and while his may be the most naive and childlike dream of the bunch, it is also the most painful.

Echevarria’s performance however is the strongest in the film as he manages to encapsulate perfectly the clash between modern cynicism and the ideals of the past. His el Chivo represents more than just the current situation in Mexico, he represents all Latin American people and their struggle to survive and change in a world that for better or worse, refuses to change.

The fast-paced action packed way in which Inarritu chooses to tell each of his stories is reminiscent of Pulp Fiction and even last year’s critical hit Traffic, but unlike those two films where some of the intertwining stories felt weaker than others, the three stories that are told in Amores Perros are all equally strong and engrossing.

You never feel bored by one or find yourself counting the seconds until the most interesting story/characters come back on screen and that is partly if not entirely due to Arriaga’s superb script. He tells stories of a different kind, of Mexico and it’s people and their struggle to survive; stories that you never quite hear about on the evening news.

Amores Perros won the Cannes Film festival Grand Prize-International Critic’s Week award and is also nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar this month. Although the winners somehow seem to be decided on long before the actual ceremony itself, I really hope that the Academy goes against the tide and awards Amores Perros with the title it so clearly deserves.

Not because it needs any more buzz or recognition, the film was after all sold out within a matter of hours at this year’s Miami Film Festival, but solely because Oscar means more stateside publicity, and publicity in this country propels a film into more cities and subsequently more theaters. This is a film that everyone should be required to see (I for one would love to see it again), my only hope is that we will be given that chance.

- Lily Percy, Editor

In The Mood For Love

Starring: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk.

Written and directed by: Wong Kar-Wai

There are films that you never forget, films that as the credits are rolling already start to fade from memory, and then there are Wong Kar-wai films: films that stay with you long after you’ve left the theater, permanently embedded in your mind.

Wong Kar-wai’s films have been described as nothing short of poetic, but it is the poetry of the human heart that is always at play in his films. From Chungking Express to Fallen Angels to Happy Together, all of these very different movies carry a similar interwoven characteristic: humanity. They, each in their own unique way, tell the story of what its like to be human, to fall in love, to feel pain, to truly live for the first time.

In the Mood for Love, Kar-wai’s latest film, the story of two married people who discover that their spouses are cheating on them, is not however exactly what you would expect from the famed director. Stylistically the elements are all there, the iridescent cinematography and lingering images are as present as ever, and yet the way in which the story is told and subsequently the film unfolds marks a clear departure for Kar-wai.

The film is set in Hong Kong via 1962, a time where both the economy and the people of China were changing, and the roles of men and women in society were torn between the set standards and traditions of the past, and the independence of the present.

Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are Mr.Chow and Mrs. Chan, two married strangers who inhabit the same building but never hold a real conversation until they discover that their spouses are cheating on them. Upon this painful discovery they become confidantes and seek solace from the world around them in each other’s company. Soon the unexpected happens and they find that they have grown to rely on each other in ways that were simply not part of the plan, and amidst a haunting hazily romantic backdrop, they uncover the mystery of being in love.

Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, two of Hong Kong’s biggest movie stars, have starred in several of Wong Kar-Wai’s films but this marks the first in which they alone portray, for the most part, the only characters in the film. You never see the faces of their spouses, and it is to their credit that you never really care to; Leung and Cheung are so entrancing in their roles that you forget that there could ever be anyone else on screen.

Maggie Cheung is luminous - she carries herself in such a way that both breaks your heart and makes you proud of the woman that she is. Hers was not an easy role to play, and yet she does it with all of the grace and elegance of the stars of yesteryear; she reeks of old Grace Kelly-like Hollywood charm.

Tony Leung is equally as breathtaking. He has always been a VERY handsome man in my book, but in this film he manages to surpass even all hormonal expectations. His Mr. Chow is a sensitive and thoughtful man who never allows himself to fall into the stereotypical scorned husband bit, and instead rises above to evoke a level of sadness (and sympathy) that I thought only possible in French cinema. He garnered the Best Actor award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, and it is truly a shame that his efforts have not been recognized stateside.

In the Mood for Love takes its time in telling its story, and in that way it differs from the Kar-wai films of the past. His films have always had constant movement and rising action, while this film feels more like a dream than anything else.

The thing that sets In the Mood for Love indisputably apart is the level of maturity and mood that the story is told with. Wong Kar-wai has said that this has been  his most difficult film to make, a two-year process that left him physically, financially, and emotionally exhausted, and yet I think it just might be his most important film to date. It is not an easy feat, capturing the mood and color of love on film, but he manages to do just that and more, in a way that will remain forever in our hearts long after the images are gone.

- Lily Percy, Editor

Before Night Falls

Starring: Javier Bardem, Olivier Martinez, Andrea Di Stefano, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn

Written By: Lazaro Gomez Carriles, Cunningham O’Keefe, Julian Schnabel

Directed By: Julian Schnabel

It seems odd now to talk about a film that chances are no one will be able to see, or even if given the chance no one will want to see, but I hope that if anything this review inspires you to go out of the norm and see an interesting albeit unfamiliar film such as Before Night Falls.

I know that it seems cliche to say it but this is really the best example of just how good an independent film can be. When I say independent I do not mean it in the Sundance way, I mean it in the purest sense of the word: outside of the standards set by the Hollywood system. Because a film like this could never have been made within the Hollywood system, they would have mucked it up or made too much noise about the 'gay factor'...this film retains its heart and soul because it actually has one to begin with, something that most Hollywood films cannot often brag about. This coming from the girl who loved the Patriot.

Before Night Falls tells the story of Cuban writer Reynaldo Arenas and the trials and tribulations that he underwent before he was ever heard of let alone received the recognition that he truly deserved.

The movie spans his earliest years as a child growing up in poverty-stricken outskirts of Cuba to his last days in NY; it is a thorough and introspective look at the perseverance of a born poet. From the very beginning of the film we are transported to another sort of world, a world that seems not to exist here on earth but rather in the mind of the very poet himself who is subsequently telling the story. The movie is peppered with Arenas lyrical poetry as well as excerpts from his own autobiography.

Reynaldo is played brilliantly and incessantly by Javier Bardem; an actor so reminiscent of Raul Julia (equally as intense) that it is disarming. The movie is carried solely by Bardem’s performance, and it is a performance so endearing and alarming all at the same time that with every smile that leaps across his face your heart truly melts. He oozes charm and manages to be both likeable and realistic, a daunting task by all means, and a necessary one when playing such a complex and tortured soul. Reynaldo goes through some unimaginable things, things that you would not wish on your worst enemy, and yet through it all his spirit and his words triumph.

So much about this movie relies on Bardem’s performance, and although the film would be lost without him to occupy the role, the true star of the film is undoubtedly the poetry that resonates throughout it. Director and co-writer Julian Schnabel wisely chose to pepper the film with voice overs of Arena’s prose and this is what stays with you once the theater lights go up. The feeling that despite the most heinous of situations, the most inhumane of circumstances, beauty and art will always prevail.

- Lily Percy, Editor