LILY PERCY

Elizabethtown ****

Written and Directed by: Cameron Crowe

Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer and Alec Baldwin

It is nearly impossible for me to write about a Cameron Crowe film with any level of objectivity. His films are engrained in my psyche: I quote dialogue from the Holy Trinity, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous, daily, the latter film serving as the ultimate measuring stick for all aspiring journalists, music lovers and fans. So when early reviews of his latest film Elizabethtown started pouring in, nearly all of which were not only negative but also downright abusive and inflammatory, I was worried that his streak, which wavered a little with the mediocre Vanilla Sky, had finally come to an end. Turns out I had nothing to fear for Elizabethtown, which Crowe refers to as his “most personal film to date,” is nothing short of cinematic bliss.

The film stars Orlando Bloom as Drew Baylor, an up-and-coming shoe designer who experiences failure on a global million dollar level and learns of his father’s death all on the same day. What ensues is one of the most honest and sincere portrayals of death, life, failure, success and love that have ever been captured on film. As Drew goes back home to his father’s hometown in Kentucky, he finally faces the truth about the life he has been leading. Up to the moment of his “brilliant fiasco” his priorities were focused solely on achieving success, he soon realizes, with the death of the father that he never really knew, that he has been asleep all of this time, wasting away at a life that he no longer recognizes nor likes all that much.

These are all themes that have been explored extensively in many of Crowe’s back catalogue of films, but they have never felt as utterly exposed as they do in Elizabethtown. Much like Almost Famous, Elizabethtown is partly autobiographical; Crowe’s own father passed away when he was still a young boy and this knowledge provides the film with a heightened level of emotional intensity. This also comes across through Bloom’s thoughtful performance as Drew. This is the first time that Bloom has ever had to demonstrate such powerful and sincere emotions on-screen, and being a leading man in a Cameron Crowe film is no easy feat--you need just the right combination of sincerity, sweetness, and heart-on-your-sleeve honesty, all of which are not commonly found in most Hollywood casting offices. I was therefore pleasantly surprised by how effortless Bloom seemed on screen, and how well he carried the film’s most gut-wrenching scenes all on his own.

That having been said, Elizabethtown is not a film that everyone will like nor get. In fact, most people may very well loathe it. But, to quote another beloved Crowe character, “We live in a cynical world. A cynical world. And we work in a business of tough competitors.” I for one am eternally indebted to Cameron Crowe for sharing his heart on film, thus enriching mine, time and again.

- Lily Percy

Jarhead ***1/2

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Written by: William Broyles, Jr.

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Lucas Black, Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper.

In Nov. 4^th’s issue of the New York Times, A.O. Scott, a film critic whom I normally admire, described Jarhead as being “a footnote - a minor movie about a minor war.” That’s a pretty bold statement from a guy who makes his living sitting in front of movie screen. Dangerous work, film criticism.

Scott’s main gripe with the film, and he is not alone here as I have read countless other reviews of Jarhead stating exactly the same thing, is that it does not take a particular political side i.e. it is neither for the Gulf War nor against it. I didn’t realize that it was Sam Mendes responsibility, or any filmmaker’s for that matter, to dictate how we must view the events that unfold on-screen. I am not that naïve, however, to think that every director does not have a particular agenda that they are promoting when they direct a film or choose to tell a certain story, but in Jarhead, much like in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, the point is not to pass judgment, nor to determine who is right or wrong (although I would argue that Mendes makes his opinion very clear), but rather to tell the story of one man, one soldier, who in turn illuminates and becomes every soldier, every man.

The soldier in this case is Marine Anthony Swofford, played by a terrifyingly buff Jake Gyllenhaal, a third-generation enlistee who is less than thrilled to be in the Marines. We are shown the standard boot camp scenes, the abuse, the emotional toil and strain that distance creates on the relationships left back home, all of the standard ‘day in the life’ scenes that you have come to expect from the modern day war film. And they’re good scenes, they serve their purpose by adding realism to the mood of the film.

What makes Mendes’ film stand out, however, is precisely that it tries its very best not to. It doesn’t pretend to make grandiose statements or poetic declarations, nor does it attempt to glorify neither war nor peace, life simply isn’t that black and white; Jarhead simply tells one man’s story, no message, no glory: the story is enough to carry the film.

- Lily Percy, Editor

DECEMBER05

The Weather Man **1/2

Directed by: Gore Verbinski

Written by: Steve Conrad

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Michael Caine, Hope Davis, Gemmenne de la Peña, Nicholas Hoult

It’s been a long time since I’ve liked Nicholas Cage in a film. Ok, so it hasn’t really been that long, I liked Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men after all, but it sure feels like an eternity since I’ve been able to stand any character that he’s played. I don’t know where the Nicholas Cage from films such as Leaving Las Vegas and The Rock (yes, actually, I did like this Michael Bay film) has gone but it is nice to see some semblance of brain activity in his performance as David Spritz in Gore Verbinski’s The Weather Man.

The plotline behind the film is original enough--there aren’t many movies out there chronicling the life of TV weatherman--but when the novelty of the story wears off, what you are left with is a surprisingly honest and touching family drama. Newcomer Gemmenne de la Peña, as Cage’s sullen daughter Shelly, is particularly memorable; she brings sincerity to the role that is well beyond her years.

The real reason to see the film though is Michael Caine. Caine shines in the role of acclaimed novelist Robert Spritz, Cage’s father. Watching the two actors interact on-screen as father and son is not only entirely believable, which is remarkable enough in itself, but also wholly endearing and relatable. Their relationship works because it is recognizable, and in the end they are what keep this film from dying the familiar death of the thousand family dramas before them.

- Lily Percy, Editor

DECEMBER05

A History of Violence ***1/2

Directed by: David Cronenberg

Written by: Josh Olson

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes

I’m a sucker for stillness, especially when it comes to film. Coupled with a well-told story, a great director and a pitch-perfect cast, this is the stuff that gets my proverbial film critic panties in a twist.

David Cronenberg’s latest oeuvre, A History of Violence, encompasses all of these qualities. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, the film tells the story of Tom Stall, a family man who owns a small town diner who, after committing murder (in self-defense), begins to unravel as his past comes back to haunt him.

Stall is played by Viggo Mortensen, an actor whose career path never ceases to amaze me. He is seemingly unafraid to be completely vulnerable on-screen, and it therefore comes as no surprise that his portrayal of the loving husband and doting father is brilliantly juxtaposed with a sense of mystery and tension that only he could achieve. Maria Bello shines as his wife Edie Stall. Ever since her wonderful performance in The Cooler I have been watching her with admiration and respect as she chooses one challenging role after another. This film is certainly no exception. Rather than simply portraying the token caricature wife, Bello breathes life into Edie and transforms her role into one of the most important, and heartbreaking, of the film.

A History of Violence is unlike any Cronenberg film that I have ever seen. It is by far the most straightforward film that he has ever made; with no crazy plot twists or science-fiction fantasy themes. But I would venture to say that it is also the best film he has ever made, with a look and feel to it that is as close to modern film noir as we get these days. The last scene of the film, in which we see an exchange of glances between Tom and Edie, is by far one of the most devastating endings to a film that I’ve seen in years and harkens back to an understated and graceful style in filmmaking and storytelling that cannot be matched.

- Lily Percy, Editor

Fever Pitch ***1/2

Directed by: Bobby and Peter Farrelly

Written by: Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel

Starring: Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon

When I borrowed Fever Pitch from a friend recently, I fully expected to hate it. It’s based on a fantastic Nick Hornby novel that I love and, to make matters worse, it is a remake of a superb 1997 British adaptation (that Hornby himself wrote the screenplay for) that features Colin Firth as the title character, the Arsenal-loving Paul Ashworth.

In this new version, Paul is now Ben, a loveable schoolteacher and Boston Red Sox fanatic, played by SNL’s Jimmy Fallon. On a class trip he meets Lindsey Meeks (Drew Barrymore), a successful corporate businesswoman who he ends up falling head over heels for. At first their relationship seems destined for greatness, that is until Lindsey discovers that Ben’s obsessive love for the Red Sox knows no bounds, and Ben realizes that Lindsey’s work-a-holic mentality is the only acceptable addiction in the relationship.

Bruce Springsteen once said that the greatest day of his life was the day he picked up an electric guitar. The second greatest day, he continued, was the day he learned to put it down. This is, essentially, what Fever Pitch is all about. We often find ourselves clinging to obsessions (and addictions), whether they are in the form of a rock band, a particular film or even a certain sports team, when we need something to fill the void in our lives. When something better comes along, i.e. a relationship, we are suddenly expected to drop that one thing that has been a driving force in our lives for as long as we can remember. It isn’t easy, but it is worthwhile, for in the end, as the film certainly attests to, you’ve moved on to something bigger and better, something that will not only fill the void, but fulfill your life as well.

It may seem strange that such life lessons should come packaged in a seemingly throw-away film as Fever Pitch, directed by the Farrelly Bros. no less, but such is the case. If only every romantic comedy released here on in were as surprisingly good.

- Lily Percy, Editor

The Sound and The Fury: A Rock’s Backpages reader.

Edited by: Barney Hoskyns

“Woodstock was no more peace and love than Altamont was. They were the result of the same disease: the bloating of mass bohemia in the late 60s. At that point, Mercury, the patron saint of merchants and thieves takes over, all hell breaks loose, and the Devil starts setting up his bleachers out on Highway 61.

…did the 60s, an exhausted behemoth in bell-bottoms and platform shoes, stumble on into the next decade, watching helplessly as its sacred hatchlings—Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison—met their fates one after another, and like some last phantom of our great expectations, unable to remember what it wanted, melt into the thin air of the 70s?”

*An excerpt from David Dalton’s “Altamont: An Eyewitness Account.”

There really is nothing greater than reading about a subject that you love, and there is no greater subject to write about than rock n’ roll. The Sound and The Fury: A Rock’s Backpages reader is itself much like the great artists that it chronicles: powerful, electric and often out of control. You go from reading about The Beatles first time in America to the legend behind David Bowie, from Bruce Springsteen’s rise to fame to Kurt Cobain’s queer teenage years. All of the interviews included in the book portray the artist in what is a remarkably candid light, many of whom are now unrecognizable (remember when Madonna was still fun? And Dylan hilariously catty?).

This is one of those rare collections that truly live up to its name. John Mendelssohn’s “Poison the hood: Niggaz with Attitude,” which began as an expose on music mogul David Geffen and instead (along with Robert Gordon’s 1990 Ice Cube interview, also included in this book) became a haunting glimpse of just how glamorized ‘gansta’ rap would become in later years includes some of the most horrific stories about NWA and the West Coast scene, most of which you’ve probably never heard. Equally as shocking is David Dalton’s remarkable “Altamont: An Eyewitness Account.” Dalton attended the now legendary concert as a writer for Rolling Stone; his first-person descriptions of the violence and chaos that broke out that night at the hands of the Hell’s Angels serves as the perfect companion piece to the Maysles Bros. Gimme Shelter, and yet there are images and emotions that his piece evokes that rise far above anything shot on film that night.

At the end of The Sound and The Fury, you come away feeling like you’ve been given a backstage pass into a world that few ever get to see. It is as if William Miller had never gotten off of Stillwater’s tour bus, and somehow, we managed to sneak on for the ride of our lives.

- Lily Percy, Editor

Tracy Chapman – Where You Live

When I hear the phrase “voice of a generation” there are a few people that come to mind. Springsteen, Dylan, the obvious ones, and then there’s Tracy Chapman, the one woman for whom I would truly consider changing my sexual orientation. See her live in concert and you will be struck by two things: how humble a person she is on stage considering her powerful voice, and just how much passion and beauty radiates as she sings.

Her new album, Where you live, is moving, both socially, emotionally and politically, and is an extension of the genius of albums such as Tracy Chapman and Matters of the Heart.

Songs such as the elegiac “Be and be not afraid,” and the tender “Change,” are unforgettable to say the least. Chapman has the rare ability to tell stories that both empower and engage, that make you feel like you can strive for something better. “Don’t Dwell,” is haunting, the kind of song that you listen to on sad afternoons when everything seems too big to wrap your head around, and “Love’s Proof” is as beautiful an unrequited love song as they come.

The more that I listen to this album, the more I am amazed by Chapman’s ability to understand the human psyche, and more importantly, the nature of our hearts. She knows where we live simply because, well, she lives there too. I can think of no other female songwriter out there right now who understands the infinite power of words and music to move mountains and, in the process, hearts.

- Lily Percy, Editor

David Gray – Life in Slow Motion

David Gray is one of those artists that are frustratingly unappreciated. He has a following, and has achieved success with a string of hit singles, but for the most part he is looked upon as being just another acoustic guitar playing singer/songwriter. I can only hope that the superb Life in Slow Motion, Gray’s seventh album to date, will change all of that.

Life in Slow Motion is the kind of album that you put in your stereo and somehow never makes its way out. Every song has something different to offer: from the addictive “Slow Motion” to the Beatles-esque “Disappearing World,” the wonderful “Hospital Food” and “Ain’t no love,” all of the songs on this album sound as if they were composed with a sincere understanding of the ups and downs of life.

Gray has lyrics here that reveal more than they probably should, and it is precisely these kinds of revelations, perfectly on display in “Alibi,” (the song that bravely asks, “Where’d it all go wrong? /my Friday night enfant”), that make this album one of the best of the year. In a music world that seems to thrive solely on cynicism and witty one-liners, David Gray is a sublime breath of fresh air.

- Lily Percy, Editor

“Blessings not just for the ones who kneel…”

I still remember the first time that I heard U2. I was about ten and a Canadian missionary was staying with us for a month. He had been helping my mom clean the house and from my room I could hear him humming along to a song on his Walkman. Intrigued, I came out and asked him what he was listening to, “Achtung Baby, he said. “It’s U2’s new album.” Soon thereafter my brother went out and bought the tape for himself and the damage was done. We’ve been faithful U2 fans ever since (although I would argue that my brother has been more objective by far.)

I believe that you can tell a lot about a band by their fans. When you look at U2 fans you will find a variety of people, of races, religions and cultures, all united by one simple thing: their love of the music. But it isn’t that simple, for as any U2 fan will tell you, it goes well beyond the music. There are some artists that go beyond the standard fanfare (Springsteen is definitely guilty of this as are Dave Matthews Band and a handful of others), who mean so much to their fans simply because of the people that they are and the ideas and beliefs that they represent. Because of Paul Hewson (Bono), Dave Evans (the Edge), Larry Mullen, Jr. and Adam Clayton, because of the people that they are and the music that they create when the four of them get into a room together, these are the reasons why U2 is still the greatest rock band out there, even after nearly 30 years of musical history.

I am as riveted and amazed by them today as I was when I first heard the electric opening riffs of “The Fly.” “Until the end of the world,” is a song that makes me weep and kneel at its sheer brilliance, and “Where the streets have no name” is still the song that I want to hear playing when this journey of mine finally comes to an end. What amazes me, and I can say this of no other band who has been around as long as U2 has, is the fact that they are still evolving, attracting an entirely new audience with every album that they release. Their past two albums, All that you can’t leave behind and How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb, are filled with all of the hope and promise, anger and rage, social and political frustration, that you first heard on War, Under a Blood Red Sky and the Joshua Tree. I look forward to hearing songs such as “Sometimes you can’t make it on your own,” “Walk On,” “Yahweh,” “Stuck in a moment,” and “Miracle Drug,” just as much as I do their classics. That says a lot about a band whose current tour will probably be one of the most successful in the history of rock n’ roll.

And yet I need more from them. I demand more from them, and I know that I am not alone. I need them to be the uncompromising and innovative band that released the bare bones album The Joshua Tree in the middle of the synthesized 80s; I need them to be the band that nearly broke up during the making of the landmark rhythm-infused Achtung Baby; I need them to be the band that released Pop in 1997, before the idea of a dance album was cool and hip and ultimately successful.

I need them to be all of these things again because, while they are still making amazing music, music that begs to be heard, they are making the music that comes naturally and easily to them. And U2 is nothing if not a band that does not take the easy road. There is no one else out there like them and I for one will not accept anything less from the band that has provided the essential soundtrack to my life.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan once said this about U2, "You have made people listen. You have made people care, and you have taught us that whether we are poor or prosperous, we have only one world to share. You have taught young people that they do have the power to change the world."

Bono sings in “Rejoice,” “I can’t change the world, but I can change the world in me.” Like the million or so fans out there, I humbly thank these Irish punk rockers for changing the way I listen to music, for introducing me to Dylan and Springsteen, Johnny Cash and Raymond Carver, but most of all, I thank U2 for changing my life and the way that I view my place in the world.

- Lily Percy, Editor

Discography

Boy (1980)

October (1981)

War (1983)

Under a Blood Red Sky (1983)

The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

Wide Awake in America (1985)

The Joshua Tree (1987)

Rattle and Hum (1989)

Achtung Baby (1991)

Zooropa (1993)

Pop (1997)

Best of 1980-1990 (1998)

All that you can’t leave behind (2000)

Best of 1990-2000 (2002)

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK (2005)

Directed by: George Clooney
Written by: George Clooney and Grant Heslov
Starring: David Strathairn, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Ray Wise, Frank Langella, Jeff Daniels, George Clooney, Tate Donovan, Reed Diamond.

If you've ever taken a journalism course or have even a passing interest in the history of journalism then chances are you've heard the name Edward R. Murrow. Murrow's name is synonymous with the phrase 'journalistic integrity' and his famous "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire, but it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box" is forever engrained in my mind, as well as in the minds of many others (this quote even ends the film).

Which is why it comes as no surprise that George Clooney would choose to make a film about Murrow, a man that he, and his father Nick Clooney, a former television newscaster, admire deeply. What is surprising however is just how good the film is, the relevance that it contains, and the distinct parallels that can be drawn from Murrow's age to ours.

Clooney chose to direct the film in black and white because all of the footage of Murrow that he remembered seeing growing up was as such and he wanted the viewer to get a sense of this as well. The choice was a bold one considering today's movie going audience and yet it was without a doubt the right one. It adds a depth and sense of realism to what you are seeing on-screen that would have been lost had the film been shot in color. Archived footage of Joseph McCarthy fits perfectly alongside footage of the superb David Strathairn as Murrow; you never question for a second what is real and what is not.

The cast that Clooney has assembled for the film is nothing short of remarkable. Strathairn, who has long been a favorite leading man of mine, is pitch-perfect as Murrow. His voice, his delivery, his very being; if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for his performance I would be very shocked.

Robert Downey Jr. and Patricia Clarkson also shine in the film and George Clooney, as producer Fred Friendly, is a natural in a role (and an era) that he was born to play. It is a testament to who Clooney is, both as an actor and a person that he was able to get this film made without compromising neither his vision nor integrity. You will walk out of "Good Night, and Good Luck" with a new found appreciation for our nation's journalistic history and Edward R. Murrow's courage and integrity, but most of all, you will walk out of the film muttering four simple words: God Bless George Clooney.

- Lily Percy, Editor

THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN (2005)

Directed by: Judd Apatow
Written by: Judd Apatow and Steve Carell
Starring: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogan, Romany Malco

Leave it to Judd Apatow, the man behind the brilliant cult classic “Freaks and Geeks” to bring us the first 'gross-out' comedy in years with a gentle beating heart.

“The 40 year old Virgin” tells the story of Andy Stitzer, played with sincerity and charm by the hilarious Steve Carell, who works at an electronics store, collects action figures, and also happens to be a virgin at the age of 40 due to some unsettling (and rightfully traumatizing) sexual mishaps in his youth.

The premise alone garners a laugh but what really makes this film remarkable lies in its genuine and heartfelt honesty. Much like Sam Weir, who carried all of our unifying high school shame in “Freaks and Geeks,” Andy is a reflection of our deepest insecurities and feelings of inadequacy coming to a head. I found myself laughing and crying hysterically all throughout the film, relating to Andy in ways that I would never have expected. Who would have thought that this summer's most successful comedy would also turn out to be one of the year's best films.

- Lily Percy, Editor

“FIREFLY: THE SERIES”

Remember when you saw “Star Wars” for the first time? The way that it seemed to jump right off of the screen, the way that it ignited you with a newfound sense of adventure and wonder? The way that Han Solo epitomized the anti-hero, his cynicism and witty one-liners coupled with a desire to kick ass left us awestruck. That's what watching “Firefly: The Series” is like.

Part Han Solo, part Indiana Jones, Captain Mal “Tightpants” Reynolds, played with effortless charm by Nathan Fillion, who, by the way, is our generation's answer to the aforementioned anti-heroes, leads a crew of eight aboard his beloved ship, Serenity, into the deepest realms of outer space.

The show could best be categorized, as a “space western” and I'd be hard pressed to find another one of its kind. Joss Whedon purposefully wanted his series to meld both worlds, peppering his scripts with an arcane vernacular that showcases Mandarin, among other 'Goram' things, and contractions that would have driven your English teacher mad with both delicate ease and finesse.

These are all just a few of the things that make “Firefly” unforgettable. I could go on for hours about Shepherd Book, played with graceful simplicity by Ron Glass, or the wonder of Wash and Zoe, Alan Tudyk and Gina Torres respectively, but in the end what makes “Firefly” really stand out lies in its journey, in the stories and adventures that Whedon takes us on, and the combination of smart, funny and touching writing and acting that unfolds on-screen.

When the fourteenth episode came around I couldn't quite believe that my time aboard Serenity had somehow come to a close. I have always been a fan of 'good sci-fi' and “Firefly” epitomizes that phrase brilliantly. I can only hope that with the success of “Serenity” and the rabid acclaim and love that the show itself has received, that Fox will recognize the disservice that it imposed upon all of us when it stupidly cancelled “Firefly” in 2002 by bringing it back to us now.

The crew of Serenity deserves another chance to blow us all out of the water, and after all, to quote the Captain himself, “[it is] much too pretty to die.”

- Lily Percy, Editor

STEPHEN FRETWELL - "MAGPIE"

One of the greatest feelings in the world is discovering a new artist, buying their CD and playing that one song, that song that has been spinning around in your head for weeks (and that you've been silently humming) on an endless joyful loop. “Emily” is that song and Stephen Fretwell is the artist currently occupying my musical universe.

Fretwell is 23 yrs. old, English, and way ahead of his years, as pretentious and overused as that may sound. 2004's “Magpie” marked his major label debut and the comparisons to Dylan promptly came pouring in. But unlike Connor Oberst, Fretwell actually lives up to the reputation.

Songs such as “What's that you say little girl?” and “Brother” have all of the makings of the great Dylan songs of the 60s, and “New York,” Fretwell's latest single, is haunting, powerful and ultimately unforgettable, and it contains all of the winning characteristics that made nearly every Dylan song of that period memorable. It is sparse and naked in all of the right ways and sounds like it could very well have been the b-side to Damien Rice's “Blower's Daughter.”

And yet, even with the all of the obvious Dylan tributes, the songs on “Magpie” sound fresh and original. As soon as the album ends you want to listen to it all over again. And that is a welcome change.

There are a lot of 23 yr. olds out there currently vying for the hallowed Dylan title, and with the influx of over indulgent pop criticism being thrown around these days the confusion is certainly understandable, but Stephen Fretwell is the first artist of the heralded group who actually has something worthy to say.

- Lily Percy, Editor

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