The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Grade: A-

Let’s get it out of the way – I’m one of them. I devoured all four of the books like cotton candy. I’m a Jacob more than an Edward – he’s way better for her and far less brooding. I see someone reading one of those smallish, thick black bound books on a subway and I really want to ask which one they’re on – I can feel the camaraderie.

I’m a 16 year old girl, so sue me.

Not since Lord Olivier’s windswept hair overlooked the cliffs in “Wuthering Heights” has romance been so alive and well in the cinema. Unlike other recent, more awkwardly translated book-to-film series (the “Harry Potter” movies comes to mind) the “Twilight” saga seems ideally suited for film. The tale is straightforward and linear yet epic and sweeping, the romance youthfully packed with guttural sensuality and intensity, every single character is sexier than the other, and every other scene practically begs for Hollywood enhancement. Part II of the saga does not disappoint – with a sumptuous score, lush cinematography, gorgeous cast and thrilling visuals fans of the novels will be enraptured, moved and even haunted by this very faithful and downright poetic retelling.

Non-fans will probably roll their eyes in how juvenile and melodramatic it all seems.

Whatevs.

Oh, right – for those of you not in the know (and who probably won’t see the film anyways) the plot involves a just turned 18 year old girl passionately in love with a cutie-patutie vampire. 2008’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” Robert Pattinson (if People Magazine says it, it has to be true) broods and broods and broods, looking as though he might cry at any moment but never shedding a blood tear. He decides early on it’s not safe to have him around, so disappears on his love, sending her into a spiral of nightmares, grief and despair (the passage of time is yet one of many, many subtle cinematic splendors the film has to offer). When she realizes only self-endangerment will make him appear to her (stunningly designed visions that fade into vapor) she’s on a risk-taking roll. Her best friend, the equally hunky Taylor Lautner (the audience literally gasped when his shirt first came off) is not amused by her antics, and can’t quite accept the gal of his dreams prefers a bloodsucker over him – although he has his own howling secret hiding in the closet (yet another thrilling series of special effects artwork). Following?

The story unfolds as a drama rather than action flick, and is far more achingly tender than one might expect (Billy Burke is especially successful in all too few scenes as a clueless but devoted dad). Anguish abounds, as does friendship, loyalty and protectiveness and – if the acting itself is mostly one note and occasionally a tad stilted (sorry, Taylor) – there is a soulfulness in the eyes that carries the day. If the penultimate climax feels more than a bit harried and rushed, the audience’s reaction to the film’s final moment is well worth moving things along at a fast clip.

For those of you wondering, Edward indeed gleams a bit better in the sunlight this time around as well.

If the names Bella, Edward and Jacob mean nothing to you, mayhap this is not the film for you. But, as someone who works at a pro-choice organization, I think my feminist credentials are pretty safe – I loves me some timeless teenage romance.

More movie info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259571/

Grade: A-

A sophisticated innocent must choose between the glamorous and the mundane in this abundantly rich character study of social expectations and mores in 1961 suburban London. One’s cup runneth over with how stereotypical every single character potentially could be, but how deeply complex and rewarding they actually are.

Great writing meets great performances.

Carey Mulligan is rather glorious as a 16 year old on the cusp of adulthood who follows the letter of the law as set down by an over-eager father – get perfect grades, cello as hobby, get into Oxford – while a rebellious and precocious streak percolates just beneath her surface. It’s no great plot surprise when she finds an older, more worldly man and his entourage undeniably alluring, but there is a pulsating pleasure far beyond her years, a joy in her corruption that is as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking. Parents are deceived with a twinkling eye, led down a garden path they so dearly want to be led down, a bit of charm and grace in lives far too static and stable.

As the corrupting influence, Peter Sarsgaard is a venomless villain – a crooked cad yet a captivating romantic, as trapped by circumstances of his own making as she is by her sex and class – his desire to be free, albeit pathetic and a tad pathological, is surprisingly multidimensional, sad and wanting.

The supporting cast is equally fine, especially Alfred Molina as a strict dullard of a dad who wants what’s best for his daughter in the confines of her limited possibilities – a scene it which he conveys without quite acknowledging his trust has been betrayed is so sadly tender it aches. Dominic Cooper is a coconspirator with a conscience (if only a touch of one) somewhat smarmy and willing to deceive but without relish. Rosamund Pike is effortless as an arm candy moll who has guiltlessly made her deal with the devil, and Olivia Williams is the grave teacher who cares, wound almost as severely as her hair but who sees the inevitable fall off a cliff with a single minded clarity of purpose.

There is an irresistible ease that permeates the film, the movie’s center deliriously culpable in her own seduction, less by the man of her infatuation than by all the hedonistic possibilities he represents – a life of music, fine dining, designer apparel and French cigarettes. When her principal (the always perfect Emma Thompson) effectively offers her a life of boredom, hard work, and ultimately the ability to teach or find work as a civil servant, we’re ready to run out the school house door faster than she is.

Nick Hornby has written a smart, crisp, understated screenplay that allows actors to plumb subtle depths of character and motivation, Director Lone Scherfig captures both the drab and repressive with the grand and carefree – somehow, she manages to make the torrential rain and dark clouds of London simultaneously sensual, playful, and yet at least somewhat foreboding.

In the end, innocence prolonged is perhaps more blissful than worldly experience. Perhaps, Paris is better experienced later in one’s life than earlier.

More Movie Info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1174732/