THE FACEBOOK

I don’t facebook. I don’t tweet. I barely text (I had to learn because it’s the only way my kids want to communicate). I can’t believe that these websites have turned into verbs, and how quickly.

But there is no denying that Facebook is a phenomenon, and The Social Network portrays its rise and trajectory in a smart and stylish way, turning a cultural and technological explosion into dramatic storytelling that grabs our interest and doesn’t let go.

Played as a borderline Asperger’s syndrome sufferer by Jesse Eisenberg, TheFacebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg is shown right away as extremely intelligent, socially inept and altogether human when he blogs about his breakup with Erica Albright (Rooney Mara). Yet he is inexplicably able to attract one “normal” friend: Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), a Brazilian finance major at Harvard, where they are both trying to gain acceptance and meet girls. In fact, it is this desire to lash out at Erica that drives the idea of TheFacebook’s predecessor, facemash.com.

This movie was so intriguing that I spent an hour the next day googling (another techno-verb!) the real people and listening to interviews to see how accurately they were portrayed. As Mark Zuckerberg has often stated, it wasn’t quite as exciting and dramatic in real life, but “it’s a movie…they are trying to tell a good story.”

Told both in the present, during which Zuckerberg is deposed in two lawsuits, and interspersed with flashbacks to the events being described, a picture emerges of this idea that catches on like wildfire: connecting with other students online to share information, pictures, and relationship status (because after all, they are trying to meet girls!). At first limited to Harvard email addresses to give it exclusivity to set it apart from Friendster and MySpace, it progressed to include a few hundred colleges before exploding with the encouragement of bad-boy visionary Sean Parker, Napster founder, deliciously west coast rock star sleazily played by Justin Timberlake.

Accused of stealing their concept and developing it on his own by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (tall hunky crew-rowing twins ingeniously played by Armie Hammer and Josh Pence with a healthy dose of CGI and blurred photography) and their partner Divya Narendra, Zuckerberg is at turns condescending and wounded, his two-note emotional repertoire.

The movie follows facebook’s (dropping the “the” along the way) leap into venture capitalism, silicon-valley startup offices, treachery, betrayal and the milestone of 100 million users (it is now reported to have over 500 million active users and is annoyingly prevalent at the bottom of almost every website with its own “f” link). Ultimately the lawsuits are settled, people move on, and Mark Zuckerberg is still thinking about Erica Albright, because after all, we all want to be loved, even if we can only be friends.

The EVENT Part 2

Well, I’m still DVRing and watching The Event on Monday nights. It’s intriguing, and thankfully they seem to be lessening the dreaded “flashbacks.” I’m liking the character development of Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) and his girlfriend. I’ll keep watching and hoping the improvement continues. One thing that sets it apart from its “Lost”-like plot is the way several questions get answered each week instead of leading to too many other tangents.

SECRETARIAT

I just went to my own mini-marathon of movies: 1 each day for the last 4 days. Yesterday I saw Secretariat with my mom. First let me say that it is a Disney movie, so it is gorgeous to look at. The cinematography was beautiful, and was often filmed to show the events seemingly through the horse’s viewpoint. Here, horse racing is truly presented as the sport of kings, with regal contenders eager to prevail through physical force and a champion’s will.

The interesting twist is that Secretariat’s champion is a sharp, tough housewife, Penny Tweedy (nee Chenery) played by Diane Lane. Lane is one of my favorite actresses, indeed probably for most woman over forty: youthful, vulnerable, sincere but with an inner strength that ultimately succeeds. Here, her character goes through the usual dismissals of her resolve and competence in an era when women’s lib was just starting.

After her mother’s death and downward slide of her beloved father’s cognitive health, she wrestles trying to decide between closing their family farm at a loss or try to build its value for eventual sale. Flying between her upscale suburban life with husband and four kids in Colorado and the farm in Virginia, she somehow manages a crash course in the professional horse breeding business, holds off her snarky brother who wants to liquidate, and makes risky decisions everyone thinks are best left to men. I was amazed that she juggled these two lives over several years while she was developing the colt she gambled on in a coin toss who went on to become Secretariat.

And his story is remarkable. Beginning with his birth, where seasoned trainer Lucien Laurin (played to great eccentric but a big softy effect by John Malkovich), Penny, her loyal assistant Miss Ham and stable hand Eddie Sweat declare that they’ve never seen a foal stand so quickly after being born, he grows into Big Red, a name they continued to call him all his life. He seemed know what was going on around him, casually living up to their hopes of a race horse that would have both speed and stamina.

The rest is history, but I didn’t remember the amazing feat of his triple crown win, his times and margins of winning still untouched today. What is great about this movie, where the story’s outcome is already known, is the drama and excitement that the director and writers generated about the daring gambles Penney Tweedy took, laying everything and then some on the line in her belief in her horse and her team with little support. The races themselves were edge-of-the-seat exhilarating as Secretariat became a gladiator literally running away with the hearts and dreams of all who were there to witness.

THE (NON) EVENT

My interest was certainly piqued by the cryptic ads for the new television series, “The Event,” on Monday nights on NBC, but they’re trying way too hard to be mysterious.

I love science fiction and reveled in series like SURFACE and INVASION. Even The 4400, which never came back after four seasons. My favorite was THRESHOLD.

Unfortunately, the shows seem to get to a point where the implausibility catches up to them and our interest wanes, or the writers can't find another plot twist, so they get cancelled without wrapping up anything. It’s a bummer.

But anyway, I had high hopes for THE EVENT, and I’ll give it another week to see if the promise continues. Here's my take:

First of all, stop trying to be all confusing like LOST. I lost count of the number of flashbacks (not in any chronological order) going back and forth, with glimpses of “three hours ago,” eleven days ago,” etc. PLEASE!!! That’s why I finally had to stop watching the excellent DAMAGES on FX; way too confusing. And LOST lost me after 3 seasons. Also HEROES, which became so convoluted I couldn’t keep track of the double crossing.

Secondly, the dialogue echoes the film INDEPENDENCE DAY when the (government?) scientist deadpans to president Martinez (in an interesting diversity twist, as all the recent movies about disasters, the evils of man ruining the earth, etc. feature a black president---ho hum, we have one already!---this show uses a black actor, the excellent Blair Underwood, to play a latino!) “I haven’t told you everything, Mr. President.” The implication is that we are going to find out that aliens have something to do with THE EVENT and the inevitable conspiracy theory of a secret government coverup. I sure hope so, and I also hope if they do have aliens that they aren’t ridiculous looking.

I’d say the best aliens in a movie were the ones in SIGNS by M Night Shyamalan. There were a lot of hints and near sightings, and when they finally were seen, they were believable. By the way, who names their kid M Night anyway? Do you think it’s just a cool nickname, a contraction of "midnight" perhaps? Do you think he made it up for himself? But I’m digressing, much like these circuitous plot lines.

I’m wondering if they actually explain what THE EVENT is, will they still have a story?

I’ll watch it again next week and see.

CHILLED TO THE BONE

Winter’s Bone is a glimpse into a world you didn’t know existed. This winner of the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize paints a cold grey dog-tired landscape of dreary trash-strewn poverty. Not dirty rotting trash, but broken toy parts, rusted auto parts and plywood planks. It’s as if everything is either rescued from the dump, or has been laying around the yard so long no one notices it anymore. It’s a cliché come to life, but you are uncomfortable realizing it might be real.

Into this bleak life we are introduced to the resilient Ree Dolly, played by Jennifer Lawrence. She’s taken on the responsibility of raising her younger brother and sister because her mother is near-catatonic and her father is on the lam. In the midst of making potato soup, shepherding the kids to school and teaching them survival skills, she is told that her father has jumped bail. A bail for which he has put up their family home and land as collateral, and if he does not show up for his hearing, the property will be seized.

The younger children are still blissfully oblivious to the threat of homelessness, shielded by big sister, and are content to play among hay bales, pieces of plywood and a trampoline between survival lessons on how to load shotguns, skin their dinner and make squirrel stew.

With more bravery than sense, Ree persists in trying to track down her father, going to places that have an unwritten rule not to visit, lest someone hears of it or your association with them leads to the law paying a visit. Because in this place, there’s only lawlessness and an almost tribal code.

One wonders what people here in the Ozark Mountains do for a living, because it is a meager existence. The implication is moonshine, pot and crystal meth, all substances that can be made or grown on the vast forbidding territory that is filmed to show its dreariness.

Just like the back woods stereotype, everyone’s related in some way, and a favorite expression about the Dollys is “Dolly bred and buttered.” Ree says this with pride and irony as she defends herself against these people who have devolved into an evil secretive cult-like existence.

As Ree continues her quest, with paltry assistance from friends and relatives (which are usually accompanied by threats or violence), we think this marvelous, tough, capable girl can rise above her miserable life and terrible circumstances to escape and have a better life. And she is determined; she will do anything to save her homestead, and I mean anything. It’s heartbreaking to see the resolution of her father’s disappearance and how she has to prove it.

We see her try to sign up for the army so she can get the cash bonus that might pay the bounty hunter for her bail-jumping father’s debt. We fantasize that after she gets exposed to the rest of the world, she may have a chance.

But when she’s finally back home sitting with her brother and sister, youngsters who had to fend for themselves while Ree searched, she’s asked by them, “Are you gonna leave?” Ree replies, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Sadly, for her, it’s probably true.

COCO After Chanel

First of all, they sure smoked a lot of cigarettes back then. It was kind of distracting; I kept waiting for someone to get accidentally singed as cigarettes were dangerously hanging loose out of mouths or carelessly dangling between fingers.

Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky was a gorgeous film set in the nineteen twenties, after Coco became an established and sought after fashion designer/brand and while Igor Stravinsky was in exile from Russia and not yet appreciated for his striking music compositions.

Based on a rumor, the story begins on an opening night of the Russian Ballet in Paris choreographed no less by Vaslav Nijinsky, to music by Stravinsky. The theatre is aghast at this commanding and aggressive performance in both music and dance. It is a disaster, but Coco sees a kindred spirit for the outre in Stravinsky that attracts her.

Played by Anna Mouglalis, Coco is not classically beautiful, but handsome and elegant. She manages to capture the cool confidence of a woman ahead of her time: powerful and controlling. In fact, very masculine traits dressed up chicly with no care for convention. Her costumes are magnificent.

She sees parallels between herself and Igor (played by Mads Mikkelsen), both radical in their ideas, and some years later invites him with his whole family to come live at her summer villa outside Paris so he can compose. And what a property; as an interior designer, I found myself wishing to have her decorator (there’s a particular duvet cover in one lovemaking scene that I’d die for!) At the height of the Art Deco period, the entire house is glamorously bedecked, one room more luxurious than the next, but it’s hardly a family home. Every room is a variation in black and white with silver or gold accents. When asked by Igor’s wife Katerina, “don’t you like color, Mademoiselle?,” Coco replies, “As long as it is black.”

Who could have thought this was a good idea? Katerina is obviously uneasy with the arrangement, but won’t deny her husband’s chance at patronage. It was inevitable that Coco and Igor would become lovers, two strong creative personalities flirting with this possibility. When she decides that the time is right (because she will control everything), she seduces him with not so much as a first kiss before they strip naked and make love on a thin dhurrie rug in the study he uses as his composing room. Although he may kid himself that he is the man in this relationship, Coco has the upper hand and Igor is ultimately rendered impotent because he is at her whim. She needs such control that she bankrolls the ballet’s season anonymously, insuring that he will have work composing to support his family. You can see the turning point when after enduring their brazen affair, his family leaves and Igor realizes he has lost them for a woman he will never really have.

And what does Coco truly want out of this? She doesn’t need him to leave his wife for her; she can have him right under her nose in the same house. It’s as if she didn’t think it all the way through, toying with the lives of others for selfish pleasure, and she would never be satisfied anyway with a man she could “buy.”

So again, inevitably, they must break up. One could argue that all the passion and drama led to some of Stravinsky’s best compositions, and they are both shown in a collage of future and flashback scenes (great aging makeup) that seems to imply that they never got over each other, but we know that they were both very successful in the end.

EAT PRAY WHINE About It

I loved the book. I carried it around and bought copies for my girlfriends. And as with most stories, the book is better than the movie.

I wanted to love the movie, and for the most part, I did. But I don’t remember so much whining, so much angst about what seems like a pretty good life.

Julia Roberts is wonderfully expressive. Perhaps it was the dialogue, but much of her questioning of her life and its meaning fell flat and vapid. I found myself wondering “What does she have to complain about?” She keeps looking for meaning through others, but when they move to be that, she shies away.

The movie seems like four movies: the initial questioning of her life and marriage, the ITALY section, the INDIA section, and the BALI section. Even though a good amount of time was spent on each part, I never felt like the movie was dragging or too long at 133 minutes. I felt like she wasted the India section (very unappealing to me, especially after Italy’s orgy of tastes, language, scenery and lovable new-found friends). One of the story's central characters, "Richard from Texas" (played by Richard Jenkins) was so annoying that I wanted to get away from him myself. When at last he reveals his history, his platitudes and Buddhism instructions feel contrived and show him to be as human and flawed as everyone, and he is still searching after years. Is this to be her fate also?

Javier Bardem is perfectly cast as Felipe, a Brazilian importer living in Bali. He's sweetly lovable, and at the same time manifestly male. He's the kind of man that makes you yearn for a second chance. But again, somehow, Liz manages to get cold feet when he gets too close.

I went back to the book when I got home and found the inconsistencies in the adaptation from book to movie that contributed to my disappointment: in the book, Liz does not reject Felipe’s declaration of love and suggestion of an unorthodox committed relationship, she embraces it. I guess the screenwriters felt we needed a little extra “drama” and conflict to resolve. It felt clichéd, and because Liz was played by Julia Roberts, I was reminded of her character in Runaway Bride. It’s never good when you recognize the actress instead of the character.

Oh well, I still want to go to Italy and have spontaneous travelling experiences. I just won't have the cushion of a book advance to allow me to ditch everything and say que sera....