You've Got to See This: "Lantana" (2001)

Continuing my series highlighting movies you may not have seen (or in some cases, heard of), this week's movie is 2001's Lantana, an Australian movie which did get some acclaim here in the US. (Previous posts in the "You've Got to See This" series can be found here and here.)

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. And sometimes even when we don't.

A woman's body is found. Police detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia, in full-on Without a Trace taciturnity) is assigned to investigate. Zat has been cheating on his wife whom, in secret, has been seeing a psychiatrist (Barbara Hershey) whose own marriage is corroded by grief, as she thinks her husband (Geoffrey Rush, twitchy and secretive) is having an affair with a gay patient of hers. Late one night, the doctor skids off a back road, finds a call box, and tries in vain to reach her husband. She sees headlights and flags down the driver.

Leon's lover, Jane, is recently separated, and her neighbors include a muscular unemployed man. One night, Jane sees her neighbor park his truck and throw something into the lantana in a vacant lot. It's a woman's shoe.

The more Leon digs into what happened that night, the more it threatens to upend the lives of five different couples. The twists and turns keep coming, and the discoveries are at times shocking.

This is a tremendously well-acted, thought-provoking, and intelligent movie that will keep you wondering and pondering long after it is over. It's much more a movie of quiet moments than explosive ones, but if anything, that adds to its power. LaPaglia, Hershey, and Rush, as well as some of the supporting characters, give strong, believable performances.

Definitely one to add to your list.

You've Got to See This: "The Impostors" (1998)

Last week I started a new feature called "You've Got to See This," which will talk about movies I really enjoyed that you may not have seen (or in some cases, even heard of). This was inspired by a recent Entertainment Weekly feature called The 50 Best Movies You've Never Seen.

This week: 1998's The Impostors, a slapstick comedy directed by Stanley Tucci.

In 1996, Tucci and Oliver Platt directed and starred in Big Night, which told the story of two brothers whose Italian restaurant is failing, so they plan one special night to try and turn it around. In The Impostors, Tucci hoped to capture some similar magic, and brought a number of the actors from Big Night back.

Out-of-work actors Arthur (Tucci) and Maurice (Oliver Platt) are dejected about their failure to land work. When their heckling of famed thespian Sir Jeremy Burtom (Alfred Molina) leads Burtom to threaten the pair's lives, they stow away on a cruise ship. And wouldn't you know it, Burtom and his entourage end up on the ship as well, so Arthur and Maurice turn to disguises, hiding places, and general mischief in order to avoid the certainly inevitable chaos which is sure to ensure should Burtom find them.

The ship is populated by a number of interesting characters, including Campbell Scott as staff director Meistrich, who rules the ship with an iron fist and a monocle, and fancies head stewardess Lily (Lili Taylor), who is in love with ship detective Marco (Matt McGrath). Meanwhile, first mate Voltri (Tony Shalhoub) has plans to blow up the ship on behalf of his unnamed country, the morose Emily Essendine (Hope Davis) has taken a shine to suicidal lounge singer Happy Franks (Steve Buscemi), and a couple (Alison Janney and Richard Jenkins) have a major heist planned. Needless to say, major hijinks ensue.

The Impostors is definitely an homage to the slapstick comedies of yesterday. There is a great deal of broad physical comedy and farce in the movie, so if you're not a fan, this is probably not a movie for you. It's one of those movies to watch when you're in a carefree, humorous mood, and not looking for a movie that's intellectually stimulating. You can certainly tell that the actors had a lot of fun while making the film, and I can only imagine how many takes some of the scenes took, because many of the actors look like they're just on the verge of bursting into laughter more than a few times.

Is it a perfect film? Absolutely not. But it's zany, wacky, and a little stupid, and sometimes that's all I need to crack me up.

Watch the trailer.

You've Got to See This: "The Age of Innocence"

Entertainment Weekly recently ran a feature called "50 Best Movies You've Never Seen," a collection of independent movies, foreign films, and documentaries that might not have been seen (or even heard of) by moviegoers, particularly in this era of mega-multiplexes playing the same movies on several screens. Being the huge movie fan that I am, I've seen about 20 movies on this list.

Other than serving as a catalyst to add more movies to my Netflix queue, this feature inspired my thinking about those movies that blew me away which others might have missed, or not even heard of. (Sometimes when I'm discussing movies I've seen with friends, colleagues, or family, someone will ask, "Where did you even hear of that? I didn't know that movie existed!")

So I've decided to start a regular feature of my own called "You've Got to See This." This list will include movies I really enjoyed which you might not have had the chance to see in the theaters, which might not have played in your area, or which you might never had heard of. All of these might not be for everyone (and I'm even taking a few from Entertainment Weekly's list), but hopefully you'll find a few you'll enjoy.

First up (in no particular order): Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993).

Based on Edith Wharton's novel of the same name, there were a lot of expectations around this movie when it was released given its pedigree—Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder in a Joanne Woodward-narrated, Martin Scorsese-directed film. For reasons I don't quite understand, the movie didn't make the splash people thought it would, although it did receive five Oscar nominations, including a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Winona Ryder. (She won the Golden Globe Award that year for her performance.)

Newland Archer (Day-Lewis) is an affluent lawyer in 1870s New York, engaged to May Welland (Ryder), a beautiful socialite with very little desire to challenge the status quo or show any real passion for life. Newland begins to question the life he has planned for himself after the arrival of May’s cousin, the exotic, passionate, and sophisticated Countess Ellen Olenska (Pfeiffer). Ellen is seeking a divorce from her abusive husband, a Polish count, which has made her a social outcast and greatly displeases her family, who are afraid of scandal.

As Newland grows to love and care more and more deeply for Ellen, having convinced her not to press for a divorce, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with the society to which he belongs and the idea of entering into a passionless marriage with May. The question at this point, is whether he will follow society's expectations, or his heart. And he has some pointed assistance in making that decision.

I thought the performances of Pfeiffer, Day-Lewis, and Ryder were absolutely spot-on in this film. Pfeiffer's character burns with a fiery, unrequited desire, and a longing she is unable to make public. It is definitely one of her strongest performances and should have netted her another Oscar nomination. A scene with her and Day-Lewis in a carriage—with them fully dressed in period clothes—has more passion than movie scenes in which actors wear far less. Ryder gives the performance of her career (I think she should have won the Oscar that year), as a seemingly naive girl with far more intelligence than she lets on, and Day-Lewis brings an understated calmness you don't usually see in his performances.

Some found the movie's pacing a little slow, and expected more fire, more passion in the plot, but in my opinion, those that did failed to understand Wharton's book and/or the time in which it was set. Yes, this is a period piece, but the love story at its core is very real and believable. This is a very different film than you usually see from Martin Scorsese, with a gentleness I didn't really see again until Hugo last year.

Watch the trailer.