Ed's Review Dot Com

Peace Film

Danny Glover, Nia Long, Evan Ross, Summer Bishil, Roger Guenveur Smith, Kunal Sharma, Dorian Missick, Peter Carey, Stacie Hadgikosti, Kimberley Drummond, Dredan McFall

In his first year of college Tariq (Evan Ross) has begun questioning his beliefs and his life so far. He’s been raised in a strict Muslim school and being pushed by his father extremely hard to stick to the Muslim ways. Abused by the professors and forced to memorize over half the Koran, Tariq has now changed his name to “T” and though his father insisted he be placed with a Muslim roommate, he is pretty fed up and wants some freedom to live life as he wants. His mother (Nia Long) is on his side, but his father is very harsh. Told through flashbacks to Tariq’s childhood, we begin to see why his is like he is. Suddenly the attacks of 9/11 hit, and life changes for all Muslim people as everyone is a suspect now. Tariq has some hard questions to answer as he sees the affects of 9/11 on the school and the country as a whole.

This is a very touching film. It does not take a particular side and tries really hard to show the life of a Muslim child who’s father was a radical in the 60’s fighting with the likes of the Black Panthers and Malcolm X, but it is now a new century and trying to force his son to be like him doesn’t really work anymore. His mother supports dad, but also loves and cares for her son and knows something is wrong. His sister is in the middle and not sure where to go. T’s friends also can’t understand why he’s like he is. It’s a matter of understanding Tariq’s life and what he’s endured to please his father. This helps up understand him a lot better and makes sense of the senseless things he does. Then his eyes are opened at the hatred faced after 9/11. This is a very good study of Muslim culture and helps us understand where they are coming from as well. It’s very well done, not one sided, and a real good character study. I wasn’t expecting a lot from a movie about this, but it was way better than I expected. It was a definite plus, and a good look at what it’s like to be raised in an environment where you are expected to meet the requirements of a fanatical parent. Many people in many cultures have grown up in an environment such as this. All sides of the family are shown and it’s easy to see why the dynamics are like they are. Danny Glover plays the dean of the college who is at odds with a somewhat radical teacher whose not really doing anything wrong, but for the wrong reasons. He’s at odds over finances and donations that could be affected. But the dean of a college has to worry about things like this or there is no more college. Still, Glover is good in his role, as always, but it’s under used and could easily have been left out of the story as it’s mostly just a distraction at this point.

But all in all MOOZ-lum works and is a really decent film. If you’re a fan of dramatic character driven films, or remotely curious in Muslim life, this film will not disappoint.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Mandalay Vision, Saint Aire Production, 10th Hole Productions

Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Yaya DaCosta, Kunal Sharma, Eddie Hassell, Zosia Mamet, Joaquin Garrido, Robecca Lawrence

Nic and Jules (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) are committed in a loving, but certainly strained, relationship.  Each was artificially inseminated and they had two children, a boy and a girl.  Nic is a doctor and s very controlling and demanding whereas Jules is kind of happy to have someone in charge as she is very insecure, and has struggled with her brand new career as a landscaper.  In the past she has failed at most jobs and spent most of the time as a stay at home mom.  The children Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutherson) are teens, Joni is 18 and Laser is 15.   Laser very much wants to know who their sperm donor father is, but you must be 18 to inquire and if the donor refuses it is kept secret.  Laser begs Joni to request the name.   The father is Paul (Mark Ruffalo) a co-op farmer and a restaurant owner, though he has always shirked any kind of responsibility.  Reluctantly Joni agrees to try to contact him for her brother.  They meet, but both Paul and Laser want to try to build some kind of bond, so they start to bring Paul into the family bit by bit.  The mom’s agree, for Laser’s sake, but it gets uncomfortable as he gets more and more involved.  Paul hires Jules to landscape his yard, and the two spend much more time in the bedroom than actually working on the yard.  This triggers Nic’s jealousy and as things progress it really gets out of control for everyone.

This is a strange film.  I cannot say I was completely blown away by it, neither did I hate it.  Sort of like a syncopated rhythm, it keeps you off balance all the time and you always feel you’re a little too close to the edge of the cliff and about to fall all the time.  If I were to describe it, like Stephen Wright once said,  “You know that feeling when you’re leaning back on your chair and it goes a little too far and you feel like you’re going to fall but you catch yourself at the last second???  Well I feel like that all the time.”   That’s the feeling this movie gives.  It’s nice that Jules has feelings for Paul, but what the heck?  Everyone is pretty creepy and a little off.  Eventually though, most of the chaos gets resolved, and all in all it’s not a bad movie.  It’s just not hitting on all cylinders and missing the mark a little bit.  For example, the love scenes between Jules and Paul are not extremely graphic, but it feels really uncomfortable watching it, and I found myself looking away, feeling almost embarrassed for the actress.  Also, there seemed to be something going on between Paul and his daughter Joni, but that is too creepy to even think about.  It’s only hinted, but it also causes you to feel uncomfortable.  Perhaps that’s what the director is going for, an uncomfortable and unflinching look at real life without any filters.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog