Spanglish

7 out of 7

James L. Brooks writes and directs a great story with even better acting in Spanglish (2004), which traces the life of a mother-daughter combination who illegally immigrate to America for a chance at a better life.

Life is rosy for the duo in Los Angeles (48-percent Hispanic) until Cristina (Shelbie Bruce) begins adolescence and Flor’s (Paz Vega), her mother’s, maternal instinct kicks in and necessitates that she leaves her two jobs for one that will permit her evenings at home. As such, she finds her way into the Clasky household as a housekeeper and soon finds herself intertwined with the family and all of their drama. Complicating matters is a summer home that both Flor and Cristina move into with the Clasky’s so that Flor can keep her employment. Once there, a faux-romance is kindled between John Clasky (Adam Sandler) and Flor and Flor must combat the influence of her Anglo-employers, particularly Deborah Clasky (Tea Leoni), on her daughter, who fights between her heritage and her society. Simultaneous to the struggle of Cristina and Flor is the mounting problems between John and Deborah, particularly around issues of child rearing and fidelity.

The film shows just how intertwined lives can become when they all must co-exist under one roof. It does a great job of staying light enough to keep the viewer laughing, while not shirking its responsibilities to its heavier issues (multilingualism, fidelity, child-rearing, cross-culture struggles).

The film is benefited from acting that is nothing less than stellar from every cast member. It is rare to find a film where there is no critique and only compliments of every line, every expression, every pause, breath and sigh. Furthermore, Brooks writes little morals into the story, though with a style that is far removed from didacticism. For instance, when Evelyn (Cloris Leachman), Deborah’s mother, confronts her about her affair, she says, in response to Deborah’s claim that her mother has lowered her self-esteem, that “Lately, your low self-esteem is just good common sense.” Such poignant and calmly delivered lines make this film a pleasure to watch time and again.

Finally, the film achieves a sort of realism that does justice to its sensitive topics, as well as allows certain personal and cultural issues to be worked out in as real a manner as possible on the screen so as to help the viewer work through the same issues in their own lives. This is truly a story that exists to be engaged with by the viewer and can enrich that life thereafter.

16 Blocks

3 out of 7

Bruce Willis updates (though not officially) his character from the Die Hard Trilogy, John McClane, as he plays aging detective Jack Mosley in this uninteresting, stereotypical cop drama.

16 Blocks (2006) traces a morning’s events as Mosley tries to get Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) from a jail cell to a court house in time for Bunker’s trial. What Mosley doesn’t know is that Bunker is schedule to testify that morning against many of Mosley’s colleagues, including his former partner of 20 years. Vengeance and violence ensues as Mosley tries to escort Bunker the “16 blocks” (eh? Isn’t that witty?) to the courthouse. The real “drama” unfolds when it’s discovered that Bunker’s testimony would also indict Mosley in some of his own corrupt behavior and have legal consequences for him. Thus, Mosley’s aiding of Bunker becomes an exercise in responsibility and redemption. Through this little twist comes the film’s ultimate message (which later adorns a cake – you’ll just have to watch it to understand) of “People can change.”

Sadly, while the film’s message is nice, the means it employs to get to it are boring and trite. The action sequences are good enough, but better ones have been done (see: the Die Hard Trilogy), thus there is no real reason to watch this film.

The Matador

2 out of 7

Pierce Bronson kills off his James Bond persona in The Matador (2005), as he tries to show the actual consequences of just such an espionage lifestyle. Unfortunately, the film isn’t about James Bond, a character which millions care about and has traversed at least 2 generations, but about a character named Julian Noble (his last name undoubtedly a pun meant to illicit a favorable response from the viewer) and since this movie isn’t about James Bond, it suffers from “why should I care” syndrome.

The Matador is about a hapless salesman, Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) and a professional hitman (Bronson), who get entangled in an odd friendship while on business in Mexico City. Noble shows Wright the ropes of killing a man and Wright shows Noble just what is lacking in his life (assumably, though never directly stated, the love of a good woman). After their odd encounter, the film follows Noble as his skills begin to wane due to the psychological pressure of the job. No amount of smoking, drinking and carousing with women will make Noble the hitman he once was and soon he is “out” and running for his life. After a late-night intrusion on Wright and his wife “Bean” (Hope Davis), Wright must travel from Denver to Phoenix to help Noble in one last hit to clear his name. The hit goes well enough and Noble is able to leave Wright free of any danger. Sadly, this poorly composed paragraph does the film justice.

The film suffers, undoubtedly, from some pacing issues. It spends too much time watching Noble either succeed or fail at his job (and all the drunken ribaldry that goes with it) and not enough time creating a single, real emotional attachment to his character. Wright, on the other hand, is a little more accessible (certainly a commentary on the acting abilities of Bronson versus Kinnear), but the film isn’t about him (it is, after all, titled The Matador). Similarly, the actual conflict (Noble’s need to clear his name and save his life) isn’t revealed until 30 minutes left in the film and is then resolved with 10 minutes left in the film, thus, the entirety of the plot (as plots are defined by conflict and resolution) takes all of 20 minutes and, considering that the rest of the time does little for character development, the whole piece feels like a waste.

The only interesting point of the whole film is that it tries to flesh out exactly what would happen to a person whose life is centered on death and deceit. Of course, though, if one needs a film to understand that, one might find oneself in a bad place personally. Thus, the whole film can be chalked up to an okay story told poorly.