“Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”

How can a movie have such an incredible cast and such superb acting and still sink to mediocre? Poor screenwriting, I’d answer. Film reel credits for Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, and Julie Walters entice and draw us in, only to have us wonder why anyone cares about a true story of an aging narcissist. Gloria Grahame is our  subject. Grahame was in over 38 films, and was nominated for the Oscars’  “Best Supporting Actress” twice. She was married four times, and scandalously married the son of her second husband.

The film “ Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool” centers on another relationship with a much younger man, three decades younger. Peter Turner’s story is the crux of the film. He accepts her, loves her, and is hurt by her. She is diagnosed with breast cancer, keeps it from him, but when it reoccurs  she seeks solace with his, the Turner, family in Liverpool.

The 1951 sex scandal aftermath and Gloria’s four word acceptance utterance ( “Thank you very much” ) are screened. “ The Bold and the Beautiful” ( 1953 ) seemed to be the title of her life story. Bening does not play to type here. Gloria is obsessed with her looks, spends much of her time before the mirror, and generally is unlikeable. Her painful descent into stomach cancer includes a scene where she asks Peter to burp her. Flash back to their earlier flirty days makes the depressing demise of the deluded star bearable, but just. We see them viewing ‘Alien” together.

Peter is an actor too. They talk about the craft. Gloria likes  monologues because, “ you get to say all the lines”. She confesses that she would have liked to have played Shakespeare’s Juliet. One of most touching scenes has Peter taking the sick Gloria  on a field trip where they sit on stage and perform a scene as Romeo and Juliet. It is sad, heartfelt, and a balance from sex, sin, and salvation where they watch reruns of her old movies on red sheets.

Gloria spends a lot of time ordering Peter around. She sends him to health food stores for apricot kernels and black grapefruit juice. She refuses to call any of her four children, all as young as Peter. She continues to be demanding, hyper-sensitive , and distant. Peter lovingly packs her suitcase for her death trip to NYC., and she leaves a headshot from her earlier days for him on the chenille bedspread.

The sound track is abysmal. When we hear “slip, slipping away” the gag reflex hits. “You really got a hold on me” makes us yell out the question, “why?”. This film never makes the attraction clear.

“Danny Collins”

What an incredibly well-acted “slice of life” drama awaits in the film “Danny Collins”! Al Pacino’s charm and depth captivated me. I was ready for a has-been debauched old stoner, not for a self-deprecating and self-reflective “heart-of-golder”. Pacino is marvelous. He makes you care about him because of his flaws, not despite of them.

The storyline is all too familiar. A talented young lyricist’s earnestness gives way to selling out for fame and remuneration. Major mistakes are made and regret takes hold. Pacino’s Danny knows that fame and money open doors,but it is not enough. The way these advantages are used is central to underscoring his self-distain.”I haven’t written a song in thirty years. I was the real thing once. I gave up. I’m broken.” He is worldly tired of people’s response to his fame.  Yet, Pacino plays Danny as personable and playful,rather than depressive. His funny “I like your lawn” brings laughs, but somehow he seems genuine.He has the performer’s need to please.Drugs are the aged rock star’s crutch. We just put up with his unbuttoned shirt,neck scarf and chest hair. Forget the dye,drink and polish.

Supporting cast members are flawless,too. Christopher Plummer,as manager Frank,doubles as savvy friend and wise sage. Annette Bening is so real in her print blouses and patter that you appreciate how she can keep in character and not outshine the lead because we know she is capable! Her Mary Sinclair is solid and honest,and yet surprised by how smitten she is with Danny’s attention. Jennifer Garner is fresh and different as daughter-in-law Samantha, a role that could have been easy to schlep through. Her facial control and line delivery near perfect. “Shame on you,you missed out on the perfect daughter-in-law” was understated,but heartfelt.Bobby Cannavale has the hardest part. He makes sick, angry and appreciative meld with exasperated, scared and nurturing. He has so many emotions to portray that the viewer’s own rise and fall at roller coaster speed. If the above is not a call to view this movie on the big screen, consider the best performance ever by a first-grader in need of an IEP (Independent Educational Plan).Giselle Eisenberg’s energy exhausts you,but keeps you smiling long after she exits the screen. As the symbolically named “Hope”,I found her spontaneous,and well ~amazing. The backyard- kiddy- pool scene is evocative of every postage-stamp-backyard family. Her answering the front door is adorable and singing “itsey-bitsey spider” and repeating her father’s slow nose-breathing poem will melt every grandparents’heart.

In fact,this film is scene driven often with two people in dialogue. No fancy camera work or scenery, here. The final setting in a doctor’s examination room is a stunner. Down to the tap on the door, we are there director-Dan Fogelman-style.

While the symbolism is a tad overdone,that framed prized letter from John Lennon unites Danny’s progression from awed-desire to letting-it-go gift-giving. Be prepared for good dialogue and snappy humor. “Hey,Sylvia Plath”, “gumming licorice for two hours”, and “that’s fucked-up in a lot of ways” and “wear a shirt with some buttons”,”sweet and weird like I like them” all resonate in a long,but smart script.

The Beatle’s lyrics “love is real” and “Love is wanting to be loved” and Danny’s “Autumn leaves do fall” work as layers on a theme. “I’m walking blind on this road in search of higher ground.Don’t look back,don’t look down” does not seem coying. It fits like the bag of bagels.Danny’s huge tour bus pulling away from a residential New Jersey curb tears off tree limbs and leaves a great frame of Tom Donnelly (Cannavale) amidst twenty bags of Toys R Us detritus. As a sub-theme states “Only you can corrupt your art”. This is a chord this film does not play as Pacino lets go of his past and “lives for today”. A tad schmaltzy,but an actor’s must see.

“The Face Of Love”

“The Face of Love” is a great Friday night film with a nod to Alfred Hitchcock and a wink to the only child.I prefer obsessive love noir films like Truffaut’s “Adelle H”. And this B class psychological thriller mixes grief and doppelganger allure in scary and humorous ways. My mind kept jumping ahead guessing and adjusting for all the possible endings. As a just- functioning widow, Annette Bening shows a fear I have never seen on her usual  pixie face . It rather shook me. The games the mind can play. Ed Harris is equally as good playing the sappy new lover and then the outraged lost -husband double. The late Robin Williams plays an unusual role as neighbor and anamoured confidente. He is self-aware, vulnerable and intense just like we have come to expect and miss.The cast is superb and as believable as your imagination will let you believe given the definable disorders and denials of reality in play.

The tension is tight as we wait to see this tale unwind. Subjects of grief and loss go way beyond Kubler-Ross. Real love as muse or mate really isn’t fundamental to this film. It is what the mind can conjure.

I would not have chosen the L.A. and sunny Mexican locales as setting, but then again, “Rebecca” has already been made and the water imagery is still put to good use. See this for yourself and let me read your comments.