THE HUMBLING ***
Director Barry Levinson has always been interested in male anxiety, conceiving works that look at men’s desperation throughout a crisis. His satirical vision created great examples such as “Good Morning, Vietnam”, “Wag the Dog” and “Man of the Year”. After some years in absence, he returns with this irreverent black comedy, which the main character seems to be a mirror for himself as a director and for Al Pacino as an actor. Based on the novel by Phillip Roth, the film follows the delusions experienced by an aging actor, who failed a suicide attempt on stage and is now trying to reorganize his life and career. The fear of being forgotten, the insecurity of loneliness, the transformations of weakness in his body and the uncertainty about whether he still wants to pursue a new step in life or not, will be replaced by an exciting series of events popping up in his front door. Back from rehab, he receives an irresistible visitor, who’s the daughter of his long-time friends; much younger, freshly out of a lesbian relationship, vulnerable and in heat, she says: “I’ve been thinking about you inappropriately since when it was really inappropriate”. So, why not? He’s broke, trying to gather the pieces left of his choices, alone, getting older and sicker, so why not surrender to her seduction? From that point on, he decides he’ll see the world as he pleases, not really considering what’s being said by her or others, just following his instincts, which despite his usual pains, has returned with the vigor of a teenager experiencing love for the first time. In a sense, Levinson is working on his own personal artistic crisis as a filmmaker in modern-days industry, while Pacino is trying to remark he’s still got it as one of the greatest actors the world has ever seen. The screenplay is very smart, adding up eccentric characters that keep knocking on his door: her ex-lovers, a neurotic woman, a transgender, his agent, her parents, and most ironic a woman who’s persuading him to kill her abusive husband. Funny and wild, Levinson extracts reasonably good performances from his entire cast, including Dianne Wiest and Kyra Sedgwick, serving up a hilarious take on a man’s crisis, with references to the confusions so present in Woody Allen’s world.
DVD: VERONICA
In the Brazilian drama “Once Upon a Time Veronica”, Hermila Guedes shines as a young doctor seeking self-identity in urban Recife, while criticizing the country’s health system. The jazzy music, and the sumptuous cinematography capturing architectural angles of people, bodies and landscapes, makes the film an exhilarating manifestation of a new cinematic language, Pernambuco style.
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