Looking for Eric (2009)

An on-going discussion regarding the best movie watched in 2011, Looking for Eric is likely the one. This was a year of excellent movies viewed, including Up, Whip It, The King’s Speech, Mary and Max, Bridesmaids, Beginners, Boy (a very close second), Exit Through the Gift Shop (a near tie with LFE), Fish Tank and TiMER), so why does Looking for Eric stand out?

You experience every emotion as you watch. Looking for Eric delves into depression, camaraderie and friendship, love lost, complicated family issues, divorce, redemption, honesty, new love, violence, sports, lost dreams and discovering you can change a lousy existence.

Our postal carrier protagonist Eric (Steve Evets) is a broken man. Two failed marriages, two unruly step-sons and three decades of regret. Eric keeps his mess to himself, that is until he starts having visions of his favorite footballer—former Manchester United player Eric Cantona. Cantona pushes Eric to revisit the mistakes he’s made and share his struggles instead of keeping them to himself. He encourages Eric to own up, open up and make changes.

This is a complex and layered story as Eric holds onto a huge regret that he cannot surpass. He has a miserable relationship with his two step-sons, Ryan (Gerard Kearns) and Jess (Stefan Gumbs). The only sunshine in his life are his daughter, Sam (Lucy-Jo Hudson), his granddaughter, Daisy (Cole and Dylan Williams) and his favorite team Manchester United and footballer Eric “King Eric” Cantona. As the world conspires to push Eric out of his comfort zone with his step-son, Ryan, his first ex-wife Lily (Stephanie Bishop) who he hasn’t seen in 30 years and a local thug, Zac (Steve Marsh), who threatens his family, Eric will come out transformed but will he find himself and win back his life? (Tip: View with subtitles to ensure you don’t miss any of the good stuff. Otherwise, they speak 2 fast, 2 furious, and with very strong accents.)

Director: Ken Loach

Country: UK

Genre: Drama + Comedy

Run time: 116 minutes

Scale: 5

Allt flyter (The Swimsuit Issue) (2008)

Allt flyter tackled the dramatic rendition of the documentary Men Who Swim about Sweden’s all-men synchronized swimming team. They start the team of nine on a lark and soon possess the goal of representing Sweden in the Olympics.

Crank Fredrik (Jonas Inde) gets the idea to start the team. He’s a sporty guy but not one whom you want to spend much time. His teenage daughter, Sara (Amanda Davin) has a difficult time with him. Their relationship is transformed when he asks her for help training the team; she becomes their coach.

Watching them on their journey builds suspense and empathy. They are passionate about succeeding; even ribbing doesn’t deter them. Fredrik and Sara bond and you get a curve-ball at the end. Allt flyter takes it’s time telling its tale. You don’t get  get to know much about the teammates outside of the swimming and their shared goal.

Co-writer/Director: Måns Herngren

Country: Sweden

Genre: Dramedy

Run time: 99 minutes

Scale: 3

Frozen (2010)

The description for Frozen appeared promising and as the movie rolled, its close-ups, 3rd-wheel tension and lack-of-enough-money-for-three-lift-tickets-what-will-we-do situation set you up. I wish it had continued in this vein.

Vernal couple Parker (Emma Bell) and Dan (Kevin Zegers) take a snowboarding trip accompanied by Dan’s best friend Lynch (Shawn Ashmore). The friction between the three increases as Lynch vocalizes his resentment of losing his best friend to the his new girlfriend. Her novice snowboarding skills fuel the ire by limiting the number of runs Lynch and Dan can make. Lynch and Parker trade barbs. Dan is caught in between (literally and figuratively). Lynch pushes for one more run just before the ski area is to close for the week but unfortunate timing lands the three stuck on a chair lift at the top of the mountain with no one nearby to assist them.

As the three contemplate their situation, they fail to realize the severity until it’s too late and then they make a rash choice, which is the first of several down the wrong path. If they don’t attempt to free themselves from the lift seat, they are in danger of freezing to death, but their choices are bad and worse. The viable options are squandered. When they pull their thumbs out, it might be too late.

(Spoiler Alert: Read at Your Own Risk!)

The two guys treat Parker like a dumb blonde. Their sophomoric quips are eye-roll-inducing. Then, there are the wolves. Wolf attacks on humans are disputed, but the fact remains: if indeed ravenous wolves existed on or near a popular ski area, lone skiers and/or snowboarders in the back country would have been confronted and attacked already, in turn, spurring on the hunting and killing of wolves. If these wolves were starving, they likely wouldn’t have waited for this moment to stalk their prey.

The only redeeming part of this movie is that the underdog survives, but by the time it’s over, your eyes are sore from the eye rolls.

Writer/Director: Adam Green

Country: USA

Genre: Thriller

Run time: 93 minutes

Scale: 2

127 Hours (2010)

What makes 127 Hours a grand experience? Danny Boyle, James Franco, an incredible true story, tremendous music. You voyage through survival in the remote Blue John Canyon, Utah.

Aron Ralston (Franco)—arrogant outdoorsman and happy-go-lucky hiker—heads out for a solo weekend hike in the expansive Utah canyons. He has informed no one about his plans. He camps, hikes, frolics with other hikers.

As he’s making his way through a narrow canyon, a boulder tumbles and lands on his hand, trapping Ralston. He’s now trapped, alone with a limited supply of water, no cell reception and not a soul in the vicinity. You, the viewer, is with him during the next 127 Hours he spends flipping through memories—recent, older and regrettable—and figuring out how to stay alive and extricate himself. The beauty is in the details: the raven flying overhead daily at same time. The regular 15 minutes of sunshine on his foot. The dream sequences. The ants that regularly crawl over him. The video within the movie.

For a movie with one character carrying it, it’s remarkable and compelling. Nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (2011 Academy Awards), Franco doesn’t disappoint.

Director: Danny Boyle

Country: USA/UK

Genre: Drama

Run time: 94 minutes

Scale: 4

Whip It (2009)

Whip It is about tradition versus choice and plays like a romantic comedy until you figure out that, at heart, it’s a coming-of-age mother-daughter story. Adapted from the 2007 novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, Whip It is a Hollywood film veiled as an independent.

Small-town (Bodeen, Texas) teen Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) veers off the Blue Bonnet Southern Belle path to find her roller derby alter ego in neighboring Austin. She reveals her electric blue hair at a pageant, upsetting her mother, Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden) who’s got her heart set on her daughter joining the “club” she so badly coveted for herself.

Bliss becomes intrigued by derby. She talks her best friend Pash (awesome awesome Alia Shawkat) into going to a derby event. Once there, Bliss is smitten. Because mama won’t approve, Bliss lies to attend try-outs. She makes the Hurl Scouts team and becomes Babe Ruthless. She starts lying about attending an SAT class but instead attends practice, goes to parties and meets a boy.

Whip It isn’t focused on the girl getting the guy, but instead on the girl discovering her core self and what drives her. The camera angles place you in the middle of the action with singular details, like the glittering skate disco ball, the Oink Joint aprons and the Squealer. The hits, the racing, the uniforms are exciting. You get a crash course in derby rules and even a food fight. The movie with its Portland, Oregon feel has its slow moments but they don’t linger.

Alia Shawkat as Pash, Bliss’s best friend, is excellent. Kristin Wiig as Maggie Mayhem is underused but delivers a few good lines. Juliette Lewis as Iron Maven is clichéd but she’s peculiar enough to be noticed. Jimmy Fallon plays the sleazy announcer with relish. Andrew Wilson, as Razor the Hurl Scouts' coach, is superb (and my favorite Wilson brother). Daniel Stern as Bliss’s dad is bumbling. They connect keeping each other in line while quietly united against mama’s dictatorship. The relationship between Bliss and her mother is believable and difficult. Harden makes the postal carrier uniform fashionable. Bliss’s love interest Oliver (Landon Pigg) is FLAT. He’s adorable, sweet and way too good to be true especially for a lead singer. The music…first-rate sounds weave through the scenes and into that part of you that can’t resist sense impression.

This one is for the ladies. It’s Drew Barrymore’s feature film directorial debut (in 2004, she directed Choose or Lose Presents: The Best Place to Start about American youth and why they tend not to vote) and worth seeing.

Director: Drew Barrymore

Country: US

Genre: Drama, comedy

Run time: 106 minutes

Scale: 4