Snippet Reviews: Youth Without Youth, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Enchanted

Youth Without Youth (2007)

It's especially difficult to critique the work of a man who seems to make movies that require no approval but his own. Obviously startled by his newfound financial independence from the pesky production heads who've hounded him and his creative ambitions for decades, Francis Ford Coppola's unnecessarily oblique meditation on the nature of language, time and human consciousness is nothing more than a migraine-inducing ode to the director's inflated ego. Nevertheless, Tim Roth gives an intruiging performance as Dominic, a 70 year-old professor who's struck by a bolt of lightning. Miraculously he survives, and unexplainably wakes up to find himself thirty five years younger and in the sudden possession of a few questionable intellectual abilities. Coppola's first feature in ten years is the cinematic equivalent of an overly eager cocker spaniel peeing on the carpet. Unsure how to cope with the possibilities allowed to him by financing his own projects, this labor of love is a thematic mess. Despite the film's rampant faults, Coppola's efforts to create a new and challenging piece of work are at the very least admirable. Let's hope that by his next film he will have learned to tame his creative eruptions a bit more effectively. Final grade: C-

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

In 1995, the handsome, successful editor of French Elle, Jean-Dominique Bauby, suffered a massive stroke which left him completely paralyzed, save his left eye. Using only his eye, Bauby painstakingly dictated his memoir; a series of etherial observations and musings on the world around him from inside the cold cell of his body. Director Julian Schnabel recreates Bauby's world with an incredible grace and artistry. We see through Bauby's eyes as he wakes for the first time. We hear his panicked thoughts as he begins to understand the nature of his predicament. We experience the same frustration and sorrow as Bauby as he muses on his inability to perform simple actions, such as run his fingers through his son's hair. He's forced to communicate with his father (Max Von Sydow, in a decidedly small, but Oscar-worthy performance) over the phone by proxy, and can do nothing to respond but blink, even as his aging father breaks out in tears over the speakerphone. Janusz Kaminski's gorgeous cinematography adds a dreamlike quality to the wanderings of Bauby's imagination as he travels through the halls of his memory, reliving the glory of his former life to the piercing sound of Tom Waits and U2. As ironic as it may sound, Schnabel's achievement is a feast for the senses in every way. Final grade: A-

Enchanted (2007)

Comedic self-reflection has never exactly been Disney's strong suit. Hence my relatively low expectations for their live-action Princess tale musical/comedy starring a rather brightly-clad Amy Adams. To my pleasant surprise, my expectations were far from correct. Adams lends a winning smile, melodious voice, and unstoppable charm to the role of Giselle, a fairy tale princess who mistakingly finds herself in New York City. After being met with less than a warm welcome in the Big Apple, Giselle finds herself under the roof of Patrick Dempsey's stuffy divorce lawyer, Robert. Sparkls fly between Giselle and Robert as she awaits rescue by James Marsden's well-intentioned, airheaded prince, and blah, blah, blah, you know how it goes. Despite a somewhat lackluster final act, this fairy tale send-up manages to be just what it should; well made cotton candy fun. Final grade: B+