‘HOT” should be the last adjective to be summoned for a film like Cinderella but, indeed, this cinematic confection directed by Kenneth Branagh is one hot piece of moviemaking. There are many reasons for this. There is, first of all, the plot. You may say what plot? The story of this young girl orphaned and left to a vicious stepmother has been with us since society invented cruelty in mothers who become widows and turn to another household to run or mismanage. And yet, there is a new narrative in this story of Ella who stays near the fireplace and cinder. The story is largely pushed by characters that are real, with anguish and angst.
The parents of Ella are lovely but they are haunted by death. The mother asking for forgiveness because she is dying soon is heart-rending; Ben Chaplin as the father who wants a new chance at love but remains faithful to the first wife brings the figure beyond stock character. Then there is the template of the cruel stepmother.
Cate Blanchett in the role is a delicious virago but we can never hate her. For each mean stare she throws at our heroine and for each laughter she spews, there are the eyes softening from the knowledge that she will never replace the first wife.
She claws and commands but there is no imperiousness in those gestures, just a slash at the space that can never be hers. This is a stepmother with a back story and we just love that storytelling. Then there is Cinderella and her prince. Both transcend the frothy cake of a biography made for them for years and years. Richard Madden and Lily James make the characters credible, grounding them even to roles of a son learning to be a leader and a daughter trying hard to keep her memories of good parents intact.
If the story of Cinderella as written by Chris Weitz and based on both the French tale Cendrillon by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale is realistic, how does one make a leap to a tale of magic? You know, the tale about a pumpkin transformed into a golden coach, and lizards into footmen, etc. Well, the film makes a leap into magic and we into a leap of faith. Generosity and kindness are taught as powers—that is original and good in these times of bad news and bad people. Add a bit of magic and you have a fairy tale that is more than for fairies, take or leave Helena Bonham-Carter as an enchantingly insane Fairy Godmother.
Cinderella is from Walt Disney Pictures. But of course. If Cinderella is hot, then look for these cool films in your neighborhood cinema. (Is there in your neighborhood?) There is Sean Penn in a role described as a bad-ass hero. The film is Gunman and the director is Pierre Morel, who also did the movie Taken. Sean Penn is credited as one of the writers of the film together with Peter Travis and Don McPherson.
Penn is Jim Terrier in The Gunman, an ex-special forces government contractor considered to be the
top agent. He has a past that shades his reputation. Terrier joins an non-governmental organization as
a humanitarian if only to find another life and redeem himself. But then some people in his past are out to
kill Terrier.
The director of the film has this to say about Sean Penn: “Often, action films lack deep thoughtful characters but Sean’s body of work is so interesting that casting him immediately makes the story more dense. Once actors of his stature decide to engage in this genre, like Liam Neeson in Taken, they want to do things for themselves. They want to go all the way for the character….”
Interestingly, Penn has done some real humanitarian work, especially in Haiti. Of The Gunman, Penn describes it as a very human story: “The territory that the story inhabits is a pretty high-octane environment.” Now in theaters across the Philippines, The Gunman is distributed locally by OctoArts Films International.
A film about second chances in life and love and, well, music, is this romantic piece called Song One. It is a story of a young musician, Henry Ellis, whose life comes to a halt when he meets an accident. It is as well the story of this young man’s sister who has to get out of Morocco where she is doing research as an anthropologist because her only brother is in a coma. From that long stay with a nomadic culture, Franny comes home to a mother from whom she has been isolated for a long time.
Back at home, Franny and her mother, Karen, resurrect old tensions. Franny soon discovers a CD of music composed by her brother. She finds out how her brother has grown so much as an artist that he has produced such good songs.
Together with the CD is the notebook of Henry, recorded on which are his thoughts, ideas and drawings—all artifacts pointing to what this young musician may become if he could write or sing again.
Anne Hathaway plays the role of Franny while Mary Steenburgen is Karen. Both are anthropologists in the film, perhaps the better to display the irony of how we misunderstand our own family.
Ben Rosenfield is Henry, the brother who has been reaching out to his sister for a long time in this film directed by Kate Barker-Froyland.
Song One opens in theaters on March 25 from Pioneer Films.