****
TIMES SQUARE GOSSIP MOVIE REVIEW
The Help, is one of the best I've yet seen this year!
****
TIMES SQUARE GOSSIP MOVIE REVIEW
The Help, is one of the best I've yet seen this year!
****
Emma Stone
Let’s state a few facts first: The Help is based on the best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett; the story is based in Mississippi and is heavily entrenched on the racism that existed so explosively in that era. I didn't read the book, but when I entered the lovely Paris Theater, every other whisper I heard from another patrons, was did you read the book? Lastly, and certainly not least, Emma Stone’s performance as Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan, who eventually writes the tome called The Help, is one of the best I've yet seen this year. It’s a performance the likes of which a career is built on. I thought she was just wonderful in Crazy, Stupid, Love … but, here is a total revelation. It’s the kind of performance that will leave you spinning. In a new cover-story on her in Vanity Fair she says she'd like to attain the career of a Diane Keaton; well, after this role ... she's well on her way. The 2009 book is about African/American maids workings in white households in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s. The book is told from the point of view of three narrators: Aibileen Clark, middle aged and who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her son; Minny Jackson, a maid who often sasses-back to her employers which results in her having to frequently change jobs; underscoring her need for work as well as her families struggles for money; and, Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan, a young white woman and recent college grad who, after moving back home to care for her ill mother, discovers that the maid that helped raise her since childhood has abruptly disappeared and her attempts to find her have proven thus far unsuccessful. The stories of these three women intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolved around The Help, with a series of complex relations of power, money, emotion and intimacy, trying to reconcile the trying times of the era. Skeeter's book becomes something of a scandal first, then a cause celebre ... as one by one, the actual people referenced in the book, begin to read it and discover the truth. Growing up in the '60s … on Long Island, the only time I felt the urgency and pangs of racism was when a neighboring town was having what they then somewhat ill-advisedly called race riots; so much so, that the police ordered my parents' car to return home when we ventured out. I saw no actual violence; but, the air hung thick with negative anticipation and dread. When I saw this movie, my thoughts went back to that time... the only time since then that I had ever re-visited those halcyon times. Let’s face it; racism in any form isn't pretty. The actors all deliver exceptionally strong performances. Stone; Viola Davis (Clark); Bryce Dallas Howard (Hily Holbrook); Cicely Tyson (Constantine Jefferson) and, Octavia Spencer (Jackson) who is spot-on perfect. Alison Janney, who seems to be in almost everything these days, is terrific as Skeeter’s possibly ailing mother Charlotte. She’s strong when she has to be and comes to regret the banishing of her help that was so instrumental in raising her daughter. Charlotte has just received an award by the town’s elders and is forced into that situation of dismissing her maid. You can just feel the regret and pity …a terrific scene. Also, Sissy Spacek is just awesome as Missus Walters and is a most welcomed appearance all around. I loved her in her heyday and have genuinely missed her onscreen. She is awesome! Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote is also awe inspiring; a young woman trying to come to grips with her place in that society. Its a golden role. And, I'd be remiss not to mention a small, but game-changing performance by Leslie Jordan as Skeeter's editor Mr. Blackly. He's also one terrific song-and-dance man ... you must see this scene.One interesting note, one of the movie's executive producers is Nate Berkus. I almost expected to see Oprah Winfrey's name there too, as the movie's quality is that superior ... but, it's just Nate. Interesting for sure.
The direction by Tate Taylor (who also did the screenplay) is supple, strong and doesn't hold back. When the police start arresting people after a black-man has been shot, he shows quite dramatically the violence involved. It is jarring and spot-on perfect. I was not familiar with his work beforehand, but here delivers a terrifically impressive work. There're really aren't any false notes in this movie, it is sensitive and poignant. I don't know what the reaction will be from the audience, but, on this screening night at the Paris Theater ... it was stone-called packed. Brutally honest; splendidly rendered ... I loved it.
Photos By: RD/Orchon/Kabik/Retna
The direction by Tate Taylor (who also did the screenplay) is supple, strong and doesn't hold back. When the police start arresting people after a black-man has been shot, he shows quite dramatically the violence involved. It is jarring and spot-on perfect. I was not familiar with his work beforehand, but here delivers a terrifically impressive work. There're really aren't any false notes in this movie, it is sensitive and poignant. I don't know what the reaction will be from the audience, but, on this screening night at the Paris Theater ... it was stone-called packed. Brutally honest; splendidly rendered ... I loved it.
Photos By: RD/Orchon/Kabik/Retna
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