Doubt

So yesterday being Sunday, I decided to go see Doubt. I didn't see it on Saturday as I had planned because Brunch at Dain's turned into an all-day affair. Brunch was delicious--I consumed far too many buttermilk pancakes and Italian mimosas. We made them "Italian" by adding limoncello and I brought some Prosecco to use instead of Champagne. They were amazing! Later that day we made zenzerino which is a liqueur made with ginger, oranges, and spice. The name comes from the Italian word for ginger, zenzero. So a good portion of the afternoon was spent grating ginger and zesting oranges. Now we'll have to wait about three months for the infusion to to come to fruition. That night my uncle's family from Boston caught a red-eye home and with that, all the family that had assembled here for the holidays was gone, and I finally got my room back. Glory, hallelujah!

So on Sunday I saw Doubt and it was rather good. Of course I love nearly everything with Meryl Streep. I would dare say she is the most talented movie actress of all time. She heads the extraordinary cast that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. In fact, I think Adams is quite excellent in her best performance to date. Viola Davis also gives a remarkable, even devastating, turn as Mrs. Miller. The plot ostensibly focuses on whether or not Father Flynn (Hoffman) has sexually abused one of the students at St. Nicholas School and Sister Beauvier (Streep) heads the attack against Father Flynn though she has no proof or evidence. It is a quality adaptation based on the Pulitzer-prize winning play. Some of the shots were quite excellent. The cast is phenomenal and they all deserve Oscar nomination. However, I had a few problems with Doubt. Thematically the play means to tackle larger issues of religion, morality, and authority and yet by the end I'm not really sure where it stands on any of the issues (I would instead recommend Angels in America for that). Why this doesn't work for me is because everything is talked around, very little is actually direct, which leaves some items rather vague. Furthermore, it is never really clear what motivates Sister Beauvier in her attack. (And what is the meaning of the brief mention of her doomed marriage before she took her vows?) Her naturally unpleasant character is firmly established from the beginning, and she clearly disapproves of Father Flynn's indulgences for he does not live as ascetically as she does. The only cause I can see for the Sister's supposed certainty is as a defensive mechanism to Father Flynn's sermon on doubt which begins the film. I think the film works best as a character study and it is exhilarating to watch Streep, Adams, Davis, and Hoffman at work. Doubt wasn't as hopeful as Slumdog Millionaire or Milk but then it's not supposed to be, yet I think that will count against it in the final analysis.

Yesterday I finished the novel The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich. Another work about religion. The LA Times writes that it is "Messy, ribald, deeply tragic, preposterous, and heartfelt." Which I think is true, especially in regards to messy. This is not a tightly plotted novel in any regards, and there were times I had trouble recalling a character who had not appeared for several chapters. (If you are greatly concerned with plot, I would heartily recommend The Secret History by Donna Tartt.) Nor is much time spent on the the so-called, eponymous miracles or of Sister Leopolda, the miracle-worker. Nevertheless, Erdrich has a lovely, eloquent voice and the novel is well worth reading. It explores gender, religion, culture, and grief--but then all Erdrich novels deal in grief.

Speaking of grief, today I saw The Reader a movie I had heard almost nothing about until I saw its trailer at Milk. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter David Hare, the team behind The Hours, collaborate again on The Reader. Kate Winslet shows off her body, which is still rocking, as is her wont, and I'm sure she'll earn an Oscar nom since the Academy loves it whenever she performs nude. And I suppose it's great that she is so comfortable with her body. Of course her overall performance is terrific as an illiterate German woman who ends up imprisoned for her work as an SS guard at Auschwitz. The story begins with her affair with fifteen-year-old Michael Berg played by David Kross (who goes full frontal) a young German actor who rather resembles William Moseley. Berg is a law student present at Hanna's trial when she's condemned. They don't meet again for another twenty years or so where Berg is played by Ralph Fiennes who gives an excellent performance in a somewhat underwhelming role. Fiennes really needs to find a larger, meatier, Oscar-winning role. And Kate deserves an Oscar too, though she has no chance against Meryl Streep this year. But I'm okay with Streep getting her third Oscar--she hasn't won one since Sophie's Choice.

Tomorrow I have plans to see Changeling at the dollar theater and I'm quite excited. Of course I still need to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and others that haven't as yet come to SLC yet--Revolutionary Road, The Wrestler. I just got an exciting call from the SLC Public Library setting up a job interview on Wednesday! This is the third time I've applied but the only time they've called. I certainly hope to land a part-time gig there, because twenty-hours a week right now isn't cutting it. Wish me luck!