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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 2014)
MOVIES ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE BY RICK LEVIN Languid, elegiac, mournful and unexpectedly funny, Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive introduces us to the ancient Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton), a pair of vampires who represent the romantic image of the loner artists taken to the next level, unable to be part of society even if they wanted to. Only Lovers both revels in that notion and underscores its isolation. From the dark vision of Detroit to the eerie soundtrack, the movie creates a world all its own. (Bijou Metro) UNDER THE SKIN Jonathan Glazer is a patient, starkly elegant filmmaker with no interest in meeting his audience halfway: You’re either in or you’re out. In his latest, Scarlett Johansson plays an alien pimped out to procure the natural resource of us. The problem is human beings start to get under her skin, and she loses faith in her mission. The dramatic oomph hinges on the subtle changes in Johansson’s features as she is slowly and painful humanized. (Bijou Metro) SLEEPLESS IN MUMBAI AMERICAN HUSTLE The Lunchbox is standard fare, well delivered I t’s impossible for me to assess my attributes as a film critic, though I can say I’ve mentored with some of the best. My dear friend Richard Jameson, former editor of Film Comment, has taught me more about movies, and how to watch and discuss them, than the thousands of pages I’ve read over the years. I call Richard, fondly, the populist snob: a man of Apollonian discernment who nonetheless finds lasting quality in more mainstream stuff, and who can discuss Spielberg with as much acuity and energetic acumen as he can Fassbender or Godard. During our years of working together at Seattle’s Pacific Publishing, I collected a series of Richardisms — one-line corkers by which he’d sum up his feelings about this or that movie he’d just seen. One of my favorites, always delivered in a mock-nasally tone, is what Richard says about films that hit the dartboard but miss the bull’s-eye: “It’s a perfectly pleasant little movie.” This phrase ran through my head after watching The Lunchbox, a perfectly pleasant little movie about two unhappy strangers who fall in love at a distance. Directed by Ritesh Batra, The Lunchbox tells the story of Saajan (Irrfan Khan), a widowed government clerk listlessly approaching retirement, and Ila (Nimrat Kaur), a young wife whose husband (Nakul Vaid) barely notices her. Attempting to win back his affection, Ila prepares for her husband exquisite meals, each delivered by Mumbai’s dabbawalas, bicycle messengers who peddle hot food in stacked tins to workplaces around the teeming city. Of course, Ila’s lunches, and the notes she includes with them, are brought to Saajan by accident, and the rest — unless you’ve never seen a romantic comedy — is predictable history. It’s all pleasant enough. The leads are lovely, especially Khan, who proves himself a master of emotional understatement. The film has something to say about alienation, romantic rejuvenation and the vagaries of human connection. Yes, The Lunchbox warmed my heart — warmed it moderately, like a once-hot meal biked over great distances across much-traveled streets. Mostly, though, it just made me hungry. ■ Director David O. Russell weaves into this story of greed, corruption and double-crossing an epic meditation on the devious ways of the human heart and the lengths to which we go to get what we want — or think we want. Amy Adams and Christian Bale, as star-crossed grifters, give the performances of their careers so far. (David Minor Theater) AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY Dysfunctional is too mild a designation for the family at the center of August: Osage County, director John Wells’ adaptation of Tracy Letts’ 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The film has the deeply tragic bent of a Southern gothic, and it leaves no stone unturned when it comes to digging up family secrets. The pile- up is fantastic, and there’s a thrill in that, a catharsis. (David Minor Theater) ® Purch Adv Tix @ cinemark.com 800-326-3264 + Exp # CINEMARK 17 Get Your Friday Big Lebowski Party Tickets Now! (Thursday is Sold Out) THURSDAY MAY 22 - WEDNESDAY MAY 28 THAT AWKWARD MOMENT 3:15 THE MONUMENTS MEN 7:15* † THE MONUMENTS PHILOMENA MEN 3:15 5:00 HER 9:25* AMERICAN HUSTLE 9:25* HER 5:00 THE BIG LEBOWSKI PARTY 7:15 FRIDAY 9:30 ONLY “TEXT-A-BEER” 541-913-5733 ORDER DRINKS & FOOD RIGHT FROM YOUR SEAT *NO SHOW 5/23 † NO SHOW 5/22 Adv. Tix on Sale MALEFICENT Adv. 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