Age Before Beauty

With Marvel's The Avengers both being the best film of the year AND making money hand over fist, it's difficult not to be swayed into seeing the superhero extravaganza a fourth time (I will, but only after I've met my writing obligations). This is especially true since there really isn't all that much out there on the big screen that I WANT to see. I'm not particularly jazzed to watch Think Like a Man, and The Lucky One is no longer playing at a theater near me. Besides the mediocre The Dictator and Battleship, the only other major release this past weekend was What to Expect When You're Expecting, and I'm pretty much done with half-assed book adaptations for the time being. That doesn't leave a whole lot of options on the table.

The most appealing of what was left turned out to be The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, directed by Shakespeare in Love's John Madden and starring a bevy of veteran British talent, including Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson. Released the same weekend as the favorite Avengers, albeit in a limited capacity, the film has been receiving some strong support overseas and even among our local theaters, where it has done quite well in the face of the Summer Blockbuster season. It will finally getting a wide release this Memorial Day weekend, but will the story of a groups of relocated older folk really be worth your time?

It's like a "who's who" of elderly Brits.

Based on Deborah Moggach's 2004 novel These Foolish Things, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel looks at seven retirees who have journeyed to India to start the next phase of their lives. Evelyn (Dench) is a widower whose husband's debts forced her to sell her home after his death. Graham (Wilkinson) recently left his life as a high court judge to return to the country in which he grew up. Douglas (Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton) are a married couple who lost their life savings investing in their daughter's failed Internet startup, with this hotel being all that they can afford. Madge (Celia Imrie) wants to get away from her family so that she can find her next husband. Norman (Ronald Pickup) is an aging lothario who has become lonely, searching for new experiences. And Muriel (Smith) has come to expedite the much-needed surgery for her hip, despite her reservations and generally racist views. They've arrived at the retirement hotel looking for new lives, but owner Sonny (Dev Patel) has his own problems: he's having difficulty getting funding for the building's renovations, and between that and his mother's dislike of his girlfriend Sunaina (Tena Desae), nothing seems to be going right for the young entrepeneur; he may soon be forced to close down the hotel that belonged to his family and has become his dream, forever.

It's okay, Dev; we forgive you for The Last Airbender.

While you might think that watching a film about older people accepting the difficulties of change isn't your idea of fun, I argue that should you give this title a chance; you might be surprised with how good this thing actually is. The story at times does feel a bit unbalanced, as juggling the adventures of eight different characters proves to be slightly too much for even an experienced director as Madden, whose 2011 title The Debt had similar challenges. His way of solving the problem, by relegating some of the characters to the background, works enough so that we can focus on the film's main plot points, while still allowing for side jaunts with others when the time is right. For this reason pacing is also not an issue; Madden does such a good job telling these characters' stories and showing us the discrimination that society shows towards its elders that we can forgive the occasionally overwrought cliche, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel never gets stale while we watch, waiting with eagerness to see what happens next..

Happy to see M back on the big screen!

It's not only the work of Madden, but the excellent cast he's put together that really makes this film stand out from your typical geriatric comedies. Per usual the film is carried by the amazing talent and star power of Dench, Wilkinson and Nighy, the last of whom displays such an amazing subtlety in his performance that if you couldn't plainly see that it was him, you'd be forgiven for confusing him with someone else. Wilton is perfectly cast as a woman unswayed by the charm and humanity of India, and she plays such a perfect foil for those who cannot help but be swayed by the experience. I would have loved to see more of Imrie and Pickup, who share some comic relief but otherwise are only observers in the grand scheme of things. Pickup especially charms, with his character's irreverent outlook on life and the choicest, funniest lines of the cast. Patel still charms, though at times his performance is a bit over-the-top to the point of absurdity. Fortunately, that appears to be more the script's fault than his, and the young actor still has a good career ahead of him, should he take it. It's Maggie Smith though who steals the show. I was not expecting to like the character of Murial, a racist, bitter old woman who has no redeeming qualities at the film's start. Still, I shouldn't have doubted the Downton Abbey star and two-time Academy Award winner, who by the end was by far my favorite character in movie chock full of great ones.

Smith: Another Academy Award in her near-future?

It's that great sense of character that makes The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel an absolutely wonderful film, and places it at #5 for 2012. While it certainly could have been more complex, and leaves a few loose ends dangling in the breeze, this was a movie that loves its characters enough to treat them with the respect they so richly deserve. I know The Avengers and the typical Summer smashes won't appeal to everybody, or at least not everybody will want to see it more than once. For those people, this film presents an excellent alternative, a feel-good film about aging that hits all the right notes, but not in a predictable and old-fashioned way. Maybe not a must-see, but certainly better than you might have been expecting.

A Debt Replayed

For so many people who claim that remakes are inherently a bad idea, many have no idea what they are talking about. Forget about all the films that are obviously remakes, films sharing their origins' titles of The Fly, Ocean's 11, True Grit or The Thing. Not only are the remakes of these classics all quality films, but some would argue better than the originals. However, remakes aren't always named after their inspirations. Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Jaime Lee Curtis lit up the screen in 1994's spy film True Lies, based on the French comedy La Totale! Classic westerns A Fistful of Dollars and The Magnificent Seven were originally acclaimed filmmaker Akira Kurosawa samurai dramas. And the Martin Scorsese Irish gangster movie The Departed, which won the director his coveted Academy Award, was a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Internal Affairs. My point is that people put this catch-all negative statement on remakes when more than half the time they don't know one when it's staring at them from the big screen. For instance, you probably didn't realize that the recent film by John Madden, The Debt, was originally an Israeli film of the same name released in 2007. That film was never released in the United States, making it ripe for Hollywood to pounce on and make into their own. The only question was upon which side of the quality line it would eventually fall: on the side of obvious charlatanism and inferiority, or into the realm of quality film-making no matter the source.

Helen Mirren makes scars sexy

In the 1960's, the Isreaeli intelligence agency Mossad sent a cell of young operatives into Nazi-occupied West Berlin on a secret mission. Rachel Singer (Jessica Chastain), David Peretz (Sam Worthington) and Stefan Gold (Marton Csokas) are on the search for Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), the legendary "Surgeon of Birkenau", who performed experiments on Jewish prisoners during the Second World War. The mission ended in success, and though Vogel was never properly extracted from the city, Mossad was happy with the man meeting his end in the streets of West Berlin. Thirty years later, the exploits of the cell has been popularized in a book written by Rachel Singer's (Helen Mirren) daughter, and the three live apart from one another as national heroes, never talking about their mission. At least that is until Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) presents Rachel with some disturbing information. A secret they have kept hidden for thirty years has against all odds reared its head, forcing her to confront a truth the three had kept hidden from everyone, even those they loved.

The Debt takes a hard line against its critical dissenters

As you can gather, the cat-and-mouse spy story is the meat and potatoes of the film's level of quality. It is a well-paced, character-driven tale that takes you from beginning to end and beyond, with clues left in plain sight to allow anyone to follow along with ease. Unfortunately, this also cuts both ways, as there are no "OMG" twists to make the relatively slow pace more rewarding to the audience. You can pretty much guess what the big secret is before it hits, making sitting through waiting a bit like waiting for Gallagher to bust out with his watermelon; you know it's coming and making you wait for it is just pissing you off. Still, this is only a minor criticism, as the basics of the story are flawless and well built, creating a largely enjoyable atmosphere for the viewer.

Young Sam Worthington... handsome... pretty, almost

That atmosphere is helped by an acting core that really reach for higher levels with this film, especially the cast of the 1960's. Jessica Chastain has really taken off in her career, appearing in six films released or scheduled for release in 2011. I've seen three now, and between this, The Help and The Tree of Life, I've really become entranced by her talent and awestruck as to how she's come out of seemingly nowhere to become one of Hollywood's most sought-after stars. She's proving herself to be a serious artist, and more roles like this will get her some true recognition in the future, if not sooner. Sam Worthington is a surprise, an acclaimed Australian actor who wowed some with his role in Terminator: Salvation but otherwise hasn't been a major force since breaking through, especially with his somewhat bland performance in Avatar. The Debt allows him to show off in a legitimate acting role and show what his doubters have decried as not being there. And Marton Csokas ties the trio together, his arrogant and serious cell leader playing beautifully off of Worthington's humble and driven operative and Chastain's brilliant but emotionally-starved intelligence officer. And Jesper Christensen is also brilliant with the material he's given, playing smart doctor and smarmy villain with equal precision. He's the unspoken hero of The Debt, at least on the performance side of the equation.

...and Sam Worthington in 30 years? Scary

Unfortunately, I was somewhat underwhelmed with the way the story worked in the current day, and the quality of the story given the actors. Most of the film takes place in the sixties, and that's where the best moments and story sequences take place. In the present day there are some good moments, but in comparison it pales noticeably. Helen Mirren is of course amazing, but that comes as no surprise to anyone who has EVER seen her perform. As someone with a wide range of talents ranging from drama to comedy, Mirren can do just about anything, and look good doing it. Less impressive are Tom Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds as the current day Stefan and David. It's not that they're BAD, only that they don't distinguish themselves from what we usually expect of them. In the current-day storyline, only Mirren stands out, and despite her best efforts, it's not enough that even she can make up.

Future Academy Award winner?

As a modern spy drama, however, The Debt is a great performer that could have been an excellent one but stutters a bit too much at the end. It does work as a character driven thriller, especially with the acting talents of Mirren, Chastain et al. While the theaters are packed with big name films flexing box office muscle, explosions and laughs, The Debt is a world away as a subtle, clever remake that introduces a unique story to an American audience that didn't get the chance to see in the original. As remakes go, it's one of the good ones, coming in at #10 for 2011. Maybe not a must-see for the genre, it's still a "should-see" as it's difficult find a title so well story-driven in this age of CGI, 3D, and action sequences that exist in a realm completely outside the real world.