Double Feature: Tai Chi 0 and The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Another double feature review, and I have to say that the selections here could not be more different from one another, what with Tai Chi 0 and The Perks of Being a Wallflower possessing as completely different target audiences as humanly possible.

Okay, I admit it; they had me at "steampunk kung fu throwdown." Kung fu and martial arts I'm sure everybody gets (if not, your assignment is to see The Raid: Redemption right now). For those unfamiliar with steampunk, it's a sub-genre of science fiction that focuses on steam-powered technology. Often the tech is mixed with the worlds of the Victorian era and early Western civilizations, but in the case of Tai Chi 0 the setting is China during the early era of Western influence. It's a perfect setting, blending more advanced steampunk designs with the relatively simple ones actually being built, like the locomotive. With more than a few martial arts movies coming out lately, one that allowed for a fundamentally different environment I thought deserved a look. Directed by Hong Kong veteran Stephen Fung, this had the chance to be a solid ton of offbeat fun.

That's gonna hurt tomorrow.

Unfortunately, all that potential goes to waste with a story that never feels as focused as it should be. In his acting debut, martial arts champion Yuan Xiaochao plays "The Freak", an already-talented warrior born with a genetic deformity on his head that somehow turns him into an unstoppable fighting machine when struck. With such power comes cost, however, as the combat drains his life at the same time. Not wanting to die, he journeys to legendary Chen Village to learn their secret, powerful form of Tai Chi to heal himself. Unfortunately, it's a style forbidden to outsiders, and The Freak seems out of luck. But when Imperialist China arrives on their doorstep wanting to introduces their new steam engine, he and a few rebellious souls might be all that stands between the village's sacred traditions and the influence of Western society.

My, what big shovels you have.

I really wanted to like Tai Chi 0, but I kept feeling as though the movie was trying to be too clever for its own good. Whenever a new major character would be introduced, graphics would pop up on the screen to point out what an IMPORTANT performer it was, and a little blurb about why (though this would have little effect on American audiences). Fight scenes would often get cartoony in their meticulous displays of the martial arts stances and motions. These bits often feel as if they would be more at home in a video game than in a major film, although they at least fit in somewhat with the steampunk elements. The story is also a haphazard blend of The Freak's journey to redemption with a love triangle between the characters of Hong Kong performers Eddie Feng, Angelababy and Mandy Lieu. Unfortunately, none of the characters are as interesting as those if some of the older vets, especially icon Tony Leung Ka-Fai as the village elder. Some interesting side bits and a few impressive fight scenes pick up some of the slack, but it's not nearly enough for a title that relies far too much on its premise to get by.

Scarier than anything in The House at the End of the Street.

Still, Tai Chi 0 had a ton of promise, and I can certainly see this title reimagined as a television show or Saturday morning cartoon, more formally matching its anime-inspired content. Director Fung will get another chance to prove himself when built-in sequel Tai Chi Hero is released next year (it was previewed in the closing credits), and as the end of Tai Chi 0 was something of a convoluted mess, the next chapter will definitely have to improve in the storytelling if it wants to be taken seriously by the international community. There are a few things to really like about this film, just not a whole lot.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, on the other hand, easily carries a story worthy of praise. The novel has been a cultural mainstay for high-schoolers for about as long as I can remember, which of course is why I've never picked it up. That's the thing with me; I tend to rebel against extremely popular trends, so if everyone has read it, there's a very good chance that I ignored it. It's partly why I've read only the first four Harry Potter books and have successfully avoided the Twilight series (although am I crazy or does Breaking Dawn Part 2 look pretty bad-ass?). It's also why I ignored Pixar films for so long. But after seeing this film, I might have to revise my avoidance of the book by Stephen Chbosky (who also directed the adaptation), as his final product was nowhere near what I was expecting.

When the perpetually-nervous Charlie (Logan Lerman) enters high school, he's most concerned with having a normal experience, and meeting friends he can get along with. He soon meets seniors Sam (Emma Watson) and her gay half-brother Patrick (Ezra Miller), who take him under their wing and introduce them to a world of great music, parties and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. For the first time in a long time, he has friends with whom he can connect after the tragedies in his life. But the one thing he really wants - a relationship with Sam - seems out of reach, and with his friends graduating at the year's end, his earlier traumas threaten to re-emerge and take over his psyche for the worse.

For Lerman, playing a nervous high school student  is hardly a stretch.

Perks was a good time for a number of reasons, though I think it was partially thanks to the fact that I hadn't read the novel beforehand. While I was certainly expecting some of the emotional drama that is consistent with high school dramas, I was utterly unprepared for the levels that the film actually put forth. I've never seen a fictional film that simultaneously deals with the subjects of homophobia, bullying, suicide, bad relationships, abusive relationships, child abuse, child neglect... the list goes on. I think I now understand why this book has become such a hit with the current generation of young men and women; it's essentially the modern Catcher in the Rye, existing as a microcosm of the high school experience and, to a lesser degree, life itself. The movie does an amazing job of capturing that feeling of legitimacy without resorting to coming off like an after-school special, and every character serves a purpose in contributing to it.

He's much happier here than he was in We Need to Talk About Kevin...

A great cast was also a major reason the film is so enjoyable, as Perks not only gathers some of the year's best characters under one roof but filled them with some of the better faces dotting the Hollywood landscape. Emma Watson especially stands out, the former Harry Potter starlet showing that she can soar without a broomstick, easily dominating all of her scenes. She could have played a cliche, damaged young woman, but Watson's fire succeeds in bringing out the unique qualities that make Sam such a desirable companion. Lerman and Miller admirably make their presences felt as well, though to compare them to Watson would be a trifle unfair, and while neither of them has as much natural charm as Watson, they have more than a few chances to stretch outside their comfort zones. An excellent support cast includes Nina Dobrev, Mae Whitman, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Johnny Simmons and a very short, extra-powerful performance by Melanie Lynskey. It says a lot that a woman with barely a half-dozen appearances leaves one of the film's most powerful impressions, but Lynskey did that last year with Win Win as well. Hey, the movie even has Paul Rudd as a caring English teacher named - wait for it - Mr. Anderson. I'm honestly touched. I didn't think Chbosky really cared.

Seriously, what school has white graduation gowns?

There were a few things I definitely noticed were pushed out of the film due to time constraints, but in the end they didn't matter all that much. I thought I knew what I was getting into with The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and I honestly though it wasn't going to be that big a deal. Chbosky and his team surprised me by putting together a startlingly honest and heartfelt look at life, far outside the realm of anything I had been expecting. I won't make that mistake again, and while Perks doesn't quite make it into my Top 10, it was still a VERY good time spent at the theater. It's not a feel-good comedy like Pitch Perfect, but if you're willing to see a darker-than-average high school drama, or if you're just a fan of the book, then this is absolutely the movie you should see.

Not Too Friendly

Some things just seem to work better on paper than they do in execution. At first glance, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World looks like what it aspires to be, a comedic disaster film in the vein of 2012 or Deep Impact but focusing more on the impending victims of this end-of-the-world event. Combined with the solid work of Steve Carell, whose mere presence in The Office, Little Miss Sunshine, Crazy Stupid Love and Date Night raised their comedic efforts tenfold, you could expect that this film would feature a ton of laughs, all the way to Armageddon. Or you could get the much different, far less satisfying movie seen here.

Screenwriter and debuting director Lorene Scafaria, who had previously penned the script for the averagely-reviewed Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, explores the idea of neighbors who had never before acknowledged the others' existence coming together in a time of impending doom. To that end, he pairs the mild-mannered, fatalistic Dodge Petersen (Carell) with the young, optimistic Penny Lockhart (Keira Knightley), as they travel together on one final quest before the end times. Dodge, whose wife has left him in the aftermath of humanity's final failed mission to divert the collision trajectory of an asteroid known as Matilda, is searching for a previous flame, the one that got away. He recruits the unlucky-in-love Penny for her car, claiming that he knows someone with a plane that can get her home to England to see her family one last time. The unlikely pair come upon different shades of humanity, people whose infinitely varied ways of dealing with the upcoming disaster can do nothing to stop the ticking clock of Matilda's arrival.

They're bored already by the premise.

Those interactions are the best thing Seeking has to offer, as exploring how people might react to a calamity of this size proves to be an able source of amusement. It doesn't hurt that Scafaria brought in a boatload of amazingly-talented performers to work these small roles, including Melanie Lynskey, Patton Oswalt, Martin Sheen and William Petersen. Especially entertaining are T.J. Miller and Gillian Jacobs as servers at "Friendzies" (think Friendly's) who have turned the family restaurant atmosphere into the scene of a drug-fueled orgy. Sadly, not everything is as good, with a scene featuring a military-trained group hoping to survive Matilda's impact by burrowing underground is neither funny nor important to the story overall. Most of these scenes also feel inconsequential, with the events occurring only with the explicit presence of the protagonists (an early-scene riot appears to have left no lasting damage when Dodge and Penny return to the area). With such a varying reactions, you would expect some sort of lasting impact. That doesn't happen until the end, and even then it does so in a most unspectacular fashion.

"Why yes, we ARE high! What was your first clue?

It doesn't help that Carell does little and less in this particular motion picture, a shame as he was my main reason for going to see this film. Not given a whole lot to do, Carell's job seems to be to react to each scene with the same sort of confused look in his eyes and a perpetual frown on his face. He's never given a chance to break out, and his role here is more for your pity than anything else. Relying on his more natural, easy-going charm, Carell plays the straight man in a world gone mad, and it doesn't help that you can see in his eyes a desire to play along that never comes to fruition. I haven't liked Knightley since her role in the very first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy her performance here. But lo and behold, she actually picks up where Carell left off and does her damndest to carry the whole thing on her back, and to her credit she mostly succeeds. Unlike the dour Dodge, Penny actually goes along with much of the silliness that pervades each scene, making her more sympathetic and in tune with the audience. It's her best performance in years, and while still not a GREAT one, it was certainly a nice surprise.

He'll have to settle for writing the Great American Letter.

Unfortunately, while there are plenty of nice ideas that Schafaria puts forth, Seeking is not the movie that decisively puts them all together in anything resembling a cohesive narrative, or even a decent use of a couple of hours. It's not BAD, but the idea that it could have been so much better is a lot to take. The movie never diverts hard to either hilarious spoof or romantic drama, and so the final product has not enough of either to keep afloat. The result is a jumble of decent scenes that somehow add up to less than the sum of their parts. For such a good-looking trailer to turn out as a merely "okay" movie is a little disappointing, but it could still prove somewhat worth your while, depending on your mood. If you decide to watch this, go see a matinee or wait until it's available to rent; whatever you do, don't bother paying full price for your ticket.

Winning

My history with the work of Tom McCarthy has been somewhat of a surprise. While I'm sure I'd recognized his face from earlier, minor roles, I first became truly aware of his existence from his role as dishonest journalist Scott Templeton during the fifth season of HBO's excellent TV show The Wire, which I'd caught on DVD. I hated his character, but only because McCarthy (whose name I didn't even know at the time) was so damned good playing a jackass. After that, I swear I began to see the guy everywhere. When I watched the excellent 2008 film The Visitor (do yourself and check it out if you haven't already), I was shocked to see in the special features that the director was in fact the same Tom McCarthy, the very man I'd seen months previously. Then there was the amazing animated film Up, which had McCarthy on staff as a writer. After all this I'm building a lot of respect towards this artist, who seems to do great work and create objects of true entertainment value. And so when I see a trailer for McCarthy's latest directorial piece, it of course catches my attention. Win Win seems to have all the feel-good aspects that make for an entertaining theater visit but what might make this the biggest film for McCarthy's career so far is the acting talent involved, most notably award-winning and Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti in the lead role. It may be limited to smaller theaters at the moment, but that only encouraged me to diverge from my usual routine and see the film at the Coolidge Corner Theater here in Boston, a practice I'd advise to any and all who are able to watch this great film.

Being sent to the Principal's office: never fun

Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) is going through a rough patch. His small law practice is floundering. Money is tight. The school wrestling team that he coaches is completely hopeless. In short, nothing is going right for Mike, and he dreads having to reveal all this to his wife (Amy Ryan) and two daughters. Becoming the guardian for an elderly client named Leo Poplar (Burt Young) inadvertently introduces Mike to Leo's grandson Kyle (Alex Shaffer), who ran away from home and his addict mother. Now under Mike's care, Kyle helps turn things around by joining the school's wrestling team and helps put them on a streak of wins that help alleviate the family's problems and steer Kyle toward greatness... at least until his mother Cindy (Melanie Lynskey) arrives in town, looking to take home a son who wants nothing to do with her.

Hopefully fans of The Office will flock to see Ryan in this

Amazing acting abounds here, and there's not one weak performance in this whole bunch. Giamatti, who most recently won a Golden Globe for his similar portrayal of an everyman in Barney's Version, is just as compelling here as a regular Joe who suddenly gets the chance to control his crazy life for the first time in a long while. As always, Giamatti is the best part of his film, though several others do come close. It's especially amazing to see a guy who's not a Clooney or a Pitt do so exceptionally well; Giamatti is a symbol to actors of all ages that pure good looks can't preclude amazing talent. Shaffer makes his feature film debut as troubled teen Kyle, and you wouldn't know it to watch his performance that he's fresh blood. Perfectly personifying the youth at risk that we hear about every day, Shaffer's character is one you can't help but root for, as he goes from aimless to determined over the course of the film's events. Amy Ryan may have had better roles the Oscar-nominated Gone Baby Gone and The Wire, but her amazing work here can't go unnoticed. Going from a wife and mother who doesn't trust Kyle under her roof to one who connects with him so closely that she sees him as the son she never had, Ryan is just too wonderful, and if you don't know her talents by now this would be a good place to start. Some of the best scenes in fact focus on the budding relationship between her and Kyle, as they learn more about the other. You wouldn't think Bobby Cannavale to be a great actor to look at him, but you can't help but love Terry, Mike's best friend and confidante who got dumped by his wife for his contractor. Cannavale steals many of the scenes he's in, hopefully gaining himself a few fans in the process. Great smaller roles are filled by Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, and especially Melanie Lynskey as Kyle's druggie mother. With this cast, there are no weak points, and this helps really keep the audience vested in each small sub-plot as well as the main story.

Did you know Melanie Lynskey is from New Zealand? Me either!

With such great characters, you need a narrative that does them justice. Thankfully, that is covered by the wonderful tale McCarthy himself pens. Fully believable, the film taps into the financial crunch middle America is currently feeling, while managing to feel timeless as well; I can imagine watching this again ten years in the future and still connecting to the story as easily as I do today. Sweet but not so much as to be saccharine, and funny but not for the wrong reasons, the different sides of Win Win blend into the perfect concoction of relatability, honesty, and "aww"-inducing moments. It's obvious McCarthy set out to make the perfect feel-good film, and thanks to his efforts he succeeds with flying colors.

Unitard enthusiasts need apply

It's often tough to judge indie films like this against those of much larger Hollywood budgets, which can often afford whatever they want. The limited funds of indies also often leave them with glaring holes or deficiencies, easy to pick out and disappointing compared to the rest of the film. Win Win is not one of those films. It may not be on the same level of McCarthy's The Visitor (which was it's own brand of simple beauty), but Win Win is the kind of film that will make you stand up and cheer, not only for the film's talent but the strong message it tells. For that it's my new #1 film of 2011. Everything a good film should be; if you're lucky and it comes to a theater near you, choose it over Battle: Los Angeles and other massive Hollywood fare. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how a little bit can go a long way.