Movie Reviews: Amour & Glimpse inside the mind of Charles Swan III

Jerry Williams
February 20, 2013

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Read More: amour, glimpse inside the mind of charles swan III, movie review, tv jerry

Amour

Director: Michael Haneke

Writer: Michael Haneke (screenplay)
Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert

Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva play a Parisian couple in their 80s. When she has an attack, he nurses her thru the final agonizing days. Michael Haneke is a skilled director, who’s at his most stark and dispassionate, which translates into interminable pacing, uncompromising camera and oblique narrative. If you like watching the deterioration of a woman in a detached, heavy and bleak atmosphere, you may appreciate this well-acted but agonizing (in so many ways) examination. Call me shallow, but I wasn’t moved.

GAY ANGLE: Nothing gay (literally or figuratively) about this film.

GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III

Director: Roman Coppola

Writer: Roman Coppola
Stars: Charlie Sheen, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray

This film has been flying under the radar (only playing in Richmond at Criterion) and/or may be the target of a Charlie Sheen backlash. Either way, it’s got a pretty good pedigree. Sheen plays a graphic designer who’s suffering over a breakup. Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman deliver amusing comic turns and director Roman Coppola gives the whole thing a lighthearted touch. This could have been called “The Mind of Charlie Kaufman,” because the flimsy narrative detours thru several fantasy sequences. Also, scenes end abruptly and a score by Liam Hayes often takes focus. This is a small, bouncy “glimpse,” but it not without charm and occasional humor. The closing “credit” scene is pretty cool.

GAY ANGLE: Surprisingly, none of his friends in the LA design scene are obviously gay.

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Jerry Williams reviewed movies for WTVR-TV for 14 years and for Style Weekly for 10 years. When he launched his own website in 1998 at TVJerry.com, he took his reviews to the Internet. Through those hundreds of reviews, Jerry kept his sexual orientation muted. So, he's excited to be adding "gay angles" to his postings for GayRVA.com.