01.28.08
Double Patricia Clarkson Feature
Dear Patricia “Patty” Clarkson,
You are so beautiful and so talented and I really hope that
(1) You get to fucking star in something really soon. Because you are totally awesome as a supporting actress, but I want someone to write something really spectacular (me, maybe?) FOR you. Because you are awesome. and
(2) That I look half as great as you when I am 49. 3/4 as great? No, half would be just fine.
Love,
FilmFemme
The reviews:
Actor Thomas McCarthy, who you might recognize from HBO’S The Wire (uhhh…) or All the King’s Men (try again…), ok, um, Michael Clayton (he was just a voice in that, dude)…right, then, you probably wouldn’t recognize him but he made his feature debut as both a writer and director with 2003’s The Station Agent starring the most awesome dwarf actor since Danny Devito (sorry!) Peter Dinklage, our lady Dame Patricia Clarkson and hot & goofy Bobby Cannavale (oh, THAT’s who that is!) And it’s a pretty fucking great movie.
Fin (Dinklage) is an antisocial dwarf who loves trains and is bequeathed an abandoned train station by one of his few friends in his will. So he goes to live in the station and meets Joe (Cannavale) who runs the tacotruck (coffee truck, I guess) outside the station and Olivia who lives down the road. Slowly but surely the trio form a tenuous friendship and a flirtation sneaks into the relationship between Fin and Olivia.
Yes, Dinklage is really great and I’m so glad that McCarthy found him for this part but it was Clarkson’s character that really got to me. She is an artist who lives alone. Her husband left her after their son died. I know, dead kid is a pretty typical way to make a character kind of fucked up, but it was OK with me here. The way that she so carefully navigates getting to know Fin, after she nearly runs him over with her car - twice - is so genuine and sweet. Despite her misgivings about new people (she keeps her distance from the hot and flirtatious, but ultimately threatening Joe), she feels OK being vulnerable to Fin. The same is true for Emily (Michelle Williams), a young local woman who is pregnant and scared but feels safe with Fin and confesses herself to him. Where the humor and tension and brilliance lie here is that, while many people would love to convince strangers, especially women, to lay bare their secrets to them, Fin doesn’t want it at all! He just wants to live in his station and be left alone. But everyone in this story helps each other out with companionship or even just coffee every morning. It’s so sweet and raw and I loved it. The train motif doesn’t even feel overpowering or stupid (unlike at least one recent train-based movie). The direction isn’t anything special, but it is seamless and not distracting. This movie made me happy.
P. Clark isn’t in this one too much, but when she is, she’s great. She plays mother to Paul (Paul Schneider, about whom I made some snide commentslast month…), a generically southern and passingly charming 20something guy who has seduced every girl in his small hometown and spends most of his time either working at the local mill (ooh! a mill! original! [sorry, I do like this movie]) or hanging out with his other GEDtinted pseudoalcoholic oversexed guy friends until the lovely Noel (Zooey Deschanel), who happens to be his best friend Tip’s (Shea Whigham) sister, comes home from boarding school and he falls madly in love with her. HOWEVER. She is a virgin.
The two “embark on a meandering courtship” that involves a lot of hand holding, talking and at least one hot tub - but no sex. They’re in love, they really are, but life gets in the way, you know? I don’t want to spoil it, though.
It’s really touching. Schneider and Deschanel have an undeniable easy chemistry and Danny R. McBride (who should probably be termed upandcoming due to his roles in TWO new Judd-Apatow-is-involved-in-some-way projects, Drillbit Taylor and Pineapple Express) is truly funny as the sidekick, dumb friend with a mullet who goes by the exceedingly charming nickname Bust-Ass. The DVD has a few extended scenes with him that are pretty hilarious, too.
But the love story is very real and very effective. As Paul’s mom, Clarkson is really genuine - she fixes old pianos and dresses up like a clown to entertain sick kids in the hospital. I didn’t care much about the dynamic between her and her husband, but it didn’t detract from anything. The scenes between her and Paul are good and she really conveys this character that loves her son and isn’t jealous of his new love, but afraid for him. More than anything, I think All the Real Girls is cathartic - I wasn’t left drowning in tears like with The Last Kiss or craving anything more. It’s very complete and solid and recommended.