The Father ✮✮✮✮
Anthony (played by Hopkins) is an aging Welshman with a fierce determination to fight what is happening to him. He is experiencing a mental decline due to dementia. His daughter Anne (Olivia Coleman, who recently won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in "The Favourite") tries to help him with this struggle but becomes increasingly frustrated as the situation grows worse.
The film seeks to deepen our understanding of Anthony's confusion and paranoia by taking us into his experience through fluid camera work and editing that suggest time lapses and murky realities. It is an immersive approach that enhances our empathy for the character.
Mr. Hopkins gives one of his strongest performances here, diving into a complex and proud man who is fighting an unwinnable battle with his mortality. It certainly belongs up there with his humanizing portrait of "Nixon" and his iconic Hannibal Lecter from "The Silence of the Lambs" in a career that has now spanned six decades.
Florian Zeller, the author of the French play this is based on, makes an impressive directorial debut. Taking a fairly simple concept and revealing the complicated realities of the dynamics of a horrible disease, he avoids making a stagy or distant film. It is rich with emotion and flows naturally in a way that maximizes audience participation. It is one of the best films of the year.
The Witches ✮✮
Dangerous business, remaking well-respected films. Some soar to new heights, like 2007's "3:10 to Yuma." Others, such as "Carrie" (2013), just fade into the background of history.
Roald Dahl's literary classic, "The Witches," was made into a film in 1990 with direction by Nicolas Roeg ("Walkabout," "Don't Look Now"). It did poorly at the box-office but gained critical raves and a cult fan following over the years. Now comes a new version that transports the setting from modern-day (1990) England to the Alabama of 1968.
The tale remains the same: A young boy (this time played by Jahzir Kadeem Bruno) who moves in with his grandmother after the death of his parents. After an encounter with a strange woman trying to lure him with treats, his grandmother (here played by the always delightful Octavia Spencer) tells him about witches. Fearing further encounters, they decide to take residence in a hotel, which turns out to be currently serving a coven of witches gathering to plan evil doings. This sets up the main confrontation in which the boy and grandmother must attempt to stop the witch leader, known as the Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway), from destroying the children of the world.
I found this new version of the story to be lacking in the overall feeling of wonder and danger of the first adaptation. There seemed to be no real need to change the period setting, and not much is done with that aspect. Anne Hathaway appeared to be trying to do an impression of Anjelica Huston's interpretation of the role. Aided by decent but familiar visual effects, Hathaway is fine but never really makes the role her own. The boy hero is adequate, voiced as an older man by Chris Rock, and I did enjoy Octavia Spencer as the grandma.
Yet the whole movie felt unnecessary, never achieving a reason for being aside from retelling the story to a new generation. Many scenes, such as the one where a young boy -- expecting a chocolate treat from an old lady, is turned into a rat by the witches -- fall flat and don't pop to life as they did in the earlier film. You're better off streaming that version and let this one fade away.
