Beloved

In the opening sequence of the film, the camera moves cautiously through a graveyard pausing at a simple, unassuming stone marked solely by the word "Beloved," and immediately, a sense of mystery is imparted to the audience. Thus begins Beloved, based on the prize-winning novel by African-American author and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, directed by Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs), and starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.

The story begins in post-Civil War Ohio, where Sethe (Winfrey's character) has established a life for herself and her adolescent daughter Denver, played affectionately by Kimberly Elise. She is visited by her old friend Paul D (Danny Glover), whom she hasn't seen in years, due to his constant running as an escaped slave. Things seem simple until they enter Sethe's house, which is plagued by paranormal forces. After a vicious altercation ending with a seeming victory, things return to normalcy; Paul decides to stay, gets a job, and with some effort, manages to win respect of Denver. Relationships develop and a level of happiness is achieved.

Things drastically change when the trio, while returning from carnival, observe an oddity by the side of the road: leaning against the trunk of a tree in a trance-like state is a young black woman in expensive clothing unmarked by the war. Things seem even odder as she possesses the undeveloped mind of a child; she doesn't know how to move or speak well. Normal assumptions are made that she was part of a band of escaped slaves who hid in caves and socially degenerated, as their human contact over the years was next to nothing. As the family adopts Beloved into the unit, things don't seem normal anymore, and Paul seems to be the only one able to notice Beloved's creepy resonance. Paul begins questioning her past, which soon begins to reveal what brought her to Sethe's home. This, in turn, unearths intense and surprising secrets from Sethe's past, which Paul doesn't take too easily. After that fact, the plot ties up its loose ends by testing the characters on what the value of redemption, friendship, and love mean to each, culminating in a satisfactory finale.

In terms of pure film making, Jonathan Demme pulls out all of the stops and offers an epic story whose cinematic depth works on so many levels; it is essentially poetry in motion. The poem, if you will, is well written, dripping with imagery, and tells a great story. For this reason, it may or may not be accepted by audiences. In parts it is slow moving, but that is only in order to assign proper character development, and even more so, stunning imagery and scenic shots. Demme, aside from directing his actors/actresses well, was able to pick the perfect shots in each scene, many of which are hauntingly beautiful, with the scene of the "arrival" of Beloved in the lake especially moving. It all makes sense, as this is a ghost story. The set design and costumes are great to look at, especially in the urban scenes. By an artistic standard, one may then venture to say that as a whole, Beloved is a better film than Silence of the Lambs, subject matter aside.

Of all the working elements, though, the script is most likely the highlight of the film. The words are very poetic, an element of the novel which people thought would be lost in the adaptation. Time and again, when "hip" directors wish to adapt Shakespeare and yet commercialize it, they end up destroying the source material, most notably the dialogue. Beloved, thankfully, never stoops to that level, as the main writing credits were given to its author Toni Morrison, with credit also extending to Akosua Busia, Richard LaGravenese, and Adam Brooks.

With regards to acting, the film showcases every actors talents in one form or another. Among the smaller performances, Kimberly Elise performs well using her charm, and Beah Richards is a pleasure to watch as the Old Baby Suggs, a preacher to the newly free. Beloved, played by Thandie Newton is an extremely layered character. In a complex and well executed performance, Newton plays her in a way reminiscent of Linda Blair's role in the Exorcist; though very innocent and calm, jerky movements and odd speech patterns highlight her character. Oprah Winfrey gives what may indeed be an Oscar-winning role, though it's hard to judge if it was her best performance as her only other mainstream acting role was as a supporting character in Spielberg's The Color Purple. Danny Glover easily sheds his "Lethal Weapon" persona, and in its place gives what is the best performance of his career, with his last great performance being, coincidentally enough, in The Color Purple. In the film he manages to use the entire spectrum of facial expressions to express the emotion within his character, and like Winfrey, is quite eligible for an Oscar.

Beloved, in its entirety is also one of the best genre-crossing films made. It serves as a period piece chronicling the post-Civil War era, a film portraying the lives of blacks, a ghost story, and a study of the changing role of women in a class society. That, along with the best script adaptation of the year and some powerhouse acting, makes Beloved as tough an Oscar contender as Saving Private Ryan.

Note: The film contains some scenes that some people may find objectionable.

What Dreams May Come

There are only a few films each year that can perform the feat of changing the way people think of how movies should be made, by providing some form of breakthrough by which future films will be judged. Though What Dreams May Come is certainly not a perfect film, it clearly fits the bill in this situation.

Robin Williams stars as Dr. Chris Neilson, who early into the film meets his soulmate, played matter-of-factly by Annabella Sciorra. They soon get married and have kids. An accident soon takes the lives of their children, and in yet another auto crash, the life of Williams. All of this occurs in an unflinching seven minutes. Within time, Williams meets with what appears to be his guardian angel Albert, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. As Williams contemplates what he must leave behind against what he must accept, he decides to move on. He soon enters a fully rendered three- dimensional heaven, whose scenery is made of his wife's paintings. The landscape which surround Williams is literally mind-blowing, which Williams clearly feels, and soon learns to adjust to his version of heaven.

Williams soon grows tired of sitting around by himself and wishes to find his children, and he eventually does in rather charming and roundabout way. This soon becomes irrelevant, as he discovers what has become of his wife. Shocked, outraged and confused, he demands more than an answer and decides to venture into hell with Albert and the aid of a "tracker" to find his wife, and do what he can to remedy the situation.

There is much to be said of the film as a whole without deconstructing it. The concept of the afterlife has rarely been touch in such detail until now, as previous the age of effects, nobody could do it justice in visualizing it. Thus the concepts in the film flow freely, and bounce from one idea to the next. Though the script is a bit lacking in terms of sharpening dialogue, the ideas are technically presented well by the characters since you don't expect Williams to speak in sonnets; he says he loves his wife and the audience can believe him, as he is constantly reinforced by a huge amount of flashbacks of him being with his family in emotionally charged moments. This in of itself is a fascinating aspect of the film - it is one of the few films that actually tries to be emotional from the beginning to the end. Sensitive viewers will be caught in this spectrum of emotions and should clearly love the film. Other "less sensitive" ( or male, for lack of a better term) viewers, may actually find the film to be emotionally manipulative since it acts as a forced catharsis. In its effort to keep the viewers drowning their eyes, it loses a finale which would have been more effective were the rest of the film to be less touching. All in all, though, it succeeds.

Robin Williams, though, does not deliver one of his best performances. He gives a rather charming and lightweight ambiance to his character. It can most notably be compared to his role as Peter Pan in Spielberg's Hook. Annabella Sciorra doesn't make much of an effort to pull off a great performance, as her character is limited by the script. Oddly enough, perhaps due to the writer's or director's choice, she is out of character for part of the movie. Anybody would think it odd if a sweet, sensitive and charming woman was to become a cold and almost soulless art dealer who dresses in black. Cuba Gooding Jr. is once again miscast as Williams' guardian angel. Even before his breakthrough role in Jerry Maguire, the man has always been noted for overacting and for playing the same character. The role of Albert is clearly not one that merits a two dimensional actor, as it is a role that has the potential to be soothing, philosophically deep, and yet very vibrant - something along the lines of Shakespearean acting.

Philosophically, the film deals with what heaven and hell should represent to people, what a soulmate means, and the value of love. Though brave and true to those ideas, it deals with those subjects at the expense of some important areas of logic, which may offend the intellectual sensibilities of some. The presence of G-d is explained simply by the sentence "Oh, he's up there, shouting down that he loves us." To have a G-d removed from society may be unappealing to members of any religion. G-d's presence could have still been amplified by the script while still remaining non-denominational. Religion is also looked poorly upon in the film as simply needed when there's a funeral. Psychiatrists are treated like imbeciles, unwilling and incapable of helping anyone. These are odd viewpoints, considering the film's message on the value of life.

The film itself could not have been made without the help of a team of conceptual artists. In that respect, it is clearly the most beautiful films made in years. The effects as Williams enters his still dripping painting of heaven are indeed heavenly. It should be noted that aside from the idea of having Williams live in his wife's paintings, which deserves accolades for originality, the effects supervisors had the provide the audience a vision of paradise none have seen before, an arduous task. The colors and backgrounds are all accounted for. People fly, swim and play in the graceful manners which can only be found in paintings.

Nor are the visions of hell to be forgotten. The burning ships and bodies strewn about are not generic by being gory. Though ghastly and horrific, they remain within the realm of taste and offer a horrifyingly poetic vision of evil. A floor of heads is surely something that will chill the spines of many. Like Beloved, it manages to display ideas and words in a poetic manner.

The film is highly recommended to all fans of visual effects, adventures and romance and will undoubtedly scare producers into not touching the afterlife as a subject in cinema for a long time.