Sympathy for Delicious - Hybriding Faith Healing and Rock & Roll

There's an odd movie that buckles down on modern day faith admixed with rock and roll. The brew is a jittery admixture, but you can't brandish it as trite. It's also the directorial debut of one of Hollywood's formidable leading man, Mark Ruffalo.

Capsule

Dean is a homeless paraplegic who lives in his car and spends his days queuing for free food given by a charitable organization run by a priest, Father Joe (Mark Ruffalo). He was once a promising DJ, a scratch artist, who earlier figured in a motorcycle accident.

The day after a bungled session with a renowned faith healer, Dean wakes up with a strange sensation draping over his hands. No, he wasn't "healed", but something is happening. When he inadvertently touches an invalid homeless guy living on skid row, the guy falls before eventually - and miraculously - healed! In another scene, an old lady with Retinitis Pigmentosa (an untreatable cause of blindness) is able to see!

When Father Joe learns of this, the priest strikes a deal with the reluctant "healer". The former will pay for Dean's motel room in exchange for the latter's daily healing sessions. But Dean learns of the priest's deceit when he finds out that the priest has been accepting huge donations for Dean's healing (think $250,000), while Dean receives a pittance of $48 a day for his sessions. As a consequence of this, Dean turns to a performing band who earlier invited him to audition as a DJ.

Ariel (Juliette Lewis) lures Dean into the fold, despite the band's front man's displeasure. In fact The Stain (Orlando Bloom) would rather do away with Dean, called "Delicious D" in the underground circuit. What becomes of cantankerous Dean outside the clutches of the opportunistic priest? Will he find his salvation in his new career as scratch artist-cum-healer touring the country for the band's profitable "Healapalooza"?

The disparate ideas make an awkward ride into the story, mixing rock and roll and faith healing, saliently underlining the fact that what Dean has is a "gift" despite his utter faithlessness. You can't help but question why he had to suddenly attain such endowment. And why can't he heal himself? But then there are mysteries obdurate enough for man to ultimately comprehend.

The film, Ruffalo's first film as a director, gathers a slew of dependable actors. There's Laura Linney as the band's calculating manager; there's the amazing Juliette Lewis; Noah Emmerich as the eternally hopeful paraplegic; and Orlando Bloom who plays the peculiar lead singer. Bloom, particularly, plays against type. He is brassy and uncouth, performing on stage mostly half naked, and then cursing back stage.

Though the material is on the whole a bit unsatisfactory, much of the material is buoyed by respectable performances all around, including Christopher Thornton - who plays Dean O'Dwyer, the film's protagonist. Thornton, who wrote the script, is himself a real life paraplegic, paralyzed from the waste down after an eventful mountain climbing accident.

As the film draws to a close, we finally realize that salvation is a state of mind; and some of the miracles that we pray for come in the most unusual packages, and in moments we least expect.

Lead singer The Stain (Orlando Bloom) with band manager Nina Hogue (Laura Linney).


Dean and Father Joe



Christopher Thornton. Right photo shows him in a stage play.


Mark Ruffalo


Mark Ruffalo

Mark Ruffalo


Orlando Bloom plays against type as "The Stain"


Orlando Bloom


Orlando Bloom as The Stain


Juliette Lewis plays Ariel. When she OD's, will Dean be able to heal her?

Juliette Lewis

Laura Linney


Laura Linney

The Kids Are Alright - Unconventional Family Drama

I have to admit that it took me awhile trying to get myself to watch Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are Alright."

Lesbian characters just don't interest me much, but the Oscar buzz behind this movie is strong, and I have to find out why. Now I know.

When Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and Joni (Mia Wasikowska, who recently played "Alice" in that Johnny Depp movie "Alice in Wonderland") decide to meet their biological father - Paul (Mark Ruffalo), the "sperm donor" to their lesbian parents Nic (Annette Benning) and Jules' (Julianne Moore) artificial insemination procedures, the weak threads in the relationship start showing. But Jules' further makes matters worse when she inadvertently sleeps with Paul, while she's supervising the landscaping of his backyard.

Family, in any form, is a sacred institution guarded by devotion, loyalty and the instinct of protecting each member from extraneous forces that threaten to harm any member. This is what's uplifting about this dramedy. That despite the imperfections within a relationship, the family will find the bind that pulls them together.

Strong performances from Julianne Moore and Annette Benning who both got Best Actress nominations from Golden Globe, while Ruffalo gets Best Supporting Actor nod from the Screen Actor's Guild. The Film also bagged the Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Fest. The bigger news is the Oscar nominations of Annette Benning (Lead Actress) and Mark Ruffalo (Supporting Actor). In the film, you wouldn't think of Benning as anything but a lesbian. Such a spot-on interpretation! And Ruffalo? He's always been a perfect "sperm donor" for me. LOL

Josh Hutcherson is Laser. Is he having a "special relationship" with buddy Clay?

OB-Gyn Nic and landscape artist Jules share an unusual video together.

Mia Wasikowska sometimes reminds you, not of "Alice", but of a younger Gwyneth Paltrow.

Paul is invited over at the family's barbecue.

The stunning Julianne Moore.

Julianne Moore's sizzling ad campaign for Bulgari. This one is the "Eccentric Charisma" campaign.

Mia Wasikowska

Mark Ruffalo's first Oscar nomination as businessman Paul - the sperm donor who unwittingly sneaks himself within the corridors of an otherwise "normal" family mechanics.

Be Very Wary of Your Reality in Shutter Island

When I first saw the trailer of "Shutter Island" last year, I was in a tizzy! Martin Scorsese - one of the greatest living directors of all time - with Leonardo DiCaprio in a thriller? Are you kidding? It's nothing short of an event! And for all the right reasons!

Writing even a movie capsule about it gives a lot of its story away thus I shall limit it here: U.S. marshals Teddy and Chuck (Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, respectively) are sent to an island off the coast of Massachusetts where a facility exists to incarcerate violent crime offenders who are mentally incapacitated! A criminal has escaped and no traces of "her" has been found. But Teddy has more personal reasons for his visit. His wife and children were killed by someone who's in Shutter Island! Unfortunately for the marshals, the management and staff of the facility seem to be hiding something. They suspect that sinister activities are being performed on the patients. Just when they are to call off their investigation, a hurricane lashes out, trapping them in the island. Will they succeed in uncovering the secrets that cloak this island?

A hint? This is a Martin Scorsese film and essaying predictions or jumping into conclusions isn't as easy as watching a Star Cinema movie, that's for sure. LOL

Peppering this gritty thriller is an amazing cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Michael Caine, my favorite Patricia Clarkson (of "Cairo Time") and Michelle Williams. The setting is as sinister as the convolutions in the story, and there's the brilliant use of a hurricane to create an atmosphere of paranoia, claustrophobia and isolation! Leonardo DiCaprio is downright intense; when was he not? And I giggle every time I see Mark not because he's bad, but because he's as cute as ever - ohmygosh! Pardon the lady in me. ;->

Leonardo DiCaprio - intense as usual.

Mark Ruffalo - a marshal or a doctor? He was once diagnosed with a brain cancer - which turned out to be benign. After a brain surgery, he was completely healed although he is suffering from a minor facial paralysis due to the operation - that's where he gets this very sexy lopsided grin. ;->

Mark Ruffalo, who stands 5'9", understands the idea of patience. He worked as a bartender in New York for 9 long years - where he was said to have auditioned for some 800 roles - before luck finally came.