Can You Ever Forgive Me? A Tale of Forgery and Friendship

If you've somehow missed the memo that Melissa McCarthy is a great actress, you need to watch Can You Ever Forgive Me? immediately. Playing a cantankerous author who has burned all her bridges and is struggling to make ends meet, she manages to imbue this character with so much gut-wrenching pathos that you cannot help but root for her to succeed in her criminal exploits.

Based on the true story of author Lee Israel (as outlined in her memoir of the same name), this is a movie about a woman with an extraordinary writing talent but utterly unforgiving personality who went on to forge literary letters from people such as Noel Coward and Dorothy Parker in order to make money to survive her day-to-day existence in New York City. In cahoots with a man named Jack Hock, who she meets in a bar (they both happen to be gay so theirs is a platonic friendship that evolves into a doomed business arrangement), she sells her wares to various unsuspecting collectors, until the FBI finally catches up to her.

The story is interesting and it's wonderful to watch Lee's gradual descent into criminality. What starts off as a desperate forgery to get a few hundred dollars to pay her cat's veterinary bills eventually becomes a high-stakes criminal enterprise, complete with stealing documents from Yale's special collections. Throughout it all, while Lee is outwardly obnoxious and struggles to get along with the people in her life, Melissa McCarthy has moments when you see every single emotion playing on her face and you understand all of the pain this woman is going through deep deep down. There's one scene in particular when she's sitting in a jazz club - that scene devastated me and I still don't know why. It seemed to encapsulate her loneliness as well as her tentative hope that she had found a friend and finally found an answer to her financial woes. But again, none of that was proclaimed out loud, it was all just one long scene of staring at McCarthy's face.

The final moments of the film are equally powerful and I won't spoil anything here. However, thay do a splendid job of getting into this woman's psyche and explaining why forgery was such a perfect crime for her personality. And the final reckoning between her and Jack is quite bittersweet and apt for their relationship. Lest I forget, Richard E. Grant is an absolute marvel in this movie as well, and it's deeply satisfying to see his portrayal of the gay English dilettante opposite Melissa McCarthy and watch that unlikely friendship bloom.

Deftly directed by Marielle Heller from a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeffy Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a remarkable story made all the more remarkable by its actors. I cannot get over this Melissa McCarthy performance, and if she isn't nominated for an Oscar it would be an absolute travesty. Darkly funny, deeply moving, and terrifically intriguing, this is a movie that both entertains and affects you in unexpected ways.

Fahrenheit 11/9: Rage Against the Dying of the Light

This has been a rough political week (more than usual anyway) and many of my female friends are alternately furious and depressed by the Kavanaugh appointment to the Supreme Court. If you are feeling some outrage or despair, perhaps you might get some catharsis out of watching Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9, a dissection of what went wrong in 2016 and what America needs to do to move forward.

Will the first 20 minutes of this movie make you want to claw your eyes out? Perhaps. As you relive November 9, 2016, with the initial certainty and jubilation that Hillary Clinton would win and then the eventual jawdropping agony that heralded her defeat, part of me experienced the surge of utter misery that dogged me for weeks (and let's be honest, even now) after the election. But what follows is a careful look at the current state of American politics and the many ways in which our democracy is almost laughably undemocratic. Are there extended interviews with historians and Nuremberg prosecutors that compare us to Nazi Germany? You bet.

Much of the movie focuses on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, which touches upon corruption, greed, and wanton disregard for the poor and disenfranchised members of American society. A predominantly black and working class town, Flint has been neglected so thoroughly by our politicians that it is astonishing to witness how we so casually let this humanitarian crisis unfold within our borders. The villain of the piece is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a former Chairman and CEO of Gateway Computers, who prioritized profit over people and switched the drinking water source of the town of Flint to appease corporate interests. When the water was found to be contaminated and the children of Flint were registering abnormally high lead levels in their blood, did he immediately switch back the source of the drinking water? Of course not. Instead, the government conspired to forge lead level results, kept saying the water was safe to drink, and dismissed the citizenry and their health concerns, ensuring that the next generation of Flint children will face irrevocable mental and physical health harm due to lead toxicity. But when General Motors complained that the contaminated water was corroding their auto parts, they immediately got switched over to fresh water from the Lake. Our children don't deserve clean water, but our cars certainly do.

Don't be fooled; this isn't solely an anti-Republican movie. Moore heavily criticizes the Obama administration's response to the Flint crisis, including the President's visit to the town where he pretended to drink the water and therefore treated the entire episode as a farce. Going back to the election, Moore also delves into the Democrats' rigged primary system, where Bernie Sanders, despite being the favorite candidate, was shunted aside by the super delegates who handed the candidacy over to Hillary Clinton. After that, we have the electoral college to blame, a system where the person who wins the popular vote still loses the election and America continues to be this insanely undemocratic nation where the candidate that the majority votes for still doesn't get to be President of the United States.

So where do we go from here? The movie ends with a focus on the Parkland, Florida school shooting that mobilized a generation of teenage protesters who were too young to vote but old enough to organize the worldwide March For Our Lives. Along the way, Moore also interviews ordinary men and women who were energized by the election to run for office and win seats in the House of Representatives through grassroots campaigns that were driven by a promise to give all Americans a better life. What struck me about all these extraordinary human beings is their compassion and need to make America better for all Americans, not just the Americans in their immediate vicinity. Empathy is sorely lacking amongst our politicians, who are increasingly insular and incapable of voting for anything because it's a cause they believe in. Instead, all they know is they want to get re-elected and vote along Party lines. The hope of this film is that these new Representatives, like Alexandra Occasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, will re-invigorate the Legislative branch to represent a government that is truly by the people, for the people.

The appointment of Brett Kavanaugh is yet another slap in the face of the women of this nation who don't think it's too much to ask that the branches of our government not be staffed by privileged, empathy-deprived men who face serious allegations of sexual misconduct. Is there really no one else that we can get to take on these jobs? So if you are still reeling, take some nominal comfort from the rising political stars and activists highlighted in Fahrenheit 11/9, but also remember that the fight is not over. Rather than turning inwards in a depressive funk, keep speaking up, writing, and register all of your friends, family, and colleagues to vote in the midterm elections.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

A Star Is Born: Lady Gaga Takes the Stage

It has been a while since a movie has made me cry but A Star Is Born stirred up all manner of repressed emotions in me. A timeless story about love, fame, and tragedy, I had zero desire to watch this movie when I first saw the trailer. Who wants to see another remake, especially about such a depressing story, starring Lady Gaga of all people? But after reading the glowing reviews, my interest was sufficiently piqued that I found myself in the theater on opening night. And damn. I was floored.

To summarize the plot in broad strokes, Jackson Mayne (Bradley Cooper) is an alcoholic but very famous country singer who discovers Ally (Lady Gaga) singing in a drag bar and is instantly captivated by her voice. Enamored, he drags her on stage during a concert, where she sings a duet with him and finds instant fame. As her career is on the ascendant, Jackson's career takes a nosedive and he becomes more reliant on booze and pills. It's a classic romantic tragedy, and while none of what I've described sounds like it would be worth it, the following are all the reasons you need to buy a ticket ASAP.

The acting. I've always been a fan of Bradley Cooper, but in this movie, Lady Gaga is definitely the star (which I was delighted to see acknowledged by her top billing in the end credits). When she needs to sing in this film, she doesn't just belt out a number with her brilliant voice. She conveys all of the character's trepidation and nervousness, and then joy and elation when the audience cheers for her. And the chemistry between her and Cooper is eye-wateringly good. The way they trade banter, the little touches, how they lean in to each other. This movie contains the most eloquent love story I've seen captured on film in a long time. Watching Jackson and Ally fall in love and then spiral out of control as fame and addiction complicate matters is a gut punch and I'm still reeling after watching the film.

The music. Obviously Lady Gaga can sing. But turns out so can Bradley Cooper. And together, they complement each other wondrously, with each duet on stage conveying as much love and passion as all of their scenes off stage. If it wasn't enough to co-write, star, and direct the movie, Cooper wrote his songs as well, and the emotion he packs into every note is something to behold.

The characters. While the story might sound a bit pat, the backstory of these characters slowly unfolds over the course of the movie and you get so much insight into their histories and insecurities that you cannot help but root for them throughout the movie. Jackson is immensely flawed and difficult, but watching his interactions with his brother (Sam Neill) and how the two of them have coped with family trauma in vastly different ways is illuminating as the film hurtles to its conclusion. Watching Ally deal with her father and his friends tells you all you need to know about this kind but shy and careful woman. And for any Alias fans, there are some roles played by actors you will recognize, which further reinforces my opinion that Cooper must be the nicest guy in Hollywood if he's casting people he worked with on a TV show a decade ago.

This movie is gorgeous. A lot of it feels like a music documentary, with the lyrics and score telling you everything you need to know about the characters and the unfolding drama. It is so natural and unforced - the relationships feel real and you can personally empathize with these characters and what they must be going through. No one is a monster, but they are all battling demons. Watching A Star Is Born is guaranteed to stir up your insides and make your heart feel full to bursting. Even after writing this review, I haven't quite managed to convey the emotions coursing through me, so all I can say is watch it. And then maybe you will understand.