A story infused with both passion and compassion, “The Aftermath,” starring Keira Knightley, Alexander Skarsgård and Jason Clarke, takes the themes of grief and reconciliation and pushes them through the Melodramizer Machine.
Based on the 2013 book of the same name by Rhidian Brook, most of “The Aftermath” is fiction but the idea of a British soldier sharing his requisitioned house with its former occupants was borrowed from the experience of the author’s grandfather Walter Brook.
Set in Hamburg, Germany five after the close of World War II, the story begins with
British army colonel Lewis Morgan and wife and Rachael (Clarke and Knightley) moving into a large homer requisitioned from German national Stefan Lubert (Alexander Skarsgård) and his teenage daughter Freda (Flora Thiemann). Lubert, once a wealthy architect, is forced to cede his palatial home to the Morgans while Lewis assists in the post war building of the badly bombed city.
There is much to do. Lewis says Hamburg took more Allied bombs in one weekend than London took during the entire war and there are thousands of bodies still unaccounted for. Conditions are deplorable. Families living in camps fashioned around old, burned out buildings. No water, heat or electricity. Taking pity of Lubert, Lewis offers the former homeowner the chance to stay in the house. “It’s chaos out there,” Lewis says. “There’s no where to put them. Nothing to feed them. It makes no sense to put the Luberts out.”
Rachael isn’t keen on the idea of sharing the house with their once, sworn enemy. “I thought we’d be together,” she says. “Alone.”
The two families cohabitate, mostly at a distance. “What a house,” says Rachel’s friend (Kate Phillips). “It’s almost worth living with a German!” Stefan, once a wealthy man now relegated to living in the attic of his former home while Rachel and Lewis live downstairs. Everyone is suffering. Lewis and Rachel from the loss of a young son, the victim of a German air raids. Stefan and Freda are still mourning the loss of their wife and mother as they try and acclimatize to the life after the war.
Outside, in Hamburg, tensions are rising. A small group of Nazis in the guise of freedom fighters are stirring up trouble. When Lewis is called away to deal with one of their uprisings Stefan and Rachel form a bond based on a shared sense of loneliness and grief.
“The Aftermath” looks fantastic. Director James Kent has an eye for detail and uses the house almost as a character. The shadowy space on the wall where a portrait of Hitler used to hang looms over the proceedings, its absence helping to set the time and place. Rachel’s interaction with the modernistic Bauhaus Furniture, which she finds so uncomfortable, helps us understand her state of mind.
It’s an interesting canvas on which to paint this story but unfortunately the love story feels torn from the pages of a not-so-steamy Harlequin Romance. Characters change abruptly, hissing one second, cooing the next. Knightley and Skarsgård’s emotional arcs suggest that the thin line between love and hate is even thinner than previously thought. Their love affair is born out of a desire to feel something, not out of actual desire and, as such, is about as steamy as a cold shower first thing on a Monday morning.
Clarke fairs better as the stoic but compassionate army colonel but this isn’t his story. He’s at the center of much of the action but his story of reconciliation is overshadowed by the clumsy melodrama.
Talk about getting rich quick. The schemers in “The Hummingbird Project” have a plan to transmit digital stock exchange information faster than any other company. Like a millisecond or two faster, or the time it takes a hummingbird to do a single wing flap, just enough of a jump on everybody else to earn them millions of dollars.
When we first meet cousins Vincent and Anton (Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård) they work at a high stakes Wall Street trading firm under the ruthless Eva Torres (Salma Hayek). Vincent is the ideas guy; Anton the computer whiz.
Vincent understands that millions of dollars can be made with the right technology, a speedy delivery system that will connect the Kansas Electronic Exchange with the New York Stock Exchange. His outlandish idea is to tunnel from Kansas to New York, through mountains and under rivers and whatever else may be in the way, in a perfectly straight line. High-speed fibre optic cables connecting the two ends should be able to transfer info in 16 milliseconds.
With an investor (Frank Schorpion) on board to soak up the operation’s astronomical cost and an engineer (Michael Mando) to oversee the drilling, everything seems to be on track.
Trouble is, Anton can’t write a program that gets the speed below 17 milliseconds. In this case 16 vs. 17 milliseconds is like comparing the speed of a Lamborghini and a garden snail. Also, their old boss Eva, a billionaire who values loyalty above everything except money, is looking to beat them at their own game.
In the surface this is a quintessential story of American largess, the kind of big thinking that saw the country lead the world in advancement for much of the last century. Dig a little deeper and it becomes a cautionary tale of dialling up the speed of life for the sake of speed and a few dollars.
Guiding us on this philosophical journey are Vincent and Anton. Eisenberg begins the film doing a riff on his Zuckerberg portrayal from “The Social Network” but as the story goes on he drops the sociopathic quest for success to embark on a different, more human journey. (NO SPOILERS HERE) Vincent remains a big thinker but as it becomes clear he is chasing a windmill he gearshifts, allowing his human side to come to the surface.
Eisenberg impresses but it is Skarsgård who steals the show. Balding and paunchy, the heartthrob of “True Blood” has been put aside in favour of an eggheaded character prone to panic attacks and fits of rage. He is the film’s most vivid character and its nice to see Skarsgård push the limits of what he can do on-screen.
“The Hummingbird Project” sets its sights beyond the story of Wall Street intrigue to focus on something much bigger, the effects of global capitalism.
Based on the award-winning novel of the same name by Joan Clark, “An Audience of Chairs” is the story of a manic depressive woman’s pursuit of compassion and connection.
When we first meet Maura Mackenzie (Carolina Bartczak) she’s eyeing a career as a concert pianist. With an upcoming audition for an American tour she and daughters Bonnie (Grace Keeping) and Brianna (Lauren Patten) head to their Newfoundland summer home for some rest and relaxation. Just as they arrive Maura’s journalist husband Duncan (Chris Jacot) calls with some bad news. On assignment in Russia, he’s decided to stay for the rest of the summer to follow a lead.
Faced with missing her audition and feeling her career aspirations taking a backseat to his, she falls into a depression. She sleeps through the day as her young children look after and feed themselves. Worse, on a day trip Maura, in a manic state, leaves the girls unattended, open to danger.
Duncan returns after the incident and relocating the kids to Scotland. Diagnosed with bipolar II disorder, followed by a full-scale breakdown and a suicide attempt, Maura is alone as her mental health deteriorates. At her lowest moment she meets good-natured truck driver Ben (Gord Rand) who becomes her boyfriend.
Jump ahead twenty years. The children are grown, strangers to Maura who hasn’t seen them in decades. When it is announced that Bonnie will be married in the local church, Maura hopes for forgiveness and reconciliation.
“An Audience of Chairs” does not pull any punches in its examination of Maura’s struggle with mental illness. Bartczak never slips into caricature or loses sights of the character’s humanity. The story dips into some very bleak territory but the lead performance reminds us that Maura is more than her mental illness; that she is a person of depth and resilience. She’s a strong character at the centre of an important story.
Film critic Richard Crouse, social media star Stewart Reynolds, and parent blogger Samantha Kemp-Jackson get Behind the Headlines with host Beverly Thomson. Today they discuss if single people are happier than couples.
The “Dumbo” review drops next week but in the meantime here’s a Snapchat augmented reality video from the Danny DeVito junket (watch the interview on “Pop Life” Saturday March 30 at 8:30 pm on CTV NewsChannel and midnight on CTV!). You will believe an elephant can fly!
Richard fills in for Barb DiGiulio on The Night Side ON NewsTalk 1010 and speaks to Tim Hague Sr., winner of the “Amazing Race Canada” and author of “Perseverance: The Seven Skills You Need To Survive, Thrive, And Accomplish More Than You Ever Imagined.”
An inspiring story of beating the odds and learning to overcome–no matter what life hands you.
After starting a family and flourishing in his career, Tim Hague was struck by misfortune. The irritating tremor in his foot turned out to be early onset Parkinson’s disease. He was only 46 years old. But what seemed to be an end became a new beginning. Just three years later, Hague won the inaugural The Amazing Race Canada (with his son, Tim Jr., as his teammate). His remarkable life story shows that perseverance is not just a matter of willpower: it is a skill that can be learned and honed.
And perseverance is the theme of his life. From the day he was born, Hague has gone from one struggle to another. Yet, remarkably, he doesn’t have a trace of self-pity. In fact, he feels blessed. From his tough start in life as an unwanted mixed-race baby born in Texas in 1964, to his eventual move to the unforgiving climate of Winnipeg, Canada, to start a family under difficult circumstances, and his continuing battle with Parkinson’s–Hague’s life is a roadmap of perseverance.
Parkinson’s has forced him to retire early from the work he loves as a registered nurse. But as a healthcare professional, and now suffering from a challenging disease himself, Hague discusses living with Parkinson’s like no one else could. He now works with charities to help promote Parkinson’s awareness and his “Live Your Best” message. Drawing on his experience winning The Amazing Race, and referencing cutting-edge research and studies, Hague weaves a moving story of failure and success, outlining the elements of his philosophy that anyone can apply to their own lives, including:
* The nature of luck: Luck comes to those who keep trying until the end–never stop until the race is over. *Find community: As a nurse, a husband and father, and a man living with Parkinson’s, Hague knows better than most that we all need to ask for help sometimes, and that’s a good thing. *Accept limits: By focusing on what we can do, we accomplish more than we ever thought possible. *Cease striving: We think of striving as a positive attribute, but all we end up doing is banging our heads against the wall. Have goals, but have fun. Do not create anxiety out of nothing and maintain perspective. *Live Your Best: No such thing as giving 110%–can only do your best.
Inspirational and entertaining, Hague’s message is both simple and profound: perseverance isn’t just something a person has, or a trait we admire in others. Hague’s book, like his life, is a guide to how we can all learn to persevere in the face of daily struggles–or even life-changing illness.
Richard fills in for Barb DiGiulio on The Night Side ON NEWSTALK 1010 and looks at the pros and cons of lawyers wearing robes in court. He then asks the question, “Have you ever had to wear an uncomfortable uniform for work?”
