From the Queue: Audition, Franklyn, and Rachel Getting Married

It was another weekend for movie watching and knitting, and we're very slowly taking down the Netflix queue.

I'd seen Audition before but couldn't remember what had actually happened. I couldn't get the BIL or J to watch it with me, J because he doesn't like Asian horror and the BIL because he'd seen one part of Audition and didn't want to see anymore. The movie is disturbing, though you wouldn't know it from the first half of the movie. The main character, a lonely older man who lives with his son, is convinced to hold auditions to find a suitable mate. The one who stands out to him is a quiet girl who seems to understand pain, having had to give up her dream of being a ballet dancer at an early age. He's drawn to her, despite the warnings from his friend. In the audition scene, the movie plays like a comedy, but the last hour of the movie becomes disturbing. Not a good one to watch it torture and gore bother you.

Franklyn was a surprisingly good science fiction/psychological mystery about a strange figure who wanders a steampunk world called Meanwhile City looking for a cult leader and trying to stay away from the clerics of the world who's job it is to ensure that everyone has faith. Alongside his story are three others: a woman who attempts suicide frequently for both a project and an attempt to gain her mother's attention, a man who, after being jilted, reunites with a childhood friend, and a man looking for his son. The movie is confusing and dark, but was riveting enough to keep J and I watching to see how things were going to end up. The surprise performance for me in this movie was Ryan Phillipe. I haven't seen him in anything for quite awhile. and he was never one of my favorite actors anyway. It was hard to recognize him in this one. He's gotten older and I'll give him a thumbs up for acting improvement.

The disappointment was Rachel Getting Married, an indie film that received good reviews when it was released and stars Anne Hathaway as Kym, a recovering alcoholic who gets out of rehab to go to her sister's wedding. The movie moves like a documentary, and parts tend to drag. Not many of the characters were likable, and even though Hathaway played the part well, Kym is an awkward person that was generally just hard to watch. The family drama was realistic though, which will either annoy you or make you feel better about your own family drama.

Audition: A
Franklyn: B+
Rachel Getting Married: C+

ALF