Natalie Portman

Special Edition

Toronto Ontario Canada

Exclusive - *Anywhere But Here* Review, and Meeting with Natalie

Hey everyone. First off, yes the newsletter is a week late. Why? Two reasons. Reason #1, I had some personal crap that I had to put up with, and that I had to deal with first. Let's just say I hope none of you have to go through losing a pet like I did. So it #$%@'ed me up, and I skipped writing it. Secondly, I knew that this Friday would happen, and I would have more to write about then.

Anyway, after a week of heavy alcohol I got over it, and sat down to write. First off, let me say that for the first time, living in this city has been a good thing. For 13 years, (I moved from Vancouver when I was 5), living in Toronto has meant a crappy hockey team, and an even more pathetic football team. But FINALLY, the Gods have smiled upon us, and blessed Toronto with a film festival. They smiled on us again, and gave us Anywhere But Here as the finally. And yes, they let Natalie come to the premier.

Ah yes. Life DOES have its occasional moments.

Anyway, this newsletter will just have some news about ANYWHERE BUT HERE, and Natalie.

Okay first off, the movie.

Anywhere But Here - Review

I believe this will be the first review on the net (Not counting the National Post). That's right, I scooped all the big sites, so they can just kiss my ass. Sweet. But anyway, none of that is important. I've got a movie to review. Oh yeah, and this newsletter isn't going to have all that fun happy stuff you're expecting in my newsletter. Its going to be a real review and Natalie encounter, so expect the regular newsletter this Sunday. Anyway, on to the movie.

Was it a good movie? Well, I'm sorry to say, no not really. I sat through it in almost complete and utter boredom. I went with about 4 friends, and I ran into about 2 other guys I knew, who on the whole also did not enjoy the movie. Was it an awful film? No, an awful film would make you cringe at the poorly written lines, and shabby story twists. Anywhere But Here did have some redeeming, touching moments, and there are some genuinely funny moments too. Two scenes stick out in particular, one where Natalie's new boyfriend Peter, decides to do a little "happy dance" for her, and the second where after Natalie's audition, you can see Natalie trying to console her mother, while you see Susan Sarrandon in a mirror sitting beside her bed completely forelorn. Unfortunately moments like that are few and far between, and the scenes inbetween them are predictable and formulaic. You can anticipate whenever something is bound to go wrong, and the boyfriend "sub-plots" felt incredibly tacked on. When Susan Sarrandon's character meets the handsome young doctor on the beach, and they have that wonderful night together, you could almost recite what's going to happen next. When Susan Sarrandon drives to work, and sees that the teachers are on strike, she screams out her car window at another teacher holding his picket sign, and tells him to "follow his dream". This scene plays so akwardly, that you furrow your brow in near disgust. The teacher is never seen again, leaving a potentially interesting sub-plot totally up in the air. Another scene, where a death in the family occurs, adds nothing to the movie, except for an opportunity for more predictable scenes. Example? In every movie where people from small towns leave, and go to the city, and later return, the first the people from the small town notice is how much they've "changed". How exactly? Who knows, they're just different. Us in the audience have been with them through the entire trip, and they seem pretty much the same. Oh well, anything that can provide conflict, or a segue to another dramatic scene. Take for example the scene where Natalie must choose between what she wants, which is to stay at home, and leaving, which meant returning to Beverly Hills which she hates, but staying loyal to her mother. Its been done in at least a dozen other movies, and probably at least twice as many times on TV. Here's a small excerpt.

"Let's go Anne (Natalie)"
Natalie thinks for a moment, about whether she wants to stay with the rest of her family in Wisconsin where she likes it. Or go with her mother.
Then a shot of the mother quickly follows, where you can see the shocked expression on her face when the daughter doesn't get up and leave with her.
If that moment seems particularly familiar, it played out exactly the same way in one scene in Wayne Wang's previous film, "The Joy Luck Club".
Infact, the entire movie feels like that. Scene after scene becomes so predictable, you start to not care anymore.

A moment where the two are at their wits end, and everything is about to fall apart
harsh words they don't mean are exchanged, hurting their feelings
They split up and run away in anger.
They realise how much they love each other, and get back together, only to repeat ten minutes later.

The biggest fault of this movie sadly, is that you never truly care for these characters. A dramatic movie like Anywhere But Here, needs those beginning scenes, which initiate feelings of either sympathy or understanding. Unfortunately, the movie did neither. The first parts of the movie where they're establishing themselves in Beverely Hills feel rushed, and the middle of the movie drags on from predictable scene, to predictable scene.

Susan Sarrandon's character in this movie, as the mother who loves her daughter so much, she won't let her go, becomes more irritating than endearing. There are so many times when you just want to put her aside, and give her a strong talking to about all the mistakes she's making in being a mother.Watching the movie becomes more frustrating than enjoyable.

Do well educated, kind mothers in real life, push their intellegent daughters who are doing well in school, and are getting scholarship offers left right and centre, out of the classroom and into auditions to be a child actor? No, not really. But mothers in movies do. Why? because it gives them another issue to disagree about, and reconcile over later.

Of course, the supporting characters are just as stereotypical. The man stuck in a dead end job as a teacher, who really has another secret dream he couldn't pursue. Of course its a weird quirky dream, which sounds funny just listening to it. And let's not forget the supportive group of friends, who shout out lines of support one after another so well timed that it becomes "sitcom-ish."

But of course, if all that matters is that Natalie is in this movie, and you're going to see it no matter what, I guess you're going to want to know about Natalie's performance the most.

Anyway, was it good? It was great.

Truly, for the first time in any movie I can think of, Natalie is forced to truly act. I mean, truly act. Well, maybe this movie and Beautifal Girls. Movies like this take more than an accent, and a furrowed brow every now and then, they require just the right amount of touch in every scene, which Natalie does almost flawlessly. Notice the first scene, where the two are in the car, and Susan Sarandon throws Natalie out. The camera pans back, and doesn't cut away once. There isn't a moment in that scene where Natalie is not believable as a daughter who's truly angry at her mother, and sad about her uprooted life. Infact, as an actress she does almost the impossible. She carries Susan Sarandon in almost every scene. Which is almost shocking considering the calibre of actress Susan Sarandon is, she won an Oscar for "Dead Man Walking". Sarandon is so over the top, that its only Natalie's subtle portrayal of the daughter's (Anne) pain, that keeps the movie from becoming ridiculous. In particular, the scene where Sarandon is talking to Natalie about her date while sitting on a bench on the side of the road. The lines are so clumsy, and so poorly written, that it becomes nearly laughable. Any mother that can come up to her daughter and bluntly, whether she's having sex without any apprehension, should not have that much trouble talking to her daughter about having it herself. Only Natalie's silent, thoughtful, distant gaze into the horizon, which keeps you thinking about what Natalie's thinking, rather than what Sarandon's saying, kept the scene from being unwatchable.

And more importantly for some of you guys, throughout the entire movie, she looks great!

Anywhere But Here is TRULY a chick flick, and I mean that. Which unfortunately is not an excuse for me not enjoying it. Like a good children's movie, it shouldn't just entertain its target audience. It should be able to entertain both the children, and the adults. This "chick flick" was so over the top with its sentimentality, that it can't be taken on any serious level. And I'm not really biased against movies that aren't aimed towards guys. I really enjoyed this summer's "Notting Hill", and I especially liked Wayne Wang's movie of 1994 "The Joy Luck Club". Unfortunately, this one doesn't have that movie's emotional weight, or even its suprisingly sly humour. Anywhere But Here proves that Drama is fine, Melodrama is not.

** (stars out of 5)

Anyway, so I reviewed the movie, now what? Well, if you're like me, and you have a press pass do to my part-time journalism duties as a youth reporter for a local Toronto Magazine, you rush to meet Natalie. And did I? Yes I did. Is she more beautiful in person than she is on television or in movies. *sigh* Yes she is. Anyway, normally after the premier of a movie, I would try and get in and fire off a few quick questions. Which is NOT easy, being only 18 and working for an "arty" paper without much circulation or prestiege. Usually I get ignored, and am lucky to get the repsonses I do get. Anyway, I decided not to do any of that at all, and just went up to her to introduce myself, and tell her that I thought her performance in the movie was great, and maybe get an autograph. Anyhow, I didn't ask for an autograph, because I could tell she was really tired with the hectic hell that is the Toronto Film Festival, and probably just wanted to get to her hotel room.

She wore a simple black dress, with silver designs running up and down, and she looked GREAT. I mean GREAT. She caused one of the friends I was with to hyperventilate. And as for her height, I seriously doubt she broke 5'3. She really is short. I mean, she's tiny people, TINY. I doubt she could be much more than 110 pounds. Anyway, that's it for this week. Its been quite a day! I just left the movie 3 hours ago, and am still on quite a Natalie buzz. Expect the regular newsletter this Sunday, probably in less than 24 hours, til' then...

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Luv - Peace - & - OA515
AVP

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"You Don't Have To Believe What You Say,
When You Don't Care What You Mean"