8A - Monday, December 2, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
8A - Monday, December 2, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
M lives.
Dench shines as
titular'Philomena'
perfi
By
Dam
has play
queen, t
sive
agency,
strong a
and a v
teacher.
is no-n
her ch
unforgiv
that's w
her apa:
ever, the
typecast
dreamyw
playing
Powerful years, only allowing her and the
other "women of questionable mor-
ormances drive als"to see their children for an hour
a day. One somber July day, Phil
BBC drama watches from an upstairs window
as a wealthy America family adopts
NATALIE GADBOIS her son Anthony and drives away
Daily Arts Writer from her without a goodbye.
There can be a distinction
e Judi Dench ("Skyfall") between the Catholic Church and
ed a domineering English the Catholic faith. Little old ladies
he cool director of a mas- praying for successful hip replace-
security ments are a contradiction to the
a head- A- pompous preaching of a far away
ristocrat cathedral in Rome. Inflexible
indictive Philomena nuns belatedly teach abstinence to
Dench unwed mothers. The institution
onsense, Atthe spends years changing the words
haracters Michigan to the "Hail Mary" as parish priests
ring, and BBC try desperately to feed the hun-
'hat sets gry. "Philomena" examines these
rt. How- themes as Phil enlists Martin Six-
Dame is too talented to be smith (Steve Coogan, "Despicable
t as every feminist's badass Me 2"), a befallen and cynical jour-
voman, which she showsby nalist, to help her find her son, now
asweetold ladyin"Philom- 50.
ena." - "
Dench is Philomena Lee, a sim-,
ple Irish nurse quietly atoning for
her sin of broken chastity 50 years
later. As a teenager, Philomena
had a roll in the hay with a boy at.
the county fair, and because of her
subsequent pregnancy, her parents
threw her into an abbey. There, the
nuns help her give birth and then
brusquely put her to work for four
The film excels in establishing
their relationship, comically juxta-
posing Martin's cranky modernity
with Philomena's amiable simplici-
ty. Muchofthecomedycomesfrom
Dench's creation of Philomena
as that sweet old lady everyone
knows: The one who offers toffees
in the car, who doesn't understand
puns and kindheartedly tries to
connect with her Mexican waiter
by expressing her love of tacos.
Do not mistake Philomena as
just a caricature. Through her
soulful eyes and deliberate move-
ments, Dench instills in her a quiet
pain: Her voice never rises to a yell,
and even when she breaks down,
her dignity stays intact. Religion
stays an important theme as Phil
goes head-to-head with Martin,
facing off his rants about God and
the Pope with her ferocious faith.
The dichotomy between the two
of them can at times come off as
too strong - a studied depiction
of new vs. old - but the excellent
acting by both Dench and Coogan
ensures that Phil and Martin are
fully developed.
The film, based on a true story,
only falters in itsstorytellingdevic-
es. Gray-lit flashbacks show Phil's
loss; the camera focuses two inches
fromher facetoshowthe single tear
dripping down her cheek. Dench
narrates these flashbacks herself,
andher daintybrogue negatesfrom
the severity of the situation. The
story itself is dramatic, but every
time the film dips into melodra-
ma, Philomena loses some of her
authenticity. The music detracts
from the story as well, playing the
frenzied tones of a murder mystery.
It simply doesn't match the story's
nuanced examination of a woman
torn apart but still full of forgive-
ness.
"Philomena" delicately portrays
a woman already in the twilight of
her life, who still yearns to change
her past. Phil isn't brilliant, she isn't
educated or witty, not even par-
ticularly perceptive. Phil is simply
a woman conflicted between what
was taken from her and the faith
that has remained throughout her
entire life. Dench seems to go in a
softer direction with "Philomena,"
but Phil is possibly her most badass
character yet: a forgiving woman
with dignity and grace, one who
doesn't pretend tobe someone she
is not.
By NATALIE GADBOIS
Daily Arts Writer
Paul Rudd ("Clueless") and
Steve Carell ("Despicable Me
2") have made their careers out
of playing nice guys, the ones
moms love and teenaged book-
worms swoon over. It's notable
then that they both attribute
"Anchorman: The Legend of
Ron Burgundy" as their favor-
ite film, despite playing less
than relatable characters. In a
conference call The Michigan
Daily took part in, Rudd and
Carell discussed the upcoming
sequel, "Anchorman 2: The Leg-
end Continues," which releases
December 20.
Rudd reprises his role as
Brian Fantana, a heavily mus-
tachioed, wannabe lothario.
Carell returns as Brick Tam-
land, a simple man who can only
communicate by yelling random
words and phrases. To this day
Carell says that fans repeat
Brick's famous nonsensical line,
"I love lamp," more than any of
his other quotes.
The original 2004 film, creat-
ed and directed by Adam Mckay
("The Other Guys"), wildly
successful when it came out,
has developed an even greater
cult following since. Will Fer-
rell starred as Ron Burgundy,
an overblown and incompe-
tent news anchor in 1970s San
Diego. Rudd and Carell starred
as members of his intrepid gang
of reporters.
"Part of the spirit of what
happened on the first 'Anchor-
man,"' Rudd said, "Was that it
felt like an indie movie. It just
felt like a very small kind of
corky comedy that we thought
was funny, that did not seem
particularly commercial."
Both films boast avast array
of comedic guest stars, includ-
ing Ben Stiller and Vince
Vaughn (in the original), Har-
rison Ford, Kristen Wiig, Tina
Fey and many others in the
sequel. Rudd and Carell attri-
bute Mckay as the reason so
many stars are drawn to these
quirky films.
"I think people were sort of
calling Adam and Will to get
into the movie," Carell said.
"I don't think there was much
arm-bending to get people in ...
People just wanted to be part of
the silliness."
0
PARAMOUNT
"I'd like to extend to you an invitation to the pants party."
Rudd, Car ell discuss
anticipated Anchorman'
hype leading up to the sequel is
irrepressible.
Fans even fought for the film
to be turned into a musical, an
idea Carell says he found inter-
esting but ultimately impos-
sible. One of the memorable
scenes of the original is when
Ferrell, Rudd, Carell and David
Koechner, the fourth member
of their crew, sing an acapella
version of "Afternoon Delight."
"The part Iwas excited about
with a musical," Carell said,
"was the fact that at any given
moment, the characters could
just break into song. The idea
of that happening - it's just
great."
Ten years
later, people
still quote the
comedy classic.
207E Liberty, Arm Adbw
The "silliness" o
translates into mor
than they could have
Nearly 10 years afteri
"Anchorman" is stilla
referenced film toda
~' Men's and women's
cauaeothfing
Man - TurmsO -7,
Fi&SatiO-$, Sun: 11-6
(M 166S 6611 aamsbasiccioihesccom
f filming Both are tight-lipped about
re money the new film, but they say that
imagined. the official trailer, which has
its release, already been viewed over 1.1
a regularly million times, doesn't give
y, and the the best parts away. The air of
mystery surrounding the film
- keeping shooting schedules
and cameos a secret, not giv-
ing away much of the plot - is
intentional on the part of the
actors and filmmakers. They
don't want the film to lose any
of its hype.
"I want people to have ques-
tions going into this," Rudd
said. "I want people to feel
about this the way they feel
about 'Lost in Translation,' in
a way."
"You know, you look at the
trailer and you think, wow,
that's - they put everything in
that they could, and that's the
entire movie," Carell said. "But
there's so much more (here)
than is in the trailer, and it's
funnier. So I'm kind of psyched
about the whole thing."
Since the original was
released in 2004, both of these
actors have blown up, gone on
to star on TV and in comedic
and dramatic movies alike.
They are not only happy, but
ecstatic, to return as Burgun-
dy's bumbling sidekicks once
again.
"For me, mainly it was like
working with these guys again
who I love," Rudd said. "And,
you know, it was such a blast
doing the first one that I would
jump at the chance to come
back and beat a dead horse."
"We all just wanted to do it
for the sake of doing it, and I
think we all would have done it
in a vacuum." Carell said. "Even
if there was no film, we would
PARAMOUNT have come back and done it,
because it's so much fun."
-> Caption