Words on Bathroom Walls: Profound thoughts

Words on Bathroom Walls (2020) • View trailer 

Four stars. Rated PG-13, for dramatic intensity, sexual candor and brief profanity

By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 9.11.20 

Films concerning mental illness generally rely on actors to convey the disease’s twitchy instability, erratic behavior and the often heartbreaking frustration that comes from self-awareness: Mary Stuart Masterson (1993’s Benny & Joon) and Bradley Cooper (2012’s Silver Linings Playbook) come to mind.

 

More than anything else, Adam (Charlie Plummer) wants to lead a "normal" life ...
which means that he insists on keeping  his mental instability secret from Maya
(Taylor Russell).

Our sense of such characters remains mostly external; we rarely experience the unreality of their shattered senses. Skillful authors can depict that in a novel, but it’s much harder to convey visually, without the result becoming silly … or, even worse, trivialized.

 

Director Thor Freudenthal and scripter Nick Naveda deftly avoid such pitfalls, with their sensitive, shattering — and, at times, even chilling — adaptation of Julia Walton’s 2017 novel. Thanks also to a strong cast, this saga of teenage schizophrenia is illuminating, sobering and, yes, heartwarming.

 

That said, the book’s fans will note that while Naveda retains the essential plot points, he has taken serious liberties with details. Numerous characters have been dropped, and key events have been altered. (Rather crucially, the significance of the book’s title has been tampered with.) It’s perhaps safer to say that this film is inspired by Walton’s novel, rather than faithfully adapted from it.

 

Much the way Walton presents her story as a series of journal entries, Adam (Charlie Plummer) narrates his saga during a series of sessions with an off-camera psychiatrist (never revealed). He’s a standard-issue high school kid with a doting single mother (Molly Parker, as Beth); the two of them have become a “team” after being abandoned by his father.

 

Charlie’s a bit on the nerdish end: mildly unkempt, with long, straggly hair that frequently obscures his eyes. Partly in an effort to cheer up his mother, following the breakup, he experimented with cooking, and has developed considerable culinary talents; he dreams of becoming a chef in a posh restaurant.

 

But Charlie has become increasingly dogged by often terrifying illusions, always triggered by black mists and a growling, disembodied voice emanating from open doorways. He and his mother pursue various drugs and therapies, none of which slows his frightening slide into mental instability.

 

The Way, Way Back: A droll little gem

The Way, Way Back (2013) • View trailer 
4.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for dramatic intensity, sexual candor, mild profanity and brief drug content
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.19.13

We don’t necessarily realize this right away, but the battle lines are drawn in this film’s opening scene: War has been declared, and no quarter will be given.

Having enjoyed a delightful day together, which has lent weight to their growing
fondness for each other, Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) and Duncan (Liam James)
return home to a chilly reception from the aggressive adult that this boy has grown to
loathe: the bully who has become his divorced mother's constant companion. And,
just like that, the day's magic evaporates...

Sadly, our adversaries are badly mismatched, which the villain of this piece knows full well. And he’s perfectly willing to reduce his opponent to emotional rubble.

The Way, Way Back is one of the best coming-of-age tales ever caught on film: a captivating blend of snarky comedy and heartbreaking pathos that evokes pleasant memories of Summer of ’42, Stand by Me and other classics of the genre. This project is cast to perfection, with every actor — in parts large or small — making the most of the sharp script from writer/directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.

Very few films leave us wanting more, as the screen darkens, the lights come up, and we regretfully abandon our seats. I didn’t want this one to end. Indeed, I wanted to watch it again, if only to catch some of the dialogue that was buried beneath the laughter coming from last week’s delighted preview audience.

The action takes place in the summer beach community of Marshfield, Mass., and the surrounding area on Boston’s South Shore. Although the setting is contemporary — only because we spot smart phones and ear buds — the locale feels oddly timeless, as is appropriate for the narrative. Youthful angst knows no specific era; the desperation of adolescents struggling for maturity has been relevant ever since Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

This anywhen atmosphere is further amplified by Water Wizz, the somewhat dilapidated water park that plays such an important role in these events. (It’s no set; Water Wizz is a fully operational, mom-and-pop operation in East Wareham, Mass.) Back in the day, Hollywood sometimes used traveling carnivals and circuses as settings for coming-of-age sagas; fading theme parks seem to have become the modern equivalent.

I’d love to see this new film on a double bill with 2009’s under-rated Adventureland, which has a similarly nostalgic vibe, although its protagonist is a bit older. Now, that would be a grand night at the movies.

Anyway...

Fourteen-year-old Duncan (Liam James) has been dragged along for a summer “vacation” at the beach house owned by his divorced mother Pam’s (Toni Collette) overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell). To say that Trent is a calculating bully would be understatement; he views Duncan as a potential impediment toward his pursuit of Pam — an absolutely accurate appraisal — and snatches every opportunity to crush the boy’s already fragile spirit.

Race to Witch Mountain: Failed spell

Race to Witch Mountain (2009) • View trailer for Race to Witch Mountain
2.5 stars (out of five). Rating: PG, and quite generously, for constant violence and gunfire
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 3.13.09
Buy DVD: Race to Witch Mountain • Buy Blu-Ray: Race to Witch Mountain (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

You can't merely suspend disbelief while watching Race to Witch Mountain; you have to flush disbelief out the airlock.

Director Andy Fickman's noisy remake of the amiable 1975 Disney fantasy certainly isn't an improvement, which is ironic, considering the enhanced state of special effects in the 21st century. Fickman obviously belongs to the kitchen-sink school of filmmaking: When in doubt, throw in more bullets, more explosions and more car chases.

Having found their way to the super-super-secret military base at the oddly
named Witch Mountain, our heroes — from left, Alex (Carla Gugino), Sara
(AnnaSophia Robb), Seth (Alexander Ludwig) and Jack (Dwayne Johnson) —
stare skyward, as if hoping for inspiration to strike. More likely, they're hoping
for fresh, more intelligent script pages, as this flick doesn't allow them to do
more than run, duck and cover.

Maybe, that way, the audience won't notice the lapses of continuity in Matt Lopez and Mark Bomback's clumsy screenplay ... or the plot holes that are large enough to pilot a flying saucer through.

I've long been annoyed by lazy writers who, having accepted a commission to script a family-friendly (read: children's) film, apparently believe that they can be sloppy because kids won't notice. Well, I beg to differ. It's insulting, and kids do notice ... particularly today's kids, who are much more savvy about movie logic.

As competent writers such as Neil Gaiman and J.K. Rowling would be the first to point out, children's fantasy should be every bit as carefully conceived and meticulously plotted as that for adults. After all, some of the best kid-lit remains an engaging read no matter what our ages, and the best youth-oriented movie fantasies — the adaptation of Gaiman's Coraline immediately comes to mind — are designed to satisfy everybody from young-'uns to their grandparents.

That's the way it should be.

But that certainly isn't the way Lopez and Bomback handled their update/remake of Disney's "Witch Mountain" franchise.

In fairness, yes, Dwayne Johnson is quite engaging as long-suffering Las Vegas cab driver Jack Bruno, who is trying to put his larcenous past behind him. Johnson's action hero persona has a natural flair for light comedy that Arnold Schwarzenegger never quite managed, while at the same time remaining credibly able to beat up on routine bad guys.

Anyway, Jack's life gets more complicated when he unwisely agrees to drive two somewhat unusual kids — Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) — to a remote location in the Nevada desert. Aside from speaking an oddly stilted English and behaving strangely, Sara and Seth have no concept of the wad of money they use to engage Jack's services.

Turns out, the kids are being pursued by a veritable army of gun-toting black-ops types led by the determinedly nasty Burke — Ciaran Hinds, at his most malevolent — a vicious swine who gives the U.S. government a truly bad name. (Didn't Disney get the memo? We have a kinder, gentler, science-friendly administration in Washington now!)