Lincoln
Film Review by Kam Williams
At the beginning of his presidency, Abraham Lincoln invited three of his political opponents to join his Cabinet to form a so-called "Team of Rivals" with the hope of preserving the Union. But the challenges proved to be insurmountable as the Southern states seceded anyway, leading to the outbreak of The Civil War.
By late 1864, much blood had been spilled and the sides seemed as bitterly divided as they had been at the start of the conflict. Even holding the contending factions inside the surviving coalition together came courtesy of compromise, which explains why the Emancipation Proclamation freed the Confederacy's slaves but none in any of the Union's four, remaining slave states.
Based on Harvard historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's 944-page opus "Team of Rivals," Lincoln telescopes tightly on the last five months of the Great Emancipator's life, a period during which he was desperately devoted to both abolishing slavery and reuniting the country by ending the Civil War. The movie was directed by Steven Spielberg, and bears many of the legendary director's trademark visual effects like blowing curtains and light flares.
The production is first rate in terms of cast, from Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role to a stellar supporting ensemble which includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, James Spader, David Strathairn, Gloria Reuben, S. Epatha Merkerson, Hal Holbrook, Tim Blake Nelson, John Hawkes, Jackie Earl Haley and Bruce McGill. Nor did Spielberg scrimp when it came to costuming or set design, which means the film feels authentic and never hits a false note plotwise.
The picture basically revolves around Lincoln's twisting elbows to get the two-thirds vote in Congress necessary to pass the 13th Amendment ending slavery. This means most of the movie focuses on his exercising his powers of persuasion, promising (sometimes with his fingers crossed) whatever it takes to induce reluctant fellow Republicans and adversaries from across the aisle to support his historic measure.
The President is helped in this regard by his Secretary of State, William Seward (Strathairn) who, in turn, enlists the assistance of Congressmen Bilbo (Spader), Latham (Hawkes) and Schell (Nelson). And already counted on for their votes are longtime liberals like Thaddeus Stevens (Jones) and James Ashley (David Costabile).
This flick doesn't feature any epic battle scenes or even Lincoln's assassination, but simply lots and lots of talk scenes. The conversation-driven docudrama winds what passes for tension around the fait accompli of whether or not the president's bill will pass.
While watching talking heads exchanging dialogue borrowed from "Team of Rivals" might delight history buffs, it's unfortunately likely to test the patience of kids without a 2½ hour attention span unless it involves action and special f/x. Is it still worth the investment? Yes, but not if you're expecting anything more than a poignant portrait of Lincoln's last days, time spent as a marked man making his appointed rounds en route to his rendezvous with destiny.
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for gruesome images, brief profanity, ethnic slurs and an intense scene of war violence.
Running time: 149 minutes
Distributor: DreamWorks Pictures
To see a trailer for Lincoln, visit
Life of Pi
Film Review by Kam Williams
Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) was raised Hindu before converting to Catholicism and Islam all on his own. The spiritually-promiscuous, 16 year-old's parents reacted differently to the changes in the boy's unorthodox behavior which included going to church and praying facing east five times a day.
His frustrated father (Adil Hussain) warned, "You cannot follow three religions at the same time," while his more tolerant mother (Tabu) conceded that "Science cannot teach what is in here," touching her heart. Both shrug it off as probably just a passing phase, since they're busy planning the big move of the family household and zoo from India to Canada.
Then, tragedy strikes en route, when their cargo ship capsizes and sinks in the middle of the Pacific, leaving sole human survivor Pi in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Will the precocious believer remain true to his lofty ideals while having to play the faith-testing hand he's suddenly been dealt?
That's the pressing question posed in Life of Pi, a visually-captivating tale of spirituality and survival. Directed by Oscar-winner Ang Lee (for Brokeback Mountain), the movie was shot against a series of exquisite seascapes that look like glorious, hand-painted, pastel panoramas.
From the point of the shipwreck forward the picture is basically a one-man show, ala Tom Hanks in Cast Away (2000). But instead of talking to a soccer ball, the protagonist here has to figure out how to coexist peacefully in very close quarters with a tiger who'd probably prefer to make him its next meal.
The burden of carrying the film falls on the shoulders of first-time actor Suraj Sharma, who does a magnificent job of conveying the existential angst of the beleaguered, ever-exasperated title character. But given the oceanic endurance theme, the picture still feels more like the Hitchcock classic, Lifeboat (1944), than Cast Away.
As for finding an audience, this remarkably richly-textured adaptation will undoubtedly be a hit with fans of the Yann Martel best-seller upon which it's based, as well as with audience members of any age just looking for an entertaining movie. It might be more important to note that during an opening sequence of this flashback flick, the audience is essentially told that what is about to unfold is a story that will make you believe in God.
For all its religious pretensions, however, the thrust of the production revolves less around any overt attempt to convert disbelievers than around Ang Lee's brilliant use of the screen as a cinematic canvas to narrate a compelling yarn for the ages. A critic and crowd-pleaser impossible to forget come Academy Award season.
Crouching tiger, hidden Siegfried! (sans Roy)
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated PG for mature themes and scary action sequences
In English, French and Japanese with subtitles
Running time: 127 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
To see a trailer for Life of Pi, visit
Bob Zemeckis
The "Flight" Interview with Kam Williams
Born in Chicago on May 14, 1951, Bob Zemeckis won an Academy Award for Best Director for the hugely successful "Forrest Gump." The film's numerous honors also included Oscars for Best Actor (Tom Hanks) and Best Picture. The Library of Congress recently selected the film to join the esteemed National Film Registry.
Zemeckis re-teamed with Hanks on the contemporary drama "Cast Away," the filming of which was split into two sections, book-ending production on What Lies Beneath. Earlier in his career, Zemeckis co-wrote and directed "Back to the Future," which was the top-grossing release of 1985, and for which Zemeckis landed an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
He then went on to helm "Back to the Future, Part II and Part III," completing one of the most successful film trilogies ever. In addition, he directed and produced "Contact," starring Jodie Foster, based on the best-selling novel by Carl Sagan; and the macabre comedy hit "Death Becomes Her," starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis.
He also wrote and directed the box office smash "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," cleverly blending live action and animation. And he directed the action-adventure hit "Romancing the Stone," pairing Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
In March 2001, the USC School of Cinema-Television celebrated the opening of the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. This state-of-the-art facility is the country's first fully-digital training center, and houses the latest in non-linear production and post-production equipment as well as stages, a 50-seat screening room and a USC student-run television station, Trojan Vision.
Here, he talks about his latest film, Flight, a combination special f/x and legal thriller starring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, John Goodman and Melissa Leo.
Kam Williams: Hi Bob, thanks so much for the interview.
Bob Zemeckis: You bet.
KW: I'm honored to have this opportunity to speak with you. I loved the film and found it fascinating. I told my readers I'd be speaking with you, so I'll be mixing my questions in with theirs. What interested you in making Flight?
BZ: I thought it was a wonderful, beautifully-written screenplay with some really interesting, complex characters, including Denzel's, obviously. I found it to be very bold and very courageous.
A Royal Affair
(En kongelig affaere)
Film Review by Kam Williams
If you are a fan of elaborate costume dramas of Shakespearean proportions, A Royal Affair is likely right up your alley. Nikolaj Arcel, who wrote the script for the Swedish-language version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, does double duty this time around, both directing and adapting Bodil Steensen-Leth's erotic novel, Prinsesse af blodet, to the big screen.
The epic tale revolves around the love triangle which develops when Denmark's 15 year-old Queen Caroline (Alicia Vikander) falls head over heels for a dashing doctor named Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen). This only makes sense since her considerably older husband she's just met is not only a clumsy lover but stark raving mad to boot.
She and the Royal physician are not only attracted to each other, but share some lofty ideals for the long-oppressed citizenry. So, casting their fate to the wind, the smitten lovebirds soon set about plotting to overthrow the cuckoo king.
Of course, no monarch takes kindly to a coup d'etat, and complications ensue. It doesn't help matters that the recently-arrived Caroline is a sister of Britain's King George III, and Johann is German, which means the insurgency has the potential to turn into an international incident.
While carrying on their torrid affair, the pair contemplates ushering in the Age of Enlightenment, a cultural movement that had already taken hold elsewhere around Europe. While folks familiar with Danish history might have an idea where this all leads, it was definitely fun for this uninformed critic to witness the intriguing play-by-play in the dark as to what was looming just over the horizon at each tawdry twist and turn.
A lust for power revealing, what else, but something rotten in the State of Denmark.
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated R for sexuality and violent images.
In Danish, French, German and English with subtitles
Running time: 137 minutes
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
To see a trailer for A Royal Affair, visit
The Sessions
Film Review by Kam Williams
Mark O'Brien (John Hawkes) was left paralyzed from the neck down by the polio he'd contracted as a child. Consequently, he can only breathe with the assistance of an iron lung, although he can use a portable respirator for a few hours at a time.
Nonetheless, the condition has never stopped him from fantasizing, especially about his attractive attendants like Amanda (Annika Marks) who quit when he expressed his desire for her. The sexually-frustrated, 38 year-old decides that the only way he'll probably ever lose his virginity is by paying a woman to sleep with him.
However, this proves easier said than done, between the physical challenges presented by quadriplegia and his having to wrestle with a major moral issue as a devout Catholic. Since his religion forbids fornication outside the sanctity of marriage, Mark consults his parish priest for special dispensation.
Armed with the surprisingly-sympathetic Father Brendan's (William H. Macy) blessing, Mark retains the services of Cheryl (Helen Hunt), a professional sex surrogate with the bedside demeanor, or should I say bedroom demeanor, of a saint. Over the course of a half-dozen, romantic rendezvous, the sensitive therapist gradually helps her patient conquer problems with performance anxiety and premature ejaculation.
En route to consummation, the pair simultaneously forge a friendship in spite her fears that he might develop an attachment to her. After all, she is married. But Mark emerges from the experience, a changed man, as he develops the confidence to flirt with other women and he even ultimately finds a wife (Robin Weigert).
The Sessions' subject-matter might strike some as salacious, given the film's frequent, full-frontal nudity. But the picture actually plays out more as a compassionate tale exploring a variety of themes, including faith, friendship, relationships and the indomitability of the human spirit.
Written and directed by Ben Lewin, himself a polio victim, the movie is based on Mark O'Brien's (1950-1999) life story as chronicled in his autobiography "How I Became a Human Being: A Disabled Man's Quest for Independence." The late author was already the subject of Breathing Lessons, a biopic which won an Academy Award in 1997 in the Best Documentary category.
Rather than resort to manipulative sentimentality, the production resists the temptation to follow a Hollywood formula in favor of a realistic plot that Mark undoubtedly would have appreciated. As a journalist and longtime civil rights advocate, he never looked for pity but lobbied for legislation and equality on behalf of the handicapped.
Co-stars John Hawkes and Helen Hunt generate an endearing chemistry, here, turning in a couple of virtuoso performances deserving of serious consideration come Oscar season. A poignant, character-driven drama depicting the disabled as complicated individuals with a full range of emotions.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for graphic sexuality, frontal nudity and frank dialogue
Running time: 95 minutes
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
To see a trailer for The Sessions, visit