Current News and Notes

New Content at JoshHornbeck.com I just posted a new piece of film criticism, Escaping Wonderland: Coraline and the Problem of Children's Fantasy, along with adding a new event to the JoshHornbeck.com Calendar. Recently, I also posted a new piece of short fiction, A Statement from the Goblin Living on Glenn Beck's Shoulder, and a new playscript, The Diary of Adam and Eve.

Enjoy the new content!

An Education: Growing Up Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be Coming of age tales are regular staples of film and literature. You know the story - a young man or woman grows bored with their life of ease and privilege (or, on rare occassions, their life of pain and poverty) and begins to wonder what the point is to it all. They question everything, rebel against their teachers and parents, discover their sexuality, and end up a little older and wiser in the process.

Based on a portion of the memior by Lynn Barber, An Education hits many of the beats that we've come to expect from our coming of age tales, but it does so in many surprising and unfamiliar ways. In the film, 16-year-old Jenny dreams of reading great literature, watching French films, living in Paris, of smoking and eating exquisite meals. Unfortunately, she seems destined to live out the remainder of her life as either a bored housewife or a bored schoolteacher. One rainy day, she is offered a ride by David, a man nearly twice her age. Before she knows it, David has charmed her parents and whisked her off to concerts and nightclubs, on trips to Oxford and Paris. Jenny is dazzled and infatuated by this new world, but David isn't all he claims to be and she finds herself willing to compromise her dreams and expectations for a broken and destructive relationship.

An Education is tinged with more melancholy and heartbreak than you normally find in traditional coming of age stories. This isn't to say the film is dour and depressing - there are many funny and delightful moments - but we're never allowed to approve of Jenny's choices, even as romantic and glamorous as it all seems to her. There is always the sense that Jenny is in over her head, that the parties and the trips will come with a price. We see her as she truly is, smart but still a very naive young "girl." And the filmmakers don't let her off the hook, either. In the course of pursuing her relationship with David, Jenny has lied to her parents and deceived them at every turn. What were, in the moment, very funny scenes of naive parents being fooled by a clever child, become heartbreaking discoveries as Jenny sees the ways in which she has hurt her mother and father. By the time her world comes crashing down, Jenny sees that there is no shortcut to her dreams and that there is a great value in the simplicity and innocence of her life before David.

Much of the power in An Education comes from Cary Mulligan's outstanding performance as Jenny. She walks a delicate tightrope, effectively conveying the naivete of a young schoolgirl who yearns to appear older and wiser than she truly is. In the hands of a less capable actress, the character could be either too smart to ever get involved with David or such an innocent that she loses all credibility. Instead, Mulligan has brilliantly created a living, breathing person - a true accomplishment in movies today. In fact, the entire film is supported by great performances - Alfred Molina's penny-pinching father, Peter Sarsgaard's lecherous lothario, Oliva Williams' wise and caring teacher - each actor the perfect compliment to Mulligan's Jenny.

Sure, the film's coda is a bit weak and the score feels a little out of place from time to time - a little too swelling and epic for such an intimate film - but these are minor quibbles for a film that is brilliantly acted and contains a surprising emotional resonance as it explores the consequences of the choices we make in life.

Up in the Air: What's in Your Backpack? Okay, so I know the whole backpack metaphor is a bit obvious, but the truth is, it works. I was completely swept away by Jason Reitman's third feature film, Up in the Air. Does our hero's third act revelation come as a shock to any of us? Of course not. Yes, from the very beginning we see a self-consumed man who will, we assume, over the course of the next two hours learn the value of relationships and putting others before himself. No big surprises. But the way Reitman and his performers handle this material is outstanding.

The film is very funny, beautifully juggling its comedy and the pathos, and George Clooney's performance is a marvel of subtle transformation. Yes, he the cliched big ah-hah moment in the middle of a speech, but we're able to follow every nuanced step leading up to that moment of transformation. Thankfully, Reitman doesn't let the film wrap everything up with a tidy, happy ending. The film's final moments are a pitch-perfect blend of resolve and sadness, yet we still have hope that change is possible.

As deft as the script and the performances are, they are more than matched by Reitman's direction. He and his cinematographer, Eric Steelberg, find beautiful shots and gorgeous compositions throughout the film. Most of the Oscar-bait films released during awards season end up with a very pedestrian sense of framing and scene composition - they just tell the story and little else. Yet, Reitman and Steelberg use their shots wisely, showing their steady hand in the art of visual communication, telling more with one visual moment than they could in almost five minutes of dialogue.

Up in the Air is a timely film, and not just because it hits on the mass layoffs and downsizings throughout America. The truth is, we live in a culture that is increasingly disconnected, increasingly isolated. We have become so good at compartmentalizing our lives that we don't see anything wrong with living as two, three, sometimes four different people. And that kind of division within our own person means that we never truly allow ourselves to know and be known by others.

The film ends with a montage of non-actors who have lost their jobs during this current recession. They all speak to the fact that the only way they've been able to make it through this very difficult stage in their lives is through the help and support of their friends and family. Again, it seems obvious. But, speaking as someone who was recently laid off, there was something genuinely reassuring and quite moving in these testimonials which closed out the story of a disconnected and untethered man. Because of my wife, my family and friends, and my faith, I was able to make it through one of the most difficult and trying times in my life. Up in the Air is a moving film that reminds us how important it is to be in community, in relationship, in fellowship with others.