All about Melania

I wasn’t going to see the self-produced film Melania about - who else - Melania Trump, the First Lady of the United States. I’d read that it was boring and frankly not great filmmaking. But I was curious. Then I saw the massive discrepancy between the critics' approval score of 10% versus the public's score of 99%.  And the film smashed documentary records with a first week box office return of $7million, the best opening for a doc in more than a decade (will it be shown at Toronto’s Hot Docs? Hmmm)  By Feb. 16 it had grossed $15.6M.  At my screening there was applause at the end. My hunch was something was wrong. This seemed more than critics' taste; alas, could it be bias? Film critics, as is Hollywood, are almost universally liberal or left wing. Had this self-indulgent film (and it is self-indulgent) been about Michelle Obama or Jill Biden the critics may not have swooned but they wouldn't have wholesale derided it, would they have? Because, after all, their opinion was likely more against Donald Trump than Melania - she was just the proxy. Melania produced the film herself - that's interesting - and the director was Rush Hour's Brett Ratner. So, being the sometimes contrarian that I am, I went to see it. And, yes yes, the film is highly one-sided and shows Mel (can I call her that?) in the best light possible. Nevertheless I still found it absorbing. Perhaps it's because, if nothing else, it provides a close insight into the executive branch of government and the kind of "insider's view" we'd never see anywhere else. The film follows Melania in the 20 days leading up to the 2025 Inauguration. There's her in the Trumps’ gilded Fifth Ave apartment with her fashion courtesans, measuring gowns. A former model she proves exacting and highly knowledgeable. Interesting that most of her wardrobe staff are immigrants. Then there's film of her in her limousine between NYC and Mar-a-Lago and the US Capitol on the eve of the Inauguration - simply the kind of behind the scenes images we never see. There's even a scene in the White House’s family quarters at 2 am after all the Inauguration balls have ended and Donald waves goodnight. Someone wishes him "sweet dreams" and he replies, "ha." Another aspect of her personality which stands out is her commitment to oppressed women and children around the world, as she meets with Queen Rania of Jordan and with Aviva Siegel, kidnapped during the Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities against Israel. There’s some humor when on election night she takes a call from hubby Donald, informing her of his across-the-board vote wins. She says she hasn’t been watching the coverage and is almost disinterested, noting she will watch a recording later. She's ultimately her own woman. 

About that Amanda Seyfried, and dear old Will

Two weeks ago I didn't even know who Amanda Seyfried was although probably a good chunk of the rest of the world did. Then I saw The Housemaid. I certainly knew who Sydney Sweeney - today's H'Wood It-Girl - was but didn't know who the hell the opposite character in this  comedic-horror picture exactly was. Long blond hair and very pliable acting persona, check and check. The Housemaid isn't that great a film but adequate and will bring a smile to your face. It's directed by Paul Feig, who seems to specialize in suburban comedy-mysteries. I really liked his A Simple Favor (2018) with mischievously quirky - and cute - Anna Kendrick. In this film Sweeney as the maid is paired

against Seyfried as the house chatelaine. I'll let you decide how the dynamic unfolds. The story actually had me going, not expecting the monumental plot twist that eventually happens. Seyfried, however, plays a blend of personalities showing off quite a wide breadth of styles. That's enough about The Housemaid. A few nights later I caught The Testament of Ann Lee,  Mona Fastvold's take on the 18th century Quaker Shakers sect, which apparently only has two remaining members. Seyfried plays Lee. Of course this is an entirely different character and extends Seyfried's range - is it limitless? But not only that, this is a musical - the best thing I loved about the film although the numerous scenes of Shakers doing their shaker thing - wild stiff hypnotic body movements -  was pretty awesome. And her voice is sweet and melodic voicing a score (Daniel Blumberg) based on traditional Shaker hymns. Fastvold may have conceived the film as a feminist take on evangelical Christianity as Shakers believe Jesus' Second Coming will be as a woman. 

Hamnet - It was a big in-theater movie week last week for me - count 'em, three nights is a row! - when I took in the movie everyone is talking about. I shouldn't have got my hopes too high. Hamnet (Chloé Zhao) is a very well made film and the acting by Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare and Paul Mescal (another one who is everywhere these days) as good ol' Will, is fine indeed, even though I wondered about that earring in Mescal's ear. But if you're expecting a wide sweep about Shakespeare's life and times forget it. This is essentially an intimate family drama - substitute the Shakespeares, in fact, for any modern family - and not about the Bard's genius. In fact he comes off as a bit of an oaf. And it might even resonate with that whole "long distance relationship" thing. The last scenes of the production of the play Hamlet (another name for Hamnet) at London's Globe Theatre, however, are magnificent. Everybody says this movie will wring out your tears. I must be a pretty insensitive type because it didn't do that for me, though the woman sitting beside me did take out a Kleenex and dabbed her eyes at the very end. 

Seyfried redux: Despite her stupendous acting I can't let mention of her go by without commenting on her Marie Antoinette tendencies. Our dear Amanda recently spent tens of thousands to have her pooch transferred on private jets to her Testament shooting locales in Hungary and Sweden. "It was not in my best interest financially, but it was in his best interest, and my emotional best interest, because I needed him there," says the diva. Revolutions were started because of behavior like this.