An Education and The Men Who Stare at Goats

I am even shorter on time this weekend so I will have to make it brief. But I saw two films and I want to say a few words about both of them.

An Education, directed by Lone Scherfig, is a very enjoyable film indeed. Jenny (the luminous Carey Mulligan) is a sixteen year old living a very ordinary life in suburban London. She goes to school, plays the cello and hopes to attend Oxford. Her father Jack (Alfred Molina) and mother Marjorie (Cara Seymour) really want her to attend Oxford. That is their dream for her. But along comes David (Peter Sarsgaard) who changes her life.

David is about twice her age and really knows how to treat a woman (or in this case a girl). At first her parents are put off by him because he is older, a Jew and might take her away from her studies. But they soon submit to his charms. Jenny gets to meet David's friends Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Helen (Rosamund Pike). And she gets to go to Paris. But I knew that something was not right and if you want to see what happens then you must see the film.

Scherfig does a great job of recreating early 60s London. Nick Hornby wrote the intelligent screenplay based on Lynn Barber's memoir. All of the acting is top notch. Mulligan is a star in the making. In addition to the above mentioned actors Olivia Williams is very good as Jenny's teacher Miss Stubbs and Emma Thompson is outstanding as the headmistress of the school. A lot has been made of Mulligan's performance and she deserves the attention. But I think that Molina gives the best performance in the film. I hope that he is remembered come Oscar time (he should have been nominated for his performance in Frida - he played Diego Rivera).

An Education is a very good film. I can't say that it is an Oscar movie but it certainly is one of the better films of the year. There is some controversy about the film because some say it is anti-Semitic. I don't agree. There are a few references to David's being Jewish. But it is based on a memoir so the film is trying to stay true the actual story.

The Men Who Stared at Goats is a fun and trippy little film. I quite enjoyed it and found myself laughing throughout the film. It is directed by Grant Heslov and the script is written by Peter Straughan from a book by Jon Ronson. And this film is also based on a true story.

At some point and time the US Army had a section that dealt with paranormal activity. I always suspected this. The film tells a more fictionalized version of the story. Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) was one of the men involved in this. He retells his story to a very interested journalist named Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) as they traipse through Iraq. His (and others) guru was Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) who was the leader of this motley crew of soldiers. But a bad guy has to come along, in the name of Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey) and spoil things.

I don't want to go into too much detail about what happens because I want people to see for themselves. On the other hand, this film might be a bit too quirky for some people. But for those of you who like head trips and want to know about government secrets then you will like it.

This is Heslov's directorial debut. He co-wrote the screenplay of Goodnight, and Good Luck with Clooney. He did a good job for a first try. I liked all of the acting but I especially liked Clooney and the marvelous Bridges. Anyway, if you want to have a good time with a serious section see The Men Who Stared at Goats.