Author a memoir using just the blink of an eye? Seems impossible, right?
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” is the true story of a man who achieved this impossible feat and his struggle to free his mind from a paralyzed body. Before having a massive stroke at the age of 43, Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) was a popular editor of French “Elle” magazine in the 1990s. Bauby had just sealed a book deal, when his life was changed forever.
A woman hired from “Elle” (Emmanuelle Seigner) helps him write his book. The exhausting process floods his active mind with memories and regrets of his former life. Bauby’s memoir details the torment of being trapped in a helpless body.
Julian Schnabel, who was nominated for a Best Director Oscar, directs this French-language film.
“I’m Not There”
Available now on DVD
No one’s life can be explained through six very diverse characters. No one except Bob Dylan, that is.
“I’m Not There” is the story of Dylan, as portrayed by six characters based upon the stages of his famous life.
The film begins with young African-American actor Marcus Carl Franklin playing an 11-year-old version of Dylan. Woody Guthrie (as he calls himself) is a troubled youth who escapes from a juvenile detention center on a train with his beloved guitar, “This Machine Kills Fascists.” The focus then changes to Jack Rollins (Christian Bale), an older political folk singer who becomes a gospel-singing, born-again Christian.
Cate Blanchett, is Dylan’s Jude Quinn, an artist at the height of his popularity in the ’60s. Blanchett received high acclaim for her portrayal of Quinn. She reportedly wore a sock in her pants to walk and feel “more like a man.”
The rest of Dylan’s youth is seen through Ben Whishaw (as the poet Arthur Rimbaud) and the late Heath Ledger as a divorced, Hollywood actor.
Richard Gere plays an elderly version of Dylan, a character named Billy the Kid who is straight out of the Wild West.
Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams co-star as prominent women in Dylan’s life. Dylan’s music plays throughout the film.
“The Great Debaters”
On DVD May 13
Denzel Washington directs and stars in “The Great Debaters”, a film about Professor Melvin Tolson, an unconventional debate coach at Wiley College in the 1930s. Tolson (Washington) struggles to put his team from a historically black college in the running with other white schools in Texas.
Tolson and the “Wileyites” face lynch mobs and other racial injustices on their rise to become an elite bunch, winning debate after debate. Their success leads them to a groundbreaking, national championship debate with Harvard University.
The debate scenes at Harvard University were actually filmed there; this was the first movie since 1979 to be shot on-campus.
“Debaters” features an experienced cast, along with some relative newcomers like Denzel Whitaker (no, he is not the love-child of Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker) and Nate Parker. The film marks the first time two African-American, Academy Award-winning lead actors (Washington and Whitaker) have performed together.
