Tag Archives: Todd Haynes

2015 Films, Drama, Favorite Film of the Year, Independent, Independent Drama, LGBTQ+ Drama, LGBTQ+ Films, Romantic Drama, Top 250 Films

Carol-2015

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Carol-2015

Director Todd Haynes

Starring Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara

Top 250 Films #117

Scott’s Review #308

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Reviewed December 27, 2015

Grade: A

I’d compare this film to Brokeback Mountain (2005), but with a female lead.

Carol is a story of hidden romance and secret lives in the early 1950s, when it was difficult to lead an alternative lifestyle openly (or even in hiding!).

The film is a marvel of honest storytelling, exquisite class, and grace, with excellent cinematography and a heartwarming tale.

Todd Haynes directs Carol, a director known for films about doomed romances facing societal challenges. Carol is a wonderful film.

The film features two equal female leads: Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett), a gorgeous, sophisticated socialite.  She exudes confidence and style in everything that she does.

Always perfectly dressed and well made up, with manicured fingernails, her mannerisms convey confidence and control.

She is married to a wealthy businessman, Harge (Kyle Chandler), who is madly in love with her, yet they are divorcing because of her “problem”.

The fact that Carol is a lesbian is known to Harge, and they share somewhat of an understanding and a five-year-old daughter. Their divorce is difficult.

Therese Belevit (Rooney Mara) is the polar opposite of Carol.

Young and naïve, she is a part-time shopgirl, fascinated by photography. She dates men and goes to parties, living out a typical young girl’s life.

When Carol and Therese meet at the store where Therese works, they are immediately enamored with one another, and a friendship develops. Both seem caught off guard, and the chemistry between the two actresses sizzles.

The focus is the budding romance between Carol and Therese, and the societal differences they face, including the age gap between them.

I found the chemistry between Blanchett and Mara quite evident.

Worlds apart, the two women somehow find each other and form a bond. Their relationship is tender, gentle, and carefully presented to the audience. They are neither animalistic nor barbaric in a sexual way, but rather sweet.

When Therese takes a spontaneous car trip from New York to Chicago, conflict develops with her boyfriend, Richard.

He wants them to run off to Paris, but Therese wants to be with Carol. He breaks up with Therese and accuses her of having a crush on Carol.

Therese and Carol’s romance is finally consummated in a Midwestern hotel. It is New Year’s Eve, and Todd Haynes shoots this scene in a romantic, spontaneous way.

They are celebrating the holiday, but both are blue and vulnerable. It makes perfect sense that they would turn to one another.

The film explores many emotions Carol and Therese face: love, glee, anger, rage, confusion, rejection, and loneliness. These emotions and the film’s tone are why it succeeds.

From an acting perspective, both Blanchett and Mara are great, but I prefer Blanchett’s performance. She embodies this character.

From when she orders a martini dry with one olive, to how she brazenly approaches Therese, she is a woman in control. But when family issues arise, she becomes vulnerable, and we see her as human.

Beyond the interesting story of a love facing many challenges, the film’s look is grand. The sets, hairstyles, clothes, and makeup are graceful and rich.

Overall, everyone looks great, and it paints a perfect picture of the 1950s.

A progressive Hollywood tale, Carol showcases glamour and great acting, and sends a powerful message of acceptance and struggle during a difficult time to be “different” and fulfill one’s life.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress-Cate Blanchett, Best Supporting Actress-Rooney Mara, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 1 win-Best Feature, Best Director-Todd Haynes, Best Female Lead-Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography (won)

2002 Films, Best Feature- Independent Spirit Award Winners, Connecticut, Drama, Favorite Film of the Year, Independent, Independent Drama, LGBTQ+ Drama, LGBTQ+ Films, Social Issues, Top 250 Films

Far From Heaven-2002

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Far From Heaven-2002

Director Todd Haynes

Starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Haysbert, Dennis Quaid

Top 250 Films #127

Scott’s Review #332

Reviewed January 8, 2016

Grade: A

Far From Heaven (2002) is a gorgeous film, set in 1950’s upper-class, sophisticated Connecticut, that tackles not one but two separate social issues in a wonderfully crafted story.

An interracial couple fraught with discrimination, and a homosexual husband hiding his secret lifestyle, encompass this amazing film by acclaimed director Todd Haynes.

In the years to follow, Haynes would also direct masterpieces in a similar period (and story) to Carol (2015).

For starters, the cinematography and art direction are breathtaking- the beautiful and colorful small town in Connecticut, on the surface, prim and proper, is oozing with secrets and scandal just waiting to bubble to the surface.

An aerial view of the town allows the viewer to see it in a sweeping motion, perfectly carved.

Far From Heaven contains many similarities to All That Heaven Allows, made in 1955, and also focuses on a great scandal in a small, seemingly idyllic New England town.

Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) seems to have everything perfectly styled and kept at home in affluent Connecticut: a successful husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid), an advertising executive, beauty, and a neighborhood filled with friends.

One night, when Frank is working late, Cathy surprises him with dinner at the office, only to be surprised herself by catching Frank passionately kissing another man.

In an awkward scene, Frank admits to Cathy that he needs conversion therapy, but instead turns to alcohol and continues to see men secretly.

Devastated, Cathy befriends her gardener, Raymond Deagan (Haysburt), a handsome black man, and slowly begins a relationship with him.

Needless to say, this causes gossip and scandal amongst the townspeople.

Far From Heaven is fantastic storytelling, weaving together, in essence, two main social stories.

Frank questions his sexuality, is afraid to admit he is gay, and risks his reputation and career. Undoubtedly, he is a tormented individual, and we see him slowly come to terms with his sexuality.

Haynes, fantastic at crafting a worthy story, carves a similar tale in 2015’s Carol, only she is a woman confident about her sexuality, but hiding it from society.

Since the time in both films is the 1950s, the sexual revolution has not occurred, let alone anything gay-related.

The central story, though, belongs to Cathy, and Julianne Moore portrays her to perfection. I would argue that Cathy is Moore’s best role, along with Amber Waves from Boogie Nights.

Hurt and betrayed by her husband, she suddenly is filled with new and dangerous emotions- falling in love with a black man in a not very open-minded time.

Moore and Haysbert have fantastic chemistry from their very first scene together.

I love how Haynes showcases the perfection of the town- the lawns are perfectly mowed, the flower beds flawless, and everyone appears cheerful and colorful.

But when something in their little town becomes amiss (in this case, Cathy going against the grain), the fangs come out, and the animals bear their teeth.

A wonderful scene showcases Cathy and Raymond slow-dancing in a black-only bar. They sway as one, and the black patrons accept Cathy.

Raymond (and his daughter) are not treated the same way by the white folks of the town once they catch wind of the shenanigans going on between the interracial couple.

Far From Heaven (2002) is a beautiful film, from the way it looks and is shot to the powerful performances throughout.

Moore may be the star and the central character of the film, but Quaid and Haysbert certainly deserve their due.

They each give layered performances as wounded and tortured men, and the conclusion of the film- perceived as open-ended- is also not a happily ever after climax.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress-Julianne Moore, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 5 wins-Best Feature (won), Best Director-Todd Haynes (won), Best Female Lead-Julianne Moore (won), Best Supporting Male-Dennis Quaid (won), Best Cinematography (won)

2023 Films, Drama

May December-2023

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May December-2023

Director Todd Haynes

Starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton

Scott’s Review #1,412

Reviewed December 13, 2023

Grade: A-

Throughout May-December (2023) there exists a quiet gloominess and a sense of foreboding dread during nearly every scene that as a viewer I could not shake. The unsettling nature is what makes the film so fascinating to watch.

Making it even more peculiar is the feeling seeps through a mirage of cheeriness, small-town humility, and the Southern politeness of Savannah, Georgia, United States amongst a lofty helping of cakes, parties, and sunshine.

All is not as it seems.

As a fan of director Todd Haynes and his brilliant films Far From Heaven (2002) and Carol (2015), I had an idea of his style and tone from the get-go.

As excellent as May-December is I was left wanting perhaps one more potato chip than I was offered.  I was slightly unsatisfied only because I had Haynes’s other films as a comparison and May-December is not quite on par with those masterpieces despite being exceptionally well made.

But we can’t always expect a classic like Led Zeppelin IV.

Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, Gracie Atherton-Yu (Julianne Moore) and her husband Joe (Charles Melton) who is twenty-three years her junior are happily preparing for their twins to graduate from high school.

When Hollywood actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) arrives in town to study the family to better understand Gracie and prepare for the role the family dynamics crack under the pressure of the spotlight.

Joe, in particular, who never got a chance to deal with his feelings and emotions as a teenager, begins to face the reality of having grown-up children. At the age of thirty-six, he confronts the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Gracie study each other, and the similarities and differences between the two women begin to surface causing friction.

Drama develops between Elizabeth, Gracie, Joe, and various family members as long-buried emotions and new scandals erupt in the small town.

I felt snippets of Persona, a 1966 avante-garde psychological thriller by Ingmar Bergman, and even the theatrical posters of the two women looking into the camera and facing side by side are identical in both films.

There’s also a teasing Single White Female (1992) similarity to a lesser degree.

The point is that May-December produces a haunting merging of two female characters in a creepy way.

Identity and obsession are also explored.

Portman and Moore play against and with each other deliciously. It’s not so much a rivalry but an obsession. Portman’s Elizabeth refers while speaking to a class of aspiring actors about becoming a character and we know she means Gracie.

When Gracie helps put Elizabeth’s makeup on just the right way resembling her more and more they look at the camera and see themselves in a mirror. It’s a haunting realization that both women are neurotic and have issues.

Does Gracie want to become Elizabeth as much as Elizabeth wants to become Gracie? Is it real or pretend because of the film?

At different points, I felt sympathy for both characters but at other times I didn’t. Elizabeth seems kind, then not so kind, then dismissive, then demanding.

Gracie seems kind, then neurotic, then sympathetic, then catty. Did she give her daughter’s scales as a graduation present? Did she intentionally point out her daughter’s unflattering arms?

Portman and Moore are successful at portraying these emotions in the subtlest of ways making the characters complex and tough to figure out.

The standout is Melton though. As Joe, the actor made me wonder how astonishingly quick the teenager had to grow up. He never had a childhood and is subsequently childlike, unable to make himself be heard until he broils over with rage.

Melton is on the map as an up-and-coming actor.

At the end of the film, when Elizabeth heads off to the airport I was left disappointed. I wanted more and felt there was more to uncover. What’s to become of Joe and Gracie? Could the three be friends if Elizabeth lived in the town?

What Haynes does so well is create tension even when there is none on the surface. The guttural feelings I was left with made May-December (2023) a quiet and powerful experience.

Oscar Nominations: Best Original Screenplay

Independent Spirit Awards Nominations: 1 win-Best Film, Best Director-Todd Haynes, Best Lead Performance-Natalie Portman, Best Supporting Performance-Charles Melton, Best First Screenplay (won)