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Author(s): James Somerton (Canada)
Public Enemy

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Eric Roth
Original Score by John Williams

CAST

Mark Ruffalo as Fred Barker
Eric Bana as Alvin Karpis
Shia Labeouf as Lloyd Barker
Kathy Bates as Kate "Ma" Barker
Robert Forster as Arthur Barker
David Wenham as Dr. Joseph Moran
Sam Neil as William Hamm
Philip Seymour Hoffman as J. Edgar Hoover

Tagline: "Myths Die Hard"

SYNOPSIS: Every person in the First National Bank of Chicago is on the floor. The boys from the Barker-Karpis gang were lootin' the place, barely leavin' a penny. Crowds of spectators are outside waiting as the sirens of the police cars burst onto the scene. They storm the bank, ready to take out the infamous gang. One problem; they're not there anymore.

Miles away a car speeds down the road. Alvin Karpis and Fred Barker, and his younger brother Lloyd, watch closely behind them as they near the state line. Once their safely in Indiana they make a sharp turn down a long wooded road that leads to a small cabin. Inside they meet up with Fred and Kate "Ma" Barker, Fred and Lloyd's parents. "Ma" listens to the radio while the boys tell Arthur what went down. She shushes them when she hears their names come out of the little speaker. J. Edgar Hoover himself is after them now. They ain't dealing with state troopers no more. Now they got the FBI to deal with.

The boys take "Ma" and Arthur to a small town called Marion County, Florida. They got another job and "Ma" and Arthur need to be tucked away in case those FBI men come looking for 'em. They fit right nicely in with the neighbors, especially "Ma". She comes across as a sweet ol' lady, but she's keepin' up on what her boys are up to. She's anything but a neglectful mother.

Hoover's keepin' up on them too. He's gettin' real miffed that some gang of wild bank robbers keep gettin' away from him. He's got half the FBI out for 'em now. The last robbery, a bank in Kansas City, left four lawmen dead and thousands of dollars missin'. Then he gets the call. The Barker Boys are at a bank in Ontarioville, Illinois. They got 'em cornered.

Alvin Karpis is shootin' his way out of the bank like he's partin' the red sea. He's got a poor bank clerk by the neck and tosses him in the back seat of the car before rushin' off. Fred and Lloyd Barker are goin' out the back way when cops rush into the buildin'. Lloyd takes two bullets before Fred gets him in the car and they all head south. Keep headin' south, get as far away from Chicago as they can. Poor Lloyd's bleeding to death in the back seat. Make-shift bandages and Fred's constant encouragement ain't helpin' any. They finally get to a safe house in Louisiana and call in a favor from Joseph Moran; part time gang member and full time doctor. Ain't too much he can do for Lloyd now, lost too much blood. A few doses of morphine make his passin' bearable though. Now they got another favor to ask him. They got to look real different. For a price, Moran agrees to make 'em into new people. Or at least try.

"Ma" Barker finds out about Lloyd's death from the radio. Apparently the cops shot him dead in a bank in Illinois. "Ma" might be a strong woman but she ain't taking the news too well. Now Fred and Alvin got a bank clerk held hostage and they're askin' a real big ransom. Should be askin' more. Damn them cops! They took her baby boy.

Hoover's on a real mission now. He ain't lettin' anybody put up that ransom. He's gonna smoke 'em right out of their holes. Alvin Karpis and Fred Barker are in his hands now. They might think they're still one step ahead of him but he's two ahead now. He knows where their "Ma" is and he's sendin' his FBI men out there right now.

Fred and Alvin don't look too different. Maybe a bit uglier but that's about all. Ain't got no finger prints no more though so that'll work for them. Still got that bank clerk held up in a bedroom. They only found out his name from the radio; William Hamm. Ain't no ransom comin' in for him so they're gonna have to get rid of him soon. But they're about to get some real bad news about "Ma" and Arthur. News bad enough to split 'em up, even after all they've been through. Worse still; Hoover and his FBI men are closin' in.

WHAT THE PRESS WOULD SAY

Steven Spielberg's "Public Enemy" is a film that harkens back to the classic mob movies of the 1930's. It's not about the New York mafia or the prohibition mobsters like Al Capone. It's about bank robbers, outlaws, people always on the run. In the midst of the Great Depression crime is the only job that pays, and the boys in the Barker-Karpis gang know this all too well. Lead by Alvin Karpis, the gang speeds around the midwest robbing banks, dodging cops, and making a name for themselves alongside John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde. Always making sure to take good care of "Ma" Barker before heading out on another job. But once J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI get involved, the stakes get a lot higher.

The cast of "Public Enemy" vanish into their rolls. Eric Bana plays the heartless Alvin Karpis, the mastermind behind the gang who could care less about how many dead bodies he leaves in his wake. However, he may be heartless but he certainly isn't dumb. He cleverly plans out ways of escaping the cops and the FBI, although there are a few close calls once the FBI get involved. His best friend, Fred Barker, acts as his conscience in most cases. Mark Ruffalo brings a humanity to the roll that is sometimes very difficult to see. He's just as brutal a killer as Karpis but he thinks about it afterward. He cares deeply for his younger brother, Lloyd, and tries to get him to stay behind with "Ma" at one point. For his protection. Lloyd Barker is played by Shia Labeouf in a performance that cements his abilities as an actor. As the youngest member of the gang, Lloyd gets overexcited at times but always manages to bring it back down. Unlike Alvin and Fred, Lloyd never actually kills anybody, or at least we don't see him kill anyone. He's basically just around for back up. He's a mama's boy who, on his death bed, cries for his mother to come save him. In this heartbreaking scene we take a step back from the shoot outs and the chases, and see exactly what the consequences are. These consequences aren't felt any stronger than by Kate "Ma" Barker herself. Kathy Bates elicits a stunning performance as the legendary crime figure. She's soft and humane in the majority of her scenes, especially in ones where she idly gossips with other women in her hide-out town. This isn't the criminal mastermind of legend; a woman who secretly drove all the plans of the Karpis-Barker gang while safely hidden away. She is fragile, and falls to pieces at the news of her youngest son's death. Her baby boy. But Spielberg reaches back into legend for her climatic scene; a shootout with the FBI. In this brutal scene we see her husband Arthur, played to quiet perfection by Robert Forster, aiming and taking out several members of the FBI team. Only when he lays dead on the floor does "Ma" barker grab the tommy gun and fire back. Her shots have little effect, only wounding one or two FBI men, and she's finally shot in the chest, then dies on the floor next to her husband. Sam Neil and David Wehnam give some great performances as a hostage whose ransom isn't being paid, and an "underground" doctor who performs botched plastic surgeries on Ruffalo and Bana. But Philip Seymour Hoffman steals every scene he's in as the obsessive head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover. His Hoover might have fit right in with the gang under different circumstances. He's just as single minded as Karpis and has the backing of the United States government to hunt down every single outlaw that attracts his attention. He's brutally blunt and doesn't react well to any sort of humor by his fellow FBI men. He's on the scene in the end of the movie when Fred Barker is shot down and Alvin Karpis is arrested. He smiles with pride as he watches Barker's corpse get hauled away and his famous line, "In the end, crime just doesn't Pay" gets him a glob of spit in the face from Karpis.

Director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Eric Roth transport us back in time to the 1930's, a time when the Great Depression had crippled the economy and mobsters had just as much power as elected officials, if not more. Years before television, the people got their news from the crackling radios that sat in their living rooms. Duke Ellington and Bing Crosby were the top recording artists of the day and the score borrows heavily from their jazzy sound. We don't get obscene amounts of violence but this is a movie about outlaws after all. The shoot outs may be rare but they're not for the faint of heart. Spielberg wisely keeps these scenes about the people in them, and not about the bloodshed they're causing. He isn't afraid to score a shoot out in a bank, and the car chase that follows it, with up-tempo jazz, orchestrated by the brilliant John Williams. But he knows when to keep things quiet too. There's no score at all for the shoot out with "Ma" and Fred Barker, nor is there for Lloyd Barker's death scene and "Ma"'s reaction afterward. He trusts in his actors enough to let them get the emotion across to you without underscoring it with music. Eric Roth's screenplay does it's part in transporting us back in time. There's a pretty big speech divide between The Barker-Karpis gang members, and the FBI. It becomes clear pretty quickly that the gang members haven't gotten the best education, but they're not idiots either. They may not speak like scholars but they're just as clever as the pompous men in the FBI, if not more so. Spielberg doesn't treat his outlaws like heroes, they're not Robin Hood. Most of them are cold blooded killers with just enough humanity for an audience to grasp on to. Lloyd and "Ma" are the real emotional anchors and they never falter. They never step too far over the line so that we don't sympathize with them anymore. And then Fred's got enough heart in him to carry us through the last few scenes in the film. This isn't your standard mobster movie. It's Steven Spielberg's brilliant tribute to the Golden Age of mobster movies. And his tribute transcends itself and becomes an engaging tale of outlaws, murder, crime, and even humanity. It's a new mobster movie for a new generation that only Steven Spielberg could make.

POSSIBLE NOMINATIONS
Best Picture
Best Director - Steven Spielberg
Best Actor - Eric Bana
Best Supporting Actor - Shia Labeouf
Best Supporting Actress - Kathy Bates
Best Original Screenplay - Eric Roth

Author(s): Pierre (OH)
Realize

Directed by Sean Penn
Written by Sean Penn

Starring:

Terrence Howard as Lance
Sharon Leal as Tanya
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Andrew
Richard Jenkins as George
Julie Walters as Victoria
Robert Ri’chard as Rick

Tagline: Realize what you have been missing and what you could miss.

Synopsis: A mind is a terrible thing to waste. That is what has been running through Lances mind since he was a child. Growing up his mom worked two jobs to support him and 2 other sons that a father walked out on. A better life for his mother and a strong example for his younger brothers has always been his motivation. When he got into college and graduated at the top of his class the cheers from his mom could be heard around the world. The night he went to celebrate with his friends changed his mind when it came to his goals however. He added two more when he met the love of his life Tanya. Raise a family and set an example for his kids.

Andrew was always the poster child. He was the only one born from his mothers womb and made straight A’s all through high school but that was the only thing that was straight about him. He fell in love with Rick when he was 19 and has been keeping it a secret from his family.

Victoria and George are an elderly couple that just retired from both of their jobs so they can start their life long vacation together that they have been waiting for.

Why keep secrets from the people you love? Andrews mother and father has been so supportive of him but how will this change their perception of him. Will they disown him or accept what most people call a disease that Andrew has. But this isn’t a disease it is just love between two people. Andrew picks up the phone and decides to just come out and say it. When his father picks up the phone and says hello, before Andrew can spit it out his father says hold on something is happening next door.

Down syndrome, that is what their first child may be born with. Tanya’s cries fill the room after getting the phone call from her doctor. She just can’t understand how a successful family can have a curse put upon them like this. But Lance looks at it like a gift. He realizes that God didn’t have to bless them with a child in the first place. As Lance comforts his wife she denies him and says that she is getting an abortion to spare their embarrassment. Before Lance can open up with an argument they hear something from the kitchen.

Victoria hates having what she calls the devils toy in her house. Which is a 9 millimeter pistol. But it seems today that it may come in handy since the next door neighbors are getting robbed. George grabs the pistol and precedes to go outside. He finds a dark figure lurking outside the house of his next door neighbor. The figure speaks “don’t shoot” as he is approaching George. “Get down” are the words spoken next from George. “It’s ok” is what George hears next. BANG!!! Those are the sounds that ring through the once quiet neighborhood.

Lance goes downstairs quietly to see if the noise from the kitchen is just a mouse. On his way down the steps he grabs the 25 pound weight he has been using to work out his arms. As he is going down stairs he finds a young black man going through things. Lance goes towards him and hits him upside his head. He hears noises come from next door of concern and goes outside to let them know everything is ok since he knows they probably saw the young man breaking through the kitchen window. When he goes outside he finds Mr. George coming towards him and soon a bullet after that.

The waiting room is quiet except for the cries heard by Tanya. She is cursing Mr. George as if it were on purpose. The waiting room gets even more silent when the doctor comes back and lets Tanya know the news.

Questions are quickly followed by answers because George knows it was an accident. When they release him, he finds his wife and son waiting in the lobby. He then finds his son in shock when Andrew sees Rick coming through the lobby with a bandage on his head. George tells Andrew that he was the cause for all of this mess and Andrew lets his father know that he is the cause of the mess that will soon follow this.

Tanya rubs her stomach slowly and tells her son that it will be okay because he will not be seeing daddy in heaven anytime soon.

What The Press Would Say: After his great success but also somewhat failure with “Into the Wild” director Sean Penn gives us a story about realizing what is most important in life. Whether it be trust or love, sometimes you find out what you have been missing when it is too late. There isn’t really one person you can pick from this well put together cast but if you could the stand out would defiantly be from Sharon Leal from “Why Did I Get Married”. She brings the performance that will be on peoples lips and minds long after the movie ends. At the end of the film her face explains the point Sean Penn was trying to make. With a lot of buzz from his film “The Visitor” Richard Jenkins brings another great dramatic performance that most critics didn’t know was in him. His shows hurt, shock and anger in a single moment which is hard to do for any actor. Joseph Gordon-Levitt of “The Lookout” fame brings a very brave performance on screen. Terence Howard, the headliner does what great stars do and that is take a back seat and let his co-stars shine. To round out the cast is Julie Waters and Robert Ri’chard who gives the supporting roles needed to make this a complete film. Realize that this is the film of the year.

FYC:

Best Picture
Best Director: Sean Penn
Best Supporting Actor: Terence Howard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Richard Jenkins
Best Supporting Actress: Sharon Leal
Best Original Screenplay: Sean Penn

Author(s): Sergio (Spain)
Release the Stars

Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Written by Craig Pearce
Music by Craig Armstrong, Rufus Wainwright
Cinematography by Donald McAlpine
Edited by Jill Bilcock

Principal Cast:

Gillian Anderson as Theresa
Emily Blunt as Nadia
Rosario Dawson as Adriana
Taye Diggs as Martin
Thandie Newton as Vivian
Guy Pearce as Solomon
Jim Sturgess as Bruce
Rufus Wainwright as Billy Rouge
Patrick Wilson as Daniel

Tagline: I SOS U

Synopsis:

Release the Stars is the day of the revolution, the 12th Saturday of the year, the expected day when the New-Apollo will land on earth again after its mission on Mars. The 2012 war is almost over and now, nine years after, people need new illusions and hopes. But these are very oppressive days and the world is not the same as few years ago.

Martin Reyes is the first man on Mars and he is the new global hero. The mission has been very successful and now all the crew returns home to be with their families again. A big parade is prepared in NY to receive the heroes, but nothing has been so perfect on space and Martin has usurped the place of the real first man on Mars, Daniel: his friend and the victim of a polemic political decision. But Martin is an honest man and his bad conscience is killing him.

Nadia has just arrived to NY to be an actress. Theatre and cinema are forbidden, as many other expressions of creativity and art, so many actors and musicians has been sentenced to jail. Actors play in secret nomad places underground and after a while Nadia gets in a company. Theresa is one of the best Broadway directors and now she secretly lives imprisoned in a clandestine refuge besides her wife Adriana. Theresa has written a play based upon his life in the last nine years and she has found her leading actress in Nadia.

Adriana is a free-lance journalist. She belongs to a revolutionary group as her close friend Bruce, a young novelist who is now the new leader of the NY team. He is the head behind the big manifestation of the “12th Saturday”. Bruce distributes leaflets for the manifestation with all his team and with Solomon, his right-hand man.

Solomon is a mysterious man who has lots of contacts. Nadia joins in the theatre company by the hand of Solomon, where she will meet Bruce, starting an impossible love story with him. Solomon’s only friend and colleague is Vivian, a powerful and rich woman who is always requesting him to make some kind of secret jobs.

Billy Rouge is one of the singers of a secret concert the night before of the revolution day. There is a roundup but he can escape. He has been betrayed by his close friend and patron Vivian. All the singers are arrested by the U2021 law and all are moved to prison by one of the government secret agents, Solomon.

The big parade with the New-Apollo astronauts will be broadcasted all over the world. Vivian Reyes is the hero’s wife and everything has to be perfect the most important day in her husband’s life. But if she wants the glory she has to stop the revolutionary group with the help of Solomon and the rest of the secret agents. Billy Rouge warns his sister Nadia about a massive roundup before the parade and they run to the theatre to warn the company. She tries to warn Bruce and the revolutionary group but maybe it’s too late. All is prepared for the big day, the day all their lives will collide, the day they will try to release the stars.

What the press would say:

Baz Lurhmann breaks the rules of cinema making again with a movie between the classic coral movie, with multiple and interlaced stories, and the most modern Broadway show. This is definitively his most social and “serious” film but keeping the pure Luhrmann style. Luhrmann has created his own visual style and you can hate or maybe you can love it, but it never leave you indifferent. This movie is not what you will expect if you are trying to see another “Moulin Rouge”, this is the natural evolution to a new language, new visual concepts with a strong story and characters. The links between the characters are solved in a brilliant way and it makes this screenplay one of the most amazing experiences of the year. The cast is conformed by a group of great actors and actresses that create the magic atmosphere of this movie. Some of them sing and some of them just act but they fit their characters brilliantly, so we can hardly stand out one over the rest. Some of them have previous experience in musicals and others have surprised the audience with their voices. This is not a musical in the strict meaning of the word because of the dramatic quality of the screenplay but the music and lyrics are an important part of the storyline. The songs give an enormous strength to the drama and they turns this film into a incredible experience. When you see this film you have the sensation of being part of one great story, believable, touching and entertained quality movie. You can feel the epic in its amazing art direction, its unique cinematography and its “je ne sais pas quoi” that makes this movie one of the inevitable cinematographic references of the season.

FYC:
Best Picture: Musical/Drama
Best Director: Baz Lurhmann
Best Original Screenplay: Craig Pearce
Best Supporting Actress: Gillian Anderson
Best Supporting Actress: Emily Blunt
Best Supporting Actress: Thandie Newton
Best Supporting Actor: Guy Pearce
Best Supporting Actor: Jim Sturgess
Best Supporting Actor: Taye Diggs

Author(s): Tony (Pittsburgh)
Relentless

Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
Written by Jim Taylor
 
Principal Cast:
 
Paul Giamatti as Bill Hicks
Jonathan Tucker as Steve Wallace
Isla Fisher as Connie
Juliet Stevenson as Ronna Wallace
Stephen Tobolowsky as Vin Wallace

Tagline: "It's his nightmare, we're living in it"

Synopsis: Steve Wallace has received the worst news of his life, being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  Being  an avid smoker and having the cancer run in the family, Wallace never took the matter seriously until two hours  ago.  With problems ranging from finding the right words with his best friend Connie, to unemployment from  getting caught with possession of marijuana, and his recent fallout with his parents, Steve has reached an  ultimate low.  It wasn't until he stared down at the last cigarette before throwing it in the trash when he'd get  his questions answered, his guidance.  "Don't do it kid", he heard.  He looked over and appearing out of nowhere  was a man with long hair and a pudgy face, wearing cowboy boots and a black trench coat.  The man talked about  Steves situation and his life as if he knew him all his life.  He introduced himself as Bill Hicks...and that he  is dead.

Feeling the lapse of insanity, Bill tries to calm Steve down.  Bill explains he is a figment of his imagination  and no can see him nor Steve talking to him.  When asked why Bill has come to help him he replies "Just passing  along, death is more boring then people think".  He explains to Steve that he to was a victim of pancreatic  cancer in 1994 and look where it got him.  Not familiar with Hicks at all, Bill takes Steve to a flashback when  Bill was a rising stand-up comedian, noted for his bawdry outlook on politics, religion, southern folk, drugs,  American society, and among other things.  He was known for his bitterness, loud outbursts, and southern accent  himself, being raised in Texas.  He would often joke about getting cancer in his bits (an avid smoker), sure  enough he'd have it.  After he heard the news Bill didn't stop smoking.  He tells Steve that the start of the  healing process is to forget all about it and do your normal routine.  Bill even joked about his deadly disease  after he was diagnosed.  It never stopped him from making people laugh, and now his mission is to help Steve fill  in the blanks in his life.

Bill and Steve are about to embark on a journey that consists of conversation, reminiscence, and vulgarity.  Bill  takes him back to the pivotal moments in his life.  One that includes being written off of the David Letterman  show after the producers read his Jesus joke.  The joke being why do people wear crosses on their necks when the  last thing Jesus wants to see when he comes back is a cross.  Another being in Fife, Alabama where he talked with  citizens who claimed to see a flying saucer in the sky.  When asked why did they bring shotguns to the siting  they replied "Welp, we don't want to get abducted", his response, "Yeah, and leave all this".  A gig in Chicago  where a fan chanted "Free Bird" during his act.  Bill responded by screaming "Hitler had the right idea, he was  just an underachiever", later he would follow with his bit about unbiased genocide against all of humanity in  general.  Lastly, his incident with comedian Dennis Leary, when Leary released his cd "No Cure for Cancer" that  was mostly a carbon copy rip off of Hick's material, naturally, Bill was outraged.  The conversations between  Steve and Bill mostly consist of Bills old material such as claiming that marijuana was God's mistake, Judas  Priest albums killing gas station attendants, and his fantasy show titled "Let's Hunt and Kill Billy Ray Cyrus".   Jokes aside, Bill is there through the tough struggles Steve must face.  After patching things up in his life,  Steve is open minded and prepared for the fight that awaits him, being grateful about his encounter with one of  the most brilliant comedians in American history.

What the press would say:

"Relentless" is a successfully innovative biopic that combines fiction and reality in spellbinding ways.  The  directors of "American Splendor" have given us another crowning achievement with their uncanny directing ability  but creating a surrealistic tone with the flashbacks where we are brought into the world of comedian cult king  Bill Hicks.  However, this is unlike most biopics we've seen.  Instead of focusing on our lead, we are introduced  to a side story, so to speak.  A story about another victim of pancreatic cancer, Steve Wallace.  Hicks guides  him through the horrible process of perhaps facing death and getting in touch with the people that care for him.   On the same path Hicks dialogue involves his old stand-up material that is beautifully written into a film by Jim  Taylor.  The way he incorporates the Hicks character in scenes with Steve is impressive on its own, considering  Bill isn't real.  Think "Mr. Brooks", where Costner talks to his bitter half Marshall without anyone noticing.   Of course with great writing has to come great casting.  Joining the crew once again is Paul Giamatti who takes  the lead as our bitter hero.  Giamatti studies his role like a drug dealer studies his supplies.  His take on  Bill Hicks is what we'd expect if Bill were still alive today, completely believable and natural.  Everything  from his speech patterns, mouth gestures, hand movements, Paul never knows when to stop.  Aside from being our  witty leading man, Giamatti also delivers great emotion with his relationship with Steve.  The role is Steve is  played by young up and comer Jonathan Tucker.  Tucker does an immense portrayal of a young man with nothing to  live for that just wants closure in his life.  Although at times he becomes argumental with Bill, Steve wants  nothing more then to feel like a normal human being and is open to everything Hicks has to say.  Tucker is in a  role that is easy to like, and at the end of day we admire it.  From his side kick humor to superb, sentimental  realism, the Tuck delivers.  "Relentless" is the unique feel good movie of the year.  It's a different aspect on  believing in yourself and not letting life events bring you down, no matter how devastating the situation.  On  another behalf, it tells the story about a comedian that put social critism and diatribes on the map in comedy.   A man that was before his time, and when asked why Bill isn't famous while Dennis Leary is on his material, the  answer will be "Because there's no cure for cancer."

FYC:

Best Picture
Best Actor - Paul Giamatti
Best Supporting Actor - Jonathan Tucker
Best Director - Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
Best Original Screenplay - Jim Taylor
Best Original Score
Best Editing

Author(s): Michael (Oklahoma)
Spring Awakening

Directed by Sam Mendes
Adapted by Jay Cocks
Art Direction by John Myhre and Peter Howitt
Costume Design by Colleen Atwood
Additional Music by Duncan Sheik

Principal Cast:

Jonathan Groff- Melchior Gabor
Marketa Irgolva- Wendela Bergmann
John Gallagher Jr. - Moritz Stiefel
Jayne Eastwood- All Adult Women Roles
Gary Oldman- All Adult Men Roles

Tagline: “Believe…”

Plot/Synopsis: 19th century Germany. This is what our good friend Melchior Gabor called home. All his life it seemed as if the boundaries of this society would cause him to go insane, but he never knew that his friends felt the same way until the winter of 1885.

Fall- School was finally in session. It seemed as if a lifetime had passed over the summer and it was very apparent in the physical changes in Wendela Bergmann, as Mortiz Stiefel kindly pointed out to his best friend Melchior Gabor. See, Melchior and Wendela had been great friends ever since they were little, but lately they had gone their own separate ways. As school began, it was evident to all the boys that Mortiz Stiefel probably wasn’t going to make it to the end of the year, but Melchior had a much different experience, excelling to the top of his class.

Fall- Wendela had matured in more ways that one over the summer and everyone knew it. Wendela had grown up over the summer and this meant that now with the coming of her older sister’s second baby, she would finally be told where babies came from. After an unrealistic speech from her mother about marriage and storks, Wendela set out on her own to discover the answers.

Winter- School had become a bit too much for our distraught Moritz to handle. Upon inquiry, Melchior finds that besides pressure coming from his father, Moritz had lately taken even more interest in the female anatomy. It was starting to enter his dreams and make him do so many acts that he had been taught were evil and were the work of Satan. Melchior, being the good friend that he was, decided to help out his troubled friend by explaining the body to Mortiz in an essay.

Winter- One afternoon Wendela ventured into the woods to find some peace and quiet, it was there that she discovered her old friend Melchior Gabor. After some quick small talk, Wendela took advantage of the fact that she had a future scholar in her midst and posed the same question that she had posed to her mother. Upon this, Melchior pulled out the papers he had written for Mortiz. This meeting soon became a weekly habit, and the two teens found comfort in the others presence. It was one of these days that Melchior decided to take a major step forward in his relationship with Wendela, the consequences of which were to big for either of them to handle.

Spring- The rain fell, as did many spirits. After the semester ended, Mortiz was informed by the headmaster/headmistress that he would not be returning for the following semester. Once he returned home, his father severely beat him. After the ridicule of his friends, family, Mortiz felt as if there was only one thing to do. To meet God. Once the school received word of Mortiz’s suicide, they quickly made a search of his home. It was here they found a copy of Melchior’s essay. Almost immediately, Melchior’s usually accepting parents shipped him off to boarding school, leaving Wendela alone and with his unborn child. Melchior found out he was going to be a father through the many letters he and Wendela sent back and forth to each other during his days in boarding school. As soon as he found out, he escaped the school and ran all the way home. Upon his return, he visited the graveyard to visit Mortiz where he found the stone of not his dear friend, but his dear love as well. She had been killed during the secret abortion of their child.

What the Press Would Say:

In Germany in 1906 the play Spring Awakening was played for the first time under harsh censorship. Then in 1917 it closed after one night on Broadway. While the content is indeed radical, including sex, suicide, and abortion, it was embraced widely in the musical of the same name 100 years after it’s initial opening in Germany. But none have treated it better than Mr. Sam Mendes in his latest triumph set to hit theaters this November. Beautifully crafted and impeccable written, directed, and performed it is a flat out masterpiece. Mr. Mendes brings identifiable human qualities to these characters in this dark world they live in, and the performers embrace the material flawlessly. Straight from Broadway, Jonathan Groff is superb as young Melchior and gives a wonderful performance for his first time on the silver screen. Marketa Irgolva, from the highly acclaimed Once, delivers a breathtaking performance as the naive Wendela and brings something new to this often overacted character. Her lines are perfectly delivered and it provides for some of the best work she will present. Just as on Broadway, John Gallagher Jr. brings an Oscar worthy presentation to the viewer. Mr. Gallagher IS Mortiz, and there will be no denying that in the history books. There is no other person on the screen like him; it is a flawless appearance by this talented young man.

Jayne Eastwood and Gary Oldman delivered strong performances playing many diverse roles. Both add a bit of experience to this rather young, but talented cast. The technical aspects of the film are as superior as the performances and direction. The costumes are stunning, the locations are spectacular and the music is to die for. Jay Cocks has adapted the book of the musical in first-rate fashion and it supplies an inspiring film that will be remembered as a brilliant piece of cinema. It brings back what we’ve been look for for quite some time. The ability to mix marketability with art; It’s a prime example of one of the toughest things to do with a movie and it does it like a walk in the park. Spring Awakening is an achievement in motion picture history that should not be forgotten.

FYC
Best Picture
Best Director- Sam Mendes
Best Actor- Jonathan Groff
Best Actress- Marketa Irgolva
Best Supporting Actor- John Gallagher Jr.
Best Adapted Screenplay

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