The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013, PG)

I’ve been aware of this Jean-Pierre Jeunet film for quite a while, but it’s only recently that I’ve had an opportunity to see it.  While I wouldn’t put it on par with Jeunet’s French films, it’s still a rather lovely little curiosity that I enjoyed a lot (premise spoilers.)

10-year-old T.S. Spivet is a would-be Leonardo Da Vinci living on a farm in Montana.  A year ago, he took up the challenge of perpetual motion, and with his blueprints for an invention called the magnetic wheel, he’s achieved perhaps the closest mankind can currently come to such a machine.  When his invention earns him the prestigious Baird Award, T.S. leaves home and sets off on a cross-country trip to the Smithsonian (where, by the way, the unsuspecting academics don’t realize their big breakthrough was invented by a child,) riding the rails to collect his prize.

Like A Very Long Engagement, this film is based on a novel.  As such, it doesn’t always feel like a Jeunet film, although the director’s hand is very present in the whimsical production design and arresting cinematography (let loose in North America, Jeunet’s filmmaking offers up some stunning big-sky landscape porn.)  I’d say the story feels a bit more “directed” than Jeunet’s original pieces, which often revel in seemingly-haphazard events falling surprisingly into place at the last second.  This film is more straightforward, T.S.’s journey propelling us through the action and the family secrets in his past informing his character.

I really enjoy the character of T.S.  Although young Kyle Catlett doesn’t seem quite equal to the task of the brainy dialogue, he’s still a lot of fun, wonderfully eccentric and rootable.  I enjoy his machines, quirks, and analyses, and I like the ways in which he’s very clearly both a genius polymath and a 10-year-old boy.  I haven’t read the book the film is based, but I’m guessing that many of Jeunet’s idiosyncratic touches come through here; some of T.S.’s ruminations and obsessions seem very much up his alley.

My favorite part, though, is the story of T.S.’s unlikely parents.  Like T.S., I’m fascinated by what drew his entymologist mother and rancher father together (both played excellently by Helena Boham Carter and Battlestar Galactica’s Callum Keith Rennie.)  I love the section that features T.S. pondering this very question, giving us my favorite moment of the film:  T.S. noting how, despite the entirely different worlds they seem to inhabit, they brush hands as though they’re exchanging secret messages when they pass each other in the doorway.  Almost as interesting as their relationship with each other is the separate relationship each has with T.S.  His mother shares his scientific mind but doesn’t seem able to show him the warmth he needs as well.  Meanwhile, even though his father doesn’t express disapproval in him, T.S. can’t help but feel that he’ll never connect with his dad the way his rough ‘n’ tumble brother did (T.S. may be a genius, but it feels right that he only considers that he doesn’t measure up to his dad’s expectations, not that his salt-of-the-earth father might feel he doesn’t have enough to offer his brilliant son.)

Warnings

Thematic elements, some scary moments, and a lot of “don’t try this at home.”

The Book of Rannells: Russian Broadway Shut Down (2014)

I saw this back when it first came out – loved it then, love it now.  Like Prop 8:  The Musical before it, it’s a short, lovingly-assembled, cameo-laden protest musical.  In this case, it was written around the time of the Sochi Olympics to protest Russia’s homophobic practices/policies.

After their straight-washing efforts are deemed insufficient for the squeamish government, Russia’s theatres are shut down.  The Russian theatre community, however, is determined not to go down without a fight, and they pull out all the stops for a one-night-only performance of pure musical-theatre dissent.

This short is both funny and biting, with the fake musical’s songs winking to the audience while still speaking the truth that LGBTQ folks can’t be erased from Russia’s past or present (as the kids point out in the Matilda-esque “from the mouths of babes” number near the end of the show, “Tchaikovsky was gay!”)  The songs range from a little silly to surprisingly good – I especially love all the lesbians standing up to the police – and there are all the Russia jokes, furry hats, and fake accents of varying dubiousness you could want.

The whole thing is packed to the gills with Broadway cameos.  Harvey Fierstein, Jonathan Groff, Jeremy Jordan, Patti LuPone, Stephen Schwartz, Stephanie J. Block, Laura Benanti, Jeff McCarthy, and Santino Fontana are just a few of the many, many Broiadway peeps playing LGBTQ Russian thespians.  A lot of them just fill in wherever needed, while others are present for some very intentional Broadway in-jokes.  I particularly like Victoria Clark singing, “We’re on vacation… permanently,” and the perfectly-timed cut to Michael Cerveris after another character wonders what musical-theatre actor could capture the raw masculinity of Vladimir Putin.

Andrew Rannells’s character is credited as Protagonist.  He’s not actually in the show-within-a-short but instead seems to be the one who spearheaded the musical.  He serves as our narrator for the short, popping up now and then with his furry hat and iffy accent to deliver exposition to the audience.  So, no singing (unfortunately!), but a decent number of lines.

Like most of the performers here, Rannells doesn’t have a ton to do, but it’s definitely more than the blink-and-you’ll-missed-it parts that some of his colleagues have.  I have no doubt that pretty much everyone appearing in the short is doing it out of personal conviction (along with the fun collaboration,) and I’m sure that holds true for Rannells as well.  And he has a few good bits – I like his delivery on, “Still too gay:  so we get closing notice!”, and he’s amusing calling his American “university lover” Dan Savage for advice.

Recommend?

In General – Definitely.  It’s a great little “eff you” to the Russian government’s homophobia, and it’s clear that everyone involved really wanted to make it.

Andrew Rannells – Strictly speaking, I wouldn’t say anyone’s part is big enough to recommend seeing it just for them.  Still, even though he doesn’t sing, Rannells’s part is bigger than most here, and a 12-minute short isn’t too much of an investment to make on his behalf.

Warnings

Thematic elements.

Top Five Callbacks/References: Avengers: Endgame

Spoilers ahead – consider yourself warned.

Far and away, Endgame’s best quality is the time it takes to honor the past.  Whether it’s the return of past characters, iconic callbacks, or emotional parallels to classic scenes, this film is a feast for long-time fans, jam-packed with nuggets of continuity goodness.  Here are my favorites.

Jarvis!!!

Quite simply, Jarvis!!!  I really love it when franchises that maintain more loose connections get bigger references (like when new Who gives a shoutout to something that’s only ever appeared on Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures,) and with Marvel, while the TV shows are clearly in the same universe as the movies, the movies don’t often acknowledge that.  So, seeing that tiny cameo from James D’Arcy’s Jarvis was good for my Agent Carter-loving heart – so happy to see him, still plugging away at Howard’s side (albeit with John Slattery instead of Dominic Cooper.)

Thor and Frigga

I have mixed feelings about how Endgame handles Thor’s story, but I really love this scene.  Frigga (raised by sorceresses, you know) immediately cops that Thor is from the future and that he’s clearly been struggling.  After everyone and everything Thor has lost and how he’s abused himself over it, this final chance to see his mother and speak with her one more time is so important/healing for him.  A lovely scene, knocked out of the park by both Chris Hemsworth and Renee Russo.

“On your left.”

Okay, so normally, I find it a little cheesy when characters repeat lines from earlier in the story in a significant way, but this one is too good to pass up.  First, “On your left,” is short enough and was enough of a recurring thing when it was first introduced in The Winter Soldier that it makes sense as something both Steve and Sam would remember (not to mention, it’s directly tied to how they met, which gives it greater significance.)  As such, it doesn’t have the usual “let me flip back through the script to make sure I get the exact quote” feel to it.  And man, that moment… Steve is battered and bruised, hauling himself up to face down Thanos’s army all on his own.  And then, those words in his ear piece, “On your left,” and the floodgates/portals open, bringing in Sam and all the other dusted characters to have Steve’s back.  It’s both emotional/intimate and a total fist-pump moment – awesome!

Elevator Scene 2.0

Another Winter Soldier callback.  The original elevator scene is a classic, and here, with Cap having traveled back in time to the events of The Avengers, his task of retrieving Loki’s scepter/the Mind Stone brings him into a paradoxically-foreshadowing echo of that scene (because, for Rumlow and company, this is several years before The Winter Soldier, but for Steve, he knows in hindsight that they’re all secretly Hydra.)  Parallel shots to the original elevator scene prime us for an epic fight, but instead, Cap plays smart, using what he learned in The Winter Soldier to get what he needs.  When Rumlow doesn’t buy his claim that Secretary Pierce ordered him to take the scepter, Cap sidles up to him and whispers, “Hail Hydra,” letting Rumlow think they’re on the same side.

“Come and Get Your Love”

We all remember Peter Quill’s exuberant dance while collecting the Power Stone, listening to “Come and Get Your Love” on his Walkman.  Well, good old time travel… Nebula and Rhodey get to drop in on this moment, allowing us to revisit it from their outside perspective, the one where Peter is grooving around with his headphones, dancing wildly and singing along to music only he can hear.  A fun scene, perfectly capped by Rhodey’s deadpan, “So he’s an idiot?”