Buoyed by the success of a recent series of screenings that showcased the work of directors like Akiro Kurosawa and John Carpenter, the Lone Star Film Society will honor two more master filmmakers this August: Hayao Miyazaki and Alfred Hitchcock.
In a partnership with the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, which has the only theater in Fort Worth capable of showing archival film prints, the LSFS will screen five Miyazaki and six Hitchcock films over the course of the month.
The five Miyazaki films — Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke — will be shown over four consecutive weekends starting on August 2. Several screenings will include either introductions from or discussions with UT Dallas film professors. For purists, Spirited Away will be shown both in Japanese with English subtitles and in dubbed English.
August 28-31 will belong to Hitchcock. The LSFS will present four of his classics — The 39 Steps, Psycho, Notorious and Rear Window — as well as two of his early silent films, Blackmail and The Lodger. The two silent films, introduced by film professors from TCU and SMU, will be accompanied by live music courtesy of pianist Robert Edwards and film composer Curtis Heath.
Tickets for each film, which are now on sale, range from $5-$9, with Lone Star Film Society and Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth members receiving discounts.
Psycho is one of six Alfred Hitchcock films the Lone Star Film Society will show at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
Photo courtesy of Lone Star Film Society
Psycho is one of six Alfred Hitchcock films the Lone Star Film Society will show at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.
With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.
The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.
Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.
Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.
Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.
There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.
A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.
With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.
---
The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.
