thumbsucker Tagged Articles at Cinematical

For the longest time -- until earlier this week, in fact -- I was convinced that Jason Reitman's next directing project was Diablo Cody's horror flick Jennifer's Body. Maybe that's because at a Team Juno roundtable interview last year, the two of them talked about it like it was their project (which it is, sort of -- Reitman's producing). Anyway, it's actually Karyn "Aeon Flux" Kusama who is directing Cody's follow-up, while Reitman is moving on to helm an adaptation of Walter Kirn's Up in the Air.

I strongly recommend the novel, which is a terrific satire about a perpetually transitory businessman obsessed with collecting a million frequent flyer miles. I liked it better than Kirn's more popular Thumbsucker which was already adapted into a film. The movie could be very funny in the hands of a guy like Reitman -- sharp and insightful. It should be closer in tone to Thank You for Smoking than to Juno.

Reitman has already shifted the project into a higher gear by setting his sights on George Clooney, who's in talks to star as the narcissistic protagonist. While I'm pretty sure the character is quite a bit younger than the actor, Clooney has precisely the effortless comic chops this project needs. His profile won't hurt, either.

A few years ago, Mike Mills led us into the world of thumbsucking alienation with Thumbsucker. Much more than a tale of a mouth and a thumb, it detailed a kid diagnosed with ADD who finds one dependence replaced by another. While it is mainly about a kid who struggles, there was an interesting subtext about which is *really* the best thing to be dependent on. Was it really that bad for Justin to suck his thumb? Was it better to take daily doses of drugs than put an appendage in his mouth? While Mills doesn't want to be "Mr. Pharmacological Guy," he's looking into drugs again with his first documentary -- Does Your Soul Have a Cold?

The Reeler talked with the director after a screening during Paper's Un-Hollywood Film Series. Mills said: "I'm Mr. I-Feel-F*cked-Up-In-the-World-Guy. I definitely relate to people who are struggling to find a place where they feel OK. And in our day and age, that is so closely related to pharmacology. To me, it's a secondary impact of my real theme, which is that people are struggling...hopefully this is not symbolic, but more into the minutiae of subjective, concrete details of someone's experience with it [drugs]."

The documentary focuses on Japenese people who are suffering from depression, and the environment that has surrounded them -- how the country's culture has treated the illness in the past, and how the use of anti-depressants has soared since the '90s. The director captured some emotionally charged accounts of their struggles, and surmises that this is because of Japanese culture closeting conflict, and "favoritism toward all things Western." As for how the film plays, The Reeler says Mills' results "are mixed at best, but Soul excels in its depiction of cultural denial." Whatever the case, it sounds worth the time, it sounds worth the time if you have IFC. The channel will air the doc on October 22.

Here's a quick guide to the films reviewed on Cinematical this week:

"They never touch on the issue of physical congress between living and dead; I imagine it would require lots of lubrication." -- Ryan Stewart on The Corpse Bride

"Sergei Eisenstein must have worried about the jump cut falling into the hands of the bourgeoisie. It turns out he had every reason to be concerned." -- Karina Longworth on Proof.

"Remember Disney's Beauty and the Beast when the big talking dog-man bought it and you thought for a split-second that he was really dead? It's kind of like that. But maybe that's just my own abandonment issues at play." -- Robert Newton on Just Like Heaven

"Everyone around me was saying, "Wait - that was it? That's how it ends?" as the final credits rolled, and that's pretty much how I felt about it." -- Kim Voynar on Cronicas

"Charles Dickens probably never imagined a day when children would be romanticized and envied their innocence by a population of fat, paedomorphic adults. He certainly didn't anticipate such a day in his writings." -- Ryan Stewart on Oliver Twist

"No, this is not an 11th-hour "Verbal Kint is Keyser Söze" denouement, but the kind that blindsides you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday (and perhaps after watching it for a second time." -- Robert Newton on Lord of War

"Watch Dean's performance in any of his three films, and then go watch A River Runs Through It with a young Brad Pitt, and you can't help but notice how Pitt has picked up on certain quirks of mannerism and facial expression that made Dean's performances shine" -- Kim Voynar on East of Eden

"Kelli Garner is phenomenally sexy in a real-life-girl sort of way. She and Rachel McAdams, I think, represent a new trend in Hollywood beauty: 2006 will be the year of the Big-Eyed Brunette." -- Karina Longworth on Thumbsucker

"Is Risky Business a hot DVD rental in Judea and Samaria? Someone should check into that." -- Ryan Stewart on Campfire

"It's a great film for a girl's night out, or to take your mom to, or even for a date night (unless your date is more likely to enjoy something like 9 Songs than the relationship between a crusty old rancher and his friend and granddaughter)." -- Kim Voynar on An Unfinished Life