sâmbătă, 2 februarie 2019

Can You Ever Forgive Me? By Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty - 9 out of 10

Can You Ever Forgive Me? By Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
9 out of 10


Melissa McCarthy had seemed to this viewer as a comedy actress that has stolen the pole position on the highest paid actresses list.

I thought there are many others, much more deserving, a few years back when she had the highest income among female artists.
What had she done, except taking a dump in a sink in Bridesmaids?

This was stupid thinking.

For I see this tremendous actress as more deserving than Glenn Close - I hated her performance in The Wife...well, almost.
Lady Gaga is not even worth mentioning, if you ask me and she should stick to wearing her outrageous outfits, meat dresses and the like - give me a break.

A Star is Born cannot hold a candle to Can You Ever.
Olivia Colman in The Favorite and Yalitza Aparicio are closer to the McCarthy level.

But I still see Melissa McCarthy as more entitled to win the Big Prize.
Considering the age issue, she is unlikely though to get this time.

The leading role of Lee Israel is demanding in the extreme.
This only makes the film more interesting, provocative.

The heroine is a writer of biographies that experiences trauma and adversity.
As she declares in a court of law, only one soul seemed to have loved her, during her entire life.

That was her now departed cat.

Imagine how traumatizing an existence like that can be, having nobody close.
Indeed, the character of this intelligent, creative, amusing author does not make her endearing.
On the contrary, she is hard to please, at times it seems impossible.
When she meets with her former lesbian lover, Elaine, this one says:

You never opened up, I was never able to know you and then you drunk too much...

Lee Israel has financial difficulties, she can't pay her rent, she is a few months late.
When her cat is sick, she takes it to the vet, but since she has to pay over eighty dollars for previous visits, they would not take her in.

Unless she settles half the amount and the writer takes out a few dollars, maybe she had fourteen, but the receptionist has to refuse.
Furthermore, the protagonist has a drinking problem.

When all the issues will have piled up, she would be told to attend AA meetings.
Only this is a very independent, rebellious spirit and would still be in a bar, when claiming to look after her alcohol dependence.

Furthermore, after some legal problems that I would not reveal for spoiler alert reasons, she would send a letter.
She is asked to do her jury duty.

She responds by indicating she is a convicted felon and cannot do her duty.
Adding:

Who says crime doesn't pay.

Seeing that she cannot pay the rent, treat her cat, the heroine decides to write forgeries.
However, it is not checks, bank statements.

She is creative in that she invents notes by famous writers, deceased obviously, and sells them in shops that deal with such memorabilia.
Richard E. Grant is simply Perfect in the role of Jack Hock.

The phenomenal actor has had many achievements, including Withnail & I, the best ever comedy for some.
For me, it is in the top ten.

Jack Hock is a complex figure, Lee remembers that when they first met at a party, he had done something outrageous.
Drunk, he took a wardrobe to be a toilet and urinated on thousands of dollars worth of furs.

Now that we finally understand- most of us, Insha' Allah - that it is bestial, monstrous to kill innocent animals for their skin, we see the incident as deserving.
At that time, dogs chased after the owners of the furs to their homes...

At one point in the criminal activity of the heroine, a buyer of a notes from writers states that she had sold a false message.
Shops are on the alert and eventually an investigation is opened.

In the meantime, since she had been blacklisted, Lee enlists Jack as her partner in crime.
He is the one that has the idea to steal original letters from museums, replace them with copies and then sell original notes.

Alas, the gay man is left in the flat of the writer, told to stay out of her bed, refrain from smoking and give the cat two pills per day.
He does none of those things, except the last, although he probably did not respect something, maybe it was putting both medicaments in the same meal, for the cat is dead when Lee returns and finds her now ex friend with another man.

The investigation has progressed and the lonely, unhappy - up to the point where the excitement brought in by her criminal activity has added some spice to an otherwise unfortunate existence - woman may face charges and punishment.

Would she regret it?
It certainly doesn't look like It 

If you ask me, this motion picture was worth an Oscar, or at least to be a contender, in the Best Film category.

Anyway, it is way better than the forgettable A Star is Born or Black Panther.

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