The Lady in the Van,
directed by Nicholas Hytner
(PG-13, 104 minutes)
From privileged British countess to unkempt London transient -- quite a role reversal for Dame Maggie Smith, wouldn't you think? But it's not. For the 81-year-old's portrayal of Violet, dowager countess of Grantham on PBS' hit Downton Abbey, is much like her character of Mary Shepherd, a vagrant living in a trashy van parked in the North London driveway of British playwright Alan Bennett: Both characters are imperious, difficult, unrelenting and bossy.
Like the dowager, Miss Shepherd of The Lady in the Van is master of her universe. The opening scene of the film portrays her at her worst. And both characters have their secrets.
But Miss Shepherd, smelly and cantankerous as she is, slowly exudes a curious appeal, as does the oddity of elegant Mr. Bennett occupying two characters (both played with delightful exasperation by Alex Jennings) -- one a goodhearted playwright struggling to be humane and the other an egotistical guy who's trying to get his other half to make the most of the slice-of-life theatrical fodder that's right in front of them -- who argue about their approach to their unwelcome intruder.
Despite their often witty verbal sparring, Miss Shepherd and Mr. Bennett are hardly friends. She's abusive, dismissive and unappreciative. He's got affluent-guy guilt, along with barely disguised irritation toward her self-centered approach to life that allows her to cunningly take full advantage of suckers like him. That's what leads Bennett to allow her to park her hideous, battered van in his Camden Town townhouse driveway rather than suffer the indignities of traffic laws by parking in the street. This so-called temporary arrangement (shot in Bennett's actual driveway) goes on for 15 years, much to the distress of (yet gradual acceptance by) Bennett's snobby neighbors.
The film's running time overstays its clever conceit. But Dame Maggie's absolute command of the character doesn't seem overly concerned with any need to wind things up. This quirky outing, which suffers only slightly from an awkward ending, is guided by a masterful performer with the support of a spot-on cast who, like performers in the best of Bennett's plays, are all on the same page.
The Revenant (R, 156 minutes) This is a movie people are going to write books about. You don't watch The Revenant, you survive it. You escape from it, grateful to have been born in the age of central heat and nanotech gloves.
It is set in the raw wilderness of Montana and South Dakota in the 1820s. Fur trapper Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is mauled by a bear three times (a remarkable scene) and abandoned by the fur-trapping expedition that employed him as a scout. But he's not quite dead. And the rest of the film follows Glass as he rises and begins to stalk the men who left him.
The Revenant isn't perfect -- the 156-minute running time feels punitive, as though director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu wants the audience to experience discomfort to measure against Glass' agony. Or maybe he just feels he is due the running length, having worked so hard to get here.
But in the long run, most of The Revenant -- the part of it that focuses on Glass' determination to stay alive even when death might seem like a relief -- is mesmerizing. Like its protagonist, it perseveres.
MovieStyle on 04/22/2016