YOUNG ADULT: CHARLIZE THERON EX REGINETTA DI BELLEZZA DEL LICEO ORMAI ADULTA NON NE VUOLE SAPERE DI CRESCERE. IL NUOVO PERSONAGGIO 'URTICANTE' E 'SLEALE' NELLA PELLICOLA CHE RIUNISCE IL TANDEM REITMAN ('TRA LE NUVOLE')-CODY ('JUNO')
Dal 62. Festival del Cinema di Berlino (9-19 Febbraio 2012) - BERLINALE SPECIAL GALA - PREVIEW in ENGLISH by PETER DEBRUGE (www.variety.com) - Dal 9 MARZO
"Essere una stronza non è stato difficile per me... Non credo sia una donna cattiva (il suo personaggio Mavis Gary), tutt’altro, ma non riesce a trovare una via d’uscita ai suoi problemi, sia sentimentali che psicologici. Allora cerca una soluzione inadeguata, e ne paga le conseguenze. E’ un carattere complesso, sono molto fiera di averlo interpretato... Confesso che lo trovo talmente umano che mi imbarazza rivedere me che lo interpreto, mette a nudo alcune mie fragilità che mi toccano profondamente. Quando ho finito di vedere il film per la prima volta non sono riuscita a parlare per svariati minuti, Jason (Reitman) era preoccupatissimo! Io metto un po’ di me stessa in ogni ruolo che abbraccio, ma quello di Mavis è davvero speciale... Non credo di essere ancora totalmente cresciuta. Ci sono volte in cui per superare una giornata storta faccio esattamente quello che fa lei, mi trascino. Come Mavis, io forse ancora devo capire bene chi sono…".
L'attrice Charlize Theron
(Young Adult; USA 2011; dramedy; 94'; Produz.: Paramount Pictures/Denver and Delilah Productions/Indian Paintbrush/Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd/Right of Way Films; Distribuz.: Universal Pictures International Italy)
Cast: Charlize Theron (Mavis Gary) Elizabeth Reaser (Beth Slade) Patrick Wilson (Buddy Slade) Patton Oswalt (Matt Freehauf) J.K. Simmons (capo di Mavis) Emily Meade (cameriera di Denny) Collette Wolfe (Sandra Freehauf) Richard Bekins (David Gary) Jill Eikenberry (Hedda Gary) Beth Hurt (Jan Mary) Kate Nowlin (Mary Ellen)
Musica: Rolfe Kent
Costumi: David C. Robinson
Scenografia: Kevin Thompson
Fotografia: Eric Steelberg
Montaggio: Dana E. Glauberman
Casting: Jessica Kelly e Suzanne Smith
Scheda film aggiornata al:
25 Novembre 2012
Sinossi:
IN BREVE:
Poco dopo il suo divorzio, Mavis Gary, una scrittore di romanzi per ragazzi torna nella propria città natale nel Minnesota e cerca di riallacciare i rapporti con un suo ex fidanzatino delle scuole superiori, che ora è sposato con figli. Ma quando il ritorno al passato si fa più difficile di quanto avesse previsto, Mavis instaura un insolito legame con un ex compagno di classe, che non ha neanche mai finito il liceo...
SHORT SYNOPSIS:
Soon after her divorce, a fiction writer returns to her home in small-town Minnesota, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who is now married with kids.
Although Mavis Gary is in her mid thirties and divorced, she is still shamelessly egocentric and irresponsible. As a writer of children's books, she drifts between the experiences of the young, imaginary heroines of her novels and her own reality, which offers plenty of room for improvement. When the birth of her ex-boyfriend Buddy Slade’s baby is announced, she spots an opportunity for adventure. Buddy is now happily married and still lives in their hometown of Mercury. Without further ado, Mavis decides that it is time to free him from the misery of his domesticated, provincial life and recapture his heart. Mavis has high hopes for the success of her meticulously planned campaign to win him back, but she overlooks the fact that Buddy Slade has long had more than just parties and girls on his mind.
After JUNO, screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman come together for the second time to make a comedy with contemporary issues lurking beneath the surface. The filmmakers take a critical look at today’s world – a world where becoming an adult can always wait.
Commento critico (a cura di PETER DEBRUGE)
American comedies have spent the last few years exploring the idea of the man-child -- physically mature, but mentally stuck somewhere between high school and adulthood. Now we meet his female counterpart, and it's not a pretty sight. So much the better: Reteaming pop-savvy scribe Diablo Cody with "Juno" director Jason Reitman, "Young Adult" revels in breaking the rules of safe Hollywood storytelling, casting Charlize Theron as an emotionally stunted YA novelist with limited appeal and no tidy character arc. A B.O. gamble, the deliberately prickly pic courageously risks offending audiences to arrive at a truth beyond its genre's normal grasp.
Cody has found herself in the media crosshairs after the overnight acclaim of "Juno," and though the snark-meister has managed to sustain her unique brand through a mix of Twitter updates, Entertainment Weekly columns and edgy writing assignments ("Jennifer's Body," "The United States of Tara"), "Young Adult" will surely be
the make-it-or-break-it project in many people's estimation of her talents. Rather than play it safe, Cody spins a personal case of writer's block -- possibly inspired by her gig adapting "Sweet Valley High" for screen -- into a deeply unflattering, semi-autobiographical takedown of adult-onset insecurity and egotism, inventing the story of a self-absorbed teen-lit novelist who returns home to rekindle things with the now-married boyfriend she dated in high school.
Theron plays Mavis Gary -- beautiful, successful and a mess. Mavis long ago achieved her goal of escaping the perceived oppression of small-town Mercury, Minn., to live the dream in Minneapolis. So why is she so unhappy? "Young Adult" is hip to the answer, but never preaches it outright: When people can hardly stand to be around themselves, they continue to run from and reinvent their lives until they address the fact that the root of their dissatisfaction lies within.
Though Mavis is undoubtedly fashioned from aspects of her creator's own personality, the operating idea here seems to be that people don't change. The high-school queen bee will always be insufferable, and her fitting punishment will be having to live with herself -- which is precisely Mavis' situation when the film opens: divorced and getting by on TV dinners and one-night stands in a dumpy caricature of her cosmopolitan ideal.
In such straits, an innocuous email announcing the birth of her old flame's baby is all it takes to send Mavis' mind back to the glory days, when she and football star Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson, reprising his laid-back "prom king" aura from "Little Children") were the school's cutest couple. On the surface, "Young Adult" is about Mavis' delusional quest to steal her former beau away from new wife Beth (Elizabeth Reaser in a sly supporting turn). Deeper down, the
film engages with the concept of maturity in a culture that celebrates such youthful ideals as beauty and instant gratification.
In Mavis' case, writing pulp melodramas for the Noxzema set encourages her to stay stuck in an adolescent mindset. However, since comedy is tragedy that happens to other people, the film easily plays as satire, following in the same vein as Alexander Payne's shrewdly observant, gently condescending Midwestern portraits, featuring character moments so true, one can't help but laugh in pained recognition.
While Cody settles on a less singular yet still piquant voice for her contempo characters than the one heard in "Juno," Reitman and his cast expertly manage the film's tricky tone. Even so, "Young Adult" seems content to remain small, retreating from Mavis' climactic moment of catharsis to deliver an ending that breaks yet another long-standing Hollywood rule, as the flawed heroine stares self-realization in the face and
consciously decides not to learn from her experience.
In a film intent on authenticity, it's no coincidence that Mavis seems to be surrounded by inane reality-TV programming. Real life is messier than that, as demonstrated by the film's most sympathetic character, a former classmate named Matt Freehauf who was crippled by the cool kids during a miscalculated gay-bashing incident. In a poignant, career-redefining performance by comedian Patton Oswalt, Matt has every right to be resentful, and yet, he's coped with his adolescent issues better than Mavis.
Mavis, by contrast, comes across like a vampire straight out of one of the supernatural YA book series so popular these days. Shying away from the sun, she eavesdrops on real teens for story ideas and stalks Buddy and his new family, oblivious to the damage she's capable of inflicting on others.
For Theron, this represents a different kind of performance from "Monster" and
"North Country," for which she won plaudits while allowing herself to look superficially unattractive. Here, the actress plays closer to home, inviting auds to observe the process by which she makes herself beautiful, painting on makeup, clipping her nails and attaching hair extensions to disguise her physical flaws. But the scowl etched on her face reveals the ugliness within, demonstrating a naked candor -- one that extends to the screenplay itself -- that's plenty admirable, in part because it's so squirm-inducing to behold.