Focus

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CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="575"><div> Focus ***1/2 (PG-13)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By Pam Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> In the eye of the beholder</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Lawrence Newman: William H. Macy</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Gertrude: Laura Dern </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Fred: Meat Loaf Aday </div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Finkelstein: David Paymer  </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Director: Neal Slavin </div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div>  </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>:  Near the end of WWII a Protestant couple is mistakenly targeted as Jewish by their anti-Semitic neighbors in Brooklyn. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B>  Lawrence Newman (William H. Macy) is awakened in the middle of the night by loud voices in the street beneath his bedroom window. He witnesses a crime and goes back to bed. The next morning, as usual, he leaves for his office, stopping at Finkelstein's Store (David Paymer) on the corner for the paper.</div> <bR> <div> Lawrence, or Larry as he's called, is told to fire one of the typists when his boss points out that the woman is probably Jewish. And he's warned not to let this happen again. </div> <bR> <div> Enter Gertrude (Laura Dern), tall, bleached blonde, a little too much make-up and applying for a job. Larry studies Gertrude, ponders her last name, underlines it and tells her there are no openings. </div> <bR> <div> Numbers and letters have been running together on the ledgers, so with some prodding from the boss, Larry gives in and gets eyeglasses. Apparently, there are glasses that signify one as Jewish, as Larry's mother points out to him when he puts them on at home that evening. He should have bought the other kind. That must have been the same notion that struck Larry's boss as he demotes him for "…not making the right impression on customers when they come in." Larry's pride forces him to quit rather than be demoted.</div> <bR> <div> At home in Brooklyn, Larry's neighbors are getting inquisitive about him as well. Fred (Meat Loaf Aday), from next door, buddies up to him to keep quiet about the Latina woman who was attacked by one of the guys from the neighborhood. Boys will be boys when they've had too much to drink, he implies. Larry is also invited to drop by Fred's sometime for a meeting of the Union Crusaders; a group dedicated to keeping America free from certain elements. Again, Larry adopts a see no evil, hear no evil attitude.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile, Larry's not having any luck finding a job. You can be sure some employers are underlining <I>his</I> name on the application now. Finally, he meets Gertrude again. She's in a position to hire him, for a Jewish owned company as it happens. This flamboyant woman and quiet, unassuming man, fall in love and get married. That rocks the neighborhood, as everyone is <I>sure</I> Gertrude is Jewish, even if they were willing to give Larry the benefit of the doubt.</div> <bR> <div> The brickbats begin to fall, literally and figuratively. Garbage cans are overturned on the block, curiously, only Newman's and Finkelstein's. Newman is strongly encouraged to support the neighborhood organization-to show his <I>patriotism</I>. Finkelstein, who is Jewish, labels the group "…a gang of devils." Buzz words like internationalists versus nationalists reverberate, often from the pulpit.</div> <bR> <div> Much more than garbage is overturned and uprooted in this sociodrama. A sinister plot is revealed against an intentionally deceptive backdrop of bright colors and neat bungalows.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: Neal Slavin makes his debut as a director with <I><B>Focus,</B></I> a film based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Arthur Miller. Slavin's career as an acclaimed photographer, with works in permanent collections at MOMA in New York and England's National Museum of Photography, along with his collaboration with cinematographer Juan Ruiz-Anchia, has produced a beautiful picture.</div> <div> The film is ablaze with primary colors: rich reds, buoyant blues, sunny yellows, and aqua of the era. A portrait of American pride anchors the neighborhood at one end, espousing the virtues of mom, dad, two kids and a dog displayed in a billboard ad painted on a brick wall.</div> <bR> <div> Exteriors are obvious studio sets, pristine, squared off. Interiors are colorful and spare. Here is the studied depiction of suburban life; a bungalow, a patch of grass-watered regularly by sweeping the water hose across the lawn a certain number of times.</div> <bR> <div> William H. Macy is Lawrence Newman, an everyman (his indelible by-line) caught in a tumult he did not create; after all, he simply goes along to get along. Laura Dern brings the right sass, wardrobe and vulnerability to Gertrude. David Paymer's Finkelstein is a pragmatist, not a victim, who carries a certain amount of soul-memory with him. The scenes shared by Macy and Paymer, in Finkelstein's store at night, shrouded by the darkness pierced by streetlights, are revealing.  Meat Loaf Aday lends Fred the "Hey, buddy" air of a neighbor worth keeping an eye on.</div> <bR> <div> American flags fly in this neighborhood, probably like they are in yours and mine now, two months after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Grieving for the people who died in the attacks and showing support for their families and the heroic efforts of those involved in the rescue missions know no boundaries of faith or nation. We add to those notions the desire to see the bombings and the ground war, in which our military is involved, come to an end, soon. But, as I pointed out to someone the other day, I get wary when some folks start to wave the flag a bit too vigorously, it sometimes comes clutched in a fist. There is a life lesson we all might remember, that's laid out in <I><B>Focus</B></I>, on the sunny sidewalks and the darkened alleys. James Baldwin said, "If they take you in the morning, they will come for us that night."  </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div>   PG-13 (for thematic material, violence and some sexual content)</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Pam Singleton © 2001</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>pam@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 WIDTH="286"><div> William H. Macy: <I><B>Panic, </B></I><A HREF="id935.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jurassic Park III"><U><I><B>Jurassic Park III</B></I></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Laura Dern: <A HREF="id935.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jurassic Park III"><U><I><B>Jurassic Park III,</B></I></U></A><I><B> </B></I><A HREF="id616.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. T and The Women"><U><I><B>Dr. T and the Women</B></I></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> David Paymer: <A HREF="id236.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bounce"><U><I><B>Bounce, </B></I></U></A><A HREF="id897.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="State and Main"><U><I><B>State and Main</B></I></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Meat Loaf Aday: <I><B>Fight Club</B></I></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>