Hey folks, Harry here... MY FIRST MISTER was the debut film opener at Sundance this year that sort of kicked things off with a whimper... the film already had distribution... and when it played the audience was fairly split between in-different and moderate puppy love. So they send the film in a nice pink bow to CAPONE to see if he can muscle the world into changing its perceptions a bit... and this is what they get....
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here, with my quick review of the film that opened Sundance this year. I read the previous reports from this site on this film after I saw it, and I can't really argue with any of them. You either fall for this film or you don't; I did. Here's the scoop.
I’m not sure when or if this movie is coming to theatres, but I feel I should report on it since it’s the best American-made film I’ve seen in the last week. Fitting squarely in the comedy-drama category, MY FIRST MISTER is the directing debut by actress Christine Lahti and it was the opening night film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, for whatever that’s worth. The film centers on the relationship between a troubled 17-year-old goth girl (the gifted Leelee Sobieski) and the 49-year-old man (Albert Brooks), who doesn’t want to see her throw her life away. The ages of the two leads are important for obvious reason, but one of the reasons I liked MY FIRST MISTER is that it tactfully avoids pushing these two character into a relationship that would make us groan while not avoiding the possibility that one might develop under different circumstances.
Sobieski is Jennifer (she likes to be called “J”), an alienated high school student with no friends and parents (Carol Kane and Michael McKean as mom and stepdad; John Goodman as real dad) that love her but have no clue how to deal with her moods, clothes, haircut, piercings, music, or tattoos. She’s determined to get her own apartment but needs to find a job to make money so she can do that. She wanders into a upscale clothing store run by Randall (Brooks). He takes one look at her and dismisses the girl as a freak, but decides that if she agrees to tone down her look, she can work in the stock room. She aces that job and, after another image overhaul, he moves her our front with the customers. Thankfully, MY FIRST MISTER doesn’t become an obvious comedy about generational differences between a wacky teenager and an old coot. The script takes it’s time getting to know its two leads, and we’re allowed to observe the tentative nature of their budding friendship. I have to say at this point that Sobieski is exactly the kind of cute, messed-up goth chick that I would have fallen madly in love with in high school, so she had me the second I saw her dyed black hair and black fingernails and combat boots and severe eye liner. I'm getting worked up just thinking about her. Ahem! Anyway...
Does this still sound creepy to you? That’s okay. The film actually deals with the possibility that Randall isn’t the great guy that J thinks he is. Because of reasons that I won’t reveal here, Brooks is clearly not a threat to J’s virtuousness. Ultimately, MY FIRST MISTER got under my skin like a shiny new piercing, and I’ve got to give most of the credit to Albert Brooks, who avoids the temptation to launch into a “middle-aged man” caricature and delivers a powerful performance. MY FIRST MISTER falters only when it spends too much time on new-agey nonsense, such as J spending time at a graveyard absorbing the energy of the dead by stretching out on graves. But those sappy moments will probably play well when this film premiere’s on the Lifetime network or the Oxygen channel or wherever. And for those of you who don’t like crying in movies, there was hardly a dry eye in the house at the screening I attended. That’s as close to a spoiler as I’m willing to give you about the end of this film.
Dabbing a tear from the corner of my eye,
