Movies-TV

Five Stars of Inspiration...Love...Tears

Wow! While Christmas shopping two weeks ago, I came
across a DVD sale at an outlet mall. I found a
diamond in the rough...and I hope some of my e-mail buds
can tell me they've already seen "Fearless", starring
Jeff Bridges, Isabella Rosellini and Rosie Perez.

This decade-old film is awesome. Bring along plenty
of heart, at least one box of Kleenex, and the
inspiration of the New Year's spirit to launch the
next 12 months on an emotional high.


"Fearless" in many ways is a "chick flick", but this
guy was riveted to his seat...a hanky in hand...and so
wanton of an inspiring film to propel me into the New
Year. It is the story of a man who survives a plane
crash...and the after effects of saving lives...including
his own.


Jeff Bridges is stellar in the role of Max Klein.

Isabella Rosellini portrays his wife, and Rosie Perez
is a co-survivor...mom. This one is for every man and
woman on earth that either knows how to love and live,
or wants to know how to love and live. It pulls at
your heart strings like a Spielberg film, but has the
depth of a romantic drama no less compelling than life
at its very best...and worst.


Early in the film there is a scene where Jeff and
Rosie venture off to church to deal with "loss".

Their verbal exchange is priceless. It goes like
this:


As Rosie lights a candle near the alter, she looks
skyward and says, "You know you hurt me. You hurt me
forever. But I still believe in Him."


Jeff says, "Well, people don't so much believe in God
as a thing than not to choose to believe in nothing.

Life and death - they happen for no reason. We think
that people are born because their mother's wanted
them alive...that God needed another homerun hitter for
the Giants. We think that they die because they rob
me, or rob a bank. That way, even though we can't be
good enough or careful enough, we'll live forever. At
least we can try. But it makes no sense if life or
death just happens. Then there's no reason to do
anything.


Rosie responds, "Then there's no reason to love."

He asks, "What?"

She says, "There's no reason to love."


"Fearless" is nothing short of brilliant. It may not
be the best film for me to see one week before I catch
a plane to be with my sister and brother-in-law in
frigid Spokane, Washington, but it was a passionate
expose' on human emotions, feelings and compassion.

Max sets out to save the world, but we all know that
you can't take care of everybody if you don't take
care of yourself first.


This "feel-good" film comes with all the pieces.

There's nothing missing. If you know how to cry, be
prepared to do so. If you have a heart, lay it out on
the sofa as you watch this gem. If you seek purpose,
or have found purpose, watch it for the sake of
walking away from it with a heart of gold and respect
for life and limb, family and friends.


Does it sound like I was influenced by this film?

Damn right! It was the type of film that one may feel
was an intervention in their life at the most needy
point. It was for me. Rent (or buy) "Fearless".

There "is" a reason to love. Let "Fearless" lay out
the plan.

Fearless and breathless

I've been threw a lot and have seen a lot in my time on this planet. Its been filled with ups and downs.I hit a spot in my life when i questioned our existence and wondered about life in general.I just couldn't stop wondering why are we here.Then i saw Fearless as it certainly didn't answer all the questions of the universe,it did put many many things into perspective.As i layed in bed watching this movie that started at 3 in the morning.I realized that i was watching one of the most touching films I've ever seen.There's only been a few movies that have touched me the way this one did.There's never been a film that has changed my whole outlook on life until i saw Fearless. I have never been a man that shows his emotions,but as I layed in my bed watching this film.I couldn't help but cry more tears then I EVER have.Life is so precious I will never take it for granted again. Fearless is truly the best and most touching film these eyes have ever seen.

A transcendental blending of music and film.

None of us can view a movie objectively apart from the sum of who we are. Having a classical music background, I am always keyed into a film's use of music. Fearless reminds me that the combination of music and film is an art form which has been sadly neglected in modern culture and trashed by MTV. This movie is high art. The final sequence is emotionally and spiritually a transcending experience, illustrating the bittersweet reality of human existence. An experience not available through words, music, or images on their own. I cried like a baby. Movies tend to be built upon a setup and a payoff. Tension and release are the common currency for most art. I have never seen a better cinematic payoff than the one Fearless provides. And that's because the setup is flawless. There is endless brilliance here in the telling of the story. Don't miss the use of light. Light flashing across Max's face when death is at the door; in the plane and the car scene with Carla.(If possible, Fearless might have been even more effective in black and white.) The subtle transition to slow motion during the scene with Carla and the baby at the mall. Jeff Bridges is irresistible in this performance. His character has been translated out of the realm of corporeal perspective.(As demonstrated through his allergy to strawberries.) When he walks through the plane and assures the passengers that everything will be fine, I believed him. His appearance is almost a religious experience. But his serenity cannot last. He must be reborn into the frailties of human existence or he will be estranged from the world. And that is the payoff. The glorious payoff in which death in an airplane crash becomes a poetic vision of the human experience. We live, we die, but we imbue the universe with a greater purpose even if there is no god to acknowledge it. I hope history will judge this movie to be a classic, unappreciated in it's time. This is Peter Weir's masterpiece. It's hard for me to believe that he could follow this effort with the extremely banal and uninspiring "Truman Show" But I suppose even Mozart had off days.

Excellent, excellent film.

The first time I saw this film, I couldn't decide if I loved it or hated it. What I did realize was that for the next three days I couldn't think straight. The next time I saw it, I realized that I loved it.

Tough and frightening; no, not the plane crash, but the emotions running through this film. Casual, subtle, slow, non-manipulative and very, very real.

Jeff Bridges is one of the best actors there is; Weir's direction is amazing. Isabella Rosellini breaks your heart. Oh, and if you have ever heard Rosie Perez's voice on your TV and ran screaming to the bathroom or kitchen .. watch this movie. You will not believe what she can really do.

There should have been many awards handed to Fearless. But time will reveal it to be an underappreciated classic.

A strangely stupid film.

Someone close to me recommended Fearless as a fascinating film about life and death and what it all really means. On seeing it, I have to say I'd put it without question with the ranks of "Pay It Forward" as a film that sets up a realm to discuss something truly profound, but instead gives in to cheap weepy melodrama and a very empty philosophy from a promising premise. I even felt, at moments, as if I smelled the indelicate hand of Mimi Leder at work. I could hardly believe this was the director who brought us "Dead Poet's Society".I have so many questions for Mr. Weir. What is this film talking about? Loss? Life? Death? Trauma? Recovery? Love? The film's theme wander's about as often as the it's dialog contradicts itself. Are twisted moments like buying gifts for the dead supposed to be heartwarming? Why does Jeff Bridges' character, who is supposed to have undergone a profound and meaningful revelation, seem to constantly change his mind? Why cast loud- mouthed bronxer Rosie Perez as the sensitive character of the mother who loses her child? You know from the script we're gonna have to watch that girl cry a lot... oh OK, that makes sense. Cast the most abrasive person possible to do the job. Why is Max's wife spontaneously Italian? Did Rossellini just seem like a big enough name to cast that accent without its having any relation whatsoever to the story? How did you manage to make John Turturro boring? Characters and plot lines come and go, and I can smell the stench of coffee and cigarettes in the novelists office as he tries to figure out how to fill the inconvenient space between an interesting set up and a mildly poetic, if inconsistent ending. Default to what all the cheapest modern dramatists do: fill it with TV-quality melodramatic tripe.I was so relieved to see the budget flesh out a few million in the final sequence, because I was terrified that, since it only raked in 7 million at the box office, this paperback picture might have made money despite the wise choice of the majority of audiences to avoid it like a Sharon Stone film.

One of the few truly remarkable American nineties' films

The Finnish Broadcasting Company just ran Fearless again, and for me it was the fourth or fifth time to see the film since -93. This is definitely a film to return to from time to time. Its effect is one of cathartic resolution, to say the least! ;-) Jeff Bridges' (one of my all time favorites) work has once again to be praised, as is the case With Rosie Perez. Isabella Rossellini does a brilliant job, far better than the usual consensus of filing her role as "cold and distant"! Peter Weir, an outstanding director, an 'outsider' with an insight. Not to forget the genius of Maurice Jarre's music!!!

Good Movie, But DVD Issue

Although the theatrical aspect ratio of this movie was 1.85:1, while the DVD aspect ratio is 4:3, this is not a "Pan&Scan" DVD. In other words, almost none of the original theatrical image has been removed for exhibition on a 4:3 television screen. The film negative aspect ratio was 1.37:1 (almost 4:3), and for theatrical exhibition, the image was "matted" (partially covered from the top down and bottom up) to produce a 1.85:1 image. For exhibition on a 4:3 television screen, the "mattes" have simply been removed. So the DVD exhibition actually shows 25.9 percent more image than the theatrical exhibition. The movie was likely filmed this way so that the theatrical image wouldn't be butchered on television by the "Pan&Scan" process, and because the filmmakers didn't foresee the current state of the home video market, where consumers prefer movies presented in their theatrical aspect ratio, rather than in a ratio in which the image will fill up their 4:3 television screen (if there is a difference). This DVD presents the movie in the aspect ratio in which the filmmakers wanted people to see it on a 4:3 television, but it does not present the movie in the aspect ratio in which the filmmakers wanted people to see it in a movie theater (for that, the DVD would have to present the movie in a "matted widescreen" format). If you're okay with that, enjoy!

A fine film.

A fine film. The other reviews give plenty of details about it. I'll just add the suggestion that if you like this movie, you should probably read "Lost in the Cosmos" by Walker Percy. If you're already a W. Percy reader, then you'll probably like this film.

Brilliant and Life-Changing

This is the rare film that is not only a brilliant work of art
but, even more than that, a life-changing experience, like
reading a profound philosophical novel. Not a great film, but a
superb one, and a truly deep one

A Treasure of a Movie

Whenever people ask me what my favorite movie is, I always say "Fearless". It's funny because I just happened to chance upon this film, strolling at a mall with my friend with nothing better to do, way back in college.This movie made me cry countless of times. I have watched this movie so many times, but I still cry at the end. I just could not ignore the parallelisms it had with my own life. But this is a review about the movie, not me. Jeff Bridges and Rosie Perez gives us raw but powerful performances. Their largely contrasting on-screen personas are overwhelming, and a never been better Isabella Rosselini shines as the patient and understanding wife.Go and see this movie. You won't regret it.

Fearless

Weir's sadly overlooked 1993 drama is a probing, beautifully acted psychological character study dressed up in transcendent garb. Max's newfound power--an unnerving "fearlessness" - initially enables him to assist his fellow passengers, and is the basis upon which he counsels Carla, but the sea change in his personality has also alienated him from his wife and family. The Oscar-nominated Perez really delivers here in the demanding role of a distraught, grief-stricken mother, and her scenes with Bridges are especially intense and convincing. Weir handles all the catharsis--and even the plane crash, glimpsed in flashback--with uncommon restraint. Board "Fearless" for a heart-wrenching story about finding grace amid the fear of death.

Connections

This is a terrific film. I gained a real appreciation for Jeff Bridges talent and craft as an actor. It has one of those smorgasboard type soundtracks, with all sorts of little gems on the list. I particularly enjoyed the way the U2 snippet (from: Where the Streets Have No Names) elevated the scene that could be considered the major turning point in the film and made it ecstatic and dramatic at the same time.I think of this film often in connection with my own life as a reminder of how sudden and unexpected traumas can bounce us into a zone we don't know we're in until we come crashing back to earth later.

One of the few films that in the end brought on a full-fledged catharsis

When I first saw "Fearless" in a movie theater, I believe there were about 20 to 30 other moviegoers in the theater on a weekday afternoon. It was in it's second week in theaters. After the credits rolled, I heard a lot of weeping from the small but vocal audience.Maybe the film flopped because some people expected a 1970's-style disaster flick with cardboard characters, laughable dialog and unknown extras & doubles performing dangerous stunts.It's been almost eight years since watching "Fearless" for the first time. This is one of only 5 movies I actually own in my very small tape library.Director Peter Weir amazes me. With a few exceptions (I didn't like "Dead Poets Society" and I haven't seen "Green Card"), he has always walked on a tightrope when it comes to telling a story. It might not result in a "satisfying" ending but when you think about what was presented two hours earlier, it makes a lot of sense. It's a logical and very fascinating progression.I believe that Jeff Bridges can (almost) do no wrong. His character may not be very likable but put yourself in his character's shoes and you may understand the reasons why he believes that he is "fearless".I haven't seen Isabella Rossellini's performance in "Blue Velvet" but it makes me wonder if her performance in that film beats her role as the caring but very confused wife of Jeff Bridges' character. She's definitely the heart of "Fearless". I cared for her. I felt empathy; her confusion of what her husband was doing to himself, her family and herself. She's on the outside trying her best to understand what it was like to survive a plane crash. But at the same time, not totally understanding what it was like to be on the ill-fated flight. Rossellini gave a glowing performance.Rosie Perez's performance as the distraught woman who lost her young son in the crash was incredible. Unlike some people in this world, I do like Perez (thick Spanish accent and all). What really impressed me was how she captured the depth of losing her child. There have been some films & TV movies that have captured the effects of a family losing a spouse or adult child. There haven't been as many to deal with the loss of a child as well as "Fearless" did. Perez hasn't had a role with this much depth in a long time. I was pleasantly surprised when she received an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actress, the movie's only nomination.The unrequited bond between Bridges' and Perez's characters was fascinating to watch. They survived something that their love ones will never understand. In the end, the two need to understand that despite their losses, they are still alive in this world and somehow they need to find a way to get back to reality.Screenwriter Rafael Yglesias, who wrote the novel, captured the complexity of crash survivors almost flawlessly. One weak link: John Turturro had the thankless job of playing the underwritten role of the psychiatrist.When a film like "Fearless" even inspires a music video (Brian McKnight's "Back At One"), then you know that this movie will have a lasting effect and with cable, VHS & DVD, it'll never be forgotten. I certainly haven't forgotten it.

An underappreciated masterpiece

Peter Weir has made some great films, as has Jeff Bridges. But I think this is the finest work for both. Weir should've won a Best Director Oscar for the plane crash scene alone. Bridges pulls off a character that you can't help rooting for, no matter how much he wants to push us away. Outstanding acting all-around, even in small parts by Tom Hulce, John Turtorro and Benicio Del Toro, as well as Isabella Rosellini as Bridge's wife who's on the outside looking in. But it's Bridges and Rosie Perez who pull off one of the most complex, fascinating relationships you'll ever see. Anger, jealousy, unconscionable guilt, self-pity and finally an awakening. Not to be missed. As for the DVD, it is begging for an updated version (as someone else wrote on here, Criterion) with commentary and behind-the-scenes footage, especially of the haunting plance crash scene. Brilliant.

Five star movie...conflicting opinions on the DVD

This is a fabulous film. Emotionally deep, flawlessly directed and acted, without a false note throughout.

Jeff Bridges is (as always) excellent as a man who has undergone a transcendent experience so profound he cannot find his way back to his real life and world. Rosie Perez is not always my favorite actress, but here she is deeply moving as the guilt-racked, nearly destroyed mother of a dead child. The interplay between these two as they relate to each other and cannot relate to their families is told simply and eloquently, building to a shattering emotional climax.

Throw in terrific supporting performances by Isobella Rosselini as Bridge's loving wife who wants to reach him but cannot find the key to understanding his experience, Tom Hulce as a weasel lawyer, Benecio Torres as Rosie's husband who sees no harm in getting money for the tragedy and you have a full cast of three dimensional characters.

Oh, and there is a frightening plane crash that is grippingly done.

First rate in all departments, I originally thought this DVD needed to be in widescreen, but I have been advised that Pan and Scan is not used, and what you get is pretty much the movie as it was presented in the theatre. Others say no. I agree with many of you that a better presentation of this film would be nice (Criterion?). It is a film of great depth and beauty and well worth your while.

A Dark Drama

This movie is about a man who is heading down a road of self distruction. You can't help but like the main character. You'll immediately admire him but soon realize that he has a serious problem.... he can save the people around him but he cannot save himself. Several dark themes soon develop in the emotional carnage left in the wake of a commercial jet crash. It is disturbing. It visits human tragedy but also human triumph. If you liked "a sixth sense" with bruce willis, you'll like this film.

Strange, intense, emotional, but what's the point?

Director Peter Weir gets an exceptionally solid performance out of hammy Jeff Bridges, here playing survivor of a horrific plane crash who feels that, since he has now cheated his death, he may be immune to all dangers. Many emotional sequences following the disaster give the picture its heart and soul, but the final chapter brings us back to reality with too mighty a pull, and how satisfying the movie ultimately is depends on whether the viewer can forgive the underlying feeling of manipulation. Still, the film is startlingly straightforward and directed with focused, intense human passion by Weir. Terrific supporting performances by Isabella Rossellini (as Bridges' exceptionally patient and understanding spouse) and Rosie Perez (successfully underplaying as a fellow crash survivor who's having troubles of her own). *** from ****

Walking away from a plane crash would change anyone's life

When we first meet Max Klein (Jeff Bridges), he is a different man from whom he was only a few minutes earlier in his life. That is because the first time we see Max he is walking out of a corn field, holding a baby and leading a young boy along with some adults out of a California cornfield. All of these people have just survived a plane crash and while others are in shock or distraught over what has just happened Max has a calm serenity that makes him stand apart from the crowd. Just how far removed Max is from his fellow human beings starts to become clear when he just walks away from the crash site and finds a motel to check into for the night. Eventually the authorities show up and start wondering why Max is not acting like a guy who was just in a plane crash. When finally asked the obvious question as to why he did not call his family to say he was alive, Max calmly replies that he thought he was dead. Still being alive is clearly something Max is going to have to get used to.

Early on "Fearless" plays with the idea that Max is indestructible. After all, if he can walk away from a plane crash without a scratch then walking through traffic or eating strawberries without having a severe allergic reaction is no longer going to be a problem. But that is not really the point of what has happened to Max and the people in his life cannot understand what has happened to him either. Once his wife, Laura (Isabella Rossellini) gets over the fact he is still alive she finds herself living with a stranger. The airlines sends a psychiatrist (John Turturro) to help him adjust and a lawyer (Tom Hulce) has also arrived to help both Max and the widow (Deirdre O'Conell) of his partner (John de Lancie), who was killed in the crash, make big money on the tragedy. The problem is that Max does not seem inclined to play along and say the right thing or provide the details that would translate into even bigger bucks.

The boy (Daniel Cerny) who walked out of the cornfield with Max has been coming around to visit and Max's son, Jonah (Spencer Vrooman) resents the idea that he is somehow being replaced. But Laura has the same fears when Max starts hanging out with Carl Rodrigo (Rosie Perez), another survivor who lost him infant son in the crash. Max is the one person that she seems to be able to talk to and he seems to be content to continuing helping people, whether they are fellow crash survivors or not. In a lesser film, a "Random Hearts" for example, tragedy would make such people from different worlds lovers, but that is not what the bond between these characters is all about. Even Laura, hurt and confused by what this experience has done to her marriage, does not make the mistake of thinking that the relationship is sexual, although that does nothing to reduce the pain of being shutout of what is happening.

The screenplay for "Fearless" is by Rafael Yglesias, based on his novel, but director Peter Weir is clearly trying to turn this story into something larger. I do not think that the end result is as profound as the director intended, simply because it is hard to imagine getting to Max's point in the universe without having gone through the crucible of the plane crash. Actually, that point is a bit off the mark because eventually we get to see what happened as the plane was going down and Max's transformation happens before the point of impact. In fact, it happens at the moment that he accepts this is the moment of his death rather than when he finds Fate has managed to postpone that inevitable destiny. On the one hand that is the point where our identification with Max becomes more manageable, but it comes so late in the film that rethinking what has happened so that it might serve as an object lesson for our own life is a bit difficult.

Bridges is perfectly cast as Max, because he has always had that ability to look at people with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye that made it clear he saw through you and whatever you were trying to sell. Max gives that look to the psychiatrist and the lawyer on several occasions, but he also has several other looks that provide glimpses as to what is going on in his mind as he tries to reconcile the world in which he lives with the new perspective that is in his mind. Perez is equally as good as the woman walking on the edge, holding it together until the point where she finally cracks and admits the great guilt she bears for more than simply walking away from the crash that killed her son. Rossellini is hampered by the fact that her character is required to be helpless for most of the picture and Hulce is required to be a typical immoral lawyer from start to finish and it is not just his performance but his character that is at odds with the rest of the film. I thought Turturro's character was going to be just as big of a joke, but he has a session with crash survivors in which he proves himself to be more than competent, even if he is not operating on the same wave length as Max.

Even if this is not as profound a film as it is clear Weir was trying to make it is still a very thoughtful and provocative movie. The emotional impact on the viewer is going to depend on how well they can make the connections between Max's situation and their own lives in the real world. Weir hired Maurice Jarre to do the score and his music provides a lot of the emotional power of the final act of the film as both Max and the audience come to terms with what it is all about. I am not sure how you would live your life differently after watching "Fearless," but it seems strange and rather sad to think that it would make no difference at all.


Final Note: It is hard to believe in this day and age that a deep film like "Fearless" would have no DVD extras. There are so many DVDs are there where I do not really care what the director, writer and star have to say about the film, but that would not be the case with that one and hopefully in the future Weir and crew will do something to rectify this situation.

Enthralling

Jeff Bridges is extremely underated, and the fact that this film bombed in the box office just goes to show that. His performance in this film really should have got him an oscar or at least a golden globe but he was overlooked. Rosie Perez as the fellow passenger on the airplane gives a heartwrenching performance. Watching this film is emotionally draining. I was shaking at the end of it and crying uncontrollably, and not many films will provoke such a reaction from me. I give it an A+++++++++++

You have to have been there.

How many critics of this film have been in a life and/or death situation? Not many I presume. I have been there, a few times. I have stared down the barrel of a gun aimed at me by a barely coherent man, I've been in crashes that destroyed everyone but me, I dangled from a mountainside waiting for release.

This film reinforces my belief in surviving, not only with grace, but with a purpose. The empowering effect of surviving grants the beneficiary with not only gratitude, but a perspective on what is transient and what is profound.