‘The Sessions,’ ‘Bully’ explore hard issues on big screen
High school drama, child abandonment, James Bond, sex surrogates and bullies — all of this and more await in five films coming out on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday.
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is one of the best coming-of-age high school films I’ve ever seen. Many films dealing with teenagers are sophomoric and moronic, wallowing in crude sexual and scatological humor. This film has humor in it, but it is more serious and concerned with real emotions. The characters are well-written by director Stephen Chbosky, adapting his own novel, and then brought to life on screen by Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller. This might not be the best film of last year, but it was up there.
“The Kid with a Bike” is a marvelous little French picture, directed by the Dardenne brothers, about a young boy who’s abandoned by his father and taken under the wing of a hairdresser. Sometimes the most effective films simply capture everyday life and the people that are a part of it. The Criterion Collection is releasing the film on Blu-ray and DVD.
“Skyfall” is a blast. James Bond is back (from the mediocre “Quantum of Solace”) in this rousing, immensely entertaining action film. Daniel Craig, playing Bond for the third time in the series, is already a little old for the role, but the film addresses that in an intelligent, interesting way. Javier Bardem gives a juicy, bizarre performance as Bond’s villain, and Judi Dench is, as always, a joy to watch on screen. The Oscar-winning director, Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”), knows how to craft an action setpiece, and he’s greatly aided by cinematographer Roger Deakins.
“The Sessions,” which is based on a true story, might not sound like a film many people would want to watch. It’s about a man (John Hawkes) with polio who lives in an iron lung and decides to explore his sexuality by hiring a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt). It may sound like a bad Lifetime movie, but while it does have the trappings of films from that awful channel, this film features amazing performances and deals with sex in a refreshingly frank and mature way.
“Bully” is a documentary that shines a light on the serious problem of bullying in schools. The film follows the lives of a number of school children and shows how bullying has affected them. Tragic cases of young children who have taken their own lives because of bullying provide some of the most moving and alarming moments in the film. Although the film does a very good job showing the victims, it does not try to show the bullies. Why do people bully? What is their motivation? Hearing both sides would have made the film more balanced and provided a deeper understanding of bullying.