Goofy chemist Sid Stratton (Alec Guinness) is looking to revolutionize the textile industry in the Ealing classic THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT
THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (Alexander Mackendrick, 1951)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
November 16-22
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org
Alexander Mackendrick’s splendid 1951 Ealing comedy The Man in the White Suit is a hysterical Marxist fantasy about corporations, unions, and the working man that doesn’t feel dated in the least. Alec Guinness stars as Sidney Stratton, a brilliant scientist relegated to lower-class jobs at textile mills while he works feverishly on a secret product that he believes will revolutionize the industry — and the world. After being fired by Michael Corland (Michael Gough) at one factory, Sid goes over to Birnley’s, run by Alan Birnley (Cecil Parker, whose voiceover narration begins and ends the film). As Sid develops his groundbreaking product, he also develops a liking for Birnley’s daughter, Daphne (Joan Greenwood), who is preparing to marry Corland. Meanwhile, tough-talking union leader Bertha (Vida Hope) also takes a shine to the absentminded chemist, who soon finds himself on the run, chased by just about everyone he’s ever met, not understanding why they all are so against him. Guinness is at his goofy best as Sid, a loner obsessed with the challenge he has set for himself; his makeshift, Rube Goldberg-like chemistry sets are a riot, bubbling over with silly noises like they’re in a cartoon. But at the heart of the film lies some fascinating insight on the nature of big business that is still relevant today. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay, The Man in the White Suit is an extremely witty film, expertly directed (and cowritten) by Mackendrick, who would go on to make such other great pictures as The Ladykillers and Sweet Smell of Success and would have turned one hundred this year. It’s easy to imagine that if someone in a textile mill today came up with a similar invention as Stratton’s, the same arguments against it would arise, suppressing progress in favor of personal interest and preservation.
Inspired by his brief stint as a suburban New Jersey garage-band drummer with rock-and-roll dreams, Sopranos creator David Chase makes his feature-film debt with the musical coming-of-age drama Not Fade Away. Written and directed by Chase, the film focuses on Douglas (John Magaro), a suburban New Jersey high school kid obsessed with music and The Twilight Zone. It’s the early 1960s, and Douglas soon becomes transformed when he first hears the Beatles and the Stones — while also noticing how girls go for musicians, particularly Grace (Bella Heathcote), whom he has an intense crush on but who only seems to date guys in bands. When his friends Eugene (Jack Huston) and Wells (Will Brill) ask him to join their group, Douglas jumps at the chance, but it’s not until he gets the opportunity to sing lead one night that he really begins to think that music — and Grace — could be his life. Not Fade Away has all the trappings of being just another clichéd sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll movie, but Chase and musical supervisor (and executive producer) Steven “Silvio” Van Zandt circumvent genre expectations and limitations by, first and foremost, nailing the music. Van Zandt spent three months teaching the main actors how to sing, play their instruments, and, essentially, be a band, making the film feel real as the unnamed group goes from British Invasion covers to writing their own song. Even Douglas’s fights with his conservative middle-class father (James Gandolfini) and his battle with Eugene over the direction of the band are handled with an intelligence and sensitivity not usually seen in these kinds of films. Not Fade Away does make a few wrong turns along the way, but it always gets right back on track, leading to an open-ended conclusion that celebrates the power, the glory, and, ultimately, the mystery of rock and roll. Not Fade Away, which was the centerpiece of the fiftieth 
After his mother’s (Kil Hae-yeon) get-rich-quick scheme doesn’t quite work out as planned, she disappears, leaving her laconic son, Kwon Youn-ho (Um Tae-goo), to continually fight off her ever-more-crazed business partner, Seo-hee (Park Se-jin), a divorced mother desperate to get back the money she claims she is owed. Meanwhile, Youn-ho is trying to make a life for himself and his fiancée, Se-kyung (Yoon Che-yong), but her mother doesn’t approve of his job in reconstruction — he convinces people to leave their homes with small payments so that buildings can be knocked down and fancier residences put up in their place. But neither Youn-ho nor Seo-hee is evil; both have been cast in difficult situations that lead to extreme measures that they regret as they try to put their lives back together. Kim Joon-hyun’s first feature film is a patiently paced drama that subtly examines how the global financial crisis affects families in both large and small ways. Everyone in the film is seeking to maintain or renew a relationship with a loved one, be it a parent, a child, a sibling, or a lover, but money complicates their situations. Um is excellent as Youn-ho, a young man seemingly disinterested in his own existence, letting life just happen to him, a fine counterpart to Park’s Seo-hee, a woman willing to do just about anything to prevent her life from getting completely away from her. Choked is screening November 18 at 5:00 as part of the Museum of the Moving Image series Korean Cinema Showcase: Filmmakers of the Future, which highlights the work of three young, independent Korean directors: Kim, Lee Han, whose Punch was shown in October, and Lee Sang-woo’s Barbie, which is playing December 16 at 5:00.
First-time writer director Patrick Wang proves to be a quadruple threat in his extraordinary feature-film debut, In the Family. An actor, theater director, and economist with an MIT degree, Wang, who is also the star of the film and one of the producers, reveals a smart economy in the quietly powerful drama, despite its 169 minutes. Wang plays Joey Williams, an Asian-American contractor living in Tennessee with his partner, teacher Cody Hines (Trevor St. John), and Cody’s young son, Chip (Sebastian Brodziak), from a previous marriage. They are a happy family, but when Cody suddenly dies in a tragic car accident, Joey’s life slowly starts to fall apart as he discovers he has no legal rights to any of Cody’s holdings and possessions, including Chip. Joey faces his dilemma with an almost Zen-like demeanor, calmly believing that everything will work out and that Cody’s family — sister Eileen (Kelly McAndrew), brother-in-law Dave (Peter Hermann), and mother Sally (Park Overall) — will do the right thing. But as he soon finds out, that isn’t the case, so he considers taking legal action, but without any footing, no lawyer will represent him. While he sits alone in the house that used to be so filled with life and hope, Joey recalls happier times, as flashbacks show how he and Cody first met and eventually fell in love. Wang and cinematographer Frank Barrera (Runaway, As Good as Dead) barely move the camera during the contemporary scenes, allowing the audience to feel the pain building inside Joey, while the flashbacks are shot with a shaky handheld camera that evokes the turmoil to come. Wang avoids genre clichés, wisely choosing not to make grand statements about same-sex marriage, civil unions, and gay rights, instead letting the story play out in a lyrical yet heartbreaking way. First and foremost, Joey, Cody, and Chip were a family — not a gay or mixed-race family — and Joey can’t understand why they are being treated differently than if they were a supposedly more traditional husband, wife, and child. The acting is solid throughout, with a documentary-like quality — Wang cites Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage and John Cassavetes’s A Woman Under the Influence as major inspirations — highlighted by a fine turn by multiple Tony nominee Brian Murray as a client of Joey’s. Don’t let the length scare you away — In the Family is a gripping, involving movie that will make you forget all about time. Nominated for Best First Feature at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards, In the Family opens November 16 at Cinema Village, playing daily at 4:40, with Murray appearing opening day and Brodziak on hand Saturday and Sunday.
