Gina and I finally had two nights off after a couple of intense weeks of working, so we enjoyed them--immensely--on successive nights.
The Humbling is built around a masterful-to-incredible performance by Al Pacino, playing an aging actor struggling with deteriorating health and the dulling of his skills. He is supported by Greta Gerwig, whose offhand but nuanced portrayal of a thirty-ish woman whom had met the actor as a kid is one of her many endearing roles. Pacino's character suffers from the inability to separate reality from his perception of a situation, clouded by several factors. This comes into play throughout, and the ending is chilling to the extreme. The Humbling is perhaps not a titanic portrayal and yet it's another addition to Pacino's remarkable body of work.
Elle Fanning plays a young woman of 16 seeking a sex change in 3 Generations and she is devastating. It's a glimpse into the character's deep soul, delving into emotions she has carried around for years, blistering feelings that I will thankfully never know. The way she plays off the other characters, from schoolmates to her mother (played by Naomi Watts) and grandmother (Susan Sarandon) is most skillful. As one can guess, there is surprise, denial, a lack of empathy, hostility, meddling and everything else before her family members start to show unconditional love and embrace her decision to change genders. With just the right touch of humor and the unexpected twists in the storyline, 3 Generations is compelling.
What I loved about both films was the way they knocked down all assumptions about why someone has a particular point of view. There are characters that appear to be reactionary and mean with no gray areas until the plot begins revealing why they are that way. Fanning was already first rate in 20th Century Women (which is from 2016, but I saw it first). Her work in 3 Generations is even better. Such an insightful film.