The Pursuit of Happyness review

Number 394 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2006 biographical drama 'The Pursuit of Happyness.'

Based on the true story, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a down-on-his-luck salesman. Seeing an opportunity to save himself and his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) from homelessness, he enrolls in a stock-broking internship. But the journey proves a lot harder than he ever thought it would be.

I must have first watched this film over ten years ago before revisiting it for this challenge. And it still remains absolutely brilliant. It is inspirational, but heart-breaking. It is poignant, but never overly-sentimental or cheesy. In many ways, it is the American Dream in action. Chris Gardener starts at rock-bottom, but through determination and hard work, he makes a true success of himself. For some, the American Dream is purely just that, but for Gardener this dream became reality.

Will Smith was absolutely fantastic. This was the first time that I really took notice of him as a dramatic actor, and he was well-deserving of the Best Actor nomination. After he and his son are evicted from their motel, they spend a night in a public bathroom with the door barricaded shut. When a cleaner tries entering, Christopher locks the door and silently breaks down. Ten years later, this scene still brought tears to my eyes. I don't cry often at films, but this was a true exception. Beyond that, Smith turned Gardener into a well-rounded and passionate character. To succeed as a stock-broker, Gardener is told that he needs to be good with numbers and good people. And Gardener is certainly a charismatic character.

Jaden Smith, Will Smith's real-life son, was also very impressive. He was only five-years-old, but he brought a different element. We saw the stresses of poverty through the eyes of a child. Christopher Jr doesn't understand why he can't go back into the motel room after being evicted. He doesn't understand why he has to sleep in a homeless shelter. 

And this confusion and pain was equally heart-breaking to watch. But Jaden also provided so much humour to what could have been such depressing and hard-going film. He was just as charismatic as his father. And the two of them had great chemistry, which wouldn't be surprising considering they are father and son. However, the two of them have appeared together in subsequent films which have been less than well-received.

I've been speaking a lot about the men, but I cannot forget Thandie Newton who plays Chris's over-worked wife Linda. She has to work two jobs to cover Chris' lack of income. This stress eventually leads to her breaking down and leaving her family. Although I wasn't entirely clear on why her son had to stay with Chris, and not go with her, Thandie Newton also excelled in this role. She was one of the most sympathetic characters in this film; constantly trying to fix an inherently broken marriage that cannot be fixed.

The Pursuit of Happyness was such a great watch. In one second it will be knocking you to the ground, but the next it will be picking you back up. And just remember what Chris Gardener tells his son: "don't ever let anybody tell you that you can't do something."

Crash review

 Number 383 on the top 1000 films of all time is Paul Haggis' crime drama film 'Crash.'

Crash follows a group of intersecting characters and how they interact with each other across Los Angeles. Some of these characters include LA District Attorney Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser,) his wife Jean (Sandra Bullock) a collection of police officers including Graham Waters (Don Cheadle,) Sergeant John Ryan (Matt Dillon) and Officer Tom Hansen (Ryan Philippe,) and film producer Cameron Thayer (Terrence Howard) and his wife Christine (Thandie Newton.)

Crash won the Best film Oscar. This was a controversial decision as many thought that Brokeback Mountain should have won instead. Even director Paul Haggis doesn't think Crash should have won. I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain so I can't comment on the first point, but I do agree that Crash wasn't a worthy Best Picture winner. It is an overly-ambitious and rushed film that tries to do too much in too little time. Rather than being a cohesive film, it is more of a collection of vignettes with a very loose story-thread connecting all the moving parts.

This thread is so loose that many of the connections feel contrived. Detective Graham Waters is looking for his errant brother, Peter (Larenz Tate) who just so happens to have been killed and left by the side of the road by Officer Tom Hansen. Not only that but he and his friend Anthony (Ludacris) carjack who else but Rick and Jean Cabot. When Christina is victim to a horrific car crash, who should come and save her but Sergeant John Ryan - a racist cop who sexually assaulted her the night before.

In my summary, I mentioned just a few of the different characters and storylines. There are so many that inevitably some do get overshadowed or short-changed. Despite Sandra Bullock being top-billed, she only appears in a handful of scenes. She initially comes across as a snooty and racially prejudiced woman - she doesn't like the locksmith Daniel (Michael Pena) because he is Hispanic. However, after a fall down the stairs where she is rescued by her Hispanic housekeeper, she has a change of heart. It's not exactly a road to Damascus moment, but we've given to understand that she's learned the error of her ways. At least that was the intention, but we really don't see enough evidence to justify this transformation.

I touched upon Christina's sexual assault earlier. This is played out in a great fashion. She and her husband Cameron are unjustly pulled over by Sergeant John Ryan. Ryan accosts the couple by accusing them of having oral sex while driving. He makes them exit the vehicle and then evasively searches Christine. He threatens to report Cameron's conviction unless he apologises for his supposed misoffence. Cameron does so and the two are let go. Later on, they have a huge fight as Christine is angry that Cameron allowed her to be taken advantage of. 

Skip to the car crash scene and Christine is being rescued by Ryan. This had the potential to be such an interesting plot thread. Christine's life is saved by the police officer who molested her. How does this change her thoughts on the police? How does this change her thoughts on being sexually assaulted? How will this affect her relationship with Cameron? We don't know, because her storyline is barely touched upon again. This isn't to denigrate Newton's acting. She was fantastic - conveying horror, panic and terror all in one, but her material short changed her. 

Speaking of acting, I also think that Terrence Howard was excellent. He is arguably less 'woke' than his wife and far more respectful of the police and white institutions in general. The two have a massive argument where she accuses him of not being as "black" as she. However, as he is slowly confronted with the bigotry all around him, especially in the film world, he becomes a pressure cooker waiting to blow. This happens when Peter and Anthony attempt to carjack him and are then confronted by none other than Tom Hansen. See what I said about contrivances? Anyway, in a sharp contrast to his previous encounter with police, he tearfully confronts the officers, ready to be shot by them. Terrence Howard played this part brilliantly - the indignation, the anger. It was great.

Anthony's storyline was also a little contrived. He is a carjacker, but he is also alert to the social injustice around him. After his failing carjacking of Cameron, the film producer tells him he is an embarrassment. Anthony goes onto carjack a white van which he takes to a fence. But, lo and behold, the fence is full of South-East Asian refugees. Instead of letting a fence buy them to sell them to the highest bidder, he frees them in the city's Chinatown. Again, I don't think there was enough groundwork to justify such a sudden change of heart. Sure, it was nice to see, but I don't think it made a lot of sense.

A separate storyline sees Iranian shop owner Farhad (Shaun Toub) buy a gun to confront the locksmith Daniel who he believes has robbed his shop. When he goes to shoot him, Daniel's daughter jumps in the way. But she is fine, as Farhad had unknowingly loaded his gun with blanks. Farhad shoots the daughter at point-blank range. Even blanks would do some damage at that short of a distance. This felt like another contrivance. Farhad is a tragic character - a man who has tried his best to realise the American Dream and cannot understand why he has not been more successful. He isn't an inherently bad man, but one who feels let down by the system. I guess if he had killed Daniel's daughter than his whole tragic backstory would be negated. It makes sense, but I wish they could have done this in a less contrived way. It was point-blank range. 

Crash was a good film. It was gripping, tense with good performances especially from Howard and Newton. But it needed to be longer so many of its storylines could be properly fleshed out. And I certainly don't think it deserved the Best Film Oscar.