Phoenix—Movie Review

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by Peter J. O'Connell

Phoenix. Released: July 2015  (USA). Runtime: 98 mins. Rated: PG-13 for some thematic elements and brief suggestive material.

In The Art of Fiction (1884), the novelist Henry James wrote: “We must grant the artist his subject, his idea, what the French call his donnee; our criticism is applied only to what he makes of it.” Alfred Hitchcock applied a similar idea to film, although he used the term “MacGuffin” (“a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story”) instead of donnee.

Movie audiences usually readily accept the donnees/MacGuffins of certain genres, science-fiction, say—time travel is possible; some characters have superhuman powers; etc. But they sometimes at first resist them in other types of films. The question then is whether the skills of the filmmaker and his cast and crew are sufficient to overcome the initial resistance and bring about what the poet Coleridge called the “willing suspension of disbelief” that is essential for enjoying fiction and drama.

Such issues as these come to the fore in considering the German film Phoenix, recently released in the U.S. Phoenix, directed and with a screenplay by Christian Petzold, is set in the devastated Berlin of 1945. Nelly (Nina Hoss), a Jewish singer, has survived a concentration camp but suffered facial disfigurement there. Brought by her friend Lene (Nina Kunzendorf) to Berlin, Nelly undergoes plastic surgery but insists on having her face restored as much as possible to what it was like before her imprisonment rather than what the doctor recommends, something closer to that of a popular celebrity. The doctor does what Nelly asks.

When her operation is over, Nelly sets out to find her husband, Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld), who is not Jewish and does not know that she survived the camp. She finds him working as a busboy in a nightclub, the Phoenix. But Johnny does not recognize Nelly as Nelly! What he thinks is that she is simply someone who resembles Nelly, resembles her enough to be passed off as Nelly to a Swiss bank, which would enable Johnny to obtain control of money owed to Nelly as a result of the deaths of her entire family at the hands of the Nazis.

Johnny persuades Nelly, now calling herself “Esther,” to go along with his scam. “Esther,” struggling to recover from both physical and psychological trauma, finds herself being “trained” by Johnny to be Nelly. Seeking love and caught up in a world of multiple—and lost—identities, Nelly disregards warnings from Lene and other sources about Johnny's true nature. The scam proceeds through various twists and turns to a stunning conclusion in which Nelly/Esther sings again after years of fear.

Yes, Petzold and his cast and crew do bring about that “willing suspension of disbelief” of which Coleridge wrote. Petzold directs in a spare, straightforward way that, paradoxically, makes his plot, with its demanding donnee, more convincing than if he had attempted various maneuvers to make it more “believable.”

“Believability” comes from the superb acting of Nina Hoss and Ronald Zehrfeld. Seldom has the tentativeness of trauma been more tenderly depicted than in Hoss' performance here. And the ruggedly handsome Zehrfeld masterfully walks the line between attractiveness and sleaziness. Both Hoss and Zehrfeld deserve international recognition. And so does director Petzold.

“Footnote” to the film: Impersonation or “doubling” or assumption of a new identity figured in a number of entries in the popular film noir genre of the World War II and postwar years. Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) is a notable example. Interesting films dealing with plastic surgery from that era include Dark Passage (!947), with Humphrey Bogart, and Strange Impersonation (1952), with Paul Henreid.

Irrational Man—Movie Review

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by Peter J. O'Connell

Irrational Man. Released: July 2015. Runtime: 95 mins. Rated: R for some language and sexual content.

Some movies written and directed by Woody Allen are “Woody Allen movies.” You know, those films in which intellectual and professional types involved in awkward relationships—say, a Brooklyn Jew and a Wisconsin WASP or an older man and a younger woman—engage in witty dialogue or become involved in amusing situations.

Other movies written and directed by Woody Allen seem to have had ghostly collaborators—say, the Marx brothers or Federico Fellini or Ingmar Bergman or adventure serialists of the 1930s and '40s or Alfred Hitchcock—because they replicate so well the characteristic themes and techniques of these auteurs. If, for example, Allen's Match Point (2005) suddenly had appeared on screens without any credits or provenance information, one might readily have thought it directed by Hitch from beyond the grave.

                                                                                                                                                             Irrational Man, the latest movie written and directed by Woody Allen, also seems to have had the portly British genius as co-auteur. In it, Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix), a famed but now floundering philosophy professor, arrives in Newport, R.I., to teach at a small college. Abe's reputation for masterful exposition of existentialist philosophy has the college community eager for contact with him. Abe, however, is burned out. He has overanalyzed life to the point where it has lost all meaning for him. And now, as he says, “So much philosophy is just verbal masturbation.”

Nonetheless, Rita Richards (Parker Posey), a chemistry professor, seeks a passionate relationship with Abe despite his anomic response to life and his anemic response to her overtures. A student, Jill Pollard (Emma Stone), is also smitten with Abe but claims that her interest is platonic rather than physical. She is passionate—but about philosophy.

Abe's interest in life revives when he and Jill overhear a conversation about a cruel decision by a local judge, a judge who is later found murdered by means of poison. Discussions about self-defined morality, etc., between Abe and Jill take on exciting new dimensions for Abe. His reborn liveliness is amusingly depicted by his increasing desire for big breakfasts. The discussions inspire Jill to attempt to solve the judge's murder. What she discovers is hard for her to accept “philosophically.”

Joaquin Phoenix, unexpectedly paunchy and brooding in appearance, turns in, as expected, a fine performance. Parker Posey, dubbed by critics “queen of the indies” for her frequent appearances in such films, gives her usual competent performance. The real standout here, though, is Emma Stone—wide-eyed, with cascading chestnut hair, and lithe-limbed in shorts and sleeveless blouses—she embodies both youthful innocence and feminine allure. And when she starts to do detective work, she is as convincing as any hardboiled cop out of film noir.

Irrational Man is intriguing and enjoyable in plot and characterizations, and its cinematography and use of Newport locations are superb.

“Footnote” to the film: The popular book Irrational Man (1958) by William Barrett, a professor of philosophy at NYU, has been described as “the introduction to existentialism for the English-speaking world.”

American Ultra—Movie Review

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by Peter J. O'Connell

American Ultra. Released: August 2015. Runtime: 95 mins. Rated: R for strong, bloody violence, language throughout, drug use and some sexual content.

Once upon a time, in the mountains of West Virginia, there dwelt a young stoner couple, Mike (Jesse Eisenberg) and Phoebe (Kristen Stewart). Far from the madding crowd, they lived and loved and got high together. The only problem was that Mike could not really remember his younger years and would have physical and psychological problems whenever he set out to leave his small town, so he gave up attempting to remember or to leave.

One evening, however, the outside world comes to Mike at the convenience store where he works—comes to him with the aim of killing him. You see, Mike wasn't just your run of the bong stoner. In those younger years, he had been programmed by the CIA to have latent fighting skills of a high level, very lethal skills when activated.

Now Adrian Yates (Topher Grace), a CIA honcho, has decided to “terminate” the subjects of the programming, and he has ordered his own squad of killer subjects to carry out that task. Mike's long-distance handler (Connie Britton), however, distrusts what Yates is up to and activates Mike's skills.

The aisles of the convenience store soon run red with blood. And that's just the start of a very lively—whoops, deadly—night for Mike and Phoebe. Mike struggles to understand his situation: “Something very weird is happening to me: I keep killing people! There is a chance I may be . . . a robot!”

Mike is not a robot, and, in fact, he comes to gain a fuller individual identity during the course of many, imaginatively rendered, struggles through the dark and bloody night. Mike's love for Phoebe deepens, and she reveals some fighting skills and secrets of her own.

Director Nima Nourizadeh, in the manner of Quentin Tarantino, mixes sanguinary action with dark humor and some tender feeling. Eisenberg and Stewart are convincing as the young couple caught up in the over-the-top events. Connie Britton and Bill Pullman as CIA figures give strong support as do John Leguizamo as Mike's drug connection and Walton Goggins as a maniacal killer. Topher Grace, however, seems too slight both physically and in acting chops for his role. American Ultra isn't exactly “summer fun.” but it does make for a diverting hour-and-a-half in the dark.

“Footnote” to the film: MK Ultra was the name given to a real series of “mind control” and similar projects carried out by the CIA in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Some say that the projects, supposedly cancelled in the 1970s, actually have continued to this day. 

An Unexpected Spike for Medicare Premiums?

From the Wall Street Journal

Provision could hike 2016 rates by 52% for some recipients

Updated July 31, 2015 11:18 a.m. ET

Unless the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services intervenes, some Medicare beneficiaries will face a steep increase in their 2016 premiums, even as the vast majority of Medicare recipients pay no increase at all.

Medicare’s trustees projected in a recent report that for about 30% of the program’s beneficiaries, 2016 premiums would rise by 52% for Part B, which covers doctor visits and other types of outpatient care.

The projected increases result from a little-noticed intersection between the rules governing Medicare and Social Security.

Under the Social Security Act’s “hold harmless” provision, Medicare can’t pass along to most Social Security recipients a premium increase that is higher than whatever they would receive through Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment, according to Casey Schwarz, policy and client-services counsel at the nonprofit Medicare Rights Center.

With inflation so low, Social Security isn’t expected to pay a cost-of-living increase in 2016. So Medicare would be unable to pass any premium increase along to the estimated 70% of beneficiaries who will qualify for this “hold harmless” treatment in 2016. As a result, Medicare must spread the projected increase in its costs across the remainder.

But while the final rates the government sets in the fall are typically close to the trustees’ predictions, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell has said she would search for ways to reduce the increase for affected beneficiaries. The final decision about 2016 rates “will be based on our preliminary projections today, subject to additional data, and the administration’s consideration of policy options,” she said last week. 

The secretary has the ability to set a lower premium “if she determines there are sufficient reserves,” says Tricia Neuman,director of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s program on Medicare policy. “This is not a done deal.” 

The largest single group of people affected are the 3.1 million participants subject to higher Part B premiums because their incomes are above $85,000 (or $170,000 for couples). Within this group, the trustees projected that single individuals earning up to $107,000 (and couples earning up to $214,000) would have their 2016 monthly premiums rise from $146.90 a person this year to $223 in 2016. For those earning more than $214,000 (or $428,000 for couples), the projected increase is to $509.80 a month, from $335.70 in 2015.

Up to another 1.6 million people are potentially affected because they receive Medicare but have deferred claiming their Social Security benefits or aren’t eligible for those benefits. If they are paying the standard $104.90 a month for Medicare Part B this year, they will be charged $159.30 a month in 2016 if the trustees’ predictions come to pass.

A 52% increase from 2015’s rates would also apply to up to 2.8 million people who will be new to Medicare in 2016, the trustees projected.

The jump from this year’s base charge of $104.90 is an “unprecedented increase,” Ms. Neuman said.

The 52% premium increase also affects about nine million lower-income Medicare beneficiaries whose premiums are paid by state Medicaid programs. But in that situation, the increase is “a problem for state governments,” says Dan Adcock, government relations and policy director at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare.

It still is possible that there will indeed be a Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2016, if inflation picks up over the next few months.

And if that isn’t the case, the unusual disparity in 2016 Part B premiums between recipients with similar incomes could be smoothed out come 2017. Assuming Social Security recipients receive a cost-of-living adjustment in 2017, the “hold harmless” provision will affect a smaller portion of Medicare recipients—and so Medicare costs will be shared more equally. Indeed, the Medicare trustees are projecting that the base Medicare Part B premium will reset for everyone at $120.70 a month in 2017.

This isn’t the first time this has happened.

In 2010 and 2011, Social Security paid no cost-of-living increase. For those who fell outside the “hold harmless” protection, the base premium rose to $110.50 in 2010 and to $115.40 in 2011—even as those with the protection continued to pay at the 2009 level of $96.40. When Social Security resumed paying cost-of-living increases in 2012, everyone’s base premium reset at $99.90 a month, before rising to $104.90 in 2013 and remaining there ever since.

In 2009, Congress tried to eliminate the higher premiums for Part B enrollees not covered under the “hold harmless” provision, says Mr. Adcock. But while the bill passed in the House, it stalled in the Senate, he said.

If you fall into the 30%, experts say, there is not much you can do.

If your income is 135% of the federal poverty guidelines or below—a cap that this year is below $22,000 for a family of two in most of the U.S.—you can apply for a Part B premium subsidy from your state, says Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center. (For free help, visit your State Health Insurance Assistance Program at shiptacenter.org.)

But those with higher incomes “have very little maneuverability,” says Ms. Neuman. Individuals who have deferred claiming Social Security can escape higher Medicare premiums if they start receiving benefits—and have their Medicare premiums deducted—by November, Ms. Schwarz says. But because those who defer claiming increase their benefits by approximately 6% to 8% for each year in which they wait, “it may not be prudent” to make that trade-off, Ms. Schwarz says. “This is not something we would necessarily advise,” she says.

At the very least, she adds, “it’s best to wait and see” what the final rates will be before taking action.

Write to Anne Tergesen at anne.tergesen@wsj.com

Let the Wii Bowling Begin!

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The 7th NSL Wii Bowling Championships begin this week with the first round of play beginning Monday, Aug 24.  The start was delayed one week as the many new coaches and teams got acclimated to the scoring and posting of scores last week.  With the restart, conferences will be more balanced and most teams will have an exciting 7 weeks as they vie for conference titles.  Following 7 weeks of conference play the field will be paired into championship brackets as teams compete in a ‘one and done’ format for National Championship titles in 7 divisions.

Fifteen hundred sixty three (1,563) senior Wii bowlers make up the 316 registered teams representing 99 communities from 30 states.  The Championship features 7 divisions based on level of ability.  Defending national champion, Dayton VA Medical Center, will be challenged in the Champions division by 7 of the strongest senior Wii bowling teams in the nation.

For information and registration - http://www.nslgames.com  The NSL 2016 season begins the week of Feb 15, 2016 Registration will be available Dec 15, 2015.

Wallingford resident hopes to match senior cats with senior citizens

WALLINGFORD — A Wall­ingford resident who is studying to be a doctor is starting a program that will pair senior citizens with aging shelter cats. The program will help seniors with limited mobility get supplies and go to the veterinarian. 

Megan Smith, a 29-year-old University of Connecticut medical student, is the mastermind behind “Senior Cats in Senior Laps,” a program she hopes will find homes for unwanted, aging shelter cats, and provide senior citizens with the health benefits associated with owning a cat. Smith, the owner of four cats, said animals can be especially therapeutic for the elderly.

“Working in medicine so far I’ve seen how older individuals could benefit from a cat,” Smith said. “They are shown to lower blood pressure, lower anxiety and give people a sense of purpose.”

While pets can be beneficial to the elderly, Smith said, there are many obstacles seniors face when it comes to owning a cat. While some may have financial constraints due to a fixed income, others may be immobile or lack transportation to get supplies or take their pet to veterinary appointments. 

“The idea of this program is to bridge those challenges and make it possible for them to enjoy a cat in their home and have the support of a program that can provide financial support or trips to the vet or pet store,” Smith said. 

The program will also provide a contingency plan for the cat if the owner is unable to care for it or dies, so the animal will not have to return to the shelter. Click here to continue reading.