Each Wanted EDEN

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theatres from writer/director Ron Howard, Noah Pink, Vertical and Imagine Entertainment comes the story of an island and those who want nothing more than to find EDEN.

Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and partner Dora (Vanessa Kirby) have found their bit of solitude on the island of Floreana in the Galapagos. Ritter spends his days writing his meaning of man and Dora gardens and loves her burro, this is the life they want. That is all about to change with the arrival of Heinz (Daniel Bruhl), wife Margaret (Allison Sweeney) along with son Harry (Jonathan Tittel). They have read the works of Dr. Ritter and want to be part of that isolated life.

Upset by the isolated intrusion, Ritter sets them up far away from their home thinking by the looks of them, running home will happen quickly. What Ritter couldn’t have expected is that within months, the new family is adjusting and settling quite well so their presence is tolerated. That tense acceptance is quickly interrupted when Baroness Eloise (Ana de Armas), Felix (Rudolph Lorenz) and Robert (Toby Wallace) land on the beach with plans of their own.

Heinz and Margaret make it work, especially with a child on the way. Ritter, however, is constantly distracted by the madness the Baroness brings with her. There is manipulation and deception constantly swirling around the eight islanders that brings about mistrust and danger. There is a social virus on the island and it is beginning to infect them all!  

Law as Ritter is a man possessed writing a book that he believes will save humanity from itself. Isolation on the island is something he craves in order to do the ‘important’ work. The distraction of new arrivals sets him on a path that can either help his thought process or hurt it. Law is just exceptional in this character with the mystery surrounding him. There are moments of lyrical brilliance followed by madness but who am I to say which is which. I just loved his performance, period.

Kirby as Dora is a woman with her own set of physical issues but believes she is Ritter’s biggest supporter in all things. Keeping herself busy around their makeshift home, she isn’t the warmest human being to be around but they each seem to understand one another and it works for them – well it did for a while. Kirby gives her character the standoffishness that made me want to know so much more about her and why she saw the island as her home.

Bruhl as Heinz is taken with the prospect of making a life on Floreana with the family. Working hard to set it up, he tries to befriend Ritter but realizes its better to focus on their own homestead and let things work out on their own. Bruhl has the uncanny ability to totally own a character role and he has such a wide range of them both good guys and not-so-good guys. Every film he has been in I’m always in line to see where he is going to take the story. In this film, he kept me guessing.

Sweeney as Margaret is a young wife who wants to keep the peace on the island. She does try to befriend Dora and Ritter but finds herself taking small steps to understanding them. When the Baroness enters the pictures, Margaret clearly knows narcissism when she sees it and has not difficulty standing on her own. Sweeney’s character is the timid one and on the watchful side than the other characters, taking it all in before doing whatever it takes to protect her family – and that isn’t always noticeable.

De Armas as the Baroness is an absolute train on flaming tracks and she is the conductor. Every moment she is on the screen I wanted to throw something at it. The character reminded me of an attention seeker who would burn the world down if it would make her feel superior. Charming, well dressed and manipulative are in her bag of tricks. It is an intense role adding another layer to the madness happening on the island. Lorenz and Wallace play the two men who see to her every whim and, like Dora, believes in her and the plan she has made.

Other cast include Ignacio Gasparini as Manuel, Richard Roxburgh as Allan Hancock, Nicholas Denton as Ray, Thiago Moraes as the Captain, and Antonio Alvarez as the Governor of the Galapagos.

Vertical Entertainment is a global independent distributor that offers a unique wealth of experience minus the studio costs. Film such as MY MOTHER’S WEDDING, I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU, FIGHT OR FLIGHT and IN THE LOST LANDS are only a few of the film the studio has brought forward. For more of what they have to offer, please visit www.vert-ent.com.

The film is loosely based on the real-life story of these characters, living on an island wanting solitude, the Ritters had their life far away from Germany. Even the story of the Wittmer family comes with a respect for the island and the couple living a distance away and again, it worked. Then, Baroness Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet landed on the beach. What comes next is pure speculation and conjecture which is where writer/director Howard and writer Pink comes in.

Howard says of his film, “I am fascinated by stories based on real events. There is no question that in this circumstance, the kinds of the choices these characters feel compelled to make or are forced to make are more complex than anything I’ve done in film. This is what these people leaved through and I found it fascinating, I found it utterly human and surprisingly relatable to the human existence today with all its quirks, all its pain and danger as well. It was exciting every day!”

That is what makes this film so compelling as Howard has chosen to do something out of his directorial character. His memorable films include WILLOW (1988), THE DA VINCI CODE (2006), THIRTEEN LIVES (2022) and in my family, THE GRINCH (2000), which is a yearly holiday happening. EDEN is a different direction bringing such rawness and the horror of human nature when squeezed beyond all sanity. He chose a story that allows for so many levels of lies mixed with truths that I spent some time reading up on this story myself.

EDEN is one of my favorite films of this year because of its unpredictability, its jaw dropping moments, the lives it is based on and the originality of it all. I found myself on the edge just waiting to see what could possibly happen next on this roller coaster ride of a storyline. I love that it is framed around an island forcing the characters to deal with one another because it’s not like they could easily walk away. There is even humor that felt twisted and intriguing at the same time. I am hoping to see awards attached to it very soon.

In the end – where is the truth lie?

 

GENIUS: The Last Chapter from National Geographic

Jeri Jacquin

In a special two-hour presentation from National Geographic on June 20^th at 9/8c is the finale of an amazing story developed by Noah Pink and Kenneth Biller with GENIUS: The Last Chapter.

Albert Einstein (Geoffrey Rush) and wife Elsa (Emily Watson) are settling in America but they constantly are thinking of those they left behind in Europe. Unsettling for Einstein is that scientists in Nazi Germany continue to study the splitting of the atom. He himself continues to work through quantum physics.

That all must be put aside when Elsa becomes ill and Einstein’s life becomes even more complicated. Being rushed by all sides to help with the formula needed for the atomic bomb, Einstein continues to avoid them all. He also becomes emotionally close to Marija Ruzic-Maric (Catherine McCormack) and doesn’t realize that there are two sides to her.

J. Edgar Hoover (T.R. Knight) is one man who wants to see Einstein sent back to Germany. Feeling the scientist humiliated him, it becomes Hoover’s goal to ruin the man. In 1947, scientists come together to try and contain the use of atomic bombs. Einstein doesn’t believe their use can be contained but sees it all as a threat to humanity.

With his lifetime of work, Einstein is brought face to face with an outburst from his son Hans that every member of the family knows he sees them as a burden. To make matters worse, Einstein is outraged when one of their scientists is forced before a committee for communism.

Eleanor Roosevelt brings Einstein before a television audience so that he may give his view on what bombs can do and Hoover becomes outraged. Personal secretary Helene (Emily Laing) is worried about Einstein as his heath begins to wane but his voice to reach out against man’s destruction is what he has left.

When a letter to a judge falls into the hands of Congress, the papers begin to denounce Einstein much to Hoover’s delight. All of the bad press sends the scientist into a sort of quiet seclusions. That is until a young girl named Alice knocks on his door to remind him of how exciting mathematics is and it’s like an awakening for him taking on the unified theory.

Learning of his illness, Helen encourages Einstein to reach out to his son and say the things that needs to be said between the two. It isn’t easy for him but it is a moment shared by father and son never to be forgotten. Albert Einstein would pass away in 1955.

To Einstein, every question must have an answer – and he wanted to find them!

Rush as Einstein is absolutely amazing. He might be one of the smartest men on the planet but he is equally flawed and Rush doesn’t hide that in his performance. From his frustration with his work, to the love of his wife, the constant pressure from the government and believing there was no hope for reuniting with his son – this is a performance that can only be called stunning.

Watson as Elsa is a woman who understands the complexities of her husband. That doesn’t mean she agrees with his behaviors but she forgives him in her own way for it all. McCormack as Marija offers Einstein a chance to love again but his heart gets in the way of the realities.

Laing as Helene is the one constant and steady thing in Einstein’s life and Elsa knew that before she died. She is the backbone of his life and I personally can’t imagine Einstein being able to keep his life going without her. Well done Laing in playing a role that isn’t front and center but is one of the most important in the series.

National Geographic has brought a series that is a must-see for everyone. It is a story about the history of one man yes, but it is also the story of those around him. Knowing that it isn’t easy to being partly responsible for creating the road to destruction but Einstein tries to undue what he can.

GENIUS. The Last Chapter is from Academy Award-Winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard which is thrilling in itself but adding Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush is nothing short of brilliant. Based on the book Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, there is so much that I never knew about this man. This finale doesn’t leave any stone unturned in telling the life of this complex man.

In the end – he wanted to answer the secrets of the universe!