By: Skip Sheffield
Now that Glenn Close and Janet McTeer have been nominated as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for this year’s Academy Awards, there should be a surge in box office for the quirky little comedy-romance, “Albert Nobbs.”
Let me stress. “Albert Nobbs” is not a laugh-out-loud comedy. It just has some ironically funny situations stemming from sexual role-playing and romantic misunderstandings.
The film is a labor of love for Glenn Close, who co-wrote the screenplay and starred in the play on which this is based almost 30 years ago.
It’s late 19th century Ireland. The character of Albert Nobbs (Close) showed at age 14 at Morrison’s Hotel. The hotel’s owner, Mrs. Baker (Pauline Collins) took pity on the waifish lad and added him to the hotel staff
It is now 30 years later and Albert is an esteemed but almost silent, almost invisible butler.
Albert’s unruffled, predictable routine is upset when Hubert Page, a boisterous outgoing fellow, is hired to do some painting at the hotel. The thing is, Albert Hubert is really a woman, too. That fact is revealed somewhat humorously when Albert is forced to room with Hubert.
If that weren’t confusing enough, Hubert is married to a woman (Bronagh Gallagher) who may or may not know Hubert’s true sexual identity, and who cares?
Confusing matters even further is lovely Helen (Mia Wasikowska), a young maid to whom Albert is attracted. Helen likes little Albert OK, but she is stirred more by the brutish boiler man Joe (Aaron Johnson).
Yes, “Albert Nobbs” is a feminist fable; an allegory really, about oppressive social, political and economic dictates. Victorian England and Ireland were notoriously anti-female, yet the U.K. was ruled by one of its strongest most steadfast Queens, Victoria Regina.
While Glenn Close’s performed as this bottled-up little person is impressive, there is little to like about the melancholy character. The character we really like is Janet McTeer’s Hubert. In this year’s Oscar sweepstakes she has a much stronger chance of bringing home the gold.
If you are interested in sociology and gender politics, “Albert Nobbs” is a film for you. I don’t think it stands much of a chance with America’s mainstream audience.
Two and a half stars
“Man on a Ledge’ Is No Nail-Biter
There is a reason “Man on a Ledge” was released in the Siberia of January. In a more popular movie month it probably would be lost in the shuffle. In January it pretty much had the market for an action-thriller all by itself, if you don’t count Liam Neeson in the frozen tundra in “Grey”.
Sam Worthington stars as the titular character, Nick Cassidy. Nick is an ex-cop on the lam from Sing Sing. In Pablo Fenjives’ highly improbable script, Nick is a good cop who was framed for the heist of a $40 million diamond someone else took.
Nick checks into the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan, orders lunch with champagne, then climbs out a window onto a ledge on the 21st floor. That’s where Nick will remain for most of the film, while a crowd gathers in the streets below, as crowds are wont to do when they think they may witness a gory suicide.
Nick is not crazy or suicidal. His stunt is just a ploy to divert attention from the real action across the street. His younger brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and sexy cat burglar girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) will attempt to steal the very diamond Nick was accused of taking.
The heist itself is pretty high-tech acrobat suspenseful, but it is short-lived and interspersed with shots of Nick back on the ledge, where first a veteran detective (Ed Burns) and a police psychologist named Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) attempt to talk Nick down.
We know Nick isn’t going anywhere, because director Asger Leth has tipped his hand by revealing the suicide threat is just that.
There are some amusing things, such as blueblood Kyra Sedgwick portraying a hard-bitten Hispanic television reporter, and Ed Harris as a huffing and puffing megla-billionaire, David Englander. Despicable Englander makes Donald Trump look like a modest, quiet, nice guy.
One hopes in vain for a spark of romance between Nick and the pretty police shrink. The closest thing to sex is the bright red skivvies Angie strips down to during the heist. Action-suspense junkies had best look elsewhere.
Two stars