But If I Have Not Love, I Am Nothing

On September 27, 1947, Marvin Aday was born in the town of Dallas, Texas. He was an only child. His father was a police officer and his mother a schoolteacher. While growing up, Marvin and his mom often had to go out and search for his dad.

Orvis Aday, Marvin’s father, was an alcoholic who frequently went on drinking binges for days on end. As a result of the disruption and trauma of having to drive the streets of Dallas to every pub to find his father, young Marvin ended up spending a lot of time staying with his grandmother. 

During his high school career, he received recognition as a talented actor, featuring in various school plays, but it was in the music industry that he would eventually make a real name for himself.

Shortly after his mother died and he received his inheritance, Marvin left for California. When he arrived in Los Angeles, he started a band and during their very first recording he hit a note so high that he blew one of the fuses of the recording monitor.

With powerful vocals that stretched over a three-octave range, he was instantly offered three recording contracts, but he turned all of them down.

In 1992, he collaborated with songwriter Jim Steinman and set about making an album. Together they produced a song that would capture the hearts and the imagination of people on such a tremendous scale that it would reach ‘Certified Platinum Single Status’ in the United States and be the number one hit in 28 other countries. In the UK it went on to become the best selling album of 1993.

Of course, Michael is better known by the moniker, ‘Meat Loaf’ and the acclaimed song was, ‘I’d Do Anything for Love’ (But I Won’t Do That).

The concept of finding love and loving someone in return seems to be imprinted on our DNA, at times. People write poetry about it, books, articles and of course, also movies.

In The Paperboy, Zac Efron plays the role of Jack Jansen, a teenager who recently was expelled from college for acts of vandalism. Jack is the younger of two brothers. His older brother, Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) works as an investigative journalist for the Miami Times. Back in their hometown, Jack’s father is the publisher of the town’s paper and with his new girlfriend also distributes the Miami Times. Jack is the paperboy.

When Ward uncovers a story that might exonerate a man who is currently awaiting execution on death row, he spots an opportunity to make a name for himself; and along with one of his colleagues, an Englishman, Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo), they decide to head back to Ward’s hometown of Lately, Florida.

Going back home is somewhat of a sensitive issue to Ward, knowing he has to face his dad, a man from whom he is completely alienated. Ward’s father also has a new woman in his life – Ellen, someone both the Jensen brothers dislike very much and refuse to accept. Their mother has been dead for a number of years.

However, the information that he has been supplied with concerning this story is too compelling for him to ignore. Cue Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman). Charlotte is a southern gal and a complete tramp who has fallen in love with Hillary Wetter (John Cusack) the man Ward and his associate is trying to get off death row. Since Charlotte and Hillary are also now engaged, they’ve been writing each other non-stop, giving Charlotte a unique opportunity to gather information concerning the injustice her man has been subjected to. 

The person Charlotte has the most profound effect on is the young Jack. He is a young man who is coming of age and he has to do so in the overwhelming Florida heat, something that seems to make his hormones rage within him more vehemently than a swarm of angry bees. Charlotte’s casual attitude to when it comes to her sexuality doesn’t make things easier for him and Jack falls madly in love with her.

As an audience, pretty soon you realise that Hillary is going to manipulate Charlotte’s love for him the moment he gets out of prison. Unfortunately, she’s the only one who doesn’t seem to think so. 

Although the story really centers around Jack and his feelings for Charlotte, a young man who for the first time in his life is truly captivated by a woman, the movie also explores the inner workings of the other characters and the motivation behind their actions.

The Paperboy was met with mixed emotions. At Cannes, it received the longest standing ovation at 16 minutes, while Rotten Tomatoes regards it as a complete flop. It has to be said that all the actors were simply superb in their interpretations of their characters and Director Lee Daniels really pushes the envelope in exposing all of their flaws. 

There is without a doubt a very raw element in the delivery of all the performances, a realness that is quite haunting at times. All of the cast involved can pride themselves for some very brave decisions.

Through it all, Daniels manages to sketch a vivid picture of the lengths people will go to for the sake of love; something most people would readily agree that, ‘I’d do anything for love’ often ending up heartbroken and bitter because they failed to understand, ‘But I won’t do that’.

When To Risk It All Or Lose It All?

Ever been confronted with challenging situations when life seemed at its hardest? It’s as if the forces of destiny all of a sudden decided to conspire against you and conceive a diabolical plot that will suit your life and your particular situation to a T.

Ever felt that way? I know I have. I have friends who have testified to feeling and experiencing the same thing, too.

I remember Rocco, a mate of mine, going through a particularly tough time one year. Financially he was really struggling. He was sort of between jobs, well actually he was busy studying, part-time. In-between, he used to work half days at an auto-electrician’s workshop, four days of the week and in the evening he delivered pizzas; with his scooter. Rocco didn’t have a car.  

As it turns out, between working at the auto-shop and delivering pizzas, Rocco got to know, let’s just say, some unsavoury characters and before you know it he was making deliveries to people who wanted more than just your regular pepperoni-pizza.

By that, I mean any recreational substance conceivable to your mind (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, you’ll have an idea).

From being a simple pizza delivery guy, all of a sudden, he was an enormously prolific conveyor of stimulants. He had his clientele, he had his connections, he had the merchandise and he had his scooter, which by the way, was the perfect vehicle for running his own narcotics courier service. Everything just seemed to click, enabling him to make the most of this ‘opportunity’ during his time of need. Until of course, Rocco was caught.

Suddenly, fate took a turn for the worse. He was lucky to end up receiving only a suspended jail sentence (some of his connections were good for more than just purchasing illegal substances), but the whole ordeal did exactly what it had to – it gave him a proper wake-up call. Rocco retired from the dope-pedalling business and upped the focus on his part-time studies substantially.

When I asked him one day what in the world he was thinking, he told me, ‘I was thinking there’s no way I’m ever going to be able to pay for my studies and support myself with what I was earning from pizzas. The money I made for delivering drugs to these people was easy, it was cash-in-hand – lots of it, too and I was too desperate to care.’  

I have to admit, I’ve never been THAT desperate, but Richie Furst has.

In ‘Runner Runner’, Justin Timberlake plays his character. Richie is a guy who had to leave his life as a stockbroker on Wall Street behind after the company he worked for went down as a result of the stock market crash.

With few options left, he’s forced to resume his graduate studies at Princeton and finish his masters degree in finance. Unfortunately, due to his previous high-paying career, the board at Princeton refuses him any financial assistance and he has to make a plan.

Richie starts a small enterprise on the side where he introduces fellow students to online gambling and then takes a percentage for each new player he brings to the table.

Everything is going perfect until one of the students maxes out his father’s credit card limit during a poker match and word gets round to the Dean at Princeton of Richie’s virtual casino business.

Try as he might, the Dean won’t hear him out when he tries to explain that what he is doing is nothing more than marketing for these gambling sites and that he has no alternative way of financing his degree. He is told in no uncertain terms that either he stops what he is busy doing or ‘You won’t have a degree to finance here anymore’.

Being a phenomenal poker player himself, in a final bid to make as much money as possible, he decides to gamble all his savings, but ends up losing it. When he suspects foul play by the owners of the gambling site he played on, he decides to fly down to Costa Rica to go and confront the owner. 

But getting close to Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) doesn’t just happen.  He’s too much of a mogul. Coming up against a man who has a made a living out of satisfying people’s senses also catches Richie off-guard and it doesn’t take much convincing from Ivan to lure him over into his fast paced world of money, women and power.

Soon, the FBI is involved and yet again Richie is forced to gamble everything he has or risk losing it all.

Justin Timberlake gives a believable performance to his character, so does Affleck. The story itself seems to be fast tracked at stages and makes the film lose credibility. It’s entertaining to watch nonetheless. 

From Father To Son

Desperation is the catalyst to many a foolish deed. Keeping your moral compass alive and well when your back’s against the wall can be difficult to do when you find yourself in such a hopeless situation.

It’s the emotional equivalent to being a wounded animal out in the wild, except now the predators of temptation seem to inherently know there’s an easy meal close-by.

When walking around ‘wounded’ from a despondent, heavy heart, you have to be careful. Lie low, hide, and stay especially away from reckless people and environments. In fact, go lock yourself away in a room if you have to, it doesn’t matter, but don’t be caught out in the open in your time of trying. The casualty rate far exceeds those of survivors during such a time. 

Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) has a unique skill – there isn’t a stunt too daring for him to perform on his motorcycle. To many he is a hero, including to Romania (Eva Mendes), a girl he’s been dating. The two have an on-off relationship due to the nature of his work; Luke has to travel a lot all over the country to perform. Perhaps the reason Romania has a secret: She had Luke’s baby boy.

When Luke finds out about his boy, he decides to turn a leaf and quit his job as a stunt-performer. Having missed out on a relationship with his own father, Luke is determined to now have one with his son. Unfortunately, simply walking back into the lives of Romania and their baby is not that simple. She is now living with someone else, a man that can offer both of them more stability.

 Trying to make a new living is hard for Luke and along with the man he now works for they decide to start robbing some banks. 

When you have a gift, knowing when and where to use it is almost more important than using it at all. Luke’s gift to ride motorcycles undoubtedly places him in a special category but unfortunately, people who live on the edge also don’t mind falling off the edge.

The last bank he robs turns out to be his last when he has a fatal encounter with the police, an event which in turn sets off a whole list of repercussions, for the police officer who shot him and also years later for his son. 

‘The Place Beyond The Pines’ takes a raw look at of the vicious cycle that keeps on repeating itself when a parent leaves a legacy of absence in a child’s life. It also explores the ‘code of silence’ that exist among men, a very real and powerful dynamic that stems from a misplaced ideology concerning loyalty to one’s friends or the group in order to be ‘one of the boys’.

The performance from all the cast members involved in this project is superb and as viewer, you come to understand the importance of building a solid relationship with your children from a young age.