2012 has the potential to be one of the greatest years for movies in over a decade. In addition to many promising indie films, numerous acclaimed directors are set to release potential masterpieces, such as
Paul Thomas Anderson's
The Master (loosely based on L. Ron Hubbard's creation of Scientology). This pairing will get you primed for the same theme of a charismatic figure who pulls in even the most skeptical critics.Sound of My Voice (2011) is under limited release in select cities. Although the budget was minuscule and the audience small, it made waves with critics and fans at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Brit Marling plays Maggie, a cult leader who claims to be from the year 2054. Despite her inability to authenticate her temporal immigration, she amasses a small group of very loyal followers who are eager to learn the disciplines of mind and body needed to survive an impending, Armageddon-like "civil war." The audience watches through the eyes of Peter and Lorna, a couple who pretend to be loyal followers, in hopes that they can document and expose the absurdity of cult followings. As you might suspect, the deeper Peter and Lorna go to prove their loyalty, the more they are compelled by Maggie's magnetism. As the film progresses, what is true becomes less and less clear.
Don Juan DeMarco (1994) stars early career
Johnny Depp as a 21 year-old who claims to be Don Juan DeMarco, "the greatest lover in the world." Because of his assertions and an attempted suicide, he is admitted into a psychiatric hospital for a 10 day evaluation by psychiatrist Dr. Jack Mickler, played by
Marlon Brando. Although Jack is about to retire, he and the rest of his staff take special interest in the stories that Don Juan tells. As the time approaches for Jack to make a recommendation about what should be done with his young patient, Jack seems less interested in challenging delusions and more interested in making changes in his own life. Crazy or not, Jack needs what Don Juan has in order to revive the passionless relationship with his wife (Faye Dunaway).
At the core, both movies are about human relationships, seduction, and enlightenment. One of the greatest ways to push beyond the limitations of our perspectives is by introducing characters who are "crazy," "alien," or "supernatural." Both films challenge our assumptions about what is possible. They present us with characters with impossible claims that offer something vital that the "normal" characters are missing.
