Marion Cotillard shines in the Dardenne brothers' ultra-progressive film, TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

There could hardly be a better time for a movie like TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT to appear. That it was bypassed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' shortlist for this year's Best Foreign Language Film is ridiculous. But, hey, that's Hollywood. (Bring back The Blacklist, boys!) Its tale -- of an employee at a solar-energy manufacturing facility who is suddenly down-sized by her bosses via a vote taken by her co-workers on whether they will receive a large Christmas bonus in lieu of the employee's holding on to her job -- is a near-perfect look at the joys and rewards of Capitalism in the workplace. What that employee, Sandra -- a fierce and fragile performance by the wonderful Marion Cotillard (above and further below, in pink) -- decides to do about her situation makes up the heart of this unusual movie.

One of, and maybe the best of the films to come from the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (shown at right, with Jean-Pierre on the left), the movie taps into so much that the western world is experiencing today regarding employment, family, health (mental and physical) and the idea of Socialism vs Capitalism.

After the initial shock of the news abates, Sandra's husband and her best friend/co-worker urge her to demand another vote (the first one appears to have been rigged by a boss who intimated that if the crew voted to keep Sandra, another of them might be downsized). The remainder of the movie details Sandra's search for her co-workers over a weekend spent urging, cajoling, asking and hoping for their support.

If all this sounds a bit predictable, the result is anything but. Responses from the co-workers run the gamut. That bonus of one thousand Euros is nothing to sneeze at, and some of the workers need the money rather desperately. Yet each situation is different, and its result often surprising.

Among the most moving is Sandra's meeting with an employee (newcomer Timur Magomedgadzhiev, above) to whom she acted as mentor. Another, taking place in a laundromat at night, reveals as much about the situation of Sandra's co-worker as it does her own situation. Some meetings lead to anger and, in one case, violence.

Through it all Sandra's husband (played by Fabrizio Rongione, above) encourages and helps his wife along. She certainly needs this for, as we soon learn, Sandra has had a severe bout of depression, for which she was given a leave of  absence from work.  There are times throughout the movie when viewers may wonder just how capable Sandra is of actually doing her job.

It is greatly to the Dardennes credit that they don't hand us characters who fall easily or completely into heroes and villains. Best of all, they let us see and understand how Capitalism works to undermine the worth of the individual by keeping everything focused on profit, while ensuring that the workers fail to see their situation from a collective perspective.

In the process the Belgian brothers may have created a new kind of genre -- one especially appropriate for our times -- the "employment thriller." What will happen to Sandra's job takes on increasing suspense, and the outcome may surprise you. It and its movie go beyond mere good and bad, happy or unhappy endings, to confront the entire situation in a manner more subtle, thoughtful and humane.

Two Days, One Night -- from Sundance Selects/IFC Films and running a brisk 95 minutes -- opens this Wednesday, December 24, in New York City at the IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinema, and in Los Angeles at in the Los Angeles area at Laemmle Theaters, beginning January 9.  

Mitch McCabe's MAKE ME YOUNG explores our growing penchant for plastic surgery

Is it remotely possible to have a "balanced" look at the anti-aging industry (plastic surgery, injectables, laser treatments, wrinkle creams, hair transplants -- and the people who push them)? On the basis of MAKE ME YOUNG, the recent documentary, just out on DVD via Cinema Libre Studio (it made its debut via HBO), the answer is, "Sure" -- but you'll have think for yourself, disagree with many of the participants, and maybe even surprise yourself by going somewhat against your own better judgment as you watch this alternately fascinating, flabbergasting and exasperating little film. Does it reflect America today and our preoccupation with youth-at-any-cost?  Absolutely.

In it, director/producer/editor/co-writer Mitch McCabe, shown at left, herself a daughter of a plastic surgeon (albeit one who came to that professions by first helping victims of war, accident and sickness), opens up about her own obsession with aging and where this might have come from ("My obsession was my dad's profession"). She then travels the country -- meeting, interviewing and making friends with various doctors and their patients, and talking with "experts" on this subject.  These include the professionals, of course, but also editors of fashion magazines, a "Creative Director" of a upscale clothing store, a self-styled consumer advocate and various hawkers of skin creams. You will have take their words with the proverbial grain-of-salt, but together they paint a picture of a society willing to forgo this month's rent in order to have the necessary Botox injections.

There are many ways to try to fool mother nature, and this movie covers a lot of them -- such as the boob job we see on one of the saddest of our interviewees, Texas-based Sherry (above), who has lots of work done in lots of area and claims to be happy as a clam. For all of her southern gush, however, she seems, as seen here, obsessed only with her desire for a better appearance. Another "victim" who's into fooling, in the bloodiest section of the movie, is Gary (below), getting a hair transplant.

Mitch then meets yet another daughter of a plastic surgeon, who is currently posing for skin magazines (Daddy didn't know during the filming, but he probably knows by now. Does he care?). We discover all sorts of anti-aging devices, like this little job (below) that looks like an electric shaver but, instead of hair, gets rid of wrinkles. Or so its propronents claim.

The movie is supremely anecdotal; we meet a few too many characters to get to know most very well. Yet this also gives us an a wider overview and lets us take home the movie's message, which is finally picked up and run with by the movie-maker herself: If all this makes you feel good, just give in and do it.  And so she surely does.  

The craziest, saddest moment in the film comes when a lovely blond woman (not Mitch's BFF, above, left) looks at her reflection in the mirror and declares, "It's just disgusting!"  At this point, the viewer may want to scream, "But you're beautiful! How crazy can you be?" The character who grounds the movie, however, is Dee, an early patient of Ms McCabe's dad, who was given new breasts after a double mastectomy. We see old footage of her at the time and then nearly 20 years later. Then and now, she seems the ideal plastic-surgery candidate: She actually needs it. Yet she remains imminently sane, funny, smart and real -- rather than someone clutching desperately to a fading youth. (That's a photo of the late Dr. McCabe, below, showing off a "boob" pillow sculpture that one of his patients had made for him.)

Offering up a sad statistic, McCabe alerts us to the fact that more and more of our new, young doctors are opting for this industry rather than becoming primary-care physicians.  The money is much better, of course, so why not? And since more and more of us seem to prefer the kind of medicine that caters to the needs of our exterior rather than our interior -- well, sure, come on in:
The doctor will see you now.

Make Me Young, which debuted on DVD last week, is available for sale now and -- eventually, we hope -- for rental.