TAKE THIS WALTZ

TAKE THIS WALTZ

Director Sarah Polley really has not broken any new ground with her newest entry "Take This Waltz". The premise of the story is as old as marriage and infidelity.

If you need a reminder, just consider that "Magic Mike" addresses how many wives blow-off steam when they after the shine has dimmed from their marriage - they go to strip clubs. But then again, so do guys. The argumnent is that women have a more innocent reason of lust, while a man's soul purpose is to act on the lust.

Michelle Williams is Margot, a freelance writer who is five years married to Lou (Seth Rogen) a cookbook writer. They live, if nothing else, a comfortable life filled with certainty. They know each other very well and there are few surprises.

Especially in the sack. While they find interesting - and some might think nauseating - ways of communicating affectionately, that doesn't translate into sex. Their relationship is apparently practically sexless. Lou is dead as a doornail.

While on a breif trip for a story, Margot encounters Daniel (Luke Kirby) a part time rickshaw driver and part time starving artist. They chat... he goes away. However the meet again on Margot's return flight home and, share a cab once in Toronto.

That's when Margot finds out that Daniel lives right across the street from her. How cozy. Naturally, now is the time for things to heat up. But how does the film progress.

Here is a woman with everything to lose and only a poor boytoy neighbor to gain... maybe.

For his part Lou is extremely thoughtful and considerate of Margot and superficially he does indeed know her through-and-through, but he is also completely out of touch with her sexually. He reminds you of the husband who comes home only to find out his wife has left him for his sister!

Daniel is the least interesting person, he has nothing to lose and wouldn't mind nailing Margot despite her eroding devotion to her husband. Like most marital spoilers you know that Margot is only interesting to Daniel because she belongs with someone else.

Polley does an excellent job of not taking the easy route by having Lou the good guy. Rogen, without having to use his limited comic props does an effective job of being the big dumb sweet guy just as he did in "50-50".

Williams by the same token is sterling with her portrayal of a woman in conflict with herself. You can read every bit of her cognitive dissidence in her facial expressions and every motion. She makes the sparks fly as she and Daniel get closer - she seduces the camera, just as she did as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn".

The one flaw in the program is Kirby who seemed sometimes confused what his character is. Is he actually Margot's true love, or is he just the guy next door trying to score some nooky? Unfortunately, his failings match those of Keanu Reeves in "Something's Gotta Give" especially paired with Williams. He is like a blank card.

"Take This Waltz" doesn't cover any new territory, but does manage to cover old ground well. Michelle Williams may have scored yet another Oscar nom, but it's still early. -- GEOFF BURTON

GEOFF BURTON

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