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Blog by Don Kennedy

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Elegy

Elegy with Vancouver playing New York and Long Beach playing Long Island cements Ben Kingsley as the hottest folicly challenged sex symbol since Telly Savalas. Here he plays long divorced and celebrated professor David Kepesh. Other than a strained relationship with his grown son (Peter Sarsgaard) he’s comfortable in his very non committal relationship with Carolyn (Patricia Clarkson) when not seducing female students (of course never before final marks are assigned thus avoiding harassment charges) and recapping conquests with George O'Hearn (Dennis Hopper) his Pulitzer prize winning confidant. However when Consuela Castillo (Penélope Cruz) a knockout co-ed enters the Kepesh lecture hall David’s comfort level is tested. Convinced that their February/December affair is short lived he’s taken aback to find Consuela has genuine feelings for him. His fear of commitment and paranoid jealousy work in tandem to eventually drives her away. But when she re-emerges years later with a shocking announcement we see Kingsley deliver probably his most emotionally charged performance ever. With little help from the makeup department Cruz shows not only the unaware outward beauty of her character but more importantly the inner beauty that George insists is invisible in attractive women. Elegy lives up to its dictionary definition of a mournful, melancholy poem.

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