2011. Dir: John Madden. Starring: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Tom Wilkinson and Maggie Smith. ●●●○○
I can highly recommend watching the trailer for John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, it's a delightful piece of advertising with a distinctive palette, easily definable characters and the odd laugh out loud line delivery. Unfortunately I cannot recommend the movie as a whole which somehow drags that trailer over two hours without further developing the characters, providing tension or even giving the audience many more laughs.
In the pre-credits sequences we are introduced to the great and good of British acting talent through a series of short vignettes designed to develop an understanding of back-story and hint at the personalities. There's everything from Judi Dench as the resilient widow to Tom Wilkinson's down-to-earth judge stopping off at Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton as a bickering pair of retirees choosing how to spend their later years with reduced incomes. One by one they are seduced by the tempting offer of the best exotic marigold hotel, a palce converted into a residential home for senior citizens looking for adventure and not quite requiring care.
As our dysfunctional septet make their journey to Jaipur, mixing for the first time on the plane out you rather hope their stories will intertwine, however oddly right until the end it feels like separate tales. Even as one pair find a common cause whilst another share the beginnings of an illicit romance there's never a feeling of cohesion within the group. Each day the characters go off alone to face or hide away from the world, each night they return to the culinary challenges placed on them by the hotel's love starved owner Dev Patel.
This literary convention of presenting a collection of characters all of whom must have an arc in which to travel probably works very well in Deborah Moggach's novel but I find it irritating beyond belief. In two hours it's simply too much to ask from an audience to make them care about so many personalities, so their storylines either feel irrelevant or hopelessly shortened. It's not helped by most of cast who seem content to take the money and run. Judi Dench reprises her "As Time Goes By" performance only with less one liners, whilst Tom Wilkinson reveals a secret he's kept hidden, tearing away at his soul for over 30 years, with all the gravitas of someone admitting to eating marmite with a spoon.
Maggie Smith does the best she can with an underwritten role, effectively playing a threatened working class racist bigot at the beginning and a entrepreneur with purpose at the end; it's not her fault that the scene where she undergo's her transformation makes no sense. Does she really embrace Indian culture just because an untouchable lets her rant about her life in service? By the way how old is she?
Only Celia Imrie as a glamorous granny looking for husband number 4 and Dev's over the tops pride inject any life into the film, and the scene they share just past the halfway mark is a moment of delightful farce. And no, I'm not going to tell you what happens, other than it involves a chain of misunderstanding starting with the wrong people getting in bed together.
I suppose one of the reasons that scene shines is because there were laughs to be had that hadn't already been shown in the trailer. Make no mistakes this isn't a comedy, it's a series of life lessons with comedic elements, and I rather believe that amping up the comedy may have helped the film. There were moments in the trailer that made me chortle out loud, but stretched out across the running time it felt awfully thin, just the odd joke at the expense of the more extreme characters surrounded by the self-satisfied blog posts of Judi's silver surfer. When she tapped out "With so many old people together it was inevitable one of us would die..." I nearly screamed at the screen in disgust. The average age of the 7 actors is barely 65 and none of them - bar Maggie Smith and her plot developing broken hip - look remotely like age is slowing them down, even the character that does die simply slips away during an afternoon slumber once their storyline has been resolved. It's nothing like the pain and torment and inherent boredom most of us will experience in old age.
There's not even much given to the Indian actors either. Sure Patel along with his girlfriend and mother, played by Tena Desae and Lillete Dubey respectively, have a soap opera level storyline along the lines of following your heart over tradition and family expectations, but aside from them no other Indian gets a look in. There's even two moments when Dench and Wilkinson refer to long conversations they have had independently with a husband and wife whose connection to the group has rocked their relationship to it's core, yet all we hear is a precis from the mouths of our middle class heroes.
All this sounds like I'm ragging on the film, but to be honest I did like it when I was watching. It was nice, the location work was fabulous, as Wilkinson says in the trailer "[I see the] light, colours, smiles. All life is here.", and he's right India is stunning, if nothing else this is a brilliant tourist video for the sub-continent.
I can't say I recommend it. But if you're seeing it for free don't say no. And do try out the trailer.
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Friday, 15 July 2011
Bring me Harry Potter (Out this week - 15/07/11)
Let's not pretend anything here. There is only one movie that's even vaguely hitting the headlines this week and as much as I'd like to support the Spanish prison dramas or independent grindhouse spin-offs there's no denying the pull of J K Rowling's literary behemoth. So it is with no shock the runs like a gay film of the week is the final battle between good and evil, it's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part II.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part II
As the British film industry grinds to a halt following the closure of the Potter franchise (although you have to wonder if the Potterverse project will lead to some future spin-offs) lets look forward to seeing the lengthy awards calibre supporting cast list (in this film there are 19 acting nominations, 4 wins, from 7 performers - see the labels below - and how many casts can claim that?) doing more serious work over the next couple of years.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
Cell 211
Popular Spanish thriller following a rookie prison screw on his first day who gets caught a riot and becomes chummy with the criminal leading the revolt, and finds his loyalties deeply questioned. The US remake is already being written.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Bal (Honey)
The third in a loose trilogy of films focussing on the lives of working class Turks from Semih Kaplanoglu. Naturalistic and unsentimental the movie reflects a way of life slowly coming to an end.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Hobo with a Shotgun
The second fake trailer from Tarantino and Rodriguez's Grindhouse experiment to be made into a full scale movie looks more promising than Machete in that it keeps it's lo-fi premise and ultra-violent concept and save Rutger Hauer as our shotgun wielding hero doesn't overfill the cast with unnecessary cameos. That said it may not be to everyone's taste.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Treacle Jr.
Independent British movie starring the ubiquitous Aiden Gillen (honestly he seems to be everywhere over here at the moment) and Tom Fisher as two middle aged men unable to conform within modern society, it might be an interesting dissection of modern attitudes to mental health but the trailer isn't making that too clear.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Zindagi Na Milenge Dobara
Possible the only Bollywood release this week - I say possible as the twice delayed Deiva Thirumagal is also supposedly hitting cinemas this weekend - is a drama about three friends turning their fantasy vacation into reality following one of them getting engaged. No, I don't understand how that serves as a plot synopsis either.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Saturday, 12 February 2011
The clue's in the eyepatch (Out this week - 11/02/11)
I can't quite believe it's happening, but after two and a half years of previewing the weekly releases I'm coming to a major milestone - it's the first movie to get a perfect score. The reviews have been cracking, it's from a director(s) and cast that I truly admire, it's picked up awards and nominations from major organisations - whilst I have had my doubts frankly it's hard to ignore it even if it didn't actually make my countdown for most anticipated film for 2010! So later today I will go to see , this weeks film of the week True Grit. 
True Grit
Without doubt this is the most exciting Western proposition in nearly 20 years. The Coen brothers returning to Charles Portis' novel for this exciting tale about redemption and loyalty all seen through the eyes of a 13 year old girl. By the way the talk that this is not a remake of the earlier movie is slightly undermined by the eyepatch, which was an invention of the first film.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●●●
Gnomeo and Juliet
Smart looking children's adaptation of Shakespeare most famous romantic tragedy set to the music of Elton John. The changing of the characters to Gnome's is odd but is at least understandable for the kids. The eclectic cast backing James McAvoy and Emily Blunt in the leads ranges from the highbrow Michael Caine, Maggie Smith and Julie Walters to the bizarre trilogy of Ozzy Osbourne, Jason Statham and Hulk Hogan!
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Never Let me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro's subtly sci-fi love triangle set in an alternative 1970's UK somehow never managed to capture the pre-screening buzz it elicited. Nevertheless the melancholic style and triumphant central performances by Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield makes this an interesing proposition.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Just Go with It
Dreadful looking Adam Sandler vehicle where he somehow manages to drag Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman into the mess with him. Plot seems to revolve around Sandler pretending Aniston is his wife in order to attract another (younger) woman.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Nothing to Declare
French Buddy Cop Comedy (be warned) about the closing of the French-Belgian border in the ninety's. Plenty of national stereotypes abound. Should appeal to the Top Gear crowd - if it weren't actually in French.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Patiala House
Akshay Kumar headlines this UK set Bollywood movie about a second generation Sikh, the central question is whether supporting your family or following your dreams is more important or whether you should have to choose.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Son of Babylon
Iraqi drama about a 12 year-old boy Ahmed and his Grandmother crossing the country to find Ahmed's missing father who might have been released after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Yogi Bear
The questionable regurgitation of 1960's cartoons reaches a new low with Hanna-Barbera's most famous Bear, most famous for it's "Best things come in Bears" first poster. You can understand why Dan Aykroyd desperately needs the work but Justin Timberlake has no excuse fr this boo boo.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Bizarrely missed from 04/02/11
New York, I Love You
Not sure how I missed the release of this themed collection of shorts in the same vein as Paris Je t'aime. I've already got the DVD and will review - as part of my normal film reviews - in a few weeks.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
Sunday, 16 January 2011
20 for 2011: 13 - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
The retirement home beckons with The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at 13.
Sensing a gap in the market Dr Ravi Kapoor, a South London casualty consultant, enlists his cousin Sonny (played by Dev Patel) to open a Mumbai based Old People home for his more complicated patients. When those patients include Maggie Smith (picture with Dev above), Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy you just know there'll be sparks flying and some serious fish out of water gags.
It's going to be tough to balance the tone for this, is it a comedy or will we mainly be learning lessons about the fragility of life? If I were to guess which of the films in the top 20 is most likely to be delayed until 2012 I would probably choose this one. Sorry.
Monday, 28 December 2009
Maggie Smith
Happy Birthday to
Maggie Smith
75 today
I hate to use a Potter photo, but that's all Dame Maggie seems to be doing right now (and I expect it's where most people know her from these days). I've been a big fan of hers since seeing the BBC adaptation of Muriel Spark's Momento Mori in 1992, even writing a poem about her for an English project at school (aged 14)!
