There's a giant boat shaped elephant in the multiplexes this weekend which, being a re-issue, does not fit within the usual rules surrounding this post. That's right I'm going to try and completely ignore it. That's relatively easy to do in this first section devoted as it is to mulling over the relative qualities of our new feature releases, indeed whilst I thoroughly enjoy the nautical tragedy I don't have any issue with recommending the French cartoon or the Scandinavian darkly comic thriller over Cameron's weepie largely because I feel it's important to try new things, back in 1997 it's possible it would have been the top film (I went to see it twice at cinemas but then I was a newly out student), and sometimes we should choose the art-house over the multiplex. So this week I feel no qualms in selecting the Sean Penn as a Nazi-hunting washed-out rock star in the RLAG film of the week This Must be the Place.
Last week I fluffed on the box office predictions, as The Hunger Games clung on to the top spot and Wrath of the Titans somehow sneaked ahead of Pirates to become the highest new entry. I confess to being quite shocked by this double loss of judgement however I pick myself up and cheerfully ignore that iceberg (it's got a very good chance of stealing my thunder although I suspect it will just lose out). Instead I'm going to go out on a limb and predict, thanks to the aid of several days of preview and the kids being off school, that Julia Roberts will lead the first Snow White adapt of 2012 Mirror Mirror into the top spot.
This Must be the Place
On paper the combination of a Robert Smith alike goth rocker and a plot involving the investigation and capture of Nazi criminals doesn't seem at all enticing. But when revered Italian director Paolo Sorrentino is making his English Language debut and using a cast that includes Sean Penn (as the washed out star), Frances McDormand (as his eminently sensible wife) and Judd Hirsch (as a pragmatic Nazi hunter) it begins to appear to be something more. Ignore the mixed reviews from Cannes last year and focus on the incredible soundtrack and you know you're getting drawn in.
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Read on for twisted fairy tales, a briefcase with big secrets inside and a small scale Iraq war indie as well as all of this weeks releases and trailers.
It's got a Coen-verse vibe (partly attributable to the appearance of Frances but also to the weird characters inhabiting the story) which makes it hard to resist.
Cat in Paris
This French animation was a surprise nominee in the 2012 Best Animated Feature Oscar race, and the crude animation style may certainly put off a lot of kids but as a branch they are usually quite discerning so I suspect this may be worth the extra mile for the more adventurous parents this Easter weekend.
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Headhunters
Already the subject of a major studio bidding war for the remake rights and boasting Mark Wahlberg as a major fan this Norweigan thriller, based on the international bestseller by Jo Nesbo sees an art thief, masquerading as an estate agent, suddenly out of his depth after stealing from the "wrong people". Expect black comedy as well as the usual spills and chills in this potential art-house breakout.
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Le Harve
There's another Cannes alumni hitting screens this week and it's slightly disappointing to note Aki Kaurismäki's movie has had such little critical attention. It's also bringing dead-pan comedy to a serious subject - European attitudes on immigration in a time of fiscal austerity - and maybe that odd mix of tone and content will put people off.
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Mirror Mirror
Now I believe that one day musical video supremo Tarsem will create a masterpiece, always visually inspirational he just needs someone to write him a good script to use. Note this is not it - although it does look more compelling to me than the other Snow White adaptation coming this year. Julia Roberts and Armie Hammer get to ham it up as the Evil queen and Prince Charming whilst Lily - daughter of Phil - looks pretty as our heroine. Expect kids to love it at least. Mare Winningham and Michael Lerner pop up in tiny supporting roles.
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North Sea Texas
You'd be forgiven for thinking NST is just another American Indie, indeed at first I made that assumption, but watch the trailer and you'll find a sweet coming out story about a teenage boy in Belgium coming to terms with his sexuality and how that affects his teenage years. Almost a flemish Beautiful Thing so should be worth a look.
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Cold Light of Day
We haven't had too many chances to see future Superman Henry Cavill in action - sure he was Theseus in last years Immortals but who honestly watched him as an actor rather than just as a piece of well oiled meat - so this CIA double cross thriller with Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver might just introduce him to audiences. Shame it hasn't been shown to critics and looks horribly unoriginal. Does make you worry about the box office potential for the man in tights.
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Housefull 2
The biggest Bollywood release in some time might just sneak into this weeks box office top ten thanks to the 52 screens and the 2010 success of it's predecessor also starring Akshay Kumar. That said there aren't many Bollywood sequels and the slight whiff of mysogny - all the women seem interchangeable - might put more enlightened viewers off. We'll see.
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Mirza - The Untold Story
There are two South Asian releases this weekend which don't yet have corresponding IMDb pages - which as you probably know irritates the hell out of me. The first is this action-romance about a girl forced to choose between her gangster brother and her sweetheart saving her from an arranged marriage. I wonder...
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Ordinary
On the other end of the spectrum is this comedic mystery set entirely on a bus journey to a remote mountainous village. It sounds like an interesting set-up.
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Return
Fans of In Contention (at Hitflix) will have read Guy Lodge's raves about this final Cannes release, a small scale picture starring Linda Cardellini doing career defining work as an Iraq war veteran re-adjusting to life in her small industrial town. Deftly handling themes of alienation and PTSD and with a cast that includes Michael Shannon and John Slattery it's a real pity that only two cinemas (in London and Hull) are showing this.
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Saturday, 7 April 2012
Rock on Seany (Out this week - 06/04/12)
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Michael Lerner
Happy Birthday to
Michael Lerner
69 today
I had hoped to get hold of a pic of Michael's Solomon Schlutz from A Serious Man but given his very brief screetime (he walks in with legal documents, coughs and dies) there aren't many shots online. So here's on from his more famous Coen brothers gig: Barton Fink. By the way did you know he's in the Atlas Shrugged adaptation currently being filmed - I say this because I didn't know and he's easily the most famous cast member.
Friday, 23 April 2010
Out this Week (23/04/10)
With the summer silly season nearly upon us (Iron-Man 2 opening in 7 days) it's the last chance for the studios to give us some interesting arty fare before th multiplexes are block booked, so whilst this week is far from being classic there are some minor gems to be had. Film of the week goes to Agora, although Dogtooth runs it a very close second.
Agora
Fresh from the news she's playing Jackie Kennedy, Rachel Weisz also opens another biopic about a tragic heroine. In Agora she plays the titular Roman philosopher who is eventually assassinated for her secularism. Director Alejandro Amenábar is constantly on the verge of brilliance so this should be one to watch.
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Centurion
More Swords and Sandals as Michael Fassbender's Centurion (natch) has to run the length of Britain escaping a marauding group of Picts. From Neil Marshall so it will be bloody and repetitive, I should imagine.
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Cherrybomb
Little Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter films has all grown up, and to prove it he'll take his top off and get a bit rebellious in the Northern Ireland based teenager drama.
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Dance with Me
The coveted one star excitometer is given to this British set Revolutionary Road rip off, with a couple of unknowns giving it all screaming at each other as their relationship blows apart.
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Date Night
I really liked the trailer, for this comedy abut a middle aged couple (TV supremos Tina Fey and Steve Carell) trying to respark their relationship with it all going wrong, but apparently it's less than the sum of it's parts. Although the parts include Taraji P. Henson and lots of shirtless Mark Wahlberg so maybe it's worth seeing after all.
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Dogtooth
Very highly praised Greek film about a repressive family who have kept their children fully isolated from the outside world up until early adulthood. Explores the nature of freedom and social understanding of others.
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Extract
There was a time when people were really talking up expectations for this essence factory set black comedy with the talented Jason Bateman in the lead, but a middling US release at the end of last year has pretty much scupperd it's chances. Maybe it'll grow on DVD.
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It's a Wonderful Afterlife
Gurinder Chadha hasn't yet managed to top her achievements with the break-out multicultural hit Bend it like Beckham and it doesn't look like this is the film to do it either. A Hindu mother obsessed with marrying off her frumpy daughter starts poisoning people who get in her way of that perfect wedding.
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The Joneses
Commercial satire about a fake family who are paid to do product placements in the community. Trailer lacks some bite as the make believe world crosses over into the lives of the protagonists, but it's a nice idea that deserves some investigation.
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Life During Wartime
Todd Solondz returns to the themes and characters of his 1998 arthouse hit Happiness only with a completely different cast filling out the roles of the sisters the film revolves around. Not as uncomfortable as the original, Solondz doesnt aim the mirror right back at us this time. Bizarre cast includes Charlotte Rampling, Michael Lerner and Paul Reubens.
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Sky Crawlers
Japanese animation, from the people behind Ghost in the Shell, about a group of permanent adolescents living life to the full as they are pitted in wars as a form of entertainment. Sounds complex enough. Rinko Kituchi is one of the key voice performers.
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And missing from last weeks rundown was
In Ghost House Inn
Ashokan reprises his signature role of Thomas Kutty and buys a bungalow in Ooty; the property is believed to be haunted by the ghost of a woman who was killed 70 years before. This is a Malayaman film from India. I'd never even heard of the Malayaman language.
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Saturday, 19 December 2009
A Serious Man
2009. Dir: Ethan and Joel Coen. Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick and Aaron Wolff. ●●●●○
Book a ticket to see a Coen brothers film and you know that they will try to subvert your expectations, from the grim tone of No Country for Old Men to the celebrity smug off that was Burn after Reading, it's probably best to leave those expectations at the door and their latest, A Serious Man, proves the case. Whatever you have heard, whatever you imagin this film to be, it can only be appreciated or understood through actually seeing it for yourself.
It's a meditation about what it means to be Jewish, a parable about middle class complacency and a intelligent comedy about family and relationships. It manages to all these things, and yet comes across as nothing. It is both highly entertaining and fearlessly opaque - if you have to believe one thing you've read in the reviews then trust me this is a film the Coen's have made for themselves.
The film begins with an reenactment of a Jewish superstition. This may seem disconnected to the rest of the film, however it sets up the theme of bad things happening to good people - we don't know who the good person is in the prologue, this will depend on whether you believe the husband or the wife, but we know that good deeds lead to misfortune. Flash forward to the 1960's, not the counter culture we explored in Taking Woodstock but to the buttoned down suburbia that populates the rest of America.
We meet Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) an academic who is waiting for the decision on his tenure. Like the biblical Job he is being faced with a catalogue of appalling disasters, his wife is asking for a divorce, his brother is sleeping on the sofa and getting in trouble with the law, he is being blackmailed by a student, threatened by a neighbour and a hate-letter campaign is being raged against him.
Faced with an extraordinary amount of bad luck he attempts to seek advice from the Rabbis. Each of these visits is a new chapter during which the advice he is given either assists or confuses him.
The performances are perfect, Stuhlbarg internalises much of his emotion which makes him a fascinting comic stooge and Fred Melamed steals every scene he's in as Larry's patronising love rival. The set-up may seem far fetched but the writing is so on the button that you go along with the Coen's punishment for Gopnik and each fresh obstacle for the character seems organic. Although the open-ended finish seems to indicate a running out of ideas rather than a perfect way to leave our characters.
Technically the film is top rate with Jess Gonchor's production design striking that fine balance between period and lived in.
Overall this is the best comedy I've seen in 2009, and one of the most fascinating projects within the Coen's back catalogue.
