2012. Dir: Scott Hicks. Starring: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner, Riley Thomas Stewart and Jay R. Ferguson. ●●●○○
I imagine that most people who chose to see The Lucky One know exactly what they're getting into. The sun setting behind the lovers, the ripped rugged guy with airbrushed muscles, the delicate woman and most importantly the previous adaptations of the authors work in the top of the poster. Nicolas Sparks doesn't get a mention on the poster, but his stamp is all over it, in fact the phenomenal success of his previous movies that do get a plug (both Dear John and The Notebook took $80m in the States) guarantees the audience instantly recognise the genre and story beats set ahead of us.
For those of you who can't guess the plot Zac Efron is Iraq war veteran Logan who picked up a photo whilst on his first tour that saved his life. Without knowing the girl on it he carries it around like a good luck charm, and somehow it works, whilst many of his brothers-in-arms make the ultimate sacrifice. Following his return to civvy street he resolves to find her and before you know he's working part-time in Taylor Schilling's doggie hotel. Too shy to tell her the truth but far too hunky to rule out the inevitable romantic entanglements he soon becomes part of her extended family, losing at chess with her son Riley Thomas Stewart and learning sage advice from her earthy Grandmother Blythe Danner.
There is danger lurking though, Schilling's dangerously obsessive ex-husband Jay R. Ferguson, the town sheriff no less, is constantly threatening a custody case to prevent Schilling from getting on with her life. Also we're in a Nicolas Sparks film so you just know that some cast members won't make it to the final credits - and no I'm not spoiling it.
Now I absolutely hated Dear John so I did go into this Sparks follow-up with a sense of deep trepidation, but I was pleasantly surprised with the script this time round. Will Fetters, who's only other screenwriting credit is for Remember Me, keeps the cloying romanticism at bay. At the start Schilling is flinty and patronising whilst Efron is emotionally closed off and slightly creepy, the relationship that develops is built on shared experiences and sexual desire and not just some wishy washy concept of true love.
That's not to say it isn't still relentlessly bleak, the stench of death pervades every frame from the charged early battle scenes to the final reel shock loss (still no spoilers) even the multiple bereavements Schilling has suffered - both her parents and US Marine brother (now there's a clue) have passed away before we even meet her. There are moments when this works, the film hints at Efron's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in his relationship with his nephews and his long walk across America, and Schilling's breakdown in the garden (whilst appallingly filmed) is effective in showing her inability to deal with the grief. Potentially this could be hinting at the State's inability to deal with the emotional trauma of war, almost a teen friendly The Messenger, but the momentum is lost around half way through when the plot takes over from the characterisations.
Efron proves himself once again as a competent and rising actor, always magnetic yet never showy and whilst he doesn't have enough to do here my appetite has certainly been whetted for The Paperboy. I was also impressed by Stewart who stays just the right side of precocity and Danner's sardonic asides make her the MVP.
Less successful is Ferguson's Sheriff who's rollercoaster attachment to his ex is inconsistent serves only to create false tension - there's an utterly laughable scene with a gun. I think the film, the third act histrionics, the macguffin of the unmentioned photo would have had a much bigger impact if he was just a normal guy, suspicious of this stranger rather than an obvious villain.
Scott Hicks is the last director anyone would claim is an auteur yet the signatures of backlit by the sun heroes and lush vegetation that appear in The Boys are Back and Hearts in Atlantis have returned. And at least this is a much better film than those previous efforts.
In conclusion I wouldn't bother going to a cinema to see The Lucky One but I wouldn't turn the telly over either. Nice enough and the target audience, the Sparks fans, should go in droves.
Thursday, 10 May 2012
The Lucky One
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Film News (06/02/10)
You may or may not have heard but the biggest story of the week is the Oscar nominations. I don't want to retread my post on Wednesday, but I was thinking about the new voters, the latest inductees to the Academy and how they voted. What do you suppose Brendan Gleeson, Eddie Marsan, Jeffrey Wright, James Franco, Emily Blunt, Emile Hirsch, James McAvoy, Jane Lynch, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd, Hugh Jackman or Seth Rogen had at the top of their voting form? Humourous answers on a postcard to...
Away from that there's hasn't been much in the news, only a couple of small stories to get your teeth into, as well as some potentially interesting international production news.
Zachary Quinto, stardom and the George Gershwin Biopic
First up is the frankly bizarre news from Zachary Quinto that he may be ready to move on from the reinvigorated Star Trek franchise. I'll confess I haven't seen the latest installment, but from what I hear whilst Quinto was best of the best parts in it what Star Trek mostly proved was that this was a character based franchise and not actor based - losing William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelly didn't destroy the ratings, so there won't be much worry about the Heroes star moving on. However, I doubt it's a good idea for him. Does this look like he can't commit to long term projects? Or will it mean he retains more integrity than his Enterprise co-stars?
The project he appears to be moving on to is a Steven Spielberg helmed biopic of George Gershwin. Gershwin was a composer and musician, from Russian emigre heritage, who made a name for himself in the early Hollywood musicals of the 1930's and by sucessfully blending classical and jazz influences and appealing to both markets. His most famous works include "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess. Both of which has a prominant place in public conciousness. He also died tragically of a brain tumour, aged just 38. It's a baity role with a known director wso perhaps it's the right choice.
This is a famed caricature of George (right) with brother Ira Gershwin. Do you think Quinto could manage that look? And who would you cast as Ira?
Go past the link for the worst news you will read all week, and a pleasant surprise from Sweden.
The Lucky One
The cinematic rush to adapt the works of Nicholas Sparks continues unabated with the revelations that The Lucky One will be the next book to see the inside of cinemas. That in itself is not too bad, Sparks may be unashamedly romantic with The Notebook and A Walk to Remember being classic three hanky films and Dear John, which opened in the US yesterday appears to be getting solid reviews. The bad news is they've managed to find the worst possible person to direct it. Step forward Scott Hicks (The Boys are Back) who will no doubt attempt to wring every ouce of dramatic tension out of this story about a soldier who cheats death thanks to a photo of a beautiful girl he's never met.
Production News
And finally (I told you it was a quiet news week) I thought I'd start a new section on production news, which essentially will be tying up the fantastic rumours that we've covered with imdb's Production status. If a film moves into pre-production then I'll let you know. It's my way of keeping track of hat's coming - "Pre-production" being a much closer step to relaity that "annouced". Of course the film may never materialise. Until we see it opening weekend then there is no guarantee that the film will ever be released, but I like to think that this is a good sign.
Now most of the films which have entered the pre-production phase are pretty obvious big budget behemoths:
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: last got a mention in Runs-like-a-Gay back in August. Avctually they'd better get a move on with this, as it's due to come out in May 2011 and I can't imagine it'll be a simple post-production process...
The Next Batman sequel is also rumbling on, but with no villian casting news I guess it's still a long way away. This was last discussed in July.
As was Yellow Submarine, the Robert Zemeckis motion capture remake of The Beatles' oddball animation.
Bond 23, Hanna, The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Your Cheating Heart have all been in the news during January. (The last is the Ron Howard/Vince Vaughn collaboration.)
On the other hand I found out about Swedish picture Domen över död man purely by accident. I know nothing about it whatsoever - not even a plot description (although Domen means judgement and Dod means dead so taht may be an indication), however it's being directed by Jan Troell, the man behind Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moments (pictured below) and as that was one of my favourite films from 2009 I'm fairly confident in his next project.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
The Boys are Back
2009. Dir: Scott Hicks. Starring: Clive Owen, Laura Fraser, Emma Booth, George MacKay and Emma Lung. ●●○○○
Watching two films back to back is always a dangerous option. Inevitably one will be better than the other, and the lesser film will therefore seem even more inferior than it actually is. The Boys are Back suffered this weekend in comparison with the far superior Brothers (reviewed yesterday).
This is partly due to some minor similarities in the subject matter of the piece. Both films address the grieving process and how families must build themselves up again following bereavement, however where the pain in Brothers seems both futile and real in The Boys are Back it is hollow and manipulative.
The film is a reworking of Simon Carr's memoir about how he rebuilt his life after the passing of his second wife, and how the family coped using a just say yes strategy to parenting. No doubt the original biograph details the effects of his wife's untimely battle with cancer and introduces us to the dilemmas of single parent families in a slow and measured way. I would like to read it, especially as the adapatation has butchered all the build up. No sooner than Clive Owen's wife picks a little black number to wear to a party she's doubling up with a look of intense concentration. Five minutes and several hospital and home care scenes later we're at the burial and Owen is beginning to cloud his relationship with his mother in law about how to bring up his son.
We are then subjected to a number of cloying scenes with no narrative flow. There's a road trip, some days at school, Owen's son from his first marriage visiting and some frantic juggling of work and family pressures. But you never get a sense that anything happens between these scenes. Sure there must be a point when Owen adopts his just say yes attitude, but we never see it, nor do we explore the reasoning behind it. There's a tentative romance which we only realise it's going to be a tentative romance because the boys respond and later the elder boy (played by George MacKay) makes a life changing decision withou letting the audience in on how he made it.
Does the always say yes system work? We don't know - sure we know that it irritates other mothers, and that the kids respond by trashing the house - but we don't know whether they respect his authority as a parent, or whether they need any structure. We don't know if their hog heaven turns into a literal hog hell, or whether how the dynamic changes over time. We don't even know if there is any attempt to resolve the younger boys periods of depression following his mother's death (he lies down and does nothing for half an hour every day according to Owen, but there's never a hint of counselling or even anything more than a mild curiousity).
It's not a completely dreadful film. Owen does a reasonable job; luckily they kept his character Brtish so he didn't have to fail putting on an Aussie accent. Laura Fraser is also fine as his wife in the early scenes as well as appaering in Owen imagination - God, I know that's a terrible cliche but at least she's not too bad at these points. MacKay also shows some promise.
Grieg Fraser's photography is also quite nice, capturing the beautiful Australia landscape and the closeness of the garden. He especially likes playing with light and water. But this is dull work when compared to his extraordinary efforts in Bright Star.
These pluses combine with the knowledge that at least it's better than Scott Hicks' last 2 films (No Reservations and the truly awful Stephen King adaptation Hearts in Atlantis) to give the film 2 blobs out of five. Saying that if I see a worse film this year I will be very disappointted with myself.
