This week I'm all about joining the conversation. Everytime Terence Malick makes a movie it's front page news, the masterful arthouse agitator is able to present concepts that few understand let alone consider when going to the local multiplex. It's an odd week for films otherwise with the gap between Transformers and Harry Potter being curiously empty of big box office releases meaning anything could happen at the top of the chart. I confess I'm wary about the film, but I will go and film of the week must therefore be: The Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life
It's the most talked about movie of 2011, and a cinematic marvel that has enraged and astounded critics in equal measure. Eschewing conventional narrative Malick charts the history of the universe and our relationship to God through the experiences of one family in small town America. Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain are the twin forces of Nature and Grace (or Father and Mother) that battle for the control of their son Hunter McCracken, later Sean Penn.
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Holy Rollers
Pleasing looking comedy with Jesse Eisenberg as an Hasidic jew, bored with his early twenties closeted life, finding himself embroiled in a smuggling ring carrying pot over international borders.
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Super
The film that Kick-Ass could've been. With Rainn Wilson's fragile mental state tipping over the edge after his girlfriend leaves him and electing the way of the masked vigilante dishing out extreme violence. Ellen Page co-stars as his sidekick "Boltie".
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Film Socialisme
If you thought Terence Malick had the arthouse market cornered this week stand by for Jean-Luc Godard's symphony in three movements, where he explores his various passions with little linking structure to the snippets of conversations and moods he films. Godard (80) has threatened this will be his last movie so it could well be worth catching for that reason alone.
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Princess de Montpensier
The film I really want to see next week looks like it may be the hardest to find, with a distinctly limited independent release pattern. Based on the true story of an affair that nearly ripped apart the French court, the film won dedicated admirers at Toronto last year.
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Sawako Decides
Japanese comic drama about female empowerment, certainly the most leftfield film to come from Japan this year it opens with a intimate scene of colonic irrigation.
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Trust
Former "Friend" David Schwimmer continues to confound all expectations with his directorial career, shifting from Simon Pegg comedy Run Fatboy Run to this paedophilia drama, exhibiting the worst case scenario from teenagers dating on the net. Clive Owen and Catherine Keener (as the parents) headline the cast that also includes Liana Liberato as the vulnerable daughter and Viola Davis.
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Devil's Rock
New Zealander horror movie, set on the channel islands during the second world war with two Kiwi commandos uncovering a secret Nazi occult plot. Sounds like a well-worn cliche of a plot, but there must be an audience for this sort of thing.
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Murder 2
Bollywood sequel to the 2004 film "Murder", which at least makes sense of the title.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○p
Venghai
Tamil action thriller that translates to Leopard and involves Dhanush rising up against his aggressors like the invoked big cat.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○p
Huge
Film about stand-up, starring a whole host of stars of the British comedy circuit, that somehow fails to be either funny or insightful about the cutthroat business. Probably best avoided.
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There's something odd going on in the world of Bollywood releases, with a large number of smaller films getting a limited release at a couple of cinema over the next week or so. I've seperated them from the wide releases and included only the most basic plot descriptions (sorry about that), hopefully if you're interested you'll still want to find out more.
Rang Rasiya
Biopic of 19th century Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma. In Hindi, originally released in 2008.
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Veettilekkulla Vazhi
Malayalam movie about a doctor reuniting the 5 year old child of a terrorist who dies in his care with their father.
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Friday, 8 July 2011
Illuminating the Almighty (Out this week - 08/07/11)
Thursday, 13 January 2011
It's a Kind of Funny Story
2010. Dir: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Starring: Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifiankis, Emma Roberts, Lauren Graham and Viola Davis. 4/5 
Auteur theory posits that the director is the primary author of a film and therefore the style reflects his or her personal creative vision. Following the theory to it's natural conclusions you can identify the director from the choices within the film and any film they make should be reviewed as part of an ongoing series of productions. I'm not sure whether Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck hold to the auteur theory, or even if they're output is consistent with it (you can check my review on Sugar using the labels below) however they're certainly willing to push the boundaries of the theory with their third feature It's a Kind of Funny Story.
Half Nelson tackled drug culture in public schools, Sugar was a baseball biopic in Spanish, so it's surprisingly been followed up with an adpatation of a young adult novel by Ned Vizzini about teenage mental health issues with shades of whimsy.
Keir Gilchrist stars as Craig, a confused high schooler with suicidal fantasies, who, having kicked his meds prematurely, opts to check into a mental health institution in order to get back on them. Unfortunately he then finds himself housed in the adult ward and he's committed (sorry) for a minumum of five day. During his stay he connects with the other patients including Zach Galifiankis's Bobby and self-harmer Noelle played by Emma Roberts.
Like Boden and Fleck's previous collaborations the dialogue feels real and observed rather than scripted, even the stylised ramblings of the patients and the gentle realism of Viola Davis's therapist has a geniuine feel to it. The growth of the relationship between Craig and Noelle particulary plays well with both of them feeling the limits of their capacity to be hurt in both playful and angered exchanges.
On a number of occasions this realism is memorably interrupted with flights of fantasy, including a hilarious opening dream scene and the music therapy sessions which segues into a glam rock concert version of Under Pressure with Gilchrist as Mercury and Galifiankis as Bowie. That scene alone is worth the ticket price alone.
Gilchrist himself isn't a very memorable lead, but that works well in context to his feelings of alienation and low self worth and with that in mind it's small wonder that Galifiankis (who doesn't do much we haven't seen before but he does it very well) and Roberts stand out with their respectively manic and understated presences.
It's difficult to review this film without questioning it's (and our own) attitudes to mental health issues. On the one hand Craig's short spell within the institution is not just long enough for him to reassess his life and reorganise his priorites - actually that makes sense - but he's also gifted with the ability to partially heal an agoraphobic roommate. On the other hand another patient, who confesses to Craig his seven suicide attempts, simply disappears from the film with all of his storylines unresolved; a painful reminder to Craig and to us that depression often does not just go away and that we can never really set about understanding what's in anyone else's thought process.
Overall I would say this film works, it doesn't pander to the preconceptions of it's primary audience and nor does it completely shy away from it's responsibilities. Sure it's no Cuckoo's Nest, but then it almost certainly didn't want to be, the institution isn't the villian here there is no villian. It's strength lies in the small things, and once again it's a reason to rejoice for Boden and Fleck. I can't wait to see what they work on next.
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Cops and Robbers (Out this week - 24/09/10)
I don't think this weeks top film will surprise anyone, it comes with a high degree of pedigree, a top notch cast and a solidly entertaining trailer. That said there are plenty of other films out there this week that might be worth a look, from the return of Dante to black comedy from Bobcat Goldthwaite so feel free to investigate. Film of the week is Ben Affleck's The Town.
Anjanna Anjaani
The usual plotless Bollywood movie that self describes as a comedy musical romance. Appears to involves a lot of bars from reading the cast list - including a gay bar and a stripper club.
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Confucius
The life story of the world's most famous philosopher lumbers into theatres having cleared up in it's native China. As much as I admire the great man himself, as well as leading actor Yun-Fat Chow, I can't see this filling up the local mulitplex.
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Eat Pray Love
I think I'm overscoring Julia Robert's latest vehicle, the big screen adapatation of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir/self-help guide but let's be honest however simperingly naff this looks there is an inbuilt audience and the travelogue aspect looks pretty. Look out for Viola Davis, Richard Jenkins and Javier Bardem in supporting roles.
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Enter the Void
I want to be more interested in Gaspar Noe's latest avant garde release, following the soul of a murdered teen as he watches over his sister, but I think the artiness of the concept might make it a marmite movie.
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Frozen
High-concept thriller (I know, the jokes keep coming don't they) with three faceless twenty somethings marooned on a ski-lift for no real reason other than it makes a nice set up. Watch as they slowly succumb to frostbite and insanity.
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The Hole
Joe Dante, the viosionary director behind Gremlins, has returned with this family horror about a bottomless pit (filmed in 3D so it might feel bottomless) underneath the basement of a couple of teenagers. Weird and PG rated scary stuff comes out. Bruce Dern hams it up in the supporting cast.
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Peepli Live
It's that vry rare thing - a Bollywood movie that's been screened to the critics. It's story of poor farmers who threaten to commit suicide in defiance of court orders to give up their land and then become the centre of a media storm seems fascinating too. Probably worth seeing.
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The Town
It might be pure genre, but Ben Affleck's bank robber follow up to the assured and measured Gone Baby Gone is impressing critics and audiences alike with it's grounded characterisations and edge of the seat action.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●○○
True Legend
If you fancy some more action to go with your Chinese history lesson than Confucius is providing than this Qing dynasty revenge drama may just be for you. Man Cheuk Chiu and Michelle Yeoh are among the high kicking cast.
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Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest
Delayed part documentary, part reenactment of George Mallory's illfated expedition up the worlds most famous mountain. Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson are among the voices.
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World's Greatest Dad
Robin Williams is the failed writer - who fakes a suicidal journal for his son after he's killed in a autoasphyixiation erotic act that goes wrong - and then finds himslef in the centre of an outpouring of unwarranted grief. Possibly the dictionary definition of black comedy.
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Given that I've hardly been around the last couple of weeks it's unsurprising that I've missed the odd release but before I go into those I will just point out that last weeks Devil managed a final score of 3 on the excitometer, none of the other provisional scores have changed and there was no effect of Winter's Bone as the top film.
From 17 September 2010
I'm Still Here
I think I can be forgiven for missing this infamous faux-documentary which was only outed as a performance piece in the last couple of weeks. Joaquin Pheonix has spent the last 18 month pretending to go off the rails and trying it out as a rapper. We'll see what this actually does to his career, though, before judging it's success.
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10 September 2010
Dabangg
Corruption in the Utter Pradesh police forces is the focus for this Bollywood thriller.
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Swansong
Subtitled the Story of Occi Byrne I haven't been able to find much out about this Irish drama, other than it's Irish, it had a limited release in Ireland where there were enough fans to give it an average rating of 8 on imdb. Go Occi Byrne, I say.
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Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Knight and Day
2010. Dir: James Mangold. Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Jordi Mollà and Viola Davis. ●●○○○
Oh, Tom. I wanted this to be good - I really wanted to enjoy this throwback to cheesy thrillers of the 60s. I as hoping to be able to jump on the couch with unbridled joy at your fun loving performance. Instead I can't help thinking what a wasted opportunity it was and how Knight and Day tried far too hard and ended up being loved by no-one.
The plot, such as it is, involves hapless classic car restorer Cameron Diaz (I know) getting caught up in rogue CIA operative Tom Cruise's plan to evade the spook community and transplant a convenient MacGuffin to nerdy scientist Paul Dano. (On a side issue does anyone remember when scientists stopped being older guys that are easily distracted and became younger guys who are perpetually nervy?) We then follow our mismatched duo from plane set piece to train set piece from New York to the Azores to the Alps. As I sit and type this I can't even remember all the locations or why...
Therein lies the problem. Hitchcock used to be able to take a flimsy excuse to set an Cary Grant sized everyman on a trip across the globe and it would all be so much fun that the reasons didn't matter. Did anyone really care why Cary was heading North by Northwest? Of course not, we just fell in love with the character and wanted to follow him all the way.
Neither of our leads here can even come close to matching Cary Grant (a tall order, I admit). Cameron comes off better, her natural comic timing aiding vastly with the continuous barrage of silly action scenes. Indeed her expressions when leaning over the back set and trying to drive a car or facing off against a hit man are the only moments of the film that made me stifle a giggle. Cruise comes off a lot worse, the fact that the character always appears to be in control is not endearing at all (and don't get me started on his habit of drugging Diaz) and whilst his overplaying of the off-the-wall elements come close to banishing the sofa-leaping Cruise from our sub-conscious the tongue in cheek feel of the part seems too calculated for that to really work.
If the leads are underwritten then the supporting characters really have problems with the two main baddies being particularly nonthreatening - at no point do you imagine anything other than a happy ending for out lead pair. Not that either of them really try. Spoiler alert Peter Sarsgaard barely can be bothered to phone his performance in - it's closer to having been e-mailed.
Apart from the initial battle on the plane none of the action sequences are even remotely heavy enough to work and it marks a major step back from James Mangold's last picture 3.10 to Yuma. The final five minutes of the film, set in Poploma during the bull run, are preposterous in terms of the carnage shown and offensively illogical when it comes to dispatching of Sarsgaard. All this without any ironic quips which would at least confirm the whole things meant to be a comedy.
It's not the worst film of the year, nor is it the most irritating, but it is a major mistake in just about everyone's CVs and will deservedly be found in supermarket bargain bins before long.
Saturday, 9 January 2010
20 for 2010 - Knight and Day
It's true, I've been holding back on writing up number 9 on the countdown all evening, but here is it Knight & Day.
I am, after all, expecting some stick for this one. The title is awful, the trailer looks confused and neither Tom nor Cameron are the draws they used to be... But dammit this could be so much fun. The sort of fun we've forgotten about when we go to the movies.
Over the last few years fun has disappeared from the action movie template. We have darker than black Batman films, depressed teen vampires, moody Bonds and parables about the decline of our natural world. Even the last Die Hard movie was po-faced.
The trailer for this does show that Cruise is having a good time, being a bit bonkers, almost playing to the character type we've defined him in his personal life. I think this will be utterly barmy, leave your brain at the door action.
Director James Mangold has shown us he can manage effective action scenes in the past (Cop Land, 3:10 to Yuma) so we know that that side will be competent. Lets just relax about the way this film is being marketed and get ready for 2 hours of rollercoaster fun.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Viola Davis
Happy Birthday to
Viola Davis
44 today
So far it's been a good year for Viola, oscar nommed for Doubt and then invited into the Academy later in the year with a solid supporting role in State of Play sandwiched in between. You'd have thought that casting directors would be bashing at her door wanting to get her signed up for excited and varied new projects... No, it's just more of the same character parts. Wake up Hollywood, don't let Viola waste her talent.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
State of Play
2009. Dir: Kavin MacDonald. Starring: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams and Robin Wright Penn. ●●●●○
I've been running late on reviews over the last couple of weeks, so I'll be publishing ont today, tomorrow and Thursday in order to catch up. This means there won't be a trailer today, but there's naff all out in June so I really don't care.
Coincidently I was also running a tiny bit late when I went to see State of Play and therefore missed some of the early plot. But it's OK, as I missed the plot bits about a druggy and pizza-delivery guy getting shot randomly and this was subsequently referred to a lot over the rest of the film so I don't think I actually missed anything of substance. The other story, the film starts with, is the death of a Congressional aide under mysterious circumstances. The aide works for Ben Afflecks left leaning politico who's chairing an investigation into Military subcontracts. By coincidence his high school roomie, Russell Crowe, is a top reporter for the Washington Globe and before you can say "conflict of interest" or "journalistic integrity" Russell is investigating the link between the deaths.
The film follows Crowe and Globe Blogger Rachel McAdams as they follow each twist and turn of the murder(s?) discovering a massive conspiracy which includes the ambitious and murky subcontractors, party power brokers (Jeff Daniels) and low-life PR men (Jason Bateman).
I won't give away the ending, suffice to say the screenplay leads you and Crowe in a number of false leads and suppositions until he - completely out of nowhere - remembers a small detail and solves everything. If you've seen the BBC miniseries of the same name you will know which of the supporting characters is hiding the truth, but if you haven't, like me, then the twists will be sufficiently hidden to be able to enjoy the journey.
Part of the fun in this film is comparing it to it's predecessors, the political thrillers and journalism heroics of the 70's. See All the President's Men or The Candidate. Especially in the way it treats the Newspaper setting. Foul mouthed Jason Robards may have been replaced by foul mouther Helen Mirren but the look and feel of the editors office hasn't changed at all. Although there are many hints as to the way print journalism is going - increased focus on the web side, focusing on the shareholders - it's a clear indictment of the current trends.
All of the supporting cast do a fine job, but the film squarely rests on the shoulders of Russell Crowe. He seems to be aware of this and gives his most lived in performance in 5 years, thoroughly believeable as a shlubby journo and as a man torn between the loyalty to his friends and to his job.
The techinical elements are all good, with special kudos to Cheryl Carasik's set decoration.
I do have some minor quibbles; the whole conspiracy seems a little forced, it's almost as if the plot needs a little more time to breathe. The affair between Crowe and Robin Wright Penn as Affleck's wife is retained from the original series but used as background to the relationship, I think it would have benefitted from being excised completely. Finally Michael Barresse's turn as the hitman is too bland, and perhaps the way his character operates is too opaque - almost to the point that you have no idea why he isn't caught sooner.
Overall though this is an excellent piece, proving MacDonald as a director and reaffirming Crowe's reputation as an excellent character actor.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Doubt
2008. Dir: John Patrick Shanley. Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis and Joseph Foster. ●●●○○
In the end this weekend I chose to see the peadophile priest film, mainly because it was on at the best time to fit with my rehearsal schedule. I was looking forward to it, mind. The combination of highly buzzed performances from the main cast and an adaptation of a Tony award winning Broadway hit.
In case you aren't aware of the basic plot it revolves around a titanic battle between the headmistress of a Roman Catholic bronx school (Sister Aloysius, played by Meryl Streep) and Father Flynn (Hoffman) a modernising Priest, ostensibly over an alleged incident of molestation against a black pupil, although there are many reasons why the pair don't really interact. Adams plays a novice caught between the titans and Viola Davis plays the boys mother, who just wants him to survive in the school until the end of the academic year.
It is important that the incident is only alleged, as one of the key selling ponts of the one-act play was that the audience went home questioning and doubting the guilt or innocence of Father Flynn. As I walked out of the cinema I did have my doubts, my I suspect that I was more one way than the other. This is largely due to the opening out of the film to include the boy (Foster) as well as a supporting cast of rebellious school children and frail nuns.
It's not uncommon for a film adaptation of a play to introduce new characters, and I can certainly see why it was done. Unlike, say Closer or Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe, Doubt is defined by the relationships between the characters you see and the characters you don't in the play. This can work on the stage but in film the limitations are different. As a result there are a number of quick moments between Donald and Flynn where you spend the time thinking "Is Father Flynn buggering the boys?" It simply cannot be helped.
The last ten minutes between Streep and Hoffman/Adams also seem to push you in one direction.
There were also some elements of the screenplay that felt heavy handed in the adaptation. Storms, lightbulbs blowing, etc. So God is unhappy, we get it, no need to overdo the imagery.
The performances from Streep, Hoffman and Davis are uniformly excellent. I was less enamoured with Adams, her cloying naiveity seemingly a odds with her position. As a consequence I found the last scene where Sister Aloysius opens out to Sister James at odds with the way the characters had been playing around each other up to that point.
Hoffman's monologue like sermons were also very effective, as anyone who has regularly attended Church will tell you the way a Priest addresses the congregation varies significantly. Hoffman was confident and firm, maybe even stand offish, which certainly informed the rest of his performance. I disliked the imagined story in the second sermon - I felt we could have done better by just watching the protagonists as they respond to his words.
Aside from the perfomances there is very little to recommend the film. The cinematography was generally dull, and the decision to do some shots angling the camera was frankly jarring and took me away from the action. There was little to work with on sets and costumes (for nuns and schools, everything tends to look the same) but there was an oddly antiseptic feel, like none of the characters were in rooms they frequented often.
Overall I would love to encourage you to see the film, if only for the performances, but to be honest when I left I was thinking I wish I had seen the play. I hope you see the play too.
