2010. Dir: John Madden. Starring: Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Martin Csokas and Tom Wilkinson. ●●●○○
Who would have thought I would spend a weekend watching two incredibly diverse films but find that both of them have deep parallels to another film I saw earlier in the year. In the case of The Debt thematically it couldn't be further from it's predecessor but if I say one of the similarities is rising star Jessica Chastain then you'll know I'm subconsciously drawn to Tree of Life, but the similarities don't end with the casting because as with Malick's free-associated meanderings there is a great movie hidden within a silly one. Only in the case of John Madden's latest it's centre is much less great and the wrapping infinitely sillier.
The film see-saws between a modern day (or mid 90's at least) Israel and 1960's East Berlin, between a trio of retired Mossad agents (Mirren, Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds) reminiscing and basking in the glory their younger selves (Chastain, Csokas and Worthington respectively) earned kidnapping the notorious Surgeon of Buckenwald, a nazi war criminal who comes across as a amalgamation of Eichmann and Josef Mengele (as played by Gregory Peck).
The Berlin scenes are very well handled, throwing us back to muscular espionage thrillers of the past, with cut wires and stolen cars each part of the plan to smuggle Vogel (Jesper Christiansen) and his captors across the border seems so precise in it's planning that the failure of the original mission and the days the three spend, cramped together enduring the verbal onslaught of their captured socio-path, more observant and insidious than the agents could have imagined. Chastain proves her mettle as an actress here, utterly captivating as the naive but steely Rachel, watch her haunted expression outside her gynaecological visits to Vogel and you can see why her star has risen so quickly.
There are some interesting plot developments in this section, Csokas ebbing of humanity Worthington's survivors guilt and the love triangle that develops between them even identifying the conflicted soul of Vogel but alas these all lead to nothing much as the film seems anxious to return to the present. Even the second act twist, the debt of the title came as an anticlimax as we'd virtually heard the details in Mirren and Wilkinson's meaty encounters.
You see after the mission Chastain and Csokas marry and have a child who later writes a book about their exploits, keeping them in the public eye long after they should have slipped into footnote lore, so when the threat of the extent of the mission failure looks set to go public they must take action to hide the truth. Between unnecessary dialogue and Mirren prancing around like a female, sexagenarian Bourne the plot disappears into a mess of it's own making so by the time the credits role instead of the indelible image of Chastain holding back her tears you've got old people wrestling. It's undignified.
Madden is as pedestrian a director as always, able to hold a scene but adding nothing that isn't in Matthew Vaugh, Jane Goldman and Peter Straughn's script.
It's probably worth waiting to see this one on TV, and even then I'd probably change channels about 15 minutes before the end. Might be worth chasing down the Israeli original Ha-Hov though.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
The Debt
Elisabeth Shue
Happy Birthday to
Elisabeth Shue
48 today
Curiously prior to her career defining turn in Leaving Las Vegas Shue was mainly known for playing inconsequential girlfriends to Ralph Maccio, Michael J. Fox and Tom Cruise. Now of course I can't think of her without wondering why she's sitting so gingerly. It's just inferior genre fare on the horizon these days though.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Melancholia
2011. Dir: Lars von Trier. Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård and Stellan Skarsgård. ●●●●○
Man’s place within the Universe is a hot topic with auteurs this year, first Terence Malick persuades us that we are both insignificant yet fundamentally connected to the whole, that we are both a servant of and a centrepiece to the will of a creator. Now we have Lars von Trier rejecting the notion, instead reminding us of our helplessness against an impassive and intransigent galactic system. In Melancholia von Trier adds "The Universe is Evil" to his "Nature is Satan's Church" Antichrist quote to confirm his extreme nihilism and phobia of the natural world.
I'm being disingenuous though as the movie is not about the end of the world, as much as the plot is driven by the cataclysmic event, instead it's about how depression upends your world view such that ostensibly joyous events (like the Wedding reception that plays through the first half) can trigger deep periods of malaise whereas the forthcoming interplanetary apocalypse gives the depressive an opportunity to display vital stoicism. It's the cinematic evidence that a pessimist is never disappointed.
The film bravely opens with slow-motion dreamlike surrealist shots heavily underscored with Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde". Some of these images - such as Charlotte Gainsbourg sinking into the green of the 19th hole, clasping her son in her arms - will be repeated as the titular blue planet rushes to collide with Earth albeit in a less idealized way, others are pure fantasy, echoing the mental state of Kirsten Dunst's Justine, like the poster image of Dunst in her wedding dress helplessly drifting downstream in an image reminiscent of Millais's "Ophelia...", a romanticised portrait of suicide Justine will later open during an art appreciation based tantrum. A few of the shots slow the inexorable and inevitable collision, with the music finally being drowned out by the bass rumble of Earth being shattered.
We cut to Dunst and her recently betrothed, Alexander Skarsgård, in the back of an impossible stretch limo, giggling and obviously deeply in love as the driver fails to negotiate twisty drive leading to Keifer Sutherland's grotesquely opulent mansion and the Wedding reception held within. As the two lovers eventually give up and arrive on foot you rather wish they had just backed out and gone straight on Honeymoon. Instead they stumble into a vipers nest of guests, each nipping away at each other and at the bride, reducing her confidence and stability until she has no choice but to surrender to the negative impulses within.
Whether it's smary, Machiveliian boss Stellan Skarsgård, orchestrating a network of spies to close around Justine's every utterance, her drunken letch of a father (John Hurt), her bitterly divorced mother (Charlotte Rampling, struggling to cope with some dreadfully clunky dialogue) or even the loving sister Gainsbourg, who will forgive every negative impulse Justine has but not without griping at her for having them.
Skarsgård jr. does his best to keep Justine on side, by turns utilising patience, bribery and physical comedy, indeed it's hard to see why anyone could not fall in love with this gorgeous and sensitive suitor. But then it's not the depth of their feelings that are in question, instead it's the gnawing feeling of unworthiness that chews on Justine's mind, she makes decisions, acts of commission and omission that deliberately drive a wedge between the two of them. And later when he eventually gives up her simple comment "What did you expect" could be seen as both triumphant and reconciled.
The second half sees a shift in the story as we concentrate on hitherto sensible sister Claire (Gainsbourg), with only her pragmatic husband (Keifer) impressionable son and the virtually catatonic Justine she awaits the arrival of 'Melancholia', mourning the loss of her child's future and slowly fragmenting in panic. As the end gets closer we eventually see the roles of the two sisters completely reversed, I won't spoil the final shot (yes, the World ends but there's more to it than that) but it beautifully encapsulates their new found emotional states.
The scene composition throughout the movie is incredible, with von Trier proving he is at home with complex special effects as he is with a bare stage. Melancholia, with all it's physics and complexity, is stunningly visualised, as the family stay up to watch the planet rise over the horizon you too will marvel at it's passage and the twin shadows against the moon.
The script is a little too obvious at times, with a couple of scenes jumping out as downright clunky, especially the Wedding speeches (each character essentially states what they feel rather than revealing in in subtext) and there's a chat between Justine and Claire towards the end that seems terribly forced. But beyond that it's difficult to find criticism for this movie. Kiki is fantastic in the role of Justine, finally proving to the critics what a versatile and committed performer she is. The other element that stood out for me was the sound design and editing, which really draws the narrative. From the panicky whinnying of the horses to the whoosh of Melancholia in the sky and from full pelt Wagner to terrible silences you could close your eyes, remove the dialogue and still understand the tragedy of the central story.
Overall I would have to say this is one of the most fulfilling and baffling cinematic experiences of the year, and one I would recommend. But don't ever trust von Trier, he puts enough clues in the film to know when he's lying to us, as I have in this review.
Jesse Eisenberg
Happy Birthday to
Jesse Eisenberg
28 today
The New York native is heading into a vital strategic place in his career, in the past he's always been known as the nerdy geek but last years Social Network revealed a hitherto hidden depth and it'll be interesting to see what types of roles he gets offered/goes for in the next few years. I'm curious to see how Woody Allen alike he is in Woody Allen's Italian venture The Bop Decameron.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Tuesday Trailers - Straw Dogs
Rod Lurie's remake of the 1971 Sam Pekinpah classic has performed appallingly at the US box office but it's hard to work out quite why. I don't it's a distaste of the material nor the high regard of the original tainting the idea of re-making but more likely to bit it's unsure advertising campaign, including this trailer which doesn't really sell the home invasion scenario half as much as it should do.
Straw Dogs is released on 04 November 2011.
Susan Sarandon
Happy Birthday to
Susan Sarandon
65 today
Yes, the heroine Janet Weiss is well and truly hitting retirement age now, not that you'd know it from her upcoming slate of movies. Of the substantial range of projects I'm most looking forward to Robert Redford's underground activists in The Company You Keep.
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Lorraine Bracco
Happy Birthday to
Lorraine Bracco
57 today
In between Tony shrink in "The Sopranos" and Karen Hill in Goodfellas is it any wonder Lorraine is indelibly linked with the New York crime scene, that's a shame as people forget just what a talented actress she is, just look at the range she shows in the two roles I mentioned above for starters. She still mainly confined to TV these days.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Will it ask why? (Film News - 01/10/11)
So after weeks of summer draughts we now head into the autumnal abundance with so many news stories coming thick and fast this week I can barely contain them. I suppose it has always been this way, the gentle ebb and flow of production budgets means we get periods of backlog but rarely does it explode upwards in this way. Plus I've also found a couple of very interesting projects springing up on IMDb so it's all go today.
Foxcatcher
Giving the critical (and to a lesser degree) commercial success of Moneyball it's no surprise that picky film-maker Bennett Miller is using the attention to get his next project off the ground and it's looking likely to be this long gestating story about chemical heir and Paranoid schizophrenic John Du Pont who in 1996 murdered his friend and Olympic Wrestling Champion David Schultz in his Estate's wrestling facility.
The film will explore the background to the killing and the two stand off between Du Pont and the police in which he barricading himself into his vast Georgian home. 
DuPont cut a compelling but rather pathetic figure in this portrait from the trial.
Oddly Steve Carell is being tentatively attached to the project, marking his attention to move into more serious acting roles. It's an odd choice both for director and star, but with Miller currently riding high there's no way the Studios will pass on this intriguing true-life tragedy. I suppose the main question though is how the slow pacing Miller will tackle the subject, should we expect long lingering shots of Du Pont as he considers his options both before and after the murder and how will the screenplay address the nature of mental illness, certainly a subject that mainstream Hollywood seems reluctant to explore in an adult way.
Read on for operatics, tablets, teenage girls, surprises in the post, kidnapped Premiers, running hitmen, and old friend in a mask and a return to the fifth dimension. As well as the usual casting news and a rundown of the latest movies going into pre-production. I warned you it was a busy week.
Callas
Maria Callas' tumultuous career and tabloid friendly life off stage seems to be made for cinema and it seems odd that it's taken 30 something years since her untimely death in 1977 for Hollywood to get on the case. Born in 1923 to Greek immigrants in New York she developed a love for music and following her parents divorce found solace in Opera, becoming the world's most famous diva in the 1950's virtually owning La Scala. Later her professional rivalries with Renata Tebaldi, romantic entanglements with Aristotle Onassis and fluctuating weight would end her career, spending her last few years as a recluse. Mirroring Edith Piaf this seems like another bipoic that could propel a star into public conciousness like few others. Oscar here we come.
If you're not already familiar with her spectacular voice have a listen to this recording of Bizet's Habanera at Covent Garden in 1962.
Gods and Kings
Are the rumours of Darren Aronofsky's Noah and Mel Gibson's Maccabee project pushing us back into a new age of Biblical epics? You'd better believe they are as Warner Bros. this week released information about their planned remake of The Ten Commandments, filmed twice by Cecil B DeMille, the film which will focus purely on the words in the Old Testament will follow Moses as he persuades Pharoah to "Let my People Go!" Expect plenty of plagues, some wandering in the desert and Moses dying just before the promised land. Does that count as a spoiler?
Goldengrove
Based on the barest of rumours and the most unlikely set of logical steps the internet has been buzzing about Sofia Coppola's next directorial outing. The source appears to be 14 year old Aussie actress Olivia DeJonge who has told a little known Oz publication The West that's she was heading out to LA to read for Sofia. The Playlist then picked this up and clearly decided it was for the role of Nico in Francine Prose's teenage novel (pictured, left). Coppola has been linked to this before, however there's still a major gap there. One things for sure, if DeJonge is telling the truth then Sofia is in the early stages of making a new movie and whilst I had my issues with Somewhere I still celebrate her talent and look forward to her next project. Even if it is a meditative look at sexual awakening and sudden death as witnessed by a 13 year old girl.
Hate Mail
Chalk this one up as an intriguing prospect but until we know where the plot will go with the set up I'm not sure what to make of it. Effectively the New York set picture will chart the disintegration of previously sturdy looking relationships when one or both of the couple start to receive anonymous letters exposing the truth behind the personal dynamics. Sounds like a beginning rather than an end but I'll be fascinated to see where Half Nelson and It's a Kind of Funny Story collaborators Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck will go with the idea.
Hunter Killer
The submarine thriller hasn't been sunk by the evacuation of Director Philip Noyce as Antoine Fuqua has added it to his ever expanding list of possible projects. You'd better hope he gets on with it though as the December 2012 US release date has already been booked. All good news for my as yet unmade Submarine epic, I wait to see how this Russian President kidnap plot goes down.
Samurai
It could be a cliched ridden disaster but this week writers Gavin O'Connor and Michael J. Wilson sold their above title script to Warner Bros. for an undisclosed six figure sum. Described by The Playlist as "a Brutal lighting fast thriller with a prominent love story" the plot sounds like a hitman inflected Bourne with anti-hero Townes Joyce escaping from a Texan jail then going on the run with a Mexican single mother across three continents before facing up to the international manhunt. Sounds like one hundred other movies but maybe there might be something in the romantic element that makes it stand out. Keep crossing those fingers folks. The title, by the way, is almost certainly stolen from Melville's hugely influential existential hitman pic Le Samurai, right, but I sincerely hope they change it as it seems almost sacrilegious.
Scream 5
Talk of Wes Craven returning once again to the post modern horror franchise won't go away, which is very odd considering Scream 4 bombed at the box office taking in just $38m domestically, and whilst it's oversees gross and DVD income will probably ensure it more than makes back the budget it can hardly be considered a success. That said it's significantly better than the $15m from his last non Scream movie so maybe it's a case of hedging bets.
Twilight Zone
Tracking must be going well for Dark Shadows and The Man from UNCLE as Warner Bros. (again, busy week for them) have optioned another long defunct TV staple. Rod Serling's excellent sci-fi with a message serial originally ran from 1959-64 and gave us a oddball selection of misfits and convoluted plots as well as it's infamous opening narration with it's dimension not of sight and sound but of mind! Leonardo DiCaprio is producing which pretty much guarantees a big budget and a top quality director becoming attached soon. Watch this space for more.
Trippy, eh?
Casting News
It's a reunion of last years Academy Awards supporting actress nominees this week with both Melissa Leo and Jacki Weaver in talks, the former we be caught up in the wreckage of Robert Zemeckis' near-miss plane crash Flight whilst Weaver will be Bradley Cooper's mother in The Silver Lining's Playbook.
The only picture I could find of the two ladies together was at the QVC Oscar Red Carpet Style Party. Don't they look lovely.
Production News
There's been the usual mix of blockbuster and artier fare moving into pre-production phase on IMDb this month, most of which I've already mentioned here on the blog. Films like the all singing Les Miserables, surfing biopic Mavericks, Will and Jaden Smith going into space in One Thousand A.E. and Michel Gondry's French surrealist project The Foam of the Days. But like most months there are a couple which have appeared seemingly out of nowhere, staggering into the sunlight with delicious topics or dripping with talent, and these two films, which I wish I had covered earlier, are no exception.
La Vida Precoz y Breve de Sabina Rivas
Or roughly translated as "The Brief and Premature Life of Sabine Rivas" this is a Mexican love story exposing the realities of modern teenage life at the edges of society. Sabina is the heroine desperate for a music career in America, Jovany her paramour caught up with gang culture and drug cartels. This exceptionally low budget indie - IMDb are suggesting it's under $10k - has even completed filming before I'd read anything so I am a touch intrigued. Oh, and the reason I spotted it is because former Hollywood director Luis Mandoki (Message in a Bottle) has returned to the directors chair for the first time in 8 years.
Night Train to Lisbon
Perhaps a more obvious pull is this European adaptation of Pascal Mercier's Philosophical thriller about a language professor travelling to meet survivors from Salazar's dictatorship. The draw here is the diverse international cast who have already signed on including Jeremy Irons in the lead role, Vanessa Redgrave, Melanie Laurent and Bruno Ganz; a quartet who virtually guarantee the intellectual integrity of the screenplay.
The woman in the red dress appears on all the book covers so I suspect's she important to the plot, she might also be Melanie Laurent.
Julie Andrews
Happy Birthday to
Julie Andrews
76 today
We don't get to see much of Dame Julie, sure she occasionally lends her voices to the Shrek franchise, but rarely is there an opportunity to see her - even fans who went to her comeback concerts saw very little (and heard less, snark snark). So when I heard she has a small role in Garry Marshall's New Years Eve I confess it does make me want to see the film just a little bit more. Missed her in the trailer, mind. For the fans here's one of my favourite vocal performances from Julie, from Victor/Victoria, just close your eyes and think of that "Crazy World".
Friday, 30 September 2011
It ended when you said Goodbye (Out this week - 30/09/11)
It's the second week in a row with two films vying for my attention so much that I'll have to watch them both, although unlike last week there's a large gap between the first and second choice movie - one of which is earning "masterpiece" accolades from Europhile critics (sorry to the von Trier detracters but that's what I'm hearing). Indeed the top end releases have including some incredible pieces this month, and hopefully this sort of high quality will continue into October. Elsewhere fighting to capture the top of the box office charts from that Tinker film will be the usual ragtag of low grade horror and Twiglit escaping thrillers. Unsurprisingly film of the week is Melancholia.
Melancholia
If you would choose any auteur to film the end of the world you might just ask Danish trickster Lars von Trier, as famous for his twisted worldview and headline grabbing personality as his filmmaking, he is still capable of bravura directorial choices finding beauty in the most extreme subjects. Definitely one to watch.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●●○
The Debt
This remake of a critically and commercially successful Isreali film (Ha-Hov) has been delayed whilst the studio was sold under it, that said it's delicious cast, headed by Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain, certainly look like they're worth the wait.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Guilty of Romance
From Shion Sono, the director of 2008's Love Exposure comes another look at the searing passions and sensual depravity lurking under the veneer of Japanese society.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Red State
After an appalling run with the studio system it's good to see Kevin Smith return to his indie roots, even if his bizarre stunt at Sundance (read it here) was a case of biting off the hand that feeds it, with a a balanced indictment of fundamentalism on all sides of the religious debate and the seductiveness of false prophets. Melissa Leo and John Goodman are the names, Michael Parks is getting all the good ink.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Abduction
It's test time for wolf-pack alumni Taylor Lautner as he and his magnificent abs go up against a shadowy Government organisation which may have bred him as super-weapon. Like Hanna but without the style somehow Sigourney Weaver has been dragged into this mess.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Chargesheet
Silly looking Hindi crime drama with the murder of a Bollywood starlet pointing to several high profile suspects both within the industry and it's improbable mob connections.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Force
Part of the supposed new wave of Bollywood, combining traditional styles with explosive Americanized action we follow John Abraham as a cop only too willing to dish out his own form of front line justice.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Muran
It's a Tamil remake of Strangers on a Train, only they're in a car on the road to Chennai. And there will be more singing.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Red, White and Blue
American indie about confused patriotism, sexual powerplay and the wraught emotions in three seemingly disconnected Austinites. Sure to have your loyalties shifting through the running time.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Speedy Singhs
Canadian about an all Asian Ice Hockey team and the choices it's founder and star player must face up to regarding his religious beliefs and family loyalty. Vinay Virmani stars with Rob Lowe providing support.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Woman
As far as I can gather from the plot synopsis this is Nell where Jodie Foster turns out to be a homicidal maniac intent on destroying Liam Neeson's suburban idyll. Probably unwatchable.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Broken Lines
Some films stay on the shelf for a reason, and so it might be for this British family drama about grief and the "struggle between betraying another or oneself". Tedious trailer.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Shark Night 3D
The usual bunch of vacuous sexy teens find the lake they're partying at isn't quite as placid and gentle as they'd hoped, especially given there's a murderous bunch of locals who've stuffed the waters with hungry fishes.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
What's Your Number
The concept of this female centric rom-com should work, with the usually reliable Anna Faris going through her exes to find the one who was probably the real thing. Unfortunately a distinct lack of laughs in the trailer and the slight digs at feminism probably work against the pictures chances.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
