The Good Shepherd

This is an interesting film to see Matt Damon starring in. He plays one of the founding agents of the CIA (although we're told it should be CIA not the CIA because God doesn't have The in front of Him). Matt's character is extremely emotionless, almost melancholic, he trusts no one and moves through a range of espionage experiences in an extremely insenstive bureaucratic way. Some of this is to be explained by his discovery of his father's suicide (although he decides to withold the letter to his mother & himself, not reading it for three decades). The only time when he seems to show concern for the 'elimination' of anyone is when he gives up his former college poetry tutor, who has committed the offence of indescretion. The whole of this agent's world is riddled with double lives, double agents, the blurring of reality, conspiracies and nothing is quite as it seems. Matt is immune from the horrors around him, and deals with every event in his life - both public and personal - in the same way - coldly, and almost heartlessly. He has his own agenda, and he is incapable of diverting from this pre-determined route.
Robert de Niro (as director) maintains the pace, tension, and in many ways the horror of this life - although on-screen violence is limited, this in many ways makes the awfulness of the world of spies worse.
My rating: 7/10

Letters from Iwo Jima

In many ways the picture on this blog is not an appropriate representation of what this film is about. Unlike its' companion piece by Clint Eastwood (the far less good Flags of Our Fathers) this cannot be described as a traditional war/action film. It is shot almost entirely in a kind of drained monochrome that so suits the tone of the movie. It reminded me of the Australian movie about World War One - Gallipolli for its' sense of tragedy. This is a film about emotions, human relationships, friendship, loyalty and camaraderie - especially moving when it is clear early on that these men know that the chances of surviving the battle are close to nil. Iwo Jima is a vast rocky tomb. It is significant that there are so few women characters, and although they seem incidental it is the women and children that these men are fighting for - abandoned as it seems on this lump of rock on the fringe of the Japanese homeland. Although the commanders speak constantly about fighting and dying for the Emperor and the country these men are surviving and supporting each other - well the ones that are central to this film. Unlike Flags of Our Fathers it is the characters that we care about - we want them to survive, and are upset when most don't, and their deaths are pretty messy, too.
The main characters are a General - a regular soldier who has visited (and probably admires) America - he is undermined by the fanatical subordinate senior officers, many of whom end up with opting for suicide along with their soldiers rather than fighting strategically; then there is a junior officer who won a medal for equestrianism in the Los Angeles Olympics; a conscripted baker whose main aim is to survive to see his daughter (he went into the army whilst she was still in the womb); and a soldier who was discharged from an elite military academy for failing to shoot a dog.
Despite the fact that this film is almost entirely in Japanese it is gripping and evokes so much compassion, easily avoiding the usual stereotypes about national characteristics. This is not a mirror of Flags of Our Fathers - it is so much better, moving, and draws you in to connect you with the lives of these men who wrote the letters discovered sixty years later in one of the caves where these men spent their last days.
Rating: 9/10

The Science of Sleep

What a truly weird tr-lingual film this is! It stars Mexican Gael Garcia Bernal (previously seen in a number of films including Bad Education) - and what a star he is. He talks in French, Spanish (his native tongue) and English.

It is hard to describe exactly what this film is about. It drifts between consciousness and sleep, reality and unconsciousness. It is totally surreal, almost magical in places. Stephane returns from Mexico where his father has recently died to live at his mother's flat in France. He gets a job in a firm designing calendars - thinking it is place where he can insert his artwork (mainly depicting mass destruction). He has a pretty vivid parallel life in dream, and tries desperately to win the attention and love of his neighbour Stephanie.

This is a rambling and slightly confused film, hilarious in places, bemusing in others. Worthwhile though. Rating: 7/10

Thieves Like Us

I saw this as part of a Robert Altman retrospective. If it hadn't been a 'free members offer' at my favourite cinema I probably wouldn't have seen this film. However, it was interesting. Starring Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall and John Schuck it is the story of three prison escapees who go on a spree robbing banks throughout 1930s depression Mississippi. They are a fairly disparate bunch. All, though aiming to make enough to escape into a fantasy life of luxury. One has been reprieved from execution at the age of 16, the other two older men have led a life of petty or semi major criminality. Initially no one gets hurt during their robberies, but as the numbers of banks turned over rise one of the three starts to use the guns they had previously brought along for show. Oddly the violence is underplayed and deaths are rarely shown. Even in the final thunderous 'execution' of one of the thieves, with dozens of officers shooting into a shack the thief is inside and comes out wrapped in a quilt. This is one of the flaws of the film - these three are bad people, causing hurt to many, but we don't see it. The other problems are that we never really get into the heads of the characters. This is just a story, and I began to ask what is this trying to say? And in the end I wasn't horrified by the death of the main character. My rating: 7/10

Blood Diamond

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly. Perhaps this is Leonardo's first 'grown up' film. I did see him in The Beach, but refused to watch Titanic - either at the cinema or on one of its' regular outings on TV.

In many ways this is an old fashioned war movie. Leonardo is Archer a Rhodesian (not Zimbabwean as he insists)born ex-mercenary who is making a living working wherever he can. He ends up in war torn Sierra Leone, where he meets journalist Connelly - a war correspondent in search of a story about diamonds as a currency for financing the crop of civil wars that break out in Africa. Sierra Leone is awash with diamonds but exports none (officially), Liberia has no home grown diamonds but has an export trade worth billions.

Hounsou is a fisherman dragged into the conflict, taken into slavery in the diamond mines, his son stolen as a child soldier for the rebels, his wife and daughter become refugees in Guinea (interestingly currently another likely candidate for civil war).

We see the horrors of war as a backdrop to Archer's search for the enormous diamond secreted away by Solomon (Hounsou), and Solomon's desperate attempts to re-unite his family.

There is plenty of action - car chases, explosions, gunfire, mayhem and murder.

However, I don't really think this film truly knows what its about - is it action movie, war film, romance, or poltical diatribe?

And yet again I have this problem about yet another film taking a white view of Africa. Hounsou's role (which should really be the heroic one) is reduced to a highly sentimental (dare I say it American?) perspective of life. So when Solomon is re-united with his son (the boy slodier) and he turns his gun on his father as 'the enemy' Solomon 'converts' him to his loving son in a couple of minutes, with tears and hugs. For a more realistic account of being a child soldier I suggest you read Heart of Fire by Senait Mehari.

My rating? 7/10 (mainly for the action!)

Predictable BAFTAs

So Helen Mirren got the main award, with Forrest Whittaker taking the comparable prize as best Male Actor. The Queen and The Last King of Scotland were best films.

I was disappointed that Judi Dench got nothing and Volver failed to win a prize. Strange that Casino Royale got so little recognition.
Maybe the award to Abigail Breslin for her role in 'Little Miss Sunshine' wasn't quite so predictable, but it certainly well deserved - I liked this film greatly.
Probably more worrying is that fact that very few 'British' films are truly British - few are filmed in Britain, and even when the actors are British, the director is British and it is filmed in Britain the profits usually go across the Atlantic to America.
There are quite a few truly British films produced, but many fail to get a showing - because distribution is held in a small number of (American) hands.

Jezebel

What a classic! My favourite cinema holds screenings from time to time of rare and important films. The showing of 'Jezebel' induced a full house - but it was a rainy Monday afternoon! In many ways this was a spoiler for 'Gone With the Wind' produced a year before the blockbuster - this is also a tale of a scheming brazen woman from the ante-bellum Southern states. Bette Davis is absolutely wonderful in the title role with Henry Fonda also superb as Pres, the man who Julia (nicknamed Jezebel for her behaviour) treats so badly, but loves so deeply. So we have duels, magnificent dresses, Southern etiquette, appalling treatment and humiliating portrayal of African Americans (although to be truthful they often get the best lines) an outbreak of Yellow Fever and the redemption of Jezebel. Marvellous!

Two scenes to savour: The arrival of Julia at her party dismounting from a skittish colt wearing a provocative riding habit to the horror of her relatives and guests, and the final scene of her leaving New Orleans for the isolation of Leper's Island with the dying Henry Fonda. Here Bette Davis has mussed up hair and the odd smudge on her cheek - but still has her ear rings of diamonds. What style!

Rating 9/10

Notes on a Scandal

What a truly wonderful film. Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Bill Nighey and Andrew Simpson are all superb.

Sheba (Cate Blanchett) is a woman who has married an older man, had two children (one with Downs' Syndrome) and become a teacher in a difficult North London School. She is extremely lost. Barbara is coming towards the end of her career and is desperate to cure her loneliness by making contact and a real connection with one other person. Sheba begins a sexual affair with Steven Connolly - a 15 year old pupil (Andrew Simpson). Barabara finds out and uses the information to 'capture' Sheba as her own significant other.

This is a truly dark film about manipulation, criminality, loss and relationship - but it is surprisingly funny in so many places. The tension and suspense is so well supported by Philip Glass' thunderous music.

Eventually everyone is destroyed by the unfolding effects of Sheba's irresponsible compulsion (in fact all thre main characters have the sin of compulsion and obsession). Steven has the typical schoolboy (and he is just a boy despite the blindness of both Steven and Sheba) obsession with sex, Sheba is obsessed with having a thrilling escape from the confines of a suffocating family life. Barbara has delusions about her own potential and relationships with others.

All is laid out in her journal for us to see.

Despite the superficial appearance that this a situation so extreme as to be fantastical, this film is so real and believable - it draws you in, and you retain sympathy for all the characters - until you realise how awful they are - Sheba is (to put it mildly) in a grossly inappropriate - if not paedophiliac - relationship, Barbara a blackmailing serial stalker, Steven a liar and totally unable to control his urges.

My rating? 9/10 SUPERB!!

A Prairie Home Companion

This was Robert Altman's last film - and an excellent film it turns out to be.

If you like the Garrison Keeler books and radio programmes you will enjoy this too. (Although I do have to say that I was slightly disillusioned to see Mr Keeler in the flesh, after listening to him on the radio I had created an image in my head - and he didn't turn out to be quite like what I'd imagined). The film is set in a mid western cinema where a live radio programme is coming to an end after a 30 year or more run. Every person is apprehensive about losing their jobs. Kevin Kline plays a failed private eye (he talks like a Raymond Chandler novel), turned 'security guard'. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep are fading 'family country singers', Woody Harrelson is an ex-convist turned cowboy singer (his songs are somewhat dubious in content - and probably justified the show being pulled - 'I want you to ride my pony bareback through the night') and Garrison Keeler plays the shows host. Typically for a Robert Altman film not alot happens, and the humour is light, witty and teeters close to pathos, or bathos. There is an angel (really playing the role of death) dressed in a long white trench coat - who roams through the movie theatre seeking customers.

A good film and a pity this will only get an arthouse showing.

My rating: 8/10