Films at Christmas

So what do you reckon is the 'must see' film at Christmas?

My choice is:

Les Chansons D'Amour

If you go extremely regularly to the movies it can sometimes be a little hit and miss - occasionally a film turns out to be a real dud, and every now and then you stumble across a gem, totally unexpectedly. I was pleasantly surprised by this very typically French film. To say it is quirky would be an understatement - more appropriately it could be termed bizarre. The central character Ismail is having some kind of relationship with two women. The two women are also having some kind of thing with each other. The three regularly share the same bed. One of the girls shares the details of her unususual lifestyle with her family - who are fascinated, but not disapproving. The girl then suddenly dies and Ismail is devastated. The second girl, meanwhile has found a boyfriend of her own, whose brother then develops a crush on Ismail, and they end up in bed together. Ismail then veers away from the boy, but the film ends with the two men wrapped in each others arms on the balcony of Ismail's flat. Oh, and the characters regularly burst into song - as a seemingly natural alternative to normal conversation. I'd rate this 8/10

The Darjeeling Limited

I'm not sure what to make of this film. I was clearly in the right mood to see this kind of light movie which has totally nothing to say about anything, except the vacuous nature of most Americans' lives. Can it really be true though that the mind of your average American is truly empty of any kind of feeling for the cultures to be found in other countries?

My companion at this film was so bored he fell asleep, and hated the parts he remembered with a passion. I on the other hand laughed throughout.

The film is about three brothers who go to India to 'find themselves' and meet their mother who (quite naturally) has become a nun in a monastery in the foothills of the Himalayas. The joke of course is that these three brothers appear totally unalike, and have absolutely no intention of finding themselves spiritually - it would appear that the affluent life, treating others badly, ignoring the needs or feelings of others suits them just fine. They board a train to cross India and stop off at various places - in one case to see 'the most spiritual temple in the East' and end up buying a snake, enormously expensive shoes, and other bric a brac without gaining anything spiritual from the visit. OK this isn't great cinema, but it is full of good one line gags (the first part which involves one of the brothers in a hotel room in Paris being surprised by his former girlfriend is a joy). I'd rate it 6/10 - my companion probably 0/0.

Brick Lane

This dramatisation of the bestseller first novel by Monica Ali is far more successful than many adaptations. It keeps pretty closely to the storyline of the book and gets under the skin of the central characters. The film tells the tale of a bride of 17 brought to East London to marry a man she has never met, with whom she has little in common, and finds that the London she has come to is hardly a better life than the one she left in Bangladesh. The flashbacks to her childhood are always bright and colourful - she is laughing and smiling with her sister - the scenes in London are gloomy in comparison. The sense of isolation is tangible. The film concentrates on the period leading up to the events on 9/11, and the child bride, now 16 years into her marriage gradually comes to discover the possibility of a different kind of life with Karim, the westernised British born Bengali who supplies her with the clothes for her to sew, in a vain attempt to supplement the meagre family income. Her husband, is naturally pretty useless in most ways. Despite his claims to the contrary his life is a failure, and he possesses Micawber like confidence that 'something will come up'. In many ways this is a moving, thought provoking tale, with much to say about human relationships - and tentatively examines the confusion within an immigrant community under pressure - and how those tensions resolve themselves in different ways. Rating: 7/10

Elizabeth - The Golden Age

Should this film really be called Elizabeth II? Cate Blanchett reprises her portrayal (very expertly) of the virgin queen with Geoffrey Rush a suitably sinister Walsingham. Clive Owen provides the love interest as Walter Rayleigh. I do still have a hankering for Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth the Great but Cate often gave me an echo of that definitive performance (there was a touch at times of Bette Davis who memorably donned the role in Elizabeth and Essex). I mention the latter for a reason. The thing that must be remembered when viewing populist history is that jarring anarchronism should generally be ignored (hence the strange hilly aspect of the area around Tilbury, and the royal palace appearing to bear a distinct similarity to Ely Cathedral are to be put aside without consideration). Instead you must embrace the broad sweep of history - and accept romance in all its' forms. This film is rollicking good fun - the English are universally Good and Elizabeth's enemies are universally Bad (whether they be Spanish, Scottish, Catholic or those bad people wanting her to marry. Naturally foreigners are often stupid or laughable if they are not being Bad. What is wrong with this old-fashioned view of history - not alot to my mind, rule on Queen Cate (and keep watching Bette Davis). As this film only dealt with a couple of years around the time of the Armada I think Cate will be able to look forward with pleasure to portraying Elizabeth again in her later years. Rating: 7/10

Michael Clayton

British actor Tom Wilkinson stars with George Clooney in this fast paced thriller. And Tom Wilkinson is excellent. The movie has an interesting (if initially confusing) structure. I don't want to give much away but suffice it to say that George plays a legal firm's Mr Fixit - he no longer appears at trials but solves problems. As the film begins the law firm seems to be at the point of settling a claim that has been dragging on for almost a decade, involving a global pharmaceutical company. George is called to resolve a 'difficulty' (in the shape of a hit and run driver wanting a way out) - he's at a card game when the call arrives. Shortly afterwards something very surprising happens, and then the film goes back four days to show how we arrived at that point. Tom Wilkinson's character is a manic depressive who is representing the pharmaceutical company at a deposition when he gets a blinding revelation that he's backing the wrong horse. Dramatically he takes off all his clothes (whilst being filmed by the plaintiff's lawyers) and dances around the car park. The two central characters are excellent in this film, and there is terrific support from the acting team. There is suspense, surprises, thrills, twists and turns and good finally triumphs over evil. George is on his usual propaganda kick to some extent, but it is fairly understated, and this film does prove that movies can still be good without graphic violence or bad language. Good film - rating 8/10

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Atonement

Starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. This adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel is set in the period leading up to World War II and to the events at Dunkirk in 1940. Now maybe I've been watching too many films, but my enjoyment of this exceptionally good
movie was somewhat marred by accents and dialogue reminiscent of 'Brief Encounter' and scenes taken from 'Gone With the Wind'. In the first half an hour I kept on having flashbacks to that tearoom in Milford Junction, because Keira Knightley sounded exactly like Dame Celia Johnson - but James McAvoy is no Trevor Howard! Meanwhile the vision of Dunkirk and the hospital scenes reminded me too much of the photographic settings of Atlanta before the arrival of the Union army.
OK, that said this is an extremely powerful and well written story, with a wonderful cameo performance by Vanessa Redgrave (who is remarkable in every film she appears in - even if momentarily). Brenda Blethyn also puts in a blinder of a performance - albeit brief.
I don't want to give too much of the story away because there are some surprising twists and turns as the film evolves. It begins at a country house and centres on the two daughters of the family - young woman Cecily and child Briony, and their relationship with housekeeper's son Robbie who has been supported through University and intends to become a doctor.
Then one fateful evening Robbie mistakedly sends a letter revealing his true feelings for Cecily using Briony as his intermediary. As the evening unfolds there is a 'rape' and a chain of events are unleashed because of Briony's feelings for Robbie. Four years later Robbie is in Dunkirk and Cecily and Briony are nursing in hospitals in London. Briony has a chance to atone for the wrongs she did.
This is a remarkable story - but is this a remarkable film - I'm not certain, which is why I'm giving this a rating of 8/10.

2 Days in Paris

Starring Julie Delphy and Adam Goldberg. If you like Woody Allen then you'll enjoy this - a similar style. If you don't like Woody Allen - you'll probably still enjoy this tale of American Jack & French born Marion, two years into their relationship and their couple of days to visit Marion's parents and Marion's flat (upstairs from her parents). The other star of this film is a cat - dropped off by the couple on their way through Paris to a short break in Venice, and now being collected on their way back to New York. In fact one of funniest scenes I have ever watched in a movie involves the cat, clutched in Marion's arms as she and her mother have a furious row in French whilst Jack watches, uncomprehendingly. Much of the humour of the film derives from Jack's inability to speak or understand French, and the unwillingness of the French to speak English. During the two days the couple seem to meet all Marion's past lovers (possibly present lovers in Jack's view) and there are several wonderful taxi journeys where the drivers flirt, insult, argue, propagandise and generally philosphise with Marion. Marion gets them thrown out of a restaurant, and a taxi, Jack gets arrested and Jack begins to believe that she is out to bed the entire male population of Paris. Along the road we get quite a wry examination of a relationship, and some quite profound thoughts on what goes on between men and women. At the end of the two days Jack declares 'We've been together for two years but I really don't know you at all'. He's wrong though, and things do end well - sort of. This film is really a joy and highly recommended 8/10

Hairspray

The tale of Tracy Turnblat and dance as a weapon against segregation, set in 1960s America. Also John Travolta in drag reprising the part played by Divine in the original 1988 movie, a film I must have seen a couple of times but really do not recollect. Well, that might be just as well. This is not a political movie, despite the theme. It is a very 'feelgood' film though. It a good old fashioned musical (and provided you accept the ludicrous nature of these films you'll be fine). Every night the teenage population of Baltimore rush home to see the nightly dance based music show on the local television station. Tracy is obsessed with becoming a dancer on the show. Her reclusive overweight mother (played by Travolta) is not convinced that she can achieve her aim - but she does! Once a month there is a 'negro day' programme. Young Tracy can't accept that every night cannot be 'negro night'. Joining the black students at her school she becomes a part of a campaign to 'integrate' the programme and have mixed dancing on the show. Her mother supports her and the film ends with the achievement of integration and a young black dancer becoming 'Miss Hairspray'. My rating? 7/10

The Simpsons Movie

You really have to be a fan of the TV series to want to go to this film - but thankfully I am! This could have easily been several episodes strung together with no real common thread, but this movie is more than that - it does have a plot, and plenty of one liners, but also more developed comedy too.

Homer is the real hero of the film. Springfield is facing environmental meltdown. Lisa tries to rouse the residents and turn them from their anti- social ways - some hope! President Arnie decides to step in and act when Homer's newly acquired pet pig (Spider pig, the comic book hero pig) produces so much waste that a tipping point is reached on the pollution scales. A dome is lowered over the town to protect the rest of America from the appalling effects of their behaviour. But Homer saves the day - I won't explain how. At the same time he forms a new relationship with wife Marge and his three children. Most of the usual characters in the TV series have a part in the movie, and there are enough laughs, and enough of a plot to make this enjoyable for both adults and children. Rating: 7/10

Transformers

Starring the bizarrely named Shia Labeouf (a young male star - made up name I hope) and Megan Fox, and variously people disguised as vehicles that transform themselves into robots/organic life forms. Based on the toys of the same name. It is obviously the summer season because there is a glut of films aimed at a 'younger audience' - not generally highly intellectual films, or terribly thoughtful or thought provoking. There's nothing wrong with a good action movie or thriller, but this probably isn't that good. I think the problem is that it can't make up its' mind whether it is an action movie, a love story, a comedy, a drama or a teen movie. So geeky young Shia has the offer of a car from his father and instead of a Porsche that he desires he goes to a second hand car lot where he is a 'adopted' by a clapped out motor. This vehicle turns out to be an autobot (a car which turns into a robot in disguise - hence transformers). This vehicle is just one of several autobots locked in an eternal battle with the evil decepticons in search of 'the cube' which turns out to be hidden under the Hoover Dam. The cube is (naturally) the source of remarkable powers - for good or evil - that could lead to Decepticons ruling the universe and the elimination of the human race. The story line does hold the attention and there are some good action moments and battle scenes, but this is really only a slightly above average film. Rating: 7/10

Die Hard 4.0

Bruce is back as John MacLean! For a man in his mid to late fifties Mr Willis can still carry off this action movie to great effect!

It is nearly or perhaps more than 20 years since this series began, and I reckon this one is up there with the best. It draws you in so rapidly to the plot to destroy American society through complete destruction of the computer systems - no communication (mobile phones, etc), power (electricity, gas) total gridlock of the roads (traffic lights all turned to green simultaneously) and all so plausible. The suspense is just terrific, the violence all so well staged and somehow cosmetic, and Mr Willis is the real superhero, out to save the world and is daughter now a full grown woman. His sidekick this time (and John MacLean always needs a side kick just to emphasise how much bigger and better and somehow good looking he still is even at his age!) is Mat Farrell a computer geek, with boyish long hair to contrast with Bruce's shave head. The mastermind of this computer scam is also young and tender and good looking - Mr Gabriel (the Archangel perhaps?) I really enjoyed this film, the tension and suspense wonderful, the plotline simple but effective, the explosions dramatic, the villains suitably villainous and the heroes outstandingly heroic, but somehow vulnerable and human. Rating - oh this gets a 9/10 - Yipee-I-ay!

Tell No One

Just a passing comment - but why are most of the good films around at the moment mainly foreign language - or is it just my strange taste in films?

I many ways this French film is a traditional murder mystery but there are so many twists and turns it is raised above the average. How much of the plot can I give away - well the central character is a paediatrician whose wife was murdered eight years previuosly. He was suspected of complicity, and this suspicion is revived when the bodies of two men are discovered close to the scene of her abduction. There are so many twists to this tale - he is under surveillance from both the police and another sinister group, there is one of the most bizarre by exciting chases I've ever seen in the cinema, he gets rescued by the father of one of his patients - a sinister underworld hardman, his father-in-law (and ex policeman) starts behaving very suspiciously, there are murders, an emails that pull the story off in another direction. All together this is a film worth seeing - as a thriller and a well produced one at that. Rating: 8/10

By the way the title means nothings - despite an injunction to 'Tell No One' the hero seems to tell everyone he knows!

Shrek III

This certainly made a change, from my usual diet of 'serious' movies. I didn't see Shrek 2 at all, and the original Shrek I only saw on TV. I think I should begin by saying that the quality of animation is outstanding. At times you really forget it is an animated film - the people, the animals, the clothing, the skin, the buildings, the perspective is just so life like. This has to be admired.

The storyline is fairly straightforward. The old king dies, leaving Shrek as his heir - but he doesn't really want the job. There have been a series of 'mishaps' during the regency when he and Fiona were filling in for the ill monarch. Shrek is told there is an alternative heir - Arthur. Whilst he goes off to to find the once and future king, Prince Charming aided by all the fairytale villains embarks on a coup d'etat.

Shrek and Arthur engage the support of Merlin, and gingerbread man, the three little pigs, one of the ugly sisters (the other is on the side of Prince Charming), Snow White, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots and of course donkey, to free the imprisoned Queen and Fiona and retake the kingdom for the good heroes of fairytale. Fiona is pregnant and in the course of the film we deal with 'friendship', 'fatherhood', god and evil, and all those eternal tales. There are lots of very funny bits to the story, too many references to other films, books, and tales, but is generally a good lighthearted movie. My rating - 6/10

La Vie En Rose

An incredibly powerful, emotional and moving biopic about the life of Edith Piaf. I've never been a terrific fan of the little sparrow, but now I've seen how tragic her life was I think I appreciate her music far more, and will probably end up buying a CD of her music.
Born in the First World War she was left in a brothel to be looked after by prostitutes as her mother left to find her destiny as a singer, her acrobat father returns from the War to take her to the circus. By the 1920s she was begging on the streets and her voice was becoming noticed. By the 1930s she was a true star, but already becoming riddled with every possible addiction and her body misshapened by disease. As a child she was blind for some weeks as a result of an illness, but the intervention of St Teresa Des Lesieux cured her - thereby becoming Piaf's guardian angel. A daughter died as a result of meningitis, marriages failed, the love of her life was killed in a plane crash, drug and drink wreaked its vengence and Edith died at 47. A true tragedy.
And how does this film deal with all this? Incredibly well, if in a slightly chaotic way. Events are not dealt with in strict chronology - we leap from the 1930s to 1950s, back to World War I, her deathbed, the 1920s, see Piaf collapse on stage in 1959, 1963, injecting drugs with one of her husbands, going into hospital in the 1950s and emerging just before her death. This was a tad confusing - but overall the tragedy is dealt with without tipping over into sentimentality, and who could not cry when she sings about the death of the true love of her life, or the French National Anthem at the age of 10, or finally as she sings 'Non, je ne regret rien' in the last months of her life, after having to be carried to the stage racked with pain. That voice is just amazing.
Rating: 8/10

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My Best Friend

This is a wonderful French movie - and a very typical French film at that. It starts with art dealer Francois attending a client's funeral (mainly in order to get his hands on a choice piece of furniture). At a meal afterwards he remarks on the paucity of mourners. His companions suggest he would have fewer. When he declares he has plenty of friends his business partner bets him to produce a 'best friend' within ten days. Francois is indeed just the kind of man who would have no friends as he is not interested in anyone at all - failing to notice that his business is in fact a lesbian. He buys a grecian vase at enormous cost because it is alleged to be a funereal vase that contained the tears of a man for his best friend. But in reality you think he is more interested in the vase than the friendship it represents. In his desperation to find a best friend Francois meets quiz obsessive taxi driver Bruno and observes how easy he finds it to makes friends and be friendly towards others. Naturally, things aren't exactly they seem and Francois decides to use Bruno to win the bet, and things go badly wrong - and yet the two unlikely companions discover some truths about themselves and about friendship. Rating 8/10

Away From Her

This film staring Julie Christie (a rare appearance from that megastar of the 1960s) and Gordon Pinsent, set in Canada, concerns the effects of memory loss on a couple married for several decades and 'never apart'. Fiona (Julie Christie) begins to realise that the occasional forgetfulness is becoming rather more serious.

She puts the frying pan in the fridge, forgets words, doesn't know where she is and generally becomes vague. After studying the inevitable steady decline and realising the stress it will impose on her husband she decides to admit herself into a nursing home. Pinsent is 'not allowed' to visit her for the first 30 days - 'to allow the patient to become acclimatised). He is horrified to see the effect the nursing home has on Fiona. Quickly she has no idea who he is, or of most of their past life together. She latches onto a fellow patient and Pinsent seeks out the man's wife (played brilliantly by one of my favourite actresses Olympia Dukakis) for illumination.

A movie that deals with one of the great fears of those of us entering old age, probably needs to be slow paced, but this film is almost catatonic. It misses the target, and the characters are too stereotypical - the overbearing administrator, the caring chief nurse, the over the to patients. Christie's performance is admirable, but it doesn't really raise this movie to a great level. My rating: 6/10

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The Painted Veil

I'm a great fan of Somerset Maugham and I think he's an under rated novellist. Most of his books have been made into films - but generally not recently. He's coming back into favour again, and I'm glad. This film is a better than average adaptation of his novel 'The Painted Veil'. Like most Maugham works there are the usual elements - the Far East, Colonial times, British 'values' under pressure in exotic climes, melodrama, suppressed emotions bursting out inappropriately and receiving sometimes undeserved punishment.
In this case Kitty has been drawn into a loveless (well on her side at least) marriage with Walter to escape her unrelenting mother. Walter is a bacteriologist in Shanghai. Kitty is bored in China and (as always) turns elsewhere for entertainment and pleasure. Discovering her infidelity Walter blackmails her into coming with him to a cholera ridden area of China. Here she is in danger from disease, and the activities of the Nationalists who are seething with hatred of all foreigners (especially the British).
As ever with Maugham there is redemption to be found and surprises as the relationship between Kitty and Walter is affected by circumstance and those around them (including the wonderful Diana Rigg as a Mother Superior).
This wasn't the greatest adaptation - tedious in places, but always raised above the banal by excellent acting - and a terrific screenplay. Rating: 8/10

The Lives of Others

I found this German language Oscar winner fantastic!

Appropriately it begins in 1984 in the GDR. If this is an accurate depiction of life in the former East Germany it really must have been a scary place to be. The Stasi (the State Security) were watching and listening out for every possible dissent. The film follows one agent of State Security listening in to the goings-on with the apartment of a writer who had been seen as one of the pillars of the state - but was suspected of being not quite what he seems. As the story unfolds this agent becomes drawn into the lives of the couple he ius overhearing, and begins to bend the rules and overlook some of things he sees and hears. The incorruptable becomes corrupted - not by money or bribery but by emotion.

This is so sinister as a film, and it captures the bleakness of Eastern European life wonderfully. Although the story is bleak, scary and sinister, this is achieved by a marvellous plot, camera work and music that is so quiet that it impinges sub consciously to evoke fear. I was so drawn in by this film I think it is outstanding. Go see it if it gets to a cinema near you. Rating: 10/10

Sunshine

I had this film recommended to me, because I hadn't seen anything about it previously I went purely on their recommendation.
I'm glad I did. This is not your average sci-fi movie. The premise of this film is that our sun has decided to die. ICARUS 1 had been sent off to detonate an enormous nuclear explosion but nothing was heard of them again. We're now on board ICARUS 2, 'the last best hope' (where have I heard that before?) for humanity. The ship has been going for over six years. There are eight crew men who believe they can send off the bomb and return to an earth that has had the lights (and life) turned back on.
This is an old-fashioned action/thriller movie. The suspense is incredible, after a slow start you're kept on the edge of your seat as we move inevitably towards the sun. The characters are well developed and you are made to care about their fate. This is a though provoking and well crafted film - and incredibly the science seems right. The ship looks like one that has been going for six years - rather than just come off the end of NASA production line.
There are hints of the film 2001, but there are twists and the special effects are great.
Go see this untypical sci-fi film. My rating 8/10

Mr Bean's Holiday

I really loved this film - I laughed so often throughout the 90 minutes. Rowan Atkinson reprises his regular TV role and the accident prone hapless Mr Bean. The eponymous hero wins a holiday in Cannes and the film traces his journey - encountering on the way a budding film star, the 'kidnap' of the son of a film director, a travelling band, explosions, car chases, missed trains, appalling restaurant etiquette (or lack of it), and all filmed for Mr Bean's personal video record.
Rowan Atkinson's facial expressions are (as ever) wonderful and there are some terrific set pieces (I will never hear 'O mio babbino caro' again without remembering a fabulous mime performed by Mr Bean in a market, wearing a jumper on his head). OK so this isn't educational, it isn't a 'message movie', but my word it is entertaining - and the many children in the audience loved it - and it kept their attention throughout - not many film can say that!
My rating: 9/10

Days of Glory

What a powerful movie. I found this film in French and Arabic incredibly moving. It tells the tale of a group of Algerians recruited to fight for France towards the end of the Second World War.

Their motives for joining these colonial regiments are diverse, except they are united in one belief - that they are fighting for their 'mere patrie', the motherland - a country they have never seen and with which they share very little (race, colour, religion). They think they are fighting for liberty, fraternity and equality. This is despite the fact that they are never going to be promoted, paid well, given leave, given good rations, or be welcomed in the same way as the French troops. All the officers are French (or pretend they are, hiding their true ethnicity) most Algerian and Moroccan troops don't even rise to become private soldiers - they are lower than non-combatant French enlisted men.

The group fight through Italy, go to Marseilles, work their way up mainland France - where one falls in love with a French woman - but their correspondence is intercepted and the romance is doomed.

The group of soldiers end up as the advance guard in an Alsation village, fighting to the last. They have been led there by a Corporal who is duped into believing the promises of promotion, good pay and esteem. He believes that after the War the French African colonies will achieve their independence and achieve the liberty, equality and most importantly the fraternity promised by the French consitution. In 1959 (after the Algerian War) all these soldiers had their pensions frozen, and although a law reversing this was passed at the start of this century no French government has felt able to implement the proposition.

My rating? A tremendous 9/10. Go see it!

It has now joined my top ten of 2007 films - look in my earlier post.

The Camden 28

I saw this film as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and two of the 28 people prosecuted for conspiracy, burglary and other offences in Camden, New Jersey at the time of the Vietnam War were present in the Camden Picturehouse to tell the tale.

The Camden 28 were a group of anti war activists (pacifists all) who included Catholic priests and centred on a Catholic Church in a poor city in New Jersey. They decided to take an existing campaign of civil disobedience one step further. Other groups had publicly burned draft cards and been imprisoned. This group decided to invade the Draft Board above the Post Office in Camden and seize and destroy the draft records for that area. This would stop local boys being called into the army and being sent to Vietnam.

However, one of the number betrayed them to the FBI and when they implemented the plan they were arrested in the building. It was claimed afterwards that the betrayer had been paid and was acting on the instructions of the White House, and the Attorney General. When the case went to court they were all acquitted.

The film was financed by private donations and although was really more of a documentary than a drama, this held my attention because it contained mainly interviews with the participants (including the betrayer).

My rating: 7/10

Amazing Grace

A well intentioned disappointment. Tapping into the 200th anniversary of the passing of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire this film was supposedly about the motivation of Wilberforce as the leading light in the campaign. However, it was too much of a muddle. There was too much of individual characters filling in a great deal of background rather than allowing the plot and the visuals of the film demonstrating it. So William's wife to be discourses on methods by saying ' Yes, I refused to take sugar in my tea, and oh here is my button which says - Am I Not a Human Being and A Brother?' There was too little context - it didn't show the depth and breadth of the mass movement of support. I didn't get the excitement or drama of the speeches made in the House of Commons - and can I just ask how on earth did the Duke of Clarence come to be in the House of Commons? Surely a Lord if ever there was one! I got no real sense of the horrors of slavery and how he was convinced of the evilness of the trade.
Finally, although Wilberforce was motivated by religion I got absolutely no sense of his spirituality and conviction nor of the depth of belief that drove the whole movement.
Rating - only 6/10

The Good German

George Clooney stars in another black and white movie. This time it is a homage to the films noir of the 1940s and 50s. It uses the techniques and equipment used in the post war period, and although this is initially somewhat limiting as the film progresses I have to admit it is a success and adds to the atmosphere of the piece.

This is the tale of an American war correspondent who was based in Berlin in 1939 and is now returning to cover the Potsman Conference. He is rapidly drawn into the murky world of the emerging cold war. The American military are engaged in conflicting needs - the de-nazification and punishment of the German nation on the one hand and a desperate need to get control of German expertise, brains and industry before the Soviets before the Iron Curtain descends.

I admired this attempt to get into the world created as a result of total defeat and social breakdown - and the black and white filming helped to create the mood of desolation and despair, with everyone trying to survive and make a future for themselves - through the blackmarket or by selling whatever they have - their ideas, stolen goods, bodies or their relatives. I was pretty impressed by this film, but it didn't quite have the impact I would have wanted, and the plot was marginally confused and complicated.

Worth seeing though - especially if you're a fan of the post war movies. My rating: 8/10

Dreamgirls

Jennifer Hudson is the real star of this show - forget Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy and Beyonze, this woman is the real singer - it has been a long time since I've heard a cinema audience applaud but it happened at the end of one of her torch/soul songs in this movie.

The film is very vaguely based on The Supremes and Motown (although I gather it lacks the approval of Diana Ross). I enjoyed the music immensely (especially the songs performed by Jennifer Hudson - I gather a winner of the American Idol competition. There is a problem though - it can't make up its mind whether it is a film with songs (quite legitimate as it is about the rise of a singing trio and the music industry's development) or if it is a traditional musical. About half way through normal conversations were replaced with sung dialogue, which was a bit laughable at times. The movie did have some interesting things to say about the relationship between black musicians and mainstream music production and audiences (by which I mean white of course - because that was where the money was). Again the film has a confused message - it isn't clear what it is trying to do or say, and as a result I don't think many in the audience got all that they might out of a film which clearly is trying to make a point.

My rating 6/10

Hot Fuzz

I must be getting old. This film is currently doing big business in the UK box offices and on the BBC film reviews pages the reviewer gave it 4 out of a possible 5 stars, whilst the viewers rating was 5 stars (on the basis of 5000 or more votes). I really couldn't rate this more than 2 stars. I know it is intended as one long spoof of many film genres, and clearly the cast and the directors were enjoying themselves incredibly, but I couldn't raise much of a laugh. The jokes are done to death, the film is about an hour too long, and the last hour seemed to be tagged on just for the entertainment of the cast. It is a tale of a London supercop who is sent to a sleepy village where he discovers the entire population is under the thumb of a sinister neighbourhood watch committee. This is an excuse for a series of parodies of Hammer Horror films, and any other film you can think of. The cast contains every possible British actor who has ever worked on TV or film - Timothy Dalton, Steve Coogan, Edward Woodward, etc, etc, but why did they bother I wonder. My rating? 4/10 Clearly this film wasn't aimed at me!

The Illusionist

What a totally brilliant film this is! It has excellent acting, a good cast, lots of suspense, mystery, history, political intrigue and a terrific twist in the tail (which I am not going to give away).

This is the story of a poor magician (the illusionist) of Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century who has a remarkable show. In his youth he fell in love with an aristocratic girl who then became the fiancee of the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Emperor is now very old and the Crown Prince is eager for power. The magician and his childhood sweetheart are re-united when the royal party visit the show and she is volunteered to take part in one of the illusionist's magical deceptions.

Murder, mayhem and contoversy follow. In the end the film turns out to be another explanation of the tragedy at Mayerling. I'll say no more about the plot!

Wonderfully filmed and well directed, my only criticism is the odd anachronism in the language and etiquette used. The Austro-Hungarian court was the stuffiest and most protocol ridden in Europe (and that's saying a lot) and I'm certain the Emperor would never have been called 'your father' by every passing servant and police officer.

My rating: 9/10

The Company

I saw this film as part of the Robert Altman retrospective being staged at the Greenwich picturehouse. The only problem is that the more of his films I see the less impressed I am by him as a director - Gosford Park was shown on TV last evening and it reminded me how messy the film is. I digress - The Company is about a Chicago ballet company for a few months going through the production of a new ballet. It looks at some members of the company - some who are rising stars, others are in decline or being eclipsed.
Malcolm McDowell is the artistic director - and produces a tour de force of a depiction of egomania. The film certainly portrays the fragility of the career of a dancer - an injury can end their working life in a moment - and how relationships outside the world of dance are very difficult to maintain. In the lead up to a production the intensity and concentration on the production of perfection excludes consideration of anyone outside the focus of and aim of this one performance.
This is all well done - but like most Robert Altman's films, it lacks coherence, it is muddled and the characters are not developed enough to engage - they are cardboard or stereotypical.
My rating? 6/10

Top Ten Films

Recently I had two sets of 'top ten films of 2006' sent to me. They were from America, so many weren't shown in 2006, and some still haven't been shown in the UK. However, I'm going to try to do a similar list of my own.
Anyone want to contribute.
Here are the two lists I've had:

(1)Little Miss Sunshine (2) Inside Man (3) Bobby (4) The Queen (5) Babel (6) Tsotsi (7)Venus (8) The Last King of Scotland (9) Off the Black (10)Ten Items or Less

(1) The Queen (2) Little Miss Sunshine (3) The Last King of Scotland (4) Letters from Iwo Jima (5) The Good Shepherd (6) Babel (7) The Children of Men (8) Inside Man (9) The Illusionist (10) Bobby

And my list for the 2007 films I've seen so far is:

(1) Notes on a Scandal (2) Letters from Iwo Jima (3) The Queen (4) The Lives of Others (5)Days of Glory (6) Mr Bean's Holiday (7) Jezebel (8) Venus (9) Bobby (10) A Prairie Home Companion

Becoming Jane

Supposedly the story of Jane Austen's early life and an explanation of the writing of 'Pride and Prejudice'. Starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy (who seems to be appearing in everything at the moment).

A captivating movie, and oh such a good depiction of upper class life at the cusp of the eighteenth & nineteenth century. Engaging, but how accurate was it about Jane Austen? For a start the rare portraits of the author don't indicate anything other than 'plain Jane'. Julie Walters as her mother and Ian Richardson (his last role) as his uncle were excellent supporting actors. This was a better film than the recent Beatrix Potter biopic, but it is light. It is more moving (especially as Tom deserts Jane for 'better prospects') than I expected, and I did start to fill up in places. I just wonder though if it was anything more than a standard historical drama in the tradition of Merchant Ivory?

My rating 7/10

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

Bobby

I really enjoyed this star-studded film - there were so many stars it would be rude to mention one or two and leave out the others! It tells the story of the day of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy through the yes of various people working or guests at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles the venue for the party to mark the Democratic Presidential Primary.

There are the kitchen workers - Mexican and Black - disenfranchised and mainly illegals. There are Kennedy workers - mostly young and white and dewy eyed, politically naive. There are hotel workers - managers, switchboard operators, hairdressers, retired doormen, and there is a drunken singer at the Hotel's Coconut Grove. A woman is getting married to save a drafted friend from the Vietnam War - the cloud hanging over everything in the late 60s.

Interspersed with these stories is footage from the Kennedy Campaign trail, excerpts of speeches and historic footage from the 60s - the decade of assassinations in America.

Director Emilio Estevez handles the period very successfully and captures the hopes bearing down on the youthful Bobby - so many people wanting him to produce a solution to the ills of America - racism, intolerance, class divisions - wealth and poverty, economic woes and above all the tragedy of Vietnam.

Does he hammer home a political message? No - but the message still comes across, and the shooting of Kennedy is dealt with dramatically, realistically, and without being over sentimental.

Impressive film. My rating - 8/10

Venus

I really enjoyed this film, and Peter O'Toole very much deserves the nomination in this years Oscars. On the other hand Leslie Phillips is a true star - a pity he's been overlooked for glory!

This film is the tale of two old actors whose lives are turned upside down by the arrival of Jessie, the great niece of Ian (Leslie Phillips). Jessie is the object of Maurice (Peter O'Toole's)infatuation. Now this could have been handled very sordidly - and perhaps there are times when you are made to feel slightly uncomfortable about this obsession by a man in his 80s for a 20 year old girl. However, they both get quite a bit out of the relationship - Jessie is made to feel special, and important, and Maurice finds love in the last months of his life. I think the film is a light hearted, sensitive, funny, moving, examination of friendships and relationships - between Maurice and Jessie (the Venus of the title), and Maurice and Ian. Even the minor characters are superb - Richard Griffiths, Vanessa Redgrave and Bronson Webb. My rating? 8/10

The Last King of Scotland

An interesting film - nothing like I expected. It tells the tale of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Forest Whitaker plays the President with James McAvoy as his white Scottish personal doctor and advisor (although these roles are totally accidentally acquired). It is a study in increasing insanity - Idi is triumphant in a coup against a corrupt regime, welcomed by the people - and is probably well intentioned. Rapidly he is overcome by paranoia. The doctor (Nicholas) is arrogant, naive and overwhelmed by charisma. It all goes horribly wrong. Forest is good in this film, and probably deserves the Oscar nomination, but I am concerned that here is another film (like The Constant Gardener) viewed from a white perspective. There is very little attempt to get to understand Africa - its politics or society.
My rating? 7/10

Oscar Nominations

Excellent year for films - and so many British nominees. Very pleased about Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Little Miss Sunshine and 'Volver'. A pity though that British cinemas receive so many films months after they screen in the United States. I haven't seen quite a few of the nominated films.