Deception

Now I had a problem the casting of this film. Ewan McGregor plays Jonathan McQuarry, who

is supposed to be a very nerdy, sexually inexperienced accountant. Hey Ewan, I've got news for you - putting on a dowdy mac and wearing your hair in an unadventurous style doesn't convince anyone that you're shy, Mr Nomates, especially when in rapid succession you bed several unbelievably attractive women. Anyway, that perhaps sums up some of the problem I had with this 'suspense/thriller'. So to the plot. McQuarry is auditing a company and bumps into charismatic Wyatt Bose and they become instant friends (yeah right). Someone their mobiles get mixed up and McQuarry thereby becomes a part of an anonymous sex club (as Charlotte Rampling remarks 'This club provides intimacy without involvement') of busy high-powered executive men and women. One of his 'dates' is 'S' played by Susan Williams, and McQuarry falls in love (totally against club rules), and now he becomes the subject of a blackmail plot to move vast sums of money out of one of the companies he's auditing, with 'S' as a hostage. His friend Wyatt is not quite the man McQuarry thought. The trail of co-incidences stetches credulity too far, and the red herrings aren't really pink or fishlike. Too light for my taste. Rating: 5/10

Flashbacks of a Fool

A film starring Daniel Craig and Harry Eden as the older and younger Joe Scot, and featuring the tremendous Miriam Karlin in a wonderful cameo role. Daniel Craig (in a non-Bond role) plays an actor in the way down - and quite dramatically so. After a drug and sex fuelled night at his beachside house in California Joe receives a phone call to say his childhood friend 'boots' has died, and this allows the film to return to the 1970s and a seemingly idyllic period in Joe's life which gradually begins to illuminate the current man. Harry Eden is so good at depicting the yearnings of adolescence, and relationships with fellow teenage boys. I'm guessing the young Joe is 15/16 and it is the summer holidays, and they are in a community by the sea. Joe is surrounded by girls & women - and spends most of his time thinking about them, setting his sights on Ruth. However, neighbour Evelyn (who is a mother of a daughter close to Joe's sister's age), sets out to seduce him - although Joe is not particularly reluctant. During one of these liaisons a tragedy befalls Evelyn's daughter and Joe runs away. Returning for the funeral of 'boots' (who went on to marry Ruth and turns out to be the perfect husband and father) Joe realises that although he is the wealthy world famous performer who was clearly the star of his childhood friends in every endeavour, perhaps he missed out on other life afirming experiences. A better than I expected 8/10

My Brother is an Only Child

The tale of two brothers Accio (Elio Germano) and Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) in the chaotic poltical times of 1960s Italy (although nothing really changes in Italy). Accio is the younger (less favoured) brother who tries a seminary and then falls under the spell of local Fascist leader Mario. Manrico takes the Communist path. In fact the politics turns out to be somewhat irrelevant (and is treated in my view somewhat superficially) because this is really about sibling rivalry. Manrico is charismatic, dynamic, ruthless and arrogant. He gets the admiration of his father, mother, sister and every girl that he meets. Accio is aggressive and trying to get some attention in the only way he knows how - by taking the opposite view to the rest of his family in everything. Accio also hankers after Francesca, Manrico's girlfriend. There is quite a dark tinge to the film, because as the political situation unravels after the heady excitement of the 'year of revolution' of 1968, Manrico also turns out (predictably) to have feet of clay on all kinds of levels. I think the real problem with this film is that it was trying to deal with far too many themes - and ended up dealing with them far too simply, and far too superficially. There was quite an opportunity here to examine the extremes of politics in the 1960s, and how the political system of that time failed abysmally to solve the problems facing ordinary people. More smoke than mirrors perhaps. Rating 6/10

Son of Rambow

This British films stars two first time actors (pictured) and centres on an unlikely friendship between school troublemaker Lee Carter and religiously excluded loner, William. Naturally these two total opposites accidentally collide and conspire together to shoot a film in an attempt to win a prize on the BBC TV children's film quiz programme Screen Test. William decides he will become Son of Rambo(w). The story is set against the backdrop of the arrival of a bus load of French foreign Exchange students including the exotic Didier. I have to say I found this film a tad unsatisfactory. The first part is slow moving, and then it suddenly gains legs and becomes a bit of a romp, with some above average gags about movie making and school life. It then rapidly descends into mawkish sentimentality, and the 'message' is somewhat trite. This has been compared (wrongly to my mind) with the coming of age film starring River Phoenix - Stand By Me. I'm sorry, for once the Americans can do it better. At the showing I went to several parents had taken their teenage children to watch, but I think it was the adults (who were probably at school in the 80s) who seemed to be enjoying themselves most. Rating - just 6/10

The Singer

I saw this film on DVD, rather than at the cinema - which always makes a difference - generally not for the better. Starring Gerard Depardieu and Cecile De France, a somewhat typical languorous slow moving French tale of romantic love and relationships. Depardieu plays aging crooner Alain (in the UK he would be the equivalent of the northern club circuit entertainer) who is a wow with middle aged single ladies. One night into one of his nightspots walks attractive young Monica (Cecile De France) suffering the effects of the break up of her marriage. Surprisingly (well in Britain this would be surprising, in France these unlikely pairings seem to cause no surprise, Alain is certainly showing his age, and she is tres chic to say the least). This is not really going anywhere, but it satisfies a need in Monica and Alain is craving for something to counteract loneliness and lack of success. French filmmakers love this kind of picking over and close examination of relationships, but generally it makes me feel uneasy. It could be better done in many cases, and this is one. Gerard slips into the role of Alain ever so easily, but the contrast with Monica is stretching credulity too far. The whole thing is just too bleak and needed more light and less shade. Rating 6/10