tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-11-10:/MokoFeed2009-11-10T15:28:40+01:00tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-11-08:/2009/11/08/bright-star-7328683/shepster2009-11-08T01:34:13+01:002009-11-08T01:34:13+01:00 <p>Jane Campion has been a worldwide name in cinema for a decade and a half, having burst onto the scene in 1993 winning the Palme d'Or and getting nominated for everything under the sun with <em>The Piano</em>. If anything has defined her work from that, through the adaptation of Henry James' <em>The Portrait of a Lady</em> on to <em>Holy Smoke</em> and <em>In the Cut</em>, it is austere beauty: her films look lovely but have an aloofness at their core. That of all filmmakers it should be her to bring to the screen the story of John Keats and Fanny Brawne might appear at first to be an ill-suited match, but the deep pathos of the legendary poet's doomed romance provides the perfect material to underpin Campion's visual style with a depth of feeling.</p> <p><em>Bright Star</em> is a lyrical, delicate evocation of this pair (played by Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish)'s love affair. After their initial meetings, Fanny's mother succinctly sums up their situation as being devoid of fame and fortune, "Mr. Keats knows he cannot like you: he has no living and no income". Initially neighbours, eventually the Brawnes move in to the house in which Keats is staying and his attachment to Fanny grows with their increased proximity. Their match is disapproved on both sides, with Fanny's mother and Keats' best friend Brown (Paul Schneider) both having differing objections even before Keats' health strains the couple's budding relationship to the limit.</p> <p><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/269/4087269_b93146e5f0_m.jpg" alt="bright-star-sp"></p> <p>There are some achingly gorgeous scenes and moments etched by Campion throughout; notably the letter pressed up against the glass of the window in the rain, the couple's first kiss and the return to the house that follows, the reading of his first letter, and the room of butterflies thereafter. Alongside those are deeply poignant scenes, particularly their farewell and the reaction to the news of his fate. These are accentuated by unfussy cinematography (it is not as obviously accomplished as, say, <em>The Portrait of a Lady</em>, but it is invisible and is in service of telling the story in the most direct way possible) and a reserved approach to the placement of music.</p> <p>Of course being not only foreign, but from a different hemisphere, there are some cultural aspects to <em>Bright Star</em> which lack authenticity; some of the dialogue has too modern a feel to ring true, Schneider's scottish brogue is all over the shop and even Cornish slips occasionally. Her casting in particular seems more to satisfy the vagaries of international co-productions than anything else. This is not to say she does not deliver a good performance, quite the contrary in fact, but this is the type of film where the actors are the director's putty, being moulded to suit her end. Rather than relying on the actors to elevate the material, Campion simply ensures that they suit it. The final scene of the film is emblematic of that as it is a scene that fails to be as moving as previous ones because it is one of the few in the film that relies on Cornish the actress rather than Campion the director to nail it.</p> <p><img src="http://blog.chosun.com/web_file/blog/12/33012/7/bright_star-q.jpg-x%5B2%5D.jpg" alt=""></p> <p>What Campion does nail however, which renders the questions of the accuracy of the world created almost moot, is the emotional authenticity, which is present in abundance from first frame to last. Their relationship is drawn expertly and is painfully real, which immerses the viewer in the situation these two souls find themselves in. Campion has taken a story which stems from one of the participants' letters (his), which are full of intensity and despair and jealousy and by treating Fanny as an equal in this tale rather than the object of obsession has smoothed it out to achieve an emotionally real balance, crafting a genuinely touching and arresting work. The inventions on her part are what lends the film its verity and as a result its vitality. She may not completely know the nuances of their environment, but she fundamentally knows the nuances of their hearts, and in depicting the beauty of their time together finds her way to the truth. As a result, it is difficult to envision that even the most die-hard fans of Keats could fail to be moved, for it is a lovingly made film in the image of the man and his work.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/11/08/bright-star-7328683/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-11-07:/2009/11/07/katalin-varga-7328134/shepster2009-11-07T22:46:27+01:002009-11-08T15:33:03+01:00 <p>Peter Strickland's debut film, <em>Katalin Varga</em>, has a very unusual history. Having been shown at the Berlin Film Festival this year, prior to that it had been on the shelf for the best part of two years in need of completion funds to finish the sound in post-production. On top of that, this is a British film which was shot in Romania, in Romanian and Hungarian, and needed local financing to eventually bail out the film. As with many independent films it has received money from the National Lottery-financed UK Film Council to fund its release, however modest it has been.</p> <p>The story is difficult to explain without spoiling 95% of the plot and it would probably be best to go into the film knowing as little as possible about it as it is actually the latest entry in a very tired, overdone genre: the revenge flick. As such, having this british director merely transport the kind of story it is across cultures and into a different language is at-best stilted and at worst incredibly pretentious. Strickland's filmmaking smacks of a novice, never settling on a visual style that is either consistent or fluid. There are individual moments of striking talent, but it does not string together to create truly satisfactory cohesive storytelling.</p> <p><img src="http://thumbs.filmstarts.de/image/KatalinVarga_scene_02.jpg" alt=""> </p> <p>Essentially, the film is a performance piece for its star Hilda Péter. Showing her journey into the sticks following a break up with her husband, for the opening third of the film not a tremendous amount happens but once it becomes clear what she's doing the intrigue picks up. The finest scene in the film is when Péter recounts the details of what happened to her to prompt the revenge. On paper it could be quite dull but visually it is handled interestingly and she absolutely knocks the monologue out of the park.</p> <p>In Berlin this took home an award for the sound, which is rather strange as the annoyingly cacophonous sound design and the poor quality of the recording couple to create one of the film's major weaknesses. It gives the film a genuine Eastern European feel to it (reminiscent of something like <em>Marketa Lazarova</em>) but is both intrusive and overbearing. By the end, through all the jumbled techniques and game turns, some interesting points are obliquely made, and this remains a glimpse of possible great things in the future rather than a tremendously accomplished piece of work at present.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/11/07/katalin-varga-7328134/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-11-02:/2009/11/02/up-7294625/shepster2009-11-02T21:04:17+01:002009-11-08T15:40:44+01:00 <p>Pixar are, Will Smith aside, seemingly the only bulletproof people in the film industry today, with all of their films apparantly untouchable at the box office. Their latest offering, <em>Up</em>, has continued the streak and garnered as impeccable a critical reception as the two previous Pixars that preceeded it (<em>Ratatouille</em> and <em>WALL·E</em>).</p> <p>The story follows a widower who, following an altercation with a workman is going to be sent off to a retirement home. Rather than face that "death" he blows up thousands of balloons and lifts his house off the ground, preferring instead to fulfill his wife's lifelong ambition of living in a remote part of South America. A local boy scout (well ... "Wilderness explorer") is unwittingly taken along for the ride and when they arrive they encounter everything from rare birds to a pack of talking dogs.</p> <p><img src="http://www.bambini.eu/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Up45.jpg" alt=""></p> <p>On many occasions this is an extremely amusing film, a lot of stuff is aimed way over the kids' heads at the adults (for example a shot of some of the dogs playing poker) and it does shift quite freely. Unfortunately the main child character is the most annoying Pixar have created in many a year although the script has enough skillfully drawn situations to smooth that over. The most friendly of the dogs, Dug, steals the show and has some of the funniest lines. A lot of the humour here is extremely silly, which is a stark contrast to the recent films they've done, the height of which being the "evil" dog having a helium-style voice.</p> <p>Like <em>WALL·E</em>, there is a bravura wordless section early on (albeit 10 times as short), here recounting the main character's marriage. If there is a problem with the film it's that it has touches of brilliance that recall previous works but does not go on to surpass them. The marriage montage is pure cinema and effortlessly moving, but the rest of the film, whilst very entertaining for the most part does not live up to the promise of its best moments. In a way it is rather unfair to judge a Pixar film as the bar has been raised so high, so consistently. This isn't quite the case of a Yelena Isinbayeva crashing out without recording a height at the World Championships this year, but it's more like her delivering an easy win without ever attempting to go for the world record she has so often broken before.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/11/02/up-7294625/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-30:/2009/10/30/an-education-7276345/shepster2009-10-30T17:31:47+01:002009-11-08T15:37:46+01:00 <p>Lone Scherfig is one of the finest directors in Europe, bursting on to the international scene with her delightful Dogme film <em>Italian for Beginners</em> the best part of a decade ago. Since then she's branched out into English language cinema with the very quirky <em>Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself</em>, and pushed the boundaries of the process with the experimental <em>Hjemve</em>, which wasn't a success in her home country. So this film, her return to the British scene, is her international reply to a domestic disappointment.</p> <p>The story follows a 16 year old schoolgirl who is befriended by a man more than twice her age who starts charming her parents and taking her out around all the fashionable places in London. Sadly, the result is as unsettling as it sounds as having Peter Sarsgaard creepily groom a "teenage" Carey Mulligan (who couldn't really pass for 16 four years ago in <em>Pride and Prejudice</em>) is not exactly a relationship to engender much sympathy.</p> <p><img src="http://uk.hollywood.com/films/education/03-large.jpg" alt=""></p> <p>On top of that, the characterisation adds to this as Mulligan is referred to by her schoolfriends as "a stuck up cow", and having this type of person ushered into a sexual awakening doesn't give any emotional investment in their fate. This is true of the film as a whole, the only character who sees her for the pretentious snob that she is (played by a very game Rosamund Pike) is regularly ridiculed for being stupid. If you don't share this "stuck up cow"'s naive blind adoration of all things arty and worthwhile then you clearly must be so unintelligent as to be laughed at.</p> <p>All of this comes from Nick Hornby's smugly assembled screenplay (and presumably the memoir on which it's based) and very simply there's little Scherfig can do about it. As ever with her the film looks lovely and the attention to detail is refreshing, but Mulligan isn't given much to do, Sarsgaard can't escape/adds to the creepiness of the situation, Dominic Cooper is his usual bland self, and Alfred Molina tries with a rather 2D character (which in all fairness most of the cast are saddled with). That the script at the end tries to shift the blame onto his character is the ultimate conceit and contradiction. This is a well put together film with some competent turns and a killer soundtrack, but intellectually and philosophically it's rather repellent.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/30/an-education-7276345/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-30:/2009/10/30/how-the-brain-works-7271867/shepster2009-10-30T01:58:21+01:002009-10-30T12:02:38+01:00 <p>Right, so yesterday I sat down to have tea in front of the tv and had a flick round to see if there was anything worth watching. I came across the second half of <em>The Last of the Mohicans</em> (which I've seen far too many times over the years) and having recently seen Jodhi May in the BBC's adaptation of <em>Emma</em> I kept it on. Within 20 mins of it finishing I'd gone upstairs, found my copy of <em>The Age of Innocence</em> and completed an impromtu Daniel Day Lewis double bill. I'm always surprised by how much I like <em>The Age of Innocence</em>, I don't think it's Scorsese's best film but it could easily be my favourite and definitely has one of the most beautiful shots/moments I've ever seen with Michelle Pfeiffer on the jetty with the sunset glistening off the waves while Day Lewis wills her to turn around. What the hell, the blog isn't letting me link to pictures so I'll just upload this screencap - here it is :)</p> <p><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/813/4055813_3f28996d8d_m.bmp" alt="La Pfeiffer"></p> <p>Whilst researching on wikipedia and imdb (i.e. finding out precisely HOW BADLY IT WAS SNUBBED DAMMIT!!! :D by the oscars) I came across the fact that there had been a couple of adaptations in the 20s and 30s, and the divine Irene Dunne had played Madame Olenska in RKO's version. Now this immediately leapt out at me as a particularly inspired piece of casting and I frantically, to no avail sadly, hunted the search engines to see if I could find it online. What that failure did though is make me dig for an Irene Dunne film I hadn't seen and knew I could find, namely <em>Love Affair</em>.</p> <p>It took me a little while, but as soon as Dunne and Charles Boyer (who I'm very hit and miss on) turn up at his grandmother's house, I realised that this was an earlier version of <em>An Affair to Remember</em> (and it turns out Leo McCarey directed both), which is quite fitting seeing as I very recently saw <em>Sleepless in Seattle </em>and it plays such a big role in that film. 1939 was a truly vintage year for Hollywood and this got nominated all over the shop at the oscars that year. In a way I can see why because it's a very appealing film. I think the remake spoiled Maria Ouspenskaya's performance for me because I preferred Cathleen Nesbitt so much more. Indeed a classic, I probably prefer the remake because I'm a big fan of Cary Grant's and only a bit more of Dunne's than Kerr's, but I still haven't seen the 50s version all the way through so for now, this is ahead in my mind.</p> <p>After seeing that I moved straight on to <em>Mourning Becomes Electra</em>, because the same person had uploaded both and I'd wanted to see it for years, being infamous for the biggest oscar shock ever, with Rosalind Russell so sure she'd win she'd got out of her seat before Loretta Young's name was read out. This is the newly extended cut and boy does it drag, I really wish, rather like Fanny & Alexander that I'd seen the original theatrical shorter version. The acting was good but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a bit disappointing given the reputation of both Russell's and Michael Redgrave's performances. Raymond Massey and Katina Paxinou come to play, but it's such a stagey, turgid drag of a film I couldn't recommend it outside of the curiosity value.</p> <p>Which brings me on to another extended version, <em>Untitled</em>, which is Cameron Crowe's director's cut of <em>Almost Famous</em> (with about 40 minutes added to it) which was on tv tonight. I've always found the original version to be so overrated, mainly because for me Kate Hudson was so annoying, fake and charmless and the whole soul of the film is her character and her relationships, so if you don't like her you're on to a loser with the film. I was extremely underwhelmed when I first saw it because I'm such a fan of rock music and Crowe's <em>Singles</em> is easily my favourite film on the subject and given the critical (if not financial, it bombed) reception it didn't live up to the hype.</p> <p>Despite having the same feelings about Hudson (the character is so well written I almost cry when I think that as stunningly soulful an actress as Sarah Polley turned it down) I did find this version more watchable. There are more genuine laugh-out-loud moments than I remembered and even if there are some dodgy lines in there ("let's deflower the kid!" :S) it is a film with its heart in the right place. I think the new cut fleshes out some of the relationships more and I do think it's improved in pacing despite the added length. The trouble is though most people who love this film have Hudson and the Tiny Dancer scene as their highlights, whereas I can't stand Elton John and Hudson will always be the reason I'll never take this film to my heart, even though it hits on so many areas that ostensibly appeal to me that I'll equally always feel that I should.</p> <p> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/30/how-the-brain-works-7271867/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-27:/2009/10/27/the-imaginarium-of-doctor-parnassus-7255207/shepster2009-10-27T19:22:14+01:002009-11-08T15:39:05+01:00 <p>Terry Gilliam is one of the most visionary directors working today, and seemingly only someone of his level of talent would be able to rescue a film from the brink of disaster as he has here. When David Lynch revived his unbought pilot for <em>Mulholland Dr</em>. he could do his patch-up job with the original actors (as Naomi Watts and Laura Harring were nowhere near stars), but following the death of Heath Ledger GIlliam didn't have such a luxury, instead turning to Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, and some rewrites to salvage the film.</p> <p>Sadly it will always be mentioned with reference to Ledger's death, but the concept of the three extra acotrs works rather well. The plot is basically that of a group of travelling performers, the immortal Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), his daughter (Lily Cole) and hangers on (Andrew Garfield and Verne Troyer). They have a magic mirror, which once inside the punter's imagination is brought to life, before being faced with a choice which will determine the fate of their soul. The clever part of the triple-casting is they go to the guys every time Ledger goes through the mirror so it's nowhere near as distracting as it could have been.</p> <p><img src="http://www.esquire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/parnassus.jpg" alt=""></p> <p>Being a Gilliam film, the visuals and general quirkiness are of the most concern. That said though if anything holds this film together it's the characters created and the situations they are put in rather than the style. Plummer is his most interesting in a decade, Cole shows some natural talent even if she is pushed a bit too far towards the end and Garfield finally has a role to fully exploit his natural sweetness and charm (the guy should be the British Michael Cera but instead he's been in some very gritty tv films). Tom Waits as the devil resembles a poor man's John Malkovich, Ledger is fine, but of the three replacements Depp comes to play the most.</p> <p>The set-up is rather convoluted which makes it a film which isn't the easiest to follow, but it does retain an inherent likeability. Here Gilliam assembles the misfits in vintage fashion, Cole is a very odd looking girl, Troyer is the latest in a line of "vertically challenged" people he's used and the story has a sufficient charm amongst the madness. If there's a problem it's that beneath the surface there's not actually that much on offer and it probably won't stand up to too much intellectual scrutiny. That said though the cast are all very game and the dance between Cole and Waits is one of the most visually arresting scenes in recent years and worth the price of admission alone. In a way it's a shame this will always be the film Heath Ledger died doing, because really he's one of the least interesting things about it, yet that is where the curiosity will naturally come from both now and in the future. Other films of Gilliam's might have deserved the extra attention more.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/27/the-imaginarium-of-doctor-parnassus-7255207/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-26:/2009/10/26/a-trio-and-some-telly-7250204/shepster2009-10-26T23:47:01+01:002009-11-08T15:42:01+01:00 <p>Right, straight on with it, I saw <em>The Nanny Diaries</em> on Sky because ... well, it was on and Scarlett Johansson is usually nothing if not watchable. The tone of this is the biggest problem, it goes for cuteness (which probably stems from the source material) but it's just not funny enough or clever enough a critique of the lifestyles encountered. Scarlett is solid, Chris Evans doesn't really try and Alicia Keys doesn't have anything to do. Paul Giamatti turns up for the paycheque, but Laura Linney is the only one who comes to play, she gives a fine turn. Doesn't consistently amuse, at times it's laughable rather than funny, but it engenders enough good will to see it through to its all-too-neat conclusion. Wouldn't recommend it but it wasn't a complete waste of time.</p> <p>I also caught<em> Taken</em>, which started its rotation on Sky this week, knowing full well this is the kind of "entertainment" that prompted Michael Haneke to make <em>Funny Games</em> not once but twice. Liam Neeson proved in <em>Batman Begins</em> he could play the legit badass and here he takes the centre of this revenge flick rather nicely. It's nothing special at all, the kind of thing that's been done before many times, but it flies by and is a decent enough watch, even if Mr Haneke would bemoan the violence as entertainment in and of itself.</p> <p><img src="http://inlinethumb59.webshots.com/44666/2227363050102258037S500x500Q85.jpg" alt=""></p> <p>Moving on I finally finished watching <em>The French Connection</em>. I've tried to watch this so many times, giving up 10-15 minutes in on a few occasions, and coming in halfway through on a few more. This film has two very famous scenes; Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider's "Good Cop, Bad Cop" routine and the "Car vs. Train" chase. Unfortunately I'd seen both of these more than once in my many aborted attempts, and it's probably that I wasn't particularly bothered by them and knew they were the stand-out moments of the film which prevented me from persevering with it. Inbetween it just drags and drags, very little happens, the performances are decent but don't compel and can't fill in the blanks. Don't rate this one, it's not bad, it's just the kind of film you flick to when the breaks come on when you're watching an American sport on the other side.</p> <p>Speaking of which I went to see the New England destroy Tampa in the NFL's (now) annual game at Wembley Stadium and as such I missed the final part of <em>Emma</em>, which I watched tonight on the iPlayer. Possibly the strangest feeling having finished it is the realisation that whilst being completely miscast from top to bottom and despite being incredibly uneven in tone and questionable in approach, due to the ineptitude of the 1996 adaptations this was surprisingly watchable. Suffering from the same problem the Joe Wright <em>Pride and Prejudice</em> did (in the lead actress playing her too much of a cow and - maybe because of that - the actor being too nice, thus unbalancing the natural arcs of the story), but without that film's genuine entertainment value it's quite the oddity. The final episode wasn't very satisfying dramatically, certain things are skated over intolerably and the emotional investment in the characters, despite (or maybe because of) spending four hours with them is sadly lacking. All it makes me want to do is a/ read the book and b/ find <em>Clueless</em> on tv.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/26/a-trio-and-some-telly-7250204/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-23:/2009/10/23/triangle-7226345/shepster2009-10-23T01:38:47+02:002009-10-23T01:38:47+02:00 <p>Over the last few years Christopher Smith has positioned himself as the go-to guy for British horror films, and with his third feature, <em>Triangle</em>, he's reverted to the formula of his debut effort <em>Creep</em> in casting a recognisable actress (in that case it was Franka Potente, here it is Melissa George) and building the film around her performance.</p> <p>George plays Jess, a mother of an autistic boy, who has been invited by a friend for a trip on his boat to have some time away from the stress of raising her child. Turning up semi-out of it, proclaiming her son to be at school despite it being a Saturday and spending the beginning of the trip asleep for hours, soon she perks up, before the wind disappears, a storm upends the boat and a liner rescues them. The problem with this is the liner is creepy and seemingly nobody is on board, then the shenanigans start.</p> <p><img src="http://www.getthebigpicture.net/storage/trailers/triangle01.jpg" alt="Melissa George" width="500" height="260"></p> <p>Taking the good aspects of this film first, there is a rather nice atmosphere of unease, if not genuine tension. It is for all intents and purposes a performance piece and George does deliver. The role is a complex and challenging one and she does absolutely everything that is required of her. It's a very professionally put together film, the editing is interesting, having George come in and out of frame from various angles and picking her up unusually.</p> <p>On the negative side though the sound design is a little rough around the edges on occasion and sadly, given the concept of the film, it's nowhere near as clever as it would probably think it is. It's not spoiling much to say this relies on time-loops as the bedrock of the storytelling and it is neither adequately explained nor does it work in its own internal logic. As such there are so many plot holes that this really is, despite being competently assembled, a rather large conceit and basically intellectual-counterfeit money. George ensures it's always watchable and is the reason to see the film, but for long periods it relies on confusion and intrigue and doesn't have enough of a pay off for it to be entirely satisfactory.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/23/triangle-7226345/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-21:/2009/10/21/when-unable-to-move-7212176/shepster2009-10-21T01:27:56+02:002009-10-22T14:49:51+02:00 <p>Right so I've been pretty ill for the past few days and as such I've barely moved out of the room with the cable box. Mostly watching sporting events, but the boredom has given way to seeing some pretty uninspired films, so I'll blast through them before hopefully going to the cinema to see something tomorrow (maybe <em>Up</em>, possibly<em> Triangle</em> as Melissa George is in it and after <em>In Treatment</em> I now like her, even though I'm sure that because she's not brunette in it she will suck :P).</p> <p>Right, what have I seen, oh yes, because I have the newly-created ESPN channels at no extra cost to the current package I'm on I've RAPED their coverage of College Football in America, and on one of the shows I saw Sean Payton (Head Coach of the New Orleans Saints) mention <em>Varsity Blues</em>. A couple of days later it was on so I checked it out and while not a cinematic masterpiece I suppose it was entertaining enough. Nice to see Amy Smart before her career died post-<em>Scrubs</em>, interesting seeing Ali Larter's debut and James Van Der Beek back when he was on the creek (why is it the girls both did so well out of that and the guys used the launchpad so ineptly? :S). Was frankly shocked at how low-brow this was, not what I was expecting at all. As American Football comedies go it's no <em>Wildcats</em>, but it eventually pushes the right buttons.</p> <p>Wow I wrote much more than I expected to there, I'll push on. <em>Eagle Eye</em> has started on Sky Premiere so I eventually caught it as I do enjoy Michelle Monaghan in certain things. Shia LaBoeuf is so poor in this he almost derails the film, bland, lifeless, charmless turn that sucks the life right out of the heart of it. Billy Bob Thornton just turns up for the pay-cheque and Rosario Dawson I've never seen so severe. Monaghan was the only one even remotely trying, but it wasn't enough to save this hackjob of a film. Sub-par special effects (for the kind of film it is) and one of those worst kind of action films that drags while waiting for them to stop running and get back to the plot (regardless of how ridiculous it is). Didn't like it.</p> <p><img src="http://ericyang.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/eagle-eye-01-lg1.jpg" alt="Yes dear, he" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>After that I saw <em>Star 80</em>, which is another example of the total randomnnes of TCM's new roster of films - it's not necessarily bad because they have obscure stuff that is interesting to a degree but it's not what you'd expect them to have. This was Bob Fosse's last film and lacks a lot of his visual flair instead shoving in repeated montages of pictures of Mariel Hemingway in various stages of undress. Eric Roberts gives a very game turn as the mentally unhinged husband of Hemingway's Playboy model and she gives a performance which makes her "nice" but doesn't really get into much character work. In the end it's almost necessarily exploitative and does enough to retain an interest, but they could have done much more with a different kind of approach.</p> <p>Lastly, <em>Date Movie</em>, which I watched out of sheer morbid curiosity and at the height of my illness ("sickness" is probably more apt considering I chose to watch this :D). Alyson Hannigan wasn't too bad in all fairness, but the material is extremely poor and doesn't even approach the "so bad it's good" area. I don't think the spoof films are ever really that successful, but in this they're doing parodies of films that were comedies in the first place and it's actually impressive that they take scenes which were originally very amusing (like say, the dinner scene from <em>Meet the Parents</em>) and suck all the humour out of it. Judah Friedlander was the only real "disappointment" I had as he's very funny on <em>30 Rock</em>, but then that's a show with heart and intelligence so not necessarily a surprise he doesn't thrive in the opposite environment. The one saving grace here is that I now can safely ignore any possible thoughts I might have had in the future about watching one of Aaron Seltzer's films as this was one of the rare times with me where one film is enough to make me write a director off.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/21/when-unable-to-move-7212176/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-12:/2009/10/12/a-handful-7153437/shepster2009-10-12T15:28:23+02:002009-10-12T18:41:50+02:00 <p>Maybe I've been spoiled by <em>In Treatment</em>, maybe I've just not been watching very good films this week, but I'll blast through these. One of the more obscure channels played a couple of films this week back to back, which I've wanted to see for years. The prospect of Faye Dunaway as Milady de Winter in <em>The Three Musketeers</em> and <em>The Four Musketeers</em> was an intriguing one for a fan of hers and they were finally played so I finally watched them. They're "spot the star" films with the likes of Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee and Charlton Heston and frankly, not quite what I was expecting.</p> <p>Dick Lester directing should have tipped me off to the fact they're not the most serious of adaptations and they're basically romps. The first one is very slapstick-driven (Raquel Welch probably being the most adept at it) and extremely silly and light in tone. It's just about watchable, and Heston comes to play as Richelieu but Dunaway is hardly in it and it always goes for the lowest common denominator. The second film is much better, it's less reliant on the comedic tone and has better action scenes as a result. Dunaway has a LOT more to do and delivers on the promise. Watched together they do fly by, but they're rather unsubstantial and it's probably only really worth seeing the sequel again.</p> <p><img src="http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg220/donpayasos/vlcsnap-412717.png" alt="Faye Dunaway" width="500" height="275"></p> <p>After that I saw another film I've wanted to see because of one actress, this time Charlotte Rampling in<em> Angel</em>. Unfortunately I wasn't aware the ever-dull Romola Garai and Michael Fassbender were effectively the leads, so even reuiniting Rampling with <em>Under the Sand</em>-director François Ozon wasn't enough on its own to save this. It's one of those trying-to-be-quirky, soulless drags of a period drama and unlike something like <em>Cheri</em> (where one of the leads was terrible and one was very good and thus saved it to some degree), the acting from the leads is so insipid it kills any interest. This sadly ends up being one of those films seemingly only made to give art directors and costume designers something to do. Ozon's direction is limp, Garai *is* the film and she's awful - horribly mannered, self-aware and lacking any chemistry or natural contact with the other players or her surroundings. She's fake, and so is the film: it's borderline-unwatchable.</p> <p>On to a pair of films I didn't expect to necessarily love but thought could possibly be at least entertaining. First of the two was <em>13 Going on 30</em>, which I'd always avoided as it sounded like a total rip-off of <em>Big</em>, but chronic boredom coupled with the inclusion of serial scene-stealer Judy Greer enticed me. Now it *is* a rip off of <em>Big</em> (and <em>Samantha Who?</em> borrows more than a little of this with the caveat of everyone still knowing her but her not remembering) but it does enough new stuff to distinguish itself in its own right. Really liked Mark Ruffalo in this (which is a surprise for me, I think he's a decent actor but I've never really *liked* him in anything before), Greer was all kinds of fun, Garner ... well, she did what was required - like the film, cute but nothing too out of the ordinary.</p> <p> Lastly, the multiple Razzie-award nominated <em>I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry</em>. Even more boredom prompted this one. This clearly isn't a good film, but I didn't think it was *that* bad. Adam Sandler's angry-man schtick has gotten very old, Kevin James is fairly charmless and Jessica Biel's role requires her only to a/ answer to the description of "smoking hot" and b/ have an ass worth showing off. I should have hated this film, but for some reason I didn't. I do think it revelled in the homophobia a bit too much in the beginning (the way, say, Spike Lee did with <em>Malcom X</em>'s more radical views before the last half hour smoothed them over), I do think they consistently went for getting Biel in various stages of undress rather than going for the funniest possible option, but I can't bring myself to lambast it. Maybe because it's so reminiscent of the 30s and 40s dramas of this kind, maybe it's just so generic it's not even offensively inoffensive, it's not really worth thinking about too much.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/12/a-handful-7153437/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-10:/2009/10/10/in-treatment-7137844/shepster2009-10-10T15:55:55+02:002009-10-10T15:55:55+02:00 <p>Right, so as you may have gathered from the last post and comments, I was so taken with the first episode of <em>In Treatment</em> I decided to blast through it online (and still have every intention of watching it again in the upcoming weeks on Sky Arts). I haven't been as taken with a show since last year where I blew through the first 2 series of <em>30 Rock</em> in under a week. Each "week" of the show (it's a therapist's session, showed in double time - 25 mins rather than 50 - once a day) has the same patients timeslot each week, but with the twist of Gabriel Byrne seeing his therapist on a Friday. It's being shown like that here (every night at 10pm) on Sky Arts, with an omnibus on Sunday nights.</p> <p>The first series, well, it's exceptional. Melissa George as Laura is a stunning piece of work, if I were putting her up against supporting women in theatrical films last year, she'd top the lot. That her and the divine Eileen Atkins in <em>Cranford</em> lost to Laura Dern in <em>Recount </em>at the Golden Globes is annoying because they took the time to recognise them, but then went for the showiest, most mannered, least natural turn of the lot from the bigger name. The couples therapy on the Thursday (with Embeth Davidtz) is the least interesting of the lot and Diane Wiest as his therapist Gina winning the Emmy is a bit random as she's the third best supporting woman on the show behind George and Mia Wasikowska's depressed gymnast Sophie. Great shout recognising Glynn Turman's performance though, his episode was absolutely superb and trumps any of the oscar nominated supporting actor turns last year.</p> <p><img src="http://tv.popcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/melissa-george-greys-anatomy.jpg" alt="Melissa George" width="500" height="340"></p> <p>Byrne won the Globe and it's not difficult to see why because they do love the centrepiece of something new (he and Paquin in <em>True Blood</em> won this year, Hamm for <em>Mad Men</em> and Close for <em>Damages</em> last year). He's note-perfect, showing such warmth and ease with Sophie, such restraint with Laura, then lack of it with his other patients. The sessions with Gina work two ways, they give him a chance to vent and do more dramatically, but knowing his thoughts and outbursts then makes his subtle reactions in the next week's sessions more palpable.</p> <p>The second series is a strange one, it doesn't have the high points acting wise of George and Wasikowska, and lacks the inherently arresting nature of the Laura storyline bleeding into everything else, but overall I think the second one is more balanced. There is super acting from all the patients, and the surprise for me was Hope Davis, as I've never been much of a fan of hers and have struggled to see why she has the reputation of being the Indie Queen. She's excellent here though, shedding her usual uptight persona and delivering a rounded, soulful effort. Alison Pill is extremely fine, Aaron Shaw as the little boy is adawwwable and John Mahoney is the best I've ever seen him. Wiest is probably better than the first series but Byrne goes into overdrive in some of his sessions with her.</p> <p><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/04/02/arts/treat.span.jpg" alt="Gabriel Byrne & Aaron Shaw" width="500" height="320"></p> <p>This one feels a bit more ... manufactured if anything. Whereas in the first series the endings of all of the storylines were staggered, here it is very much set up that the final week is very much about all of them stopping or continuing with therapy and it's not difficult to guess which way everyone's going to go. This is actually fairly true of the first series in general, you can sense a lot of where they're going to take it but it doesn't really matter. With the second it's more the overall mechanics of the storytelling that are apparant rather than the specific direction their problems will go in. If it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not, both series were brilliant, but those are just observations.</p> <p>Anyway, they've now exhausted the two original series on Israeli television this is adapted from so if there's going to be a third it's going to cost a LOT more for HBO to hire the writers and keep Byrne happy, and there's not much of a ratings incentive for them to do so. The classic case of a first rate, critically acclaimed show that not many people in America are watching and that will prove its downfall sooner or later. I'm DYING to see the original (which used to be on HBO's website, but alas no more) as it has Ayelet Zurer from <em>Angels and Demons</em> and Lior Ashkenazi from<em> Late Marriage</em> in it, but that may take a while. Watching this (obsessively <img src="/img/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" class="middle" border="0">) has been a delight though and I'll continue to watch it over the next couple of months to see what I missed the first time through.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/10/in-treatment-7137844/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-05:/2009/10/05/the-tv-situation-7106894/shepster2009-10-05T23:11:35+02:002009-10-05T23:11:35+02:00 <p>Not talked about any tv for a while but at the moment I seem to be inundated. I'm beyond annoyed that the BBC has stopped showing the Swedish Wallanders, leaving the final three in limbo (I heard somewhere they'll be shown at Christmas <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/smileys30.gif" alt="">). Slightly making up for that though is that the second series of <em>Spiral</em> is on, which I saw the first series of six months ago and talked about here. I'm a bit behind on it, relying on the iPlayer, having seen how the original played out I'm giving it a lot of leeway, but it seems a bit less centralised which makes the subplots of different cases every week less jarring. Cast is still fine, Audrey Fleurot has stepped up this time though.</p> <p><img src="http://astierandco.karmaos.com/Image/EngrenagesSaison2.png" alt="Audrey Fleurot" width="500" height="281"></p> <p>Right, what else is there, oh yes, the latest adaptation of Jane Austen's <em>Emma</em> has started on the BBC and I'm not particularly impressed. Jonny Lee Miller always seemed an odd choice for Knightley, and despite being miscast he does try, but it's Romola Garai who's letting the side down. She's acting it like a screwball comedy at times and is very over the top with her mannerisms, which is usually fine for the caricatured comic relief in Austen stories, but is out of place for the lead. The tone of it is a bit weird and the main character's not showing any charm and coming off as a complete cow (which is always the danger here). Not everyone's going to be the delight Alicia Silverstone was in<em> Clueless</em> though.</p> <p>So I might give that one more chance then sack it off if it doesn't improve, but no chance of that with <em>In Treatment</em>, which just started on Sky Arts as it's a wow. Half an hour of Melissa George unburdening herself to her therapist Gabriel Byrne, apparantly this will be on every weekday for a couple of months and have the characters coming back each "week" for their sessions. Searing performance from George (can easily see why she was Golden Globe nominated), never knew she had it in her, Byrne was fine but promises a lot for his own sessions. Cracking start.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/05/the-tv-situation-7106894/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-05:/2009/10/05/a-fistful-of-hackjobs-7103325/shepster2009-10-05T14:21:55+02:002009-10-05T14:21:55+02:00 <p>Okay, the five films I'm going to blast through aren't all hackjobs, but that is the overriding theme as the majority of them are. First up one of the exceptions, the Iranian film <em>Offside</em>, which was on Film Four recently. It shows a group of girls who have tried to go to an Iranian world cup qualifying match but have been detained as women aren't allowed in the stadium. So an issue movie, it's rather stagey as most of the film is just the women and the soldiers talking for an hour and a half. It's similar to the Egyptian film <em>One-Zero</em>, which I saw at the Venice Film Festival this year, but that film had better ensemble acting, whereas this relies on its subject to retain an inherent interest. Just about decent, but one of the weaker Iranian films I've seen.</p> <p>Moving on, <em>Dolores Claiborne</em>, an adaptation of a Stephen King novel which was written with Kathy Bates in mind, following her turn in <em>Misery</em>. Given that it's a Taylor Hack<span>job</span>ford (Mr. Helen Mirren) film it's really uninspired stuff. There's some truly awful dialogue Bates is forced to deliver ("Now you listen to me, Mr. Grand High Poobah of Upper Buttcrack, I'm just about half-past give a shit with your fun and games." <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/smileys77.gif" alt=""><img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/saddrunk.gif" alt=""><img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/icon_crazy.gif" alt="">) and David Strathairn in particular is miscast. Jennifer Jason Leigh tries and Judy Parfitt gives the closest thing to a good performance. So a predictably solidly made film, with some committed performances undercut by the writing and the approach. Watchable though, just about.</p> <p><img src="http://www.cinemovies.fr/images/data/photos/G138351442134911.jpg" alt="Diane Kruger & Joseph Fiennes" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>Moving on to something I referenced the other day in a review, <em>Goodbye Bafana</em>. This is the supposedly true story of Nelson Mandela's prison guard who kept watch on the political prisoner for decades. Dennis Haysbert, while a fine actor with a very nice screen presence is chronically miscast and surprisingly (for me, given I don't rate him at all) Joseph Fiennes as the guard steals the show. The accent doesn't get in the way (the way it does for a very game Diane Kruger) and it's the most natural performance I've seen him give. Bille August is always going to make it look nice as possible and it's well put together, if a bit preposterous (at times you can *tell* they're playing fast and loose with the truth) and caught between the Mandela intrigue which is hurt by the casting and the critique of the society which is a bit obvious. Decent watch though, flies by.</p> <p>From there it all goes downhill, starting off with <em>The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas</em>, which started on Sky Premiere this week. This is a really hackneyed piece of writing and the way it is presented doesn't do it any favours either. It's about a young boy whose Nazi father is sent to oversee the running of a concentration camp, which the lad mistakes for a farm. He meets a boy in the camp and strikes up a friendship. If there were one word to describe this film then it is "manufactured", characters are brought in to highlight certain areas of society, everything is talked out and pointed out just in case the audience is too slow, it's very condescending stuff. The problem with the end is it's the least moving Holocaust film I've ever seen so where the end is supposed to be moving the transparancy of the method renders it at-best obvious and at-worst laughable. Nothing to write home about cast wise, just tired, trite, hackneyed stuff.</p> <p>Lastly, <em>Fearless</em>, which I've been aware of for about 15 years, having seen adverts for it back in the early-mid 90s. Peter Weir is a solid enough filmmaker, but he does tread the line between good and average with alarming regularity. This is firmly the latter, following Jeff Bridges' crash survivor and his subsequent change of character. Bridges is fine, utilising his usual charmingly laid back approach, but Rosie Perez's oscar nomination is rather perplexing. Even in as weak a year in the category as 1993 was she just rides the nature of the role here whilst encouraging a slap in the face, and is easily one of the most fundamentally annoying actresses I could name. Isabella Rossellini lends some class to the proceedings, but this is a dull, turgid drag through a not very interesting story, with an ending which doesn't save what came before. Very disappointing.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/05/a-fistful-of-hackjobs-7103325/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-10-02:/2009/10/02/creation-7084307/shepster2009-10-02T13:18:52+02:002009-10-02T13:18:52+02:00 <p>Every year there is a biopic that comes along that seems to be put on this earth for the sole purpose of trying to win awards. <em>Miss Potter</em>, <em>Copying Beethoven</em>, <em>Goodbye Bafana</em>, etc., there's always some film or other which you can hear the pitch for with possible awards acclaim as the main probable reason for getting the film made rather than any specific greatness of story. Here we have husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly teaming up on screen as Mr. and Mrs. Charles Darwin in a film which promised to be another in that long line of biopics that for all intents and purposes is begging for an oscar.</p> <p>This is not the usual biopic though, it follows the final year of Darwin's writing of his seminal book, <em>On the Origin of Species</em>. What this does is take out any drama showing him conceiving his ideas or the 20 year struggle to put them down on paper, instead going for a dual narrative of him trying to finish the book whilst being haunted by the death of his daughter. As a study of grief it's average, it's a topic that's been done better many times before (for example through Charlotte Rampling's much vaunted turn in <em>Under the Sand</em>). On the other hand the battle between the Darwins (his wife being a devout Christian) is less successful, drawing her (and everyone else) in a very 2D manner which means when the big scenes come calling they lack the dramatic heft to underpin them.</p> <p><img src="http://assets.gearlive.com/filmcrunch/blogimages/jennifer-creation.jpg" alt="Jennifer Connelly & Paul Bettany" width="500" height="309"></p> <p>Bettany gives one of those performances which is annoyingly competent. The wheels are turning in almost every scene and while doing the basics of what is required for a truly cinematic performance, the effort is very apparant. Connelly is utterly wasted and only really has one scene or two to get her teeth into, she's a fine actress but it's been a long time now (2003's <em>House of Sand and Fog</em>) since she's tackled a role remotely worthy of her talents. The support from the likes of Toby Jones and Jeremy Northam is fairly irrelevant, but Martha West as their stricken daughter Annie has a lovely presence and is probably the best performer on show despite Bettany's obvious efforts.</p> <p>Occasionally the film tends to drag and does get rather turgid at times, the nature of all the strands of the story (his procrastination, the tension with his wife, the relationship with his daughter and the increasing illness he suffered) get rather repetetive and don't fuse together to create any real cohesion or dramatic arcs. There just isn't really enough of a story there and it feels padded out even at under two hours, therefore the overriding suspicion of the oscar being the primary motivation for this film rather than the desire to tell this specific story will always, sadly, abound.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/10/02/creation-7084307/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-30:/2009/09/30/surrogates-7069472/shepster2009-09-30T15:24:31+02:002009-09-30T15:24:31+02:00 <p>Usually when a film is divisive, it is a love-hate film, eliciting extreme reactions on each end of the scale. <em>Surrogates</em>, surprisingly, is a divisive film as well, but not in the usual way as it has been seen as either offensively trite or acceptably solid filmmaking.</p> <p>The story is that in the future, research originally designed to give paralysed people more of a normal life has been adopted by the military and then the general public, creating "surrogates", who are controlled by a human through their brainwaves but pose no physical risk to the operator. A brief introduction informs that 98% of the world's population now uses surrogates and crime and disease are virtually nil. Following the death of two humans whilst using their surrogates, cop Bruce Willis is on the case to unravel the mystery.</p> <p><img src="http://assets.gearlive.com/filmcrunch/blogimages/surrogates.jpg" alt="Surrogates" width="500" height="275"></p> <p>A lot of this film has been done before, it's a little bit<em> I, Robot</em>, a lot Philip K. Dick so it brings very little new to the table. The acting is fine but unspectacular, the execution is passable and the special effects are in the main decent. This is one of those films that does exactly what it says on the tin and delivers what you'd expect but nothing more than that. It is nice to see Rosamund Pike (as Mrs. Bruce) in a big-ish film again as she's much better than the Bond girl she's best known for being, and Radha Mitchell rounds out the central cast nicely.</p> <p>As a result, there's not a lot wrong with this film, but there's not a lot right with it either. It does leave massive questions the writers are too lazy to even contemplate answering, it has some interesting ideas but doesn't fully flesh them out and it goes for the lowest common denominator at every possible opportunity. What remains is a film that if you shut your brain off for 90 minutes then it's entertaining enough if almost completely unremarkable. Give it too much thought or expectation though and it could easily be labelled a hackjob.</p> <p> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/30/surrogates-7069472/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-27:/2009/09/27/the-pick-of-the-bunch-7048435/shepster2009-09-27T12:25:14+02:002009-09-27T12:25:14+02:00 <p>Okay, four to whisk through. I've been aware of <em>The Blob </em>since it was casually referenced in an episode of <em>Red Dwarf</em>, and for some reason it was on one of the sky channels so I checked it out. Ultra-low budget, B-movie feel to it, doesn't have the intelligence of a, say, <em>Invasion of the Bodysnatchers</em> and is far more unintentionally funny. Steve McQueen wasn't anywhere near the level of poise and cool he'd go on to show and has a pet peeve of mine with characters saying each others names in every other sentence. This would make a good drinking game film as while bad, it's entertainingly so.</p> <p>On to the pick of the bunch, <em>Water Lilies</em>, which was shown on Film Four (and will be repeated next Thursday night). This is basically <em>Show Me Love</em> meets <em>Innocence</em>. It's about three young teenagers who are intertwined via the local synchronised swimming classes (one's advanced, another a beginner, another just watches) and their sexual awakenings. Absolutely beautifully put together by writer/director Céline Sciamma, technically it's all very smooth and cleanly presented. The acting from all three is good, especially Pauline Acquart in the anchor of a lead role. It's fairly sparse, totally universal and rather thought provoking, of course with that final image (the original title, <em>Naissance des pieuvres</em>, means birth of octopuses), but more importantly with the undercurrent to what's been happening prior to that. A slow burner that's really worth checking out.</p> <p><img src="http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/64/27/06/18764982.jpg" alt="Water Lilies" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>Sadly that last sentiment could not apply to either of the next two films, the first of which is <em>Home of the Brave</em>, which started doing the rounds this week on Sky Premiere. I watched it because Christina Ricci was in the cast and there was nothing else on, but it turns out Ricci is in it for two scenes so in that respect I was very disappointed. It's a war film starring primarily Samuel L. Jackson and Jessica Biel (with some 50 Cent thrown in) showing an ambush in Iraq, but then focusing on the psychological aftermath upon returning from duty. Whilst being entirely inoffensive and rather average and trite, they do all try, but therein lies the problem as you can sense them trying. Jessica Biel, sitting on a bed, about to unburden herself ... the camera starts to zoom in. If only she were good enough to make the zoom in worthwhile.</p> <p>Laslty, my second Gallic offering of the four, namely Mathieu Kassovitz's dystopian <em>Babylon A.D</em>. Having not being a fan at all (that's putting it mildly) of his incredibly lauded <em>La Haine</em>, and never having seen a Vin Diesel film all the way through, I wasn't expecting much but having heard about the troubled production I was intrigued (as while having The Magnificent Ambersons butchered by the studio makes me never want to see it, here I don't respect Kassovitz as a director as he's no Orson Welles so I'll happily view the butchering). It's ... okay, just about, I'm not quite sure. Diesel is just there, Mélanie Thierry is just pretty, Michelle Yeoh tries and Charlotte Rampling doesn't. The occasional action scene has some vibrancy but it's all very familar stuff, and the end rips the guts out of the film. I doubt an extra 15 minutes (or 70, whichever figure is accurate) would have added too much.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/27/the-pick-of-the-bunch-7048435/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-24:/2009/09/24/district-7034318/shepster2009-09-24T22:06:10+02:002009-09-24T22:06:10+02:00 <p>On occasion you come across a film that has it all, quality acting, good writing, assured direction, but somehow something intangible misfires, you can't quite put your finger on why because all of the individual aspects are first rate, but it falls short and becomes less than the sum of its parts. With <em>District 9</em>, the debut film from South African director Neill Blomkamp, it's the opposite as despite flaws in philosophy, approach and execution it still remains rather watchable.</p> <p>Considering this is essentially an action film with lots of aliens and shooting, the film is staggeringly pretentious, taking such an empty genre and simply basing certain elements (that point being key, not the whole thing) on real life situations that arose in South Africa under Apartheid. The result is a messy, tacked on allegory that does not follow through and is a massive conceit.</p> <p><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/08/13/arts/14district9_600.jpg" alt="District 9" width="500" height="250"></p> <p>Another conceit is the approach, which begins with a cross cutting of "footage" from CCTV and news reports combined with "witnesses" after the fact, in the style of a television documentary. Now to begin with this type of thing is hardly original or groundbreaking, but cynically it is there solely to get the exposition and backstory across and the longer it goes the more Blomkamp ditches the technique in favour of traditional storytelling. It means when he brings it back in token fashion it jars and draws attention to the the method.</p> <p>Even the cinematography (which has some very nice shots) does this too as the "blood splatter" on the lens-trick, which is seldom anything other than ill-advised, is used incredibly frequently and only results in continuously reminding everyone that this is a film, as does the uneven approach in general. The CGI is very good and the aliens all look fine, but one decent performance from the central character played by Sharlto Copley is scant reward for this cross between <em>Cloverfield,</em> <em>The Fly </em>and <em>King Kong</em>. The latter reference is another problematic area, in that film Peter Jackson (who produced this) was able to convey genuine emotion towards the creature and show humans as the evil ones. Here, nothing of the sort is attempted and it's just empty, but very fine computer effects fighting 2D faceless humans - even <em>Transformers</em> at least had some laughs.</p> <p>In the end, it is just about watchable, the opening hour drags a touch, but the third act whizzes by and if a brainless killing of lots of people and aliens is the order of the day then this delivers, but it's as deep as a puddle and given its delusions of grandeur it leaves quite the aftertaste. Also, the truly cynical and unsatisfactory ending is the most ridiculously left open for a sequel since the likes of<em> Species</em> and <em>Resident Evil</em>. Average when in the cinema, but the more intellectual time given to it, the more the house of cards is blown down.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/24/district-7034318/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-23:/2009/09/23/dorian-gray-7028067/shepster2009-09-23T23:16:28+02:002009-09-23T23:16:28+02:00 <p>If you are a young, good looking actor, then there are very few roles better than the eponymous character in Oscar Wilde's <em>The Picture of Dorian Gray</em>. It's a meaty role that allows the actor to run the gamate, from wide-eyed innocence, through corruption to thoroughly damned. The problem is though that very few actors under the age of 30 have the dramatic chops to tackle such a role and even fewer who on top of that have the looks required to even attempt it. In this latest adaptation, the role has been given to Ben Barnes and while looking the part, he's way out of his depth here.</p> <p>Oliver Parker is the director, and he is a man whose career started with period dramas before nose-diving headlong towards the likes of <em>St. Trinians.</em> Sadly here he takes the trashiest possible approach to the subject matter, overplaying any possible salacious tittilation imaginable. As a result the balance between source material and subject is very much pushed in favour of what the story is about rather than the story itself, and the result is an extremely shallow one.</p> <p><img src="http://static.screenweek.it/2009/7/2/Dorian-Gray-Colin-Firth-Ben-Barnes-Rachel-Hurd-Wood-Rebecca-Hall-4.jpg" alt="Would you like a slice of bland with that bland?" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>This is a shame because the story is so timeless it will always appeal and whatever form it is presented in here it still remains intrinsically watchable. Colin Firth and Rebecca Hall add a great deal to this, as while Barnes may be about as effective as an underwater hairdryer, they lend some class and charm (respectively) to the proceedings. Somehow the role of Sybil Vane (played so memorably by a young Angela Lansbury in her oscar-nominated turn in the 1940s Hollywood version of the tale) gets completely lost and Rachel Hurd-Wood is wasted as a result, as are solid performers like Emilia Fox and Ben Chaplin who are given little to do.</p> <p>This is because the focus is all on the character of Gray and what erotic and sinful shenanigans he can get up to. The basic story of how his soul suffers for that can't really be fleshed out simply because either a/ Barnes isn't a good enough actor to fully get it across, b/ Parker isn't a good enough director to drag a performance out of him, or c/ (and most likely) it's both of those in tandem. That is a shame because this is a very handsomely shot film by the impeccable Roger Pratt and beneath the overt trashiness it's well put together and shifts along. It's just the tone, the approach and sadly, the talent (or lack of it) which stops it being anything other than average.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/23/dorian-gray-7028067/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-22:/2009/09/22/a-big-bunch-7015851/shepster2009-09-22T11:45:35+02:002009-09-22T11:45:35+02:00 <p>So here I was thinking I had a few to talk about but I'd forgotten I'd seen a couple on tv before I went to Venice so I'll just have to blast through it all. Okay, first up <em>Stop Loss</em>, which I saw just before seeing <em>The Hurt Locker</em> (which gives you an idea how long ago that was) and I must say I enjoyed it more than that film, although that's really not saying much. Thought the approach was really uneven with all the writing on the screen at the beginning. Ryan Phillipe was surprisingly effective and it's the first time I've actually recognised Abbie Cornish in something even if it did take me half an hour (she's completely forgettable in that Michael Fassbender kind of way). Decent film, nice point, fairly well put together.</p> <p>Moving on I saw the latter two thirds of <em>The Buddy Holly Story</em>, which has very little to do with the reality of Buddy Holly's life as SO much of it is made up. Gary Busey gives an excellent performance in what should be a by-the-numbers biopic, but it's rather like <em>The Glenn Miller Story</em> in that it's entertaining in and of itself and is a better example of it than most. After I got back the first thing I saw was <em>The World According to Garp</em>, and I wasn't too impressed. Robin Williams would go on to be much more of a screen actor and Mary Beth Hurt hardly had anything to do. Glenn Close was fine as the mother but nothing out of the ordinary and John Lithgow had the showiest role as the transsexual former American Football player and he was easily the best on show. It gets a little repetetive and drawn out, but it's watchable enough as far as it goes.</p> <p><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9YcWkAQSfQ/Se2Wuvor0BI/AAAAAAAAHYE/bgCtUEgGaEQ/s400/LM3.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="300"></p> <p>Right, so flicking back over Ken Rudolph's site (he's an oscar voter on the foreign language and documentary committees - <a href="http://kenru.net/movies/index.html"><a href="http://kenru.net/movies/index.html">http://kenru.net/movies/index.html</a></a>) I re-read mention of an Israeli film called <em>Late Marriage</em> allegedly influencing <em>Two Lovers</em>, so upon unsurprisingly finding it unavailable in the UK I downloaded it. It was Israel's submission for the Foreign Language category at the oscars in 2001 and stars Lior Ashkenazi as a 31 year old man whose parents feel shame that he hasn't married yet, and Ronit Elkabetz (so delightful in <em>The Band's Visit</em>) as the older, divorced mother who he is having an affair with. For the most part this is a very good film, but some of the important scenes fall a little flat and the end is extremely abbreviated as it skates over the natural winding up of the story and goes straight for the conclusions. Well worth watching for both leads alone though.</p> <p>I tried to watch The Mist as it was on sky the other night but as it had got to about 20 or 30 mins to go it was really impossible to care at that point. Not that the film was incredibly bad, it was just incredibly dull and the confinement in a supermarket-type set up has been done before (and way better, for example the legendary episode of <em>ER</em> with Ewan McGregor, <em>The Long Way Around</em>). When the "action" scenes come they're tired and hackneyed, nothing really on offer here, more proof that Frank Darabont has lost whatever he once had.</p> <p> Moving on from that yesterday I caught <em>A Town Like Alice</em>, which is a classic British film without too much of a reputation online. Based on the Nevil Shute novel (well, half of it <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/08wink.gif" alt="">) it dramatises the true story of how a group of women stranded in Japanese-occupied Malaya were forced to walk over a thousand miles from town to town in search of a camp, as none of the officers will accept responsibility for them. It's a director's film more than anything else and Jack Lee does a very fine job. Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch are very appealing as the main couple and it was easily the best film of the bunch I've talked about here.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/22/a-big-bunch-7015851/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-21:/2009/09/21/tristana-e-la-maschera-sadie-thompson-dvd-7010561/shepster2009-09-21T16:23:05+02:002009-09-21T16:23:05+02:00 <p>Right, so at the Venice Film Festival there were various stalls selling film-related stuff, be they dvds, posters, books, etc. and upon seeing this for 6 Euros it was an absolute must-buy. Gloria Swanson has an abiding reputation for her iconic role in <em>Sunset Blvd.</em>, but of course she was "the greatest star of them all" in the silent era. I'd seen her in tv interviews in the 70s and she was a lovely woman (and needless to say the complete opposite of Norma Desmond) and as a result I REALLY want to see <em>Perfect Understanding</em> with her and Olivier, which Parkinson showed a clip of and it was just divine. Anyway, there's virtually nothing available in this country unless you import region 1 stuff, so seeing this and so cheap I just jumped all over it.</p> <p><strong><span>THE FILM :</span></strong></p> <p><strong><span>TITLE - Sadie Thompson<br>RELEASE - 1928<br>COUNTRY - USA<br>DIRECTOR - Raoul Walsh<br>DISTRIBUTOR - Ermitage Cinema</span></strong></p> <p><em>Sadie Thompson </em>was made in a time of upheaval in Hollywood. The Hays Code was a few years away from being officially implemented, but by 1927 there already was an informal list of dos and don'ts filmmakers were advised to adhere to. Thus, in Gloria Swanson (with her producer's hat on) trying to adapt the play <em>Rain</em> (based on a W. Somerset Maugham story) it was fraught with problems and many compromises had to be made.</p> <p><img src="http://data5.blog.de/media/082/3921082_316fc250cd_m.bmp" alt="Gloria Swanson"></p> <p>Fortunately the compromises in the story do not compromise the quality of the storytelling as Raoul Walsh has made one of the more genuinely watchable silent films I've seen. There's a lot of humour in there and it's artfully made, but the main appeal of this in spite of that is Swanson and she's just sublime. Playing the woman who ticks off a local "reformer" (a minister in the original story) and has to repent for her sins or be sent back to San Francisco, Swanson has a very meaty role and she attacks it head on. It's not as mannered as one might expect, and she has some quite complicated emotions to get across the longer it goes, but she just nails it.</p> <p>Lionel Barrymore is the villain of the piece and he's sufficiently over the top (although it does tread the line between delicious and laughable occasionally) and Walsh as Swanson's love interest/way out has a nice presence. As with a lot of silents the tacked-on score isn't great and for long periods I put on some Shostakovich instead, but it still works in the dramatic moments. Rather bittersweet though as it makes me really want to check out as much of Swanson as I can, but there's not much of her around. This though was well worth getting and a perfect introduction to her silent work.</p> <p><strong><span>BONUS BITS :</span></strong></p> <p>Well, it is an Italian dvd, but there's only really profiles and stuff like that, but all in Italian, so even though lame in theory, particularly useless for me.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/21/tristana-e-la-maschera-sadie-thompson-dvd-7010561/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-20:/2009/09/20/rumba-7001418/shepster2009-09-20T12:09:41+02:002009-09-20T12:09:41+02:00 <p>This film finally got its UK release after about a year of waiting, having done the rounds in numerous local film festivals (Athens, Leeds, Turin) and garnering a reputation as quite the crowd-pleaser. Sadly though it got a truly pathetic opening (2 screens, presumably in London) and took the best part of two months to get anywhere near the second biggest city in the country.</p> <p>Rumba follows a married pair of teachers at a local school whose passion is dancing. They enter (and win) lots of local dance competitions, but this is brought tumbling down when a suicidal man puts himself in front of their car, the car swerves, and it results in the wife losing a leg and the husband loses his memory. If that sounds incredibly depressing, it isn't, this is a comedy and a virtually silent one at that. Hardly any dialogue is spoken and it's all very silly set pieces one after the other.</p> <p><img src="http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/theframeup/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/rumba.jpg" alt="Rumba" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>Due to the nature of the type of story, some of this hits more than it misses, but it would be churlish to suggest this isn't worth seeing. This is the kind of film that can get any reaction from it audience, from cross-armed scorn to bladder-testing mirth. Some of the set pieces are wonderfully done, especially a sequence of shadows dancing on the wall as our stricken pair sit motionless in silence. There are also some moments that will have pretty much everyone in the cinema laughing.</p> <p>This is a very cute, hyper-stylised film, which is very short (it's 77 mins long and took 11 weeks to shoot, so certainly a labour of love getting one minute on film a day) and does exactly what it says on the tin as it always tries to entertain. In a way it's a throwback, the kind of physical comedy they employ is timeless and universal and will have a wide appeal. That said though it can have the tendency to drag if a certain scene isn't doing much for you, but it's definitely worth checking out just to see what you can get out of it, and based on the showing I saw, more will like it than not.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/20/rumba-7001418/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-17:/2009/09/17/julie-julia-6983368/shepster2009-09-17T12:57:29+02:002009-09-17T13:19:18+02:00 <p>In 2002, a frustrated wannabe-writer named Julie Powell, who worked as a secretary for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, decided to cook her way through the 500+ recipes of American celebrity chef Julia Child's <em>Mastering the Art of French Cooking</em> in one year and write a blog chronicling her efforts. This film is the result of that blog, but writer/director Nora Ephron decided one story wasn't enough and also adapted Child's posthumous autobiography <em>My Life in France</em>, and tells the story of how that seminal book came into existance.</p> <p>This is ostensibly a comedy but it's not very amusing and the double-whammy is that it's so lightweight it doesn't really work as a drama either. The story of Child going from bored wife to trained chef and writer, coupled with Powell's tale of a year of blogging doesn't really create any really genuinely funny moments or situations where we truly care about what's happening to these people. At one point Powell's husband leaves her but it's so tritely drawn it falls somewhat flat, and knowing that Child will succeed in getting her book published relies on individual scenes to provide interest.</p> <p><img src="http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2009/08/03/12/398-Film_Review_Julie___Julia_NYET563.standalone.prod_affiliate.81.jpg" alt="Amy Adams" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>Amy Adams and Meryl Streep take the respective roles of Julie and Julia, and just as they did together in <em>Doubt,</em> they highlight the opposite approaches the actresses take. Adams gives a very natural, subtle turn but isn't really given much to do. Streep on the other hand has this extremely big personality ... and even a few watches of clips on youtube will show that her 2D caricature of Child owes more to Dan Aykroyd's Saturday Night Live skit than the real thing. It has been suggested that Streep is playing people's idea of Child rather than Child herself, but when the result is a supposedly beloved character so annoying that she should be taken round the back of the nearest shed and given both barrels to the face, it doesn't work on its own merits. Given her reputation for accents it's doubly distressing that she's taken this woman and made her sound like a pompous soprano who's just sat on a red hot poker. Now, this overplaying of the sing-song nature of the personality is something Greer Garson did to Eleanor Roosevelt in <em>Sunrise at Campobello,</em> but Streep here makes it difficult to get involved with her character because she's so over the top.</p> <p>The cutting between the timelines is not very consistent and sometimes it stretches too far to draw parallels between the two stories, yet in spite of all of this it does just about work. A nice score by Alexandre Desplat holds the two together and while not really working properly as a drama or a comedy, half-hitting both makes it watchable in general, if not entirely successful. Adams is the best thing about the modern story (her on-screen husband Chris Messina is sufficiently dull) and Stanley Tucci as Child's husband gives a very nice little performance to balance out Streep's excesses. Both storylines have their moments (Child finding out her sister is pregnant, Powell and the lobsters), but they're few and far between and the end result is a film that only just about drags itself up to average.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/17/julie-julia-6983368/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-16:/2009/09/16/away-we-go-6979772/shepster2009-09-16T22:36:17+02:002009-09-16T22:36:17+02:00 <p>Sam Mendes began his film career at a very consistent pace, three years after his debut <em>American Beauty</em> he delivered <em>Road to Perdition</em>, and then had the same gap between that and <em>Jarhead</em>, and that and<em> Revolutionary Road</em>. Following last year's oscar <span>begging</span> nominated film for the first time in his career Mendes went out and just made a film straight on the back of it and given the results, he should never work any other way.</p> <p><em>Away We Go</em> is probably the most instantly likeable non-animated film in a number of years. Starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, it follows a couple who upon getting pregnant and learning his parents are moving to Belgium decide to visit a list of places where they could possibly move to to raise the child. What results is a road movie of sorts, and every good road movie needs a killer soundtrack and this has a truly superb one, pooling a collection of Alexi Murdoch songs with the likes of George Harrison and Bob Dylan. It complements the mood and the characters perfectly as they flit between friends and family trying to find somewhere to fit in.</p> <p><img src="http://flagpole.com/images/jpgs/2009/07/22/Movie-AwayWeGo_b.jpg" alt="John Krasinski & Maya Rudolph" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>The trailer for this film makes it seem the bog-standard kind of indie film that has become so common over the last decade, but this has a number of absolutely monster laughs and is absolutely hysterical when it wants to be. Allison Janney gives a knockout supporting turn and Catherine O'Hara and Maggie Gyllenhaal also absolutely come to play. The screenplay is the bedrock of this film and it works on many levels as it crafts comedy through slapstick, one liners and simple visuals.</p> <p>The heart of the film comes from John Krasinski who has such an appealing screen presence and gives a gorgeous little performance as the sweet man his pregnant girlfriend will never agree to marry. Rudolph doesn't really do much but she doesn't have to because Krasinski picks up the slack and makes their relationship work all on his own, it's such a natural, generous turn. Mendes is at his best here, in the past some of his films have been overtly stylised or pre-thought out in advance, but here he just tells the story as naturally and as simply as possible. It's rather like Ron Howard with <em>Frost/Nixon</em>, he doesn't bring any of his Sam Mendes-ness to it, he just lets the script do the work for him. It's beautifully shot and so smoothly assembled, the technique is simultaneously impressive and invisible.</p> <p>What remains is a thoroughly enjoyable, extremely entertaining, at-times hilarious, gentle little film that just washes over the audience. It presents the characters and avoids the pitfalls of the genre (usually road movies can suffer in the narrative, but the arcs are well constructed here) as well as embracing the finer parts of it with that super soundtrack which gels in with the film and meshes everything together. It's just a case of lame trailer, surprisingly great film, that probably deserves better marketing and distribution than its gotten. As such it's a diamond in the rough that hopefully won't be overlooked by too many.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/16/away-we-go-6979772/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-16:/2009/09/16/fish-tank-6975923/shepster2009-09-16T12:59:32+02:002009-09-16T12:59:32+02:00 <p>Three years after her searing debut <em>Red Road</em> hit screens, Andrea Arnold has followed it up with her new film <em>Fish Tank</em>. Having won an oscar for her critically acclaimed short <em>Wasp</em>, both of her first two features have debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, and both won the Jury Prize. The first was certainly worth the attention, but sadly this one probably isn't.</p> <p>Following a 15 year old girl named Mia from a single-parent family on an estate, it introduces an almost thoroughly unlikeable character; she's violent, foul-mouthed and chronically abrasive. Now this is not necessarily a flaw in and of itself, Jake LaMotta in <em>Raging Bull</em> was a horrible human being but his story and his character was fascinating. Here though the tale of someone off the rails on an estate is so trite and has been done before and better. The drama unfolds when Mia's mother starts seeing a new man named Conor and the effect his influence has on Mia.</p> <p><img src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00864/Fishtank_864763a.jpg" alt="Katie Jarvis" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>Katie Jarvis is the novice in the lead and she does fine, and Michael Fassbender nails Conor's charm, but is unable to flesh out the complexities of where his character is taken. This is a problem because when the script hasn't fleshed out the motivations of the characters sufficiently, the actors aren't good enough to go above and beyond and paper over the cracks. What results is characters it is very difficult to care for, with unsatisfactorily drawn arcs and performances that fit the basic requirements of the role but do nothing more.</p> <p>Arnold's visuals are as strong and as direct as ever, but this film is inferior to her debut in pretty much every area. The story is tired and less vital, the acting isn't on the stellar level she's found before and it just seems so "try-hard"ish. There isn't the emotional kick of <em>Red Road</em> and the end is amped up manipulatively then fizzles out unsatisfactorily. It feels more like someone apeing Andrea Arnold than anything else and is a definite regression. A massive disappointment, it's a decent film but given the woman's talent, she's sleepwalking here and she's been hit by the sophomore slump.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/16/fish-tank-6975923/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-15:/2009/09/15/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-six-6970666/shepster2009-09-15T17:43:51+02:002009-09-15T17:43:51+02:00 <p><strong><span><span>FILM - Mr. Nobody</span>,</span> <span>DIRECTOR - Jaco van Dormael,</span><br><span><span>COUNTRY - Belgium, SECTION - In Competition</span></span></strong></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - Sarah Polley.</p> <p><span><strong>Impressions :</strong></span></p> <p>The final film I saw at Venezia 66 was easily the most ambitious of the lot. Boasting a very large budget by European arthouse standards (the best part of £35m), Jaco van Dormael took 6 years to get in a position to make the film and it received its debut here. Set in the future when people no longer die, it follows the "last mortal" man on earth and looks back on the different possible ways his life could have gone back in the late 20th century.</p> <p>There are so many films this recalls, the love and loss and regret is pure Wong Kar-Wai/<em>2046</em>, the various outcomes are straight out of <em>Blind Chance</em> and <em>Reconstruction </em>and the framing coupled with occasional quirkiness that is very similar to <em>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</em>. Jared Leto is Nemo Nobody, the son of Rhys Ifans and Natasha Little (very nice seeing her doing something worthwhile a decade after <em>This Life</em> finished) who "has" three possible relationships with Diane Kruger, Sarah Polley and Linh Dan Pham.</p> <p><img src="http://www.shockya.com/news/wp-content/uploads/mr_nobody_photo2.jpg" alt="Diane Kruger & Jared Leto" width="500" height="262"></p> <p>The scale of the vision is very impressive, as is the make up. The attention to detail in the time periods is more drenched in the soundtrack than anything else, as we see Nemo in four timelines (as a young boy, a teenager, as a man and as the ancient last mortal man alive) it's the pop culture (and what girl he's with) which distinguishes everything. There are moments that could be considered homages, but then again there are some music video-style techniches obviously pinched from elsewhere (everything from <em>Requiem for a Dream</em> to the Spice Girls) and the cynic could cry "Hack job!" and there wouldn't be much of a defence. It's occasionally funny, very surreal and I feel I should have liked it more than I did because it has all the ingredients and heavily nods to a lot of films I aboslutely adore.</p> <p>Sadly though I had to leave 20 mins before the end to try to catch my flight out of Venice, so I'm unable to know whether it all pulls together satisfactorily at the end. As it went, it was a very interesting, strange little film, with quite a lot to like about it amidst all the strangeness. Will definitely be seeing it again when it gets released as this is the kind of film that has "requires repeat viewings" written all over it.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 80 (1577 cumulative)</em></strong></span></p> <p>Right, so after all of that I find myself 33 miles short, but I think given that's just on value for the films and doesn't include the charms of Venice itself it was certainly worth my going. Thanks to the Shovel for pointing me in the direction of making it possible <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/icon_wave.gif" alt="">. Right, so prior to going I'd only seen one <span>****</span>* 2009 film this year and I saw four at that rating or higher in under a week, which was a good return I felt. Sheppy Awards-time then, not going on in competition, but based on everything I saw, here's my picks of the festival :</p> <p><strong><span>Best Film :</span></strong></p> <p><span><strong>Gold</strong></span> - <em>Lo spazio bianco (White Space)<br></em><span><strong>Silver</strong></span> - <em>Zanan bedoone mardan (Women Without Men)</em><br><span>Bronze</span> - <em>The Men Who Stare At Goats</em></p> <p><strong><span>Best Actor :</span></strong></p> <p><span><strong>Gold</strong></span> - Ewan McGregor, <em>The Men Who Stare at Goats<br></em><span><strong>Silver</strong></span> - Yoav Donat, <em>Lebanon</em><br><span>Bronze</span> - Sergio Castellitto, <em>36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup</em></p> <p><strong><span>Best Actress :</span></strong></p> <p><span><strong>Gold</strong></span> - Margherita Buy, <em>Lo spazio bianco (White Space)</em><br><span><strong>Silver</strong></span> - Isabelle Huppert, <em>White Material</em><br><span>Bronze</span> - Nelly Karim, <em>One-Zero</em></p> <p><strong><span>Best Direction :</span></strong></p> <p><span><strong>Gold</strong></span> - Francesca Comencini, <em>Lo spazio bianco (White Space)</em><br><span><strong>Silver</strong></span> - Shirin Neshat, <em>Zanan bedoone mardan (Women Without Men)</em><br><span>Bronze</span> - Samuel Maoz & Maoz Shmulik, <em>Lebanon</em></p> <p><strong><span>Special Mentions :</span></strong></p> <p>The Screenplay of <em>The Men Who Stare at Goats,</em><br><em>White Space</em>'s cinematography,<br>The Art Direction and Make Up of <em>Mr. Nobody</em>,<br><em>Lebanon's</em> sound design, <br>The soundtracks of <em>The Men Who Stare at Goats, White Space</em> and <em>Mr. Nobody</em>.</p> <p>The blog will resume normal service later tonight as I have a couple of films to talk about that were released in my absence (one of which is my most anticipated film of the year).</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/15/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-six-6970666/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-15:/2009/09/15/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-five-6966673/shepster2009-09-15T10:11:57+02:002009-09-15T16:09:14+02:00 <p><span><span><strong>FILM - Zanan bedoone mardan (Women Without Men)</strong></span>, </span><strong><span>DIRECTOR - Shirin Neshat, <br></span></strong><span><strong>COUNTRY - Iran, SECTION - In Competition</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - Iranian films invariably interest me and this had an interesting backdrop.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>Set against the backdrop of the UK/US-backed 1953 Iranian coup (in which the democratically elected government was overthrown and a western-friendly dictatorship inserted in its place), visual artist Shirin Neshat's debut feature length film based on the novella of the same name (which is banned in Iran) is a bold, unflinching statement.</p> <p>The stories follow a group of women who, amidst these powder-keg moments of history, find themselves intertwined. Orsolya Tóth is a malnourished prostitute at the end of her rope, Arita Shahrzad a wealthy woman unhappily married to an officer in the army, and there are a couple of friends, one who commits suicide (then comes back to life) due to her overbearing brother and her virginal friend who is in love with the brother.</p> <p><img src="http://www.ioncinema.com/old/images/upload/news_4351_main.jpg" alt="Women Without Men" width="530" height="250"></p> <p>This film is so artfully made, the images are emotionally arresting and beautifully constructed. Given the nature of the plot it is very metaphorical (especially the woman committing suicide then coming back), but also as such it is occasionally a bit weird. The characters meet at an idyllic orchard far away from the mess of what's going on with the impending coup after the prostitute has had enough, the wife leaves her husband (and buys the orchard) and the friend is raped and flees in shame (the suicide girl gets involved in the communist opposition to the coup, after leading her friend to the orchard). These are things which are changed from the source material, the basic characters are the same but what happens to them has been tinkered with - sometimes it works better and sometimes it doesn't.</p> <p>Given how gorgeous this film is aesthetically, it's a bonus that Neshat uses the power of the images to supplement the point that she's making and insert an inherent pathos into the film. She says the film is for the victims of all the turbulent back-and-forth power struggles in Iran over the last century and that provokes some very interesting metaphorical readings of the characters and also shows how no matter whether the end result is "good" or "bad" or neither, innocents get hurt in the upheaval. So a very well acted, interesting film, which is lovely to look at and makes you think even when it seems a bit out there, as even that is for a reason.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 250 (1432 cumulative). </em></strong></span></p> <p><span><span><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><span><span><strong></p> <p>FILM - Wahed-Sefr (One-Zero)</strong>,</span> <strong><span>DIRECTOR - Abou Zekri Kamia</span>, <br><span><span>COUNTRY - Iran, SECTION - In Competition</span></span></strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - It sounded as if it should be quite watchable.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>One-Zero is a very accessible film to a western audience. Built around the lives of various characters on the day of the final of the 2008 African Cup of Nations it has the feel of those intertwined ensemble pieces which have been a staple of American independent cinema over the last decade or two.</p> <p><img src="http://images.farfesh.com/articles_images/1FARFESHPHOTOS/CELEBRITIES/ARABIC/khaled_aboo_elnaga/wahed_sefr.jpg" alt="One-Zero" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>Niveen is a divorcee in her 40s who wants to remarry a talk show host called Sherif, but legally she can't as she asked for the divorce. A hairdresser called Adel lives with his mother and has recently broken up with Nina, who is the latest talentless hottie to become a popstar, much to the chagrin of her conservative sister. All the characters mesh together, but in a way which is almost exactly in the middle between a Paul Thomas Anderson and a Paul Haggis-type of approach.</p> <p>For the most part this is a very nice little film, there are moments about halfway through where it descends into "people shouting = drama" and it's quite overcooked. That said though it thankfully doesn't last and gets back on track. The ensemble all acquit themselves nicely, with Nelly Karim as the religious nurse being the pick of the bunch. By the time the stories come to their conclusion it makes for a satisfying conclusion. Knowing the result of the final doesn't impact on the film's basic ability to work dramatically and it ensures the end is simultaneously tied up and left sufficiently open as whatever happened that night isn't going to change because of a football match, but it does show how something as simple as that can bring a nation together.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 65 (1497 cumulative).</em></strong></span></p> <p> </p> <p>I'll do the last day (which only had one film), and give my awards for what I saw coupled with seeing if I got up to the magic 1,610 miles to have made the return trip worth it at some point later today.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/15/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-five-6966673/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-15:/2009/09/15/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-four-6964874/shepster2009-09-15T01:37:53+02:002009-09-15T01:37:53+02:00 <p>Right, I'm going to have to do these fairly quickly because I've come back and started watching more films and there's a backlog developing. So following the Wednesday where I finally got to see some very good films, my most anticipated of the lot was on this day. I saw it in the cheap Palabiennale, and had queued up at 8.30 in the morning to get a ticket to the Corto Cortissimo shorts later in the day. Also, the previous day I'd had free tickets for the Gallery of the Sala Grande foisted on me for a midnight showing of a Bollywood film and the others were interested in going, so we did.</p> <p> </p> <p><span><span><strong>FILM - Lebanon</strong></span>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Samuel Maoz & Maoz Shmulik</strong></span>,<br><span><strong>COUNTRY - Israel, SECTION - In Competition</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - Following in the footsteps of modern Israeli war-based films I'd enjoyed.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>On the heels of the likes of <em>Beaufort</em> and <em>Waltz With Bashir</em>, <em>Lebanon</em> debuted here with a great deal of expectation. This is, rather like <em>Waltz With Bashir</em>, quite a gimmicky film. <em>Waltz...</em> is a documentary turned animated film via rotoscoping, this has the intrigue of being a war film from the grunt's-eye-view as it follows a mission an Israeli tank is sent on during the First Lebanon War, set entirely inside the tank (to the extent that we only ever see outside via what the gunner sees through his sights).</p> <p><img src="http://static.screenweek.it/2009/8/21/Lebanon-Samuel-Maoz-Oshri-Cohen-4_mid.jpg" alt="Lebanon" width="500" height="300"></p> <p>Given the claustrophobic nature of the set-up, it requires good character work and fine acting to pull it off and the cast deliver from a more than decent script. It shows superbly the pressures put on these men to dehumanise themselves and the inherent consequences of their actions in the field. The gunner frequently delays firing, the officer chastises his men for not immediately executing his orders but he doesn't override them either. The close quarters also breeds familiarity and contempt between the soldiers in varying positions in the chain of command.</p> <p>So while a gimmicky, almost Hitchcockian cinematic challenge, there's a lot of substance here. The characters are strongly drawn and put in situations which naturally allow drama to unfold. The continual entry of the major commanding the troops the tank is accompanying breaks up the repetetiveness and at times adds to the tension. Towards the end the filmmakers do push it a tad too far, but the final moments are genuinely exciting. Very worth seeing, technically impressive and it has something to say. That's a combination that works.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 220 (1120 cumulative).</em></strong></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span><span><strong>FILMS - Various Shorts</strong></span>, </span><strong><span>DIRECTOR - Meni Philip</span><span>, Murad Ibragimbekov, Adriano Giannini, Salomé Aleksi</span></strong><br><span><strong>COUNTRY - Various, SECTION - Corto Cortissimo</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - Always worth checking out unusual parts of the festival, especially when free.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p><em>Sinner</em> was the first film, and was easily the pick of the bunch. It's about a boy at a school run by rabbis who is having lustful thoughts, tells one of his teachers, then falls victim to abuse. It's nicely shot, smoothly put together, I did think the lad didn't quite have the acting chops to get across the full aspects of the role, but it's still good enough to hit home emotionally.</p> <p>The second film was a Russian one called <em>Object #1</em>, but it was only 5 minutes long and the English subtitles weren't working. It looked to have overtly artistic visuals, black and white with very colourful red when needed, but it was a bit too quirky for my liking, even without knowing what the hell was going on <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/08wink.gif" alt="">.</p> <p>Third up, and receiving the most amount of applause (but then again it was in Italian, well, Sicilian <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/icon_mrgreen.gif" alt="">, so it was more likely to hit with the locals) was <em>Il Gioco</em>, which is about a game a group of boys play on the beach. It's got very sheened visuals, but the sound design was ridiculous, trying to amp up everything, just because you're playing the soundtrack loud doesn't make it more dramatic <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/grayuhoh.gif" alt="">. A bit too weird and silly though for me given where they take it.</p> <p>The last one (well, the last one I saw, for some reason they showed four, then had an interval then showed the last one - the Italians couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/icon_crazy.gif" alt="">) was <em>Felicità</em>, which is about a woman who, having left Georgia to become part of the sex trade in order to support her family, has to mourn the death of her husband over the phone. It's one of these that shoves the "important" subject down the audience's throught, but in the end is not funny enough for what it is and is quite literally pretentious.</p> <p>It turns out afterwards <em>Felicità </em>got a special mention and <em>Sinner</em> has been sent by the Festival to the European Film Awards, so by all accounts I picked the right day to go even if I was only really impressed with the one.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 50 (1170 cumulative).<br></em></strong></span><span><span><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><span><span><strong><br>FILM - Delhi-6</strong></span>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Rakesh Omprakash Mehra</strong><br></span><span><strong>COUNTRY - India, SECTION - Out of Competition</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - I liked the director's previous film.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>Rakesh Omprakesk Mehra's follow up to the BAFTA nominated <em>Rang de Basanti</em> had a lot to live up to, and if nothing else it wasn't lacking in ambition. It follows a group of people in Delhi and shows how trivial things can accentuate the religious divide and pull the community apart. We follow the arrival of a young American who brings his Grandmother home to die in the country of her birth. Soon he begins to see why the place means so much to her but is also surprised by the cultural things which don't allow people to be accepted.</p> <p>I'll start with the good, and the acting is in the main fine, and the score and songs by the ubiquitous A.R. Rahman are a good example of his work in the genre. The editing of the musical set pieces is first rate and the cinematography is stylish and interesting.</p> <p><img src="http://images.dailyradar.com/media/uploads/showhype/story_large/2009/02/18/delhi_6_28h.jpg" alt="Delhi-6" width="500" height="375"></p> <p>Sadly though occasionally that turns into a bit of a hack job (especially when apeing Coppola's "beast-eye-view" camera from <em>Dracula</em>) and the story is underpinned by some very silly aspects combined with some tired, cheesy ones. The leads are appealing enough but they can never get any chemistry going because the director doesn't allow them to. The scale of the ambition is such that they don't really know what story they're telling, so a lot of things are skated over and others are only given lip-service.</p> <p>In fairness, by 1.30am I was yawning my ass off and despite giving the film a lot of good will, it just was not engaging my increasingly tired self. Even though much shorter than a lot of Bollywood films that get good distribution, this one felt overlong and overstuffed and the overt ridiculousness of what underpins the drama made it impossible to take seriously. It looks and sounds nice, but in the end it's a rather hollow venture with delusions of grandeur.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 12 (1182 cumulative).</em></strong></span></p> <p>I'll be back with more tomorrow and hopefully round it off so I can get on to the British releases I've seen since I've been back.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/15/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-four-6964874/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-14:/2009/09/14/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-three-6958035/shepster2009-09-14T01:20:05+02:002009-09-15T01:39:19+02:00 <p><span><span><strong>FILM - Il compleanno (David's Birthday)</strong></span>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Marco Filiberti,<br></strong></span><span><strong>COUNTRY - Italy, SECTION - Controcampo Italiano</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - The plot summary seemed quite interesting and it was a cheap premiere at the main Sala Grande.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>Following in the footsteps of many modern Italian films,<em> Il compleanno</em> is extremely competently put together. Italian cinema as a whole (or at least the films that get international distribution) have very smooth, fluid aesthetics and this is certainly no different. I had been intrigued to see this because of when/where it was on coupled with the plot outline - a group of friends reuniting during a holiday with some murky issues between them bubbling beneath the surface.</p> <p><img src="http://www.cosmopolitan.it/var/cosmopolitan/storage/images/media/immagini/archivio/026001030405/36315-1-ita-IT/026001030405_full.jpg" alt="Il Compleanno" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>This is an ensemble film and there isn't a false note amongst the cast (the only one of whom I recognised was Maria de Medeiros who is most famous for being Bruce Willis's arm-chewingly annoying girlfriend in <em>Pulp Fiction</em>). That coupled with the execution from the director and an interesting plot could seemingly hardly fail with 20 mins to go. But alas...</p> <p>Where they take the film at the end is so melodramatic and overtly operatic (think the "big" moment near the end of <em>The Lives of Others</em> amped up with the stereo turned up to 11) it's a let down dramatically. Worse than that though is the emotional and intellectual reaction to the very questionable messages seemingly on show. It's very homophobic and leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, which is a genuine shame because for long periods this had so much to offer. What they end up delivering was an intellectual turd sandwich which should only be placed in a brown bag, set alight and left on Filiberti's doorstep as that's the only fitting place for it.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 8 (180 cumulative).</em></strong></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span><span><strong>FILM - The Men Who Stare at Goats</strong></span>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Grant Heslov</strong></span>, <br><span><strong>COUNTRY - USA, SECTION - Out of Competition</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - The cast and a writer I like's debut as a director.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>So this is the film that was simply being billed and referred to as "The Clooney" with Italy's most famous resident "headlining" a film which in reality is Ewan McGregor's (but then again Ewan can't get hundreds of Italian females to scream "GIORGIO!!!" on queue when he puts the soles of his shoes on a red carpet, hence ... GIORGIO!!!). It took a packed-out Palabiennale a little while to attune themselves to the style of comedy on show (Ewan's reporter is drawn into a story of army-trained psychics, with George being the most talented), but once this gets going it really gets going.</p> <p>The most impressive thing about this film (aside from the soundtrack, which is absolutely superb) is debut-director Grant "I wrote <em>Good Night, and Good Luck</em>" Heslov's direction. In comedies such as these tone is key and Heslov walks the tightrope and balances it all extremely well. He has the actors pitching it spot on and uses that great soundtrack to add to and define the humour.</p> <p><img src="http://joyhog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/menwhostareatgoats.png" alt="George Clooney & Ewan McGregor" width="500" height="280"></p> <p>Clooney is in his "zany" mode - when it works (like <em>O Brother, Where Art Thou?)</em> he's very fun, but when it misfires (like <em>Leatherheads</em>) it's not that hot. He's much closer to the former than the latter here. Ewan quietly steals the show, and Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey are okay but don't elevate the material they're given. The good thing though is the material is a fine piece of writing and consistently funny.</p> <p>This is a very enjoyable crowd-pleaser of a film with more than a few memorably riotous moments that deliver some monster laughs. It may clearly play fast and loose with the truth, but it's just so entertaining you can almost forgive them anything, even the staring at the goats <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/icon_mrgreen.gif" alt="">.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 240 (420 cumulative). </em></strong></span><span><span><strong></strong></span></span></p> <p><span><span><strong>FILM - Lo Spazio Bianco (White Space)</strong></span>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Francesca Comencini</strong></span>,<br><span><strong>COUNTRY - Italy, SECTION - In Competition</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - It was part of the double bill with the Clooney and I liked the poster.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>There are certain performances where you see them and say "They just won the oscar": Julia Roberts in <em>Erin Brockovich</em>, Jamie Foxx in<em> Ray</em>, Daniel Day Lewis in <em>There Will Be Blood</em>. Whether you agree with their wins or not, it was just that obvious. When <em>White Space</em> comes to its achingly beautiful conclusion, had it been in English and starring someone like Michelle Pfeiffer or Meg Ryan then the oscar race would be over before it had even begun: Margherita Buy's performance is just that kind of good.</p> <p>We are introduced to Buy's character, a woman in her 40s who teaches Italian to adults in Naples and becomes pregnant following a passionate affair. Six months later her baby is prematurely born and the father is nowhere. Buy is forced to wait ... and wait and live with the continuously overbearing uncertainty.</p> <p><img src="http://download.kataweb.it/mediaweb/image/brand_trovacinema/2009/08/29/1251543192758_03.jpg" alt="Margherita Buy" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>This is not to say that the film is simply a performance piece, it's beautifully constructed. The cinematography is serenely smooth and the soundtrack is first rate. The editing ebbs rhythmically but despite that the film is, if anything, a little long. By definition the type of "story" they're telling (or more accurately - situation they're exploring) is a tad repetetive and can drag, but it does add into the character's situation (more Catch-22 as I mentioned the other day).</p> <p>Those pacing issues are the only real problem with this lovely little film. Buy's gently subtle "wow" of a performance ensures it will always be worthwhile for that alone, but there is much more on offer from Comencini than you'll find in the average performance piece. It's more <em>Clean </em>than <em>Down to the Bone</em> in that respect and it's all the better for it.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 480 (900 cumulative).</em></strong></span></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/14/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-three-6958035/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-13:/2009/09/13/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-two-6955898/shepster2009-09-13T17:51:29+02:002009-09-13T17:51:29+02:00 <p><span><strong><span>FILM - Choi Voi (Adrift)</span></strong>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Chuyên Bui Thac</strong></span>,<br><span><strong>COUNTRY - Vietnam, SECTION - Horizons</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - Linh Dan Pham, from <em>The Beat That My Heart Skipped</em> and <em>Indochine</em>, plus Do Thi Hai Yen from <em>The Quiet American</em>.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p><em>Adrift</em> is a very strange film to talk about, so this will literally be my impressions and not much of a "review". The film is about a couple of newlyweds who don't immediately consumate their relationship. What that results in is the wife becoming more and more frustrated at her cab-driver hubby who is always too tired to give her a roll in the hay. They've moved into a new place and the young neighbour downstairs takes an obvious liking to the husband, and the wife's best friend seems more intent on leading her astray than anything else.</p> <p><img src="http://tinvan.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/4306cp-choi-voi.jpg" alt="Adrift" width="500" height="300"></p> <p>The most interesting thing about the film for me was the visual approach, I found myself watching it thinking "If this was a Wong Kar-Wai film you'd have a longer shot than that" or "If this was a Kieslowski film there'd be a close up of that". There are a lot of open shots, it's smoothly made but there's a distinct choice to show the environment these people are in, whereas others would go for a more intimate, claustrophobic feel. It doesn't make it better or worse, but it's certainly not going for the easy, trite option.</p> <p>This is the kind of film where the best thing I can say about it is that it's never boring, but on the other hand I have no idea whether I actually liked it or not. The acting was fine, with Linh Dan Pham's very restrained performance being the pick of the bunch. Thematically this should have been something I would be really into with the Wong-ish holding of everything back, but something prevented it from taking hold emotionally. Perhaps a really good score would elevate the film quite a bit, but I do think the second half doesn't quite live up to the intriguing promise of the first.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 25 (76 cumulative).</em></strong></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span><strong><span>FILM - 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup</span></strong>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Jacques Rivette</strong></span>,<br><span><strong>COUNTRY - France, SECTION - In Competition</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - Liked a couple of RIvette's films in the past.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>So I made my way to the Palabiennale for a double bill for the second time, but this time actually had the intention of watching both, and this was the first of the two. Quite simply, I liked it. This is a very simple, watchable little film about a man (Sergio Castellitto) who has an impact on a travelling circus. There are numerous characters but the central role is taken by Jane Birkin, who has returned to her high-wire act for the first time in 15 years. Castellitto persues her, having witnessed the accident which made her stop performing.</p> <p><img src="http://cine-serie-tv.portail.free.fr/critiques-de-films/24-07-2009/36-vues-du-pic-saint-loup/pic_saint_loup_haut.jpg" alt="Jane Birkin & Sergio Castellitto" width="500" height="245"></p> <p>Sometimes Sergio has a very annoying screen presence but he didn't bother me here at all. He's natural and doesn't overplay it  as he befriends the clowns, chips away at Birkin's defences and goes from enthusiastic audienc-member to basically running the show as his "suggestions" increasingly become more like orders.</p> <p>Rivette's technique is very smooth, he shifts the film along with some seamlessly spritely pacing and it's all very well put together. Sometimes you don't know if the performers are practicing or if it's their actual act, but it's seemingly irrelevant as it's just what these people do. It is a comedy as the tone is light, and it is occasionally very funny. The whole cast acquit themselves nicely. Not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but very watchable, inoffensive stuff.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 80 (156 cumulative).</em></strong></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span><strong><span>FILM - The Informant!</span></strong>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Steven Soderbergh</strong></span>,<br><span><strong>COUNTRY - USA, SECTION - In Competition</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - It was essentially free as I'd paid for the Rivette.</p> <p>So from the clowns to the clowning - the latest Steven Soderbergh offering is one of a few real life-based comedies (the biggest other being George Clooney's <em>The Men Who Stare at Goats</em>). Here we find Matt Damon playing a delusional executive at a food company who turns informant for the FBI whilst simultaneously (and naively) trying to take control of the company he works for.</p> <p><img src="http://www.mtv.com/movies/photos/f/fall_preview_2009/the_informant_1.jpg" alt="The Informant!" width="500" height="350"></p> <p>For the first 45 minutes of this it really isn't very funny at all and as a result Soderbergh utilises one of the most condescending scores in recent memory, screaming to the audience "IT'S A COMEDY DAMMIT!!!". Seemingly the exclamation mark in the title wasn't enough <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/graydead.gif" alt="">. This self-consciousness highlights the first half of the film's major shortcomings, it wants to be light, fresh and breezy but for the most part it's rather dull and not very entertaining. Once Damon starts taping the meetings it does pick up and hits more frequently with the laughs.</p> <p>Damon is fine, Melanie Lynsky completely wasted in a nothing role, Scott Bakula gives some nice support and the rest of the cast are inoffensively average. The latter comment is representative of the film as a whole, it's not bad but it's far from great, it's not a waste of time but it merely passes it rather than filling it. That is probably the worst reaction a film could get - apathy.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 16 (172 cumulative).</em></strong></span></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/13/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-two-6955898/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk,2009-09-12:/2009/09/13/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-one-6951289/shepster2009-09-13T00:53:26+02:002009-09-13T01:08:44+02:00 <p>Right, so even though I actually got there last Saturday night, this is about the films and for me at Venice this year Day One was last Sunday. I'd had someone wonderfully procure the tickets I asked for (although unable to score free tickets to <em>Up</em>, despite queueing for 2 hours <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/saddrunk.gif" alt="">) and it meant just the two outings (as while I paid for a double bill including Michael Moore's <em>Capitalism: A Love Story</em>, I had zero intention of staying to watch it). It is 805 miles from Venice to Birmingham and as a result I shall be judging how worth my overall trip was in terms of mileage <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/smiley-wink2.gif" alt=""></p> <p> </p> <p><span><strong><span>FILM - Insolacao (Sunstroke)</span></strong>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Daniela Thomas & Felipe Hirsch</strong></span>,<br><span><strong>COUNTRY - Brazil, SECTION - Horizons</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - Daniela Thomas, having done very nice work with Walter Salles down the years.</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>Occasionally in cinema a film comes around where the feeling that the audience experiences is mirrored by the message of the film. I call it "Catch-22-style filmmaking" and it has seen films like <em>I'm Not There</em> result in a film which is first and foremost like its subject. <em>Insolacao</em> follows a group of people and their loves/existances following a meeting with a poetic, bearded drifter. It drags horrendously and is so poorly paced it bogs down the various narratives.</p> <p><img src="http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/09kT26caqQ7Pf/610x.jpg" alt="The culprits" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>After a while the horror dawned on me that it might just have taken my coming all the way to Venice to walk out of a film for the first time. "Happily" though around about the hour mark the film finally begins to make its point: a character giving a monologue saying that one day he wanted to kill himself, no reason, no big drama, he just wanted it all to end. This is where the Catch-22 effect kicks in: that book was about how war was boring and repetetive and pointless and the author made the book that way too to ram the point home. Here this film is about someone wanting to kill themselves and in the process it makes the audience feel that too because the film is so turgidly dull and annoyingly frustrating that shares in Gillette bound to go through the roof in the aftermath of mass-seppuku.</p> <p>Some of the acting is quite good, especially the girl playing the confused slut, but for long periods it just isn't enough to retain an interest in what's going on. Neither do the characters as presented and it results in an extremely poor, borderline-unwatchable effort which suggests that Daniela Thomas is far better off when riding Walter Salles's coattails.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 1.</em></strong></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span><strong><span>FILM - White Material</span></strong>, </span><span><strong>DIRECTOR - Claire Denis,<br></strong></span><span><strong>COUNTRY - France, SECTION - In Competition</strong></span></p> <p><strong><span><span>Why I wanted to see it?</span></span></strong> - Isabelle Huppert, in spite of my reservations about Denis' "talents".</p> <p><strong><span>Impressions :</span></strong></p> <p>So after <em>Insolacao</em> things literally couldn't have been worse so despite my not being a fan of Denis at all, I had been taught patience earlier in the day and gave this a lot of good will as a result. It follows Isabelle Huppert, who is a French coffee-farmer in Africa who is being urged to leave due to the decreasing stability of law and order in the area.</p> <p>We see a fire in a building with a white and black man locked inside, then have Huppert hitching a lift on the road, followed by flashbacks once she's in the van. The flashbacks were a little confusing, I thought they were being told from Huppert after the fire, but it turns out it's immediately before and that muddies the water. Dramatically it's not as satisfying and the narrative is more than a tad choppy.</p> <p><img src="http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20090906&t=2&i=11488415&w=450&r=2009-09-06T145459Z_01_TGN123_RTRIDSP_0_FILM-VENICE" alt="Isabelle Huppert & Claire Denis" width="500" height="333"></p> <p>The film lives and dies on Huppert's performance and it's very good. It seems an obvious statement but her screen presence is incredible and she holds it all together brilliantly with some beautifully nuanced body language. The characterisation isn't that deep though as her farmer staying despite everyone telling her it's not safe isn't given much background and doesn't have much motivation fleshed out (as even her character in <em>Home</em> had, implying she broke down anywhere else). That Huppert makes it work in spite of that is a testament to her skills as an actress rather than Denis' as a dramatist.</p> <p>The cinematography is very rough and ready, especially in the first 20 minutes or so. The editing doesn't aid things as it follows the structure of the script, but there is a gorgeous modern score which adds greatly to the mood and atmosphere of the piece. So in the end, quite good, but it may just be because I watched something truly hideous before.</p> <p><span><strong><em>Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 50 (running total = 51)</em></strong></span></p> <p> </p> <p>Will be updating these daily, more tomorrow (well, it's 12.45pm, so ... later today <img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/image/smileys/icon_mrgreen.gif" alt="">).</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2009/09/13/venezia-66-venice-film-festival-day-one-6951289/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>