I really like understated films that lead you along quite gently for the most part but with a few shocks thrown in. Kelly + Victor is a great example of that. A young couple, played by Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Julian Morris, meet on the dance-floor. They are drawn together into an intense relationship that fires both of their subtle but addictive personalities.
Director Kieran Evans shows us parts of Kelly and Victor's lives. He doesn't try to explain. He doesn't make excuses for the characters' flaws, or the imperfections of the world they live in. We see what happens and accept it for what it is.
Clearly the relationship is going to end badly for one or both of the characters. Again Evans shows us the events, with some sensitivity where appropriate, without judging, without condoning or condemning.
Brilliantly acted, well written and wonderfully directed. Loved it.
Tuesday 25 February 2014
Saturday 22 February 2014
Elysium
I didn't expect much from Elysium, since I thought the publicity shots showing Matt Damon looked like he was wearing an exoskeleton made by a seven year old.
But I was pleasantly surprised. There's a good reason why that exoskeleton looks cobbled together... it is cobbled together... because Matt plays a poor person on an Earth where the rich have moved out.
There are lots of nice touches in Elysium. The robots are cool and there are some cool weapons. But the future here (AD 2154) isn't that amazing apart from medical pods that can cure any condition by shining a light on you for about 4 seconds.
Technology isn't really the issue here though. The metaphors are pretty unambiguous: Elysium is America and Earth is Mexico. Sometimes metaphors are dispensed with completely: the nasty rich people speak English and the nice poor people speak Spanish; the nasty poor people are all white males with South African accents.
All pretty blunt. Particularly the clichéd British accents of the rich (can't make the E=USA too obvious for the majority of paying customers) ... the worst of which is Jodie Foster's which is truly terrible. Having an Indian male as the President also seemed a bit crass to me... although Foster as his ballsy female head of Homeland Security is a nice touch.
There's not a lot of acting required here, but Damon is on excellent form and Alice Braga gives excellent support as the grown-up childhood friend Frey.
Certainly flawed as a social commentary... but very enjoyable non-the-less.
But I was pleasantly surprised. There's a good reason why that exoskeleton looks cobbled together... it is cobbled together... because Matt plays a poor person on an Earth where the rich have moved out.
There are lots of nice touches in Elysium. The robots are cool and there are some cool weapons. But the future here (AD 2154) isn't that amazing apart from medical pods that can cure any condition by shining a light on you for about 4 seconds.
Technology isn't really the issue here though. The metaphors are pretty unambiguous: Elysium is America and Earth is Mexico. Sometimes metaphors are dispensed with completely: the nasty rich people speak English and the nice poor people speak Spanish; the nasty poor people are all white males with South African accents.
All pretty blunt. Particularly the clichéd British accents of the rich (can't make the E=USA too obvious for the majority of paying customers) ... the worst of which is Jodie Foster's which is truly terrible. Having an Indian male as the President also seemed a bit crass to me... although Foster as his ballsy female head of Homeland Security is a nice touch.
There's not a lot of acting required here, but Damon is on excellent form and Alice Braga gives excellent support as the grown-up childhood friend Frey.
Certainly flawed as a social commentary... but very enjoyable non-the-less.
Sunday 16 February 2014
A Separation
Oscar winning films can be a bit hit and miss. Foreign language Oscar winners even more so.
I like to think that I always give films a fair chance. But A Separation had me glancing at the clock after 20 minutes. It was so crushingly dull. The characters are so flat and emotionless. Where is it going? I lasted until after the 1/2 hour mark and then gave up.
Maybe it gets better later on; I don't know. I don't want to sit through half a boring film to get to an interesting film. You have to give me something in the first 1/2 hour to make me want to keep watching. I don't need a lot... but something!
As I said, maybe this is a good film; but the first 1/2 hour is very boring and I didn't care to risk wasting the rest of my evening.
I like to think that I always give films a fair chance. But A Separation had me glancing at the clock after 20 minutes. It was so crushingly dull. The characters are so flat and emotionless. Where is it going? I lasted until after the 1/2 hour mark and then gave up.
Maybe it gets better later on; I don't know. I don't want to sit through half a boring film to get to an interesting film. You have to give me something in the first 1/2 hour to make me want to keep watching. I don't need a lot... but something!
As I said, maybe this is a good film; but the first 1/2 hour is very boring and I didn't care to risk wasting the rest of my evening.
Saturday 15 February 2014
The Host
I'm talking about the 2013 film called The Host here, since there are several other movies with the same title. It stars Saoirse Ronan who is one of my favourite actors; and she features a lot. In fact she is in nearly every scene. So I was always going to like this, unless it was terrible.
It isn't terrible.
The film is quite slow paced and there aren't many surprises. But I really liked the idea of the aliens invading to experience our world and to save it from us. The contrast of the slightly nasty Seekers to the others was quite well done... and resolved neatly by the end.
All the characters were well played. William Hurt makes a good patriarch and the romantic interests of Max Irons and Jake Abel are convincing without becoming overly sentimental.
Ronan is the centre of the whole film though and it lives or dies by her performance as Melanie / Wanda. I thought she carried it off brilliantly. The whole dual personality thing just worked for me and I enjoyed the exploration of the conflicts.
Perhaps the end was a little bit soppy, but you could see that they'd sort of painted themselves into a bit of a corner there... I can forgive that.
Overall, a light, nice film; I enjoyed it.
It isn't terrible.
The film is quite slow paced and there aren't many surprises. But I really liked the idea of the aliens invading to experience our world and to save it from us. The contrast of the slightly nasty Seekers to the others was quite well done... and resolved neatly by the end.
All the characters were well played. William Hurt makes a good patriarch and the romantic interests of Max Irons and Jake Abel are convincing without becoming overly sentimental.
Ronan is the centre of the whole film though and it lives or dies by her performance as Melanie / Wanda. I thought she carried it off brilliantly. The whole dual personality thing just worked for me and I enjoyed the exploration of the conflicts.
Perhaps the end was a little bit soppy, but you could see that they'd sort of painted themselves into a bit of a corner there... I can forgive that.
Overall, a light, nice film; I enjoyed it.
Wednesday 12 February 2014
Fatal Move
This is one of the most brutally violent films I have seen in a long time. Early on I lost track of who is who... but that doesn't really matter because Fatal Move is just an exercise in how to cut off limbs, slash throats and stab people in more and more graphic ways.
There is also a scene where a woman is tortured horribly. It is all the more terrible because we are told beforehand that once the gang have tortured her for information they are going to kill her anyway.
Occasionally there are scenes where people try and act to create a story to hang the violence to. But that doesn't last long. Soon you are back to watching people being cut up and sometimes shot.
Any time someone does something good, or appears to have something to live for other than crime, you know that they will soon be killed horribly by a bad person.
The ending attempts to be ambiguous... why bother, when everyone else is dead? Who cares if one or two or three people survive... or none... it doesn't make any difference.
There is also a scene where a woman is tortured horribly. It is all the more terrible because we are told beforehand that once the gang have tortured her for information they are going to kill her anyway.
Occasionally there are scenes where people try and act to create a story to hang the violence to. But that doesn't last long. Soon you are back to watching people being cut up and sometimes shot.
Any time someone does something good, or appears to have something to live for other than crime, you know that they will soon be killed horribly by a bad person.
The ending attempts to be ambiguous... why bother, when everyone else is dead? Who cares if one or two or three people survive... or none... it doesn't make any difference.
Saturday 8 February 2014
Hereafter
The opening scenes of Hereafter are wonderful and thrilling. They set the film up to deliver something special... but it doesn't.
After the opener we get 3 separate story lines which run independently for a long time. We assume that they will eventually come together, since there are common elements. But the plot stays with each of the 3 threads for awkward lengths; sometimes it feels too long, other times not long enough. There isn't enough in any of the threads to really grab you and make you care about the characters... tragic though some of their experiences are.
There is also an imbalance between the characters which seems to weaken rather than strengthen the film, because of the way it is constructed. And ultimately this leads to an unsatisfying conclusion. I can see what the makers were trying to do, but I don't think they achieved it.
After the opener we get 3 separate story lines which run independently for a long time. We assume that they will eventually come together, since there are common elements. But the plot stays with each of the 3 threads for awkward lengths; sometimes it feels too long, other times not long enough. There isn't enough in any of the threads to really grab you and make you care about the characters... tragic though some of their experiences are.
There is also an imbalance between the characters which seems to weaken rather than strengthen the film, because of the way it is constructed. And ultimately this leads to an unsatisfying conclusion. I can see what the makers were trying to do, but I don't think they achieved it.
Friday 7 February 2014
11.6
It wasn't at all clear to me watching 11.6 whether I was seeing fact or fiction. Maybe I missed the based on a true story ... maybe it was just in the French and not in the translation.
Clearly there is a real Toni Musulin who stole 11.6 million euros. It would have been nice to know if the film was based on information from him, or if it is purely guesswork based on the public evidence.
Either way, there is an interesting story being told here. François Cluzet portrays Musulin as a decent guy who has strong principles and isn't treated well (or even fairly) by his employer. There's a suggestion that there is always a lot more to him than he shows the outside world. And that mystery is what holds the film together. You know from the start that he's going to steal the money... the film is actually more about why he did it than about how.
There are lots of interesting scenes, many of which throw up questions that are never answered by the film. Probably because Musulin has never revealed the true story. The film can't speculate too widely because the truth may come out one day.
Given the range of questions the film couldn't answer, I think the film makers did a great job in giving us a fascinating tale that's well worth watching.
Clearly there is a real Toni Musulin who stole 11.6 million euros. It would have been nice to know if the film was based on information from him, or if it is purely guesswork based on the public evidence.
Either way, there is an interesting story being told here. François Cluzet portrays Musulin as a decent guy who has strong principles and isn't treated well (or even fairly) by his employer. There's a suggestion that there is always a lot more to him than he shows the outside world. And that mystery is what holds the film together. You know from the start that he's going to steal the money... the film is actually more about why he did it than about how.
There are lots of interesting scenes, many of which throw up questions that are never answered by the film. Probably because Musulin has never revealed the true story. The film can't speculate too widely because the truth may come out one day.
Given the range of questions the film couldn't answer, I think the film makers did a great job in giving us a fascinating tale that's well worth watching.
Thursday 6 February 2014
Versus
Sometimes it doesn't matter what language a film is made in. One such film is the Japanese film Versus. That's not because the film is so profound that it surpasses language... or any other arty-farty reason. The reason the language doesn't matter is because the film is so mad that the dialog just confuses you. It's best to just watch it and accept that you aren't going to understand what's happening.
There is plenty to watch in the absence of anything resembling a coherent plot. That's another point of confusion; there are lots of things thrown in: guns, zombies, knives, gangsters, swords, zombies, two guys in a car who seemed even more disconnected than everything else, more swords, vampires (maybe), lots more guns, a variety of martial arts, lots of blood, holes blown through people and a girl.
Total mayhem. I quite enjoyed it though.
There is plenty to watch in the absence of anything resembling a coherent plot. That's another point of confusion; there are lots of things thrown in: guns, zombies, knives, gangsters, swords, zombies, two guys in a car who seemed even more disconnected than everything else, more swords, vampires (maybe), lots more guns, a variety of martial arts, lots of blood, holes blown through people and a girl.
Total mayhem. I quite enjoyed it though.
Monday 3 February 2014
The Shinjuku Incident
I started watching The Shinjuku Incident without knowing much about it (as usual). So I expected it to be the usual stuff from Jackie Chan. But it's nothing like his other films at all. There's virtually no humour or kung-fu. This is a very serious, and very violent, film.
Chan plays an illegal immigrant to Japan from China who gets mixed up in all sorts of criminal activities. There are parts where we see conflict between his honest core beliefs and the blatant criminality that he somehow justifies to himself.
I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on that dilemma... maybe it didn't exist; maybe he was just a bad man... it's hard to tell from most of the film, despite early displays of honesty and honour.
It was good to see Jackie Chan doing some serious acting (I guess Karate Kid was fairly serious, but this is grown up serious). He does well. Better than many of the other actors, who come across as caricature villains... particularly the Japanese.
Overall though, this is a decent film. Interesting.
Chan plays an illegal immigrant to Japan from China who gets mixed up in all sorts of criminal activities. There are parts where we see conflict between his honest core beliefs and the blatant criminality that he somehow justifies to himself.
I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on that dilemma... maybe it didn't exist; maybe he was just a bad man... it's hard to tell from most of the film, despite early displays of honesty and honour.
It was good to see Jackie Chan doing some serious acting (I guess Karate Kid was fairly serious, but this is grown up serious). He does well. Better than many of the other actors, who come across as caricature villains... particularly the Japanese.
Overall though, this is a decent film. Interesting.
Sunday 2 February 2014
The East
I should have blogged about The East straight after I watched it, because today I can't remember much of the detail... which tells you something about it. As films go, there's really nothing wrong with it. The acting and direction are both strong etc etc etc.
It was good to see a woman in the lead for a change... but young very pretty woman... still a bit clichéd.
An enjoyable enough watch. But it isn't going to change the world.
It was good to see a woman in the lead for a change... but young very pretty woman... still a bit clichéd.
An enjoyable enough watch. But it isn't going to change the world.
Saturday 1 February 2014
A Field In England
There are films I like, films I didn't like and films where I think "Are you taking the piss?"
A Field In England falls firmly into the latter category. It's one of those films that takes on a certain Emperor's New Clothes effect; no-one dares say it's shit, because no-one else is saying it's shit, but most people are thinking "This is really shit, isn't it?"
It is so bizarre that you start off thinking that you need to concentrate in order to not miss the subtle effects which will render it meaningful. But after about 40 minutes it dawns on you that there aren't going to be any revelations... it is just rubbish.
It is shot in black and white; which I don't have a problem with, except that the film is set hundreds of years before the invention of film so the distinction between black and white and colour seems pointless. In fact, since the film is trying to be hallucinogenic I would have thought that colour would give more opportunities for original effects.
There are random sequences where the image just flashes. The viewer is warned about this at the start. At first it seemed quite quirky, but quickly got irritating. There seemed to be no reason for it... no connection between the scenes that flashed. When I removed the disk from my player the menu screen started flashing... I thought my eyes had broken... but turning the player off and back on fixed it... I wonder if all the flashing scenes were supposed to flash or if the film did something odd to my player... I don't care enough to have another look.
I really liked Ben Wheatley's other films Kill List and Sightseers ... but, in case you are still in any doubt about what I think, this one is complete crap.
A Field In England falls firmly into the latter category. It's one of those films that takes on a certain Emperor's New Clothes effect; no-one dares say it's shit, because no-one else is saying it's shit, but most people are thinking "This is really shit, isn't it?"
It is so bizarre that you start off thinking that you need to concentrate in order to not miss the subtle effects which will render it meaningful. But after about 40 minutes it dawns on you that there aren't going to be any revelations... it is just rubbish.
It is shot in black and white; which I don't have a problem with, except that the film is set hundreds of years before the invention of film so the distinction between black and white and colour seems pointless. In fact, since the film is trying to be hallucinogenic I would have thought that colour would give more opportunities for original effects.
There are random sequences where the image just flashes. The viewer is warned about this at the start. At first it seemed quite quirky, but quickly got irritating. There seemed to be no reason for it... no connection between the scenes that flashed. When I removed the disk from my player the menu screen started flashing... I thought my eyes had broken... but turning the player off and back on fixed it... I wonder if all the flashing scenes were supposed to flash or if the film did something odd to my player... I don't care enough to have another look.
I really liked Ben Wheatley's other films Kill List and Sightseers ... but, in case you are still in any doubt about what I think, this one is complete crap.
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