A person leaving jail is a common opening film scene (e.g. Zift and Sherrybaby), but don't hold this cliché against A Somewhat Gentle Man. Don't hold the bleak, winter urban setting and slow pace against this film either, because unlike some of the Scandinavian comedies I've seen, which are not only dark, but also surreal (e.g. The Bothersome Man), the most surreal thing here are the coincidences. Stay with A Somewhat Gentle Man beyond its slow, unpromising start (and occasional violence) to enjoy some off beat humour delivered slowly, unexpectedly and sometimes below the belt.
Ulrik having finished a 12 year stretch for murder, discovers that his old crime boss is more keen on revenge against the man who squealed to the police 12 years ago than he is. But how can he upset the man who also finds him his first job and place to live (even if the room has a clanging metal door)? In fact the world is divided into those that want to take advantage of him and those who don't want to know him.
You know that you are not in Kansas when a woman, arriving home with her young son, is horrified to find her husband kneeling in a pool of piss on the living room floor with a gun to his head, reacts by offering to make everyone some tea. If you like black comedy delivered with barely a drop of melodrama then this is your sort of film. There is even a happy ending of sorts.
Ian's rating 3.5/5
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Love in a Puff
Love in a Puff, which is the unfolding of the romance between Cherie (a cosmetics saleswoman) and Jimmy (who works in advertising), was made in Hong Kong. When I think of movies made in Hong Kong I think of Jackie Chan, martial arts and police dramas, so a romantic comedy was definitely a novelty. A romance born in an alley outside work amongst a group of smokers is also a first. The firsts kept coming - early on I remember thinking how refreshing to have the girl making the first moves. Cherie is older than Jimmy. A man who puts dry ice in the loo for kicks is definitely an exception to the rule. And it was great for us myopes to have a good-looking, glasses-wearer as the male lead.
The attractive leads, the witty dialogue and the incorporation of text messaging into the plot all work well and add to the watching pleasure. Smoking is a integral part of the plot, not just the title and the means of girl meeting boy. Cherie and Jimmy driving all over town the night before the tax on cigarettes goes up adds a comic and urgent element. Cherie's asthma is another important plot aspect.
Loathing smoking shouldn't keep you away. This a feel-good movie on lots of levels and the ending should keep all viewers happy.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 3/5
The attractive leads, the witty dialogue and the incorporation of text messaging into the plot all work well and add to the watching pleasure. Smoking is a integral part of the plot, not just the title and the means of girl meeting boy. Cherie and Jimmy driving all over town the night before the tax on cigarettes goes up adds a comic and urgent element. Cherie's asthma is another important plot aspect.
Loathing smoking shouldn't keep you away. This a feel-good movie on lots of levels and the ending should keep all viewers happy.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 3/5
Animal Kingdom
Melbourne is known for its shopping, trams, food, wine and criminal gangs. Animal Kingdom looks at a fictional crime family from the point of view of a seventeen year old boy. From this point of view things are not black and white. The people who nurture him are on the wrong side of the law. The police are not always on the right side of the law. There is a severe shortage of trust in this story, which provides much of the tension.
The story builds gradually as the focus moves gradually from one family member to another as different members take an interest in the silent Joshua, who mostly wants to be invisible. Once the police take an interest in him, Joshua finds that he can no longer take a passive role.
If you like dark, morally ambiguous thrillers then Animal Kingdom is a film you should see. If you prefer cheerful, morally black and white films then it is a film to avoid.
Ian's rating 3.5/5
The story builds gradually as the focus moves gradually from one family member to another as different members take an interest in the silent Joshua, who mostly wants to be invisible. Once the police take an interest in him, Joshua finds that he can no longer take a passive role.
If you like dark, morally ambiguous thrillers then Animal Kingdom is a film you should see. If you prefer cheerful, morally black and white films then it is a film to avoid.
Ian's rating 3.5/5
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Housemaid
Last year we had a Chilean view of the master servant relationship. This year we have the South Korean view. This Korean view centres on exploitation of servants and the dangers posed to powerless servants by malicious employers. The story is about a young maid hired by the very rich Hoon family. The Hoon household consists of the piano playing Mr Hoon, the very pregnant Mrs Hoon, their little daughter and long time servant Mrs Cho. When things go wrong the extremely vicious mother in law joins the family.
Like The Maid, The Housemaid is about a world that will seem odd to most Kiwis, but whereas the Chilean film is about a middle class family we can identify with, the Korean film is about a family that is too rich to identify with, and who's casual arrogance is jaw dropping.
The film builds up from a chaotic, almost plotless beginning, focusing itself through the series of event that lead to the climax. Technically the film is very stylish with arty shots of the Hoon's house and lifestyle, and clever touches of humour. But I think it largely misses in engaging a Kiwi audience (though it may play better at home), and it finishes with a confusing scene that seems both unnecessary and out of place with the rest of the film.
Ian's rating 3/5
Anne's rating 2.5/5
Like The Maid, The Housemaid is about a world that will seem odd to most Kiwis, but whereas the Chilean film is about a middle class family we can identify with, the Korean film is about a family that is too rich to identify with, and who's casual arrogance is jaw dropping.
The film builds up from a chaotic, almost plotless beginning, focusing itself through the series of event that lead to the climax. Technically the film is very stylish with arty shots of the Hoon's house and lifestyle, and clever touches of humour. But I think it largely misses in engaging a Kiwi audience (though it may play better at home), and it finishes with a confusing scene that seems both unnecessary and out of place with the rest of the film.
Ian's rating 3/5
Anne's rating 2.5/5
Monday, July 19, 2010
Four Lions
Going to a comedy about four incompetent British Muslim would-be terrorists seemed an attractive proposition to me and Wellingtonians obviously agreed, since the Sunday night showing was totally full. Apart from wanting to be amused, there was also the curiosity about how the subject matter would be handled and who would find it offensive.
A reviewer quoted in the film festival programme said Four Lions was In the Loop meets Paradise Now and having seen both of those movies I'd agree - but that comparison doesn't give you the full picture. Throw in Mr Bean (for the painful cringe-making type of humour) and Inspector Clouseau (for the slapstick and added stupidity) and you'll have a better idea.
The Four Lions want to stage a suicide bombing. The film documents their arguments about what to bomb (Barry the white muslim convert wants to bomb the local mosque and one of the others wants to bomb the internet), their attempts to video their explanation of their actions, two of them going to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, their agreement on the London Marathon as their target, and their explosive making efforts.
There's a lot to make you laugh in Four Lions and as much to make you groan - the silly stuff like swallowing the car keys so the others are forced to hotwire the car to get to the airport, running through London in an Ostrich suit, strapping explosives to a crow, and the philosophical stuff like why your concept of paradise is so strong that you'd want to give up a beautiful wife and a charming son to get there early and why you'd think that women are second class citizen. And then there's the inescapable fact that the dynamics of four not-very-bright men trying to organise anything is just bound to be funny.
One reviewer suggested that the point of the film was that most terrorists were incompetent so we shouldn't we worried about them and I disagree entirely. The purposes of the film that occurred to me are that there's often humour to be derived from serious subjects, that even stupid terrorists are dangerous - and not only to themselves, and that terrorists are just ordinary people with unusually strong convictions.
Four Lions is a comedy that will take you a bit outside your comfort zone, so cast political correctness aside and go and watch it.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 4/5
A reviewer quoted in the film festival programme said Four Lions was In the Loop meets Paradise Now and having seen both of those movies I'd agree - but that comparison doesn't give you the full picture. Throw in Mr Bean (for the painful cringe-making type of humour) and Inspector Clouseau (for the slapstick and added stupidity) and you'll have a better idea.
The Four Lions want to stage a suicide bombing. The film documents their arguments about what to bomb (Barry the white muslim convert wants to bomb the local mosque and one of the others wants to bomb the internet), their attempts to video their explanation of their actions, two of them going to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, their agreement on the London Marathon as their target, and their explosive making efforts.
There's a lot to make you laugh in Four Lions and as much to make you groan - the silly stuff like swallowing the car keys so the others are forced to hotwire the car to get to the airport, running through London in an Ostrich suit, strapping explosives to a crow, and the philosophical stuff like why your concept of paradise is so strong that you'd want to give up a beautiful wife and a charming son to get there early and why you'd think that women are second class citizen. And then there's the inescapable fact that the dynamics of four not-very-bright men trying to organise anything is just bound to be funny.
One reviewer suggested that the point of the film was that most terrorists were incompetent so we shouldn't we worried about them and I disagree entirely. The purposes of the film that occurred to me are that there's often humour to be derived from serious subjects, that even stupid terrorists are dangerous - and not only to themselves, and that terrorists are just ordinary people with unusually strong convictions.
Four Lions is a comedy that will take you a bit outside your comfort zone, so cast political correctness aside and go and watch it.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 4/5
The Loved Ones
Two boys: a funny one and a sullen one. Three girls: a good one, a bad one and a misunderstood one. The end of the year school dance. Girl gets boy... but which boy? And which girl?
One boy learns that the hospitality of outback folk can be painful, inventive with household objects and difficult to escape from. Though he might have been pre-warned if they taught William Congreve in English class. The other boy's evening doesn't go to plan either.
This is a good film to test your squeamish levels with, as this is a surprise and violence horror movie rather than a suspense one. While it is difficult for horror movie makers to avoid formula in the structure of their films Sean Byrne has been inventive in the detail of implementing the formula. It is also an equal opportunity horror movie, the girls are not scream queen victims, in fact for most of the film they drive the action. So if your date is up to it, lock away all sharp objects, make sure you are on good terms with all your ex's, dress up and see this film in a cinema where you can share a sofa and you can hold more than each other's hands.
Did I mention the father-daughter relationship that will be seared on your brain as much as the unspeakable things that happen to the hero?
Ian's rating 4/5
(I advise against seeing the trailer for this film as it gives too much away)
One boy learns that the hospitality of outback folk can be painful, inventive with household objects and difficult to escape from. Though he might have been pre-warned if they taught William Congreve in English class. The other boy's evening doesn't go to plan either.
This is a good film to test your squeamish levels with, as this is a surprise and violence horror movie rather than a suspense one. While it is difficult for horror movie makers to avoid formula in the structure of their films Sean Byrne has been inventive in the detail of implementing the formula. It is also an equal opportunity horror movie, the girls are not scream queen victims, in fact for most of the film they drive the action. So if your date is up to it, lock away all sharp objects, make sure you are on good terms with all your ex's, dress up and see this film in a cinema where you can share a sofa and you can hold more than each other's hands.
Did I mention the father-daughter relationship that will be seared on your brain as much as the unspeakable things that happen to the hero?
Ian's rating 4/5
(I advise against seeing the trailer for this film as it gives too much away)
Sunday, July 18, 2010
The Marvellous Corricks
I was suspicious that this was going to be a mockumentary - like Forgotten Silver, but I was mistaken, it was the real deal. The Corricks were a real family of vaudeville performers who bought a projector and later a camera and showed films as part of their act, starting in NZ and moving onto Australia and then a world tour.
This was a showing of nine of these films from before 1910, with a piano accompaniment and a narration. The narrator not only described the action but between reels he talked about the Corricks and early film making and projecting, in the age before the film industry and the cinema evolved from chaos into something resembling what we have today. One of the films was so odd that it wasn't even vaguely clear what the story was supposed to be. There were flowers that turned into women who then turned a man into a flower. Apart from the travelogs (including one about London in 1904 without a single motor vehicle or even a tram), most of the films had some form of special effects. It seems that the early film makers were more interested in what was possible than telling stories.
The narration was initially a little wooden but that aside I would recommend this to anyone interested very early films.
Ian's rating 2/5
This was a showing of nine of these films from before 1910, with a piano accompaniment and a narration. The narrator not only described the action but between reels he talked about the Corricks and early film making and projecting, in the age before the film industry and the cinema evolved from chaos into something resembling what we have today. One of the films was so odd that it wasn't even vaguely clear what the story was supposed to be. There were flowers that turned into women who then turned a man into a flower. Apart from the travelogs (including one about London in 1904 without a single motor vehicle or even a tram), most of the films had some form of special effects. It seems that the early film makers were more interested in what was possible than telling stories.
The narration was initially a little wooden but that aside I would recommend this to anyone interested very early films.
Ian's rating 2/5
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Myth of the American Sleepover
We were lured into going to this film (which is a late addition to the festival) today by a 2 for 1 ticket offer and we should have resisted the temptation. It was a slow-moving story about how assorted bunches of American teenagers spend the last night of the summer vacation. They're all supposed to be at single sex sleepovers but they go AWOL to fraternise with the opposite sex and drink a lot. The brochure blurb suggested a charmingly nostalgic tale of adolescence, but that isn't what was delivered.
It is perhaps not surprising that a film with the word myth in the title is unbelievable. Ludicrous, even. Given the quantity of alcohol that was consumed, nobody seemed worse for wear - there was only one delicate vomiting episode from which the victim recovered incredibly quickly. Not only did no-one appear drunk, there was no bad language, no breakages and they all drove or walked all over town in the middle of the night and came to no harm. There was no sexual aggression or unwanted groping and I found it amazing that not only did one boy say "can I kiss you?" or "I want to kiss you" before doing it but they all did. All the characters were ridiculously articulate.
Just to round out my list of gripes, the film was a funny colour - sort of faded. Perhaps this was supposed to add to sense of nostalgia that the maker was trying to cultivate, but I just found it irritating. And while it was clearly supposed to be set on a balmy summer evening, it just didn't look warm.
Anne's rating 2/5
This film followed a cute Kiwi short film about young boys breaking into an old house in search of Playboy magazines. By comparison The Myth of the American Sleepover was filmed with a faded looking colour cast. This plus the timeless fashion might be intended to give the film a nostalgic look but really nostalgia is better achieved by picking a subject the viewers are familiar with and emotionally attached to. Unfortunately alcohol and chasing the opposite sex were not part of my teenage years, so I am probably not the target audience for this film, and it didn't win me over.
I agree with Anne about how impervious to alcohol these teenagers seemed to be. I wasn't as irritated by the film as Anne was but it isn't a film I'd recommend.
Ian's rating 1.5/5
It is perhaps not surprising that a film with the word myth in the title is unbelievable. Ludicrous, even. Given the quantity of alcohol that was consumed, nobody seemed worse for wear - there was only one delicate vomiting episode from which the victim recovered incredibly quickly. Not only did no-one appear drunk, there was no bad language, no breakages and they all drove or walked all over town in the middle of the night and came to no harm. There was no sexual aggression or unwanted groping and I found it amazing that not only did one boy say "can I kiss you?" or "I want to kiss you" before doing it but they all did. All the characters were ridiculously articulate.
Just to round out my list of gripes, the film was a funny colour - sort of faded. Perhaps this was supposed to add to sense of nostalgia that the maker was trying to cultivate, but I just found it irritating. And while it was clearly supposed to be set on a balmy summer evening, it just didn't look warm.
Anne's rating 2/5
This film followed a cute Kiwi short film about young boys breaking into an old house in search of Playboy magazines. By comparison The Myth of the American Sleepover was filmed with a faded looking colour cast. This plus the timeless fashion might be intended to give the film a nostalgic look but really nostalgia is better achieved by picking a subject the viewers are familiar with and emotionally attached to. Unfortunately alcohol and chasing the opposite sex were not part of my teenage years, so I am probably not the target audience for this film, and it didn't win me over.
I agree with Anne about how impervious to alcohol these teenagers seemed to be. I wasn't as irritated by the film as Anne was but it isn't a film I'd recommend.
Ian's rating 1.5/5
Friday, July 16, 2010
Once Upon a Time in the West
Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow is not only a dance rhythm, but also the rhythm of Once Upon a Time in the West. The film switches back and forth between slow sequences where nothing seems to happen and explosions of violence.
The opening scene, with its irritating noises (squeaky water pump, buzzing fly, etc) and lack of dialogue is one of cinema's best remembered opening sequences. It is also the first hint that Sergio Leone might be playing with us. The harmonica that seems to be part of the score until one of the characters notices it in a way that seems like he is breaking the fourth wall in an unusual way, is the confirmation that Sergio Leone is using all his skills to tell this story with as much flare as possible. In fact the story is secondary to the way it is told. The whole plot seems to be his MacGuffin. This is the Western as style rather than substance. The sun, heat, lack of water and women, the machismo, the ritual of the gunfights, the division of labour between the toiling (and cowardly) workers and the otherwise idle gunslingers, violence as a means of decision making, the lack of consequences for some actions and fatal consequences for others.
That said, the two plots are presented as mysteries. We know who is being killed and who is killing but the motives are only gradually revealed, one motive being kept secret until the final scenes.
The humour is laconic and dry.
Or more famously:
The largely imperturbable Jill (Claudia Cardinale), the lone female character around which all the gunfighters orbit like comets, has to put up with men who range from patronising, to non-PC, to misogynistic. Unfortunately she isn't given much acting to do. The orbiting men played by Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards are all menacing, ruthless dominating characters. In particular Charles Bronson's cool, quiet, unbelievably fast shooting harmonica player is the best I have seen him act.
I think Sergio Leone must have had a passion for blue eyes, given the number of lingering close ups of staring blue eyes (especially Henry Fonda's).
Ian's rating 4/5
The opening scene, with its irritating noises (squeaky water pump, buzzing fly, etc) and lack of dialogue is one of cinema's best remembered opening sequences. It is also the first hint that Sergio Leone might be playing with us. The harmonica that seems to be part of the score until one of the characters notices it in a way that seems like he is breaking the fourth wall in an unusual way, is the confirmation that Sergio Leone is using all his skills to tell this story with as much flare as possible. In fact the story is secondary to the way it is told. The whole plot seems to be his MacGuffin. This is the Western as style rather than substance. The sun, heat, lack of water and women, the machismo, the ritual of the gunfights, the division of labour between the toiling (and cowardly) workers and the otherwise idle gunslingers, violence as a means of decision making, the lack of consequences for some actions and fatal consequences for others.
That said, the two plots are presented as mysteries. We know who is being killed and who is killing but the motives are only gradually revealed, one motive being kept secret until the final scenes.
The humour is laconic and dry.
Frank: How can you trust a man who wears both a belt and suspenders? The man can't even trust his own pants.
Or more famously:
Harmonica faces three gunmen at the railway station.
Harmonica: Did you bring a horse for me?
Snaky: Well... looks like we're...
[snickers]
Snaky: ...looks like we're shy one horse.
Harmonica: You brought two too many.
The largely imperturbable Jill (Claudia Cardinale), the lone female character around which all the gunfighters orbit like comets, has to put up with men who range from patronising, to non-PC, to misogynistic. Unfortunately she isn't given much acting to do. The orbiting men played by Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards are all menacing, ruthless dominating characters. In particular Charles Bronson's cool, quiet, unbelievably fast shooting harmonica player is the best I have seen him act.
I think Sergio Leone must have had a passion for blue eyes, given the number of lingering close ups of staring blue eyes (especially Henry Fonda's).
Ian's rating 4/5
Predicament
The Film Festival's Wellington season kicked off tonight with the New Zealand Premiere of Predicament which is the film of a novel by the same name. This black and comic tale is set in 1930's Taranaki,and it's teenager hero is named Cedric. He is a slightly anorexic-looking version of Harry Potter and he and the movie have a kind of story-book yesteryear charm - think Boys' own annual, or possibly the Famous Five, and then try to imagine how either of those might try to handle a tale involving murder and sex.
It's school holidays and Cedric becomes acquainted with an unemployed petty criminal named Mervyn and his creepy but hilarious side-kick, Spook. They hatch a plan to blackmail some unfortunate locals, particularly the property developer who ripped off Cedric's Grandmother. As the plan is executed Cedric wrestles elaborately with his conscience about his level of participation and anything that can go wrong does go wrong. You'll have to go and see the movie to find out what happens but I can promise you a wholesomely happy, if somewhat cunning, ending to an unwholesome tale.
Predicament doesn't take itself very seriously. It makes fun of all sorts of things, and all kinds of movie genres but especially thrillers and detective stories. There is gloriously deadpan humour, some slapstick physical comedy and some "lets zoom-right-in-your-face" camera work.It is very atmospheric and the dialogue is witty. Spook (played by Jemaine Clement) is a joy to watch and listen to - he materialises from nowhere and almost steals the show.
I could happily watch this movie again tomorrow - I feel there's plenty more to appreciate than I took in in one viewing.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 3/4
It's school holidays and Cedric becomes acquainted with an unemployed petty criminal named Mervyn and his creepy but hilarious side-kick, Spook. They hatch a plan to blackmail some unfortunate locals, particularly the property developer who ripped off Cedric's Grandmother. As the plan is executed Cedric wrestles elaborately with his conscience about his level of participation and anything that can go wrong does go wrong. You'll have to go and see the movie to find out what happens but I can promise you a wholesomely happy, if somewhat cunning, ending to an unwholesome tale.
Predicament doesn't take itself very seriously. It makes fun of all sorts of things, and all kinds of movie genres but especially thrillers and detective stories. There is gloriously deadpan humour, some slapstick physical comedy and some "lets zoom-right-in-your-face" camera work.It is very atmospheric and the dialogue is witty. Spook (played by Jemaine Clement) is a joy to watch and listen to - he materialises from nowhere and almost steals the show.
I could happily watch this movie again tomorrow - I feel there's plenty more to appreciate than I took in in one viewing.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 3/4
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Peaceful Times
Like Boy, Peaceful Times is a narration of a particular childhood told from the point of view of one of the children, and like Boy it's a comedy with dark undertones.
The particular childhood is that of one of the two school-age daughters in a family who have escaped from East Germany to West Germany in the 1960's. Their father (Dieter) is thriving in his new environment, their Mother (Irene) isn't. She has difficulty making friends, pines for her old lifestyle and worries constantly about West German germs (I'm not kidding!), the Russian Army invading and what her husband is doing while he's out. It's as if she has agoraphobia and West Germany is outdoors.
The parents argue often, and the girls conclude that the family would be better off if their parents were divorced, so they conspire to make this happen. One of my favourite scenes was the girls tying their little brother to a chair and brow-beating him into colluding in their scheme.
The fundamental question of the film is whether Irene's neurosis is too much for her marriage to bear, though there's no question that her husband and children love her profoundly. A trip back to East Germany for Irene when her mother dies is a make-or-break experience.
Peaceful Times is a tremendously likeable film. The characters are engaging and the costumes and sets and attitudes conjure up the sixties perfectly. For a film that revolves around relationship struggles it is very good-humoured and easy to watch.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 3/5
The particular childhood is that of one of the two school-age daughters in a family who have escaped from East Germany to West Germany in the 1960's. Their father (Dieter) is thriving in his new environment, their Mother (Irene) isn't. She has difficulty making friends, pines for her old lifestyle and worries constantly about West German germs (I'm not kidding!), the Russian Army invading and what her husband is doing while he's out. It's as if she has agoraphobia and West Germany is outdoors.
The parents argue often, and the girls conclude that the family would be better off if their parents were divorced, so they conspire to make this happen. One of my favourite scenes was the girls tying their little brother to a chair and brow-beating him into colluding in their scheme.
The fundamental question of the film is whether Irene's neurosis is too much for her marriage to bear, though there's no question that her husband and children love her profoundly. A trip back to East Germany for Irene when her mother dies is a make-or-break experience.
Peaceful Times is a tremendously likeable film. The characters are engaging and the costumes and sets and attitudes conjure up the sixties perfectly. For a film that revolves around relationship struggles it is very good-humoured and easy to watch.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 3/5
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Boy
Boy is one of those rare things - a New Zealand film that's doing well at the box office (a week ago it had almost made as much money as Sione's wedding), that doesn't take itself too seriously and that isn't (too) black. It's comedy, and while it has tragic undertones you don't have to dwell on those if you don't want to.
Boy has been described as a coming of age movie but I think it's more a "this is what my childhood was like" movie. It's told in a very matter-of-fact way and part of its charm is that the boy narrator seems completely unconscious of what an amazing story it is - how an eleven year-old whose mother is dead and whose father is in prison can be left in charge of four younger siblings and cousins while their care-giver grandmother goes to a tangi in Wellington. Boy draws us a very vivid picture of life in a mainly maori community not far from East Cape in the 1980s where normality is no-one having any money, having a more intimate relationship with your pet goat than with your father, your friends having picking marijuana as their after school job, and being fascinated with Michael Jackson. Boy is the aforementioned eleven year old and his little brother Rocky (who might or might not have magic powers) is an almost equally important character
Into this normality comes Boy's father(Alamein), who roars onto the scene in a big black Chrysler Valiant with two fellow gang members (this gang affiliation is not to be taken too seriously since the three of them are all the members!) with the intention of finding the proceeds of a robbery that is buried in a field near his mother's house. And the crux of the story is Boy adjusting to the real Alamein, after having had a fantasy father figure for the last seven years. Alamein introduces Boy to drugs and alcohol with almost tragic results, and Boy finds the buried money with differently tragic results.
There are lots of things to love about this film - the cars, the clothes, the child actors, the dialogue and the accents. On of my favourite scenes was Boy serving his father and fellow gang members cups of tea in the Chrysler and another was Boy doing battle with the school floor polisher which was almost as big as he is. The finale (a Michael Jackson dance number which involves almost the entire cast) is a particular gem.
Watch the trailer here
Anne's rating: 4/5
Boy has been described as a coming of age movie but I think it's more a "this is what my childhood was like" movie. It's told in a very matter-of-fact way and part of its charm is that the boy narrator seems completely unconscious of what an amazing story it is - how an eleven year-old whose mother is dead and whose father is in prison can be left in charge of four younger siblings and cousins while their care-giver grandmother goes to a tangi in Wellington. Boy draws us a very vivid picture of life in a mainly maori community not far from East Cape in the 1980s where normality is no-one having any money, having a more intimate relationship with your pet goat than with your father, your friends having picking marijuana as their after school job, and being fascinated with Michael Jackson. Boy is the aforementioned eleven year old and his little brother Rocky (who might or might not have magic powers) is an almost equally important character
Into this normality comes Boy's father(Alamein), who roars onto the scene in a big black Chrysler Valiant with two fellow gang members (this gang affiliation is not to be taken too seriously since the three of them are all the members!) with the intention of finding the proceeds of a robbery that is buried in a field near his mother's house. And the crux of the story is Boy adjusting to the real Alamein, after having had a fantasy father figure for the last seven years. Alamein introduces Boy to drugs and alcohol with almost tragic results, and Boy finds the buried money with differently tragic results.
There are lots of things to love about this film - the cars, the clothes, the child actors, the dialogue and the accents. On of my favourite scenes was Boy serving his father and fellow gang members cups of tea in the Chrysler and another was Boy doing battle with the school floor polisher which was almost as big as he is. The finale (a Michael Jackson dance number which involves almost the entire cast) is a particular gem.
Watch the trailer here
Anne's rating: 4/5
Thursday, April 15, 2010
The White Ribbon
At the start of "The White Ribbon" the narrator tells us that this is a story of strange events he doesn't fully understand but feels they explain what happened to Germany in the 20th century. If you were late finding your seat and missed this bit you'd think you were watching a particularly convoluted series of revenge mysteries in a small uptight north German village, where the most high tech thing in the village is the Baron's bicycle.
The narrator is the school teacher in a village where the biggest employer is the local Baron who employs most of the small village during harvest time. A fatal accident and a series of attacks (most of which look like revenge attacks though it not always clear who carried them out and why) disturb the life of the village. As events unfold we get to know various people's unsavoury secrets. Despite appearances this village is far from idyllic.
Inexplicably the children of the village seem to know more about what is going on than the adults, though they don't let on what. It seems that I was not alone in being reminded of Village of the Damned. But this film is full of red herrings, and I am sure most people will feel cheated by the end, as the director Michael Haneke is deliberately subverting our expectations of how films should work.
In addition to all the mystery, violence and secrets there is a cute love story between the school teacher and the Baron's children's young nanny, including a priceless meet the family scene.
I suspect everyone left the cinema with a different idea of how (or if) the film tied in with German history. That said, it is a very nicely made film -- filmed in colour apparently but turned into harsh but beautiful black and white during post-production.
Watch trailer here.
Ian's rating 3/5
The narrator is the school teacher in a village where the biggest employer is the local Baron who employs most of the small village during harvest time. A fatal accident and a series of attacks (most of which look like revenge attacks though it not always clear who carried them out and why) disturb the life of the village. As events unfold we get to know various people's unsavoury secrets. Despite appearances this village is far from idyllic.
Inexplicably the children of the village seem to know more about what is going on than the adults, though they don't let on what. It seems that I was not alone in being reminded of Village of the Damned. But this film is full of red herrings, and I am sure most people will feel cheated by the end, as the director Michael Haneke is deliberately subverting our expectations of how films should work.
In addition to all the mystery, violence and secrets there is a cute love story between the school teacher and the Baron's children's young nanny, including a priceless meet the family scene.
I suspect everyone left the cinema with a different idea of how (or if) the film tied in with German history. That said, it is a very nicely made film -- filmed in colour apparently but turned into harsh but beautiful black and white during post-production.
Watch trailer here.
Ian's rating 3/5
Cairo Time
An unplanned romance between a beautiful blonde 50+ year old Canadian woman and a somewhat younger and equally good looking Westernised Egyptian while the former is at a loose end in Cairo seems a likely synopsis for a shallow chick-flick or date movie. But Cairo Time fails to deliver. Patricia Clarkson is a good actor and she does a great impression of jet lag, but she unfortunately keeps it up for the entire film. She is also saddled with a character that is too neurotic and selfish to be engaging and her relationship with her husband doesn't make sense. He is a UN official in charge of a refugee camp in Gaza but she shows a complete lack of understanding of what that means. There are other irritating inconsistencies. At the beginning of the film she is followed and jostled by men when she walks the streets alone. Later she walks alone unmolested.
Alexander Siddig as Tareq does a reasonable job as a man comfortable both in the ways of the West and in the slower life of Egypt, but he does seem somewhat detached from both. He is conveniently without family, friends or much in the way of job commitments.
All of this might be forgiven if there was some chemistry between the lead characters. Even that is missing and the script doesn't help here. It meanders along without much direction or plot. A few unconnected things happen but don't amount to anything. This includes a promising sub-plot of Tareq's ex-girlfriend reappearing.
On the plus side Cairo looks good. The early scenes are especially good at summing up the crowds, noise, traffic and buildings. But all this is lost in later scenes when the streets are often empty, and a lot of the street noise is replaced by music. The Pyramids naturally play a big part in the film and there is some nice filming in an unnamed mosque and a bit of desert, but there are plenty of other sights in Cairo that could have been used to give viewers more of a taste for the city but in fact for much of the film it is an anonymous backdrop and could have been any large 3rd World city.
Watch trailer here.
Ian's rating 1/5 Anne's rating 2/5
Alexander Siddig as Tareq does a reasonable job as a man comfortable both in the ways of the West and in the slower life of Egypt, but he does seem somewhat detached from both. He is conveniently without family, friends or much in the way of job commitments.
All of this might be forgiven if there was some chemistry between the lead characters. Even that is missing and the script doesn't help here. It meanders along without much direction or plot. A few unconnected things happen but don't amount to anything. This includes a promising sub-plot of Tareq's ex-girlfriend reappearing.
On the plus side Cairo looks good. The early scenes are especially good at summing up the crowds, noise, traffic and buildings. But all this is lost in later scenes when the streets are often empty, and a lot of the street noise is replaced by music. The Pyramids naturally play a big part in the film and there is some nice filming in an unnamed mosque and a bit of desert, but there are plenty of other sights in Cairo that could have been used to give viewers more of a taste for the city but in fact for much of the film it is an anonymous backdrop and could have been any large 3rd World city.
Watch trailer here.
Ian's rating 1/5 Anne's rating 2/5
Endgame
I suspect most people who have heard about Nelson Mandela know that the South African government held secret talks with him while he was still in jail. What I didn't know was that the ANC wasn't aware of what was being talked about and were suspicious that he would be pressured into some deal behind their backs (as they saw it). I also didn't know that Consolidated Goldfields (since bought by Hanson plc) were worried about their South African mines and started a parallel series of secret talks in the UK between the ANC and white South Africans with indirect links to the government. These talks were organised by Michael Young and are the subject of Endgame.
The film is structured around a slow moving build up to the talks; following Michael Young as he tries to find white people willing to talk and is dogged by less than subtle secret agents. The camera work here is jumpy in an unsubtle and (to my mind) unsuccessful attempt to create tension. Mid-section of the film follows the two sets of talks. One in a posh English country house and the other in a South African jail. This is less about the substance of the talks than the roles of Thabo Mbeki (as a sophisticated and unyielding negotiator for the ANC), Professor Willie Esterhuyse (under orders to negotiate nothing and act as a reluctant spy) and Dr Neil Barnard (head of the Nation Intelligence Service as spider in the middle). This is the most successful part of the film, capturing the ambiguities of the government trying to both destroy the ANC and talk to it and similarly the ANC trying to figure out if the government is serious about peace talks or if it is a divide and conquer strategy. The final act begins with P.W. Botha's stroke and things happen so quickly I found it slightly unsatisfactory. Almost like F.W. de Klerk comes to power and then a miracle occurs.
People sitting around a table talking is not a good subject for a film, but Endgame succeeds in bringing out the irony of negotiations between a powerful government and the representatives of the people it is subjugating. The government wants concessions from the ANC but any concessions by the ANC would lead to it agreeing to some special deal for whites.
Watch trailer here.
Ian's rating 3/5 Anne's rating 3/5
The film is structured around a slow moving build up to the talks; following Michael Young as he tries to find white people willing to talk and is dogged by less than subtle secret agents. The camera work here is jumpy in an unsubtle and (to my mind) unsuccessful attempt to create tension. Mid-section of the film follows the two sets of talks. One in a posh English country house and the other in a South African jail. This is less about the substance of the talks than the roles of Thabo Mbeki (as a sophisticated and unyielding negotiator for the ANC), Professor Willie Esterhuyse (under orders to negotiate nothing and act as a reluctant spy) and Dr Neil Barnard (head of the Nation Intelligence Service as spider in the middle). This is the most successful part of the film, capturing the ambiguities of the government trying to both destroy the ANC and talk to it and similarly the ANC trying to figure out if the government is serious about peace talks or if it is a divide and conquer strategy. The final act begins with P.W. Botha's stroke and things happen so quickly I found it slightly unsatisfactory. Almost like F.W. de Klerk comes to power and then a miracle occurs.
People sitting around a table talking is not a good subject for a film, but Endgame succeeds in bringing out the irony of negotiations between a powerful government and the representatives of the people it is subjugating. The government wants concessions from the ANC but any concessions by the ANC would lead to it agreeing to some special deal for whites.
Watch trailer here.
Ian's rating 3/5 Anne's rating 3/5
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