The Hunt (movie review)

The Hunt (drama) (2012) (1 hr 46 mins)

In a village in Denmark, a nursery teacher named Lucas is popular with the children, and particularly liked by a girl named Klara. When she kisses him on the lips, he points out that such affection is not appropriate and she takes it as a rejection. She then makes comments to the nursery manager, Grethe, that lead her to think that Lucas has sexually abused Klara. From this moment on, Lucas becomes the subject of a witchhunt as he is rejected by most of his friends, suspended from his job and interrogated by the police.

It is made clear to the viewer that Lucas is innocent so that we experience with him the injustice of his treatment. He is initially too shocked to defend himself properly, and the manager at the nursery mishandles the investigation, too readily assuming that he is guilty and giving the impression to all the parents of children at the school that there is little doubt about his guilt.

To make matters worse, Klara is the daughter of Lucas’ best friend, Theo, which makes the apparent betrayal of trust all the more upsetting. Like almost everyone in the town, Theo assumes that Klara is telling the truth and therefore Lucas must be guilty. In fact the only people who are sure he is innocent are his teenage son and the boy’s godfather, .

It’s not long before Lucas is forcibly confronted with the judgment of his community. A brick is thrown through his window, his dog is murdered and he is violently thrown out of the local supermarket. But he stubbornly and courageously refuses to leave the town and instead confronts his persecutors.

In a scene of almost unbearable poignancy, Lucas goes to the Christmas church service and sits alone in a pew while the congregation stare at him with grim fascination. When the nursery children are brought out to perform a song, Lucas snaps and confronts Theo. In fact it is the strength of his anger that makes Theo wonder if Lucas is innocent after all. Only then does he coax out of Klara the confession that she told a lie.

The emotions portrayed in the film are painfully raw and director Thomas Vinterberg manages to capture an almost primeval struggle for justice. It’s impossible not to identify with Lucas’ pain and his powerlessness in the face of a situation that is threatening to ruin his life.

Mads Mikkelson, winner of the best actor award at Cannes, gives an outstanding performance as the distraught Lucas, having to be strong for the sake of his son but clearly in great emotional turmoil. Annika Wedderkopp is haunting as Klara, bewildered and unnerved by the power she has discovered she can wield in the complicated world of adults. The script by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm is superbly constructed, with no extraneous scenes or dialogue.

This is a film that will move you deeply and that you won’t forget in a hurry.

 

Rating: 10/10

Monsieur Lazhar (movie review)

Monsieur Lazhar (drama) (2011) (1 hr 34 mins)

The hardest thing for a film to do is to make the viewer care about its characters. This tender and moving Canadian French-language film directed and written by Philippe Falardeau makes you feel deeply for all of the characters.

At a Montreal school, Simon and his friend Alice go to collect the class supply of milk and find that their teacher, Martine, has hung herself from the classroom ceiling. The school is assigned a psychologist to help children and staff cope with their grief while the headteacher sets about the task of finding a new teacher. An Algerian immigrant, Bashir Lazhar, turns up the school and offers to do the job. Unable to find anyone else at short notice, the headteacher hires him.

What then unfolds is a fascinating story of how the new teacher gradually helps his class of 11 year-olds to work through their grief at the loss of a much-loved teacher. There is no magical transformation. At first, as Bashir struggles to get to know his class, to adjust to cultural differences and to the way things are done at the school, it seems he is doing very little at all. But slowly it becomes evident that he is allowing the children space – space to talk, to argue, to discuss. He takes what they say seriously and treats them as equals.

Alice uses an exercise about the pupils’ feelings about school to express her grief at Martine’s death. Bashir asks the headteacher if he can distribute her composition among the school to help people talk more freely about their feelings but he is refused. It is deemed too risky. He gets the caretaker to show him the possessions left in Martine’s desk, including a book of fables which he uses in class to encourage discussion.

As the process of healing in the school begins, we learn that there is a healing process going on for Bashir too. It transpires that he has applied for political asylum after escaping from Algeria. His wife and children were killed when their apartment building burnt down in an arson attack. In a moving scene, he collects a parcel of his family’s belongings – all he has left of his old life.

As Bashir and his class undertake this journey of healing together, a real warmth develops between teacher and pupils, and the broken friendship between Simon and Alice is restored. An interesting friendship also begins to develop between Bashir and Claire, one of the other teachers who knew Martine well. When she invites him round to dinner, they are both awkwardly trying to discern the other’s feelings. For Bashir it is too early to begin a new relationship but too painful to explain why.

The film is based on a play by Evelyne de la Cheneliere and has been beautifully adapted by Falardeau. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and won numerous film awards around the world. The acting is outstanding, particularly from the children and from Mohamed Fellag in the lead role. Above all, it is a film that will move you deeply.

Rating: 10/10

Gainsbourg (movie review)

Gainsbourg (2010) (drama) (2 hrs 10 mins)

 

Serge Gainsbourg was a successful French singer-songwriter, at the height of his popularity in the 1960s and 70s and best known for his hit single Je T’aime (with partner Jane Birkin). This unusual biopic from first-time director Joann Star focuses more on Gainsbourg’s personality than on his music and is highly engaging, particularly in the first half.

 
We first see Gainsbourg as a precocious boy in Nazi-occupied Paris. His father forces him to play the piano but he only enjoys playing when allowed the freedom to play in his own style. The pressures he faces in childhood (living in an occupied country, resisting his father’s ambitions for him to become a classical pianist, his Jewishness) appear to have a deep impact on the boy, leading him to rebel and seek artistic freedom.

He shows an early gift for art and after the war finds work as a music and art teacher in a school outside Paris. Then he finds he can make a living playing piano in bars. It is at this point that he makes a big decision: to give up art in order to concentrate on his music. He starts writing songs, performing them at a music hall and developing a following, particularly among young women. He becomes a womaniser and heavy drinker and has affairs with Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin.

Laetitia Casta gives a stunning performance as Bardot, cavorting around his apartment wrapped in a sheet. It’s his time with Bardot that seems the happiest of his life and it’s for Bardot that he writes Je T’aime, though it’s with Birkin that he later records the song. It becomes a hit single around the world. Success appears to go to his head, he starts drinking too much and getting into scrapes.

The most interesting scenes in the film are the many appearances of The Face, a grotesque alter ego who represents Gainsbourg’s darker side. The Face constantly tempts him to drink, hang out in bars, have affairs with young women and neglect his family. Director Joann Star draws upon his background as an artist (he first drew the story in comic book form) to create several surreal scenes, such as when the Face flies at night above the Paris rooftops like a giant bird, carrying Gainsbourg off into the night.

Eric Elmosino gives an outstanding performance in the central role, portraying Gainsbourg as mysterious, restless, witty, outspoken. We don’t learn that much about his musical career, just seeing glimpses of his various musical styles: playing jazz in nightclubs, disco in concerts and reggae in a Jamaican recording studio. It’s hard to tell how he built such a following in France and whether his musical legacy will endure.

The film won 3 Cesar Awards in France in 2011 but received mixed reviews world-wide. It was praised for its imaginative approach but also criticised for lacking drama and emotional depth. I recommend it as a genuine curio that may leave you wanting to find out more about a fascinating man.

 Rating: 7/10

Breathing (movie review)

Breathing (drama) (2011) (1 hr 30 mins)

This Austrian film written and directed by first-time film-maker Karl Markovics is a very assured debut. It reminded me of films like The Son by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne in its understated approach and its depiction of ordinary routines that gradually reveal deeper emotions felt by the main characters.

The film tells the story of Roman Kogler (played by Thomas Schubert), a young man at a youth detention centre on the outskirts of Vienna, awaiting parole after serving time for killing a man. He’s uncommunicative and sullen, appears to have no family or friends and faces the prospect of a bleak future. To improve his chances of parole, he’s urged to show he can hold down a job. He chooses work experience at a morgue, collecting and transporting dead bodies. Perhaps he feels more of a connection with the dead than with the living.

 

One day a woman is brought to the morgue who shares his surname.  Kogler decides to track down his mother and find out why she surrendered him to the care of social services when he was a young child. Their meeting provides the emotional crux of the film.

The director apparently spent many weeks accompanying the morgue workers and attending a detention centre to research the script. The attention to detail pays off as the film has a very authentic feel throughout. It doesn’t offer any easy answers to Kogler’s plight but there are moments of hope: a friendly encounter with a young woman backpacker on the train; his work colleagues gradually accepting him as one of the team; and a stirring of remorse for his crime. The crime is never really explained but remains there as a shadow, a constant reminder of the personal demons he struggles with.

The director, an actor himself, extracts a wonderfully natural performance from Schubert in his very first acting role. Schubert manages to convey both Kogler’s detachment and his longing to connect, his toughness and his vulnerability.

There are poignant moments throughout the film: the humiliation of being strip-searched every time Kogler returns to the detention centre; Kogler and his work colleagues weighing one another up and not quite knowing what to make of the other; Kogler being shown by a work colleague how to tie his tie. There is a moving scene where Kogler and his colleagues go to collect a woman’s body in her home. Kogler sees the photographs and mementos decorating her room and telling of a family life and history that he has never had.

There is some inventive use of the camera: Kogler underwater seeing the legs of other boys as they dangle in the swimming pool; and the final scene as the camera rises above a graveyard and turns slowly to the majestic sky above. The title Breathing refers to Kogler’s solitary swimming sessions at the detention centre where he is learning how to breathe underwater, a symbol perhaps of a rebirth which Kogler may be undergoing as he edges towards some kind of future. This is a thoughtful, moving film that will stay with you afterwards.

 
Rating: 8/10  

About Elly (movie review)

About Elly (drama) (2009) (1 hr 59 mins)

With A Separation (2011), Asghar Farhadi became the first Iranian director to win an Oscar for best foreign film. Now his previous film, About Elly (2009), has been given a limited UK cinema release. Catch it if you can because it is an outstanding film, exploring personal relationships, moral dilemmas and the dangers of deception.

Three married couples, old friends from university, set out on a weekend trip to the Caspian Sea. Elly, a young nursery school teacher, is invited along by Sepideh, the mother of one of her pupils. Sepideh is trying to match-make, hoping Elly will hit it off with the recently divorced Ahmad. The party is due to stay in a comfortable villa but the woman in charge tells them they can only stay one night. To get the woman to let them stay the whole weekend in another villa, Sepideh tells her that Elly and Ahmad are on honeymoon.

After some initial game-playing and banter, during which the friends are appraising Elly and deciding whether she would make a suitable wife for Ahmad, Elly reminds Sepideh that she can only stay one night. Sepideh presses her to stay longer and hides her luggage and mobile phone to stop her phoning for a taxi.

Matters take a sudden turn for the worse when Elly is left on her own at the beach to look after the children and promptly disappears, feared drowned. This leads to recriminations among the adults, and matters become complicated when they find Elly’s mobile phone and realise they have to notify her family. What seems like a simple task turns into a series of moral dilemmas as they discover that Sepideh has omitted to share with them some pertinent information about Elly’s personal life. Should they tell more lies to spare her family further pain or tell the truth?

After the opening ten minutes or so, when the characters are being introduced, the film becomes utterly gripping, initially as we wonder what the mysterious Elly makes of the others and particularly of Ahmad, who is trying to take things slowly but is clearly smitten with her. When Elly disappears, it dawns on the others that they actually know very little about her or her family, which soon leads to complications they could not have envisaged. Subtle plot twists ramp up the emotional tension as the characters argue, cajole and harangue one another. What starts as a simple tragedy threatens to escalate into a situation none of them can control.

The script, written by Farhadi, is outstanding. Just when you think the film is about to reach a resolution, it takes off in another direction, creating more dilemmas for the characters to wrestle with. It touches on interesting questions such as the power relationships between men and women in Iranian society, whether it is right to tell lies to try to avoid causing pain to others, and the way people try to control others in subtle ways. The acting and direction are excellent throughout.

The final scene shows the characters trying to push a car out of the wet sand as the tide comes in. Try as they might, they cannot shift it. It is a fitting image for a film in which ordinary people wrestle to cope with an extraordinary situation.

The film won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival and was Iran’s submission for an Oscar for best foreign film. It was voted by Iranian critics the fourth best Iranian film of all time. Look out for the DVD release of Farhadi’s earlier film, Fireworks Wednesday (2006), which came out in Autumn 2012.

  

Rating: 10/10

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (drama) (2011) (2 hrs 37 mins)

The first thing you need to know about this film is that it’s slow. There are a lot of long takes and passages when nothing much appears to happen. But it’s worth persevering with because there is much to admire in this Turkish drama from director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The critics thought so too. It was co-winner of the Grand Prix at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

The film is based on the experience of one of the film’s screenwriters. It follows a long night spent by the police looking for a dead body in the Turkish countryside. Three cars transport a group of men (police officers, a doctor, a prosecutor, gravediggers, army officers and two murder suspects) from location to location in what seems like a fruitless search for a body that the suspects have confessed to burying. The trouble is they were drunk at the time and can’t remember clearly where the body was left.

The opening scenes are shown in long shot. We hear the characters’ conversation during their car journey but at first we only see the cars from a distance. We don’t even know who is speaking. But then we are inside the car with the characters and they gradually reveal themselves through conversation on a number of subjects, including yoghurt, health problems, work, family and death.

The search seems to be getting nowhere and the leading police officer is growing more and more frustrated. The prosecutor who is in charge of the search decides to go to a village so that they can have a break and eat a meal. The mayor of the village extends hospitality and the chief suspect eventually tells the police where the body can be found. Once the body is found and taken to a hospital for an autopsy, the pace picks up as the film focuses on the uneasy relationship between the doctor and the prosecutor, which leads to a revelation about the prosecutor’s personal life.

The richness of the film lies in the subtle characterisation and the visual details. There are several moving moments: the doctor, exhausted and downcast, looking at photographs of his ex-wife and of himself as a boy, the men captivated by the beauty of the mayor’s daughter as she serves them drinks, the prosecutor’s facial expressions as he slowly moves towards making a confession to the doctor.

The characters spend a lot of the film waiting for things to happen, growing bored and drifting into philosophical musings. The film reminded me of Tarkovsky films such as Stalker and Mirror, while the bleak landscapes put me in mind of Antonioni.  What action there is happens slowly but is beautifully filmed.  The film is maybe half an hour too long but if you have the patience to let the film unfold, you will find it offers much to ponder.

Rating: 8/10

Shadow Dancer (movie review)

Shadow Dancer (15) (1 hr 42 mins)

It’s not often you see a film that is completely captivating from the opening shot to the closing credits but Shadow Dancer is one such film. This gripping thriller relies on a well-crafted plot and believable characters to hold your attention throughout.

The opening scenes are set in Belfast in 1973. Young girl Colette is asked by her father to go out to buy him cigarettes. She persuades her younger brother to go in her place and he is killed in the street (as we later find out) by an IRA bullet.

We then jump to London in the early 1990s. Now a young mother, Colette (played by Andrea Riseborough) is also an IRA operative. She is on a mission to plant a bomb on the London Underground but when the mission goes wrong, she’s arrested. MI5 officer Mac (Clive Owen) offers her a deal: escape from a long prison sentence and separation from her son in return for informing on her own family.

She accepts the offer but is soon involved in an IRA attack on a police detective. When the attack is thwarted it becomes clear to IRA leader Kevin that either Colette or her brother Connor must have tipped off the police. With Mac demanding tip-offs and Kevin watching her every move, she knows that one slip-up will wreck her life.

Meanwhile Mac has problems of his own. He begins to realise that his boss (Gillian Anderson) has her own agenda and that he cannot guarantee Colette’s safety.

Directed by James Marsh (Man on Wire, Project Nim), the film is atmospheric, raw and well-paced. It benefits from an intelligent script by Tom Bradby (on whose 2001 novel it is based) and an outstanding performance from Riseborough as a woman with secrets but no-one to confide in. At the core of the film lies Colette’s inner conflict between loyalty to her son and loyalty to her brothers. How great a sacrifice is she willing to make?

It is refreshing to watch a thriller that is not crammed full of dialogue, car chases and gun fights. In this film what is left unsaid is as important as the words that are spoken, and excitement is built up with clever plot twists and skilful editing. Marsh’s direction is impressive, his varied use of tracking shots, hand-held camera and close-ups racking up the tension.

Marsh won an Oscar for his brilliant documentary Man on Wire (2008), which told the story of Phlippe Petit’s high-wire walk between the Twin Towers in New York. Shadow Dancer proves he can make outstanding films in different genres and marks him out as a film-maker to watch.

I saw this film at the newly-refurbished Ritzy in Brixton and was impressed with the venue. The seats are comfortable, it has a bar and restaurant and also hosts live music. It’s one of the Picture House cinemas, which combine mainstream films with independent and foreign films. Check out their film programme at www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy-Picturehouse/Whats_On.

Rating: 9/10

The Apple (movie review)

The Apple (drama) (1998) (1 hr 26 mins)

This engrossing film from first-time Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf tells the true story of 12-year old twin girls who since birth have been kept locked inside their home by their parents.

Their mother is blind and their elderly father is worried that allowing the girls to play outside in the yard would make them vulnerable to local youths who sometimes climb over the front wall to retrieve their football. When some of the neighbours send a petition to Social Services, the girls are initially taken into care, then allowed home on condition that the parents allow them to leave the house.

What makes this film so extraordinary is that it has the style of a documentary but is actually re-enacting scenes that happened so that the camera can record them. The director managed to get the family to agree to take part in the film.

The girls’ case was picked up by the newspapers and the father in particular feels aggrieved when it is reported (wrongly it seems) that the girls were chained up and neglected. At times the father breaks down in tears at what he sees as his mistreatment by the Press. The mother remains angry at how outsiders have intruded upon her life.  One wonders why they agreed to take part in a film that doesn’t reflect very well on them. Money perhaps? The chance to give their side of the story?

Most of the film portrays how life changes for the family when a social worker insists that the children be allowed out into the streets to play with other children. The two girls can barely speak, having had no contact with anyone except their parents. Yet the local children quickly befriend them and there seems real hope that the girls can adjust to a more normal life.

The girls themselves seem remarkably joyful considering the limitations that have been placed on them. They take delight in simple pleasures like making handprints on the wall, watering a plant, eating an ice cream. They are clearly not acting but just being themselves. It is hard to tell whether all the scenes are re-enacting events that actually happened but the film has a natural feel and a simplicity that makes you believe this is a true story.

The director was only 17 when she made the film but must have benefited from her father, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, also being a film director. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the film is the way in which the director lets the camera linger over each scene, allowing the story to unfold gradually. The film won the award for best first feature at the London Film Festival.

Rating: 9/10

Brave (movie review)

Brave (2012) (animated fantasy) (1 hr 33 mins)

This latest film from the Pixar stable is an entertaining fairy tale set in tenth century Scotland. It tells the story of feisty teenage princess Merida, who is a brilliant archer and not at all suited to the demure life her mother has trained her for. When the Queen prepares her for the ritual arranged marriage with a prince from one of the local tribes, Merida rebels and runs away.

She comes upon a witch and asks her to cast a spell upon her mother to make her back down. But the spell misfires and turns the Queen into a bear. After a good many fights, chases and a dose of heart-searching, the Queen is restored and harmony breaks out between mother and daughter.

The story is rather slight but the action is carried out with the usual panache and humour we have come to expect from Pixar. The Scottish setting gives the film a rustic feel and the cast, which includes Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters and Robbie Coltrane, throw themselves into proceedings with gusto.

The central relationship in the film is between mother and daughter so I would expect the film to appeal especially to pre-teen girls, though the cinema I watched it in had a very mixed audience including younger children, teenagers and quite a few adults. I saw it with my 15-year old daughter and she enjoyed it. We saw it in its 3D version, which probably made it more interesting to watch.

I think adults might find the story a tad twee and the characters rather one-dimensional. The action moves along at a fair pace under the direction of Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (The Prince of Egypt) but doesn’t have much of a message. Apparently Pixar rewrote their animation programs for the first time in 25 years for this film but I can’t say I noticed any difference in the animation.

Before the film there is an amusing animated short called La Luna by first-time director Enrico Casarosa, which has received an Academy Award nomination.

Rating: 6/10

Woody Allen: A Documentary (movie review)

Woody Allen: A Documentary (2012) (documentary) (1 hr 53 mins)

This engaging documentary from Robert Weide is a timely reminder of the comic genius of one of the world’s great comic actors and film directors. If you only know Allen from Midnight in Paris, be assured that he has made many better and funnier films in a long and distinguished career.

There are interviews with Allen’s family and friends, critics and actors including Diane Keaton, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, Penelope Cruz, Larry David, Mariel Hemingway and Marshall Brickman. However, the most revealing scenes are the reflections of Woody Allen himself. It becomes clear that he is not motivated by money or fame but by the hope of making a great film worthy of his heroes, Fellini and Bergman. He is clearly disappointed at how some of his films have turned out, though why he should single out Manhattan for criticism (widely regarded as one of his very best films) is puzzling.

At the start of the film, Allen reveals that it is the writing of scripts that is his first love. Translating the screenplay into film is a frustrating process for him. His first involvement in film came when he was commissioned to write the screenplay for What’s New Pussycat? (1965). Studio interference mangled his script and left him feeling bitter. He resolved that if he ever made his own films, he would demand complete control. He’s never had any studio interference on any of his films.

The documentary gives an informative account of Allen’s background, an upbringing in Brooklyn, his early love of the cinema, early success as a gag writer for newspaper columnists and how he forced himself through the ordeal of stand-up comedy until he made himself a success.

The film provides a good overview of Allen’s career as a film director but it was a shame there wasn’t more attention given to some of his best films, particularly Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanours, two of his most ambitious and critically acclaimed films. After the scandal over his private life when he left Mia Farrow to marry Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, his films struggled to secure a cinema release for a number of years, which led to some good films being rather overlooked. These included the very funny comedies Anything Else and Curse of the Jade Scorpion.

One of the features of Allen’s film career has been how many established film actors have wanted to star in his films. Very few have turned him down. Scarlett Johansson and Naomi Watts speak of appreciating the freedom he gives actors to interpret the script in whatever way they see fit. On the other hand, Josh Brolin clearly wanted more of a steer from the director.

Allen comes across in this documentary as a driven man, compelled to bring out a film every year. He also appears to be a humble, warm and very funny man. If you enjoy this film, you’ll also enjoy Wild Man Blues, a 1997 documentary by Barbara Kopple of the European tour Allen undertook with his jazz band. That film reveals a Woody Allen close to his neurotic screen persona, and again brings out his natural humour and warmth.

There have been some great Woody Allen films, a lot of very good ones and quite a few mediocre efforts. Let’s hope he will be remembered for his best films, which hold their own against the very best films ever made. He should certainly be remembered as the funniest film actor there has ever been.

Rating: 8/10

Spider-Man (movie review)

The Amazing Spider-Man (fantasy) (2012) (2 hrs 16 mins)

The latest instalment of the Spider-Man returns to territory covered in the first Spider-Man film from Sam Raimi back in 2002, with Peter Parker a high-school student discovering that he suddenly has amazing powers. The second and third films were darker and seemed to lose their way by looking for an emotional depth that the characters just couldn’t carry.

This fourth Spider-Man film returns to the simplicity of the first film. The director is Marc Webb, who made the innovative film 500 Days of Summer. There is not too much innovation here but the film has all the ingredients for an engaging superhero film. The story may be much the same but this time around we have a different actor playing Spider-Man and a different villain for him to face.

Parker visits the laboratory of his father's friend, Dr Connors (played by Rhys Ifans) and is bitten by a radioactive spider, thus gaining remarkable powers. of strength and agility. Dr Connors injects his withered arm with a lizard DNA-enhanced serum (as you do) and turns into The Lizard. Meanwhile, Parker falls for classmate Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone). whose father, by coincidence, is a police captain convinced that Spider-Man is nothing but a vigilante.

In some ways this version of Spider-Man's origins is better than the first film. Andrew Garfield is an improvement on Tobey Maguire, who just seemed too nerdy to transform into a superhero and lacked Garfield's charm. The script contains enough laugh-out-load moments and Martin Sheen adds some acting weight playing Parker's Uncle Ben. The special effects are also up the usual high standard. The film also has a touch more realism, which particulary works in the romantic scenes.

I’m still not sure that it was necessary to remake the first film. Surely this was a lost opportunity to do something more interesting with an established superhero?

Rating: 7/10

Night of the Sunflowers (movie review)

Night of the Sunflowers (thriller) (2006) (2 hrs 3 mins)

This debut feature by Spanish director and screenwriter Jorge Sanchez-Cabezudo is an assured and gripping thriller. It tells the story in six segments, from the viewpoint of different characters, allowing us to interpret the action in different ways as our understanding builds and to see how the characters’ lives become intertwined.  

The setting is a quiet Spanish village which has been shocked by the recent murder of a young woman. Now another crime is about to be committed.  A young woman, Gabi, is waiting for the arrival of her husband, Esteban, and his colleague, Pedro, when she’s attacked by a travelling salesman. When Esteban and Pedro arrive, the man has gone and they go in search of him. When Gabi identifies the wrong man, they confront him and the man is accidentally killed. They decide to cover up the death, a decision which is to have many repercussions. 

Another strand of the story shows young policeman Tomas, working for the demanding Amadeo and engaged to his daughter. When the distressed men arrive with Gabi, Tomas sees a chance to line his own pocket, unaware that his boss is becoming suspicious. 

The scenes are beautifully composed, almost like works of art and the tension is built up steadily, with unusual camera angles and a kind of lingering stillness. The characters are all well drawn and the film manages to keep us guessing about the outcome right up to the end.

Since this film, Sanchez-Cabezudo has concentrated on TV drama, which is a shame as his talent deserves to be seen on the big screen. 

Rating: 9/10

A Separation (movie review)

A Separation (drama) (2011) (1 hr 31 mins)

Even if you don’t like foreign films, I urge you to see this film as it is quite simply one of the best films ever made. 

It’s an Iranian film written and directed by Asghar Farhadi which touches on issues of culture and religion but is, at heart, about human relationships, about how conflicts and misunderstandings can easily arise and cause so much damage. Its setting is Tehran but it could be any town in any country. The film won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, plus numerous other awards from film festivals around the world. It was also the highest rated film on the Meatcritic website for 2011. 

From the opening scene, where middle-class couple Nader and Simin dispute with a judge about whether or not they should get divorced, to the final scene, where their 11-year old daughter Termeh has to decide which of them to live with, the story is utterly gripping. There are enough plot twists to make you feel you are watching a thriller. 

Nader and Simin have been married for 14 years but now Simin wants to leave the country with daughter Termeh as she doesn’t want Termeh to grow up in Iran. Nader wants to stay in Iran and is concerned for the welfare of his elderly father, who lives with the family and suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Simin files for divorce but the judge rejects her application so she moves in with her parents, leaving Nader to look after Termeh and Nader’s father. 

Nader hires Razieh, a poor, deeply religious woman, to care for his father while he’s out at work. Razieh is pregnant and also has a daughter she has to bring with her to work. One day, Nader returns home to find Razieh has gone and his father is lying unconscious on the floor. When Razieh returns, Nader confronts her and accuses her of stealing money (though she is innocent of this as Simin had earlier taken the money to pay removal men). He pushes her out of the flat and she slips and falls, leading to a miscarriage. 

From this set-up a battle of wills develops between Nader and Razieh and her husband as both sides seek redress through the legal system. Nader eventually agrees to pay Razieh compensation but on condition that she swears on the Qur’an that his actions caused her miscarriage. This is one of many moral dilemmas the characters face as the situation escalates. 

The film engenders sympathy for all of the characters through all the twists and turns of the plot. The direction, script and acting are excellent and the film richly deserves the praise it has won. It will be interesting to follow Farhadi’s career to see if his future work can live up to the very high standards set by this film. 

Rating: 10/10

The Fallen Idol (movie review)

The Fallen Idol (thriller) (1948) (1 hr 35 mins)

This was the first, and arguably the best, of three collaborations between director Carol Reed and writer Graham Greene, the others being The Third Man (1949) and Our Man in Havana (1959). It was nominated for Oscars for Best Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay and won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.

The story unfolds over a single weekend and is told through the eyes of Phillipe, the young son of an ambassador in a foreign embassy in London. The ambassador is away but will return on Monday with his long-absent wife. The absence of Phillipe’s mother is not fully explained but there is a hint that she may have been suffering from some mental illness that cannot be openly discussed. Phillipe is left in the care of the butler, Baines (played by Ralph Richardson), and his formidable wife, the housekeeper. Phillipe has come to idolise Baines, who entertains him with made-up stories of daring adventures in Africa and other exotic locations.  

For Baines, time spent with Phillipe is an escape from a loveless marriage. Baines is also developing a relationship with a younger woman, Julie, who is the embassy secretary. When Phillipe sees them together in a cafe, Baines tells him that she is his niece. They take Phillipe to the zoo and he begins to view Julie as an intruder, a threat to his special relationship with Baines. 

After Baines has an argument with his wife, she falls from an upstairs landing and is killed. It is an accident but Phillipe thinks Baines has murdered her and when the police arrive to investigate he tries to protect his hero, which only serves to make the police suspicious. The tension builds as Phillipe becomes increasingly desperate to help Baines but each step he takes seems to make things worse. 

Graham Greene regarded this as the best film adaptation of his work and it is certainly an excellent film, with richly-drawn characters and masterful direction that makes full use of the vast spaces within the embassy. Richardson gives a measured performance as Baines, conveying a man trapped in an unhappy marriage and trying to make the most of life. Phillipe is also an interesting character. Neglected by his parents, he forms a strong attachment to Baines but feels sidelined by Julie’s appearance in his hero’s life. When the police arrive on the scene, his need for attention transfers to the police and he threatens to disrupt the investigation. 

The film is tightly-plotted and skilfully builds up the suspense as Phillipe struggles to comprehend the adult world which surrounds him. 

Rating: 10/10

The Red and the White (movie review)

The Red and the White (drama) (1967) (1 hr 30 mins)

Okay, the subject matter of this film may not seem immediately attractive. It is a Russo-Hungarian black and white film portraying skirmishes between the Civil War between the Bolsheviks (the Reds) and the Czarists (the Whites) in the hills around the River Volga in 1919. The action is hard to follow, there are no main characters (most of the people we encounter end up getting shot), no real plot and no conclusion. And yet The Red and the White is widely regarded as a masterpiece. And rightly so.

Hungarian director Miklos Jansco made several films exploring the power relationships that exist in times of war. This film was commissioned by Russia to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Jansco chose to set the film two years after the Revolution and to convey the senseless brutality of the war. Clearly this was not what the Russian authorities were looking for:  the film was banned in the Soviet Union.

The film is episodic in structure, giving you seemingly random glimpses of the war. Jansco uses long takes and a moving camera in interesting ways to create scenes that are simple and visually beautiful in their composition. In one scene we see a group of soldiers charge down a hillside towards a line of enemy troops. As they approach, they are all shot down. The camera remains at the top of the hill, detached, conveying the futility of such massacres.

Another haunting scene comes when a White officer kills a Hungarian and forces a milkmaid to strip. When his superiors arrive, they reprimand him, then shoot him. In another scene, White officers force nurses to dress up and then take them into the woods. You fear the worst but all the officers want is to dance with the women. 

It is the inventive use of the camera that makes this film so compelling. The selection of shots, the carefully choreographed movements of the camera , the careful construction of each frame make the film flow in a fluid and pleasing way. Jansco makes film-making seem effortless.

Rating: 10/10

Waltz with Bashir (movie review)

Waltz with Bashir (animated drama/documentary) (2008) (1 hr 27 mins)

From the very first scene to the very last, this film is simply dazzling. If you’re not a fan of animation, don’t be put off. The visuals in this film are so realistic that you soon forget you are not watching real people.

The film is based on the true story of director Ari Folman, an Israeli army veteran. It opens with a meeting in a bar between Folman and an old army colleague who tells Folman of a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by a pack of vicious dogs. They conclude that the dream must be connected with their time of service in the Israeli army during the first Lebanon War.

Folman realises he is unable to remember anything about the War and he decides to set out on a mission of discovery. As he visits old friends and comrades, memories start to rise up, culminating in a massacre he witnessed that continues to haunt him. 

The animated format allows Folman to use dreams and surreal images but somehow these scenes only reinforce the realism of the scenes unfolding. The brilliant animation should not disguise an excellent script and imaginative direction. The film deservedly won numerous awards and received wide acclaim from critics.

Rating: 10/10

The Vanishing (movie review)

The Vanishing (thriller) (1988) (1 hr 47 mins)

This Franco-Dutch thriller directed by George Sluizer was based on a novel The Golden Egg by Tim Krabbe. Sluizer and Krabbe wrote the screenplay together and came up with an intriguing film.
 

A Dutch couple, Rex and Saskia, are driving on holiday in France. They stop at a service station and Saskia goes to buy a drink. She never returns.

In a series of flashbacks we get to know a middle-aged family man named Raymond and see his careful preparations to abduct a woman. His first few efforts are thwarted when the women become suspicious or their companion appears but gradually he develops what he hopes is the perfect plan. He will pose as an injured motorist and ask the woman to help put a heavy load in his car. Once she is in the car, he will drug her.

Three years after her disappearance, there is still no clue as to what happened to Saskia. Her boyfriend Rex is obsessed with the need to find out her fate. His new girlfriend helps him but is increasingly frustrated by his inability to let go. Five times in those past three years, Rex has received a postcard from the kidnapper suggesting a meeting at a cafe. Each time the kidnapper has failed to appear. But this time he contacts Rex and promises to appear. They meet and Raymond tells Rex that the only way he will ever find out what happened to Saskia is if he drinks a cup of coffee that Raymond has drugged.

Rex is so desperate to know the truth that he agrees. Big mistake! The film has a bleak ending but try not to let this put you off as the film is very impressive. It avoids the clichés of most thrillers of its kind and instead of plot twists relies on interesting, believable characters and an unusual structure. And you won’t forget the ending in a hurry.

The film was remade in the US in 1993 by the same director but the remake is generally regarded as inferior to the original, having a more conventional happy ending.

 Rating: 8/10

The Intruder (movie review)

The Intruder (drama) (1961) (1 hr 38 mins)

This film directed by Roger Corman came out during the height of racial tension in the American South during the early 1960s. It has largely been forgotten but unfairly so because it is an impressive study of power and prejudice with an outstanding lead performance from William Shatner (years before his days as Captain Kirk in Star Trek). The film is based on a novel by Charles Beaumont, who also wrote the screenplay.

The charismatic Adam Cramer (Shatner) arrives in a fictitious Southern town called Caxton on the eve of black students being admitted to the local high school. Though outwardly charming, Cramer gradually shows himself to be a cunning and ruthless manipulator, wishing to incite violent action against the black population.

Cramer befriends the wife of his next-door neighbour at the motel where he is staying. The neighbour, Sam Griffin (played by Frank Maxwell), is a salesman  whose wife is emotionally unstable. Cramer seduces her while Sam is out working and when Sam returns home, he finds she has left him. His confrontation with Cramer is the central relationship in the film.

Sam sees through Cramer’s personal presence and realises he is at core a bully who uses other people to accomplish what he wants. Sam's strength of character is what ultimately defeats Cramer, who leaves town with his tail between his legs.

Roger Corman went on to direct a number of successful horror films but this early effort is certainly among his very best work. The film was titled Shame for its US release and The Stranger in the UK.

Rating: 8/10

The Green Ray (movie review)

The Green Ray (drama) (1986) (1 hr 38 mins)

This gentle film (released as Summer in the US) from acclaimed French director Eric Rohmer is my favourite of his films. Where many of his other films seem slightly contrived, this has the feel of real life.

The story concerns Delphine, a sensitive young Parisian woman who has recently broken up with her boyfriend. She’s looking forward to her summer holiday with her friend but the friend cancels at short notice to go with away with her new boyfriend instead. It is too late for Delphine to make other plans so she is left with the prospect of no holiday.

Another friend invites her to spend time with her family in Cherbourg but Delphine finds herself the only single person there and feels out of place. She returns to Paris and then travels on her own to the Alps but is put off by the hordes of tourists and immediately returns home.  Next she tries spending time at the beach in Biarritz, where she meets an extrovert Swedish woman. A friendship starts to blossom until the friend’s partying becomes too much. Delphine decides to return to Paris.

While in Biarritz she overhears a conversation about Jules Verne’s novel, The Green Ray. Verne describes how, at sunset, you can see a rare green ray; at that moment you will be able to understand your true self. At the station, as she waits for her train, she meets a young man who is travelling to Saint-Jean-de-Luz. On a whim, she decides to go with and search for the green ray.

There are no dramatic plot twists in the film but the story manages to engage you, mainly through the interesting main character. Delphine is an introvert struggling to find her place in a world of extroverts. She is clearly lonely but finds it hard to connect with other people. When others try to reach out to her, her instinct is to withdraw.

Marie Riviere gives a subtle performance as Delphine. Much of the dialogue is improvised, which gives the film a naturalistic feel. Rohmer uses natural effects like wind and light to convey Delphine’s feelings. A powerful moment is when wind rips through some trees, conveying Delphine’s utter loneliness. This is essentially a study of loneliness but with an upbeat ending that offers the hope of better times ahead.

 Rating: 9/10