Silent
Flesh and the Devil (1926). Fil review of the silent drama starring John Gilbert and Greta Garbo
UK movie releases: w/e 24 January 2014
From this Friday…
August: Osage County
A star cast (Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Juliet Lewis, Benedict’s Cucumber-batch – are there any new film’s this man isn’t in?) feature in John Wells’ seriously dysfunctional family drama. Roberts, one of three sisters whose lives have taken vastly different turns, returns home and has to contend with, amongst other issues, her melodramatic, pill-popping mother (Streep). Roberts has snagged herself a Best Supporting Actress nod, Streep (again) is in the running for Best Actress. The official website is here; the film will be playing all over.
Dark Days
Mark Singer’s brave sounding documentary follows members of a group of homeless people who have for some years lived beneath New York in an abandoned train tunnel. The official site is here; the film will play at key cities only.
The General
Perhaps silent movie comedian Buster Keaton’s most famous movie, this Civil War ‘epic’ (at 1 hour and 29 minutes, it is a long film for Keaton) sees him as a train engineer chasing after the Confederate soldiers who have stolen his locomotive. almost the entire film is taken up by a grandly orchestrated chase as he tried to get it back. The Park Circus webpage is here; the film will be showing at these locations.
The Grudge Match
Two old cinematic boxing champs (Sylvester Stallone as Rocky and Robert De Niro who was previously a Raging Bull) dust of their Zimmer frames and beef up at the gym as two former boxing champs who have a re-match many years after Stallone mysteriously and suddenly retired. An interesting pairing; these two have made a good film in the past (Copland, 1997) so there is some hope here, especially with Kim Basinger and Alan Arkin in support. The official website is here and the film will be playing across the whole UK.
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Cohen brothers’ latest feature has them focusing on a young folk musician in the 60’s (Oscar Isaac) who is just on the verge of being the next big thing. Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake co-star as does a cat that Isaac is either chasing or carrying throughout (so metaphor’s will feature strongly in most critics’ reviews). I’m ambivalent about Cohen films, having failed to crack a smile at their ‘comedies’ Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and Burn After Reading (2008) but loving every second of No Country For Old Men (2007). This at least looks well acted from the trailers and the glowing photography looks adorable. The official Canal+ webpage is here and you will be able to see it just about everywhere.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Third reboot of the screen adaptations of the Tom Clancy thrillers, sees Chris Pine step into Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck’s shoes in this original story. Pine uncovers a Russian plot to destabilise the American economy with a terrorist attack. Kevin Costner and Keira Knightley co-star in a film that will be playing just about every place. The official website is here.
Teenage
The teenager is a thoroughly modern concept so this drama looks at being a teenager during the first half of the twentieth century, from members of the Hitler Youth to black Boy Scouts. The official website is here; including screening details here.
And on Wednesday 29 January…
I, Frankenstein
Aaron Eckhart looks in decidedly fine, ripped fettle (age: 45) as a modern day monster in writer/director Stuart Beattie’s silly sounding adaptation of the Darkstorm Studios graphic novel, itself following upmteen increasingly ridiculous screen versions of what was Mary Shelley’s rather far-fetched and florid literary classic. Having lived for more than 200 years since his creator (Aden Young) stitched him together from the body parts stolen from corpses and a soupcon of electricity, Adam the monster still walks the earth. But when he finds himself in the middle of a war over the fate of humanity, he discovers he holds the key that could destroy humankind. At only an hour and a half, it seems suspiciously short but could be a fun night at the movies, in a Van Helzing kind of way. The official site is here and the film will be everywhere.
Out of the Furnace
Phew! Christian Bale, that very serious actor, is currently in ‘fitty’ mode for cinematic fans. Stuck in a dead end job, he gets involved with a notorious criminal gang when his brother (Casey Affleck), who works for them, mysteriously vanishes. Zoe Saldana is on-hand to help him solve this. The official Tumblr site is here; the film will be playing to saturation point.
That Awkward Moment
Stills have already been released from this film, showing Zac Efron peeing in an odd position following a Viagra overdose, an indication therefore of the type of comedy here as three friends face that titular point in a relationship when a young man must decide where things are going. The official site is here and the film will be showing just up, down and round the whole of the UK.
Variete/Variety (1925)
Film review by Jason Day of the silent film Variete/Variety starring Emil Jannings and Lya De Putti. Directed by E.A. Dupont.
Silent
12 Years a Slave (2013). A searing, harrowing but ultimately rewarding slavery drama.
Film review, by Jason Day, of 12 Years a Slave, the drama about the true story of Soloman Northup a free black man in 19th Century America who is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and directed by Steve McQueen.
Drama
Sherlock Jr. (1924) / Seven Chances (1925)
Director: Clyde Bruckman. Metro/Buster Keaton Productions.
COMEDY
Cast & Credits
Producers: Buster Keaton, Nicholas Schenck.
Writers: Jean Havez, Joe Mitchell, Clyde Bruckman.
Camera: Elgin Lessley, Byron Houck.
Sets: Fred Gabourie.
Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Jo Keaton, Erwin Connelly, Ward Crane.
SYNOPSIS
A movie projectionist (Keaton) who is also studying to be a detective in his part-time, finds himself wrongly accused of stealing a watch. Returning to his full-time job, he falls asleep during the latest romantic blockbuster and imagines himself and the girl he loves (McGuire) are transported into the movie to play the characters on the silver screen. Comic mayhem ensues.
In Seven Chances, a lawyer (Keaton) finds he has been left a large amount of money in a distant relative’s will – payable on condition he marries, by 7pm that evening. Easier said than done when none of the society girls he approaches do anything other than laugh at him.
REVIEW
I would never usually combine two film reviews into one, preferring to let every individual movie stand on its own. But it seems appropriate here. Not to diminish the quality of Keaton’s comedies as stand alone pieces, but as both here cover similar ground thematically, comically and in terms of construction, this seems a neat and tidy approach.
Of the two film’s recently shown at Stratford Picturehouse courtesy of The London Screenstudy, Sherlock Jr. is the more famous and certainly the funniest. Seven Chances suffers from a protracted and dull opening that includes a disposable, two-tone technicolour sequence chronicling how Keaton, as every season of the year approaches, cannot profess love for his woman. It doesn’t help that the colour is of the poorest quality, almost as if it was hand-tinted by employees of the Georges Melies’ movie factory back in the very early days of cinema. The crudely drawn black characters (sometimes portrayed by white actors in black face) are more disturbing. Once comfortable in your seat, you will find yourself cringing and shifting from side to side to shrug off such sensibilities.
But back to Sherlock and Arthur Conan-Doyle himself may have giggled with delight in the cinema at the delightful and raucous send-up Keaton and co. made. Sherlock shows how sophisticated Keaton’s films had become in the short-time he progressed from two-reel comedies (a reel relates to approximately 10 minutes of film, the amount of stock in a film reel at this time) to feature films, the last of his series of short films being only one year previous (he would make one more silent short in 1925).
The use of the framing device (the ‘film within a film’), which can be a clunky addition if handled by a director merely seeking artistic kudos, is ingeniously utilised in a short segment when Keaton jumps into the screen. Initially, he is booted out again by the film’s leading man, but he perseveres and we are treated to a segment that contains some of the smartest trick editing on the silent screen. Caught between cuts to different locations, he is allowed no rest by the medium he is trying to hijack and is thrust into arctic tundra, rocky outcrops and manicured gardens. Cinema has no respect for this man who toils for it.
The framing device also allows Keaton to satirically explore the beauty and unpredictability of the cinematic medium, playing with the notion of what is real and what is illusion (he replaces the film’s leading actors with people in his ‘real life’ and as he swims to freedom in the film, we then cut seamlessly to him as the sleepy projectionist sat on a stool, ‘swimming’ whilst seated).
Sweetly, the projectionist even needs tips from his on-screen peers for help with wooing and kissing his girl. Sherlock Jr. may be a comedy, but it is an ideological and technical stride ahead of the smartest films being made in France or the esoteric Russian montage school.
But let’s not forget the jewel in this little crown that is the comedy – both film’s culminate in the most extraordinary manner, a crescendo of increasingly dangerous and clever stunts. Keaton’s background working with circus performer parents is clearly in evidence here as well as his athleticism at, for instance, dodging falling boulders as well as hundreds of eager spinsters (the ‘all the single harridans’ number in Seven Chances). The staging of these scenes, particularly in Seven Chances, is eye-poppingly impressive but given how you almost need to catch your breath as each moment passes to the next, it also shows how he his talent could run away with itself if left unchecked.
Keaton is undergoing a mini-renaissance at present, with the BFI holding a season of his films. Clearly there is no need for reappraisal, but to give modern audiences the chance to enjoy his artistry again.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
Director: Justin Chadwick. Videovision/Distant Horizon/Origin Pictures/Pathe/Weinstein (12A)
DRAMA
Cast & Credits
Producer: Anant Singh.
Writer: William Nicholson.
Camera: Lol Crawley.
Music: Alex Heffes.
Sets: Johnny Breedt.
Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Zolani Mkiva, Simon Mgowaza, Thapelo Mokoena, Jamie Bartlett, Deon Lotz, Terry Pheto, Carl Buekes, Andre Jacobs.
SYNOPSIS
Based on former South African President Nelson Mandela’s autobiography of the same name, this biopic chronicles the anti-apartheid campaigner’s life from his early days in a traditional African community in what was then part of Cape Province, to his emergence as an impassioned human rights activist and his imprisonment following this. Only during his later years, does he finally see black and white segregation abolished.
REVIEW
Much has been written recently about how black, British actors and directors are increasingly looking abroad to find work, due to the paucity of good, non-stereotypical roles and projects here (think about the glut of council estate ‘gangsta’ thrillers that creep onto UK screens). The Guardian’s Tom Seymour is one such journalist who has looked at this. And many of our best talent are now finding their feet squarely on American soil.
Idris Elba, who has starred in British TV productions such Luther but is more famous for his American work in dramas such as The Wire and films like Prometheus (2012) is one such actor who has decamped abroad with much success. Here, in a film blessed with the most fortuitous of release dates (Mandela’s death was announced during the film’s world premiere in London last year) he grabs what might be the role he will be remembered for (ironically, this is a co-British/South African production).
It is an Oscar worthy performance and Elba cannot fail to come out of this anything other than wholly magisterial as an almost saintly Mandela. He nails Mandela’s very unique accent whilst never once looking anything like the man he is playing. Only once, when berating his first wife, does he wobble (and you can almost see his tongue working over time to get the glottal African pronunciation out).
This probably explains why Nelson in this film is muscular and throbbingly, naughtily sexual – we are under no illusions about his sex life. Mandela was obviously a good and frequent lay, if the smiles on his female co-stars faces are anything to go by. We are told at the start of the film that his given name as a child can be translated as ‘trouble-maker’, obvious considering the raucous glint in Elba’s eyes throughout.
The women in his life do manage to get something of a look in too – Harris is a mighty, warrior like Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, his second and most famous (some would say controversial) wife. She comes to life in direct counterpoint to the patient and martyr-like suffering of her on-screen husband, a firebrand activist who would not be cowed by the abuse meted out by the South African regime of the day.
Pheto, as his first wife Evelyn, is not on screen long enough but manages to convey the poignancy of a politican’s wife sidelined to historical ignominy with the kids as her husband’s public profile sky-rockets.
What is a crying shame about Chadwick’s high profile movie is it never comes across as anything more than a slickly produced film version of a Wikipedia page. Indeed, we can learn more about what motivated the man internally and politically from that erstwhile, default information portal (the link is here for anyone who fancies a read through). Criticisms of the man, during and after his anti-apartheid fight, are kept largely at bay, presenting a hagiographic, one-sided depiction of one of this and the last century’s most famous men. Of course, it is difficult for a film-maker to be too critical or even questioning when the subject and his close relatives are still active during the production.
The film is not with0ut merit – aside from the solid acting all round, the scenes that concentrate on the violence that was everyday life in the Soweto district and the start of what could have been civil war in South Africa are staged with an ‘up in your grill’ ferocity. There is some playful visual comparison too – from the teenage Mandela, freely running naked and painted white during a tribal ceremony to the imprisoned man clothed as a convict doing hard time, coated in the chalky dust of a quarry. But too often Chadwick and writer Nicholson hurtle us from one event to another, despite the luxurious running time (2 hours and 26 minutes) that would allow them the opportunity to slow down and let us catch our breath as they look into the bigger moments.
As if this isn’t enough, any celebratory atmosphere created by the film is completely obliterated by having Bono singing on the closing credits, when a joyous, traditional African song from Mandela’s home tribe would have been much more appropriate (and welcome).
Future movie releases…w/e Friday 3 January 2014
Age of Uprising
Mads Mikkelsen stars as a farmer in 16th Century France who takes violent revenge against the local M’Lord steals two of his horses. The official Music Box Film’s web page is here; use this link on Find Any Film to see where it is showing.
La Belle et la Bete
Jean Cocteau’s achingly beautiful telling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale stars his off-screen lover, the achingly beautiful Jean Marais as the beast and Josette Day as beauty. Re-released as part of the BFI’s ‘Gothic’ season, movie’s don’t come more ravishing than this. The BFI’s web page with screening locations is here.
Last Vegas
On the cusp of turning into OAP’s, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline revisit their youth in Las Vegas to celebrate bachelor Douglas finally getting married to his much younger girlfriend. Sounds like The Hangover with a bus pass. The official Universal website is here and you can book tickets/get screening locations from the home page. It even takes you direct to your nearest cinema – bonus!
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
This isn’t the first biopic of Nelson Mandela (for instance, Freeman played in him in the sports drama Invictus, 2009) but this has an added piquancy as Mandela passed away as the film was premiered in London a few weeks ago. Idris Elba grabs an opportunity for a unique headline role in mainstream cinema therefore to play the man from his youth, through his struggle to end Apartheid in South Africa and his latter days as the first black President of South Africa. Noemie Harris plays his controversial second wife Winnie. The film will be screened across almost all UK cinemas and the official website is here.
The Missing Picture
One man’s search for a photo of a war crime in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge ruled becomes a quest for the nature of reality and representation in this Cannes Film Festival winning film with plasticine dolls as the characters. The official New Wave Films site is here; the film will show at key cities only.
UK movie releases…w/e Friday 13 December 2013
Unlucky for some today, but not if you are planning a visit to the cinema over the next few days, you lucky, lucky things you!
Here are the main UK releases for this week:
The Christmas Candle
Santa Clause is a-coming and you can instantly tell by the titles of the festive season’s movie offerings. This fable sees Hans Matheson as a vicar who arrives in a village steeped in magic and miracles, but teetering on the edge of modernity thanks to his new fangled ideas. Sounds cute and loads of good online stuff: official website here, Facebook page here and full list of cinema’s screening it with booking info here.
Cinema Paradiso
A classic of world cinema; film-maker Philippe Noiret visits his home town and recalls how the local cinema’s projectionist fired his enthusiasm for making movies. Re-released as part of the film’s 25th anniversary; no details about screenings other than it will show in key cities only so keep ’em peeled on your local art-house or big multiplex screens.
Fill the Void
Life in an orthodox Jewish community as a young woman is pressurised by her family to marry the widower of her recently deceased sister. Official Artificial Eye pictures page is here; the film will show at key cities only.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Ridiculously titled second instalment in the forever-to-conclude Peter Jackson sextet of Tolkein epics. Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) continues his journey to reclaim the dwarf kingdom of Erebor. Ian McKellan co-stars as the wizard Gandalf. The immaculate official website is here and the film will be showing at just about every cinema up and down and across the land.
The Innocents
A chilling Christmas ghost story showing as part of the BFI’s ‘Gothic’ season. Deborah Kerr stars as the Victorian governess who becomes convinced her charges have been possessed following the death of her predecessor. Think The Others but minus Nicole Kidman’s ‘gerbil in the headlights’ ™ acting and buoyed up by the fantastical Kerr, almost possessed herself. The BFI site gives you screening locations here as this is will be at key cities only.
Tamla Rose
A Scouse Dreamgirls (2006) about a Motown-esque girl group pursuing stardom. The official Facebook page is here, official website is here and the film will show at key cities only.
And on Wednesday 18 December…
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Will Ferrel returns as news anchor Ron Burgundy as prepares to head up America’s first ever 24 hours news station. It won’t be easy when his old colleagues Steve Carrel (weatherman), Paul Rudd (the ‘man on the street’) and David Koechner (sports desk) also join him. The official site is here and the film will be playing all across the UK.
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Film review, by Jason Day, of the whodunnit starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot, who must solve the murder of a pushy, rich American businessman during a voyage on the Orient Express. Richard Widmark plays the victim.
Thriller
Nebraska (2013)
Director: Alexander Payne. Paramount/Blue Lake Media/Bone Fide Productions/Echo Lake (15)
DRAMA
Cast & Crew
Producers: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa.
Writer: Bob Nelson.
Camera: Phedon Papamichael.
Music: Mark Orton.
Sets: J. Dennis Washington.
Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, Stacy Keach, Mary Louise Wilson, Rance Howard, Tim Driscoll, Devin Ratray, Angela McEwan.
SYNOPSIS
Old, infirm and fond of a drink, Woody Grant (Dern) is sent a form by a magazine company telling him he has won $1 million. Ignoring his families please that it is a ruse to get him to stump up for an expensive subscription, he insists on walking across several states to collect his winnings. His estranged son David (Forte) decides to drive him, ostensibly so the two can spend time with each other and meet up with their grasping relatives.
REVIEW
Slow-burning is the watch phrase here as Payne continues to dissect and examine the psyche of the male menopausal (About Schmidt, 2002 and Sideways, 2004). Here, it is Dern’s opportunity to shine in a rare leading man role as an old man searching for meaning and something to aspire to in an otherwise torpid, dull life.
Slow is perhaps the wrong word to attach to this film. The opening 15 minutes certainly amble along, as if it has taken on the shuffling gait of its lead character, but the whole atmosphere of the film and the world it chronicles runs at a different pace to the world outside it.
Payne has deliberately reduced the action to a crawl; purposeful and calm, he concentrates his story with long, lingering shots of the scenery and buildings of these almost desolate northern and mid-west states, focusing his attention on the mundane, where nothing seems to happen.
Contemplative is a better description but the almost relaxing state that Nebraska instills is as big a red herring as Woody’s unquestioning belief in the veracity of his fortune. Nebraska works by stealth and has a few quiet punches up its sleeve. The salty, coarse frankness of the dialogue complements this.
The excellence of the playing stems from the brutally honest way this family interacts with each other and the riotously funny way they express themselves. Dern’s taciturn lead is wonderfully nuanced and observed, a half crippled walk, inquisitive eyes and restless, agitated demeanour. When Forte questions him about his past and how he came to marry his mother and have children, his response is hilarious: “I wanted to screw. She’s Catholic, I figured we’d at least bang a couple of you out”. The film is full of these laugh out loud moments of deadpan revelation and discovery as an essentially barren family existence is slowly blown apart and discussed.
Incredibly, Dern has received only one Oscar nod before (Best Supporting Actor for Coming Home, 1978) but given the current buzz around this performance, he might grab another one and this time for the leading category.
Despite the alzheimic charm he imbues, he is outclassed by the delightfully named Squibb as his vituperative, brutally-honest-and-then-some, but ultimately loving and devoted wife. She is nothing less than a gem as a woman who says exactly what is on her mind, usually as she is thinking it and leaves a few images in the memory long after the film has finished (lifting up her skirt at a relative’s grave to “show him what he’s been missing” being one highlight).
Forte manages to keep his above the parapet of these two to avoid being completely neglected as the supposedly world-wise and intelligent son whose eyes are opened wide by the revelations that come out as his road-trip progresses. There is a wonderful gallery of grotesque relatives and locals in support, including Howard (movie mogul Ron’s dad) as Dern’s monosyllabic brother who suddenly jolts into life when he hears of the windfall about to land in his sibling’s lap. Several other residents of the town where Payne filmed are used to help keep a more realistic, local flavour to the performances.
Keach is slimily opportunistic as Dern’s former business partner, a man who literally smells money in the air whenever Dern is present.
