Jamie passion and passionfruit!

I expected more of this.  Sure, it has some great magic effects (apparently not computer enhanced) and the story is acceptable enough but there was something so very BBC about it, something that is correct but does not transcend anything much.  Neil Burger is the director and screenwriter and it may be that he doesn’t want to do anything too grand with the staging of the movie so that in the end it becomes a sort of pedestrian romance disputed between a devious crown prince and an equally deceptive magician.  Edward Norton is fine as the magician with an air of mystery.  Rufus Sewell is also ok as Leopold the prince.  Jessica Biel doesn’t really do much as the source of the dispute and it is really Paul Giamatti, the police inspector who is hell-bent on discovering the tricks as well as sorting out some of the ‘crimes’ committed in the film, who steals the show in the acting category.  A decent enough piece of entertainment, thats all.

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What to say about this one?  A film that is based on two characters communicating from different moments in time and starting a romance that is stronger than anything they can find in their own time frames.  The film has a lot of goodwill, competent enough acting from Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Christopher Plummer and Willeke van Amelrooy, holes in both the plot and in some scripting, which comes across as wooden and a rather pedestrian pace that is probably intentional as one of the themes of the film is patience and waiting.  Possibly, this is the aspect that vindicates a movie that doesn’t quite work romantically and does leave a feeling of missed opportunity.  I didn’t dislike it but it all seemed a little forced and reheated.

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Kate Winslet again, this time in a chick flick.  Totally watchable, largely unbelievable but somehow the schmaltz captures you and you buy the product.  House swapping to solve romantic problems the two girls, Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate Winslet) learn about themselves and men and life by stepping out of their usual zone and miraculously they get love.  The girls act well enough, Winslet has the more interesting part but the chemistry between Diaz and Jude Law is better than that between Winslet and muso Jack Black (playing himself). In a rare subplot Eli Wallach as a veteran Hollywood scriptwriter does a neat turn. 

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From Todd Field, this film is another deep and darkish look at our relationships and gives us loads to think about.  It is also very well filmed and keeps us intrigued.  In one of her subtlest performances, Kate Winslet is Sarah, a suburban mother bringing up a bright little three year old and in a largely vacant relationship with her hotshot advertising husband.  She meets  (Patrick Wilson) at the local playground, a househusband who is supposed to be sitting for the bar but who can’t quite let go of his youth and become a responsible adult and is happy for his wife to pay the bills (Jennifer Connelly as a rather distracted and distant but loving mother).  They hit it off and an inevitable romance begins.  Another story revolves around a convicted sex-offender Ronnie (A brilliant Jackie Earle Haley) and the ultra conservative ex-cop Larry who is determined to hound him out of the neighbourhood.  The film tackles our relationship with sex-offenders head on, our attitude towards adultery.  It asks us to explore the difference between being happy and being responsible adults and whether the two are compatible in our culture. What are we entitled to as adults in contemporary Western society? It also asks us to revisit our beliefs about the way we judge others and to what extent we can stretch our limits in suburbia.  I liked the use of a voice over narrative that is often irritating.  Here it fits perfectly.  Likewise, the fact that the film moves on in a slightly non-linear fashion helps to keep our interest.  Apart from Winslet and the others mentioned, Noah Emmerich as the ex-cop, Phyllis Somerville as Ronnie’s mother and the Greek chorus of conservative mums make up a rich and intelligent film.

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The idea behind this film was a good one – to explore the effect of anger on relationships espècially in the case where someone is angry because they were abandoned in a relationship.  I am not so sure about the execution.  There are some good scenes and good lines but all too often the pacing and the direction seem to be very inconsistent.  This may be because Mike Binder wrote, directed and acted in the film.  Some of the scenes involving the daughters seem rather superfluous and the movie is really only in full flow when Joan Allen and to a lesser extent Kevin Costner are on the screen.  Their portrayals are realistic and at times unattractive and their relationship as it progresses through the three years of the film is one of the most authentic and interesting features in the film.  Watchable but not entirely my cup of tea, I suspect that a different director may have refined it more.  Interesting casting.

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Another dark dark movie that has you thinking long and hard about the mess we have got ourselves into in this planet and the priorities we have.  To summarise the plot in a few lines, 62 year old Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) is a none-too-exemplary patient who decides his stomach pains are too much to bear and wants medical treatment one Saturday night in Bucharest.  He rings the paramedics, they  take their time – finally it is decided he should go to hospital and an odyssey of hours visiting four different hospitals to try to get an accurate diagnosis, the right tests and finally be admitted ensues.  We watch in a sort of real time effect as the nurse accompanying him (Luminita Gheorghiu) goes into bat on his behalf and faces the wall of overworked but also very patronising and unsympathetic health professionals, the overcrowded hospitals and the fact that bureaucracy and the handling of it takes pride of place over basic health care. The simple obstacles seen in this movie are examples of what can happen anywhere.  Cristi Puiu takes a universal topic and a simple story and makes it into a real and frightening moral tale.  The direction of a big cast of actors and what he chooses to show in each scene is excellent and although this is a slow moving movie, it keeps you gripped with a sort of morbid fascination.  It gives you a lot to think about.

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A much bleaker film would be hard to find.  A great action movie nevertheless, it tells the tale of Theo who lives in 2027, a world in which there are no babies and no fertile women – the youngest person has just died aged 18 and the social fabric in the world has broken down.  Britain is portrayed as a police state in which refugees are herded up and caged at stations and a huge camp on the South coast resembles a war zone.  Theo is recruited by ex-lover Julian (Julianne Moore) to help get a pregnant refugee to the coast and a boat that will take her to safety.  The film then revs up a gear as the pair and various companions along the route try to get their way to Bexhill in a society that is under total surveillance.  This second half of the movie goes at breakneck speed with plenty of violence and keeps you on the edge of your seat.  A great job by Alfonso Cuaron as directed, ably assisted by Emanuel Lubeszki the photographer.  Clive Owen is a very apt leading man, Michael Caine has an excellent supporting role as an old hippie and Julianne Moore and Claire Hope-Ashitey do their bit.  Maybe we could have done with a bit more of the sociopolitical side but there is no doubting that as cinema what we get is a pretty impactful work. 

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What a movie!  About half way through I was seriously wondering where this imaginative but slow-moving film was going.  Set on an oil-rig Hanna (Sarah Polley), an Eastern European with little to say and a hearing aid is nursing burns victim Josef (Tim Robbins).  There are a bunch of weird characters on board and all we know about Hanna is that she worked in a factory for four years with a perfect record but nobody gets on with her.  As life on the rig carries on, the nurse and patient begin to open up and in one cathartic scene we finally learn the story Hanna has been holding onto for so long.  And it’s a big one!  Suddenly the film becomes something else and our waiting is justified.  Great screenplay on the subject of pain and communication or the lack of it from Isabelle Coixet, great direction, Polley is a star as we always knew, Robbins is great and it is nice to see Julie Christie in a supporting role.  It may not be the best film we will see this year but the long scene and various other moments make this a worthy contender for honours later on as it has won awards all over Europe.

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Not the greatest film ever but what a lovely story of eccentric Invercargill speed fanatic Bert Munro who set a world land speed record in 1967.  The film is about his quest and the strange journey he makes to the States, to Bonneville salt flats in Utah to compete in speed week.  As a film it has its jerky repetitive bits but Anthony Hopkins very sound performance in the lead role and the good will and charm of all the bit players make for a pleasant time in the cinema.  I liked the never say die attitude that the movie conveys and the message that if we believe in our dream we can get there.  A nice Kiwi film to start the year with.

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Best Film

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Best Actor

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Best Actress

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Best Director

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Best Supporting Actor

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Supporting Actress

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Best Screenplay

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Best Photography

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Best Music

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Nominees:

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Best Documentary  

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