Jamie passion and passionfruit!

This relatively small Belgian film is actually more powerful than it seems at first sight.  It tells the story of a divorced mother who has spent the last few years bringing up her now adult twin sons.  Adult, but adolescent in their behaviour.  The absent father comes by from time to time showering money on them and insults on her.  Pascale is played by Isabelle Huppert in her typical fashion.  She manages to convey the contradictions of a mother who still loves her boys but has lost authority over them and as a woman who thanks to a new relationship with her neighbour, is starting to discover that she can have her own life too.  Trouble is when she begins to take action, her family resists her new role and her son Thierry, in particular, starts putting her down terribly.  After a slow start, the film begins to quicken in tension and reaches a potentially fatal climax.  Jeremie Regnier confirms his talents as an actor and his brother Yannick also does a good job in his first major film.  This is by no means a great work of art but it is a decent authentic film that bodes well for the director, Joachim Lafosse’s career.

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The big Oscar winner and the ultimate recognition of the Coen’s.  What can you say about a film that is technically in order but leaves a rather sour taste in the mouth?  What does it say about the Oscar voters and the American public that such a look at the unpleasant side of humanity wins big awards?  Maybe, the relatively tepid run that it is having in Argentina (I was one of five in the audience) is representative of a feeling that it is not an enjoyable evening out, even if there is much to admire in technique and performance.  Sometimes, I think we have to comment on the motives of the success and even existence of a film and with No Country I do have the feeling that my life would have been no worse off if I hadn’t seen it.  Some say that it is not such a violent film as you don’t see the three major killings on screen, but you do see plenty of others and the overall mood is of a relentless cold blooded violence and of a society that has turned violent.  I am sure that there is a lot to ponder on with respect to American society today and in the past from the scenes here – just don’t go along expecting nice.  It is grim and it is about people living grim lives and doing grim things. Perhaps it has to do with the shadow hanging over the US these days as Chopra has mentioned. The Coen’s write a good script and get away with a philosophical ending thanks to the great acting of Tommy Lee Jones and some plot issues that help the story along but don’t quite ring true.  Psychokiller Anton Chigurh gets just about everywhere dead quick even after being injured and losing the tracking devices.  Some of the scenes are gems of timing and generally, the way they narrate is excellent, a sort of unfolding of the tale with tightening and slackening of the pace.  Javier Bardem is superb as one of the most unattractive killers to grace the screen.  Not in terms of beauty but as a singleminded killer with no feelings and no mercy, simply an occasional toss of a coin as a nod to fate.  He is so unreal and so real at the same time that it is a credit to Bardem.  Tommy Lee Jones as the disenchanted lawman is spot on and holds together the moral side of the story and he like everyone, absolutely everyone is a victim.  Josh Brolin steps up well to play Moss, the cowboy who intercepts the money and is then the quarry of Chigurh, Kelly Macdonald has only a few scenes as his wife but leaves a real mark and Woody Harrelson has a cameo as a wide boy private eye.  Cinematography is fine by Roger Deakins, giving us the bleached arid zones of the Texan-Mexico border and the bare motel rooms of its small towns.  Yes, mood is there and a great sense of reality.  And maybe for some there is a black humour but I couldn’t really appreciate it – I just wanted to get away from that world and into something at least a little more compassionate.  Maybe that is the great achievement of the Coens, creating such a world and telling an effective tale.  Good on them, but it is not especially likeable.

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A very respectable debut by Ben Affleck, taking a Dennis Lehane book about the seedy side of Boston and a child kidnapping case.  Like Mystic River it is a grim and dark tale of human quirks and failings with a rich cast of characters.  Casey Affleck steps up to leading man as the private eye and does it very well, accompanied by Michelle Monaghan as his partner and girlfriend.  But it is the supporting parts that also delight.  Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman bring their talent to characters that are not exactly what we are led to believe at the beginning and Amy Ryan does a great job as the child’s drugged out mother.  Even Amy Madigan shines as the aunt.  But most of all, the best feature of this movie is how Affleck takes a moral dilemma and teases out the details so that it works as a thriller as well and seems authentic (despite one or two details in the plot).  A thoroughly recommendable film if you are in the mood for something a little dark and a great start to Affleck’s directing career.  Not a classic but totally respectable.

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This Argentine film ended up better than I expected largely thanks to an original story and some good acting.  By no means this gives it a complete thumbs up – after all it can be contrived in parts and some of the byways it travels down like nursing bats and Romanian cleaners are decidedly weird.  But it is about connecting and about our constructed family often being more to us than our real family and many other   Betiana Blum does surprisingly well in a tough part, distant from her usual sexy middle aged self.  Chete Lara rants a bit as the intellectual Pedro but gets some good scenes with the ever reliable China Zorrilla.  The Argentine part revolves around an arranged marriage between Facundo Arana, acceptable and Montse Germán, a little wet as Amparo, Germán’s character, wants to adopt a baby.  There are some who will love the warm and fuzzy message here – lets just say that it ends up being a decent effort with the promise of more to come from director Marcos Carnevale.

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Michael Winterbottom, the prolific British director goes back to a part of the world he knows to bring to life the story of Marianne Pearl, whose husband Daniel was kidnapped and killed by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.  The film is about the search for Daniel and the way that she held up to all the pressure being pregnant at the time.  Angelina Jolie does a very good job of the lead, being in nearly every scene and showing the strength of this woman without resorting to any histrionics.  As always with Winterbottom, this is an interesting film, fast moving but not always relevant – there are many short scenes of the chase for leads which become somewhat dull.  It seems like a documentary and this perhaps makes it more of a flat story in the end, despite the enormous implications of this crime.  Somehow I just did not get the same excitement and impact that Road to Guantanamo gave me.  Obviously, the logistics of filming in that part of the world and the need to help us understand the complicated web of people involved in the crime meant extra information and time to set up scenes.  This gives us authenticity but perhaps not the tightest screenplay.  I liked the movie but felt it was more poignant for its subject matter – especially as Clara Rojas visits Argentina, than for its quality as a film. Decent and good to see Jolie in a part worthy of her talent.

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I liked this far more than I expected.  In a fragmented market with everyone trying to target the bland centre, Gibson just goes and gives us an exciting adventure film in an exotic setting.  To hell with the politically correct.  We don’t know how accurate his portrayal of this period at the end of the Mayan empire is but he shows it brilliantly on film.  What is even more successful is the action side, the pace is a bit slow to begin but later never lets up and we are on our seats in the last half hour.  Dean Semler’s photography is terrific and you really feel you are in the jungle or the city (Tikal?) which is equally awesome.  Now, the story and the message may have its detractors – were the Mayans really so sadistic? – and the ideology chosen by Gibson to portray as the best may not be your choice but I felt that Apocalypto was a film that can introduce people to this era and an exploration of the civilizations and events at that time. It also can help shed light on our era.  Lots of violence too for those who like that but the chase takes the mind away from those scenes.  So, top direction, top setting and top photography and a satisfying movie for its entertainment value.

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Not entirely sure what to make of this.  Mira Nair takes a best seller and a topic close to her own experience to recount the story of an Indian couple migrants to the US and the subsequent relationship with their children born and bred in the US who have a foot in each camp.  The action takes place over 25 years and we see how the son, in particular first rejects, then obsessively accepts his heritage then falls somewhere in the middle.  We also see the process of the wife as she first has to survive in a foreign world, constantly missing Calcutta and then finally can come to terms with her split life.  There are many fine points in the film.  The photography of Frederick Elmes is excellent, there is an economy in many scenes that spells out points effortlessly, the acting by the three leads is also very good, Irffan Khan, the father, Kal Penn, the son and Tabu, the mother who is the backbone of the movie. 

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A watchable if overlong comedy about a couple,who are completely mismatched, confronting the news that they are going to have a baby.  There are some good moments in this film, even if it is not rip-roaringly funny and is for me less appealing than Apatow’s last effort, The 40-year old Virgin.  Some good points are made but I did feel it could have been so much more.  The scatologically inclined friends of Ben grate after a while as does Debbie, the sister and it is left to Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan in the middle to hold the film together with some support from Paul Rudd as the brother in law.  Apatow can be credited for his willingness to be politically incorrect in places and to be very direct about certain features of the baby business.  And he respects his characters which is heartwarming.  Not fantastic but definitely a cut above the usual dross on these themes.

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Susanne Bier does several things very well.  One is to create excellent scenes for her actors to shine in, charged sometimes with an almost unbearable emotionalism, another is to choose situations of moral quandary where the protagonists don’t have any easy choice to resolve (here we have several like the family’s right to know when someone has an incurable illness, the right to control the lives of others, the fate of the poor orphans in India and how the rich can assuage their conscience) and the third is to use her camera very astutely to pick up all sorts of extra information, glances, gestures or camera angles that widen our knowledge of the characters.  For me she is a very solid film maker and I have found her last few films most satisfying.  Nevertheless, I sometimes have a feeling that the sum of all these worthy components is not always so outstanding and while this is doubtlessly a very competent film with lots to make you think, it falls short of greatness. Some of it seems a little contrived, although this is carefully woven into the script.  Nonetheless, I have to highlight an excellent performce by Rolf Lassgard as Jorgen, the millionaire, ably supported by Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen and the young Stine Fischer Christensen. Camera work by Morten Soborg is also noteworthy.

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A farce in the traditional style of the British which I have to say I enjoyed thoroughly.  The goings on at what is supposed to be a sedate family funeral with mixed up bodies and pills, hidden affairs and confrontations between people who should never be in the same room together, it makes for a real cocktail that thankfully is very well paced and after the first half hour virtually lurches head first to its denouement without stopping for breath.  Either you like this type of thing or not and the scatological British humour and milking embarrassment in social situations are both done throughout here.  But its not every day we get this type of film and if you accept the stereotyping and the implausibilities it is worth seeing.  On the other hand, I would stress to add that it is not a great film, merely a very entertaining one and that history has far cleverer examples of farces.  Matthew MacFadyen shows what a versatile actor he is at the centre of this work and I liked Alan Tudyk as the boyfriend on hallucinogenic drugs (by mistake) and Alan Nyman as the hypochondriac.  The women have less to do and Jane Asher seems a bit wasted, but nearly everyone gets a moment to shine in – for Rupert Graves, it is his Bono style entrance.  Peter Dinklage has a nice small role too.  Verdict: watchable fun and light.

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Nominees:

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Nominees:

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A highly intelligent look at the relationship between a husband and wife of 44 years when the wife succumbs to Alzheimers and has to be admitted to a special home.  Intelligent and indescribably sad at the same time.  It is not a film to enjoy but rather a sobering and perceptive look at what people go through with this illness.  To new director Sarah Polley’s credit, we are spared clichés, gore and gratuitous embarrassment and we actually confront the sort of reality that spouses face in these situations complete with the fact that short term memory may fail but long term memory lasts longer.

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Nominees:

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A film that is watchable but does not inspire in any facet.  Basically, it is the Darwin story as two scientists bring back pygmies from Africa to study in 18^th century Scotland.  A feud breaks out between those who want to treat them as subhuman and Jamie Dodd (Joseph Fiennes) who regards them as fully fledged human beings and not the missing link between monkeys and man.  Basically, the film fails to convince on nearly every level.  Music and photography are so-so, the script is very predictable, characterization is largely non-existent beyond clichés and you get the feeling that the opportunity to nake a very insightful film (because the issues raised are interesting) has been lost.  Fiennes does not impress and Kristin Scott Thomas does what she can with a thankless part.

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