Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Definitely in the category of small films, this little German number set in Poland takes the story of Sven, a young German,who comes to Auschwitz to do his civil service and ends up having to babysit a veteran of the camp who is in his 80’s and far from an easy job.  He is also involved in and around the monuments and this allows him to meet Anya, a Polish guide who he falls for.  The films throws up all sorts of questions about the German role in Poland today with local Polish being relatively cool towards their presence.  It also asks us to look at what and how we remember such tragic events in the past and as the film progresses Sven realizes how important it is to value the memories of history and how that today is a challenge with the young.  A gentle film which makes a number of points quietly, I enjoyed it a lot although there is nothing outstanding either in front or behind the camera to mention in particular.  Simply, a quiet, competent film.

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A strange film with readings on various levels.  The story is that of a French family who live in bucolic abandon next to a motorway that has never been inaugurated.  It is like paradise for the wife (Isabelle Huppert).  Then, after ten years inaction, the authorities give it an extra layer of paving and open it up.  The rural peace is shattered and we watch the family coming to terms or not with the effects of this new lifestyle: the difficulty of getting across the highway to their car, the contamination of the air and plants, the constant noise, etc.  Family relationships start to get strained.  They block up the house with concrete bricks to get some peace transforming paradise into a type of prison. The rationalists will say ‘Why don’t they get out?’ Indeed, the calvary seems somewhat senseless.  Yet reading the film as a type of allegory of being stuck in a place that changes its nature with you being powerless to do much about it, it could be Planet Earth, a state that becomes a dictatorship, a state at war (there was an Israeli film with a similar theme) or simply a neighbourhood that turns sour. The ending is perhaps a little too open and overall, the film is a little dull unless you engage in this reflection based on what it says.  Ursula Meier does a good job of casting with Huppert and Olivier Gourmet up to their normal level and the photography of Agnes Godard which follows the mood of the story perfectly.

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Independent Argentine film that seems low budget but packs a punch well above its weight.  Unfortunately, its setting and the themes dealt with in the film are not going to draw millions to the box office but as a story of poverty, violence, ignorance and exploitation, the film is a low-key and convincing and remains in the mind for a long time afterwards.

Roberto is an 18 year-old gay whose mother and sister barely provide a stable home life.  He wants his independence, a place of his own and a dream romance within the reasonable expectations of an unemployed boy from the southern suburbs of greater Buenos Aires.  He takes up with Raúl, a 50-ish long-haired loner who earns his money from dubious dealings, seems to be a sort of cross between rocker, dealer and local mercenary and who has a very short fuse which results in acts of considerable violence.  The relationship sputters into life that way with Roberto moving in with him, grateful for a home and trying to reform the older man and balance up the relationship in some way.  As he gets to know more about Raúl, who has a history in the neighbourhood, he realizes that he is sucked into a cycle of violence which involves another lover, his family and his friends.

The film is no joyride but Juan José Campusano manages the pacing and direction with confidence, gives us a largely authentic script and leads his inexperienced actors to some excellent performances.  Oscar Génova as Raúl is quite a character, brooding and hard, Nehuén Zapata does an amazingly solid job with Roberto as a mixture of good faith, courage and innocence and Marisa Pájaro as Alejandra, the sister, is a find.  Vil Romance wins a lot of points in its authenticity and simplicity and for the commentary it makes on human relationships particularly in the context of an impoverished social class.

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An extraordinary film in the sense that it plays out more like a documentary but is in fact very carefully staged and full of wisdom about people and families.  It takes the story of a Tunisian father who lives in France and when ‘made redundant’ decides to put his efforts and little money into turning a derelict boat into a cous-cous restaurant. His ex-wife will cook for it, his present lover who has a small hotel gets the huff and various members of the family support the project to greater and lesser degrees. The person who most helps him is Rym, his lover’s daughter. Played by Hafsia Herzi, she and Habib Boufares make an odd and compelling couple as they battle local banks and bureaucracy. Both actors, but particularly Herzi, are superb and give us characters that are so real and credible that we hardly feel we are watching a film.  These are real people with no concessions for cinema.  The father is quiet to the point of almost sullenness, the women are quite the opposite and can’t be halted in full flow and with it we learn all about the substrata of family life.  Maybe it is overlong and maybe some of the content drags on a bit but the effect is so natural and so dramatic in precisely a compellingly natural way that you get hooked.  Several scenes, usually involving long dialogues are fascinating and of a type seldom scene in the cinema these days and Herzi’s last main appearance as the belly dancer is stunning.  This is a film that warrants more than one viewing as it gives us real-life drama and many comments about life and immigrants that are most insightful.  Director/Screenwriter Abdellatif Kechiche can take a bow.

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This is no world beater as a film but as a rainy Sunday afternoon chick flick it does have some merits.  Not the least of which is Meryl Streep, who once again gives us a superb portrayal of the famous American cookery writer Julia Child, who living in Paris took classes in French cooking and then wrote about it to introduce the Americans to that cuisine.  We see her life in Europe, her supportive diplomat husband played by Stanley Tucci and her efforts to nail the definitive book with her local friends.  Streep does another masterpiece on accent and on body language – the tall almost ungainly woman with the passion for life and food.  Less gripping is the modern blog story featuring Amy Adams as Julie, the New Yorker who seeks respite from her day job sorting out 9/11 traumas to cook all the recipes in Child’s original book and write about them! Adams does her best and is clearly an actress of talent and her scenes with Chris Messina are good but they pale in comparison to the scenes with Child.  Good photography and music and Ephron has a sure hand with the direction though the script can be a bit cloying at times as she tries to milk a life lesson every so often.

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