A film about a domineering mother interfering in her daughter’s love life to cover her own loneliness and lack of feeling wanted.  Diane Keaton is always a redeemable feature and she is one of the few things worth it in this repetitive and pointless little movie.  One or two laughs there are, but it is terribly paint by numbers and obvious and not so slick at that.  Gabriel Macht and Tom Everett Scott do what they can with the male roles while Mandy Moore is really rather flat as the daughter in question – a definite case of Milly Vanilly!  For when you are ill in bed or on a very long flight and have seen all the other options.

¶+

An enjoyable thriller without having us hanging on the edge of our seats, and is best described as adult drama which has a not too obvious plot and plenty of issues or moral dilemmas to debate.  George Clooney is aided by Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson and Sydney Polack to create a believable cast of lawyers and fixers in the murky pastures of corporate crime and responsibility.  The plot may not be that exciting but it is revealed in due time so we get hooked on working out what is really going on.  Clooney reiterates his ability to carry a film with a performance that is understated and never obvious.  Swinton does a great job as we would expect from her.  Tony Gilroy’s debut film is an auspicious one and while this was justifiably not film of the year, it has plenty of merits.

¶¶¶¶+

A rarity from France in the form of an animated biography/agit-prop against the regime in Iran and the treatment of women.  The merits of this film are the fact that it deals with a controversial topic in a humourous and serious way at the same time, with a veneer of matter of factness.  The criticism of the regimes in Iran, especially the clergy and the trials of being a woman in a muslim world are deftly depicted with the appropriate black and white graphics.  The end result is very effective and makes you really think.  I also found it particularly good to see how the mood changes in the film from the young energetic angry and curious schoolgirl to a more resigned young adult who finds it hard to fit in anywhere, be it Iran or Austria where she is sent by her parents during the worst of the revolution.  Imaginative, different, personal and yet universal, it may not be a great work but it is full of delightful moments and wry observations about revolutions.

¶¶¶¶

Little to say about this but a flop.  Heavy handed and an unfunny attempt to deal with a ´ghost´ guiding his widow’s life after his death.  It doesn’t seem to know where it is going most of the time and several scenes and characters are flat or embarrassing.  Does Hilary Swank no favours.

¶

The two major awards this year have gone to violent films, the Oscar and Berlin.  What does this say about cinema and the critics and juries?  Tropa de Elite may not be a great film but it does not warrant some of the very strong criticism it has also received.  It is an important film because of the impact it causes, shocking you with its grim depiction of police corruption and violence in the favelas of Rio.  As it is based on real stories, we have to see it as being reasonably authentic and certainly reports from Brazil suggest it to be so.  And it is an ugly tale that it has to tell. In it, we see the endemic, uncontrollable and senseless corruption in the police force, buying and selling everything, graft and bribes galore.  Filmed with a dizzying speed, hand-held cameras and all different angles, it is almost too much to take in, but one suspects that this is also part of the everyday life in the force there.  Then we have the idealistic rich kids helping in the favelas and becoming embroiled in all the drug use and trafficking and finally the BOPE, or elite squad that goes in when the police can’t cope and has barbaric training and initiation ceremonies.  All this leads to a picture of us as a decadent civilization where limits were not set when they should have been and we are left with a mess that is going to be nigh impossible to fix.  The same Latin American recipe of corrupt police, excluded urban poor and ready guns and drugs is clear here and for my money Jose Padilha translates it to the screen in all its glory.  He uses a similar style to City of God to give us this powerful effect and make us believe we are actually in the crossfire as it were.  Apart from this style, the cast is fine, especially Wagner Moura as Nascimento the jaded police captain who is far from in control as he would like to think.

A film of important social comment, a wake up call to the way that too many world citizens have to live.  Not particularly nice, but there you have it.

¶¶¶¶

A typical French film about a rambling family with ex-lovers and ex-wives, a soon-to-be closed cabaret and a wide chorus of characters.  Nothing very original but useful to see stars like Emmanuelle Beart, Catherine Deneuve, Miou-Miou, Gerard Lanvin, Valerie Lemercier and others in action.  I watched it more as a fantasy than as reality and the time passed pleasantly enough but I would not rush to see it again.

¶¶ +

I like Julie Delpy. She is a smart, intelligent, witty actress who brings a lot to the films she stars in. I laughed a lot during most of this movie. Some critics compared her to Woody Allen with this movie and before I saw it I was somewhat shocked at this comparison. Now, I see what they mean. Apart from the portrayal of a neurotic Parisian returning home for two days to see her family and friends with her newish boyfriend in tow, there is also the sensation about two thirds of the way through that you have had enough – it is all very amusing but enough is enough. Just like I often feel with Woody Allen. This is a good little movie but … it becomes repetitive in the last part and I felt that I had got the message. The episode with the anti-MacDonald’s activist and the case of mistaken identity in the street that Jack experiences don’t really add to the plot and although the final ending is more or less satisfactory, getting there is not totally convincing. The best parts are those of Julie and her real life parents, most of which are lessons in culture. That of Paris and that of her own family and these make you laugh. Adam Goldberg does his bit as the neurotic American well enough, so much so that you end up sympathising with his desire that the Paris sojourn is over asap.
Enjoyable but not quite tight enough for a higher grade.

¶¶¶

The main merit of this film is that it comes from Lebanon, not a common source of cinema and we get to see scenes of everyday Beirut.  It is definitely a woman’s film focusing on the lives of five women in and around a neighbourhood hairdressers. Typically, all the women have secrets and stories and Nadine Labaki shows us slices of their life from the respressed homosexual to the non virgin bride to the impossible affair with a married man.  All fairly typìcal issues and yet the characters are full enough for this not to be a cliché. Labaki is the director, co-writer and lead actress and she does very well, aside from being very beautiful.  I found Gisele Aouad a bit grotesque but credible as the menopausal customer trying to look younger, while the subplot involving Aunt Rose and her demented sister Lily (Aziza Semaan) grows on you. Overall, it is a watchable film without being anything special.

¶¶¶

A road trip on film.  A treatise of escaping from society on celluloid.  Sean Penn does something very different and it is undoubtedly up to the high quality of his previous work.  It is also rather long.  This is the real story of Alexander Supertramp, a highly intelligent student from a well-off family who drops out of society, hikes around the US and ends up in Alaska, where he eventually dies.  He is a resourceful, organised, systematic boy but at the same time, there is something extreme in his mind which leads him to this sort of suicide.  We follow Alex around a variety of locations in the States and Mexico in the early 90’s which provides an interesting look at the drifters and small people of the US.  There are occasional voiceovers from his sister and flashbacks to a violent family life and many scenes of survival in Alaska which would do credit to an Audubon magazine.  Penn helps us to understand his motivation in hitting the road and keeping on it, the scenes of nature are gorgeous, and undeniably wild.  We have some nice relationships along the way, with Wayne (Vince Vaughan) with Jan (Catherine Keener) and Mr Franz (Hal Holbrook).  Emile Hirsch is absolutely fine as Alex, it is one of those roles you slip into and live.  Apart from all the respect Penn shows to his characters, he also recreates the rhythms of this trip.  And it is there that perhaps, we find in parts that despite the pleasure of the images, the film begins to seem rather long and self-indulgent.  Nevertheless. It is overall, quite an achievement.

¶¶¶¶

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.

¶¶¶ +

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.

¶¶¶¶ +

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.

¶¶¶¶

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.

¶¶¶ just

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.

¶¶¶

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.

¶¶¶¶

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. 

The negative side of the ledger is that at times the film seems to drag and be bogged down by the chronological order of the novel and maybe the director almost wants to put too much in.  A sensitive piece of art and worth a watch but for my money Nair has still yet to produce the top film she has always promised.

¶¶¶

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.

¶¶¶

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.

¶¶¶¶

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.

¶¶¶

Nominees:

4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days (Romania 07)

The Death of Mr Lazarescu (Romania 05)

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) (Germany 06)

Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) (Mexico/Spain/US 06)

The Secret Life of Words (Spain 05)

Swing Girls (Japan 04)

Zwarboek (Black Book) (Holland 06)

Special Mention: 

Swing Girls (Japan 04)

Engrossing and highly amusing – it is a zippy comedy that represents universal humour at its best.

Winner:

Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) (Mexico/Spain/US 06)

A remarkable creation and story that aimed higher than most films this year and got there!

Pan’s Labyrinth got 4 awards and 4 months … 3.  2 each for Swing Girls and Notes on a Scandal.