In the City of Sylvia review
Hopeless romantic or menacing psychotic? We are probably expected to lean the way of the former, but the anorexic effeminate lead who spends the film following a young woman through the serene streets of Strasbourg is definitely a bit of both.
Aside from the Martini ad cast and picturesque locations, or, perhaps, as well as them, the most striking aspect of the film is the near-absence of dialogue. Birds chirp, feet clomp, and a pencil annoyingly scribbles out-of-synch, but vocal interaction is rare and, in fact, there is only really one particularly meaningful piece of dialogue in the whole film. It is this moment that is the most powerful, quite wonderfully so, highlighting how far entrenched expectations, not to mention senses in general, can be manipulated by an art form for artistic and emotional effect.
In The City of Sylvia feels more like a piece of experimental art than a narrative film (although it does have a firm narrative), and I suspect many would not enjoy it because of that, but it paints a picture with a very original and interesting style.
26th Mar 2009 | Comment
Bronson review
Without lead actor Tom Hardy’s brilliant portrayal, Bronson would have very little merit.
That very little merit would be some of the director’s choices of artistically composed shots and routines but this kind of filmmaking would be more at home in pop promos or high-class TV ads. The problem is that this is pretty much a non-film with nothing to say, little in the way of plot and absolutely no character development. Even brief flashbacks of Bronson as a youngster show little more than him beating the crap out of people, which is pretty much all that happens, unchanged, for the rest of the film. With the violent theme, the time period it is set in, and some clear Kubrick influences, this has some (some) similarities to A Clockwork Orange. Only without any kind of message. At all.
Charlie Bronson the character may be interesting, but if this is the extent of his highlights, lowlights, and any mid-lights, his life, frankly, isn’t, and neither is this film.
19th Mar 2009 | Comment
Wendy and Lucy review
Girl searches for lost dog. Stunningly exciting premise, huh?
Wendy and Lucy is a minimal film, but that’s OK. A dowdy Michelle Williams competently plays lead-human Wendy who finds herself on the brink of poverty and homelessness when, on returning from being arrested, can’t find her beloved companion, Lucy, played by lead-dog Lucy. You know very early on that there won’t be much smiling taking place.
However, the film falls short in the emotional-stakes and just isn’t intense enough. Clearly being a masochist, I wanted my heartstrings to be pulled harder. This is supposed to be painful, right? Spank me harder, dammit.
The complete lack of music—assumably used as a tool to accentuate the feeling of loneliness—doesn’t help. It is an interesting choice but the more traditional (and boring?) tool of music could have been a stronger one used to intensify emotional reactions.
All in all, Wendy and Lucy is good, but it should be more powerful.
15th Mar 2009 | 2 Comments
The International review
The plot of thriller The International is decent but although the subject of dodgy banking is topical, it is nothing particularly special. The two main roles are played admirably, but Naomi Watts is little more than a supporting character to Clive Owen’s single-minded driven lead, to which he is well suited.
By far the most impressive aspect of the film is the locations. And it isn’t just the wonderful aerial shots; refreshingly, most of the film is shot on location and it is the backdrops of real buildings, internal and external, streets, alleys, and rooftops, complete with genuine sunshine, that make the film a joy to watch. Architecture is used to great effect, from imposing modern monsters of buildings in Berlin to Ottoman mosques in Istanbul, firmly placing the characters in a foreign but very real, recognisable man-made environment.
Oh, and there’s a big bloody shoot-out in the Guggenheim. Which is brilliant. Conversely, an impressive elaborate studio setup.
13th Mar 2009 | 3 Comments
Watchmen review
Watchmen too slavishly follows Alan Moore’s original, brilliant comic book mini-series. Any audacious complaints that the film didn’t include this bit or that bit (already heard ‘em) are completely unreasonable; the film is long enough as it is. The one very significant difference is not only necessary but clever, even ingenious. Purists should be more than happy, but film adaptations, so frequently criticised, are just that; adaptations for a different medium, not books in visual form.
Although it would have benefited from a firmer eye on the craft of filmmaking (the copious amounts of narration in the first half of the film is cheating), this is a quality film. With the helping hand of a budget the size of Dr. Manhattan’s intellect, the world of the Watchmen, down to the smallest of details, is fantastically realised.
Criticisms aside (there are more; wooden acting, OTT sound design), director Zack Snyder should be commended and it is hard to imagine that anyone else could have done a significantly better job.
7th Mar 2009 | Comment
Franklyn review
Franklyn follows the odd lonely lives of a handful of twenty-somethings, played by an impressive, but under-, even mis-used cast, as they wile away their time being pretentious in London and a Wachowski brothers knock-off alternative-universe London with completely irrelevant religious overtones.
Much of the duration of the film is spent wondering if any of the threads are really going anywhere, but they do, eventually, which is both relieving and satisfying, at least to some extent. When the issue the film is actually addressing is revealed, though, it is not wholly unexpected but it is incredibly lightweight and shallow, almost insultingly so.
Franklyn isn’t half as clever as it thinks it is, but it is a brave film and it will be interesting to see what the filmmakers come up with next.
6th Mar 2009 | Comment
Flame & Citron review
A WWII drama based on actual events about the Danish resistance might sound a tad niche, even pretentious, to a British audience, but Flame & Citron is an enjoyable film with lots of action and is quite accessible by a mainstream audience.
It is, in fact, difficult to figure out what the intentions of the producers were; is this supposed to be a mass-market film, or an arthouse film? It falls somewhere in the middle and perhaps that’s the problem because although it is undeniably good, it isn’t exceptional in either respect. It is at least very interesting to learn a bit about Denmark’s role in the war and the exploits of two of their real-life “super-heroes.”
A slight problem for me was that I couldn’t shake the feeling that lead actor Thure Lindhardt and My Family’s Kris Marshall must have been separated at birth. This isn’t a slur against either actor, just that I was expecting Flame to extol the virtues of a BT Homehub more often than shoot a Nazi informant in the head.
4th Mar 2009 | Comment
Surveillance review
Fifteen years since her infamous debut Boxing Helena, Jennifer Lynch, daughter of David (who is also executive producer on this film), returns with a long awaited, if not highly anticipated, follow-up.
Lynch Senior’s trademarks are all over the place, from themes to cinematography to the peculiar actor choices but although most of the characters are at least mildly insane, this is a more traditional, straightforward violent thriller than many of the surreal films he is famous for.
Surveillance is awkward, frequently unconvincing and sometimes just a little bit silly and it is hard to shake the feeling that various aspects could have been executed differently for a more compelling result. It is, however, an ambitious film with some good ideas and enjoyable moments. If only they were moulded a slightly different way…
The most common word on people’s lips immediately proceeding a viewing of Surveillance will be “predictable,” which is particularly unfortunate (although, of course, not uncommon) for a thriller. Perhaps if the events that transpire were made evident from the get-go, a similar but different Surveillance could have been more taut and more enjoyable.
2nd Mar 2009 | Comment
