Splice review
Hey everybody, it’s Vincenzo Natali o’clock. The warped mind that brought you Cube returns with Splice, a great-looking dark sci-fi film about two geeks going a step too far in producing a human / other-animals hybrid thing.
Packaged in an extreme fictional tale, the film explores very real biological research and phenomena, such as gene splicing, sequential hermaphroditism and sex pheromones but in this admirable accomplishment lies its main problem. This is a film about ideas.
It’s frustrating because the ideas are such good ones, however daft they might seem at times, and they would have much more of an impact if more attention was paid to applying them to a tighter story. A key element is the loneliness and frustration of the out-of-place Frankenstein’s Monster but this isn’t adequately explored and not enough is done to evoke sympathy for the poor critter.
Natali surely won’t be able to play on his Cube credentials for much longer but at least die-hard sci-fi fans should find some reward in his latest creation.
27th Jul 2010 | Comment | Official site | On IMDb
City Island review
A man recently released from a correctional facility; his (unbeknownst to him) father, an aspiring actor; his underachieving wife; their daughter, a stripper; and her brother, who “digs fat chicks.”
So we have the main characters, carefully programmed with a quirky formula, wound up, and let loose to see how they interact. Needless to say, strained family relationships lead to significant character tension, without as many laughs as you (or the filmmakers) might expect but steadily build towards a satisfying conclusion. There’s quite a lot crammed in to 100 minutes of what feels like a condensed TV drama offshoot of Desperate Housewives but it is fun and charming enough.
The cast is good, especially considering the small-scale, $6m, production, leaving you wanting to see Andy Garcia in more light-hearted indie comedy roles and Julianna Margulies in more, well, roles. Emily Mortimer is welcome support, as ever, and maybe Alan Arkin is given so little screen time because he’s so good at doing his thing that if he had more he just might have stolen the show.
27th Jul 2010 | Comment | Official site | On IMDb
Leaving review
Kristin Scott Thomas does the French thing again, this time ditching her husband, and the security of her family, for a poorer, chunkier, hunkier man. Hey, just like I Am Love! But smaller. And less pretty.
The new beau is clearly tremendous in bed because Thomas’ character falls giddy in love with him after little more than bonking left right and centre. Their relationship, or what we are shown of it, is about as deep as a puddle and as romantic as gum disease. As a result, and surely contrary to the hopes of the director, it is very difficult to sympathise with the protagonist.
There appears to be a belief in some areas of the British press that foreign-language films are, in the most part, beyond reproach. But Leaving offers little and most audiences hoping to find another gem like I’ve Loved You So Long will be left very disappointed.
Inception review
With a wish-list cast, Christopher Nolan returns to Memento-like mind-messing territory with Inception, directing a Charlie Kaufman screenplay adapted from a 007 book written by Philip K. Dick… hold on a minute… he didn’t? He wrote this himself?! The direction is certainly impressive and the film’s visuals are a real treat (the fight scene in a gravity-bending hotel is one of many highlights) but it’s the story that is the juiciest mango.
Flimsy psychology abounds and there is some very convenient narrative Polyfilla, such as killing yourself in a dream to wake yourself up (nice) no longer being the case when that would just make things too easy. But the bigger picture, of entering dreams, and dreams within dreams, and dreams within dreams within dreams, to extract information and then, much trickier, to implant ideas, is truly compelling. In lesser hands it could very, very easily end up being a tangled mess but the film is lucid and avoids any major plot holes.
Nolan is using his power for good. He has taken a concept the likes of which have traditionally been found only in low budget sci-fi and transplanted it in to a high-octane, big budget mainstream movie, challenging the audience and demonstrating that blockbusters need not make concessions for morons.
16th Jul 2010 | Comment | Official site | On IMDb
Skeletons review
Skeletons, a low-budj British comedy about two travelling exorcists doing their odd thing in a peculiar world, is being toured around the country for special screenings rather than receiving a wider mainstream distribution deal. It’s not likely to be seen by a lot of people, at least not yet, but given its unique qualities it has cult classic written all over it.
With such a wildly kooky concept, the filmmakers gave themselves an admirable but difficult challenge and events aren’t always clear inside a sometimes convoluted story. But this is largely forgivable and it is worth the effort because the story is so original and funny, featuring interesting characters and sharp dialogue inside an intriguingly undefined, surreal world.
The cast of mostly relative unknowns is very strong and the cinematography is also surprisingly impressive - this is a film that certainly wouldn’t feel out of place in the multiplexes. And although it won’t be found in any multiplexes or, indeed, most people’s local cinema, this is a rewarding film well worth hunting down.
13th Jul 2010 | Comment | Official site | On IMDb
