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Big News

It has been an exciting couple of weeks here at 24FPS. Actually, the last couple of weeks of September are always exciting, as I get to plan my viewing at the London Film Festival. I was already going to be able to bring you expanded coverage of the festival compared to last year, but thanks to both a little luck and a little networking, I'm going to be able to bring you much more coverage than I had hoped.

For the first time, 24FPS has got press access to the London Film Festival. This means that I'll be able to see and review many more films, and hopefully secure some interviews and press conference reports as well. So... keep your eyes peeled for LFF coverage next month. I hope you enjoy it as much as I think I will.

Film review: Winter's Bone

WINTER'S BONE
DIR: Debra Granik
CAST: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey



Debra Granik’s first film, DOWN TO THE BONE, served notice of a raw directorial talent, with an eye able to spot as yet under-utilised acting talent (in that film it was Vera Farmiga, who has since gone from strength to strength and collected her first Oscar nomination). WINTER’S BONE confirms that impression of Granik, and again she’s found an exceptional young actress to take the leading role.

The film is set in the Ozark mountains and follows 17 year old Ree (Lawrence), who has been left to raise her young brother and sister herself thanks to a father who spends most his time cooking meth and a mother who is mentally ill, and barely communicates. When her father skips bail Ree and her family stand to lose their house, and everything else they own, so she sets out to find either her father or his body, with reluctant help from her uncle ‘Teardrop’ (Hawkes).

WINTER’S BONE is a tough film to pin down; part thriller (though it often moves at a very slow pace), part character study, part exploration of a very insular community (the criminal fraternity that Ree’s father was involved in), it tries to do a lot of things all at once, and almost completely succeeds.

Granik’s eye is humane, but it’s also unflinching, unsparing, unsentimental. She’s not afraid of the ugly parts of this story, nor indeed those of the landscape in which it is set, with the broken down state of everything hammering home the poverty that these characters live in. That said, as ugly as some the settings are, the way Granik films them is striking, she completely immerses us in this world which, happily, is quite alien to most of us (the friend who came to the screening with me remarked that the poverty and the setup of the society struck him as almost feudal). Towards the end of the film there is some tough imagery, notably a beating meted out to Ree for disobeying local drug lord Little Arthur and his wife (Dickey). However, most of the time WINTER’S BONE deals not in visceral thrills but in tension.

What Granik and co-writer Anne Rosellini really get right here, apart from the outstanding character writing, is the pace. The film moves slowly, but there is an undercurrent of genuine tension in almost every scene. Violence is seldom used, but the threat of it is in every word as Ree begins searching for her father, who has clearly transgressed against his employers. There’s also a disturbing sense that the threat could come from just about anyone, as when Ree first attempts to involve her uncle in the search he responds by telling her that she’d best stop looking.

In the end though, WINTER’S BONE is held together by a collection of outstanding performances. Jennifer Lawrence is a real find, just 19 when the film was shot, she holds centre stage in practically every frame of the film, and is utterly compelling. Ree’s desperation is visceral and moving, never more so than when she goes to see an army recruiter because she needs the signing bonus to save her home. She’s vulnerable, but there’s also great strength there, and those two qualities play off against each other effectively in Lawrence’s performance. There is loud chatter about an Oscar nomination (and there has been since the film debuted at Sundance), and it certainly wouldn’t be undeserved.

The entire cast is excellent, with Granik handling the cast carefully, and clearly weeding out anything inauthentic. If you didn’t know better (and if you didn’t recognise at least a few players) it would be easy to mistake this for a found footage film, so unaffected is the acting. John Hawkes, a capable character actor who has never really broken out, is excellent as ‘Teardrop’, at first he seems a rather simplistic character, but Hawkes adds layers as the film runs on, culminating in a sad closing scene which leaves his character’s fate ambiguous. For me though the real star turn in the film (outside of Jennifer Lawrence’s) is from Dale Dickey, whose Merab seems to be a matriarch in the Ozarks meth trade. She’s got an incredibly memorable look, with her hard, deeply lined, face, and she gives a performance to match it; all flinty and unfeeling, and though it is Little Arthur we’re told to fear it Merab who is the terrifying figure here.

The only issues with the film are small, but not insignificant. Given Merab’s character in the rest of the film I had slight trouble buying her eventual willingness to help Ree, but much more significant for me is Granik’s use of a short, black and white, dream sequence. That sequence popped me right out of the film, which is a real problem for a movie that exists to plunge us into another person’s reality. There is such a naturalistic feel to the rest of the film that that short sequence, which may as well bellow, “you’re watching a movie” was a real and unwelcome jolt for me.

On the whole though, WINTER’S BONE is a hugely rewarding film, and it marks both Debra Granik and Jennifer Lawrence as names to keep a close eye on in the future.

The Greatest? Part 5: Jennifer Jason Leigh double

With this pair of movies we’re looking at a brief, odd, time in Jennifer Jason Leigh’s career, that brief span of the early 1990’s in which she was, to at least a slightly greater degree, famous. One of these films even embedded itself so much in popular consciousness that it won Leigh one of her surprisingly few awards… the MTV award for Best Villain. Yes, really.

RUSH
DIR: Lili Fini Zanuck
CAST: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jason Patric,
Max Perlich, Sam Elliott


RUSH is the film where I first really noticed Jennifer Jason Leigh, and made the connection between that and the other films I’d seen her in. Looking at it again, it’s hard to see why this movie turned me into such a big fan, because it really isn’t much good.

It’s based on an autobiographical novel by Kim Wozencraft, who was a narcotics cop in the mid 70’s. Along with her partner, Wozencraft became addicted to the drugs she took to maintain her cover. The film stays relatively faithful to this central idea, casting Jason Patric as the experienced narc and Leigh as his newly recruited, somewhat naïve, partner.

There are moments that work in RUSH, but not a single element that works consistently for the entire running time (including, sadly, Jennifer Jason Leigh’s performance). There are several major issues, but perhaps the biggest is Pete Dexter’s screenplay. It feels like a first draft, with characters not yet coloured in and archetypes in their place. It’s also incredibly heavy on exposition and extremely episodic. There’s act one, in which Kristen Cates (Leigh) is recruited from the Police academy, and learns about drugs at Jim Raynor’s (Patric) knee (this allows Dexter to go into raw exposition mode for minutes on end, notably in a scene in which Jim demonstrates shooting up). Thereafter the rest of the film is an endless episodic series of drug deals with sleazy cameoing actors (William Sadler is memorable), mixed in with an unconvincing relationship between Raynor and Cates and some very cliché struggles with addiction.

Unfortunately debuting director Lili Fini Zanuck, who has not directed a single feature in the ensuing 19 years, shoots the film with all the subtlety and lightness of touch of a man attempting to anaesthetise himself with a mallet. She has directed most of the actors to give almost comically huge performances, none more so than the oddly named Special K McCray whose turn as smack dealer Willie Red is hammier than a buffet to serve 300. At times (notably when they are most strung out) she’s also got Patric and Leigh acting as if to the back of a huge auditorium. Jason Patric is a big problem for the film too, he has zero chemistry with Leigh, and their seemingly instant relationship never has even a grain of credibility, and when not directed to give the most hilariously overblown ‘I’m on loads of drugs, me’ performance I’ve ever seen he brings about the same level of engagement to his performance as I do to my weekly food shopping.

In amongst all this, there are isolated moments in which the film becomes engaging, almost all of them involving Max Perlich as a young dealer Cates and Raynor use as and informant. As in GEORGIA, Perlich has a great rapport with Jennifer Jason Leigh, and they really seem to bring out the best in each other as actors. When she’s with Walker is when we see Kristen at her most human, her most unguarded, and it is in those moments that Leigh really impresses, and gives us a real glimpse of the toll that this double life is taking on Kristen. It’s also notable that, though they aren’t in a relationship in this movie, there is a great deal more chemistry between Leigh and Perlich than she has with Patric.

Lili Fini Zanuck’s direction falls flat on a lot of important levels, from her frankly inexplicable casting of Gregg Allman as the man who Raynor and Cates have been tasked with proving is a major drug dealer to her thuddingly obvious use of montage and her awful choice and use of music. Eric Clapton’s score wails away near constantly (and Tears in Heaven is given an inappropriate airing) and when that’s not plaguing us we’ve got terrible bar bands, and cliché song choices (Freebird, fucking Freebird, really?)

I wish I had liked RUSH better this time around, because it’s actually a pretty important film for me, it led me to discover this great actress, and through that discovery it led me to a mass of great films and many happily spent hours (with many more to come), but that doesn’t make it good. For fans it’s worth seeing, but this is a minor film in a major career.


SINGLE WHITE FEMALE
DIR: Barbet Schroder
CAST: Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Steven Weber, Peter Friedman



If there is a single prevailing theme in Jennifer Jason Leigh’s early career it is her superior taste in and ability to elevate trash. Whether it’s a treacly TV movie like THE BEST LITTLE GIRL IN THE WORLD, Paul Verhoeven’s appropriately titled FLESH AND BLOOD, cult exploitation classic THE HITCHER, or this tawdry little thriller, she can always be relied on to give the part her all, to treat it with the same degree of seriousness and craft that she did her more upmarket roles. It’s no use pretending that SINGLE WHITE FEMALE is anything other than an especially trashy take on the yuppie horror that was so popular in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but while it is trash it is, for the most part, superior, entertaining, trash.

The plot is pretty formulaic. Yuppie Allie (Fonda) throws out her boyfriend (Weber) when she discovers that he’s still seeing his ex-wife on the side. Unable to afford her (HUGE) apartment by herself she advertises for a roommate, eventually giving the place to mousy Hedra Carlson (Leigh). The two become quite close, but when Allie and her boyfriend get back together Hedra begins to try to emulate Allie in some disturbing ways, borrowing more than just the odd dress and spray of perfume.

You can probably guess how it all ends up; in a completely overblown violent conflict, but though the whole thing is desperately formulaic there are many things to like here. Chief among them are the performances. It’s a terrible shame that Bridget Fonda retired from acting following the birth of her son, because she was a genuinely interesting and underrated talent. She makes for a solid and sympathetic anchor here, and generously cedes many scenes to Leigh, but never lets Allie become some cardboard cutout protagonist. There’s also just something likeable about Fonda, she has that indefinable magnetism that allows you to root for just about anyone she plays, and Allie is no exception.

In the hands of a lesser actress the character of Hedra Carlson would have been horrendous to watch. There are moments, even in Leigh’s performance, that are unavoidably hammy (there really aren’t many subtle ways to play the last act of this film), but for the most part she builds a commendably subtle and rather affecting portrait of a young woman who is clearly as damaged as she is deranged. Typically, Leigh did a lot of research for her part, talking to several therapists about Hedra’s pathology, and it pays off, because the transition from the sweet, mousy, girl who comes to view the apartment to the homicidal maniac of the film’s last act is remarkably credible. It also helps that, when dressed the same and given the same (awful) haircut, Leigh and Fonda end up looking eerily alike.

The film does go off the rails in its last act, and director Barbet Schroder seems to throw caution to the wind and ask his stars, especially Leigh, to really ham it up. It is probably no coincidence that in the last few scenes, in which she spends much time stalking Fonda with a gun, Leigh often seems visibly uncomfortable. That said, even in these last twenty minutes there are some strong moments of acting from both women, especially as Hedra prepares to make Allie’s death look like a suicide.

SINGLE WHITE FEMALE is by no means a great film, but it is an entertaining one, it’s a heady mix of silly plotting, copious nudity and overblown violence, elevated by two performances which are far, far better than anything the script demands or earns. It’s perhaps best to turn your brain off, especially in the last act, but if you do you’ll have two hours of unchallenging fun.

Film Review: The Hole [3D]

THE HOLE [3D]
DIR: Joe Dante
CAST: Chris Massoglia, Nathan Gamble, Haley Bennett,
Teri Polo, Bruce Dern



I should probably make it clear at the outset where I stand on Joe Dante as a filmmaker. For me, Dante and his films are one of the cornerstones; his work is one of the major reasons I ended up a film critic. Be it GREMLINS, the incredibly underrated INNERSPACE, the satirical genius of GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH, the highly entertaining SMALL SOLDIERS or his little seen masterpiece MATINEE, when Joe Dante makes a film, I sit up and take notice. That being the case, I was excited to see THE HOLE, his first release since the 2004 flop LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION (a film I enjoy, apparently more than its director). Having been, to put it mildly, not entirely sold on the 3D ‘revolution’, I was also intrigued to see what a great filmmaker and visual wit like Dante could make of this new technology.

Sadly THE HOLE is one of the biggest disappointments of 2010. Even when they don’t entirely work (LOONEY TUNES is a total mess) Dante’s films have a verve, a level of invention and a giddy sense of fun that powers them through. That’s what is missing here, more than anything THE HOLE feels like a cookie cutter kids horror movie, and very few moments have anything to define them as belonging to a Joe Dante film.

The film’s story is very familiar; a couple of kids, 14 year old Dane (Massoglia) and 10 year old Lucas (Gamble) move with their mother (Polo) to a small, boring town. Then they, along with the cute girl next door (Bennett) find a trapdoor in their basement, which opens on to a seemingly bottomless hole. After they look in the hole, strange things begin to happen, and they ultimately realise that when you look into the hole your greatest fears emerge from it.

It’s not as if THE HOLE is a total disaster. It has scenes that work very well indeed, and it is scary at times (likely more so if you’re 11). There is a series of very creepy scenes that stem from Lucas’ fear of clowns, the clown doll that comes out of the hole to attack him is brilliantly designed - just the right side of creepy that you could believe it’s a real thing - and Dante uses it well, never letting us see it for too long, and exploiting its easily exaggerated shadow and the sound of the little bell on its hat to unnerving effect. The problem isn’t the effectiveness of the individual scene, so much as the fact that it, and all the rest, feel like individual scenes rather than integral parts of a greater whole.

Dante is a past master with young protagonists, and yet his touch seems to desert him here. In his other films the juvenile heroes have felt like real kids, but here they feel like movie kids. There’s not enough depth to Dane and Lucas for us to really invest in their relationship (it doesn’t help that their arc is the older than dirt transition from “I hate my little brother, he’s soooo annoying” to “I have to save my little brother”) and Haley Bennett’s pretty neighbour has little more character depth than is contained in that description. The performances are little help, Nathan Gamble is serviceable as Lucas, but Massoglia and Bennett both perform as if they are representing the USA in Olympic level blandness.

When the kids finally venture into the hole things sadly fail to look up. I’m not sure, given that Dante is among the most cine literate filmmakers out there, whether the fact that the film’s last twenty minutes seem like a long rip off of/tribute to Bernard Rose’s brilliant and tragically underseen PAPERHOUSE is intentional or not, but THE HOLE comes off as a pale shadow of that movie. There are some cool bits of design (though a few do seem rather more from the mind of a Tim Burton than a Joe Dante), but the fact that it constantly reminded me of a better film, and the fact that I didn’t really know or much care about these kids made for a truly uninvolving finale.

I was hopeful that Joe Dante could do something fun and interesting with 3D, but he doesn’t. THE HOLE was, at least, shot in 3D, so it looks… okay. Happily it doesn’t have the viewmaster look so prevalent in converted films and the colour timing seems to have been done with the glasses in mind, but I still question the point of the process. The big problem is that this technology is still new and somewhat unwieldy, and that shows through in the visual flatness of this film. Were it not in 3D this would feel more televisual than cinematic. Outside of gimmicky shots looking down into or up from the hole and an utterly pointless, attention calling, tribute to HOUSE OF WAX the 3D is, for the most part, barely exploited. Okay so there’s depth in the image, but if you don’t think 2D cinema can do depth then you’re either an idiot or you’ve never seen a well photographed movie. I can perhaps see the argument for rendering the world inside the hole in 3D, okay it would be a gimmicky moment…”put your 3D glasses on NOW”, but 3D is a gimmick, and at least it would provide a contrast between the two worlds thereby serving, at least to some degree, a storytelling purpose. Instead what we have is an already overworked gimmick that serves little to no purpose, because there is not one shot in this film that needs to be 3D.

The biggest shock of THE HOLE for me was simply how little fun I had watching it. There are occasinnal compensations like the cameos (Dick Miller, yaaaaay) and the fact that Teri Polo, though she’s stuck in the thankless Mom role, is just lovely to look at. Outside of that though, it’s slim pickings. The clown is freaky as all hell, and there are a few impressive visuals, but this is Joe Dante’s least individual work, and that’s what makes it a crashing disappointment.

LFF 2010: Schedule

I've got my LFF Tickets (my first batch anyway). I was able to get almost all my films (the Kristin Scott Thomas film IN YOUR HANDS was full) but most exciting is the fact that I'm in for BOTH Huppert films. I'm praying that she'll turn up to the first screening of COPACABANA (and taking my copy of THE PIANO TEACHER, just in case).

I'll probably get some more tickets next week, and I want to do at least one random day, but here are the 11 films I've got confirmed.


All dates October

14th
3:45 BLESSED EVENTS

20th
12:45 AT ELLEN'S AGE
3:15 DARK LOVE

21st
12:30 NOTHING'S ALL BAD
4:15 JOY

24th
1:00 DEEP IN THE WOODS
4:00 SUPER BROTHER
9:00 COPACABANA

25th
12:45 MY JOY
4:15 HUNTING & SONS

27th
1:00 SPECIAL TREATMENT

Already this is my busiest ever LFF, and I want to try to add more in the first week yet.

The Greatest? Part 4: Huppert Double

Two heavily contrasting films today, one an uncharacteristic foray into comedy, the other one of the most famous tragedies in literature.

I ♥ HUCKABEES
DIR: David O Russell
CAST: Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin,
Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, Isabelle Huppert, Jude Law



I ♥ HUCKABEES is one of the strangest films of recent years. It's described as an existential comedy, but to me it seems more like an absurdist art exercise, and frankly I'm not entirely sure whether I like that or not.

The story is an odd proposition, in that I've seen the film three times now and I'm not certain to what degree it has a story. It basically revolves around Albert Markovsky (Schwartzman), who is having an existential crisis brought on by a coincidence involving a tall African man. Wanting to discover the meaning of this coincidence, and perhaps by extension his life, Albert enlists existential detectives Bernard (Hoffman) and Vivian (Tomlin). They pair Albert up with another client, Tommy (Wahlberg) who introduces Albert to French philosopher Catherine Vauban (Huppert), whose insistence that life is a collection of disconnected, meaningless cruelties stands in direct opposition to Bernard's blanket theory.

That's an awful lot to process in 90 minutes, and that's not even half of the movie, because we haven't covered Huckabees middle manager Brad Stand (Law), his model girlfriend (Watts), who rebels against her looks and begins dressing in a bonnet or how Shania Twain fits in to this whole mess. A mess is what I ♥ HUCKABEES is, for much of the running time it feels more like Catherine Vauban's vision of the world; a bunch of meaningless scenes and moments, thrown together and struggling to find form and purpose.

It's a scattershot film, and the rumoured chaos and bad feeling of the set seems to bleed through into the film at times, but among the confused (and, frankly, dime store) philosphy there are images and moments that stick. Some of these moments stay in the memory due to their sheer balls out wierdness, none more so than the disturbing, but undeniably funny image of Schwartzman suckling at Law's breasts (I'm not even going to attempt to explain it, so don't ask). The fact that the film doesn't entirely come together isn't the fault of its starry cast. Schwartzman has a weak role, and an unsypathetic one, at the end of the day his Albert Markovsky comes off as a whiner who never grew up, that said, the film and Schwartzman are aware of this, and it's mined for laughs in several of the film's best scenes including a lovely one in which Catherine Vauban all but breaks in to Albert's parents' house and proceeds to scold them for the way they responded when a nine year old Albert was upset when his cat died. I never really warmed to Albert, but it's a testament to Schwartzman's likability that I didn't want to punch him either.

Among the rest of the cast Hoffman and Tomlin, who had long wanted to work together, seem to be having a lot of fun, and Jude Law is appropriately slimy, but the biggest impressions are made by Mark Wahlberg, who is very funny as Tommy, a firefighter whose existential crisis began on September 11th and by Naomi Watts, who seems to enjoy sending up her dazzling beauty.

Isabelle Huppert is an interesting case here, she's perhaps still too limted in her English to be as effective as she is in French, but she nevertheless almost steals the film as Catherine Vauban. Part of it is the casting; she's known (wrongly, I'd say) as an impassive and cold presence, and here she seems to parody that stereotype. Of all the cast she's the one who never winks at the camera, who never lets on that what's going on is supposed to be absurd and funny, and that seriousness makes her even funnier. She's also, at 50, tremendously sexy. Catherine uses sex as part of her method to teach Tommy and Albert (mostly Tommy) about life's random cruelties. The first sex scene is especially strange, as Huppert and Schwartzman take turns dunking each other in a puddle of mud. In interviews at the time a typically nonchalant Huppert remenisced that, when he was a baby, she'd held Jason Schwartzman in her arms (she's friends with his mother, Talia Shire), and now she was doing it again.

At the end of the day I'm not sure how I feel about I ♥ HUCKABEES. It's a bizzare film, but for all its pretensions to philosophical ideas its conclusions seem obvious and half hearted and for all its discussion of meaning I'm not sure that, at the end of the day, it really has one. As a collection of scenes it is strange enough to engage and amuse, at least for the most part, but many scenes fall flat (especially those laying out the film's various competeting philosophies, which often feel like readings from C grade Philosophy 101 papers) and though the odd image and the odd scene stick, the whole feels ephemeral. Of course that may be David O Russell's point, but I'm not sure even he knows whether that's the case.


MADAME BOVARY
DIR: Claude Chabrol
CAST: Isabelle Huppert, Jean-François Balmer, Christophe Malavoy,
Jean Yanne, Lucas Belvaux



Chabrol's apparently reverent adaptation of Flaubert's classic novel is a strange beast. I must admit that I haven't read the book, and so some of the tonal issues may come directly from the source, but whether or not that is the case, this film is still a wierdly mixed bag.

By 1991 Claude Chabrol was in his early 60's, and had made roughly 45 feature films, in short he was one of cinema's great craftsmen, having long since established a regular crew and a comfortable way of working. It is, then, odd to see how cowed, how intimidated he sometimes seems by the burden of MADAME BOVARY. I really can't think of any other reason that a great director like Chabrol, who could do so much with silent images (see, especially, LE BOUCHER) would have reams of dry narration, seemingly lifted directly from Flaubert, describing characters emotional states which, given his talented cast, it would be easier and more satisfying to portray.

Frustratingly there are times when Chabrol's grasp on his film seems as strong and sure as ever. Especially strong is the scene in which a newly married Emma Bovary (Huppert) spends a blissful night at her first society ball. Here Chabrol steps back; he lets the scene play largely through the actors' body language be it Huppert's fleeting, but real, happiness or Jean-François Balmer's proud regard of his beautiful wife, blissfully unaware that she'd happily cuckold him with any one of the men at this party. The sense of period is also strong, Chabrol brings home the squalor that many poor people lived in during the mid 19th century just as well as he portrays the beautifully put together exclusivity of high society, in capturing these two contrasting worlds so well, Chabrol also lets us understand Emma Bovary. She's irresponsible with her husband's limited fortune, but you can see why she wants to put herself across as belonging to a higher social class, because it means more than just status.

All this good work makes the moments that don't play even more disappointing. The dry narration is a problem, but not so much so as the many incredibly overwrought, melodramatic scenes. These have to be Charol's fault, and the cast, notably Huppert, seem visibly uncomfortable. The scenes Huppert shares with Emma's various lovers can be excruciatingly hammy. Melodrama's not a bad thing in and of itself, but it's just not how Huppert acts, and it shows. Her death scene is perhaps the worst work I've ever seen her do, endlessly long and scenery chewing; a performance more suited to amateur theatre.

The reason I think that's Chabrol's fault is simple. First of all, there's little need for these scenes to be so overwrought and, secondly, in the other scenes Huppert is simply sensational. Emma Bovary strikes me as a character who is all but incapable of happiness, and wants to fill her life with things, be they pretty dresses or pretty lovers, to distract her from her misery. As this Emma Bovary, Huppert is perfectly cast. At 35 she's also at the height of her very individual beauty, and convinces on a physical level as the ultimate trophy wife. She's hugely effective when Emma has to hold her emotions in check (as when she meets Leon (Belvaux) at the opera, but is accompanied by her husband), this has always been a great strength of Huppert's,; the ability to let you see the many different emotions that are going on under that practiced, put together, exterior.

The rest of the cast suffer similar fates, all of them are outstanding when the film is more dialled back (particularly Jean Yanne as the pharmacist M. Homais), but when Chabrol cranks the melodrama up to 11, they all struggle.

MADAME BOVARY is a difficult and frustrating film, some of it is brilliant, and some of it is spectacularly over the top. It works perhaps seventy percent of the time, and is still well worth a look for those moments, but the melodrama does become wearing, and I found myself wishing that Chabrol could have had a little more confidence in himself here, and been a little less wedded to the book, however brilliant it may be.

LFF 2010: Preview Pt. 3

Sorry this has taken so long to post. I've been having trouble writing this week... the writers among you will know those days when nothing quite reads right... I've just had a few in a row.

The Cinema Europa and World Cinema strands are where LFF casts a wider net, covering some of the more offbeat and unseen narrative cinema of the year. It's here that you'll likely find those little festival gems; the treats you might not see again, and here that you may well spot the names you need to watch for in the future. For the full programme, CLICK HERE.

Notes: Within their strands films are listed alphabetically by title. Short synopses are taken from the LFF brochure.

CINEMA EUROPA
3 Seasons in Hell
DIR: Tomáš Mašin

A young poet and his liberated girlfriend face a new reality when the Communists take power in Prague in the late 1940s.
Set at the time of the takeover of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1948, Tomáš Mašin's first film promises to illuminate - through what sounds like a high stakes romantic thriller involving the attempts of a poet and his activist girlfirend to escape the new regime - a period of history I know next to mothing about. It's apparently loosely based on a true story and advance word suggests that this is an engaging and well acted film.


Armadillo
DIR: Janus Metz

An intense and controversial documentary about a group of Danish army recruits, stationed in Afghanistan.
War often brings about advancements in media, and especially in reportage, and the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are the first that we've really been able to follow consistently at ground level. In 2009 director Janus Metz and his crew were embedded with a group of Danish soldiers in Afghanistan. It seems that this is an up close and personal documentary, and it's attracting fantastic notices at other film festivals. We've had a lot of films exploring and debunking the war on terror, it will be interesting to see one about the day to day experience of it.


At Ellen's Age
DIR: Pia Marais

When Ellen discovers her lover's infidelity, her life goes into tail spin, taking her into places and politics she never thought she'd go.
I've heard nothing but good things about, and am dying to see, Pia Marais' debut The Unpolished, interestingly, this second effort sounds almost like the flipside of that film, a coming of age film focusing not on a young character but on one in her mid 40's. The talented Jeanne Balibar takes the lead as Ellen, who leaves behind her old life when her partner gets another woman pregnant, and finds herself having all sorts of new experiences with work, politics, sex and drugs. Sounds tough, but rewarding.


Blessed Events
DIR: Isabelle Stever

Emotionally honest and insightful account of a surprise pregnancy and its even more unexpected consequences by a leading light of Berlin's recent cinematic renaissance.
Germany has been producing some really exciting cinema over the last few years, and this account of two people's reaction to the pregnancy that results from their one night stand seems likely to be yet more evidence of the wave of talent coming out of there. From the available stills I can tell that director Isabelle Stever has an eye for an evocative image, and the promised underlying tension about the reasons behind the father's very enthusiastic reaction to this unexpected turn of events suggests a very different take on the established beats of the pregnancy movie.


Dark Love
DIR: Antonio Capuano

The aftermath of a rape seen through the parallel lives of the assailant and victim as they try to redeem and rebuild their lives respectively.
For me the interesting idea behind this film is that it explores the effect of a heinous crime (gang rape) from two angles; the experience of the victim, and that of a remorseful perpetrator. Whether Dark Love ultimately works will hinge on the leading performances of Irene de Angelis and Gabriele Agrio, if we believe them then this should be a provocative and fascinating piece of work. On a side note, it will also be nice to see the too infrequently used Valeria Golino again.


Elisa K
DIR: Jordi Cadena / Judith Colell

A sensitive, beautifully realised study of the traumas of child abuse from Catalan directors Judith Colell and Jordi Cadena.
It seems that the psychological ramifications of traumatic events is something of a theme in the Cinema Europa strand this year. This film, told in two chapters, shows first the immediate effect of child abuse on the young victim (the titular Elisa) and then how it continues to effect the grown Elisa when, 14 years later, she really acknowledges what happened. This is almost certain to be grim and challenging, but done sensitively it could be really striking.


Hunting and Sons
DIR: Sander Burger

The disturbing tale of a young couple whose marriage disintegrates when they become pregnant.
We still don't get to see much Dutch cinema (I'm pretty sure I haven't seen a Dutch film since Verhoeven's Black Book), but this one has certainly grabbed my interest. It's another film about the psychogoical effects of pregnancy, only in this case it seems it is driving a couple apart, largely due to the wife's body dysmorphia. These are compelling issues, and I've never seen the addressed in cinema before.


Illegal
DIR: Olivier Masset-Depasse

Olivier Masset-Depasse's award-winning film is based on actual events and vividly depicts a grim reality for those retained in Belgium's detention centres.
There are few more sensationalised or poorly reported issues than that of asylum, hopefully this film (which is based on a true story), which takes us inside a Belgian detention centre will address its subject in a more honest fashion than the media tends to. It should help that Anne Coesens is playing the lead role of a mother seperated from her son and threatened with deportation, she's a gifted and interesting actress, and this promises to give her a strong role.


My Joy
DIR: Sergei Loznitsa

A chance encounter leads to a nightmare journey into a Russian heart of darkness.
My Joy elicited a strong reaction at Cannes, where it emerged as probably the year's most disturbing film (which always has me intrigued, to be honest). It's also part of what seems to be a growing trend in Europe's former communist countries of cinema of an ever darker and more horrifying hue. Based on stories told to the director of life in present day Russia, this promises to be one of LFF's most confrontational pieces of work.


Womb
DIR: Benedek Fliegauf

Eva Green and Matt Smith star in an unusual love story, exquisitely designed and photographed.
At the very least, Womb sounds quite unlike anything I've seen before. It's the story of a woman (Eva Green) who is so heartbroken when her lover (current Dr. Who Matt Smith) is killed that she arranges to give birth to his clone. When the clone grows up and gets a girlfriend she finds herself torn between jealous and maternal feelings. It's a killer premise, and Green is a talented and daring actress, this seems a great match of talent and material.



WORLD CINEMA
Catfish
DIR: Henry Joost / Ariel Schulman

A provocative and unsettling documentary about the impact of social media.
A documentary thriller? Certainly that's what the coy synopsis in the LFF brochure paints Catfish as. Social media has had a huge impact on our society, and effects good and bad, but Catfish is the first non-fiction film to really engage with the phenomenon, and apparently with its darker side.


Cold Fish
DIR: Sion Sono

Sion Sono's outrageously splattery thriller, allegedly based on fact, shows an innocent tropical-fish seller caught up in serial murders and corpse disposals.
At least you can't accuse Sion Sono of being predictable. His last film was a four hour epic about, among other things, upskirt photography. It is, then, a fair bet that Cold Fish won't be just another thriller. It sounds likely that it will have as much familial comedy as it does splattery murder and body disposal. Different, at the very least.


Don't Be Afraid, Bi
DIR: Phan Dang Di

Six-year-old Bi doesn't understand his father's philandering or his aunt's crush on a teenage boy; a Vietnamese mixture of muscular poetry and sexual candour.
This sounds really interesting, taking events from the viewpoint of a six year old (who isn't really equipped to understand them) should bring a greater level of originality to what might otherwise be a somewhat familliar drama about infidelity and repressed sexuality. A lot will depend on the casting of Bi, if that role works then the film ought to. Vietnam hasn't produced many films that have got international recognition, so it will be interesting to see what filmmakers are doing there.


It's Your Fault
DIR: Anahí Berneri

An exhausted mother finds herself accused of child abuse in this arresting, tense drama from Argentine director Anahi Berneri.
It seems that Argentina is the coming force in world cinema, and this sounds like another strong slice of drama to folow the likes of XXY and Lion's Den. The idea behind this film; a young, tired, mother takes her child to hospital after a fall and is accused of abuse, is harrowing because it happens, and if Berneri can capture the urgency of that moment this should be strong stuff.


Leap Year
DIR: Michael Rowe

A bold, minimalist study of urban alienation, this outstanding debut feature from Mark Rowe earned him the Camera D'Or at Cannes this year.
Over the past decade or so there have been many films that have used extremely explicit, often hardcore, sex to explore their characters relationships, but so far none as really succeeded in making the explicit sex much more than a cry of 'look at meee'. The fact that this film, which apparently takes an unflinching look at a sadomasochistic relationship, won the Camera D'Or at Cannes suggests that Michael Rowe may be on to something with a little more substance here.


Smash His Camera
DIR: Leon Gast

Is pap photographer Ron Galella upholding the first amendment, or is he the price to be paid for it?
Leon Gast's documentary about veteran papparazzi photographer Ron Galella looks certain to ask some searching and provocative questions about what freedom of speech and privacy mean in this age of celebrity. It's a topic that grows more relevant with every non-story about what some D-Lister wore to whatever premiere last night.


Spork
DIR: JB Ghuman Jr

A young high-schooler attempts to win the annual talent show in this wonderfully surprising and subversive teen movie.
Last year one of my LFF highlight was an offbeat American teen movie called Dear Lemon Lima, hopefully Spork (despite its frankly horrid title) can be this year's model. It seems that it's a relatively generic tale of an outsider aiming to win the school talent show, the twist here being that the main character was born intersex. It has the potential to be funny, charming and uplifting.


The Tillman Story
DIR: Amir Bar-Lev

The latest film from Amir Bar-Lev questions simplistic notions of heroism, and emerges to be about far more than the one man at its centre.
Bar-Lev's last film; My Kid Could Paint That had a nice idea, but ultimately wasn't searching enough. Hopefully this one, which is about a young man who put a promising NFL career on hold, joined the Army Rangers, and was killed in Afghanistan, can ask the pertinent questions as well as telling Pat Tillman's story. The strong reviews suggest that it will.


Well, those are my thoughts on just a few of the films playing at LFF. Once I get my tickets I'll post my festival schedule, if any of you are attending I'd be glad to meet up for a drink and a chat.

PS: I may also have an exciting announcement about the LFF coverage. Watch this space.

Film Review: Pathogen

PATHOGEN
DIR: Emily M. Hagins
CAST: Rose Kent-McGlew, Tiger Darrow, Alec Herskowitz,
Tony Vespe, Alex Schroeder, Rebecca Elliott

The summer I was 12 I messed around with my friends, went on a short holiday with my parents and saw a lot of movies (THE FUGITIVE and JURASSIC PARK stand out in the memory). Emily Hagins made a zombie movie. Okay, so a lot of 12 year olds borrow mum and dad's video camera and make little home movies, but Hagins' film is a great deal more than that. Based on a screenplay she wrote the first draft of aged just ten, PATHOGEN sees Austin, Texas in the grip of a zombie virus caused by the leaking of experimental nanotechnology into the water supply, and the only apparent resistance is provided by a small group of middle schoolers.

If Hagins' achievement doesn't always match her ambition, that's excusable. Indeed PATHOGEN is something you don't often get to see; the very first baby steps of a nascent filmmaker, and there is a real sense that as the process went on Hagins really found her feet. Certain scenes are plagued with technical problems, from the apparent initial allergy to tripods, to boom shadows, to camera reflections, to terrible continuity issues. What's interesting is that these seem to afflict some parts of the film far worse than others, which suggests that Hagins may have made a lot of mistakes, but she clearly learnt from them even as the production went along.

I'm not going to tell you that this is some sort of undiscovered classic, it's clearly not, indeed it is shot through with problems. Most of the real problems with the film stem from the script. You have to give Emily Hagins credit here, her central idea of the parasite that causes the zomibe virus being water borne is a really strong and scary one. Unfortunately, being ten, she lacked the knowledge to make it scientifically credible, which renders much of the expository dialogue of the first half pretty laughable (a particular low point comes in an expository monologue delivered by Harry Knowles). However, the writing does pick up when the words are coming from kids Hagins' own age, she gives the middle schoolers an amusing nonchalance, even in the face of many zombie attacks, and there are a handful of very funny lines (when one of them accidentally kills a human one kid observes "He's not infected, the face has emotion, he's surprised").

As you might expect given that the cast are largely friends and neighbours of the director, the performances are a mixed bag, many of the kids (unfortunately including lead Rose Kent-McGlew) are pretty wooden, but a few, notably Tiger Darrow and the extremely laid back Tony Vespe, turn in decent performances.

All this said, let's remember that PATHOGEN is a zombie movie, and it's here that Hagins really delivers the goods, and marks herself out as a talent to watch. For all the technical issues, for all the ropey dialogue, for all the wooden readings, Hagins clearly has an interesting and individual eye. Over and over again she conjures clever and well composed images. She can do understated and creepy (as in the scenes of near deserted classrooms that subtly imply the spread of the virus), she can do shock moments (a lovely jump when a closing locker door reveals a freshly zombified student) and she can do the gore. PATHOGEN is light on gore until its last twenty minutes, but when the blood flows it works well. Congratulations are especially due to whoever mixed up the fake blood, which looks better than it has in movies with several times this one's budget. The violence of the final set piece is brief, but it's also very well realised, one particular stabbing is both shocking and funny, and the film's big decapitation effect is intelligently shot, meaning that it looks surprisingly convincing.

At times PATHOGEN is exactly what you'd expect a film by a 12 year old to be, but at others it is clear that this particular 12 year old has something pretty different to say, and a good eye with which to communicate it. Hagins is now 17, and making her third feature. I'm looking forward to seeing THE RETELLING, MY SUCKY TEEN ROMANCE and whatever she does beyond that.

LFF 2010: Preview Pt. 2

In this part of my London Film Festival preview I'll be looking at the two strands focusing on national cinemas; New British Cinema and the always rewarding French Revolutions strand. More so than in the first part, largely because there are fewer 'event' movies screening in these strands, these selections are personal ones, the films I think sound interesting. For the full programme, CLICK HERE.

Notes: Within their strands films are listed alphabetically by title. Short synopses are taken from the LFF brochure.

NEW BRITISH CINEMA
Edge
DIR: Carol Morley

Filmed at a striking location, Edge is a smart and sincere character-driven drama from film-maker Carol Morley.
Set in a hotel which sits on a crumbling cliff edge, Carol Morley's film boasts an interesting premise (disparate people holed up in this hotel, watched by the maid) and a cast with a few known faces (Maxine Peake, and Nichola Burley, who made a real impression in KICKS, which played in NBC last year) and a clutch of new British talent.


Guilty Pleasures
DIR: Julie Moggan

Exposing the world of romance novel enthusiasts.
In taking a look at the amazing appeal of Mills and Boon romance novels, Julie Moggan has travelled the world and talked to people from all walks of life. She speaks to a writer (Middle aged Roger, who uses a female pen name), a cover model, and fans and their families. I've always been interested in documentaries that tell me something about a culture I know nothing about, and Guilty Pleasures sounds like it will be fun and fascinating.


In Our Name
DIR: Brian Welsh

A testament to the number of British soldiers returning from wars with mental problems, Brian Welsh has made an urgent and provocative film.
The wonderful Grace is Gone dealt with the loss of a female soldier in Iraq, this British film deals with the equally difficult prospect of a soldier; a wife and mother, returning from that conflict deeply affected by it. I'll be keeping an eye out for this film because I've been impressed by lead actress Joanne Froggat in some of her TV work, and because it sounds like an important and provocative film.


Upside Down: The Creation Records Story
DIR: Danny O'Connor

Alan McGee puts his side of the Creation Records story in Danny O'Connor's brilliant, passionate and significant documentary.
This doc about the British indie record label that put out albums by bands like Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain, before riding the crest of the Britpop wave with Oasis in the mid 90's, ought to be highly entertaining for two reasons. First, it will have an amazing soundtrack and second Noel Gallagher, who is spectacularlly entertaining (once, describing his brother he said "he's angry; he's a man with a fork in a world of soup") will surely be one of the interviewees. Overall, this looks like a film tailor made for my generation.



FRENCH REVOLUTIONS
Copacabana
DIR: Marc Fitoussi

Isabelle Huppert plays a free-spirited mother getting to grips with the working life (and the Belgian seaside) in this brisk, intelligent comedy.
Isabelle Huppert is in this film, and quite frankly that's good enough for me. That said, there are other reasons I'm interested in Copacabana. First, it's a rare chance to see Hupppert playing comedy, and a apprently not the dry comedy she did in I Heart Huckabees, here she plays a flighty, easy-going parent who is a source of embarrassment to her daughter. The other interesting thing is the casting, playing Huppert's daughter is her real life eldest; Lolita Chammah. I'm really looking forward to seeing if Chammah has her mother's talent, and how they play off one another.


Deep in the Woods
DIR: Benoit Jacquot

Dark passions and feral revolt in nineteenth-century France: Isild le Besco stars in a stormy, provocative rural drama from director Benoît Jacquot.
I'm not sure why Isild LeBesco isn't better known; she's heart-stoppingly beautiful, versatile, fearless and extremely talented. This latest from Jacquot (whose Villa Amalia I liked a great deal) sounds like a dark romantic thriller which should give LeBesco and her co-star Nahuel Perez Biscayar (playing a near feral young man who falls in love with her) roles they can really get their teeth into. All in all it sounds like the kind of film only the French are making.


Happy Few
DIR: Antony Cordier

Elodie Bouchez and Roschdy Zem are among the partners in a Parisian sexual quartet, in this mature, intelligent and very intimate drama from up-and-coming director Antony Cordier.
French filmmakers often seem to deal with sex in a more open, frank and adult way than filmmakers from much of the rest of the world. Apparently Happy Few is a very explicit film, but also deals with the dramatic ramifications of the partner swapping between its four main characters. It will hinge on the strength of the performances, but Happy Few certainly sounds interesting, not to mention sexy.


In Your Hands
DIR: Lola Doillon

Another unmissable performance from Kristin Scott Thomas, in Lola Doillon's taut psychological thriller about a woman in a tight corner
Kristin Scott Thomas is an incredibly exciting actress, and these days she seems to be doing all her best work in french. In Your Hands promises much; largely a claustrophobic two hander between Scott Thomas and Pio Marmai, as a home invader who has mysterious grudge against her and is holding her prisoner. It sounds like this should be a tense thriller with some fantastic, intense performances.


The Sleeping Beauty
DIR: Catherine Breillat

Catherine Breillat offers a dazzling, subversive exploration of fairy tales, dream and the mysteries of the female imagination.
For years I found her work pretentious and boring, but Catherine Breillat really won me over with her last film; Bluebeard. This new film, happily, again finds her reworking a fairy tale and though it seems she's again going for some slightly more explicit images the available stills suggest a similarly lush visual style to that of Bluebeard. Hopefully the performances and storytelling will also be up to that same standard.


Special Treatment
DIR: Jeanne Labrune

Isabelle Huppert at her shape-shifting best in Jeanne Labrune's brittle comedy about prostitution, psychoanalysis and role-playing.
The second film in the strand to star the great Isabelle Huppert, and once more I ask, what more do you need to know? This sounds a little more like her comfort zone, and her role as Alice Bergerac; a prostitute who specialises in role playing for her clients, should give her a chance to put in a truly stellar performance (or three). But honestly... Isabelle Huppert, if you need more information to get excited about this film then you obviously haven't seen any of her others.

Film Review: The Runaways

THE RUNAWAYS
DIR: Floria Sigismondi
CAST: Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Michael Shannon



I have to confess that, though in my twenties I’ve become obsessive about music, my knowledge of The Runaways extended only so far as knowing that there was a band with that name. From this starting point Floria Sigismondi’s biopic (which focuses on key members Cherie Currie (Fanning) and Joan Jett (Stewart)) does provide a basic chronology of the group’s short life span, but that’s really about all it does.

I’ve been waiting a long time for Sigismondi’s feature debut. I’ve long been a fan of her music videos and was really anticipating what she could bring to the big screen. Sadly, on the evidence of THE RUNAWAYS the answer is very little. Bar a couple of isolated shots and sequences (notably a beautiful image of Kristen Stewart floating underwater, and a red filtered montage of the band’s first brush with excess, there is very little here of Sigismondi’s intricate, individual, visual style. What we’re left with is a rather paint by numbers music biopic. It hits all the clichés and, despite an authentic period look, has for the most part a cookie cutter visual style.

On the plus side though, Sigismondi does seem to have a way with actors. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Michael Shannon (as the girls exploitative manager Kim Fowley, who on meeting Currie and discovering she’s 15 says “Jail fucking bait. Jack fucking pot.”) and Dakota Fanning are great, both have proven themselves over and over to be interesting and versatile talents. That said; Fanning is a revelation here. The same age as Currie was when she joined the band, Fanning seems to live completely in her skin, and she’s to be complemented for, at just 15, being willing to take on a role that so thoroughly trashes her girl next door image. It is a little disconcerting to see how quickly she’s grown up, to see the little kid from MAN ON FIRE strutting around in a corset and stockings, swearing, snorting coke and making out with Kristen Stewart, but you only think about that as the credits roll, because Fanning really does become Currie.

The real shock is Kristen Stewart, who I have, in the past, dubbed variously Kristen ‘can’t act, blinking’ Stewart and Kristen ‘one expression’ Stewart. I’m not sure if it’s that she’s in character, or if her default perma-scowl setting simply suits the character of Joan Jett, but either way, Stewart’s pretty engaging here. She’s got that fuck you attitude that the punky music Jett wrote in the mid-70’s needs down pat and her real life friendship with Fanning pays off brilliantly in their chemistry on screen, it’s clear that there is a level of intimacy between them that shows through as the band gets to be more of a unit, and allows them to play the breakdown of that unit effectively.

The problem is that these two characters soak up so much of the limelight that THE RUNAWAYS never really feels like it is about the band. Stella Maeve as drummer Sandy West and Scout Taylor-Compton as guitarist Lita Ford each have about three lines, and otherwise blend into the background almost completely, and their parade of bassists is represented by a fictional character (played by Alia Shawkat) who may have one line, but I wouldn’t swear to that. The screenplay is the film’s big problem, too frequently it feels as if it is just checking off the expected scenes (at times it even nudges SPINAL TAP territory, and one big bust up after a Tokyo gig feels like a feminised take on a similar scene in ALMOST FAMOUS), there’s little narrative thrust, especially given that Currie’s apparently crippling drug addiction is addressed only lightly, and what real drive there is goes out of the film in its last reel, at which point it meanders a little before essentially stopping dead.

What does really make the film though is the music. Fanning and Stewart both do their own vocals, and the gig scenes, though few and far between, really find that special energy that makes you see what must have been so exciting about The Runaways in 1975 (this is especially true of a showstopping, complete, performance of Cherrybomb).

THE RUNAWAYS is by no means a bad film, it’s a little directorially anonymous, and the narrative and focus are all over the place, but it has real energy and a few excellent performances, not to mention some great music. If nothing else it makes me want to see the documentary EDGEPLAY: A FILM ABOUT THE RUNAWAYS.

Film Review: Tamara Drewe

TAMARA DREWE
DIR: Stephen Frears
CAST: Gemma Arterton, Roger Allam, Tamsin Grieg,
Dominic Cooper, Bill Camp, Luke Evans, Jessica Barden



I haven’t read the graphic novel that Stephen Frears’ latest is based on, but, much to my chagrin, I do have rather a lot of experience with the radio soap The Archers which it is at least tangentially spoofing. My stepfather is a huge Archers fan, and so for years I’ve had to listen to its 12 minute chunks of insufferably trivial storylines, “ooh arr” stereotype accents and shockingly awful performances. TAMARA DREWE adds a large dollop of sex to the upper middle class soapy mix, but much of the time it seems stuck between making jokes at the expense of its characters and the soap they are enacting and simply being as insufferable as what it is spoofing.

An extremely episodic film, TAMARA DREWE really has three strands which intertwine. The first concerns philandering novelist Nicholas Hardiment (Allam) and his devoted wife Beth (Grieg, an Archers veteran herself, as it happens), the second has Tamara Drewe (Arterton) returning from London to do up and then sell her parents house, in the process stirring the passions of both Nicholas and the Hardiment’s gardener Andy (Evans), who are both disappointed when she begins dating rock musician Ben (Cooper). The third story has two village teenagers, played by newcomers Charlotte Christie and Jessica Barden, who surreptitiously manipulate events, largely so that Jody (Barden) can stay close to her idol Ben.

So it’s quite complex, storywise, and that’s not all that’s going on. Unfortunately the stories don’t mesh as they should, and what you’re left with is a film that is interesting only in fits and starts. The main character of Tamara is largely to blame for this, as she’s probably the least interesting person in the film. Arterton is perfectly cast, she looks like an illustration from a graphic novel anyway, unfortunately, in a major step back from her impressive work in THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED, she’s just as flat as any drawing. The film doesn’t seem to know who Tamara is; romantic innocent or harlot. In many ways she’s less a character than a McGuffin with very nice legs, merely a device to draw the various characters and plot strands together. It’s not Arterton’s fault that she falls flat, but it’s not a great role for her first mainstream lead. Another issue with Tamara’s story is the bludgeoning predictability of it. Perhaps this is part of the way it is spoofing soap conventions, but if so it’s delivered with no humour, and lands with a graceless clang.

The side stories are much more interesting. Tamsin Greig gives an unexpectedly soulful performance, in a film otherwise defined by cartoony extremes. She’s extremely effective as Nicholas’ wronged wife, and the undertone of flirtation that runs through her relationship with Bill Camp (as a guest at the Hardiment’s writers retreat) is the one place where the script seems to have any real emotional content when dealing with the adult characters. However, the film is stolen by the village teenagers Casey and Jody (Charlotte Christie and Jessica Barden), their double act as rampantly hormonal and extremely bored 15 year olds is absolutely hilarious, but it is 17 year old Barden, best known, if at all, for British soap Coronation Street, who really runs away with their every scene. The dialogue written for her is spot on (when she sees Tamara with Ben she asks “why does she get Ben? I’ve been in love with him since March”), but it’s her energy in the role that makes her so magnetic, in one of the few things it gets absolutely right the film ends with Jody, in one of her funniest moments.

The look of the film is odd, I think the oversaturated colour and the bold costume and make up design is supposed to put us in mind of graphic novel techniques, instead all it really does, assisted by Frears’ rather flat shot selection and schematic editing, is make the film look like slightly overbright television. Several of the performances also suggest this, there’s a very stiff quality to much of the acting, with the discussions between the various writers on the retreat feeling especially rote, and Luke Evans as wooden as the stakes he’s frequently seen hammering into the ground.

Ultimately TAMARA DREWE is a frustrating film, it’s neither consistently funny nor consistently engaging enough to pass muster as comedy or drama, the stories are far too telegraphed and predictable to really engage and whenever the side characters do begin to charm us, the film cuts away from them back to the cardboard Tamara or the walking clichés courting her. It’s perhaps worth catching a matinee for Tamsin Grieg and Jessica Barden’s performances, but otherwise, this just doesn’t quite work.

LFF 2010: Preview Pt. 1

Because there is so much on at this year's London Film Festival I'm going to divide my preview into three parts. This first one will focus on the bigger things happening; the Galas, Special Screenings and the Film on the Square section. The New British Cinema and French Revolutions strands will make up Part 2, and Cinema Europa and World Cinema will be addressed in Part 3.

The films I'll be mentioning are a mix of personal picks and, especially in this first part, some of the notable titles on show. For the full programme, CLICK HERE.

Notes: Within their strands films are listed alphabetically by title. Short synopses are taken from the LFF brochure.


GALAS & SPECIAL SREENINGS
127 Hours
DIR: Danny Boyle

Gripping, adventurous film-making and headline grabbing drama from Oscar-winning Danny Boyle.
The European premiere of Boyle's latest follows a Toronto screening (a tactic that worked nicely for Boyle with SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE). The trick here will be making the excruciating series of events that happened to Aron Ralston (James Franco), who had to cut off his own arm with a dull penknife after becoming trapped while rock climbing, true to life without putting people off with extremes of gore. It will also be an interesting test for Franco, impressive in a lot of supporting roles, and now carrying a film almost completely alone.


Another Year
DIR: Mike Leigh

A virtuoso, London-set exploration of family and friendship from Mike Leigh.
I'm not a massive fan of Mike Leigh's, but this latest reieved excellent reviews when it premiered at Cannes, and features several long term collaborators, as well as leading role for the always excellent Jim Broadbent.


Biutiful
DIR: Alejandro González Iñárritu

A powerful contemporary drama set in Barcelona's underworld, with an award-winning performance from Javier Bardem.
Iñárritu's latest has excited a lot of interest while doing this year's festival circuit, capped with the Cannes Best Actor prize for Javier Bardem, but I have to say that the longer synopsis reads a little familiar to me, and Iñárritu is a filmmaker I've never entirely warmed to.


Black Swan
DIR: Darren Aronofsky

A sophisticated psychological thriller set in the milieu of the New York Ballet.
Though Darren Aronofsky is another filmmaker I haven't warmed to to the degree that most film lovers seem to have, Black Swan has me intrigued. There's plentiful Oscar buzz for Natalie Portman, following its recent Venice premiere, and of course there's the prospect of Portman and co-star Mila Kunis making out, but it's the resembelence to Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue that I'm interested in. Aronofsky has long wanted to remake that film, and from the trailer it looks like he's got close here.


Conviction
DIR: Tony Goldwyn

Based on real events, Hilary Swank stars in this uplifting story of one woman's persistence to overturn a miscarriage of justice.
The big question of this based on a true story drama is likely to be 'can Hilary Swank win a THIRD Oscar from under Anette Benning's nose?' Hopefully Conviction's uplifiting story casting Swank as a high school drop out who spent ten years becoming a lawyer so she could free her wrongfully convicted brother from life imprisonment will be a higher class of Oscar bait, especially with Sam Rockwell as the brother.


The Kids are All Right
DIR: Lisa Cholodenko

Julianne Moore and Annette Benning star in a smart and funny story of modern family life.
One of the most interesting casts in the festival; Julianne Moore, Anette Benning, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson among them, along with a glowing critical reputation from the festival circuit and a recent US release is probably good enough reason for Kids to show, but you have to question the point when its UK release is in the same week as these LFF screenings. That said, this looks likely to be an extremely well acted and engaging drama, and a step forward for Cholodenko.


The King's Speech
DIR: Tom Hooper

The fascinating story of the relationship between King George VI and an unconventional Australian speech therapist.
This none more British effort boasts a star (Colin Firth) and director (Tom Hooper, whose last was The Damned United) hot off their most recent work, and it's likely that Firth's apparently excellent performance as George VI as he engages an Autralian speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) to cure his pronounced stammer will see him get a second Oscar nod in as many years. Firth is been reliably worth watching lately (as is Helena Bonham Carter) and there could be no more appropriate festival to see this at.


Miral
DIR: Julian Schnabel

A richly textured look at one woman's experience of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The early stills suggest that Julian Schnabel's latest shares the painterly beauty of his last film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. This time Schnabel has turned his focus on a young woman (the titular Miral, played by Freida Pinto) growing up in an orphanage and school for Palestinian children, who finds herself questioning the head's philosophy of non-violence when the intifada gains popularity. This should be provocative and evocative in equal measure.


West is West
DIR:Andy De Emmony

The funny and poignant sequel to East is East, in which the family return to their roots in Pakistan.
This is likely to be the big popular success of the festival, but if it's anything like its predecessor East is East that success will leave me feeling like some sort of alien, and baging my head against a table. I LOATHED East is East, and I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than see a sequel, but if you want it... here it is.



FILM ON THE SQUARE
13 Assassins
DIR: Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike's slam-bang period drama plays like a cross between Seven Samurai and King Hu's A Touch of Zen and stars Koji Yakusho and Yusuke Iseya.
Miike works fast, two to three films a year fast, and that can make him something of a scattershot talent, but he's remained edgy and interesting over the years, and there is almost always something to enjoy in his films, even if just for the craziness, and the references laid out above, combined with Miike, would seem to promise fun times.


Aurora
DIR: Cristi Puiu

Romanian director Cristi Puiu's study of a day in the life of an embittered, middle-aged divorcee is a disturbing and darkly comic portrait of male angst.
With his first film; The Death of Mr Lazarescu, Cristi Puiu was the filmmaker who really brought the present Romanian new wave to notice. Aurora is his first film since then, it sounds like it might be tough going; a three hour character study of an embittered divorced engineer who may turn violent, but if you've been enjoying what's been coming out of Romania of late then this would seem to be a must see.


Boxing Gym
DIR: Frederick Wiseman

Renowned documentary maker Frederick Wiseman's beautifully observed study of a Texas gym.
Frederick Wiseman's films are about as pure a form of documentary as you can imagine, and Wiseman, the lifelong observer, has now turned his attention to a Texas boxing club. It's an interesting subject to follow his last film, La Danse, about the Paris Opera Ballet, as Boxing Gym too would seem likely to be about people defining themselves through their physicality. Whatever it ends up being about, this should be fascinating because Wiseman is perhaps cinema's foremost people watcher.


Carancho
DIR: Pablo Trapero

Urban thriller and soulful romance collide in this Argentine drama about an ambulance-chasing lawyer who falls for an emergency medic.
Another national cinema that seems to be undergoing something of a renaissance. Argentinian films are suddenly getting exported, and there is evidence of a wave of interesting talent. Pablo Trapero's last film, Lion's Den, was highly acclaimed and Carancho reunites him with that film's star, Martina Gusman, casting her opposite the potential breakout star of Argentinian cinema; Ricardo Darin (XXY, The Secret in Their Eyes). The stills and synopsis suggest a thrilling noir with a romantic undertone, combine that with the cast and Carancho sounds very interesting.


Carlos
DIR: Olivier Assayas

Olivier Assayas takes on the life and crimes of notorious '70s terrorist and headline-grabber Carlos (aka 'the Jackal') in a fast-paced modern epic.
I have been hearing greaat things about this lengthy biopic of the infamous terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and particularly about Edgar Ramirez' leading performance. Perhaps the best reason to see it at LLF though is that it will be showing in its full 325 minute version, something you are very unlkely to see on the big screen otherwise. If nothing else it will be an experience.


It's Kind of a Funny Story
DIR: Anna Boden / Ryan Fleck

A funny, astute and authentic look at the sometimes difficult process of growing up.
I may have hated Boden and Fleck's first film, Half Nelson, but even through that film's barely in focus, 90% close up cinematography it was easy to see that they are able to draw strong performances from their actors. I'm interested to see how they can bring that skill to bear on what seems like a more mainstream project (the festival synopsis references John Hughes) and also to see how Zach Galifianakis does in what is likely to be the most dramatic role he's had to date.


Kaboom
DIR: Gregg Araki

An 'old school Gregg Araki movie', Kaboom is smart, sexy and so much fun.
Gregg Araki is a hit and miss filmmaker, but I'm hoping that, though he's conciously revisiting the old ground of his 'Teen Apocalypse Trilogy' here, he can bring some of the weight of Mysterious Skin and perhaps some of the fun of Smiley Face to Kaboom. However, I'm most interested in this because it seem like British actress Juno Temple, who has impressed me in everything I've seen her in, finally has a really juicy role to get her teeth into.


Meek's Cutoff
DIR: Kelly Reichardt

An absorbing and beautifully composed western, set on the Oregon trail in the 1840s.
Kelly Reichardt is a filmmaker whose work I've been meaning to explore for a while, and Meek's Cutoff seems likely to be be a good starting point. The Oregon Trail setting and the narrative hook of three families lost with food and water running low suggest that this film will have a slightly more traditional narrative approach, and be more accessible than her minimalist work to date. Then there's the cast, made up of a selection of great character actors; Michelle Williams, Zoe Kazan, Will Patton, Paul Dano and the wonderful Scottish actress Shirley Henderson, who is always worth watching.


Surprise Film
Place your bets please. Notable absences from the announced programme include Sofia Coppola's Somewhere and the Coen Brothers' True Grit (the former is perhaps more likely, as No Country For Old Men took this slot in 2007). If I had an ultimate outside bet I'd suggest that Tron: Legacy would be PERFECT for this spot, but that's probably dreaming.


Surviving Life
DIR: Jan Švankmajer

Eugene prefers a life of dreams to everyday reality in surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer's witty extension of one of his own dreams.
Jan Švankmajer is a fascinating filmmaker, his work can be both nightmarish and beautiful (often in a single frame) and though his films are often baffling they are always intensely interesting to look at and technically astonishing (forget Aardman, nobody does stop motion better than Švankmajer). You may not eventually understand Surviving Life, but you're likely to be taken aback by it.