Zero Dark Thirty ****

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Posted: 23/01/2013

You don’t expect anything less rigorously researched from the engaging filmmaking pair behind the 2008 hit, The Hurt Locker, Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter/former news journalist Mark Boal. Their latest action thriller, Zero Dark Thirty does not fail to diligently lay out the facts like some on-the-scene reporter with ‘access all areas’ coverage.

However, this no-nonsense portrayal isn’t without some elements of concern in its first half. Also, while the toast of Hollywood, star Jessica Chastain puts in another career-defining performance – subsequently leading to a Best Actress nod at this year’s Academy Awards, there seems to be a certain detachment felt with her character, CIA Agent Maya, as she stands by her hunch as to Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts, something that was never the case with Jeremy Renner’s unhinged bomb disposal expert character Sergeant First Class William James in the 2008 film.

Zero Dark Thirty – espionage code for ‘half past midnight’, the time when bin Laden met his maker – begins with the chilling voice of a victim caught in one of the towers in 9/11, speaking to emergency services against a black screen. It then changes location to a CIA detention camp where dubious torture methods are being tested on an inmate said to help bankroll the 9/11 attacks. All this tense activity is watched by Maya (Chastain), a new recruit to the deadly interrogation game, introduced by hardened and cynical boss Dan (Jason Clarke).

The next two hours play out a series of worldwide attacks – including a re-enactment of the 7/7 Tavistock Square bus explosion – as well as dead ends as the casualties tally up, with some close to Maya. Simultaneously, a determined Maya pursues her theory that bin Laden isn’t holed up in a cave, but closer than US authorities think, while her Washington ‘boys club’ doubt her evidence but not her conviction. The end of the film is the cream on top, with a Navy SEAL night-vision raid on the compound in Pakistan.

Bigelow and Boal cover a lot of ground in this, taking us through the whole post-9/11 history. It could be argued that some of this is unnecessary back story for this film, though a shocking reminder all the same. As it stands in this context, all it provides is a grim graphic timeline, with some wordy political game playing – it seems to have little direct effect on Maya’s emotional state at what she is witnessing and how she thinks, considering a major part of the film is about her single quest to find bin Laden’s courier and hence the terror leader’s location. Still, it could be argued that it widens the whole picture to include the international impact, rather than being US-centric.

The really interesting factor is how torture is used and what Bigelow’s characters make of it – even though it’s debatable whether methods such as waterboarding actually unveiled the detailed information needed to track those closest to bin Laden (as contested by American authorities). Clarke’s input is intriguing and much needed as the emotional catalyst and benchmark with which Chastain can develop her character’s responses, and without his charisma and an implied attraction shared between the pair, the film would feel very remote indeed from a human aspect.

This aside, the climax of the film with the raid on the Pakistani compound, ironically a stone’s throw from a Pakistani military academy is utterly exhilarating, recreating the standard chest-pumping Allied patriotism that you would expect from those fighting dirty on the ground and in the thick of it with, some fantastic directing and cinematography, repeatedly delaying the moment we are all waiting for and satisfying our curiosity as to how this is portrayed on screen. This finale alone is worth the wait, even though other straggling elements of the mission remain abandoned and unexplained after the deed.

Nevertheless, as an action thriller, Bigelow further shows her prowess in the business, brewing the tension and curiosity and using a female protagonist/heroine to lead us through what is predominantly a ‘man’s world’ of broken rules, promises and ugly happenings: It’s just a shame we don’t get more of a sense of how Maya ticks earlier. Zero Dark Thirty is a long but respectful watch with an all-out punchy ending.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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LFF 2012: The Sessions ****

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Posted: 18/01/2013

Once in a while there is a film that on paper seems totally different to how it’s actually perceived, and because of its plotline could be a hard sell at the cinema. Writer-director Ben Lewin’s The Sessions is such a film. However, appearances are truly deceptive here, and this feel-good drama is full of inspirational moments, warmth and delightful humour that resonates like an understated breath of fresh air, without shamelessly tugging at the heartstrings to leave us with defining moments.

The Sessions is based on the autobiographical writings of 38-year-old California-based journalist Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes), a talented writer and poet confined to an iron lung contraption due to Polio. He longs for the touch of a woman in the sexual sense and seeks to lose his virginity, with the help of his therapists and the guidance of his local, liberal-minded priest (William H. Macy). After being referred to sex surrogate Cheryl (Helen Hunt), O’Brien finds new experiences and opportunities for gaining personal fulfilment, while simultaneously touching all those around him in the process.

Instantly, The Sessions brings you into another being’s world and pace of life that settles you for the journey ahead. This is exactly what is needed for us to understand O’Brien’s personality and dry sense of humour. It also demonstrates his likeability, without any other distractions in place – as the supporting cast leave the stage open to his presence, reacting to his thoughts and comments while beautifully complimenting them.

Hawkes who is best known for his recent disturbing roles, like cult leader Patrick in last year’s Martha Marcy May Marlene and Teardrop in Winter’s Bone (2010), is quite marvellous as quick-witted and quietly charming O’Brien, moving us swiftly past his character’s disability and turning this story into one man’s search for love that touches and affects deeply but gradually, as we get to know O’Brien. Breaking up the emotional moments are wordy rifts with H. Macy as Father Brendan, who judges O’Brien only through the limitations of his ministerial position, but rising above these to see the bigger picture – hence the fresh and inviting take this film has in the faith sense on the matter of sex outside of wedlock.

However, all power and acting prowess to Hunt as Cheryl who really has the space to explore and evolve her intriguing character as she confronts Cheryl’s own issues while helping O’Brien. Hunt focuses our attention away from the obvious (like her nakedness) and manages to turn the usual screen sexual activity into one very normal, almost mildly ridiculous act that it takes a back seat to more important matters of companionship and feelings. It’s not clinical as such, and never loses the sentimentality. However, it has a positive and healthy attitude surrounded by warm humour about lovemaking and what toleration and give and take should imply. This is The Session’s hidden gem, and is unsurprising that Hunt’s performance has been recognised in the Awards season.

The Sessions is a wonderfully unique cinematic lesson in love and understanding that goes down smoothly with anyone willing to take a chance on the ‘oddball’ at the box office this week, reaffirming our faith in humanity and relationships.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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Midnight Son ***

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Posted: 18/01/2013

With the plethora of vampire films out there, it’s a brave debut director indeed to tackle one of the most well trodden genres of recent small and big screen offerings. However, Scott Leberecht’s debut feature Midnight Son toys with the genre and portrays it as an affliction or aliment in his low-budget film – and it has a refreshing and intimate take made all the better for its sound directing and casting of exciting, relative newcomer Zak Kilberg as the afflicted.

Kilberg plays Jacob, a young nightshift security guard who lives his life in the shadows after being isolated by a rare skin disorder that means he cannot expose himself to sunlight. Having recently witnessed a dramatic increase in hunger, Jacob cannot understand what is happening to him. Only after a cup full of animal blood from the local slaughterhouse can he quell his strange hunger pangs.

His world is turned upside down when he meets local bartender Mary (Maya Parish) at a club and falls for her. After Mary has a nosebleed, Jacob finds his tastes change, worsening his condition and making him crave human blood instead. Unfortunately, a series of local murders leads the law to suspect him as the prime suspect while he tries to come to terms with his ‘illness’ and his new feelings for Mary.

Granted, the idea of turning bloodsucking into an aliment has been touched upon before on the screen, but Leberecht cuts out any of the sexual references and ‘glamour’ normally associated, concentrating of the debilitating nature as social and health hindrance. There is nothing attractive about living a life in the shadows as Jacob does, and not having any expert advice to hand magnifies this film’s gritty remoteness and ambiguity that it so deftly portrays.

Coupled with very little standard imagery usually associated with this genre – it even challenges such with a crucifix scene, there is a quiet and disturbing ‘brooding’ sense to it, along with an all-consuming desperation for affection as you wonder just where Jacob’s story will go. Its parallels with a drug-addled lifestyle go hand in hand, what with a newly ‘addicted’ Jacob relying on seedy handouts to stop the pain, and his new girlfriend and her own addiction. Kilberg is highly impressive in this, sensitively portraying Jacob as a victim, rather than anything else sinister and foreboding of the night. There is never any sense of threat from his character, even when his inner demon gets the better of him, or confident swagger in his actions. The irony is he is trying to preserve some resemblance of ‘normality’ and ‘humanity’.

Leberecht sadly falls into the sensational commercial trap with a brutal ‘gangster-style’ scene of violence near the end, taking the film out of its quietly affecting premise of affliction and addiction, and into something more mainstream for a split second. However, the nature of where the situation is escalating to does require something more visually shocking for us to revel in the end scene of glorious, blood-splattering elation as a new chapter is born.

Midnight Son is a bold if rough-around-the-edges delivery of semi-cult-making status that throws new and unorthodox light on the genre while highlighting both Leberecht and Kilberg as rising talent to watch.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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LFF 2012: Midnight’s Children **

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Posted: 31/12/2012

The adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s novel and Booker Prize winner Midnight’s Children by the author himself was obviously a labour of love, what with the author providing the eloquent narration, as well as an exciting prospect for fans. But Midnight’s Children proves a valuable point that sometimes the originator is not necessarily the best person to adapt his or her story for the big screen; that’s when film-making talent is required to lift the written word, visually, off the page.

This is where there is a sense that although Indian film-maker Deepa Mehta (Elements trilogy) as director on this takes the bones of the novel and makes the film visually sumptuous, there is a lot of drag and over indulgence, which results in a loss of charm in places. The fact that by the time the intriguing characters grow into adulthood, their paths, hopes and dreams become scattered and less interesting as their futures become more moulded by caste is evidence of this.

Midnight’s Children has been produced in a touching and magical way of visually addressing the birth and border friction of a great nation – India at midnight on 15th August 1947, with a lot of spirit and superstition. Indeed, that Saleem Sinai (Satya Bhabha as the adult Saleem), son of a poor mother and rich Englishman, with a large, problem nose, who is swapped at birth in a political and ill-thought out manoeuvre by the hospital nurse with Shiva (Siddharth), son of a wealthy Indian couple, can conjure up the other children born at the stroke of midnight too, using magical powers, is a sensitive way of political and social portrayal.

That said capturing the imagination in this way starts to wear thin as the story itself loses steam and pace. The characters overcrowd the important, dramatic moments, reminding us just how long and episodic (at two and a half hours) the film actually is – almost like watching a back-to-back TV series. In fact, without some historical context of Saleem’s origins, there would be very little character development of interest to sink your teeth into – something that does not translate well to screen from the book. Thankfully, Bhabha has enough charisma to lead the whole affair, or the Rushdie- Mehta film would blend into insignificance and tedium, however well meaning and ironic it is trying to be.

2/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ***

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Posted: 17/12/2012

From one book to three separate features, Peter Jackson’s transformation of the classic Tolkien children’s novel has been a labour of love indeed for the LOTR director. The argument that will rage after viewing it on the big screen is just how necessary was it to create three films – regardless of how great the footage shot in New Zealand was? For some, this will only draw out the thrill of seeing this cinematic saga to eventual completion and a chance to revisit Middle Earth twice again; for others, it will just be ‘drawn out’ and a little tedious. Actually, watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey feels like hanging onto a pendulum wearing 3D glasses, swinging between both view points.

When it eventually gets going after an overly long introduction instigated by wise but wacky wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to our little, big-footed hero, The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and a bunch of fighting dwarves in the Shire, on the one hand, The Hobbit offers some thrilling animated rides in a new 48 frames per second format that does work effectively in 3D. On the other, this new format in quieter moments – such as said elongated first encounter at the Baggins residence – does have a sickly, waxy effect, visually, almost removing the fantasy element and making it much like a ‘made for TV’ production.

Fans will either love or hate the artistic licence with which Jackson has approached his story: introducing Galadriel (reprised by Cate Blanchett once more) to The Hobbit plot seems more like a whim of Jackson’s, rather than adding any real value added to the tale, and creating an excuse to add a bit of serene beauty to the fore – unless the following Jackson tales have bigger storytelling plans to follow? These scenes merely emphasise the padding that has been applied to inflate the magic longer. However, true to the episodic nature of book and its introduction of a new creature in each chapter, the Jackson story is as exciting to witness unfold as to what’s around the corner as in the literature – if only to add to Bilbo growing in stature and strength of character.

One such scene that does credit to the book is the infamous Riddles Game sequence between Bilbo and the wretched, translucent-skinned creature Gollum. This oozes with sinister intent and razor-sharp wit, with the colouring of the surrounding watery caves is a wonder to behold. Andy Serkis – who also helped direct these films – is a joy to watch voicing Gollum and bringing him to life once more, while filling out the start of the backstory about him and ‘his precious’ Ring.

The climatic end encounter with the gruesome Orcs and the wild wolves, the wargs, where Bilbo becomes a fully fledged hero in defence of injured Thorin (Richard Armitage) is Jackson at his visionary best, in design, 3D camera-angles and imagination. Sadly, the aftermath of their soaring salvation by the eagles feels like a letdown in comparison. Still, it sows the seeds for further adventure, regardless of altering the novel’s ending to this means.

The Hobbit is just shy of three hours – for those who can’t get enough of the fantasy world and its creatures, it will be a sumptuous ride in a newly experimented format. For others less enthralled by Tolkien, it could prove an obstacle in venturing out to watch the further two films – to the detriment of the impact of the original tale and its fascinating world of characters and vistas.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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LFF 2012: I, Anna***

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Posted: 14/12/2012

Writer-director Barnaby Southcombe offers up a tense, dreamlike noir that celebrates his charismatic mother, actress Charlotte Rampling, with I, Anna. This downbeat thriller that features one of London’s most imposing pieces of architecture, The Barbican, uses the sinister facades as well as retro finishes – old fashioned phones – to set a stylish murder scene. It’s much like a British ‘Sea of Love’ in plot, but with a less convincing storyline.

Rampling plays a femme fatale with amnesia, an attractive, middle-aged woman called Anna Welles who is single and favours visiting speed dating evenings over staying in. After one such dating encounter with George Stone (Ralph Brown) she finds herself in trouble, while falling for the senior detective in charge of the murder case, Bernie (Gabriel Byrne).

With or without her son’s help in this, Rampling gives her usual beguiling performance, giving her character intrigue and pose with every paused thought in close up. She seems suitably cast opposite Byrne as the melancholy, down-on-his-luck cop, and the pair play off each other’s airs of mystery as best as they can.

The problem is, although this film is beautifully shot, giving it a sinister, gritty and detached atmosphere as these tragic characters interact in a cold urban environment, desperately looking for acceptance, the story doesn’t offer any real thrill or glimmer of excitement – even with Eddie Marsan as cynical D.I. Kevin Franks barking orders to pick up the intensity and pace.

The film is adapted from Elsa Lewin’s novel so there is the suggestion that a lot of the psychological aspects of the written word are lost in translation in the screenplay, leaving it all feeling a little wanting and lacking a vital thread throughout that leads to the end reveal. Still, as a first-time feature, Southcombe has cut his teeth with the noir genre, and with someone writing his next project, things could get interesting.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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LFF 2012: Great Expectations ***

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Posted: 04/12/2012

Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell’s take on the Charles Dickens’ classic Great Expectations is a safe, play-by-numbers affair that neither excites nor bores but simply picks off key moments and retells the tale with some of the cream of British acting crop, plus some extravagant set design that you would expect from a big-screen budget.

The problem is this cinematic adaptation comes too soon after the BBC’s Christmas TV special so there is understandably an instant feeling of déjà vu when the opening scenes of the Kentish marshes roll, rather than something fresh to whet the appetite.

Pip (Toby Irvine and Jeremy Irvine) is an orphan living with his greedy, overbearing sister (Sally Hawkins) and her downtrodden blacksmith husband Joe (Jason Flemyng) who takes to Pip like his own son. One day Pip is invited to visit the mysterious mansion of the equally mysterious and wealthy recluse Miss Havisham (Helena Bonham Carter) who seems to want a ‘play thing’ for her beautiful adopted daughter Estella (Helena Barlow and Holliday Grainger), but later reveals more sinister reasons for her sudden interest in him. Having had a taste of the high life, young Pip soon gets his chance to reinvent himself as a gentleman in London, courtesy of a mysterious benefactor.

With such a grand, theatrical literary work to hand, it seems this 2012 cinematic version missed a trick in teasing out the flamboyant melodrama that the Dickens’ work is well known for. Perhaps this is part of the problem: the sheer wealth of material in the novel requires far more daring than One Day writer David Nicholls has demonstrated to stay faithful to the story while spicing things up a little. This version lacks the creepiness and threatening nature of Victorian Britain, if nothing else.

Even the assured, impeccable acting from Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes as the dishevelled and (supposedly) frightening Magwitch does not instil a menacing fear or render you in awe of each iconic character’s next thought and move: both seem a trifle anaesthesised in their theatrics. Admittedly, Bonham Carter does well not to mimic her deranged Harry Potter character Bellatrix Lestrange, but a little more twisted malice would have been welcome, rather than her glazed-eyed, bug-eyed state in this. This was a part made for the actress, allowing her to draw on all her past character attributes.

Fiennes portrays a more quirky and emotional misfit than expected of the escaped convict, with a dreamlike back-story of bemusing blurred visions, but has none of the rough and ready persona of Ray Winstone’s TV version. Still, Fiennes’ more amenable take allows Newell to explore the intriguing paternal angle between fatherless Pip and Magwitch and the effects on Pip’s fragile psyche, which gives this film in its latter scenes a harrowing, melancholy feel.

Jeremy Irvine and Holliday Grainger are far more commendable and suited to the roles of Pip and Estella than the BBC’s poster boy Douglas Booth and bland Vanessa Kirby. There is certainly more fight to Irvine’s portrayal and tragic lost soul, and Grainger injects greater spite into the womanly Estella than Kirby ever did. In fact, there is a more believable element of ‘damaged personalities’ at play to their individual performances that makes their search for love and happiness all the more heartbreaking to witness. This has got to be one of the earliest ‘child grooming’ stories to date, in a sense.

Newell’s Great Expectations is not the version to top all cinematic versions, not coming close to the atmospheric high drama of David Lean’s 1946 outing. However, Dickens fans will be appeased by the splendid cast at their disposal, minus weird and mind-bending dream sequences aside – an excuse to gloss over relaying key emotions and happenings in the novel, and will find the remainder an admirable watch of highbrow production values.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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LFF 2012: Sightseers ****

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Posted: 27/11/2012

Never, ever underestimate the power of the open road – it does things to a person to release their inner being, good or bad. Ben Wheatley’s black comedy of hilarious proportions, Sightseers, about a couple who caravan around Northern Britain’s more unusual sights with deadly consequences is full of creepiness, delicious surprises, shocks and irony.

It has that unique Brit comedy quality; finding humour in the bleakest of situations, delivered with deadpan precision. As with any ‘road movie’, the fun is also in the wonder at where the travellers will end up? Will lessons be learnt? Will it all be worth it? Ever thought of campers as an oddball bunch that shirks off far-flung foreign holidays in favour of a dreary UK break? Sightseers does little for the image but will have you thinking twice about messing with that slow trailer on the motorway.

Writers Alice Lowe and Steve Oram play Tina and Chris, a newly united couple from the Midlands who plan a week-long break to such places as Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire and the Keswick Pencil Museum in the Lake District. Dowdy thirtysomething Tina lives with her obtuse mother whom morns the loss of her dog after an accident instigated by her downtrodden daughter. Chris who believes the world never gives him a break offers Tina some chance of happiness, before being left on the shelf for good. Along the way, a freak accident charts a new course on the couple’s journey, leading to all kinds of misdemeanours and a questioning of Tina and Chris’s true personalities.

Lowe and Oram’s pin-sharp writing is sometimes so brilliant that a lot of the observational humour associated with it demands a second viewing to capture all the punchlines and the nuances with which it’s delivered. This film has elements of the ridiculous to it – like Carry On Camping (there are skimpy garments involved) – but with sinister undertones, moving effortlessly between farce and gravity. What is far more intriguing is the couple’s warped justification to their acts that challenges deep-hidden desires in all of us to put rights wrong – kind of an extreme social experiment explored on film, so to speak. This dark comedy would also not work without that time-old Brit institution of class that features heavily in the characters’ thinking and being.

Wheatley makes sure that all the acts the couple are involved in are not gratuitous but have some misguided significance in Tina and Chris’s own little existence, even trying to appeal to the viewer’s sense of truth. Sometimes things get quite graphic – more so than an exploding bomber in Four Lions, a Brit comedy in a similar vein; so be prepared for some grizzly moments as it’s not for the faint-hearted. Sightseers is certainly another unique piece of Brit filmmaking that’s definitely worth a look for those wanting something new to sample this week at the box office. Both naught and nice, it’s an immensely satisfying watch.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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LFF 2012: End Of Watch ****

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Posted: 19/11/2012

Those who favour the ‘cops on camera’ TV shows can expect much the same style of ‘caught of camera’ thrills and spills from Harsh Times and Training Day director David Ayers’ gritty and affecting End Of Watch. Ironically, as well as hooking you in from the start and sparking curiosity as to where the story is going, the mockumentary-style, ‘found’ footage is also an Achilles Heel of the film from the offset: It becomes rather confusing as to exactly whose point of view we’re watching, although the cop banter and games from its leads, street-smart cops Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael Peña), are supposed to make that apparent.

We follow the two officers on their patrol through various rough South Central LA neighbourhoods, trying to keep some form of law and order. We watch as they spend work and play time together, including all the teasing and tomfoolery that goes on both inside the patrol car and out. However, after confiscating money and firearms from a notorious cartel during a routine traffic stop, both officers are placed on a hit list.

The main strength of End Of Watch is the key central relationship between two cops – one of Irish decent, the other Spanish – that is allowed to develop and solidify, once the initial bilious caught-on-camera footage is played out. Coupled with some truly outstanding and memorable performances from Gyllenhaal and Peña who really get under the skin of their characters, you start to get to know and second-guess their actions before they happen – crucial for the full impact of the finale to work.

The script is full of starkly poignant and laugh-out-loud moments of irony and frank observation that almost feel completely non-scripted and improvised at times, giving the whole affair an even greater realism than merely the cop-camera footage alone could hope to do. As with this genre, such a film is always going to have elements of déjà vu theatrics, but the relationship keeps it fresh and centred, so that it becomes more character-driven than anything else and a highly rewarding watch.

4/5 stars

By @Filmgazer

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