A simple, heartwarming tale that will likely pick up a couple of Oscars; and that's about what this deserves.
It'll probably go down in the annals of the first of the Nelson Mandela movies, the one that just focusses on the rugby. It rather has to, but at least isn't complete hagiography. Though Morgan Freeman speechifies too much at the start, he makes a game go of the accent and characterisation. If it wasn't exactly Nelson Mandela, it was a fine man he played. And, hey, it's a movie.
Matt Damon does the required business, even if he is a little small. One of the better points of this movie is that it didn't try to do too much; it could have portrayed Mandela as God and Pienaar as Jesus, but is a bit too good for that. It realises these are two humans, a man and a rugby player, who do what they do. The central message of forgiveness is unnuanced, simply presented, and the better for that. It isn't stupid, but it also isn't pretentious. It tells a good, simple story without embellishment necessary beyond the straight facts of some inspiring moments.
What makes this film positively a pleasure to watch is the direction. Clint Eastwood puts the procedures through so well, the scenes flowing from one to the next seemlessly, you nearly want to laugh at his effortless skill. The cuts are perfectly timed, the build up to the final moments are built up without noticing. Maybe that's the best thing that can be said about the film; the story's so well told, you forget to remember to feel moved and simply feel, well, moved. We felt a reddening of the eye as it came to the conclusion.
The end, indeed, just about stays the right side of sentimental. A few cliches are snuck in, but we can forget a few nods to the sports movie genre conventions. The conclusion is just like the rest of the film; not overegging the rosy-gardened messianic pudding, but letting us in to that little bit of joy.
This made us want to watch every movie Clint Eastwood has directed. This particluar example of his is a straightforward, well told, not at all overdone, well made portrait of a historical event. Thumbs up.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Precious: Based On The Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Another film with big hype, Oscare nomiantions, and a big reputation. This can make one rather tired of it before seeing it; don't let this stop you though, it's great.
We didn't find this quite as depressing as had been suggested. The content is, of course, beyond grim, and a few scenes are almost pornographic in their portrayal of a household and a life beyond the ken of the middle class. The tone, the dialectic, of the film is however one that lies on an upward path. Not only in the literal plot movements that, even though there are setbacks, one knows will not let despair take hold. This is Oprah-Winfrey Hollywood, after all.
It is though in that hopefulness and imagination in Precious herself that makes this film what it is. Her own dreams, and view on life, does make it aspirational. The scenes with her classmates are charming and gently humourous in their own way.
This film, we suspect (due to the lack of noticing at the time) is very well directed. Smooth, it rattles olng, scenes aren't extraneous. Without achieving visual flare the settings and shots have their own style and viewpoint that gives it an enduring image.
We should also mention that the very fact that this film ,and its subject matter, is so mainstream and has recieved such notice is a great step forward. The lack of films that portray women's lives as their lead, never mind one also obese and black, is often unnoticed. Hopefully this film will inspire more producers and directors to examine different experiences.
This is a watchable, occasionally moving (though, if we're honest, not always massively involving) and sharply directed film. It is more deserving than many of the Oscar hopefuls, and we particularly recommend Gaby Sidibe's performance in the lead role.
We didn't find this quite as depressing as had been suggested. The content is, of course, beyond grim, and a few scenes are almost pornographic in their portrayal of a household and a life beyond the ken of the middle class. The tone, the dialectic, of the film is however one that lies on an upward path. Not only in the literal plot movements that, even though there are setbacks, one knows will not let despair take hold. This is Oprah-Winfrey Hollywood, after all.
It is though in that hopefulness and imagination in Precious herself that makes this film what it is. Her own dreams, and view on life, does make it aspirational. The scenes with her classmates are charming and gently humourous in their own way.
This film, we suspect (due to the lack of noticing at the time) is very well directed. Smooth, it rattles olng, scenes aren't extraneous. Without achieving visual flare the settings and shots have their own style and viewpoint that gives it an enduring image.
We should also mention that the very fact that this film ,and its subject matter, is so mainstream and has recieved such notice is a great step forward. The lack of films that portray women's lives as their lead, never mind one also obese and black, is often unnoticed. Hopefully this film will inspire more producers and directors to examine different experiences.
This is a watchable, occasionally moving (though, if we're honest, not always massively involving) and sharply directed film. It is more deserving than many of the Oscar hopefuls, and we particularly recommend Gaby Sidibe's performance in the lead role.
A Prophet
Audriard's latest picture, highly commended. It is fantastic, and it is an epic. Yes, it goes on for a number of weeks, but it just about (although, maybe, not quite) deserves the running time.
The characters, and setting, and developed and utterly true. No scenes are wasted, but that doesn't mean anything particularly happens for a lot. It would be wrong to say there is a gradual build up, as from the very off we have a sure sense of purpose about these characters as fully rounded, rather than them growing into a role. This sets out what is the best word to describe this entire film; confident. The characters and story are confidently assembled, it marches forwards with an unstoppable sincerity. The atmosphere is oppressive from the very off, and the alloances made beyond pure realism don't need to be justified; the film will do so itself.
This film is not very...hilly. This is not to say it is flat, but rather that it keeps its same tone throughout the piece. We don't realise ho gasping we are for breath, how almost literally we want to look up to the sun, until we are shocked at the difference when moments of the beach are snapped. Even the humour is not so much a break from the tone, but rather fits within the encompasssing structure and world of the film.
The non-realist scenes have there own beauty, not a transcendent beauty but rather a gritty, immanenet, peculiar one. They are beautiful in the same way billowing smoke is. The actors are not beautiful, though are, of course, brilliant painted. The performances of the leads are beyond impeccable; they are their character, just that.
To conclude, this is an epic masterpiece, which is slightly different from a masterpiece. If you kno, and are ready, to enter a dreary (not always negative world) where excitment runs at its own colour and we recognise that truth comes through puddles and grit, never to be wiped away and thus truly accessed, you will love it. A film to stay with you. And not only because the very last scene, the behind-the-back flick of the hand, is wonderful.
The characters, and setting, and developed and utterly true. No scenes are wasted, but that doesn't mean anything particularly happens for a lot. It would be wrong to say there is a gradual build up, as from the very off we have a sure sense of purpose about these characters as fully rounded, rather than them growing into a role. This sets out what is the best word to describe this entire film; confident. The characters and story are confidently assembled, it marches forwards with an unstoppable sincerity. The atmosphere is oppressive from the very off, and the alloances made beyond pure realism don't need to be justified; the film will do so itself.
This film is not very...hilly. This is not to say it is flat, but rather that it keeps its same tone throughout the piece. We don't realise ho gasping we are for breath, how almost literally we want to look up to the sun, until we are shocked at the difference when moments of the beach are snapped. Even the humour is not so much a break from the tone, but rather fits within the encompasssing structure and world of the film.
The non-realist scenes have there own beauty, not a transcendent beauty but rather a gritty, immanenet, peculiar one. They are beautiful in the same way billowing smoke is. The actors are not beautiful, though are, of course, brilliant painted. The performances of the leads are beyond impeccable; they are their character, just that.
To conclude, this is an epic masterpiece, which is slightly different from a masterpiece. If you kno, and are ready, to enter a dreary (not always negative world) where excitment runs at its own colour and we recognise that truth comes through puddles and grit, never to be wiped away and thus truly accessed, you will love it. A film to stay with you. And not only because the very last scene, the behind-the-back flick of the hand, is wonderful.
King Coal
A collection of sixteen documentaries, stretching from 1901 to 1984, this is a moving, powerful, and personal documentary collection that we would heartily endorse every citizen of Britain to see as soon as possible.
From the Mitchell and Kenyon films, beautiful and at times heart-rending memories of the human-ness of people we usually only read about objectively, or as numbers in the newspaper. We see happy people, sad people, ghard working people, but above all real people. People we are connected to by ancestry and geography who are just as we are, but living in such a time that seems almost unimaginable to us now. We see the incredible conditions, which seem inhuman to us now, and remind us how close we are to that very reality. We want to speak to these people, like we can talk to our next door neighbour, and ask them what they really FEEL about their work.
Documentaries add some artistic majesty, from the hympnotic and surreal cartoon of 'King Coal' to start to the Britten-scored and Auden themed celebration/condemnation of industry, an incomplarably powerful piece.
There are moments of great humour, the mix is well balanaced and does not overemohasise any one aspect of the picture. The training documentaries are pure dead-eyes comedy. Then we have the newreel holiday footage, at once hillarious and at once an evocation which, in its very unthinking ordinariness, tells us more than a hundred graphs and figures could.
And then we have footage of the 60's and 80's, so near and yet so distant, people with such different concerns who walk through the very same streets we do. The past is, truly, a foreign country. This collection of documentary lets us visit, through a dark glass, for its 80 minutes.
This is a masterpiece of documentary cutting, presenting a view of life that makes you leave the screen and see the country, and the people, differently. One of the most important documents we kno to exist, regarding this country.
From the Mitchell and Kenyon films, beautiful and at times heart-rending memories of the human-ness of people we usually only read about objectively, or as numbers in the newspaper. We see happy people, sad people, ghard working people, but above all real people. People we are connected to by ancestry and geography who are just as we are, but living in such a time that seems almost unimaginable to us now. We see the incredible conditions, which seem inhuman to us now, and remind us how close we are to that very reality. We want to speak to these people, like we can talk to our next door neighbour, and ask them what they really FEEL about their work.
Documentaries add some artistic majesty, from the hympnotic and surreal cartoon of 'King Coal' to start to the Britten-scored and Auden themed celebration/condemnation of industry, an incomplarably powerful piece.
There are moments of great humour, the mix is well balanaced and does not overemohasise any one aspect of the picture. The training documentaries are pure dead-eyes comedy. Then we have the newreel holiday footage, at once hillarious and at once an evocation which, in its very unthinking ordinariness, tells us more than a hundred graphs and figures could.
And then we have footage of the 60's and 80's, so near and yet so distant, people with such different concerns who walk through the very same streets we do. The past is, truly, a foreign country. This collection of documentary lets us visit, through a dark glass, for its 80 minutes.
This is a masterpiece of documentary cutting, presenting a view of life that makes you leave the screen and see the country, and the people, differently. One of the most important documents we kno to exist, regarding this country.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Bleeder
This mildly tiremsome piece has its' fingers in a lot of pies. With some Clerks style nerd comedy, touches of romance, a good dollop of gangsterism, violence, and to round it off a bit of a slacker ambience.
The problem is that it doesn't really have a stroy, or characters, good enough to engage. The central males are all rather inconsequential (our video store worker) or coherence-bendingly schizophrenic and periodically unpleasant in their actions (We refuse to attribute bad characterisation to a postmodern sensibility) that we struggle, to drag that hoary cliche out, to CARE too deeply about the characters. It all seems rather pointless, and meandering. There is nothing for the viewer to do, just a bunch of scenes rag-tag together.
We are not a fan of the directoral style, the shaky and moving camera added nothing except an unnecessary distraction. And we get that you know alot about films, you're a film director.
This isn't awful, it never embarrases, and is written accurately with faith in the intellignece of the viewer. It just fails to go anywhere, or do anything. Only great films can get away with this.
The problem is that it doesn't really have a stroy, or characters, good enough to engage. The central males are all rather inconsequential (our video store worker) or coherence-bendingly schizophrenic and periodically unpleasant in their actions (We refuse to attribute bad characterisation to a postmodern sensibility) that we struggle, to drag that hoary cliche out, to CARE too deeply about the characters. It all seems rather pointless, and meandering. There is nothing for the viewer to do, just a bunch of scenes rag-tag together.
We are not a fan of the directoral style, the shaky and moving camera added nothing except an unnecessary distraction. And we get that you know alot about films, you're a film director.
This isn't awful, it never embarrases, and is written accurately with faith in the intellignece of the viewer. It just fails to go anywhere, or do anything. Only great films can get away with this.
Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes)
Probably most famous in the English-speaking world for the Tom Cruise led 'Vanilla Sky' remake, this film, which Penelope Cruz also appears in, is a decent enough sci-fi/psychological tale.
The acting is good, and the story well told- we are nicely kept off balance throughout the fractured plot twists and character developments. The story is slightly nutty, which can lead to impatience, but this is, after all, basically sci-fi (or is it....?) so we must take the rough with the smooth. Visually, it is fine enough, with a few moments of flair, and (here's something e don't think about too often) some very good work from the wardrpbe department.
All in all, a decent ride, even if it didn't quite sweep us off our feet.
The acting is good, and the story well told- we are nicely kept off balance throughout the fractured plot twists and character developments. The story is slightly nutty, which can lead to impatience, but this is, after all, basically sci-fi (or is it....?) so we must take the rough with the smooth. Visually, it is fine enough, with a few moments of flair, and (here's something e don't think about too often) some very good work from the wardrpbe department.
All in all, a decent ride, even if it didn't quite sweep us off our feet.
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Nordwand (North Face)
Not entirely satisfying mountain climbing, gripping and romping along enough, but flawed.
The start of the film is oddly old-fashioned, quick cuts failing to build up tension or really give us much characterisation. From this, the film does lack weight throughout. However, this doesn't get in the way of what is undoubtedly a well-told story, even if we never quite come to care too deeply about the characters (some fine, underwritten, performances, from the always excellent Ulrich Tukker and the male lead whose name escapes).
The lack of weight is also manifest in a film that, dare I suggest, sticks rather too close to the truth, being at times rather undramatic and oddly paced (for so by the narrative) thanks to this. Well-told, but difficult to entirely know what is being told.
The political aspect is under-played and in that sense entriely unnecessary, it would probably have been for the best if this had either been given the key role, or if it had been excercised as nothing more than the spectre of a tsunami.
We are happy that we have seen this, it was entertaining enough, but it's not a great work.
The start of the film is oddly old-fashioned, quick cuts failing to build up tension or really give us much characterisation. From this, the film does lack weight throughout. However, this doesn't get in the way of what is undoubtedly a well-told story, even if we never quite come to care too deeply about the characters (some fine, underwritten, performances, from the always excellent Ulrich Tukker and the male lead whose name escapes).
The lack of weight is also manifest in a film that, dare I suggest, sticks rather too close to the truth, being at times rather undramatic and oddly paced (for so by the narrative) thanks to this. Well-told, but difficult to entirely know what is being told.
The political aspect is under-played and in that sense entriely unnecessary, it would probably have been for the best if this had either been given the key role, or if it had been excercised as nothing more than the spectre of a tsunami.
We are happy that we have seen this, it was entertaining enough, but it's not a great work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)