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The Trouble with Girls (1969)
Limping toward the end of his film career
Is there an award for films whose titles have nothing to do with the film? This one's a winner in that category. As Elvis's film career begins to wind down, efforts to put him in less formulaic vehicles produced some odd films. Here he plays Walter Hale, the manager of a Chautauqua, an early twentieth century kind of travelling carnival with religious and educational purposes thrown in.
Some reviewers have compared this film to Robert Altman with its series of Americana vignettes, but come on, that's a stretch. There's at least one good song here, the bluesy, 'Clean Up Your Own Backyard' but it's mostly Elvis wandering around the carny in a white suit, a Panama hat, and sideburns till Tuesday, with a slightly flirtatious grin on his face to bestow upon all the women folk (mostly Marlyn Mason).
There's a loose subplot about a pharmacist (Dabney Coleman) who's a sex pest and gets what's coming to him when his shop assistant (Sheree North) murders him. There are brief cameos from Vincent Price (as the orator Mr Morality) and John Carradine (as a Shakesperean actor). It's not enough to lift this lame vehicle as it carries Elvis limping within reach of the finish line of his Hollywood career. There will be one more film before he finally calls it quits.
Le samouraï (1967)
Stylish film with glacial pacing.
I might be a bit on my own here, but I wasn't as impressed by Le Samouraï as I thought I would be, based on its almost universal adulation. Certainly every shot is meticulously framed and executed by French New Wave director Jean-Pierre Melville, and there is a stylishness to Alain Delon's twenty-years-out-of-date noir vibe. However, I found the pacing glacial. The dialogue is sparse to say the least, which works well in the creation of the film's atmosphere but slows the film down even further. Everyone looks great, sure, and the film ends with an explosive finale that stands out all the more from the preceding absence of action. I'm not sorry I spent the time to view a film frequently referenced in the work of other filmmakers and generally considered a classic but I can't say I was 'whelmed' either.
Shôgun (2024)
Great television and an epic historical drama
I loved Shogun. Set in seventeenth-century Japan, an English Protestant, John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) seeks to disrupt the Portuguese trade and the Catholic Church and finds himself the adjutant to Japanese lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) who is seeking to avoid open warfare among competing warlords. New Zealand-born actor, Anna Sawai shines as Lady Mariko, a Catholic convert and translator.
I devoured the novel (by James Clavell) in my teens and still have a nice first edition copy of the book with the original dust cover. I also have a vague memory of the 70s TV series with Richard Chamberlain in the Blackthorne role. This series is saved from a 'white saviour' complex by being almost entirely in the Japanese language, and keeping Blackthorne in an ineffective role in which he is constantly at sea (no pun intended) trying to negotiate the complexities of Japanese culture.
There's a wonderful scene where Lady Mariko is explaining to Blackthorne the temporary nature of existence. We live, we die, we can't expect to live forever. Honour is everything. Suddenly an earthquake hits, underscoring the fragility and temporality of life. The final episode may appear something of a letdown as the story appears to be building toward one great decisive military assault but it plays out differently. The penultimate episode is the real highlight as Lady Mariko confronts her captors in Osaka and her fate is determined.
Everything about the series is top rate - the writing, the acting, the direction, the sets and the costumes. Reminiscent of Akira Kurisawa's Ran (1985), though that film is set a couple of hundred years earlier, it brilliantly evokes feudal Japan and its early engagement with the west. Shogun is great television and highly recommended.
Ice Station Zebra (1968)
Left me cold
Having recently read and enjoyed the book, I thought I'd give the movie a watch. Boy, is it dull. It has none of the suspense, drama, or intrigue of the source material, even though Alistair MacLean co-wrote the script.
Rock Hudson was never much of an actor, and he's pretty wooden here, though there's a good supporting cast, including Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan and Jim Brown. Director John Sturges certainly made better films (The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, Bad Day at Black Rock).
The first half is mostly submariners standing stiffly at their posts. It's all up periscope, down periscope, and how thick is the ice now? The second half introduces Russian fighter jets and paratroopers in a standoff on a poorly constructed ice set with American marines (not elements in the book). I use the term 'stand off' quite deliberately because mostly they're just standing there looking at each other.
There's a little bit of action when the Russian spy on the submarine crew is outed (Guess what? He was the only Russian crew member). The film ends with a heavy handed Cold War message about the Russians and Americans not really wanting to hurt each other but instead being committed to international brotherhood. Whatever. I prefer my nuclear threats to feel a little bit more dangerous. I'm afraid Ice Station Zebra left me cold.
Men (2022)
Refreshingly original feminist folk horror
Alex Garland's Men is a feminist folk horror which, though its metaphorical approach is far from subtle, is a refreshingly original film in a genre all too often typified by worn out old tropes and cliches. Recently widowed Harper (Jessie Buckley) rents a manor house in the English countryside to try to put her past behind her. Her abusive late husband James (Paapa Essiedu) is the gaslighter of all gaslighters and even after his death continues to torment her. When someone in the nearby woods begins to stalk her, she soon finds herself being stalked by every man in the village (Rory Kinnear). She finds herself in a life or death struggle to escape the clutches of a self-perpetuating Patriarchy that reproduces itself in confronting body horror scenes to rival those in John Carpenter's The Thing (1982).
The film is beautifully photographed in lovely (albeit at times eerie) locations. Buckley and Kinear's acting performances are top notch. Yet the film has not met with universal acclaim by any means, perhaps because its message seems heavy-handed and preachy. There is something about all the men of the village that we can clearly see but Harper doesn't see. That's often how it is for women in abusive relationships. How often have you seen someone being gaslit (even strangers in a public setting) and wanted to say 'Run!'? Yet (at least for some) one abusive man follows another in a cycle that ends all too often tragically in violence and death. Garland's film takes you into that experience in a horror film that is genuinely disturbing, not so much for its fantasy elements, but for the way those elements mirror reality.
Many will find this film triggering, and you will certainly need a strong stomach during the final act. Men grotesquely give birth to men but in the final scene a pregnant woman arrives on the scene in rescue mode thus signalling the solidarity of women in the face of male control. It is left somewhat ambiguous whether Harper manages to break the cycle of abuse but a subtly stroked axe blade and a wry smile suggest that in the end she has broken free of her tormentors. Alex Garland is an impressive film maker (Ex Machina (2015), Annihilation (2018)) and for me this entry is a worthy addition to that body of work. Now I have to see his Civil War (2024).
River Wild (2023)
A reasonably entertaining reworking but not a patch on the original.
It's not a patch on the 1994 original with the definite article in the title and Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon in the lead roles. That film was a family-based drama that was effective because the threat seemed real and the villain was human. The tension was a result of the writing placing you right in that boat wondering how you would respond to protect your own family. Here it's a bunch of millennials in the wilderness with a rather one dimensional villain. Still, some nice scenery and action sequences make for a reasonably entertaining film. If you haven't seen the original though, it's worth a visit and if you have, a rewatch might wash out the bad taste.
Eileen (2023)
Thriller with more style than substance
This is one of those films where the trailer looks great but the film itself disappoints. The term 'Hitchcockian' can really be the kiss of death, because very few films described as 'Hitchcockian' ever come near Hitch's brilliance. Roman Polanski's Frantic (1988) might come close. The credit sequence is in a self consciously early sixties style that evokes Hitchcock but there's very little actual suspense here. As a Queer noir it has some interest and it's a nicely dressed period piece. Thomasin McKenzie plays Eileen, a prison worker with an alcoholic widowed father (Shea Whigham), who is groomed by newly appointed prison psychologist, and Marilyn Monroe lookalike, Rebecca (Anne Hathaway). As Eileen is drawn into Rebecca's radical treatment approaches, her fantasies about killing her father and escaping her dull life are given an opportunity to be played out in real life. There are some interesting ideas here but I found it in the end to be more style than substance.
Priscilla (2023)
Compelling portrait of liberation from coercive control
Sofia Coppola's latest film is based on Priscilla Presley's 1985 memoir 'Elvis and Me' and is a meticulously filmed and compelling portrait of a woman trapped in the artificial world of a Peter Pan-like figure who never grew up.
24 year old Elvis began dating 14 year old Priscilla Beaulieu while stationed in West Germany in military service. There's definitely a pedophile vibe to what's going on. At the same time, Elvis is respectful of her in a 'purity culture' kind of way, protecting her virginity but entirely on his own terms. He treats her like a doll, totally controlling every move she makes right down to her clothing choices. Even when she comes of age, their sexual relationships allows her no agency of her own but she must respond entirely on terms that he sets. It's almost as though Elvis is gay or asexual, though we discover that's not the case, as he has affairs with other older women such as Ann-Margret. But Priscilla must remain his inviolate virgin set on a pedestal like a prized item in a personal collection.
Elvis comes across as a belligerent and spoiled man child, which is perhaps understandable given his meteoric rise to fame at such a young age and the artificiality of the world created for him (which is not to say his conduct is excusable). The level of gaslighting is on a whole other level. All the while Elvis's Memphis Mafia buddies are in the background supporting every misogynistic move. The Presley family also keeps a very tight rein over Priscilla, aware that her parents are naturally concerned for safety. The fact that Priscilla Presley eventually left Elvis and carved out a career for herself as an actress and business woman is a testament to her incredible resilience.
The performances of the leads are excellent. Cailee Spaeny is Priscilla and perfectly inhabits her frailty, vulnerability, shattered innocence and eventual self-determination. Aussie actor Jacob Elordi (from Emerald Fennel's 2023 film Saltburn) is Elvis. While he doesn't have quite the same physical likeness to Elvis as Austin Butler in Baz Luhrmann's film, Elvis (2022) his voice work is perfect and he captures Elvis's mannerisms very well. The musical choices are inspired. There's no Elvis music but early sixties music sits alongside songs by The Ramones and Joan Jett in an inspired anachronism that is perfectly fitting.
Sofia Coppola is a very gifted filmmaker and it's hard to imagine anyone else telling Priscilla Presley's story with quite so much empathy and grace. The real life Priscilla's genuine love for Elvis was always clear, even when she had to put a stop to what was a destructive and toxic relationship. Affection does not have to submit to abuse and Priscilla Presley's story is one of survival and self-determination that is here given a moving cinematic tribute.
The Railway Men: The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984 (2023)
Compelling dramatisation of an avoidable tragedy.
The Railway Men is reminiscent of Chernobyl (2019) and, while not as good as that masterpiece, is a similar tale of brave people doing their duty to save the lives of strangers. It deals with the 1984 gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India that caused the death of thousands of people. The attempts by the American-owned company to cover up its negligence is sickening and contrasts with the heroism of the rail workers who lay their own lives on the line to remove people from the danger zone. Directed by Shiv Rawail, this 4-part Hindi language series is currently streaming on Netflix and is well worth your time.
The Ritual (2017)
Engaging metaphorical folk horror
In this folk horror directed by David Bruckner (who is set to remake The Blob) a group of British friends travel to Sweden after one of their mates is killed. Making a series of monumentally stupid decisions, they get hopelessly lost in the forest and find themselves stalked by an ancient Nordic god and become captive to a pagan cult dedicated to worshiping the creature. Rafe Spall plays Luke, whose guilt over the death of his friend is metaphorically manifested in his struggle against the creature. The design of the monster is good and there are some genuinely suspenseful moments. As a fan of both previous versions of The Blob, this makes me interested to see what Bruckner will do with it.
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
Definitive horror film
F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) is a masterpiece of German expressionist cinema. An adaptation of Bram Stoker's brilliant 1897 gothic horror novel, Dracula, it could not for copyright reasons use the names of Stoker's characters but it has had an influence on cinematic Draculas ever since and arguably set the template for the entire horror genre. Indeed, next to Bella Lugosi's portrait in Tod Browning's 1931 classic it may be seen as definitive not just for Dracula films but for the entire horror genre. Max Schreck's portrayal of 'Count Orlok' is the stuff of nightmares (though he only has about 9 minutes of total screen time). The idea that vampires perish in sunlight originates here, not in the novel.
There is a silent film aesthetic that modern viewers may struggle with but you need to get past that and just remember that this film dates to near the birth of cinema and cut it some slack. A few scenes will probably evoke unintended smiles, if not laughs (the Count looks both ways while crossing the road with his coffin under one arm looking for a hiding place). While many have read an anti-Semitic subtext to the film, reflective of 1920s Germany, others have claimed that since Murnau was gay he probably would not targeted another persecuted minority. It is more likely that the horrors of the Great War were the chief inspiration for the German take on the undead. The profoundly Christian elements of the novel have been almost entirely removed. Producer Albin Grau was an occultist, far more interested in the esoteric and supernatural elements of the story. Interestingly, The Vatican has selected it as one of 45 'great films.'
The full original score has been lost and there have been many scores written since, with varying quality. Some budget DVDs simply slapped on a generic classical music score which didn't necessarily match the action on screen. One of the annoying things for me on this rewatch was the inter title cards on the Tubi version. They appear to have been created on PowerPoint as every new line has an upper case letter even when not grammatically called for. Also some of the cards are in a modem font while others are in a Gothic style font. It's annoying and amateurish. Give the film what it deserves people.
It's going to be interesting to see what Robert Eggers will do in this year's remake. Meanwhile, I highly recommend the 2000 film by E. Elias Merhige, Shadow of the Vampire (with Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck and John Malkovich as F. W. Murnau) which is about the making of the film and imaginatively asks, 'What if Schreck was actually a vampire, taking advantage of the film production for his nightly feeds?' Any film education must include Nosferatu so if you haven't seen it, get hold of a decent BluRay copy with a reasonably good score and enjoy it!
Steve! (2024)
A tribute to a great artist,
Being deliberately unfunny hoping to get laughs seems a doomed strategy for a standup comedian but eventually it worked for Steve Martin. The first comedian to fill arenas he then went on to a very successful movie career endearing audiences with his everyman persona. The second part of this two-episode series takes us inside Martin's private life to some extent, though he is understandably protective of his family. His relationship with his cold and distant father, for whom he never seemed to be good enough, explains much of the sad clown he became. A bachelor for most of his career, Martin became a father only late in life. We are taken inside his writing collaboration with Martin Short for Only Murders in the Building as well as his fascination for art collecting and banjo playing. Steve Martin is a wild and crazy (but also loveable) guy and this documentary is an excellent record of his achievements and a tribute to the perseverance of his artistry.
The Zone of Interest (2023)
Breathtaking portrait of the banality of evil
As a portrait of the banality of evil, The Zone of Interest is a chilling and confronting reminder that monsters are not usually the garish creatures that haunt our nightmares but ordinary people with no empathy for their fellow humans. Christian Friedel plays Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss who oversees a camp where people's lives are measured in terms of 'yields' made possible by new forms of technology designed to annihilate the dehumanised with ever greater efficiency. Meanwhile his wife Hedwig (played by the remarkable Sandra Hüller who also impressed in Anatomy of a Fall) rules over her household and garden with an equivalent disdain for the Jewish servants who are only a domestic mishap away from being reduced to ashes at their mistress's displeasure.
Director Jonathan Glazer has an impressive body of work including Birth (2004) and Under the Skin (2013) which, like this latest film, brought art house sensitivities to mainstream cinema. The music and sound design are chilling suggesting the screams of the damned, hidden from sight. A flash forward sequence to today's Auschwitz as a tourist attraction speaks to the hope that 'never again' would such a thing happen. Of course the Holocaust did not appear out of nowhere but was a culminating event in two millennia of European anti-Semitism. Nor should we think, in an age of neo-Nazism and Holocaust denial that it's something that belongs only to the past. The breath taking horror of this film is the very thing that makes it such an important work of art.
Mean Streets (1973)
Scorsese's genius is still in development here
I wanted to like this so much more than I did. You can certainly see Martin Scorsese's (and Robert De Niro's) budding genius and Harvey Keitel is outstanding in the lead role of small time gangster Charlie, who is trying to keep his friend Johnny Boy (De Niro) from getting whacked for his delinquent debts. It's frenetic, violent, foul-mouthed and very Catholic ('Francis of Assisi's got it down,' Charlie tells his incredulous girlfriend). So, all the traits we've come to expect from Scorsese but not quite coming together as a whole and his first genuine masterpiece, Taxi Driver was still three years away. I found the sound design a bit off-putting, with the music (including the diegetic parts) mixed up high with the dialogue. It was either 50s pop music or traditional Italian brass band music blasting for two hours. As a portrait of the kind of people Scorsese grew up with, it's an intensely personal film, covering themes he would continue to revisit throughout his career but it would all be done so much better in Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995).
El conde (2023)
Soulless creatures of the devil live among us
Chilean film, El Conde ('The Count', directed by Pablo Larraín) was nominated for an Academy Award for best cinematography and it's an interesting film visually speaking, especially the flying sequences. The high concept of representing political conservatives like Augustus Pinochet and Margaret Thatcher as vampires is ambitious and clever. 'Soulless creatures of the devil live among us'. Depicting a nun literally getting into bed with Pinochet is a devastating critique of the church's support of such regimes.
You'll need a strong stomach to deal with Pinochet drinking human hearts from a blender but you'll also need a strong stomach to deal with his real life crimes including thousands of people tortured, murdered, and 'disappeared' in the 1970s and 80s through Operation Condor, all with the support of the US government. The dysfunctional Pinochet family seems to function here as a metaphor for the wider political family that found ways to justify atrocities in the name of ideology. When Pinochet died in 2006 he had not been convicted for any of his crimes, a fact reflected in the immortality of the film's Count. Only the Christian doctrine of divine judgment can make sense of such monsters and their escape from accountability.
The Creator (2023)
An apocalyptic misfire
I know I'm out on a limb here but I found The Creator (dir Gareth Edwards) laboured and dull. Sure, it looked good and had some great design elements but story-wise it was lacking. I found its AI apocalypticism shallow compared to other films with a similar theme such as Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049 or even M3gan(!). I've never found gunfights and explosions a good substitute for narrative depth and that seemed to be what was happening throughout much of this film. Also all of Edwards's films appear to have the same aesthetic. Happy (as always) for others to enjoy it but this was a miss for me.
American Fiction (2023)
A whip smart comedy on identity politics
American Fiction, written and directed by Cord Jefferson from the novel, 'Erasure' by Percival Everett, is a whip smart comedy about the politics of race. When African American novelist 'Monk' Ellison (played by Jeffrey Wright) decides to write in a more 'Black' style under a pseudonym as a middle finger to the publishing industry, his book becomes a runaway success and the deception spirals more and more out of control. The results are an hilarious comment on identity politics and the film provides a portrait of a middle class family negotiating its own authenticity in the face of predominantly white expectations.
The film won both the Oscar and the BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wright was nominated for Best Actor and the film itself for Best Picture at the Oscars (losing, of course, to Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer). Sterling K. Brown was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor and the entire cast is excellent. Graced by a nice jazz soundtrack, It's a very impressive directorial debut from Jefferson.
In a key scene we get this dialogue sequence which really captures the concerns of the film:
Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison: 'You're not fed up with it? Black people in poverty, black people rapping, black people are slaves, black people murdered by police, whole soaring narratives about black folks in dire circumstances who still manage to maintain their dignity before they die. I mean, I'm not saying these things aren't real, but we're also more than this. It's like so many writers like you can't envision us without some white boot on our necks.
Middle class writer Sinatra Golden who writes 'ghetto fiction': Do you get angry at Bret Easton Ellis or Charles Bukowski for writing about the downtrodden? Or is your ire reserved strictly for black women?
Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison: Nobody reads Bukowski thinking his is the definitive white experience, but people... white people read your book and confine us to it. They think we're all like that.'
Film can serve to break down stereotypes and American Fiction does it with wit and with heart.
American Nightmare (2024)
Can American cops really be this inept?
Did Aaron Quinn murder his partner, Denise Hoskins, was she a 'real life Gone Girl', or is something else going on? Another true crime documentary that highlights the ineptness of American cops. Can it really be this bad? Having said that, Bay Area police detective, Misty Carausu, shows that there are still conscientious cops who do real investigative work instead of jumping to conclusions based on Hollywood movies. This three-episode documentary will keep you guessing. I for one flipped pretty quickly from 'he's definitely guilty' to 'hey wait a minute' so I guess that means either American Nightmare (directed by Bernadette Higgins and Felicity Morris) is a well structured crime documentary or I'm an idiot. Im going to go with the former :)
Smile (2022)
Effective psychological horror
Similar in theme to It Follows (though not as good), Smile retains its own originality and is an effective psychological horror and an impressive debut feature from Parker Finn. Sosie Bacon is good in the lead role of Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist who witnesses one of her patients take her own life and soon finds herself haunted by an evil spirit that threatens to destroy her while she tries to deal with her own childhood traumatic experiences. She must solve the mystery before it's too late while her mind unravels and her hold on reality becomes more and more tenuous. Finn doesn't flinch at the end with a downbeat finish that sets up a sequel, though I think this would be best left alone as a well-made horror leaving the director open to go in other creative directions.
The Menu (2022)
Quirky and intelligent horror comedy
The Menu is a quirky horror comedy that takes aim at a number of our infatuations. The pretentiousness of food culture, our fixation with celebrity chefs, our capacity for manipulation and our susceptibility to the control and coercion of cult leaders are all effective satirised in an outrageous scenario that for all its unlikelihood has the ring of truth to it. Ralph Fiennes plays the murderously narcissistic celebrity chef and Anya Taylor-Joy is the outsider Margo, the least infatuated by foodie culture, who effectively wields the humble American cheeseburger to cut through the pretensions. How many of us have been in social situations where we really should have called out bad behaviour but prevailing social conventions forced us into an uncomfortable silence instead? The Menu asks us to consider what would happen if the stakes were elevated beyond social embarrassment to life and death itself.
Im Westen nichts Neues (2022)
Captures the hell and futility of war
This is the third (though the first German) film based on the 1929 novel by Erich Maria Remarque. The 1930 version, directed by Lewis Milestone, is a masterpiece, and deservedly won the Best Picture Oscar. The 1979 TV movie, directed by Delbert Mann is mediocre at best. In this latest version, directed by Edward Berger, the technical achievement is first rate, especially the cinematography, with the framing of images effectively capturing the horrors of the final stages of the Great War.
There are a few noticeable changes to the narrative as compared to the Milestone film. Paul Bäumer's (played well by Felix Kammerer) return to his home village before being redeployed to the Front, which acted as a counterpoint to his earlier nationalist enthusiasm, is left out here. The fraternising with the French farm girls which humanised the characters in the 1930s film is only given a nod here. The iconic butterfly on the helmet image is not revisited here but the image of severed hands dangling on barbed wire is referenced in shrapnel-blasted corpses hanging from trees. Greater attention is given to the military strategists and their attempts to broker an armistice. When it finally comes, the futility of the war is underscored by a final German offensive against the French at 10:45 am, commenced fifteen minutes before the war's scheduled end.
All wars have their own horrors but the Great War was particularly horrific from a technological point of view as new and efficient means of killing were employed for the first time, many of which are showcased here - toxic gas, flamethrowers, and tanks (aerial warfare exists only in a few background shots). A good war film is aware that large-scale military panoplies fail to engage. What draws us in are the small stories of the individuals trapped within the heart of the maelstrom, the friendships readily forged before being brutally and abruptly ended. The vicissitudes of mindless carnage overwhelm entirely whatever meaning might have been found in ideas such as love of the Fatherland. There is a saying, 'There were no atheists in the trenches', meaning, I suppose, that fear of sudden death made men call out to God. Actually war seems almost purposely designed to create atheists and nihilists and prayers were rarely answered in this apocalyptic war fought between the Christian nations of Europe. As we now know, 'the war to end all wars' was only a prelude to a longer war that would escalate to the atrocities of the Holocaust and the atomic bomb.
I was not as drawn into this film as I was by 1917 (2019 dir. Sam Mendes) or Dunkirk (2017 dir. Christopher Nolan), though I'm not sure why. Perhaps I expected something more distinctively German in the story from this first German cinematic telling. Or perhaps this underscores even further Milestone's original achievement in giving us an American film that sympathetically portrayed the German experience in a manner not noticeably surpassed here. In any case, All Quiet on the Western Front will doubtless continue to garner a slew of awards. It followed up its Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominations at the Oscars, an observation which, given the weightiness of the subject matter, seems almost frivolous as I write it.
Jerry & Marge Go Large (2022)
Gentle small town comedy
The corn is laid on pretty thick in this gentle small town comedy about a retired couple in Michigan (Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening) who get rich setting up a numbers system enabling them legally to rort the state lottery. They bring members of their small community into the syndicate and use the money for local projects so, despite the title, there isn't much large living involved. The involvement of a competing syndicate of privileged Ivy League college students introduces a message about ageism. Cranston shows that he can go back to his light comedy roots with ease. Overall, there's not much substance to the film and Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) did the 'mild mannered couple live large' thing with a lot more laughs.
The North Water (2021)
Ahoy me hearties, it be good story tellin'
This really riveting Arctic adventure sees Jack O'Connell (playing ship's surgeon Patrick Sumner) go up against Colin Farrell (as the brutal and murderous harpooner Drax) on a whaling ship in the 1850s. Will Sumner be able to solve the murder of the cabin boy before he himself falls victim to the killer? Or before the captain manages to sink the ship for the insurance money stranding the crew in the Arctic circle? After it becomes a survival story, there is an encounter with a polar bear that you won't soon forget. The very realistic scenes of seal and whale hunting are not for the faint hearted but this is a really solid BBC drama, well scripted and brilliantly acted. Shot in Norway, it apparently set a record for the northernmost film shoot. You really feel the cold that's for sure, but its five one-hour episodes are well worth your time. After hearing this compared to the arctic survival series, The Terror (2018), I had to check that out as well and was not at all disappointed. Ahoy, me hearties, it be good story tellin' all 'round.
The Fabelmans (2022)
Semi-fictional autobiography of a great film maker
The Fabelmans is Steven Spielberg's autobiographical account of his childhood experiences. It might as well have been called 'The Spielbergs' as the events related are all true to life. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Actress (Michelle Williams), Best Supporting Actor (Judd Hirsch), Best Screenplay (Spielberg and Tony Kushner) and Best Music (John Williams, of course). I like movies about making movies and this one certainly ticks that box as an account of Speilberg's passion for filmmaking, from his boyhood fascination with the train crash scene from Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show On Earth (1952) to his interview with John Ford (played wickedly in a cameo by David Lynch) upon getting his first job in the industry. Its late-fifties, early-sixties settings are meticulously production designed by Rick Carter.
While certainly no Schindler's List, its a very Jewish story and the high school Anti-Semitism is well recounted (sometimes humorously). Michelle Williams's performance as the free-spirited but unhappy Mitzi Fabelman was the standout performance for me. Even Seth Rogan as family friend, Bennie, shows that he has the ability to transcend his usual schtick. Spielberg's account of his relationship with his parents is a very personal one and this film has been a long overdue passion project for him. His film craft is on full display here, both in storytelling and direction.
One of the most significant film makers of the modern era, an artist whose work will be talked about and written about for generations, and whose name already belongs with greats like Ford, Hitchcock and DeMille (even though, like all of them he also made a few mediocre films alongside his masterpieces), has revealed to the world the origins of his film craft. It's a fascinating, compelling, and deeply personal story but also, and perhaps most importantly, entertaining. After all, that's what the movies are all about. Spielberg knows that, and can deliver it as much as anyone alive.
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Gentle, quirk and dark comedy
Any film that brings Martin McDonagh, Colin Farrell, and Brendan Gleason back together after fifteen years was always going to draw a lot of attention. While this is no In Bruges (2008) the attention is well deserved. In this gentle, quirky, and rather dark comedy, two Irish friends (Padraich and Colm) have a falling out as one simply refuses to accept the fact that his former bestie just doesn't like him anymore. Set during the Irish Civil War (1922-1923) the explosions in the distance, seen only from afar, make it apparent that the troubled friendship is a thinly veiled metaphor for a divided Ireland.
The film attracted nine Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Direction and acting nominations not only for Farrell and Gleason but also for Barry Keoghan who plays the simple minded Dominic and Kerrie Condon as Padraich's long-suffering sister, Siobhan. All are excellent. For me, the central conceit of the film was one that I found difficult to accept. That someone as concerned about his musical legacy as Colm should take the action he does to resolve the conflict just stretches credulity. And that isn't the only aspect of the storytelling that was a challenge for the suspension of my disbelief. And surely, this film must break some kind of world record for the number of uses of the word feckin', which is used so often it borders on parody.