Beautifully made, very slow, monochrome film, in the classic tradition, with exquisite sound and with some wonderfully naturalistic, if distantly observed, performances, subtly infiltrated by stereotypical themes of toxic masculinity that mesh precisely, and fashionably, with today's zeitgeist.
Reviews
7 Reviews
The Lady in the Van
(2015)
Perfectly pitched and paced
5 November 2017
Unusually, the user reviews here are, almost all, well-considered, and there is little useful to add. Music, cinematography, editing, lighting all support the consistent high standard of acting and direction. The themes - compassion, loneliness, manipulation, love, old age and so on - are teased out in careful Bennett fashion. We are engaged and entranced by a film that does not disappoint, yet does not seek to promise more than it can deliver. I saw Maggie Smith play a youthful Desdemona to Laurence Olivier's Othello, and this, at the other extent of her acting life, is as riveting performance as I can remember.
All Is Lost
(2013)
A well-conceived film sunk by just too many goofs
1 May 2017
There is much to admire about this film: excellent sound design, good camera work and some tight editing. Redford can say a very great deal without uttering a word. It ought to have been nail-biting and penetrating. But it was let down by the minutiae of the screenplay and some important parts of the direction. Some of the technical errors pointed out by unnecessarily self-satisfied know-alls and counsellors of perfection can be set aside on the grounds that not every seasoned sailor follows the latest thinking on health-and-safety routines. The film should principally be focused on the reaction of a man on his own to danger and adversity. The actual events sent to try him are not the point, but they must at least be a plausible backdrop. If you know anything about ocean passage-making however then it is clear that Our Man is largely the victim of his own poor decisions and incompetence (and of course of his screenplay-writers), and not of fate or the elements. From the outset he appears to be resigned to that fate, responding to the flooding of his yacht by collision with a half-submerged container in a manner that is scarcely credible. It is as if he doesn't mind whether he floats or sinks, not a reaction that many seafarers would recognize. I suspect one should listen a bit more carefully to the opening voice-over as it may give a better glimpse of the type of person Our Man is, perhaps as someone, in old age, content to admit to ultimate failure, and with only an intermittent urge to survive that comes more from habit than intent. One would like to have been able to ignore his stupidities and the inanities of the screenplay in order to concentrate on the manner of his confrontation with imminent death, but they are just too intrusive and implausible to overlook. A pity, but this sort of film was always likely to appeal to a specialist audience knowledgeable about the sea, and the advice of an appropriate consultant should have been sought and heeded. I am afraid the bulk of the negative user reviews are the director's and producers' just deserts.
The Queen
(2006)
Compelling story let down by wooden acting
3 April 2016
I sat down to watch this in the happy expectation I would enjoy it. It's a riveting story, a well- crafted film and with a screenplay that has its nuanced moments. But then it has its clunky ones too (e.g. " Tay Bridge? But that's the code-name for my funeral", as everyone else in the room knows full well). Much of the dialogue is laboured, and unlikely. The Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Mother and Prince Charles, all played by front-rank actors and actresses, come across as wooden mimics, and wholly fail to catch the personalities of the parts they are playing. One can always rely on Helen Mirren to redeem a questionable role, but not it seems here. As with the others she misses the essential spirit of the Queen's stoicism: good humour in the face of adversity. An upright posture and abrupt transition from misery to jollity does not capture it. Almost all the 'aristocrats' stiffly bypass what ought to be an easy ability to combine great formality with great informality, sensitivity with authority, humour with seriousness. The sparkle in the eye is replaced with dead stereotyping. Prince Philip is gauche, the Queen Mother a pantomime dame and Prince Charles is without personality at all. Michael Sheen comes close, but does not do Blair as well here as he has elsewhere. Helen McCrory has a good stab at Cherie, but takes it too far into the obvious, as does Mark Bazeley as Alastair Campbell. The only part that truly convinces is Roger Allam as Robin Janvrin, who glues the whole thing together with the effortlessness one would expect of the role. All in all a surprisingly disappointing film, that promised to be much better than, in the end, it was.
Blow-Up
(1966)
Endlessly fascinating nostalgia
22 January 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Meteorically successful society photographer goes about his work in Swinging Sixties London. While scouting further shots for his forthcoming book he chances on and photographs an ostensibly romantic couple in a park. The woman notices, but her vehement demand for the negatives is denied. Back at his fashion studio, progressive enlargement of the images seems to reveal a murder, made more mysterious by the urgent re-appearance of the woman (who has followed him) and her renewed pleas. Our hero returns to the park at night, and finds a body in the location suggested by his photographs. Meanwhile, his studio has been ransacked, and nearly all the photographs stolen. Early the next morning he returns, finding the corpse vanished. While in the park, he watches a group of young people play a make-believe game of tennis. At first only slightly amused, he finds himself joining in. At that moment he too vanishes, and the film, which covers only a 24-hour period, ends.
So much for the nominal plot. When I first saw it in 1967, I was only impressed by its modern decadence. The many subsequent viewings have however revealed an extending layered interest. Part of that must be nostalgia, for whatever the fashion insiders of the time say, it paints a thoroughly vivid picture of how London life felt and was perceived in that period.
It appears to be generally accepted that Carlo Ponti withdrew funding for this the first Antonioni film made both in colour and in English when it ran extravagantly over-budget, with the crew sent back to Italy and Antonioni told to make the film from the footage already in the can. Ronan Casey, playing the corpse, says there was an extended murder plot involving Sarah Miles, Vanessa Redgrave and her lover, (Jeremy Glover) (except for Reg, Ron and Bill, the conduits of photographic and painted images, none of the characters has a name in the film, although they do in the script). This version of events is supported by Redgrave and Glover's appearance in the film in unexplained circumstances (Glover spying on the hero in the restaurant, and both in a Rover 2000 following the photographer's car). Of course, that does not mean that, as edited, the 'full' film would have amounted to no more than a conventional murder mystery.
At least three main threads interweave (apart from the ideas of image and reality which have been extensively addressed by others). The first is the character of the hero. The young protagonist has found extreme success early, most youthful ambitions already satisfied. Beautiful and naked girls, treated as no more than the foot soldiers of the fashion industry, throw themselves at him. Ennui has set in ("I'm off London this week" – "If I was rich I would be free") and he seems bored by a (then) outrageous society marijuana party, and by a Yardbirds performance. He has already seen through, but not wholly rejected, the excesses of 60s culture. Although often off-hand and abrupt, sometimes arrogant, he is searching for a worthwhile commitment, for meaning and for value and is open to ideas. Thus, his luxurious Rolls Royce is always, rain or shine, open-topped (unusual in England), he donates to rag-week collectors/student protesters (an important feature of the 1960s) with a smile, and accommodates their anarchic rejection placard ("Go Away"), again with amusement. He tries to find serious meaning in his disguised and gritty doss-house photography but perhaps it only adds up to a business opportunity. He is interested in an antique- shop, but only in the end for redevelopment potential. He describes a non-beautiful wife, easy to live with, and children, but then denies their existence, perhaps because they are simply his present ideal. The possible murder represents the first glimmer of challenge to his humanity. When this fails, he is drawn into the tennis-game, and becomes one with both reality and disappearance (unreality), when he makes himself complicit in the group fantasy.
The second layer consists of the language of cinematography. The colour and framing are stylised, stylish as well as realistic. Camera and protagonist viewpoints sometimes do not coincide, in a way that is non-neutral, giving the camera a narrative function. Most important is the highly original sound design. Long takes of only ambient noise (not silence- with audible planes overhead, road-drills, ice-cream vans) including of course the famous wind in the trees. There is no background music (except extra-diegetically over credits). All other sound, including music, is strictly diegetic – we are always shewn the radio, the spinning gramophone record, the switching on and off. The tennis match is not in fact silent – we hear footsteps, and the wind – the noise of a mimed performance. We then hear, but do not see, ball on racquet, the only non-diagetic moment in the film. Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence reached Nr 1 in the US in January 1966. Possibly Antonioni had this in mind – the reference to neon gods perhaps the inspiration for the scaffolded neon tower he built behind Maryon Park. The invisible sounds are almost the most real features of the film.
The third thread is the symbolism. In most indoor locations in the film there is a bust – perhaps life and death, history, or another, 3D, type of image. The occasional child – the hero particularly looks at the child each time. Communication: the white telephone in the studio, the red telephone in the street, the blue radio-telephone in the car (Blue 439). Maryon Park is green, and the photographer wears a green jacket. But the park is surrounded by urban life (Antonioni built the neon tower and the white gable-ends to emphasize this point), so it is only nominally wild, natural or real, or perhaps an oasis (as well as the Kennedy grassy-knoll and the staple location for Cold-War spy-thrillers). The students, a linking theme, are also a Greek chorus, commenting on the search for truth, meaning and value.
So much for the nominal plot. When I first saw it in 1967, I was only impressed by its modern decadence. The many subsequent viewings have however revealed an extending layered interest. Part of that must be nostalgia, for whatever the fashion insiders of the time say, it paints a thoroughly vivid picture of how London life felt and was perceived in that period.
It appears to be generally accepted that Carlo Ponti withdrew funding for this the first Antonioni film made both in colour and in English when it ran extravagantly over-budget, with the crew sent back to Italy and Antonioni told to make the film from the footage already in the can. Ronan Casey, playing the corpse, says there was an extended murder plot involving Sarah Miles, Vanessa Redgrave and her lover, (Jeremy Glover) (except for Reg, Ron and Bill, the conduits of photographic and painted images, none of the characters has a name in the film, although they do in the script). This version of events is supported by Redgrave and Glover's appearance in the film in unexplained circumstances (Glover spying on the hero in the restaurant, and both in a Rover 2000 following the photographer's car). Of course, that does not mean that, as edited, the 'full' film would have amounted to no more than a conventional murder mystery.
At least three main threads interweave (apart from the ideas of image and reality which have been extensively addressed by others). The first is the character of the hero. The young protagonist has found extreme success early, most youthful ambitions already satisfied. Beautiful and naked girls, treated as no more than the foot soldiers of the fashion industry, throw themselves at him. Ennui has set in ("I'm off London this week" – "If I was rich I would be free") and he seems bored by a (then) outrageous society marijuana party, and by a Yardbirds performance. He has already seen through, but not wholly rejected, the excesses of 60s culture. Although often off-hand and abrupt, sometimes arrogant, he is searching for a worthwhile commitment, for meaning and for value and is open to ideas. Thus, his luxurious Rolls Royce is always, rain or shine, open-topped (unusual in England), he donates to rag-week collectors/student protesters (an important feature of the 1960s) with a smile, and accommodates their anarchic rejection placard ("Go Away"), again with amusement. He tries to find serious meaning in his disguised and gritty doss-house photography but perhaps it only adds up to a business opportunity. He is interested in an antique- shop, but only in the end for redevelopment potential. He describes a non-beautiful wife, easy to live with, and children, but then denies their existence, perhaps because they are simply his present ideal. The possible murder represents the first glimmer of challenge to his humanity. When this fails, he is drawn into the tennis-game, and becomes one with both reality and disappearance (unreality), when he makes himself complicit in the group fantasy.
The second layer consists of the language of cinematography. The colour and framing are stylised, stylish as well as realistic. Camera and protagonist viewpoints sometimes do not coincide, in a way that is non-neutral, giving the camera a narrative function. Most important is the highly original sound design. Long takes of only ambient noise (not silence- with audible planes overhead, road-drills, ice-cream vans) including of course the famous wind in the trees. There is no background music (except extra-diegetically over credits). All other sound, including music, is strictly diegetic – we are always shewn the radio, the spinning gramophone record, the switching on and off. The tennis match is not in fact silent – we hear footsteps, and the wind – the noise of a mimed performance. We then hear, but do not see, ball on racquet, the only non-diagetic moment in the film. Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence reached Nr 1 in the US in January 1966. Possibly Antonioni had this in mind – the reference to neon gods perhaps the inspiration for the scaffolded neon tower he built behind Maryon Park. The invisible sounds are almost the most real features of the film.
The third thread is the symbolism. In most indoor locations in the film there is a bust – perhaps life and death, history, or another, 3D, type of image. The occasional child – the hero particularly looks at the child each time. Communication: the white telephone in the studio, the red telephone in the street, the blue radio-telephone in the car (Blue 439). Maryon Park is green, and the photographer wears a green jacket. But the park is surrounded by urban life (Antonioni built the neon tower and the white gable-ends to emphasize this point), so it is only nominally wild, natural or real, or perhaps an oasis (as well as the Kennedy grassy-knoll and the staple location for Cold-War spy-thrillers). The students, a linking theme, are also a Greek chorus, commenting on the search for truth, meaning and value.
Bogowie
(2014)
Compelling and dramatic medical history
17 January 2016
Maverick, mercurial young heart surgeon, recently returned from the US to Poland, takes on the conservative local medical hierarchy, as well as Communist bureaucracy, in his driving ambition to put Poland, patients,and himself in the forefront of world cardiology. With the film based on a true story, he challenges conventional thinking, inspires a renegade young team and strives to overcome obstructions and reverses, while struggling with his own demons in a cloud of cigarette smoke. Set around 1985, the subdued, but not dull, colour palette reflects the late Communist era, with tight, fast-moving editing, as well as framing. Sub-titled, sometimes in slightly questionable English, the script swings between narrative, tragedy and some comedy, with echoes of the Stephen Hawking Theory of Everything. Acting is of a satisfying standard, although some of the supporting parts are thinly characterised. The viewer must survive a good deal of gory surgery, which is more than can be said of some of the patients. Recommended.
Aftermath
(2012)
Powerful moral thriller
17 January 2016
Construction worker returns, meagrely equipped, from the US to his anti-Semitic Polish village to spend time with his farmer brother, whose eccentric collecting habits have, it emerges, estranged not only his wife and family but also the villagers. They and the brothers' late farming parents have a past that requires some detective work to unravel in an increasingly disconcerting history. Short on humour (unless that is supposed to be found in the amnesiac shopper) or much female interest, the story moves in fits and starts with some lack of confidence in its pacing, and occasional clunkiness of narrative and symbolism. An important line of comment, towards the end, fails to make the sub- titles. As so often happens, the director feels the need to substitute frantic for grim, and the characterisation of the brothers is not altogether sure-footed. More than competently shot by Pawel Edelman (The Pianist) with a muted teal-and-orange colour palette, but with somewhat clumsy Foley, this is not a delicate film: less Ida, more Straw Dogs, though thematically linked with both, and perhaps with a too- generous helping of Polish self-flagellation. Moral, but not uplifting, it ultimately leaves the viewer in a void. However, a robust, and certainly not wasted, 104 minutes.
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