In Bruges (2008)

Two Irish hitmen screw up a killing and are sent to Bruges (it’s in Belgium – Ray informs us) to await instructions in this hilarious, witty film. It starts off as an odd couple style film – the older Ken is interested in sight-seeing, the younger Ray is only interested in drinking and women. The dark backstory to the film is slowly revealed as their stay lengthens and the insanity increases including racist dwarfs, incompetent muggers and obese Americans. Ralph Fiennes puts in a terrific performance as a murderous but honourable gangster, and Colin Farrell is mesmerising as Ray. Well worth seeing.

Man on Wire (2008)

The opening film of the 37th Wellington Film Festival was the superb documentary Man on Wire. It is the story of how Frenchman Philippe Petit planned and executed his famous tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. It is a fascinating telling of a fascinating story. What is so stunning about this piece of film making is how James Marsh tells the story. Using only talking heads, archival footage and a few reconstructions he keeps you fixated on the screen, and manages to keep dramatic tension in a story when you clearly know how it comes out. The increasing tension and passion in the faces of the participants enthrals as do the stunning images of the attempt.

37th Wellington International Film Festival

The Wellington Film Festival has started – I’ve been looking at the programme for a few days trying to figure out what to go and see. There are a few that stand out – In Bruges, Elite Squad, there are some interesting documentaries such as the on on Albert Ayler and several about the Iraq war and/or Guantanamo. As always it will be the ones that you don’t expect that will be the most rewarding, and word of mouth will be the best guide to what is really hot. I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks!

Shades of Forgotten Ancestors (1964)

This Ukrainian film strikes us a strange now – I wonder how it struck Soviet audiences in the mid 60s? A slightly surreal take on what appears to be a Ukrainian folktale, it appears to offer a window into 19th Century peasant Ukrainian life. While it has some interesting stylistic moments, overall it seems dated. However in the Stalinist USSR of the 60s it would have appeared dangerously challenging – alluding to a separate Ukrainian identity, showing the centrality of religious ritual and superstition and being about peasant landowners – one can only wonder what the authorities thought of it.  A piece of history and worthy for that alone.

To Sleep with Anger (1990)

To Sleep with Anger is another film in the Wellington Film Society’s Charles Burnett season. Not as stunning or depressing as Killer of Sheep, but with similar concerns. This however takes place not so much as a piece of American realism, but as a sort of modern Black American folk tale. We watch as the malevolent presence of Henry (played brilliantly by Danny Glover) – like a ghost of the past – slowly and quietly disintegrates a black American family negotiating their rural past and urban future. Funny and moving, but never judgemental, it feels like a kind of American film making we rarely see.

Imperium by Robert Harris

I love the way Robert Harris creates genre fiction – political thrillers, crime novels – but in ways and historical (or imaginative) settings that teach you about the history of the time and place, and our modern world. Such is the case with Imperium, a novel about ancient Roman politics, and about one of the great figures of Republican Rome: Cicero. The narrator – the slave Tiro – takes on Cicero’s journey from new man to the highest position in the Roman Republic – Consul. It makes for a thrilling novel, and at the same time the reader is taken on a exploration of the labyrinth of ancient Roman politics and political institutions. An excellent book for people who like historical fiction, are interested in that turbulent period in history or just like a good thriller.

The Golden Compass (2008)

I was disappointed by The Golden Compass: by all accounts the books are good – intelligent young adult’s fantasy stories, a rare thing indeed – but this film falls woefully short. Its failings are obvious in retrospect. In attempting to adapt a large, thoughtful, intelligent novel for the screen the danger is that either there is too much exposition to explain the concepts (or history) of the novel, the film becomes boring and “talky” or you get the effect that The Golden Compass displays – the film is almost incoherent because nothing is explained, and the intelligence is abandoned for the action. There were some clearly important central issues in the novel that were just incomprehensible in the film: what exactly was the Magisterium? How did it rule? How could it seize power? What the hell is “dust”? What was this “infection by dust”? The alethiometer, the golden compass of the title, just seemed to be a deus ex machina – solving every problem the heroine encountered. The list goes on. There were some nice parts to the movie, not the least being the acting of the child lead Dakota Blue Richards, but nothing that can overcome the central flaw of the movie. In short: don’t waste your money or time.

The Review Could Be Better Than the Movie

Via badscience I’ve just read this review of the latest Hulk movie. This is possibly the best movie review I have ever read! I was going to see The Hulk, but after this I may reconsider. Consider yourself warned.

Killer of Sheep (1977)

Killer of Sheep is a stunning – if bleak – film. It shows black american, ghettoised, poor life in its unglamorous fullness, without ever losing its humanity. The scenes with the children in particular are quite brilliant pieces: we watch them playing with each other – throwing stones, fighting, covering each other in dirt, making the most of their surroundings – interacting with the adult world and just living their lives oblivious to their parents’ trials. Definitely a slice of life movie. Without Burnett’s deft touches this would have just been depressing and boring, as it is just one minute’s happiness at the end redeems the whole movie – though it is still bleak!

Prince Caspian (2008)

I admit – I am a big fan of the books. I have always liked them, and I enjoy the sense of wonder that infuses them as well as the subtly adult treatment of larger themes. Andrew Adamson has done a pretty decent job of adapting these stories for film. Despite what many people have said the Christianity of the books is neither overt nor exclusionary – I am no Christian and yet I find nothing repellent in them, or in these wonderful adaptations. Prince Caspian is the weakest book in my opinion, and the movie tends to reproduce its faults, though director Adamson takes quite a few liberties with the plot and characters – I really don’t remember Peter being quite so petulant in the books…Even so, this is worth seeing for the fantastic battle scenes and the appearance of Reepicheep the valiant and glorious mouse.