Arrival

A nice little day out a couple of weeks back. Belmont's Reading cinemas followed by lunch at Jamie's Italian in the city.

The film was Arrival, helmed by a fella who is fast becoming one of my favourite directors, Denis Villeneuve. This is a film that can be seen through a few different prisms. The socio-political angle of multi-lateralism and rapprochement is summed up nicely by this exchange: "If I only gave you a hammer...." "...Everything's a nail." Contrast this with the personal angle of love, memory and loss, especially relating to motherhood (or even parenthood). Mix with a little non-linear time and squirt a thick layer of language as communication and meaning. That's a tasty cake you've got there.

Though on the face of it, this film is about the need for calm communication to solve worldly problems (a soft kick in the nuts to the Trumpacide about to occur), I think it's actually more about the character of Louise and the importance of her relationship with her daughter, Hannah. Which makes the marble almond spaceships the biggest macguffin in film history. In fact, the title Arrival, refers to Hannah's birth, not the massively ominous ships. But that's just my reading of it.

There's a style to this that is visible in the other Villeneuve films I've seen - Enemy, Prisoners, Sicario - and his work with the screenwriters here, especially in the opening few minutes, sets the film up extremely cleverly. I can't really say much more as it would ruin the 'puzzle' but it's reminiscent of Enemy in that respect. The performances are low-key as befits this type of thoughtful Sci-fi film but Amy Adams does stand out. This may sound a bit odd but she really knows how to act with her face. She may be the American actress with the widest range at present.

The design of the Aliens and their 'language' is impressive and the score by Johann Johannsson is suitably moody and eerie. A bit like Johnny Greenwood's stuff but less piercing.

Where Arrival suffers slightly is in its depiction of most other nations (i.e. not the US) dealing with the spaceships' sudden appearance. Venezuela and the Sudan go 'off the leash' domestically, China and Russia become aggressive and Australia are just useless. OK, that last one, I can go with. Oddly, Pakistan gets a positive mention as coming up with some vital piece of info.

Ultimately, this is a very impressive work but I wanted something more dystopian. As Tottenham supporters around the world know, it's the hope that kills you.

Doctor Strange

A weekend trip to Busselton enabled me and the wife to pop over to Orana Cinema to see Doctor Strange. This is apparently Marvel's 14th film and I reckon I'd place it mid-table - Everton or Liverpool. Pretty good but not great.

It began with a nice surprise. Mads Mikkelsen pulling a mean glower. Didn't know he was going to be in it, innit? From there, the film sets up Cumberbatch as a proper twat, a personality level that he doesn't quite shake by the end of proceedings. He's quite good here, though his accent took some time to grow on me. I think I just prefer his English one.

Parts of this film are like Inception on crack. The VFX teams (I counted more than 10 companies in
the credits) have done a fine job stretching the city-scape folding stuff. And the scene where the Ancient One sends Strange on a magical mushroom tour is nice and trippy.

Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One is top notch, flirting with winking panto one moment and almost eliciting a tear the next. Her speech to Strange in astral form is really well delivered and a little reminiscent of Roy Batty in Blade Runner:

"Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered and your time is short. You'd think after all this time I'd be ready. But look at me. Stretching one moment out into a thousand... just so that I can watch the snow."

There are a few more standout sequences. Strange brawling with Kaecilius (Mikkelsen) and thugs in one of the 'sanctums', happening upon the Cloak of Levitation. Just before the scrap, this clever exchange occurs:

"You'll die defending this world, Mister...?" 
"Doctor"
"Mister Doctor?" 
"It's Strange"
"Maybe, who am I to judge" 

Probably the neatest trick was the time manipulation city rebuild where the protagonists and antagonists fought one another forwards in time, while part of Hong Kong was put back together....backwards in time, as it were. Easy for you to say. If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

French Top Twenty

Across the channel now. I'd planned to do a top ten but so many belters would miss out if that were the format. So here are my favourite twenty French films. Again, ordering was extremely tough.

20. Buffet froid  (Bertrand Blier - 1979)

Proper bonkers this is. Depardieu when he was a powerhouse, compared to just a house. I remember watching this with my face all screwed up, thinking "Can they even make films like this?" but loving it all the same.










19. Baxter (Jerome Boivin - 1989)

Another odd'un. Narrated by Baxter himself, a malevolent or maybe just dog-like bull terrier, this film follows his efforts to find a suitable home. Co-written by Jacques Audiard, who will appear later in this list.






18. Entre les murs [The Class] (Laurent Cantet - 2008)

A great slice of Parisian life, almost a documentary as it's based on the experiences of Francois Begaudeau, who wrote the novel, co-wrote the film AND bloody well starred in it and all! Won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Agreed.







17. Coup de torchon (Betrand Tavernier - 1981)

A nihilistic, black comedy, melodrama from the sublime Betrand Tavernier. This plays a little like a farcical version of Graham Greene's, The Heart of the Matter. And that can only be good. I haven't seen it for a while but reckon I will again soon.








16. A bout portant [Point Blank] (Fred Cavaye - 2010)

I've talked about this on the blog before but I'll say it again. After a short set-up, this mutha does not stop. It's not a classic like some on this list, but it goes like the clappers. Great fun.









15. La regle du jeu [The Rules of the Game] (Jean Renoir - 1939)

One of Renoir's class critiques and a certified gem it is. A bit like an old, French Upstairs, Downstairs (though I don't remember that show, honestly). Pretty ground-breaking at its time as well from a master director.









14.  De rouille et d'os [Rust and Bone] (Jacques Audiard - 2012)

SPOILER AHEAD!!!!

Cotillard directed by Audiard. They need to work together again. This is probably the sexiest film about bare-knuckle boxing and amputation that I've ever seen. A slightly soapy ending doesn't subtract much either. That face. Blimey.






13. Delicatessen (Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet - 1991)

Modern classic. Pure surreal brilliance (but still not Caro & Jeunet's best - see down the list). The chain reaction scene where Louison fixes a bed (left) is top drawer.

Life regret: not buying one of those cow or sheep noise tins at the Lumiere cinema when this was screened.




12. Cache [Hidden] (Michael Haneke - 2005)

I wasn't sure what to expect with this but it blew me away when I saw it at the cinema. A slowly-paced build up with a short, sharp smack, followed by more creep. It's like a visual Pixies song in French. Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil have rarely, if ever, been better.





11. De battre mon couer s'est arrete [The Beat That My Heart Skipped] (Jacques Audiard - 2005)

Another Audiard. You might be thinking he's my favourite director. You'd be right. This film gets it all spot on. An odd central character played by the coolest bastard in film today, Romain Duris. A seemingly simple story of frustration and revenge, with added piano music. And Melanie Laurent pops up, too briefly. Excellent.





10. Le salaire de la peur [The Wages of Fear] (Henri-Georges Clouzot - 1959)

A fantastically tense drama/thriller set in Central America where a few desperate blokes have to transport explosives across the country. In one sequence, they have to maintain a quick speed over a stretch of corrugated road. If they slow down, they blow up. I almost stopped breathing. And then I shat myself. Literally or metaphorically - you decide.





9. La haine  (Mathieu Kassovitz- 1995)

Watching this at the cinema in 1995, I remember thinking everything was going to be OK with film; as an art form, as a social commentator, as something to be respected, for many years to come.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?!?!





8. La grande illusion [The Grand Illusion] (Jean Renoir - 1937)

Another of Renoir's classics. An even-handed and dignified story about class barriers during WW1. Sounds a bit earnest and dry but this is a stone cold corker. Jean Gabin needs some serious re-discovering,






7. The Vertical Ray of the Sun (Tran Ahn Hung - 2000)

I'll say it again. This is a beautiful film. I could watch the scenes of the brother and sister waking up (left) all day long. Among many others. Great soundtrack too.







6. Olivier, Olivier (Agnieszka Holland - 1992)

Sad, wonderful film about loss and hope. 9 year old Olivier disappears one day only to turn up six years later. But is it him? Cracking story teeming with great performances, including one from Francois Cluzet, who also appears next on this list....










5. Ne le dis a personne [Tell No One] (Guillaume Canet - 2006)

As gripping as any film I've seen, with some inspired editing and intense acting. The set-up alone must have green-lit the film in a hot second. Excellent thriller.








4. Un prophete [A Prophet] (Jacques Audiard - 2009)

The best Audiard (so far) sees the rise of a young prisoner to power and influence. A Prophet works as so many different films - prison drama, action, mystery, gritty realism, even Christ allegory. Take it how you will but certainly take it. You won't be disappointed.








3. Trois couleurs: Blanc [Three Colours: White] (Krzysztof Kieslowski - 1993)

The Three Colours Trilogy is brilliant and, for me, this middle third is the best. Bone dry, black comedy with a strangely easy to identify with loser (Zamachowski, left) at it's core. Julie Delpy ices it too.

2. La cite des enfants perdus [The City of Lost Children] (Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet - 1995)

Just magic. One of the real tragedies of cinema is that Judith Vittet (left) basically retired from acting after this. In my mind, the best performance by a kid in a film. Hands down. And the rest of the film takes her lead. A fantastically rendered, sweet, bizarre dream of a film. Nearly number one for my money.....

1. A bout de souffle [Breathless] (Jean-Luc Godard - 1960)

....but it's very hard to top this super-cool debut from Godard. I've kept this as my favourite French film because it was probably one of the reasons I got so nerdily into film. Looking at it now, I can see it flirts heavily with pretentious toffle but I still get a little tingle thinking about it's style and originality.

British Top Twenty

I started this post a few years ago and left it mouldering away until Empire Magazine's 100 Best British films turned up recently, which triggered my memory. I'm not about to claim 'best' but these are certainly my 20 favourite British films, and if any of you haven't seen them, I suggest you give yourself a quick rub down and do something about it.

So here they are from 20 to 1 (and except for the top 2, the order was mecha-difficult)....

20. Welcome to Sarajevo (Michael Winterbottom - 1997)

A real no-frills, even miserable, look at the war in the Balkans and the international journos who covered it. Typically earthy treatment from Winterbottom and Stannis Baratheon himself, Dillane.







19. Oliver! (Carol Reed - 1968)

Not massively into musicals but this is up with the best of them, with great performances from Ron Moody (left) as Fagin and Oliver Reed as Sykes. Top notch sing-alongs too - "In this life, one thing counts. In the bank, large amounts. I'm afraid these don't grow on trees. You've got to pick a pocket or two".







18. The Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie - 1980)

"The mafia?! I shit 'em!" Hoskins looking almost as confused as in his other masterpiece performance, Mona Lisa, wondering what the fuck is going on and why. Until that fantastic final shot, where the penny drops.






17. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle - 1996)

Nothing more to be said really. One of the films that defined the 1990s. Hope the forthcoming sequel doesn't plop all over this.







16. A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick -1971)

Hard to find a screening back in the day. I remember seeing it at a late show at the Lumiere in the old Perth Entertainment Centre (kids, ask your folks) and was suitably blown away.








15. The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo - 1997)

The most fun of a set of Thatcher-fucked, northern-England films made in the 90s, which also included Billy Elliot and Brassed Off (also very good).









14. Shallow Grave (Danny Boyle -1994)

A more concise narrative film than Boyle's career-maker to come and, I reckon, a slightly better film.









13. The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston -1975)

Ripping yarn. Connery and Caine didn't work together all that much, certainly not as a pair of leads, and that's one of the great shames of cinema.







12. Local Hero (Bill Forsyth - 1983)

Sweet and unsentimental. You can imagine the kind of potion this would turn into if it were remade today. Like vomiting a cocktail of Red Bull and skittles.








11. The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean -1957) 

Mint performances from Guiness and Holden and the pace picks up slowly to the storming finale. Bloody epic.








10. Get Carter (Mike Hodges - 1971)

Hard Caine. Cracking story with some great dialogue and a really grimy 70s feel to it. And one of the best anti-endings on film.










9. Educating Rita (Lewis Gilbert - 1983)

Softer Caine. Perhaps his best performance, though. A lovely double act with Julie Walters.











8. Casino Royale (Martin Campbell - 2006)

The best Bond film with perhaps the best bond. Chuck in Mads Mikkelsen (left) - 'scratching' Bond's netherlands with a massive rope - and the majestic Eva Green. Wipes the floor with Craig's later efforts.






7. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Tomas Alfredson - 2011)

A more subtle spy world than Bond's. Winners all round - Oldman, Firth, Strong, Cumberbatch, Hardy, Jones, Burke - from Le Carre's great writing and a 'foreign' director's eye. Just get a whiff of those walls.








6. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh -1996)

Brenda Blethyn is irritatingly brilliant in this, my favourite Mike Leigh film. The scene (left) where she meets Marianne Jean-Baptiste's character for the first time is a peach. Timothy Spall nails it as well.







5. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright - 2004)

Can't quite top Spaced for high comic art but this comes extremely close. Pegg and Frost are spot-on.








4. Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer - 2000)

As has been said many times before, from Gandhi to Don Logan!?! Kingsley is frighteningly watchable as an unhinged hard man trying to encourage Winstone to "do the job". Ace.







3. Don't Look Now (Nicolas Roeg - 1973)

One of the creepiest, saddest films I've had the pleasure of seeing. I think I once found the church Sutherland renovates in Venice. Also creepy.








2. Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson - 1987)

"Come on lads, let's get home, the sky's beginning to bruise. Night must fall and we shall be forced to camp". The way Uncle Monty says 'bruise' is one of about a thousand joys of this film.







1. The Third Man (Carol Reed - 1949)

As near to perfect as film can get. It merged the talents of Graham Greene, Carol Reed, Orson Welles, Robert Krasker and Anton Karas into a rare gem, never to be repeated.









Well, this was fun. I might have a crack at some other countries one day. But not 20. What the hell was I thinking?

High-Rise

A birthday treat. Lunch in Leederville with the good wife (not the bad one) and then a choc-bomb assisted screening of Ben Wheatley's High-Rise. In the smallest cinema I've ever been in - screen 4 at the Luna Leederville. And it's quite a trip. I'm not a big fan of Wheatley, disliking Down Terrace and Kill List but on the basis of High-Rise, I'll most likely check out his other work too.

The story, based on the novel by J.G. Ballard, is nominally of class strata and ultimately class warfare, with Tom Hiddlestone pitching in as a kind of middle class cypher - to begin with. There are some potty scenes within the titular high-rise, including a kids' party that ends in the drowning of a dog (cardinal sin of film - killing a dog).

It sets things up really well in the first hour - characters are introduced with little fuss and some aplomb (Luke Evans and Jeremy Irons among them). The sets (and the poster) are reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange's ugly British 70s look. Details look just a bit out - food in the supermarket, the minimalist furniture, even the towers themselves, which Irons explains were supposed to be like the fingers of an open hand with a lake as the palm. There's a lot of good stuff in this film.

But it misses the mark in a few places, I reckon. The pace and flow of the film is dragged down a bit from the middle to near the end, so much so that I almost nodded off. Maybe it's due to too much ostentatious surrealism, too much weird frenzy. And while there are some great lines - "When I was your age, I was always covered in something. Mud, jam, failure." - there are also some pretentious duds - "What are in these boxes anyway?" "Sex and paranoia".

The final shot carries a bit of weight. A nerdy kid has finally made his toy radio and he sits atop some kind of tennis umpire's chair listening to a snippet of one of Thatcher's speeches, which goes as follows:

There is only one economic system in the world, and that is capitalism. The difference lies in whether the capital is in the hands of the State or whether the greater part of it is in the hands of people outside of State control. Where there is State capitalism there will never be political freedom. Where there is private capitalism there may not be political freedom, but there cannot be political freedom without it.

The soon-to-be PM uttered this shite in November 1976 in a House of Commons speech, after the book was written (1975), so it must be an addition by Wheatley. Suitably garbled guff to go with this batty film.

Jason Bourne

Belmont. Sunday morning. Long ticket queue. Even longer pocket-shafting snack bar queue (not required, thank you suckers). Bouncy castle for screaming kids in foyer. BUT $10 TICKETS!!! I'll suffer all that for a tenner, no mistake.

To see Jason Bourne, the 4th film in the Matt Damon Bourne series. Let's gloss over the Bourne Legacy, just as director Paul Greengrass and the other writer, editor Christopher Rouse, did. Poor old, marginalised Jeremy Renner. He's got to be the richest "poor man's Matt Damon" going around.

This 4th Bourne, coming nearly 10 years after Damon did one into a river, manages to track down our battered and bruising protagonist pretty easily. Lots of neat tech on display here. Damon himself looks grizzled and serious as ever.

Cards on the table here. I'm a big fan of the Bourne films (again, leaving aside Legacy) so I brought some positive baggage into the cinema, and I wasn't disappointed with Jason. It's exciting where it needs to be, dramatic in places and fun all the way through.

Greengrass is a master of watchably frenetic camerawork and co-writer Rouse edits without falling into the 'Transformers' trap of not being able to fucking see ANYTHING! Alicia Vikander steals a few things and Vincent Cassell is sneeringly fine but Tommy Lee Jones seems to be turning into a caricature.

The action could be perfunctory but Bourne action is always a bit above the norm. Sniper sights through smoky Greek streets and London crowds, motorcycle up staircases in Athens, a very Bourney lift in an old European building. But the pinnacle of HAVE THAT is a ridiculous car chase where a SWAT truck driven by Cassel ploughs through a traffic jam, most likely killing and injuring dozens of hapless Vegas punters. And they call that guy the 'Asset'.

There was one slight query plot-wise.
Vikander and Riz Ahmed's IT entrepreneur seem to have a relationship that isn't explained. Something set-up for next installment, maybe. I'll be there.

Oh and the remix of Extreme Ways at the end was mint too. Thanks for listening. Bye.