Belfast

The films I've seen about The Troubles in Northern Ireland have pretty much been of a type. Odd Man Out, The Crying Game, In the Name of the Father, '71 - very good films, but all essentially bleak. Kenneth Branagh's Belfast is something different. The film is a charming paean to the city, and specifically Branagh's time growing up there. It opens during the August 1969 riots, generally regarded as the start of the conflict, and shows a group of Protestants attacking Catholic houses in the street where the young Ken surrogate, Buddy (Jude Hill) lives with his parents and brother. This shock is seen through Buddy's eyes, but rather than trauma, a creeping curiosity seeps out. Scenes of strife and looting on TV; politicians fannying about; English soldiers on the streets, these things all happen in the background for Buddy, leave that stuff to the adults. The perplexing notion of the 'two roads' sermon, given by a grotesque, Ian Paisley-like preacher, is returned to through the film. Buddy can't get his head around it, even sketching the roads on some paper and drawing a question mark at the fork. 

There's a generous serving of good-natured humour in Belfast, mostly as result of Buddy's innocence, but also often provided by the neighbours and extended family. Ciaran Hinds, as Pop, and Judi Dench as Granny, have a great double act going on, and there are some quality moments with a fry-up uncle and a tone deaf auntie. But the focus of the story is really on the parents and their tough decision to stick around in the increasingly dangerous city, or decamp to England, where Buddy's father works. And just a word on the folks - sure, I know beauty is subjective and all, but criminy, what a pair of dead set stunners! Ma is brilliantly played by Caitriona Balfe, and Jamie Dornan is almost as good as Pa. Their relationship isn't as strong as it could be. Pa likes a drink and a flutter, but doesn't like paying taxes, and Ma is struggling to run the family, pretty much by herself. The tension comes from wanting to stay but needing to go. As Branagh said in an interview with Stephen Colbert, 'Home isn't necessarily the bricks and mortar [...] but it's family'. 

The cinematography by Haris Zambarloukas deserves a mention here too. It's shot primarily in stark monochrome and it looks fantastic, the colourful exceptions being the family trips to the cinema to see films like One Million Years B.C. and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This escapism informs the way Buddy (and Branagh) presumably coped with the turbulence in society at the time, and there are clear Cinema Paradiso vibes in this aspect of Belfast. The crowning glory though is the dance hall scene where Pa serenades Ma with 'Everlasting Love'. It feels like all the personal and social issues they've faced up to this point just melt away in this exuberant set piece. 

Belfast is a fine film that hovers close to the edge of sentimentality, but manages to be heart-felt and light enough to avoid landing in that territory. It deals with tolerance, diasporas, civic virtue, and taking the 'idea' of home with you wherever you go. Almost against my better judgement, I really enjoyed it. 

Belfast opens in Australia on Feb 3rd.

See also:

As mentioned, Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988) is a touchstone, and Neil Jordan's The Crying Game (1992) is a great film about aspects of The Troubles.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

This should have been great, maybe it was to Spider-fans, but I couldn't shake the feeling of ennui that usually only appears when I'm witnessing one of Tottenham's many false dawns. No Way Home is the third installment of Tom Holland's Peter Parker (not counting his appearances in other MCU films). Let me back up a bit here. When I say this should have been great, I'm thinking about the potential of the premise, not necessarily anything pertaining to Spidey. As I've droned on about before, I just can't abide the character. He's fine in other films, in small doses, but carrying one stand-alone film, let alone three? Not for me, Clive.

There's nothing wrong with Holland, nor with Zendaya, who plays Spider-love interest, MJ. Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent support as Dr. Strange and there are notable cameos from This Fella, That Geezer and even Old Whatsijizzit. The central idea is that Spides is bummed that people know his alter ego, after his 'outing' by Mysterio in the previous film. He approaches Strange to try to reverse time or something, and the ordinarily precise magician somehow cocks things up, leaving a few giant cracks in the universe. Cue mayhem of sorts. The well-trodden motif of civic responsibility is trotted out once more, echoing the 'excuse for aggression' propaganda of the Raimi films, though it's done in a more sympathetic, even humanitarian, way here.

Look, some folk will enjoy this, and it sounds like it's still pulling up dollar signs everywhere, but honestly, I'd prefer a spin-off where The Wasp lays her larvae in Spidey and turns him into a zombie (re: this Guardian article). Might nudge into an R rating, though.

See also:

Before features, the director Jon Watts made some music clips, amongst them, this cracker from The Thrills - The Irish Keep Gate-Crashing (2005). He also worked on the Jonathan Glazer classic, Sexy Beast (2000).

Memoria

Memoria starts with a locked off, very mundane shot of a curtain with a dark, triangular shape in the foreground. This holds for around a minute until an incredibly loud bang provokes the shape to move. This is the shoulder of Tilda Swinton's Jessica, and she slowly rises and wanders through her apartment, settling at a table next to some caged mice. Cut to a car park at night, where alarms start sounding and continue for what feels like ages. They eventually die out one by one, all held in a slow zooming shot. I admit to never having seen any of the director's (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) previous films, but if this is anything to go by, he's certainly a brazen chap.

The source of the loud bang is the nominal thrust of the film, as Jessica, almost half-heartedly, investigates the cause. But the noise is just a pretext for Weerasethakul (who also wrote the film) to explore ideas of displacement, disconnection, memory and the weight of history. Jessica is an English botanist (most of the press for this lists her as Scottish, but she sounds more English to me), working in Colombia, where her sister and sister's family also live. This is a very elliptical film, most of the decisions are made off-screen, and the setting suits its cryptic nature. Jessica is alien to this place, and her discombobulation affects the audience as well. She visits a sound mixer called Hernán (Juan Pablo Urrego) to try to pinpoint the exact noise. This is a great scene, maybe the most technical of the film, the rest hang somewhere between the oblique and the spiritual.

Audio is an important touchstone in Memoria. The soundtrack is filled with noises, from a creaking chair, incessant bug chirping, running water, to the recurring bang. There's a scene in a restaurant where the bang happens a few times, each one cranking up the tension, as Jessica's sister and family react to her reaction. Oddly mesmerising. Incidentally, the bang Jessica hears is actually a phenomenon called 'Exploding Head Syndrome'. Yep, really. Anyway, the constancy of sound is highlighted near the end when Jessica puts her hands to her head and ALL sound disappears from the film for a moment - it's a neat trick by the director.

The look of the film is simple, even perfunctory at times, yet comfortingly rich at others. The aforementioned long takes are there throughout, and though ponderous (and sometimes boring), they match the feel of the film. At one point, Salvador Dalí is mentioned by a doctor and the events following this would certainly fit the Surrealism genre, though some of the shots border on Abstract Expressionism or maybe Suprematism, in their near rejection of art.

Jessica's search takes her to the jungle, accompanying an archaeologist friend, where she meets another Hernán (Elkin Díaz), who helps her 'discover' the source of the bang. The film does something odd here. It slows down dramatically, while also speeding up the resolution. Look, I'll come clean, there's a lot to unpack in this film, and quite frankly, I'm not up to the task. It's maddening, unsettling, almost a psychological horror, and close to a piss-take at times, but if you can go with it, you might just be rewarded. There are enough enigmatic touches to maintain curiosity levels.

Memoria is showing at the Somerville Auditorium at UWA for the Perth Festival from Jan 24-30.

See also:

The 'hidden' style reminds me of Michael Haneke's, Caché (2005), and the beauty of the landscapes and atmosphere bring to mind Ahn Hung Tran's, The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000).

Worst of 2021 - End of Year Report

Swine after pearls, here are the 10 films that either disappointed, annoyed or mortified me in 2021. In descending order, have a gander at some of this shite.

[Check out the full reviews by clicking on the title]

10. Clue (1985)

Found this on a streamer and kind of wish I hadn't. The cast has a lot going for it - Tim Curry, Michael McKean, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd  - but none of them can rise above the forced energy and boring story. Films based on board games, eh? A product of its time.

9. The Toll (2021)

This was a huge disappointment. An interesting cast, including Michael Smiley, Iwan Rheon, Annes Elwy (best in show) and Paul Kaye, couldn't save the material. It was trying to be many things all at once, but sadly none of the angles worked. The novice writer and director will hopefully learn from this ambitious mess.

8. Death Note (2017)

This Netflix adaptation of the Japanese manga, then anime, then three (!) live action Japanese films, was entirely unnecessary. Really, how much of one slightly naff idea do we need? I guess it was made for the subtitle-averse crowd, but honestly, fuck them anyway. Sometimes I look back and wonder why I even chose certain films. This was one of those moments.

7. Candyman (2021)

We selected this as a prize for winning a film quiz at the Perth Girls' School Cinema. Mistake. Incoherent, dull, NOT scary (aside from some squirmy body horror bits) and just cack-handed. Some of the messaging was admirable but it didn't really have any focus and the director, Nia Da Costa, let it be overrun by functional murdering and a confusingly rushed ending. No, the Candyman can't.

6. The Goya Murders (2019)

This fell apart pretty quickly. A Spanish police thriller (?) about a dude who kills his victims and arranges the crime scenes to look like Goya prints, it plays out like overboiled spuds. There are two police officers who have their own problems - templated, colour-by-numbers shit - a perplexing motivation for the perp (I don't even remember it, to be fair), and a climax that was presumably meant to shock but, in fact, seems overly brutal. A script full of bollocks, nothing makes sense. Dire.

5. Spawn (1997)

An obscure director, mostly known for visual effects, has turned out a real stinker with this film (ironically, with terrible effects). Part of a glut of minor comic book adaptations in the 90s (The Rocketeer, The Shadow, Tank Girl, etc.), this was one of, if not alone as, the worst of the lot. Martin Sheen and Nicol Williamson (famous Shakespearian stage thesp) chew off as much meat as they can locate, and possibly my least favourite 'actor', John Leguizamo does his thing - irritate. Awful tripe.

4. Legend (1985)

Chimpanzee that! A Ridley Scott film in the best AND worst list of 2021. Imagine for a moment, going from your debut, The Duellists, to Alien, to Blade Runner and then....to this. Forgettable guff about an evil wizard (I think) who wants to do something or other but Tom Cruise is in the way and ummmm, well, it's hard to recall. This might have been cutting edge in the mid-80s, but it certainly hasn't aged well. Oh, and oddly, it's the second film in this list with Tim Curry in it. He had a busy 1985.

3. Annette (2021)

What a pile of pretentious crap. It seems to have its fair share of supporters, mainly in the critic circles, but I haven't seen a film for ages that spilt the critics and the punters like this did. So, it's a musical drama (almost totally 'sung-through') with a great central pairing in Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver. The issues aren't with them, but with the 'too cool by far' script by the Mael brothers (of the band, Sparks). It's repetitive and dull, and they try very hard to be tossers. They succeed. In fact, they give tossers a bad name.

2. The Nest of the Cuckoo Birds (1965)

I actually gave this so-called film a nest icon instead of a star rating because I don't really classify it as a film as such. But that's getting into the whole 'what is art?' area, so I'll just say this is a real Barry Crocker. The guy behind it all, Bert Williams (he directed, wrote, starred, produced, etc.), plays some kind of agent dispatched to the swamps to find someone and things go pear-shaped. All well and good plot-wise, the problem is Williams clearly had no budget and, it would appear, no talent either. The whole experiment is one of the worst things ever put on celluloid, student films included. 

1. French Exit (2020)

But worse than a film that isn't really even a film, comes this horrid turkey. Around 5 minutes in, I knew I was going to hate this. Rich, entitled, snobby Americans talking like nobody outside of 'literature' - what a recipe! Story - Michelle Pfeiffer and her son, Lucas Hedges, lose all their money and decide to move to Paris. People appear out of paper-thin logic to muddle the narrative. Then there's a talking cat that's supposed to be whimsical, I guess. Ah, fuck this, I'm getting angry writing about it.... 

Best of 2021 - End of Year Report

Well, film made it through 2021, mostly intact. There were more cinema closures around the world but a couple of delayed films from 2020 were finally released, though there's still a bit of a lag for others. A gall bladder removal in February meant no trips to the cinema for that month, but I managed to get to the big screen 68 times in all. So from a total of 125 films watched this year (112 first time viewings), here are the top ten films I saw in 2021. 

[Click on the titles for links to full reviews for all but number 10]

10. The Wicker Man (1973)

This is the Edward Woodward original from the 70s, not the Cage remake (though I'm keeping an open mind to that one). I shamefully hadn't seen this and I'm sorry I left it so long. It's a clever, moody, very bloody odd look at the perils of faith and conversely, curiosity. Christopher Lee is imperious, Britt Ekland stunning - her seduction of Woodward FROM A DIFFERENT ROOM has to be seen to be believed. A real cult classic.

9. The Last Duel (2021)

One of two Ridley Scott films this year (the other being the average House of Gucci), this gives us three versions of the truth surrounding a sexual assault in 14th century France. Jodie Comer, Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck all give great performances and the structuring doesn't fall into the trap of repeating itself - each rendition adds something, as well as omitting or altering things the previous chapter(s) highlighted. All this ratchets up the tension that erupts in the climactic duel. Scott, at the age of 84, has delivered his best film since...hmm, maybe Gladiator.

8. Nitram (2021)

Here's a lesson in how to handle a touchy subject, in this case, the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania in 1996. It's not so long ago that it's ancient history, many folk are still affected by the memory of it. But director, Justin Kurzel and writer, Shaun Grant have made a thoughtful, careful drama of quality. It helps if you can call on the likes of Anthony LaPaglia, Judy Davis, Essie Davis and, in the title role, an amazing Caleb Landry Jones. A slow dread gathers pace as the film plays out until it stops just short of that horrific day. Supremely made Aussie film.

7. The Collini Case (2019)

A gripping courtroom drama from Germany that starts out promising a fairly straightforward murder case, then shifts keel slightly to open up into themes of revenge, exclusion and legacy. Elyas M'Barek, as the wet behind the ears lawyer, is great, as is Alexandra Maria Lara, but the old fogies - Rainer Bock and Franco Nero - are superb. A good old eyebrow raiser of a film.

6. Dune (2021)

Much has been said of Denis Villeneuve's take on the Dune text, and it's certainly brilliant, but its lack of a satisfying conclusion keeps it out of the top 5 for me. Technically, it's probably the best all round film of the year, with peerless work on the cinematography, set and costume design, editing, sound and direction. Some of the practical effects are bloody jaw-dropping and Hans Zimmer's score is the best I can remember from him. Performances are roundly mint as well. Looking forward to the (hopeful) finale in a year or two.

5. Lamb (2021)

This is the kind of film my folks would call weird. It's an atmospheric, slow-paced drama/thriller about a farming couple who deliver a lamb that's not completely ovine. The simple structure and lack of bustle - it's set on a barren-looking farm in Iceland - concentrate the focus on the couple, played by Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær Guðnason, the interloping brother (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson) and Ada, the unique child. To its credit, Lamb gets over the immediate explosion of incredulity and carries on with lots of things unsaid, to its fantastically misanthropic conclusion. An odd little masterpiece.

4. The Suicide Squad (2021)

After the crappy first attempt by David Ayer, the definite article was added, along with James Gunn, and out popped out an exciting, violent, and most importantly, funny film. Idris Elba, Margot Robbie and Daniela Melchior are standouts but everyone has a moment to shine. Great songs, visual flair and surprises throughout. Probably the most enjoyable cinema experience of the year.

3. Out in the Open (2019)

Lots to like about this Spanish drama from director, Benito Zambrano. It's about a boy on the run from a malevolent ranch foreman, whose reasons for wanting him back are vague but sinister. The kid falls in with a grizzled loner wandering the scorched landscape of Andalucia. It's set up for confrontation and that's what we get, in some of the tautest scenes of the year. Luis Tosar and Luis Callejo have over 200 acting credits combined, and this experience tells in their performances, while also sparking off the boy, played by the relative newcomer, Jaime Lopez. Seek this one out if you like your films uncompromisingly weathered.

2. No Time to Die (2021)

The final Bond film for Daniel Craig is as almost as good as his first, much better than the intervening three and is in contention for the the best 007 film of them all. The action is well paced and heart-pausing, the performances on note and the cinematography is positively artistic. By setting up a five film arc for Craig's Bond, the producers have enabled a pay-off unlike any of the other films in the franchise, and that's no mean feat. Bittersweet but thoroughly satisfying.

1. Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2020)

The longest title is also my pick for best of the year. This is a Hungarian film, part drama of the mundane, part mystery, part romance, part psychological thriller - there are so many ways to read this curious little mind-worm, I'm still not entirely sure how I made anything of it, to be honest. Director Lili Horvat teases excellent turns from Natasa Stork and Viktor Bodó, who play a pair of doctors who may or may not have had a recent, brief relationship in the US. There are missed meetings, denials, glanced misdemeanors, odd press conferences and hovering irritants in the form of young suitors and sensible psychiatrists. This all sounds hard to fathom but it's super intriguing and you may just find a completely different take on the whole thing. I reckon that's where it plays it's ace.

[Roly, Parizad, Merv and I talk about our top 5 films of the year in the following pod]