Kompromat

Kompromat (shorthand for Compromising Material) is a serviceable near-thriller, based on book about the true story of Yoann Barbereau, a French national who spent more than a year on the run, trying to escape the Russian authorities. It opens with a cliched forest chase, then a '5 months earlier' title card, leading into the 'how did we get here' backstory. The film has its ups and downs until the climax, where it reaches its nadir, thanks to some overwrought symbolism and mawkish emotion, not helped much by the swelling score.

Gilles Lellouche plays Mathieu Roussel, the Irkutsk director of the Alliance Francaise organisation. He lives in this Siberian outpost with his not-best-pleased wife and young daughter until one day when he's arrested for a trumped up charge of publishing child pornography. The reason for this fit-up isn't quite explained - is it suspicions of spying or petty revenge? Maybe something else entirely? Perhaps we're meant to be as clueless as Roussel but I don't think the film did its due diligence here. There's even a weird hunting scene where a kindly, yet bigoted benefactor (Mikhail Safronov) tells Roussel he'll never fund his organisation again after watching a homo-erotic dance recital. Heavy-handed display of cultural differences....check. Oh, and in more cloth-eared metaphor news, the Russian then shoots a wide-eyed deer which lies prone on the ground. Roussel simply swallows, just like the weak Frenchy they assume he is. 

Lellouche is fine but has been much better with superior material and directors. Joanna Kulig (luminous in Pawlikowksi's Cold War) plays Svetlana, Roussel's guardian angel, and honestly, the amount of times she comes to his aid is freakish, almost like it's been scripted... Her motivation didn't ring true either. I have her down for one brief meeting with Roussel and then a semi-pissed dance and chat at a bar. And suddenly she'll do anything for him, including risk her life at the hands of the FSB (modern KGB). Odd.

The scenes of Roussel on the run are pretty well directed, aside from his uber-convenient 'get out of jail free cards', and the politics of the Embassy staff dragged the film back to the intense French drama genre that it never really stuck to. Not the worst effort but surely there were better ways to deliver this story.

Kompromat opens Dec 1st at the Luna and Palace cinemas.

See also:

Lellouche in Fred Cavayé's Point Blank (2010), and Kulig in Pawel Pawlikowksi's Cold War (2018) are better pointers to their craft.

The Menu

The Menu is a great satire on the haves and the have-nots, set in an exclusive island restaurant called Hawthorne. Ralph Fiennes is the chef, Slowik, who at first, seems like a snobby, arrogant kitchen-maestro, but has deeper...issues. He's, as always, excellent, giving us more to chew on than pure sociopathy. Nicholas Hoult plays Tyler, a foodie twat, seemingly oblivious to the creeping danse macabre taking place. But it's ultimately Anya Taylor-Joy's film. She's Margot, Tyler's date for this once in a lifetime culinary event, though she appears to have her reservations (I promise that's the first and last food or restaurant pun in this write-up. My apologies.) Margot is the audience conduit and Taylor-Joy brings the gusto and a feisty 'no-shit-taken' attitude.

John Leguizamo is spot-on casting as the actor to whom Fiennes says something like, "Your face has irritated me for a long time" regarding a terrible film he was in. It's the perfect role for one of my least liked actors (in fairness, he's pretty good in this). And hello to Angela from Who's the Boss (Judith Light) in an uncomfortable 80s flashback.

I'm deliberately not mentioning the story as it's best to go in cold (not a pun) to this - I'll only say that it's rare for a film with this standing (budget, cast, producers of note, etc.) to actually follow through on its initial promise. Kudos to writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, as well as director Mark Mylod, for having the courage of their convictions, and Searchlight Pictures for allowing it to happen. Mylod has had quite a varied career in TV direction - from Vic and Bob to Game of Thrones and his hand is steady on the material. I found this to be a darkly funny kick in the nuts. But not in a bad way. 

The Menu opens at many cinemas, including the Luna and Palace on Nov 24th. 

See also:

Michael Sarnoski's Pig (2021) runs another chef through the wringer, and Peter Richardson's Eat the Rich (1987) is a manic antecedent. 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

A new Marvel film isn't quite the drawcard it once was. Aside from the Doctor Strange multiverse film, Phase 4 of the MCU hasn't really delivered anything of much quality. There were moments in Black Widow and Shang-Chi, even Eternals at a stretch, but the crackers from Phase 3 seem a long way back. Now, SPOILERS AHOY, but presumably Kev Feige and his acolytes hadn't expected Chadwick Boseman to pass away at the age of 43, causing the need for massive rewrites (or a reimagining at any rate). Incidentally, they probably chose the best way to deal with an actor's unexpected death. It was nicely handled, a fitting tribute to Boseman. The beginning was a deviation from the usual action splash, in order to make way for the sombre, but zesty funeral scene. It was an authentic tear-jerker too, if the young German & French international students in the cinema were anything to go by.

So, here's a film choc-full of grief and loss, which is only amplified by the mirror of real-life. That scaffolding is padded out with a story of politics and war-mongering, introducing the comic's 'first mutant', Namor (Aquaman with winged ankles). The introduction to these wet folk is pretty gnarly, wreaking havoc on an ocean rig, and their other-worldly menace is fun. I think the ground-laying of Namor (an impressive Tenoch Huerta) as a nemesis to Wakanda in particular, and the 'surface' in general is promising, as he has the potential for mayhem.

But onto the film's issues. With Boseman unfortunately out of the picture, the vacuum has to be filled somehow. It would seem logical and canonical to position T'Challa's younger sister, Shuri as the replacement. This makes sense, until it becomes clear that Letitia Wright, perfectly fine as a side character in the first film, doesn't really have the gravitas or charisma to take centre stage. The film hangs a lot of emotional work on Wright - she has to deal with loss, increasing responsibility, more grief, and leadership, while struggling with her spirituality vs science dichotomy issues - and this all feels slightly beyond her at the moment. She's a pretty good actress, but carrying a Marvel tentpole requires more star wattage. 

But these qualms pale in comparison to one of the supporting actors. The student scientist, Riri Williams is played cringingly by Dominique Thorne - it's probably one of the worst performances in a Marvel film. It's hard to detail her level of crap acting, it's unnatural, awkward and riddled with affectations. Compare this to the times when Lupita Nyong'o or Winston Duke are on screen and it's easy see what real actors can bring (also, nice to recall these two as the couple from Jordan Peele's Us). Angela Bassett brings quiet power as Queen Ramonda and Danai Gurira as Okoye is kick-arse, though I didn't quite buy one key scene between the two of them.

There's an underlying thread of Shuri attempting to reconcile the whole 'technology versus tradition' thing. It's all a bit tiresome, and we know it's only going to end one way, this being an MCU project. The cut and paste emotional beats do carry an extra weight here considering the actual passing of Boseman, but there's still too much that we've seen before, for example, though Shuri flirts with revenge, she ultimately comes down on the side of stoic nobility. Incidentally, I don't see this as a spoiler because if you've seen any MCU film, you'll know they have a formula that even the 'edgy' indie directors and writers have to adhere to.

One curious note: a character refers to Namor's people as 'The Lost Tribe'. Is this a reference to the lost tribes of Israel? If so, why? Odd throwaway line.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is showing everywhere.

See also:

I'll continue to bang the drum for Us (2019), and Bassett was good in Kathryn Bigelow's interesting but uneven Strange Days (1995).

Brian and Charles

Brian and Charles is the 'Brian-child' of David Earl and Chris Hayward, who also play the leads - the former, a shabby loner, the latter, his bodgy android creation. The film is set in the glorious North Wales countryside, and have a run at some of these place names - Llyn Gwynant, Ysbyty Ifan, Trefriw, Cwm Penmachno, Betws y Coed, Llangernyw. Rough on the tongue, gorgeous on the eye. Earl plays his Brian Gittens character as a sweeter, less disgusting version of the lonely loser from Ricky Gervais's After Life and Derek. He's a single, middle aged depressive, who loves tinkering and inventing (objectively useless) things. The scene of the aftermath of a flying cuckoo clock test run is an early highlight, underlining the 'mockumentary' style of the piece.

The 'useless inventions' theory is scotched when Brian surprises himself by actually making a robot, albeit a very shonky looking one. As Charles says, "My tummy is a washing machine." The central relationship is mostly played like a father-son pairing, sometimes mates, occasionally even owner and pet, and it strikes a balance somewhere between poignant and pitiful. Hayward brings a sense of naïve dignity to the hidden role of Charles and the two leads clearly get along well.

The film, lengthening the 2017 short it was derived from, doesn't take too many risks. Obviously, there's a need to build a narrative around the double act but there's nothing groundbreaking here. It's a pretty straight up and down plot, complete with a geeky love interest, played by Sherlock's Louise Brealey, and peril in the shape of an aggressively chavvy Welsh family who take a fancy to Charles. Audience acceptance of this film is almost totally predicated on the level of interest or affection one has for Earl's Brian character. His awkward mannerisms and visual smell can be grating, but if this is surmountable, a sweetly odd little film is there for the taking.

Brian and Charles is playing at the British Film Festival at the Luna and Palace cinemas in Perth and various other cinemas around the country.

See also:

Kogonada's After Yang (2021) shows what can happen when a robot breaks down, and Gavin Rothery's Archive (2020) is always worth another plug.