The Fall Guy

This filmic celebration of stunt performers throws a lot of ideas at the wall. Luckily, most of them stick. Renowned 'stuntie' David Leitch, who got his break as Brad Pitt's double on Fight Club, directs this script from Drew Pearce, the pen behind one of the best Marvel outings, Iron Man 3. If you're older than, let's say 45, you might remember the well-watched TV series, The Fall Guy, created by TV ploymath, Glen A. Larson. I still recall a truism from Colt Seavers (Lee Majors) to his offsider about not driving down a hill on an angle, else you're liable to flip the car. Why I have retained this nugget is beyond me but the show certainly left a mark (I'm sure it hasn't aged well, though). Would the film version live up to 10-year-old me's expectations?

My reservations were assuaged pretty much as soon as Ryan Gosling started his voice-over. The film opens in a classical 'good spot', where Colt (yes, they kept the name) is enjoying his job as stunt double for dickhead star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), but more so, enjoying his romantic time with camera operator, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). This opening sequence sets the film's tone - breezy, charming and, crucially, very funny. But soon disaster strikes. An error in a 'high fall' sees Colt in hospital with a broken back. Cut to 18 months down and out in rehab and a call from Ryder's producer, Gail (Hannah Waddingham) entices him back to location, the news that the film is being directed by old flame, Jody, an obvious sweetener. On arrival - and after a frankly bonkers car cannon roll - he learns the main reason for his return is to find the missing movie star, Tom. Dut dut daaaah.

Look, there's enough story to fill three of four episodes of the old TV show here, but that's really not the point. In fact, the plot wouldn't look out of place in any 80s programme of this ilk; Knight Rider, B.J. and the Bear, Magnum P.I. or a couple referenced in the film, Miami Vice and The Six Million Dollar Man. In a nutshell, it's a fucking ludicrous potboiler. But here's the twist - as a kid, I loved every one of those shows. And that's what this film is here for. Nostalgia. 

But like so many other 80's 'cover' films that have sunk (hello, Joe Carnahan's The A-Team), I reckon this has much more going for it. For one thing, it's riding the Gozzle popularity wave, and to a slightly lesser extent, the Blunt ripple. The Sydney location adds a level of interest, especially here down under. But mostly, Pearce's script crackles. Blunt and Gosling have a screwball comedy vibe going on, Blunt in particular snaps off lines like a modern-day Rosalind Russell or Katherine Hepburn. Gosling brings his The Nice Guys comic timing to this, he takes insult and injury extremely well, and his line delivery is brilliant ("I never forget a fist").

Teresa Palmer also has a smashing little cameo as Ryder's girlfriend - and she gets to bring the word 'povvo' to world audiences. Pearce also plants a line in this scene that pays off triumphantly later in the film. The film-in-a-film device gives free reign to play around with parallelism - Colt and Jody are represented by the characters in the film she's trying to finish, MetalStorm (incidentally, this is an actual film from 1983, MetalStorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn, right down to the fantastic/shit tagline, 'It's High Noon at the End of the Universe').

Of course, there are some amazing set pieces: a fight within a skip bin truck chase, a drug-induced, fluorescent night club brawl (and how do you know when the drug wears off?). The final confrontation is quite naff, albeit with a nifty car jump and some fun helicopter scuffling. Music also plays a role, with some cheesy tracks including the Phil Collins classic, Against All Odds and Kiss's I Was Made for Lovin' You. I swear I even heard a snatch of Zimmer's Dune soundtrack in one scene.

Not for everyone, but if you give yourself over to the nonsense and sentimentality, you'll have a blast. The Fall Guy opens April 24th around the country.

See also:

Gosling is great with Russell Crowe in Shane Black's The Nice Guys (2016). And for some more tasty screwball, have a look at His Girl Friday (1940), directed by Howard Hawks.

(Film stills and trailer ©Universal, 2024)

Abigail

Abigail follows in the tradition of using a woman's name for the film title: Carrie, Christine, Coraline, Mandy, M3gan, Pearl (with MaXXXine on her way), and these are only from the horror genre. Titling is not the only thing lifted from elsewhere. The story sees a gang of crims carrying out a kidnapping only to find the tables turned when they realise the victim is not so....fragile.

It's very difficult to speak about this film without giving the game away, and that's possibly one of the reasons why it didn't grab me. It really would have been enhanced had the marketing not laid out the 'twist' but these are the times we live in. By plugging this as a vampire ballerina film, the gang's surprise is not shared by the audience.

Once that realisation is out of the way, it settles into a pretty tread-worn rhythm. Expendable members are dispatched, relationships are made and betrayed, blood and viscera are spilled. The film goes through the motions until the final act, when it picks up the pace, almost too quickly. A lot seems to happen without much time to take it all in.

Melissa Barrera is great as Joey - it's the first time I've seen her in anything, she has a bit of star quality, I reckon. Alisha Weir as Abigail is precociously talented, sweet and petrified one moment, snarling and rabid the next. Dan Stevens, Giancarlo Esposito and Matthew Goode add nasty vibes support.

The background colouring is of bad parenting and of mistakes made, some unfortunate and some avoidable, that differentiate who we - and Abigail - are allowed to exonerate. There's even an ugly little hint of a domestic violence scenario with Dan Stevens' Frank as a monster father preying on Joey and Abigail's mother and daughter. That is until the real dad shows up to elevate the menace.

Through this film, we are reminded of others, a bit of a constant in recent pop culture movies. There's a little whiff of Keyser Söze to the Kristoff Lazar character. The dabs of From Dusk Till Dawn are all over it. And the overarching style places Abigail in the newish sub-genre of Gore-com, joining the likes of Cocaine Bear and Violent Night.

There's nothing too original about Abigail but it should hoover up the teenagers' pocket money, and if you like seeing folk projectile spewing blood or people falling into pools of offal (and who doesn't?), then this is right up your splatter alley.

Abigail is showing around Australia now. 

See also: 

Now, I haven't seen this, but Merv highly recommends a previous film from Abigail's directing pair, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, called Ready or Not (2019). Matthew Goode's late appearance reminded me of a much better film, Park Chan-wook's Stoker (2013).

(Film stills and trailer ©Universal, 2024)

The Teachers' Lounge

The Teachers' Lounge was Germany's entrant for Best International (Foreign Language) film at the 2024 Oscars, beaten by the equally fine, The Zone of Interest (the UK's nominee, though also in German). Leonie Benesch plays Carla Nowak, a young, slightly idealistic maths (and sports?) teacher at a primary school in Germany. There's been a spate of thefts at the school, in class as well as in the teachers' room. When a lad of Turkish origin is wrongly accused, Carla defends him and disagrees with the methods used by the school authorities. This doesn't endear her to some of her colleagues but when she finds evidence of a theft in the teachers' room, the scheiße really hits the fan. 

Benesch, seen before in The White Ribbon and Persian Lessons, is incredible. She really sells her sincerity and in the moments when the tension rises, her expressions are priceless. In one almost unbearable scene at a parent/teacher night, Carla is passive-aggressively confronted by some of her students' parents, then accused not so passively. I felt awfully clenched during this scene, and was glad when it was over. It's reminiscent of Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, but with less vulgarity and more vertigo.

The students are great too, especially young Leonard Stettnisch on debut, as Oskar, Carla's key adversary and most promising student. Eva Löbau, as Oskar's mother, Friederike Kuhn, is inscrutably excellent, and Michael Klammer brings the arrogant righteousness as fellow teacher, Mr. Liebenwerda.

Director and co-writer (with Johannes Duncker), Ilker Çatak imbues the film with a creeping sense of alienation, not just in the classroom, but also in the teachers' lounge, and logically, within society itself. At one point, Carla has to ask a fellow teacher to refrain from speaking Polish with her, at least at work, just for the sake of the other teachers. The snide remarks, accusations and marginalising tactics keep coming, leading to a readjustment in the audience - might we be wrong to side with Carla after all? Çatak has said that the film is not about making a statement "but about asking a question." Well, he hasn't made this question an easy one to answer. 

There are two key points that enhance the quality of the film: the set/location and the music. Aside from one breathless sortie, the action never leaves the school. We see no hint of an external life for any of the players, teacher, student, nor staff. It's almost claustrophobic, and this doesn't allow the viewer any form of escape or relaxation. And Marvin Miller's plucking, buzzing score is terrific at heightening the suspense and tautness. All the while, we're evaluating where we stand in this spiralling situation - who are the victims? Who, if anyone, are being slighted, unfairly treated? 

Depending on your worldview, you may see the climax as a victory for progressive education, or a school pandering to little shits and 'monster' parents, or maybe the traditional trope of an over-caring teacher breaking through to a troubled student. The final shots of the empty school and the situation's resolution, if you can call it that, show that Çatak has a satirical mischief to him. Certainly, The Teachers' Lounge will resonate with teachers. At the final credits, a woman behind me commented that it was a "very accurate documentary." Whether taken as fact or fiction, this is a brilliant, must-see film. 

The Teachers' Lounge opens April 25th at the Luna and Palace cinemas. There are also Afternoon Tea screenings at the Luna on April 20th and Luna on SX in Freo on April 25th.

See also:

There are lots of similarities to Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt (2012) and Laurent Cantet's The Class (2008), but the tension levels were almost akin to Damien Chazelle's Whiplash (2014).

Monkey Man

Dev Patel introduced this preview himself (remotely - he's not pitching up in Cannington!) and he says he's been sitting on this story of the Monkey God, Hanuman fighting against the demon king for about a decade. He covers all the bases here - star, (debut) director, co-writer and co-producer under Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions banner. It's a fairly rudimentary tale of revenge which plays out in Yatana, a pumping metropolis somewhere in India. I guess not naming the city (cough...Mumbai...) kept things a bit less problematic, considering 'yatana' means something like torture or serious pain in some languages. A rose-tinted tourist video this is not.

The film opens in a scummy, crowded boxing arena where a dude in a monkey mask is taking a pounding from a snake fella, both part of Tiger's (Sharlto Copley) stable of fighters. Kipling-influenced characters, Shere Khan and Baloo are introduced in later scraps. Kid, (Patel, AKA Monkey Man) is taking these constant lickings to save money for a greater purpose - the reason unfolds as the blood flows. While its pared down revenge core is age-old, the spiritual angle and exotic setting give the genre a bit of a spruce up. The brutality is full on but comical enough not to be repelled. On more than one occasion, Kid is forced to use his teeth mid-brawl, and there's an oddly out of place axe fight that felt pretty spurious.

As Kid works his way up the ladder of Kings nightclub, inching towards his target(s), we get more info on why he's on this path and how this society has been irrevocably rent asunder. It's the usual rich scum at the top, poor maligned folk at the bottom but the whole caste system twist adds layers here. An interesting/modern take on this is the introduction of a group of transgender people who side with Kid, what with the authorities displacing them too. The coming federal election and likely victory of the right-wing nationalist leader (Modi, in all but name) shines a critical light on the BJP in India, but not too starkly. 

Monkey Man is shot by Sharone Meir (Whiplash) in a very dingy, frenetic style, though there are a few moments of great poise - slow motion tracking past the boxing ring, a zoom down the side of the nightclub, one superbly choreographed kitchen fight, as well as the climactic battle when Diwali enters the cocktail bar. The music here (by Aussie Jed Kurzel) seems out of place, but in a kooky way. It sounded to me like peacefully plinky sitar behind a lot of slicing and whacking, followed by Indian-style thrash metal. But music's not my strong suit.

This has been called a sub-continental John Wick facsimile (they even name check that franchise is one scene) and while there's some accuracy to that, it really takes more from films like The Raid and even Kurosawa's classic Yojimbo. It's a desperate revenge tale that doesn't go easy on the victims, but also doesn't reward the avenger. There are no winners in this murky bloodstorm.

Monkey Man opened yesterday (April 4th) around Australia.

See also:

For similar up and down story beats, check out the peerless, Yojimbo (1961), directed by legend Akira Kurosawa. And for a less violent but equally bonkers film set in India, try Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan (2001), an 'epic period musical sports drama' film (according to Wikipedia). Just a heads-up, about half of this film is a cricket match. Great fun.

(Film stills and trailer ©Universal, 2024)

The Animal Kingdom

I'll begin this write-up with a little peek behind my waffle curtain. Sometimes I find it tricky to unearth the theme or underlying meaning of certain films, which often leads to a straight-up documentation of the movie and my feelings on it. Occasionally, it might lead to unfocussed word vomit, where I'm madly clutching at straws (or apples - I remember that blind alley). Sometimes it's just pointless to search. Then there are films like Thomas Cailley's The Animal Kingdom, where there are clearly perceptible nuggets in the loam.

So as not to be confused with David Michod's seminal Animal Kingdom, maybe we need to go with the French title, Le Règne Animal. Whatever the language, this is a wonderful little film. The topics touched on here include otherisation, palliative care, and kicking against the political system. There's so much going on here but it's mostly about the pain of letting someone go. At least, that's what I got from it. That's not to say that all the people mutating into animals is insignificant - this acts as an oddly intriguing framework for the themes explored.

The faces in the film include the always watchable Romain Duris and Adèle Exarchopoulos but the beating, evolving heart is Paul Kircher's Émile. Kircher is from French acting stock - his parents are Jerome Kircher and Irene Jacob - and his performance here is jerkily transfixing. On hearing the news that his infected mother is to be transferred from a Paris hospital to the south of France, Émile and dad, François (Duris) make a short term move to be near her. An accident occurs during transport, letting several 'critters' loose in the forested region. Some are recaptured but some....

The idea was apparently conceived pre-Covid but it has a bit of the quarantine feel of that time. It's ridiculous, obviously, but done with no hint of irony, even when Condorman swoops in. The CGI is unavoidably ropey, likely the budget didn't stretch that far, and Exarchopoulos doesn't have a hell of a lot to do (she's never far away from the action, though). Yet these are minor quibbles. The Cronenbergian body horror is suitably squirm-inducing, there's a great corn-field sequence, and the climax brings Truffaut's The 400 Blows to mind. And a couple of bits about François and his wife were proper emotional, not to mention the final action of the story. There's a quote in the film, attributed to the French poet, Rene Char:

That which comes into the world not to upset anything deserves neither respect nor patience.

The moment François eventually remembers this is quite a kick in the guts.

The Animal Kingdom is showing as part of the Alliance Française French Film Festival at Palace and Luna cinemas. (It might have finished its run by time of reading, but I'd encourage keeping an eye out for it, or seeking it on a streamer somewhere.)

See also:

Obviously, some transformation films to watch would be John Landis' An American Werewolf in London (1981) or Yorgos Lanthimos' The Lobster (2015). The 'letting go' angle is illustrated in Denis Villeneuve's brilliant Arrival (2016).

Io Capitano

Matteo Garrone directs this migrant drama about two lads trying to make their way from Senegal to Europe. Considering the bleak shit they go through on the trek, their life in Dakar doesn't seem as grim as might be expected. Garrone and co-writers Massimo Ceccherini, Massimo Gaudioso and Andrea Tagliaferri (along with a whole swag of collaborating writers) are posing a less stereotyped position here - what if a couple of young guys simply want to follow their dream and work in Europe? Do they necessarily have to be escaping a life of hardship and/or persecution? This premise shines a light on the broken system that forces people, for many reasons, to risk their lives in pursuit of a better option. Not being sure of legal standpoints here, I did a bit of reading on Amnesty International's website. The following explains the distinction between migrants, like the guys in this film, and refugees or asylum seekers:

It is important to understand that, just because migrants do not flee persecution, they are still entitled to have all their human rights protected and respected, regardless of the status they have in the country they moved to. Governments must protect all migrants from racist and xenophobic violence, exploitation and forced labour. Migrants should never be detained or forced to return to their countries without a legitimate reason.

Sadly, this directive is NOT upheld throughout the journey. Cousins Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall) are fantastic and it's the former that takes our focus. Sarr gives Seydou a sensitivity and a sweetness that feels natural - he's really softly spoken and genuinely helpful to others, starkly contrasting with the scummy human rights abusers at nearly every stage of the trip. I say nearly, because there are a couple of occasions that belie the rule - one fella in the market in Dakar angrily tells the boys to forget about the attempt, echoing Seydou's mother's despair when he tests the water with her. 

Another highlight is Seydou's meeting with Martin in a Libyan prison. The older bloke takes the young lad under his wing and, probably realising he'd be for the chop if he were to remain in jail, enlists Seydou to help him on a work assignment (basically modern slavery). Their eventual separation is a bit of an eye-moistener. Garrone attempts to defuse the horrors of human traffic by lending the story elements of magic realism, as well as tooling a reasonably upbeat climax. 

Overall, Io Capitano is a touching, humanist story which was Italy's nominee for Best International Film at the Oscars, losing out to The Zone of Interest. No shame in that.

[As a long-suffering Tottenham fan, I was chuffed to see a chink of light in the darkness. Moussa wears a Spurs strip for the Mediterranean crossing, just one of a myriad of football shirts in this film.]

Io Capitano opens Mar 28 at Luna and Palace cinemas.

See also:

Well, Garrone is also responsible for Gomorrah (2008) and Reality (2012), both fine films.

The Three Musketeers: Milady

I caught this second episode a couple of days after the first one, while the world of Dumas' Musketeers was still fresh in my mind. It picks up very close to the cliffhanger ending of the first, with D'Artagnan (François Civil) in a spot of bother after watching his fancy, Constance (Lyna Khoudri) possibly being abducted, and then taking a club to the head. As with the first episode, this is a fairly dense film, full of 'script' events and a near exhaustive roll call of characters to facilitate. Martin Bourboulon and his writers, Mathieu Delaporte and Alexandre de le Patellière pay their due respects to Dumas by trying to squeeze as much in as possible in a relatively short runtime. And mostly, it works. It's as entertaining as the previous film, albeit with a markedly different tone.

The story continues as King Louis XIII (Louis Garrel) has finally declared war on the Protestant terrorists, camped in La Rochelle on the west coast of France. The Musketeers make their way there, eventually D'Artagnan catches up with them, though his search for Constance is becoming more desperate. On his travails he runs into the nominal lead of this film, Milady (Eva Green), who attempts to seduce him but then abandons him when he's of no use to her. 

The balancing act of making a film with Green in the lead but still allowing time for the 3 + 1 Musketeers to enjoy enough screen time just about comes off, but I thought there probably could have been more of Milady. The first film was subtitled D'Artagnan, and he had the lion's share of screen time, whereas here Milady is off screen for an awfully long time. When she's on it though, she makes the most of it. Her story is one of abuse and hardship and a scene she has with Constance is pretty powerful stuff. In saying this, the centre point of the film is probably the battle at La Rochelle and the surrounding machinations. This is finely tuned action with one standout shot of the Musketeers on horseback galloping along a beach. Top lensing by Nicolas Buldoc (who worked with Denis Villeneuve on Enemy).

Now, depending on the box office (most likely solid), this won't be the last of this series. My hunch is the third will be subtitled Athos, focussing on Vincent Cassel and his...quest. I'd actually push for more of these, at least an episode for Romain Duris' Aramis, maybe as a buddy comedy with Pio Marmaï's Porthos. 

The Three Musketeers: Milady is still showing at the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival around the country (but will likely pop up after the fest finishes. In Perth, catch it at the Palace and Luna cinemas.

See also:

Definitely, the first in this series, The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2023 - with the same director) and, sure, Mathieu Kassovitz's La Haine (1995), for a young and hotheaded Cassel.

Kung Fu Panda 4 (Me) (Kids)

It's been eight years since the release of Kung Fu Panda 3, and that film may have felt like a nice way to wrap the series, what with Po, the Dragon Warrior, finding his 'pandas' and reuniting with his old pop. But when there's cash to be made, and a new crop of teeny tots to tweens (?) to be harvested for it, then here we are, at the fourth installment. This might sound cynical, and it is, but actually, I favour this 'franchise' (ugly word, I know) over any of the other DreamWorks fare.

The film starts with Po (Jack Black) opening his dads' new noodle shop, fresh from a scrap with a massive stingray. The Dragon Warrior fame sits well with him but Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) is on his case to choose a successor and head 'upstairs' to a more exalted position as spiritual leader of the valley. The news of a burgeoning threat in far-off Juniper City gives Po an excuse to avoid this duty, and so off he trots with a reluctant partner in miscreant Zhen (Awkwafina). 

It almost feels like a broom has been taken to the series - new characters appear and, more tellingly, the Furious Five are sidelined. This works in its favour, as I thought the city setting was a highlight and the newer creations freshened things up. Ke Huy Quan voices a Fagin pangolin (or armadillo?) in nominal charge of a bunch of ne'er-do-wells that live underground, including a trio of cute psychotic bunnies. The villain of the piece, The Chameleon (Viola Davis) is suitably nasty, and comes with shape-shifting magic. Her mafia movie introduction is fun and Davis plays it spot on. 

Director, Mike Mitchell has a bit of form with animation, though he's also responsible for Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, so maybe more credit needs to go to co-director, Stephanie Stine (her feature debut), and regular writers, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, along with new to the franchise, Darren Lemke. There's some pretty funny writing in this and Black was inspired casting way back in 2008 for the first film. He lands the gags like a pro. I think I was the only person in the screening to giggle at his line, "And where do we find this....The Chameleon?" It's the deliberate use of the definite article that gets me.

Look, sure it's more of the same, even down to a welcome cameo return from Al Swearengen himself (or Lovejoy, if you're old enough), Ian McShane, as Tai Lung. But the animation is amazing, fight scenes and calm moments both. Some of the landscapes are beautifully rendered and there's something about the adventures of Po and his cohort that works for young and old alike.

Kung Fu Panda 4 opens March 28th.

See also:

One scene in a tavern is reminiscent of Drunken Master 2 (1994), directed by Chia-Liang Liu and Jackie Chan. Another fine wuxia film with a great cast is Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002).

(Film stills and trailer ©Universal, 2024)

The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan

Here's another version of the Alexandre Dumas classic, the latest in a long line of adaptations, possibly starting in 1903, but probably most famously directed by Richard Lester in the 70s (or the Douglas Fairbanks film in the 20s, if you want to go back that far). This one, directed by Martin Bourboulon, is given all bells and whistles - it was filmed together with its second part, The Three Musketeers: Milady and they had a pretty sizeable budget, apparently. I'm guessing a lot of those Euros went on the stellar cast - Vincent Cassel as Athos, Romain Duris as Aramis, Eva Green as Milady, and Vicki Krieps and Loius Garrel as the Queen and King. All on sterling form, though it's François Civil as the lead, D'Artagnan and Lyna Khoudri as Constance who must take the plaudits. The innocence of their burgeoning romance is the heart within the film that all the religious and political arteries feed into. 

The story is slightly convoluted but it all spins around the affairs of the court of King Louis XIII, where Cardinal de Richelieu (Eric Ruf) is scheming to start a war against the Protestants and their backers, the English. The Cardinal's troops are constantly butting heads (and swords) with the King's Guard (or Musketeers, to steer us away from King's Landing) and it's one of these occasions where D'Artagnan shows his mettle to the titular trio, Athos, Aramis and Porthos (Pio Marmaï), even though all three were originally lining up to duel him to the death anyway. The fight scenes are enacted with some aplomb, all swinging camera and frenetic energy. 

The film is stylishly grungy and full of verve, with equal servings of bucklers being swashed and skulls being duggeried. The tone is quite straight-edged, not too whimsical and dandy, but not at all arch or snide either. I imagine Monsieur Dumas' estate is very pleased with the treatment of his story and characters. One issue is that this is just the first part of the duology, therefore much of the story acts as a primer for the second coat. That aside, the setting up is pretty well handled, with enough posers to entice me to see the follow up.

There is a lot of intrigue in this, including a weak-willed but reasonable King, a Queen playing away from home with a Pommy Duke, an underground Protestant terror outfit and, in a nicely done final flourish, a wedding scene that was not quite 'red', as such, but near enough to a bloodbath as makes no mind.

All in all, I reckon I'll wait on the second installment to fully judge the pair, but as an opening episode, this has a lot of merit, leaving us with a cliffhanger to go home with. À bientôt, Milady.

The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan is screening as part of the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival around Australia. In Perth, it's on at Palace and Luna cinemas.

See also:

I'll always direct folk to Jacques Audiard's The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), starring a superb Romain Duris (Aramis). Also, a film from last years FFF, directed by, co-written by, AND starring Louis Garrel (Louis XIII), The Innocent (2022) was a little charmer.

20 Days in Mariupol

This harrowing documentary follows a group of war correspondents in the besieged city of Mariupol in south-east Ukraine. It starts as the Russian invasion gets underway and creeps towards devastation as the frontline gets ever closer. It's an extremely tough watch. The writer/director, Mstyslav Chernov, doesn't shy away from showing us children dead from shelling, parents absolutely bereft from grief, and the complete loss of hope that's riddled through the doctors and nurses.

It almost feels redundant to talk about technique here but this film holds a straightforward doco structure that opens with a hint of the 'big moment', then a diary style unfolds (the 20 days), before returning to the beginning to show us how it all panned out. That focal point is an impending attack on a hospital that the crew are holed up in, followed by a frantic dash to find a Red Cross convoy rumoured to be leaving the city.

Some of the most striking detail in the film is that if you've kept an eye on the conflict, you've likely seen some of the footage, as these guys are responsible for much of the vision that found its way out of the war zone. One bit that sparked a memory for me was the attack on a maternity hospital that the Russians claimed was set up by actors and influencers. 

The film is not quite as one-sided as it could (or maybe even should) be. We see residents looting shops and being reprimanded by store owners and soldiers. At one point, a group of desperate folk round on the film crew, suggesting the Ukraine military is bombing them. 

As the end credits started to roll in the Luna cinema there was a shout of "Slavia Ukraina!" from the back, followed by a round of applause. As this stage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its second year, this film is timely reminder that the 'status quo' is a horrific place. The Oscar nomination for best doco might bring more exposure.

20 Days in Mariupol is an incredible document of a murky moment in history. A tough watch but a vitally important film.

*This screening was organised by DocPlay, where 20 Days in Mariupol can be seen from March 7th 2024.

See also:

More recent Putin infamy seeps through the excellent doco, Navalny (2022), directed by Daniel Roher. Gillo Pontecorvo's seminal war film, The Battle of Algiers (1966) shows that bombing civilians is nothing new.

Dune: Part Two

Dune: Part Two picks up very close to the end of the first film - Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are embedded with the Fremen following the attack on house Atreides from Dune: Part One. The first scene of some Harkonnen foot soldiers getting dealt with is neatly done but not quite the opener that I was expecting. This ties into my major issue with the film - it takes an awfully long time to get going. I'd say the whole first hour is spent developing Paul's relationship with Chani (Zendaya) and Jessica's rise to Reverend Mother of the Fremen, blue worm juice ingesting and all. There's also an extended 'rites of passage' angle where Paul must show his mettle to be accepted by the tribes. All important stuff, granted, but I'd have preferred a bit more back and forth with the other camps - Harkonnen, Emperor & Bene Gesserit. When this does eventually happen, the film really finds its groove.

Christopher Nolan said that this is director Denis Villeneuve's Empire Strikes Back. Probably not far wide of the mark. Of course, there's no guarantee the third film will reach the standards of the first two, but if Villeneuve directs, I'd have some money on it. No mistaking, this is a technical marvel. Greig Fraser returns behind the camera, Joe Walker edits again, and Hans Zimmer is back on scoring duties. Crucially, Patrice Vermette is back as production designer - this might be the biggest card in Dune's deck. The sets and paraphernalia of the Dune-iverse are outstanding.

The whole saviour theme was wearing thin on me but we'll see where this goes in the third installment. At least Chani's scepticism acts as a bulwark to all the pious guff. I haven't read any of the books - it seems this film has completed the first book and part three will apparently go into Frank Herbert's sequel, Dune: Messiah. A fairly messy religious war is brewing (among other things) for the next film, unless Paul (now AKA Muad'Dib) can get his house in order. Without going into detail, it's not looking too rosy for our new prophet.

Just on that finale, the climactic attack on Arakeen is one of the most tense, perfectly set up and executed battle sequences in many a year, equalling, possibly even eclipsing the reverse Harkonnen ambush from the first film. And while I wanted some more political skullduggery early on, the film really gets moving when Josh Brolin's Gurney Halleck reappears, especially with his 'atomics' proposal.

The cast bring it in spades, whether it's Christopher Walken underplaying his Emperor, or Stellan Skarsgård overplaying Baron Harkonnen. Those mentioned above are fine but the standout for me would have to be Austin Butler for his wacko Feyd-Rautha, with his Baron uncle's accent on point. Unfortunately, and unlike the first film, I didn't have much time for Javier Bardem's Stilgar - he's too flip, too broadly in thrall to Paul's supposed 'messiah'. A word for Lea Seydoux and Florence Pugh, as they're great additions. They don't have lot to do here but hopefully they'll be given more in the next film.

Reservations aside, this is a spectacular sci-fi film, with very impressive world-building and confident direction by one of the best helmers going around. Though I have the first as marginally superior, there's not much in it, and don't be surprised if Villeneuve blows us away with the third.

Dune: Part Two is showing everywhere right now.

See also:

Villeneuve hasn't really put a foot wrong since Prisoners and Enemy (both 2013), though I'm ashamed to admit I haven't seen Incendies (2010) yet. He's on a supreme streak at the moment.

(Film stills and trailer ©Warner Bros, 2024)

The Promised Land

Mads Mikkelsen stars in this 18th century historical drama with epic overtones. He plays Ludvig Kahlen, an ex-soldier with a strong urge to cultivate the Jutland heath in Denmark. The Royal Treasury toffs think he's mad but, as the King wants the heath developed, Kahlen is given permission to try (and probably fail). So, unto the wild.

It sets out its stall early when Kahlen musket balls an outlaw's chin. The bloodlust doesn't return for a while, but when it does, it's pretty shocking. In the meantime, Kahlen has to deal with farming a virtually barren landscape with very little help. A local priest, Anton (Gutsav Lindh) leads him to a couple, Ann Barbara and Johannes (Morten Hee Andersen and Amanda Collin), who will work for next to nothing, as they are on the run from a malicious land-owner. We meet said richo, Frederik de Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg) soon enough when he invites Kahlen to dinner to dissuade him from his attempts to settle - more folk on the land would limit his ownership claims.

The original Danish title for this is Bastarden (or The Bastard), which relates to Kahlen's background and explains his desire to become a 'somebody' in society. His arc is quite wide ranging - he goes from a single-minded battler with mild OCD to a loyal family man, with responsibility for a young wildling, Anmai Mus (a great debut from Melina Hagberg).

Mikkelsen is almost peerless these days, not many people can do what he does. He exudes a kind of ingenuous vulnerability, while, at the same time, leaving no doubt that he could rip out a throat if required. His scenes with Hagberg and Collin show one of these sides; a sneak attack on some murderous crims the other. 

Overall, this is a reasonably functional tale of endeavour and stoicism on the inhospitable Danish heath, lifted appreciably by the performances and the brutality of frontier life. The whole film flirts with melodrama at times, gets very close in fact, but the bursts of violence have a way of diverting the mind. Co-writer/director Nikolaj Arcel has worked with Mikkelsen previously, directing A Royal Affair and co-writing Riders of Justice. Long may this creative partnership continue.

The Promised Land is screening at UWA Somerville from Mar 4-10 as part of the Perth Festival.

See also:

There are similarities to Hlynur Pálmason's Godland (2022). And the above-mentioned Riders of Justice (2020), directed by Anders Thomas Jensen, is high level Mads.

La Chimera

Prolific writer/director, Alice Rohrwacher brings us this 1980s-set tale of a gang of Tombaroli, petty crims who steal artefacts from Etruscan tombs to sell on the black market. Their nominal leader, Arthur, returns to his shack, barnacled onto the side of an imposing castle city somewhere Tuscany. He has been 'away' and clearly has the major hump, if his reactions to his old crew have any bearing. The one person he wants to see is Flora, the mother of his absent girlfriend. It's in this run-down mansion that we meet, Italia, a slightly hesitant, slightly careless music student of Flora. So far, so good, but after this promising start, the films sadly peters out a bit.

Josh O'Connor plays Arthur, an Englishman with a talent for dowsing archaeological sites, and he's asked to pull miserable for most of the journey. There's not much else to him and this lack of range doesn't help the film as a whole, unfortunately. Isabella Rossellini, on the other hand is fantastic in a small role, whether it's mothering Arthur or throwing a glass of water in one of her daughter's faces. When she's off screen (and it's most of the runtime) the film suffers for it. Carol Duarte is fine as Italia, though I reckon she deserved better treatment from the script - she's painted as a bit of a schemer and is certainly sidelined as the film plods on.

The film, in its focus on the theft of riches made to be seen by nobody, is really all about greed and the resulting, eventual guilt. The plot, when it ultimately gets going, sees our motley crew stumbling on 'the big find', only to be thwarted by a more serious, and possibly more dangerous, competitor. The ending is a bit of a maudlin downer, albeit, one that fits the story.

This had many elements in its favour - beautiful Tuscan vistas, oddball supporting cast, unusual topic (not many Etruscan grave robber films about), hints at peril - but the tone and pace are a bit askew, for me anyway. It's not a bad film, I just thought it wasn't quite calibrated correctly.

La Chimera is screening at UWA Somerville from Feb 26 - Mar 3 as part of the Perth Festival.

See also:

Leaving aside the obvious (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tomb Raider) there's an Italian film from 1986 called La Ragazza dei Lillá (or The Lilac Girl), directed by Flavio Mogherini, that seems thematically very close to La Chimera. I've not seen this, though, so can't recommend. On a wildly tangential tack, Romancing the Stone (1984), directed by Robert Zemeckis, was great fun and was all about the treasure.

The Zone of Interest

Well, this was a tough watch. Jonathan Glazer's fourth feature is loosely based on the Martin Amis novel of the same name and deals with the life of Rudolph Höss and his wife, Hedwig. On the surface, the story is a prosaic suburban tale of family life, scattered with the mundanity of visits from family and friends, birthday parties, gardening and troubles at work. The crucial difference is that Höss's work is as camp commandant at Auschwitz, their family home located just over the wall.

Rudolph and Hedwig are played with cold nonchalance by Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller. To all outward appearances, these two are a somewhat dull couple, with a brood of kids doing kid things, but their 'secret' isn't hidden at all. One early scene shows a bag of appropriated clothes being divvied up between the house staff. It's clear this booty had been taken from Jewish prisoners. There's a discussion between Hedwig and her friends about how one of them found a diamond in a tube of toothpaste. Hedwig lucks upon lipstick in a fur coat pocket. This is all fair game for them. 

The 'action' never strays into the actual camp, keeping the horrors at arm's length, though the smoke from the furnaces, the shouts from the guards and the gunshots are evident. When Rudolph is briefly transferred, we get to witness some high level bureaucracy in meetings about the Hungarian transportations. He also attends a swanky Nazi shindig, but as he tells Hedwig on the phone, he didn't speak to many people as he was distracted by imagining how he'd deal with exterminations in a room of that size. Very high ceilings, you see. Just one of many moments that leave mouths agape. 

The scenes of family life are reminiscent of those in Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon (Friedel also appears in this). In fact, The Zone of Interest could be seen as a logical endpoint to Ribbon - the children of that film could easily have grown into Rudolph and Hedwig. Their matter-of-fact attitude is both shocking and believable - this must have been the default position of many people for such atrocities to have been committed with this level of control and detail. 

The only sliver of humanity we get is from a local girl who, in stark thermal imaging, hides apples and pears around the prisoner work areas. And in a supremely effective thread, Hedwig's visiting mother slowly becomes aware of the enormity of their actions and unassumingly takes her leave. The scene of Hedwig finding the note from her mother, disposing of it and then icily threatening her young kitchen maid is cracking stuff. Hüller nails proud domestic beast mode. 

I can't recommend this highly enough. It's not enjoyable as such but it leaves its mark and stays with you. Quietly brilliant filmmaking.

The Zone of Interest is screening at UWA Somerville from Jan 29 - Feb 4 as part of the Perth Festival.

See also: 

As mentioned above, there are similarities to Haneke's The White Ribbon (2009), and Glazer already has another classic in his locker in Sexy Beast (2000).

The Taste of Things

This delicacy, directed by Tran Ahn Hung, is France's entry for best foreign language film for this year's Oscars. And it has a good shot at winning too. Disregard the awful English title - it's called La Passion de Dodin Bouffant in French - and prepare yourself for some of the most lovingly presented images imaginable. 

There's an amazing extended opening that captures activity in a rustic 19th century kitchen. Eugénie (the ageless Juliette Binoche) and Dodin (Benoît Magimel) are cook and gourmet of the manor. He's smitten, has been for 20 years, but it seems Eugénie wants to keep things professional. Clearly, without her skills to complement his, he wouldn't be known as 'the Napoleon of Gastronomy'.

This is only Tran's fourth film in 23 years, since he hit his peak in 2000 with The Vertical Ray of the Sun. Like that work of art, The Taste of Things is incredibly lush and evocative. Cinematographer Jonathan Ricquebourg's camera hovers through the kitchen and gardens, allowing the viewer a sense of movement and immersion. There's rightly been a lot of discussion about the food preparation scenes but the externals, specifically the gardens and manor grounds, are just as gorgeous to look at. And there's one particular scene with the sunlight entering a kitchen window that looks like a Caravaggio painting. 

I might be making it sound like a museum piece but there's a pretty moving story beside all the cracking visuals. Eugénie falls ill, causing Dodin to focus all his epicurean energy into a meal, with ulterior romantic motives. There's also a sidebar about potentially taking on a young apprentice, Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire), as well as a blanched MacGuffin in the form of a menu for the Prince of Eurasia. 

The near two and a half hour runtime whizzes by - a neat trick for such a leisurely paced film - and the final scene is triumphantly melancholy. Lovely stuff.

The Taste of Things is screening at UWA Somerville from Jan 22 - 28 as part of the Perth Festival.

See also: 

You can't go wrong with Tran's 'Vietnam trilogy' - The Scent of Green Papaya (1993), Cyclo (1995) and The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000). I was also put in mind of Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci's similarly lip-smacking Big Night (1996).

Best of 2023 - End of Year Report

Oh, Hi Mark. And goodbye to 2023 - a good year for film, not so good in other fields of human endeavour. My film count was a bit down on last year - I saw 90 in total, including 82 new viewings and 59 trips to the cinema (just under half at the Luna in Leederville). Anyway, here are my favourite 10 films that I saw in 2023, with a podcast at the bottom of the words.

[Click on the titles for links to full reviews]

10. Cairo Conspiracy (2022)

A terrifically tense religio-political thriller about a first year university student dealing with events above his station in Cairo. Stellar performances in this rare glimpse into Egyptian culture.

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

James Gunn polishes off his Guardians trilogy with aplomb, centring the dramatic story on Rocket while allowing the rest of the crew to bring the chuckles and action stylings. Nobody quite hits the nails with the musical beats like Gunn.

8. Talk to Me (2022)

Best Aussie film of the year is also probably the creepiest. The Phillipou brothers, straight out of Adelaide, give us a way into the demon world via a mangy old porcelain hand. Sophie Wilde is fantastic as the focus of the story, grieving her mum and possibly finding some answers to her questions via the hand. Having the courage of its convictions adds value to the finale of the film, too.

7. Citizen Sleuth (2023)

I saw this at the 2023 Revelation Film Festival and it was my pick of the roster. It's a doco about a young woman called Emily Nestor who ran a true crime podcast that 'investigated' a road death in her area. It's part thriller, part expose on current fads, part exploration of self (that of Nestor, specifically). It really gives you something to chew over.

6. Final Cut (2022)

Great stuff, this. It started out as the worst film possible - terrible acting, poor timing, awful 'comedy', until you realise what's afoot. Romain Duris is on top form as the director of a low-budget zombie film, who runs into all manner of trouble during filming. The set-up, and eventual pay-off are cleverly worked and the climax is just reward for sitting through the brave intro section. Top farce work from actual director, Michel Hazanavicius.

5. The Old Oak (2023)

Ken Loach reckons he's done after this film and if so, he can't have served us a much better exemplar of his style. This film sees a bunch of Syrian refugees pitching up in the grim north; Durham, to be precise. Some of the locals aren't fook'n aven it man, and this attitude sets local barman, TJ, against the rest. A lovely plea for understanding and sense in a shitty world.

4. Aftersun (2022)

This is a fine two-hander about a young dad and his near-teenaged daughter trying to connect on a holiday in Turkey. Debutant director, Charlotte Wells strikes a rich vein in the relationship between Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio - they're brilliant together. An unsettling undercurrent runs through the film that keeps us guessing and wondering about what happened after(sun). Amazing filmmaking.

3. The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Not far off the very best from the guvnor of Ghibli Animation, Hayao Miyazaki. It involves a young boy who moves to the countryside during WW2 following the death of his mother. Once there, odd things start to happen, mostly stemming from the malevolent heron of the title. This fantasy-infused delight is kind of like a wrap-up of his career and it'll be a shame if he does hang up his quill (yeah, he probably doesn't use a quill).

2. Babylon (2022)

Damien Chazelle's vibrantly messed up ode to Hollywood's golden era just spanks along from the get-go. The opening party sequence is worth the ticket alone, but the filming on location stuff that follows is even better. Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie bring the wattage but the real star is Chazelle himself. He moves the pieces around the board with a confident exuberance that belies his inexperience (this is his FOURTH feature, for fuck's sake).

1. Saltburn (2023)

A late dash to the finishing line for this filthy, icky satire on privilege and desiring it. The disgustingly eccentric Catton family have, and Oliver Quick have not. But he want. Debauchery and skullduggery ensue at the Saltburn manor over a hot summer. The cast, the dialogue, the cinematography, the music - all superb. Emerald Fennel has delivered a modern classic.

Some more highlights from films I saw in 2023 are laid out below:

Best kids' films: Wonka, The Amazing Maurice, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Feelgood films: Tenor, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Wonka, The Crime is Mine.

Feelbad films (but still good): Living, Godland, Prison 77, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, The Blue Caftan.

Weirdest films: Sick of Myself, Eo, Freaks.

Best shits and giggles: Cocaine Bear, Renfield, Palm Springs.

Best scenes: The diner scene in The Innocent, the hallway brawl in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, the train sequence in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, the Battle of Austerlitz in Napoleon.

Best performances: Bill Nighy in Living; Noémi Merlant in The Innocent; Fares Fares in Cairo Conspiracy; Sophie Wilde in Talk to Me; Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer; Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike in Saltburn; Nicolas Cage in Dream Scenario; Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall; Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio in Aftersun.

Best songs: 'In the Meantime' (Spacehog) in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3; 'Syntynyt Suruun ja Puettu Pettymyksin' (Maustetytöt) in Fallen Leaves; 'Under Pressure' (Queen and David Bowie) in Aftersun; 'Destroy Everything You Touch' (Ladytron) and 'Murder on the Dancefloor' (Sophie Ellis-Bextor) in Saltburn.

[Now, I'm not going to do a 'Worst of 2023' because I really only saw one terrible film last year. The rest were just blurgh (Slumberland, Operation Fortune, etc.) or run-of-the-mill blockbusters (Black Adam, Ant-man 3, Avatar 2, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, etc.). The most egregious of the lot, though, was Ari Aster's interminable neurosis toss, Beau is Afraid. Well, Shady was almost afraid but the overriding emotion was more anger than fear. Awful fucking shite.]