Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (2005 Adam
Adamson) This faithful version of C. S. Lewis's confused and medieval version
of Christianity left me depressed and concerned that those who enjoy the movie
(and it is enjoyable) might think it had spiritual lessons for today. (See my
special rant Jesus, the Lion King? 2011)
Near Dark. (1987 Katherine Bigelow) Brings the
vampire movie and the Western together, with shocking impact. This modern take
on vampirism is worth looking at, and comparing with Abel Ferrera's 1995 The
Addiction. See my article Plight
of the Vampire 2015)
Never Let Me Go (2010 Joe
Wright) is science fiction, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel,
(though of course ‘if a novel is this good surely it cannot be science
fiction?’ exclaim the literati). Carey
Mulligan Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley live in a parallel present to our
own, and a darker one. Their performances are quietly underplayed, its moral
message understated. and both are all the more moving for it. The film is
beautifully shot, and scored.
The Nice Guys (2016
Shane Black) is set in 1977 LA. The time and place are crucial. The
70’s soundtrack nails the ambiance. Its plot also involves the
burgeoning 70’s porn industry that was still seen by some as
glamorous. Ryan Gosling plays
Holland March, an incompetent, often
drunken and sometimes unprofessional Private Eye, recently widowed and
bringing up his daughter Holly, a 13 year old with smarts. Russell Crowe, as Jackson Healy, is
essentially freelance muscle, but has a rudimentary (if maybe delusional) moral
code, preferring to lean on sexual predators, particularly those who pick on
young girls. Gosling and Crowe work very well together. They generate enough warmth and the script
enough humour to hold us and carry us forward. The movie pretends to be hard-boiled, but we
know it is soft hearted, even though a lot of people end up very
dead. This is certainly not American Hustle, but I recommend
it even if I will have forgotten it by the end of the summer. See my
article Shane Black is back, and welcome,
2016.
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984 Wes Craven)
Watch out for the classic mythological and psychological themes and symbols;
observe how it taps into typical adolescent anxieties; consider its very
conservative morality; enjoy Johnny Depp in a very early role - and let it
scare the living theories out of you. The first and best of the bunch.
Nil By Mouth. (1997 Gary Oldman). Ray Winstone and
Kathy Burke tell it how it is, horrifically, to be trapped by alcohol and abuse
in this searing film.
Noah. (2014 Aronofsky) As I was watching Noah I was continuously distracted by its misuse
of the Biblical story, the bizarre additions to it and the changes made in
it. I was often annoyed and sometimes amused. I kept
asking myself ‘why?’. Why has Aronofsky, the writer/director, added
fallen angels clothed in lava? Why is the family structure of Noah
changed so radically. Instead of three sons, each with a wife, we have
three boys and one adopted – and seemingly barren - girl. How
anyone knows she is barren when she is a virgin is a just another distracting
question. Tubla-Cain, Noah’s half brother according to Genesis, is
now a king , using his forging skills to wage war on Noah for possession of the
Ark, and then stowing away on it.
Noah does not ‘hear from God’, he has herbally induced
visions. And he totally misunderstands the nature of God – and his
task. If there is one 'good' thing about the movie it is that eventually
Noah learns that love and forgiveness are more important than judgment and
punishment. But even after that I was disappointed that Aronofsky,
like most other people, completely ignored the point of the Rainbow promise
that God will not kill us, but that if we take a human life our own lives will
be taken. Genesis chapter 9
verse 6 is a difficult text, but it is there. See my article No No
Noah but thank you Calvary. 2014.
One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest. (1975
Milos Forman.) A man comes into the world of the asylum, filled with people
imprisoned internally and externally, dumb, crippled, damaged, frightened,
dependent, depressed and controlled by the 'carers' in charge. He gives them
respect, hope, stimulus, autonomy - he even gets the dumb to speak. He leads
patients out into the real world, where they are taken to be doctors and psychiatrists;
takes them fishing; allows them to be free, if only for a while, from their
dominators and definers. The powers that-be turn on him. Billy betrays him, and
then - when the Pharisees exert pressure, kills himself. Mc Murphy is destroyed
(his body remains but his spirit is gone) but the big man moves the stone and
breaks out into new life. The spirit of McMurphy lives in him. Jesus was
persecuted for blasphemy. McMurphy is guilty of statutory rape - sex with an
under-age girl. Today we call that child sexual abuse. Blasphemy carries little
shock value today, but was the crime of Jesus as shocking to his peers as
McMurphy's is to us? Is Child Sexual Abuse the closest we have to 1st century
blasphemy? We certainly respond to it with murderous rage. Watch and see if you
agree that story parallels the passion. I am certain that Ken Kesey did not
write his book, nor Milos Forman make the film thinking of Frank McMurphy
Christ, the Nurses as Pharisees, Billy as Judas or Chief Broom as Peter, but
for me (using my post-modernist license) they provide a powerful and
challenging way to see the passion of Christ.
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013 Jim
Jarmush) This is his elegant take on the vampire genre, and
being a
Jarmusch production it is of course different to other people’s
vampire movies. Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, are wife
and husband, married for a (very) long time. They are called Eve
and Adam, but they are not quite that old.
This is a cinematic poem, and what matters is the tone of elegant,
poised beauty, reflecting the isolation and loneliness that being surrounded by
short lived humans engenders. The production design and
music are immaculate, as elegant and beautiful as the leads, whose
performances are effortless. Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt,
Jeffrey Wright and Anton Yelchin’s supporting roles are all in tune with this
fugue. See the Plight of the Vampires 2014 article for my view of vampire
movies.
Pale Rider. (1985) Clint Eastwood directed and
starred as a kind of 'supernatural Shane'.
Pretentious? OK, but there are some good bits, including mature advise
about what to do when a minor falls for the youth leader/pastor/curate.
Parenthood (1989 Ron Howard) I first saw this in
Norway with English dialogue but Norwegian subtitles. Unfortunately, the
audience read the punch-line laughs before the actors had finished saying them
and their laughter drowned them out for me. So I saw it again back in England. This
multi-stranded comedy has an All American Happy Ending (it was directed by Ron
Howard, after all) but contains plenty of funny and usable episodes about our
most difficult relationships and the sticky reality of adolescence. With Steve Martin, Keanu Reeves and River
Phoenix, Mary Steenburgen, Martha Plimpton and Dianne Wiest.
Persepolis (2007 Vincent
Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi) Satrapi’s
animated autobiography
about her life under in the Shah’s Persia, then during the victory of the
Ayatollah, her exile in Paris and return to Tehran – a funny account of dark
political times.
Pirates - an Adventure with Scientists, (2012)
Aardmann do it again, but bigger and better. See Films of 2012.
Pleasantville. (1998 Gary Ross) Two
teenagers of the 90's find themselves in a version of the 1950's that resembles
Eden before the fall. ' A provocative, complex and surprisingly un-nostalgic
parable wrapped in the beguiling guise of a high concept comedy' wrote Joe
Leydon in Variety. Right on. Toby Maguire, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels, Reese
Witherspoon and William H Macy add to the joys. See my article Pleasantville:
let me out of the Garden (movies of 2010)
The Pledge (2001 Sean Penn) Jack Nicholson stops
playing Jack the lad in this truthful and moving story of a cop (Jerry Black)
who swears, 'by his soul's' salvation', to find the killer of a murdered child,
and is doomed by this pledge. This is a brave, rare, depressing film, taking
loss and grief and failure head on and the rich cast, including Helen Mirren,
Micky Rourke, Robin Wright Penn, Vanessa Redgrave and Sam Shephard, do not
detract from the purity of line and performance achieved by Penn and Nicholson.
Priest. (1994 Antonia Bird) Written by Jimmy McGovern this maybe throws
too many issues into the pot (liberation theology, priestly celibacy,
homosexuality, child abuse and the Roman Catholic hierarchy's response to all
of the above) but it certainly keeps them bubbling. Linus Roache is the Curate,
Tom Wilkinson is his Liberation Theology inspired Parish Priest and Robert
Carlyle is his lover. Adam Mars-Jones
recommended it to anyone who had never heard the words 'piss off' and 'out of my
diocese' in the same sentence. The US Catholic League for Religious and
Civil Rights condemned it as 'designed to
stick it to the Catholic Church' and attempted to prevent its distribution.
Times have changed.
Prisoners (2013
Denis Velleneuve) almost escaped my notice, but the casting, which includes
Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Viola Davis and Paul Dano, eventually caught my
attention and I bought the DVD.
I didn’t know the previous work Velleneuve, but Prisoners
was shot by the British cinematographer Roger Deakin, who is a long time
favourite of mine. I can see why these
gifted actors took their roles in Prisoners, seeing the opportunity to
portray almost unbearable anguish and rage. And I imagine
they are all pleased with their work. I was more pleased with the acting
than I was with the film as a whole. See
my article Prisoners - of False Expectations? (2014)
The Proposition (2004, Lesli Glinka
Glatter) Written by Nick Cave, with Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston and
Emily Watson, this is as hard, driving and deep as many of Cave’s songs, an
unlovely film about an unlovely subject - colonial violence and corruption.
Despite the violence and melodrama, however, it contains some finely nuanced
writing and performances.
Pulp Fiction (1994 Quentin Tarantino) Never mind
the brilliant interweaving of four stories and time frames, the wit and
knowingness, courage and sheer technical brilliance of the script, photography,
direction and acting; this films centres on a miracle and how recognising it
redeems one gangster while failing to recognise it condemns another.
Rabbit Hole. (2010 John Cameron Mitchell)
Nicole Kidman was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for her role as
Becca, struggling to come to terms with the tragic accident that killed her
young son. One of the most truthful films I know about grieving.
Aaron Eckhart plays her husband, trying to find another way through this
mire.
Raise the Red Lantern (1991) I saw this lustrous Zhang Yimou film 20
years ago and have been looking for a decent copy (with English subtitles) ever
since. The DVD cover says it only has Thai subs, but it’s wrong.
Thank you, Remaster Edition. Starring Gong Li.
The Reader. (2008 Stephen Daldry) The Reader
is about many things, but I wonder if one of them is child abuse? A 15 year old
boy is seduced by a woman in her thirties. The relationship lasts for months,
and then, without a word, she leaves. We
may think that such a seduction is every 15 year old boy's fantasy, but this
boy turns into a man who is emotionally crippled. In a film, and original
novel, that address deep issues of wartime guilt and personal shame I wonder
why this aspect has been so overlooked. Is it simply hidden in the darkness of
the shadows cast by the Holocaust, a darkness so deep that we cannot distinguish
other shadows within it?
The Revenant. (2016 Alejandro González
Iñárritu) There are dream/mystical
episodes in The Revenant that remind me of Tree of Life,
and I like the way they are presented realistically, not dreamily/mystically.
Both films explores themes around life and death, or living and dying, and both
refuse to come to a conclusion.
The sound design in The Revenant is remarkable, as the crunch and
snap of underfoot leaves, twigs and snow, the breath of living or dying
creatures, be they men, horses or bears, are part of the narrative.
The CGI is horrifically convincing. The Revenant is a serious movie and
raises serious questions, some of them just below the
surface. It is concerned with survival in the most
difficult times and places, and has a motif and motive of
vengeance. I will not reveal The Revenant’s out-working
of the revenge theme, but will say that I found it satisfactory, and it is
connected with the wisdom of the Pawnee nation members who are also on a quest. There are other moral/theological questions
here. Tom Hardy plays John Fitzgerald, the film’s antagonist, and his
character seems to believe in the God of Necessity. He justifies
his actions by saying ‘You do what you think you have to survive
and God will be the judge.’ But is personal
survival the ultimate necessity and moral justification? See my article
The Revenant is about much more
than individual survival, 2016)
The Right Stuff. (1983 Philip Kaufman)
John Glen ran for the office of President, and Ronald Reagan accused Glen of
being a 'celluloid hero', forgetting that Glen was one of the real life heroes
of this film, a revisionist history of the early NASA exploits written by Tom
Wolfe and done full justice on the screen by Kaufman. This is a big, beautiful,
heroic and surprisingly funny film, illuminated by Ed Harris as John Glen,
Dennis Quaid, Scot Glen and Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager, the finest pilot in
the USA and the man with the 'right stuff' but the wrong background for NASA.
The Road. (2010 John Hilcoat) See my
article On the Road and a
Serious Man 2010.
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. (1991 Kevin Reynolds) Ok, Costner's Robin is as charismatic as
a carrot, but Alan Rickman's Sheriff plays the villain as if he were a lover
(just as he plays lovers as villains, a trick he must have learnt from James
Mason) and Morgan Freeman (the Magnificent) provides the real spiritual centre
as the Moorish warrior and healer.
Route Irish (2010) Ken Loach usually works on a
low budget (perforce) and his thriller Route
Irish is as committed and passionate as any of his works. Route Irish is the dangerous road that led
through the Green Zone from Baghdad to the airport during the 2nd Gulf War
and subsequent occupation. British troops in Iraq were gradually replaced by
‘private security personnel’ aka mercenaries (often the same men who had served
as soldiers there). Mark Womack plays such an exSAS trooper, trying to find out
what led to the death of his mate, played in flashbacks by the Scouse comedian
John Bishop. But this is no comedy. It is a political and personal thriller,
with serious intent. If you appreciate Loach’s films, see this. The screenwriter is, as usual, the Irishman
Paul Laverty.
Roxanne. (1987 Fred Schepisi). Steve Martin wrote this
updated Cyrano de Bergerac and takes
the Cyrano role, carrying it off with flair and wit. Not as moving as Rappaneau's 1990 film, but
funnier and very enjoyable.
Rust and Bone (2012 Jacques Audiard) I didn’t know what to expect of this film, but what I got surprised shocked and
moved me. With Marion Cotillard and Matthias
Schoenaerts.
Secret's and Lies. (1995 Mike Leigh).
Award winning portrait of a family finding redemption through sharing its pain
and secrets, with Timothy Spall, Brenda Blythin and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
(see also Life is Sweet, 1990).
A Serious Man (2009 Coen Brothers) See my
article On the Road and a
Serious Man. 2010.
Shadow Dancer (2012 James Marsh).
Concerning IRA moles run by MI5 in the 1990’s, this is adapted by
Tom Bradby, who was ITN’s News Correspondent in Belfast between 1993 and
‘96, from his own novel. This has an outstanding cast,
starring Andrea Riseborough, Clive Owen and Gillian Anderson, Aiden
Gillen (The Garde), Domhnall Gleeson, (Anna
Karenina), and Brid Brennan. It rings true to the horrific history
of the Troubles, in which everyday Irish domestic life was played out against a
constant backdrop of potential violence that could, and did, so easily and
unexpectantly explode, and where even family loyalties were often under deadly
questioning. Sadly, this film is still relevant today,
as the British government’s involvement with ‘extra-legal’ activities in these
years is comes more into the light. I recommend it.
The Shawshank Redemption. (1992 Frank
Darabont) Tim Robins is the banker wrongly imprisoned for 20 years. Morgan Freeman is the l’ifer’ who shows him
how to survive. There are some wonderful moments and the getting of wisdom is
not all clichéd.
Sherlock (BBC TV, Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat).
The Robert Downey Jn/Jude Law chemistry works well enough in their Guy
Ritchie Sherlock films, but this is
the real deal. Benedict Cumberbatch was born to play Sherlock and Martin
Freeman brings puzzled amazement and raw courage to his Watson. Gatiss
and Moffat know the canon backwards and can therefore invent new versions of
old plots, and new plots with authority and enormous fun.
Shine. (1996 Scott Hicks) David Helfgott's true
story in which an eccentric individual acts 'as a lightning rod for the
values and prejudices of everyone he meets - and is brought back into the
community through love'. (Sight & Sound)
Shutter Island (Martin Scorcese
(2010) see Movies of 2010
A Simple Plan (1998 Sam Raimi) One
greedy, and oh so tempting decision leads to the relentless unfolding of a
tragedy, as morality and people fall. With
Bill Paxton, Billie Bob Thornton (showing that Slingblade was not his only card) and Bridget Fonda. This is
beautifully acted and deeply moving, and the question remains; what would you have
done in the same situation?
Silver Linings Playbook ( 2013 David O
Russell) is a rare thing in a number of ways. It is a feel-good
movie about mental disorder that does not play down the dark side of such
illnesses. It takes a young new star, Jennifer Lawrence, and
allows her to do something different, rather that stereotype her
talent. It allows another actor, Bradley Cooper, who is
already well established in one genre, to also explore a new range, and
it gives Robert de Niro a chance to do what he is so good at; character acting.
Sin City. (USA Director Robert Rodriguez/Frank
Miller.) If Narnia had not celebrated Christmas for a hundred years, Sin City
may never have had one. This world of true spiritual darkness leaves men ( and
I do mean men) with no guiding lights save their own corruptible perceptions of
honour, vengeance, loyalty, sentimental love and the pursuit of loveless sex
and pleasure without moral boundaries. This and The Kingdom of Heaven
make a contrasting pair; and the difference being the redeeming hope that faith
in humanity and/or the Kingdom brings.
I found Sin City 2
simply depressing.
Skyfall (2012 Sam Mendes) May be the best
Bond ever. See films of 2012 and Top Grossing Movies part 2.
2016.
Sling Blade. (1990) Billy Bob Thornton's calling
card; he wrote directed and starred in this challenging and moving movie with a
six sided Oedipal triangle.
Slow West (2015 Jim
MacClean) is set shortly after the end of the American Civil War and follows
Silas (Michael Fassbender) and Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they head west.
Jay is in pursuit of his love, Rosy (Caren Pistorious), who has fled with her
father, both of them wanted for murder. Silas is a gunman
(not quite as competent as he thinks he is) who becomes Jay’s
guide. MacClean has taken a fresh look at the familiar
Western genre and despite the authentic and random violence that punctuates the
movie it is a rather thoughtful and gentle film. Jay’s
heartful intention drives the plot, and cynical Silas slowly responds to
the foolish, but brave and intelligent, young man.
See my article Slowly but
thoughtfully riding West. 2015.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008 Tony Boyle) See my
article Slumdog Millionaire; the Fairytale, 2011.
Song of the Sea. (2015.
Cartoon Salon) An animated movie using a
style heavily influenced by the ancient illuminative scriptures of The
Book of Kells, and taking the two-dimensionality of the screen with
profound seriousness as it brings together two ancient Irish
legends. David Rawle (Moone Boy) voices the boy with
the Silkie sister, Brendan Gleeson his Lighthouse Keeper father, and Lisa
Hannigan provides her speaking voice and her music. I
was simply ravished by the beauty of this movie. See My pick of movies from 2015, posted 2016.
The Sound of My Voice. (2013 Brit Marling) There will be no spoilers in this review, but
I can say that in her first film, Another
Earth, plays someone who has been in prison, in this her second her
character claims that she comes from the
future. In both films she wields
power. In the first it is the power of the secret she
carries. In the second it is the power of charisma and
mystery. In The Sound of My Voice we follow the path of a young couple, Peter
and Lorna trying to infiltrate the group that surrounds this young woman, Maggie. Before the film ends Peter has seen
something that undermines his doubts and leaves him, utterly confused.
Like Peter I found Maggie fascinating. Marling has the
unnerving ability to look into another’s eyes as if she is inspecting the
interior of the back of their skulls. Maggie can be intimidating
and seductive, the very profile of a cult leader. But is she
a fraud? We do not know. We never know. In the
last seconds of the film our unknowing answers are either undermined or
confirmed by what we have just seen. I recommend both
movies. See In Praise of Radical Uncertainty, 2013. And East,
above.
Source Code (2011 Duncan
Jones) was the second film by
the British director, son of David Bowie, who had a critical hit with his low
budget sf Moon in 2009. This time
he used his bigger budget well, with Jake Gyllenhall and Michelle Monaghan (so
good in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) a convoluted plot and great special effects
– but the message is that love conquers all. Ahhh. Stylish.
SPECTRE. (2015 Sam Mendes) SPECTRE’s record breaking box office figures
are certainly justified by the Flashes, Bangs and Wallops it delivers – but how
does it rank among the recent Bond releases?
Of course it has a lot to live up to after the impact of Skyfall,
and the producers have assembled a mighty crew. Jez Butterworth, the
award winning dramatist, scriptwriter and director was brought in to help the
usual Bond scriptwriting team of John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert
Wade. Christoph Waltz was recruited as the Villain in Chief. Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy)
is the heavy Heavy, and Lea Seydoux (Blue Is Not The Only Color) is the
love interest.
As an action movie it is first class. The money is
‘on the screen’ as they say. The ritually kinetic opening sequence is
terrific, and the rest of the movie has many well conceived and executed fights
and chases, with a variety of cars, helicopters and planes involved. So I
rate SPECTRE as matching Skyfall and Casino for pure
action and production values. It is way above Quantum in
every respect, but not as emotionally engaging as Casino or Skyfall.
See my article SPECTRE is
haunted by our Expectations 2015.
Spiderman/Spiderman 2. and 3 (2002, 2004, 2007,
Sam Raimi) Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, learns that 'with great power
comes great responsibility' (in fact with any degree of power comes the
same degree of responsibility). Spiderman's
Christ like nature is shown in the personal cost of his public powers, and
vividly in his crucifixion in S2. Our understanding and forgiveness is sought
for the 'villain' in the same film, played by Alfred Mollina. I didn't think the 'darkside' theme in S3
worked as well. I have not seen the
later movies, but Spiderman pops up amusingly in Captain America: Civil War. 2016.
Star Wars; The Empire Strikes Back, (1977
George Lucas, 1980, Irvin Kershner) I lost faith after the first two episodes
of cowboys and Indians in space playing out the eternal battle between good and
evil, with good always triumphing in the end through spiritual dedication and
vulnerability. Even stripling youths,
mystic Muppets and teddy bears can defeat the mighty war machines of evil if
the Force is with them. Oh yeah?
The Straight Story. (1999 David Lynch)
Richard Farnsworth recreated the real life 300 mile journey an elderly man
undertook riding his only available transport, a lawn mower (ok so it is an
American style lawn mower) to make peace with his brother before either of them
died.. David Lynch amazed the film world with this perfectly ‘straight’
retelling of an simple act of reconciliation. The 300 mile gulf between the two
brothers, and the determination and courage it took to bridge it is a perfect
parable. This is a visually as well as morally beautiful film.
Superman Returns (2006 Bryan Singer)
Superman returns with style and grace in
this return to form for the Superman franchise. Overtly religious in its
symbolism, it is family fun with a powerful and attractive message.
Taken. (2009 Pierre Morel)
I was not pleased with
Liam Neeson for lending his presence and credibility to this meretricious movie,
or for saying such lines as this internet favourite quote (probably written by
Luc Bresson)
I don't know who you are. I don't know what
you want. If you're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money but
what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over
a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you
let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it. I will not look for
you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find
you and I will kill you.
I wonder how many misguided teenage boys have learnt those line
and growled them into their bedroom mirrors, thinking they were the
quintessence of manliness? And these words came out of
the mouth of the man who once played Schindler! See my
article 'Taken for a ride?' 2010
Thelma and Louise (1991 Ridley Scott)
Is this Scott's finest film? It is much more than a feminist road movie - while
still being the best feminist road movie ever - and Susan Sarandon, Geena
Davis, Brad Pitt and Harvey Keitel bring the pathos and humour, courage and
love and gritty realism of Callie Khouri's Oscar winning script to the screen.
(This is a Percy Main Production; and that is a Geordie Joke.)
The Theory of Everything (2014
James Marsh) showed us another determined British genius, Stephen
Hawkin. Jamie Redmayne’s physical acting was superb, but he
also caught the mathematician’s sly humour and
sensuality. This film was not about science; it was
about inspired by his first wife Jane's book, and is about their marriage, and
it is about being human.
Thirst. (Park Chan-Wook 2009) Thirst is very different from the leading Korean director Park
Chan-wooks previous Vengeance trilogy and I’m a Cyborg But that’s OK.
This could be called I’m a vampire but it’s not OK! as we follow the
transformation of a Catholic priest who inadvertently becomes infected with
vampirism. Song Kang-ho is persuasive and sympathetic as the tormented priest,
and Kim Ok-bin outstanding as the young woman who becomes his lover. This is a
complex moral and theological tale, told with bravura and style but certainly
not for the squeamish. Like most vampire tales it is about sex and death and
blood, love and (eventual) redemption. But the sacramental aspects of blood
supping, the dark side of desire and the yearning to be with those we love, for
ever, are taken very seriously, in this very black tragi-comedy. See films of the Year 2009 and The
Plight of the Vampire 2014 for a consideration of the genre.
Three burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005
Tommy Lee Jones) This is a stark powerful morality tale of loyalty, integrity
and redemption, played out of the Tex-Mex border. Tommy Lee Jones, who also
wrote it, was a room-mate of Al Gore at
Harvard, and his intelligence shines through his writing, directing and acting,
as he plays the simple ranch foreman who keeps his promises.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011 Tomas Alfreson) is adapted from John le Carre’s novel,
directed by the Swede who made the brilliant Let the Right One In. Competing
with the beloved 6 hour long BBC/Alex Guinness version is a hard task, but
Alfreson concentrates on the feel as much as the plot, and this is certainly not
the world of James Bond. MI6 is presented as a seedy, squalid, suspicious,
sexist, snobbish world (oh, it is rather like Bond’s in some ways after all). A wonderful (if rather under-used) British
cast, includes Gary Oldman as George Smiley, Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch,
Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt and Mark Strong. Despite the convoluted plot
Alfreson has the courage to take his time, to allow us to observe Smiley,
watching, thinking, suppressing his responses. A friend of mine said she loved it, but hadn’t
a clue what was going on. I give thanks
that an intelligent demanding movie topped the charts.
Titanic (1997 James Cameron) See Top
Grossing movies article 2016.
Tootsie. (1982 Sydney Pollack) Dustin is superb as the
actor so desperate for job that he becomes a female star in a dreadful soap.
Jessica Lange is the woman he loves, but who thinks he is a woman. Teri Garr is
the woman who loves him, but doesn't know what to think. He thinks he is a
better person when he is a woman than when he is a man.
Touch Of Evil (1958 Orson Welles, restored 1968)
Welles’ was hired to play the part of Quinlan, a corrupt cop working on the
Tex/Mex border, but he virtually rewrote the original script and, at the
insistence of Charlton Heston, took over the
direction. As soon as it was finished the studio fired
Welles and butchered the final cut. It was decades
before it was recreated (much to the credit of Heston) it more or less the way
Orson wanted it to be cut, as noir as noir can
be. Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich and Dennis Weaver joined
Welles and Heston. The troubling
question is, Quinlan may be repulsive, but is the way he lets his ends justify his
means often taken as a justification, especially by our security services?
Toy Story 3 (2010 Lee Unkrich) obviously built on its
popular predecessors - but pushed its audience’s emotional limits in new
ways. Peril is one thing, and very common in successful
movies, but as the Toys were pushed towards their destruction here the
audiences emotion were really stretched. The prime
value they displayed was togetherness. They would face death
together. I think it was hugely brave of Pixar to
expect its audience to rise to the emotional challenge.
Tree of Life. (Terrence Malick 2011) centres on the
offscreen death of a 19 year old boy, known as RL. Most
of the film in concerned with his elder brother, Jack, and the spiritual crisis
he experiences on an anniversary of RL’s death. But at the beginning of
the film we are with his mother, and her immediate response to this
tragedy. She believes that we have to choose between Grace and Nature -
nature ‘red in tooth and claw’. She loves God, and has
been taught that ‘those who follow the way of Grace come to no harm.’ But
her teenage boy was full of Grace, and he has come to harm; he is dead.
I have thought and written more about this movie than any other,
ever. See Sitting under
the Tree of Life 2011, Grace
and Danger. 2012 and Grace and Danger, Tree of Life revisited,
again. 2016)
True Grit (2013 Coen Brothers) is the Coen brother's
translation of Charles Portis's novel of the same name. It is not a
remake of the 1969 John Wayne film version.
Jeff Bridges, however, fills John
Wayne's boots as Marshall Rooster Coburn. The original movie was an
unapologetic vehicle for Wayne, but in the Coen brother's film the honours, and
the true grit quality, are equally shared between Coburn and Mattie, the 14
year old in pursuit of her father's killer, played by Hailee Steinfeld. My
favourite version by far.
Truly, Madly, Deeply. (1990 Anthony
Mingella) Hailed as the RSC’s 'Ghost' is really does provide a master-class in
acting from Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Bill Paterson and Michael Maloney
but also, and much more importantly, traces the stages of grief with accuracy
and wisdom. A wonderful film to use with pastors and other bereavement
supporters, but do have plenty of tissues!
The Truman Show. (1998 Peter Weir).
Jim Carey (thank God) sets aside his gurning in this parable, playing the
Tru(e)man and discovering that his whole life is a carefully and expensively
maintained lie. He has to give up his
life in order to find it in this cheerfully subversive (near) masterpiece. I
resist that fact that his 'creator' and controller is called Christos.
Under the Skin. (2013 Jonathan Glazer) from Michael Faber’s source novel. Scarlett
Johansson gave a truly remarkable and courageous performance in this remarkable
independent movie. Under The Skin tells us
nothing about its protagonist’s origins or motivation. All we know
is that she is an alien. But even the alien’s
gender is only a persona. We have no idea about ‘its’ real
gender, if it has any. We observe what ‘she’ does, but are given no explanations as to why. ‘She’ appears to be preying on
young men, but we do not know their actual eventual fate. This film is beautiful and terrible,
evoking curiosity, horror and pity. It never use clichéd cinematic
devices to confound or enlighten us, or tricks to shock us. The
horror is implicit. It never plays for our sympathy, or colludes and
flatters us with irony, and yet I was deeply moved. See my
article Under The Skin 2014.
United 93. (2006, Paul Greengrass.) ‘ A sober,
unconditional film that is at once dramatically involving and morally
challenging’ (Phillip French. The
Observer) Maybe it took a British director to stand back and record
non-judgementally and unsentimentally the events on the hijacked Flight 93 on
9/11 as it headed towards destruction, and the flight control and military
command centre powerless to intervene. I noticed that the hijackers and the
passenger pray - but for different outcomes.
Vampyr.
(1932 Carl Theodore Dreyer) as much an exercise in style as a
narrative. But style can terrify, and Hitchcock deemed this to be ‘the
only film worth watching - twice’ and was obviously informed and influenced
by its dreamy – almost surreal – images. Dreyer made three versions of
the film, each suitable for dubbing into a different language, with the
mouthing following the languages spoken, English, French and
German. Sadly none of the original English prints survived, and
again a restoration had to be made.
See The Plight of the Vampire 2014 for a consideration of the genre.
Wallace & Grommet: The Curse of the Were-rabbit (2005 Nick
Park/Steve Box.) . US budget + British comic genius triumphs for the second
time in a year. Nothing remotely religious (despite the Vicar) but good
wholesome and therefore holy laughter rule. And how good to see real models, on
real sets, lit by real lights instead of computer graphics!
Wall-E (Pixar 2008) See my
article 'An Axiom for our
Times' 2010.
The War Zone. (1998 Tim Roth). This is a bleak brave
film about child sexual abuse made by those who claim to know it from the
inside. As hard to watch as it ought to be. Ray Winstone, Tilda Swanson, Lara
Belmont.
When We Were Kings. (1996 Leon Gast) The
1974 Ali/Foreman fight mined for all its symbolic, iconic, literary and
pugilistic riches. 'A genuinely inspiring film about a real 20th century
hero.'
Where the Wild Things
Are (Spike Jones 2009) See movies of the year 2010.
Winter’s Bone. (2010 Debra Granik) Bone is bleak,
filled with tense fearful or fear inducing characters inhabiting a dismal community
set in harsh grey landscape, living lives of stark rural poverty or crack based
criminality. In it 17 year old Dee, played by Jennifer Lawrence,
has to confront her family and neighbours to discover the truth they do not
want to reveal; the location of her bail-skipping father. Lawrence's
ability to show us Dee's courageous stoicism, determination and willingness to
confront both her own fears and the aggressive opposition of those 'in the
know' in a subtle and understated way is remarkable. The
script and direction draw us deeper and deeper into this underbelly of American
life. But the journey is well worth taking. See my article That Was The Week Of Movies That was 2013.
