YouRebelScum Reviews

The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)

Tough, compassionate and great to look at - this is Wellman at his best

[10/10 · 1 February 2005]

Nevada. 1885. Roughneck cowboys Gil (Fonda) and Art (Morgan) arrive in the dusty, inconsequential town of Bridger's Wells. Incensed by the flight of his girlfriend Rose (Hughes), who had promised she would wait for him, Gil starts a fight with local ranch hand Farnley (Lawrence). Their differences are put aside, however, when news comes that a popular local rancher, Larry Kinkaid, has been murdered. Blame is immediately placed on the unidentified cattle rustlers that have been plaguing the town, and an impromptu posse forms. Against the better judgment of some of the town, the posse takes off into the mountains and comes across an innocent homesteader, Martin (Andrews) and his two hands Juan Martinez (Quinn) and Harvey (Ford). The bloodthirsty mob immediately prepares to lynch the trio, despite their protestations of innocence.

William Wellman was a stalwart of old Hollywood, a talented director who gave James Cagney his breakthrough role (in 'The Public Enemy') and who became the first director to helm an Oscar-winning movie when 'Wings' won for best picture in the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1927. He was by all accounts a 'man's man' who excelled in dramatic stories of men pitted against each other, and he worked with virtually all the leading men of the day, including Robert Mitchum, Clark Gable, James Garner, John Wayne, Henry Fonda and James Stewart. Many of his best films were westerns and although his style had become somewhat dated by the 50s, 'The Ox-Bow Incident', made in 1943, is arguably his masterpiece and a classic of the genre. Arthur Miller's superb cinematography is a stand-out, as is Henry Fonda's tough but compassionate performance. The new DVD from the Fox Studio Classics series presents a restored version of the film that is simply beautiful to look at. For any fan of the Western genre, this is a must.

Léon: The Professional (1994)

Depraved, perverted, sick and manipulative

[1/10 · 28 May 2004]

I have to say I found this movie so offensive I stopped watching it after about half an hour. It's beyond just violent, it's pornographically, sickeningly, gloatingly violent, and the victims aren't bad guys but naked women and kids. The jarring discontinuity between the excrutiatingly graphic murder of her family and

Mathilda's lack of emotional response is especially disturbing.

There is a line of good taste which even action movies shouldn't cross and, for me, this one - like Face/Off - crosses it. Women and children can be 'in peril' but shouldn't be killed, especially not with the kind of gleeful sadistic intensity shown here. If you want to make a movie where women and children are going

to be the victims, then for me it's a different class of movie, not an action thriller. It goes without saying that the director's attribution of sexual characteristics to a 12-year old child - and the way he deliberately perverts the friendship between Leon and Mathilda in a sexual way - is deeply sick and utterly reprehensible. Disgusting.

The Red Shoes (1948)

An extraordinary masterpiece unequalled in the history of film

[10/10 · 25 May 2004]

Between 1946 and 1948 the film-making team of Michael Powell and Emeric

Pressburger produced, in quick succession, three of the greatest British films ever made: A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus and this, arguably their masterpiece in a career studded with masterpieces.

The Red Shoes follows the careers of two young artists as they join the

prestigious Ballet Lermontov. Vicky is a beautiful, red-headed ballerina, Julian a gifted composer. The two are brought together by the impresario Baron

Lermontov, who rules over his company with a combination of ruthless

discipline and suave charm. The Baron's arrogance and intensity are matched

only by his genius for assembling talent – Vicky and Julian join a team that

includes flamboyant principal dancer Grischa, kindly set designer Ratov and

eccentric conductor Livy. The whole team is brought together in Monte Carlo to begin work on the company's new project: a ballet based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of ‘The Red Shoes'. Vicky is plucked from the corps to dance the lead and Julian produces an entirely new score. As the pair are drawn

closer by intense rehearsals, Lermontov's initially paternal gaze curdles into vicious jealousy…

This is a film that thrills and delights on every level. From Jack Cardiff's

gorgeous Technicolour photography and Brian Easedale's strikingly modernist

score to Hein Heckroth's exquisite production design, every aspect of the film achieves nothing less than perfection. Performances – and remember that three of the main characters, Helpmann, Massine and Tchérina were not actors but

professional ballet dancers – are uniformly excellent. The 15-minute dance

sequence – in which the viewer is taken literally ‘into' the world of the Red Shoes – is justly famous, a swirling assembly of colour, sound and image that has never been equalled.

Of special note is the writing: Pressburger, a Hungarian immigrant to England, wrote delicious dialogue for his largely upper class characters. Here – as in ‘The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' – he sees the English as only an outsider can, sketching the characters with rare affection and insight. This applies not only to the two, English leads, but also to the Eastern European Baron, whose devastating wit is exhibited like a slender epee in more than one scene. Indeed, even the minor characters are etched out like tiny, perfect miniatures by their gleaming dialogue.

Powell and Pressburger brought to the screen some of the most dazzling

displays of visual ingenuity ever created. The Red Shoes is their highest

achievement, their gift to the cinema-going universe.

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

A shallow exercise in sensationalism

[17 May 2004]

Well, I didn't much like the first one, finding it vulgar and tasteless, so one can't really be surprised that I didn't like the second one. To be fair, however,

Tarantino has made a fair go at adding story and character to his revenge saga, but it's ultimately to little effect. He performs any number of post-modern stylistic pirouettes, sly cultural references, witty asides and cinematic homages, but the end result - for this reviewer at least - was to shrug and say: "So what?"

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Unusual, inventive and utterly captivating

[10/10 · 11 May 2004]

Caught this last night and was hugely impressed. French video

director Gondry brings Kaufman's typically unusual and inventive

script to life using a dazzling array of visual techniques, clever sets

and artfully employed special effects. At its heart it's a downbeat

love story between shy introvert Joel (Carrey) and lovely but

shallow Clementine (Winslet). When Clemmie leaves him after an

argument, Joel learns that she's had every memory of their

relationship erased using a revolutionary new process. Deeply

hurt he contacts the inventor of the process, Dr. Howard Mierzwaik

(Tom Wilkinson) and demands to undergo the same procedure.

However, as Mierzwaik and his oddball team, Stan (Ruffalo), Mary

(Dunst) and Patrick (Wood) begin erasing all traces of Clemmie

from his mind, Joel suddenly decides he doesn't want to forget her

after all...



This is really an exceptional piece of work, intelligent, funny and

consistently surprising. While the screenplay centers on the

relationship between Joel and Clemmie, Kaufman does an

admirable job of giving each of the secondary characters depth

and balancing the action between Joel's desparate fight inside his

own head and the expanding drama taking place outside.



Mention must be made of the extraordinary and at times disturbing

imagery employed during the latter half of the film, as Joel's fight to

save memories of Clemmie. This film is the best example I've ever

seen of how special effects can be used to enhance and deepen

the story rather than distract from it. Cornering his 'remembered'

Clemmie in a bookshop Joel struggles to convince her to come

with him - symbolically rescuing his memory of her from the

erasing process - and as they argue the covers of all the books

around them become blank. Later, chasing her through a beach

house they visited when they first met, walls and ceilings dissolve

around them and the sea rushes around their feet. Unforgettable.



Performances are uniformly excellent. Again, although the drama

centers mainly on Winslet and Carrey's characters, it's a testament

to the integrity of the screenplay and the quality of the acting that

the film feels more like an ensemble piece. I had the sense that

everyone working on this film knew it was special and loved doing

it.



Overall, this is the most exciting new film I've seen since 'Fight

Club'. Along with 'Zatoichi' it's my pick for film of the year. See it!

Japanese Story (2003)

Exceptional and unusual modern Australian film

[10/10 · 5 March 2004]

Saw this at the London Australian Film Festival last night and was deeply impressed. Rootless early 30s Aussie geologist Sandy is asked to drive Japanese businessman Hiromitsu into the endless wastes of the West Australian desert. This, frankly, gives her the s***s, but business is business and she agrees, leading to the two of them becoming stranded in the outback.

This summation obviously doesn't do justice to what is a very surprising and deeply moving film. Films that rely on the combination of opposites usually end in broad comedy. Japanese Story is interested in deeper, finer, truer stuff. As Sandy and Hiromitsu's relationship evolves it's clear that neither of them have experienced these particular feelings before. Hiromitsu is liberated by the vastness of the desert, while Sandy is fascinated by his 'otherness' his combination of intense pride and limp passivity. Director Sue Brooks brings together this 'odd couple' - stranded in what is, for one of them, a very unfamiliar environment - with remarkable delicacy and tact, making for a much more affecting film than the ludicrously over-hyped 'Lost in Translation'. At the end of the day, though, this is Toni Collette's film. I've been a fan of this fabulous actress for years, but this movie really shows how much she's matured. It's her equivalent of Cait Blanchette's 'Elizabeth', or Nicole Kidman's 'Portrait of a Lady', where an actress who was previously very good is given the opportunity to break through to a new level and does it. The emotional depths she has to reach to accommodate the character's journey are more extreme than anything I've seen her attempt and she fully rises to the task. It's a gorgeous, devastating performance and she richly deserved her AFI Award. Alison Tilson's script is exceptionally spare - an excellent quality - but the narrative does sometimes mis-step into cliche or pretension and the scenes with Sandy's mother are irrelevant, seeming to have been dropped into the film from an episode of 'Home and Away'. Mention must also be made of Ian Baker's exceptional camerawork, Elizabeth Drake's haunting music and legendary Aussie editor Jill Bilcock's cutting, all of which combine to make Japanese Story a deeply sensual and at times almost intoxicating experience. Do see this exceptionally good film.

The Dresser (1983)

Exceptionally good character study with some brilliant lines

[10/10 · 2 February 2004]

Anyone who appreciates fine acting and ringing dialogue will love

this film. Taken from Ronald 'Taking Sides' Harwood, it's a funny

and ultimately excoriating analysis of a relationship between two

very 'actorly' types. Albert Finney is sublime as the despotic

Shakespearean actor who barely notices the world war raging

around him, so intent is he on the crumbling fortunes of his theatre

company and his own psychological and emotional breakdown.

Tom Courtenay is matchless as Norman, the 'Dresser' of the title,

whose apparent devotion turns out to be anything but selfless.

Really a must see.

Taking Sides (2001)

Excellent and compelling adaptation of stage play

[9/10 · 24 November 2003]

This is really an excellent film containing an Oscar-worthy performance from Stellan Skarsgard as the discredited German conductor Wilhem Furtwengler. Consistently thought-provoking and challenging, and beautifully shot, it's one of the most satisfying movie experiences I've had in a while. Makes Seabiscuit look like the limp, over-produced gunk it was.

Waterworld (1995)

Actually quite fun, considering the word-of-mouth

[8/10 · 1 October 2003]

For a movie that - before its 1995 release - had some of the worst WOM of any movie of that decade, Waterworld actually turns out to be a lot of fun. A futuristic tale based on the idea that the polar ice caps have melted, flooding the earth and forcing humans to take to ships and huge floating 'atolls', Waterworld is basically, as more than one critic noted at the time, Mad Max on waterskis, but nevertheless entertaining for all that.

Costner is the dour 'Mariner', a mutant who - as the result of humanity's long exposure to the ocean - has developed gills. In short order he arrives at an atoll, is condemned to death by its populace for being a 'muto', but then is freed by the feisty Helen - played by the lovely Jeanne Tripplehorn - and her adopted daughter Enola, in order to help defend the floating town from an attack by the 'Smokers'. A band of ravening bandits who utilise fuel to drive their souped-up waterskis and powerboats, the Smokers are led by the evil Deacon - Dennis Hopper enjoying himself as a one-eyed madman - whose sole aim is to locate a young girl who carries on her back a tattoo; the map to find the fabled 'Dryland'.

Needless to say, the young girl turns out to be Enola, and Mariner and Helen are soon engaged (the former somewhat reluctantly, to provide the requisite grizzled charm) in a mission to protect her from the unwonted attentions of Deacon while simultaneously trying to decode the mysterious tattoo on her back.

So far, so dystopic, but the real pleasure of Waterworld is in its execution. It's a tightly made action movie with a lot of incidental humour and great attention to detail. The cinematography, by Aussie lenser Dean Seamler (who won the Oscar for shooting Costner's 'Dances with Wolves'... or should that be, 'who won the award for shooting Costner...?') is beautiful and the production design, sets and costumes fantastic. Writer David 'Pitch Black' Twohy is on solid ground dealing with sci-fi themes, although the dialgoue sometimes clunks ("I have sailed further than most men have dreamed!" Kevin, was that one of yours?)

The only real downside, in fact, is that Costner is obviously on an ego trip here, taking himself way too seriously. His 'Mariner' character is a grim, almost wordless assembly of tough guy mannerisms and poe-faced self-regard. It's compensated for by Tripplehorn and the great exuberance of newcomer Tina Majorino as the child Enola, who's habit of covering Mariner's boat with drawings soon drives him around the bend.

Also, which would have played better as a straight, essentially light hearted romp, occasionally veers towards the dark side. Someone - presumably alleged director Kevin Reynolds - has tried to tilt the film as a whole towards a kind of high-camp action feature, so the odd injection of ultra-violence or woman-beating comes as something of a shock.

On the whole, though, forget about the over-budget, over-schedule, director-wrangling hype (the film actually ended up making a hefty $300m for Universal) and give it a rent.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Up there with The Godfather and The Conversation

[10/10 · 29 September 2003]

This is a superb piece of 70s cinema, and there's loads I could

write about it, from Pacino's firecracker intensity contrasting with

Cazale's tombstone aggression, or the brilliant combination of

Dede Allen's editing and Victor Kemper's antsy, claustrophobic

camerawork. Or I could just say that, of all Sidney Lumet's

exceptional run of 70s films - Serpico, The Offence, Network, The

Anderson Tapes - this is the best. Or I could say you simply have

to see it, which is probably the best advice.

So see it.

NOW!

Raising Victor Vargas (2002)

Exceptionally good verité slice of Lower-East side life

[10/10 · 22 September 2003]

Superb and deeply moving first-time independent film, focused on

a latino family living on the Lower East side of New York.



Ebullient 17-year old Victor has the hots for the local beauty queen

Judy, but she's too cool for him. At least, that's how it is at the start.

But then her pal Melonie takes a shine for Victor's pal Harold.

Meanwhile, Victor's got problems at home, as his Grandma is

trying to give him to the social services because she's convinced

he's corrupting his younger brother Nino and driving his sister

crazy.



Working with a cast of non actors, writer/director Peter Sollett has

constructed a marvel, full of the energy of its teenage subjects but

without for a second lapsing into condescension towards them.

The script is tight and funny, but the real jewel in this film are the

frankly startling performances. The shockingly unaffected acting

reminds you of just powerful it is to see people being utterly

simple. The lack of self-consciousness evinced by the entire cast

is far, far more affecting than any degree of actorly hysteria.



A deeply refreshing and unmissable first feature.

Spirited Away (2001)

One of the most extraordinary animated features ever made

[10/10 · 22 September 2003]

This is one movie that I really must insist that you go and see.

Beautifully animated, very funny and consistently surprising, it is -

along with the brilliant Belleville Rendevous - the best animated

feature of the year. I also really valued the fact that it comes from a

completely different cultural sensibility from the U.S, which

produces the majority of animated films we see in the U.K.

Everything - its plot arc, character development, visual style, pacing

and the characters' value system - is different, sometimes a little,

sometimes a lot.

I loved the mutliplicity of weird and wonderful characters that the

protagonist Chihiro encounters and the alternative universe that

they inhabit. Like Belleville Rendevous, there's some scenes in

this film that simply leave you aghast at their strangeness, beauty

or inventiveness. Definitely see this film at the cinema as soon as

you can.

P.S DON'T be put off by the fact that it's being distributed by the evil

mega-corporation Disney. This film's a dragon, not a mouse.

The Triplets of Belleville (2003)

An astonishing Franco-Weirdo journey

[10/10 · 15 September 2003]

Please be aware, no amount of description can describe the

weirdness or wonderfullness of Belleville Rendevous. You simply

have to go and see it and experience what must be the most

remarkable animated film of the year (even including 'Spirited

Away'). The different animation styles are blended together

seamlessly and the whole feature is powered by a uniquely

French visual style. It's very, very rare that one goes to the cinema and is literally left

speechless by what one is seeing. However, I can honestly say

that one scene in Belleville Rendevous achieved this. One actually

has the sense - so, so rare in contemporary cinema - of not

knowing what is going to happen next.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

You simply must see this remarkable film

[10/10 · 9 September 2003]

Although it was compared - generally unfavourably - with

Minghella's previous, Oscar-winning effort, 'The English Patient', I

actually think 'The Talent Mr. Ripley' is the better film. Beautifully

directed, with career-best performances from Jude Law, Matt

Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow, this is an outstanding film in every

sense. It's an indication of the film's quality that Cate Blanchett and

Philip Seymour Hoffman appear only in supporting roles! Other writers have covered the contents of the film so I'll restrict

myself to saying a little about two masters of cinema working

behind the scenes of this movie, whose presence elevated it from

simply a very workable thriller to something special: Firstly, Aussie cinematographer John Seale, who also worked with

Minghella on 'The English Patient' makes this film look both

gorgeous and sinister at the same time. He's taken us into

different worlds before (think of his lensing on 'The Mosquito

Coast', 'Beyond Rangoon', 'Gorillas in the Mist' and, for a more

oblique yet perhaps more effective comparison, 'Witness') and any

film he works on will look nothing less than gorgeous, but his work

here is really something special: the heat and opulence of Sicily

and Palermo and Venice's oft-vaunted but rarely captured sense of

disquiet all radiate off the screen. Secondly, master sound designer and film editor Walter Murch

(generally accepted as the Yoda of sound/editing in Hollywood)

imbues the film with a sense of melancholy that contradicts but

somehow perfectly complements the lush visuals. There's one

sequence where Tom (Matt Damon) leaves his grisly basement

apartment opposite a butchers in New York, to begin his quest. In

the next scene, he's arriving at customs in Italy and a crane shot

slowly lowers us down into the cavernous body of the customs

hall. Throughout, Bach's 'Mache Dich, Mein Herze, Rein' from St.

Matthew's Passion is playing. It's a quietly astonishing series of

images and sounds that convey to the viewer, without them really

being aware of it, that the character has journeyed from one world

to another. It's also classic Murch, and recalls the famous opening

to 'Apocalypse Now' where Martin Sheen - to the tune of The Doors'

apocalyptic 'The End' - goes from his drunken suicide-dive in a

Saigon hotel room to being interviewed by Army brass. Talking of sound, mention must also be made of Gabriel Yared's

haunting soundtrack, which creates the required mood of

suspense and melancholy and includes the extraordinarily

unsettling song 'Lullaby for Cain', sung by Sinead O'Connor, that

opens the film. I believe 'The Talented Mr Ripley' is actually a masterwork that, for

some reason, wasn't acknowledged as such. See it soon.

Son of the Bride (2001)

Impossible not to like...

[10/10 · 5 September 2003]

Very sweet mid-life crisis movie from Argentina starring the brilliant

Ricardo Darín from 'Nine Queens'. Darin plays Rafael, a driven

restaurant owner who's stressed lifestyle and continuous intake of

ristrettos and cigarettes earns him a heart attack. Lying in his

hospital bed he resolves to start 'a new cycle', simplifying his life.

This proves harder than he expects. Gorgeous younger girlfriend

Nat wants commitment, ex-wife Sandra heaps scorn on his

neuroses and his dapper father wants financial help in enacting a

touching gesture to his wife of 44 years: a proper wedding

ceremony.

Rafael is assisted in meeting these challenges by the appearance

of an old friend, Juan Carlos. Played with memorable comic

energy by Eduardo Blanco (a kind of Argentine Roberto Benigni),

Juan Carlos' loyalty and friendship - and the story of his own

triumph over tragic life circumstances - helps Rafael understand

the treasure he possesses without appreciating it: family.

It may sound kind of soppy, and at moments 'Son of the Bride'

does teeter into sentimentality, but on the whole this is a

consistently entertaining movie, the best of its kind I've seen in a

long time. The film's script is very nearly brilliant, stuffed full of bon

mots and witty asides, from the Padre describing his new speaker

system as 'omnipresent' to Juan Carlos' Jesus-Christ-as-

Maradonna joke.

But its quality lies in more than just a list of gleaming one-liners

and 'zingy' exchanges. There's acres of depth here too, in passing

observations about the universality of corruption in modern day

Argentina, to wry observations about the hypocrisy of the church.

Campanella covers a lot of bases - much more so than comparable comedies from the US - without ever losing his

lightness of touch. It's this that raises 'Son of the Bride' above the

mass and makes it a movie that I'm actually very keen to see

again.

Impossible not to like, then, and if the ending doesn't leave you

with a tear in your eye, you're a heartless swine.



I actually caught 'Son of the Bride' last night in a double with 'Nine

Queens'

Obsession (1943)

Exhibits all the hallmarks of early genius

[9/10 · 5 August 2003]

Visconti's first film has all his trademark visual flair and immaculate technique, accompanied by compelling performances from Massimo Girotti as the handsome drifter and, best of all, Clara Calamai as the fabulous, frantic Giovanna. Remade several times as 'The Postman Rings Twice' but never bettered. Can't believe this was the man's first film! It shows the confidence of someone at the zenith of their career.

Reign of Fire (2002)

A very underrated film that deserves to be seen

[10/10 · 22 May 2003]

Caught this on DVD recently and was happily surprised. It's a 'post-apocalypse' story where mankind is reduced to living an almost stone-age existence by a global disaster, but this time the apocalypse is brought about not by nuclear weapons but a race of dragons unleashed from the depths of the earth by over-ambitious mining! OK, it's a pretty silly concept, but the whole thing is handled with panache. Director Rob (X-Files) Bowman is obviously at home with this kind of subject matter and the visuals are excellent thanks to cinematographer Adrian Biddel, a dab hand at photographing the impossible thanks to his work on the two Mummy films and The World Is Not Enough. Critics here in the UK panned it when it came out, saying that it needed more special effects, but they completely missed out on the charm of the film, which was in the ingenious ways that it showed the human race had been changed by the onset of the dragons. I loved the scene where Quinn and his sidekick, having to entertain a castle full of children without the benefit of TV or video games, enact a scene from Star Wars, providing both dialogue and narration as they go.

Don't listen to the critics, this is definitely worth a look.

25th Hour (2002)

Challenging, frustrating... it's Spike Lee!

[13 May 2003]

FOUR POINTS ABOUT THIS FILM 1) I was alternately hypnotised and frustrated by 25th Hour. To attempt to tell the story of a heroin dealer in his last 24 hours of freedom before starting a 7-year jail term is in itself pretty challenging, since we're being asked to sympathise with someone who's basically a nasty character. The fact that Norton's performance is so understated - for almost all the film he's seen numbed with shock at the knowledge that he's about to be sent to an extremely rough jail and, as he is all too aware, brutalised by the tougher inmates - only exacerbates the problem. 2) Philip Seymour Hoffman is arguably the greatest living American actor. The long shot where, having just drunkenly kissed his teenage student, he emerges from the women's toilet, his face tilted upwards, enraptured, as if at a descending angel, will stay with me for a very long time. 3) The film's treatment of the Rosario Dawson character is misogynist. 4) The end is one of the most bizarre and frustrating I've seen in the cinema for quite a while.

I Capture the Castle (2003)

Romola Garai illuminates the screen and story

[8/10 · 13 May 2003]

This film is just begging for the tag 'Charmingly eccentric 30s romantic drama', complete as it is with Empire line dresses, stunning countryside locations and a whimsical, bickering family. However it's the performance of the divine Romola Garai, as the middle child Cassandra, that really makes this film work. Bereft of makeup and hair shorn to an unflattering bob, constantly scribbling in her diary, she is the embodiment of the intellectual teen; her capacity for articulating cascading emotions seeing her forming a passionate bond with the written word. But her ongoing contemplation of her madcap family is born of concern rather than self-obsession. In the absence of their mother, Cassandara has begun to shoulder some of the responsibility for her brother, precocious and emotionally catatonic father. Her burdens are increased rather than lessened with the arrival of a pair of rich Americans, and the romance that ensues. The way Garai indicates Charlotte's confused emotions - torn between different impulses that propel her towards being a daughter, a sister and a lover - is remarkable. While Garai occupies the center of the film, some of the other players shine in their roles, especially the always entertaining (and perpetually unclothed, yes, she's naked again here!) Tara Fitzgerald and the lovely Rose Byrne as Cassandra's elder sister Rose. The men fare less well. Bill Nighy is miscast as the reclusive writer father, and Henry Cavill as Casandara's would-be beau Stephen is leaden. The other failing of the film - which is really more of a backhanded compliment - is that I found myself wanting to know more about the family and see more of their infighting. The plot errs towards the romantic rather than the comic (OK, fair enough, that's what it sets out to do) but I found the end result a little disappointing. I haven't read Dodie Smith's novel so don't know whether the slightly muted tone is due to allegience to the original story. Overall though, "I capture the castle" is sweetly and undemandingly entertaining, and Romola Garai's vulnerability is intoxicating.

Hope Springs (2003)

So bad I lost the will to live half-way through...

[1/10 · 12 May 2003]

This really could be the worst movie I've ever seen. I went expecting nothing more than Heather Graham in her undies, and although that expectation was happily fulfilled, the emotional trauma I had to suffer during the rest of the picture outweighed the brief (ha) thrill that brought. This film fails on almost *every* level. The script is a ham-fisted, deeply derivative and appallingly unfunny hack job that seems to have been scribbled down hastily in point form on the back of a cigarette packet and then fed into a computer database of dire rom-coms in order to generate the necessary scenes. It's deeply offensive, to men, to women, to all of us as citizens of planet earth. It insults our intelligence by asking us to believe the most childish and it's also very badly shot, strange for a modern Hollywood film, where at least a degree of professionalism extends (usually) to the visuals. Hope Springs (a more agonisingly twee title (yes, the film takes place in a place called Hope Springs and is about a man whose hope... springs...) is unlikely to emerge all year, all decade) seems to have been shot in half-light, and the characters are often placed weirdly within the frame, isolating them from the emotional current of the visual narrative and making them appear to be lost and forlorn characters in some dystopian 70s thriller. NOT the kind of imagery one would expect in a rom-com!

The editing is also atrocious. Scenes are hacked together, strange non-sequiturs abound and plot points are left hanging uselessly, unresolved. But the true vitriol MUST be reserved for the script, which is the most trite, hackneyed, insultingly puerile and shamelessly contrived assembly of cliches yet penned by man. I shudder to think back to some of the atrocities committed onscreen, but no, no, I will not name them... Every time the pace flags (every 20 seconds or so) a new, equally vapid hi-energy rock track is blasted through the speakers, desparately trying to bring some energy to the lacklustre proceedings. How humiliating for the actors to have to engage in this nonsense. What absolute ****.

It's sad, then, to report that the actors in this tragedy are entirely blameless. Firth does his best to bring some amusing British understatement to procedings, Graham is always never less than appealing (even if her penchant for girl/women - this one loves butterflies and her bedroom could be that of an 8-year old - is beginning to wear a bit thin) and Driver preens and minces successfully enough. There's even the excellent comedienne Mary Steenburgen and underused Oliver Platt on hand to help carry out the bodies. But their efforts are wasted...

Half-way through the movie, Heather's exposure sadly over, and the number of painfully unfunny scenes accumulating fast, I resolved to leave the theatre in disgust. I found myself unable to move. What!? In that point of my awareness from which motive force usually sprang, there was only a gaping void. The movie's awfulness had eroded my will to live. I struggled, trying to force myself onto the floor so I least would not have to witness the rest of the horror! But it was no good. The lifeforce had been sapped from me, and I had to endure the nightmare to the end.

How strange and cruel life is, to have allowed this film to be released and seen by innocents...

Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

An astonishing work of almost religious intensity

[10/10 · 22 April 2003]

I was lucky enough to catch this extraordinary film late last night on a cable channel. It's about a widow from southern Italy who moves to Milan with her five sons. Gradually they become embroiled in the big city, some becoming corrupted by its ways, others profiting. Rocco, played by Alain Delon, is an innocent, looking at his brothers and life in general with saintly patience. When his beneficent attitude comes under pressure, he doesn't give in to self-interest, choosing to sacrifice his own happiness, and that of the woman he loves, for his family. Family is really what 'Rocco and his Brothers' is all about. I've never got into Visconti, but seeing this film has made me want to see more of his work. Also, this move has one of the most powerful images I've ever seen, as the maddened Simone advances towards the doomed prostitute Nadia. It's an image so remarkable I actually shouted aloud when I saw it. I urge you to see this film. It's a remarkable, passionate, beautifully photographed drama that will stay with you for a long time.

Siam Sunset (1999)

First-time directorial effort wins out with energy and style

[30 October 2000]

Anyone who has seen John Polson acting - in Blood Oath, Idiot Box or Raw Nerve, to name a few - knows that he's every bit the equal of his more famous aussie acting pal Russell Crowe. This, Polson's first film, betrays some of the weaknesses of the first-timer but wins out thanks to a fast-moving plot, great scenery and good central performances from Linus Roache and Danielle McCormack. Roache plays Perry, a floppy-haired industrial chemist who designs paint colours. Still mourning the loss of his wife who was killed by a falling refrigerator a year earlier (a darkly surreal scene somewhat out of step with the rest of the film), industrial chemist Perry inadvertently wins a bus tour to outback Australia. Seeking to recover from his loss and discover an elusive colour he can imagine but not create - the Siam Sunset of the title - Perry takes off for Oz. There he encounters a variety of characters, among them the bewitching Grace, who is fleeing her psychotic Doctor boyfriend Martin. As a series of bizarre accidents occur around him, Perry realises that the malignant force which led to the death of his wife is still pursuing him. In the dazzling wasteland of central Australia he has to come to terms with his grief and fight to establish a new life (or something like that). As stated, Siam Sunset suffers from some typical first-timer faults: the plotting is uneven, there's some bizarre non-sequiturs and not all of the jokes hit the spot. The energy of the film, however, wins you over. Cleverly written by Max Dann and Andrew Knight, the plot hurtles along the highway, stopping only for character development or greasy breakfasts cooked by Roy Billing's over sensitive bus company operator. Cinematographer Brian Breheny - who proved his skill at capturing outback Australia when he shot Priscilla Queen of the Desert - does a great job of bringing the film's dark humour to life. There are some darkly beautiful images in this film, such as when the busload of adventurers discover a hanged man circled by a swarm of butterflies, or when Perry, lookin gloomily out the back window of the bus, sees a massive storm in the distance, pursuing him like the manifestation of his ill-fate. The supporting cast - particularly Deidre Rubinstein and Terry Kenwrick as a suburban couple whose marriage is on the skids - are also excellent. Overall this is a great first effort and anyone who gives it a hard time should try looking at the first films of some 'great' directors and see how they compare. This is heaps better than many of those. So see it, and stop wingeing! Now, would someone please get Roache a haircut.