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Reviews
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993)
Strange and wonderful
It is notoriously difficult to make a compelling film about the life of an artist. Directors usually resort to depicting those troubled geniuses, such as Van Gogh and Michelangelo, who had vivid and turbulent lives, even then the resulting film is often lamentable. Glenn Gould may have been a genius, and may have had more than his fair share of eccentricities but it requires something special to make a powerful and strange film about an over-intellectual pianist. Francois Girard's 'Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould' is certainly special, and often dazzling.
Of course it will not appeal to those who like blockbuster type films, or to those who can't read without moving their lips, it requires an intelligent, informed and attentive audience (which pretty much rules out the vast majority of the cinema-going public) but not one that is especially interested in classical music. Anyone who is interested in the creative spirit in man or in experimental film-making will I think find this a wonderful film.
Just fifteen years after its release the film now seems to have been completely forgotten. The fact that, at the time of writing, it is not yet available in Europe on a DVD seems a terrible indictment of the current state of the money-obsessed, Hollywood-driven film marketing industry. If you have a brain - and a soul go search this little gem out.
Roger Roger (1996)
Vastly Underrated
I stumbled upon this TV programme whilst channel hopping one night. My finger was poised over the channel button but thirty seconds was enough to hook me. For the next hour or so my girlfriend and I were riveted to the programme that was both very funny and dramatic, with solid believable characters played beautifully by the ensemble cast. I had no idea what I was watching, or by whom.
The following day I discovered it was this, 'Roger, Roger' by the great John Sullivan who had written the now legendary 'Only Fools And Horses' television series. However, no one at work was talking about it nor did I ever see any reviews over subsequent weeks. I believe the series only ran for one short series so presumably it didn't achieve ratings or critical success. It beggars belief because I still remember this programme as one of the best things I saw on television during the latter 1990's. The plot follows the lives, on and off duty, of a group of mini-cab drivers. Misfits and monsters some of them, some were also warm, intelligent and affectionate, all were funny, but as one would expect from Sullivan there was also real dramatic action and character development over the course of the series. One really believed and cared about these people.
Why it never caught on remains a mystery to me. And why no DVD has appeared makes me wonder whether I didn't imagine the whole thing. Here I am writing the first IMDb review of it. I would love to see it again. I remember it as being a masterpiece, but one that seemingly only I recognised.
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Dreck
This is everything that gives Hollywood films a bad name. All those books listing the great movie turkeys of all time will now have to be rewritten. The turkeys have a new champion. Pure, undiluted bilge. What is even more shocking is that it will probably be a huge hit, required viewing for all those who don't usually go to the movies, the brain dead and the entire population of the American Mid-West. I am actually quite an admirer of Tom Hanks, presumably they must have offered him many millions, plus a percentage of the gross, for him to be involved with this tripe. But Tom, Tom, Tom, however much it was, it wasn't enough. What price self-respect and dignity?
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
A beautiful film of an ugly subject
Apparently there have been savage reviews of this film by professional critics, presumably of the right-wing press, some of whom admit, laughably, to having not seen the film. Such a reaction is truly shocking. I didn't find the film 'anti-British' in any way, there is brutality on all sides here and I found my sympathies shifting back and forth throughout the duration of the picture. The political situation is depicted with commendable nuance, the realisation that in real life (as opposed to Hollywood life) there are no easy solutions, no categorical good and bad, real life is messy, complicated, dirty, both tragic and comic; people often don't have the time for much thought and certainly don't have the benefit of comfortable hindsight. If the film is 'anti' anything it is anti-political dogma of whatever creed.
It is easy to see why some people regard this film as an allegory, or metaphor, for what is currently going on in Iraq. So be it. It is a mark of any true work of art that it lends itself to multiple interpretation, a layering of meaning and content, resistant to any simple message. This is a fine piece of work by a director at the top of his game.