Heights

Acceptable and watchable drama directed by Chris Terrio but produced by the Merchant Ivory people from a stage play about four New Yorkers at a turning point in their lives.  Glenn Close does her usual great job as Shakesperean actress Diana Lee  with just the right balance of thespian histrionics and aplomb.  Daughter Isabel played by Elizabeth Banks competently is a photographer who loses her job and has doubts about her upcoming wedding.  Her fiancée Jonathan (less convincing James Marsden) learns some bad news too and Jesse Bradford plays an aspiring actor about to fall into the clutches of Ms Lee.

Well constructed screenplay set against the NY skyline, it has enough plot twists and guest appearances to keep us intrigued without it ever becoming anywhere near any sort of masterpiece

★★★

Le Havre

A simple and beautifully executed film about a writer turned shoeshine man in the port of Le Havre whose wife is terminally ill and who lives from day to day in a poor neighbourhood.  One day he becomes involved in helping a refugee African boy smuggle his way to Britain and he risks everything to do the right thing by this boy and reclaim some of his lost courage and status.  The thing is that the story is not actually that important except in so far as it has a strong message.  What Aki Kaurismaki does here is create an enchanting world that combines the style of French cinema from 50 years ago, the world of Georges Simenon, the problem of immigration and refugees today and wraps it all up with deadpan humour.  Andre Wilms leads a great cast with the ever fine Kati Outinen and a troop of amazing faces from French films of the last decades.  Nothing is quite as it seems but that doesn’t matter – the director leads us on a magical journey.

★★★★★