When did you last see your father?

Another film that rises a notch due to the acting.  This is one of your typical resentful biographies in which Blake recalls the suffering he had at the hands of his father when growing up.  Dad, brilliantly played by Jim Broadbent, is a joker, the life and soul of the party, a helpful and well-meaning man whose own desire for centre stage often leaves his family picking up the pieces.  His wife Kim (a subtle Juliet Stevenson) tolerates a lot but son (Matthew Beard) as a teenager rails against it.  The relationship ends up being distant until in the present with Dad dying, a grown-up Blake (excellent Colin Firth) returns to take care of his father and to try to understand what makes the father tick and how to reestablish their bond.  The script is sophisticated and honest and while the story is probably typical in many families, director Anand Tucker and in particular, the actors create a work that for all its maudlin moments manages to transcend the banal.

3 star plus

Elefante Blanco

Undoubted nominee for social conscience film festivals, the latest Pablo Trapero is based on the case of the priest Padre Mugica who served in the shanties of Argentina in the 70’s and was murdered.  This updated version takes a father Julián (Ricardo Darín as sure as ever) and his attempts to bring social justice and improved living standards to an area dominated by a huge unfinished white building once destined to be a hospital but now overrun by squatters.  Julián, pressured by his own health issue,s brings an old acolyte, Nicolás (Jeremie Rénier), a Belgian, to learn the ropes.  This priest has his own issues having led a failed mission in the Amazon but here he gets stuck in with the help of social worker Luciana (Martina Gusman).  The scenes in the shanty town and the violence, drug abuse, etc are shown with clarity and there are some scenes showing the bureaucratic obstacles both in the city admin and that of the church. As it is a tinderbox, events quickly take over and the film shows us frustrations and tragedies that seem to outweigh the achievements.  Ultimately, the film ends in a major tragedy but by this stage the focus of the film is somewhat blurred.  Is it a bio? An intimate portrayal of the priests?  By focusing more on this part, we lose the fact that many other actors are responsible for these shanty towns and that very often city hall could do far more than it does.  John Sayles would have shown that side.

Not an easy film to view but important that these situations are captured on film.  Acting is good, photography excels and Trapero can deliver in the action scenes.  But at the end of the day something was missing.

3 stars plus

Quinceañera

One time Sundance audience winner, this film takes a look at the lives of Hispanic residents of Echo Park in LA.  Magdalena  is 14 and preparing for her quince años party.  She is forced to grow up quickly as she discovers she is pregnant (rather miraculously) and her pastor father kicks her out.  She goes to live with great uncle Tomas, a street vendor with a great heart and non-judgmental approach to life.  He, however, is under threat of losing his house as the neighbourhood becomes gentrified.  Also living there is the black sheep of the family Carlos, who has his wild side but is basically a good kid.  The three make up a loving family contrasted with many of the relationships around them in family and among neighbours which are overly based on power trips, on wanting people to live up to a socially acceptable image and the like.  The film is relatively simple, honest and compassionate.  Emily Rios, Jesse Garcia (as Carlos) and Chalo Gonzalez as Tomás do good work.  Watchable, a good message but nothing that taxes the brain.

3 stars

Trouble with the Curve

Watchable but slight film about an ageing baseball scout who goes off to Carolina to hunt talent and make amends with his daughter who has plenty of issues with him.  The script is clichéd, the direction nothing special but Eastwood, in his element as a crotchety independent old man and Amy Adams lift this film a lot.  Justin Timberlake and John Goodman are also good in minor roles.  The stars here earn the stars – no credit to most of the crew.

3 stars

7 Days in Havana

Have learnt that these are called portmanteau films in which a number of different directors make short films around a central theme. This time it is the city of Havana and filmmakers like Cantet, Trapero, Noe and Medem do their best.  In general, the cinematography is great, the music fits right in perfectly but there is a lack of inspiration in the stories.  Benicio de Toro and Pablo Trapero with the first two are adequate without any great originality.  Julio Medem’s tale of a singer caught between an overseas career and her husband is just banal.  I didn`t much like Noe’s voodoo rituals against lesbianism.  Tabío’s look at the multitasking lives of Cubans was OK.  Best up was Cantet and the lady who gets her building to build an altar to the virgin complete with water and fish in one day.  I felt it was amusing and worked on various levels.  Elia Sulieman did a sort of Jacques Tati in Havana which was at least different.  Overall, more of a miss than a hit.

2 stars

Argo

I`m not sure that this is a great film but it does have several very positive aspects. One is that it is a terrific story from real life that is hardly credible – sneaking American Embassy staff out of Iran in the height of the hostage crisis by disguising them as an advance film crew seeking locations.  Just wondering if they will pull it off keeps us on the edge of our seats.  Then, we have the taut direction by Affleck that while it has the odd slump and slightly dull moment, it is really tight in all the suspenseful moments especially when the group are boarding the plane.  The re-creation of Teheran is effective and there are a number of smaller roles for the likes of John Goodman, Alan Arkin and others to keep us amused.  Affleck himself gives a restrained non-showy performance as CIA officer Tony Mendez. Overall, it works but I think one or two extra ingredients were missing to lift it into the top bracket.

4 stars

Elliot Loves

A small Indie movie about a young New York kid of Hispanic descent both at 9 years old as he deals with the lack of love he feels as his mother goes through different boyfriends and he himself discovers his feminine side.  Then, at 21, as he looks for a partner and goes through a series of frustrating relationships.  Nothing earth shattering but it has a reasonable freshness and good performances by Brazilian Fabio Costaprado and Elena Goode as his mother.  Terracino directs the movie which took years to get off the page but ends up being an entertaining piece.

2 star +

Dois Filhos de Francisco

     This Brazilian biopic from a few years back   traces the history of top Brazilian popular singer Zezé di Camargo.  It is a fairly straightforward film which traces the rise of this star and his brother from absolute poverty thanks to the vision of their father and the sacrifices of the family.  Well-shot, well-acted, nothing special script wise, it features Angelo Antonio as the father in a solid central role.  It has its teary moments and is good wet afternoon fodder concerning a style of music and a country we know little of.

3 stars

Hope Springs

Making a film about a sexless 31 year-old marriage is a challenge but someone obviously decided that it would make a good topic.  And yes, it is necessary to recognise the fact that many marriages fall into a routine boredom and lack of affection and spark, especially in the developed Anglo-Saxon world. There is also a nod at self-help courses and the pros and cons of these as Kay (a correct Meryl Streep as the irritating Kay who is waking up to deserving more) books a week’s treatment with a couple’s counsellor (Steve Carell, serious) in a seaside village in Maine.  The thorn in everyone’s side is husband Arnold, a great denial artist whoi refuses to follow the course properly, to accept there is a problem and to acknowledge his own feelings.  Tommy Lee Jones does a good job of this unlikeable gruff character.

But all this is not enough.  The script is trite, the direction lazy at times and the film lurches between being overly patronising and very obvious.  Some people applaud the effort to make this film about such a sensitive topic which has been promoted as a comedy but is really far more serious.  Maybe that is the problem.  It needed to be funnier and more creative and somehow more authentic.

★★

Suskind

This Dutch movie partly shot in Bucharest tells the story of Walter Suskind, new director of the Jewish Council in Holland during WW2 and his efforts to save at least 1000 children from the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were sent to the death camps in a “cleansing” operation by the Nazis. It is one of those films that is hard to watch due to the subject matter and the sense that humans commit some barbaric acts against their fellows at times.  This film not only points at the Nazis but also at local Dutch collaborators and surely this is an episode of shame for Dutch history.  As a piece of cinema, Rudolf van den Berg does a competent job, without showing any special flair – there is a sense of deja vu in many of the scenes and we know where the story is going but this does not detract from the powerfulness of the message.

Jeroen Spitzenberger is a suitable Suskind and captures the mixed emotions well.  Karl Markovics is almost more compelling as the local German in charge of the cleansing and this Austrian actor provides a nuanced and engaging performance.  The rest of the actors all shape up effectively.

Worth watching but no blockbuster.

★★★