Taking Woodstock

This was Ang Lee’s prior to The Life of Pi.  It didn’t get a great run in the cinema. I now know why.  It is a strange fish, almost documentary-like at times or a sort of behind-the-scenes of the Woodstock festival and how the family which ran a run-down motel right near Yasgur’s farm, ended up being the hosts of many of the workers behind the scenes.  Added to that you have the negotiations to use the place and we see many scenes of the throngs of people doing all sorts of things and simply gathering in a call for peace and love.  It seems like a commemoration of all that and it catches a certain mood but how real it was I don’t know.  Certainly, it was quite a job for the film maker to coordinate all this because much of it is extras and not paintshop add-ons.  I think Lee goes some way towards describing the sheer historical importance of the event in terms of a change in cultural values in the US.

However much of the film also revolves around nerdish Elliot and his entrepreneurial efforts, his coming out, his crazy Jewish mother with the Nazi fixation (overdone  Imelda Staunton) and a few other characters, the most interesting of which is the transgender security guard Vilma played by Liev Schreiber. This comic slant does get rather tired and Demetri Martin as Elliot is not quite interesting enough to hold our attention.

All that said, it is an easy watch – but just doesn’t rank as a great film

★★

Cloud Atlas

This is a film that is hard to forget and one to watch again.  Six stories all interconnected from six periods of time with the same actors playing a variety of roles of different genders and races across these times.  First you start watching to just distinguish one setting from another as the scenes loop in and out of each other often only seconds long. (The editing is fantastic). Then you start to identify the actors, is that really Hugh Grant under all that makeup? (Some prosthetics and make-up work – others don’t.) Third, you start to focus on the characters and the connections between them in different ages and finally you look at the meaning of everything together.  It’s almost too much for one viewing and this is a film to go back to such is the richness of it.  Each story with its own genre has a message about life and the subtleties of the acting  are notable.  Tom Hanks, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent and Doona Bae among others make for a unique and successful experiment in film making which keeps you on the edge of your seat despite the 2 and ¾ hour length.  I found that this slickness of pace and the details in the story made it believable and engaged you.  Some may say it was pretentious or unreal but as an adaptation of a long and supposedly unfilmable book, it actually works.  The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer achieve a lot in this film and combined with a very good score and excellent photography, we get a feast for the eyes.  Some stories are exciting, some disturbing and some are plain strange but the whole makes up for more than the sum of the parts.

★★★★ ++

Rust and Bone

Jacques Audiard is a highly competent French director who gets the best out of his actors.  This unusual story is no exception.  Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) is a down and outer, has a five year-old child with little idea of how to raise the boy, is himself emotionally challenged and resorts to making money as a bouncer or security guard.  He is not incredibly bright or self-aware and lives in his own present.  Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) is a trainer of killer whales at the Marineland in Antibes.  She loses her legs in an accident with one of her animal charges and strangely in her recovery she turns to Ali who she hardly knows to help.  He just gets on with it and takes her out and swimming as if it was completely normal.  He has no fear as we see when he starts to fight in illegal boxing matches that are virtually to the death.  This relationship is not only unexpected but unpredictable as the two try to progress in their lives despite horrendous knockbacks. 

This is a film about resilience and about learning to love and to open up.  Audiard creates some unforgettable moments on screen and although at times there are flaws in the story and a slightly melodramatic nature, the sheer talent of the acting (Cotillard is superb) with Corinne Masiero ably assisting the leads, the soundtrack of Alexandre Desplat and the sure touch of Audiard give us a film of amazing honesty and realism.  You might not enjoy it but it grips you like the Dardenne movies and shows just how much cinema talent there is in the French speaking world.

★★★★ +

Yossi

Israeli film that is a sequel to a film a decade back about a love affair between two soldiers in the Israeli army.  One died and the other who is now a doctor has failed to move on.  He lives for work, has little or no social life and can’t get over not knowing whether Jagger (his lover) heard his declaration of love.  This new film takes over when he tries to convey his feelings to Jagger’s parents and is not very well received.  In the end, he takes some days off and drives to Eilat picking up some young conscripts on the way.  Among them is Tom (Oz Zehavi) who is openly gay and full of beans and who slowly cajoles Yossi into trusting in life and in other people again. 

The story is a typically human one, compassionately handled but there is nothing overly novel in the movie as such.  What lends it stature is Ohad Knoller as Yossi, who embodies all the grief and unaired emotions of his character.  His is a very convincing performance and makes for someone you can really feel for.   Eytan Fox makes another thought-provoking film.

★★★