This is 40

Judd Apatow comedy which is one suspects semi-autobiographical about hitting 40.  You wouldn’t call this a great film but it is both entertaining and thought-provoking and it does have some excellent scenes and lines.  Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann hold the centre as the couple under strife of age and career with good support from Maude Apatow as the 13 year-old daughter, John Lithgow, Albert Brooks and others and Melissa Mc Carthy who does a great turn as the hacked off mum of one of the kids schoolmates.  Lots of today’s issues are thrown up and little bits of wisdom come flying out.  Apatow even resurrects British rocker Graham Parker and the Rumour.

★★★ + (just)

Side Effects

Steven Soderbergh again with a strange if watchable film.  It starts as a sort of thriller concerning the drug companies and doctors and the willful prescription of untested drugs on patients and ends up being a simple thriller involving a lesbian couple, a Wall Street trader and the unfortunate psychologist who gets caught in the middle.  Not very convincing in the end.  Good work from Rooney Mara.  Jude Law holds his end up and Catherine Zeta-Jones is rather over the top as a “corporate psychologist”.

OK for a wet afternoon but won’t set anyone’s CV alight.

★★ +

Poulet aux prunes

Marjane Satrapi of Persepolis fame is the co-director and co-screenwriter of this sort of magic realism tale set in Teheran about a violinist who wills himself to die of a broken heart.  Technically, it is well-made with flash backs, flash forwards, lovely photography, good original music, some animated scenes including a sort of morality tale in the middle and the whole intention is clearly to tell a story with a spiritual message.  Mathieu Amalric, Maria de Medeiros lead a multinational cast with Isabella Rossellini in a bit part and the beautiful Golshifteh Farahani as the love interest.

And yet, despite the talent and beauty it didn’t grab me.  I don’t know whether it was a sense of being manipulated or a rather morbid subject but apart from the odd really spectacular scene I ended feeling a bit flat.

★★ +

Behind the Candelabra

This biopic is no classic but it does have a couple of great points in favour.  It gives us a look at the real life of Liberace, the flamboyant, camp and obviously gay pianist and showman who somehow managed to avoid America digging into his private life when alive.  It’s much as we expect, a selfish manipulating and at times lonely man who perhaps came closest to a really balanced relationship with the much younger Scott Thorson.  One of his later lovers and much, much younger than him, he was ejected summarily from this false life not long before Liberace passes away and has to struggle to shake off the addictions and the loss.  Michael Douglas does a very good job as Liberace and is matched all the way by Matt Damon, who though a bit old for the role, has the acting chops to make it work.  Debbie Reynolds is among the supporting cast and Rob Lowe shines as a plastic surgeon who is as fake as you can get.  Another competent film by Steven Soderbergh.

★★★

Before Midnight

Latest in the series featuring director Richard Linklater and actors Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.  As ever a cracking script no doubt liberally added to by the actors as they work together.  This couple, who first met in Before Sunrise, 9 years ago, are now together, with twin daughters.  Jesse also has a 13 year old son from an acrimonious marriage.  Jesse and Celine live in Paris, Jesse’s son in Chicago and he is lamenting the distance.  They are in Greece on holiday at a writer’s house enjoying the beach and the cuisine.  The first part of the movie includes a long lunch scene  in which various locals and our leads debate the future of relationships, the virtual world and what makes a couple work.  Extremely interesting conversation, reflecting also the transformation of male and female roles (or not!).

Then the film returns to its peripatetic roots and Celine and Jesse continue their conversation about the state of their relationship wandering through the village, then in a hotel room and finally at a table by the sea. 

It gets distinctly uncomfortable and almost nasty at times as each tries to preserve his or her space inside the relationship and carve out the best options for the future.  What is so great about this is how real it is, how well the crew depict the messy uncertainty of real life within the repeated patterns of life and habits.  Times change, we stay the same mostly but life forces some choices and changes.  If you like studying human relationships this film is for you and as always great work from the team

★★★★ +

Nate and Margaret

A small debut film from Nathan Adloff that depicts an odd couple of friends.  Nate is a shy country kid studying film in Chicago.  He is 19, gay but still hasn’t had a boyfriend and is disarmingly honest when a candidate comes along.  He is also a sunny optimistic soul lovingly played by Tyler Ross.  Then his friend and neighbour Margaret is 52, single, trying to become a stand-up comedian and distinctly odd on the surface.  She is nevertheless a very decent woman who has had setbacks and few chances in life but keeps fighting back.  They make a strange pair, working together on his films and going to parties together. Natalie West is terrific as Margaret and comes to the role with a long theatrical history and some TV work.

I loved the film, simple but affecting and a great example of how we can find friendship in the most unexpected places. A real friend has qualities which most others don’t and this is shown beautifully in this touching and often humourous piece.  A great first feature.

★★★