The Whistleblower

Canadian-German production not unsurprisingly based on the true story of an American policewoman seconded to Bosnia during the peacekeeping operations who discovers a prostitution ring and ample evidence of people trafficking run by police, UN staff, foreign military forces, private contractors and the like.  The minute she starts to investigate the shutters go down and she is impeded from proceeding by massive high level cover-ups.  Eventually she was sacked and took her story to the British press.  Later the crimes were found to have existed by British courts but to date virtually no one has been punished or even removed from office as a result.  A precursor to the Iraq abuses and a clear sign of the rottenness at these levels of international cooperation.  This is a dark film.  Shot in semi-darkness, on a fairly limited budget, it deals with sombre themes and leaves one feeling impotent and outraged.  Like Katherine our heroine played adequately by Rachel Weisz, a specialist in this type of role (The Constant Gardener).  Vanessa Redgrave and David Strathairn give good support in a film that has plenty of excitement but is somewhat uneven in places, script wise and in its pacing.  A very good subject matter, well explained but in the end I was glad to see it finish such was the mood of hopelessness it inspired.

★★★

Little Ashes

Largely Spanish made but English spoken drama about the friendship between Federico Garcia Lorca, Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel, details of which emerged from Dali’s memoirs.  The film portrays the time period with the rise of fascism in Spain, the different artistic movements and the desire of the artists to speak out against the impending restrictions.  Of course, it becomes a tragic ending as Garcia Lorca is shot by firing squad. His relationship with Dali is also a troubled one. Them being lovers and later almost enemies as Dali, who has an enormous ego swans off to Paris and becomes involved with Gala.

The photography is excellent, the direction sure footed but I am not so sure about the screenplay as some of the lines seem rather simplistic in English.  What is also surprising is Robert Pattinson cast as Dali.  He has some over the top scenes but handles it remarkably well.  Javier Beltràn is a more than acceptable Lorca.

Overall, a little BBC style but its subject matter keeps us engaged.

★★★ +

The Gilded Cage

More than acceptable Franco-Portuguese comedy about a family in Paris who after 30 years labouring away as builder (an aged and bigger Joaquim de Almeida) and concierge (Rita Blanco – very effective), get their dream when they inherit a family vineyard near Porto.  Their plans to up sticks and return to Portugal meet with the resistance of their “Frenchified” children and more importantly of their employers and other family members.  A slick series of misunderstandings and unexpected events ensue and director Ruben Alves keeps things moving lightly and with considerable humour as well as managing to make some wry observations about both the French and the Portuguese.  Definitely a feel-good movie with a happy-ever-after ending.

★★★ +

Night Train to Lisbon

Bille August was always a conservative director and now 20 – 25 years on from his heyday, his approach is the same.  Faithful recreation of the era, some nice small touches, predictability and pedestrian pacing which in his type of detective story gets increasingly slow as we near the end.  The mystery here springs from a book about a young revolutionary doctor in the Portuguese dictatorship and the sleuth is a Swiss history teacher who tries to piece together this man’s life.  It’s an OK story, nothing wow and the fine cast has enough talent to make a reasonable fist of it all.  But the pace and lack of originality make it rather wearying in the end and the public could be forgiven for dozing off a bit.  Nice Lisbon scenes.  Jeremy Irons, Martina Gedeck, Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Mélanie Laurent all handle their roles well and perhaps Lena Olin is slightly ahead of them in her brief interpretation.

★★ +

Submarine

Is this the first film I have seen set in Swansea?  Maybe.  It’s one of those growing up memoirs.  Oliver (Craig Roberts) is a teenager who is a misfit in class, very smart but too much of a thinker.  Nevertheless he manages to get a girlfriend, Jordana (Yasmin Paige) and the main storyline revolves around the comings and goings of this relationship.  At the same time, his parents, who are right weirdos, are going through a rough patch with mum (a relatively subdued Sally Hawkins) seeing the neighbour who is a sort of new age precursor.  The movie is set in the late 70’s or early 80’s I guess and that period is faithfully recreated.  What I liked most was the script which is witty and unpredictable.  A nice small film.

★★★

Drinking Buddies

What I actually disliked about this movie was all the drinking and rather brainless consumption of food and drink – it all seemed so unnecessary.  What did work were the natural dialogues between these four characters who explore the divisions between being in a couple or being simply friends.  And who is the best one to marry, say.  Olivia Wilde is quite charismatic as the free-spirited Kate, Anna Kendrick a good foil as the thoughtful and sensitive girlfriend of Luke but up for a joke anyway.  Luke (Jake Johnson) has great chemistry with Wilde and we wonder all the time where the relationship will go.  Finally Ron Livingston is a good fourth member.  Again, a natural authentic film that doesn’t always go where you think it will as I believe it was largely improvised.

★★★

Parlez vous de moi

This French film is definitely something a little different.  Melina (excellent Karin Viard) is Radio France’s top night talkback host – or rather an agony aunt.  She lives in complete anonymity and as these things go, she is a rather stuffy old maid, allergic to all sorts of things and fiercely private.  Trouble is she has a burning desire to find her birth mother who abandoned her in an orphanage and never came back.  A detective tracks the woman down and Melina, or Claire as she is known off the radio, manages to insert herself into Josie’s (Nadia Barentin) life and to the new family she has.  This suburban family is a shock to prissy Claire and were it not for her quest she surely wouldn’t spend time with these people.  But deeper and deeper is her involvement and things get really complicated when her step-nephew Lucas (NicolascDuvauchelle) takes a shine to her, still oblivious like them all of her real identity and her real reason for wanting to know the family.  A well-made, amusing and thoughtful film which I found relatively original and authentic.  Pierre Pineau directs and writes.

★★★ +

Mi último round

Rather bleak Chilean film about two men from a small town who fall for each other.  Octavio (Roberto Farias) is a local boxing champ but is also epileptic and has to give up.  He works as a barber to make a living. Hugo (Hector Morales) does odd jobs and has just buried his mother. They move to Santiago where at least they can be together and in a strangely silent way they share a life and affection.  Hugo gets a job selling pet food and the boss’s daughter falls for him complicating matters when Octavio finds out.  Hugo isn’t exactly the most decided type either.  Anyway, the lure of the ring is too much for Octavio who returns to fight his last round.  A tragic end for a sombre film that does I suppose have the merit of giving you grim reality.  Realistic acting all round but definitely a minor film.

★★ +

Elysium

A sci-fi thriller set in 2154 when the rich of the planet have escaped a polluted dying earth to live in a massive space station called Elysium that they protect like gold.  On planet Earth live the poor and the ill desperate to try to get up to the station.  It reminds me of a Colombian novel of a city in three levels designed like that.  Well, Matt Damon has been a convict and after a series of misfortunes including getting radiated in his factory, he ends up “volunteering” for a mission to steal the contents of the brain of one of the key managers of Elysium which will allow the earthlings to hack into the system and change their status.  Different security forces, official or otherwise get into the act plus Max (Damon’s) childhood girlfriend and leukemia stricken daughter.  Lording over it all is Jodie Foster as the prize bitch who as Defence Minister of Elysium wants to stage a coup.  She has a rookie security guy, Kruger (Sharlto Copley) who is more than a little crazy doing her dirty work on Earth.  Its all hard to tell who is sane and whole anyway as they all seem to have apps wired in or stapled on to their bodies.  Was that easy to follow?  Well, the whole film gets a bit like that – loads of fights and upgrades into bodies with more weapons, instant machines that cure you of some illnesses and mortal wounds that don’t end up being quite so mortal for all at least.    It is entertaining enough as an action movie but its rather convoluted plot and clichèd script tend to let it down in the end and it was a relief when it was over.  Nevertheless, some of the predictions for Earth by that time seemed plausible and that perhaps was the most frightening part.

★★ +

Nés en 68

An attempt to make one of those slice of history films tracing the life of a group of students from the 68 student revolts through to the present day with a political spin on things – did they all remain left-wing?  Some form a commune, others end up in jail and life goes on.  Children arrive grow up, get Aids, become protesters too or marry Muslims and we see the multiculturality of France as the decades go on.

Does it all work?  Yes and no. There is a rather jerky approach to the timeframes, some characters are less explored and some scenes are rather too obvious, Laetitia Casta in the lead doesn’t age a bit… But having a big cast allows us to see some interesting characters and some thought-provoking issues and that keeps us going on a long film that does not live up to epic status.  There have been much better on the same topics.

★★+