Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot

A film that doesn’t quite know what it is.  Although it is supposedly a children’s tale, there is a clear message to adults about love and in particular establishing relationships when one is somewhat advanced in years.  All wrapped up in a fantasy world of a sunny London neighbourhood and a bunch of flats inhabited by relative eccentrics.  Not funny and light enough, Dustin Hoffmann as Mr Hoppy and Judi Dench as Mrs Silver do their best in a story obsessed by tortoises as a means of conveying messages about the meaning of life

All a bit forced.

★★

Nieve Negra

Hispano-Argentine co-production with a great cast.  However, the story is a dark karmic story of death and secrets set in a remote mountain village (Andorra substituting for Argentina).  You ask yourself why make this sort of film.  The first 2/3 is dark and slow and I really wanted to give up on it despite the talents of Darin (who manages some good looks but is mostly strong and silent, Sbaraglia (correct as Juan), Laia Costa (interesting) and Dolores Fonzi (memorable in two scenes).  The action moves between the present and Juan’s attempt to sell off the old family farm to a local businessman and his return from Spain to face the older brother Salvador (Darin) who lives like a sort of hermit on it, and the past where apart from the death by accident of a brother, other family secrets are hidden and get pretty dark and deep.  Thematically turgid, the camerawork and music reflect this making me feel relieved when it ended.  Not a bad film but maybe not a necessary one from new director Martin Hodara.

★★+

Loev

The first real gay love story from India or is it?  In fact, in a film in which less is more, the 3 characters circle around each other constrained by social mores and by their own fears and beliefs as they try to work out what they mean to each other.  For me, there is a universality here whether it be a gay relationship or not but the fact that it is happening in India makes it even more relevant to changes in such a traditional society.  The lead couple explore all of this on a weekend trip out of Mumbai and then the resolution takes place back in Mumbai: a business meeting, a dinner, some dancing and music and the goodbyes.  The plot is almost incidental as we watch the processes of opening and closing, jealousy, power and fear at work in all three of the main actors. Dhruv Ganesh passed away after making the film but is a luminous Sahil and is well supported by Shiv Pandit and Siddharth Menon.  A good intelligent and sensitive small movie by Sudanshu Saria that is getting finally the attention it deserves.

★★★★

The Grandmaster

Making a martial arts film for a Chinese director must be like making an action film or a western for a North American.  A sort of pending debt to their work of art.  Here, we have Hong Kong’s Kar-Wai Wong and his tribute to Ip Man, the founder of a school of martial arts in the south of China in the 30’s, who later went on to teach Bruce Lee.  The history of this period is set out here with the rivalry of another school in the North and Ip’s relationship with the founder of that Gong, whose daughter Gong Er would be the natural heir to that throne but cannot assume it because she is a woman.  Ip and Gong have a sort of unrequited love which sparks again in the later years when both live in Hong Kong. Wong produces a majestic looking work with beautifully choreographed and photographed scenes especially the fight of Gong Er and rival Ma on a train platform.  There is a languidly nostalgic mood to the film aided by the music and to some extent the passion and fighting suffers from this becoming sort of detached. The voiceovers, captions and the like which do create an interruption are apparently the result of harsh editing to make it easier to sell.  What I wanted rather was a little less slow-motion languor and more drama.  Tony Leung as Ip is adequate but not compelling while Ziyi Zhang shows why she is one of China’s top actresses with a strong performance as Gong Er.

★★★★

El Patron

Argentine debut from Sebastian Schindel about an illiterate worker who takes on a job as a butcher and then is treated like a slave and obliged to do all sorts of illegal and demeaning acts.  The story of social injustice is sadly nothing new and treated rather conventionally, with the justice system and bureaucracy being also called into question for abandoning the poor and those unable to fully defend themselves.  Nevertheless, despite the rather one-sided approach and a not entirely satisfying ending, the film has a number of excellent features that lifts it above the ordinary.  First is a superb performance in the lead role by Joaquin Furriel.  He is entirely credible as Hermogenes Saldivar (Garcia Marquez style name), a character that could have been hard to portray.  Luis Ziembrowski as Latuada, the slimebag of a boss is spot on as well, though what we see in the film tends to be largely the negative side.  Guillermo Pfennig is effective as the defence lawyer. But most of all the film’s description of the dirty deeds some butchers go to in their desire to cheat the customer.  It will put you off buying meat I am sure.

★★★+

Personal Shopper

Unusual almost enigmatic film by Olivier Assayas about a young American in Paris, who acts as a personal shopper to a socialite while trying to get in touch with the ghost of her brother recently deceased in that city.  The film is never quite one thing or another: a portrayal of a young woman in the new reality of technology and show business (though her work is in the shadows, a psychological look at handling grief, a glance into the spirit world, a murder mystery (largely unexploited) or a case of text stalking.  Some of it may stretch our belief but Assayas and the very effective Kristen Stewart keep bringing our attention back and there are some very good scenes.  Perhaps not quite worthy of the shared director’s prize at Cannes but evidence of the talent of this pair and to their credit it is a film that embarks on different looks and themes to so many others these days.

★★★+

Dunkirk

Plenty of action, check. Dramatic music, check. No real lapses in suspense, check. Stiff upper lips, check.
Dunkirk is a strange beast. Based on one of the most emotionally uplifting events of WW2, when hundreds of small boats and yachts crossed the English Channel to rescue over 300,000 troops stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, this Christopher Nolan event focuses not so much on this act of humanity but on the perchances and obstacles to rescue some of the characters face. In some cases, they get on to three different boats which all sink!
For the most part, the characters remain fairly anonymous and the actors are not well-known which creates a distance rather than a sense of the enormity of the event.  But even the enormity seems small. Scenes of the beaches at Dunkirk do not convey the idea of masses, rather a few orderly lines of soldiers.
So what does work?
The dogfights in the air with the sparse RAF protection of the operation. Tom Hardy is convincing as one of the pilots though his plane runs out of fuel and seems to take an entire day to land!
Also well done are the scenes on the small boat captained by Mark Rylance. His sense of duty is the closest we get to the Dunkirk spirit. Again, there is a plot development concerning a young lad that seems unnecessary but was perhaps based on real events.
Kenneth Branagh returns to show his acting chops as the Commander of all this and has a couple of moments of sublime facial expressions.
Most of the rest fits well into the action of the film but does little to sell us the story or engage us any more than in wondering how it will all end.

★★★★

The Last Word

Better but predictable feelgood movie starring Shirley MacLaine as a cantankerous and  resentful (with some good reasons) battleaxe who decides that she needs to do something in order to get a good obituary. When the local rag’s obit writer fails to produce what she wants she commandeers her (Amanda Seyfried) to help shape her life into something that will leave a legacy. She ends up volunteering at a half way house for troubled preteens and getting her own radio show on a rock nostalgia station. Her partner in crime insists on her reestablishing contact with her daughter (Anne Heche, good) and with other old contacts. And all this action shakes up Amanda’s life too.  Overall message: be nice to people and live your life now.  It is also a contrived and not very credible film but the tone is more consistent and Shirley MacLaine shows she still has excellent timing and acting skills. For that reason and despite a rather flat ending it is watchable.

★★★

Their Finest

A very strange beast this one. A sort of historical movie set in the second World War and following the fortunes of a Catherine Cole, a young Welsh woman who gets a job writing scripts and screenplays for the local film industry. She ends up working on a feature film designed to raise the people’s morale about two sisters who sailed their boat to Dunkirk and rescued soldiers, based on a story which was far less glorious. A motley crew is gathered to film it and Catherine has the right ideas and words to lift spirits. But there are mirrors between the film, the film set and scriptwriters and her own life which is not going well with her painter boyfriend. A subplot involving Hilliard a rather divaesque actor who unwillingly comes on board is the other main thrust of the film. Gemma Arterton is adequate in a rather bland cast with Bill Nighy as Hilliard and Jeremy Irons in a cameo far outshining everyone else. My main beef is that it all seemed very ersatz, very contrived and all rather unbelievable. Technically many features were fine but the overall product by Danish? director Lone Scherfig doesn’t convince.

★★+

The Comedian

Panned by the critics, a flop at the box office, I actually quite liked this movie and while it is no world beater it has a number of positive features.  Robert DeNiro plays Jacky Berkowitz, a stand up comic in New York who is better known for a sitcom role in the 80’s.  Now he is down on his luck, earning little at various local comedy venues and ending up in jail for attacking a member of the audience.  His type of humour is sharp, insult style and while some of the jokes are old most work well here and DeNiro delivers them well enough.  When doing his community service he meets Harmony who goes along with his invitation to a stand up show and they start seeing each other.  Harmony (Leslie Mann, good) is much younger and not sure what she wants but before things get too heavy her father (an aged Harvey Keitel) whisks her off to help in his Florida retirement home.  Jacky misses her presence and starts to realise that he needs to stop wasting opportunities.  The good cast includes Danny De Vito and his daughter Lucia, Patti Lupone, Charles Grodin, Billy Crystal and Cloris Leachman as a 95 year old comedienne who is as sharp as they come.  Her celebrity tribute, his niece’s wedding and to a lesser extent a scene in the retirement home may seem a bit cheesy but are actually a good laugh and I think it is a case of overlooking the crude humour if that is not your bag and just enjoy the acting.  The ending is a little predictable and some editing is needed but for me the film is nowhere near as bad as it is regarded.

★★★★