What A Week, What A Month

I am seeing myself getting increasingly busier with my role at thespinningimage.co.uk. I started with my first assignment the other day (for Let The Right One In) and then, just a few days later, I was winging my way back to Soho for another screening (and three more in the next two weeks - I'm exhausted already!). This time, however, I recognised a few of the key players, including the director - the fabulous Stephen Frears. He's probably one of those names you can't quite place, the director of such films as My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and more recently Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and The Queen (2006). Anyway, his latest outing Cheri (2009) stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates and Rupert Friend (who most will recognise, for the time being, as Keira Knightley's beau), and that's the film I saw. I will post the review HERE as soon as the press office allows it...


Tuffy

First Official Assignment.

Last night I had the extreme privilege of taking part in my first official assignment for thespinningimage.co.uk. I attended a private screening in Soho of a new Swedish vampire film, making its way to UK shores April 10th. When I first got the invite asking if I wanted to attend, I was somewhat reluctant - vampire films just ain't my bag (baby), plus I'm a bonafide wuss. However, I went along and can honestly say that I rather enjoyed the experience; it's unlike any kind of horror film I've seen before, albeit with a few blood and guts... As this was 'official business' I've decided not to post the review on here, but please go take a look at it and maybe in April you'll see what you think for yourself...

(Click here to see the trailer)

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Tuffy(critic extraordinaire)

If Three's A Crowd, What Does That Make Four?

Woody Allen. Now there's a man that divides opinion. Like a certain brand of yeast-based bread-spread, people either love him or they hate him.

Or perhaps, more recently at least, it's a question of wavering in and out between the two states of affection: at first devouring his earlier work with great gusto, then developing a serious bout of over-indulgence, perhaps, post-2004 with the dire Melinda and Melinda and the somewhat forgettable Match Point (starring his new, so-called, muse, Scarlett Johansson). With his latest venture Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Allen's certainly got the tastebuds tingling again, and if he hasn't for you yet, let me whet your appetite...

The fourth installment (although same may consider it his second since the latter were decided flops) of what is being hailed as Allen's European tour, departs from the British Isles, winging its way over to Spain. Perhaps the transition from the distinctly grey and grimy world of London, to the glorious, cosmopolitan city of Barcelona has made Allen's outlook on life a little sunnier, sparking his return to the familiar theme of love. Naturally this will be no epic love story, but it sure is one hell of a love affair. And not just with Barcelona.

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Johansson), two American's touch down in the calles of the eponymous city, about to embark on a summer 'vacation'. For Vicky, a postgraduate, the experience is research for her thesis on Catalan identity (somewhat bizarrely since she doesn't speak Spanish), whilst for Cristina, the dreamer of the pair, its an opportunity to wander into further unknown territory, in an attempt to 'discover' herself some more.

The difference between the two ladies in question could not be marked, from their hair colour down to their individual personalities - one almost questions their friendship - but pertinently in their opinions on affairs of the heart. Whilst Vicky is engaged and due to be married on her return to the States to the bland Doug (Chris Messina), Scarlett is as free in her giving of love as she is in her spirit.

So when hunky artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) makes an appearance, the audience is assured of some action. We don't have to wait long for the inevitable, as later at dinner Juan announces himself and his intentions of taking them away in his private plane, and having sex - with both of them. Dragged along, Vicky doesn't hold back in her disgust at having to leave behind the fine city for the charms of small-town Oviedo, nor her distrust of Juan (him and his tempestuous relationship with his ex-wife are the talk of the town).

However, when a spot of over-doing it on the Rioja sees Cristina confined to her hotel bed, alone, Vicky, enraptured by the sights of Oviedo and entranced by Juan, spends the night with him. They choose not to talk about it once Cristina has recovered, leaving the (bedroom) door wide open for Juan to have his wish, to have the pair.

A passionate relationship with Cristina, who's quick to move in with this smooth operator, soon ensues, leaving Vicky in doubt over her engagement with Doug, their relationship easily comparable to that of her host's now failing marriage. This isn't helped by Doug's announcement, a seemingly romantic gesture (although in part it's a business trip), that he's coming to Barcelona and he wants to get married there.

However, it's not all steamy siestas for Cristina when Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz), Juan's ex-wife, makes an appearance... and she ain't happy. Well, not until she sees a way to get in on the, ahem, action... Much has been written or said about Cruz's portrayal of the jilted lover (she won both a BAFTA and an Oscar for her performance), in my opinion owing to the script's allowing of her to speak her native-tongue - she's far superior in her Spanish texts.

Not a whole lot of praise has been heaped upon Allen's shoulders. Okay, Vicky Cristina Barcelona isn't quite up there with Annie Hall and its cohort, but it's a rollicking good attempt. One just hopes that this trip to sunnier climes has refreshed Allen, and that his return to London in 2010 (a project is in the pipeline) returns him fully to wry, rather than woeful, form.

Rags to Rajah, Book to Film, BAFTA to Oscar

I'm not sure if I could have chosen a worse time to review the film I'm choosing for today, Slumdog Millionaire. I mean, I'm writing this post-BAFTA and post-Oscar celebrations, where the film has been both lauded and applauded, winning 7 and 8 awards respectively. Well, this review's going to be slightly different to all those one might previously have come across. I'm going to be explosive in my decision to say 'what's all the fuss about?'. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the film, but what I am saying is that I wasn't overly enamored by it - just as everyone else seems to be.

We join Jamal (Dev Patel, the lanky Asian kid from teen-romp Skins), after an appearance on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?', which has just seen him reach the second highest amount available to him as a contestant, i.e. he's one question away from being a millionaire. Trouble is, as he's an orphan, raised in the slums of Mumbai (a 'slumdog') and now works in a call-centre for a British telephone company (how terribly clichéd), they don't believe he could know the answers without a little bit of assistance.

So, some faction of the Indian police force are called in to deal with the matter, which translates into an opening sequence of various torture methods inflicted on our main protagonist who denies his involvement in any such cough-scam. It's okay though, because the boys in, erm, beige soon realise their bad-cop routine is failing them, and so quickly resort to sympathetic listeners, lending their ears to Jamal's recounting of his life, and how (mostly) unhappy events aided him in his answers to the infamous quiz show. And so begins a series of flashbacks allowing the audience to be transported from the barely air-conditioned interrogation room to the somewhat picturesque view of the slums - it's almost as if Danny Boyle (its director) asked for their roofs to be painted a variety of 'pretty' colours.

It is here too that we are first introduced to both Jamal's elder brother, Salim (later played by Madhur Mittal), and more pertinently Latika (later played by Freida Pinto) - after all it is their story too, particularly the latter of the two. Indeed, Slumdog is unabashed in its telling of a developing love affair between Jamal and Latika - believe me, it lays it on thick - and their constant interruptions to be together, mainly through the thwarting of a corrupted Salim. Inevitably their love proves enduring despite its delay, but the question remains will they finally be together? Is it written, as the opening sequence begs us to question?

Though their tale of romance is at the heart (no pun intended) of Slumdog, nevertheless its description by one critic as "the feel-good movie of the decade" leaves me more than a little uncomfortable - as, notably, it is said to have done for Boyle.

When did a story that encompasses death, the exploitation of young orphans to make money by horrifically blinding them or leading them into prostitution, a ganglord and his vicious cohort, murder, and not forgetting torture, come to be defined as "feel-good"? Especially when, for some, this tale of devastation and despair heavily glossed in a vat of love, is a reality. (It's worth mentioning here that the child actors (Azharuddin Mohamed Ismail, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Rubiana Ali), who lets face it stole the show, were paid a measly $3,000 for their roles; whilst there are reports of Boyle's support of their future education,one can only wonder at the amounts given to the older cast members, when its grossed $140, 000, 000 worldwide).

Admittedly Slumdog is not a documentary, nor does it pertain to be so, but shrouding the realities for those living in the slums, the desperation of their situations, in a thin veil of romance and a spot of Bollywood-esque dancing at the end (wait for the credits to roll), whilst pertaining to tired stereotypes of India and its people, hardly seems satisfactory.

Is it truly deserving of all those statues? Or is it overpraised? For me, it's a case of the British industry attempting to rescue its home-reared underdog (it had problems financially and almost didn't make it to cinemas), carving itself some global respect, whilst for the Hollywood big-wigs its proved an opportunity to award something that might appear as exotic and something fresh, which in actual fact is a rehashing of their own narratives and ideologies.

Old Before His Time

Hurrah! I've finally made it to the cinema! Made it to see something more... current... the fabulous 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, to be precise.

I don’t know what David Fincher’s directing does for Pitt’s acting capabilities, but it sure as hell does something. First there was ‘Se7en’ (1995), which was so-so, then ‘Fight Club’ (1999), his finest performance by a mile, and now ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’.

As you have probably been made aware by the press’s recent touting of all the pictures from the set, this is the one where Pitt's character is born as an old man (in appearance at least), whose body becomes more agile and youthful as the years pass. Sounds great, doesn't it? Not so when he meets the enchanting Daisy (later played by Blanchett), who sees beyond the thinning hair and wrinkles (and the many layers of prosthetics), for the first time seeing the real child in Benjamin.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the people around them who see only the veneer; Benjamin and Daisy's friendship/relationship is marred by their seeming difference in age, and the (mis)judgments of the society around them. An unwillingness to accept him for who he is, one might say.

Indeed, whilst the film echoes ‘Forest Gump’ (Robert Zemeckis, 1994) in its "life is like a box of choc-o-lates" sensibilities, the decision to place the film during the time of Hurricane Katrina is pertinent. Certainly, F. Scott Fitzgerald (who wrote the short story from which the film is based) did not set his tale in New Orleans, and there was no inclusion of a young Benjamin being raised by a black woman. It is the films departure from the original telling that lends itself to an allegory for the human devastation wrought by the hurricane, with the U.S government's failure to act swiftly enough in the rescue of the black community.

To focus on this element of the film alone, however, would be misguided; if asked to capture the true essence of ‘Benjamin Button’ in one phrase, it would be 'life-affirming'. Indeed, though there are tearjerker moments in abundance, through the relationship between Pitt and Blanchett (which wavers and falters, just like any other) the film becomes an important lesson on how opportunities should never be missed, and how those people that dip in and out of your life are just as special as those that remain a constant, and those that are around for very little.

Certainly it is these people that not only enrich Benjamin's life, but also the film itself: the visiting pygmy (apologies but I cannot locate credits for the actor) who shows him the 'outside' for this first time, the drunken tug-boat Captain (Jared Harris) who broadens this world further, and Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), the married English woman, who teaches him about love and the pain it can cause. Perhaps ultimately, however, the lesson we are meant to learn from Elizabeth is that there are no last chances, that it is never too late, which is the case with Benjamin and Daisy's relationship; after all, as that tired, old cliché goes, isn't it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all?

They're All Barking

Another blast from the past... Remember that weird film about a rock band your brother made you watch when you, like, 5? This Is Spinal Tap (1984) ring any bells?

Well, if you were the writer of that hilarious 'rockumentary', how would you follow it up? I mean, a film with a scene in which the vertically challenged prance around a miniature model of Stone Henge is hard to compete with... but with his next release, Best In Show (2000), Christopher Guest did just that.

A regular writer for Saturday Night Live (imdb backs me up on this), it would be pretty darn unusual if his work didn't quite cut the mustard, but still if you (like me) bypassed Guest's follow-up, I suggest you give it a go. Let's see if I can convince you...

Although continuing with the spoof documentary style, this time Guest (who also directs and stars), takes a step away from the heady heights of a rock band on tour, instead this time taking a look at the world of, erm, dog shows. Not the most obvious choice for a screenplay, one might say, but by focusing our attention on the canine-obsessed owners, all preparing for the event in their 'individual' ways, Guest produces a laugh-a-minute comedy.

Indeed, it's kinda hard to say where the laughs stop in this movie; it doesn't give you much time to breathe before another one-liner rears its head and stops you in your tracks - my personal favourite being Sherri Ann (Jennifer Coolidge) and her detailing of the things she has in common with her much older husband, as she declares "we both like soup".

There are too many of these moments, from faultless performances, for me to list here though. In fact, all of the protagonists, in each of their tragic ways, have something ultimately endearing about them; this applies no more pertinently than to the stealer of the show, Gerry Fleck (Eugene Levy), who has to endure constant meetings with his wife's previous lovers (0f which there are many).

If you thought Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) was laugh-out-loud fantastic, think again - I shudder at the comparison I'm drawing, but it's needed nonetheless. For Best In Show is outstanding in its category, far surpassing its predecessors, even, dare I say, This Is Spinal Tap, deserving first prize in this competition.

I'll be keeping an eye open for Guest's work in future...