Magic Magic - at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

97mins
USA
Genre:Thriller/drama
Writer/director: Sebastian Silva
Cast:Michael Cera, Juno Temple, Emily Browning.

Plot

Alicia (Juno Temple) an American, visits her cousin Sarah (Emily Browning) for a holiday on a remote island in oppressively hot and tropical Chile. Sarah leaves Alicia with some friends but soon quiet and introverted Alicia becomes paranoid and is never sure if her new companions are bullying her, or just thoughtless.  slowly the heat, strange surroundings and people cause Alicia loose her mind.

Review

This started out promising, we can all relate to being in a strange country with strangers and feeling out of the loop socially. The director does a finejob of balancing the performances so we are never really sure if Alicia is overly sensitive or if her new friends are being bullying or just having normal horseplay and fun. But as Alicia's paranoia turns a little more serious the director looses the fine balance he has set up and some scenes can be unintentionally funny, in particular the scenes with a dog which seems to have it's romantic sights set on Alicia...

I suppose the film has similar themes to  Passage to India or Heart of Darkness  that of civilisation versus savagery but I'm not sure the director really pulls this off and the end seems a little bit of a cop out.

The cast are great with some funny turns from Cera.  Temple gives a compelling central performance managing to be both unlikable but empathetic.

3 out of 5 stars







 

Natan - showing at the EIFF

66 mins
Ireland
Directors: David Cairns and Paul Duane
Screenwriter: David Cairns.




I'm pretty excited to be at the eiff this year, they've got a brilliant line up of films, so I'll be seeing as many as I can...

First up is Natan.  This was a film I hadn't planned to see and didn't know anything about, but was pleasantly surprised to discover the co-director and writer is an Edinburgh local David Cairns. David is famous in these parts for writing the incredibly successful comedy short Cry For Bob (2001).  He went on to make several more shorts and has also worked on TV, as a film critic and lecturer in film at Edinburgh College of Art. Paul Duane's first feature was Barbaric Genius (2012) which was nominated for an IFTA award. He also co-created TV's Diary of a Call Girl.

Plot 

Natan is meticulously researched documentary about Romanian filmmaker Natan the driving force in French cinema early last century who has all but been obscured from history.
Natan was born in Romania to Jewish parents but moved to France in the early 1900s where he began his career in films. A prolific filmmaker he became the most influential man in the business during the 20s and 30s working as a screenwriter, producer and director. His innovations and entrepreneurialism turned around languishing film company Pathe turning it into a main player in the industry and a training ground for young filmmakers of the time.  

One of his own favourite films from the period was Les Miserables about a poor man who becomes rich and powerful, but whose career is destroyed by a petty crime from his past. Ironically the story reflects Natan's own life.  As the Nazi's invade France Natan is accused of being a pornographer and swindler, accusations which could be true or anti Semitic propaganda.

Review

This film is fascinating, incredibly interesting, touching and sad. It’s story telling of the finest order but there are a few niggles. The film could have done without the juxtaposition of archive footage with modern footage masquerading as archive footage.  It didn't work and was distracting.  Some of the imagery felt it had been slotted in because the filmmakers couldn't find footage to tell the story, long shots of film spooling through a camera comes to mind.

Other times the imagery is stunning even chilling, for example the blood red water in the fountain as the Nazi's invade France.   I also found the faux narration from Natan obtrusive, perhaps a traditional approach would have worked better.

But the criticism is trivial and this film really is wonderful and well worth seeing, hopefully the filmmakers have a deal on the table as this film deserves a wider audience.

Behind the Candelabra

118mins 

Genre: Biography/comedy 

USA 

Director: Steven Soderbergh 

Writers : Richard LaGravenese (Screenplay) Scott Thorson and Alex Thorleifson (book) 

Cast: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula and Michael Douglas.

Plot

Campy Film based on Thorson’s memoir about his tempestuous  5 year affair with pianist Liberace. 

Review

A deeply black comedy about loneliness, unhappiness and denial, Douglas is fantastic as the strangely reptilian Liberace who is a brilliant genius when it comes to playing the piano and doesn’t need to rehearse. He’s also a brilliant genius at picking up young men in an age when being a homosexual was kept well hidden, behind closed doors.  When Scott first sees Liberace he comments ‘’It’s funny this crowd would like something this gay’’ about the audience older ladies watching the master pianist, someone replies ‘’Oh, they have no idea he’s gay.’’  Liberace is both putting his homosexuality on display as part of his lavish performances and denying it to the papers.

Damon is perfect as the as Scott like a huge buff angel with no wings who embarks on the ill fated co-dependent relationship with Liberace. The latter is intent on molding the young man into a younger version of himself using plastic surgery and diet pills. Rob Lowe, who is still impossibly perfect looking is fantastically well cast as the plastic surgeon (in the 80’s he was labeled the Farrah Fawcett of men due to his chiseled beauty…)

Eventually their affair disintegrates and Liberace finds another assistant and Scott is left out in the cold contemplating legal in typical Hollywood style.

The film was in competition in Cannes but was made by American television network HBO and was shown on American television but gets a cinema release in the UK.

Great film, super kitsch with great performances.

5 out of 5 stars.

A Hijacking (Kapringen – original title)

99min 
Denmark (Danish and English) 
Genre: Thriller 
Writer/director: Tobias Lindholm 
Cast: Pilou Asbæk, Søren Malling, Dar Salim.

Plot

A crew of a Danish cargo ship is hijacked by Somali pirates Indian Ocean.  Mikkel the ships chef, Jan the chief engineer are taken hostage along with the injured captain and the rest of the crew. Their lives all depend on the negotiation team headed by the CEO of the shipping company back in Denmark, but a tense psychological drama is unfolding between the CEO and the pirates.

Review

Tobias Lindholm is one of the writers of Borgen the popular crime series.  This film is equally as tense and is set in realism, documenting the human cost of the hostages who are confined to unsanitary quarters and the huge responsibility the negotiation team is tasked with, with responsibility to both the company and to the family’s of the hostages. 

 

The pirates are not subtitled so it’s impossible to know what they are saying, in one scene Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk) and Jan ((Roland Møller) try to make friends and they think they have till the man turns nasty and threatening.  Scenes like these really rack up the tension the feeling of complete helplessness for the men trapped on board the vessel. Their feelings of desperation are all to understandable.

The CEO (Søren Malling) is having an equally difficult time in his clean and cool boardroom, he offends the pirates negotiator by calling him a pirate making him angry and weakening the CEO position.

The situation might be heading out of control.

4 out of 5 stars.

Gimme the Loot

81 mins
USA
Genre: Crime/Drama 
America 
Writer/director: Adam Leon. 
Cast: Tashiana Washington, Ty Hickson, Zoe Lescaze.

 Plot

 Two graffiti artists discover their latest work has been erased by another crew, so they set out to tag the untaggable, the New York Mets’ home run apple. They know a guy who can get them into the stadium for $500 so, cue a day of hustling and petty thievery the only way they can make their dreams come true.

Review.

This film looks low budget but has great characters and story, set in the dog eat dog world of a New York suburb where stealing and being stolen from is just part of the day to day.

Tashiana Washington plays Sofia a girl who is street smart but vicious when crossed.  It’s fantastic to see a well rounded female character, she’s intelligent and cynical when on the make but shows her sweet side when bargaining with handsome Graffiti pal Kaps (Melvin Mogoli).

In contrast Malcolm (Ty Hickson) is all about bravado and getting laid.  His scenes with bohemian rich girl Ginnie (Zoe Lescaze) illustrate a different slant on the interaction between the haves and have nots in America.  When Malcolm goes to her apartment to sell her drugs, Ginnie seduces him, but they are interrupted and Malcolm has to make a run for it.  When Ginnie calls him again he thinks he is onto a sure thing, but he walks in on a party, and Ginnie treats him like the help.  That’s when he decides to rob her.

There are some great secondary characters in the film from the silent man behind the screen door who gives no reaction as Sofia demands money for the phone she has fenced to Meeko the hapless lock pick who Malcolm enlists to open Ginnie’s front door.

This film is a really good romp and its fun, go and see it.

4 out of 5 stars.

Me and You (original title ''Io e te'')

96mins
Italy 
Genre: Drama
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci 
Writers: Niccolo Ammaniti, Umberto Contarello, Francesca Marciano, Bernardo Bertolucci. 
Cast: Tea Falco, Jacopo Olmo Antinori, Sonia Bergamasco.

  

Plot

A teenager lies to his mother and bunks off a school ski trip so he can spend a week alone in a basement.  However, his estranged half sister turns up and she needs help to get off drugs.

Review

This is a small and well told story with nice performances from Jacopo Olmo Aninori (Lorenzo) and Tea Falco (Olivia). Lorenzo’s change from selfish teenager to empathic manhood is nicely documented by Bertolucci, but it’s not a story that offers anything new in the coming of age film. There is no real meatiness in the drama.  Essentially it's vacuous story about a couple of rich kids treating themselves and their family badly. This makes them unsympathetic and unlikable and you don't really care what happens to them.  There is no real subtext either, so all in all a surprising choice for a veteran director.

2 out of 5 stars.

 

The Place Beyond the Pines

USA 
140mins
Genre: drama/crime
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Writers: Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, Darius Marder.
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta.

Plot

An unconventionally scripted film split into three stories which arc over two generations of characters.  Luke a fairground trick motorcyclist who discovers an ex lover has had his baby.  He is desperate to do right by them, and stays in town spending time with mother and son. 

Unable to earn good money at anything but motorcycling he takes up bank robbing, but things don’t go according to plan especially when he crosses paths with ambitious local cop Avery, who  coincidently also has a baby son.  Fifteen years pass by and old secrets well kept are revealed to the two children who are now young men.

 

Review

Gosling gives a stand out performance as Luke the motorcycle stunt rider, a man on the outskirts of society, a drifter, anxious to do right by his son and ex lover Romina.  He is gentle and simple soul but when he settles in Schenectady, New York (translated from the Native American as, the place beyond the pines) he becomes entangled in the morals and constructs of urban society.  It becomes his cage and he has no idea how to operate within it, attacking and injurying Kofi, Romina’s(Mendes) boyfriend and turning to crime to earn money.

Avery (Cooper) is in his own cage, stuck in a corrupt police department, he turns the tables on the corrupt cops and launches a political career.  This part of the film is somewhat weaker as it’s such a big story to be launched into with little set up, half way through the film.  The pace of the film slows as we catch up with the change in direction and lead character.

Again in the third part of the film we are introduced to new characters, the sons of Luke and Avery and their story, still the pace sluggish.  The end is fitting and lyrical though, when Luke’s son goes beyond the pines and out into the American west.

As I said, it’s a slow film and a little clichéd but worth the effort for Goslings soulful performance full of depth and simplicity.

4 out of 5 stars.

A Late Quartet

USA 
105mins
Director: Yaron Zilberman
Writers: Yaron Zilberman, Seth Grossman
Cast: Catherine Keener, Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mark Ivanir.

 

Plot

The harmony of an orchestral quartets working and personal relationships are put under threat when one of it's members is diagnosed with a serious illness.

Review

A thoughtful film about ageing and coming to accept the choices made in love and career. The quartet’s problems are very adult and mature and handled with sensitivity. Peter (Walken) has to deal with the possible end of his career and face a long and lonely retirement. The shock of his announcement reverberates through the rest of quartet and threatens their 25 years together.

Gelbert (Hoffman) wants a chance at playing 1^st violin (he’s currently 2^nd violin a position which enhances the first, but does not take the kudos).  But when his wife (Keener the quartets’ viola player) fails to back his bid and Lerner (Ivanir) refuses to relinquish the post of first, Gelbert takes it as a personal slight on his talent, and sets out on a path that could break the quartet and destroy his marriage.

Quiet perfectionist Lerner laments his years of dedication which has cost him a personal life and Juliette questions her role as a mother and wife to Gelbert.

It’s all filmed in a New York bitter winter, snow on the streets and breath in the air reflecting the bitterness built up in their lives, they seem almost emotionally stuck in the snow.

The performances are as quality and subtle as you would expect, lovely to watch and emotionally delicate.

4 out of 5 stars.