Hello
readers,
Here
is a sample of the films Between the Seats watched over the past few
days. We hope you enjoy these brief reviews. Coming up over the
course of the weekend and into next week is a series of end of the
year lists, much like what was done at this time in 2010. Reviews and
marathon will resume in regular fashion by late next week. Thanks
again for visiting!
In
an artistically audacious move, director Michel Hanavicious decided
to not only make a film which pertains to the misremembered era of
silent film, but to make it as a silent film no less. The story begins
in earnest in 1927, a time when the fictional silent movie legend
George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) was Hollywood's greatest star,
appearing in a series of massively adored swashbuckling adventures
akin to those of Errol Flynn. A chance encounter with a fan, Peppy
Miller (Bérénice Bejo), turns her into a movie star and sets in
motion the arrival of 'talkies', thus putting Valentin's career in
tremendous jeopardy.
Since
the earliest reviews for the film (it played at a few festivals in
late summer), it was evident that Hazanavicious's The Artist
was going to be a critical darling. Having now seen the film a couple
of weeks after its Montréal theatrical release, it is quite plain to
see why so many people, not just critics, are eating this film up. It
is quite cleverly constructed, from the script, to the acting and the
direction. Probably if the sole purpose had been to make a silent
film, one with no pretension of doing anything more thematically, the
film still would have been a nice romp, but it has loftier
expectations than just that. The story is about a silent movie star,
played with the right amount of physicality and wit by Jean Dujardin
(whom I unfortunately only knew from Brice de Nice) who is
confronted with the changing times within the studio system as the
silent era makes way for that of sound, or 'talkies' as they are
described in the movie. The film is thus not merely a technical
exercise, albeit a handsomely crafted one, but a bit of a time
capsule even within its plot. Now whether Hazanavicious wants
audiences to like the movie with a sense of artificial nostalgia
(i.e. Liking it because we heartless 21s century people typically
treat the silent era as an afterthought and shame on us) is another
idea altogether, and one I am not prepared to accept as valid, but as
a piece of cinema which not only tells a fun story but feels genuine,
The Artist is arguably the film to see during your holiday
break. Also, I didn't know who Bérénice Bejo was before heading
into this film, but I am going to explore her filmmography for sure.
What a fantastic and seductively charming actress.
War
Horse (2011, Steven Spielberg)
A
mere few weeks after the release of Tintin comes Spielberg's
second film of 2011, the unabashedly honest and heartfelt War
Horse. Transpiring just before as well as during the first World
War, Spielberg's romanticized epic follows the journey of a young
plow horse baptized Joey by his young master Albert (relative
newcomer Jeremy Irvine) who is determined to help his pa and ma
(Peter Mullen and Emily Watson) save the family farm. The first war breaks
out and Joey is sold off to the British army, from which point begins
his near fantastical story as he falls in and out of a great many
characters affected in one way or another by the battles, among them
Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Niels Arestrup, and David
Kross.
If
there is one thing Steven Spielberg cannot be criticized for, it is
giving into our current culture of dark and dreary war films. The
director makes a conceited effort into creating a very different sort
of war film, one that has not been seen for many years even. The
notion and the execution (mostly, not entirely) of the story is
rather compelling, with Joey never remaining in the same hands for
very long, either because his master(s) lose ownership by circumstance or
because they simply die off. This is a war, after all. The result is
a very episodic type of movie, something Spielberg proves to be adept
at juggling with, even though not all the moments land as
effortlessly as one would like. The first section when Joey meets his
first and true owner, young Albert, is amusing in its modesty, and
another all too short chapter has two soldiers, one Brit and another
German, come together briefly to help free Joey from barbed wire on
the battlefield. Others feel oddly cheap, like when Joey and another
horse find refuge in the barn of an elderly Frenchman (admittedly
played very well by Niels Arestrup) and his granddaughter. The
accents, the predictability of what happens in that episode, its
conclusion, not a lot works in that one. That being said, the film is
beautiful to look at, which is not a surprise since Spielberg is a
master at getting the most out of his cinematographers and special
effects teams. War Horse does not 'wow' as Tintin does, but
might be worth your time. Just check your hip cynicism at the door.
Time
Bandits (1981, Terry Gilliam)
Terry
Gilliam is not the sort of director whose work is easy to digest.
One need only be told about his Monty Python background to get a
decent enough idea of what might be expected from his films. I myself
am not the biggest Monty Python fan, although all of their films do
indeed have some moments of brilliance. Here, he shares the story of
a young boy named Kevin (Craig Warnock) who loves reading up on
history, but whose interests are ignored by his neglectful parents.
One night, while falling asleep, a troop of 6 midgets (among them
Kenny Baker, known for playing R2-D2), time traveling thieves who
take Kevin with them as they voyage further and further back in time
to steal precious treasures of histories great figures like Napoleon
(Ian Holm), Robin Hood (John Cleese) and Agmemnon (Sean Connery). The
Evil Genius (David Warner) is after them however.
It
is a little bit difficult to make heads or tails about Time
Bandits, and the more thought is
put into it, the more I am convinced that that is what lends it its
charm, among other things of course. It isn't as if the midgets
receive any sort of valuable lesson by the end, or that even Kevin,
the protagonist, has learned anything in particular. In fact, despite
showing some reluctance in the early goings (stealing from Robin Hood
doesn't fit well with him), he helps them out pretty much all the way
through, so the viewer is essentially having to follow and accept as heroes a
bunch of crude crooks as they make fun of and take bounty away from
famous historic figures. The level of humour and adventure vary as
well, at times playing things which remind us this is essentially a
film for kids, other times taking things a step further, with some
creepy looking villains and unexpectedly violent deaths. At some point, because
the tone is a bit all over the place, one doesn't really know what to
expect from the film anymore, which can be seen as a very good thing.
A lot of kids films play things too safe and grow boring and
predictable because of that. Time Bandits is clearly playing fast and
loose with the rules to making a family film at times, especially
near the end when things do get pretty nutty. I myself came away from
the movie with mixed feelings, but in a good way, if such a thing is
possible. It's weird and goes against the grain compared to so many
other kids films, but in a refreshing way nevertheless. Great end
credits song as well. Bless you, George Harrison.
The
Eagle (2011, Kevin Macdonald)
Kevin
Macdonald has somewhat of an iffy track record in my books. After the
compelling, thrilling Last King of Scotland, he
followed up with the immensely disappointing State of Play.
What is more, this new effort starred Channing Tatum, an actor who
has earned his share of criticism, a lot of it very much deserved.
The Eagle follows in the footsteps of Neil Marshall's
Centurion, functioning as a
spiritual sequel of sorts (although that was never the intent), with
a young Roman captain, Marcus Acquila (Tatum), who sees himself
posted in Northern Britain, where his father had been before him. The
latter was part of the infamous Ninth Legion, which vanished off
the face of the Earth 20 odd years before, along with it the coveted Golden Eagle, a
symbol of Rome. Marcus's desire to find the eagle takes a hit when he
himself takes a serious hit during battle, earning him an honourable
discharge. Not one to give up, he decides to travel beyond the most
northern Roman walls in Britain into the yonder with his slave, Esca
(Jamie Bell), who happens to be a native of Northern Britain. Just
how much can Marcus trust him though?
Colour
me tickled, The Eagle
turned out to be a very solid movie. Tatum's presence was,
admittedly, one of the factors which discouraged me from checking out
the film any earlier, as were lingering misgivings aboutdirector Macdonald's previous flop.
There must be something about Roman epics that fails to resonate with
contemporary movie goers given the timid reception the film received
upon its release. Its stay in theatres was not particularly long
either. I guess that Gladiator
boost is definitely over. What makes The Eagle
a compelling film is its reliance on interesting characters as
opposed to giving in to only epic action and sweep. Granted, there is
a sense of sweep, but it lies more in the jaw dropping landscapes
Marcus and Esca traverse in their search for the long lost titular
object. Macdonald and his cinematography crew should be given a round
of applause for this is a magnificently good looking movie. As
mentioned above though, the movie is definitely concerned with its
two central figures, who find themselves in vastly different
positions of power. How do they put their trust in one another and
can they even really do it at all? The film even takes it a step
further with our duo encountering a tribe of Esca's people, thus
flipping the positions of power upside down. Both Jamie Bell and,
yes, Channing Tatum, are good in their roles. Maybe Tatum is not
given that much to do, but he handles the material rather well, or at
least a hell of a lot better than I was expecting.
A
Hard Day's Night (1964, Richard Lester)
Just
finished this a mere couple hours ago and I don't have all that much
to say. This is one of Lester's first feature length films, and what
better way to earn some name recognition then by directing what
amounts to a promotional piece for the hottest band on the planet at
the time, The Beatles (Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison
and Ringo Starr). This space would be reserved for a plot synopsis,
but Hard Day's Night truthfully does not possess much in terms
of plot. The Beatles and their managing team go from one place in
Britain to another by train because they have a televised show later
that evening. Wild, British 60s humour ensues as do obligatory
musical numbers.
No
story, just The Beatles being themselves around their managers,
Paul's fictional grandfather and a bunch of girls. It is hard to
gauge how one approaches this sort of film. It looks pretty good,
although that was never going to be an issue since it was promoting
The Beatles (it had to look hip regardless). The music rocks with the
exception of a song or two. I think what makes this movie tick more
than anything else is that is presents itself as a fictional version
of what The Beatles went through on a daily basis. The screaming
fans, the overbearing manager, the annoying studio television
newspaper people they had to deal with. It isn't as if Hard Day's
Night is making a whole lot of material up, yet this remains a
piece of fiction. That meta aspect frees the cast to do what they
want in more ways than one while still remaining somewhat true to themselves, even though by the end the viewer has not
learned anything. They were very young in '64 and liked to goof
around as much as possible. The one stretch that is sort of unique is
when Ringo leaves the band for a while in order to live a free life.
It comes across as an unexpectedly touching few minutes, but who
really thinks he won't be banging those drums later on that evening
for the show?...
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