Nick Sparks and the ‘women’s picture’ – a review of Safe Haven

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Film, London, Movie, Review, Safe Haven, UK

There’s something to be said for a well made genre pic.

Safe Haven occupies that new, specific sub-genre of romantic fiction – the Nicholas Sparks adaptation – and while it isn’t art, it does everything I would expect from a romantic melodrama.

The thing I find fascinating about Nick Sparks films is that once upon a time they would have been called ‘women’s pictures’. They’re the kind of film that in the 1930s and 40s would have played at matinees for housewives, with an attractive ‘matinee idol’ being won over by a timid love interest. Likewise, the contemporary counterparts become vehicles for the likes of Channing Tatum, Zac Efron, and Josh Duhamel to show off the charms that a small town girl just can’t resist.

Those 30s and 40s films were seen as throwaway entertainment at the time, just as the Nick Sparks flick is now, yet time and critical reappraisal do wonderful things. Nowadays Letter from an Unknown Woman is (rightly) celebrated as a masterpiece, whilst books have been written on the cheap British pictures of the same period, largely made by the Gainsborough studio, often starring James Mason – I myself am quite fond of Madonna of the Seven Moons, a Gainsborough film full of fantasy and desire.

I find it unlikely that Safe Haven will in 60 or so years time become regarded as an outright classic, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable distraction, and joins a group of films which I think are interesting in terms of art and pop culture. I’m also pretty sure that one day I’ll casually watch one of these romantic flicks and it’ll be genuinely brilliant. And that’s why I love genre films.

Viewed at: Cineworld Wood Green

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Lincoln (2012) – review

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Film, Lincoln, London, Movie, Review, Spielberg, UK

I’ve got to say I found Lincoln a bit of a bore initially. It’s an overlong political recital, which mainly consists of white men talking about politics and trying to win votes amongst their peers. 

Which isn’t by default a bad thing,  but when you already know the ending there’s a lack of tension. Plus it’s not like we’re supporting the underdog here. It’s Abraham fucking Lincoln!

On reflection though, there’s a human core to Lincoln which I lost amongst the history lesson. It’s a very subtly moving film. Lincoln is understated, slow burning and lingers. This can mainly be attributed to three fine performances. Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones develop their characters so subtly that you barely notice a progression.  But by the end of the film they are in quite different places to where they began, and you start to realise the toll the battle against slavery has taken on them.

Viewed at: Cineworld Enfield

For your consideration…

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events, Film, London, Movie, screenings, UK

A Hitchcock classic and a film so bad it’s good.

Here are a collection of screenings worth checking out in London this week:

 

• Film(s): Psycho
• Where: Gate Picturehouse, Notting Hill
• When: Saturday 9^th Feb
• What: A late night screening of the Hitchcock horror

 

 

• Film(s): The Room
• Where: The Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Square
• When: Friday 8^th to Monday 11^th Feb
• What: The cult classic introduced by director Tommy Wiseau. Limited tickets available

 

 

• Film(s): Punch Drunk Love
• Where: The Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Square
• When: Wednesday 13^th Feb
• What: Paul Thomas Anderson’s oddball romantic comedy

 

 

• Film(s): No
• Where: ICA, Rio, Curzon Soho, Cine Lumiere
• When: All week
• What: Chilean drama with Gael Garcia Bernal

 

 

Mai Mai Miracle (2009) – Once Upon a Time in Japan festival

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Festival, ICA, Japan Foundation, Mai Mai Miracle, Once Upon a Time in Japan, UK

Last week The Japan Foundation put on an excellent mini festival of recent Japanese cinema at the ICA. I unfortunately only got to see one film, but it looked like an excellent lineup all round. Titled Once Upon a Time in Japan, there were modern Hitchcockian murder-mysteries and grand period pieces alike.

The film I caught was Mai Mai Miracle, which, according to the rather lovely Japanese lady who introduced the film, was actually the first time the Japan Foundation have shown an anime in around ten years of doing this kind of thing. Mai Mai Miracle is a product of Sunao Katabuchi, who has worked with Miyazaki before and has plenty of experience with animation for TV and film. It’s not often anime hits cinema screens either, so my interest was piqued.

The film itself offers a very sweet look at nostalgia, memory and history. At the center are two young schoolgirls who form a close friendship over the course of one spring. There’s not so much of a plot, rather, memorable events seem to happen whilst the friendship blossoms. A favourite teacher leaves school to marry, the girls and friends build a damn in the local stream and adopt a pet goldfish, a friend’s parent dies, a grandfather inspires, an absent father returns home. All these things are remembered with a warm hazy nostalgia (even the death, as much as you can call that hazy and warm).

It all acts to recall a specific place in the lives of two people (childhood, the 1950s, rural Japan)  and underline the nostalgia found in youth. Meanwhile, a side strand sees the girls imagine another young girl who lived in the past. The wise old inspiring grandfather tells stories of a palace that once stood in their village 1000 years ago, and the girls become fascinated by a young princess who inhabited it.

The princess’ tale bears similarities to the contemporary one in terms a playful desires and a youthful pursuit of friendship. This parallel narrative anchors home the points about memory and nostalgia made before, but puts them in a historical context, specifically bringing out themes about one’s place in history. Childhood comes only once, and it should be remembered fondly, yet there is a universality at play. Whether 1000 years ago, 50 years ago or today, children existed, and their experiences were much like our own.

Viewed at: The ICA

Django Unchained (2012) – review

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Django Unchained, Film, London, Movie, Review, UK

Quentin Tarantino has been making films for over 20 years now and each one has followed in the footsteps of the title of his second. Tarantino continually makes pulp fiction, and does it brilliantly.

Like his WWII film, matial arts epic, and sleezy B-movie, Django Unchained tackles a pulp genre – the western – and puts a knowing, postmodern spin on it.

Django is exactly everything I wanted from a new Tarantino movie. It’s an absolute blast to watch: Funny, exciting, full of great characters and bloody cartoon violence. But it also manages to tackle ‘issues’; raising the horrors of slavery but not forcing them at you, which gives it a bit of added depth.

Django Unchained had me from the title sequence, which mentioned an ‘original song by Ennio Morricone’ – the Good the Bad and the Ugly composer who is somewhat a hero of mine. When that song did crop up it didn’t disappoint, but like all Tarantino movies the whole soundtrack is great. Musically Django goes for a combination of spaghetti western, 70s funk and modern hip hop. And it’s always used in exactly the right places.

Viewed at: Cineworld, Wood Green

For your consideration…

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events, Film, London, Movie, screening, UK

Since my blog is now more London-centric I thought this would make a nice little weekly feature which readers (and myself) might find useful.

Each week I’ll be recommending a few events and screenings worth checking out in London. Here are the highlights for the upcoming week:

• Film(s): Some Came Running & Days of Heaven
• Where: Riverside Studios, Hammersmith
• When: Sunday 27th Jan
• What: A double bill of Vincent Minnelli & Terrance Malick classics

 

 

• Film: Boogie Nights
• Where: The Prince Charles Cinema
• When: Wednesday 30th Jan
• What: A continuation of the Prince Charles’ PTA retrospective

 

 

• Film: What Richard Did
• Where: The Prince Charles & various Curzon venues
• When: All week
• What: Irish indie thingy

 

 

• Film: Chinatown
• Where: BFI Southbank
• When: Until Thursday 31st Jan
• What: Polanski’s acclaimed neo-noir

 

 

 

Les Miserables (2012) – review

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Film, Les Miserables, London, Movie, Review, UK

The world as a whole needs more big screen musicals. Seriously, there’s nothing like the joy of a big screen production that’s heavy on the melodrama and lyrics. But in recent times they’ve been lacking. Has it really been five years since Sweeney Todd? And was I really the only person who enjoyed Nine? (itself released three years ago now).

The new adaptation of long running West End show Les Miserables is pretty awesome and pretty damn epic; the kind of epic usually reserved for Batman sequels and Alien prequels. Yes, the plot gets silly at times and it can feel a little too long, but Les Miserables carries itself with all the trappings of musical bravado which I enjoy.

Kings Speech director Tom Hopper makes some interesting decisions and for the most part they pay off. For instance, the much publicised decision to record live vocals works well in the medium and successfully ups the emotional register. Here movie stars (Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway) fill the lead roles and act specifically for the movies: close-up and raw, with songs screamed or cried through rather than perfect diction and West End theatrics.

Recording this way means long takes, and often getting up close and personal with a Steadicam tracking the actors’ neatly framed head and shoulders. It can be disorientating at first, particularly when these close ups are interspersed with long shots framed at a 30 to 45 degree tilt (which happens frequently). But when it pays off it really works – Anne Hathaway’s distraught rendition of I Dreamed A Dream is one of my favorite things I’ve seen on film (or 4k digital, as it is at The O2) for quite a while. She gives an absolutely mesmerizing performance for the short duration she’s on screen and has subsequently acquired the status of ‘my current favorite actress’.

Viewed at: Sky Superscreen, The O2

Hors Satan (2011) – review

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Film, Hors Satan, ICA, London, Movie, Review, UK

The ICA is fast becoming one of my favourite places on London to see films: Reasonable prices, a hip exciting atmosphere at the bar, and awesome arty films which can be hard to find elsewhere.

Shuffling into the cosy Screen 2 I wasn’t sure what to expect from Hors Satan. And that’s honestly the best way to see it as expectations about what is happening and about to happen will continually shift throughout the film.

Essentially its about a loner wandering around the northern French countryside and the relationship he forms with a farmer’s abused daughter. But once you adjust to the slow rhythms of that story (and trust me, it starts slow, but stick with it) you’ll find something start to emerge which is all the more sinister, and with dark hints of the supernatural.

Hors Satan is beautifully shot, very intriguing, and ultimately (for me) pretty damn satisfying. Given its slow pace, muddy plotting and dark turns, fans of Kill List would do well to seek it out.

Viewed at: The ICA

Skyfall (2012) – review

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007, 2012, daniel craig, Film, james bond, Javier Bardem, Movie, Review, Roger Deakins, Sam Mendes, Skyfall, UK

Skyfall is the most ‘Bond’ of Daniel Craig’s three efforts. Gone are the rookie vulnerabilities of Casino Royale and its continuation Quantum of Solace, and re-instated is the assured old hand of espionage. Making its way towards a conclusion that establishes a new continuity of sorts, but bound in the old, Skyfall attempts to reset the franchise at a position where Daniel Craig can directly carry on from Sean Connery – Aston Martin DB5, Scottish Highlands and all – with all the flippancy of Moore and Brosnan forgotten.

The reinvigoration of Q as a youthful tech acts to show both how much and how little has changed in this reimagining of the 50-year-old series. By supplying Bond with a gadget that’s obviously going to come handy later yet undercutting it with a dismissal of exploding pens, Ben Wishaw’s Q informs us that nostalgia can (and will) be acted upon here, but only within reason. Nostalgia indeed runs throughout the film, and references to the past work in much the same way that they did in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek reboot – with a sly wink.

Javier Bardem delights as deliciously theatrical villain Silva. His opening scene is one of the best in the history of Bond villains: a conversation with Bond that plays out like a histrionic re-hash of The Dark Knight’s Batman-Joker centrepiece. His monologue, full of twisted logic and amusing inflections is immediately satisfying.

Sam Mendes’ effort as Bond director in fact channels Christopher Nolan’s films at times; Iconography (crumbling abandoned island, oriental casino, Shanghai cityscapes) and themes (returning because the world needs him, struggling through physical and mental pain, an enemy who is the flip side of himself) are familiar from The Dark Knight, Inception, and The Dark Knight Rises. But Skyfall lacks the depth of Nolan’s usually thoughtful characterisation and allegory. All great genre films have the potential to tell an interesting or relevant story within their confines, but Skyfall doesn’t really reach beyond the surface.

There are standout moments though, and that surface is certainly a shiny one. Bardem’s first couple of scenes are very memorable, an opening motorcycle chase is exhilarating, and a beautifully choreographed fist fight between Bond and an assassin – shot in silhouette against a luminous neon Shanghai backdrop – is simply superb. Coen brothers alumni and Mendes’ recurring cinematographer Roger Deakins makes as big a contribution as any of the cast. His cinematography is exciting throughout, particularly when it comes to his understanding of lighting and colour. Meanwhile Thomas Newman’s score is fresh, integrating chord progressions from the famous theme where necessary but avoiding the bombast of David Arnold’s previous Bond efforts.

So, while Skyfall isn’t a masterpiece there’s still plenty to like.

Blackthorn (2011) – review

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2011, Blackthorn, Film, Mateo Gil, Movie, Review, Sam Shepard, UK, western

An indie film purporting to tell ‘Butch Cassidy the latter years’ is an odd concept, particularly when the character dies at the end of one of the most popular American films of the late ’60s.

But Blackthorn isn’t really about Butch Cassidy – the Butch Cassidy tag acts as both convenient marketing and as shorthand for anti-heroes of yore. Really the character here of James Blackthorn (formerly known as Butch) could have been any old West outlaw retired in Bolivia and wanting to make his way back home.

The western is a fantastic genre which allows for lots of expression within a range of well worn archetypes. And like countless others from Once Upon a Time in The West onwards, Blackthorn goes for the ‘passing of the old West’ theme. But it mixes the nostalgia with a celebration of individual spirit and an embrace of friendship.

Beautifully shot but clearly on a low budget, Blackthorn can be rough around the edges at times. But it’s also an undiscovered gem that seems to have passed critics by upon its UK release back in April.