Saturday, November 08, 2014

Gone Girl

Director David Fincher. US, 2014.

When it was put to me by my girlfriend to go see Gone Girl, truth be told I was a bit tentative.  I had not read the huge bestselling novel on which the film is based by Gillian Flynn, who writes the screenplay also.  As much as I am an admirer of David Fincher, the last film of his I saw in the cinema was The Game - his unheralded work starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn - the last film he did before he went stratospheric with Fight Club.  
 
Fincher's work is very much about mood and composition and the look, which whilst looks great the imagery can be lost on the big screen scale, this viewer preferring to wait for the Home Entertainment release.  However, something about watching Ben Affleck squirm was nevertheless pleasing to me but I also wanted to see Rosamund Pike succeed in the title role of Amy Dunne, married to Affleck's Nick.

The film like most of Fincher's work carries a bang and a twist that slaps you in the face with a cold hand.  As someone who did not read the book, the twist left me stunned and confused.  I remember seeing an interview with Affleck, where he has heard accusations that the film has been labelled misogynistic. Can a film/novel be such a thing, if authored by a woman?  Do not worry dear reader, I shall not ruin the ending or the twist.

What can be said though, is that Fincher has succeeded in creating a cyncial and satirical swipe at US media and the tabloid witch-hunts that go after fodder to fill up column inches and the constant 24 hour news cycle of hate and fear, as perfectly embodied by Missy Pyle in a cameo. The film is not only cynical of the media but also about that other institution, marriage; mocking it as an act between two players who cannot compromise and yet must do to co-exist.


When Nick and Amy meet, they are cute, the type of couple you want to slap for being so happy and Amy even says, 'I want to punch us, we are so cute'.  Yet following the recession and unemployment, the couple have to leave New York for Nick's hometown of Missouri to tend to his ailing mother.  This relocation leads to a relocation of feelings and emotions for the perfect couple, as arguments become longer and more frequent leading to the abduction of Amy where Nick is prime suspect.

The gloss of the film is very methodical as expected from such a visual director as Fincher, alas there is no coffee pot dolly shot for fanboys to cream over; this is a film where he allows his actors to hold centre stage and grab our attention by their movement and action. Fincher's camera is perhaps the stillest I can recall and yet his panache and flair is still so distinctive.

Whilst Affleck postures and breathes menacingly (in preparation for Batman no doubt), it is Pike who hits the home run of a performance.  A role of so many layers is given life by the beautiful Brit, allowing Amy to be homely yet icy; believable yet leave you guessing, sexy yet innocent.  Able support is forthcoming from Carrie Coon as Nick's twin sister, Margo; Kim Dickens as Detective Boney, who wants to help Nick but must do her job; Neil Patrick Harris playing it straight as an old flame of Amy's and Tyler Perry brings some genuine warmth and mirth to the role of Tanner Bolt, a lawyer who helps defend Nick.

At times gripping and highly intelligent, the film has to succumb to the books conclusion and whilst the twist cranks up the necessary tension, the denouement leaves you a little bit unhappy as it is no conclusion at all.  The more things change, the more they stay the same. Although the use of Affleck's face to bookend the abduction hunt - one a misplaced smile, the other an unhappy frown - is a great use of performance and a swipe at Affleck's matinee looks.

Go and see it before this girl is gone from the cinema screens. I did you a disservice Mr. Fincher and you deserved my cinema going attention. You have it now, its been found.

Reviewed by Jamie Garwood.

Beyond The Edge

Director Leanne Pooley. UK, 2014.

This wonderful new documentary tells the story of how a British expedition attempted to climb Mount Everest and how on 29th May 1953, two men Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay conquered the tallest mountain on Earth.  Hilary was a New Zealand beekeeper and Norgay, a Nepalese Sherpa, who together achieved something thought to be impossible.

Beyond the Edge uses archive footage from those who climbed with the group, still photography from base camps and actors in re-enactments; you get a real sense of the enormity of the challenge facing them all.  

Along with fellow ground breakers of the time, Roger Bannister and Donald Campbell, Hilary shared with them a deep desire to succeed and achieve beyond the mere limitations of man.  His sheer ambition coupled with an overpowering perfectionism set Hilary apart from the British climbers, that married with his physiological advantage of having climbed in the mountains of New Zealand which held him in good stead for the expedition.

As noted in the film, this climb was the last hurrah seemingly of the British Empire as it was on its last legs as a new dawn was forthcoming in the coronation of a new monarch in Queen Elizabeth II.  The summit was reached on 29th May, and news reached London five days later on 2nd June, the day of the coronation.  Even in those days, happy accidents or PR gurus were in full effect.

The achievement in a period of austerity provided hope to a nation still suffering from post-war blues in the midst of rationing.  However, the effort of one New Zealand beekeeper and his sherpa helped rally a nation; you also get a sense from Hilary in his taped statement of the climb that he did not want to let anyone down in his task.  A feeling shared by most climbers, as in the Irish documentary The Summit (2012) of a failed K2 climb where 13 people died.

Shot with a marker for 3D distribution, the landscape photography is awe-inspiring, the pay off being the majestic 360 degree panoramic shot from the point of view of Hilary as he reaches the summit.

Sixty years after the event that still transfixes people, the conquering of Everest gets the treatment and documentation it deserves from director Leanne Pooley who co-wrote the screen story with Matthew Metcalfe.

Reviewed by Jamie Garwood.

Afternoon Delight

Director Jill Soloway. US, 2013)

Out on DVD this Monday from Emfoundation, Afternoon Delight by Jill Soloway stars Kathryn Hahn as an unhappy surburban Mum who encounters a young stripper who reawakens her sexual longing that has been dormant for quite some time; think Belle de Jour transferred to Silver Lake, Los Angeles.

Hahn is perfectly cast as Rachel, the mum with the six year old daughter, but who is experiencing a lot of ennui and unhappiness with her married life to Jeff (Josh Radnor - How I Met Your Mother).  On a night out with friends to a strip club, she is bought a lapdance with a young stripper, Mckenna (Juno Temple) and her desire is awakened by this encounter.

After Mckenna is kicked out of her apartment, Rachel invites her to her home and save her from a life of debauchery, the youngster admits she is a prostitute and in her own words 'a whore'; yet rather than saving her, Rachel is drawn to the unseemly lifestyle and whilst her sex life is better with Jeff - when a stranger enters a family home, trouble is ahead.

Soloway does well with the script as a critique of enclosed communities satirising the Jewish community of bake sales and fund raising that is numbing Rachel.  Yet the scenes of sex are handled with a fear often seen in American cinema that is sometimes unsure with how to address the basic human need of intercourse.  This is a shame as both Hahn and Temple really jump into their roles with aplomb.

However, Soloway does make an interesting statement on the male gaze in cinema, by changing the gaze from the male to the female gaze of Rachel, and yet whilst Temple is merely a main vessel of the gaze for Rachel, she remains an object of desire also for Jeff and his male friends.  So is the male gaze questioned or just reinforced?  There's even a running gag of looking into each other's eyes during coitus and when clinking glasses for a toast.

Helped by some great performances by the two leading ladies and cameos from among others Jane Lynch as Rachel's 'inappropriate' lesbian therapist.  Soloway nails the film as an attempt to look at the unhappiness with the affluence of their surroundings, as Jeff says to Rachel, 'Not everyone is meant to be happy', yet by the film's end the couple have found an even keel following the intrusion of Mckenna into their sanctum.

Whilst released only a few months ago theatrically, there is certainly enough here to maintain people's attention and for Hahn it is a great opportunity to see her leading a film.

Afternoon Delight is out on DVD from EM Foundation.

Reviewed by Jamie Garwood.

Soul Boys of the Western World

Director George Henken.

This treat of a triple DVD set is neatly sub-divided into rockumentary, archive footage, and a reunion gig at 2010 Isle of Wight festival. You can almost feel yourself there at the concert but all of it is so deliciously nostalgic, it could be called indispensable for anyone who was a teen or in their twenties during the 1980s.  As a value-for-money proposition, the 3 discs buy is the better bet, even if at the time, Duran Duran or Culture Club were the band of choice. Undoubtedly DD was the group (along with Wham!) that seemed to have the high life in their pop videos, CC made a gay icon of Boy  George but 'Gold' - the massively popular ditty penned by Spandau, was the soundtrack to accompany eighties excess.

Never mind that the eighties brought us MTV, Thriller and the emergence of the pop video, it is a decade that is seen as a bit of a let down by serious music fans: this is accompanied by the embarrassment factor of the fashions - all high gloss, masses of blusher, eyeliner for men and shoulder pads. The one and main flaw in the rockumentary is addressing this all too common mindset. The retrospective needs Michael Bracewell and Peter York (who makes only a short and very fleeting appearance). First look at the period being covered, 1981 - 1990. There were enormous shifts from the turn of the eighties to the nineties, which saw different emphasis from German inspired electro pop (Kraftwerk/Gary Numan/OMD) and synthesizer music, new wave (Ian Dury & The Blockheads) and gothic punk (Bauhaus/Souxsie & The Banshees), to the rock contributions from The Police, U2, Simple Minds, Genesis and Dire Straits to name but a few. 1981 was the year of/for Adam & The Ants, the most commercially successful band of that year and do not get even a nod in this film. There is a glaring lack of musical context. The bands that were around at the same time were very different from their origins by the close of the 1980s. Ultravox was headed by John Foxx (who was great as a sole artist with Tidal Wave, There's No-One Driving), and Systems of Romance was a great album, before Midge Ure joined the band and John left. Ultravox later bringing us the mainstream classic 'Vienna' and other equally as palatable items. Human League had only men at the onset and two brilliant albums (Travelogue and Reproduction) before the split gave way for Heaven 17 and Phil Oakey got himself two gals. The sound of the early eighties was far braver, moodier, more doom laden and got lighter as the decade progressed. Musclebound, and To Cut a Long Story Short were part of the 'existentialist doom' songs which were the token thoughts to go with cold war ruminations, unemployment and the memories of endless dark nights brought about by power cuts. Later the music and the men would appear a great deal happier. Undoubtedly, the power of the band was the great vocal capability of Tony Hadley who has still one of the richest sounding male voices in show business, his contempories sounding like weeds in comparison without anything like his range and projection.

The connectivity between music, graphics and fashion is rightly made: there is a nod to Punk as an inspiration - with the (wrong) observation that it could never progress to anything as Punk was a statement without much room for development - Gothic Punk was a distinct derivative. This didn't mean that New Romanticism was the natural way for things to go…the connectivity between them is the DIY nature of the aesthetic. The look of punk could be emulated with safety pins and a bit of tartan strung together with some bondage straps. A bit of fabric swirled around the neck was all that an avid aficionado of New Romanticism needed to be part of the movement that could make one feel rich if money poor. The widespread nature of New Romanticism in that the bands that spawned it came from Sheffield, Manchester and London, whilst being inspired by/from Germany, is not really looked into. But the club origins (with wonderful footage) of Blitz in London (the precursor to The Camden Palace) are given the once over and we are introduced to Marilyn (the alternative cross dresser of the eighties to watch alongside Boy George) and commentary by Steve Strange, the man behind Visage/Fade to Grey and nightclub pioneer. Some of this footage is reminiscent of the documentary 'Paris is Burning' where the origins of voguing and the New York gay movement is focused upon as a synthesis of dance, posing, and clubbing. Here and there, the underlying feeling of seedy bedsit land is not very far away but this is merely brushed over. Make Up and exaggerated styling of New Romanticism allowed the gay movement a particular surge of acceptability and swagger in the 1980s which was marked in both music and film. The film really doesn't work as a cultural and social document for failing to note all of this. 

The 'Soul Boys' themselves were London lads par excellence and their origin as the spawn of the post war generation is however a delight where obvious personal 8mm archive of Dad's is used. There is a slight and significant leaning toward the Kemp brothers - which is hardly surprising as these two were the guys most of the female fans rooted for (especially Martin) and the entertainment background of these two is mirrored somewhat in the story of the Kray twins - with performance artists as forbearers in the backstory of both sets of London brothers.  It is absolutely no surprise that two of the troupe would go on to be Reggie and Ronnie Kray in 1985 in spite of the massive differences in appearance between Gary/Martin, Ronnie/Reggie. One key feature that comes over is the evident pride felt by all at working class roots and its influence in shaping the guys and the music. The working classes in England have always been the origins of the most interesting music and music movements with some rare exceptions, such as David Bowie, and Bryan Ferry who were marked early by their art school experience. The working classes are angrier and more defiant, more creative than the cosy and socially mobile middle classes and the stalwart loyalty as expressed by Gary to their roots is noted as is his nastiness and greed.

The other band members Tony Hadley, Steve Norman, and John Keeble with Martin staying sensibly neutral, took Gary to court with the sights on royalties for Spandau output, which Gary mostly wrote, but the others contributed to. The sense of sadness and devastation between the guys on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice is almost tangible, but no comparisons are made between the wranglings of this band and their contempories: the members of The Police (Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summer) couldn't stand the sight of each other by their split in 1984, but undoubtedly the band members were collaborators on the band stuff and soloists with their own careers. There is little evidence to suggest Gary could do much in terms of delivery without the rest of them, though it does suggest that Gary's ego was behind all bad feeling and negativity.  

The concert footage of 2010 and the Jonathan Ross Show appearance with them back together happy and smiling is great, but lacks the meat in the sandwich in terms of letting us know how they got from one place to another. Who did the consolidating, when and how is not really delved into much, if at all, though it is amusing on the set of the Ross show when JR makes it clear where he sits on the issue of the rest of the guys getting their just rewards. 'Soul Boys of the Western World' suffers from having a clumsy title with the reference being made to their sources of inspiration in developing soul, jazz and disco fusions which is adequately explained in the film to describe the evolution of their style but feels grandiose and nondescript as a name for the film. Their contribution to mainstream pop in Britain and on a wider stage in the 1980s was incredible, which was an indictment of the power of English Dandyism - which Peter York describes as one of the main tenants of New Romanticism and is as old as the hills as a form of expressionism and style. A contextual analysis of their place in music of a much derided decade, their change and development through that decade in style and compromise into mainstream would have made this a better document of the times, but it is still a satisfying way to spend three hours or so and is well worth the buck.


Reviewed by Gail Spencer.

Gods (Bogowie)

Director:  Lukasz Palkowski  2014.

This film is such a surprise heart wrencher and received a well-deserved whoop of delight from the West End audience that viewed it after a long wait in a cold autumn queue in Leicester Square. The audience was composed mostly of London's Polish population, however, from a British and film 'box-ticking' perspective - 'Gods' (Bogowie) bakes biscuits galore. 

We have an opener which is highly unorthodox with the main male lead - a exceptional performance by Tomasz Kot who plays surgeon, pioneer, and chain smoker Zbigniew Religa who may or may not have been as unfeasibly tall as the man himself, talking to us directly to camera. The actor claims that some of his own heart was left in the film and this is evident. He delivers a very non politically correct diatribe on the use of smoking in the film (which is as profound and noticeable as the use of cigarettes in Mad Men), and tells us that there was a deliberate allocation for the use of cut cigarettes to imply the real use of the fag as contemplative and tension release tool. This was deployed to add to the realism and the time in which the piece is set pre knowledge of the connection between smoking and heart disease. It may be controversial but it works and adds to the raw honesty running through the entire docudrama. 

This was a brave move and it pays off. The lead is just a joy, the cigarettes acting as hard in the plot as does the Lada/Skoda like green tin that he drives around the Polish countryside whilst pressing on, determined to go ahead with his gusty decisions.

There is a sense throughout that this could just as well be a film about a bootstrapping Start Up: defying all convention and mores in heart surgery in Poland, the high risk, high contention gesture of opening an independent surgery with a maverick staff with a limited budget could really be another story about a business, or plight of any type as the film is a 'triumph of the underdog' or 'rooting for the maverick' story. It could be Rocky or Jerry Maguire and follows the tradition of the high consciousness movie that has won hearts and minds (and Oscars) for decades though without the evident high production values of a mainstream Hollywood crowd pleaser bound for box office success and critical acclaim. No wonder as this was deliberately written, directed and played as a work of fiction. The director (Lukasz Palkowski) during the Q&A, in London's Vue cinema, let us in on this creative decision which was done purposely and the result is great. Let's hope that this little gem of a film finds its way away from the natural audience of Polish nationals and naturals the world over and is seen by critics and the world at large for being the utterly charming delight that it is. It fails to strike a dud note. 

As much as the mood and politics of the period is evident, it is never played upon or exploited. Moreover, the use of music is the time travel parallel which runs from Booker T and The MG's Green Onions to Kool and the Gang, the soundtrack and nod to western acknowledgement accompanies the surgeons that are working in Britain and the US feeding the international knowledge on the matter of heart transplants and their place in saving lives. So, in a time when there was still a distinct East/West divide, the sense of scientific collaboration is very much there. The surgeons chat about their placements in various nations and what they have done and learned. The fight between the orthodox against the unorthodox is never underplayed which we need always in stories of the brave going against the tide. Even the idea of the heart as the centre of feeling is given over but within the context of a genuinely frightened woman, unnerved by the prospect of the heart of another occupying a space in her husband's chest. The moral and clinical dimension over donating organs is put over very well and each failure is felt by the audience. By the time a patient survives into years, we are as pleased and proud of the main protagonists as they are themselves, the last we see of them though is at the aftermath of an attempt at life rescue with the participants sitting exhausted on the floor of the surgery with all attendant furniture appearing fresh and raw in blood, sweat and defeat from the recent hyperactivity. The calm is high volume and resonant.

Gods is on general but marginal theatrical release and has not as yet an Amazon reference so it is not clear if this film has DVD distribution, however if playing at a cinema near you, go see it. As satisfying a cinema journey as anyone would want as well as an uplifting experience.


Reviewed by Gail Spencer