A Dangerous Method (2012)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lblzHkoNn3Q

 

Dir: David Cronenberg

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen,  Keira Knightley

                David Cronenberg returns with a film adapted from a stage play about sex and psychoanalysis.

                Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) is a Doctor working in Psychoanalysis. He is delivered a patient Sabina Speilrein (Kiera Knightley), a disturbed woman who has deep seated problems with sex and arousal. Jung attempts to cure her with the ‘talking cure’, an early form of therapy. He also meets and strikes up a friendship with the father of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). However, their relationship falls apart as Speilrein comes between them.

                Cronenberg moves still further away from the body horrors, such as Videodrome and The Fly, which he started with and which made his name. Though there are no scenes of skin splitting, the film still carries some of his usual themes, such as the fascination with the body, just not in such a visceral way as before. The film has an interesting story to tell, with it concerning the great names in psychoanalysis who started off the practice which is now such a part of many people’s lives.  You’d think that this would lend itself to a very interesting and enlightening film as I imagine it is a part of medical history which not a lot of people know about. Unfortunately the film doesn’t really do anything with its subject matter.

                The cast all put in good performances. Fassbender and Mortensen are great as per usual and Knightley does well once you get past her accent and the beginning where she oddly shoves her jaw out like an ejecting cash register. The always great Vincent Cassel also turns up as Otto Gross, a man who believes that people should do what they like and who plants the seed in Jung’s mind to embark on an affair with Speilrein. The ensuing affair, which causes a rift in the bromance between Jung and Freud, never really creates the drama that you wish it should. The relationship between Jung and Freud is the more interesting one, their relationship coming undone not only because of the affair but because of Freud’s feelings towards Jung’s wealth and religion. However, we don’t get to see enough of it and for a lot of the running time, the two characters are separated.

                A disappointing film which should have been so much better and interesting than it is. Good performances appear but not much else. Makes you yearn for some more fluid splattered body horror.

3 out of 5 Buttons

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2012)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_k3wCsOgqk

Dir: Sean Durkin

Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes

                Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) goes to live with her sister and husband after she has fled a cult where she has been for the past two years. She struggles to adjust to the new life.

                Coming with festival buzz and awards, the film comes with high expectations particularly of Olsen who is stepping out of her sisters’ dwindling shadows to become an acting presence of her own. The film begins with Martha leaving a house in which she stays with a few other people and ending up at her sister’s house. We then find out what happened at the other house through flashbacks between her adjusting to the new life with her sister. There are some interesting points to see as Martha adjusts to a wealthier lifestyle which she is not used to, her sister’s life seeming empty to her. The flashbacks to the cult house are more interesting as we see slowly find out why Martha left. It is the cult which the most interesting part of the film and it is disappointing that we don’t get to see more of it. John Hawkes plays Patrick, the cult leader, well, showing how he manipulates his followers, playing on their own self esteem and fears. Elizabeth Olsen is as good as people are saying and it will be interesting to see what she does in the future.

                The problem with the film is that it doesn’t really do anything and doesn’t particularly build to anything despite the fairly interesting ending. You never really get a sense of foreboding or a sinister presence. Marlene reacts to a hired barman at a house party, saying she knows him, thinking him to be a member of the cult but we are never sure what she thinks is true; she is certainly a damaged girl. Though the film would never be a horror film, it never takes the premise of the possible lurking danger of the cult coming and finding her further. We get the idea that she is damaged but any paranoia that is brought up is undercut by her acting bored, hardly caring and certainly not someone who is afraid they could be taken back at any time. The same goes for the relationship between Martha and her sisters’ husband. Very slight hints are given that there is something strange going on but then nothing does, so any hints seems pointless. The running time went at a good pace and the film never outstayed its welcome but I was never particularly bothered about the characters so I was left cold at the end of the film.

                A film not without its interesting points but it isn’t as good as it could have been. Good acting but it is ultimately forgettable.

3 out of 5 Buttons

The Artist (2012)

 Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl7vP3ndik0

Dir: Michel Hazanavicius

Starring: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman

                The most talked about film since The King’s Speech finally arrives dripping with plaudits, nominations and awards. So is it everything that it’s supposed to be? Not quite.

                George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a big name actor in the silent film industry. Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) is a nobody hoping to become a star of silent movies. With the advent of sound, Peppy’s career takes off and George refuses to change with the times and his popularity plummets but a romance develops between them.

                The film is a love letter to the era of the silent film. It is certainly something different and lovely in a time where big action blockbusters make the most money of any film of the year and are held by the studios as their hottest properties. Hopefully it can open up the world of silent films to a new audience, bringing back the black and white classics of people such as Charlie Chaplin. Having the film silent and in black and white works and it’s certainly to be celebrated that Hazanavicius has managed to create a 100 minute film in this style which never seems to drag or to feel laboured. However, when the film ended, I didn’t feel like I’d just sat in the cinema and watched a film, it could have just been something on television.

                The acting is fine, everybody including the dog do perfectly well in their roles. I wouldn’t go as far as saying the performances are exemplary, the performances are all exaggerated as silent movie performances had to be, but this means they don’t stand up to other nuanced and better performances of recent times. Even the highly talked about dog is just a good performing dog and nothing more. The forming relationship between Peppy and George is effective and it’s lovely to see how the relationship develops. A shot of them passing on a stairway is well staged even if it is a little too obviously a staged image for their differing careers.

                It is a lovely and charming film and something different and original which is getting to be more of a rarity now.  It is certainly worth a watch but it is not the masterpiece that it’s been made out to be and I’m not particularly bothered about seeing it again.

4 out of 5 Buttons

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHBHMtl9YWw&ob=av3e

Dir: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Jared Harris

                Moving still further away from his Cockney gangster movie origins, Guy Ritchie brings us the sequel to the successful Sherlock Holmes.

                Detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) is on the case of his famous adversary Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris). His friend and detecting partner John Watson (Jude Law) arrives back for his bachelor party which leads to them meeting a mysterious gypsy (Noomie Rapace) and going in chase of Moriarty.

                The first Sherlock Holmes was a fun if flawed, action packed and crowd pleasing version of the classic Arthur Conan Doyle characters. I was hopeful that this sequel could match and improve on the original as a good sequel should. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite get there.

                The relationship between Holmes and Watson is still great, both actors seeming to have a great fondness for each other and a lot of fun. This time their relationship has a bit more Bromance to it, with Holmes still casting off Watson’s wife so that they can be alone together. Holmes wants Watson to be happy with his fiancée but he will miss his old companion. The film is still fun, the usual slew of wide reaching jokes and action bound to please many. Guy Ritchie still uses interesting visual techniques and shots, with fights playing out in Holmes’ head before then actually happening and a wonderful chase in a forest which manages to be visually exciting and interesting and a great set piece that makes you wish the rest of the film could have been as good.

                There just seems to be something missing. We come into the mystery when it’s already been tracked for several months and since we know who the villain is it’s not much of a mystery at all. Noomie Rapace’s gypsy, Madam Simza Heron, is disappointingly underused. She mostly just ends up leading our duo around and avoiding a lot of the action.

                The film is not a complete failure. There’s a lot to have fun with in it and it’s a nice distracting Friday night movie but you won’t be remembering too much of it in a couple of months time.

                A fun but flawed film which doesn’t surpass its predecessor. Hopefully the third instalment can break out to be the best of the lot.  

3 out of 5 Buttons

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVLvMg62RPA

Dir: David Fincher

Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer

 

Whenever an English language remake of an already good foreign film is announced it is met with numerous cries of ‘Why?’ This version of the popular novel of the same name was met with the same reception. Coming only a couple of years after the original, a film which was almost universally well received, it seemed like another pointless cash in for people who can’t be bothered to read subtitles. However, this one comes with one of the greatest living directors and an A list star and a script which has been formulated from the book, not just the previous film. This isn’t a remake from a young new director; it’s a new version of the book.

                Recently discredited magazine writer Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is asked by aging businessman Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to investigate the disappearance of his niece. Meanwhile, punk hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) is hired to investigate Blomkvist and seeks revenge against her new probation worker. Eventually Blomkvist recruits Salander to help him in his investigations.

                The film is beautifully shot, with claustrophobic colours whether they are the stark white landscape of the outside world or the dull yellows which take over the inside locations. Fincher has created another great film to add to his already brilliant oeuvre. The great cast all play strongly; with Daniel Craig managing to get away from his well known Bond persona, most obviously in a scene where he moans about a bullet graze on his head. Rooney Mara, here so different from her preppy look in Fincher classic The Social Network, plays Salander well, looking vulnerable but depicting the strong and damaged character that Lisbeth is. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross create another great score, even if it isn’t as good as The Social Network’s, and their version of The Immigrant Song sung by Karen O makes both the trailer and the opening credits brilliant.

                Fincher makes the right choice in keeping the film set in Sweden, moving it to American would have been a huge mistake as the Swedish landscape lends a cold oppressive atmosphere to the film. However, the cast put on Swedish accents while Craig speaks with an American one. Though not a major problem and certainly not one which will take you out of the film, it can be a little jarring at first. The film is strong in its own right and is certainly as good as the original. Changes to the last half hour also help it to stand on its own.

                The problem is not with the film. The problem is that it has come so quickly after the original. Though the script was written from the book it still means that the films hit the same major plot points. While still enjoying the Fincher version, throughout I was always trying to think how the original did it.

                A good film in its own right and just as good as the original, I just would have enjoyed it more had I seen it before the Swedish version.

4 out of 5 Buttons

Another Earth (2011)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8hEwMMDtFY

Dir: Mike Cahill

Starring: William Mapother, Brit Marling

                Rhoda (Brit Marling) is a promising young teenager, about to go off to MIT when she has an accident due to drink driving after her celebration party. While trying to see a new planet from her car window she crashes into a family, killing the mother and child. After spending some time in prison she comes out, depressed and directionless. She goes to apologise to the husband, John Burroughs (William Mapother), but loses her nerve and lies about her intentions and they end up striking up a relationship all the while a mysterious other earth has appeared in the sky.

                The film has a great premise in the appearance of another planet, which looks like earth, appearing in the sky. The film is at its most interesting when dealing with the potential ideas of the planet being a mirror image of earth or perhaps the earth from a parallel universe. Everyone has wondered what their life could have been if they had made different choices in life. This is the question that Rhoda is plagued with; could there be a different Rhoda Williams up there who didn’t ruin her life and the lives of others? Who fulfilled her potential and now leads the life she could have had? It is this question that leads her to submit an essay to try and win a ticket aboard a craft which will fly to the other planet. Rhoda and John argue over the trip, as John is so enveloped in his own pain and loss that he only sees the trip as another experience for pain.

                Unfortunately the film doesn’t fully realise the potential of its idea. A scene where a scientist attempts to make contact with the other earth and ends up talking to the other version of herself is both exciting and scary and more scenes like this would have been welcome. The film instead chooses to focus on the forming relationship between Rhoda and John and the tension that Rhoda will eventually have to come clean about who she really is. It is a well handled and played relationship but it is not anything original. The film could have been two films with the potentially better and more interesting one being the science fiction film which took the premise of another earth and attempted to realise its full potential, and the other being about the relationship between Rhoda and John. You end up wishing they’d been able to go for the bigger science fiction film rather than what they ended up with.

                A competent film with able performances from all and a great final shot but the film fails to capitalise on its interesting and ambitious premise, instead sticking too firmly in an unoriginal relationship. An interesting watch, but pretty forgettable.

3 out of 5 Buttons

Shame (2011)

 Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arD1Hmjlqag

Dir: Steve McQueen

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale

                The award winning artist and filmmaker, Steven McQueen, follows up his impressive debut Hunger with a film about sexual addiction.

                Brandon lives a comfortable lifestyle in a high level position of a successful company in New York. He is a handsome and charming man who woman are drawn to. He is also a sex addict. His routine and life are shaken when his sister comes to stay with him for a few days.

                The fantastic first scene firmly conveys Brandon’s character to the viewer. We first meet Brandon as he lies in bed and we see his daily routine intercut with an encounter on a subway train. Intercutting his mornings with a wordless interaction with a woman on a subway train, the film conveys people’s attitude and confliction with attraction and sex. Brandon stares at the woman who eventually notices his looks and is flattered. We take his point of view as he looks over her body. Over time we see the woman’s face change from mutual attraction to a picture of guilt and shame as we see the wedding ring on her finger. We see Brandon follow her, not deterred by the symbol of marriage, a man who just wants to have sex with her. A sex addict looking for gratification from a human being, no matter what the fallout.

                The film is a character study of a man living with a sexual addiction. It is wound into every part of his life and is always on his mind. He masturbates, hires prostitutes and uses pornography at home and at work. It is a realistic depiction of a person living with a sex addiction. It is not sensationalised or glamorised in any way. It is a part of his life that is worked into his routine, a part that he lives with. Brandon is a normal successful man, charming and kind and able to interact with people around him but part of his life is consumed by his addiction to sex. He is ashamed of it but, like most addicts, he is not able to overcome it, he can only live his life with it as part of him. In a world where sex addiction can be seen as a funny thing, something which a lot of people don’t see as real addiction, the film shows it for what it really is. Something which cannot be controlled but which can control lives; an addiction just as real as drug or alcohol addiction.

                Michael Fassbender, here working with Steve McQueen for the second time, puts in a wonderful performance, showing why he is one of the best actors working today. Brandon is a solitary man who keeps people at a distance, who isn’t able to sustain a relationship over a couple of months, always looking for the next woman to have sex with. In a brilliant scene we see him having a threesome, a typical male fantasy, and we watch as Brandon’s face turns into one of guilt and sadness at what he is. His relationship with Sissy, played well by Carey Mulligan, is a strained one. There are details to it and their past which are never explained but they do not have to be. They share a love for one another but they cannot be with each other. They are two different personalities which clash. Michael and Carey’s scenes play out with an undercurrent of unease as playful interactions can become aggressive. Sissy turns up and upsets Brandon’s routine and his life becomes even more strained, in danger of breaking the balance he has created.

The film is wonderfully directed and shot with several scenes consisting of one take which lasts over several minutes which are uncomfortable but exhilarating and illuminating. The score adds and lifts the film, working in harmony with the visuals and often bringing the scenes to an emotional and powerful crescendo.

Steven McQueen has created another great film with another great performance from Fassbender. It may be uncomfortable at times but it is always powerful and emotive. An engaging and fascinating look at an important topic which is too often overlooked. A brilliant character study that will stay with you long after you’ve left the cinema.

5 out of 5 Buttons

(Note: this was seen at an advanced preview with an interesting and informative Q & A with the director. Shame will be out in January 2012.)