Author: Bouquets & Brickbats

Under the Shadow

25/09/16

It is the 1980s and, in war-torn post-revolution Tehran, young mother, Shideh (Narges Rashidi), struggles to look after her young daughter, Dorsa (Avin Manshedi). Shideh’s husband, Iraj (Bobby Naderi), is a doctor, and when he’s called away to work at the front line, Shideh feels horribly isolated in her city apartment. She has long wanted to be a doctor herself but, because of her political activism whilst at university, she’s been banned from ever pursuing such a career. Indeed, she has to keep many things secret – even the fact that she owns a VCR on which she watches Jane Fonda workout videos – and naturally, like all women in the city, she can no longer be seen out on the streets without covering her hair with a hijab.

A near miss from an Iraqi missile, plunges her apartment block into turmoil and things get even more complicated, when neighbours start muttering about the presence of Djins – evil spirits, borne on the wind, that seek to take everything from their chosen victims. At first, Shideh dismisses the notion as superstitious nonsense but, as inexplicable occurrences begin to mount, she starts to believe that there may actually be something in the stories; and that one of the things these shadowy creatures wish to take from her is her daughter…

Under the Shadow uses all the tropes of the contemporary horror movie to tell its story – there are jump-cuts and scare moments aplenty here, all of them skilfully executed; but writer/director Babak Abvari’s assured story is quite clearly an allegory, one that relates to the oppressive situation that Shideh finds herself in, while the collapsing apartment building is clearly a comment on her own mental disintegration, as well as the country’s demise. If it reminds me of another film, it’s Roman Polanski’s Repulsion, where Catherine Deneuve goes through a similar process but, where she is alone, Shideh has her vulnerable daughter to worry about (a delightful performance from young Manshedi). As the slow-burning tale builds steadily towards its catharsis, the audience is drawn deeper and deeper into a world of mounting terror.

The intriguing conclusion eloquently points out that the impact of war and the suppression of individuality have a long-lasting effect on their victims. Abvari should be congratulated. He’s created a film that offers everything you’d expect in a successful horror movie… and a good deal more besides.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney

The Girl with All the Gifts

24/09/16

The Girl with All the Gifts is a zombie movie with a difference: we see events unfold from Melanie (Senna Nanua)’s point of view – and Melanie is a ‘hungry.’

Hungries are second-generation zombies and they seem different from the depraved creatures first infected by the virus. They can speak and they can learn – and, if Dr Caldwell (Glenn Close) is right, they can be used to develop an antidote that will save the human race. And this is where the tension lies: do we agree with Miss Justineau (Gemma Arterton), the teacher and psychologist, who says they’re children? Or do we side with Sgt. Parks (Eddie Considine), who believes they’re monsters?

We’re on Justineau’s side, of course; how can it be otherwise in the face of Melanie’s nature? Sure, she’s hungry for blood, and she might find it hard to curb her appetite, but she’s sweet and clever and vulnerable – and capable of love.

This is a fascinating film, ably directed by Colm McCarthy, a perfect allegory for regime change and its moral complexities. The dystopia is beautifully rendered: a complete vision of a ravaged London, with a dwindling number of safe places, a doomed effort to survive against the odds. The acting is uniformly impressive, and young Nanua shines among this seasoned cast; she’s certainly one to watch.

Okay, so there are a few plot holes: how can Justineau get food without breaking the airlock, for example? And how did that dog manage to stay alive for so long? The scenes where the first-generation zombies give chase all feel a little over-familiar for a film that’s this original. But overall it’s a resounding success and I highly recommend you watch it.

4.6 stars

Susan Singfield

Bridget Jones’s Baby

19/09/16

Okay, I’ll admit it: I don’t like Bridget very much. Admittedly, in 1996, when Bridget Jones’s Diary was a newly-published book, I thought it was an entertaining read. Helen Fielding has a sprightly style, and the humour is easy and accessible. The narrative of noble goal-setting and ignoble failure works really well. And so I read the sequel and then I watched both films. And I don’t think any of them are bad: they’re funny, well-made, appealing tales. It’s just… Bridget. She’s so bloody passive. And I know she’s a character, not a role-model, and I don’t expect a protagonist without flaws, but there’s so much of Bridget, she’s so ubiquitous a figure – and she really, really drives me mad.

In this latest outing, nothing’s really changed. It’s still slick and competent, still laugh-out-loud funny, still complacent with its privileged world view (where Bridget, a successful TV producer living in at least half a million pounds’ worth of property, is somehow presented as a sort-of failure, poorer than all her friends, playing Cinderella to her rich suitors). She’s forty-three now, still single, still waiting for life to happen to her – and she’s bored; the old gang can’t be relied on for company, because they’re all too busy with their kids. She tries hanging out with the younger Miranda (Sarah Solemani) instead, but soon lands herself in trouble: after two one-night stands, she finds herself pregnant. But who’s the father? Is it Jack (Patrick Dempsey), the billionaire dating guru? Or Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), the love of her life?

What follows is a sort of comedy of manners, and it’s adroitly done. Of course it is: look at the cast and crew. Renée Zellweger imbues Bridget with an understated warmth and likability, and Emma Thompson (as Dr Rawlings) is as sardonic and witty as you’d expect – she’s the best thing about this film. It’s an engaging and engrossing tale, and the payoff – if predictable – is worth the wait.

My advice? Watch it. Enjoy it. Try not to get annoyed.

4 stars

Susan Singfield

Tallulah

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18/09/16

Netflix’s filmic arm continues to grow in stature and Tallulah is a fine example of the kind of project they do particularly well. It reunites Juno’s Ellen Page and Allison Janney, in an absorbing and entertaining story about relationships. Page (who has complained that she struggles to find decent screen roles since coming out as gay, obviously knows a good script when she sees one – she executive-produced this film).

Tallulah (Page) is a rootless young woman, who lives in a van and drifts around America making ends meet by indulging in petty crime. Her boyfriend, Nico (Evan Jonigkeit) is however, beginning to miss the stability of his former home (he hasn’t been back there for two years) and suggests that they pay a call on his mother, Margo (Janney) an academic living alone in a luxury New York apartment after her husband left her and moved in with a man. Tallulah is less than keen on the idea and she and Nico have an argument. The following morning, Tallulah wakes to discover that Nico has walked out on her.

She promptly heads off to Margo’s apartment asking if she has seen Nico, but Margo sends her packing. Shortly afterwards, Tallulah has a chance encounter with Carolyn (Tammy Blanchard) a character who initially seems to have been created to illustrate a ‘how not to parent’ video. Carolyn has a hot date that night and enlists Tallulah (who she’s never met before) to look after her toddler while she’s gone – but Tallulah decides to take the little girl and heads back to Margo’s place…

Tallulah is a decidedly amoral character but Page invests her with great charm, hinting at the damage that was caused to her when she was abandoned by her own mother as a little girl; Janney meanwhile, is on terrific form as a prickly introvert woman who finds all relationships difficult – her clumsy attempt to seduce an amorous doorman is a delight. As the two women spend time in each other’s company, a powerful bond develops between them; but meanwhile, the police are investigating what is, after all, a kidnapping and it soon becomes apparent that things cannot end well for Tallulah.

This is a superior slice of drama, nicely acted, wittily scripted and directed by Sian Heder. More than anything else, it’s a film about women and their relationships – and it absolutely aces the Bechdel test. If you have Netflix, you really should check it out. If you don’t, this could be a valid reason to sign up.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

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17/09/16

New Zealander Taika Waititi’s last film, What We Do In The Shadows, offered (against all the odds) a refreshingly original take on vampirism – and the oddly titled Hunt for the Wilderpeople is another quirky and unusual film, set in the writer/director’s homeland. It tells the story of Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison), a troubled teenager in care whose unruly behaviour has pretty much exhausted the list of foster families prepared to give him a chance. In a last-gasp effort to find him a suitable home, he is placed with Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and her curmudgeonly husband, Hec (Sam Neill), who live in a shotgun shack in the middle of nowhere.

After initial teething troubles, Ricky takes a shine to Bella and, for the first time ever, his future looks promising – but then she dies unexpectedly and Hec isn’t slow to point out that having Ricky here was all his wife’s idea. Plans are set in motion to take Ricky back into care, whereupon, he heads off into the outback, determined to fend for himself – and Hec has little option but to go after him. After an accident obliges Hec to lay up for several weeks to recuperate, Ricky and Hec finally begin to bond…

The interplay between Neil and Dennison is a winning combination, delightful and often hilarious – while the succession of eccentric characters they encounter throughout the film adds to the fun, particularly Rhys Derby’s ‘Psycho Sam,’ a deranged hermit who spends much of his time disguised as a bush. Rachel House also shines as child services official Paula, determined to find Ricky and throw him back into care.

Okay, the film isn’t perfect – you can’t help wondering how Ricky can spend five months in the outback, living only on what he and Hec can forage, without losing so much as a pound in weight, for example – but the New Zealand locations are absolutely ravishing and there’s no denying that the tale is enough to reel you in and keep you hooked right up until the epilogue. Waititi’s decision to present the film as a series of chapters is also a nice touch. If you’re looking for something different from the usual Hollywood fare, this is a sure bet and the 12A rating means it’s suitable for family viewing.

4.5 stars

Philip Caveney

Blair Witch

15/09/16

In 1999, The Blair Witch Project was something of a phenomenon, a made-for-buttons movie that became a resounding success, both critically and financially. The pared back plot, the found-footage concept, the shaky-cam and the ingenious blending of the story with real life (fake news reports, the actors listed as ‘missing, presumed dead’ on IMDb, etc.) all combined to make a movie that felt – if a little ragged – at least original and compelling.

The same cannot be said for this 2016 reincarnation. Although ostensibly a sequel (Heather’s brother heads into the woods to search for his sister, taking along a group of friends, one of whom just happens – who’d have thought it? – to be a film student, making a documentary), it’s essentially the same story – but worse.

These adventurers have better technology than their predecessors (they’re definitely from the richer, privileged echelons of society, with student budgets that allow them to buy drones and tiny cameras with built-in GPS) but it doesn’t really help them – or us. The GPS doesn’t work properly in the haunted woods, the drone crashes – and we’re still left watching a load of blurry shaky images.

Where the original used the power of suggestion, showing little and leaving much to the imagination, this new movie shows us too much. The Blair Witch is far less scary when she’s visible, just a dime-a-dollar horror prop. And there are too many jump scares that are all the same: a loud noise, it’s getting closer, oh it’s you, please don’t do that! In fact, it’s repetitive all round. We don’t just run through the house once, we have to follow a second character in there too. And potentially interesting ideas are set up but then fade to nought (what’s the point of showing us Lane’s confederate flag if nothing else he does links back to it?).

It works on some levels: there is tension and a little suspense. The acting is fine. Some of it looks good. But, overall, this is one to miss. It doesn’t stand up to the original.

2.8 stars

Susan Singfield

Captain Fantastic

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14/09/16

The ‘Captain’ of the title is Ben (Viggo Mortenson) a former hippie who now lives off grid in the wilds of North America with his six children. There, he drills them in a hard and uncompromising lifestyle, equal parts physical exercise, reading quality literature and discussing philosophy. Living in homemade tipis, the kids hunt deer, make music and wait for their mother to return from the hospital. She’s been there for several months, suffering from a bipolar disorder.

But then some terrible news arrives. She isn’t coming back. In the grip of depression, she has committed suicide. Of course, there must be a funeral, so Ben loads the kids onto his trusty bus, “Steve”, and heads for civilization. But what will Ben’s kids make of the ‘real’ world? How will they ever interact with kids whose idea of ‘the wild’ is based entirely on what they’ve seen in violent video games.

This is an appealing, engaging film, wittily scripted by writer/director Matt Ross, and Viggo Mortenson excels in the lead role. Much of the humour here comes from the culture-clash between Ben’s feral offspring and the more sedate family members they encounter who cannot grasp what Ben has been doing with them. His major adversary is his father-in-law, Jack (Frank Langella) who clearly thinks he’s a prize asshole – which to some degree, he probably is, refusing to compromise on any of his dearly-held beliefs, even when he discovers that his eldest boy, Bo (a delightful performance from George MacKay), secretly longs to go to university, where he can experience something that he hasn’t merely read about in books.

If there’s a criticism, it’s that the family’s wild lifestyle is perhaps too romanticised. Occasionally, their day-to-day existence resembles an improbable Eden, where the worst thing they can encounter is scratching themselves on a rock. But that’s a minor niggle – on the whole, this is hugely entertaining from start to finish. It’s probably worth the price of admission, just for the scene where Bo plights his troth to a teenage girl he meets on a campsite, working from ideas he’s encountered in classic fiction, while Ben’s oration at his late wife’s funeral is another toe-curling highlight.

Catch this before it escapes back into the wilds.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney

Anthropoid

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11/09/16

Based on the true story of the WWII Operation Anthropoid mission to assassinate Nazi third-in-command Reinhard Heydrich, this is a hard-hitting film, which offers very little respite from the bleakness it portrays. It’s unflinching, forcing its audience to confront the awful brutality of war, the vile atrocities we commit in the name of patriotism or fear. And it’s quite difficult to watch.

It’s 1942; Jan Kubis (Jamie Dornan) and Josef Gabcik (Cillian Murphy) have been tasked with assassinating the Nazi leader of the protectorate, both to reassert the legitimacy of the exiled Czechoslovakian government, and as retribution for his harsh rule. Heydrich (who was also in charge of the so-called Final Solution) was clearly a hateful man, and this film focuses firmly on the victims’ experience; the Nazis are portrayed as a terrifying mass, with nothing to differentiate between them; they are uniformly evil. And that’s fair enough, I think; that’s how they would have appeared. I don’t imagine the people whose countries they occupied cared much about individual German soldiers’ situations, nor how propaganda and forced-conscription would have swelled the Nazi ranks. This film belongs to Jan and Josef, and the courage they and their tiny band of resistance fighters showed in taking on such a mighty foe.

The first half is slow and meticulous, focusing on the minutiae of living secretly and planning. Their developing relationships with Maria (Charlotte le Bon) and Lenka (Anna Geislerová) are subtly told, and the sense of imminent threat is ever present.

Once the assassination attempt is under way, the pace picks up, and the tension is unbearable. Indeed, the final battle is a fast-paced, relentless shoot-out, a bloodbath of the most ugly kind. No punches are pulled here. We see bullets rip through flesh. We see people being tortured until they lose all sense of who they are. But, ultimately, this is a tale of hope. Yes, human beings do terrible things. We can’t deny it. But other, better human beings will always try to bring them down. And, sometimes, they will succeed.

4.4 stars

Susan Singfield

Don’t Breathe

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Three disaffected youths, living in Detroit, (remind me to cross that off my list of potential holiday destinations), set out to rob the home of an elderly man rumoured to be in possession of a lot of cash. The youths in question are Rocky, (Jane Levy) who dreams of taking her little sister to California, the repellent Money (Daniel Zovatto) and the slightly more sympathetic, Alex (Dylan Minette), clearly along for the ride mainly because of his unspoken affection for Rocky. Getting in is a piece of cake, since Alex’s old man is a security guard who holds keys to various local properties – but once there, it quickly becomes apparent that this time, the trio have picked on the wrong house. It’s owned by ex-army vet ‘The Blind Man’ (Stephen Lang) who is nowhere near as vulnerable as his name might suggest.

As you can appreciate, you’re not exactly rooting for the main protagonists, so it’s to writer/director Fede Alvaraz’s credit that he manages to generate levels of almost unbearable tension throughout proceedings, as the luckless trio stumble around in the dark pursued by their seemingly superhuman ‘victim,’ unearthing several unexpected twists in the process. The Blind Man also owns one of the most terrifying dogs ever committed to the big screen – even the most devoted canine-lovers are going to flinch when he puts in an appearance.

Okay, so events do stumble on a little too long, even at a pacey one hour, twenty eight minutes, and there’s an unfortunate incident with a turkey baster that definitely leaves a bad taste in the mouth – but if the object of this exercise is to push an audience to the limit, Don’t Breathe largely succeeds in its humble ambitions. I left the cinema with my fingernails well and truly chewed.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Sausage Party

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08/09/16

In the colourful cartoon world created by Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill (and, it should be said, a whole bunch of other writers), the edible inhabitants of Shopwell’s supermarket have created a convenient myth for themselves – that when they are ‘chosen’ by shoppers, they embark on a journey to The Great Beyond, a paradise where they will be forever happy with their perfect partners. Frank (Seth Rogen) is one member of a pack of frankfurter sausages who longs to be lustily united with Brenda (Kristen Wiig) a shapely hot dog bun. (You’ll already have gathered that the minds behind this concoction are not reaching for anything too intellectual.) When a jar of honey-mustard is returned by a shopper (because he wasn’t quite honey and he wasn’t quite mustard), he terrorises the other inhabitants of the store with nightmarish tales of what he has witnessed – food being horribly tortured and mutilated before being devoured by humans – which sets Frank off on a convoluted quest to discover the truth about the Great Beyond.

Okay, so Sausage Party is an allegory about religion and the lies that people are prepared to swallow in order to make their existence tolerable – and, to be fair, there are a few clever scenes dotted throughout this film that hint at just how good it might have been if a little more thought had gone into it; but, unfortunately, such scenes are brutally nixed by the barrage of appalling racial, sexual and gender stereotypes to which the plot continually returns. It’s a case of one step forward, two steps back. No sooner have you enjoyed, for instance, the quite clever parody of Saving Private Ryan, than the script is offering some clumsy interplay between a Jewish bagel and a Middle Eastern lavash (that’s Armenian unleavened flatbread, in case you were wondering) that seems purely designed to offend religious sensibilities with its supposedly funny, lascivious er… climax.

Look, this was never going to be a masterpiece – it’s clearly something that’s been put together based on the ramblings of a couple of stoners (‘Hey man, imagine if this food we’re about to eat could talk!’) and, all things considered, it’s surprising that the end result is as watchable as it is. Those who enjoy their humour rude and obvious will doubtless laugh along with this – but its ambitions rarely take it any higher than a snake’s belly – and what can you honestly expect of a film that features a villain that is… quite literally, a douchebag?

And be warned. The central premise of this movie could easily encourage an eating disorder. This is a public service announcement. You have been warned.

3 stars

Philip Caveney