This Week's Watches
This week was a mixed bag, and unfortunately I had to sit through some real dross. Luckily though, I also watched one of my all time favourtie films, so it wasn't difficult for me to decide what my pick of the week would be, as it restored my faith in the power of cinema and allowed me to remember why I love movies in the first place.
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Starring: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska & Josh Hutcherson
Directed by: Lisa Cholodenko
Rating: ★★
The Kids Are All Right is about Joni (Wasikowska) and Laser (Hutcherson) the children of lesbian couple Jules (Moore) and Nic (Bening) who decide it is time to find out who their biological father is, and so through the sperm donation clinic, get in contact with Paul (Ruffalo), a restaurateur. The premise is very interesting, and the first half of the film is engaging and entertaining, and has some very funny moments. Unfortunately though, instead of focusing on what it would be like for every character involved in this situation, the plot quickly becomes a melodramatic soap opera, which really spoils everything that has been established and developed throughout. As soon as Jules decides to randomly sleep with Paul, it all falls flat, mainly because it makes no sense that she would do this, essentially because she is a lesbian, but also because it doesn’t seem to fit her character. This then makes the audience begin to raise questions about what her sexuality really is, which I found silly because the film then challenges it’s already established notions of sexuality and the movie shouldn’t be about that- it should have been about how the women coped as a couple and as mothers with the introduction of a male figure in their children’s lives. The fact that Jules cheats on Nic makes their relationship suddenly untangle in a really negative way, and I certainly don’t understand why Nic would take her back- I’m obviously not a lesbian, but if I was and my partner cheated on me with a man, surely that would be one of the worst things you could do to hurt them? But this issue is not addressed, which is just plain weird, and makes you suddenly dislike the couple and no longer care for them and their plight.
The acting is very strong from all the cast, with Moore and Bening giving excellent performances. It’s annoying really, because the film could have been first-rate, but sadly the weak and illogical second half coupled with the ambiguous and silly ending really spoils the fantastic opening. The Kids Are All Right is alright, but could have been so much more.
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
Starring: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson & Eric Bana
Directed by: Justin Chadwick
Rating: ★
Based on the very popular and sensational novel, The Other Boleyn Girl explores the (almost certainly) entirely fictional idea of Henry VIII getting it on with not only Anne Boleyn- but her sister too.
This film has some terrible problems- from the editing, to the acting, right down to the plot. Each scene begins and ends with a fade in/out- which gets tedious very quickly, and is very amateurish. The actors don’t seem to care about what they are doing- they look like they just turned up on the day, collected the script and are reading from it. I haven’t read the book, but the movies seems as if each chapter has been condensed to a single scene, and so the plot makes little sense, the characters are not developed and the whole thing just seems too over the top and unrealistic for it’s own good.
But the most strikingly appalling thing that I found was just how sexist the movie was. Not only did it paint Anne Boleyn as a scheming wench, and her sister as a flirtatious tease, it also glosses over the fact that these poor women are being literally sold as sex slaves to the Royal family and yet they are vilified for it. Even if Anne Boleyn was ambitious and did everything she could to become Queen, does that therefore justify her family flogging her off so that they can enjoy a better social status? And even if Anne Boleyn was an evil bitch does that mean she deserves to be raped? I’m no radical feminist or anything, but I feel that film (and the book) really miss the opportunity to make the women, who were being used as pawns in a very sick game, look like the victims that they probably were back then, but instead we have some stupidly ridiculous melodrama about everyone having sex with one another and enjoying it all. It’s just crazy! And in regards to Anne being the villain- I think it would have been a much stronger plot if her sister was the villain instead. Then, at the end, we would feel real sympathy for her when she is beheaded, instead of not really giving a crap. Another terrible plot hole was the fact that Henry VIII had a son with Anne’s sister but still abandoned it- which makes no sense as surely his only real drive was to have a son- and if he had had one, even illegitimately, he would have kept him around to make him the future king! But we are meant to believe that Anne has such manipulative power over him (which is never really explained fully) that she controls him and makes him abandon her sister and her child... Perhaps the book explains this nonsensical plot point better, but a film should definitely not rely on the audience having had read the book in order for them to understand it.
All in all, The Other Boleyn Girl was rubbish, and looked like it had been hacked to pieces and then clumsily glued back together again- it was just scenes strung together without anything making any real sense.
Pick Of The Week
Dark City (1998)
Starring: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt & Richard O’Brien
Directed by: Alex Proyas
Rating: ★★★★★
 |
| The Strangers and Dr. Schreber contemplate life... |
Dark City is such an amazing movie- I absolutely love it! Very rarely do I ever award a 5 star rating, but this film deserves it! The story centres on John Murdock (Sewell), who wakes up in a bath tub, unable to remember anything about who he is or what is happening to him, and quickly discovers the dead body of a prostitute and a realises that all the evidence points to him as the murderer. Convinced he didn’t commit this horrific crime, he goes on the run from both the police and a strange group of bald men who keep following him, seeking out his wife Emma (Connelly) and gaining help from a strange psychiatrist (Sutherland) to prove his innocence, and figure just who he is.
The film then continues to get better and better, with the help of some amazing CGI effects and an astounding plot that will blow your mind.
Everything works so well- the story, the directing, the editing and the sets. The film really does create the foreboding ambience of a menacing and unpredictable ‘Dark City’, by using stylistic features of 1950s movies, in particular the visual aesthetic of film noir, which makes the moody and creepy city an intimidating character in its own right. The rapid cuts make you feel confused and breathless; intentionally putting you in the empathic position of the protagonist, and the feel and texture of the surrounding environment makes you believe that the city is a real place. But even if you don’t care or know about the intricacies of film production and film theory, you will still enjoy becoming engrossed in the fast paced and involving plot.
All of the actors give good performances, except perhaps for Connelly who just stands around looking blank, but I can’t help but feel that they were strangely miss-cast (except for O’Brien, who knows how to play a crazy and creepy villain very well). Both Sutherland and Sewell work their hardest, but there’s something about Sewell that doesn’t quite connect, and as for Sutherland, they probably should have hired someone about 20 years older to play his twisted psychiatrist. But who cares! The film is so good that you can completely ignore these small distractions, and revel in the wonder and spectacle that it presents.
The ending is amazing and very clever, and once you put the pieces of the puzzle together and realise what is going on you are captivated by the ideas presented. Even once the film stops you are left thinking about the real meanings of the film, including identity and what it means to be human.
I tell everyone I meet to watch Dark City. If you haven’t seen it, watch it; if you have, watch it again! You won’t be disappointed! Funnily enough, it was critically hailed when it was released, but was not commercially successful, which just shows you that sometimes the critics do know what they are talking about!
Watch it as soon as you can!
0 Yorumlar