REMEMBER ME

US, 2010, 113 minutes, Colour.
Robert Pattinson, Emily De Ravin, Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Lena Olin, Gregory Jbara, Ruby Jerins, Tate Ellington, Kate Burton, Martha Plimpton.
Directed by Allen Coulter.

One of the reasons for making Remember Me is to provide a star opportunity to display Robert Pattinson on screen after his extraordinary success in the Twilight films. He had been in the Harry Potter films and appeared as Salvador Dali in Little Ashes. But, as Edward the gentle and chaste vampire, he had the sixteen and unders around the world swooning – and buying tickets (with two more Twilight books to be filmed).

He is better in this one than in the Twilight films.

This is a sad story which begins with a startling murder in the New York subway and ends with September 11th, 2001. 9/11 is certainly seared into the American consciousness and its remembrance is very emotional.

Robert Pattinson plays Tyler, aged 21, the disaffected son of a broken family, still grieving the suicide of his elder brothers to whom he constantly writes in his journal, a therapy for his sadness as well as an opportunity to try to understand all that happens to him. He is at college and shares shambles-looking digs with his loud-mouthed friend, Aidan (Tate Harrington). He loves his mother (Lena Olin) who has happily re-married and his 11 year old sister, Caroline, a lively young girl, bullied at school, but a talented budding artist (Ruby Jerins).

The principal difficulty is Tyler's father whom we first see sitting aloof with and from the rest of the family after a visit to the dead brother's grave. Charles Hawkins is the consummately business-oriented and obsessed wheeler dealer on Wall St who has no ability to demonstrate any deeper feelings who clashes with his son and seems to ignore his daughter. This is one of Pierce Brosnan's most telling performances.

In the prologue to the film, we have seen a young girl and her policeman father (Chris Cooper). She (Emilie de Ravin) has grown up and attends the same college, and some of the same courses as Tyler. In the meantime, Tyler and Aidan have got into trouble intervening to help in a street brawl and are arrested by the same policemen who hits Tyler brutally.

Here are the ingredients for a romantic story, a potentially tragic story, a story with tangled relationships of love, of family ties and tensions, of confrontations. And a sad 9/11 ending.

1. A theme of deaths, memories, consequences?

2. New York City, 1991, 2001? The city as a character? The many facets, the boroughs? The subway? Police precincts? The world of wealth? Ordinary homes? Universities, apartments? Offices? The finale and the Twin Towers?

3. The introduction and its tone, the mother and daughter at the subway, the hassle, the shooting, the mother dying, the daughter seeing it? The father and his role as the policeman, the investigator?

4. Tyler and Robert Pattinson, his brooding look, presence? His studies, coming to his twenty-second birthday, the memory of his idealised brother shooting himself on his birthday? Admiration and dread? His life, idle, study? The contrast with Aiden as roommate, his zest? The classes? Seeing Ally and noticing her?

5. His family, his mother and father divorced, his mother remarrying, the role of the stepfather in the family? Caroline and her strong character? The anniversary, the visit to the cemetery, the aftermath, the drink, the father and his reaction, impersonal? The family together, leaving? The father and his visits, absences?

6. The mother, her social work, care? Caroline and her art, being bullied at school, her plans for the exhibition?

7. Tyler and Aiden out, drinking, observing the fight in the street, the brawl, Tyler going to the defence of the man attacked, the police arriving, arrest, his time in prison? His father bailing him out? The encounter with Neil Craig? Aiden’s dare to date his daughter?

8. Ally, the meeting, going out with Tyler, attraction, the bonds, visits? Her story of the murder? Her father and his love for her, possessive, at home, wanting strict observance, permissions, her decision to move out, move in with Tyler, asserting her life?

9. The party for Tyler’s birthday, the dinner with his father, Ally going, the elite restaurant? The father and his approval of Ally?

10. Neil Craig, his harshness, his meeting with Tyler, Tyler and his having to confess the truth to Ally? Her dismay?

11. Caroline, her art, her father not at the exhibition, cutting her hair, everybody helping her after the attack, the reconciliation?

12. Tyler and his appointment with his father, going to the office, 9/11 and the tragedy?

13. The aftermath of grief, reconciliation, people going on with their lives?

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME

US, 2010, 116 minutes, Colour.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arturton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, Steve Toussaint, Toby Kebbell, Richard Coyle, Ronald Picker.
Directed by Mike Newell.

In terms of colourful action, Prince of Persia elicits a number of 'Wows'! If you want action, you've got it, in exotic settings with plenty of special effects.

It has been produced by veteran Jerry Bruckheimer, well-known for many a slam-bang show from Top Gun, Con Air to the Pirates of the Carribean franchise. This one looks as if somebody made him a bet that he couldn't produce a movie that was almost all action (with a few conversations here and there which do not really halt the momentum at all). He has won the bet.

We are back in the Persian Empire with the rule of a powerful king (Ronald Pickup) who relies on his younger brother for support and loyalty (Ben Kingsley). He has two sons but is impressed by the derring do and challenge of a young orphan in the marketplace and adopts him as his son. Right from the start we see Dastan, the boy (who grows up to be Jake Gylenhaal) running, jumping, leaping, bouncing, somersaulting, swinging. Director Mike Newell said that Gylenhaal spent weeks rehearsing all these moves and stunts doing a number of them himself but still letting the stunt doubles get plenty of action. (One distraction, however, Gylenhaal's accent seems as if it has been dubbed in a Jude Law vein with a touch of Michael Caine.)

The King wants to confront a sacred city to investigate their loyalty or whether they were making and shipping arms to enemies of the kingdom. The armies invade, prepare for a siege, but Dustan uses his wits and his athleticism and in no time has entered the city, opened the gates, poured boiling oil on the defenders. It is all breathtaking stuff – and we are probably more out of puff than Dustan is.

In the city there is a princess (Gemma Arteton), guardian of a dagger that has mystical/magical powers and can reverse time – which comes in handy at a number of times of danger, and is most useful for the ending.

When the king dies burned, by a poisoned cloak, Dustan is blamed, so that leads to lots of trekking though the desert, lots of chases, encounters with a Sheikh who calls himself an entrepreneur (and has all the funny lines, delivered humorously and lightly ironically by Alfred Molina). He has a servant from the Sudan who is the quickest with knife throwing, and he comes in handy many a time and for the climax.

By this stage, we might think that action might let up and the conversations get a bit longer and more frequent, but they don't. There is really only one kiss between Dustan and the Princess, so very little time wasted on romance.

Treachery, deceit, plots, more chases and, with echoes of Indiana Jones and the National Treasure films, caves with traps, fire, erupting sand and even more heroics.

Yes, it is a lavishly produced adventure (even with some literal cliffhangers, especially at the end) of the Boys' Own kind (which may be a bit too junior macho for a female audience) but it is exciting and entertaining matinee material for any time of the day or night. Older audiences might be reminiscing about those b-budget adventures from the 1950s with Tony Curtis, Victor Mature and Piper Laurie. The Prince of Persia is much the same only larger, longer, pacier.

1. A satisfying Boys’ Own adventure? Action and pace?

2. The basis in a video game, the transition to a story, to a screen narrative?

3. The exotic aspects, the Persian empire, the desert, the armies, the cities, sacred sites, the sheikh’s village, secret caves?

4. The Moroccan locations and atmosphere? The special effects? Stuntwork?

5. The musical score, atmosphere? Pageantry?

6. The theme of lives linked, destiny? Magic?

7. The voice-over, the explanation of Dastan? The trouble in the streets, the king and entourage passing by, Nizam and his support of the king, the sons? Dastan defending the young boy, the elaborate chase, dangers, athleticism? The king impressed and adopting Dastan?

8. Dustan growing up, the serious sons, Dastan and his wrestling, summoned to the king, the bonds between brothers and loyalty?

9. The sacred city, the reports, the discovery of weapons? The king sending his son? But not to attack? The siege, the advice, Nizam and his wanting the attack? Dastan and his superseding orders, infiltrating, the arrows, the ladders, the athletics, the boiling oil, opening the gate, success?

10. The battle to enter the city, the princess, her sacred status, people in attendance, the sacred dagger and its secret? Tus and his proposals to the princess? The threats? Wanting an alliance? The princess seeing Dastan with the dagger?

11. Dastan, the fight with the princess’s attendant, getting the dagger? His attraction to the princess?

12. The king, anger at the attack, trying to make peace, the gift of the coat, his death? Dastan accused because of offering him the coat? His escape, taking the princess, the dangers?

13. In the desert, fleeing, the various chases? Thirst, the two arguing? The decision to go to his father’s funeral? Hidden, in the city, the contact with Nizam, trusting him, meeting him, the treachery and the truth?

14. Sheikh Amar and his followers, Seso and his skill with blades? The stories, the princess, the sheikh and his greed, the ostrich races, the confusion, the escape? His reputation? His jokey style?

15. Dastan and his plea to his brothers, not believed, the various fights, Nizam and the revelation? Tus believing Dastan?

16. The dagger, the sands, the visuals of Dastan going back in time, returning to the present? The princess as the guardian of the dagger? Nizam and his wanting it to have power, to reverse his relationship with the king, to kill him as a boy – and the flashbacks to the story of Nizam saving his brother from the lion? The mission to return the dagger to its place and prevent Armageddon?

17. Nizam, his treachery towards his brother, his hiring the assassins?

18. The assassins, the visuals, the pursuit, the fights, the danger, Dastan eluding them?

19. The finale, the cave, fire, sand, the cliffs? Seso and his restoring the dagger? Nizam’s death?

20. Minimal romance, quips, the kiss, the self-sacrifice?

21. The restoring of order, no siege, the betrothal of Dastan and the princess, her not quite remembering? The restoration of empire?

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE

US, 2010, 99 minutes, Colour.
John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Crispin Glover, Lizzy Caplan, Chevy Chase, Collette Wolfe.
Directed by Steve Pink.

No, this back to the future for middle-aged men who are louts or wish they had the chance to be louts, is not as funny as the title might suggest. 2009 saw a film in this vein, The Hangover, which (despite ourselves and the characters' shenanigans) we could find quite a laugh-aloud comedy.

We are introduced to three forty-something men whose lives have been lived in regret, especially since a holiday they had in 1986 at a ski resort where a good life seemed possible. One of them has taken an overdose, maybe deliberately but he does not seem to have any grasp on life which might had led to his making any decision one way or the other. His friends, who have drifted away from each other, get in touch and decide to help him by taking him back to the resort. The nerdish nephew of one of them goes along too.

The resort has gone downhill and Back to the Future's Crispin Glover, is a one-armed bell-hop with attitude. The only consolation seems to be a hot tub, presided over by Chevy Chase. When they spill an energy drink (what a way to initiate time travel in a hot tub!), they are back in 1986, ready to re-live that important day and then get back to the future.

But, unless you enjoy the broadest humour, with accompanying body function, language and crass jokes, you will be straight-faced most of the time. They do re-live the past. Something better than what they did is possible as is a wish-fulfilment happy ending.

John Cusack seems out of place in this kind of film (letting the lout out of him but with restraint). Craig Robinson is quite genial. And Rob Corddry is the epitome of gross crassness (or crass grossness), but, it must be said, he does it with full steam ahead and persuasively.

Every review will probably mention the funny sequence when Craig Robinson telephones his 9 year old future wife and upbraids her for what she will do. If only the rest were as inventive and funny.

1. The intended audience? Middle-aged males? The raucous audience? A successful entertainment for the intended audience?

2. The title, expectations, the tongue-in-cheek tone? Chevy Chase as the manager of the hot tub, from the 80s, his appearance, advice, the solution?

3. The time travel, from 2010 to the 1980s, the nostalgia for the 1980s – or not? The perspective on the 80s, people, behaviour, clothes, music, morals? The comparisons with the present?

4. The introduction to the central characters: Adam, the marriage break-up, his grief? Lou, his raucous behaviour, the attempted suicide? Nick, his sense of failure, music, his job? The focus on the nephew, Jacob, his being online, the nerd type? His relationship with Adam?

5. The decision to help Lou, the phone calls, meeting up again, rescuing him, the hospital?

6. The decision to return to the holiday resort of the 1980s? The travel, the interactions of the four? Male banter? The language?

7. The resort, the changes, rundown? Their going to the hotel, the irony of the man with the bags, the lack of arm, his surly attitude, the tip?

8. The hot tub, the drink, the spilling, going back to the 1980s?

9. The 1980s, appearances, style? The jokes about Michael Jackson being black? The jokes in using contemporary terms, references to email and people not understanding?

10. Attitudes, behaviour, sexuality and relationships?

11. Adam, his appearance in the 80s, his hopes, student? The relationship with Jenny? The break-up and her attitudes? Better breaking up with her? The encounter with April, the rock journalist, their discussions, the possibility of a relationship, her leaving, the hope of keeping in touch?

12. Lou, his over-the-top behaviour, language, jokes, bodily functions? Raucous? With the women? Meeting Kelly, the clashes with her? The encounter, discovering that Jacob was his son?

13. Nick, the music, his appearance and hair, performing on the night, the Black-Eyed? Peas song, success?

14. Jacob, shyness, the girls, his anxiety about getting back, the search for the drink?

15. The toughs, their attitudes, their controlling the resort? Policing? Their fighting with Lou, the memories of the past, Lou getting knocked out yet again? The others forgetting to come? The final confrontation, the fight, the soft drink?

16. The curator of the hot tub, his advice, the drink, getting them back?

17. Back in the present, the happy ending, Adam and April together, Lou having decided to stay in the 80s, becoming rich with his computer knowledge, music production? With Kelly? Nick, a record executive?

18. The idea – and the execution? The intended humour – and the lack of humour (except for such scenes as Nick ringing his future wife at nine years old and her dismay at what she heard – and then recalling the telephone call)?

TRIOMF

South Africa, 2008, 118 minutes, Colour.
Vanessa Cooke, Paul Luckhoff, Lionel Newton, Eduan Van Jaarsveldt, Pam Andrews.
Directed by Michael Raeburn.

Triomf is a very ironic title for a film which makes for very (very) uneasy watching.

Triomf, which is based on a novel by, is the name the apartheid government gave to a black township, Sophiatown, which was razed to the ground in the 1950s and the black inhabitants relocated (somewhat akin to the 2009 science-fiction story, District 9). Poor white families were settled in Triomf (no triumph here) where they lived on the outskirts of Johannesburg, poor, ignorant and inbred.

However, the setting for this film is 1994 just prior to the first elections which brought Nelson Mandela and the ANC to government. We are introduced to a middle-aged mechanic at work who observes (with some disdain) the singing, dancing and cheerful shouts of the local black population anticipating victory in the elections. He trudges home, enabling us to see Triomf, which does not look so bad on the outside, but is depressingly ugly inside. The family looks like those isolated hillbilly folks in the southern US who are often the characters in horror slasher films.

As the film proceeds and we get to know Pop, Mol, Treppie (the worker we first see) and the younger Lambert. They live a gross kind of life, slob style and some shock scenes, especially with incest. We later learn that the family secrets are even more gross. The acting, with dialogue in Afrikaans and English, seems odd, to say the least, and sometimes with a touch of caricature.

In fact, you feel in need of a wash after viewing the film.

By the violent end (within the family, not with the black neighbours), we realise that this is offered as an allegory of the decline of the presumptions, racial, religious and political, of the oppressive whites, their decay and their passing as a new South Africa emerges.

1. A South African perspective on apartheid and the 1990s? As a straight narrative? As an allegory?

2. The Johannesburg settings, the edges of the city, the 1990s, the poor whites, the blacks and the change after the fall of apartheid, the anticipation of the election? The musical score, the South African songs?

3. The impact for the audience? The disgust with so many of the issues? The characters and their behaviour? The pessimism? (And the performances, realistic of caricatured?)

4. Triomf as the area of Johannesburg, its being razed to the ground in the 1950s with the declaration of apartheid, the transferring of the black inhabitants? The rebuilding, the poor buildings? The lack of opportunity for the white inhabitants? The Afrikaner descent? Their attitudes towards the blacks? Faced with the election?

5. The initial focus on Treppie, his work, his appearance? Watching the black Africans, the campaigning, the singing? The newfound freedom and expression? His walking home, his encounter with Sonny? Going home, the introduction to the family?

6. The portrait of the family: Mol, her appearance, age, relationship with Pop, with Treppie? Her relationship with Lambert? The squalor of the house? Appearances, clothes? The way of life? Slapdash? Mol and Pop at the television, the concern about Lambert and his fits, the experience of the fits? The sexuality, Mol and Lambert and the crudity? Treppie and his observations? The preparation for Lambert’s birthday? Coinciding with the election?

7. The revelation of the truth about the family, brothers and sisters, the incest? The consequences of this inbreeding?

8. Cleo, Lambert preparing for her, Treppie building up the image? Tidying the house, the preparations, the food and drink? Cleo and her offhand manner? Boredom? Her reaction to Lambert, his talk, her wanting him to stop? The avoidance of the sexual encounter? His violence? The Coca-Cola?, the drinking? His overpowering her, her getting the keys, the escape? His having a fit? His family finding him?

9. Sonny, the visit, buying the gun, Lambert and the money? His playing with the gun? The bullets? His having the gun at the end, the confrontation with Treppie, wounding him? Killing Pop? Killing Treppie? The violent end to the family?

10. The family and the outings, Pop and Mol in the car, their joining the people dancing in the streets, their enjoying it? Going for the picnic at the top of the hill? Treppie and his reaction, sullenness?

11. The character of Mol in hindsight, a woman depressed, living in ugly conditions, relationship with her brother? Pop, seemingly genial, the potential for good? Treppie and his bitterness, his work? Lambert and his being spoilt?

12. The overall impact of the film, insights into South Africa – via a family living on the margins, facing more oppression? The change of attitude after the elections and the new South Africa?

CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH

China, 2009, 132 minutes, Black and white.
Ye Liu, Yuan Yuan Gao, Hideo Nakaizumi, Wei Fan.
Directed by Chuan Lu.

Winner of the SIGNIS award at the San Sebastian Festival, 2009.

This fine film provided two of the most gruelling hours I have spent watching films.

In recent years, there have been a number of films dramatising the Japanese Imperial Army's attack on Nanking in 1937, the subsequent siege and massacres (and the short-lived safety zone), sometimes referred to (and the film reminds us of the literal reality of this) as 'the rape of Nanking'. Officials and leaders left the city which served as the capital of China. Soldiers of the surrendering army were slaughtered. Women were taken and raped, supplementing the work of the 'comfort women' imported from Japan for the soldiers. The callous attitudes of the occupying forces were both cavalier and brutal.

Personally, I was glad to have already seen the German- Chinese co-production, John Rabe, which offered a stronger narrative background to the events as well as dramatically delineating key characters. The film featured Ulrich Turkur in a fine performance as John Rabe, the longtime German representative of the Siemens company in Nanking. As a loyal German, he was a member of the Nazi party – which linked him with the Japanese invaders. However, he was a man of compassion and, after international discussions in the city, he undertook the establishing of a safety zone which was, for a time, honoured. The film's cast included Daniel Bruehl, Steve Buscemi and Anne Consigny.

The same characters are seen, sometimes rather sketchily, in City of Life and Death, but the overall communication of the film is less by narrative than by graphic depictions of events (at times disturbingly graphic) with a cumulative effect rather than a story which proceeds by cause and effect. It is like a dramatic installation which would enable a viewer to spend as long as they wished contemplating one story before moving on to the next.

The film was shot in black and white, at times with newsreel immediacy, taking the camera and the audience into the middle of the action.

The Chinese are portrayed as the victims of terrible imperial hubris and unlimited cruelty. The Japanese are presented as militarily and culturally barbaric, the ordinary soldiers moving from sadistic treatment of prisoners, abusive treatment of women, and then being just ordinary men doing ordinary things. It is alarming how human beings can move so easily from despicable behaviour to 'normal' behaviour and so quickly and unreflectively.

The film-makers have included, however, along with recognisable characters like John Rabe, the Chinese assistant to Rabe, Mr Tong, and his family, Miss Jiang, translator and liaison, the international characters, a focus on a Japanese soldier, Kadokawa, who participates in the Japanese domination but who begins to question commands, is repelled by some of the behaviour and comes to a final tragic realisation of what has happened to the Chinese, to the Japanese invaders and to himself. While the frustration of John Rabe, the sad story of Mr Tong and his wife and child, the decisions that the young women have to make to save the bigger group are emotionally harrowing, this more sympathetic portrayal of Kadokawa is presented with a generosity of spirit by the Chinese towards the Japanese.

This is a compelling film that highlights one of the messages of the aftermath of war, 'lest we forget'.

1. Chinese history, the 1930s, the siege of Nanking? The role of the Japanese, the invasion, the imperial army, the cruelty? The number of films about the episode in Nanking?

2. Chinese storytelling, episodic, less causal and plot-driven, the characters in this context, individuals in a social context?

3. The impact of the black and white photography, the news footage, the effect of black and white rather than colour, taking the audience back into the past, sense of history, the film as a record, documentary-like, realism?

4. The title and the experience of Nan King, 1937-38?

5. The background of the Japanese invasion, Japanese imperialism of the 30s, targeting China? The ideology of supremacy? The forces, the vast imperial army? The advance, the attack, the harshness and the massacres, individual and group cruelty? Occupying Nanking? Callous attitudes? The personnel, their executing the soldiers, the violence and torture? Then relaxing and playing? Buying things in the city, the role of the comfort women, the local women? The ruthless officers and their decisions? The episode of the dance of celebration?

6. The focus on one Japanese individual, Kado Kawa? Ordinary, educated in a church school, his reaction to shooting the civilian? His sense of values? The screenplay picking him out, a more sympathetic Japanese – and the response of a Chinese audience? Kado Kawa’s experience, of orders, of cruelty? His friends and the other soldiers, seeing him in his ordinary life with them? The comfort women, the sexual episode, his infatuation with the prostitute, her not remembering him? The impact of her death? His observing people, the cruelty, change of attitude? Participation in the dance? The aftermath, setting the civilians free, contemplation – and his suicide?

7. The Chinese government fleeing from Nan King, the majority of the soldiers being killed, others being sheltered in the Safety Zone? The Safety Zone and John Rabe and his appeal to the Japanese authorities? The permission? The strict supervision and limits? Rabe and his background, working in China for so long, belonging to the Nazi Party? His wife? The other members of the international group? Hitler asking Rabe to return? The soldiers in the Zone, the schoolgirls? His leaving for Germany, Mr Tang and his support of him, loyalty, trying to get Tang his freedom, Tang’s wife?

8. Tang, symbol of Chinese loyalty, working for the company? His character, his wife and sister-in-law, their going with the comfort women? His daughter being killed in front of him? The Japanese ruthlessness? His leaving with Rabe, his wife, giving up his life for the Chinese officer, his being taken away, dignity in execution?

9. The range of women, the Japanese demand for a hundred? The volunteers? Their going to the Japanese, the cruel behaviour, some deaths? The volunteers returning?

10. Miss Jiang, caring for the schoolgirls, the Japanese soldiers and their advances on them? Her work as a translator? The surviving soldier, with the boy, being taken away for execution, his appeal to her? Her being shot?

11. The visuals of the cruelty, the officers, the massacres, the soldier and the boy and their surviving? Hiding in the Safety Zone? The examination by the Japanese officers – and those relegated for execution?

12. Japanese ruthlessness, the Chinese not wanting to forget this episode in their history?

COW (DOU NIU)

China, 2009, 105 minutes, Colour.
Huang Bo, Yan Ni.
Directed by Guan Hu.

The Cow is yet another film made by the Chinese about the Japanese invasion of the 1930s. The focus is on Huang Bo who plays a simpleton in a village. The villagers have been massacred but the man has survived, along with a cow. He survives the Japanese occupation. He eventually hides in the hills – for years until he is found by the locals after Mao’s revolution. However, he is more at home alone with the cow in the hills.

Interestingly filmed, interestingly structured with flashbacks, the film is another angle on the effect of the Japanese and their presence in China at the crucial time of the 1930s. This was a theme of such films as John Rabe, City of Life and Death, Forever Enthralled.

1. The legend of the cow? The facts? The Chinese tone of the legend? World War Two? Universal appeal?

2. The re-creation of the war, the Japanese invasion, their cruelty, massacres, the Resistance? Chinese memories of this period?

3. The role of the Red Army, the confrontation with the Japanese, during the war, the aftermath? After 1949?

4. The locations, the village (reconstructed for the film)? The buildings, bombed, the contrast with the countryside, the mountains and the snow? The musical score? The songs?

5. The different times in the structure of the film: the present, with Niu? His waking, surviving, with his own cow, the shock, coming across the mass grave, search for anybody surviving? The discovery of the cow – and its ominous bursting out of the brick building? The milk? The arrival of the refugees, the exploitation of the milk, attacking Niu, wanting to kill the cow for food? The Japanese arrival, Niu eluding them, eventually taken, at the point of execution, the arrival of the Resistance, saved? His wandering with the cow over the years? The cow and the 8th Army, the certificate, allowing him ownership?

6. Niu as a character, simple, his love for Jiu, wanting to marry her, the responsibility of looking after the cow, her death, taking her bangle from the grave?

7. The flashbacks, life in the village, the leader, the issue of the cow, the donation from Holland, responsibility, the red bean amongst the others, Jiu finding it, giving it to Niu? Jiu and her outspokenness, newcomer to the village, her care for Niu, the Japanese, her death?

8. Jiu as a character, the outsider, loud, a woman in this village, her interactions with the men, the other women, the cow?

9. The cow, large, disguised during the war? The foreign gift? The milk, the blood? The cow’s survival?

10. The final images of the newsreel, Holland and its gift of the cow?

11. A Chinese morale-boosting fable?

LO SPAZIO BIANCO (THE WHITE SPACE)

Italy, 2009, 99 minutes, Colour.
Margherita Buy.
Directed by Francesca Comencini

Lo Spazio Bianco is an emotional Italian film written and directed by Francesca Comencini (daughter of celebrated Italian director Luigi Comencini).

The film is about a woman in midlife, played expertly by Margherita Buy. When she becomes pregnant and gives birth prematurely, it has a strong psychological effect on her life, and her relationship with other people, especially a sympathetic friend played by Gaetano Bruno.

The film is very Italian in its style, its emotions very strong – despite the fact that the central character has to appear as emotionless. The film is interesting in its presentation of Italian views on family, pregnancy, childbirth and the care for children.

1. A film of human values? Motherhood? Children?

2. The Naples setting, the feel of the city, the locations, the detail? The people? The apartment, the various locations for the school, the hospital?

3. The musical score and the songs?

4. The title, pregnancy, the three months, the birth of the baby?

5. The portrait of Maria, the presence of Margherita Buy? The opening dance, Francesca and the baby, the apartment and the ants, the classes and Fabrizio, Gaetano and his work, the people in the class? The magistrate next door, inviting her to a meal, the solution for the ants, smoking on the roof and discussing? Going to the movies, the encounter with Pietro, his child, crying during the film? The ending of the film? The beginning of the affair? Her strong character, alone, work, resisting change, falling in love, reckless?

6. The affair, the transition to the scan, Pietro not wanting anything to do with her, the hospital, the transition quickly to the incubator? The later flashbacks of the birth?

7. The consultants, the doctors, the nurses? Her interactions with the nurses, her impatience? The limitations of the doctor and the nurses, on advice, on what would happen?

8. Her waiting, the emotions, the medical information, watching the child, the tests, going in daily to sit with the baby? Appreciating the time? The fears? Sharing with Fabrizio?

9. The variety of mothers, their attitudes towards their children, the waiting room, the explanation about the young woman with twins and bad luck, Mina (**or meaner?), discussions, gradual growth in friendship? The reassurance? The picnic and the joy?

10. The doctor, Maria’s reaction to him, the information, the affair, his help?

11. The group in the class, Fabrizio and his devotion, work, urging her to return, the variety of venues, Gaetano and his limitations? The visit to the woman who had withdrawn from classes? The rehearsal for the exams, going to the exam?

12. The audience having time to think about the situations with Maria, share her attitude, criticise her attitude, understand the situation of the premature baby? Literally waiting for it to be reborn from the incubator?

13. The magistrate, her story, her separation from her children, Maria seeing her on the television, the collapse of the case?

14. The day of the birth, going to the exam, walking to the hospital, the flashbacks of the birth, Maria holding the baby?

15. Strong themes of life, motherhood, maternity? Audience empathy with Maria and with the situation?

THE SIGN OF FOUR

Canada, 2001, 90 minutes, Colour.
Matt Frewer, Kenneth Welsh, Sophie Lorain, Marcel Jeannin, Michel Perron, Edward Yankie.
Directed by Rodney Gibbons.

This is a very straightforward presentation of Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four. It was directed by Rodney Gibbons who directed a series of Holmes films with Matt Frewer as Holmes and Kenneth Welsh as Doctor Watson. The success of the films depends on one’s tolerance of Matt Frewer’s interpretation of Holmes, a vain man, eccentric in his manner and delivery. Kenneth Welsh, however, is a standard and very acceptable Doctor Watson. One of the difficulties is that the Canadian performers are striving far too hard for their British accents and Michel Peron as Inspector Jones has a kind of conglomerate Scots- Welsh- English accent. Marcel Jeannin actually plays two brothers, twins.

For a better presentation of The Sign of Four, the film of the same name starring Ian Richardson is far, far superior.

1. The popularity of Sherlock Holmes stories? The many film versions?

2. The Canadian production, the performers? The intended humorous style in presenting Holmes as eccentric and vain? Doctor Watson as more staid and traditional? How well did this work?

3. The re-creation of 19th century London, Baker Street and the flat? The streets, the docks, the river? The atmosphere, costumes and décor? Music?

4. The prologue, India, small and the confrontation with the Indian ruler, killing him, robbing him? Imprisonment? The plan to get the treasure to England?

5. Miss Morston, her story, the jewels, the message from the twins? The story of Sholto? Her own father and his connection with Sholto and Small?

6. Holmes, Matt Frewer’s interpretation? Non-traditional? His boredom, wanting something to do? His monograph on tobaccos? Doctor Watson and his ordinariness, the straight man to Holmes’ eccentricities? The visit of Miss Morston, her story, Watson’s infatuation? Holmes’ suspicion?

7. The Sholtos, the death of the father, the obituary? Their going with Miss Morston to visit the twins? The dead twin? The live twin? His concern, the treasure? The attraction to Miss Morston?

8. Holmes, his investigations, getting his young men to scout the city, find the boat? His own visit to the boat-owner’s wife and getting the information? The issue of the poisons? His going to research?

9. Inspector Jones, his stubbornness, his dislike of Holmes, his thwarting him? Getting the information about the boat, his going to the wharves, the young men and their upsetting the cart?

10. The imprisonment of Sholto, Holmes and his plan to find the killers?

11. The build-up to the confrontation, Small and his wanting to escape, his Indian helper, the poison? The police, the shootout? Watson and the poison dart? The apprehension of Small, the treasure at the bottom of the Thames?

12. The aftermath, Miss Morston and her reaction about the loss of the treasure, Doctor Watson and his disappointment, Holmes and his suspicions? The arrival of Miss Morston and Sholto, the marriage, the plans to use the money? Watson feeling vindicated and condemning Holmes’ suspicions?

13. Conan Doyle’s ingredients in terms of plot, the variations on character? A popularised version of Holmes for a wide television audience?

THE THREE STOOGES

US/Australia, 2000, 88 minutes, Colour.
Paul Ben- Victor, Evan Handler, John Kassir, Michael Chiklis, Rachel Blake, Jeanette Cronin, Joel Edgerton, Marton Csokas, Lionel Haft, Brandon Burke, Lewis Fitz- Gerald.
Directed by James Frawley.

The Three Stooges is a very entertaining biographical film about the famous comedians of vaudeville and screen.

Paul Ben- Victor portrays Moe Howard, the leader and manager of the Three Stooges. Evan Handler is very good as Larry Fine. John Kassia is Shemp Howard, the rather retiring and reluctant Stooge. Michael Chiklis (who portrayed John Belushi in Wired as well as appearing in The Commish and other television series) impersonates Jerome ‘Curly’ Howard very effectively.

While the film was made in Australia, it is an American production with a basically American cast in the lead. However, a number of Australian actors appear in supporting roles led by Rachel Blake as Helen Howard, Moe’s wife, Jeanette Cronin as Gertrude Howard, Shemp’s wife. There is a small role for Joel Edgerton as an eager young agent and Marton Csokas as the vain actor Ted Healy. Lionel Haft gives an interesting caricature of Harry Cohn and Lewis Fitz- Gerald is Jules White, the director of the Three Stooges films.

The film shows the progress of the Howard brothers along with Larry Fine over the decades. Their routines as boys in the 20s, their coming together as stooges as back-up for Ted Healy, the invitation to go to Hollywood, the offer of a contract which Healy stymied because he was not in it. In the 30s they played vaudeville and restaurants, were seen by the studio leaders and contracted by Harry Cohn at Columbia. Jules White then directed them in a number of short films for several decades. Their slapstick style, very broad comedy, appealed to audiences all over the world and they were extremely successful. When Harry Cohn died, the shorts department of Columbia closed down. The film shows Moe in semi-retirement, an eager young agent from the television studios courting them to make live appearances as their films made the transition to television. The film ends with them successfully appearing on stage in Boston in 1959.

Paul Ben- Victor is very effective as Moe. The routines of their films are recreated in black and white as if they were excerpts from their films. Some of the performances in the vaudeville scenes are actually funny for the home audience, not just the audience on the screen.

There is also a warmth about the film, the film-makers obviously liking the Three Stooges and the actors who portrayed them. It is a very sympathetic portrait – but also, it illustrates behind the scenes, the ruthlessness of the Hollywood world. The film was directed by James Frawley, veteran television director who made a number of humorous films in the 70s and 80s including The Big Bus and some of the early Muppet comedies.

1. The popularity of the Three Stooges? From the 1920s to the 1950s? The revival at the end of the 50s? In vaudeville, in restaurants, in short films, television – and finally the desired feature films?

2. This production made in Australia, recreating the United States, the studios and theatres, the beaches, the suburbs of Hollywood? The international cast, the Australian support?

3. An affectionate look at the Three Stooges, the film-makers liking them, appreciating them?

4. The vaudeville style, larger than life, slapstick, pratfalls, physical contact comedy, broad and wide, for the largest audience? The examples of their routines, when they were children, Moe and Ted Healy, Larry and his fiddle, the Three Stooges, the introduction of Curly, the restaurant and Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner and Harry Cohn watching, Cohn’s appreciation? The re-creation of their movie routines? Style and spirit?

5. The introduction, kids in the 20s, Luna Park? The lifelong collaboration between the brothers and the same old routines, continually pepped up?

6. The structure of the film, Moe in 1959, retired, Moe and his loving wife, their life at home, Moe fetching things at the studio, watching the screening of the shorts, Tom Cosgrove and his chasing Moe, Moe’s resistance to the proposal for the live performance, Tom visiting his home, the barbeque, the possibilities, Helen’s advice, saying yes? The trip to Boston? Harry Romm and the clash with Moe? In Boston, Tom explaining the risk to Helen, the deadlines for the screenings – but the joy of the full house?

7. Ted Healy, in the theatre, Moe in the audience, the stooge on stage, hitting hard, Shem and his performance, the small payment? Larry and his act with the fiddle, the offer of better money, the forming of the Three Stooges? The film indicating the years passing?

8. Moe as the central Stooge, his personality, a good manager, his care for the others, love for his wife, Shemp and his anxieties, pessimistic, wetting the bed in the train, wanting to retire? His love for his wife? His agreeing to the comeback when Curly was ill? The scene with the parents, watching their sons on stage, their comments and seeming disapproval? Jerry, young, called Babe, his routines, wanting to be hit hard so the audience could hear it at the back, a flirtatious man? Larry as a good man, the partner, his gambling addiction and the races, his roving eye, his devoted wife?

9. The wives, their characters, supportive, talking amongst themselves, advising their husbands, enjoying the celebrity, the passing of the years?

10. Healy and his domination, his women, his wife and her confrontation? The invitation to Hollywood, the film and the premiere? The offer made to the Stooges without Healy, his threats? Their success despite the contract?

11. The years of stage routines, restaurants, Babe coming into the group, the studio heads at the restaurant watching? The bargaining in the washroom? Cohn winning?

12. Cohn and his bluntness, their waiting for him, the contract, hard work, the years of collaboration with Jules White? White and his support of the Stooges, enthusing them and encouraging them? The studio benefiting by the films? The excerpts? Cohn putting up the salary but not informing them of how popular they were? Clubs springing up throughout America? Their following?

13. Babe and his problems, memory, the women, late nights, the people doing his routine and his falling? The years passing, his forgetting? His having the stroke? In hospital, giving the permit for licensing his photo, his death? Shem (*?Shemp? Different person?) supplying for him, Shemp’s death?

14. 1958, Harry Cohn dying, the shorts department being shut, the Stooges not even allowed on the lot?

15. The final success? Television, live appearances? Joe Dorita joining them after the various auditions? His place with Larry and Moe? The Three Stooges and their place in Hollywood, in movie comedy history?

IT’S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE

UK, 2010, 100 minutes, Colour.
Shabana Azmi, Goldy Notay, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Jimi Mistry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jamie Sives, Mark Addy, Zoe Wanamaker.
Directed by Gurinder Chadha.

No prizes for realising where this comedy (ghosts instead of angels!) comes from. This is 21st century Capraesque observing of human nature – a wry portrait with optimism.

The most important thing to note is that the setting is West London in Southall and Ealing. The majority of characters are of Indian origin living in England. And the director has made Bhaji on the Beach, Bend it Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice, and Angus, Sandals and Snogging, all of which offer British Indian characters to the audience portrayed and to a wider audience which helps relationships between ethnic groups in the UK.

There was an immediate consensus amongst the reviewers when they saw that some of the film was made at Ealing Studies – they decided it was less like an Ealing comedy than a 'Curry On...' comedy! And there is more than a touch of Bollywood comedy, engagement parties, weddings and some dancing and music.

It's a Wonderful Life is not the only film referenced here. The director has alluded to Blithe Spirit. There is an extensive pastiche imitation of the bucket of blood sequence in Carrie. The ghosts also watch and comment on television like those in Truly, Madly Deeply. There is an allusion to the famous stomach scene in Alien. Placing this comedy in the movie tradition offers some smiles and laughs.

This is a film about Indian families' preoccupation (obsession) with getting their children (especially as they grow older and are less immediately attractive) engaged and married. Mrs Sethi wants her chubby daughter Roopi engaged so that she can die and join her recently deceased husband. We soon realise, as the police begin to investigate a series of murders (connected with Indian food), that she has not taken too well to criticisms of her daughter. The ghosts turn up, not yet re-incarnated, and decide to help her get her daughter married off (including Zoe Wanamaker as the Jewish next door neighbour and her poodle). The daughter is a down-to-earth woman and is exasperated at all this match-making.

The police (led by Mark Addy) assign an old family friend, the dashing D.S.Murthi (Sendhil Ramamurthi) to infiltrate because Roopi is the main suspect. There are further complications as Roopi's best friend, Linda, has had a trip to an ashram in India, changed her name, become spiritually psychic and is engaged to her assumed soul-mate (Jimi Mistry). She is played with her accustomed verve by Sally Hawkins.

It all seems a lot of good-natured nonsense, though her son tells his mother that her harping on marriage sounds like a broken record. He's right – the repetition and repetition does seem tautologically redundant.

With its broad comic style, it's not meant to be a cinematically literate venture. Rather, as the final credits show, it is all involved having a bit of fun.

1. The title, Frank Capra, expectations? Ghosts rather than angels? Opportunities for redemption?

2. The Indian flavour, the cast, the West London settings, clothes, language, food, customs? The appeal?

3. The British Indian audience – and beyond?

4. The ethnic groups in the United Kingdom, the contribution to mutual understanding?

5. The movie references and jokes, the opening explosion and Alien, the ghosts watching the television as in Truly Madly Deeply, channelling the spirits like Blithe Spirit, Linda and the humiliation like Carrie? The homages?

6. Southall, Ealing? The street, the houses, interiors, the temple, halls, police precincts? Real locations for a surreal story?

7. The cast and the blend of Indians and United Kingdom actors?

8. The opening murders, associated with food, the mystery? The visualising of the curry and the explosion in the autopsy? The police, the investigation, the links, connected with Mrs Sethi? DS Murthi and his knowing the family? Going undercover? Roopi as the main suspect? Interrogating her at her shelter? Going on dates?

9. Mrs Sethi, her personality, her husband dying, her grief? Wanting to die? The revelation that she did the killings? Her motivation, love for her daughter, wanting her married? The ghosts and their badmouthing her daughter? The Indian obsession about marriage, planning? The ghosts and talk about reincarnation? Her going to kill herself with the poison, Mrs Goldstein coming in, with her dog, eating and dying? More ghosts?

10. The ghosts and their personalities, the man and his exploding curry, his badmouthing Roopi? The older people? The man and the woman and their discussions about their own marriage? Roopi and her not seeing the ghosts, her love for her mother, weary about the repetitions about getting married? Mrs Sethi’s son, the DJ, he and his friend and the jokes to frighten her? The microphone placed under the table, listening in to Mrs Sethi and the ghosts watching and enjoying TV soap operas from India? The ghosts at the funeral?

11. Mrs Goldstein, Jewish, friendly, discussion about spirits, Jewish faith and afterlife? Her joining the other ghosts in the enterprise?

12. Linda, Roopi’s best friend, her verve, going to the ashram, coming back transformed, changing her name and dress, engaged, psychic powers? Her fiancé and his wariness? With her? His change of heart? The engagement party, the upset? His fascination for Roopi? Linda going back to her normal self?

13. The engagement party, the young brother putting the drugs in the food, Linda’s fiancé and his reactions, the hallucinations, the red contents of the bucket, over Linda’s head, the repetition of the sequence in Carrie, the ghosts and their reaction? Linda seeing the ghosts?

14. Roopi and Murthi, his attentiveness to her, her confidence in herself but her eating too much, the engagement broken off, meeting the former fiancé with his glamorous girlfriend, and her eye on Murthi? Her work at the shelter? The suspicions of the police? Smythe and his following through? The outing at Southbank, the kiss in public, at the party, the tape recorder playing up and Roopi being upset at what happened?

15. The chief, on Murthi’s back? The superintendent? The other police and their jokes?

16. The ghosts, their change of heart, their talk, plans, learning?

17. Smythe, his looking in the window, Mrs Sethi catching him, the shears and his death? And having the shears in him as a ghost?

18. Murthi, his confession of love for Roopi, her accepting it? The wedding and the happiness? The ghosts – and their possibility for disappearing either for an afterlife or reincarnation?

19. Audience empathy with the characters, observing them – or feeling that it was still a bit drawn out and silly?