2 DAYS IN PARIS

France, 2007, 96 minutes, Colour.
Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Daniel Bruhl, Marie Pillet, Albert Delpy, Aleksia Landeau.
Directed by Julie Delpy.

This is a surprisingly entertaining film despite the fact that the two central characters can be extremely irritating, prone to selfish and stupid behaviour.

In 1995, Julie Delpy starred with Ethan Hawke in what many thought of as a talkfest film, some finding it arresting and insightful, others finding it tedious. It was Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise. Nine years later, the three teamed up again for the opportunity to explore what had happened to the couple in the meantime, Before Sunset.

In recent interviews, Julie Delpy has spoken of how she and Ethan Hawke contributed to much of the dialogue. If one was a little sceptical about this claim, 2 Days in Paris proves how right – and how skilful – she was and is. Now she has written a similar kind of film, directed it, edited it, composed the music and some songs which she also sings. It is quite true when the credit comes up, a Julie Delpy Film.

This time the man is the bearded, prone to slob-look Jack, Adam Goldberg. Julie Delpy is his partner, Marion. And her actual parents play her mother and father in the film, ageing former hippies and artists.

The couple, who have lived together in New York for two years, arrive in Paris for a two day stopover to meet Marion’s family. They talk and talk – in ways very reminiscent of the ‘Before…’ films. But, instead of being confined, they move around Paris, meet cab-drivers (who seem to be particularly targeted by Delpy as crass and bigoted), arty friends, past loves. They both create emotional scenes, some of which grate but, all in all, the talk is often very funny, quite insightful into the uncertainties of contemporary young adults (and their hypochondria).

Julie Delpy proves herself to be quite a talent.

1.The work of Julie Delpy? Writing, directing, performance? Music?

2.The verbal wit of the film, comments on world issues, human nature? Insights? The portrait of France? The comments on France, America? On men, on women?

3.Paris as a character, the train ride into Paris, the station, the streets? Apartments, homes? Art galleries? Markets? Authentic atmosphere? The musical score, the songs and the lyrics?

4.The structure of the film: Marion and Jack arriving, Jack unwell? The experience in Venice, the photos? The explanation of the background? The visit to the parents, discovering the friends, introducing Jack, his experiences in Paris, alienated, Marion and her friends? Two days and going back to New York?

5.The details of the city, its look, the perspective on Paris?

6.The verbal humour, the verbal skills of the characters, the small talk, the serious talk? In French, in English? The various targets, the French cab drivers, the takeaway sellers? Racism and bigotry? American expectations, language? American introductions, blunt interactions? The old experienced world and the innocent from abroad?

7.Marion, Julie Delpy, her age, the background of her growing up, her relationship with her parents, the trouble with her eyes, focusing, the experience and photography? Relationships, sex, her memories? The various partners? Her anger? Her relationship with her parents, her mother and her dominance? Father and his flamboyance? Love, comment? Her sharing, her criticism? Getting to know Jack?

8.The contrast with Jack, his appearance, background, his tattoos, the story of his being in prison and a murderer? Jack as a hypochondriac? Going to the pharmacist? His various theories of contact – and her diagrams on screen? His worries, his self-image? The American in Paris? His comments?

9.The conversations, paranoia, angers?

10.Marion’s parents, sense of freedom, at home, the meals, conversation, targeting Jack? The art gallery, the nature of the art? Marion’s sister, her arrival, the tensions? The photo of naked Jack and the laughter? The mother wanting to do the laundry? Intruding when they were in bed? Their discussions, freedoms?

11.Marion and the man in the street, the memories? Manu? The restaurant, the man and his friend, her talking about his sexual relationships with underage girls in Thailand? The past, her envy, anger? The lies – and her theories with her diagrams? Upset?

12.Jack and his bewilderment, the taxis, at the art gallery, talking to Marion’s friends, being upset about the stories from the past, at the market, his being arrested as a thief?

13.The various men in Marion’s life, their characters, talk, frankness, sexual memories? The girlfriends?

14.The culmination of the two days’ experience, their both thinking that they did not know each other, the talk, the abrupt ending? Their future?

BEAT

US, 2000, 93 minutes, Colour.
Courtney Love, Kiefer Sutherland, Ron Livingston, Norman Reedus, Kyle Secor, Sam Trammell.
Directed by Gary Walkow.

Beat is a brief film about William S. Burroughs and his wife and friends. It takes place over the period 1944 to 1951, opening and ending with Burroughs shooting his wife.

The film is only a glimpse of Burroughs and this period. The final captions indicate a long career for him as well as for poet Allen Ginsberg.

Kiefer Sutherland seems a strange choice for Burroughs. However, with his hat, monotone voice, he gives some indication and impersonation of the author (who can be seen in Gus Van Sant’s 1989 Drugstore Cowboy). Courtney Love is rather subdued as Burroughs’ wife. Ron Livingston is good as Allen Ginsberg. The other focus of attention is on United Press International journalist, Lucien Carr, played by Norman Reedus. Reedus was in love with Joan Vollmer Burroughs and was grieved at her death.

Burroughs was one of the key figures of the Beat generation along with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. (Kerouac and Neal Cassidy can be seen in Heartbeat.)

The group was heavily influenced by drugs. Burroughs says, in a quotation at the end, that the appalling realisation came to him that with the death of his wife, he actually was able to launch his literary career. He died at the age of eighty-three.

1.Audience knowledge about the Beat generation? Literature? Their way of life? Drugs? Sexuality? Freedoms? Their influence on the cultures of the 60s, the protests of the 70s and 80s? Their place in literature?

2.The film as a brief sketch of the central characters? How deep the characterisation, the dialogue, the interactions? The American settings, New York City, the Mexican settings? Musical score?

3.The title, the information at the beginning about the dictionary meanings of the word – and all their applications? The jazz score and its beat?

4.The opening and close with Burroughs aiming his gun at Joan? Her daring him? His killing her? Intentional? Accidental? The subsequent court cases, paying off the Mexican authorities? Burroughs’ freedom? Lucien Carr and his regrets?

5.1944, the group in New York City, Burroughs and his appearance, his hat, manner of speaking, relationship with Joan? His second wife? His relationships with men? His skill in writing? His advising people? The strength of his relationship with Joan?

6.The focus on Lucien Carr, Dave Kammerer and his infatuation? Pressures on Lucien, Lucien asking the advice of Ginsberg and Burroughs? His going to the shop with Dave, Dave’s advances, his idealising him, sexual approach? Lucien Carr killing him? Disposing of the body? His going to trial and his sentence?

7.The transition to Mexico? The household? Joan and her children? The background of Burroughs’ heroin charges and his going to Mexico? His own journey to Guatemala, his relationship with Lee? The homosexual relationship? Their being pictured on their trip? The aftermath, Joan and her comments and sarcasm to Lee? Joan at home? With the children? Lucien and his devotion, their drive to the ruins, the time together, Lucien’s approach? Her accepting it? Yet her devotion to her husband, his always coming back?

8.Lucien Carr, the aftermath of the killing – and the flashbacks? Establishing his life again? His friendship with Ginsberg? His love for Joan? The episodes together, the swimming in the river? The night on the mountain? His going back to New York, Ginsberg challenging him to propose to Joan? His return to work in New York?

9.Allen Ginsberg, his own literary skills, relationships? Friendships, advice? Sharing the experience with Lucien and Joan? His subsequent career?

10.The glimpse of other members of the group, in New York City, Jack Kerouac? Dave Kammerer and his oppressive presence? His death?

11.The film as presenting the early years of these characters? How much interest? How much insight?

THE LAST SHOT

US, 2004, 93 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette, Calista Flockhart, Tony Shalhoub, Ray Liotta, Tim Blake Nelson, James Rebhorn. Cameos: Joan Cusack, Eric Roberts, Pat Morita.
Directed by Jeff Nathanson.

The Last Shot is a little-seen spoof of Hollywood – and very entertaining. The film opens with gang murders in New York City, 1985, followed by FBI investigations and set-ups to trap the Rhode Island mobsters. They concoct a plan to pretend to make a film in order to invite the Mob in to invest, take their bribes and deals, arrest them..

What seems on the surface a good sting turns out to be a strange adventure. Alec Baldwin is the officer who becomes a producer, selecting a screenplay by ambitious and hopeful director played by Matthew Broderick in his usual style. Joan Cusack has a good cameo as an agent.

The film is not going to made – but the agent gets so involved that he becomes a producer, the action is moved to Rhode Island instead of Arizona, the title of the film, auditions are held including the director’s girlfriend, Calista Flockhart as well as an eccentric actress played by Toni Collette.

Tony Shalhoub is a gangster, Ray Liotta is the head of the FBI task force. Tim Blake Nelson has a curious role as the director’s brother – daily performing at Disneyworld and being shot in the western re-enactment by his father.

The film was written and directed by Jeff Nathanson who wrote Catch Me if You Can, The Terminal, Rush Hour 3 amongst other films.

It is a pity that this rather funny spoof of Hollywood and its eccentricities is not better known.

1.A successful comedy spoof? Hollywood? The FBI? The links?

2.The Rhode Island settings, Providence, the Mob? Filming in Providence? The contrast with Los Angeles, Hollywood and its style? Musical score?

3.The title: shooting with guns, shooting with cameras? The interconnection? 1985 – allegedly based on a true story?

4.The familiar situation, the opening, the Mob, the shootings in New York? The criminals, the bosses? Joe, the interrogation, cutting off his fingers, not giving the sign, the work of the squad watching?

5.The plan, using Hollywood, Joe pretending to be a producer, his patter, the discussions with the agent and her frank and comic comments? The reaction of the members of the squad? Their ignorance of film, Hollywood, stars, technology? The script, Steven and his ambitions, their choice of him, the discussions, the offer, the restaurant meetings, the budget, Steven and his friends, Valerie? Entering into the spirit of the film-making? Joe becoming more involved, the theory of the con about making the film – and a move to a real commitment?

6.Steven, Matthew Broderick’s style, his brother Marshal and his work at Disneyland, his being shot each day in the performance by his father? The discussions with his agent? The agent and his age, being woken up, going to the deal, at the meal, happy – and dying at the press conference? Steven’s group of friends, the singers? As nice, Steven as enthusiastic, hopes, in memory of his sister? And finally discovering
7.that the sister was an invention? His vivid description of her journey through the desert – and the audience believing it real?

8.The script, the decision to go to Providence, Steven’s immediate reaction to the unsuitability of the city, locations, no desert, no cactus, the shed suggested for the Hopie Indian site? The lavish hotel – his suite and his willingness to adapt?

9.The auditions, the members of the squad watching, the cameraman wanting to work on the film? Valerie, her moods, the commercials, the relationship with Steven? Wanting to be Charlotte? Having to accept that she wouldn’t – and being satisfied with being the doctor? At the press conference?

10.Emily French, Toni Collette’s comic style, her look, reputation, the nomination, her accent, performing the suicide scene, Joe and Steven being overwhelmed? The squad watching? Her brashness, crass, her language, peeing in the restaurant, wanting to change the plot, accepting it?

11.The press conference, the information in Variety, the three-picture deal, the FBI wanting to be part of it?

12.The Mob, Tony Shalhoub as the criminal, getting interested in the film, the discussions about the unions, the Mobsters, the trucks? His wanting to interfere with the plot? Preparing the way for the boss to come?

13.The shooting of the film, Marshal and his arrival, the discussions with Steven, his acceptance? Emily and her arriving on the lot? The director on set? Steven’s excitement, the moment of his life?

14.Jack Devine’s arrival, stopping the production, Joe hitting him, capturing the first shot, the helicopter coming down and disturbing and disrupting?

15.Two years later, the preview of the film about the making of Arizona? Emily, the interviews on the red carpet, her comments on what had happened?

16.Steven, working in Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, taking the tickets, the stars and his future.

WHIP IT
 
US, 2009, 111 minutes, Colour.
Ellen Page, Marcia Gaye Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Daniel Stern, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Alia Shawkat, Eve, Zoe Bell, Ari Graynor, Andrew Wilson, Landon Pigg.
Directed by Drew Barrymore.

Ladylike is not the first, second, third or even umpteenth word that springs to mind in connection with the Roller Derby.  It is certainly a contact sport for women, at least as practised in Austin, Texas, here, with plenty of bumps and grinds – and, coming of something of a surprise, as explained throughout the film, with a set of rules and many strategies and plays that remind us of (at least the look of) gridiron football.
 
Actually, this is yet another variation on the sports film formula – which means that we know pretty well where it is going and what are the likely things to happen.  Some people don't like formula films and dismiss them as predictable.  Others enjoy them because of the familiarity and seeing how what we expect pans out.  By and large, with Whip It, you go along with what is happening and where it seems to be obviously going.
 
This is a directorial first for actress, Drew Barrymore (almost 30 years since ET!).  She obviously has something of a passion for the roller derby and stages lots of competition scenes.  And she gives herself a substantial role as a player who has a propensity for accidents.
 
However, the focus of the film is on a teenager called Bliss, whose mother believes in ladylike behaviour and in the elegance and charm of beauty pageants, who insists on Bliss competing.  A chance poster advertising the roller derby catches Bliss's eye and, with her best friend with whom she works at the Oink Diner, off she goes to watch – and is recruited.  Needless to say, her mother doesn't know.
 
The mother daughter scenes work well because Bliss is played by Ellen Page who made such an impression with Juno.  Mother is played by Oscar-winner Marcia Gaye Harden.  In the background is good ole dad who can't tell his wife that he loves to watch football matches on TV (Daniel Stern).
 
The Hurl Scouts are a tough bunch, as are the main opposition, The Holy Rollers, led by Juliette Lewis, but they welcome Bliss and she finds a home away from home.  When a pageant coincides with the Derby final, well..., you know.
 
For a target audience of teenage girls, it has some messages about excelling in what you are good at as well as some nice, folksy advice about being tolerant with family and sorting out differences honestly – and one can't complain about that.

1.            A sports film, enjoyment, the target audience – young girls, young women?

2.            The formula for a sports movie:  life, sport, opposition, challenge, talent, competition, crisis, resolution? 

3.            Drew Barrymore directing, acting?  Her love for the derby?  The visuals of the competition, tough, brutal, tactics, elbowing and shoving, the rules, strategies?  The points, the commentator, the audience and reactions?  Women responding to the sport?  Men ogling?  The close-ups of the players?

4.            The contrast with beauty pageants, demure, the preparation, dresses, the mothers hovering, the parade, presentation, speeches?  The speech about who you would choose to have dinner with…?

5.            Bliss, Pash and preparing her hair, the blue, going home, her sister?  Her mother and her disgust at Bliss’s performance, reaction?  The pressures on her daughter?  Bliss’s reaction against her 50s domestic style?  Her relationship with her father?  School, working at the diner, customers, unsettled?  Wanting to move out of the town of Bodeen? 

6.            The portrait of the parents, the mother, guiding her daughter, wishing her own mother had done this, the pressures on her children?  The younger daughter responding well?  Wanting to be Miss America?  Yet her work as delivering the post, smoking cigarettes secretly, the sexual relationship with her husband?  The father, something of a slob, his work, drinking,watching football on TV, in the background, his comments on his wife, loving her? 

7.            Buying the shoes, her mother taking Bliss to Austin?  Seeing the poster, and the girls delivering the poster?  Persuading Pash to go to Austin, watching the derby, admiring the players, speaking to them, meeting Rosa?   Her saying she was twenty-two, the invitation to come and try out? 

8.            The tryouts, Pash supporting her, going into the bus with the seniors, her training, awkward, falling, yet fast?  Training in the suburbs, her lies about going to football?  Her being selected, playing, her achievement?  The team and its improvement?  Her becoming Babe Ruthless?  The team relying on her, the poster and the award?

9.            Work at the diner, Pash, her studies, wanting to get out of Bodeen, boys?  With Wayne?  The arrest, her anger, her breaking with Bliss, the infatuation with Oliver?  As a musician?  Their being together, his coming to the diner, in the fields, the keys, the underwater swimming, the time together?  His going on tour, Bliss seeing him on the site with the girl?  Her anger, the break?  Upset, talking with her mother?  Seeing her father, watching football in the van with him, drinking the beer? 

10.         The diner, the customers, the life, Wayne and his promotion, his finally going to the roller derby? 

11.         The team, the variety of personalities?  Their working together?  The spirit, the after-events, drinking, friendship?  Maggie, her kindness, her son, Bliss leaving home and staying with her?  The importance of Maggie’s talk to Bliss about parents, respect, giving them a chance? 

12.         Iron Maven, tough, older, taunting Bliss, the presentation, the cake fight?  The Ruthless poster?  Her story, in her thirties, her final chance, the final competition – winning, but not nasty towards Bliss?

13.         The final pageant, the dress, eight hundred dollars?  Doing this for her mother?  The truth?  Talking with her mother, giving the dress to the other competitor (and her coming second)?  Going to the finals, her father and sister there, her mother finally coming to watch? 

14.         The moral of the story:  talents, sport, coming of age, relationship with parents?  Friendships, falling in love and infatuations?  Standing on one’s own feet?

SHELTER
 
US, 2010, 112 minutes, Colour.
Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys- Myers, Jeffrey de Munn, Frances Conroy, Brooklynn Proulx, Nathan Cauddrey.
Directed by Mans Malind and Bjorn Stein.

Shelter has a very gentle sound about it.  But, that is not the case for this psychological thriller which veers into what is often called 'supernatural' elements with some touches of horror.  There have been a number of films about, like the 1997 Denzel Washington film, Fallen, where the souls of a person can migrate from one human carrier to another.  The human carrier provides a shelter.
 
The film opens with a psychiatrist, Caroline, Julianne Moore, explaining to a committee hearing an appeal for a murderer to be granted a stay of execution that she does not believe in cases of multiple personalities – she says it is a feature of sensationalist Hollywood movies!  When she gets home, her father, Jeffrey de Munn, whisks her off to meet his latest case.  He is played very effectively by Jonathan Rhys Meyers – and she discovers that, if he doesn't have multiple personalities inside, then there do seem to be several people in there.  And he displays quite different performances for each of them as well as mimicking the speaking manner of some of those sheltering.
 
So far, so familiar.  However, God (who actually tops the list of those who are thanked explicitly in the final credits) becomes an important theme.  Despite her husband having been brutally murdered by a mugger on the way home from church on Christmas eve, the psychiatrist still believes in God.  Her young daughter and her father find they cannot.  This becomes important in terms of who become carriers for the migrating soul.  This all leads Caroline out into the Pennsylvania backwoods and strange communities with odd religious beliefs, bizarre practices and alleged witchcraft.
 
The visual style of the film is dark and brooding. It is directed by two Swedish directors – who certainly do not feel any obligation to provide a Hollywood ending.
 
Many reviewers dismissed Shelter as hokum.  Of course, it is hokum, psychological and religious.  But, despite critical opinion, some of  us (this reviewer included) enjoy the speculations , twists and turns of this kind of hokum.

1.            A psychological thriller?  Religious thriller?  Touches of horror?  The combination of these elements? 

2.            The title, as explained by the people from the hills, the spirit passing from person to person?  Taking shelter?

3.            The opening, Missouri, Caroline and her assessment, the group of men listening?  Her comments on multiple personalities, dismissing the idea?  No diminished responsibility?  The audience of legal people, the governor, no reprieve for the criminal, his execution, Caroline going to the bar to drink?  Phone call to her brother, to Sammy? 

4.            The style of the film, muted colours, dark, the emphasis on close-ups and profiles?  The musical score, atmosphere? 

5.            Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh?  Stephen and the ugly neighbourhood?  Homes, hospitals and institutions, school, soccer fields?  The contrast with the mountains, with the woods?  The isolated roads, the backwoods and the dilapidated homes? 

6.            Caroline and Sam, the murder of her husband, on the way home from church, her keeping her faith, her father and Sam losing their faith, her praying with Sam?  The declarations of lack of faith in such a God?  Caroline as a believer, happy with her faith?  Stephen and his music, the technology? 

7.            Caroline’s father, the phone call, the case, going to the institution, the interview with David, the psychological questions and texts, his being confined to the wheelchair?  An ordinary person?  The phone call, the change, Adam emerging, Adam being the host to the different personalities?  The contrast with David?  The paralysis, the elongation of the neck, bending the head back?  In the woods, Wes and his appearing?
 
8.            David/Adam?  The three different personalities, multiple personality?  The transition from one to the other?  The differences?  The preacher and his appearance?  Later taking on the personalities of Charles, the father, Sam? 

9.            Caroline and her theories, being asked about religion and science, having a doctorate in science, but being a woman of faith?  Confrontation with multiple personalities?  Theories of disassociation rather than delusions?

10.         The encounters with the young man, her continuing the investigations, tracking down David in the college year books, going to visit his mother?  The years of his achievement, sport, the accident, going to the woods, the Satanists, the newspaper reports, his mother saying he was murdered?  Her meeting David, her disbelief, the nail in her pocket, upset, reacting against him?  Caroline’s second visit, the question about the music and the song?

11.         Caroline investigating Adam, going to the house, decaying, finding the corpse?  In the woods with David, the site of his alleged murder?  Wes emerging?  The flashbacks to Wes, the accident? 

12.         Caroline’s father, psychiatrist, his interest in personalities, the patients, playing ball with them?  Testing Caroline?  The rivalry?

13.         The videos, the footage of David, Adam?  The black colour, Stephen finding the sound waves? 

14.         Caroline going to the hills, the silent men, the grandmother, the young girl as her eyes?  The death, the cutting open of the old man, taking out his spirit,
its being kept in the container?  The image of the distorted cross on the container? 

15.         Caroline going to see the witness, the story of the preacher, the visualising of it?  Killing the family, the hill people and the execution, his spirit, contained?  His appearance and Caroline’s reaction? 

16.         Caroline and her fear, the father’s phone calls, his death?  Sam, travelling with Stephen, the crash, Stephen and the glass, his death? 

17.         Caroline and Sam, running, hiding, being pursued?  Sam and her death?  Reviving – but with the alien spirit?

18.         The plausibility of the plot, psychologically, religiously?  The transfer of spirits?  The pessimistic ending?

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
 
US, 2010, 98 minutes, Colour.
Voices of:  Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz- Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig.
Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean de Blois.
 
Alert to all devotees of Hagar the Horrible and his family – and wider audiences beyond.  This is a very entertaining film.
 
While the village of Berk, somewhere up there beyond Scandinavia, is not that of Hagar, it looks as if it could be.  And fans of  'Another Dragon, Another Day' will resonate with the plotline and themes of this fine animation movie.
 
How to... is very good to look at, especially in 3D, the craggy island, the brooding sea, the comic characters and fiery dragons, very good to listen to, with a witty script and fine voice cast, exciting to watch with the swooping dragons (lots and lots of them), the battles and the sheer exhilaration of dragon riding (like the rides in Avatar).  The film reminds us of and appeals to the thrillable inner child most adults possess!
 
Based on books by Cressida Cowell (who surely must have been a Hagar fan when she lived as a child on an isolated island off the Scottish coast and was left to her imagination), the tale shows an isolated Viking community with a long tradition of fighting marauding dragons.  They are led by Stoick the Vast (voiced by Gerard Butler with his own Scots accent and making Stoick a fierce warrior but a dismayed father).  His son is Hiccup, a scrawny lad who does not want to kill dragons and, fortunately, finds one, Toothless, whom he has wounded – and, you know, children bond with pets and...
 
There is a gallery of eccentric characters, of course, Gobber, the peg-leg blacksmith and trainer, (Craig Ferguson, Scots accent too).  Speaking of accents, it is very strange that the adults have Scots brogues and the next generation's accents are unremittingly American (Jay Baruchel as Hiccup, America Ferrera as the tough but tender Astrid)!
 
On the one hand, there is the rollicking life of the warrior Vikings –  and, even though the dragons steal their bewildered sheep, they do not look as if they have ever fasted in their lives.  But, Vikings like Hagar and Stoick should be bulky.  On the other, there is the underlying theme that fighting gets you only so far and perpetuates prejudice.  When you make friends with your dragon, harmony is possible and creativity as well.  This means that, despite the oomph of the battle sequences, this is a peace-is-best story.  It moves apace, with some welcome quiet and reflective moments.  It is amusing.  And it should appeal to children of all ages (even if we look like adults!).

1.            The quality of the film?  Popularity?  Visuals?  Vocal?  Story?  Values?

2.            The quality of the animation?  The 3D production?  The island of Berk and the sea?  The village?  The dragons, the combat, the training?  The lyrical sequences of Viking and dragon?  The flying?  The finale?  The score?

3.            The title and expectations? 

4.            The voice-over explanation, the traditional Viking life, the desolate island, the culture, eternally fighting the dragons? 

5.            The island, its peaks and forests, the surrounding sea?  The sheep and their expressions, the dragon attacks?  The fights?  The Viking way of life?  Life as a battle?

6.            The visualising of the dragons, the great range of appearances, the swooping, the fire, the stealing?

7.            Stoick the Vast?  The patriarch, leading the Vikings, the warrior, the loyalty of his men?  His disappointment with Hiccup?  His hard attitude, talking and not listening?  His friendship with Gobba?  The training, his dismay, wanting to disown his son? 

8.            Hiccup in himself, scrawny build, the Viking expectations, trying to life up to his father’s hopes?  At home?  Gobba and his work?  His being  mocked by the other kids?  Yet being inventive (and his fixing the artificial limb for Toothless)?  The attack of the dragons, his wounding Toothless?  Going through the forest to find him, Toothless unable to fly properly?  Hiccup and his reaching out, the trust of the dragon, supplying him with food – and the jokes about fish and eating, Toothless having to eat the fish?  Playing with toothless, flying?  Hiccup and his talent for flying?

9.            Gobba, his work as a blacksmith, confidant of Stoick, his wooden leg and the story of his losing his limb?  Training the young kids?  Astrid, the boys and girls, their parody of American teenagers?  The variety of dragons, the various tests, the fears, the reaction to the dragons, running away?  Hiccup, learning the reactions of the dragons, their fears?  Able to tame them, put them back in their cages?  Everybody amazed?  Stoick amazed?  Hiccup’s changing reputation?

10.         Astrid, Hiccup’s attraction, her tough stances?  Going with Hiccup, discovering Toothless, kissing him, slapping him?  Flying and the bond between them? 

11.         Stoick and the decision for the expedition, Hiccup’s pleading that they not go?  The ships, the sea, the danger, the storms, the battles? 

12.         Hiccup and Astrid, flying, discovering the nest of the monstrous dragon?  Toothless and his abilities?  The return, the explanation? 

13.         Stoick, the defeat, Hiccup and his flying, being forced to listen?

14.         The Night Creature, monstrous, the dragons all supplying it with food, its emergence, the challenge, Hiccup and Astrid, Toothless and the destruction of the dragon? 

15.         The dragons and the Vikings, in peace?  The film’s themes about fathers and sons and reconciliation, expectations, listening?  Peace as more important than battles?  Friendship and society? 

I KNOW YOU KNOW
 
UK, 2008, 82 minutes, Colour.
Robert Carlyle, Aaron Fuller, David Bradley, Karl Johnson.
Directed by Justin Kerrigan.

 An interesting film but one which many people may find alienates them.  It begins one way and ends in quite, quite another.
 
Part of the difficulty may be that the writer-director, Justin Kerrigan (Human Traffic), has dedicated this film to his father.  And, it seems, the film is something of a heart-felt portrait of his father showing the rapport between a son and a very strange and disturbed father.
 
It starts breezily with Charlie (Robert Carlyle giving quite a striking performance) and his son Jamie (Aaron Fuller) returning from a trip.  School starts for Jamie, with some loneliness and bullying, and his father wants him to stay with his uncle and aunt.  In the meantime, it seems that Charlie has a special and secret commission and suspects a new television satellite company as being behind the problems.  It is 1989.
 
From then on, the film becomes quite complicated, Jamie puzzled and asking lots of questions, his father acting strangely and becoming more and more obsessed with his mission and the enemy.
 
After a while, we realise what is happening and share Jamie's concern and love for his father and the dangers he is getting into.
 
The setting is Wales.  Much of the action takes place in ordinary circumstances.  But, the agent story heightens the melodramatic aspects until a sadly ironic postscript voiced by the director himself with another dedication of the film to his deceased father.

1.            The title?  Charlie and his saying it into the mirror, talking to whom?  The ironies of the title? 

2.            The Welsh setting, Cardiff and the outskirts, the flat, the city, the bar, police and government offices?  A sense of realism?  The musical score? 

3.            A film about a father and son, the bonds between them?  The son and his age, growing up?  The father and his descent into madness?  The boy, facing reality, responsibility?  The film based on the director’s own experiences with his father? 

4.            The introduction to Charlie, looking in the mirror, talking to the mirror, Jamie watching him?  His trip with Jamie and their arriving at the airport, meeting Mr Fisher?  Charlie and his age, his work as a travel agent?  His being an agent, a spy?  His sense of mission?  Preoccupied, secrecy?  His taking Jamie to Ernie and Lily?  The television and the satellite company?  His seeing the trucks?  Assuming that they were the enemy?  His tracking them?  His setting up the flat, dingy, the posters?  Hiding out?  The contacts with Mr Fisher?  The visits, talking in private, Jamie listening in?  Audience reaction to this – believing that Charlie was an agent, or not? 

5.            Jamie, his not wanting to stay with Ernie and Lily because of the television, treating him like a child?  Return to his father?  His father’s upset because of the mission?  Taking him away?  Overhearing his father talking with Mr Fisher?  Going to school, not making any friends, Dean and his gang, the bullying?  His friendship with the young boy?  Together?  Dean and the punch?  Charlie’s reaction?  Training him with the boxing?  Telling him what to say to Dean, Jamie doing it and being successful?  The children watching the fight?  Dean’s friends leaving him?

6.            Ernie and Lily, their concern, worrying about Charlie?  Charlie and his suspicions of Ernie? 

7.            Mr Fisher, orders?  Passing the man at the bus stop, Jack and his greeting every day?

8.            Charlie, becoming more paranoid, the gun, the club, nobody turning up, his drinking?  Jamie and his concern? 

9.            Jamie, discussions with Ernie, going to see Mr Fisher, finding out the truth about his father, the travel agency going bust, the satellite company taking over?  His father’s mental collapse? 

10.         Jamie, consoling his father?  Playing along with him, going to the police station, getting the police to come, Charlie being taken away? 

11.         Jamie talking with Charlie, Charlie and his knowing there was something wrong with him, knowing that he would have to go into an institution?  His farewell to his son? 

12.         The pathos of the relationship between father and son?  The emotional impact of Robert Carlyle’s performance?  The credibility of the whole story – and its basis in reality?

EXILE
 
Australia, 1994, 95 minutes, Colour.
Aden Young, Beth Champion, Claudia Karvan, Norman Kaye, David Field, Chris Haywood, Barry Otto, Hugo Weaving, Tony Llewellyn- Jones, Nicholas Hope, Gosia Dobrowolska.
Directed by Paul Cox.
 
Exile is based on a novel by E.L. Grant Watson, Priest Island.  Watson was the author of Paul Cox’s previous film to this, The Nun and the Bandit.
 
The setting for Exile is unclear though it was filmed in Tasmania.  There are references to monasteries three hundred years old – which suggests that the place and the time are period but timeless. 
 
The film spends a lot of time photographing the beautiful coast and crags of the island.  This gives opportunity for audiences to audiences to reflect on the locations, the atmosphere as well as the fate of the characters.
 
Aden Young portrays a young man who is condemned for sheep-stealing to exile on the island, under pain of death if he returns.  However, he had been persuaded to borrow the sheep by his fiancée (Claudia Karvan) but was caught by her ambitious father who wanted her to marry another man.  There are some sympathetic people who go to the island to visit the exile.  However, it is a serving maid (Beth Champion) whose curiosity is aroused about him and who ventures out, stays with him, bears his child and eventually marries him.  Chris Haywood plays the reluctant priest who eventually goes out to the island to do the ceremonies.
 
The film is very much a Paul Cox film, a focus on characters, a recreating of atmosphere and location, religious issues.  After this film he paused making films for some years and then returned to more comic satire with Lust and Revenge. 
 
1.            A Paul Cox film, his style, personal, contemplation? 

2.            A re-creation of a period, the look of the 19th century?  Cross time and place? 

3.            The contemplative style, the landscapes, the seascapes, the cliffs and the coast?  Isolation?  Silence?  Less dialogue in the film?  Audiences identifying with the central character, reflecting with him, sharing his memories, his imagination?  Time and space to reflect?  The score?

4.            The title, the fact of exile, exile as a punishment, life and death?  The inhumanity of the authorities?  Isolation – but an individual finding his soul?  Soul mate? 

5.            The opening, the boat, Peter being taken ashore, the marshal and the sentence, Tim and his support, the other members present, Innes?  The sentence, the taking off of the bonds?  To stay there till death?  Yet the island seen from the mainland, boats being able to visit, Tim and his visits, Mary and her arrival?

6.            Peter, the character, the proposal to Jean, her comments about borrowing the sheep, her father wanting her to marry Mc Kenzie?  Her persuading Peter to take the sheep?  His arrest?  Jean, in herself, her love for Peter, appearing in his dreams and imagination?  The crime?  Accepting fate, marrying Mc Kenzie, her pregnancy?  Married life in the village, the difficulties of the birth, the death of the child, her grief, the burial, dressing in black?  Talking with Tim, wanting to visit the island?  Her appearing in red, drowned?  Her talking to Peter, declaring she was real?  Did she visit or not? 

7.            Peter adapting to life on the island, his grief about his relationship with Jean, the visualising of the memories?  Coping, sitting and contemplating, his work in building?  Rescuing things from the sea?  Swimming?  Tilling the land, the potatoes?  Managing?

8.            His imagination and memories?  The appearance of the priest, wandering for three hundred years, the voice of Peter’s conscience, advising him?  Their conversations?  The mirror and the reflection? 

9.            The town, the people, hard attitude?  The inn?  Tim and his Christian behaviour?  Mc Kenzie and Jean’s father?  The role of the priest? 

10.         Mary and her life, servant, with Jean, fascinated by the stories about Peter, listening to them, deciding that she would go to the island, getting the boat, taking the stores and the goat, rowing, arrival, her initial fear, uncertainty?  Peter and his kindness?  The boat going out to sea?  His asking her about the relationship, the sexual relationship, her pregnancy, the birth? 

11.         Tim and his visits, giving the news?  Peter’s request for the priest to come? 

12.         Mary, the name of the baby, Wolf?  Tim persuading the priest to come, the arguments?  Seasick?  The rituals, the detailed presentation of the baptism?  The decision to marry, Mary happy, the priest and his weighing up the pros and cons, carrying out the ceremony?

13.         The affirmation of vows?  The future for Peter and Mary and their child?

14.         Peter and the effects of exile, finding his soul, soul mate, his son, himself?

THE TRAIL TO HOPE ROSE
 
US, 2004, 90 minutes, Colour.
Lou Diamond Philips, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Majors, Richard Tyson, Marina Black, Warren Stevens.
Directed by David S. Cass Sr.

The Trail to Hope Rose is a Hallmark Channel western.  This means that, even though it has the usual ingredients for a western, it is very much audience-friendly.  Even the violent sequences are audience-friendly in the traditional way.
 
The film focuses on a mining community where Lee Majors is the marshal.  Warren Stevens is Samuel Drigger, the patriarch who runs the town and administers justice (and injustice) as he wishes.  Lou Diamond Philips appears as a man who had spent time in jail for robbery but is making good, works for Drigger, is attracted by Christine, who lives with the alcoholic Gerald (Richard Tyson). 
 
The film shows the life in the town, the hard work of the mines, the rough life.  It also presents its central character, the reformed criminal, as an upright man, with a strong sense of duty.  Ernest Borgnine (aged about eighty-six when he made this film) gives a lively performance as an old farmer who confronts the Drigger organisation and befriends the ex-convict and the girl (Marina Black). 
 
There is a warmth in the film, familiar material, but nicely done.
 
The film was directed by David S. Cass, a long-time stunt extra who doubled for Robert Mitchum and who eventually became a producer, writer and director of many television films.
 
1.            An enjoyable western?  Suitable for most audiences?  The popular ingredients, crises, heroism?  Romance? 

2.            The setting:  the mining town, the mines?  The huts, homes?  The ranches?  Authentic atmosphere?  The musical score? 

3.            The title – and the revelation at the end that the daughter was Hope Rose? 

4.            The opening:  Drigger, the shootings, his countenancing them?  Merciless?  His control of the town?  His control of the mining business?  His wanting Eugene’s property?  The attitude towards the marshal?

5.            The marshal, strong character, welcoming Keenan Deerfield?  Trusting him?  Getting him the job?  His presence, observing what was going on, insisting to Keenan that he was the law?  The end, the report, the demand that he arrest Keenan, his tracking him, observing the crisis?  Supporting him?  Arresting Drigger?

6.            Keenan, his prison background, an upright character, principled?  His getting the job, his work?  Mixed-race background?  The attitude of Drigger’s son and Johnson?  Their brutality?  His hut, the rent, reading the contract?  The encounter with Gerald, seeing Christine, Gerald’s brutality?  Giving her shelter?  Giving her final refuge?  Giving her good advice?  His friendship with John, giving him advice, supporting him in his love for Charmaine?  Not bending to Drigger and the orders? 

7.            Gerald, his brutality, jealousy, treatment of Christine?  The hostility towards Keenan?  The fights?  Johnson supporting him?  His rejecting Christine?  His coming back, the baby, the confrontation, wanting to kill her, Christine shooting him? 

8.            Jack, his love for Chairmaine, Charmaine’s mother and her strictness?  Their presence at Keenan’s wedding?  Jack agreeing to do the robbery, with Foster, Keenan taking him away?  His standing up for himself – but his being shot? 

9.            Eugene, genial old man, confronting the Driggers, selling his produce, the deals with the merchants in the town?  His love for his dead wife, talking to her, visiting her grave?  Eugene’s deal with Keenan, building the fences, Christine and her wanting to help (and Johnson and the destruction of the fence)?  The deal with the firewood?  Keenan and his bonds with the merchants?  Eugene and his offering shelter to Keenan and Christine?  The celebration of the wedding?  His comments about having a drink?  His telling the marshal that they were to have the house when he died?  The final sequence at his grave, Keenan and Christine with Hope Rose? 

10.         Christine, her being in the west, with Gerald, her pregnancy, his brutal treatment, her fleeing him, offering to wash Keenan’s clothes, getting refuge?  Her leaving Gerald?  Her wanting to work, her participation in the deals with Eugene?  The wedding, her pregnancy, Keenan accepting the child?  The confrontation with Gerald and his death?  Her giving birth? 

11.         A.J. Foster turning up, the past work with Keenan, Keenan refusing to participate in a robbery, his persuading Jack, the hold-up, his being shot? 

12.         Johnson, Roy Drigger, the henchmen, the thugs for Drigger?  Roy Drigger’s death?  Samuel Drigger arrested? 

13.         Popular ingredients for a Hallmark Channel western?

FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN
 
US, 2004, 133 minutes, Colour.
Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, Jeff Daniels, Dagmara Dominczyk, Steven Grayhm, Michael Imperioli, Callum Keith Rennie, Rebecca Jenkins.
Directed by Lloyd Kramer.
 
 Five People You Meet in Heaven is based on the book by Mitch Albom.  He wrote Tuesdays With Morrie (filmed so effectively with Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria).  Albom also wrote One More Day which was filmed in 2007 by Lloyd Kramer and had an Oprah Winfrey presentation.  Kramer had also directed several films for Oprah Winfrey including Amy and Isabelle. 
 
The film shows the life of a boy growing into an elderly man.  From the early part of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century he encompasses all the major movements of the US, the Depression, service in World War Two, the aftermath, the succeeding decades in American prosperity.  However, like his father, he spent his life working as a supervisor of the machines in a carnival.
 
Jon Voight portrays the older man.  When he dies, trying to save a young girl from an accident on one of the machines, he has a journey, encountering five people who had some influence in his life, whether he realised it or not – and who also contributed to his living on as well as his being instrumental in their lives and deaths.  He meets Jeff Daniels as the Blue Man, a man with a skin disease who worked in the carnival.  He meets the captain from his war service (Michael Imperioli).  He also meets the woman whose husband constructed the weir where his father and he himself worked (Ellen Burstyn).  Towards the end, he encounters his wife (Dagmara Dominczyk).  Finally he meets a young girl from Asia who indirectly leads him to understand what happened when he tried to rescue the young girl at the carnival.
 
The film is at great pains to recreate each era with vivid sets and décor, and different colour patterns to indicate the different times.
 
The general response to the book and the film was very positive, people feeling that it made a revelation about the meaning of life for an ordinary person, and life after death.
 
1.            Mitch Albom and his books, Tuesdays with Morrie, One Day More?  Issues of life and death, the afterlife?  Ethics and morality?  Faith and religion?  Albom adapting his own book for television?

2.            The variety of locations, the life of a 20th century man?  The 40s and the city streets, labour, Ruby Pier, war and the jungle and the Japanese, the prisoner of war camps?  Post-war hospitals, the pier?  The pier and the changes over the decades?  The musical score?

3.            The title, Heaven, personal judgment, forgiveness, new awareness, choices, happiness befitting one’s life? 

4.            The theme of everyone’s life interconnecting, life and death and our mutual dependence, even in tragedy?

5.            The voice-over, Ruby and her narration, the insights into Eddie, Ruby’s own appearance?  Telling Eddie the truth, about his life, the regrets?

6.            Jon Voight as Eddie, his age, his work, his label for maintenance, the rides?  A friendly man?  The narration about his death, the ride, the young people trapped, the rescue, the cable, Eddie asleep, waking, seeing what was happening, rushing with the phone, the phone bumped out of his hand, saving the girl, the hand reaching out, his death? 

7.            Eddie and his life, an ordinary person?  The film saying there were no nobodies?  Eddie within his family, working hard, his father and his demands, the war, marrying, not having any children, continuing to work at the pier? 

8.            Meeting the Blue Man, seeing him as a boy as one of the carnival attractions?  The Blue Man’s story about his nerves, taking the nitrate, the effect on his skin, blue, labelled as a freak, going to the carnival, his quiet life, enjoying his life?  Knowing Eddie?  His driving, the crash to avoid hitting Eddie and Eddie not realising it, getting the ball?  His heart attack and death?  The funeral, his mother taking Eddie to the funeral, his not wanting to go because of his birthday, his mother slapping him, at the graveside? 

9.            Eddie as small, his brother Joe, his brother Joe getting into trouble, the coat?  The father’s demands?  Eddie fighting, the effect on his hands, his mother’s reaction?  The father and his hard attitude, the jobs, drinking? 

10.         Meeting the Captain, the experience of war, the jungle sequences, the men in the platoon, tough, the running, the capture?  The confrontation with the Japanese?  In the camp, the brutality, the soldier who was ill, the collapse, shot?  Eddie and his capacity for juggling, the Japanese soldier and his wanting to juggle, the authorities?  The severity of the commander?  Eddie and the Captain, the plan for the attack, the flames, his leg being wounded, Eddie’s anger, his being saved?  The fire and the little girl in the house?  His dreams about the fire?  The revelation that the Captain had died, the Captain had shot him in order to save him, the little girl in the house which he thought was empty?  The dreams recurring? 

11.         Ruby, her story, marrying Earl, at the diner, the wedding, his wealth, building the pier, her image in the gate?  The fire, the business losses?  The injuries?  Selling the pier?  Ruby’s memories of love?  Memories of Eddie’s father?  The true story of his father’s death – the friend, out of work, attacking the father’s wife, escaping, falling into the water, the father trying to save his friend despite his attacking his wife?

12.         Finding Margaret, memories of the courtship, the wedding, dancing despite his leg, his wife’s illness, their life together, not having children, talking this over, their care for the children at the pier?  Margaret’s Heaven – and the happiness of people marrying?

13.         Tala, at the river, in the fire, her talking with Eddie, her burns, their being cleansed and healed in the water?  Her hands?  The importance of Eddie discovering what happened with the little girl at the carnival, his not pulling her to safety, rather pushing her to safety meaning his own death? 
14.         The themes of saving a life, the interconnections of people, the pier as a microcosm?