I'M NOT THERE

US, 2007, 115 mintues, Colour.
Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Burce Greenwood, Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marcus Carl- Franklin,

I’m Not There is a very ambitious project. It states that it is based on the life and times of Bob Dylan.

Todd Haines has directed only a few films, but all of them somewhat offbeat, independent features including Safe, Savage Grace, Far From Heaven.
In constructing this film about the life and times of Dylan, he chooses six actors to portray the core of the singer’s career and life. These include Marcus Carl- Franklin, a young African-American? boy, as the youngest of the actors. He calls himself Woody Guthrie to give the link between Guthrie’s songs and Bob Dylan’s folk songs in the late 50s early 60s. It is a very strong performance. After that comes Ben Whishaw - who is seen throughout the film, in a black and white interview style. The criticism is of the young Dylan and of his whole life, especially his protest activities.

Christian Bale follows as the protest singer of the 1960s, the friend of Joan Baez (fictionalised and performed by Julianne Moore), who upsets people by his drinking, his un-thought-through answers at press conferences and awards. These are followed by apologies. However, there is a lot of criticism of Dylan and his protest songs and his songs of the earlier 60s. Later, Bale portrays a religious experience by Dylan and his conversion to a Pentecostal church. The next actor is Heath Ledger who portrays the singer in his acting career as well as his marriage. Charlotte Gainsbourg is the French wife, artist, mother of their children. It is in this period that the Vietnam War is strikingly presented, frequently as the characters watch television reportage.

The next character is Richard Gere portraying Billy the Kid, the character that Bob Dylan portrayed in Sam Peckinpah’s 1973, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Pat Garrett was played in that film by Kris Kristofferson who does the overall narrative for this film.

The film is interesting in its presentation of Dylan by Cate Blanchett who won the actress award at Venice 2007. The androgynous Dylan is well portrayed by this actress, who does a strong impersonation as well carry the later part of the film. She portrays the Dylan who is under attack by audiences and fans, especially in his changing to electronic music which is seen as a betrayal.

Throughout the whole film there is a wide selection of Dylan’s songs so that the film becomes an anthology of his music, sung in particular social settings, in the context of American politics and protest of the 20th century.

1. The impact of the film? A different cinema experience? The variety of visual styles? Bob Dylan's music? The cast and their performances?

2. The title, the nature of the voice-over, the commentary on all the characters, the multi-faceted aspects of Bob Dylan, his ghosts? Kris Kristofferson and the commentary?

3. The visual style: straightforward cinematography, documentary material, period archival material, the 60s? The black and white sequences? The world of film and film-making? The 1880s and Billy the Kid? The editing and putting all these jigsaw pieces together?

4. The strength of the cast, the different facets of Bob Dylan: the boy, the teenager, the singer, the actor, the older singer, Billy the Kid? Bob Dylan and aspects of African American, feminine, preacher, cowboy, actor?

5. Audience knowledge of Bob Dylan and his career, his life and background, his music, lyrics, the songs? The initial folk music, celebrating the past and the unions, transferring to the present and the 60s and social concerns? From Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan? The background of Joan Baez and the protest songs? The early 60s? The actor, his career, marriage and children, separation? The tours, especially to England? The fans, the change to electronic music, the BBC interviewer and the questions in England? His personal life? The background of Bob Dylan as Billy the Kid in Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid? The reality of Dylan's career after this period, at the beginning of the 21st century? Success?

6. The effect of the intercutting of the various characters, times? Each throwing light on the other? With the voice-over to help?

7. The child, Woody Guthrie? His age, African American, the background of the reformatory, songs and lyrics, riding the trains, meeting the old-timers and singing with them, the vicious attacks, his being thrown into the river, the rescue? 1959? His encounter with the black family, the black woman telling him to sing about the present? The white family and their listening, his accomplishment? The future?

8. The teenage interviews, the black and white photography, in the witness box, the voice, the appearance, the explanations - especially of the rebel?

9. Jack Rowlands as the singer of the 1960s, Christian Bale's impersonation of Bob Dylan? The social issues, the songs, performance, the Civil Rights movement? The visualising of the 1960s, the protests? Julianne Moore and the Joan Baez-type character, her retrospective, her comments? The award, his foolish speech, people upset, the drink? The post-Kennedy assassination era? Issuing the apology? His being seen later in life, the close-up of the crucifix, the Pentecostal church, his preaching?

10. The actor, Heath Ledger's impersonation? The scene of the filming? The reviews? Not so favourable? Meeting Claire, their discussions, French, artists, love? Their years together? The two girls? His own womanising, especially on location in England? The phone calls, the break-up? The portrait of Claire, her art, French background, at home, upset, the phone calls, her speech and the need to leave, the separation? Later seeing the husband come to take the girls out, presence? Claire being able to accept this? The period of Vietnam, interspersing the film with television shots of the war in Vietnam, especially the self-immolations and the comments about this kind of sacrifice and protest?

11. The older singer, Cate Blanchett's performance? The black and white photography? On tours, the interviews, the BBC? Singing 'Mr Jones', Jones, his criticisms, his questions, the singer turning them back on him? The performance, the cage, Mr Jones in the cage? Visualising the song? Issues of sincerity and insincerity? The TV interviewer wanting the celebrities to say what they wanted? The celebrity on TV? The fans, the concerts, turning on the singer and throwing objects onto the stage? The entourage? The mad waiter, drawing the knife, his attack, saying that the singer had betrayed the fans? The issue of electronic music? Illness, the entourage, Allen Ginsberg and his passing, lost in admiration of this celebrity?

12. Richard Gere as Billy the Kid, the re-creation of the 1880s, Pat Garrett and his role in the town, Billy the Kid with the mask, taking it off, the denunciation of authorities, the continued protest? Pat Garrett (and the irony of Bruce Greenwood performing this role in heavy makeup)? The arrest, travelling in the modern car - the significance of Bob Dylan in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid? It becoming an alter-ego?

13. The variety of backgrounds, how well created? Different personalities, Allen Ginsberg, the world of television? Promotion?

14. The cumulative effect of this kind of experience of different screen styles, Bob Dylan's music, an interpretation of his life and times?

HELP ME EROS

Taiwan 2007, 103 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Lee Kang- Sheng Yen.

Help me Eros is the second film by actor turned director Lee Kang- Sheng. His first film was The Missing in 2003. However, he has appeared in very many of the films of his executive producer, Tsai Ming- Liang including The Wayward Cloud, Goodbye Dragon Inn, and I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone.

In many ways the film is very nihilistic, a comment on the moral climate in Taiwan as observed by the writer-director. He portrays the young man who lost his money on the stock exchange, money being very important for Chinese people. He is also seen trying his luck in the lottery in his state of depression. He almost seals himself inside his apartment, grows marijuana, is stoned a lot of the time, but contacts a helpline. He becomes friendly with the woman on the other end of the line, not knowing that she is rather large, over-fed with the food of her cook-husband. He talks with her on a help line and also communicates by chat room. He also becomes friendly with the girls downstairs who, provocatively dressed, sell beetle nut to passers by.

He becomes lost in this closed-in world, becomes more involved in erotic experiences, which are presented, with striking candour and explicitness (almost as explicit as Ming- Liang’s The Wayward Cloud).

The film is artistically made - the colours and lights of Taiwan, the city itself, the enclosed world that can lead to drugs and suicide, the enclosed world of erotic experience - that seems to lead nowhere. The film seems to lack any kind of moral framework- something which is the feature of Ming- Liang’s films as well. The disciple has emulated his master.

1. A film from Taiwan? A portrait of Taiwanese life? Pessimistic? Nihilistic?

2. The craft of the film, the style of the photography, light and darkness, interiors, the city of Taiwan? The drug sequences? the erotic sequences? The ordinary business experiences? Life in the streets? The long takes, the time for contemplation? The poses, the framing of the scenes - especially the erotic scenes? The musical score?

3 . The focus on Ah Jie, his age, in the apartment, his losing all his money, his inhaling the marijuana plants? His ringing the Help Line? The relationship with Chye on the phone? The chat room? His not realising that Chye was the fat woman in the photo? His callous statements to her? Following her? The women downstairs, his encountering the women, paying for the cigarettes, the betel nut? Picking up the women? The relationship with Shin? Dependence, friendship, going out with her, the exhilaration of the car ride and the police photo? The erotic encounters, the sexuality and sensuality? The effect on him? His wandering around, his uncertainties? Drawing the lottery, running after the truck with the TV information? His losing? The attempted suicide with the gas? The failure? Opening the window? The lottery tickets all falling on the street? Shin finding the photo? What happened to him? Why?

4. Chye, a fat woman, her husband's cooking? Her own sensuality? Listening to the people on the Help Line? The interchanges in the chat room? Her sitting in the bath with the eels? Her going to
his apartment to save him?

5. Shin, the betel girls, the provocative dress, attracting the male customers, sexuality and brutality? The girls working together? Shin in this context? What she hoped for from Ah Jie, going with him, the car ride, the sexuality? His ambiguous attitudes towards her? The sexual encounter with the group?

6. What was the audience left with? Admiration for the craft of the film? A glimpse into an exotic and sealed world? Moral values and questions? Challenges? Pessimism?

THE SUN ALSO RISES

China, 2007, 115 minutes, Colour.
Joan Chan, Anthony Wong.
Directed Jiang Wen

The Sun Also Rises is a lavish production by Jiang Wen, actor (appearing as Old Tang) and Venice Award winning director.

The film is lavish in its production, beautiful locations ranging from forests and rivers to the Gobi desert and the mountains on the Russian border. There is a lavish musical score as well. The cinematic style of the film is exotic, dreams, fantasy, surrealism as well as realism.

However, the plot is complicated with four intersecting stories. These may not be perfectly clear to the audience, especially the non-Chinese audience, and familiar with beliefs about ghosts, afterlife, magic, ceremonies, and the interconnection of stories. A film to be admired by most audiences - but baffling to most audiences.

1. The impact of the film? For Chinese audiences? Non-Chinese? Chinese mysticism? Traditions?

2. The beauty of the landscapes? The river, the woods, the deserts, the mountains? The style in which they were filmed? The musical score?

3. The background of ghost stories, afterlife in Chinese understanding?

4. The four stories and their interconnection: the story of the young widow, her son, her dreams, the embroidered shoes, climbing the trees, fancy and delirium? The trip to the island, the cave, the photos? Her past? The son, his character, relationship with his mother? The second story, the college campus, the cultural revolution? The relationships between the students? The doctor? The molester? Binding them, separating them? The third story, the central character of the previous story, going to the village, the mad mother and her son? The men, the women, caressing velvet? Its impact on their lives? The fourth story, the desert, the wind and the mountains, the nomads? People converging? In this time and place?

5. The various themes, marriage, birth and death, destiny?

LA GRAINE ET LE MULET (COUSCOUS, SECRETS OF THE GRAIN)

France, 2007, 151 minutes, Colour.
Habib Boufares.
Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche.

This is an intriguing film. It is very long, the last 30 minutes sometimes testing the patience of the audience, especially with the long belly dance as well as the highly emotional outburst of one of the central characters. (While the outburst is justified, the stridency of the performance in the way that it is filmed is very demanding on the audience; the belly dance also contributes to the tension of the film and the situation, but it is also very long.)

The film is set on the Mediterranean coast amongst the French- Arabic community. It focuses on an older man, a worker on the docks for thirty-five years.

It highlights his work, his skills. It also highlights his difficulties with the changing work patterns of the 21st century, the role of Arabic workers, and the role of the French.

The film is very strong in its portrayal of the extended family (while the central character is divorced, we see his ex-wife, nagging) as well as his various children and their families. One of his daughters is happily married but is exasperated with her child’s toilet training. Another daughter is very glamorous and poised in life. Another is quite young. There is also a happily married older daughter with her non-Arabic husband. There are two sons, the older who works on the docks and as a tourist guide is unfaithful to his Russian-born wife. It is she who has the outbursts. The other is a genial young man.

The father also lives in a hotel, is in a partnership with the owner of the hotel and a father figure to her daughter.
The central focus of the film is the older man’s decision to turn a wrecked and dilapidated boat into a restaurant. The municipal powers are against him. However, he perseveres. With family and friends, he is able to transform the ship. He also holds and inaugural dinner for 100 guests, many of them municipal authorities coming, with the help of his ex-wife making the couscous which is her specialty because she knows the secret of the grain. The rest of the family also do help as do friends from the bar. However, there is a crisis when the older philandering son takes the car to avoid seeing his mistress with the couscous in the back. This has crisis effect for the dinner itself and the final half hour of the film is the way in which the crisis is handled. Then the film suddenly ends, leaving interpretation for the future open to the audience.

The film uses handheld camera quite a deal, with great fluidity in conversations and, especially, the family meal. With the close ups, there is an intimacy and an intensity in the characters’ expressing themselves both seriously and comically. To this extent, the film is quite a detailed and intense exploration of characters and their interrelationships, in the context of contemporary France and the issues about migrants, especially from North Africa.

Winner of the Jury Prize at Venice, the FIPRESCI prize and a SIGNIS commendation.

1. The impact of the film? The French setting? The French- Arabic community? The work situations? Migrants? Nationalism? Extended family? Family tensions? Enterprise?

2. The Mediterranean coast, the town, the credits and the boat tour, the docks, homes, the warehouses, streets and bars? Authentic feel? The musical score?

3. The visual style: the bright colours, the close-ups, the handheld camera, close for drama, intimacy, intensity?

4. The Magreb music, the songs, the belly dance?

5. The family setting: Majhid and the tour, the sexual encounter with the passenger - giving the reasons for the crisis and the climax? Slimane and his job, the boss, the discussions about hours, his being sacked, his friends, the delivery of the fish, his ex-wife and the visit to his daughter, his love for his grandchildren, his friends at the bar? The criticism from family? The praise at the bar?

6. His situation and age, health, work, thirty-five years on the docks, 1990 only for registration, the ignoring of the twenty years? His marriage, separation from his wife? Her nagging at his visits? His apartment, his friendship with the owner of the bar, Rym, the visit to his daughter, the potty training and the daughter's stridency, his son-in-law and friendship? His younger son? The other daughters? Their concern about their father and wanting him to go back to their mother? Their dislike of the owner of the hotel?

7. The family celebration, the meal, the introduction to the family characters? Karima, her children, her husband, his work, her own work, the unions? Lilia and her liveliness, Mero and his being non-Arabic, the jokes about his speaking Arabic words? Riadh as the youngest? The youngest daughter, the glamorous daughter and her husband? Majhid and Julia? Julia's brother, the Russian background, her being upset, his infidelity? The arguments? Going down to the meal? The scenes of the chatter at dinner, the jokes, the bonds?

8. Their father not going, the boys visiting, bringing him the food? Trying to persuade him to come home? His relationship with the owner, the night, the impotence? Rym and his friendship, being the father figure? (Her attraction to Riadh?)

9. The idea for turning the old boat into a restaurant, Rym and her help? The work on the boat? The interviews, the loans, the refusals, plans, municipal hearings? The old men at the bar and their determination to help, joining in? The preparation for the inaugural dinner, the family helping? The effect for Slimane?

10. The preparation of the dinner, especially the couscous? The ex-wife, her diligence, the women all helping? The décor, the waiting at tables, the range of guests, the local personages? Rym and her being upset, trying to persuade her mother to go, the reasons? The daughters and their helping out - and their dislike of Rym and her mother?

11. The crisis, Riadh carrying in the pots, Majhid and his seeing his woman friend, taking the car, his lie, turning his mobile phone off? The couscous in the back of the car? The women and their trying to cope? The father and his pursuit on the bike, meeting Julia, the stridency and length of her outburst, wearing for the audience despite its justification? The boys taking the bike, his giving chase, his continued running? The belly dance, delaying the people, giving them more liquor, waiting for the couscous? Rym's mother and her going across to the hotel, making the couscous and bringing it back?

12. The municipal authorities, their plots against Slimane?

13. The importance of Julia and her outbursts, the tension in the families, marital infidelity? The responsibility of the family, knowing, not supporting Julia? The role of her brother?

14. The sudden ending: Slimane and his collapse, the bringing of the couscous, the family - and the future of the restaurant - or not?

THE HUNTING PARTY

US, 2007, 103 minutes, Colour.
Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Jessie Eisenberg, James Brolin, Diane Kruger.
Directed by Richard Shepard.

The Hunting Party is a sardonic look at the war in the Balkans. It has many touches of irony - and communicates its very strong message and critique through comedy and irony.

The film was written and directed by Richard Shepard (Matador). He had visited the Balkans and absorbed something of the atmosphere of the place as well as the history of 1990s wars.

The film opens with some graphic footage where Richard Gere and Terrence Howard are involved in reporting the war for television. They get a buzz out of all the danger, the adrenaline flowing, a sense of being alive. However, finally the atrocities have their effect on the Richard Gere character, Simon Hunt. He breaks down and denounces everybody on prime time television. His career goes into a slide and he works in many wars for the television industries of small countries. In the mean time, Howard is promoted to New York.

The focus of the film is Sarajevo in the year 2000. Howard comes to Sarajevo for a 5 year memorial of the war’s end, with the TV front (James Brolin) and the son of a vice president, Jesse Eisenberg, (Roger Dodger, The Emperor’s Club, The Squid, and the Whale).

When Simon Hunt gets in touch again, he proposes that they seek out the Fox, the man responsible for atrocities. Organisations such as the UN and the CIA have not been able to track him down in the Balkan Mountains where he is being protected by loyalists.

The irony of the film (which is said to be based on actual events but that the ridiculous aspects are the true aspects) indicates that these three journalists, mistaken by everybody for CIA agents, can actually track down and capture the Fox. This is a blend of thriller, action, ironic comedy. However, they achieve their mission and justice is seen to be done.

In the final comments, the full irony is manifest as it is pointed out how all the organisations have not been able to track down several of the Balkan War criminals whereas independent people can do it. It also raises the question - and this is the final comment - about the possibilities of tracking down

Osama Bin Laden and the reasons why these people have not been found as well as the political deals behind these failures.
Not one of the great Balkan films, but a very interesting and challenging look. Other Balkan films include Saviour, Welcome to Sarajevo, Ulysses’ Head.

1. How effective a thriller? Action film? Comic and ironical?

2. The tone: the statement of factual basis, the ridiculous elements being the true elements? The realistic style? The fantasy adventure? The comment and irony on the UN, the US? The critique and condemnation of the lack of action towards war criminals?

3. The use of Balkan locations, the Balkan war and the picturing of atrocities? Sarajevo in 2000? The republic neighbouring Montenegro? The mountains, the roads and the forests? The sinister locales, the inns and bars? The tunnels? The musical score?

4. The voice-over by Duck, his description of the action in the Balkans, his description of Simon Hunt and his personality, his sense of mission, his skill as a journalist, his fearlessness, the adrenalin for living? His history? The events of war, photographing the Balkans? His promotion after Simon's breakdown on screen? 2000, meeting Simon again, the proposition for the search? The adventure, the comment? The light factual touches and the irony?

5. Richard Gere as Simon, his relationship with Duck? Their achievement, adrenalin, action and living, the bulletins, the fear in the streets, the bombs and the guns, the camerawork, Simon as the front and speaking to the TV audience? Interviewed by Franklin? The breakdown and his disgust about the massacre? The consequences, his being fired, glimpsed going to various wars, his working for small nations and their television? The later inclusion of the flashbacks, the massacre, the explanation, Simon and his relationship with the girl, her pregnancy? Her going to help her townspeople? The massacre? The Fox and his smile? The desperation in 2000? Motivation of revenge rather than the five million dollars?

6. Duck, his promotion, easy life in New York, photographing Franklin? Franklin, the front, the stereotype of this personality? His surgery? On air? His relating to Simon? Giving him permission to do the interview? Bringing Benjamin along?

7. Benjamin, his age, son of the vice-president, Harvard School of Journalism, the theoretical learning, studying Simon's breakdown? Gawky? Knowing that he was a gawk? The introduction to the journalists?

8. Simon in the hotel room, talking with Duck, persuading him to change? Duck, phoning his girlfriend in Greece? Benjamin eavesdropping? Wanting to join the group? The aim of the journey, the truth? Simon not having a source? Having the coffee, borrowing the money - not paying and the owner shooting? His warning about Fox?

9. The flashbacks with Fox, the massacre, his reputation, his being protected in the mountains? The ethnic cleansing, the Bosnian Serbs and their being anti the Bosnian Muslims? His bodyguard with the warning tattooed on his forehead?

10. Going to the bar, the locals, the drinks, their saying they were not fools, their being ousted? Returning to Sarajevo?

11. The interview with Boris, the United Nations? The Indian and his offering doughnuts? Not having the information about the Fox? The critique of the UN and the US? The second meeting with Boris, the tunnel, meeting Mirjana and her story? The plan, the issue of the thousand dollars - and Benjamin improvising about the CIA rules and payments? Her believing him?

12. The three abducted from the hotel, the hideout, being tied up, the henchman and his threats, Simon about to be killed? The rescue by the CIA? The CIA manager and his abuse?

13. The irony of everybody believing they were CIA? The critique of the CIA? Their decision to continue, to run?

14. The insight that the Fox would be caught while he was hunting without his bodyguards, the Fox confronting an actual fox? The three coming up on him, capturing him? Leaving him in the square of the town? The reaction of the people? Justice being done?

15. The postscript about what was true and false? The insight into the Balkan wars and the long traditions of hate? The ugliness of war and massacres? Diplomacy and deals? The UN, the US, the UK, the CIA, the Hague, international justice? And the continued question that if three people can capture the Fox, what about Osama bin Laden?

SEARCHERS 2.0

US, 2007, 91 minutes, Colour.
Del Zamora, Jaclyn Jonet, Ed Pansullo, Sy Richardson.
Directed by Alex Cox.

Searchers 2.0 is a piece of cinema fun for film buffs.

Alex Cox has directed a number of strange films over several decades. His most accessible was Repo Man with Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez in 1984. He made Straight to Hell as well as Walker with Ed Harris. He is also done a lot of experimentation in his eccentric way.

However, Searchers is much more straightforward. Two older men who have been extras and stunt men in the movies decide to go to a screening in Monument Valley of a film in which they appeared as children. The director of the film was a sadistic tyrant and they plot to get revenge. They are dependant on one man's daughter to drive them to Monument Valley.

The two men talk incessantly about films, especially about Westerns. For film buffs, there is constant delight with all these references, audience's testing out their own memories and their own likes.

There is a parody of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly showdown at the end of the film as the two men confront the director - with a quiz about stunt men. There is a surprise ending - but it does not build up to a satisfying climax. The film just ends.

However, there is a great deal of Western scenery along the way, references especially to John Ford and John Wayne, respect for so many films, discussions about war films and their meaning. One of the two men has rather conservative political views but very up-to-date views on the environment. The other is from Mexico and the references are made to Mexicans in the United States.

The film will not be to everyone's liking, it may go over the heads of many audiences - but it is one of those films that would have been a great success at midnight shows in specialist cinemas in cities.

1. The work of Alex Cox over the decades? His English background? Sid and Nancy and his British films? His American films? His admiration for American genres? Using them, parodying, homage? Working with small budgets?

2. The title, the echoes of John Wayne and John Ford? The visit to Monument Valley? The contrast with Los Angeles, the poverty, the Mexican workers, wanting jobs? The road movie, the highways into Utah and Arizona?

3. Audience knowledge of the western genre? The war films? All the references? To films, to performers, to the stunt men? A film for film buffs? The references to actual films - and to fictional films? The discussions? The issues? War, American imperialism? Traditions and trends? The environment? The admiration for the stunt men? The extras?

4. Mel and his work, representing the Mexicans, the owners driving in, wanting the workers, the cheap rates? Mel and his life, separation from his wife, his daughter and his relationship with her? Persuading her to give the car? Going on the road with her?

5. Fred and his life, child star, extra, stunts? Watching his old film? Mel's arrival, their comparing stories, the discussions and the decision about the trip?

6. Leonard Maltin, the parody of his television shows, his appearing himself? Praise of the fictional film and director? Mel and Fred and their reaction, their memories, the decision to go, vengeance?

7. Fritz Frobisher, his character, reputation, their sense of mission to avenge themselves?

8. The car, the pressure on the daughter, her not knowing television or film, the arguments? Her background, moving out, losing her nursing job? The meals on the way, the discussions, the nights in the
motel, the breakdown? Her taking their photo at Monument Valley and tricking them, stranding them? Her reappearance, buying the T-shirt from Frobisher, refereeing the three-way quiz?

9. The journey, the sense of mission, the enthusiasm, the discussions, the memories? The movie references? The motel, the diners? The daughter tricking them? Waiting, walking through the desert, the
arrival and the wrong film? The setting up of the screen, the Mexicans watching?

10. The John Wayne hut, the shrine, the graffiti from Frobisher? Finding him, confronting him, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and the three-way quiz? Fred losing?

11. Frobisher and the flashback, the situation with the film, the children and their non-acting, Roger Corman as the producer, Frobisher and his whipping the children and their fear - and Fred and Mel forgiving him for the sake of the film?
12. The odd ending, Fred revealed as an agent, the issue of copyright, Frobisher and his selling illegal scripts, going to prison? Fred becoming a senator?

13. The weak acting, the B-budget - but the homage to the old films? And the entertainment of film buffs?

CASSANDRA'S DREAM

UK, 2007, 109 minutes, Colour.
Colin Farrell, Ewan Mc Gregor, Tom Wilkinson, Hayley Atwell, Sally Hawkins, Phil Davis, Clare Higgins.
Directed by Woody Allen.

Cassandra was the Trojan prophet of doom – and nobody believed her. While there is a yacht in this film called Cassandra’s Dream, this is a Woody Allen comedy/drama about dreams and hopes dashed by doom.

Woody Allen has been having a very bad press in recent years. While his first film made in England, Match Point, was well received elsewhere, British reviewers were harsh on it. They were even worse, those who saw it, because his next film Scoop was not released there despite a cast led by Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson. Both of these were about murder. So is Cassandra’s Dream.

The film focuses on two brothers, Ewan Mc Gregor and Colin Farrell, who seem to be living fairly ordinary lives in London. Their uncle (Tom Wilkinson) returns from the US and draws on family loyalty to get them to get rid of a rival. Neither of them are born killers but the film goes on to show how differently (and unexpectedly) they react to what they have done. One finds some kind of fulfilment in the murder, the other is plagued by guilt and bad dreams. It is interesting to see how Mc Gregor and Farrell play against previous type-casting, especially Colin Farrell.

While there are a number of Woody Allenisms, this is Allen with his interest in murder and conscience, not just in his British films but in others like Crimes and Misdemeanours and Manhattan Murder Mystery. This film gets by on its cast more than on Allen’s writing.

1. Woody Allen's work? Comedy? Serious themes? His third film in Britain? Murder in a comic setting?

2. The world of London, the different worlds, the affluent, the working class, the theatre, Hammersmith Bridge, the Brighton excursion, on the water? The Philip Glass score?

3. The title, the race winner, the boat, Cassandra and her prophecies of doom - unable to help herself but speak the truth? Truth and doom? Terry as Cassandra?

4. The comic background, the family sequences, the meal? The bonds between the two brothers? The bickering of the parents? Their hopes, issues of money, reliance on Uncle Howard? Plans? The romantic background for each of the men?

5. The tragedy, the pressure, personal flaws, moral decisions, the moral criteria - amoral, selfish? False loyalties? The logic of the false loyalties?

6. Woody Allen and the murder theme, in so many of his films? This murder as callous, the attitudes of the two young men, their various plans, the need for money, the planning, the weapons, the attempt in the house and their having to escape, the murder in the street? The consequences? Ian and his continuing success, spending money? Plans to go to Los Angeles? The contrast with Terry, consumed with guilt, his
health, dependency on alcohol and pills, his relationship with his wife, his dreams, the need to confess, the discussions with Ian, his anguish?

7. The buying of the boat, the plans, the money, Terry and his lucky streaks, his seeming losses and then wins? Enjoying the boat? Going out with the two women? Ian and his ambitions with the boat? His land deals, the Los Angeles hotels? Helping his father, his father's illness, working at the restaurant, odd hours, not wanting to stay there? Terry and the cars, Ian borrowing them? The development of the needs for money?

8. Terry and Kate, the bonds between the two, at home? Ian and the girl from the restaurant, taking her out, sexual relationship - and dumping her? Angela and the breakdown, Ian fixing the car, going to the play, attracted, going out, her world, the theatre people, the dates, the parties? Her going to LA with him? The relationship?

9. The mother, her bickering with the father, the father and his being long-suffering, his criticisms of Howard? Howard and his wealth, success, plastic surgery in Hollywood, institutions in China? His supporting the family, coming for Dorothy's birthday, the boys wanting to talk to him, under the trees in the rain, his proposition about the murder? His pressure on them? Callous and unfeeling? His not wanting to do anything directly? The later impact on him? His concern? Discussions with Ian about Terry's death?

10. Mark Burns, his principles, exposing Howard, at the party, his personality, his wife, meeting Ian and Terry? Their attempt to kill him at home, his coming in, not alone? Their escape? Their killing him quietly in the street?

11. The consequences for Ian, his work, his spending, handling the situation? The background of taking his father's money and indications about his stances? The discussion about the consequences for Terry, the discussion about God and his non-existence? His prospering, with Angela, the parties? Terry and his deterioration, the visits, Kate and her concern, his stating that he had phoned the police? His nights and nightmares?

12. The decision to go out on the boat, the contrast with the two women shopping, having the beers, Ian preparing the poison but not following through, the fight, Ian's death? Seeing the boat, the information about Terry's suicide? The ending and the audience's moral judgments on all the characters?

13. Woody Allen and theatre and cinema, LA gossip, theatre and plays, critics? The discussions about tragedy within comedy?

DAVID WANTS TO FLY

Germany, 2010, 95 minutes, Colour.
David Sieveking, Marie Pohl, David Lynch.
Directed by David Sieveking.

Quite a journey. No, that's an understatment! This is a very significant journey. I am glad that I saw the film without knowing anything about the journey and where it led. But, the word is out now. This is a movie expose of Transcendental Meditation. And quite a piece of movie investigative research it is.

David Sieveking, a German, looks almost the cliched description of a nerd – a touch gangly, bespectacled and with a face that shows everything is being absorbed seriously. He is also more than a bit of an extrovert.

At film school, David Lynch was his cinema idol. Discovering that Lynch meditated and was, in fact, a strong supporter of the Maharashi and TM, as well as a celebrity fund-raiser for them, he traveled to the US to interview Lynch on film and fell even further under his spell and began to learn to meditate himself, being given his own personal mantra. This was the foundation for a documentary film, enhanced by the footage of the Maharishi, his enthusiastic followers, testimony from Donovan, Paul McCartney? and Ringo Starr. And he went to India to film the rituals of the Maharishi's funeral.

He had on-and-off support from his partner, Marie Pohl.

Buoyed with enthusiasm and spiritual zest (though he could not emulate the strange phenomenon of the Flying Yogists who, to facilitate focus and intuition, could bounce and bounce and bounce along in the lotus position). But, at the grand assembly following the death of the Maharishi, he begins (as does the audience) to wonder. Pompous crowned kings vie for power. Ideological clashes break out – and David is requested to stop filming.

What follows is a journey of doubt and disillusionment, the realisation that TM had developed the characteristics of a cult, that money (lots of it) had become paramount, that projects were ambitious, buildings and peace centres in India, US and Germany, and many were not achieved, that rumours about the mores of the Maharishi and inconsistencies about his celibacy needed to be followed up. There are meetings and interviews with a woman who had had a relationship with the Maharishi, his 'skin-boy' (whose title referred to his solemnly preceding the Maharishi into meetings holding a deer skin) had been ousted by a peevish boss, and a Colorado financier who had contributed over $150,000,000 and found it had gone nowhere – or to a family in India.

David Sieveking brings this phase of his quest to a close at the Ganges and the search for the source of the river as well as at the monastery from the Maharishi came and made his claims – which were not endorsed by the current leadership there.

The film is always interesting, increasingly intriguing and challenging to attitudes to faith, spirituality and double standards. At the time of the film's release, David Lynch, a staunch disciple of TM, was in India making a movie about the Maharishi.

1.Audience knowledge of transcendental meditation? David’s journey, discovery, detecting? The expose?

2.The personal perspective, the opening, David Lynch as David’s idol, film school, wanting to make a dark film? The posters in his room? His relationship with Marie, her pedantic response to him, writing her novels, living in New York? His being caught up with David Lynch and transcendental meditation? Going to Iowa, crossing the United States? Meditation, the flying yogists? The variety of projects that transcendental meditation supported?

3.The Maharishi and his impact, the 1960s, the world of transcendental meditation, The Beatles, Donovan, Mia Farrow, the testimony of Donovan, Paul McCartney?, Ringo Starr?

4.The celebrities, the Maharishi flourishing in India, transferring to Switzerland and discovering the Swiss economy, the ceremonies held in Switzerland, financial support? The transition to Holland, building the huge centre? Creating an empire? The money, Fairfield in the United States, the project for India, the peace program, the issue of teaching children meditation at school and the later view of the Fairfield students and their meditation and their flying?

5.David as a person, bright, the film student, his life, relationship with Marie, admiration for Lynch, starting his film, the lead in America, the footage? Lynch’s interview, his support of transcendental meditation? The death of the Maharishi, David going to India? The veneration of the Maharishi and sympathy for him? His own personal journey and meditation, his personal mantra, his practice of meditation?

6.The successors of the Maharishi, the huge congress, the pomp, the rituals, the public relations, the kings and their crowns and robes, their speeches, power, accused of being charlatans? David Lynch defending the German king? The buying of the Devil’s Mountain in order to make the university? The German king and his going away in a stretch limo?

7.The buying of Devil’s Mountain, the Invincible German University, people’s reaction, the indiscreet words about Hitler? The various interviews that David did, the PR, the platitudes, the secrecy – and the issue of nobody ever having seen anyone flying despite the Maharishi’s promotion of flying as a greater form of meditation?

8.Fairfield, Lynch and his speech, the digging of the foundations? The PR people wary of interviews with David? David Lynch and his defence of the Maharishi, of the business side, everything being a blessing and bliss?

9.The testimonies against the Maharishi and transcendental meditation? The skin boy as his role of carrying the skin before the Maharishi, the photos, his testimony against the moods of the Maharishi, his being ousted? The relationship with the young woman, her explanations? Her being rejected? Earl and the one hundred and fifty million dollar donation? The psychologist and his doing the brain test on David?

10.The Maharishi and his personal life, especially the issue of celibacy? Finance? Discarding friends when they could no longer supply money?

11.David going to India, the Ganges experience, the crowds? Travelling into the mountains, the wise men, smoking, singing When the Saints Go Marching In? His plunge into the icy waters at the source of the Ganges?

12.His visit to the monastery, his talking with the guru, Maharishi identified as the guru’s secretary, a trader caste, not authorised to preach the meditation techniques?

13.David’s return, the reconciliation with Marie, walking on the beach, going to Devil’s Mountain, imagining the building as his house?

14.David and his respectful search for the truth? The nature of the investigation? Transcendental meditation organisation as a cult? The repercussions?

EL MAR AJENO (FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS)

Spain, 2010, 107 minutes, Colour.
Eduardo Noriega, Belen Rueda, Angie Cepeda.
Directed by Oskar Santos Gomez.

For the Good of Others is a film about hospitals, surgery, healing – but with a touch of mystical theme.

Set in Madrid, the film looks like many episodes of television series such as ER. However, the issue of healing and miraculous powers transcends the ordinary ER kind of story.

Eduardo Noriega portrays a doctor in charge of a pain unit and questions his patients about their threshold of pain. His daughter becomes ill and he is concerned about her illness. However, he is a generally detached doctor, good at his work, but advising his staff not to become involved in people’s lives. He is separated from his wife. He takes care of his doctor father.

When one of his pain patients commits suicide while she is pregnant, her partner threatens the life of the doctor. What happens, explained gradually and generally later, is that there is a continuity, a kind of pay it forward, of a capacity for healing but it requires the sacrifice of the healer who finds that they cannot heal someone they love and therefore must pass on the gift.

The film was produced by Alejandro Amenabar who made such films as Open Your Eyes, The Others and El Mar Adentro.

1.The title of the film, the Spanish title? Emphases on good, on evil? Medical stories? Illness, pain, healing?

2.The hospital and its detail, the pain unit, surgery, the wards, intensive care unit, corridors, the roof? The ER look?

3.The homes, the roads and the countryside? The musical score, highly orchestrated?

4.The character of Diego, as a competent doctor, following in his father’s footsteps, not wanting to be like him? Talking with his father, the tests for prostate cancer, his father’s collapse, hospitalisation, his death? Diego staying at his father’s house? Feeling helpless? His separation from Pilar? Her being a nurse, their avoiding each other in the hospital? Their daughter, teenager, her teenage girl reactions, talking about trauma? Her sexual encounter with Juanjo? Gonorrhea, communicating it to him? Her father puzzled? Her mother knowing? His detached view of service to patients, his advice to Juanjo especially about the old woman eating pizza before she died? Getting Juanjo to look at all the people who needed his detached care?

5.The introduction, the video, the range of patients, the nature of their illnesses, their age, the threshold of pain?

6.Armand and Sarah, Sarah not wanting Armand to know she had multiple sclerosis? Pregnant, the overdose? The injury to the foetus heart? The tests, her going into coma?

7.Armand, his devotion to her, his attacking Diego, apologising, shooting him, healing him, killing himself? Passing on the capacity for healing? The flashbacks of explanation, Sarah’s sister, the hit-run, her death? Her wanting to die, unable to help Sarah, passing on the power to Armand? The healer and the sense of helplessness, the need to die to pass on this gift for others?

8.Diego, seemingly dead, coming to life, changing his view of life, walking around the hospital, looking with new eyes at the multiple patients? The encounter with Carlos, Carlos’s pessimism, the amputations? Wanting to get back with his wife, her resistance? Smoking pot? The change, the healing?

9.The illness and complications for the daughter? The mother keeping watch? The medical issues? Juanjo and his concern? Her getting worse, Pilar’s response, Diego’s response? Sarah intervening and healing?

10.Isabel, coming to identify Armand’s body, the shock of twenty years’ marriage and his behaviour, wanting to become pregnant, unable? Her drinking? Talking to Diego, confiding in him? Healed or not? The relationship? In Sarah’s house, Sarah’s arrival, asking her to take care of the baby, giving the baby a name? Sarah going on mission?

11.Carlos, his life, angers, wife, Diego cutting his throat, death – healing?

12.Diego, at peace, killing himself, the self-sacrifice?

13.Themes of illness, pain, mystery, healing, bearing illness for others? The absence of God and the transcendent? A humanist spirituality?

ALL ABOUT STEVE

US, 2009, 97 minutes, Colour.
Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Thomas Haden Church, Holmes Osborne.
Directed by Philip Traill.

Sandra Bullock may not approve of this pun, but her character in All About Steve, Mary Horowitz, probably would: one is tempted to use very cross words about this sometimes bizarre comedy about crosswords.

Mary composes crosswords for the Sacramento paper. She is a middle-aged nerd of the highest order, talking incessantly like Wikipedia only more so, with a high IQ that bears no relation to her social ineptness. At one stage, a little hearing impaired child signs to her that she talks too much.

Sandra Bullock can do dopey well, and nicely – look at Miss Congeniality. Here she is just just plain (no, complexly plain) ditzy. At which stage, Mary Horowitz would burst into a definition of ditzy with a superabundance of synonyms and the origins and usages of the word. But, you know what I mean. Maybe on paper, this character seemed funny and sweet, despite her irritation-potential, but she really doesn't make much sense as her character develops (a euphemism for what she does during the film). And Sandra Bullock was a producer of All About Steve so she could have done something about it.

There are too many inconsistencies about Mary Horowitz to make much sense, gawkily introverted one moment, almost a sexual predator the next. The victim of this unexpected outburst is television cameraman, Steve (Bradley Cooper) who gets out of her literal clutches as fast as he can. Silly man, he has remarked that it would be nice if she were on the road with him. She takes it literally and stalks him all over Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado, egged on by the vain front man played by Thomas Haden Church.

There is quite some satire on television news, the pressures of the ratings-chasing boss, Emmy rivalries, the phony emotional commentaries, the on-screen faux pas, the media circuses. Finally, there is parody of disaster reporting as a group of hearing impaired children fall into a disused mine shaft. For entirely different reasons, so does Mary – who has time to reconsider her attitudes and behaviour, becomes a media heroine and lets Steve (who confesses his unthinking macho behaviour to her) off the hook. So, she doesn't have to be normal, just herself and we will all love her, listen to her encyclopedic chatter and do her crosswords. (Mystery: how could Sandra Bullock be so annoying?)

1.The impact of the comedy, how entertaining, the severe reviews and criticisms?

2.The credibility of the characters, or not? Situations?

3.The style of comedy, screwball, ditzy, satire?

4.Sandra Bullock’s performance as Mary? The bizarre aspects of her character, behaviour, expressions? The introduction, her making up the crosswords, her strong vocabulary, her being an encyclopaedia? Her parents and their concern, arranging the date? Steve, the date, being forced into it, his behaviour, the sexual approach, Mary’s erratic behaviour, naïve? Steve fobbing her off, relieved? Her decision to follow him? Making up the crossword all about Steve, the collage contrasting with the initial view of people enjoying the crossword with the people who couldn’t understand it? Her being fired?

5.The background, the boss and the paper, Sacramento? Her parents and their concern?

6.Steve, television, his boss, the rivalry for Hartman and the other networks? The reports? Hartman talking direct to camera? Steve and Hartman collaborating as a team? Hartman’s vanity? The boss and his exasperation, sending them on various missions?

7.Steve, the repercussions of the date, his escape, going back to work, on tour with Hartman?

8.Mary’s arrival on the various scenes? Hartman and his mischief, egging her on, telling her that whenever Steve denied the relationship he really meant it? Mary believing him? The effect on Steve each time she turned up?

9.The situations, the fires, the storms, the waterfront, Mary and the accidents? The child with three legs? The various camps, her identifying with the three-leg group, their support of her? Hartman’s note?

10.The information about Colorado, her going there, the deaf children, the excursion, the collapse, the disused mine, the media turning up, Hartman’s rival, Hartman? The rescue of the children? Mary and her falling in, discovering the child? Trying to work out how to escape? The time underground, time for reflection, action?

11.Her group and their support, the truck driver and his giving her a lift, discussions with her, her bizarre behaviour with him? His coming to the rescue?

12.Mary lifted up, the child saved, her becoming a heroine, everybody seeing it on television?

13.Hartman, diving in for the rescue, the rival and his exasperation, Hartman taking the credit?

14.The overall impact of the film, its happy ending – a ditzy romantic American comedy?