POUR ELLE (ANYTHING FOR HER)

France, 2008, 96 minutes, Colour.
Vincent Lindon, Diane Kruger, Lancelot Roch, Liliane Rovere, Oliviere Perrier.
Directed by Fred Cavaye.

Pour Elle is an interesting drama, quite intense at times.

The film opens with Julien (Vincent Lindon) with blood on his hands in a car. There is a quick transition to a happy family, Julien with his wife, Lisa (Diane Kruger) and their young son. Suddenly, the police arrive at the door and the wife is arrested for murder and imprisoned.

While the film shows the effect of prison on the wife as well as the alienation of her son over the three years before her appeal, the focus is on Julien and his coping with his son but also with his efforts to free his wife. With the turning down of the appeal (and the audience knowing she is innocent and that this is a miscarriage of justice because of circumstantial evidence), he becomes ever more determined to get her out of jail. For the rest of the film, this is his obsession, minutely detailed planning and the suspense of whether he will be able to carry out his plan or not. A series of desperate situations, or turns of fate, means that the audience becomes more and more emotionally involved. It is something like us against them, the audience and the family against the police.

It is interesting to watch how ingenuity can win the day against the best police procedures – but the film ends with the reflection from a criminal who made several escapes: escaping is easy; it is staying free that is difficult.

1.A French thriller? Characters? Situations? Action? A satisfying combination?

2.The French settings, Paris, the city? The homes? Work? The streets and the drug dealers? The contrast with the prison at Meaux? Exteriors and interiors? The travel to Liage? The finale in Guatemala? The musical score?

3.The credibility of the characters, the plot, the situation? The action at the end – and the escape?

4.The beginning with Julien and the blood in the car? The mystery? The reprise of this sequence later in the film – and the consequences? Suspicions of Julien? The transition to his arriving home with Lisa? Their marriage, home, Oscar? The babysitter? Everything seeming normal?

5.The indications of time change, the last three years, the last three months, three days…?

6.The morning, ordinary breakfast, the police invasion, the arrest of Lisa? The accusation? Murder? Her going to jail? The lawyers? Circumstantial evidence? The three years in jail, the appeal? Julien going to the court, encountering the lawyer, the appeal turned down?

7.The importance of the flashback, the audience understanding what the circumstantial evidence was? Lisa being entirely innocent? The wrong culprit? The injustice of her imprisonment?

8.Julien and the three years, his having to be father and mother to Oscar? The domestic sequences? His own work as a teacher? His search for witnesses – and time passing? His going to the park, talking with the parents in the park? The domestic side of life? The contrast with the visit to the prison, their being screened, the meetings with Lisa? Oscar and his ignoring his mother? The pain for her? Her illness, the need for medication? The hospital?

9.Julien and his plan to get Lisa from prison, his wall and all the diagrams, the points, the photos? The sudden change and her being transferred to another prison? His decision to act quickly? The plan with the ambulance?

10.The need for money, trying to sell the house? Selling all the furniture? The house becoming bare? His relationship with his brother, the brother’s coming to see him, talking it over with him? His relationship with his parents, going to visit them, the meals, leaving Oscar with them? Their delight in having their grandson? The father and his knowing what was to happen, seeing the tickets, accepting this? The farewell?

11.Julien and the need for more money, the short time, looking at the bank, contemplating the robbery? The decision to attack the drug dealer, getting him in the car, getting him to take him to the boss? The hostility of the boss? The gun? Julien taking the money? The shooting, the dealer and his being shot, the boss and his death? Julien taking the dealers’ body in the car, the reprise of the opening scene, the blood, leaving the dealer on a seat in the street?

12.The police, the body, the investigations? The paint on the car, narrowing the field to Julien? Moving very quickly – but not quickly enough?

13.Julien, with Oscar, taking the hotel room opposite the hospital? Putting the plan into practice, the wrong files and his substituting others? Lisa and her surprise, taken to the hospital?

14.Julien and the gun, Lisa and her disbelief, trying to dissuade him? The white coats, the corridors, the pursuit in the hospital, the getaway? The decision to go to Liage for the flight? Getting through the roadblock – the hitchhikers and it not seeming like mother, father and son? Their being let through? Hiding the money on themselves? Getting through security?

15.The interesting presentation of an ordinary couple and their thinking, shrewdness, luck, evading the police completely?

16.The flight to Guatemala, settling there – a future? The scene where Julien interviewed the writer of the book about escapes and his comment that it was easy to escape but much more difficult to stay free? Would this apply to the family?

TERMINATOR SALVATION

US, 2009, 115 minutes, Colour.
Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham- Carter, Anton Yelchin, Jadagrace Bryce, Dallas Howard Common, Jane Alexander, Michael Ironside.
Directed by Mc G

There are incessant slams and even more bangs in this slambang third edition of the Terminator saga.

If you are not up-to-date on the details of the series (which began as long ago as 1984), then it is recommended that you find a Terminator geek and get filled in on the plot background – because it deals with time travel which makes no realistic logical sense except, maybe, on the screenplay page. Otherwise, look up the IMDb and check with the plot information there, which I did (and found it actually did remind me of the past stories and explained what had happened and how this plot fits in quite well with what has gone before!).

MCG, or Mc G (for Joseph Mc Ginty) has directed two Charlie's Angels films, so he knows how to do action stuff. Here, he has been given free rein and has taken it. The film looks distinctive. He has opted for a desaturated look, minimal colour, for what is a very bleak post-apocalyptic landscape of LA and the California desert. Since machines are dominating humans, this atmosphere is quite dehumanised as the pocket resistance groups try to survive against the ever more powerful terminator constructs. And there are plenty of chases, pursuits, menacing, fights, battles to illustrate this. The film also has a pounding Danny Elfman score, with beating drums, and sound engineering which seems to make the cinema reverberate. Technically, with the design of the Terminators and their superhuman, supermachine abilities and activities, and the creation of the bleak sets, the film is well crafted.

And the plot? We are in 2018. John Connor (Christian Bale) is heading the resistance. He is married with a pregnant doctor wife (Bryce Dallas Howard). Out there is the teenage Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) who, we know from the previous films, will go back to 1984 in 2029 to save John Connor's mother who is threatened by the original Terminator (and this time we have a flashback of the governor of California from that film). Connor, of course, wants to save him from destruction, especially after he hears that he has been captured along with a mute little girl and a grandmother-figure (Jane Alexander).

A complication comes in the character of Marcus whom we see executed in 2003 but signing away his body to an agent of Skynet (Helena Bonham Carter). You will have guessed that he is made the subject of a machine experiment, human heart and brain combined with metal – and a mission to kill John Connor. As played by Sam Worthington, he becomes a more interesting and sympathetic character than John Connor himself, befriending the prisoners and determined to rescue them, unaware of his human-machine constitution and not knowing that he is to kill Connor.

Given these bases, the plot is rather predictable – but that doesn't really matter as we are swept along with the action (which includes an interesting reverse parallel chase to Terminator 2 where a menacing truck pursued the young John on a motor bike whereas here, Marcus in a truck pursues an evil terminator on a bike) – and we are subdued into submissive acceptance by the beating score and the pounding sound.

1.The popularity of the Terminator films? Over twenty-five years? Audience expectations?

2.The future: bleak, post-apocalyptic, a world of resistance to the machines? Touches of hope? The cataclysmic Event? Its consequences?

3.The technical bravura of the film? The desaturated colour, the red eyes in the dark background? Grim landscapes, ruins? Los Angeles? The special effects for the machines, their size, action, battles? Sky Net Laboratories? The pounding score, the reverberating sound engineering and its effect?

4.Issues of time, time travel? The philosophical possibility or not? Especially for Kyle Reese and the fact that in 2029 he goes into the past? Becomes John Connor’s father? The possibilities of changing the past and the future or not?

5.The introduction to Marcus Wright, in prison, his sense of guilt, Doctor Serena Kogan visiting him, her looking as if she were dying of cancer? Her plea, the cause of science? His wanting the kiss – the taste of death? Signing the document? The scene of his execution? The tone that this gives the film?

6.John Connor, the leader of the Resistance, married, his wife pregnant? General Ashdown and the strategy to combat the machines? His headquarters, his officers? The role of the Resistance? John Connor on the radio, his team, Blair Williams, Barnes? The action against the machines?

7.The Resistance and Kyle Reese, his age, with the little girl, Star? The bonds between them? Virginia, the grandmother figure, her care for the child? The fighting with the machines, their being captured, transferred to prison?

8.Marcus, alone in the desert, meeting this Resistance group, their suspicions? Kate and the physical examination? Finding the metal? His fighting, his motivation, travelling, seeking John Connor? The encounter with Blair Williams? Down the well, surviving, his wounds? Connor’s suspicions? The metal, human brain and human heart? Suspicion about his mission to kill Connor – which was a reality? Testing him? Blair saving him, Connor allowing this?

9.The characters of the machines, their power, the vehicles? The way of disabling the machines? The Terminator cycle chase with the machines on the bikes? Marcus in pursuit?

10.The build-up to the final confrontation, Marcus and John Connor? The rescue of Kyle Reese and the others? Marcus and the information from doctor Kogan? The truth about himself, his mission? The nightmare experience? Connor and the attack? Marcus and his having a second chance?

11.Connor and his wounds, his wife tending him, the possibility of the heart transplant? Marcus agreeing, making reparation for the wrong that he had done?

12.The title, salvation for Marcus, salvation for Connor, salvation for the human race?

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM

US, 2006, 108 minutes, Colour.
Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Jake Cherry, Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, Rami Malek, Steve Coogan, Anne Meara, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson.
Directed by Shawn Levy.

One of the nicest surprises for the end of 2006 and a film to recommend is Night at the Museum. Children of all ages will find something to amuse and entertain – and so will parents.

The museum is the Museum of Natural Sciences in New York. Only the night security guards (Dick Van Dyke, Bill Cobbs and a fiercely feisty tiny 85 year old Mickey Rooney) know that every night all the exhibits come alive. They are being retired and are not too happy about it. They have a devious plan. Their replacement is a desperately out of work father, Larry (Ben Stiller), who wants to relate to his young son who is being brought up by his mother and her new husband.

One of the other difficulties at the museum is that it is managed by Ricky Gervais. He gives a very funny performance as a pompous ass, censorious but who can never find the right word, or any word, to finish his reprimands. On the other hand Carla Gugino is a charming museum guide who is doing her thesis on Sacagawea, the Indian scout who helped the Lewis and Clark expedition.

When you know that the exhibits which come to life include a dinosaur who likes to play catch, a range of African animals, a western panorama alongside one of the Roman Empire, Teddy Roosevelt (played entertainingly by Robin Williams), Attila the Hun and friends as well as some cavemen trying to invent fire, you will know that there is trouble in store.

There is a great deal of humour and gleeful fun to be had, not only in way that the exhibits deal with Larry but with his trying to cope with all the situations, complicated by Jedadiah from the west (Owen Wilson doing his usual performance most entertainingly) and Octavius from Rome (Steve Coogan) perpetually clashing.The special effects are wonderful as are the adventures.

Ben Stiller, who can be quite manic (Dodgeball) as well as the straight man for comedy (Meet the Parents), has to be a bit of both and is very good as the guard and father – we are on his side as he tries to deal with the growing chaos every night. Shawn Levy has directed some broad comedies (The Pink Panther, Cheaper by the Dozen) but with this one he has excelled himself. Recommended light entertainment.

1.An entertainment for young and old? The freshness of the story, the exhibits coming alive, the effects?

2.New York City, the museum, the interiors, the exhibitions, the corridors, behind the scenes? Musical score?

3.The range of characters and exhibitions, American history, world history, the animals: dinosaur, mammoth, lions, monkeys? The cavemen and fire? Attila and the jokes about his past and getting some therapy? The Roman legions? The clash with the cowboys and the railroad? Lewis and Clark and their searching, Sacajawea and her helping? Unable to hear behind the glass? Teddy Roosevelt – and his attraction to her? Columbus?

4.Larry and his jobs, the divorce, his wife and her new husband, love for his son, the discussions about the boy’s future, moving, unemployment? The interview for the job (Ben Stiller acting with his actual mother)? Going to the museum, discussions with Cecil and the guards? The explanation of duties? The manager and his laconic manner, stumbling for words? Their jokes on Larry, the notes for the night? His enjoying the quiet by himself and fooling around?

5.Night, the dinosaur and his wanting to play fetch, the lions and monkeys wandering, the monkeys and the key, Teddy Roosevelt and his explanations, Octavius and Jedediah and their clashes, their capturing Larry, tying him to the railroad? Larry’s experience at first, changing heart? Discovering what was happening? Ringing Cecil? The morning and the manager criticising the disorder?

6.The manager, his words? Rebecca and her guidance, the groups, discussions with Larry, her thesis, Sacajawea?

7.The normal order with the exhibits? The young pharaoh? The tablet, helping things come alive?

8.Larry’s son, going to the museum, not seeing anything happen? Cecil, Gus and Reginald and their plan, their characters, their discussions about being laid off, the robbery? The chases through the museum? The boy and his involvement?

9.The three guards, their characters, Mickey Rooney as the pugnacious Gus?

10.The exhibits combining forces, inside and outside, the chases, the snow?

11.The pharaoh, everybody coming back into the museum, everything going back in order, Jedediah and Octavius together outside, the car, just getting back in time?

12.Rebecca, her meeting Sacajawea, the discussion? Teddy and his crush?

13.Teddy Roosevelt explaining that they were exhibits, resigned to their fate?

14.Everything restored, the television news talking about the dinosaur prints in the snow? Larry and Nick and a future?

MAX MANUS

Norway, 2008, 118 minutes, Colour.
Aksel Hennie, Ken Duken, Nicolai Cleve Brock.
Directed by Joachim Roenning and Esben Sandberg.

World War II Resistance movements. There have been quite a number as subject of films in recent times, Flame and Citroen (Denmark), L'Armee du Crime (France), Katyn (Poland), even Tarantino's imaginative history, Inglourious Basterds. Now Max Manus, one of the most decorated of Norway's war heroes. This film has been very popular in Norway – and could travel well.

We accompany Max as a 25 year old fighting against the Russians in Finland in 1940. When the Finns are defeated, as is the Norwegian army, he becomes active in the Resistance. A group of young men show extraordinary skills in sabotage, especially blowing up the Employment Office in broad daylight. Max emerges as the leader. Even when he is arrested in his home, he leaps from his second storey window, and survives. He also escapes from hospital, continuing his work despite the deaths of so many friends. The urbane head of the Gestapo makes it a goal to capture Manus.

Moving between Sweden and Norway, Max brings his action to completion with the sabotaging of an arms and troops ship not long before the war ends.

The film continues after the end of the war, giving the screenplay and the audience an opportunity to reflect on the effect of the war on its heroes and how they deal with peacetime after devoting so much energy and idealism to the waging of a resistance war. Max Manus lived until 1996. Aksel Hennie as Max leads a fine cast in a film which is both history and tribute.

1.Resistance stories? World War Two? The pattern of earlier films? In the early 21st century? The reason for going back to this period? Relevance?

2.The role of Norway, Norwegians fighting in Finland against the Russians, their defeat, the Nazi invasion, fighting the Nazis, the experience of the occupation, the Resistance? The facts of the period? The film as fact-based?

3.The period, the snow and the war (and the flashbacks of action)? Oslo, the city, Stockholm? Normal, homes, streets, bars and buildings? The official buildings? The wintry countryside? The wharves and docks? The musical score?

4.The introduction to Max, his age, fighting in Finland, his heroism? A born warrior? His ideals, causes, action? His being wounded? His comment on his dreams?

5.Going to Oslo, becoming the leader of the Resistance, the group of friends, the bonds between them, setting up arms stacks, their plans? The visualising of their sabotage? Blowing up the unemployment office? Having to escape quickly?

6.The homes, Max at home, the arrest, his leaping from the window, hospitalised?

7.In hospital, the nurse, the doctor, their help, organising his escape, his punching the nurse? The SS not believing her?

8.The SS, the leader, the different culture, the work with the local police, his anger, his quest for getting Manus? Later seeing him torturing prisoners?

9.The different friends of Max, their personalities? The close friendship with Gregors? With Tallak? With Gunnar? The others? Their participation in the action, relaxing after action, their concerns, some of them dying, shot in the streets? Survivors?

10.The role of Sweden, neutrality, Max going to Sweden, reinforcements, his luck and escapes? The battles?

11.His meeting Tikken, her listening, help, the bond between them, her being married, her absent husband and child? The end, urging him to go into action, recover from the war? The information that they later married and had a long married life?

12.1945, the German need for soldiers in the Ardennes? The rationale for blowing up the boat, the plan, disguised as electricians, their smart handling of difficult situations, eluding security? The bombs, their achievement – the visualising of the sunken boat?

13.Max and his determination, his confidence in himself, born for war? The end, his sadness, the people shouting and the parade? Alone, imagining his friends? His becoming a security guard? His going to meet the head of the SS, their discussion in prison, shaking hands? Tikken and her helping him to survive?

14.The information about Max Manus’s later life, his nerves and alcohol, his company, friends working for him? The decorations from the Norwegian government?

THE RECKLESS MOMENT

US, 1949, 82 minutes, Black and white.
James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O ’Neill, Shepperd Strudwick, Roy Roberts.
Directed by Max Ophuls.

The Reckless Moment is a brief psychological drama. Based on a story from The Ladies’ Home Journal, it was also used as the basis, with a great attention to detail, in The Deep End (2001) with Tilda Swinton in the Joan Bennett, mother role.

The film focuses on Geraldine Brooks as a young girl, infatuated with a gambler (Shepperd Strudwick). Her mother threatens him and he comes to visit surreptitiously, clashes with the daughter, falls into the sea and drowns. The mother then removes the body and puts it in deeper water.

James Mason appears as an Irishman in the pay of a gangster (Roy Roberts) who wants to blackmail the family with letters from the young girl. However, in meeting the mother, he has a change of heart and does his best to defend her, even to staging a car accident that will indicate that somebody else killed the gambler. Henry O’ Neill appears as the boisterous and welcoming grandfather.

The film has the style of the 1940s – and is interesting to compare with the 2001 version. The film was directed by German-born Max Ophuls who made a number of films on the Continent, made four films in the United States in the late 40s: The Exile, Letters to an Unknown Woman, Caught (also with James Mason) and The Reckless Moment. After this he returned to France where he made La Ronde and Lola Montez in the 1950s.

1.A 1940s thriller? Black and white? Brief? Psychological? Crime?

2.The photography, California, homes, the water? The city? The musical score?

3.The title, with reference to Bea, with reference to Lucia? The finale with Martin?

4.The focus on Lucia, as mother, daughter, wife? Her going to the city? The confrontation with Ted Darby? Warning him off? His defiance? Her return home, the confrontation with Bea? The discovery that Bea had met Darby, finding his dead body on the beach? Her decision to remove the body, the effort to put it in the boat, the anchor? Getting rid of the body? Her return home? Talking with Bea? The situation seeming to be handled?

5.The home, Bea, her wilfulness, clashes with her mother, the discovery of the letters and her intense relationship with Darby? Tom, the kindly grandfather, welcoming? David, his age? The father absent in Berlin? The phone calls?

6.The police investigation? The arrival of Martin Donnelly? His personality? The threats? The letters? Asking for the money? Explaining that Nagel wanted the money?

7.Lucia, her attempts to find the money, the bank loan, the loan company, pawning her jewellery? Meeting with Martin?

8.The arrest on somebody on suspicion of killing Darby? The effect on Lucia, an innocent victim? His later escape?

9.Martin, his change of heart, meeting with Lucia, wanting to halve the money? The discussions with Nagel, fighting with him?

10.The discussions between Martin and Lucia, the solution, Martin’s fight with Nagel, putting him in the car, crashing the car? Nagel to blame for the killing?

11.The resolution of the situation? Innocence and guilt?

SUGAR

US, 2009, 120 minutes, Colour.
Algenis Herezsoto, Andre Holland, Jaime Tirelli, Reyniel Rufino.
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

A few years ago, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck made an offbeat story with an Oscar-nominated Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson. Their follow-up film is also admirable.

In fact, this film is rather subversive (in a very positive way) of the cliché of the American dream, that anyone can become the president or fulfil their most ambitious dreams. It advocates the value of ordinariness, self-acceptance and happiness in doing what is right and what one is good at in one's circumstances.

This is a baseball film which is more than usually friendly to the baseball-ignorant. While there is plenty of baseball for enthusiasts and for those who like noting techniques for pitching, there is much more going on. The first part of the film is set in the Dominican Republic (filmed there) where we see the US training camps for the locals. Apparently, after Americans, the biggest number of players in the Majors come from the Dominican Republic. The hope is to be sent to the US, to be chosen for the main leagues, to send money back to support families.

The film follows the career of one of them, Miguel Santos (whose nickname is Sugar), a 19 year old who has learnt carpentry from his now-deceased father and lives with his mother, brother and sister and his grandmother. They are poor but live in hope that he is picked for the US. He is.

This means that the film is not only about life in the Dominican Republic but about those who migrate to the US, with their culture problems, difficulties in language, finding another world. Eventually, he boards with a midwest family, traditional and religious, but devoted to baseball, who show him kindness and hospitality. Miguel has to move towards his adulthood with all these pressures, plus his demands on himself and his expectations for his performance. Algenis Perez Soto seems completely at home in the role, quietly convincing.

The film does not develop as audiences might anticipate and is all the better, much, much better, in fact, with a great warmth, respect for people and human dignity.

1.A piece of Americana with different perspectives?

2.Santa Domingo, the practice fields, the village, homes? The contrast with the United States, the playing fields, the towns, homes? New York and its neighbourhoods?

3.Baseball – and a film for the fans, or not? The depictions of play, the focus on pitching? The atmosphere of the games, the fans, commentators, players, the dressing rooms, on tour, the coaches, managers? A realistic picture?

4.Miguel’s story? At nineteen, training from the age of sixteen, the nature of the training, the teammates, playing, hopes? At home, his family? Relationship with his mother, sister, brother? His girlfriend? His being a carpenter, his dead father, his ability for work? The family hoping he would go to the US, earning money to send home?

5.His mother, the phone calls, grandmother, girlfriend? His mother’s hopes and urging him to stay? Her worries?

6.Going to the US, the group of players, arriving in a different world, the film’s contrast with America and Santa Domingo, Spanish and English? The US, a land of dreams? The hotel, the discovery of the mini bar, the pay per view television, the player giving them advice not to spend money there?

7.The managers, play, testing out the players, Miguel and his having to prove himself? Knowing that there were players above, earnest young players below? Advice from Jorge? Friendship? Meeting Brad Johnson and their discussions? The favourite baseball players? His being chosen to go to Iowa?

8.Assigned to the Higgins family, the mother and father, their age, welcome? Anne and her place at home? Language difficulties? The meals – and adjusting to American-style meals? The rules of the house, his life with the family, adapting, phone calls home, the couple as parent figures? His helping with the dishwashing? Anne, very religious, prayer, the group, inviting Miguel to the meetings, his not knowing what was going on? The kiss, her reaction? His gifts to her?

9.The games, the advice that it was only a game, the same game, different place? His success after hesitation? The applause from the crowd? His self-image, the fans, signing autographs? Life in the town, going into the bar with the false ID card, the racist attack, the fight?

10.Miguel and his moods, a sense of failure, feeling down? Travelling, discussions with the other players? Brad Johnson being transferred? Discussions with him about his abilities, his life, jobs? Jorge and his injuries, being sent to New York? Miguel’s injuries, his decision to leave?

11.Going, New York, the Statue of Liberty, searching for Jorge, going to the diner, their friendliness, getting accommodation, three hundred dollars a week, the help in the diner? The carpentry shop, meeting Osvaldo, discussions with him? Making the table? Bonding, baseball discussions? The prospects of work?

12.Meeting Jorge, their discussions, the local team of baseball players, especially from the Dominican Republic?

13.The phone calls to the manager, their wanting him back? His mother urging him to go back?

14.Self-acceptance, that life was ordinary, that there were many possibilities, that there were many champions for baseball, that he was just one of them, doing his best, liking what he did?

15.The future, uncertainty? The issues of migrants, culture, work, language?

16.The film not offering the cliché of the American dream – but a positive alternative that people can be happy in doing what they do best, even if it is ordinary?

WISHFUL THINKING

US, 1997, 84 minutes, Colour.
Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Beals, James Le Gros, Jon Stewart, Eric Thal.
Directed by Adam Park.

Wishful Thinking is a little-known romantic comedy produced by the Weinsteins with one of their employees and production managers, Adam Park, writing and directing.

The film is light, three episodes from different points of view of the central characters – with a final chapter in black and white before everything is resolved in colour.

James Le Gros is irritating as the central character – and one wonders why Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Beals were attracted to him in the first place. However, he does his best with playing a character which he himself describes as an idiot. Drew Barrymore gives one of her twee performances, much like that in many films, for instance He’s Just Not That Into You. Jennifer Beales, however, is very strong, illuminating every scene even if she’s wearing a dowdy wardrobe. Jon Stewart was to move into his successful television chat show at this time.

The film focuses on thirtysomethings, their interactions, suspicions, loves, betrayals – and finding new love.

1.The title? As applied to each of the central characters? In terms of romance and love?

2.The New York settings, the apartments, the vet, the old cinema, the projection room? The restaurants, Coney Island? The musical score?

3.The screening of I, Mobster? The film in itself, the gangster background? Max and his watching it, his imagining his friends in it, himself? The humorous spoof of the film with the central characters performing?

4.The structure: the three chapters, the perspective of Max, Lena, Elizabeth? The final chapter, in black and white, with Max going up into the clouds? The final credits and colour?

5.Max, in himself, a would-be writer, showing the old films at the cinema? His being chased by the vicious man, bashed, saving the dog? The encounter with Elizabeth? His relationship with her? His being suspicious, paranoid? The party and his meeting Jack, seeing Jack with Elizabeth, her explanations, his saying he believed her, his not believing her? The tensions at their apartment? About visiting her mother? Lena and her infatuation with him? The phone calls, fostering his suspicions, rushing home to find Elizabeth, confronting her? Her going to Coney Island? The final climax, the violence on the roof? His suspicions about Jack, not knowing about Henry? Sitting talking with Elizabeth, her departure? His voice-over, coming down to earth? Appreciating Lena, the meal with her? A future?

6.Lena, at work in the cinema, her attraction towards Max? At the party, friendship with Jack? Her own story, following Jack, the phone calls, the lies, urging his suspicions of Elizabeth? Meeting her in the street? Her change of heart, trying to remedy the situation? Phoning Elizabeth? The end and the reconciliation with Max?

7.Elizabeth, strong character, as a vet? Her skill in her work? The attraction towards Max, looking after him? Living with him? Love, his suspicions? Her meeting Jack, telling him that she wasn’t interested? Max not believing her, her growing exasperation, her visit to her mother, her staying with her mother, the meeting with Henry, going to Coney Island, beginning a relationship with Henry? Max bashing the door in? Henry hiding? Her talking things over with Max, her decision to leave? Finding some happiness with Henry?

8.Henry, the wisecracks, his imagination, at the party, the chance meeting with Elizabeth, the restaurant, going to Coney Island, the bond between them, his stories about being a hit-man? His regime, the four hours’ sleep and shifts? His coming over to comfort Elizabeth? Their relationship? Hiding from Max? With Elizabeth at the end? A future?

9.Lena and her looking after the child, going to the fortune teller, the advice, her not following it?

10.The film with the light touch, the thirtysomethings and relationships?

SUNSHINE CLEANING

US, 2008, 102 minutes, Colour.
Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Clifton Collins Jr.
Directed by Christine Jeffs.

Sunshine Cleaning has a lot of things going for it. It's offbeat. It's not a studio film. It's entertaining. It's funny and it's sad. It has a happy ending but not one that is all tied up neatly.

When a film begins with a man buying a gun and slipping bullets into it and shooting himself in the shop, you know you are in for something different. One doesn't normally give much (or any?) thought to the men and women who have to come in and clean up a crime scene (although we did see Harvey Keitel come in to remove the blood and brains in Pulp Fiction). Sunshine Cleaning is the optimistic name that Rose Lorkowski thinks up for the company she starts with her sister, Norah. And, while Norah finds it difficult (she is something of a slacker), Rose finds that it could lead to a calling in life.

Rose's life is a disappointment. Unmarried, with a precocious son, she works as a maid. She is also having an affair with her married schooldays' sweetheart. He does her one good turn (he is a police officer). He suggests the cleaning job.

The film could have gone in all directions but it keeps a satisfying ironic tone, does not revel in the uglier aspects of the work which it does not shy from, in fact offers the human side of murder and suicide tragedies. It also keeps a deep sense of humanity which means that most audiences will be caught up in the relationships of the two sisters and their relationship to their father.

The cast is excellent. In recent years, Amy Adams has proven herself quite versatile in her range of roles (princess in Enchanted, nun in Doubt) and becomes the solid centre here. Emily Blunt, who is also showing versatility (queen in The Young Victoria, assistant in The Devil Wears Prada), is the sister. Alan Arkin is the eccentric father. Steve Zahn is the police officer. And Clifton Collins Jr has a sympathetic and important role as a one-armed shop manager. And Jason Spevack is good as the misunderstood son who relates well with his grandfather. New Zealand director, Christine Jeffs, brings an empathetic female perspective to the characters.

Despite what might seem unpromising material, this is a surprising and pleasant feel-good film.

1.An offbeat film, quirky, human, interesting, different?

2.The New Mexico settings, the city of Albuquerque, homes, hotels, shops? Ordinary?

3.The crime scenes and the touch of the extraordinary? The opening, the man going into the shop, buying the shotgun, the bullets, killing himself? The crime scene? Themes of deaths, scenes, blood, dirt, disorder, smell, decay? The personal stories behind the deaths? The audiences sharing the experience of going to the crime scenes and the cleaning?

4.Amy Adams as Rose? The portrait of Rose, her age, her son, no father, relating to her son, her sister, her father? Alone, her son at school, being different? Affirming him, spoiling him? Relying on her father to look after him? Norah, babysitting, the ghost stories and his nightmares? Her sense of responsibility? Her mother’s suicide, her care for Norah? For her father? The story of the television movie, her mother being in it, her line? And the two sisters finally seeing it? The hotel, her cleaning? Real estate classes? Her affair with Mac, the past, his marrying Heather instead of her, her wondering about it? The phone call from school, the interview with the principal, the teacher, Oscar’s strange behaviour, licking (and Norah’s story)? The issue of another school, the need for money, phoning Mac and his being upset at the phone call at home? Mac’s suggestion about the job, Rose and Norah going, the work, the shock? Going to the shop, meeting Winston, the information, the background of courses, Rose attending them, health issues? Buying the equipment? Buying the truck? The suicide and the throwing out of all the possessions? Rose and her need for continued self-affirmation? Mac not coming to the rendezvous? Her reliance on Winston, his being genial? Minding Oscar? The discussion with the pregnant woman, the friendship from school, the fact that she had not developed as expected after being the chief cheerleader? Going to the baby shower, getting Winston to look after Oscar, her father and his getting rid of the shrimp? The fire, her anger with Norah? Oscar’s party, inviting Winston? The frank talk with Norah? Going back to work in the hotel, her new life? Her father selling the house? Buying the truck, the emblem, from 1963? Starting a company? The detail of Rose’s portrait, empathy with her? The baby shower and her explanation to the women about her life, what she did – and her seeing it as personal and a vocation?

5.The portrait of Norah, Emily Blunt? Younger, a slacker, sleeping, fired from her job, telling creepy stories to Oscar, living with her father, her going from job to job? Her reaction to her mother’s death, unable to remember very much about her? Wanting to see the television movie? Going to the work, finding it distasteful, finding the personal material for Lynn’s mother? Keeping it? Finding where Lynn lived, following her, denying it in the elevator? The further meetings, Lynn and the dependence, wanting a relationship, taking her to the clubs, outings, talking? Giving back the mementoes? Lynn’s anger, the truth about her mother? Norah and her learning from these personal encounters? The accident of the fire? The background of her mother, the funeral, remembering only the shoes? Her decision to travel?

6.Oscar, his age, the absent father? Precocious, curious, acting out? Norah and the stories? School, the principal? Helping the grandfather with the sale in the shop? Friendship with Winston, blunt asking about his arm, curious about his work, the bond? His wanting the binoculars, his grandfather and the memory of his wife? The party, his enjoyment?

7.The father, his life, the death of his wife, bringing up the girls, love for Oscar, his schemes with the shrimps, trying to sell them to the restaurants, failing, having to throw them out? His relationship with each of his daughters? With Oscar, the binoculars, the party? Selling the house, forming the company?

8.Mac, the schooldays sweetheart, joining the police, marrying, the affair, the phone calls at home, his relationship with his wife – and her coming to tell Rose off?

9.Winston, the shop, his manner, having only one arm? The advice from Carl? With Oscar, the equipment, the making of the model planes? Advice? Minding Oscar, coming to the party?

10.The background of the women from school, their lives, families, success?

11.Lynn, her story, relationship with her mother, her reaction to Norah, her disappointment?

12.The Sunshine Cleaning, the job, a reality, skills, interest? The future?

MY SISTER’S KEEPER

US, 2009, 109 minutes, Colour.
Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslan, Sofia Vassilieva, Jason Patric, Alec Baldwin, Evan Ellingson.
Directed by Nick Cassavetes.

This family drama takes on some very serious themes. It is based on a novel and its approach is very emotional compared with how these themes might be treated in a documentary. Press notes and quotes state that the film avoids any sentimental treatment but many non-American audiences will beg to differ. This does not mean that US dramas cannot be made like this one – after all, it is part of the culture. Less emotionally-oriented reviewers refuse to make these allowances and are severe with accusations of 'emotional manipulation'. (One London reviewer, female in her 30s reviewer, ended with 'a ghoulishly glossy weepie indulgence that'll have cheap-sentiment junkies wallowing like happy hippos in a mud spa'.)

This means that we have a way of gauging whether we want to see this kind of film or not. My guess is that many 'ordinary' audiences will find the film disturbing, moving and challenging.

We are told immediately by 11 year old Anna (played by that fine child actor, Abigail Breslin) that she was conceived in vitro so that her blood, marrow and organs would be compatible with her older (by three years) sister, Kate (Sofia Vassillieva) who has terminal illnesses and has been kept alive by the donations of her young sister and the relentless determination of her mother. In the background is an older son who suffered from dyslexia when he was young but, like Anna, is usually relegated to support for Kate by their mother. Their aunt stays with the family. The father provides a solid background quietly backing his wife.

The crisis of the film, which simply presents the in vitro situation of Anna and her being available for Kate, is that Anna wants to stop giving. She wants a life of her own. She approaches a lawyer to take her case to a judge so that she has medical independence from her parents.

Early in the film, each character is introduced and speaks their particular point of view, so we have the complexity of the issues, compassion for Kate and a genuine concern for how much Anna has been hospitalises since she was born and what her life prospects are. Most audiences, while acknowledging the strength of maternal love, will baulk at Sara Fitzgerald's single-mindedness. Cameron Diaz gives a completely credible performance. Jason Patric is the quieter father. Alec Baldwin is the lawyer and Joan Cusack is particularly good as the judge in the case.

1.The interest of the film and its appeal? Medical, moral, legal? Emotional?

2.Audiences identifying with the characters, their particular stances, however divergent? Anna, Sarah, Kate?

3.The genre: the illness film, its sadness, the effect of the illness on the patient, on the family? Melodrama/drama? The use of popular songs throughout? Appropriate? The lyrics?

4.The introduction to Anna, her voice-over, the blue sky, her conception in vitro, her purpose for living, her identity and personality? At age eleven, reflecting on being available to her sister from birth for blood, organs? Continually giving? Hospitalisation and illness? Her own life? The dominance of her mother, her mother’s relentlessness? Her father in the background? Jesse and his support? Kate and her illness, their growing up together, Kate getting the attention, how much love did Anna receive from her mother? Her sharing with Katie? Their confiding in each other? Katie’s desire to die, Anna going to the lawyer, the discussions with him, independence medically from her parents? Her mother’s reaction, anger, in the court? Her mother questioning her? The reaction of the judge, the discussions with the judge, her testimony? Her reaction to Jesse’s outburst in court, the truth? The final encounter, her last moments with Kate? The funeral? Finally with her mother, a future? Audience sympathy for her as a person, empathy for her situation, the dilemma of helping her sister or not with the donation of the kidney and its effect on her future life?

5.Kate, born ill, the number of operations, her physical needs? Her dependence on Anna? The quality of her life, her weakness and illness? Her joyfulness? Her scrapbook and all the details of her relationship with her family? The chemotherapy, her hair coming out? Meeting Taylor, discussions with him, sharing with him, the date, shopping for the dress and the humiliation, finding the right dress, going out, all the photos, dancing, hiding with Taylor, the sexual encounter, the next day defying her mother? The effect of Taylor’s death? Her wanting to die, being ready to die? The request to go to the beach, the joy of that day with the family? Her final talk with the family, with her mother? The quality of her life despite her illness? Her readiness to die?

6.Sarah as the lawyer, the mother, her feelings about having given birth to an ill child? Giving up her law practice, devoting her whole life to Kate? Her love for Brian but leaving him to one side? Dominant, relentless, Jesse’s dyslexia and her not being so interested? Her generally ignoring him? Kate and her total attention? The decision to have Anna conceived in vitro? Using her? How much did she love her or not? The arguments with everyone about Kate’s health? Hospitalisation? Her shaving her head in sympathy? Discussions with the doctors, the court case, her anger with Anna, with Campbell Alexander? Confronting him? Issues of the law, issues of morality? The challenge to her single-mindedness? The court, the discussions with the judge, interrogating Anna? Jesse’s outburst, her having to face the truth about her possessiveness? Her reaction to the day at the beach, her anger, wanting to ring the police? Going into shock, resigned at Kate’s death, the final talk with her? The challenge from her sister, Kelly? The funeral? Her going back to work, the change of hair, style, a new life – and a focus on her husband and her children?

7.Brian, fireman, at work, camaraderie with the men, at home, quiet? Agreeing with Sarah, giving himself to full-time concern about his daughter? Taking Kate to the fire station? His talking with Anna and understanding her? His concern about Jesse and the dyslexia, going away to the special school? Sarah accusing him of taking sides, his wanting to understand all the people and the issues concerned? Anna and the court case, his support? Taking Kate to the beach, enjoying it? The reconciliation with Sarah? His interest in Taylor? The end, devoting his work to care for the underprivileged?

8.Jesse, neglected, his dyslexia, a year at school, his feelings, going out in the night, his relationship with Anna and Kate, his father taking him to the hospital, going onto the roof during the trial, his outburst, the truth about Kate’s decision?

9.Kelly, Sarah’s sister, always there, helping, the background, with Kate? Her final argument with Sarah?

10.Campbell Alexander, his advertisements, self-confidence? Winning ninety-one percent of his cases? His dog? Anna going to meet him, the discussions, taking her case? The harsh encounter with Sarah? The law, the judge, in the court, his leaving and the epileptic fit? The reason for his dog? His later visit to tell Anna that the case had been won?

11.The judge, her own experience with the death of her daughter, her grief and breakdown? The hearing, the personal relationship with Sarah? The discussions with Sarah, with Campbell Alexander? The issue of the dog? Her listening, her talking with Anna by herself, visiting Kate in the hospital? The final decision?

12.The doctors at the hospital, their help, prognoses, their care for Kate? Allowing the day at the beach?

13.Taylor, his illness, his friendship with Kate, going out, the dance, sexual relationship? His death?

14.The background of the hospital, authentic, the patients – and many cancer sufferers participating in the film?

15.The moral point? The moral issues? Individuality? In vitro fertilisation and siblings being a medical resource? The legal issues? The emotional effect on the audience? Did the film sufficiently dramatise the particular points of view, even in their contradictions?

TELSTAR

UK, 2008, 119 minutes, Colour.
Con O’ Neill, Pam Ferris, Kevin Spacey, J.J. Feild, James Corden, Tom Burke, Ralf Little, Sid Mitchell, Nick Moran, Rita Tushingham, John Leyton.
Directed by Nick Moran.

Older audiences will recognise the music hit of the early 1960s (at the time of the launch of the first entertainment satellite, Telstar). Others will recognise the tune when they hear it.

We are in 1961 and entrepreneur, Joe Meek, has rented an upstairs flat over a handbag and leather goods shop and turned it into a recording studio. The group that he calls on for backup are OK but clash with him. Geoff Goddard, a shyly awkward man, has written a song that could become a hit and John Leyton from TVs Biggles is about to record it. The backup singer is practising in the bathroom and the landlady is upset about the noise, the disturbance to the neighbours and the black ooze on the roof from the soundproofing. Not an auspicious start. The money partner is the stiff upper lip Major Banks.

Actor turned writer and director, Nick Moran, first wrote Telstar for the theatre. You can tell from the restricted locations and the emphasis on dialogue. However, this gives the film a dramatic strength, confining the audience to the limited spaces in the upstairs rooms and focusing on the difficulties of the experience and their effect on the characters. The action does move out at times but, by and large, there we are in Joe Meek's limited kingdom.

While there is some interesting background to the music scene of the time, from Billy Fury to the emerging Cliff Richard, Meek dismisses the Mersey sound and misses out on The Beattles, though, at one stage, the Rolling Stones are a supporting group for one of his acts. The theme for Telstar came to Meek in his sleep. It topped the charts in the UK with sales of over two million and eventually topped the US charts.

For those not in the know about London in the first half of the sixties or about this music world, the film is still worth seeing for the performances and for the drama of Joe Meek's mess of a life.

Con O' Neill portrayed Meek on stage and reprises his role to great effect and intensity. He certainly brings Meek and his moods and contradictions to life. The supporting cast has some standout performances – or, perhaps not 'standout' because they seem so right and fit in unobtrusively. Tom Burke as the shy composer Goddard is most persuasive as is JJ Field as the concocted singer, Heinz. Pam Ferris is good as Violet Shenton, the owner of the shop. Kevin Spacey sporting wig and moustache and a voice and accent straight out of the British war movies of the 1950s and 1960s is Major Banks.

Meek had potential and, in fact, influenced the recording industry of his times and later. However, he was a man of demands, expectations and moods, fickle in his loyalties and growing more paranoid over the years, fearing spies and making his staff and artists swear an oath of loyalty to him. He was also conflicted sexually which caused great emotional and legal strain at that period.

The film opens up the era and offers solid drama and characterisations.

1.The film as a musical? As biography? As the UK in the 1960s?

2.Audience knowledge of the characters, of Joe Meek, of the songs, of the artists?

3.The musical score, the range of songs, lyrics, performance, the different bands? The title?

4.The period, 1961-67, in the UK, in London? The music scene, rock ‘n roll, Cliff Richard, Billy Fury? The number of bands? Brian Epstein and the emergence of The Beatles? The indication of the Rolling Stone and their supporting performance?

5.The studio, the stage origins of the film, confined in the building, the upstairs and downstairs, the rooms? The glimpses of the street outside, the woods, the parks and toilets?

6.A dialogue-driven film, the stage origins, the strength of the language?

7.Joe Meek, his age, background, devotion to his mother? His talent for spotting talent? His music, the setting up of the studio in the suburbs? Geoff Goddard and his lyrics? The music? The small band, the singers rehearsing in the house? John Leyton and his reputation, in television’s Biggles, a celebrity? Their waiting for him to come, his performance of the song? The atmosphere in the house? The characters, their dedication, Joe and his talent for production?

8.Mrs Shenton, her being the owner of the house, managing the shop, her customers and their being disturbed by the music and sound, her concern, the rubber oozing through the roof, the soundproofing? Joe and his ability to sweet talk her? Meeting John Leyton and enjoying it? The neighbour and the noise? Her helping Joe, the issue of the rent? Having to sell the business, the estate agent?

9.Geoff Goddard, quiet, in awe of Joe Meek, the meeting, the composing, his lyrics? John Leyton performing his song? Composing the song for Heinz? His shyness – and Joe getting rid of him?

10.The members of the band, their reactions, jokes, playing, members leaving, new members coming, their exasperation, the long hours, wanting to get away, the different performances, their making up the different bands? Clem Catini and his skills, his cheeky attitude towards Joe, Joe dominating him?

11.The major, his background, clipped manner, the wig, finance, his being a partner? His intervening, the discussions with Joe, expenses and accounts? The success, the later clash, the documents and Joe buying him out?

12.Heinz, his arrival, wanting an audition, recommended by a friend? Joe and his looking at him? His decision to help him? Pushing him? Spending the money, trying to make him a celebrity, the photo calls? Heinz as a character, weak? His relationship with Joe, sexual? His girlfriend, the boat? Singing and the people booing him? His anger? Spoilt, wanting his money from Joe, the final clash?

13.The background of the occult, Geoff Goddard and his interest in séances, the visualising of séances, Joe and the prediction to Buddy Holly about death, February 3rd, the visualising of the dreams, going to the medium? Dreaming of the music of Telstar, its success?

14.Telstar, being launched, the satellite in space, for communication, for television? The tune, its success? Double gold in England? The Novello award? Top in the US? The French composer bringing the case against Joe, the lack of finance? The case falling through after Joe’s death?

15.Joe and his sexuality, the pickups in the park, the undercover police and his arrest? In the papers, wondering about his mother? His relationship with Heinz? Other men?

16.His becoming more paranoid, physically destructive, the people having to take an oath of loyalty to them, their reactions, his continual violence? Buying out the major? His clashes with the major, with Heinz? Patrick being appointed to help Joe, their relationship, his work, loyalty to Joe?

17.The violence, Mrs Shenton and her discussions, Joe and his paranoia, shooting her? Patrick and his shock? Joe killing himself?

18.The information as to what happened to the various characters – Jess Conrad and John Leyton appearing in the film themselves? Clem Catini giving musical advice and playing for the film? The success of so many of the other characters? A memoir of a strange period in British music? The irony of Joe’s lack of ability to recognise The Beatles and their success?