AMERICAN OUTLAWS

US, 2001, 94 minutes, Colour.
Colin Farrell, Scott Caan, Ali Larter, Gabriel Macht, Gregory Smith, Harris Yulan, Kathy Bates, Timothy Dalton, Will Mc Cormack, Ronnie Cox, Terry O’ Quinn.
Directed by Les Mayfield.

American Outlaws is another version of the Jesse James and the Jesse James gang story. Already in the 30s, Tyrone Power had appeared as Jesse James and in 1941 Henry Fonda appeared in The Return of Frank James. Other actors who have essayed the role include the Keaches in The Long Rider, Stacey and James Keach playing Jesse and Frank James. Robert Wagner was in The True Story of Jesse James. Brad Pitt was Jesse James in the much more serious The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

This is a much more straightforward story. Irish Colin Farrell, at the beginning of his international career, plays Jesse James much as the image of Colin Farrell. Gabriel Macht (later The Spirit) is Frank James. Scott Caan is Cole Younger, the man envious of Jesse James and wanting to lead the gang. Ali Larter is Zee, Jesse James’ wife, and Kathy Bates is his mother. Timothy Dalton appears as a rather quizzical Alan Pinkerton and Harris Yulan is Thaddeus Raines, the president of the Rocknorthern Railroad.

There are action sequences at the end of the civil war with the James brothers fighting for the South. They then return home, their farm is threatened by the president of the railroad and his executives as well as by Alan Pinkerton who was the founder of the Secret Service. In reply, especially after Mrs James is killed in a fire, the James gang starts to rob banks. The film shows the robberies, the rivalries in the group, Jesse wanting to pull out and to marry, his arrest by Pinkerton, his escape. The film celebrates the legend of Jesse James – although there are scenes where his wife is reading one of the popular magazine stories about him which created an untrue and exaggerated image. For the more serious look at the James brothers, The Assassination of Jesse James is a much more fruitful and rewarding experience.

1.The popularity of Jesse James and the James gang? The film tradition from the 1930s? This film as part of the tradition?

2.The battle scenes of the civil war? Missouri and the American Midwest? The farming lands? The railroad, the trains, the holdups? Chicago and the city atmosphere? The period, production design, décor, costumes? The musical score?

3.The title, the focus on the James gang and their reputation as outlaws? The reasons given for their being outlaws, the oppression by the railroad companies, the government? Ousted from their land? The murderous behaviour of the companies? Credible reasons for their becoming outlaws?

4.The civil war, the battles, the consequences, the return home, the dreams of the farm? The happy reunion of the James family, Ma James? Jesse meeting Zee, in love?

5.The offers from Thaddeus Raines, Roland H. Parker and his representing Raines? The offer of the money? Pinkerton’s presence? The rejection by the Jameses? The further confrontations? The burning of the homes? Raines as a character, his ruthlessness, despising the farmers? Parker as his aide? Pinkerton and his criticisms of Raines’ methods?

6.Jesse, in himself, leadership qualities? Cole Younger, his leadership qualities? Friendship with Jesse? Second-in-charge? Criticising, wanting to be in charge – and his failure of judgment in robbing the bank which was a set-up for catching the outlaws? The bank manager asking where Jesse James was in the subsequent holdups? His reconciliation with Jesse?

7.The other members of the gang, Frank James as the older brother, his skill in shooting, supporting Jesse? The Younger brothers, Jim Younger, his being considered too young for the group, his acceptance, skill with a gun? The pathos of his death and funeral? Bob Younger and his wanting to have a reputation, his acting as if he was mad, wanting his reward to go higher, his performance during the robberies?

8.Zee, growing up, love for Jesse, his proposal, the marriage? Her participation in the raid to free him from the train? Her father, sympathetic doctor, healing Jesse’s wounds?

9.The robberies, the staging, their wanting to be gentlemen about the robbery? Treatment of people? The old man outside the bank, their persuading him to wait? Their reputation, rewards? Jesse being wounded, recovering?

10.Pinkerton, his being the measuring rod for the morality of both sides? His role as founder of the Secret Service? His detective agency? His letting Jesse go at the end, advising him to go to Tennessee?

11.The popular western ingredients – and a 21st century treatment of the story?

KING OF CALIFORNIA

US, 2007, 96 minutes, Colour.
Michael Douglas, Evan Rachel Wood, Willis Burks II, Kathleen Wilhoite.
Directed by Mike Cahill.

This is a small-scale and quirky comedy drama on the American dream. While it is about treasure (and is in the vein of National Treasure in suburbia), it is also about madness, a modern-day mini Treasure of the Sierra Madre in terms of obsession. If the star had not been Michael Douglas, it might never have been made or received much prominence. But, star Michael Douglas it does.

He portrays a man coming out of an institution where he has read a lot and discovered a journey and a map from the times of the 17th century California missionaries. He is determined to find their treasure even if it is under the concrete floor of an outlet warehouse. Mad treasure seekers make mad plans, so we follow his dream and his antics. The person who has to accommodate to all of this is his young daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) who has had to look after herself for the two years he was away and now has to nursemaid him.

The film is more of a time-passer than a gripping entertainment, interesting to see an eccentric ageing Douglas and the emerging Wood.

1.The American dream? Sanity and madness? Treasure and dreams? Opportunity?

2.The California landscapes, the city, the homes, the shops, the markets?

3.The opening, the incident at the warehouse, the flashback, going forward to this point?

4.Miranda and her voice-over, her memories of her mother, her mother’s hands and the modelling, leaving, the father and his madness, relying on herself, her life, leaving school, work and the money, buying the car, her age and character?

5.Charlie coming out of the institution, coming home, his home style, projects, the past, his music and his friend, the story of pawning the cello, in the institution, his reading, the book about the travels of the friar, the search for treasure?

6.Miranda as mother, caring for her father, her calling him Charlie, his wanting her to call him Dad, the lifts, her exasperation?

7.Charlie and the maps, his machine for getting directions, the work on the green, finding the doubloon, the police accosting him, his flirting with the policewoman, finding the locations, the bulldozer, finding the pottery, marking the map, the crosses on the stones, the site of the treasure in the market, his plan, his friend with the alarms, the propane gas, the drill, going under the store, the underground river, the police arriving, their being caught, his diving into the water, searching for the treasure, never found? The animation sequences for the journey?

8.Miranda, her complying with her father, the sanity issue, her love, sharing, getting the job and the supermarket, the group barbeque, her father’s suspicions, getting the keys, helping, his tying her up?

9.His friend and the music, the help, the alarm, the bike breakdown, the pursuit by the police, his being caught?

10.Miranda, the ending, on the beach – and seeing the Asian illegals arrive, wanting the American dream?

11.The theme of the name of California, a land of hopes and dreams?

THE KITE RUNNER

US, 2007, 127 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Marc Forster

This is a very moving film which can be recommended.

The novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, topped the best seller lists for a long time and developed a devoted following.

As with most film adaptations, readers who cherish the novel express their disappointment at what has been omitted or at the different emphases on characters. Listening to some of the readers speak about their disappointments, I found that what they said they did not find in the film was actually what I experienced. Practically all of what they valued had been communicated to me as a film viewer. Which means that many films do convey the emotional experience of the novel and the impact of characters – but differently. A page of text might be conveyed in only a few moments through a richly designed set, costumes and a facial gesture. But the reader misses the experience of reading the text and dwelling on it and so does not always perceive what can be conveyed and communicated in even some seconds of moving images and sound.

It seems to me on listening to the readers that The Kite Runner is a respectable adaptation – many readers tend to forget that the film is not the novel itself but an adaptation to a different medium and is an interpretation of the novel.

The Kite Runner offers glimpses of Afghanistan from the 1970s, times of greater peace and prosperity for many despite the Communist rumblings, through the 1980s and the Russian invasion to the 1990s and the rule of the Taliban. The film concludes in the year 2000. For most of us who have general impressions of and ideas about Afghanistan which have now been overshadowed by the conflict since 2001, the film could be something of an eye-opener.

The central character is a young lad from a well-to-do family, Amir, who idolises his father who, he thinks, does not think highly of him. His best friend is a servant, Hassan, the son of the manager of the household. Together, along with the children of Kabul, they excel in flying kites (a great symbol of freedom and exhilaration) and are determined to win the city competition (as the boy’s father had done years earlier). The servant boy is a devoted friend, loyal, loving. Hassan becomes the victim of a crisis which will haunt Amir and torment him in regret for the way in which he acted.

The family escapes the Russians by fleeing with great danger to Pakistan and thence to the United States. The sequence where Amir’s father stands on principle against the Russian soldier wanting to exploit the women is impressive.

The central part of the film portrays the migrant experience in America in the 1980s and 1990s, education, work, becoming acclimatized, the brashness of the younger generation and the hardships of the older generation who have had to assume a completely different way of life and work in more menial circumstances than they did at home. The experience is both an American welcome and a humiliation.

The third part of the film shows the now adult, Amir, returning in secret to Afghanistan to seek out Hassan’s son and rescue him. We are amazed and appalled (but, perhaps, not surprised) to see the havoc that the Taliban have wrought on Kabul, on society and on people’s rights and security. There is a personal challenge for Amir which serves as a kind of atonement for what he did and did not do as a spiteful child. And kite-flying is again the symbol of freedom and, now, of hope.

The performances, especially of the young Hassan who is memorable and Homayan Ershadi who is very moving as the father, are fine and convincing. So, too, are the locations – and it is something of a shock to find that The Kite Runner’s Afghanistan sequences were actually filmed in China (Kabul, the city, the desert and all).

Direction is by Marc Forster, the Swiss director who made a mark with Monster’s Ball and has since made films in a variety of genres: Finding Neverland, Stay, Stranger than Fiction. He is slated to direct the next James Bond film. The Kite Runner is a film he can be proud of.

1.The popularity of the book? The film and its acclaim?

2.Afghanistan, the 20th century, the transition to the 21st century? Its phases of democracy, the Russian invasion, the Taliban? The hindsight after the bombings of Afghanistan and the occupations in the 21st century?

3.The Chinese locations standing in for Afghanistan? The atmosphere of the country, Kabul, the city, alleys, the homes, the cinemas? The changes after the Russian invasion? The time of the Taliban? The ruins? The mountainous countryside?

4.The contrast with the United States, San Francisco, Fremont?

5.The prologue, the kites, San Francisco, Amir and his wife, the arrival of the book, the phone call from his father’s friend, the best time to come to Pakistan and to go to Afghanistan?

6.Kabul 1978, life under democracy? The father’s condemnation of the mullahs and their dictatorship, their literal religiosity? His antipathy towards the communists? Wealth and poverty? American films, The Magnificent Seven, the imitations, Bullitt? The Italian music at the feast? The big cars? Change?

7.Amir and Hassan, their friends, age, flying the kites, each with a task, Amir flying, Hassan being the runner? The rich family? Hassan being a hazara and looked down on? His father as servant? Hassan and his loyalty to Amir, liking his stories, going to the film, playing together, talking, fear of the bully boys? Hassan and his being assertive in his loyalty, insulted by the boys? Amir and his father, his father thinking that he did not stand up for himself?

8.The competition, the excitement, winning, the father’s happiness?

9.The contrast with the two birthdays, each choosing a kite? Amir and his big party, the guests? Hassan watching?

10.The two boys, their talking together, Amir talking about commands, the fruit, Hassan hitting his forehead with the fruit and declaring loyalty? Hassan running after the kite, his being accosted by the boys, the brutality of the rape, his walking, his blood? Amir watching? His fear? Pretending he did not know? Hassan and the aftermath, sleeping? Amir and his resentment? The fruit incident and what it meant to Amir? Asking his father that Hassan and Ali should leave? The incident with the watch, the father forgiving? Ali and Hassan and their leaving?

11.The invasion, the Russians, the father and having to leave everything behind, his friend caring for the house, the car to pay the smugglers? The truck ride, the woman and the baby, the Russian soldier and his intending assault, the father and his strong stand, the risk, telling the Russian soldier that he should be ashamed? War doesn’t negate decency. The husband, his profound thanks? The father and his container of soil, taking it into exile? In the tanker to escape? Amir reciting the poetry?

12.Fremont, 1988, the father and the gas station, losing everything, a new life, learning English? The graduation, his pride in his son? The bar, the friends, the drinks? Amir not wanting to be a doctor, a writer?

13.The market, the encounter with the general, his daughter, Amir and his courting her? The discussions about his stories?

14.His father’s illness, getting his father to ask the permission for the marriage, her secret, confiding in Amir? The marriage, the dancing, the photo album, the father and his death, the funeral?

15.The phone call from Pakistan, his father’s friend, his illness, the fact that the friend had always supported Amir, had read his story and congratulated him?

16.Pashawa, the friend, the anti-Taliban utterances, his happiness with the dedication of the book to him?

17.The story of Hassan, his marriage, son, looking after the house, the Taliban accusing him of theft, his being shot execution-style? Sohrab in an orphanage (and the memories of the story of Sohrab and Rustum and Amir’s telling Hassan the story). Hassan’s letter, learning to write, his reaction to the news about his father, his father’s honour and lies, Hassan as a son? The letter and the photo?

18.His going to Kabul, the terrain, the false beard, the border, the barren countryside, the ruins, the poverty, the people selling their limbs to get money? The driver and his help?

19.The search for the boy, encountering the Taliban meeting, the authorities, the woman in adultery, stoned according to Sharia law?

20.The orphanage, the head, the confrontation, the dance of the boy, Asef and his identity? Asef and his confrontation with Amir, bashing him? Sohrab and the slingshot, like his father? Running away, breaking out? The bribe to get out of the country?

21.The search for Sohrab, Amir and his prayer in the mosque, the lyrics of the song and the words of forgiveness and mercy, peace and blessings of God?

22.The return to San Francisco, the airport, getting the kite, standing up to the general and claiming Sohrab as his relative? His wife’s pride in him? The flying of the kites at the end – and a new life for Sohrab?

23.The betrayal of Hassan by Amir, his reparation in saving his son and giving him a life?

THE NO 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY

UK, 2008, 100 minutes, Colour.
Jill Scott, Lucien Msamati, Anika Noni Rose, Idris Alba, Colin Salmon, David Oyelowo.
Directed by Anthony Mingella.

The Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency is based on very popular novels by Alexandra Mc Call Smith. This was a pilot for a series to be produced by the BBC. It was written by Richard Curtis, best known for television shows like Blackadder as well as The Vicar of Dibley and films like Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually. The direction was by Anthony Mingella, Oscar winner for The English Patient and such films as Truly, Madly, Deeply and The Talented Mr Ripley. This was to be his last film.

The setting is Botswana and the film was made on location. The film-makers intended it to be a positive look at African life as a contrast with the suffering from AIDS as well as political corruption. The film offers a rather genteel portrait of Africa – but not without crime.

American actress-singer Jill Scott portrays Precious Ramotswe, a woman who inherits her father’s cows and money and sets up an agency, the first of its kind in southern Africa. She employs an assistant called Grace, played by Anika Noni Rose, very effectively for an American actress who has won a Broadway Tony for a musical and appeared in Dream Girls. A good supporting British cast including Colin Salmon and David Oyelowo appear.

The film has many strands and shows, casually, her solving several cases including an unfaithful husband (who takes a shine to Precious herself), insurance fraud, missing children and an idle father. The film is moving and funny.

1.A pleasing telemovie? Pilot for a series?

2.The Botswana settings, the African countryside, the town – sunny and more peaceful than many disturbing images of contemporary Africa? The musical score and its mood?

3.The focus on Precious, her time with her father, his teaching her to be observant, her relationship with him and her sadness at his death? The funeral experience? Her decision to follow his good advice? Taking her inheritance, going to the capital, buying the property, turning it into the detective agency? Her ambitions? Notwithstanding her lack of experience? Her advertising for an assistant? Grace and her arrival, her reactions? Her being employed?

4.The men helping Precious? Their liking for her, support? Her car? The building? Her good friends and their continuing to help?

5.Grace, managing the office, businesslike, making notes, keeping files, commenting about the lack of money coming in?

6.The people coming to consult her? Wanting to buy stamps? The casual inquiries? The woman suspicious of her husband? The search for the little child? The woman who thought the man who claimed to be her father was a fraud …?

7.The slow pace of the film, African style? The various strands for the detective work? Precious’ own life?

8.Her investigation of the cases? Her going to the club, meeting the husband with the wandering eye, the flirtation, going to his house, the photo taken? The wife and her bringing it back? Her not wanting to believe her husband, condemning Precious?

9.Her dealing with the old man and his fraud, wanting to give blood, urging him to come to the hospital – and his confession?

10.The mother, the disappearing child, the father, the missing finger? The pathos in this case?

11.Bringing all the strands together? Detective stories? Precious as a character? Grace as her sidekick? The various men and their support? An entertaining and pleasing detective story?

THE BOOK OF REVELATION

Australia, 2006, 119 minutes, Colour.
Tom Long, Greta Scacchi, Colin Friels, Anna Tov, Deborah Mailman, Nadine Garner, Sybilla Budd, Genevieve Picot.
Directed by Anna Kokkinos.

The Book of Revelation is based on a novel by British author Rupert Thomson. The original setting was Amsterdam but Anna Kokkinos and her co-screenwriter, Andrew Bovell (Lantana), decided to relocate it to Melbourne. This works very well.

The setting in the city (which is photographed with great attention) is the world of dance. Tom Long portrays Daniel, a young man with a future in dance and choreography. He is living with his fellow dancer, played by Anna Tov. Greta Scacchi has a very good role as the director of the dance company. Colin Friels is her former husband, now a police officer and detective in the sexual crime unit.

When Daniel disappears and does not return for almost two weeks, people are concerned. In flashback, the audience knows that he has been abducted by three women who want to use him as a sexual tool and rape him. They are hooded women (in the vein of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut).

The film goes to some limits in its representation of this abduction and the sexual torment. Some consider it exploitation. The film-makers said they tried to push the envelope but stay within its bounds. Many audiences have disagreed, many favourable, a number critical.

When Daniel returns, he is unable to stay with the dance company and works in a pub. He wants to find the women who humiliated and tormented him, moving into a promiscuous search for these women, finally making a mistake that leads to his arrest. However, there is some salvation in the presence of a young Aboriginal woman, Julie, played by Deborah Mailman (AFI winner for Radiance). Colin Friels also offers support and the film ends with him inviting Daniel to start at the beginning in order to move towards some kind of therapy and healing.

Anna Kokkinos had been a lawyer, won the best Australian short film and grand prize at the Melbourne film festival with Only the Brave. Her other feature film apart from some television series was Head On with Alex Dimitriadis as a young man trying to find his sexual identity in Melbourne, especially in the Greek community.

1.The impact of the film? Confronting, challenge? Mixed reactions?

2.The use of the city of Melbourne, the streets, the Arts Centre, homes, the dance world, the open spaces, the waterfront, the clubs? The musical score? The choreography and the music?

3.The dance setting, the opening, the extensive dance sequences, movement, contemporary style, men, women, dance and gymnastics? The rehearsals? The choreography? Daniel within this context? Bridget? The themes, sexuality? The action of the film like a dance? The women later wanting Daniel to dance for them? Isabel as the head of the company? Performance, understudies, the show going on? The later scenes of training, Daniel’s presence, the possibilities for his being a choreographer?

4.The introduction to Daniel, his appearance, physical, his energy? The rehearsals? His relationship with Bridget, tense? His going to get the cigarettes? Walking along the streets? Disappearing? Isabel and her enthusiasm, as a patron?

5.The mystery of his absence and his return? His coming to consciousness in the open space in the suburbs? Going back to Bridget, to Isabel? His not being able to talk about what happened? The psychological journey of his abduction? His wanting to identify the women, punish them? His need to understand himself.

6.Daniel being away, the reactions, Bridget and her concern, continuing her dance, on his return being hurt, the confrontation? The brittle relationship? Isabel, her upset, her concern for Daniel, the dance continuing? The understudy going on? Her decision to get the help of Mark Olsen? The past relationship? His skills in detecting?

7.Daniel’s disappearance, his remembering sounds, the waterfront, his going to the pub, working? Disappearing from the dance company? His reactions with the people in the pub, Mark and his visit, having the beer, talking? Explaining how he was married to a dancer?

8.The impact of the flashbacks, Daniel being taken, the injection, the women with the hoods, his being on the floor, the white room, tied up? The three women, their identifying marks and his noticing them? Wetting himself, the torment, the sexual behaviour, their lust, making him perform, the sexual encounters, tempting him, making him dance, his being naked and bare, shame, the effect? His anger?

9.The reverse expectations from ordinary stories – the male being abducted, the male being victim? The women’s fantasies?

10.Exploitation or not? The boundaries? What can be presented visually?

11.The meeting with Julie on the train, their talking, the bonds, friendship? The significance of her being Aboriginal? Their talking, going out, going to Isabel’s for the dinner and enjoying it? Her going to the club, Daniel’s disappearance, her dismay at what had happened, not wanting to make contact?

12.Mark, reappearing at the meal, his explanation to Daniel, his character, his reflections on his relationship with Isabel, the break-up, the friendship? Not seeing her for years? Reconciling?

13.Isabel, a proud woman, her dance company, being demanding? Her choreography? Her concern about Daniel’s absence? His return? Wanting him to continue, the appointment, his not turning up? Her illness, the dinner, her enjoying it?

14.Daniel and his reaction to his experience, the promiscuous search for the women in Melbourne, going to the clubs, going to the hospital, the doctor, his suspicions?

15.At the club, seeing the woman, the hair, drawing a conclusion, his assaulting her, the arrest? Julie and her distancing herself? His humiliation, in jail, the phone call for help?

16.Mark arriving, telling him that they had reached the end point but he needed to go back to the beginning, inviting him to start?

17.The overall impact of the film, serious-minded, transferral of a novel to the screen, making audiences uncomfortable, the exploitative aspects, insight?

MEET THE SPARTANS

US, 2008, 81 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.

This is the kind of spoof that does not need a review. Most critics hate it and with the public it will be a hit or miss movie depending on tastes and senses of humour. It is for the undiscriminating – or the discriminating taking a break from discrimination.

This team of writer-directors has been producing a spoof movie every year where it be Date Movie, Epic Movie, Scary Movie… They are full of jokes, many crass, many corny, some really good ones (like the blue screen here for the digital Spartans and Persians). A whole lot of satirical barbs are launched at public figures (like George Bush or Tom Cruise) and there are impersonations of Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton (as the betrayer of the 13 – instead of 300), Ellen de Generes, Paula Abdul.

The targets are a lot of American TV shows, especially American Idol (with Simon Cowell thrown into the pit of destruction), Deal or no Deal and Dancing with the Stars.

And, while the whole thing is low-budget, it probably could have been paid for by all the companies who booked product placement.

Basically, it is, as the screenplay says, ‘a cheap rip-off of 300’, the characters, the confrontation with the Persians and the homoerotic atmosphere. It follows the plot fairly directly intercutting the farce and the send-ups. It is not Anthony and Cleopatra and many critics review it as if it were aiming to be. It’s just a parody of 300.

THE SUMMONED

Iran, 2007, 91 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Arash Moayerian.

The Summoned is a melodramatic story, focusing on two brothers and their rivalry. The older is a drug addict who is jealous that his younger brother inherited their father’s money and property. The younger brother manages the property, is happily married and leads a contented life? They have not spoken for years. The older brother has a fiancée who accompanies him on his visit to the brother. The younger brother is married. There is a mysterious young girl, allegedly the daughter of the younger brother who seems to have been interned and beaten.

However, it is difficult to know exactly what is happening – because the director uses the technique of the characters imagining what they might have done as well as what they actually did. Fantasy and reality merge. We see different facets of each of the characters, sinister as well as benign. It is difficult to know whether there are deaths or not, whether the young girl character is real or not. In many ways this is quite intriguing – but done in a very Iranian melodramatic style.

1.Interest in the drama? The technique of storytelling?

2.The title, the reference to each of the characters? Their alter-egos?

3.The Iranian setting, the city, the country property? The world of drugs? The world of business? The farm world? Authentic? The musical score? Atmospheric?

4.The focus on the drug addict, the remnants of the party, the phone calls, his taking the pills, going to the office, his fiancée and her work, the debt to the three men, his work assistant? What really happened? His imagining his aggression towards the men, his refusal to give the money, tearing up the cheque, sacking his fiancée? The contrast with reality? His going to see his brother, the jealousy? The meal, the discussions, in the stables? Imagining killing his brother? The young girl and her appearance and disappearance? The seeming double-dealing of his fiancée? The confrontation with his brother’s wife? The killings, his shooting her? His own death or not?

5.The younger brother, the inheritance, the farm, his wife, the happy family, receiving his brother? The table talk about the daughter? The sinister side of the nice brother, the knife attacks? Deaths? The stables? His wife, betrayal or not?

6.The two women, their relationship with the brothers, love, support? In their brothers’ fantasies? Fidelity and/or betrayal? Deaths?

7.The cumulative effect of this kind of drama? The different strands, the different psychological perspectives? Moral perspectives?

THE MAN IN THE CHAIR

US, 2007, 107 minutes, Colour.
Christopher Plummer, Michael Angarano, M. Emmet Walsh, Robert Wagner, Joshua Boyd, Ellen Geer, Margaret Bligh.
Directed by Michael Schroeder.

While this pleasing film starts off a little gruffly, it soon moves into an entertainingly sympathetic experience. It is a film which shows the bridging of the generation gap – and could prove popular to both ends of this gap. In fact, the gap is less between parents and children (although that theme is present as well) than between teenagers and the grandparent-aged generation.

The two ends of this spectrum are a young teen, Michael Angarano, something of a tearaway who with a friend has entered a competition for making a short film to get a college scholarship and Christopher Plummer as Flash who used to be an assistant to great Hollywood film-makers, including Orson Welles on Citizen Kane. They both go to old movie theatres which show classic movies – and the boy discovers the cantankerous old man who shouts at the screen. The boy follows the old man and, gradually and reluctantly, they form a bond and together they begin to work on the project.

Both are something of rebels – the boy risking crime while Flash has a passion about rescuing abandoned dogs. They also meet a veteran writer, played by M. Emmett Walsh in a genial performance, who has not written for a long time. The sequence in which the boy introduces him to the internet and shows him the entries about him has a wonderful feeling about it.

In fact, the film is a tribute to the elderly. Many of the cast live in one of those homes around Hollywood for ageing actors and technicians of the industry. As they become more involved in the boy’s project, they come alive as they find a purpose as well as feeling affection for the young. The boy learns a great deal from the experience of the elderly. While there are plenty of references to old movies for the older generation, the contemporary musical score is for the younger.

The cast includes Robert Wagner as a producer.

For writer-director Michael Schroeder, previously a director of straight-to-video actioners, this film was a labour of love. He sold up his possessions in order to be free to make this story which had great appeal for him. It was well worth it.

1.The appeal of the film? To older audiences? To younger? To film buffs? The ability of the film to move across generations?

2.The visual style, straightforward realism? The MTV style of wash and flashes? Distracting or creating an atmosphere? A Los Angeles film, the streets, the studios, old cinemas, homes, residences for the elderly? An authentic feel? The musical score? The lyrics of the songs and their comments on the characters and actions?

3.The old movie clips: His Girl Friday, Citizen Kane – and the flashback to Flash and his mistake while making the film, the glimpse of Orson Welles in action? Touch of Evil, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof? Flash’s wry comments on Charlton Heston and Orson Welles?

4.Christopher Plummer as Flash, his initial work, young, working on Citizen Kane, the mistake, answering about Churchill, Welles’ admiration, the nickname Flash? His age, dishevelled, drinking, shouting at the films, shambling along the streets, in the bus, on the bridge? At the home? His complaints about the films, his arguments with the audience, the initial impact? Cameron watching him, amused?

5.Cameron’s story, home, his stepfather, missing his own father, at school, the bullies, his friend Murphy, at class, the end of the term, the competition for film-making? His being in trouble, the fights, going to jail? Stealing the car and the reference to Christine? Arrested after the car chase? His age, potential? His love of movies, skipping school to go to the old films, hearing Flash, interested in him, following him on his bike?

6.The encounter in the park, Flash’s reaction, his plan, giving him the cigars? Cameron persevering? Gradually getting Flash’s interest? The subject and the skateboarding sequences? Going to motor racing, the change after meeting Mickey Hopkins? Flash taking him to see Mickey, Mickey as old, decrepit, the poor service in the home? As a writer, Cameron Googling him, discovering his credits? Talking, shaking hands, his return? Mickey and going to the library, fly-fishing, seeing his own name immortalised in Google? His delight? The fact that he survived on the internet?

7.Cameron, his family, relationship with his mother, the stepfather and his hard line, not bailing him out? Inviting Flash for the meal, Flash’s talk to the stepfather, the power of his ideas and persuasion, the change? The toast, his being present at the show, shaking hands with Cameron? Cameron promising always to protect his mother?

8.Flash, the lost dogs, seeing them put to sleep, his anger, scaling the fence, letting them loose, Cameron and Murphy helping?

9.The group at the old people’s home, characters, listening, their hopes? Cameron talking to them? Flash drunk, his insulting them all? His return, the apologies? The film on again?

10.Mildred, the glamour girl, flirtatious, weeping into her mirror? Happy to be on the job again? The nurses and their tolerance?

11.Going to Moss, his Oscars, his mansion, the forty-three years and Flash’s wife leaving with him, her death, his success, Flash’s failure, his decision to help with the money? His wanting to edit the film?

12.Mickey, Flash apologising to him, his phoning his daughter? Googling, the information on old people’s homes, writing his script?

13.The collage of the film-making, locations? The editing?

14.Flash’s collapse, in the hospital, his final talking to Cameron, Cameron wanting to be the man in the chair? The deal that he would never rise above himself? Flash revealing the team’s common room, the photos of those below the line, wanting an equality for all those who worked on a film?

15.Cameron missing the prize? The contrast with his own screening, in the old theatre, everybody present, their delight?

DU LEVANDE (YOU THE LIVING)

Sweden, 2007, 94 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Roy Andersson.

You the Living is the second feature film from commercials maker Roy Andersson, a multi-award-winning designer of commercials which are avant-garde and surreal?

He has something of a pessimistic view of human nature – although, despite the apocalyptic nature of the ending, he is hopeful that humans can actually improve in their relationships with one another.

The film was made in his own studios using amateurs for the characters. Many of them have the touch of the grotesque, certainly of the bizarre. He also uses a somewhat washed-out colour scheme.

The film is a series of vignettes, in an unnamed city, beginning with a dream of bombers flying overhead and ending with this reality.

The film is tragic as well as comic, moves quickly from one vignette to another (with some characters reappearing, the woman who complained that nobody loved her, the barkeeper for whom the last orders are always being called, the young girl infatuated with the rock star).

The film has been described as metaphysical and comical.

1.The work of Roy Andersson, feature films? Commercials? His surreal style?

2.The unnamed city, the city locations, apartments, hotels, the streets? The weather? Reality and unreality? The dreams? The bombers? The musical score?

3.The writing, comic, offbeat? The dramatisations? The fixed camera and its effect? The camera trick with the bride and groom, the people outside their window, moving? Emerging from a train?

4.The vignettes:
The man waking from the nightmare, approaching bombers.
The middle-aged woman, her appearance, her depression, complaining to her boyfriend, no-one liking her, the dog, her saying she would be along later, her appearance in the bar, the same talk.
Anna, the rock guitarist in the bar, her approaching him.
The schoolteacher who comes and complains to her class because her husband has insulted her.
The husband, the customers buying carpet, there not being enough, the argument with his wife.
The man whose nightmare has him trying to pull the tablecloth from under the family dinner, his failure, the women complaining about his breaking the crockery, the court case, his being sentenced to death, the electric chair scene.
The professor, at the banquet, speaking on the phone, his son wanting money.
The businessman, vanity in the restaurant, the stealing of his wallet by the man sitting by.
The psychiatrist, complaining, unable to make people happy.
The tuba player, his savings, the sexual encounter with his wife.
The Arab barber, the racist customer, the violence.
The customer, the meeting, the man dropping dead, the widow pleading for forgiveness.
Anna, with the guitarist, her dream of married bliss, in the train carriage.
The people at the bus stop, not making room during the rain.
The people looking up at the sky, the approaching bombers over the city.

DRILLBIT TAYLOR

US, 2008, 104 minutes, Colour.
Owen Wilson, Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile, David Dorffman.
Directed by Steven Brill.

Three kids and their first day at high school. The trouble is that Wade is gangly, Ryan is definitely not and Emmett is just too small. The worse trouble is that they attract the menace of the school bullies who then make their life hell. Empathetic audiences will be feeling uncomfortably vengeful – although Ryan, who wants to be called T-Dog? and is too immaturely worldly-wise is sometimes hard to take.

In this cyberworld of ours they find a solution, bodyguard ads on the net and so interview a number of tough guys who apply to guard them at school. We have already been introduced to Drillbit Taylor who lives on the streets (or in the grassy hill at the back of the streets) and is, to all intents and purposes something of a sponging bum. Him they can afford.

Most of the film is about his conning the boys out of their money, in training them in attack and defence, even posing as a substitute teacher (which he enjoys) and falling for the English teacher. He is not particularly ept at the job. His bum friends rob Wade’s house. But, even though the boys become disillusioned with him, and Wade has a stepfather who proudly tells him that he himself was a bully at school (and if he met the boy now the boy would probably thank him!) and Ryan has an absent father, it is clear that Drillbit has been quite an effective supplementary male figure in their lives.

Drillbit is played by Owen Wilson at his best. He is droll. His timing is good. He can get a lot out of a throwaway line. He can be convincingly cowardly and heroic. It’s not the greatest Owen Wilson vehicle, and the final fight is somewhat bone-crunching (and little finger severing) but, if you happen upon it, it has its moments.

(Seth Rogen who can be very funny co-wrote the screenplay – the sad thought is that the young characters here will soon grow up to replay Rogen’s Superbad!)

1.Owen Wilson comedies? His screen persona? Laidback, the slacker? His timing? One-liners, comic effect? Irony?

2.The settings, Los Angeles, schools, homes, camping out? The beach? The musical score?

3.The writers, the background of the comedies like Knocked Up, Superbad …? Superbad in Short Trousers …? The quality of the humour – the crass humour, for young adolescent audiences?

4.The focus on Wade, at home, his mother, his stepfather who was a bully at school, the twin stepbrothers? Their constantly criticising him? His preparations for the first day at high school? His friends, Ryan? At the bus stop, wearing the same shirt? The criticisms? Arrival at school, their being mocked, the bullies? The young boy cottoning on to them? Being put in the one shirt? The collage of other humiliations and bullying? Ryan, his size, his bossing his mother, criticisms of his absent father? Phoning Wade? His being a leader? Wade and his being a follower – emerging as a leader? The small boy and arrival at school?

5.The bullies, Filkins and Ronnie? Together, malicious, older? The continued attacks? The boys trying to assert themselves? Failing?

6.The teacher, her English classes? Her encounter with Drillbit, in the staff room, throwing herself at him, her record with men, losers? The dates, her pushiness? The reconciliation at the end?

7.Drillbit, his living outside, showering in the open? Begging on the streets, the irony of the bully’s mother giving him money? The friends, stealing, scrounging? The ambitions for going to Canada?

8.The three boys, the internet, putting out the advertisement? The humorous collage of the range of people interviewed (including Adam Baldwin from My Bodyguard)? The comic turn from Frank Whaley? The interview with Drillbit? His spiel? Army service, Secret Service, comparisons with Sylvester Stallone …? Their being impressed? Not being able to afford the others, being able to afford him?

9.Drillbit and his motivation, wanting to get the money from the boys? His going to the house? Food? Secrecy?

10.The training, his spiels – and their humour? The touch of truth? The response of the boys, the exercise, gawky but improving? His planning to be at the school, watching in secret? Their being bullied?

11.His going as a substitute teacher, being welcomed by the principal, the staff room? The classes, his enjoying himself? Saving the boys? Filkins and Ronnie and their being left stranded in the gym? His overcoming them?

12.The effect on the boys themselves, their self-confidence? The young Asian girl, Wade and his following her around, enrolling in all her courses? Their discussions, her being insulted by Filkins, his defending her?

13.The build-up to the party, Drillbit and his promises, the fights? The rescue?

14.The discovery of the truth, the boys’ reactions, Drillbit being humiliated? His continued comebacks?

15.His friend, the robbery of the house, Wade and his desperation? Drillbit later returning everything?

16.The build-up to the finale, the friends in jail? His coming to the rescue? His being a father figure to the boys? Going to jail, coming out – and their meeting him, and the teacher meeting him?

17.A droll comedy rather than hilarious?