KEEPING MUM

UK, 2005, 103 minutes, Colour.
Rowan Atkinson, Kristen Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Patrick Swayze, Tamsin Egerton, Liz Smith, Emilia Fox, James Booth.
Directed by Niall Johnson.

It is probably true that some British housekeepers are battleaxes. But most of them don’t wield an axe, especially on unsuspecting neighbours. But, Maggie Smith, as the sweetly-smiling Grace Hawkins, has some secrets like this, and she needs to keep mum.

If you have ever seen that old classic, Arsenic and Old Lace, the one where two nice old ladies send lonely old men off to their eternal reward (or, at least, bury them in the cellar), then you will know what to expect. This is genteel black comedy.

We know from the opening of Keeping Mum that, under the sensible hat, inside the old-fashioned clothes, Maggie Smith’s Grace is a psychopathic killer. When challenged by the family she keeps house for that people just don’t go round killing people they don’t approve of, she cheerfully remembers that was the one thing she and her doctors disagreed on.

The family consists of the local vicar of Little Wallop (down Truro way), his dissatisfied wife, his emerging nymphomaniac 17 year old daughter and a son who is continually bullied at school. It is to the credit of Rowan Atkinson’s quite laid back performance as the vicar, that he brings a little pathos to the film. However, he does get the chance to perform some ‘Beanery’ comedy, especially a disastrous spell at goalkeeping during the local football match.

And Kristin Scott Thomas brings more than a spot of good acting to the frustrated wife. We know that she is a clerical desperate housewife when she becomes infatuated with her bronzed American golf coach, Patrick Swayze sending up his image. Or, at least, creating the impression that he is murderable when Grace unmasks him as a lying rotter.

It’s not as witty as all that. The comedy is often obvious. But, on the other hand, an impressive cast make it a smilingly light night out.
1.The pun of the title? Audience expectations? Comedy and irony?

2.A black comedy, the moral presuppositions about murder, accepting these for the film to go on?

3.The English village, the church, rectory, ordinary life, homes, the golf club? Musical score?

4.The prologue, Rosie, in the train, her trunk, the blood, her arrest, her story, the murders, in court, the psychiatric treatment, the years passing, her release? And the television discussion about her release?

5.The town, the church, the Reverend Walter Goodfellow (and his name)? His wife and her boredom? Their daughter, sex-preoccupied? Her choice of boyfriends – and rapid choice? Their son being bullied? Mrs Parker and her wanting to discuss the flower-arranging committee? The routines of ordinary life in the village?

6.Grace, her arrival, meeting Peter, Gloria confronting and scolding her, then glad to see her? The heavy trunk – providing a clue? Her room, her manner, wisdom, fostering everybody’s abilities, the catalyst for change?

7.Rowan Atkinson as Walter, quiet performance, fussy, out of date, his being bothered by Mrs Parker? His sermons? His going to the conference, preparing the address, God moving in mysterious ways? Grace suggesting jokes? His going to the computer, telling the jokes, changing? The change with his wife and their relationship? Going to the conference, some impromptu jokes, his speech and great success? The problem of God’s mysterious ways, Isaiah 55, “I am mysterious, live with it”? His return home, genial?

8.Gloria, the long years of their marriage, her children, tedium in the town, her golf practice, the liaison with Lance, his advances, promises, the trip to Mexico? The rendezvous, her worry? The phone calls and pretending they were from Lilian? The lies and meeting him for lunch? With Grace? The ultimatum? His disappearance? His meeting with Walter at the football match? With Holly, spying on her, the video? His character, the plan with Gloria? His death?

9.Mr Brown, the barking dog, incessant, Gloria unable to sleep? Mr Brown’s? surliness? The disappearance of his dog? Grace killing him?

10.Mrs Parker, snooping, the flower-arranging committee, her final confrontation, Grace with the shovel, her heart attack?

11.Lance, his character, the golf professional, American, sleazy, his phone call and Grace responding to it? His videoing Holly, his death?

12.Holly, rebellious, criticising her mother? Her range of boyfriends? Grace interesting her in cooking, the boyfriends and cooking? Seeing the truth on the television, her mother, the process of dealing with it, hiding under the bed? Collaborating with Grace? Appreciating her mother?

13.Gloria, the change, Grace as her mother, having to deal with the murders?

14.Peter, the bullying, Grace and the tampering with the brakes on the bikes?

15.Grace in herself, nice, her disagreement with the doctor about killing? Being Gloria’s mother? Her memories, her hopes? Her going away?

16.The aftermath, Gloria’s comments, everything to the good – and the threat of dredging the pond? Glimpsing the corpses under the water?

FAMILY SINS

US, 2004, 100 minutes, Colour.
Kirstie Alley, Deanna Milligan, Kathleen Wilhoite, Will Patton, Kevin Mc Nulty.
Directed by Graeme Clifford.

Family Sins is one of several films that director Graeme Clifford made with Kirstie Alley. The others are Profoundly Normal where she played a mentally impaired woman and Write or Wrong. In this film she portrays a driven woman who is sociopathic. She appears to be normal, even exemplary on the surface but the film shows years of fostering children, corrupting them, brutalising them.

Deanna Milligan is a young woman who is under the power of Brenda Geck (Kirstie Alley’s character). Her mother, played by Kathleen Wilhoite, has been oppressed and often locked up in the basement. The film opens positively with the children bringing gifts for Mother’s Day. However, cracks begin to appear in the surface, there are flashbacks to harsh behaviour and a whole revelation of criminal activity. Will Patton portrays the district attorney who eventually prosecutes the Geck family.

Kirstie Alley appeared in various series, especially Cheers, but later emerged as a serious actress in her fifties. This is a good example of her strong screen presence, creating an evil woman.

The film is said to be based on actual events – and the sentences for Brenda Geck and her husband are very severe.

Australian-born director Graeme Clifford directed several films in the United States including Frances, Gleaming the Cube and many television films. He also directed, in Australia, Burke and Wills with Jack Thompson and Greta Scacchi.

1.The impact of this film? For a television audience? The revelation of shocking behaviour? The portrayal of family and abusive family?

2.The New Hampshire town, small-town atmosphere, homes, church fetes? The contrast with the law courts, prison? The musical score?

3.The title and its relevance to Brenda, to Ken, Joe, the whole family?

4.The opening, Mother’s Day, Brenda and her receiving all the gifts (and later taking them back to the shop for refunds)? Ken’s presence? The many children, their spouses, the little children? The seeming happiness? Yet Brenda as a smiling but controlling woman? The church fete? The minister and his support? Her eruptions and stern discipline? The woman whose videos were stolen, returning them? Audiences beginning to wonder?

5.Taking Marie to the supermarket, Marie and her shoplifting? The reaction of the store detective? Brenda’s reaction? The irony of the later revelation that Brenda taught and encouraged the children to shoplift? Marie, her child, her seemingly mentally impaired? Her decision to run away? Her application for a job, told that she looked too scruffy? The second application, her getting the job, the trailer? With her baby? Her going to the authorities, the police not listening to her, not believing? Going to other authorities, the police interrogation of Brenda and Ken? Her going to Philip Rothman? Her writing to the television personality, his speaking on television? Going to Rothman again? The charges, Rothman and the police in the raid on the house? Arresting Brenda, Ken and the family? Discovering Nadine in the basement?

6.The flashbacks, Nadine’s story, helpless, the child, Brenda taking her in? Making her a slave? Bringing up Marie? Teaching her to shoplift? Nadine and her doing the chores, put in the basement for punishment? The control, the threats – even of death?

7.Joe, his position in the house, the sexual assault on Marie? His behaviour, control, dominance? Ken, the sexual abuse of some of the children? Supporting his wife?

8.The various flashbacks to weddings, family disputes?

9.Brenda, her background, her going to the house to ask for the rent, the girl pleading? Her associations with Helen, the revelation of the arson, burning the houses down? Getting the children to do this as well?

10.The evidence, the witnesses, the interrogations? Carol, in prison, testifying against Brenda? Brenda’s brutality to her in the prison, her being bashed by the inmates?

11.Brenda, her contact with Leroy, the stolen goods? The phone call, her asking him to terrorise Marie? The trashing of the house, the burning of her car? Sitting next to her in court?

12.Nadine, freed, with her daughter, her grandson? Her simplicity? Marie’s outburst about her sending her love to Ken? Nadine and the possibility of a new life? With her grandson?

13.Marie, the intelligence test, Brenda wanting her to fail? Her getting the photos, giving them to Rothman? The increased number of witnesses? Their being interrogated?

14.In court, the evidence? Brenda and her threats? The evidence against the family? Their pleading no contest? The severity of the sentences, the anger of the judge?

15.Marie, a new life?

16.The hypocrisy of respectable-seeming families, doing good, fostering, having articles written in papers about them the church blessing? The neighbours and their suspicions but not doing anything? The need for checking on those in charge of foster care, of any kind of care, especially for children?

PARTITION

Canada, 2007, 116 minutes, Colour.
Jimi Mistry, Kristen Kreuk, Neve Campbell, John Light, Irfan Khan, Madhur Jaffri.
Directed by Vic Sarron.

Writer-director Vic Sarin was born in India then his family migrated to Canada. Obviously, his Indian heritage is important to him, especially the memories of the partition between India and Pakistan in 1947 with the consequent mass migrations of Hindus to India and Muslims to Pakistan and the million who died, many massacred, in this event. This is the background to this story of love and doom.

Opening in 1941, the film introduces us, via a polo tournament to the Indians and the British who live and work in India. War has broken out and India is involved. The action moves quickly to 1946, the aftermath of the war and the deaths as well as the return of the Indians to their homes, villages and farms.

An unrecognisable Jimi Mistry portrays Gian, a good man who wants no more deaths after his sad experiences in the trenches in Burma. With him is his friend Avtar (Irfan Khan) whose anger is roused by the Muslim migrants and who participates in a local massacre. A young woman, Naseem (Kristin Kreuk), escapes and is sheltered by Gian. While the villagers are hostile, Gian saves Naseem and gradually she settles into the patterns of the town. Gian travels to Delhi to try to find the location of her family in Lahore and is helped by an old friend, Margaret (Neve Campbell).

Eventually, Naseem is able to visit her family but they are still full of hatred against the Hindus who killed their father. Gian goes in search of her with their young son.

Suprisingly, much of the film, the mustard plant fields, the border, were filmed in Canada. However, there is also a great deal of location photography in India, particularly in Delhi. This creates an authentic atmosphere, even beautiful, despite some of the horrifying and tragic events.

The latter part of the film is highly emotional, melodramatic, with a passionate love story.

Sarin's film is heartfelt and is a personalised way of communicating a message of peace, harmony and tolerance which was so much lacking in the partition.

For a more sombre and penetrating film on partition, Deepa Mehta's Earth is recommended.

1.The impact of the film? As history, the subcontinent? A love story?

2.Audience knowledge of partition, of the British Empire in India, of the changes in the 20th century, the experience of World War Two, the partition of Pakistan and India, the consequences, the massacres?

3.India from the 1940s to the 1950s? The Canadian locations for India, the Indian locations? Delhi, the village, the countryside? The flashbacks to war and the trenches in Burma? The atmosphere? The musical score, the serious and the romantic moods?

4.1941, the British club, the polo, the Indian and British players, Gian and his friendship with Margaret, with Andrew? With Avtar? Andrew being called up and going to war? The introduction to Walter, his role as a journalist?

5.1946, Andrew’s death in the war, Gian’s return, with Avtar? The background leading up to partition, the politics, the role of Gandhi? 1947, the people trekking to Pakistan, the train trips back to India? The visualising of the massacres? The hatred, the vengeance? The scenes on the border?

6.The flashbacks for Gian, Andrew, in the trenches, his whistle, the water, his drowning, Gian shooting him, intending to give the whistle to Margaret, his not giving it, returning it later?

7.The impact of the war on Gian, his wanting peace?

8.His return, the visit to Margaret, her comment about Walter’s article and Andrew’s heroism?

9.Returning to the village, reunited with his mother, Avtar in the village, working the farm, the mustard? Seeing the trek of the Muslims? The militant group, Avtar and the slaughter of the Muslims? The Muslim father’s death, Naseem and her running away, the village man pursuing her? Hiding, Gian finding her, giving her his coat because she was cold?

10.Gian taking her home, the threats of the village, his stances, at the door, protecting Naseem, the killer and his anger? His attack on Naseem during the feast and celebration? Avtar and his becoming more moderate? His mother, her harsh stances, the other women in the village who had lost family in the massacres, their anger? Gian and his offering his money, his friend from the shop taking up the collection? Pacifying the people?

11.Gian and his life, his work on the farm, with Naseem at home? Protecting her? Her getting water at the well, helping the girl who slipped, becoming friends, their being together, at the feast and celebration, the attack? Her gratitude towards Gian? The love? Marrying him? The celebration?

12.Gian and his trips to Delhi, the request to find out where Naseem’s family was, enlisting Margaret’s help? Margaret and her work in Delhi? Not returning to England? The official and his putting the request at the bottom of the pile? Walter, after the war, inheriting the hotel in Lahore, Margaret and her job in Pakistan, her later coming with the papers for Naseem’s trip, discovering that she was not a girl but Gian’s wife? Margaret’s own emotional attachment to Gian?

13.The passing of the years, Gian and Naseem’s son, the happiness? Naseem and the preparation to go to Pakistan? Gian at home, ordinary life, his mother, with his son? No news from Pakistan? His decision to travel? Changing his appearance, cutting his hair, the importance of this as a Sikh? His assuming a Muslim name, clothes? Going to the border with his son? The refusal? His climbing under the fence, finding Naseem, finding her imprisoned?

14.Gian and his not receiving any letters? Naseem and her being in the home, imprisoned by her brothers? Her mother agreeing with this? Her attempts to escape? Seeing Gian? Gian and the brothers attacking him, his being arrested, Margaret witnessing this?

15.Gian in prison, Walter’s visit, trying to persuade him to go home? At the station, with his son, buying the sweets?

16.Naseem and her mother, her mother allowing her out, her hurrying to the station, her brother’s pursuit? Seeing Gian? His being on the other side of the tracks? Their meeting on the overpass? The brother pursuing, the fight, Gian’s falling to his death?

17.The sadness of the ending, Naseem and her son in London with Margaret? Margaret going home to Britain? The Indians in the United Kingdom, a new life?

18.A blend of historical background along with the romance and the melodrama? An effective way of communicating history to a popular audience?

TRESPASS

US, 1992, 101 minutes, Colour.
Bill Paxton, Ice -T, William Sadler, Ice Cub, Art Evans.
Directed by Walter Hill.

This is tough stuff. Director Walter Hill is noted for it (48 Hours, The Warriors, Southern Comfort). But he does it well.

Here he challenges himself and the audience by confining the action to the interior of an abandoned warehouse where two firemen go to find some valuable hidden statues – but it is the headquarters for a black drug dealing gang. An old black drifter also makes it his home.

The action shows each group trying to outwit the other. While the action and language is strong, the confrontation becomes a parable about greed and survival, a reworking of the old Humphrey Bogart classic, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. What does it profit …? It should give the action fans something to think about.

1.An interesting action drama? The action? The parable about greed? Meaning?

2.The limited locations, the exteriors? The warehouse? The detail of the interiors? The surrounding buildings? Atmosphere? Musical score?

3.The title, the religious overtones of sin and trespass? Being illegally on property, trespassing? The both meanings here?

4.The plausibility of the plot: the fire, the dead man and his religiosity, his message? The response of the firemen? The black gang, the drugs, the execution? The two groups intertwining? The drifter, his home? His becoming involved? The significance of the gold, greed, the fight for it, survival? The irony of the deaths? Destruction? Bradlee as the drifter, his confrontation of the groups, his wiliness with Vince, his keeping the gold at the end?

5.Vince and Don, their work, the rescues? The old man and his religious mania, dying? His information about the gold, the church? Their going back, discovering the map? Misreading it – but finding the gold in the roof? The possibilities for their future? Their moral stances, the claims for the gold, it being in the public domain after being stolen fifty years earlier?

6.The black gang, King James, his being in charge, Savon as his assistant, the other members of the gang, their personalities? King James and his concern about his brother, Lucky? The deals, going to the warehouse, their territory? The execution? Vince watching it?

7.The build-up to the confrontation between the two groups, using their wits? The chases, the violence, the physical contact, the guns? Each outwitting the other? Don and his taking Lucky as a hostage? King James backing down? Savon not backing down? The group calling in reinforcements, especially Raymond, his weapons?

8.Vince and Don, the encounter with Bradlee? Bradlee and his demands? The hanging on to the gold, the admiration of the vessels? Savon and his being aware of the gold? Lucky and his reaction? His threats against the two?

9.The confrontations, Don, his death? Vince, on the roof, the chases? His surviving? The final words with Bradlee – and Bradlee sending him off?

10.Lucky, King James, the deaths? The brutality of the fights?

11.The irony of Bradlee taking the gold? The old theme of what does it profit to gain the whole world …?

LOVE IN LIMBO

Australia, 1993, 95 minutes, Colour.
Craig Adams, Rhondda Findleton, Martin Sacks, Aden Young, Russell Crowe, Maya Stange, Bill Young, Jill Perryman.
Directed by David Elfick.

Perth 1957. This is a light comedy, something like Spotswood with sex, about a sixteen-year-old preoccupied with women. The film tries to recreate the atmosphere of the times, fashions, drive-ins, music. It is a mixture of the innocent and the crass, the contrast between what society was like on the surface and what really happened.

Craig Adams is the hero, but there are good performances by Martin Sacks as a gaudy salesman, Aiden Young as the junior version and, by the way of complete contrast, Russell Crowe as a very proper Welsh Baptist. This is a light look at the 1950s.

1.The impact of the film, Australian audiences? Worldwide? The title, the focus on youth? The initial title: The Great Pretender?

2.A rites of passage film, adolescent boys, adolescent boys in the 50s? The Australian version? The perceptions of the past?

3.The Perth settings, the city, the suburbs, homes, schools? The factories? Kalgoorlie, the contrast with Perth? The musical score, the songs?

4.Ken, his age, his place in the family, his sister, relationship with his mother, his behaviour? At school, the sexy drawings, trying to sell them? The other children at school? His sex preoccupations? Barry and the car, travelling around, the hopes, the drive-in? The friendship with Arthur and the contrast with him?

5.Barry, at school, the car, with Ken, their friendship? Arthur? The different personalities? Their behaviour?

6.The decision to go to Kalgoorlie, on the road, the details of the trip?

7.At the drive-in, the drink, the laddish behaviour?

8.Arthur, the Chapel background, his Welsh accent, prim, his mother and father, the church traditions? His coming home, alcohol, his parents’ reaction?

9.Kalgoorlie, the brothels, the boys, nervous, the women?

10.The women in Kalgoorlie, the industrial action, the strike?

11.In Kalgoorlie, the effect on the boys, their expectations, change, delivering Arthur home?

12.The portrait of Gwen, her behaviour and attitudes, her relationships, Max?

13.The supporting characters, Uncle Herbert, Aunt Dorrie? Family relationships – and the 50s style?

14.The comic style, the dialogue, situations, reticent and crass, compared with the American-style adolescent sex comedies? The Australian tone?

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS

US, 2008, 111 minutes, Colour.
Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny R. Mc Bride, Kevin Corrigan, Craig Robinson, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Ed Begley Jr, Norah Dunn, Amber Heard.
Directed by David Gordon Green.

Some stoner comedies are just too silly and merely offer the audience the opportunity to share in the stoners’ experience and outlook on life – which is not really all that interesting to warrant spending the time with them.

This one is different. Yes, the central characters are stoners (and slackers as well). Yes, they do get high. But, thankfully, there is a little more than that. In fact, the drugs are mostly the occasion for a witness to murder adventure and chase. And, with Judd Appatow as a producer, as with his sex comedies (The Forty Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up), there is a moral shift from irresponsibility to responsibility, this time concerning the use and consumption of drugs.

A respectable Catholic director called Tropic Thunder ‘appallingly funny’. This could apply to Pineapple Express as well. Just in case you were wondering, pineapple express refers to a top quality drug – which is limited in sales in LA , which enables the drug lord to easily trace our two rather witless heroes who are dealers and buyers and know about the murder of a rival Asian drug lord.

Seth Rogen wrote the script. Only 26, he must have had a hankering to be in an action blockbuster but his size and his propensity for playing comic roles probably have excluded his name from potential auditions. So, why not write one for himself? Rogen, who is good at deadpan delivery and has good comic timing, plays a subpoena deliverer who prides himself on the various roles he takes on to deceive the recipients. One happens to be the drug boss (Gary Cole) who is in cahoots with a policewoman (Rosie Perez) and this is where the murder occurs.

What follows is a cat and mouse flight and an action car chase, all with the help of a really out-of-it James Franco (who has been James Dean as well as Spiderman’s friend and foe and also shows good comic timing) and a harassed (and several times almost-killed) Danny R McBride? (The Foot Fist Way, Tropic Thunder).

And, if that sounds all right for an easygoing watch (and allowing for the expected crassness), then Pineapple Express is better than average of this kind of thing.

1.An entertaining slacker comedy? Audience appeal? Target audience? The prologue with the 1937 experiment, drugs, the military abandoning the experiment – and the comedy of the response of the private soldier being high?

2.The work of Seth Rogen, writer, performer, his screen persona?

3.The American city, the apartments and streets? The contrast with the desert? The establishment in the desert for the production of drugs?

4.The special effects, the fights, the chase, the explosions? The range of songs?

5.The title, drugs, the Pineapple Express drug? Arguments about the law, marijuana, its effects? The nature of highs? What happens to the person during a high? The consequences? The fact of drug-taking? The stances pro and con? The sequence with the high school kids and their taking the drugs? The film’s comment that Dale and Saul were not functioning when on a high?

6.The introduction to Dale, smoking pot, listening to the radio, his phone-ins, his wanting to be a radio personality? Serving subpoenas – his disguises, the comedy, the reaction of those receiving them? The introduction to Saul, at home, the layout of his home, watching TV, the drug dealer, smoking, always on a high? Dale as smart? Saul as slow – but wanting to be an architect? The clients visiting him?

7.Dale, going to serve Ted Jones, witnessing the shooting, dropping the roach, crashing the cars, escaping? Going to Saul, realising that both he and Saul could be pursued? In a hurry? The farcical aspects? Going to see Red, Red’s attack, their taping him up, the escape?

8.Ted Jones, the drug dealer, in liaison with Carol, her police work? His thugs? The Asian rivalry? Murdering the Asian? The pursuit of Dale, the thugs going to Red and threatening him? Red and the phone call, giving the information about Dale and Saul? Jones and his decisions, ringing the Asians and threatening them? The build-up to the final set-up, out in the desert, the fights? Carol, the car chase, abducting Saul? The shootings and the fights?

9.Red, his dealing, threatened by the thugs, giving the information, being shot (many times)? Surviving, saying he was ashamed of his behaviour, coming to the rescue? His dying again? Reviving – and the final conversation in the diner? Wanting to be best friends?

10.The action adventure, Dale and Saul in the woods, the issues of the phone and triangulation, late for the appointment, selling the drugs to the kids, the car chase, abduction, the final fights and shootouts?

11.Saul’s grandmother, the thugs threatening her?

12.The school’s security woman, her believing Dale, wanting to get Carol? Saul taking the car – and wrecking it?

13.Angela, Dale going to see her at school, the reaction of the teacher and Dale’s reaction to him, the students and their high school talk? The age different with Dale? The phone calls, inviting him to her house? Dale arriving late after all the adventures, Saul outside, the parents and their primness, the father wanting to eat, Dale’s arrival, the sarcastic talk, his story, the gun, the father firing it, their all escaping, going to the motel, Dale and the phone calls, declaration of love?

14.A stoner comedy, the drugs being the plot development device rather than the theme? Comedians in shootouts and fights, car chases? The dialogue, the one-liners, the wit? The mixture of crass jokes? A typical film example of this kind of stoner comedy?

BABYLON AD

US, 2008, 90 minutes, Colour.
Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Melanie Thierry, Gerard Depardieu, Charlotte Rampling, Mark Strong, Lambert Wilson.
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz.

Director Mathieu Kassovitz has expressed, very strongly, his disapproval of this version of his film. For fans of this kind of futuristic action film may have to wait for the Director’s Cut.
What remains is strong on locations, stunts and special effects - these locations range from an over-populated Russia, to the wilds of Mongolia and a Shangri-La? convent, to Vladivostok and the ice cap between Siberia and North America, to the wilds of Canada and a New York that does not look all that different from now. The reason for the locations is that the hero, a disillusioned mercenary now seen as a terrorist, is blackmailed into bringing a special woman, a genetically engineered creation who is to be proclaimed as a new messiah and to give credence (and financial gain) to a new religion.
One of the problems is that the mercenary is played, as much he did in Pitch Black, xXx, The Chronicles of Riddick, by a grim Vin Diesel (of the Steven Seagall school of hard, expressionless action). Melanie Thierry is the girl. But, for cinema buffs, it is the supporting cast which is the most interesting: Charlotte Rampling doing he cold, haughty and cutting thing as the exploitative high priestess of the new religion, Lambert Wilson as he estranged doctor-genetic engineer husband, Mark Strong as a gung-ho drive and, best of all, Michelle Yeoh as Sister Rebecca who is the demure guardian of the young woman - though she is forced into exercising her martial arts skills. Gerard Depardieu appears in a couple of scenes grotesquely playing a grotesque criminal.
Familiar material, not always coherent (maybe due to producer interference) with some interesting moments.
1.A futuristic story? About power, religion? Threats to democracy?

2.The director’s comments on the film, the cutting, reducing it to an action PG13 show?

3.The style of the future: Russia, bleak, Mongolia, the convent, Kazakhstan and Vladivostok? The ice and the submarines? North America, the snow? New York, modern? The countryside of Upstate New York? The musical score, atmosphere?

4.The international cast, the French perspective, the French story?

5.Toorop as hero? Vin Diesel’s screen presence, morose, the mercenary, his life, past, accusations of terrorism, being forbidden in the US? In a tough society in Russia? Preparing his meal? Gorsky and his deal, the job, Toorop accepting? Going to the convent, meeting Sister Rebecca, the arguments with her, the deal? Protecting Aurora? Going on the mission, giving his word? Aurora lost in the crowds? Aurora’s powers? The train ride? Vladivostok, Finn and his help? On the snow and on the ice? Getting into the submarine? People dying and Aurora taking control of the submarine? Toorop in the snow? Finn’s betrayal? Aurora healing Toorop and his gratitude? Killing Finn? The passport control, injecting himself, the inner passport and tracking device? The plane ride, New York, the apartment? Delivering Aurora? The high priestess and her confrontation? The doctor checking on Aurora? The thugs? Phoning Gorsky? Saving Aurora, dying with the gunshots, being taken by Doctor Darquandier? His being brought back to his death moment, realising the truth, where Aurora was? Going to Upper New York State, finding Aurora, her bequeathing the twins to him?

6.Sister Rebecca, a strong character, pleasant, the story of her life, being in the convent, helping Aurora, travelling with Toorop, her drawing on her martial arts skills? Her death?

7.Aurora, her being invented, Darquandier as her constructor, the high priestess considering herself her mother? Her father’s attempts to send people to save her but their being attacked by Toorop? The issue of religion, the high priestess going on television? Gorsky and his commission to get Aurora to New York? The convent, her sheltered life, her powers, in the crowds, lost, on the train, the submarine and her grief for those who died, the accusation that she was carrying a virus? On the bikes through the snow, the attack, her healing Toorop? In New York, the truth about her pregnancy, a virginal conception? Her fleeing New York, going to Toorop’s house, her death, the twins?

8.Doctor Darquandier, his past, with the high priestess, Gorsky attempting his death, his not dying? His experiences, trying to rescue Aurora? Toorop being revived, giving the information? The high priestess confronting and killing him?

9.The high priestess, her style, on television, the miracle, proclaiming the miracle, engineering the miracle? Her board, her anger with them, her plans, the messiah? The new religion? Wealth? Her killing Gorsky?

10.Toorop and his passport, being tracked, especially by Gorsky, becoming the victim, his opening words about his doing a good deed on the day that he died? His surviving?

11.The children of Aurora, one black, one white, the future?

12.Themes of the future, power and wealth, poverty and suffering, hope, religion, messianic hopes and exploitation?

STELLA

France, 2008, 102 minutes, Colour.
Leora Barbara. Guillaume Depardieu.
Directed by Sylvie Verheyde.

Stella covers twelve months in the life of a thirteen-year-old girl living in Paris. Her parents own a bar and are more concerned about the running of the bar and the joy of their clientele than paying attention to their daughter. However, they book her into a school for the wealthy. Stella feels out of place, she is not interested in paying attention to classes. She gets into trouble and has poor marks. However, at home, while she joins in the activities in the café and the bar, playing cards with the boarders (who have been referred to the bar and café by Social Welfare), she also spends time in her room and reads Cocteau and Balzac.

She finds a sympathetic friend at school, Gladys, a Jewish-Argentinian?. Gladys is head of the class but forms a warm friendship with Stella and Stella responds very well. While she gets into fights, on the sports field, still gets poor marks and doesn’t pay attention, the friendship with Gladys does transform her in some ways. Meanwhile, her parents are alienated and she feels bad about this. Summer holidays are in the country with her grandmother, an eccentric woman, and playing with Genevieve who is the same age.

However, as the year progresses, Stella becomes a bit more sociable, relies on Gladys’s help, gets interested in history, asks the advice on works of art from one of the boarders (Guillaume Depardieu) and is in danger of being molested by another of the boarders.

With Gladys’s help, and with some improvement at school, she actually passes the year – something of joy for her parents who have the possibility of making up and being more loving and caring of Stella.

The film does not reach any conclusions – but has a sense of realism about a non-achieving clever child and the possibilities for breakthroughs in maturity.

1.The portrait of a contemporary young girl in Paris?

2.Paris, the locations, the bar and café, Stella’s room, the school, the countryside and the town?

3.The musical score, the range of songs and their use?

4.Stella and her voice-over, a year in her life, expressing her attitudes, change of mind, growth?

5.Stella at school, not interested, the mistakes, not paying attention, absentminded? The teacher’s frustrations and anger – especially the English teacher throwing things out the window? The maths teacher and his lack of patience? The more sympathetic French teacher? Her frustrations, her assignments and the poor marks, her parents being disappointed?

6.Her life at the café, her parents being busy, everybody cheery, the variety of types sent by Social Welfare, Stella playing cards, watching the television, the men playing pool, Stella present in all of this yet able to go to her room, the pictures of Alain Delon, her books, Cocteau, Balzac, watching Marlene Dietrich on the TV? The young man in the bar and her friendship, Bubu and his gift of the book, his attempts at molestation? Alain and his friendship, giving attention to her, advising her about the painting? The relationships over the year?

7.Her parents, their age, the background of their marriage, family backgrounds? Working the bar, the mother thinking the husband was weak? Her strength? Paying attention or not? Affairs, clashes, the visit of the mother-in-law and her eccentricity, taking Stella to the countryside, their not talking to each other, the final clash, the good news about Stella’s passing and the possibility of their talking and coming together again?

8.Gladys, the Argentinian background, Jewish background, strict, no television? Her being a straight-A student? Meeting with Stella, initiating the conversation, their becoming friends? Gladys helping her, with the spelling (and Stella having to copy dictation)? Their talks and sharing, the sleepover, Gladys visiting the bar, being bitten by the dog? Their bonding? Going to the party, Stella not invited, dancing? Gladys and the meeting with the teachers, the news of Stella’s pass? Stella thanking Gladys at the end?

9.Stella in the country, with her grandmother, with Genevieve, the bike rides, their activities, meeting the boys? The final credits and the scenes with Genevieve and the hose?

10.Stella and her interest in history, Alain explaining the artwork, her giving her own explanation and the teacher affirming her? Her good mark for history? Her decision to do better? Discipline, the fight after the sports match? Her finally getting a pass?

11.Her age, her period, relationships, discovering boys, being by herself, the dance?

12.The other children at school, their treatment of Stella, her being a loner? The party?

13.The film as watching a young girl grow over the year?

AGNES ET SES PLAGES (AGNES AND HER BEACHES)

France, 2008, 116 minutes, Colour.
Agnes Varda, her family and friends.
Directed by Agnes Varda.

Agnes and Her Beaches was completed when director and photographer Agnes Varda turned eighty. This is her autobiographical memoir.

The film has the vitality of the director herself. It takes us back to beaches that were important parts of her life, the opening credits with putting mirrors on beaches. She grew up in Brussels, remembers her family, visits the family home. During World War Two, the family migrated to the south of France and lived on a boat. However, leading a sheltered life, she wanted to break out and went to Paris before she was twenty and became a celebrated photographer, photographing directors, theatre actors and film stars of the period. She recreates this period with many photos, as well as visits to the south of France.

With the coming of the New Wave, and her meeting Jacques Demy, she began a film directing career with Cleo from 5 to 7 which won many awards. Demy won many awards at the same time. With some ups and downs, they stayed together for thirty years until his death.

During the 60s, they both went to Hollywood, but rather unsuccessfully – although Agnes Varda is very strong on the friends that she made at that period, her appreciation of Los Angeles, her involvement in the protests against the war in Vietnam (which meant that she was away from France during May 1968). As Jacques Demy was dying, she made a biographical film about him, which he watched and helped recreate. In later years she continued with her photography as well as installation pieces. She also embraced feminism and was very strong on pro-choice. One of her failures was a film about the golden hundred years of film-making, with Michel Piccoli and a number of film stars.

After the final credits, her family and friends surprise her to celebrate her eightieth birthday.

1.An autobiographical film in images, words? The effect: the story of a life, a person, a personality, a career?

2.The title, Agnes Varda and the opening, the beach, the establishing of the mirrors, the variety of shots? The Belgian beaches? The south of France? Los Angeles and Venice Beach? The theme of beaches?

3.The information about Agnes Varda: her Greek father never mentioning this, her parents, living in Brussels, the war and the south of France, on the boat, running away to Paris, her photography, meeting Jacques Demy, her cinema career, the times in America, back to France, Demy’s death and her film? Her photography and installations in later years?

4.An illustrated narrative, the comments, film clips, photos, Jane Birkin and other actors re-enacting scenes?

5.Agnes as a child, her father, Brussels, the joy of the beach, the large family, her father’s gambling in the casino, dropping dead? Her mother, her care, her mother’s loss of memory and Agnes’s reflection on this? Revisiting the house in Brussels but not feeling attached? The impact of her early years on her? Her not finding that they had such strong force?

6.France, the war, the Vichy government, the patriotic songs for the children in school, living on the boat, her mother’s fears, the fishermen, knowing how to mend nets? Revisiting the town with her brother? The film, the jousts and the street called after her?

7.Running away, her comments on her sheltered life, sexuality (and the French-style indications, visually, of sexuality)? Her work as a photographer, actors and directors, their support, recreating the time? Her visit to China, the photos, the documentary? Her relationships, the birth of Rosalie?

8.Meeting Jacques Demy, with him for thirty years, Mathieu? The ups and downs?

9.The beginning of the New Wave, her giving the background, her admiration for Godard? Her making Cleo, going to Cannes, the tours? Demy and his success, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Catherine Deneuve?

10.The invitation to the US, her friends, the producer, Zalman King and Patricia Knott, her making Lion’s Love? Life in America, protests, anti-Vietnam? Her missing the uprising in Paris in 1968?

11.Her career in France, the film for the hundred years of cinema, its failure?

12.The importance of her family, the presence of her children in the film? Her caring for Jacques Demy, the process of making the film, with him present? Recreating his life?

13.Later years, her feminism, her pro-choice stances and campaigns?

14.The theme of walking backwards, memories, the importance of her family, the final film with the family? The post-credits sequence with the eighty brooms and her eightieth birthday?

THE APPRENTICE (L'APPRENTI

France, 2008, 85 minutes, Colour.

The Apprentice is a French film about rural life. It focuses in a docudrama style on a young man, Mathieu Bulle, who is dissatisfied with his school work, is urged by his family to become an apprentice to a farmer. It is a different lifestyle. However, he adapts, is helped by the farmer, Paul Barbier, who acts as a surrogate father, helping him, training him, correcting him.

The film is interesting in its detailed look at farming life in 21st century France, the technology, the style of farming, the economic repercussions – as well as the hard work, the character-building, the values of this kind of apprenticeship. The film won several awards at the Venice film festival in 2008, and was screened in the international critics’ week.

1.A blend of documentary and fiction? Effective? Inviting the audience into a world? The audience learning?

2.The realism: the people, their lives, the farm, school, home, countryside, the slaughter of the pig, the cows, the birth of the calf, hard work? The background score? The songs, especially for Mathieu?

3.The title, the focus on Mathieu, his age and learning? His apprenticeship to work, to life?

4.The introduction to Mathieu, in the bus, patting the horses, arriving at the farm, working with the farmer, the cattle (and later his trying to control them)? The jobs, listening to the farmer and the poem about autumn, helping his daughter? The importance of the week’s assessment and the farmer’s decisions, asking Mathieu questions? The difference at home, his clashes with his mother, criticising her? The absent father? Whether he would visit him or not? At school, the boys, horsing around in the showers, the dormitory? The classes, his skilful explanation of genetics and costs, the maths class, his failing the exam? His anger? Yet his hopes? With his friends at the pool, meals, their sex talk?

5.The farmer, his background story, hopes for life, disappointments? His wife, his daughter and the humanity of the lesson? With the cows on the road, the slaughter of the pig, making hay, fixing the tools, Mathieu and his criticism? Christmas, the celebrations, the shopping, the presents? Mathieu and the tree, sharing with the family? The farmer talking to Mathieu, the walk on the mountain, Mathieu confiding about his father? Building the sled, the joy of the rides in the snow? The farmer providing a father figure, yet not intruding?

6.The glimpse of Mathieu’s father, at work, no conversation, talking with his son, his future, the visits?

7.Mathieu and time passing, the school and the discussion with the principal and his violence, the failure in the exam, his mother’s support – yet her work in the factory, her size, eating, weeping in her room? The effect of the farmer and his role-modelling for Mathieu? The influence? His stories, sharing? Life with the family? The exuberance of Mathieu with the work, working hard, the hay and feeding the cattle, his singing?

8.The blend of joy, hardships, maturity and immaturity, growth? Mathieu’s final song and hope?