FIST FIGHT

US, 2017, 91 minutes, Colour.
Charlie Day, Ice Cube, Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Dean Norris, Christina Hendricks, Kumail Nanjiani, Jo Anna Swisher, Dennis Haysbert.
Directed by Richie Keen.

An American comedy, loud, aggressive, only for those who like their comedies basic. Other audiences will quickly turn off.

The film has a school setting. It is the last day of classes and the students have created all kinds of pranks, pretty excessive pranks, all over the school involving paint, glue, rude and obscene images and gestures, complete disrespect.

However, one of the teachers, played by Ice Cube, Is a very strict disciplinarian and instils fear on everyone, students and staff alike. On the other hand, there is Charlie Day, rather gentle, trying to teach English, the butt of student jokes, preoccupied because his wife is pregnant and about to give birth. And everybody’s job is on the line at the end of the school year, the principal, Dean Norris, wanting interviews with everyone (although his documents are glued, his drawers trashed, his car painted over…).

Tracy Morgan is the sports master and Jilian Bell is a sex-preoccupied counsellor who obviously needs counselling herself and comes out with quite a range of inappropriate comments throughout the film. Christina Hendricks is a malicious teacher who misinterprets Charlie Day’s helping a student and targets him.

Kumail and Nngiani has a supporting role – but, later in 2017 had a great hit with a film he co-wrote with his wife and starred in, The Big Sick.

Ice Cube has a confrontation with Charlie Day and challenes him to a fist fight after school. There are all kinds of tangles before the fight, Ice Cube losing his job after a violent outburst against one of the students and axing his desk. Charlie Day gets more enmity because he put him in to the principal – later having to get the assistance of the student, who runs all kinds of rackets and drug deals – he has to buy him all kinds of advanced IT as a bribe. He plans to plant drugs in bag and call the police – but it turns out to be alternative.

In the meantime, Charlie Day is concerned about his wife with various phone calls. Ultimately, with a lot of challenges, he decides to do the fight and stand up to Ice Cube although trying to get him his job back. The fight is a very raucous sequence, everybody watching – and, as with American comedies, there is a final reconciliation, the education committee found to be doing unethical things for cost cuts, and everybody has their job back. Presumably, in a year’s time, there will be a setting for something like a Fist Fight 2.

A KIND OF MURDER

US, 2016, 95 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Haley Bennett, Eddie Marsan, Vincent Kartheiser. Radek Lord.
Directed by Andy Goddard.

This thriller has a lot going for it including its being based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, The Blunderer. Patricia Highsmith has been popular with American filmmakers over the years, especially with Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train.

The setting is New York and Newark, New Jersey, 1960 – the film opening with the marquee of the cinema featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Butterfield 8.

There are two concomitant stories in the screenplay. The film opens with a book shop owner, Kimmel, played by English actor Eddie Marsan. He leaves the cinema, enabling him to have an alibi while he kills his wife outside a diner on a bus route. The relentless Detective, Vincent Kartheiser, interrogates him, pursues him.

The other story is that of Walter and Clara Stackhouse, Patrick Wilson and Jessica Biel. He is an architect who has built an affluent mansion. She is an estate agent, rich, temperamental, stylish in clothes, hair and make-up. However, there is tension between the two. At a party, she becomes jealous of her husband when he talks with a singer from Greenwich Village, Ellie (Haley Bennett).

Walter becomes interested in the Kimmel case, even visiting the shop and ordering a book by Frank Lloyd Wright. When his wife attempt suicide, also accusing him of an affair with Ellie, he says he will divorce her. She travels again to see her dying mother with Walter pursuing her but not finding her at the bus station. She is found dead in the river.

The detective pursues both Kimmel and Walter, seeing Walter’s murder as copycat of Kimmel.

While the two become intertwined, Kimmel takes a gun to pursue Walter and the detective but is shot.

A lot of commentators have been critical of the ending – and the ambiguity of whether all this is a realistic story or is, in fact, the product of Walter’s imagination and writing a short story.

Direction is by Andy Goddard who has made a lot of television in the UK and in the US, including Downton Abbey and Dr Who.

1. The title and expectations? The Patricia Highsmith novel? Original title, The Blunderer?

2. The New York settings? The city, the mansion outside the city? The bus routes north from New York? Shops in Newark? The musical score?

3. The colour photography, framing of scenes, close-ups and distance shots? The range of colours – and the touch of the lurid, of darkness?

4. 1960, the cinema with Butterfield 8? Costumes, decor, hairstyles? Cars? Affluent homes and interiors? Bookshops and their specialisations? Bus routes and diners? Police precincts and detectives?

5. The focus on Kimmel, going to the cinema, leaving, the opportunity for murdering his wife? The accusations? The newspaper articles? His work in the shop? Tony and his friendship, the diner, giving him an alibi? The detective and his persistent visits and accusations, punching Kimmel? His denials, living alone, his meals alone? Emerging motivations for killing his wife, her vulgarity? From Walter Stackhouse? The interrogation? The specialist book? The return visit with the detective, both denying knowing each other? His going to Stackhouse for blackmail? The docket with the address? The confrontation with the detective? The flashbacks to the murder? His gun, the shooting, his death?

6. Walter and Clara Stackhouse? Affluent, the mansion? Socialising and parties, the guests? Walter and his architecture? Clara and her real estate business? Walter and his short stories, publication? Clara not so interested? The tensions between them? Her mental state? Her agitation with Walter? Sexual needs? Her mother, illness, getting the bus to visit her? Preoccupied, not waiting to Walter?

7. The party, Ellie is a guest, talking with Walter? Later the visits, the liaison? Clara and her denunciations and taunts? Walter leaving, going to Ellie? Drinks with his friend and partner?

8. Walter, his scrapbook, interest in cuttings, in Kimmel’s case, the detective finding it, keeping it, showing it to Kimmel? The scenes with Walter at his typewriter, writing?

9. Clara, the attempted suicide, taking her to the hospital, the cover-up with influenza? The further phone call from her mother? Going to see her, Walter following in the car, not wanting her at the diner? Her body in the river? Recovered, the morgue, the identification?

10. The detective, pursuing Walter, Walter lying, gradually telling the truth about following the bus, the divorce, the meeting with Kimmel? The blackmail?

11. The detective, obsessive, relentless, the interrogations, the hostility towards Kimmel? Thinking that Walter did a copycat murder?

12. The end? Walter and his writing? Wishing his wife dead but not killing her? The whole story being real – or created in Walter’s imagination?

DARK INCLUSION/ DIAMANT NOIR

France/ Belgium, 2016, 115 minutes, Colour.
Niels Schneider, August Diehl, Hafed Benotman, Hans- Peter Cloos, Raphaele Godin, Raghunath Manet
Directed by Arthur Harari.


Dark Inclusion is an atmospheric psychological thriller. While there is some striking violence at the opening of the film, two brothers working on diamond cutting and one experiencing an injury which leads to his brother taking over, alienation from his father, a life in crime and a great desire for revenge.

The brother, Pier, is played effectively by Niels Schneider. He cases houses in order to commit robberies and is under the influence of Rachid, Hafed Benotman, who gives him rather cold advice, especially about revenge.

The situation arises when Pier’s father dies in poverty and he attends his funeral, encountering a cousin (August Diehl) who has great ambitions for increasing the business for himself and his father. Pier encounters his brother and there is a dispute about the development of the business and separating it from an Indian businessman.

Pier becomes involved in the demolition of the building and its renovation but also makes contact with a diamond dealer who has a huge plant for large diamonds and their cutting. This leads Pier to the possibilities for harming his family and their business.

1. The title? Emphasis on darkness? Emphasis on diamonds?

2. The settings, France and Belgium? Towns, the countryside? The city of Antwerp? Diamond merchants? The musical score?

3. The opening, the two brothers, working on the diamonds, the focus on the eye? Pier and his work, the accident, the injuries? His brother’s attitude?

4. Pier, away from his family, his brother with the inheritance, alienated from his father? His uncle and cousin? His injuries? His entry into houses, casing houses, participating in the robberies? Injury, escape? His being employed by Rachid? The meetings with Rachid, his advice?

5. The news of the death of his father, going to the house, his father poor and abandoned? The funeral, Jewish, his surprise at the Rabbi tearing his clothes?

6. The meeting with Gabi, cousins, discussions, the proposal? Gabi’s father? The gatherings, the meals and discussions?

7. Pier and Rachid, Pier wanting revenge? Rachid and his advice, cold and calculating?

8. Gabi, his enterprises, confident manner, his connection with the Indians, the interview with the Indian dealer? His wife, her studies, her boxing? Examining the documents? His plans?

9. Pier and his further infiltration, sabotage, violence?

10. Achievement, revenge? The film is a psychological thriller?

THE DISASTER ARTIST

US, 2017, 104 minutes, Colour.
Dave Franco, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Ari Graynor, Alison Brie, Jackie Weaver, Paul Scheer, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, June Diane Raphael, Megan Mullaly, Jason Mantzoukas.
Directed by James Franco.

They say seeing is believing. In the case of The Disaster Artist, seeing is actually disbelieving! Who would believe that this is a true story?

It is the story of actor, writer, director, Tommy Wiseau, a man who in fact had covered himself in mystery, claiming to be from New Orleans, to be only in his 20s, with a very strange accent, an amateur film-maker. (While the end of the film says that his origins are still unknown, one has only to Google him to find that he was actually born in Poland in 1955 – and has done a little more filmmaking than The Disaster Artist might suggest.) It should be said that Wiseau collaborated in the making of this film and has a guest appearance.

The first question to ask is whether the audience has actually seen his film, The Room. It has been in circulation for 13 years or more and has become quite a cult film, screening at midnight sessions, eliciting audience response, vocal response, as it unfolds on the screen. After the success of this film and its nominations and awards, The Room might make a whole lot more money at the cult box office!

James Franco is a prolific, more than prolific, writer, actor and director, several projects every year for the last years. This time he acts and directs, immersing himself in the bizarre appearance, gaunt and sallow face, long black hair, that odd accent, of Tommy Wiseau. He casts his younger brother, Dave, as Greg Sestero, the star of the film, caught up in an odd friendship with Wiseau, some mutual dependency, later author of a book about his experience in making The Room.

Dave Franco, in all his films, has an immediate smiling face and so is well cast as the rather naive, exuberantly enthusiastic, ultimately partly disillusioned Sestero. Greg and Tommy are both in acting school and Tommy takes a shine to Greg, especially in a football scene where Tommy is hopeless at kicking and passing the ball. However, off they go to Hollywood to fulfil ambitions. Not easy until Tommy gets the bright idea that he should make his own film.

Most of the film is about the making of the film, scheduled for 40 days but going well beyond 50. Tommy hasn’t much of a clue about equipment but buys some, not too much of a grasp of what the technical crew actually does and employs a range of actors, generally on some kind of whim or intuition. He writes his screenplay of The Room and off they go. The making of the film is very funny for the audience but, generally, we are laughing at Tommy, something which happens at the premiere of the finished film.

There is a very interesting supporting cast led by Seth Rogen as the film editor who has to take over some of the role of director, especially when Tommy acts (67 takes in his first sequence where he continues to forget the lines), Zac Efron and Josh Hutcherson as his friends, Ari Graynor as Lisa, the girlfriend, and, an interesting choice, Jacki Weaver as the mother.

James Franco does a very good job communicating the eccentricities, the moods, the self-centredness, the vindictiveness (even against Greg moving out of the apartment with his girlfriend), and the unflappable self-confidence in thinking that he is making the greatest film on earth.

The premiere sequence is a highlight but audiences will very much enjoy the device of having sequences with the actors in this film in split screen along with the original sequences. In these, Wiseau has to be seen to be believed/disbelieved, a far worse a performer than Franco trying to mimic his badness.

Quite a different film about film-making – but, Tommy Wiseau, who does appear in this film, is still around and involved in film-making.

1. An interesting film? Enjoyable? Based on a true story and characters?

2. Audience knowledge of Tommy Wiseau, of The Room? The reception of the film, the ridicule, it is having cult status? Making its money despite its reputation?

3. James Franco as director and actor? His career, prolific, performance skills, impersonating Tommy Wiseau? And the audience having the opportunity to compare the two in the parallel sequences?

4. The strong cast, Dave Franco as Greg Sestero, his experience, the aftermath, writing the book?

5. Tommy Wiseau, his appearance The other actors, the guest roles, cameos?

6. The introduction to the film, the range of Hollywood guests, Kevin Smith, Adam Scott and the variety of guests tantalising the audience to watch?

7. Tommy Wiseau, his actual appearance in the film? The effect of the parallel sequences at the end? The post-credits conversation?

8. Acting school, Waiting for Godot, the teacher, Greg’s poor performance? Talking with Tommy, at the diner, Tommy giving Greg the opportunity to act, the text, getting louder, standing up, the diner’s response? In the park, the football, Tommy and his lack of coordination in kicking and passing?

9. James Franco as Tommy Wiseau, the comparisons with the actual man? His age, background, accent, questioning about origins, the puzzle about his money and income? His ambitions, his eccentricities, his mental condition?

10. Tommy and Greg going to LA, the drive, glimpsing Los Angeles, their hopes, the apartment? The difficulties in getting jobs? Tommy and his decision to write a screenplay, Greg reading it, affirming it?

11. Tommy and his ignorance about filmmaking, the cameras and equipment, going to the shop, getting the information? The shopkeepers and their financial support? Assembling the group? Sandy as the editor and his experience? The range of the cast, the interviews, the whims? The technical staff, design, wardrobe, Tommy’s interactions with them throughout the film? Hiring and firing?

12. The schedule for 40 days, the 40 days and plus? His being prepared, not prepared? His manner as a director? The discussions about Hitchcock, The Bird, Hitchcock being hard on his actors, Tommy imitating him?

13. His own acting, poor performance, nerves, the 67 takes, losing his lines? The sequence, the nudity, the close-up of his bottom? The ham performance? The reaction of the cast watching? Greg trying to help?

14. Greg, his acting, an opportunity? Supporting Tommy? The meeting with Amber, the relationship? His acting performances, growing the beard, getting experience? The meeting with Bryan Cranston, Malcolm in the Middle? The invitation to do a role? Tommy forbidding it, his jealousy, the effect, the aftermath?

15. The range of the cast, Lisa and her reaction to Tommy? The sex sequence? Jacki Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson? Their scenes? Playing together? The scene with them on the roof, tuxedos, the ball and the character falling? Their presence at the premiere and their reactions?

16. Sandy as director, his growing exasperation, the 67 takes, Tommy and his whims? The issue of the heat, Tommy not providing any water, wanting his cast to buy water? No air-conditioning, saving money for the budget?

17. The prolonged schedule, eventually finishing? Greg and his break with Tommy? Tommy coming back with the football?

18. The invitation to the premiere, Greg deciding not to go, Tommy pleading with him, the limousine, Tommy making the guests wait?

19. The theatre, the crowd, the cast all present, anticipation? Tommy and his nerves? Greg being reassuring? The screening, the audience puzzled, the tutors, the giggles, then the full laughter? Tommy, Greg persuading him to return? The applause? Tommy’s reaction?

20. The reputation of the film? And the effect of seeing the actual sequences paralleling those of the performance in this film? An enticement for people to want to see The Room?

21. The post-credits sequence, in the conversation, Tommy Wiseau and James Franco?

THE MEMORY-KEEPER'S DAUGHTER

US, 2008, 93 minutes, Colour.
Emily Watson, Dermot Mulroney, Hugh Thompson, Krystal Hope Nausbaum, Rob Stewart, Gretchen Moll, Jamie Spilchuk.
Directed by Mick Jackson.

This film raises many emotional issues, but also a number of moral issues.

The core of the film is the birth of twins. Dermot Mulrooney portrays the father, also a doctor who discovers that the second twin he is delivering, has Down Syndrome, keeps information from his wife, and trusting the baby to the assisting nurse, Emily Watson, to take the child to an institution. In fact, the nurse keeps the child, brings it up with the help of a friendly truck driver, Hugh Thompson.

Eventually, the mother, Gretchen Moll, wants to find out the truth and goes in search of the child.

All kinds of family issues, the deception of the husband, the anguish of the mother, the healthy twin, the Down syndrome twin, the role of the nurse.

The film was directed by veteran English director, Mick Jackson, A Very British Coup, moving to Hollywood and having great success with The Bodyguard. He directed many episodes for television and the films, Temple Grandin and the film about Holocaust-denier, David Irving, Denial.

1. The title, the focus?

2. A humane story, joined sadness, made for television?

3. The period, the recreation, costumes and decor, the musical score?

4. The American litigations, Kentucky, the town, homes, Hospital? The two homes? The doctor and his life? The nurse and her life?

5. The situation, the pregnancy, the doctor and his concern, the nurse, the time of labour? The family fears? The twins? Paul and Phoebe? The decision to say that Phoebe was stillborn?

6. Carolyn, in herself, her involvement with Al, assisting in the labour, admiration for the doctor, taking the baby, feeding it, her decision to keep it, the years of rearing, her life and happiness?

7. The doctor, home, the 10 tense relationship with his wife, her character? Not knowing the truth? Paul, growing up? Changes, the details?

8. Phoebe, her disabilities, yet are overcoming them? With Carolyn’s help? Paul and his problems? The comparisons with the two growing up?

9. David, his character, his life? Nora, tensions? Finding of the truth?

10. The drama of the intersection of the lives, the effect?

11. Serious choices, consequences?

THE SEA OF SEIRO/ THE CLOCKWORK CURRENT: DETECTIVE MATARAI’S CASEBOOK/SEIRO NO UMI

Japan, 2016, 124 minutes, Colour.
Hiroshi Timaki.
Directed by Seiji izumi.

While this is a contemporary detective story, the screenplay takes the audience back into a Japanese past, mysterious, pirates, the sea…

Dead bodies are found floating in the sea, the current changing every six hours, difficulties in recovery of the bodies as well as a detective, a Japanese contemporary Sherlock Holmes, working on the case, interviewing the locals, their stories unfolding, as well as the introduction of a professor analysing the way the human brain works and some historians illuminating the past.

This means that the film is intriguing on many counts.

1. An interesting detective story? Contemporary? The Japanese variation on Sherlock Holmes?

2. The mysteries, the variety of strands, clues, all coming together? With the help of the detective, his investigation and detection?

3. The device of dates and times, moving backwards and forwards?

4. The tone for the, the opening, the police searching, the adults in the water, ice and lips sewn, the dead baby? The mystery of the bodies landing on the island, six, the detective investigating the tides?

5. The drug woman? The involvement of foreigners, removing the bodies? The company, the pitch for the new aquarium, the finding of the monster? The professor and the historical investigation, the past, ironclad boats, pirates, shoguns? Everything coming together at the end?

6. The professor, his lecture, explanations of the brain, the nature of genius and insights? His reputation, the novels? His personality, po-faced, smiling slightly? No real vibrant personality, the lack of personal relationships?

7. The professor, discussions about the brain, the senses, his interrogations, deductions and connections, forthright declarations? Footwork, interrogations, waiting?

8. The journalist, her enthusiasm, wanting to assist, to get a good story for a novel and article, the sensational headline cases, his rejecting them? Her plan, exuberance? The professor and his attitude towards her, letting her tag along, the theories, participation? Being a Dr Watson equivalent?

9. The police, the inspector, his being agreeable, participating in the investigations, interrogations? The younger police, against the professor, I am willing morning of the to give information, the limits?

10. The babysitter, her story, the story of the drugs, her being stabbed, getting a boyfriend, his helping with the parcel? The accident? Her ringing the parents and the information about the abduction? Truth, the flickering light, taking the baby, the smaller strap, the baby falling and dying, the parcel containing the baby? In hospital, the interrogations?

11. The parents, found tortured, the dead baby? Their being interrogated? The sitter and the information about the kidnapping, the conditions? The information about the past, Ibi and the clash with the son of the PR man who killed himself? Motivation for revenge?

12. The head of the company, going to the US, drugs, setting up the company, foreign workers, the tests and the drug deaths, in the water? His being in the car, the accident on the road, the opportunity for vengeance taking it?

13. The historians, the discussions, the information about the past, the years of the shoguns, the 19th century, the ships, ironclad, the pirates, the iron above the water, vulnerable below? The sinking, the submarines? The family, hard times? The babysitter’s boyfriend and his friendship with the head of the company in the past? Being given a job, the factory taken over, his being used?

14. The effects of the history, coming together, the submarines? The solution of the mystery?

PAST LIFE

Israel, 2017, 109 minutes, Colour.
Nelly Tagar, Joy Rieger, Doron Tavory, Evgenia Dodina, Tom Avni, Raphael Stachowiak.
Directed by Avi Nesher.

Past Life is a very involving drama. It is set in Germany as well as in Israel.

A striking dilemma is raised at the beginning of the film, a concert hall in Berlin, a woman accusing the father of the young singer of collaborating with the Nazis, the effect on her, her return to Israel, challenging her family.

The film is set in 1977 with flashbacks to the war period and the sheltering of Jews during the war, especially in Poland and in Germany.

The film is also musical, with quite a range of music throughout the film, choral as well as performed.

The audience is tantalised by the premise of the film, the possible exposure of the father, the role of the mother, the effect on the two daughters, secrets and lies.

However, the solution is more complicated than might have been anticipated and throws a different light on the behaviour of many people during the war, but also shows the empathy for people who sheltered Jewish refugees.

1. An Israeli story? Poland? Germany? A perspective from 2016, back to 1977, back to the 1940s?

2. The title, Baruch and his past, behaviour? Considering it Hell and suffering? Issues of truth, secrets?

3. The settings of 1977, the look, styles, movie references?

4. The range of music, original music, use of the classics, Gilbert and Sullivan, chorale work, orchestra?

5. Berlin and its concert hall? Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, homes, magazine office, the doctor’s office, hospital? The music academy? Poland, Warsaw and clubs, concerts, Katowice and the archives, the visit to Warsaw archives? Berlin and the final concert?

6. The concert, the Zielinskis present, Thomas’s musical talent and reputation? Choir, Sephi singing the song, the reaction of Thomas’s mother, cocktail party, the girls and the flirting, the severity of Thomas’s mother, her outburst? Thomas, taking his mother away, the reaction of the Conductor? The later sending of the postcard apology? His visit to Jerusalem and the reasons?

7. The atmosphere in Jerusalem, the doctor and his surgery, the Arab woman and pregnant, using the pill on religious grounds? Do not ability her? His work as a gynaecologist? At home, his severity, the meal, the conversation, Nana and Baruch, supporting land for the Arabs, calling on the Jewish experience of the Holocaust? The television, Sadat in Egypt, suspicions? Baruch and his stances? Nana and Yirmi, Sephi, the mother, tensions? A wealthy family, servants, working on the Sabbath, the challenge of exploitation?

8. The characters, strict father, the flashbacks to his harshness with Nana? Audience suspicions of him? Thomas’s mother calling out that he was a murderer? The character of the mother, standing by, concerned about exposure, society and wealth?

9. Sephi, young, talented in music, at the Academy, singing, composing? With her parents? The encounter in Berlin, disbelieving? Talking with Nana? With Yirmi? Nana and her wanting investigations, Sephi’s reluctance?

10. Nana, age, peeing on her sister when young, rebellious, stand on the Arabs, the discussion about pornography, the magazine and liberation, the photo shoot, staff, the secretary and her role?

11. The investigation, the women going to see the dance instructor, the past, information, the suspicions, the visit to the associate of their father, the story of the baby and its death? His anger? Sephi, getting out of the car and walking?

12. And his wife, the years, the challenge? His never having spoken about the past to his daughters? The diary, his history, checking it in the end of the war,? His writing it again and reading it to his daughters, the spacing at the chapters, the flashbacks to the cellar room? His first marriage,, wife and child killed during the war? His friend, his son? The Zielinskis allowing them to hide in the cellar, their two daughters? The Germans coming, the baby crying, the agreement the baby should be kept quiet, smothered to death? The Russian occupation? Zielinski giving Baruch his name and his brother’s papers? Going to the hospital, Yuliya following, her sister present, living as husband and wife, the pregnancy, the issue of abortion? The news of the state of Israel? Meeting his new wife, love? Yuliya’s death, her sister’s resentment and anger for the decades?

13. Thomas going to Jerusalem, the masterclasses, with the conductor? Sephi, the talk, the explanations of the past, his encouragement of the compositions? The rehearsals, his organising the Visa to go to Warsaw concert?

14. Warsaw, the conditions, the hotel, slow service with the telegrams, the underground bar, the music, drinking and dancing? Sephi’s concern about Nana? Her illness? The saying the diary was in Katowice, Thomas and Sephi going, the search, no record of the diary? The phone call, the father saying his name was Zielinski, the search in the Jewish archives, anxiety, deadlines for the concert, finding the document, the phone call, encouraging Nana to get healthy again?

15. Nana, attitudes, her pain, the tense relationship with her husband, and her father,, the publishing, accusing him of flirting with Sephi? Going to the doctor, the diagnosis, drinking, the tumour? Her husband going to the hospital? The treatment, Sephi present? The desperation of the reasons? The phone calls?

16. Thomas, character, music, not knowing his father, his mother, the outburst had the concert, attracted to Sephi, his story, helping her?

17. The return home? The correspondence, Sephi composing, using her father’s text? Sending it to Thomas, his submitting it to the Berlin competition, the conductor and his anger, Sephi no longer accepted at the Academy?

18. The story of Baruch and Yuliya, Thomas talking about the death, the visits to the cemetery?

19. The irony that the deep secret was not the death of the smothered child but of the death of Yuliya?

20. Baruch and willing to go to Berlin, his relenting and going with his wife?

21. The invitation to Berlin and the concert of Sephi’s composition, Thomas trying to persuade his mother to go to the concert, to see the family? The sisters arriving at the door, the refusal to stay with them? In the park, the encounter with Baruch and his wife? Thomas and his appeal to his mother as Catholic to think of the Gospels and forgiveness?

22. The concert, the success, the mother with photo album, turning on the television, weeping, possibilities for forgiveness and reconciliation?

SYDNEY WHITE

US, 2007, 108 minutes, Colour.
Amanda Bynes, Sarah Paxton, Matt Long, Jack Carpenter, Jeremy Howard.
Directed by Joe Nussbaum.

Modern variation on the fairytale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!

The Snow White involved is Sydney White (say it quickly and it is a bit like Snow White). She is played by Amanda Bynes who had some popular roles in the first years of the 21st-century but then had personal problems and lost the momentum of her career.

She has quite a bright personality. She goes to college, going to the college that her mother belonged but finds that she is not accepted. Off she goes and finds seven outcasts, all rather odd or nerdish in their way, and finds acceptance from them. This then is a base from which she goes to challenge everyone at the college, fellow students as well the authorities. She has all kinds of plans, campaigns, standing for election.

Once again, a young central character has to stand out against a lot of mean girls.

Director Joe Nussbaum made this film, Sleepover and Prom but did most of his work in television.

1. College comedy, overtones of Mean Girls? And the parallel with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?

2. Colleges, campus, fraternities and sororities, the Vortex? Home, garages? The Middle America feel? The musical score?

3. The focus on Sydney, her narrative, her dead mother, wanting to follow in her footsteps at college, her work with her father, brought up by the workers, the technical skills? Going to college? Her father’s farewell, his trust in her?

4. Sydney, wanting to join the sorority? Meeting Dinky and their sharing the room? Sydney and her lack of clothes? The encounter with Tyler, friendly? Rachel seeing it, the beginnings of resentment? The Pledges, the meeting, Rachel’s speech, the other members, everybody glamorous and blonde except Sydney and the girl with the weight? The excitement of her becoming part of the sorority?

5. The pledges, the tests, everybody sleeping on the floor, having to get a date in 15 minutes, Sydney and her encounter with Lenny, his being agreeable, having to get rid of him, his being in the toilet and hit? The various other tests and hazing?

6. The preparation for the ceremony, Rachel giving Sydney the black dress, everybody given their brooch, nothing for Sydney, her being rejected, Sydney tearing off the black dress and leaving?

7. Her friendship with Lenny, the explanation of the Vortex? Meeting the seven – with all the idiosyncrasies, limitations, awkwardnesses, the parallel with the Seven Dwarfs (and so many eligible for Dopey)? Her going to the Vortex, encounter with Lenny, their taking her in?

8. Rachel, her plan for the Vortex, the money, collaboration with Tyler? Her fickleness with Tyler, on and off? The other girls fawning on Rachel? Her continually being president, her campaigns, looking at the computer for her popularity? Sydney on the list – and Rachel being vengeful? Especially when Tyler went out with Sydney, the date?

9. The character of the dorks, their eccentricities, shyness and awkwardness, the African sleeping all the time, the genius with his experiments and statistics? The man with the Punisher blog?

10. Sydney and the decision to stand for election, Terry being nominated for president, their all agreeing, the details of the campaign, tents, dancing, Sydney campaigning with the Jewish group, the LBGTI group, the military…?

11. Going out with Tyler, the feeding of the elderly people, his continuing to do it, Rachel compromising Sydney, involving Tyler in the blame? The discovery that Terry had been studying for years?

12. The classes, politics, everybody present, Sydney and her sensible answers, the lecturer and his support, working at the home for the elderly?

13. Rachel and her hacking into Sydney’s computer? Her working all night – and the parallel with the poisoned apple/Apple? Sydney sleeping, Tyler coming to wake her up with a kiss?

14. The debate, Sydney arriving, Rachel wanting not to break any twigs, Sydney and her explaining she was a dork, the seven standing up as dorks, the members of the other groups, the girls from Rachel’s group, Dinky in love with a dork? Lenny?

15. All the groups arriving, the bands, the dancing…? Sydney as president? And the girls combining and ousting Rachel and her scream?

16. And happy ever after?

SWEET VIRGINIA

US/ Canada, 2017, 93 minutes, Colour.
Jon Bernthal, Christopher Abbott, Imogen Poots, Rosemarie De Witt, Odessa Young.
Directed by James M. Dagg.

Sweet is not exactly the word that comes to mind throughout this film. The title, in fact, refers to a motel in a remote Alaskan town (although the film takes full advantage of beautiful mountain scenery, photographed in the town of Hope, Canada). And, as regards Virginia, the central character plays an old rodeo rider, now injured and retired to Alaska, who had some success, as we see in flashbacks, in Roanoke, Virginia.

This is a film about moral decline in a small American town. It is something in the vein of the popular film noir of the 1940s, much of the action taking place in dark surroundings.

The film opens quite strikingly with a man arriving at a diner to join his two friends and a card game. Normal enough, phone calls to wives, everything quiet. A stranger then arrives, even though the diner is closed, and demands a meal. He identifies the manager of the diner. He does go out, but returns with deadly results.

As the film proceeds, we see his connection to quite a number of other people in the town. There are secrets and lies, there are fidelities and infidelities, there is ordinariness, there is malice, there is love and there is hate.

The rodeo rider, Sam, played by Jon Bernthal, now manages a motel where the stranger is staying and begins a friendship with him. This is in contrast with another resident of the motel subject of complaint about noise who is a violent man and bashes Sam.

It emerges that the stranger, Elwood (Christopher Abbott in a truly sinister role, psychopathic, heartless, yet sentimental in phoning his mother) is a hitman employed for the initial violence in the film. We are also introduced to two of the wives of the men dead in the diner, Imogen Poots as a young woman in an unhappy marriage, Rosemarie de Witt also in an unhappy but longer marriage, in a relationship with Sam.

It will emerge that Sam is to be the hero of the film even though he limps with his bad leg, is getting older, loses out in fights. But, he is sincere in his relationship with the widow, which comes to a head when masked robbers invade her home.

There are sympathetic characters at the motel, the older manager and a young woman for whom Sam is the father-figure, (Australian Odessa Young).

While some audiences may find the film more than a touch dour and prefer not to enter into this kind of moral decline, those who want an interesting drama with well-delineated characters, will find it interesting and different in its way.

1. The title? The irony of ‘sweet’? Memories of sweetness in the rodea in the past?

2. The location, the town in Alaska, the Canadian Rockies photography? The mountains, the water, the train tracks? The streets, the diner, motels, homes? The musical score?

3. 21st-century film noir? The opening, night, driving, the diner, the playing cards? The three men, the phone calls, wives? The stranger, the diner shut, Mitchell and the confrontation, the stranger leaving, the return, the shooting?

4. Sam, his dreams, the rodeo, his style, the fall, injury, the lame leg? The photo, the poster from Roanoke, Virginia? The recurring dream? From Virginia to Alaska?

5. Sam and his life, the motel, Rose and her work, his relationship with Maggie, talking with her, taking her to the sports fixture, the father figure? The noisy client, complaining, bashing Sam? The meeting with Elwood, his staying at the motel, Sam going to the diner with him, the conversation? His relationship with Bernie, the visits, the effect? Her longing for the relationship, his reaction, his departure from the house, the phone call, her injury, his comforting her? The confrontation with Elwood, the shooting of the man, seeing blood on his shirt, the gun? The end with Bernie?

6. Elwood, enigmatic, the hitman? The callousness of his killing? Meeting Lila on the bridge, her employing him, the money difficulties, his threats? The encounter with Sam, the pie, talking about his mother? His sentimental phone call to her? The continued threats to Lila? The news about Bernie’s safe, the young man with him, the masks, intruding in the house, the deaths? Leaving, blood on his shirt, Sam and the confrontation, the rifle, his death?

7. Lila, her life, the plot, antagonism towards her husband, his fears? Meeting Elwood on the bridge? Avoiding him, finding him at the diner? Arrest, going to prison? The friendship with Bernie, the drinks, watching videos together?

8. Bernie, marriage, failed, the death of her husband, her affair with Sam, the intruder in the house, the attack, the death of the intruder, hospital? The end with Sam?

9. Maggie, young, at the motel, school, devotion to Sam, father figure?

10. The picture of evil, a town in decline – and the possibility of healing?

DANCE OF REALITY/ LA DANZA DE LA REALIDAD

France/ Chile, 2013, 133 minutes, Colour.

Brontis Jodorwosky, Pamela Flores, Jeremias Herskovits Aleandro Jodorowsky, Bastian Bodenhofer, Andres Cox, Adan Jodorowsky, Axel Jodorowsky.
Directed by Aleandro Jodorowsky.


Dance of Reality was a surprising return to films by Chilean Director Aleandro Jodorowsky who made such an impact in the 1970s with his surrealistic film, El Topo, 1970. He continued his realistic/surrealistic films, full of fantasy, imagination and symbols, echoes of the psychedelic age in which they were made. Later films included Holy Mountain, 1973, and Santa Sangre, 1980. With a gap of twenty four years, he attempted to make a film version of Frank Herbert’s Dune. A very interesting documentary, Jodorowsky’s Dune, 2013, fills in something of the background of his career as well as a portrait of the director.

This film is the first part of his imaginative autobiography on film. It was followed three years later by a look at the second part of his life, Endless Poetry.

The director himself appears in this film even though it is his autobiography. As a young boy, aged eight, he is portrayed by Jeremias Herskovits. But, at various times, the older director, as himself, appears along with the boy, a kind of mentor.

Jodorwosky’s father migrated from Ukraine, a staunch Communist, admirer of Stalin. He is played by the director’s son, Brontis. With his wife, who looks like an opera singer and whose dialogue is all sung, they settled in Chile in Tocopilla. The father is involved as a merchant in the town but is very strict on his son, considering him effeminate, wanting him to toughen up, inflicting pain on him, including a visit to the dentist without anaesthetic, the boy coming through it all and his father ultimately admiring him.

There are various symbolic sequences with the boy, bullying, anti-Semitic prejudice against him, his encounter with various, one might say, grotesques – in the Federico Fellini vein and this film could be compared with Fellini’s Amacord.

The second part of the film focuses on the father himself, the political situation in Chile in the mid 1930s, and attempted assassination of the president and the father’s involvement but, in fact, thwarting the attempt and his finding himself with a job on the President’s farm, looking after his favourite horse, Bucephalus – which he poisons.

The father has a breakdown, loses his memory, but his wife and son continue to believe he is alive and send a stone on the balloon which lands on his hut and wakes him and restores his memory. He returns, but not without an encounter with aggressive Nazis.

The latter part of the action is not based on fact but on the director’s imagination.

Essential viewing, of course, for those interested in Jodorowsky’s career.

1. The impact of the film, visually, thematically, the biography of the director?

2. Jodorowsky and his career? The autobiography, his childhood focus?

3. The title?

4. Jodorowsky and his films, the range of images, realism and surrealism, the importance of images and fantasy? Cumulative effect?

5. The director’s biography, his father born in the Ukraine, the Jewish background, Communist background, the picture of Stalin? His mother and father migrating to Chile? His being born in Chile? Born in the year of the Wall Street crash? The experience of the Depression? His father, the shop, social activities? His mother, strong woman, buxom – and all her dialogue in singing?

6. The boy at eight years old, the 1930s? Chile, the President, the background of fascism in the 1930s, Franco in Spain? Oppression, citizens revolting? The groups, the demonstrations? The role of the police and military?

7. The father and his attitude towards his son? The father in himself, his life, relationship with his wife, treatment of his wife, customers, the store, fellow workers? Thinking his son was too soft, removing his hair? Toughening him up? The infliction of pain, willpower, the son and his stoic response? Hitting him? The visit to the dentist and no anaesthetic? His father admiring him? The other boys and the bullies? His mother and her maternal approach, the singing, her care?

8. Issues of God and his father asking his son whether he believed in God? His explanations of God? The father and pride in his son? The fire brigade? The boy becoming the mascot? The fires, the danger, imagining himself in the casket, his collapse? Burning his clothes? A reason for his father wanting him to be tough?

9. The boy, the other children, defying them, brave? Anti-Semitic? stances? Ridiculing the boy’s nose? The encounter with the dwarfs? With the mine amputees? With the Theosophist, strange presence, meditation? The drunk and his attitude towards the throwing of stones into the water?

10. The director appearing on screen, with his younger self, his own son portraying his father? The tableaux with the boy? Care? The importance of his memories on film?

11. Father, the infected people, with the water, infected, returning to the town, people’s reaction, his wife? The cure?

12. Second part of the film focusing on the father? His status as a Communist? Reputation in the town? With the other radicals and their influence?

13. The decision to assassinate the President? The political situation in Chile? Going to the town, the comedy of the dog ‘best in show’? The attempt on the president’s life, the father and the issue of the gun, interpreted as rescuing the President?

14. The offer of the job, going to the farm, the man with the horses, retiring, the father getting the job? Bucephalus the favourite of the president? The father poisoning him? The
president and the death of his horse?

15. The father, the injuries, his hand? Loss of memory? Coming out of the coma?

16. The mother and son, their fears, the mother knowing her husband was alive? The boy and the dark? The balloon, the stone, into the air, its a landing, waking the father? His memory? His arms and the colours of the flag? His return?

17. The encounter with the Nazis, the confrontation, the torture, the defiance? His leaving?

18. The end of phase one of Jodorowsky’s autobiography? The next film: Endless Poetry?