DANCER

UK, 2016, 85 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Steven Cantor.

The title reveals all – except for the name of the dancer who is the subject of the film, Ukrainian-born Sergei Polunin.

This is a film which will definitely appeal to audiences who delight in dance and in ballet. In fact, it will be of quite some interest to audiences who are not so interested in ballet or do not know much about its style or its history. The film does not depend on strong audience knowledge of the subject.

The film opens with a close-up of the dancer himself, waiting to go on stage, reflecting on his life, revealing himself something of a larrikin, myriad tattoos, taking pep-up drugs, which may make audiences wonder about him.

The film is interesting as a biography, going back to a poor town in southern Ukraine in 1989, on the verge of the collapse of the Soviet Empire. The young Sir Gay is seen going to school, skilled in gymnastics, open to the possibility of studying ballet which he embraces. He speaks with admiration of the teacher who influenced him and she is seen later in the film. Sergei is very much influenced by his mother and her desire for him to study ballet. Fortunately for posterity, she had a video camera and she was to film many of his classes, many of his dances, showing his agility, ability and skill at an early age. His mother makes a remark that when he was born and the nurse moved his limbs, there was great mobility and stretch in his legs.

The boy was supported by his two grandmothers, who are also seen in conversation, with his father going to work in Portugal for financial support and his mother taking the boy to Kiev and his auditioning for the ballet school there, which he entered and again excelled.

The plan was for him to go with his mother to England and audition for the Royal Ballet school in London. It is a new world for them and they have to wait some weeks before the acceptance letter arrives. Given the financial circumstances, his mother returns home creating a distance between mother and son, news of the divorce between his parents which affect him greatly, on which he ruminates for years.

There are interviews with some of his close friends and fellow-students at the school, commenting on his initial impact, the recognition of his skills, the progress over the years until, finally, he is accepted as a principal dancer in the Royal Ballet before the age of 20. Reviews were most favourable.

In many ways we do not really learn all that much about Sergei Polunin as a person, more about his relationship with his family, the testimony of his friends, but no indication of any relationships. We see him in the snow, stripping to roll in the snow. We hear about his breaking loose as a teenager, drinking, an introduction to drugs and a looser way of living. Tattoos which had to be covered for performance, especially as seen in his dancing Spartacus in Siberia – with the physical toll for him.

While he was successful at the Royal Ballet, with a touch of kicking over the traces, he decides to walk out, giving the media a lot to write about and considering him the bad boy of ballet. His next step was to go to Moscow, almost beginning again, enjoying the dancing and rehearsals, and finding a patron and mentor in an entrepreneur. And, yet, this was not enough for a young man moving towards his mid 20s.

Going to America and relaxing there, he decided to make a video of a dance, partly choreographed by his close friend, and photographed and directed by Dave Chappelle, Hozier’s Take Me to the Church. When released on YouTube?, the dance went viral to Sergei’s surprise. However, it meant that he did not give up dancing but has continued, giving concert performances – and the film ends with his mother and father and his grandmothers coming to a performance for the first time to see him, something he had forbidden in the past.

To that extent, while the film is very interesting about childhood, adolescence and early adulthood of the talented dancer, it is only an interim story.

HOLE IN THE WALL

US, 1929, 73 minutes, Black and white.
Claudette Colbert, Edward G. Robinson, David Newell, Nellie Savage, Donald Meek.
Directed by Robert Florey.

Hole in the Wall is a little-known film of 1929, an early sound film, small budget and still experimenting with visual style as well as sound engineering.

The main reason for seeing the film is that it stars Claudette Colbert with Edward G. Robinson in an early role, foreshadowing his other gangster roles.

The film is based on a play and, for an early talkie, is very talkative. It is highly contrived and not a film to keep audience attention.

The film is set in Chicago, focusing on a gang who get information for robberies under the cover of the work of a medium. Soon after the opening of the film, there is a sudden train crash, with some activity between the broken carriages, and the medium is killed.

The leader of the gang is The Fox, played by Robinson in his afterwards familiar style. Amongst the gang members is Donald Meek, who was to play a lot of very meek roles in the films of the 1930s and 40s, so is it a bit of a stretch to see him as a member of a gang and exercising some standover tactics, even though his character is called Goofy. The whole show is a sham, with one of the gang putting on a turban and an accent to invite customers in.

Things change when a young woman, Jean, Claudette Colbert, comes for a job interview and is hired to be the mysterious medium, her face veiled, her arms on the chair which vibrates with Morse code operated in another room by Robinson.

She has a back story, accused by a haughty woman of stealing while the woman concealed the money. Jean has served a prison sentence, is bent on revenge, intends to steal the grandchild of the woman and look after her but train her as a thief.

There is also a journalist who knew her and is on the lookout for her even though the criminals have put her name on the body of the dead medium.

Jean responds to motherhood after the child is abducted and is tempted to give up her vengeance quest. Eventually the woman turns up, as does the journalist, the power is turned off and The Fox is unable to communicate with Jean – which leads to exposure of the scheme, the anger of the older woman, the rescue of the child, and a possible happy ending.

The film was directed by Frenchman Robert Florey who came to the US, small budget films in the 1930s, bigger-budget with God is My Co- Pilot and The Beast with Five Fingers in the 1940s and then a substantial career in television.

UP THE RIVER

US, 1930, 92 minutes, Black and white.
Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer.
Directed by John Ford.

Up the River is of historical interest, one of the earliest of John Ford’s films, a prison film, a comedy.

The film was also a curiosity item, especially for its pairing of Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart, their only film together, the two, much the same age, at the beginning of their film careers.

Spencer Tracy plays Saint Louis, an inveterate criminal, an inveterate escapee, full of self-confidence and bravado, escaping first, living the high life, finding himself back in jail. His companion in escaping and life in jail is Donnemara Dan, played by Warren Hymer, abandoned by Saint Louis at the first attempt, Dan finding God with the Salvation Army and being taunted as he preaches in the street by Saint Louis.

Then they are back in jail. In the jail, with important duties amongst the prisoners is Steve, an almost unrecognisable Humphrey Bogart, rather good looking back in the day and not as rugged as he was soon to become. He is the junior lead, the rather ingenuous young man who finds himself in jail after killing someone in a fight. In the women’s prison, adjacent to the men’s, is a young woman, Judy, Claire Luce, who is attracted to Steve and vice versa.

When Steve is released and returns home to his mother and family, they thinking that he has been away in China, another prisoner arrives, acting the part of the toff and businessman, but threatening to expose Steve. Meanwhile he ingratiate himself in the town and has a money-raising scheme.

Meanwhile, back in prison, everything is as normal, but there is a preparation for a big concert – and the film shows quite a number of the acts, singers, a chorus… But Saint Louis plans to escape with Dan in order to go to the town, help Steve, confront the blackmailer, help Steve and his relationship with Judy – all of which is done!

Humphrey Bogart never worked with John Ford after this but 28 years later Spencer Tracy appeared in the political drama directed by Ford, The Last Hurrah.

THE POINTING FINGER

UK, 1933, 68 minutes, Black-and-white.
John Stuart, Viola Keats, Leslie Perrins, Michael Hogan, A.Bromley Davenport, Henrietta Watson, D. J. Williams.
Directed by George Pearson.

This is a small budget British supporting feature of the early 1930s. It blends quite a number of plotlines, opening with an abbey occupied by a wealthy family since the time of the Reformation and the takeover of the abbeys, a curse about the end of the lineage, a sinister rival who wants the title and ownership of the house. There is also an excursion to South Africa and some very colonial presentations of the African natives. There is also a scheme by the rival and some henchmen to kill the heir in Africa. But, when the heir returns, he seems to be a different person, suffering from memory loss, tested out by one of the plotters who are surprised to find him back in England.

There is the usual presentation of the British upper class, discussions about inheritance, discussions about marriage, cousins, uncles and aunts, and the death of the owner of the house.

The ending is a kind of Deus ex machina approach when the real heir suddenly returns to England, unwell with severe malaria and loss of memory. The rival then resorts to going into a secret passage, donning the robes of a monk, bringing to life a sinister portrait of the monk with the pointing finger to terrify the sick heir.

What the film introduces is another son, unknown to the father, his wife in South Africa having left him and not informing him – which means that the he is the real heir, despite his wishes to return to Africa, and the younger man succumbs in death.

Very creaky.

KILLER JOE

US, 2011, 104 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Mc Conaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Hayden Church, Gina Gershon.
Directed by William Friedkin.

Killer Joe is a grim film, adapted from his play by writer, Tracy Letts. It is a reminder that visual presentation of violence on stage is seen at a distance whereas in a film, it is in close-up, very much close-up for this film, many audiences considering that the film was too violent.

The story is set in Dallas, on the outskirts, a family which has not been well educated, finds it hard to make ends meet, a father with limited job opportunities, his wife having left him and taken up with another man, his marrying a woman who was a waitress at the local diner and, unbeknownst to him, having an affair with his ex-wife’s boyfriend. There is a young daughter at home, sometimes slow-witted. There is also a son who is living with his mother, clashes with her and is often kicked out. The protagonists are played by Thomas Hayden Church, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple and Emile Hirsch.

The young son proposes what might seem to be a good scheme but, because of ignorance, easy deception and limitations, turns out to be a harebrained scheme. The family is to hire an assassin, a local police detective, Killer Joe, played with extreme menace by Matthew Mc Conaughey.

The family doesn’t have enough money to pay the killer in advance and so make an arrangement that the daughter can be a retainer. Killer Joe is attracted by her and she to him, complicating the emotions and the situation. In the meantime, the son is being pursued by a local boss for payments which he cannot make, and is chased through the town.

The killer keeps his contract to the surprise of everyone, murdering the woman, her body in the boot of the car, a burial. Then he comes to the home and there is a dramatic confrontation, various emotional twists, the son wanting to take his sister away, the killer wanting her to stay – and a confrontation and shootings with the young woman holding the gun. And that is what the audience is left with.

40 years earlier William Friedkin had won an Oscar for The French Connection and two years after that made The Exorcist. His later career was one of ups and downs – including a film version of Bug, also based on a play by Tracy Letts who also wrote August, Osage County.

1. The title, expectations – and fulfilment?

2. The Dallas settings, Texas, poorer areas, homes, drugs, crime, the world of mechanics? The musical score?

3. The film based on a play, adaptation for the screen, opening up the sequences, yet so many of the scenes like plays, dialogue, confined to a single space?

4. The difference between stage violence and violence seen on screen? The close-up effect of the killings, the torture, blood?

5. The Smith family, their name, Texas people? Ansell, as a father, uneducated, his ex-wife? Her separation, drugs and her boyfriend? Christopher living with her, his violence, his being ousted? Ansell and his marrying Sharla, their home, Chris arriving, wanting the toilet? Chris and his seeming intelligence, but not? Dottie, simple, emotional, her living in the house?

6. The situation with the mother, Christopher and his plan, the discussions, Dottie overhearing, Sharla and her participation, the issue of the insurance policy, the contact with Killer Joe? The discussion, the secrecy, the equal number of shares? Sharla participating? Dottie knowing and agreeing?

7. The introduction to Joe, the detective, police, ruthless yet personally fastidious? His personality? The contracts, fees, the family able to pay or not, the suggestion that Dottie be given to him as a retainer, his accepting this? Christopher and Ansell and their various discussions, buying Dottie the new dress? Setting her up?

8. Joe, his style, arriving for the dinner, Dottie not wearing the dress, the attraction, her cooking? Joe and his provoking her, the sexual encounter, taking off the old clothes, the embrace, putting on the new dress, the dinner, Dottie and her table manners, Joe serving?

9. Christopher, his problems, the drugs, the bodyguards, the owner, the long chase through the streets and buildings, the attack, the owner and his smooth talk, the bodyguards bashing Christopher?

10. Christopher and Joe, having the money or not, Joe and his working on the bodyguards?

11. Sharla, in herself, first seen, semi-naked at the door for Christopher? Her relationship with Ansell? Her place in the household? Her work, the diner, Dottie coming to the meal, the discussions? The photos? The phone call to Rex? The later repercussions?

12. The death of the mother, her body in the boot of the car, sitting in the front of the car, the alcohol, the cigarette, the patrol trail, the fire and explosion?

13. Ansell and Sharla, going to meet the lawyer, the irony that the insurance policy was for Rex and not for Dottie? Ansell and Christopher slow to realise what had happened? Christopher and his naive beliefs?

14. Joe, the arrival, the confrontation? Challenging Sharla, her mentioning hundred dollars, her slip, Joe’s brutality, physical violence taught Sharla? Her denials? Producing the photos? Ansell, slow, his reaction?

15. Christopher, the plan to go away to Mexico with Dottie, her agreement, his arrival, sitting at the table?

16. The ultimate confrontation, Sharla being bashed, the chicken leg and the blow job? Joe, sitting them all at the table, Dottie? The subdued meal?

17. Christopher, the confrontation, ordering Dottie, Sharla stabbing him? Dottie getting the gun, Joe and Christopher and their commands? Her shooting, Ansell shot, Christopher dead?

18. The final close-up, the profiles of Joe and Dottie, her finger on the trigger – and the audience left with the consequences of her pulling the trigger with Joe’s death and her being by herself, or not shooting Joe and being with him?

LIVE BY NIGHT

US, 2016, 129 minutes, Colour.
Ben Affleck, Elle Fanning, Remo Girone, Brendan Gleeson, Robert Glenister, Matthew Maher, Chris Messina, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, Chris Cooper, Titus Welliver, Max Casella.
Directed by Ben Affleck.

There has been a long tradition of gangster films, beginning in the late 1920s and early 1930s when the action of this film takes place. Most of these films were set in cities like Chicago and in the midwest, the Al Capone tradition, Texas outlaws and the robbing of banks in the West like Bonnie and Clyde. This film is of particular interest because it is about gangsters in Boston, Florida and the East Coast.

Something to commend it at once is that it is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane. There have been film versions of his novels, Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island. This one has been adapted by Ben Affleck who serves as writer, director, producer and the main star. Affleck has proven his directing skills with Gone Baby Gone, The Town and Argo.

This is a more thoughtful gangster film, giving the audience time to experience the situations and background, get to know the characters and try to understand them, time for a bit of reflection – which might mean that those who prefer chases and shootouts (and, in fact, there are some) feeling a bit impatient.

Ben Affleck plays Joe, the narrator, who in the prologue, explains that he went to fight in France in World War I and came back determined not to take orders in life any more. When we see his father, a police Commissioner played strongly by Brendan Gleeson, we understand that family and the war experience have had a strong influence on Joe. Small robberies are the order of the day. It comes to the attention of the Boston Irish Mafia as well as the Boston Italian Mafia, complicating things by an affair with the girlfriend of the Irish boss, Sienna Miller.

In one of the robberies and chases, policemen are killed so Joe goes to jail, responding to an offer he finds he cannot refuse from the Italians – which leads him to Tampa, Florida, quite a contrast in sunlight and heat from the chill of Boston. He goes with his friend and ally, Dion (Chris Messina) and, they make more of a go of it given the clients, the bootlegging, the money coming in and sent to Massachusetts, and the prospect of building a casino. Tampa is something of a backwater compared with Miami but it is Joe’s kingdom. He falls in love with a local Hispanic girl, Graciela, Zoe Saldana.

One of the consequences of Joe’s success has a touch of revenge in damaging the interests of the Irish Mafia in Miami.

One of the interesting sub- plots concerns the police chief of Tampa, Chris Cooper, his young daughter being invited to Hollywood for a screen test, Elle Fanning, and her disastrous experience there, coming back and becoming an evangelist against corruption, always dressed in white, a tent preacher with big congregations, and her denunciation of gambling and casinos.

Which, of course, leads to difficulties for Joe, the building of the local casino and investment from local bankers, the powers that be in Boston not taking at all lightly. And there are further complications with the local Ku Klux Klan, with crosses of fire planted outside the bars, negotiations and betrayals with the Klan leaders, and a build up to violence all round – and Joe using his wits but having to make decisions for his future.

The film is quite long but always interesting, though not the kind of Scorsese gangster portrait that tends to set the screen alight. But, this dramatising of US East Coast gangsters makes its mark.

1. The movie tradition of gangster films? The Chicago tradition, the Texas tradition? This film about East Coast gangsters? Similarities and differences?

2. Ben Affleck, his career as an actor, producer, screenwriter, director? All with this film?

3. The title, the gangster tone? Dark?

4. The Boston background, World War I, the 10 years following? City locations, homes, clubs, officers, police precincts, banks and robberies, car chases through the streets, the bridge crashes? The contrast with Tampa, the atmosphere of Florida, the beginnings of these towns in the 1930s, Hispanic background, the presence of the Irish, the Ku Klux Klan, the police, religious revivals, the building of the casinos? The cemetery in Cuba? The finale, the cinema, the beginning of the 1940s, Hitler and the outbreak of the war?

5. The prologue, Joe and his voice-over, his going to war, his war experiences, fighting, deaths? The effect on him, coming home and not obeying orders anymore?

6. In the hospital, the comment about Emma and her inside connection? The flashbacks? The robberies, his two partners, stealing, the banks, the getaway? Robbing the card players and Emma’s behaviour? Albert White and the Irish gangsters? Domination of Boston? Emma, her relationship with White, her love for Joe? The robbery and the mishandling of the car, the chase, the police, shooting, police deaths? Joe and his time with Emma, their love, White confronting him, her betrayal and leading him to White, the bashing, hospital?

7. Joe’s father, policeman of so many years, his coming to the restaurant, his comments on Emma, on Joe? Knowing his son was a crook? Yet protective? His hold over the official, the sex rendezvous? Getting Joe sentenced to 3 years? Joe meant to be a bond between him and his wife, his wife’s death, Joe acknowledging the distance between his parents? His father’s death, funeral? Joe being free?

8. Joe, his time in prison, the Italians in Boston, going to see Pescatore, wanting revenge against White? Pescatore’s conditions? Joe’s decision, his position, management, to get Tampa? To edge out White in Florida?

9. Florida, isolated from the other states, the presence of the Italians and the bootlegging business? The Hispanic nature of the town? The anti-Catholics, anti-papists? The presence of the Klan, prohibition, the money going north, the issues of gambling and clubs, buildings, prospering?

10. Joe and Dion, as partners, Dion having no scruples? The contacts, locals, the deals? The encounter with Graciela and her brother? The bond, the relationship with Graciela? Visiting the banks, wanting investments, the clubs, the importation of rum, the cash going north, the phone calls to Boston?

11. The Klan, the bigotry? The attack on the club, the verbal denunciations of immoral behaviour? The burning cross? Joe going to the Wizard, his nonchalance, Joe shooting him? The encounter with Pruitt, his squeaky voice, his bigotry, the bargaining about the deal and percentages, his coming with Dion to the club, the shootings? Joe confronting him, his haughty behaviour, Joe shooting Pruitt, his men prepared and ambushing?

12. The Casino, the plans, the building, prospering, the banks, Pescatore Jr coming to Tampa, his arrogant attitude?

13. The local chief of police, discussions and deals? Loretta, young, looking forward to going to Hollywood, the talent scout? Joe with the Chief and the negotiations about the Klan? The photos of Loretta, Joe threatening the Chief? The deaths, Joe giving the information to her father? Her return? The effect of the exploitation in California, her beginning to wear white, the tent and the revival sessions, the people present, the fervor and support, her morality, God talk, against gambling? At home, her father whipping her? Her preaching to stop the casino? Dion wanting her dead, Joe not willing to kill her? Meeting her in the restaurant, her statement that heaven was here in Tampa? Her pride in her achievement in stopping the casino? Her comments on her father, his going around the house saying: Repent? Her death, the photo in the newspaper, the article?

14. The coming of Roosevelt, prohibition ending? The attitude in Boston, Joe not answering the phone? Pescatore arriving, the threats, Joe and Dion going to meet him in the hotel, the confrontation, Joe being offered the lower job, White and his appearance? The guns? Joe and Graciela’s brother giving him the photo, Emma in the photo? His confronting White? Shooting White?

15. The shootout, Joe’s men using the tunnels under Tampa? The deaths, White, the confrontation with Pescatore, his death, his son’s death? Joe meeting the gunmen in the hall, his walking away?

16. Graciela, her character, love for Joe, his urging her to be out of town because of the shootouts? His telling her the story about Emma?

17. Joe and Emma, the photos, going to meet her, her surprise, her explanation of her escape, her making a new life for herself, Joe walking away?

18. The post-gangster period, the birth of their son, Joe and Graciela helping the locals?

19. The chief, talking repentance, mad at home, the guns and the attack on Joe, his being killed? Graciela caught in the crossfire?

20. Cuba, the cemetery, with his son?

21. Going to the movies, 1941, an ordinary life, in the cinema, the Western with the good sheriff – and the revelation that the screenplay was written by Joe’s brother?

22. The ending, that peace was possible, the son asking about heaven – and heaven where they were?

TWO WRONGS

Canada, 2015, 88 minutes, Colour.
Gillian Zinser, Ryan Blakely, Brooklyn Lax, Aidan Devine, Andrea Frankle, Linda Thorson, Matt Bois.
Directed by Tristan Dubois.

Two Wrongs is an interesting telemovie, perhaps a bit far-fetched in its storytelling and motivation, but keeping audience attention while it is on-screen.

The film introduces us to a district nurse, played by Gillian Zinser, who has a little girl who has a tendency to wander – getting the audience ready for an abduction. The nurse has a number of clients, one rather flirtatious, and is at the disposal of the central management organisation. She also has a strong mother, wants her daughter to move in with her and to care for the granddaughter. She is also an earnest churchgoer.

The audience has seen a man stalking the nurse and her daughter so is not surprised when the little girl is abducted. It emerges that the abductor was the father of a little girl who had been taken, the effect on his wife being very mentally disturbing and needing medication, and his plan for the killing of the abductor who had been freed by the court on a technicality.

The criminal is one of the nurse’s patients and she is threatened that unless she ties him up, and administers medication, her daughter will die.

Eventually, the patient confesses to what he has done, especially at the insistence of the nurse’s mother who then has no compunction in wanting to kill him. Her daughter cannot bring herself to be a killer. She has gone to the address given to her by her patient, encounters the wife and then the husband who urges her to go to the police – nevertheless going to a phone box and continuing to threaten the nurse.

Ultimately, the patient guesses where the demented mother is taking the abducted child and they go there as the woman threatens to take the little girl into the water, as she had done with her own daughter. The mother rescues her daughter and the patient dives in to help – but drowns.

There is quite a superfluous emotional half minutes at the end with a kiss between the nurse and the flirtatious patient!

1. An interesting and entertaining television film? An abduction story?

2. Canadian production, American settings, the American town, homes, school, streets? Authentic feel? The musical score?

3. The credibility of the plot while on screen, persuasive? On further analysis, the Implausibilities?

4. Introduction to Sarah, age, mother, with Lauren, her relationship to her own mother? On her rounds, the variety of patients, treating Gerald, Mark and his flirting? Going to the head office, the staff and her relationships, commissions?

5. Sarah as a mother, her daughter and her age, the various scenes where Lauren disappeared and her mother was anxious, preparing the audience for the abduction? Lauren wandering away, the market, outside Gerald’s house and being observed?

6. The anonymous stalker, his phone call and covering his voice? His demands, Sarah’s shock?

7. Showing the stalker, his taking Lauren, keeping her in the basement, sedated? His wife, her bewildered state? His genuine concern for her? The medication? The revelation that their daughter had been abducted, had died? Suffocated in the boot of the car?

8. Sarah going to Gerald, the injection, tying him up, the gag? Her waiting for the phone call? Not knowing why she was asked to do this? Her deception at headquarters and getting the medication? Calling the police, the arrival, her saying that all was well?

9. Her mother, religious and church, wanting Sarah to move in? Her concern, being put off by her daughter, following her, at Gerald’s house?

10. Gerald, his denial, finally admitting the truth, paedophile, abducting little girls, loving this one, the hot day, in the boot of the car, her suffocating? His trial, the technicalities, his freedom? Changing his name?

11. Sarah, her listening, her fears? Her mother, confronting Gerald, urging him to confess, his doing so, her anger, her vengeful attitude?

12. The phone calls, the uncertainties? The motivation for the father for Gerald to die? And the later revelation that he was absent, that he was drunk, that he had not saved his daughter?

13. Gerald giving the address, Sarah going, the stalker seeing her, going to the house, the wife, her explanations about her daughter, the father and his denials, urging her to ring the police?

14. Sarah being urged to kill Gerald, preparing the syringe, her mother prepared to use the syringe, Gerald saying that she would be the equivalent of him? Sarah unable to kill Gerald?

15. The mother, not taking pills, her hallucinations, taking Lauren in the car, to the park, urging her to go into the water?

16. The father, his going to the park?

17. Gerald, with Sarah, working out that they would go to the park, Sarah and her pleading with the mother, the mother letting Lauren go, Sarah swimming and saving her? The husband saving his wife? Gerald and his urge to help, in the water, his drowning – deliberately or not?

18. Everything restored – and the superfluous romantic ending with the family and Sara kissing Mark?

VALLEY OF LOVE

France, 2015, 91 minutes, Colour.
Isabelle Huppert, Gerard Depardieu, Dan Warner, Aurelia Thierree.
Directed by Guillaume Nicloux.

Valley of Love is a brief film that features French stars, Isabelle Huppert and Gerard Depardieu, a former husband-and-wife who receive a note from their son who had killed himself, saying that he would meet them again in California’s Death Valley.

They both go to the valley, discuss their past, the mother’s seemingly callous attitude towards her son and neglecting him, the contact with his father, a film star. The mother believes that, despite his death, he will make contact while his father is much more sceptical. Yet, they go to a different spot every day as specified in the message – with the father ultimately having an unusual experience amongst the desert rocks. And then the film ends.

In the final credits, the two stars are referred to solely by their surnames. The director, Guillaume Nicloux worked with Isabella pair on the historical religious film, The Nun.

Audiences will want to watch it only for the stars rather than for the narrative and the supernatural implications.

1. A film of French sensibility in a California setting? French language? Use of English?

2. The title, the visuals of Death Valley, the deserts, the mountain, below sea level, the heat? The beauty of nature? The tourist spots? The contrast with the hotel, the rooms, swimming pools, the streets, supermarkets? The musical score?

3. The two actors – and the credits with only their surnames? Their status?

4. The narrative as real? The touch of the supernatural? The dead man, the letters to his parents, the promise of his appearing? The scepticism on the part of Gerard? The hopes on the part of Isabelle? Gerard’s experience and a sense of the presence of his son at the end? Isabelle’s response? The open ending?

5. Isabelle, the long shot of her arriving, her suitcase, at the hotel, buying the soup in the supermarket, in her room, the heat? The phone calls to her husband? The revelation that they were splitting? Her children?

6. Isabelle meeting Gerard? His coming in, across the lawn to meet her? The relationship between them? The tensions? Going into the past, their marriage, infidelities? Their son, Michael? Isabelle sending him to boarding school, his leaving the family, her not seeing him again? Gerard seeing him, on and off? The letters, the news about his death, a gay man, the issue of whether he had AIDS or not, his partner, his letters and the promise of a reappearance?

7. Isabelle and Gerard, the memories of the past, irritations? Their inquiring about each other’s lives, families? The bonds between them? The night together and the response of each afterwards?

8. The reading of the letters, Gerard and his disbelief, the revelation of his cancer, the appointment with the doctor? His feeling well? Yet his size, and the scenes of his torso and belly? The contrast with Isabelle, her glamour in her 60s?

9. Going to the variety of spots, the heat, walking, the food? The discussions? The return home each evening?

10. Gerard, at the pool, the American recognising him, the discussions, the autograph, his signing Bob De Niro, the reaction of the man, later meeting Gerard and Isabelle, their having a meal together, the discussions, about Al Pacino and the Godfather? The man offering to send Gerard his story? The wife and her enjoying the discussion, about films in Hollywood?

11. The issue of wounds, Gerard and his razor and his wrist, Isabelle helping him, bandaging? Isabelle and her nightmare, being grabbed by the ankles, the wounds? Her walking with them, the later marks on her legs?

12. The final visit, Isabelle waiting, Gerard going for the walk, the glimpse of someone amongst the rocks, his impressions, Isabelle’s response? And the ending of the film?

SPLIT

US, 2016, 117 minutes, Colour.
James Mc Avoy, Anya Taylor Joy, Betty Buckley, Hayley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula, Brad W. Henke, M. Night Shyamalan.
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Dissociative Identity Disorder, D.I.D., Is also known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Most of us do not know people suffering from this disorder. Rather, we get some ideas from films such as The Three Faces of Eve or Sibyl. What we have now is Split, a 21st-century version of D.I.D., the portrait of a character who has, at least 23 different personalities, one more emerging at the end of the film.

There is always a difficulty in making this kind of film, the danger of sensationalising a situation. However, the screenplay take some pains here to explain the disorder as well as show a therapist working with the patient, alert to the different manifestations. Being a movie, it also dramatises, even melodramatises the character and situations – with the realisation that “it’s only a movie�.

The film has been written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan who came to audience attention in 1999 with what is now a classic, The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis. The director continued to pursue stories that involved touches of the preternatural including Unbreakable, Signs, The Village – and then falling out of favour with critics until his most recent film, The Visit. (He also has a cameo role for himself in each film, here working with the therapist and surveillance screens.)

What makes Split a very effective and rather eerie experience of the disorder is the performance by James Mc Avoy. Not all the personalities are shown during the film but there is a sufficient variety for Mc Avoy to make them quite different, appearance, accent, way of communication, sometimes a sense of menace.

And this is all presented in the context of an abduction, three girls taken from a car in a supermarket parking lot, finding themselves confined to what looks like the equivalent of a concrete cell.

Clearly, there is a lot of tension as the girls struggle against their confinement and encounter the different personalities, the most significant of which is a man called Dennis, bespectacled, absolutely obsessive about order and cleanliness, who also seems to be in control of the other personalities (who do not necessarily know of one another). There are two main contrasts, Barry, a fashion designer with a camp manner who is generally the one shown with the therapist, Dr Fletcher (Betty Buckley). There is also a Miss Patricia who also seems to be in some kind of control and, by contrast, a nine-year-old giggler called Hedwig.

On the one hand, there is the emphasis on the girls and how they deal with their situation and the possibilities for escape, especially a girl called Casey (Anya Taylor Joy), more strong-minded than the other two – who is given more complexity by having flashbacks inserted throughout the film to her childhood, her hunter father with guns and a dead deer, to her somewhat sinister uncle.

The film builds up to a climax, a clash of personalities, leaving the audience to ponder what they have seen and the realities of D.I.D. (There is a twist, with a touch of the facetious and shifting the mood of the film, in the last minute, which will please some but have many audiences puzzled.)

1. A drama about split personalities, 23 or 24 personalities in the one person? The medical situation? The psychological situation? Treatment therapy? Manifestations? Dangers?

2. The work of M. Night Shyamalan, his interests, the touches of horror?

3. Philadelphia, the city, exteriors, the streets, the subway station, the school? Supermarket? The contrast with the interiors, the rooms, like cells, the long corridors, the kitchen, Hedwig’s room? Atmosphere? The musical score?

4. The narrative and the focus on the girls, the abduction, the treatment? The insertion of the flashbacks of Casey’s life? Young, her father and uncle, hunting, the tent, with the deer and the rifle, her uncle naked wanting to play animals, the confronting him with the gun? The dramatic times for the insertion of these flashbacks?

5. The three girls, the social, the father offering Casey a lift, Casey wanting to be alone? In the car, the eerie silence, the abduction, the injuries to the father?

6. The girls waking, in the cell, brick and cement, harsh, cold, the beds? Their fear, reactions?

7. The appearance of Dennis, wearing his glasses, shaven head, precise, clean, the various liquids for cleaning the bathroom, changing their shirts if there were crumbs and dirt? His taking the first girl out, her experience?

8. The background of Kevin, his being a weak personality, the others emerging at different times, Dennis and Miss Patricia in charge? Barry emerging? Hedwig? Kevin’s name, the people talking about him – and the final flashback, his severe mother, his being under the bed, her punishing him? The consequences?

9. Dr Fletcher, herself, age and experience, her comfortable room, seeing her clients, her skills, the interactions, her ability to read characters?

10. Barry, his interest in fashion, the emails, the sketches, Dr Fletcher’s suspicions, that Dennis was present? Trying to draw him out?

11. Dr Fletcher and the experts, her theories, the nature of the brain, the experiment with the dog behaving in a schizophrenic way, not aware of the other personalities, multiple personalities as a way of opening up knowledge about the brain and human condition? Her lecture, the questions?

12. The three girls, their characters, interacting amongst themselves? Looking for the hollow walls, the roof, Claire and her getting into the roof, pursued and caught?

13. Looking out the keyhole, seeing the skirt, watching – and discovering Miss Patricia as a variation on the personalities?

14. The girls, invited to the kitchen to have the meal, Marcia running, put into her own cell, like Claire?

15. The appearance of Hedwig, nine, attitudes, childish, talk, et cetera, the reappearances, the touch of mischief, confiding in Casey, sharing the bed, the invitation to the room, to listen to the records, and Casey finding the windows were mere drawings?

16. Casey later seeing the various files on the computer, Orwelll and the recitation of historical information?

17. The various visits to Dr Fletcher, Barry being present, her trying to find Dennis, his admissions, the discussion about the Beast? His attitude towards the rest of the personalities, towards Kevin?

18. Casey, trying to cope, in Hedwig’s room, using the phone for communication, her not being understood?

19. Dr Fletcher coming to the house, the multiple emails, encountering Dennis, the revelation, the Beast, the 24th personality, the Beast and control?

20. Kevin having the job for 10 years, dependable, Dr Fletcher comfortable in visiting, talking, her understanding, asking for the toilet, the locked door and finding the girl? Dennis’s attack, squeezing her, her writing Kevin’s name, death?

21. Dennis, going out, the flowers, at the subway station? In the train, pumping himself up, becoming the Beast, on the train line, running throughout the city? The return home, the indications earlier of cannibalism, eating the girls?

22. Confronting Casey, information about the gun and the bullets, the bullets in the locker, her fear, confrontation, saying Kevin’s full name, firing the gun?

23. Dennis, wounded, mind control, healing himself, disappearing?

24. Casey hiding, her being found, the zoo, her seeing the animals, the police, the questions, the hospital – and her uncle waiting for her?

25. Dennis, the new group of personalities, the Horde?

26. The joke with Bruce Willis at the end, the link with Unbreakable, the musical score?

CATCH. 44

US, 2011, 93 minutes, Colour.

Forest Whitaker, Bruce Willis, Malin Ackerman, Nikki Reed, Shea Wigham, Brad Dourif, Deborah Ann Wolf.
Directed by Aaron Harvey.

Catch. 44 is something of a cinema exercise in the vein of Quentin Tarantino, his circuitous storytelling, his emphasis on conversations and themes, criminals, betrayals, twists, and bloody and gory deaths.

It is a star vehicle for Forest Whitaker in a role rather unlike any of his others, seen first as a meek stranded tourist, then a cop killer, then a hitman for a drug dealer played by Bruce Willis, then in a confrontation and a shootout. The focus is on three women who are agents for the drug dealer and who set out on a mission for him, going to a diner, pulling their guns, involved in a shootout with a death – and then the film going back in time, which it does again after this, culminating in the shootout and building on the developments.

The leader of the women is played by Malin Ackerman, who had been working in a strip joint and had been saved from aggressive customers by Forest Whitaker, but she does not remember – even though he took her to the drug dealer’s house.

In the diner is another agent played by Shea Whigham who has Malin Ackerman at gunpoint and she him when Whitaker enters, kills two of the diners and there is a three-way discussion about who is betraying whom.

There are various shootings at the end, some unexpected – and one only of the central characters surviving.

Actually, the film is interesting in itself, though the background is rather sordid – but critics and fans did not respond well to it.

1. An interesting thriller? The structure and style? The dialogue and discussions? The failure of the film at the box office and critically?

2. The title and the play on Catch-22?

3. The influence of Quentin Tarantino, as a crime thriller, the kinds of characters and their confrontations, the extent to dialogue and discussions, images, parables? The convoluted way of telling the story, the ending and going back several times? Bloody and gory deaths? The insertion of flashbacks and building up characters in the middle of action? The twists and double dealings?

4. The cast, Forest Whitaker in an unusual performance, Bruce Willis as the world-weary drug lord, the three women?

5. The musical score, the range of songs, the ironic lyrics, commentary on character and actions?

6. The opening, the three women, in the car, going into the diner, their discussions, suddenly producing the guns, their background and mission, the woman behind the counter killing Kara, their shooting her, the man sitting at the table, shooting Dawn? And then the film going back?

7. The introduction to the three women, the two sisters, the memory of their parents, one showering and taking a long time, the other practical? The introduction to Tes, in the strip joint, getting ready to go out, the man following her, trying to pick her up, taking his wallet? The three women driving, out-of-town, Kara and her listening to the music, the music on the radio and the comment about Bruce Willis singing? The arguments, especially between Kara and Tes? The explanation of their mission, commissioned by Mel, Kara and her wariness? The arrival again, the repetition of the scene, the deaths?

8. Ronnie, the broken down car, his accent, smile, the policeman stopping, offering to fix the car, the genial chat, the shooting, Ronnie taking the uniform and dressing himself, the body in the boot of the car, later shooting the man again? The local sheriff, finding the dead man in the restroom?

9. The repetition of the shooting scene? Tes surviving? The man at the table dead? The frightened young couple? Billy, pulling the gun, Tes and her bewilderment, her memories of Mel, being taken to his house by Ronnie, the interview, her cheeky attitude towards Mel, his flirting, yet dominance, employing her? Billy and the revelation that Mel was doublecrossing her, the set up, Billy paid to kill her and the other women? Tes and Billy with their guns aimed at each other?

10. Ronnie’s arrival, audience knowing him because of the murder, seeing him in the police uniform, immediately shooting the young couple at the table, his taking charge of the situation, reminding Tes that he knew her, the flashback to the two men in the club, dissatisfaction with the women, propositioning Tes, her reaction, Ronnie and his standover tactics, saving her, taking her to Mel’s house? Her not remembering him?

11. Ronnie taking charge? The discussions with Billy? The to and fro about Mel, the money, Billy and his associate, taking the money? The fast forward glimpsed of Billy dead?

12. Psychological aspects of the trio interacting? The audience hearing the shots from outside, Billy dead, Ronnie wounded, Tes wounded?

13. Mel arriving with his chauffeur, surveying the bodies, sitting in the booth, the discussion with Ronnie, the story about Running Bear and the cowboy, the allegory, application to Ronnie, Ronnie and his deal, Mel saying he betrayed him, Mel shooting him.

14. Mel seeing Tes, her pulling the gun and shooting him?

15. The chauffeur, listing outside, Tes coming to the window, with the gun, stranding him – and her driving off – to what? And the glimpse of the sheriff during the credits about to enter the diner?