THE HOLLOW POINT

US, 2016, 93 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Wilson, Ian Mc Shane, Lynn Collins, John Leguizamo, James Belushi.
Directed by Gonzalo Lopez- Gallego.

The Hollow Point is a very grim film, set on the Arizona- Mexico border, complications with cartels, arms smuggling across the border, young men doing the smuggling, stealing money, cartel assassins killing them. Cross

Ian Mc Shane portrays a veteran sheriff, a drinker, lacking scruple, seen initially confronting a young man who fights him, Mc Shane shooting him. Patrick Wilson plays Wallace, coming back to his hometown, as a replacement sheriff, disliked by everyone, meeting a former girlfriend, Lynn Collins, who had been in a relationship with one of the young men who had been killed.

The film shows the highway, the desert, the area in southern Arizona, across into Mexico, arid and dangerous.

The film offers a police investigation, some graphic violence when the hero’s hand is chopped off by a machete! This episode makes demands on audience credibility as he seems to manage and does not need the hospital treatment that was necessary. Nevertheless, he continues in his pursuit, almost killing a lookalike to the assassin in his vengeance.

James Belushi plays a car dealer in the town, joking but sinister, mixed up in the arms deals. John Leguizamo plays the assassin who comes into town and confronts Wallace.

This is not a straightforward police investigation – a touch of the arthouse treatment of the theme, also causing some difficulties for audiences to follow the plot.

1. The American- Mexican border? Life in the towns? Crime, arms deals, money? The cartels? Administration of the law?

2. The title, moral comment on the issues and characters, the focus on bullets and death?

3. The locations, the town, police precincts, apartments, dealerships, hospitals? The desert highways? Crosses and graves? The musical score?

4. Violence in the way of life? Guns, machetes, injuries and deaths, fights?

5. Leland, police, old, tough, confronting the young man in the car, taunting him, the fight, shooting him?

6. Wallace, his background, leaving the town, being sent back, his past relationship with Marla, her relationship with the man who had disappeared? Discussions about the past? The relationship?

7. Wallace and his return, meeting people, their dislike of him, calling him an asshole? Investigating, talking with Leland, getting his statement, warning him? Searching, the wounded man in the bath, talk, his death? His being pursued, in the hole with the bags of cement, the water, getting free? The fight with the pursuer, his hand being chopped off? Going to Leland’s house, the blood on the wall, his need for medical attention? Hospital, Marla, his arm being bound?

8. Diaz, the dealership, his place in the town, the story about his wife, finances? His doubledealing? The cartels? His fears, wanting the money to pay off his debts? Interactions with Leland, Leland suspecting the truth, at the desk, Diaz shooting him, the body armour, the evidence of the bullet? Wallace confronting him, his going with Marla, trying to find the money, dig it up?

9. Marla, her character, her fears, relationships? Lily, at the diner, customers? Later revelations about her, her contact with the cartel, the information, the attack, in hospital? Her religious language and trying to save people?

10. Wallace, following the lead, the man with his girlfriend, Wallace and his gun, menace, about to kill the man, his later regrets?

11. The glimpse of the stranger, police, the prison, the prisoners? His being the assassin, his coming for Lily? Threats and violence? The fight with Wallace? His death?

12. The list, the cartels, anonymous bosses, their influence, power, violence, money?

13. Wallace and Marla, driving away? The romantic touch? The beginning of the credits, the scene between Diaz and Leland, the shooting – giving a more violent, bitter touch to the ending?

14. A wild West, a wild border – and contemporary border issues?

DIRTY WOLVES/ LOBOS SUCIOS

Spain, 2015, 105 minutes, Colour.
Marianne Alvarez, Manuella Velles, Isak Ferriz, Pierre Kiwitt, Sam Loywyck, Thomas Coumans.
Directed by Simon Casal de Miguel.

Dirty Wolves is a rather grim Spanish film, made 70 years after the events it portrays, an opportunity to look back into the distant past, the era of Franco, the aftermath of the Civil War, Spanish neutrality in World War two, the relationship with the Germans and helping them, the pressure from the Allies.

The setting is a village in Galicia, in the remote mountains and forests where Wolfram has been discovered and is being mined by the people from the village as well as political prisoners to help the German war effort. The experience is drab, muddy, digging, explosions, the women sieving the metal. Payment is poor and the people are hungry.

The focus is on Manuela, a woman with a child but no father, working in the mine but singled out by British resistance to be a go-between with them and a condemned prisoner in the mine who is to organise tunnels within the mine so that the whole amount of Wolfram can be stolen to sabotage the German effort. This requires her to befriend a German official, a cultured man with a piano who has some mystical dreams about forests and caves, in order to steal the plans for the tunnels in the mine. Her younger sister becomes involved in helping Jewish refugees to cross into Portugal and is involved with a young man, son of the mine owners, who has returned from France in order to organise the theft of the metal.

The film builds to some tension with the theft, information to help the Germans, confrontations, some betrayals, torture and death.

An opportunity for an audience to be disturbed about these aspects of the Spanish past.

1. A Spanish memory of World War two? The aftermath of the Civil War? 70 years later?

2. The setting in the mountains of Galicia, the overviews of the mountains and valleys, the forests and caves, the water from mines, the tunnels, the drab exteriors, the homes in the village? The musical score?

3. The title, the stories of wolves, in the forests? Wolfram and its use in the war for destruction? The final story of the wolf in the cave and destroying the German officer?

4. The perspective on the war, the role of Franco, Spanish neutrality, alliances with Hitler, the pressure from the Allies? The Spanish civil guard, relationship with the Germans? With prisoners, with the people from the village, guarding the mine? Arrogance, confrontations?

5. The work in the mine, the women and the sieves, the men and the digging, the explosions? The poor payment? Meagre rations? The prisoners arriving, sentences commuted? Work in the mines?

6. The film’s focus on Manuela, dressed in black, her little girl, concerned for her health, no husband and her bitter memories of the father? Her work in the mine? At home, her mother? Her relationship with Candela? Her being asked to be the link with Miguel, carrying the information, the map of the mine, her getting the blueprint from the German? Her involvement with the German, submitting herself, clothes, meals, sexual encounters? Her relationship with Bryan and his pressure on her for communications? The attraction to Miguel, their meetings? The impact of her finding him hanging and her letting him down, telling him that she heard he was brave? The growing attraction, the medallion?

7. Edgar, the ownership of the mine, coming from France, the deaths of his parents, antagonism towards the Germans, the plan to steal the Wolfram? The plans, the meetings, Bryan and the British background, presence, radio communication, the digging? Needing more detailed plans? His interest in Candela? The Jewish refugee, taking him in the car, his escaping across the river? Teaching Candela to drive the car? The attraction, sexual attraction?

8. Candela, working in the mine, her resentments, relationship with Manuela, her mother? The medicines for the little girl? Her meeting with Edgar, helping with the escapes, at the river, the sexual encounter, her hopes, considering herself illiterate but hoping that Edgar would love her? The refugee girl, helping her – and Manuela eventually giving her food? The final refugee, going to the river, the pursuit by the Germans, the chase and the forests, interrogated, tortured, the information about the mine and the stealing? Her being shot? Manuela talking with her mother, the mother saying the German was nice, giving him the information and causing the death of her daughter?

9. The German, the piano, a man of culture, the mystical touch, the presence in the forest? His doing his duty, his associate, the civil guards? The attraction to Manuela, the dress, the meetings, the meal, sexual encounter? The discovery of the robbery, his tactics, to the mine, the metal on Miguel, Manuela and her betrayal, her persuading him to go into the forest, the promise of showing him the cave after denying it existed, his going in, his delight, not afraid of wolves – and the wolf attack and killing him?

10. Miguel, his background, musician, despair, hanging himself, saved, asked to head the sabotage, the meetings with Manuela, the maps, the success of the mission, the confrontation with the German? Making sure everyone was safe, the reunion with Manuela?

11. The war in hindsight, the role of Franco, his living on into the 70s, his effect on the Spanish society? The impact of the war, especially in Galicia and the Wolfram mines?

THE SIN OF NORA MORAN

US, 1933, 65 minutes, Black and white.
Zita Johann, Alan Dinehart, Paul Cavanagh, John Miljan, Claire Du Brey, Henry B. Walthall.
Directed by Paul Goldstone.

The Sin of Nora Moran is a very interesting film of the early 1930s, interesting in characters, plot developments as well as cinematic techniques. It packs quite an amount of material in its brief running time.

The black-and-white photography, emphasis on lights and shadows, as well as different editing techniques and swipes, with a great deal of superimposition is for interpreting character as well as providing the meaning of flashbacks, and a number of collages to advance the plot development – as with Nora Moran walking the streets of the city looking for job opportunities and being refused.

The framework of the film is a discussion between a brother and sister, she is the wife of the Governor who has discovered her husband’s affair with Nora Moran and the letters, he the DA. The wife is resentful, but Nora Moran is about to be executed for murder. It emerges that the brother a great deal about the affair but kept quiet because of the danger in the political campaign for the governorship.

In the flashbacks, it emerges that Nora Moran is to be executed that day, is in prison custody, is being sedated, lives in her memories, in her dreams, with sympathetic authorities in the prison. An orphan, with the help of Father Ryan, she has been adopted by a sympathetic family, but the parents dying in a car crash and Nora using her inheritance to train as a dancer but not finding a job. She does get a job in a circus with John Miljan as Paulino who, literally, wrestles with lions, but is a predator and attacks Nora.

She encounters the candidate for the governorship and they fall in love, he setting her up in a cottage, and going on to be elected governor. There are complications when the brother confronts the Governor and Paulino turns up to blackmail him, leading to his death, a fight with the Governor but Nora accepting the responsibility for the death, trying to dispose of the body with the DA but caught by people from the circus and arrested.

There is a strong religious element with Father Ryan and his advice but also the use of the prayer and his voice-over for Nora, “eternal rest grant unto them, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them�.

There is quite a melodramatic ending with the Governor confronting his own love and his own weaknesses.

1. A film of the early 1930s? Drama? Melodrama?

2. The screenplay based on a play, the emphasis on dialogue, action confined to rooms? The musical score and its moods?

3. The cinematic style of filmmaking, the black and white photography, light and shadow, darkness? The interiors, offices, the cottage, the circus?

4. The editing techniques, the swipes, the superimposition, the indication of flashbacks?

5. The title and expectations?

6. The framework, the Governor’s wife coming to the DA, her complaint, the DA as her brother, giving him the letters, her disgust with the woman, with her husband? The range of flashbacks? The greater revelation about the DA, the impact on the Governor’s wife?

7. The title, Nora, initially seen as an orphan, the interview with Father Ryan and her prospective parents, the cute look, the affection? A life, the parents killed in the accident? The issue of her inheritance, discussing it with Father Ryan, wanting to dance? The training, the collage of her application for jobs, refusals? The interview for the circus, her pleading, her acceptance? Paulino, the scene of his wrestling with the lion, the lion’s mouth? Nora’s reaction? Paulino, leering, the attack on the train, the effect on Nora, her leaving?

8. At the dance, the meeting with Dick, the beginning of the relationship, the affair, renting the cottage, her living there, his visits on Mondays and Fridays, the lyrical attitude of her letters? The deceit?

9. Dick’s wife, learning the truth, angry, learning of John’s knowledge, further involvement, following Dick, the political issues and his campaigning, John’s success depending on Dick? His agreeing to cover the affair?

10. Dick, in himself, politician, the affair, his love for Nora? His brother revealing Nora’s past, his disgust and walking out?

11. Nora, her character, love for Dick, decision to leave, not wanting any money? John returning, no phone call from her? Finding Paulino dead? The plan, in the car, the body on the road, the drunks finding her, the women, urging her to go on the train, her arrest?

12. Paulino coming to the house, the intention of blackmail, confronting Dick, the fight, Paulino’s death? Dick’s responsibility? Nora taking the responsibility?

13. The police, the interrogation? Inviting the DA, his jurisdiction, Nora explaining things to him? John and his participation in the cover-up of the murder? Her silence during the trial, her being found guilty, decree of execution?

14. The importance of Father Ryan comforting Nora, the words of his prayer “eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them�? Nora and her focus on eternal rest and perpetual light? John quoting the words to his sister?

15. Nora in prison, the authorities, the injections to keep her sedated, her not wanting food, the authorities and staff, sympathy? The focus on her memories, her dreams?
Getting ready for death, imagining a happy ending?

16. Dick, writing the letter, sending it to John, the truth, his struggle about pardoning Nora, the phoneline dead? His shooting himself? John reading the letter to his wife? The end?

NO MAN’S LAND

UK, 2016, 120 minutes, Colour.
Ian Mc Kellen, Patrick Stewart, Owen Teale, Damien Maloney.
Directed by Sean Mathias.

No Man’s Land was written by Harold Pinter and first performed at the Wyndham Theatre, London, in 1975 with John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. This is the filmed version of the National Theatre Live, again at the Wyndham Theatre, after a tour around England. This film version has a 20 minutes Q and A with the cast and the director, a very interesting conversation, informative as well as communicating the personalities of the cast and Sean Mathias.

This version of the play has been very well photographed, very judicious use of close-ups for performance as well is for reaction, well timed, giving the audience an opportunity to look at, listen to and appreciate the performance, the words and their meanings. In fact, this version is something of a masterclass as audiences watch Ian Mc Kellen and Patrick Stewart (who had performed together in the X Men series of films and on stage in Waiting for Godot).

The set is a circular room with an area above the walls with projected images of Hampstead Heath leaves.

The first act has the two stars as men who have met at the local pub and have gone home to have drinks and talk afterwards, even though they don’t know each other and, it soon appears, one is suffering from some kind of dementia. This first part is a tour de force for Ian Mc Kellen, speaking Pinter’s complex and literary lines, haranguing Patrick Stewart who is somewhat bewildered and reacts in a somewhat passive manner. They both drink a great deal of whiskey and vodka. The enjoyment of the performances and the language is paramount – whether one follows the narrative line or the variety of excursus in conversation.

Two men arrive at the end of the first act, one claiming to be the son of the owner, the other his friend whom he met on a street corner – some suggestiveness as there has been in reference to cruising on Hampstead Heath. The old man with dementia has gone out but returns in his dressing gown, quite bewildered, not knowing who Mc Kellen is, his having explained to the other two men that he was a friend, and much play on this.

At the beginning of the second act, Mc Kellen wakes and finds he is locked delete in the house, the older man coming in as a servant, offering him breakfast, serving it in hotel style, Mc Kellen actually enjoying the bacon and eggs, toast and jam with champagne. When Stewart returns, he is dressed in the most dapper fashion, the dementia seemingly gone but his remembering a great deal of the past, his time at Oxford before the war, his wife, his reputation as a Lothario having affairs. He mistakes Mc Kellen for a fellow author and carries on the conversation – with Mc Kellen going along with the pretence and developing the story of his wife’s infidelity as well as the other man’s affair with other women.

Mc Kellen says in the Q&A that this was the kind of small play that Pinter used to write for revues and the insertion of sketches, actors playing off each other. Mc Kellen also makes a plea for employment as a secretary and archivist – which the young man who re-enters claims that he does already.

The conversations continue, Pinter’s language and attraction in stimulus, and a final comment that in no man’s land time stops and people are caught.

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?