DECK THE HALLS

US, 2006, US, 2006, 93 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Broderick, Danny De Vito, Kristin Chenoweth, Kristin Davis, Alia Shawkat, Jackie Burroughs, Kal Penn.
Directed by John Whitesell.

A title from the familiar Christmas carol:

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

This corny Christmas offering has lots of Fa la la la la.

I am not sure whether American slang uses ‘deck’ as a word to describe hitting someone really hard. If it does, then that is what dentist, Steve Finch (Matthew Broderick) wants to do for most of the film to his new, exasperating neighbour Buddy Hall, (Danny de Vito), a car salesman. Amongst other things Buddy wants to do is to make sure his house can be seen by satellite from space so, instead of boughs of holly on his halls and walls, he sets up the most elaborate system of lights and decorations (using the Finch electricity). It is not the season to be jolly!

This is one of those comedies where the two main characters spend most of the time being cantankerous towards each other while their sympathetic wives are friends. Even the children get along. But, you know that all will be well in the end in the spirit of Christmas.

With the main emphasis on the decorations side of Christmas, it is at least better than the all time low of American Christmas spirit (Frosty the Snowman the focus of celebrations) in Christmas with the Kranks.

1. A Christmas story? Christmas comedy? The touches of meanness and rivalry? Final goodwill?

2. The title, the song, the meaning of “deck” as hitting – and the family next door as the Halls?

3. Locations, the town, homes, the ski race? Fireworks? The musical score?

4. The Finch family, optometrist, the plan for Christmas, wife and children, making their own cards, the traditions? The incoming presence of the neighbours?

5. The Halls, Buddy and Tia, the children? Moving in? Buddy stealing the newspaper and the clash with Steve?

6. The next generation, visiting, all becoming friends?

7. My Earth, the Hall house not being visible from space? Buddy being upset? His remedy, the lights, the electricity source, getting the sleigh with the horse?

8. Sleigh, Steve and his pictures, Carter getting into the sleigh, the rush through the town, into the water, freezing, the two men naked – and Buddy offering body warmth?

9. Clashes, meanness of spirit, the lights, the snow, the electricity backup?

10. The ski race, the bets, Buddy winning, Steve angry, having to buy the car? The fireworks, the rocket, the Finch house on fire, the family going to the motel?

11. Concessions all round, rebuilding, everybody’s phone offering light to the house, finding the plug, everything bright and happy Christmas ending?

STORMBREAKER/ ALEX RIDER STORMBREAKER

UK, 2006, 93 minutes, Colour.
Alex Pettyfer, Mickey Rourke, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Nighy, Sophie, Okonedo, Damian Lewis, Missi Pyle, Stephen Fry, Sarah Bolger, Andy Serkis, Ashley Walters, Ewan Mc Gregor, Robbie Coltrane, Jimmy Carr.
Directed by Geoffrey Sax.

Secret agent, Alex Rider.

While many adults have been absorbed by Ian Fleming’s novels and the James Bond films for almost half a century, younger readers in more recent times have been following Harry Potter and Alex Rider. While J. K. Rowling has a worldwide ready and waiting audience for the movies, Anthony Horowitz, the author of the Alex Rider adventures, is best-known in the UK. So, the release of Stormbreaker has more of an impact for teenage audiences than on adults. The older adult reviewers tended not to like the film, not appreciating the sensibilities of the young

What to expect? Understandably, the film’s marketeers are sick of hearing of the James Bond parallel and prefer that Alex Rider be seen as a hero in his own right. But, given the plot and the espionage action, the comparisons are inevitable. Was James Bond like this when he was 14?

At this age and stage of his life, Alex is a presentable and sturdy schoolboy. As embodied by Alex Pettyfer, he is a handsome, blonde and curly haired young British potential hero, to be imitated by the boys and something of a heartthrob for the girls. But the film doesn’t have time for that kind of emotional or sappy goings on.

The film also has a PG rating which means that the action is suitable for its audience. Violence is more suggested than actual, although Alex is not bad at some basic but effective martial arts. At first he uses his wits and a fast-paced chase through London on a bicycle. But, then, his quiet uncle (Ewan Mc Gregor) dies and he discovers that this uncle was a secret agent and had really been grooming Alex since he was little to follow in his footsteps.

When Bill Nighy (looking rather severe and pinched – maybe the effect of having that octopus on his chin throughout Pirates of the Caribbean) and Sophie Okenedo explain the truth and try to recruit him for a dangerous mission, then he is offered an entertaining (rather than deadly) arsenal of weapons by a genial Q type (Stephen Fry).

Special agents have to have a mission. A young agent has to have a mission that makes sense to teenagers. Enter Mickey Rourke (looking rather embalmed) as the villain of the piece. He is a wealthy American who went to public school in England and was bullied and mocked – which gives him his motivation for revenge. He is donating a new computer, The Stormbreaker, to every school and inviting the Prime Minister to a public ceremony to launch the online power all over the country. But he has something more sinister in mind…

So Alex Rider infiltrates the headquarters in Cornwall, discovers the secrets, combats various villains (Andy Serkis, Damian Lewis and Missi Pyle as a latter-day Nazi-type assistant). Will he save the day – of course! But how will he do it? This leads to some over the top escapades and some split-second timing. The Prime Minister is played by Robbie Coltrane who gives a speech praising ‘Education, Education…’, then forgets his line and has to sneak a peek at his notes, …Education’.

Just when you think it is all over, it isn’t and there are some more chases through central London and deadly confrontations. And skin of the teeth cliff-hangers.

There are several more books in the Alex Rider series. One hopes that the intended audience will give this film a welcome and that the producers will be encouraged to continue.

In fact, they did not.

1. The popular novels about Alex Rider? The author adapting for the screen, changing plot aspects? A brief adventure?

2. An adventure for younger audiences, boys identifying with Alex? Girls identified with him, with Sabina? Not so much an adventure for adults? Adult enjoying the range of characters and the quality cast?

3. The settings, school, homes, MI5, training camps, the villain’s lair in Cornwall, the launching of the Stormbreaker program? Action and stunts? Musical score?

4. The credibility of the plot, in the James Bond tradition, espionage and action tradition? For a 14-year-old boy?

5. Alex, his age, appearance, family background, living with uncle Ian, with the housekeeper, is attachment to her? At school? His uncle being away? His ordinary life?

6. Uncle Ian, murdered by the assassin? The intervention of Mr Blunt? The commission,? Mrs Jones and their control? The personalities? Comic and serious touches?

7. Alex, the information that he was being trained by his uncle, his disbelief? The visa threats forcing him to go to training? The SAS and the training program, the other students, Alex and his skills, growing reputation?

8. Darrius Sayle, Mickey Rourke, his appearance, face, surgery? Archvillain? The background of his story, studying in England, bullied, the American? His laboratory, his plans? Stormbreaker? The computer, into every school? His intention to destroy the students?

9. Alex, undercover, his mission, his role as competition winner? Seeing Stormbreaker? In action? The presence of Mr Grin, of Nadia Vole?

10. Nadia, the touch of the Nazi, at the dinner, searching Alex’s belongings, his phone, the lead to Chelsea? Nadia and her fight with Jack, superior strength but losing?

11. Alex witnessing the midnight delivery?

12. Alex trying to escape, the capture? Discovering what the aim of Stormbreaker was, small box capsules, in every school, the destruction of all the students? Taking Stormbreaker to the conference?

13. Alex and his capture, in the tent, the man-o’-war? The cream, his being fully equipped by Smithers?

14. The escape, breaking the tank, the man-o’-war and touching Nadia? The injection for Mr Grin? Piloting the helicopter? Alex parachuting into the meeting, the last moment, the Prime Minister ready to push the button, Alex using the rifle, destroying the machine, saving everyone?

15. Alex and Sabina, the pursuit of Sayle, dismantling his equipment, hanging from the buildings? The arrival of his uncle’s assassin, killing Sayle – but he and Alex still remaining enemies?

UNDERWORLD EVOLUTION


US, 2006, 106 minutes, Colour.
Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran, Derek Jacobi, Bill Nighy, Steven Mackintosh.
Directed by Len Wiseman.


At the end of this episode in the battle between vampires and lycans (wolf-creatures), the warrior-heroine Serena, instead of rejoicing that enemies have been destroyed and there is a possibility of peace, ominously suggests that there are dark times ahead. A signal that there will be a further film in the series.

The first Underworld was a surprising hit. Not that it was easy to follow the dark history of the emergence in the 13th century Central Europe of the conflict between the two races who could live only in the darkness of an underworld, not visible to ordinary mortals. (The present episode has an introductory explanation of the origins, a reminder of who the main characters were, the nature of their betrayals and their enmities and cruelty, as well as frequent flashback glimpses of scenes from the first film – for which I was thankful, enabling me to follow this one better.)

A prologue set in 1202 takes us back to the vampires conquering the lycans, both descended from twin brothers who were bitten by bat and wolf respectively. Betrayed by their ally (Bill Nighy who was seen to do all this in the first film), the wolf brother is condemned to eternal imprisonment. The other wants to develop a more powerful creature (who is vampiric but who flies with huge wings that can pinion the enemy – which is demonstrated many times). Derek Jacobi turns up as their father.

In the meantime, Serena, played by Kate Beckinsale in a black leather outfit and the hybrid Michael, the rather underwhelming Scott Speedman, are on a mission to save the vampire race from the mad machinating twin.

Part of the intrigue of the Underworld films is that the characters are also immersed in the contemporary world of scientific experimentation – as well as a helicopter climax.

This re-imagining of the horror genres has its exciting moments but also has its very gory moments which gain it a more restrictive rating.

1. Continuing immediately after the first episode?

2. The popularity of the series, continuing for more than a decade?

3. The atmosphere, the recreation of the Middle Ages, dark, castles, tombs, prisons? Humans, vampires, Lycans?

4. The contrast with the 21st-century world, cities and buildings, underground? Modern machines and helicopters? The musical score?

5. The characters able to move between each world?

6. Costumes, decor, light and darkness, locations?

7. The history, 1202, the Elders, the search for the Lycans, vampires, the destroyed village? William Corvinus? In prison?

8. The characters from the first film: Selene as the vampire, Michael as the Lycan, their natures, Michael and the human component? Their heritage? Not as alien as traditional vampires or werewolves, the concern about humans and having stores of blood?

9. Markus, his sleep, Kraven to kill him, the fight, Kraven’s death? Lorenz and his group of cleaners, searching out the vampires?

10. The importance of the pendant, its origins, the two halves?

11. Markus, his pursuit of Selene and Michael, their hiding in the warehouse, their love, the sexual encounter, the two parts of the pendant? Their wanting answers?

12. The history, Alexander Corvinus, the bites, the heritage, immortals and mortals, William, the Lycan animals, their development? Viktor, the bat and the bite, the tradition of the vampires? The brothers, their intrigues and deceptions?

13. Selene, her father, William’s prison, the pendant as the key? Markus and his killing her father? The death of Markus? Selene’s blood – and her drinking the blood and being reinvigorated?

14. Michael, seeming death, his revival? Markus and the bite, the cleaners and their being turned into Lycans? William and ambitions, Alexander? Markus and Viktor at their
deaths? Selene and the drinking of the blood, renewed, the role of the helicopter in the deaths of the brothers?

15. Selene, strength, and her able to being able to withstand sunlight? The readiness for the next episode?

RANGO

US, 2011, 107 minutes, Colour.
Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty, Alfred Molina, Bill Nigh, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone, Timothy Olyphant, Stephen Root, Beth Grant, Vincent Kartheiser, Gore Verbinski.
Directed by Gore Verbinski.

An animation (often quite animated) film for an adult audience rather than for children (with a PG13 rating in the US). Children might enjoy the action but it requires some sophistication, there is a lot of dialogue (more dictionary-oriented than popular) and there are frightening elements as well.

We are led into the ballad and legend of Rango by a Mariachi-group of four owls who sing and narrate throughout the film. Rango is a lizard, Amelia, not the most handsome of desert creatures, who is a would-be actor, an actual fantasist who performs with a toy fish and a broken doll’s torso – and none too convincingly. And he is voiced by Johnny Depp, a rung more coherently up from Jack Sparrow, Mad Hatter and Willy Wonka. And he has a gift for adapting from faux pas situations, quite an affected vocabulary, as has much of the screenplay, an amusing indulgence in words and meanings.

Stranded on a desert highway, Rango encounters a mentor, Roadkill, (Alfred Molina) who gives him advice about crossing to the other side. What does happen is that he lands in a town, boasts that he is a legend, and is made sheriff. They have a crisis: no water, only a bottle preserved in the bank. When Rango gives a morale-boosting speech about keeping the water untouched just in case and not drinking it (while illustrating how devastating it would be if they all drank by downing three glasses himself), we see his skill in political spin.

The crooked mayor, a turtle in a wheelchair is voiced by Ned Beatty. The villainous rattlesnake enemy is hissed by Bill Nighy. The practical iguana heroine, Beans, is Isla Fisher. There are a lot of character actor voices (Harry Dean Stanton, Abigail Breslin, Ray Winstone) and Timothy Olyphant appears as The Spirit of the West, channelling Clint Eastwood in appearance and voice and The Man With No Name. And the final credits song owes more than a small debt to the theme from Rawhide.

Which means that Rango is something of a trip. It is a literal road movie. It is the quest of an ordinary lizard to discover his inner hero. It is something of a satire on the building of Las Vegas. And, most of it is a pastiche play on Western conventions. The villains who rob the bank for the water. The posse in pursuit (and then pursued themselves by villains on birdback to the Ride of the Valkyries). The crooked mayor and his henchman (playing golf while others thirst). The gunslinger snake. The high noon confrontation. The pilgrimage to the desert to seek advice from The Spirit of the West.

Director Gore Verbinski made Mouse Hunt and The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and has an offbeat sense of humour. Writer John Logan is even more versatile with screenplays for Sweeney Todd, Gladiator, Aviator and Hugo for Martin Scorsese – and adapting Shakespeare’s Coriolanus for Ralph Fiennes.

The animation is bold and vivid for the motley characters and the desert locations. For movie buffs, it is something of a wild hoot.

1. An animation film – the impact the children, better for adults? Characters, themes, vocabulary? The work of the director and his previous films?

2. Style of animation, characters, the desert locations, the town of Dirt, action sequences? The voice cast?

3. The Mojave Desert, the look, the inhabitants, Roadkill, the armadillo and his mystical touch? The threatening hawk? The search for water? Coming to the town of Dirt, the animal inhabitants?

4. Rango, Johnny Depp and his voice, the chameleon, falling from the container, encountering Roadkill, the advice, the chase by the hawk? The encounter with Beans? The chameleon appearance, shape shifting?

5. In Dirt, presenting himself as a drifter, the Gila monster, the confrontation, the reappearance of the hawk? The water tower crushing the predator?

6. The response in the town, the mayor naming him as sheriff, the mayor as a tortoise, wheelchair? The fear of Rattlesnake Jake, and his fear of the hawk?

7. The water crisis, the absence of water, the search, finding the robbers in the desert as prospectors? The presence of Mole? The pursuit, the manager of the bank and his death? The chase of the bottle only to find there was no water?

8. The arrest of the so-called prospectors? The trial? The revelation of the mayor buying up the land? Bringing back Jake, to set up a confrontation against Rango? Rango admitting the truth?

9. The appearance of the Spirit of the West? Like the Man with No Name and Clint Eastwood voice? The wise saying: no man walks out on his own life story?

10. Roadkill, his appearance, the mystical yuccas? The discovery of the truth about the water? The mayor setting up the confrontation between Jake and Rango? The diversion for opening the valve for the water? Beans being taken as hostage? She and Rango locked in the glass vault? Jake having no bullet, Rango with the bullet? Breaking the glass? Jake and his rehabilitation that he was an okay character? The expose of the mayor, being washed away, his henchman and their golf playing?

11. The acclaim for Rango, the hero?

THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE

US, 2005, 91 minutes, Colour.
Gretchen Moll, Chris Bauer, Jared Harris, Sarah Paulson, Cara Seymour, David Strathairn, Lili Taylor, John Cullen, Matt Mc Grath, Austin Pendleton, Norman Reedus, Dallas Roberts, Victor Slezak.
Directed by Mary Harron.

This is a film where the distinction between ‘what’ is presented and ‘how’ it is presented is very important. It would be easy to dismiss this as a film about a young woman who becomes a pin-up, a nude model, a star of some underground bondage movies of the early 50s. This is, in fact, what the film is about. But, it is a very well-made film and its perspective on the notorious Bettie Page, on sex films and magazines and on the effect they have on individuals and society is a perspective to make the audience think.

Of course, someone who wants or is an addict of this kind of material will stay looking at the film’s surface and will certainly find an amount of nudity and titillation. For those who want to look beneath the surface, who appreciate character portraits, who are interested in the issues of sex, permissiveness, psychological effect of pornography and the differences between the 1950s and the present will have a lot to think about.

Bettie Page was born in 1923 to a devout Christian family in Nashville, Tennessee. There is a suggestion that she was abused by her father who eventually abandoned the family, that she experienced a brutal gang rape, that she married a violent husband. This is given as background not necessarily as cause for her decisions concerning her brief photo modelling career (1950-1957).

In fact, the point of the film is that Bettie was a very nice person, a battler but a winner. She is presented as extraordinarily ingenuous and naïve, extremely trusting of people. Invited to model for photographers and photography clubs in New York, she soon gets a reputation as an agreeable and vivacious model. This leads to nude poses and to the bondage reels which in many ways she sees as a bit of a lark to help out the tensions of highly placed and respectable men. All this time, she is quite devout, can speak about her faith in Jesus and relies on Adam and Eve being innocent and naked in Eden, only putting on clothes when they had sinned.

Gretchen Mol gives an extraordinarily nuanced performance communicating the vibrancy of Bettie’s personality.

Director Mary Herron used to make documentaries but was also a music journalist in the UK and in the US. In 1995 she directed I Shot Andy Warhol which recreated the atmosphere of Warhol’s studio and entourage, capturing the look and feel of New York in the 1960s and 1970s. She also directed the film of Brett Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, re-creating the self-centred yuppy 1980s.

With Bettie Page, she opts for black and white photography for most of the film, the look of the movies of the 50s. However, the film goes to colour for scenes in Miami and photo shoots there as well as for the religious climax when Bettie returns to Nashville. The colour is bright like the Technicolour of those days. The clips from the bondage films were designed and filmed like the 16mm reels of the time.

Many of the characters are historical personalities, from David Strathairn’s Senator Estes Kefauver who chaired a Senate Select Committee on Juveniles and Society, including the effects of pornography, to Lily Taylor’s Paula Klaw who worked with her brother making the films and who were shut down after the enquiry. Jared Harris and Sarah Paulson portray actual photographers who worked with Bettie.

The sex magazines and the bondage films look tame (for want of a better word), even absurd and simplistic, than the material that abounds now, much of which is available on the Internet.

The film reminds us that preoccupation with sex, underground material and violent sexual abuse were realities fifty years ago, not inventions of today’s permissive society. So, what are we to think about the issues? Many advocates of adult freedoms become so preoccupied with attempts to revoke those freedoms by government or pressure groups that they ignore or soft-peddle the issues of gross and crass content and the effect that this might have, especially on children and the impressionable. The debate continues. The Notorious Bettie Page is a superior film contribution to understanding of history and to the debate.

CATFISH

US, 2010, 87 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Shulman.


A documentary. What is a documentary these days? Is it an objective look at some event or issue? Try as the makers do, it will always have the point of view of the writers and directors? Does this matter? And, are the makers at liberty to ‘create’ some of the characters and events you will see? These are the kinds of questions that Catfish raises. And somebody nicely remarked on an IMDb blog that the film demands to be seen because of the excellent arguments you will have during the drive home.

And then somebody else remarked that it is the downside of The Social Contract. How does Facebook work? How valuable and real are on-line chat rooms? And how gullible have we become with all the information made available to us by Information Technology, swallowing everything like fish, hook, line and sinker?

Which means that we have to approach this story of online connections with caution and, perhaps, some scepticism.

Nev Shulman is a New York photographer whose brother and friend want to make a movie. When one of Nev’s prize-winning photos gets a response from an 8 year old in Michigan who has painted her own version of his photo, the flattered Nev follows up and becomes a regular communicator with the little girl (and her many paintings), her mother and her attractive and flirtatious sister, Megan. So far, so good for the social networks.

When Nev and co have to visit Colorado, they decide to visit Megan and surprise her. But, of course, it is they who get the surprise.

Caution with plot spoilers means that the narrative has to stop there and audiences interested will have to see Catfish in order to meet the family, get to know them and what the art work and the flirting all mean. This turns the film into more of a psychological study of the family – ultimately less dramatic than the first half of the film, but certainly interesting to those who puzzle over human nature.

So, a ‘reality’ documentary with more reality than anticipated – or less?
The film was followed by a television series.

THE BFG

US, 2016, 117 minutes, Colour.
Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Rafe Spall, Rebecca Hall, Adam Godley, Jemaine Clement, Bill Hader, Olafur darri Olafsson.
Directed by Stephen Spielberg.

It is only those who have not been readers of Roald Dahl’s stories who will not know what BFG stands for. This reviewer, who has seen film versions of Dahl’s stories but not read any, assumed that it meant Big Fat Giant – only to see Mark Rylance as BFG, not fat at all, rather the contrary, but enlightened by the young girl of the story, Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who decides that she will call him BFG, the Big Friendly Giant. And so he is.

Roald Dahl was a novelist and screenwriter (for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and even for some Hitchcock television programs) and audiences who are familiar with films for children will have seen James and the Giant Peach, Willie Wonka, Matilda, The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Esio Trot… They will know that he has quite an imagination, often with bizarre touches, sometimes having children in peril but getting through their adventures to be their better selves.

And this is the case with The BFG. It opens in London with scenes of Westminster but then goes to backstreets and a sinister building proclaiming, rather largely, Orphanage. Perhaps experts in recognising cars and their vintage will realise that this is the 1980s – but it is only later in the film when Her Majesty telephones the Reagans in Washington, getting Nancy to wake up Ron, that we know we are definitely in the 1980s.

Sophie has insomnia and tends to read under the blanket at the orphanage. Hearing voices one night, she breaks her rules of getting out of bed, looking behind the curtain, going out on the balcony where she sees BFG – who is doing his best to hide in the shadows and disguise himself so that passers-by at the witching hour, 3 am, will not notice him. He takes Sophie with him, escaping far, far north, hopping over rocks and crags and seas to the Land of the Giants, to his rather strange abode, much of which looks like a ship.

Sophie is one of those lively and plucky young girls and, while sometimes afraid, confronts BFG and gets to know him – especially as he protects her from the other Giants, an ugly and motley lot of ogres, who have an appetite for children.

BFG it seems is smaller giant, collector of dreams, distributor and dreams – which leads to his and Sophie’s going back to London, exploring her dream. Suddenly we are outside Buckingham Palace, Sophie on the ledge, her Majesty asleep, woken by her servants only to be confronted by Sophie and BFG. Her Majesty has generally been a good sport and so invites them in, provides a lavish breakfast for the starving Sophie and masses of toast, eggs, and a huge bowl of coffee for BFG.

By this stage, we are well into the swing of Dahl’s imagination and enjoy what are rather outlandish adventures. It also means, adults having to return to childhood attitudes, for everyone, including the Queen and the corgis, drinking BFG’s special drink where the bubbles go down instead of up – which means that everyone does not burp, but you know what… And the results must be one of the biggest fart sequences in cinema.

There is some more action and special effects, helicopters and SAS types following BFG and Sophie back to the Land of the Giants and a huge roundup so that everyone is safe from the poor old giants. BFG is content and Sophie finds her dream coming true.

Since a lot of the adults taking their children to see The BFG will have read Dahl during their young days, it probably means that both younger and older audiences will be satisfied.

1. The popularity of Roald Dahl and his stories, imagination, the novels, his screenplays, television work?

2. Steven Spielberg, his long career, imagination, interest in entertainment for children?

3. The impact of the film for children, larger-than-life, Sophie and identifying with her, her adventures, dangers, success? The appeal for adults, and the appeal to the imagination?

4. The special effects, 1980s London, the orphanage, visual presentation of the Giants, the Land of the Giants? BFG’s home, in action, the big fart sequence, the finale, the pursuit of the Giants, the helicopters and rounding them up? Audiences involved in the action?

5. Sophie, in the orphanage, loss of her parents, the strict matron collecting the mail, Sophie and the mail, reading in bed, wearing glasses, the noises, getting out of bed, seeing the BFG?

6. The BFG, Mark Rylance and his performance, voice, his vocabulary and mixing up words? In London, collecting dreams, taking dreams, his taking children, orphans? Seeing him in the street, his disguise, appearance, hiding? His going home, leaping over the rocks?

7. The Land of the Giants, BFG’s home, like a ship, the food in the kitchen, the bedroom, ordinary life? The other giants, ogres, their appearance, the visit to BFG, the issue of food?

8. Sophie, her reactions, fear? Talking with BFG, wanting to escape, staying? The details of life in the house, the food, hiding the cucumber…, her clothes?

9. BFG, the audience liking him, his stories about dreams, catching the dreams, distributing them, having Sophie’s dream?

10. The visit to London, outside the palace, knocking on the window, the Queen waking up, her servants? Looking out the window, seeing Sophie, BFG? The Queen’s reaction?

11. Letting BFG in, the palace guards, putting down their guns? The commander, his role with the Queen and etiquette? Mary, service of the Queen? The huge breakfast? The
Queen and her manners, Sophie and the meal? BFG and the enormous amount of food, toast, eggs, cup of coffee – his eating, enjoying it?

12. The drink, the problem of bubbles going down, the consequence of not burping but farting? The rather spectacular fart sequence?

13. The decision to go to the Land of Giants, to prevent them taking children? The helicopters, following BFG and his leaping over the rocks and the sea? Going to the north? Confronting the Giants, their dreams and BFG distributing them, their being rounded up, their survival on the faraway rock?

14. The ending, BFG and his being happy? Sophie and her return to the palace and the care of the adults?

MUSTANG

France/Germany/Turkey, 2015, 97 minutes, Colour.
Gunes Sensoy.
Directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven.

Mustang is an arresting title for a film – the image of the wild young horse which needs bridling and training. This means that Mustang is a symbolic title for this film, for five comparatively wild young sisters and the particular discipline that is imposed on them in their traditional household in northern Turkey.

This is a first film from a young Turkish-born director who has been living in France. With French and German money, she has filmed her story in Turkey itself and in Turkish.

A number of commentators have remarked on a similarity of plot with Sofia Coppola’s 1999 American story of five sisters and their strict parents, The Virgin Suicides. Future seminar organisers might screen the two films encouraging dialogue about family life, discipline, the aspirations of young women, presuppositions about how young girls should behave, especially from a conservative point of view.

The girls in this film have not appeared on screen before. They give very persuasive performances, lively at the opening of the film as the school holidays begin, they farewell a beloved teacher to Istanbul, go cavorting on the beach and in the water with a group of boys only to find themselves suspected of bad sexual behaviour, interrogated by their grandmother, punished and put under the control of their uncle. They are virtually imprisoned in the house, in their small rooms, sack -like dresses made for them and discipline being imposed on them – although, surprisingly, they do get out one day and catch the bus with young people all going to a football match.

The tradition in the house and in the village is very much that young girls must be controlled, that chastity is the overriding virtue, especially in view of their being virgins when they are married. As the film progresses, it is clear that this is the destiny for each of the girls in turn. One is able to marry someone she loves but the second daughter suffers an arranged marriage, its interrogations, formalities, and medical inspections about virginity.

There is a brief commentary every so often but this comes from the youngest girl, Lale, sometimes full of mischief, sometimes cheeky, but becoming more and more critical of the confined life of herself and her sisters. She does take some initiatives, including persuading a young man with a truck who has helped her and her sisters catch the football bus to teach her how to drive. He plays a crucial role in the resolution of the situation for the remaining two sisters.

The grandmother is severe but that is how she has been brought up and carries on traditions. the girls’ uncle, is typical enough of the authoritarian men in the town, but he is also seen going into the rooms at night of some of the sisters.

Depending on cultures, audiences will have varied perspectives on the girls themselves, their desired freedom, the impositions of their traditions. While the film is set in northern Turkey, there is no explicit mention of Islam, no quotes from the Koran, life being rather secular in terms of religious practice.

The film was one of the Oscar nominees for Foreign Language Films in 2015.

1. The title? The image for the young girls?

2. The director and her background in France? German finance? The film made in Turkey and in Turkish? Contemporary Turkish society? Conservative towns, women and their place, restrictive? The male perspective? The older women complying? The male comments about feminism? The outlook on the world – and the information and trends coming on the media, especially television?

3. The visuals of the Turkish town, the mountains surrounding, the Black Sea coast, the roads and highways, homes, neighbours? The details of ordinary life, sports matches, the traffic?

4. The narrative by Lale? Her perspective on herself, on her sisters, on the situations?

5. The introduction to the girls, end of school, uniforms, their attitudes, playful, the farewell to the loved teacher, especially for Lale? The decision to walk, along the beach, going into the water, playful, the boys, going into the orchard, taking the apples, their being warned off?

6. Arriving home, the grandmother with the neighbour’s gossip and report, with each of the girls in the room, punishing each? The reactions? Audience sympathy?

7. The uncle, his stern attitudes towards the girls, his deference to his mother? Their dead parents, their situation, expectations of them?

8. The girls being confined, the rooms, meals, the dresses looking like sacks, being locked away, eventually having bars on the windows?

9. The focus on chastity, the girls’ behaviour at the beach with the boys and their being criticised for sexual behaviour? Doctors and examinations for virginity? Male expectations for chaste wives? The older women fostering this? The effect on the girls?

10. The football matches, the decision to get out, finding Yasin and his truck, getting on board, chasing the bus, the exuberance in going to the match, their being seen on television, the aunt smashing the TV connection and the generator outside? Their quiet return?

11. Lale, leadership, cheeky, misbehaving?

12. The boy, the sign on the road and his love for Sonay? Selma, the preparation marriage, interrogations, ceremony? The contrast with Selma, the choice of her husband, his family, formalities, interviews, the ceremony, not Selma’s choice? The honeymoon? Her being sent for examination by the doctor, her promiscuous remark, her still being a
virgin?

13. The outing with the uncle, not staying in the car, the sister in the car, letting the boy come in, the sexual encounter?

14. The girl, reprimands – and her going out, killing herself? The sadness of the funeral?

15. Yasin, Lale and her decision to run away, talking, issues, return home, her later asking him to teach her to drive, her enjoyment of the experience?

16. The severity of the uncle, going to the girls’ rooms, abuse and audience attitudes towards him?

17. Nur, the plan for her to marry, the interviews, her being dressed as a bride, Lale and her helping her make decisions? To leave the party? Barricaded in the house?

18. Lale, altering her hair, making the doll and leaving it in the bed, taking the money, the two getting out, the uncle’s car keys, taking the car, phoning Yusin, waiting for him to come, his taking them to the bus station?

19. The trip to Istanbul, waking up, the address, going to the house of the teacher, their being welcomed?

20. The effect of this experience, audience response to the treatment of women, inferior, arranged marriages, sexual abuse, physical punishment?

21. The perspective of the people in the village from cultural traditions – with no explicit mention of Islam or the Koran?

CARS

US, 2005, 116 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Michael Wallis, George Carlin, Paul Dooley, Jenifer Lewis, Michael Keaton, Katherine Helmond, John Ratzenberger, Joe Hanft.
Directed by John Lasseter, Joe Hanft.

This animated feature comes from Pixar, the studio who has had continued success since the mid-1990s with the Toy Story films, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Some critics have complained that it is not as effective as the previous Pixar films, but the high US box-office indicates that it was popular.

For the first twenty minutes, I found I was not particularly enjoying Cars. Perhaps it was the world of racing cars that didn’t appeal. Perhaps it was the way that the cars were drawn, the attempt to humanise the cars. (As a matter of fact, there are no humans at all in the whole film; the crowds for the races are all cars!) I am not sure at which stage or even why I found I was enjoying the film but, by the end, I was liking it very much.

The drawing and computerisation of the cars and their action is quite extraordinary. As with the action sequences in The Incredibles, the editing and pace are what you have in a live-action movie and you forget for the moment that you are watching cartoon characters and action.

As with all Pixar films, there is a moral to learn.

Owen Wilson provides the engagingly drawling voice for Lightning Mc Queen whose ambition it is to win the Piston Cup. He finds himself lost in Radiator Springs where the townscars eventually make him welcome, where he finds true love and self-sacrifice and discovers a veteran champion, Doc Hudson (with Paul Newman’s gruff voice). His stay in Radiator Springs with the eccentric old cars in a rundown town bypassed by the freeways is entertaining. The desert and mountain scenery is quite magnificent.

But managers and the media catch up with Lightning and he has to make decisions about the race, his mean-spirited rival (voiced by Michael Keaton) and a heroic act of generosity. Selflessness wins the day.

Younger audiences might find this a bit long and, with its focus on racing cars, not so engaging. On the other hand, parents will probably enjoy it more, the human-like cars and the voices of such talented actors as Paul Newman and Owen Wilson. As with all Pixar films, you should stay for the humorous credits with the characters from so many other Pixar films.

1. The popularity of Pixar films? Reputation? Imagination? Awards?

2. The animation style, computerised? The cars as human beings, faces, voices, actions? The crowds watching the races? Audience amusement? The voice cast?

3. The Piston cup, the three-way, Weathers, Hicks, Lightnig Mc Queen, the race, their personalities?

4. Lightning Mc Queen as the central character, his hopes, to win as a rookie, the sponsorship of Rust -Eze, the prestige of the Dinco team? His crisis, the truck, sleeping, gang on the road, the traffic, in Radiator Springs, his ruining the road?

5. Lightning in court, Doc Hudson, his age, experience, past career? Dim view of Lightning, making him re-pave the road, initial lack of success, doing it over? Mater and his being friendly in prison? Sally and her defence?

6. Making the range of friends in Radiator Springs, the different kinds of vehicle, their look, trucks, tractors? The voices? Route 66 and the banishing of Radiator Springs?

7. Doc, his character, his past success, being past it?

8. The media arriving in town, Doc calling them, his motivation, wanting to promote himself? Sally, reaction, care for Lightning? Lightning leaving?

9. The new race, Doc and the people working for Lightning in the pits, his range of techniques? Hicks, mean-minded, pushing Weather? Hicks winning? Lightning pulling up, going over to Weathers, pushing him over the line? Everybody praising Lightning for his being a good sport?

10. The offer from Dinco, his refusal, his making his headquarters in Radiator Springs? Happy ending?

11. Audiences enjoying the credits with all the Pixar characters and voices?

WAKING LIFE

US, 2001, 101 minutes, Colour.
Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Richard Linklater.
Directed by Richard Linklater.

Over many decades Richard Linklater has written and directed a great variety of films, beginning with Dazed and Confused and the slacker culture, moving into more reflective films especially like Waking Life. He has used an animation style, the visuals of the characters resembling the actors who voice the characters – which can be recognised especially with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy and memories of the Before Sunrise and Before Sunset films.

While the film has a brief running time, it is packed with characters and incidents – but, more importantly, a combination of visuals and philosophical talk. It is too much to take in at one sitting, probably better viewed in small pieces, the way that it has been written and filmed.

There is a great deal of existential reflection. There is a great deal of reflection about the universe, creation and sustaining creation. The young man at the centre of the film, a 21st-century Everyman, seems to be dreaming but is also awake in his dreams, asking questions of everybody that he meets, hearing a myriad of replies, exploring the realities of existence and American living.

The characters in conversations can be very academic, they can also be quite realistic. Ultimately, there are also questions of art, religion and the interrelationships, especially about the religious dimension of films.

Richard Linklater was to continue with a wide range of films – but, especially, his project filmed over 12 years with the development of a boy to his adolescence, Boyhood.

1. The impact of the film? Animation? Voices? Philosophical ideas?

2. The title, life, life experience? The young man asleep, his dreams – his waking life?

3. The animation, characters, action, colour and style, the flow? The voice cast? The range of the musical score?

4. The prologue, the little boy and girl, numbers and puzzles?

5. On the train, the central character, a young Everyman, his dreams, the music and the practice of the school, his arrival, the lift from the man with the boat, on the street, the note, then hit by the car, in the house, breakfast? His going on his walk and meeting so many characters? The levitation view over the city and its recurrence?

6. The range of characters: the man driving the boat, crayons and colouring beyond the box, departures and arrivals? Being somewhere? The course of life?

7. The lecturer, existentialism in the 21st century, themes of hope and despair? Quotations from Jean-Paul? Sartre, years of creation, forces and fragments, implications of the soul equalling reality and action? Never write ourselves off? We are made of our own decisions?

8. The girl, the talk, language, transcending isolation, issues of frustration, anger, love, the brain and memories? Words as mere symbols? Connecting as a spiritual communion?

9. The discussion of evolution, of everything, biology, anthropology, culture? Over the years and the telescoping of evolutionary time? 21st century and seeing it in small telescope development? Digital, analogue, neuro-biology? Neo-human? New consciousness leading to purchase of truth, loyalty?

10. The man on the street, walking, filling his car, themes of chaos and dread, the role of the media, highlighting tragedies, wanting us to accept peoples? People as passive observers? Voting? For puppets on the right, on the left? Setting himself alight?

11. The couple in bed, memories of an old lady, waking life? Timothy Leary, the brain living on for 12 minutes? The role of dreams? Existing and other minds? Issues of reincarnation, a world with newer souls, population increase? Reincarnation as a political expression of collective memory? The leaps of science and art? And crosswords – and the answer is available, by telepathy?

12. The prison, coloured red, themes of torture and pain, the coarse language?

13. The discussion of free will, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas? God and foreknowledge? Laws and systems? The percentage of water – the image of the individual in water? Omniscience and freedom? The history anecdote? We are our free choices? The brain and the transition of decisions to muscles? Electrical laws? The initial Big Bang – and everything else according to the laws of physics? Probabilism versus determinism?

14. The driver, the microphone, going red, denouncing dehumanisation, systems of control, human conditioning? The 21st century not a century of slavery?

15. The old professor, saying yes to all of existence?

16. The black man, liminal experience, norms, the cosmos and paradoxes?

17. The two women, getting older, 30s and becoming more human, endless curiosity? The photo, the stories composed to give us identity? Human cells changing every seven years and yet we retain identity?

18. The monkey showing the film, noise and silence, human doubt, negating the old, creating the new? Art – and to begin again?

19. Talk of suffering, the man in the bar, lack of life too much like the suffering? The gap between geniuses and ordinary people, greater than that between chimpanzees and ordinary people? How to achieve potential? The fear of laziness?

20. The man writing the novel, no story, only people and moments? Whether the writer was in the story or not?

21. The bar, the last stop before Las Vegas? The noise, the tires, the ban on packing the tires? The shirtless man with the knife? The man at the cash register, the gun, firing, the value of carrying the gun – resulting in the mutual shooting?

22. The phone and the dream, the young man and television surfing, the range of programs, shamans? The lucid dream state, discovering the relationship to the universe and to selves?

23. The church, dreams, mind and body, the two states of consciousness, perceptual images, neurons and sleep, working perception and action?

24. Asleep in life, life is a waiting room? The man with the guitar, singing? Combining the infinite possibility of dreams with waking life? Dreams are free – life for a minimum wage?

25. The recovery of lucid dreams, controlling the dreams, the words of the Guru? Recognising the dream, sleepwalking and wake walking through dreams? Testing by hitting the light switch? On or off, 360 vision in a dream?

26. The Holy Moment? The theatre, the screen? The discussion about film? The literature, the value of story? Recounting the story, film is specific, the imagination is free? Andre Bazin, the Christian God and the reality of God? The film and God manifesting, God incarnate in film? Film a record of the changing face of God? The role of Hollywood? François Truffaut? The best scripts do not mean the best films? The look, the eyes and silence, the two heads forming clouds?

27. The four walkers, the young men, discussing society, destruction, ideology? Contrasting the is with the could be? The black man on the light pole? Action and no theory? Or the opposite, no action and/or theory?

28. The theme of suicide, drink and the devil?

29. The train carriages, dreaming that we are dead? The probing of the planets, artist excitement?

30. The two teens, the industry landscapes? Human or not?

31. The lamplight, the redhead, jostling, auto-pilot for survival? The young woman, wanting life, vivid life, the life of an ant? The confrontation between souls, according to D.H. Lawrence? Life is soap opera, living action, seeing what we want to see, asking what it is like to be a character in a dream? Dealing with a lot of people with ideas? The quality of the environment and experience? So much information imparted? Passive receiving?

32. The train, music, the bridge, the man with the curly hair? All co-authors? Alienation is exciting, participation in life more than in 100 novels – Thomas Mann? Jeanette Giacometti and his accident? The nature of self awareness?

33. The night office lights, the dream in the parking lot, we dream it as an image, a mental model? The girl at the payphone, not remembering the young man? The discussion about Billy Wilder, and Louis Malle, his dream film, losing 2 ½ million dollars?

34. Life continuing in a post portal state?

35. The supermarket, recognising the man with the boat , his not recognising? Suggestion of a parallel universe? Returning from the valley of death – and the microwaving of the burritos?

36. The older woman, life reaching, magical moments, connecting is all that matters?

37. The garden, the painter, the old lady, the arch and defence, the artist at his portrait?

38. Last words, sweep me up, the city of the night, the streets, piano, dancing?

39. The pinball alley, again the question about the man with the boat car? The discussion about false awakenings? Continued waking into yet another dream?

40. Thinking we are dead, the man at the pinball, his story about Philip K Dick, the woman and her boyfriend, the police all having the same names as in the book? Philip Dick listening to them? Dick, the issue of money, going to the gas station?

41. The discussion about the priest, Philip Dick’s story as in the book of Acts of the apostles, 50 A.D.? The allusion to time, all happening in 50 A.D.? Gnosticism, the Demon, illusion, waiting for the second coming? The dream, psychic, levitating? The discussion about Lady Gregory, the explanation of her life, her talk about the universe – and not 50 A.D.? It is now: eternity?

42. Time is the invitation to eternity? We say “not yet”, 50 A.D., not now in 2001? Life is from no to yes? The journey to embrace? Dog, dead, whose, smelly…?

43. Life is not a dream but a visitation? Being trapped in the dream? “Just wake up”?

44. The day, the city, the walk, the house, the car, shaking, levitating – into the sky and disappearing? Into heaven?