TUSK

US, 2014, 102 minutes, Colour.
Justin Long, Michael Parks, Genesis Rodriguez, Haley Joel Osment, Johnny Depp, (as Guy Lapointe).
Directed by Kevin Smith.

What to make of Kevin Smith’s new film? In fact, many critics and audiences over the years have wondered what to make of Kevin Smith himself? Cloaks, Chasing Amy, Dogma the various adventures of Jay and Silent Bob. It is definitely true to say that Tusk will not settle any questions or disputes.

It is probably best to offer a warning before the review. There will be some spoilers concerning plot characters. However, the film has some grotesque ideas, coming from mad character in the film, and the visualising of his grotesque ideas could well be disturbing. The fall shifts from comedy to touches of horror.

It all begins cheerfully enough, a lot of guffawing and giggling from Wallace and Ted, two jokers who spend their time recording pod casts and are particularly stuck on a Canadian video of a young boy who wants to imitate Kill Bill films but unwittingly amputates his own leg. The two consider this so funny, that Wallace decides to go to interview the boy. But, it does not turn out at all like this.

So, this first part of the film is both light-headed and light-hearted, with a touch of romance, although Ally (Genesis Rodriguez), Wallace’s girlfriend, reminisces about how she liked the old Wallace but does not particularly like new Wallace this offhand, joker with an eye to the money. (audiences may well get surprised to find that Ted is played by Haley Joel Osment, 15 years after The Sixth Sense).

This is whether spoilers come in. Wallace reads a letter on the wall of a urinal one, the writer inviting the reader to come to his house to listen to his adventure stories. So, what better than to hear a few before Wallace goes back to New Jersey – there are quite a number of jokes where Americans versus Canadians about pronunciations, about hockey, about Americans seeing the Canadians as fools (later, Wallace in torment, says “I don’t want to die in Canada”), and the Canadians bemused by the attitudes of the near-neighbours.

If you happen to have seen The Island of Dr Moreau in its various versions, Britannia Hospital and its story about a man and a pig, or the ugly and frightening imagination of The Human Centipede series be alert.

Justin Long, best known for comedies fits the bill for Wallace very well. And contrasts particularly strikingly with Michael Parks (who appeared to such good effect in Kevin Smith’s Red State) as the old veteran with stories to share, with a dignified vocabulary and somewhat willing to tolerate the crassness of his visitor. He tells his stories, but begins to control his visitor, and here is the definite spoiler, surgically transforming him into a walrus, calling him Mr Tusk, in memory of the walrus he encountered long since when his ship was destroyed by an iceberg and he alone, a young cook, survived.

The scenes of Wallace, trapped inside the walrus, either funny if you think that this is a humorous satire or spoof (which, of course, it is meant to be), or really disturbing if you empathise with Wallace and enter into his mind and emotions as he is doomed, trapped.

When Ally and Ted begin to track down Wallace to rescue him, they encounter this most eccentric former detective from the Canadian Surete, with the most bizarre appearance, hat, straight hair sticking out, slightly crossed eyes, with strange eating habits, who has been investigating the disappearances of a number of men. The character is called Guy Lapointe and in the credits is credited as Guy Lapointe (he did look familiar but it was only the IMDb information that revealed that Guy is actually Johnny Depp).

Over the final credits, Kevin Smith and a friend giggle and guffaw as they jokingly discuss the film. This reviewer found the levity, touches of mockery, rather incongruous to the experience we had just had, a mixture of the comic but also a rather pessimistic view of human nature.

Well, that must be Kevin Smith at this stage of his life and career.

1. Title, the tone, reality and madness?

2. Kevin Smith, his themes, the touch of weirdness, style of humour, his interest in cartoons? Science-fantasy?

3. The tradition of films of humans and animals, Island of Dr Moreau, The Human Centipede, Britannia Hospital…?

4. The portrayal of the normal: the radio studio, apartments, airports, hire cars, diners?

5. The portrayal of the abnormal: Pippy Hill, the Gothic mansion, grounds, interiors, the range of rooms, the basement, the pool, and underwater
photography? The final Museum?

6. The range of the musical score, classical music, pop songs?

7. The American and Canadian jokes, pronunciations, hockey, Americans looking down on Canadians, the bemused Canadians?

8. Justin Long’s performance, the ‘Not-See’ site (not Nazi)? The jokes, Teddy and friendship, the preparing of the pod casts, the Kill Bill video and their mocking it? Lifestyle, tone?

9. Ally, relationship with Wallace, the comment on the old Wallace, the new Wallace, not liking the new Wallace? the ups and downs of the relationship? The phone calls, her concern, with Ted, the search, re-tracing the steps, interviewing people? Lapointe? Visiting the Museum two years later, the fish treat for Wallace, their dismay and the future?

10. The Kill Bill video, the boy cutting off his leg, their wanting this for a pod cast, going to Canada, finding that the boy had killed himself? Plans, going to the toilet, seeing the letter, phoning Howard, travelling, driving, the two girls at the diner and his mockery, driving the two hours, Howard and his receiving Wallace?

11. Wallace, his motives, talking with the jokes and stories, crass, Howard’s reaction, the tea, the story of the spider bite, collapse?

12. Howard’s story, in the wheelchair, discussions, is elegant vocabulary, not wanting to be crass? The walrus story? The flashbacks, the young man, naval experience, the destruction of the ship, Howard surviving, the rock, talking to the walrus?

13. The true story about Howard, institutions, the physical and sexual abuse, years, the authorities, escape, the Navy?

14. Guy Lapointe, his appearance, eyes, hat, accent, his obsessions, the meeting with Ally and Ted, the diner, his food, eating it, stories, the Surete, the story of the baseball player, interviewing Howard, Howard and his backwoods accent, the story of the player disappearing? Discovering his body, the
information about the skin, speculation about the number of killings?

15. Wallace, losing his other leg, no feeling in his arms, desperate? Howard destroying the mobile phone? Yet Wallace find it, the messages to Ally and Ted?

16. The descent into brutality and madness, Howard and his being able to walk, the surgical procedures on Wallace, transforming Wallace into a walrus? Howard’s sadistic games, pushing Wallace into the water, allegedly teaching him to swim, Wallace seeing the other drowned walruses? Howard giving him
the fish?

17. Audiences trying to empathise with Wallace and his experience, not deserving it, trapped forever, pessimistic?

18. Wallace and his rage and madness, his attack on Howard, killing him?

19. The pessimistic perspective of the film? Wallace and walrus sounding similar?

20. Kevin Smith and his associate and the conversation during the final credits, the touch of mockery, spoiling the effect of the whole? Trying to understand Smith’s intentions in making the film?

MY ENEMY’S ENEMY

France, 2007, 87 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald.

A documentary to catch particularly if one is interested in the stories of Nazis who committed atrocities and their escape to another life after the war (especially in Latin America) and dreamed and/or plotted for the rise of a Fourth Reich. It is the history of Klaus Barbie.

For someone who remembered a little of the treatment of Barbie in 1987 for his crimes against humanity as ‘the Butcher of Lyon’, it came as something of a shock to learn of his being protected and being used as a source of information by anti-Communist US secret agencies, let alone his 30 years in Bolivia, his contacts with ex-Nazis in hiding (though not unknown to authorities) and his part in the 1979 coup in Bolivia.

The film uses a great deal of interesting archival footage and intercuts a series of interviews from historians and journalists who investigated Barbie.

When his trial is shown, we hear some harrowing stories and see Barbie’s calm exterior and presence in the dock and his short address to the court urging them to forget and leave the past in the past.

Any account of Nazi cruelty and torture is disturbing but this portrait and study of Barbie is intelligently forceful. And for those of us (despite Ludlum, Forsythe and Jack Higgins) find it still hard to believe that government agencies in the real world are corrupt, manipulative and believe the end justifies the means, the stories of governments (especially the US government) using war criminals with impunity is still shocking and scandalous. But, then what about Saddam against Iran, Pinochet against Allende, the Taliban against the Russians in Afghanistan?

The film (basically a French production in French) was directed by top documentary maker, Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September, Touching the Void) who moved into feature film-making with The Last King of Scotland.

The extraordinary defence lawyer (who has to be heard to be believed but who makes many valid criticisms of governments) is Jaques Verges whose long and strange career defending the almost indefensible is the subject of Barbet Schroder’s must-see documentary, Terror’s Advocate.

FROSTBITEN (FROSTBITE)

Sweden, 2006, 98 minutes, Colour.
Petra Neilsen, Carl Ake Eriksson.
Directed by Anders Banke.

Vampires in Sweden, in the winter dark of Lapland (‘dawn is a month away’, chuckles one of the living dead)! Well, if they can be at home in Transylvania and in Whitby, why not in the Arctic circle?

This is a tongue in both cheeks blend of the serious and the comic. The dark prologue is a World War II battle in Ukraine where German soldiers encounter the vampires – suggesting as a symbol the consequences of Nazi eugenic experimentation. The main action is set in a contemporary small town where there is an institution with an expert on genetics. A doctor decides she wants to work there and drags her unwilling daughter along. The daughter finds the town boring – as do most of the teenagers who take to drugs for enjoyment. The drug addiction also has some symbolic suggestions for the director – an analogy for the insatiable blood addiction of the vampires.

Well, the town has some dire secrets – which do have a connection with the wartime opening – and the teenagers become the living dead. The poor police don’t know how to cope. The doctor undergoes some distress and more. The genetics expert is not what everyone thinks – and there is a twist at the end.

For those who follow the vampire genre this is a must with its Arctic variations – and vampires who owe more in their makeup and effects to Nosferatu than to Christopher Lee (whom the director acknowledges as an inspiration when he watched Hammer horror films on TV in his youth).

ALWAYS LEAVE WITH THEM LAUGHING

US, 1949, 116 minutes, Black and white.
Milton Berle, Virginia Mayo, Ruth Roman, Bert Lahr, Alan Hale, Jerome Cowan.
To read Directed by Roy Del Ruth.

Always Leave Them Laughing is a star vehicle for Milton Berle who had been performing on stage and in film since the mid-1930s. While he made some films, including It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World, television was his right place for many decades. He was extraordinary popular in the United States as well as outside.

This is a story about a self-centred performer, Kip Cooper, trying to make his mark in vaudeville and burlesque, putting others down, tracking down agents and entrepreneurs, intruding, getting some breaks. With his admiration for the actor played by Bert Lahr (the cowardly lion of the Wizard of Oz), he gets an opportunity to understudy and perform in rehearsals out of town. However, the actor wants to perform but collapses during his act, which has a temporary effect on Cooper.

In the supporting cast is Virginia Mayo as the actress who works with Bert Lahr, barely tolerates Kip Cooper and clashes with him. By contrast there is Ruth Roman as the would-be dancer, having an opportunity to dance, loving Cooper but experiencing being discarded and used by him.
Appearing as the entrepreneur is Jerome Cowan who 12 years earlier had played a similar entrepreneur in New Faces of 1937.

1. The first half of the 20th century, entertainment, burlesque, vaudeville, radio, television? From the 1949 perspective?

2. Milton Berle, as a comedian, television personality, in film, his long career? Popularity in the US and beyond?

3. The title, the slogan for comedy?

4. Kip Cooper, his age, career up until this point, his hopes? Egoistic, determined, ruthless? His care for Fay yet betraying her? Nancy and competitiveness? Eddie, admiration, stand-in, doublecross? His character, repartee? Ultimate success on television?

5. His early performances, hogging the stage, his attitude towards the girls, flirtatious yet putting them down? The attraction to Fay, talking, meeting, family, her mother, possibilities for love? Her character, help, self-effacing, her ordinary life, work?

6. The world of agents, deals, Sam and his influence, producers and entrepreneurs, Elliot Montgomery, Kip intruding, his bravado?

7. Eddie Eagan, Bert Lahr and his reputation, burlesque and stage routines from the 20s, repeated in the film? Memories of The Wizard of Oz and the cowardly lion? The introduction to Kip, Kip’s admiration, Eddie and his collapse? Kip’s reaction, entering as stand-in, his work with Nancy, on stage, off-stage and the clashes? His self-importance? The rehearsals out of town, his use of Eddie’s routines and his own variation? Eddie and his recovery, wanting to go on, Kip’s self-centred reaction? Eddie and his performance, collapse, death? Kip’s reaction? Interviews?

8. The range of performances, specialty acts, old-time burlesque and routines? In the 1940s? In retrospect?

9. The meetings with Nancy, her aggressive attitude towards Kip, her relationship with Eddie, her own career?

10. The television job, Kip and the camera, the performances, the advertisements? The audience response? Fay, possibilities for the future? Would Kip ever change?

DESPERATE SEARCH

US, 1952, 73 minutes, Black and white.
Howard Keel, Jane Greer, Patricia Medina, Keenan Wynn, Robert Burton, Lee Aaker. Linda Lowell, Elaine Stewart.
Directed by Joseph Lewis.

Desperate Search is an MGM supporting feature of the early 1950s, giving a non-singing role to its main male star, Howard Keel. He appears as a pilot, a grumpy and sometimes alcoholic pilot, who has split with his first wife, also a competitive pilot, played by Patricia Medina. He has married Jane Greer and the couple look after Patricia Medina’s children. Keenan Wynn is along as another buddy character. The children are played by Lee Aaker, child star for 15 years. ‘s sister is played by Linda Lowell, one of the worst performances by a child actor.

The film was directed by Joseph Lewis, best known for My Name is Julia Ross and Gun Crazy. This is a straightforward film about the search for the children and the clashes of the adults.

1. An entertaining short film? Straightforward story? The children, lost, coping? The clash of the adults?

2. The British Columbia scenery, in black and white, the headquarters for the flight company, the mountains, forests and lakes? The episode with the cougar? Musical score?

3. Vin, the divorce from Nora, their competitiveness, his drinking, his marrying Julie, custody of the children, six weeks in British Columbia? His grumpy personality? Sure of his own ideas, hunches? Julie, pleasant, supportive, challenging? Her love for the children, not hers? Seeing the children off on the plane?

4. The children, Don and his responsibility, Juliet and her complaining? On the plane, with the prisoner handcuffed to the Deputy? The flight attendant? Scared? Preparation for the crash?

5. Vin and Julie, the flight controller, the information from the plane, on fire, crashing? The fact that only the children survived?

6. The children, getting out of the plane, the little girl hungry, Don doing his best? Tracking down to the lake for their father? Setting fires? Going back for the food? The threat of the cougar, Juliet going into the lake for safety? The threats, climbing the trees, with the sticks, the animal fighting back? Vin and his eventually killing the animal?

7. Julie phoning Nora? Nora coming? Her reputation? Brandy and his dislike of Nora? Nora and her personality, the competition with Vin, the collapse of the marriage? Her attitudes towards Julie? Julie forcing her to agree to ask for Vin being able to fly?

8. The superintendent, the map, estimates where the plane crashed? Not wanting to lose a plane to find a plane? His dealing with the group? His understanding Vin’s anger?

9. The flights, Brandy as a good friend, accompanying him? The long hours flight, the need to sleep, the superviser and Vin’s hunches as to where the children were?

10. Nora and her plane disabled? Vin taking hers? The flight, with Julie, finding the children, rescuing them?

ADVANCED STYLE

US, 2013, 72 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Lina Plioplyte.

The niche audience for this documentary is probably women in their 90s or, perhaps more generously, women in their 80s or late 70s. Not that other audiences might not enjoy it, but it is a film for a feminine sensibility of whatever gender.

Ari Cohen, something of a flamboyant, at least flamboyantly dressed, photographer says he has been influenced by his grandmothers and wanted to keep in touch with their sensibilities by photographing women over 50, especially those who, in the New York streets, also dressed flamboyantly, drawing attention to the styles of their costumes and hats, as well as their poses and styles as they walked along the streets.

Cohen was impressed, and we see him interviewing a number of these elderly women in the streets, flattering one by suggesting that she was 50 when she admits to 60. And he started a blog which had many, many, many hits to see his gallery of photos.

Collaborating with photographer-director, Lina Plioplyte, he selects a number of the women, those who have very strong personalities and were able to present instantly to camera. These women are certainly articulate, very New York or very New England, unabashed in relating their life stories, and taking absolute delight in explaining their ensembles or, in their words, their outfits.

Aficionados of fashion will find the film very interesting, visually striking, and humanly both serious and humorous. Cohen takes the women to a fashion show which they revel in. He also takes them to a television studio where they strut their stuff and give interviews on the Ricky Lake Show.

A macho audience, or a semi-macho audience, or a semi-semi macho audience, might find the film a bit trying, not to their taste or interest.

One can admire Cohen’s enthusiasm. One can be impressed by the women and their vitality, and realise that if one able if one is able to take interest in one’s life and surroundings, then the 80s and then 90s will be especially lively.

THE STONE OF DESTINY

UK/Canada, 2008, 96 minutes, Colour.
Charlie Cox, Kate Mara, Stephen Mc Cole, Kieran Kelly, Billy Boyd, Robert Carlyle, Peter Mullan, Brenda Fricker.
Directed by Charles Martin Smith.

The kings and queens of England have been crowned at Westminster Abbey, sitting on the throne under which sits the Stone of Scone or the Stone of Destiny. This has happened since the 14th century. Most people take this for granted. But the Scots are not most people. And this is a Scots story, a political story, a patriotic story that will have most (all?) Scots on its side – and a lot of those whom the British considered (and still consider) colonials. This review shares that experience!

Charles Martin Smith seems a strange choice for writer and director of this film. An actor for almost forty years (especially in American Graffiti and Never Cry Wolf) and a director for film and television, he is an American and Smith does not sound particularly Scottish. But, he has written and made the film with Scots zest, a Canadian/British co-production.

This story of stealing the Stone took place in 1950 and is based on a book, written almost immediately afterwards while it was still fresh in his memory, by the planner and executor of the taking of the stone, Ian Hamilton, who became a QC and advised on this production in his 80s.

The film opens with rowdy and enthusiastic speeches about a Covenant for Scotland which had been part of the Union since 1705. The rector of Glasgow university, played with dignity and fierce belief by Robert Carlyle, played a key role in promoting the Covenant which was rejected by Westminster. Several students are incensed and consumed by patriotism, especially Ian Hamilton (played with charm and ego by Charlie Cox).

This was one of those 'robberies', planned by enthusiasts (visits to the Abbey, discovering information about security, drawing maps, practising lifting...) who were not professionals at all. Much of the film is about the stealing of the stone – and all the unforeseen things that make it go wrong. Except, that they really did steal it and brought it back to Scotland. (However, it was back in the Abbey for the coronation event of 1953.)

The film is colourful, has attractive Glasgow and Scots countryside scenery and looks quite authentic in the sequences at Westminster Abbey, both inside and out.

The supporting cast act with enthusiasm and, apart from a Scots and rebel-minded audience, it may just be another caper story (especially for the English?), but it is a pleasantly entertaining recreation of a moment of history.

1. Scots as the niche audience? The response of a British audience? Non-British? Audiences from former British colonies? The British characters – with touch of caricature?

2. The Scottish settings, Edinburgh, Parliament, University, the city itself, the beautiful Scottish countryside?

3. The sequences in London, the interiors of Westminster Abbey (the Abbey actually used)?

4. The musical score and atmosphere, evoking the Scots?

5. The film based on a true story, Ian Hamilton, as a student in the 1950s, his patriotism, his plan, recruiting his friends, the stealing of the Stone, burying it
in a field in Kent? Later to Scotland?

6. The credibility of the plot, despite its being based on a true story? The ambitions about the Stone of Destiny, the planning of the robbery, the execution?

7. John Mc Cormick, the preparation of a Covenant with England? The failure of the Covenant? John and his passion, communicating it? Giving financial
backing to the plan?

8. Ian, his age, character, from Glasgow? From the 1950s? As an undergraduate, the plan, his motivation? The discussions with his friend, Bill, and his agreement to help? His going to London, studying the Abbey, the interiors, the possibilities for retrieving the Stone? Bill and his not wanting to continue? Ian and Kay, her being supportive? Gavin and Alan, their joining in the plan, the car to London?

9. The details of the plan, the maps, the surveillance? The initial attempt, Ian staying in the Abbey after closing, taken by a nightwatchman, considered to be a vagrant and getting away?

10. Regrouping in Glasgow, Kay becoming ill, her continued support of the plan?

11. The execution of the plan, Christmas Day, getting the Stone, its breaking?

12. The media response, public response in Scotland?

13. The hiding of the Stone, the field in Kent, their going back to Scotland, the return for the Stone, the irony of finding it in the possession of Travellers? Alan
and his being able to persuade the Travellers to give it back?

14. The Stone taken to Arbroath Abbey, the police arriving, taking the group?

15. And the Stone returned to London?

THE LITTLE DEATH

Australia, 2014, 97 minutes, Colour.
Josh Lawson, Bojana Novamovich, Damon Herriman, Kate Mulvaney, Patrick Brammal, Kate Box, Alan Dukes, Lisa Mc Cune.
Directed by Josh Lawson.

Quite a while ago, actually in a theology class, we were told that everything human, everything finite, could be the subject of humour. Otherwise it would become something of an idol, placed on a pedestal and needing to be toppled. That included sex and sexuality – and we were reminded of the tradition of Rabelaisian humour. Writer-director, Josh Lawson, was not born at the time that we received this advice, but it is something like this that he has in mind in his screenplay for The Little Death.

The Little Death, as we are reminded at the opening of the film, is from the French Le Petit Mort, which is a poetic way of referring to orgasm. This is a film of several episodes, some of them intercutting, where we are introduced to each of the couples by name. Already with the first story, Paul and Maeve (Josh Lawson himself with Bojana Novakovic). She confides to her husband that one of the fantasies that sometimes preoccupy is her is that of being raped. Paul is rather shocked, as many of the audience might be, especially the female audience identifying more readily with the character of Maeve. The fantasy is accepted, with a challenge to Paul – with some moments of apprehension and some moments of embarrassed laughter.

After that, the different sexual fantasies, the technical name and description put up there on the screen, are more laid back. For Richard and Rowena (Patrick Brammal and Kate Box), Rowena finds that she is stimulated by Richard’s tears, noted at the time of his father’s death, which means that she puts pictures of his father around the house, pretends that his pet dog has run away, and tries to get him weeping until final confrontation.

Confrontations are standard for (Alan Dukes and Lisa Mc Cune portraying something of a harridan wife). It emerges that he is aroused only when he sees his wife sleeping, which means that he has wide awake nights which have repercussions on his sleeping at his job, irritating his boss (Lachy Hulme) threatened with the sack – and his story not ending happily.

There is more humour to be had with Daniel and Evie (Damon Herriman and Kate Mulvaney) had been recommended by their counsellor (Zoe Carides) to be more experimental in their relationship. They decide to go for roleplays, she sometimes getting the gigles, remarking about his acting abilities, which he takes ultra-seriously and get acting classes.

The odd character is Steve (Kym Gyngell) knocking on everyone’s door, newly moving into the suburb, bringing everyone a gift, a box of biscuit golliwogs, and to announce that he is a registered sex offender and is obliged to let them know. Those who open the door are more preoccupied with their own questions to give Steve much notice, except remember remark on the racist nature of golliwogs. To say that the offender is crucially involved in the ending does not give anything of what happens rather it is an alert for the audience to be ready for it!
There are many laugh out loud moments and bits of dialogue which means that the audience is focusing on farcical aspects of sex and putting this kind of perspective on taking sexual behaviour too seriously.

It is the same with the final story, which does not seem part of the whole, but one of those sequences about phone sex. A hearing-impaired man uses a video relay company to make his phone calls. Monica, who has shift-work for this kind of work, is a very nice and proper person, concerned about growing hearing-loss. She takes Sam’s call which is to phone a sex company. It is the old joke of the unlikely individual on the other end of the line who is also preoccupied caring for her mother with dementia. She has to sign the questions for Sam, relaying them, as well as the answers. This story ends more positively with Sam obviously liking Monica.

And then there is a sudden ending, bringing some of the stories to a connection which, definitely, we and the characters were not expecting.



1. The title, meaning, sex, sexual experience?

2. The Australian settings, the Australian term, sense of humour? Homes, offices, counselling, and insects, the streets, the musical score?

3. The story, the names of the couples, introductions, indicating their stories, the addition of the phone sex story and the ironic resolution?

4. Josh Lawson, writing and directing, his central role as Paul?

5. Humour in sex, funny, ironic, not to be taken too seriously? The farcical touches?

6. Paul and Maeve, ordinary, the characters, in love, at home, the fantasy of rape, a reaction to this suggestion, female reaction? Real or not? The discussions about the fantasy, Paul and his hesitation, asking his friend about it? Maeve and her reactions? The attempts, friendly because she recognised him? The dinner, the gift of the earrings, the parking lot, the men in the attack, audience response to this ugly situation, the reality and the fear? The irony that Paul was paying the actors? His taking over, Maeve knocking him out? In hospital, Maeve going along with the story? The proposal? The visit of the sex offender and Maeve not taking much notice?

7. Daniel and Evie, going to the counsellor, the tension between them, trying something new, the dramatic stories and scenarios, the doctor and the nurse, the prison sequence, Evie remarking how Daniel was acting, his becoming obsessed with this, going to classes, Evie and her pregnancy, the impossibility for him to listen? Forgetting the appointment with the counsellor? The sex offender at the door and his perfunctory reaction? His performance, wanting Evie to respond, her failing to communicate with him? Leaving?

8. Richard and Rowena, the tensions at home, the sexual encounters, Rowena being upset? Richard and his work, his father dying, his crying, Rowena’s reaction to this? Putting pictures of his father round the house, giving the dog to Maeve to mind and its running away? The notices and her saying she put them up? His finding them in the rubbish? The continued lies? Her pregnancy, leaving?

9. Phil and the tension with his wife, her being something of a harridan when awake? Sleeping at his job, the threats from his boss? Giving him the pills, his wife taking them by mistake, sleeping, his sexual arousal, more pills, awake during the night, sleeping at work, getting the sack, his lies to his wife? Going out, in the car, the crash?

10. Monica, her hearing difficulties, at the video relay centre? Her boss? Taking the call from Sam, his being deaf, their both signing, yet his being able to read her lips? The sex call, Monica’s reaction, the responder at the other end of the phone, looking after her mother, his impatience? The details of the sexual encounter questions, Monica and her embarrassment? The responder hanging up? Monica having to feel the calls, the effect on her?

11. Monica, going to her car, having trouble, the sex offender and his offering her a lift, his getting out to fix the car, being knocked down by Phil, Monica not hearing?

12. The overall effect, the very funny lines and sequences? The subject, the treatment, the couples, real problems and their definitions plus the farcical touch?

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

US/UK, 2008, 95 minutes, Colour.
Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, David Heymann, Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon.
Directed by Mark Herman.

This is a children’s film, in the sense that it is about small children (as well as adults) and much of it is directed towards small children (age eight and upwards). This does not mean that it is an easy or delightful entertainment for an outing. Rather, this is a message film, a strong message through a story and characters that they can understand, whom they will feel with. It would be good for parents and children to see this film together. It is also one of those films which would be helpful in a school or discussion situation.

It is a Holocaust film.

The Holocaust took place over sixty years ago but it is a 20th century event that should never be forgotten. This was in the mind of the novelist who wrote the story, Irishman John Boyne (born in 1971). For him, the internment and extermination of millions of Jews was something that happened a long time ago. He wrote the story to remind his readers of the horrors so that this should not happen again. This is the intention of the film-makers, especially the writer-director, Mark Herman (who also made Brassed Off and Little Voice).

It seems important to remember that the story is one that is seen from an 8 year old's point of view. He does not understand what is going on. He thinks that the camp that he can see from his window is a farm and the farmers wear strange clothes, like pyjamas. We see the camp from his limited point of view and, to that extent, the 'realistic' details can be criticised as 'unrealistic'. Adults looking at the film, especially the reconstruction of the camp without too many watchtowers and parts of the fences left unguarded, may be dissatisfied. But that is not the point. This is a fable for children about friendship and the ugliness of cruel power and prejudice.

The little boy, Bruno (Asa Butterfield), is the son of the camp commandant (David Thewliss quietly menacing). The family has moved from Berlin to the camp, to a big house beyond the fences and the boy is lonely without his friends. There is a strange servant in the house, also wearing pyjamas, who is kind to him, a doctor who now peels potatoes and works the garden. Bruno cannot understand why Pavel (David Heyman, the producer of the film) has given up being a doctor for this.

Bruno loves exploring. Which brings him, without his parents knowing, to the camp fence where he sees Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), an 8 year old internee. Bruno asks all kinds of questions about Shmuel and the camp, innocent even naïve questions. Friendship blossoms but, at one crucial point, where Shmuel is working in the house, Bruno denies that he knows Shmuel and accuses him of stealing the food that Bruno had secretly given him. The boys have to work through this betrayal to forgiveness and some atonement.

Vera Farmiga portrays the children's mother – Bruno has a 12 year old sister who embraces the Nazi ideology unquestioningly. The mother thinks that the camp is just a labour camp but is puzzled by the smoke and smell from the chimneys. The adjutant makes a casual remark about the furnaces and what they are really for. This creates a dilemma for the mother and her relationship with her husband (whose father, Richard Johnson, supports his son's necessary work but whose mother, Sheila Hancock, strongly disapproves).

The dialogue does not downplay the bigotry, the arrogance and the ignorance of the Nazi beliefs and aims. The children's father and their tutor mouthe the prejudices without a second thought. The tutor remarks, ironically, that the greatest exploration would be to discover a good Jew. That becomes something of Bruno's goal. Together with Shmuel, he tries to achieve it.

A warning that the ending is not what audiences will expect and is quite disturbing and may need parents' and teachers' help and explanations for some children to deal with it.

1. The impact of the film? On children? Adults? Memories of the Holocaust? Other Holocaust stories, like Life is Beautiful?


2. The re-creation of the period, the 1940s, Germany, homes, the concentration camps?

3. The title, the focus on Shmuel? Bruno eventually in the striped pyjamas? The uniform of the concentration camp?

4. The opening in Berlin, Bruno aged eight, his father, German officer? His mother and Bruno’s love for her?

5. The officer promoted, the transfer, the old country house, the military staff? Bruno and Gretel, their classes, Nazi indoctrination? Herr Liszt, his anti-Semitism, his harsh manner? The result for Bruno, his confusion? Gretel’s eagerness?

6. The camp, Bruno thinking it a farm, his seeing Shmuel, Shmuel seeing him? The striped pyjamas, the shaven head, the barb wire fence? Shmuel and his mother’s death, his experience in the camp, his not understanding what the concentration camp meant?

7. Bruno’s mother, not realising the nature of the concentration camp, the discovery, the reaction of her husband? His coldness but kindness at home? The parents arguing? Lt Kotler, his informing the mother, the husband humiliating him, Kotler beating the Jewish servant, Bruno witnessing this? His father’s work at the camp, the executions?

8. Bruno and Shmuel becoming friends? The ages, the bonds? Bruno thinking that the camp was a kind of game? Shmuel coming to work in the house? Cleaning the glassware? Kotler and his catching the boys? Shmuel claiming Bruno as his friend, Bruno’s fear, denying it?

9. Shmuel vanishing, Bruno seeing him again, at the fence, Shmuel having been beaten? Renewing the friendship?

10. The father, upset with his wife’s collapse, his decision to send the family away?

11. The effect on Bruno, that he would not see Shmuel again? His digging under the fence, getting into the camp, getting dressed in the striped pyjama uniform, the two boys being rounded up, the other inmates and their all being marched to the gas chamber?

12. Harrowing ending for the story, its making its message about Nazis and the Holocaust, and other manifestations of this kind of oppression all the sadder because of its focus on the two boys?

ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN

Ireland, 1989, 85 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Burt Reynolds, Vic Tayback, Judith Barsi, Dom de Luise, Loni Anderson.
Directed by Dan Kuenster, Gary Goldman.

All Dogs Go To Heaven is the work of former Disney animator, Don Bluth. He and a group broke away from the Disney studios in the late '70s and produced a number of animated features including An American Tale, Land Before Time.

This is a popular dog story which also has a little girl as heroine. It is a piece of Americana - and the story of an American rascal dog, his awkward comic companion as well as a villainous dog. The film also shows the values of kind-heartedness and the possibility of redeeming oneself. However, it is all done lightly and entertainingly. There are also a number of songs.

The main voice talent is that of Burt Reynolds as Charlie Barkin. The dog has many of Reynolds' characteristics and style. This also gives Reynolds the opportunity to sing a number of songs. Itchy, his friend, is portrayed by Reynolds' friend Dom DeLuise?. The villainous Carface is voiced by Vic Tayback.

An enjoyable animated film - though not in the league of Disney's best.

1. Enjoyable animated film? For family audiences?

2. The style of the animation: drawing, use of colour? Design? Musical score and songs? The voice talents?

3. The American plot, dogs, echoing of the gangster movies? The humans - and romantic themes?

4. Charlie and Itchy: the initial escape, the tunnel, the water? The encounter with Carface? The break with him and his betrayal? Death, heaven? The possibilities? Charlie finding Anne Marie, taking her, her ability to pick winners, talk to horses? The sequence in the wrecked car? Not wanting to be kissed? The racetrack, the horse race and the win? Picking the pocket? The three with overcoat placing the bet? The setting up of the club, the success, the clientele? Anne Marie feeling that he had betrayed her? Going to the parents? Carface and the other dogs, the attacks, the alligator? The explosions? Charlie helping Anne Marie? His dying - the appearance of the Devil, the heavenly spirit? His saying farewell to Anne Marie? Going to Heaven? Burt Reynolds and his manner, style, humour? Songs?

5. Itchy and his incompetence, humour, sharing all the experiences with Charlie? Sad at the end, looked after by Anne Marie?

6. Anne Marie and Carface, the orphan, with Charlie, loving him, in the back of the car, talking, the need for parents? Talking to the horses, the bet, the winning? The disappoint? Taking the wallet back? Encountering the loving couple? Charlie buying her the dresses, the collage of the new clothes? The dangers? Carface? The threat to her life, Charlie saving her? His farewell? Her happiness with her parents?

7. Carface as the villain, his look, his betrayal, the dogs as the henchmen? His cruelty? Anne Marie? Attacking Charlie and Itchy? Following them, the attacks, the alligator and his death?

8. The crooked dogs, working with Carface, their cruelty, trying to kill Charlie and Itchy, their comeuppance?

9. The attractive parents, romantic, the racetrack, the encounter with Anne Marie, her going to the house, the returning of the wallet, their concern? Reunited with her?

10. The insertion of the songs, the variety of moods, revealing characters? Love, happiness? The musical alligator - and memories of Esther Williams' movies?

11. The overall appeal of the film? Plot and characters? Animation design? Songs? Attractive for children? Families? Adults?