TU SERAS MON FILS (YOU WILL BE MY SON)

France, 2011, 102 minutes, Colour.
Niels Arestrup, Lorant Deutsch, Patrick Chesneis, Ann Marivin, Nicolas Bridet.
Directed by Gilles Legrand.

An impressive French drama. Set in the beautiful and fruitful Provence countryside, a vineyards town, this is a family story as the title suggests.

It can be said that those tempted to see the film principally because of the vines, the harvests, the production of the wine – and the tasting and descriptions of the taster – will be satisfied. The audience will really feel as if they have been living the French tradition and its modern developments.

But, the family…

Paul is the patriarch, from a long line of wine producers. He is played by Niels Arestrup who has been making a strong impression in recent years and in his senior years with performances as different from the prisoner in Un Prophete and the grandfather in War Horse. Paul lives for his wines. They fields and vines are his kingdom. But, his son, Martin - not only does he not like him, he despises him, putting him downas often as he can, meanly, sometimes in pettiness, but always with the intention that his son will not succeed him even though he wants an heir from Martin and his wife (who can stand up to the old man).

The complication comes with another father and son. Francois (Patrick Chesnais) has been Paul’s manager for many years, with skilled knowledge and experience of all aspects of wine. He is a confidant of Paul but can never be his equal. Francois’ son, Philippe, has been working in vineyards in California. He has developed many skills himself and is not lacking in confidence. When his father becomes fatally ill, he returns home.

While he has been Martin’s friend, he finds himself being asked by Paul to do more and more for him. It is clear that, in the words of the title, Paul is indicating to Philippe, ‘you will be my son’ and acts accordingly.

How can this be resolved? Not In the way we might have expected, so that there is a highly dramatic ending which we (morally uncomfortably) will sympathise with.

1. The power and the drama? Characters? Themes?

2. Provence, the beauty of the vineyards, the extent? The musical score, atmospheric?

3. The old town, the homes and their modern style? The production of the wine?

4. The portrait of Paul: his age, appearance, the history of the generations, his discovery that he was adopted, his devotion to his father, his alienation at first, boarding school, distant, returning home, the three months with his father, his father confiding the secrets of the vineyard and production, his death? The dying in the vat, the lies about the quality of the wine, the risk to production, his ritual of sprinkling the ashes in the wine? His pride in his heritage? His attitude towards Martin, demands on him – and the contrast with his own life as the son of his father?

5. The skills, his achievement, his financial worth, the issue of trade, the contracts, the trade deals? His hands-on work, supervision? The stores, the quality of the wines, his knowledge, analysis? His taste? His reliance on Francois over the years? Obsessed with his vineyard?

6. His wife and her death, the difficult birth of Martin, her being sickly, Paul blaming his wife’s death on Martin? Her care and exhaustion?

7. Martin, the opening, the cremation of his father, the comment on the wood, the flashbacks?

8. Martin and his life, his extensive study, his practical expertise, his marriage, relationship with his wife, their renting the house from his father, his age, his hopes?

9. Paul’s treatment of Martin, ignoring him, putting him down, ridiculing him, not promoting him to the jobs? Confiding the secrets of the family? His continued critique? His dislike of Martin’s wife, their clashes, his wanting to have a grandchild?

10. Francois, his illness, the visit of the doctors, the care of his wife? The limitations on his activity in the vineyards? Skyping his son? Philippe, his life, at home, in California, his success? His visits? Friendship with Martin? Paul’s interest in him?

11. Philippe and his character, from the US, bringing success and knowledge? Francois and his love for his son? His mother? Paul talking with him, his giving support to Paul, Paul, employing him, drawing on his expertise? The issue of the machinery and its repair, Martin trying to work – Paul and his accepting Philippe’s commentary? Bringing a fresh perspective? The harvest, the issue of the work pool and the number of men? The success of the harvest?

12. Martin and his feelings, his attitude towards his father, his desperation? His drinking? Going to the club?

13. Martin and the harvest, Paul’s success, his nightmares about the harvest, about his father drowning him? Paul and his secretly going to Paris, the Legion of Honour? His not telling people? Going to the hotel, signing Philippe’s name as his own? The photo in the paper?

14. His visit to the lawyer, the discussions of the legalities of adoption, the possibilities – and his intentions as regards Philippe and his inheritance?

15. Martin, drinking, distraught, the clash with Philippe, the injuries, hospital?

16. The clashes between Martin and Paul? Martin and his desperation? Paul and his harshness?

17. Francois, his attitude towards his son, seeing what happened, his own illness, his decision? Going with Paul to the vats, locking him in? Knowing there would not be enough air? Turning off the machine? Paul’s death, his opening up the vats – and escaping detection?

18. Philippe, the experience of Paul, the favouritism, the visit to Paris, wanting his own name? His friendship with Martin, going to the club – and their falling out?

19. Martin, his wife, her standing up to Paul? His visits, drinking the wine, his comments? Martin and his future – determined by Francois rather than his own father?

20. Pride, falls? The complexity of the father-son relationships in the film? And the ironic ending?

21. The tradition of stories and films about Provence, the wines and production, life in the villages? The tradition of Marcel Pagnol?
 

BROTHER RAT

US, 1938, 89 minutes, Black and white.
Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris, Johnnie Davis, Jane Bryan, Eddie Albert, Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, Henry O’ Neill.
Directed by William Keighley.

Brother Rat was a play on Broadway, lasting two years, starring Eddie Albert who came to Hollywood for the film. It is the story of three buddies at a military academy in Virginia who call each other Brother Rat.

The film is something of a screwball comedy, a romance, young men getting into all kinds of difficulties, especially with military superiors.

Wayne Morris plays the devil-may-care leader of the band, always getting into trouble, putting people in difficult situations and then disowning any responsibility. Ronald Reagan in support is the more rational of the friends. Eddie Albert is the successful baseball player who is secretly married and discovers that his wife is having a baby. Jane Bryan is his wife, Priscilla Lane is the object of Wayne Morris’s devotion. Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan meet in this film – and continued, of course, as husband and wife. Henry O’ Neill is the colonel in charge of the institution.

The film is rather dated now, not particularly interesting or humorous – but an example of the kind of film that was very popular in the late 1930s, made at Warner Bros. So popular was it that there was a sequel, Brother Rat and a Baby with the same cast, released in 1940.

One for the archives.

THE IMPOSSIBLE

Spain, 2012, 114 minutes, Colour.
Naomi Watts, Ewan Mc Gregor, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Pendergast, Geraldine Chaplin.
Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona.

Not a promising title for a powerful film.

This is a Spanish film, Spanish director, Spanish story – which has been transferred to the story of a British family working in Japan and going for a holiday together to a resort in Thailand. It is December 2004 and audiences may quickly realise that this was the month of the tsunami which swept Indian Ocean coasts of countries in South East Asia. And this is what the film is about, survival of the family after being overwhelmed by the vast waves.

This means that the film is tough going for the characters as they try to copy with physical injuries and trauma as well as psychological desperation. This also means that the film is tough going for audiences to watch, not entertainment in the relaxing sense at all, but, of course, a picture of courage and hope.

Mother, Father and three sons fly from Japan (with some nervousness during the trip and some sibling rivalry) but find the new resort cheers them up as they celebrate Christmas, enjoying gifts, the sunshine and swimming. Then it is Boxing Day, all calm, placid until flocks of birds fly in from the sky. Then the gigantic wave and men, women and children being overwhelmed and swept away.

Needless to say, the special effects for the tsunami, the destructive water, the savagery of nature and the subsequent desolation, are impressive. (There were extraordinary effects for the tsunami in Clint Eastwood’s 2010 film, Hereafter.)

The main part of the film is about survival and search for survivors. The first part concentrates on the mother and the older son who find each other quite quickly. After being isolated with them, we become almost as desperate as they are. Naomi Watts gives a powerful performance as the mother, spending most of the time in intense physical pain while concerned about her son. If there were awards for portraying suffering and pain in film, Naomi Watts would be one of the first nominees. Tom Holland is persuasive as the son who has to move from self-preoccupation to concern for his mother and, at her urging, when they eventually get to a hospital, care of locals, trying to do something for others.

Then we see the father, Ewan Mc Gregor, who has survived at the resort with his two sons. They have not been injured so much as others. This part of the film is that of search, the desperation, the near coincidings until the title of the film, something that might have seemed impossible, is achieved.

This is a focus on a Western family rather than on the Thai people, although the Thais are presented as concerned and doing hard and almost impossible work in the hospitals. This is a reminder of how desperate things are in any attempt to cope with injury and death in natural disasters but also in towns and the countryside during war.

1. The impact of the film? The recreation of the tsunami? The consequences? The aftermath? The true story?

2. A Spanish film, British family, the portrait of the Thai people, the tourists? The musical score? Emotional?

3. The realism, the initial flight, the family and their talking, being scared, the resort, the room, the pool? The tsunami, the sudden impact of the water, the underwater photography? The injuries, people surfacing, the physical devastation, the isolation of the survivors, the silence, the rubble?

4. Maria and Henry, their children, the behaviour on the plane, Lucas and his being unwilling to help his scared brother? Maria and her strong personality? Christmas Eve, the children all happy together, the presents, the holiday mood, the bonding?

5. The focus on one family, a white visiting family? Showing Maria and Lucas as surviving, leaving the others to the later part of the film? Maria, the impact of the water, her being swirled, Lucas, the separation, trying to get onto the mattress, their being together, Maria and her leg injuries, stoicism? Climbing the tree? Hearing Daniel cry, going back, helping him because of principles and compassion? Lucas seeing Daniel at the end, with his father? His emotional telling of this to his mother?

6. Naomi Watts and her performance, the ability to show excruciating pain? Audience empathy?

7. Maria and her being dragged by the rescuers, the pain as she was pulled, on the truck and the bouncing, going to the hospital, the treatment, on the board, the bed? Needing the antibiotics? Going to surgery? Lucas as a character, his age, the strong performance by Tom Holland? His fears, absorbed with himself at first, his mother making him realise that he should think of others, getting Daniel? His going around the hospital, searching for relatives, getting the list of names, finding the boy, reuniting him with his father? Then Lucas losing his mother? His bewilderment?

8. The nurse, her sympathy, the tag on Lucas’s lapel, his searching, the wrong name put on Maria’s arm, her disappearance, eventually finding her? Her being weak, the woman in the next bed, the vomiting of blood, the talk, the woman who had lost her family?

9. Henry and his search, the boys surviving, the story, sending them to higher ground, his staying at the resort? His grief and weeping? Making a friend with Karl? Karl and his loss of family? Henry and his searching for his wife, for the boys? The boys on the truck, the little boy wanting to pee? Their getting off the truck?

10. Coincidences, people passing but not seeing each other? Lucas finding Maria, her weakness, his seeing his father, trying to find him, the boys seeing Lucas, their being reunited, with Maria, her hopes? On the plane for Singapore?

11. The true story, a Spanish family instead of British? Their picture at the end? The film fulfilling audience expectations? But a harrowing experience to watch?

NORTHERN LIGHTS

US, 2009, 100 minutes, Colour.
Le Ann Rimes, Eddie Cibrian, Greg Lawson, Rosanna Arquette, Jayne Eastwood.
Directed by Mike Robe.

Northern Lights is an adaptation of a novel by Nora Roberts. The adaptations of Nora Roberts novels, romances, sometimes with crime, have been adapted for television rather than for cinema screens. This is also a television movie.

The setting is, of all titles, Lunacy, Alaska. Eddie Cibrian portrays a Baltimore police officer who has been shot and his partner wounded, who is escaping to work far away from home. He encounters a pilot, played by Le Anne Rimes. (Rimes and Cibrian subsequently married.) Rosanna Arquette plays LeAnn? Rimes’ mother.

The film opens with a murder, audiences will guess who the victim was fairly quickly into the film – and, with three main suspects, it is not difficult to pick the murderer.

The film is conventional, has attractive leads, the romance happens rather too quickly than it might in reality. However, it is an easy entertainment to watch on television.

1. The books of Nora Roberts, romance, crime, the exotic locations? Television movies?

2. The title, the visuals of the Northern Lights, Alaska, the title of the town, Lunacy?

3. The prologue, the murder, the victim and his writing in his diary – the possibility of his returning home?

4. Nate, his arrival, the contract with the town, the mayor and her welcome, the manager of the bank and his hostility, the deputy and his resentment? The other characters in the town? The meeting with Meg? Her work as a pilot? The council meetings? At the hotel? With Charlene? The party, Charlene and her approach, Meg – and his discovery that they were mother and daughter?

5. Nate as a character, his past, the shooting, the wife of his partner and the subsequent call? His job, his leaving Baltimore? Separating the two men fighting? The rescue in the mountains, the plane ride with Meg? Meg and her direct approach, her relationship with her mother and the tension? The response to the finding of her father’s body? Issues of jurisdiction, the police from beyond Lunacy? Reactions, the wake, Meg absent? Charlene and her being satisfied with the truth, its effect on her? Nate at Meg’s home, the dog, the Indian and the suspicions? The accusations about the murder, the editor of the paper, his coming into money after the disappearance, his suicide note? His wife’s grief? The banker and his being upset about his fishing gear being stolen, the accusation, the accused and his reaction? John, his devotion to Charlene, staying all the years, his decision to leave? The range of suspects?

6. The dog and the killing, the theft of the fishing tackle?

7. The bear, the dog and the confrontation, the setup with the moose meat? Nate as target?

8. Charlene as a character, her love for Peter, his disappearance, her thinking he had abandoned her and the daughter? Her response to the news? The past and Meg and her resentment towards her mother, their making peace, discussions about love and relationships?

9. Nate’s love, the proposal, Meg’s hesitation? Nate and his being sacked by the town council? His decision to investigate the case, suspicions of the editor’s murder?

10. The finding of the earring – out of the blue, the main clue, the photo and the identification of the murderer?

11. The parade, the police, Meg and her presence, being wounded, the float, the banker, mayhem and the shooting? The confrontation between Nate and the killer?

12. Popular ingredients – television entertainment?

ZERO DARK THIRTY

US, 2012, 157 minutes, Colour.
Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Harold Perrineau, Kyle Chandler.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

Amazing that such a detailed film on the search for Osama Bin Laden (and finding him) could be in theatres within a year and a half of the actual events. The film has been praised (with awards, nominations and critical acclaim) for its picture of US intelligence and the work of the CIA (both effective and not). The film has been damned as a gung ho movie in favour of American foreign policy after 9/11. It has been criticised by US senators and intelligence personnel as providing a false image of the use of criticisms.

But… it is a feature film, a dramatisation, rather than a documentary. Clearly, there is always the danger that literal-inclined audiences will take each scene as presenting the truth, rather than representing aspects of the truth in a theatrical way.

One of the main impressions gained by this reviewer is how the search for Bin Laden was poorly handled for almost a decade. At one stage, Maya (Jessica Chastain) points out that the approach to finding him was based on pre-9/11 suppositions that he would be hiding in the caves of Afghanistan (which my be the impression that most people did, in fact, have) rather than in Pakistan suburbia.

The torture is certainly a significant issue and is presented graphically. To deny the extent of water-boarding may be accurate but in the light of the Abu Grab revelations, there was torture and humiliation of prisoners. As to how much information was gained by torture, that is a further discussion.

In the film, the torture sequences introduce us to Maya, deemed something of a ‘killer’ at the end of her training. At first she is repelled by the torture she watches. Then we see her get used to it, her further toughening in her work, much of which takes place in Pakistan.

But, it is Maya and her staff, her shrewdness in following through leads and hunches which does eventually lead to the identification of the whereabouts of Bin Laden and his family. Not that she gets a great deal of support from her bosses and from Washington officials – the mean don’t really think that women can be as effective as Maya (and underestimate her persistence, even when she posts the day by day delays on her boss’s door).

The culmination of the film is in the picture of the preparation for the raid, the helicopters’ night flight across the Afghan mountains into Pakistan, the details of the landing, the raid, the search, finding the family, identifying Bin Laden and his death).

This is a long film but, whatever one’s political opinions, one’s views on the CIA, one’s belief in America or not, it is a gripping film. It was written by journalist Mark Boal, who wrote the screenplays for In the Valley of Elah and the Oscar-winning, The Hurt Locker. Kathryn Bigelow won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker. She proves she can direct powerful action and war films with Zero Down Thirty.


1. The awards, the achievement?

2. The background of Al- Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, acts of terrorism, 9/11, the US, the war on terror, the CIA and its role? Audiences and their sympathies and interests?

3. The facts, the use of facts, the narrative, atmosphere, the war on terror?

4. The writer, his insights into Iraq, the war on terror? Audience knowledge of these events? The work of Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker, the blend of fact and fiction?

5. The title, its meaning, the time, the mission?

6. The structure: the dark screen and the voices and the reactions of terror in 2001, 9/11? The transition to interrogations and torture? The gathering of information? The treatment of the prisoners? The further bombings? The attack on London in 2005? The change in policy on torture? Bombings in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan? The focus on identities, the discovery of the house and compound in Islamabad, the deductions, politics and strategies and decisions, the execution of the mission? The audience able to follow the details of the investigation, the work of the CIA?

7. The audience looking at the atrocities, the torture, in detail, the water-boarding ... emotional responses?

8. The use of the locations in Pakistan, Afghanistan? The vistas of the cities, the people, their lifestyle? Different from the US?

9. The United States and 9/11, the declaration of the war on terror, the methods, the rules of engagement, the change, especially about torture? The transition from Bush to Obama? The military, the search for bin Laden, for avenging America, for revenge on bin Laden? Audiences in the United States, patriotic sentiments? The rest of the world?

10. The focus on Maya? A female agent, the men’s response to her, her story of being recruited, the twelve years of work, her being called a killer, put in the field, witnessing the torture and interrogations, her own methods? Her development in her work over the years? Her experience, becoming tougher, the intelligence gained, dealing with people, the friendship with Jessica after the rivalry? CIA speculation? The death of Jessica? Her being ignored in the men’s meetings – and drawing attention to herself, with graphic language? Her impatience, the criticisms of the superior officer? Writing the number of days of inaction on his glass wall? Her interactions with Joseph Bradley, her intimidating him? His successor? Her relationship with Dan, his interrogations and torture, the continued contacts, the favours, her being shot at in Pakistan? The meetings, the request about certainty on bin Laden’s compound? Her comment about male certainty, ninety-five percent? Her lunch with the government liaison? The announcement of the mission, her being an observer, her hearing the good news, her identifying the corpse of bin Laden, going home alone on the special plane? A symbol of America, the CIA? No personal life of her own? Obsession and dedication? Her achievement?

11. The issues of torture, water torture, the giving and suppressing of food, putting the prisoner in the box, stripping, cleanliness, hanging by wrists? The good cop, bad cop routines? The audience and the reaction to victims, their suffering, yet their being complicit in atrocities? The information given under pressure? The initial interrogations? The later interrogation of the businessman who gave the information not wanting to be tortured?

12. Dan, as a person, his interrogations, his rhetoric, having to be an actor, having to be a psychologist? His treatment of prisoners, his own personal attitudes, his interactions with Maya? Later, his asking favours of people – the Pakistani and the gift of the Lamborghini for the telephone number? His work in Washington?

13. The contrast with the ordinary soldiers, their assisting in the torture, with security, going in to do the work of the mission? The camaraderie, the preparations, the mission and action? The killing of bin Laden, the taking of prisoners? The documentation? Its being classified?

14. The team of the CIA in Pakistan, Afghanistan? Their discussions amongst themselves, favours for each other, Bradley and his command, his successor, not wanting the pressure from Maya? The various contacts, spies, surveillance on the road to the bin Laden compound? Surveillance of phones, the maps, the satellite images? The limits of the information? The dangers in Pakistan – and the car, the men on bikes with guns, not wanting white faces in the district?

15. Jessica, her work in the CIA, criticising Maya, working with her, the women in the CIA, ideas, the meeting, the explosion and her death, the information that she had three children?

16. The picture of the CIA, the post-9/11 mentality, documentation being given to them, too much, unable to sift? Information about names? Photos? Identities? The suspects looking alike? The big families? Debbie and her finding the truth about the contact, getting the phone number, monitoring his calls, following him, finding the bin Laden compound? The critique of the slow bureaucratic methods? The contrast with dedicated members and their obsessions?

17. The administration in Washington, the president wanting proof, his decision – the visualising of the mission, flying from Afghanistan, the helicopters, the crash, the attack, the guns, the sites? The people in the compound? The death of bin Laden, the body bag? The end of the mission?

RED DAWN

US, 2012, 93 minutes, Colour.
Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki, Isabel Lucas, Connor Cruise, Edwin Hodge, Brett Cullen, Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Directed by Dan Bradley.


1. The impact of the original in the 1980s? The Red scare? Communism? The update – and the fall of communism and the substitute enemies? North Korea – with the help of the Russians?

2. The city of Spokane, the woods outside the city? The musical score?

3. The 21st century, the credits, Obama and Hillary Clinton, the role of North Korea, Russia, information technology as posing a threat for destruction of society?

4. The ordinariness of Spokane, the football matches, the families?

5. Jed, his background as a marine, his relationship with Matt? His father, the police, the football matches?

6. The rumblings in the city? The invasion, the parachutes, the North Koreans taking over, the cars in the streets, the chaos, the media, people being captured and interned?

7. The young people getting out of the town, the father, his being shot, his concern? At the house? The betrayal? The range of people, Jed, Matt, Robert and his friend, the girls? Their becoming a team? The scenes of training? Their infiltrating the town? Their becoming a guerrilla group?

8. The resistance, Matt and his branching out on his own, Jed’s reaction, his causing deaths? His wanting to rescue Erica, seeing her in the bus, his raid?

9. The picture of the Koreans, the officers, their plans, their cruelty? Anti-American?

10. The arrival of Tanner and his associates, looking for the Wolverines? Their reputation?

11. The various raids, the ammunition, the tricking of the Koreans, the strategies and tactics?

12. The issue of the future, the young people joining the Wolverines? The patriotism?

13. The tone of the pro-American screenplay? The hawkish attitudes? The young men and women who were cautious at first, killing, the raids, changing their attitudes? A film released at the time of the 2012 elections – with the emphasis on Republican sentiments?

SIGHTSEERS

UK, 2012, 88 minutes, Colour.
Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Eileen Davies.
Directed by Ben Wheatley.

Let’s hope you don’t encounter sightseers like Chris and Tina when you are caravanning around Yorkshire and the Lakes District. You might not get home, especially if you get into Chris and Tina’s bad books, not a difficult thing to do at all.

This small budget black comedy is very black indeed, despite the outdoors locations and the eccentric tourist sites that the couple visit (tramway museum, pencil museum…). It was written by the leads who are also stand-up comics. The dialogue and the delivery, deadpanly ironic and simple, are very important.

Tina lives with her hypochondriac mum and looks to have few prospects in life. She was devoted to her dog Poppy – there is a flashback to a death scene which will mean some looking away aghast while others will burst out laughing. It is that kind of film. Mum is the kind who keeps ringing up during the trip to manipulate her daughter into coming home to look after her. Chris seems a jovial kind of bloke, eccentric interests certainly, but with a charming way as far as Tina is concerned. That is until he runs over a man.

Chris does not take to criticism kindly and senses others’ competitiveness (not his own) with deadly earnest. His opponents do not live to see the day.

Here is awful behaviour, conscienceless and cheery, presented as if Tina and Chris really have very few cares in the world – and it is easy to get rid of those. Which makes them all the creepier. In fact, Tina is becoming rather exhilarated by the disposals as the trip goes further north. And, especially, as they reach the end of their road and prepare for a culmination – which doesn’t quite work out as anticipated.

You have to be in the mood for this kind of thing, a relishing delight in really black comedy.

1. A critical success? Popular success? Black comedy? British black comedy?

2. The titles, the tone, the map and the UK sites during the credits, the actual locations throughout the film? The feel for tourism in the UK? The musical score?

3. The screenplay, the leads as stand-up comics and television performers? The ordinariness of their characters, pathos, cantankerous, innocent yet deadly, naive yet ironic, the horror touches?

4. The introduction to Tina, her age, lack of experience, living with her demanding mother, yearning for something more, the beginnings of the relationship with Chris, her hopes? The erotic odyssey?

5. The introduction to Chris, his age, work, eccentric hobbies and interests, his needs, relationship with Tina, planning the trip, his control, his antagonism towards Tina’s mother?

6. The mother, the parody of the possessive mother, hypochondriac, abusive to Chris, the phone calls during the trip?

7. The trip, the plan, Tina and her being exhilarated, naive, her changing throughout the journey, her reactions to Chris, to the victims, to her mother’s phone call, exhilaration with the killings, rationalising, the final choices, the suicide pact – and the ironic ending?

8. Chris, imposing his itinerary, dominating Tina, narcissistic, the truth about his unemployment, his personality?

9. The range of victims, the initial running over the man on the road, tourists, their sense of achievement, their complementing each other in their reactions? Hiding bodies, irresponsibility, vindictive and callous? Not blaming themselves?

10. The variety of characters they met, the family in the caravan, their talking and sharing, the murder on the moors? The man and the littering, his threats? His being pushed over the cliff? Tina and her ambition to kill? The further people on the road? The encounter with the bride-to-be?

11. The overall effect, the build-up of the characters, the trip, the murders, the suicide pact – and Tina pushing Chris over?

12. Audience response to black comedy? The reaction to the death of Poppy, people looking away or laughing? Black comedy as combining both?

VINCENT WANTS TO SEA / VINCENT WILL MEER

Germany, 2010, 96 minutes, Colour.
Florian David Fitz, Karoline Herfurth, Heino Ferch, Katharina Muller- Elmau, Johannes Allmayer.
Directed by Ralf Huettner.

Vincent Wants to Sea is a more cheerful film than its synopsis might lead audiences to think. It focuses on a man in his twenties suffering from Tourette’s syndrome, bursting out with his tics and language unexpectedly. He is taken by his father to an institution where he shares a room with Alex, an obsessive who wants everything tidy and clean. They encounter a young woman, Marie, who has an eating disorder, unwilling to eat and the years of dieting affecting her heart.

One day the three of them escape the institution in a car. There are the various interactions, given their personalities and disorders. They also rob a service station. Vincent’s father, a prominent businessman, goes in pursuit of his son, always angry with him. The psychiatrist in charge of the young woman also goes to search for the runaways. These two clash – eventually catching up with the three, only to be deceived again as they take the psychiatrist’s car.

Vincent is taking his mother’s ashes to the sea, one of her wishes. As the film progresses, with the father explaining the background of Vincent and his growing up, the audience begins to understand the characters even better. There are some idiosyncratic scenes as well as some comic scenes. This includes the police in Italy arresting the father and the psychiatrist because of the report of the stolen car.

The film has a lot of alpine beauty as well as the trip to the sea. It was written by the leading man, Florian David Fitz.

1. The title? The reason for Vincent’s wanting to go to the sea? His mother? The ashes? The idiosyncratic title in English and German?

2. Germany, the 21st century, family relationships? The father, his being busy, his affluent connections? His taking Vincent to the institution? His hoping for some kind of cure? The psychiatrist, the institution, her management?

3. Vincent and his sharing the room with Alex, Vincent manifesting his Tourette’s syndrome? Alex his obsessions and compulsions? The encounter with Marie, her eating disorder? Vincent and his sharing the room with Alex and the difficulties?

4. The taking of the psychiatrist’s car? The three, the exhilaration? Alex and his worries about cleanliness? Vincent and the driving? Marie urging them on? The issue of money? The petrol, shoplifting, the pursuit?

5. The father, the phone call, learning about his son? His anger, confronting the psychiatrist? Her responses? The decision to pursue the trio? The information about the robbery? Their following the three, eventually catching up with them?

6. Vincent, passive, his descriptions of his disorder, the compulsions and the parallel with sneezing? Alex and Marie becoming more sympathetic? Their urging Marie to eat, her defensiveness? Alex, his worries about cleanliness, his gradual change?

7. The psychiatrist wanting her bag? Their taking the car? Escaping? The psychiatrist driving her own car, the father hot-wiring it? Their discussions, arguments, his contempt, her acknowledging what had happened? The police pulling them over, the interrogations about driving a stolen car? The motel, their discussions, tensions? Gradually beginning to understand each other?

8. The trio, the driving, Alex sitting on the mobile phone, the phone call, throwing the mobile out the window? The decision to climb in the alps? Sitting on the cross on top of the alps? A sense of freedom? Possibilities for change?

9. In the town, Alex and his shoplifting? His leaving them? Their coming to find him, the hotel, Vincent and his fight with Alex, the bleeding, Marie helping? The reconciliation between the three? At the water?

10. The father, knowing where his son was going, going to the sea, calling his son after the hotel’s name? Finding the son? His talk, some understanding, the effect of the psychiatrist’s criticism, his embracing his son? Not considering him a loser?

11. Their driving away, Marie and her illness, going to hospital? Alex and his staying?

12. Vincent wanting to get out of the car, going back to see Marie, being joined by Alex? No easy solution – but some hope for freedom, affirmation, friendship and support for the future?

MAD LOVE

US, 1995, 93 minutes, Colour.
Chris O’ Donnell, Drew Barrymore, Matthew Lillard, Joan Allen, Jude Ciccolella, T.J. Lowther, Kevin Dunn, Liev Schreiber.
Directed by Antonia Bird.

Mad Love is a 90s film about high schoolers. Chris O’ Donnell plays an earnest young man, looking after his brother and sister, helping his father, regretting the fact that his mother had walked out on the family. He encounters Drew Barrymore, a rich girl, erratic in her behaviour, and becomes infatuated with her. He discovers that her parents are concerned, wanting her to have psychiatric treatment. He rescues her from hospital and they go on the road. The film then turns into a road movie, the travels across America, the growing erratic behaviour of Drew Barrymore’s character, including putting her hands over Chris O’ Donnell’s eyes and directing him by word as they drive along a cliff highway. Eventually, he has to admit that she needs treatment – and he contacts the parents.

Joan Allen and Jude Ciccolella are Drew Barrymore’s parents, Kevin Dunn is Chris O’ Donnell’s father. Matthew Lillard, in an early role, plays the same kind of erratic loudmouth character as he did in many other films. It is also an early film for Liev Schreiber who plays a businessman who picks up the couple on the road and is abandoned by them.

The film was directed by British Antonia Bird, director of Priest, Face and Ravenous.

1. A youth film of the 1990s? Emotions, love, authorities, parents, mental problems?

2. The Seattle setting, the lake, the city, school, homes? Contrasting the American open road and the highways? The characters, the incidents, the musical score?

3. The title, the focus on passionate love, on mental disturbance?

4. Matt’s life, his relationship with his father, his father being busy, the mother abandoning the family and its effect, the twins and Matt looking after them? The telescope, astronomy, his discovering Casey on the boat, at home, prying on her? His friends at school, their talk, teenager life, preoccupation with sex, dates, confiding in each other?

5. Casey, on the boat, at home, the difficulties with her parents, the car at school, her seemingly normal, the attraction to Matt? Her excessive reactions? The date, the music, enjoyment, Matt’s infatuation?

6. The effect on Matt, asking for the date, going out, the concert, sharing, falling in love, thoughts for the future?

7. The SATS exams, Matt and his earnestness, his plans? His father’s concern? Casey, wanting to go out, setting off the alarm, his reaction? Her parents?

8. Casey, wanting her privacy, Matt looking at her book, his visit, the discussion with her parents, her running away, diving into the lake, his swimming to rescue her, drying off, the parents forbidding the contact, explaining her mental condition?

9. Matt’s father, sternness, discussions about his mother leaving, Matt going to the hospital, visiting Casey, disobeying?

10. Matt taking her from the hospital, the car, driving, on the road, the motels, the sequence with Casey’s hand over Matt’s eyes, the dangers on the road, the crash? Being picked up by the passer-by, his advances on Casey, the violent reaction, their robbing him and destroying his files? The lady allowing them to live in the apartment? Casey, her fits, her growing paranoia?

11. Matt, the phone call to Casey’s parents, Casey seeing this, running away to the sea?

12. The decision to be made, Matt and his concern, the return, that Casey would be in care and not subjected to an institution?

13. Matt, his life, his future? Open? The final images of Casey?

BACK TO 1942

China, 2012, 145 minutes, Colour.
Guoli Zhang, Adrien Brody, Tim Robbins.
Directed by Xiaogang Feng.

In recent years, Chinese cinema has been going back to the war with Japan in the 1930s and 1940s. There have been several moving films about the siege of Nanking, especially 2009’s City of Life and Death. The 2012 Chinese film, The Flowers of War, in collaboration with the US, included Christian Bale as part of the story. Such collaborations make the film more accessible for American audiences, by including Adrien Brody as Time Magazine war correspondent Theodore White and Tim Robbins (to far less effective extent, including an unrecognisable accent) as a Catholic priest dispensing pious reflections.

Director Xiogang Feng has made some impressive films including Wedding Banquet (a variation on Hamlet) and the historical film, The Assembly. This time, with a large budget, he recreates the famine in Henan province which sent millions on to the roads as starving refugees, three million of them dying. This is the backdrop to Japanese occupation and the attempts of the Chinese military under the leadership of Chiang- Kai- Chek to defeat Japan.

For audience identification as the film moves from military headquarters to American consulate and Japanese officials, the screenplay focuses on a family and its sufferings. Master Fan is wealthy and has grain as the famine begins to bite. He presides over a family that is wilful and arrogant. Challenged by local bandits, a fight breaks out which leads to everyone taking to the roads.

There are some extremely harrowing scenes, some horrifying deaths and two very powerful and frightening sequences of Japanese planes dropping bombs on the refugees causing callous injuries and deaths. By the end of the film, the audience is quite vividly aware of the toll of starvation on body and spirit.

The film also shows the initial ineffectiveness of the Chinese government, underestimating the famine and hesitating to help – food was necessary to keep the troops alive and fighting, so civilians were deemed expendable. Ultimately Chiang-Kai-Chek? tries to do something but the Japanese have advanced too far.

Adrien Brody has a good role as the war correspondent, sharing the miseries of the road and photographing some of the savagery which he presents to the Generalissimo and ultimately publishes to alert Chinese and American readers. Tim Robbins plays a missionary who welcomes the correspondent but also has to deal with a Chinese fellow priest who has taken a faith stance (a cause rather than faith as he preaches to the refugees) and who becomes disillusioned by the bombings. His questioning of God and non-intervention echoes the desperation of Master Fan as he loses everyone and everything – except finding a little girl by her dead mother. The narrator tells us that she survived to be his mother.

The narration offers moments of questioning as to why these stories should not be left in the past. Watching the film with no appreciable knowledge beforehand of the events reminds us that we must not forget the past but must learn from it.

1. The questions about why the Chinese would want to remember these aspects of history? The writer of the story – and the heritage of his grandmother and her question about remembering the past?

2. The impact of the film for Chinese audiences, their memories, history, the past, war and famines? Japanese occupation? Deaths? The impact for non-Chinese audiences?

3. The scope of the film, recreating the period, the use of special effects, the stunt work for the war sequences, the experience of famine and war?

4. The Japanese occupation, the 1930s and extending into World War Two? The Japanese soldiers, the treatment of the Chinese, the bombing and strafing, the food issues, using Chinese? The traditional enmity?

5. The focus on the village, the description, the visuals of the land, the drought? Fan and his leadership? His son and his seduction, the pregnant wife, Fan’s daughter, the schooling and her wanting to go back to school? The driver, the workers on the property, the focus for the film?

6. The arrival of the bandits, the threats, the deals with Fan, the sharing of the food, his sending for soldiers, the return of the messenger, the fighting?

7. The refugees on the road, the indication of days, the indication of miles? The vistas of people on the roads, the groups joining into one? Issues of food, absence of food, illness? The people dying? Deals for food? Fan and his preserving food for his family? The monk, his Catholicism, his exhortations to faith and endurance?

8. Chiang Kai-shek, his leadership, the role of his wife, his strategies, his advisers, going to Burma, his estimation of the Chinese situation, not acknowledging the deaths in famine, his belief in Chinese goodness? His history during the war – and subsequently?

9. Theodore White, correspondent for Time magazine, his discussions with people, the close-ups and photos, his articles, his accompanying the group, witnessing the atrocities, the dogs and the corpses, his sleeping and being robbed, the empathy with the people, his allowing his assailants to go? Getting back his camera? His being helped by the army? His interview with authorities, going to see Chiang Kai-shek? The authorities ignoring him, including the Americans?

10. The Chinese army, the dilemma of food for the troops or food for ordinary people? The military decisions?

11. The monk, his being wounded in the strafing, going back to his monastery, Bishop Meekin, his piety? The monk and his faith doubts (and the paralleling with Fan’s final questions about asking why he had to suffer)? The interview with Theodore White, urging him on?

12. The visuals of the bombings, the strafing, the effect on people, the attendant to Fan and his mother, her death? The other worker and his being captured? His being invited to cook? The sword in his mouth and his death?

13. The travelling court, the authority, the arrest of the authorities?

14. The pregnancy, the birth sequence and its pathos?

15. Fan, his moving through the countryside, his smothering the child accidentally? Meeting the girl, taking her as his granddaughter – and the voice-over explaining the origins of this novel and the film version?