AIR RAID WARDENS

US, 1943, 67 minutes, Black and white.
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, Jacqueline White, Horace Mc Nally, Donald Meek, Henry O’ Neill, Russell Hicks.
Directed by Edward Sedgwick.

Air Raid Wardens is Laurel and Hardy’s contribution to World War Two morale? They portray themselves in a small American town, Stan being put upon, weeping, awkward, while Oliver Hardy is of course bumbling as well as authoritarian.

They have failed in all their businesses, but their bicycle shop is bought by Donald Meek – who portrays an undercover Nazi spy, in league with a Nazi ring, planning to destroy a magnesium plant in the town which will halt the war effort. Stephen Mc Nally, appearing as Horace Mc Nally, is the sympathetic editor of the local paper in charge of defence. Jacqueline White is his journalist colleague. The film shows the bumbling mayor of the town who becomes the victim of many of Laurel and Hardy’s mishaps, especially in their work as wardens. His wife is also the victim of mishaps.

The film shows the spirit of defence in America, fearing invasion from the Japs, fearing Nazi cells. There is a lot of slapstick comedy in the Laurel and Hardy fashion.

The film draws on their traditions of comedy as a contribution to American morale in 1943.

PUNCTURE

US, 2011, 100 minutes, Colour.
Chris Evans, Mark Kassen, Marshall Bell, Brett Cullen, Vinessa Shaw, Michael Biehn, Kate Burton.
Directed by Adam and Mark Kassen.

Puncture is a story about a law case, a challenge by a small legal firm to the health industry, especially for its unwillingness to purchase a retracting needle to avoid infections from injections.

Chris Evans and Mark Kassen (who co-directed the film) portray the lawyers. Mark Kassen portrays Paul Danziger, an upright young man with a family. Chris Evans as Mark Weiss, portrays the more crusading adventurous lawyer, ready to confront the system when his partner wants to pull out. The difficulty is that he is a drug addict.

There is good support from Marshall Bell as the aggressive inventor of the retracting needle and Vinessa Shaw as a nurse who has been accidentally infected with the AIDS virus. Kate Burton is the senator who listens to the case, is sympathetic, but withdraws because of the large donation from the health industry to her campaigns.

The film is interesting as based on actual events, a David and Goliath story of individual lawyers confronting the system. They puncture the system – but the title also refers to injections, accidental, drug-addicted, life-saving.

1. The film based on a true story? The law, medicine, the companies?

2. The personal tone, the true story, the dedication of the lawyers?

3. American cities, apartments and homes, hospitals, boardrooms, courts? Real? The musical score?

4. The title, the focus, medical punctures and syringes? Dangers for infection? Drug addiction?

5. The introduction, the hospital, the emergency, the needles, the death, her infection?

6. The introduction to Mike, his age, personality, clothing style, friends, relationships with women, flirtatious? His practice of the law, sharp, winning cases, cocky, defying authorities?

7. The contrast with Paul, his age, work as a partner, friendship with Mike, more conservative? The steady work, home life, his wife, her pregnancy? Idealistic?

8. Jeffrey Dancort, his personality, gruff, his invention, his goals, the treatment by the companies, his plans, going to law, the meetings, his outbursts, audience sympathy?

9. The board meetings, the range of lawyers, the discussions, courtesies, smugness, contacts?

10. The health company bosses, their plans? The boycotting of the needle?

11. Deals, offers, Mike and his reaction, Paul and his wanting to pull out?

12. Mike, the increasing effect of the drugs, his different contacts, the effects of the drugs, buying them, becoming more unreliable, late for meetings? Determined? His death?

13. His work as inspiring, the risks, the variety of cases, his success?

14. An informative film? The role of the law? Corporations? A moralising story?

THE LODGER

US, 1944, 84 minutes, Black and white.
Merle Oberon, George Sanders, Laird Cregar, Cedric Hardwicke, Sara Allgood.
Directed by John Brahm.

The Lodger is based on the 1930 novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes. It had been filmed in 1927 with Ivor Novello, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. There was to be an updated version from Hollywood in 2009, starring Alfred Molina.

This film is one of the best atmospheric films from 20th Century Fox during the 1940s. John Brahm, who also directed Laird Cregar and George Sanders in Hangover Square, is able to create the atmosphere of 19th century London on the Fox sets. There are the streets, the homes, the attics, Whitechapel and its squalor, Haymarket Theatre. There is also the atmosphere of fog, and the dark atmosphere of night.

It is a story of Jack the Ripper, offering a plausible explanation for who the Ripper was, his medical and surgical background, the twisted motivation, the preoccupation with sexuality, the misogyny.

Laird Cregar, unfortunately dead at age thirty-one after going on a risky diet and exercise program, is excellent as Mr Slade, the Ripper. His large presence, often filmed at different angles, and his seriousness, create an impression of a plausible Jack the Ripper. George Sanders is the inspector from Scotland Yard, Merle Oberon the singer-dancer (with some musical numbers) in Haymarket. Cedric Hardwicke and Sara Allgood are her uncle and aunt, Sara Allgood being the landlady for Mr Slade.

The murders are graphic – but not in the visual sense. There are some interesting exposition scenes, especially between Laird Cregar and Merle Oberon, to explain Mr Slade’s devotion to his brother, his disgust at his being led astray by women, especially associated with the theatre, and his revenge on women for his brother.

There have been many theories about Jack the Ripper, many interesting films, but the mystery of Jack the Ripper remains.

1. A classic film from the golden years of Hollywood? Its impact now?

2. Hollywood and the recreation of London, the streets and the shops, homes, the theatre, Whitechapel? The black and white photography, the atmosphere, the day and night, the fog? The musical score? The songs?

3. The impact of Jack the Ripper, fifty-five years after the events? Mrs Belloc Lowndes’ novel? The hypothesis as to the identity of Jack the Ripper? The plausibility of Mr Slade’s being the Ripper? The character, the motivation?

4. Slade’s family, the pictures of his brother, the devotion to his brother, the touch of Dorian Gray? The brother as an artist, fine-looking, the later photo and his disintegration? His being led astray by women, the atmosphere of the theatre? Slade idolising his brother? His being trapped in the complications of sexual revulsion and attraction for Kitty? The compulsion to kill? The style, the regularity? Wanting to be caught or not?

5. The settings for the killings, Whitechapel, the streets and the taverns, the women, the songs, the drinking? The woman lending the accordion?

6. The role of the media, the papers and distribution, the headlines? People’s response to the news?

7. The picture of the police, out in force, the Ripper eluding them?

8. Mr Slade, his appearance, Laird Cregar’s performance, his being well-dressed, his bag and tools, his arrival at the Bontings’, the context of the killings? Choosing his name from the street? His discussion with Mrs Bonting, with Mr Bonting? His room, wanting the attic to work in, turning the pictures of the actresses around? Mr Bonting and his response? His justifying Mr Slade’s behaviour?

9. Mr Bonting, the need for money, his false business deal, his breakdown, at home, reading the papers, analysing the situation? Daisy as the maid, her contributing to life in the house? Kitty, the background in Paris, the London theatre, her two songs? The theatre atmosphere? The visit of Annie Rowley, not whistling in the dressing room, the flowers, Annie’s death?

10. Kitty and her life, hopes, the audiences, her career, the girls, her costumes, getting her hair done, talking with Slade, following him to the university, the confrontations, his explanations to her, in her dressing room, trying to argue rationally, her screams, on the stage, his cutting the sandbags – and their missing her? Her quoting him about his ideas, the water and the deep waters and healing and death?

11. Inspector Warwick, Scotland Yard, the investigation, the theories, going to the theatre, Kitty visiting the Yard, Warwick and his attraction to Kitty? Going to the house, suspicions of Slade, discussions with Mr Bonting, the fingerprints, his left hand, the identification?

12. London, the atmosphere, Victorian England, reference to the queen, Scotland Yard and its methods?

13. Slade, his burning his bag, washing the stains and his story of infection, going to the university, medical background, experiments? His brother’s picture, the clue when the picture was found at a victim’s house? Kitty giving him the ticket, the way that he watched her performance, bewitched, revulsed, confronting her in the dressing room, the chase throughout the theatre? The close-up on him as the police and others advanced on him, his decision to throw himself out the window, his previous visit to the water, going into the water, washed away, drowning in the depths?

14. A satisfying blend of period, thriller, character study?

SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS

US, 2010, 96 minutes, Colour.
Christopher Thornton, Mark Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney, Orlando Bloom, Noah Emmerich, James Karen, John Carroll Lynch, Robert Wisdom.
Directed by Mark Ruffalo.

Sympathy for Delicious was co-written by the two stars, Christopher Thornton (paraplegic in real life) and actor Mark Ruffalo. They had been friends for many years and worked on this project.

The film is an urban story, very American in tone. Christopher Thornton portrays a DJ, living on the street, particularly bitter. Mark Ruffalo plays Father Joe, a priest in the local parish who works for street people, especially in a soup kitchen, finding accommodation.

There is a background of Pentecostal religion, and one day the Christopher Thornton character discovers, by accident, that he has the power of healing. This has extraordinary consequences. The would-be DJ teams up with a band (including Orlando Bloom and Juliette Lewis as members, Laura Linney as hardboiled agent). Eventually, the healing is incorporated into the performance, but fails when Juliette Lewis takes an overdose and the paramedics are prevented from getting to her because of the possible healing, and she dies. Court cases ensue. The priest is enthralled by the healings and sets up an organisation for them, even agreeing to a special healing for a benefactor with a great deal of money.

For the DJ, the consequences are jail – though with a touch of miraculous ending. For the priest, he becomes disillusioned with what he has done, especially in terms of ambition and greed, and resigns from the priesthood. There are many good sequences and discussions between Father Joe and his parish priest, played by James Karen.

This is certainly an offbeat story for mainstream American film-making – but interesting in performance, in issues, the reflection on priesthood, the nature of the miraculous.

1. The experience of the writer, his being a paraplegic? His performance? The director, friendship with the writer? A personal story?

2. The title, echoes of Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones and Sympathy for the Devil? The world of rock ‘n roll and bands? Dean as Delicious?

3. The world of Skid Row, the visuals, the streets, the street people, poverty, the soup kitchen, thieves, living in cars...?

4. The world of rock ‘n roll? The personalities and types? Appearance and clothes? Language? Drugs? The interview sequences, rehearsals, clashes? The role of the agent, strong-minded? Performances? The songs and the sounds?

5. The world of healing, the evangelist and his rousing speech, healings – and contrived? The actual healing by Dean, the introduction of this religious theme? Rene as his friend, crippled, wanting to be healed?

6. Dean, his age, experience, living in the car, needing food? The discussions with Father Joe? Stealing? Housing? The rally, the encounter with the man and his being healed? Rene and the faith? His touching experience, his reaction? Distancing himself from any kind of miraculous intervention? The numerous requests? The burning of the heat? His seeing this as difficult, the crowds coming, Father Joe calling it a gift? Discussions of faith, God? Miracles?

7. Father Joe, his work in the soup kitchen, dedication, his work in mission fields, sixteen years of priesthood? His trying to find a place for Dean? Outside the car? The healing, his amazement, the donations? Father Joe and his organising the crowds? The rich father and his offering of the donation? Joe and his reaction to the band, the healing, the money? Getting Dean into the hotel, the $47.50 for three days? Father Joe and his hopes?

8. Dean, the band, the meeting with Ariel, connecting with her? The DJ and the ousting? The invitation for him to come in, his surly attitude, the audition, the members of the band, The Stain and his reaction? The test, the burning? The relationship with Ariel, on and off? The performances? His becoming part of the group, playing, the healings? Ariel, the overdose, the paramedics, the failure, the reaction of the crowds?

9. The characters of the members of the band, Ariel, her age, singing, music, interactions with Dean, with the other members of the group, offhand, the drugs, her death? The Stain, his makeup, surliness? Nina, strong-minded, tough-talking?

10. Father Joe, the sixteen years, background of Africa, the work in Skid Row, doing good, pleasant personality, hard work? His presence in the streets, the presence of the church through him? His faith? The experience of the healing? The importance of the discussions with Father Rohn? With Dean present? The nature of miracles and prayer? Father Rohn and his suggesting that Joe make a retreat? The warning about what was happening to him? Issues of money, ambitions, his being disappointed in himself, talking with Dean, fighting with Dean, Dean’s accusation of hypocrisy? His going to the court, appearing in secular clothes? The issue of who was responsible for the healings? God? Going to the prison, the apology to Dean? Getting Dean a new job? Whether Joe should have left the priesthood or not?

11. Dean, his interactions with Joe, their clash, hypocrisy issues? Responsibilities? His speech?

12. Dean, his aggressive attitude, the response to Ariel’s death, his response in the court, going to prison, the issue of not hating Father Joe, the job? Seeing Rene in the store with his girlfriend, the clothes, the healing? Going out to work as a prisoner, painting? The irony of his not being on the list, getting the cassette in the shop, getting it free? His being out on his own? His future?

13. The combination of rock ‘n roll, religious issues? The nature of priesthood?

HAIL

Australia, 2011, 104 minutes, Colour.
Daniel P. Jones, Leanne Campbell.
Directed by Amiel Courtin- Wilson.

Writer, producer, editor Amiel Courtin- Wilson has said that his film has polarised audiences. This was true even of the small group at a press preview where several reviewers left during the film. Sitting towards the front, I did not realise this until afterwards and was surprised because, even though the film is demanding and confronting, it seems to me to be something of a high artistic achievement. Which means a limited audience but, for those who are drawn into it, a tellingly disturbing experience of sanity and madness, humanity and inhumanity, ugliness and a great deal of beauty.
I thought the director’s statement from the Media Kit explains the intentions.

“HAIL is the culmination of my intensely personal 6 year collaboration with Daniel P. Jones.

I first met Danny in mid 2005 while shooting a documentary about Plan B, a Melbourne theatre company founded to rehabilitate ex-prison inmates through performance. Danny had been released the previous day and arrived at a Plan B rehearsal to take part in that year’s performance. I was instantly taken by his mercurial storytelling ability, his inky black sense of humour and his unique turn of phrase. As the weeks went by, I recorded him rehearsing several scenes with the other men in the group and his intensity on stage was striking.

We slowly got to know each other and after six months of shooting, Danny and I become close friends. As I had met Danny in the context of a very collaborative, improvisational theatre group, it was easy to ask him if he wanted to make the leap to film. Danny was thrilled.

In 2006 I started conducting in-depth interviews with Danny about his childhood, life on the streets and life in jail. It was around that time that he first told me the story that unfolds in the short film entitled CICADA.

I was moved to tears by his experience as a 5-year-old and when I spoke to Danny about the impact it had on him, he quoted Oscar Wilde: ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Per Ardua Ad Astra ...’

This was a pivotal moment in my collaboration with Danny as it inspired me to develop a process that was also used in the shooting of HAIL. I interviewed Danny, transcribed that material, edited it, then fed it back to him as honed dialogue in the context of dramatic scenes. In this way Danny was able to truly own the material while performing, thereby transcending the all too common problem of non-actors being given dialogue that never really sits comfortably with them.

This working methodology proved highly successful with CICADA premiering internationally at Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2009 as well as winning and being nominated for several major awards in Australia.

HAIL was the exciting next step in our creative relationship and it has become a life changing experience.”

We are asked to contemplate a classical painting for the first few minutes of the film, something like the rape of the Sabine women, then a king on horseback with a mallet. The director places all kinds of images before us, artistic, realistic, surreal, as well as the widest range of musical accompaniment and sounds in any film. At one moment, there is an increasing intensity and volume of sound, accompanied but white flashes on the screen that made me wonder how long I could sustain it – a evocation of the torment of a disturbed psyche.

While the narrative to the latter part of the film is clear, once Danny’s madness turns into some terrifying brutality and time shifts are part of his madness, it is more complex but always leading us deeper into Danny’s statement that there is disturbance in his inner self.

One reviewer remarked that this encounter with Danny and his friends, the working class backgrounds and their pubs, homes, drinking, drugs… is something so many of us do not experience unless our work takes us their directly. How would we handle meeting them? This is part of the challenge that director and actor want to offer their audiences. It is a sombre experience, not to everyone’s taste or liking, but very well done indeed.

1. The dramatic impact of the film? Many audiences put off? Leaving? Favourable responses? Awards? Admiration for the skill of the director?

2. The style of photography, experimental? Naturalism? A sense of the real and the surreal? The impressive visual styles and their range? The musical score, the great variety of styles of music? Editing? The overall effect?

3. The title, the painting, the contemplation of the classic work of art, the violence, the role of women, sexuality, the king and his hammer? Gods and humans?

4. The film based on the stories of Daniel P. Jones? The re-enactment? The creation of alternate stories, what might have been had Jones made different choices? Possibilities for redemption? Possibilities for no redemption?

5. The director, his encounter with Jones, creating the screenplay, adapting the stories? The initial impression that Danny made? In prison, getting out? His look, presence, way of talking? The prison sequences, slow-motion, his getting out, travelling, his arrival, reconnecting with Leanne, the bond between them?

6. His explanations to Leanne about the mind, the self, waking, sleeping, madness? His love and tenderness towards her? Violence and cruelty? The monstrous aspects of his character? Jones creating stories, what if.. and he had chosen other ways and relationships?

7. Daniel and his ordinary life, in the house, with Leanne, comfortable with her? Going to the job interviews? His past? His present himself well? Getting the job, the conditions by the owner? Cleaning and polishing the cars? Not stealing? The scenes of the party, his drinking, the drugs, his old friends? At home in this world? Leanne at home here?

8. The character of Leanne, her age, love for Danny, welcoming him home, the sexual encounter? Ordinary, domestic? At the party? Danny and his rage, jealousy, the reaction, the consequences?

9. The picture of the friends, the background of work, their look, levels in society, at the party? Gerard and his story?

10. The visit to Philip, his limitations, relationship with Danny?

11. Tony, the visit, the links in the past, the drugs? Out of it? Leanne and the blood?

12. The hallucination, Tony and his character, exploiting Danny? Tracking Tony down – and the grim sequences of the torture?

13. The confrontation with Tony, what was happening in Danny’s mind, feelings? Death? Road rage? The retreat into the obsession?

14. The portrait of Danny? A victim of life? Aspects of human nature, good and evil? Audiences identifying with this experience – or being alienated?

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

New Zealand, 2012, 169 minutes, Colour.
Ian Mc Kellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving.
Directed by Peter Jackson.

Back to Middle Earth and beyond.

While J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘prequel’ to The Lord of the Rings is a smaller book, there will be a trilogy of films again, Christmas 2012, 2013, 2014. And, we can presume, most Tolkien fans will be welcoming each of them, happy to have an initial enjoyment phase with this film.

Tolkien experts will be able to point out the extra episodes for the film (like the opening in The Shire where Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) is beginning his memoirs for Frodo (Elijah Wood) returned from his quest for the ring). They will be able to point out the changes in order of episodes from book to film (as of mid-December, there are already more than 500 blog entries on the Internet Movie Database!). Non-readers will accept the film as it is.

Peter Jackson has experimented with a filming process of 48 frames per second – ordinary filming is 24 frames per second. This means our eyes and brains respond by perceiving smoother, sharper action – which is beautifully enhanced if you see the film in 3D.

Spectacular it is, a wonder of models, CGI, fine photography, with Howard Shore again writing the musical score. And the New Zealand locations are beautiful – and may encourage a new spate of Tolkien tours. There are monsters galore, from Smaug the dragon, to the Orc warriors, to the Necromancer and to the Great Goblin (voiced by Barry Humphries) and his army. There are the amazing rock giants. There are quite a number of battles with the dwarves, Gandalf and Bilbo confronting hordes. And Gollum makes a reappearance (and loses the ring which Bilbo finds).

In one sense, the action is more limited than in The Lord of the Rings. While we see the kingdom of the Dwarves, their prosperity, their wealth and the dark shadows and attack of the dragon, the film focuses on the dwarves and their quest to find and regain their kingdom.

Audiences may find the arrival of the dwarves to interrupt Bilbo’s quiet life very funny (plenty of meal and kitchen farce), it may also seem more than a bit long. The same with the initial trek until they arrive at Rivendell – with Gandalf particularly meagre in using any magic to help the expedition. Here the plot begins to thicken and become more interesting. We see familiar faces: Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Saruman (Christopher Lee). But, of course, we are in familiar territory (even though, as the caption says, ’60 years earlier’) with Gandalf the guide for the expedition. Ian McKellen? has top billing for the film – and does look a little like 60 years later (his beard is not so white here, Gandalf the Grey). And then there is Martin Freeman doing a fine job as the younger Bilbo, somewhat tagging along at first but then emerging as more important, especially after he confronts Gollum (Andy Serkis again) and charges in to defend the Dwarf leader, Thorin. Richard Armitage is particularly strong and striking as Thurin. Unfortunately, most of the dwarves do not get the chance to come across as individuals. They appear as a comic, motely group.

While the film is long, most audiences, if not into the atmosphere instantly, will be gradually absorbed into the tale, amazed at the artistry and look of the film, and becoming more eager for the Dwarves to win. They deserve it after quite an amount of battering in the battles.

The view of the distant mountain of the kingdom at the end, and the stirring of the dragon under the piles of gold, indicate the setting up of the new confrontation for the next episode, The Desolation of Smaug.


1. The world of J.R.R. Tolkien? Myths, characters, symbols, conflict between good and evil?

2. The work of Peter Jackson, the film versions of Tolkien’s work, the adaptation of the novels, the trilogy for each story?

3. Audience familiarity with Tolkien, the books, characters? This story sixty years earlier than The Lord of the Rings?

4. The landscapes, the beauty? The photographic styles? The musical score, choral music?

5. The special effects, the creation of The Shire, the mountains and mountain pathways? The travel sequences? The beauty of Rivendell? The enormous caves? The range of creatures, Orcs, stone giants, goblins? The action sequences?

6. The depiction of the dwarves, of the Hobbits, small, to Gandalf being tall? The elves and the variety of sizes?

7. The introduction to Bilbo, his writing his memoirs? Friendship with Frodo, the aftermath of The Lord of the Rings, the story for Frodo?

8. The kingdom of the dwarves, their story, the visuals of the kingdom, prosperity, the caves and mines, the king and his love for gold? The kingdom’s wealth? The king, becoming greedy, the decline of the kingdom? The Orcs, the battles? The arrival of the dragon, the confrontation? Battles and deaths? The dwarves going into exile? Their yearning to return to the kingdom?

9. Bilbo as young, living alone, comfortable life, Gandalf’s visit, the purpose of his visit, the sign on the door?

10. The dwarves and their arrival, Thorin as the leader? Their each coming to the door successively, the types, the look, rough and ready, bulbous noses, their taking over Bilbo’s house, the food and their greed – but the washing up? The songs? Bilbo and his bewilderment? The dwarves leaving, Gandalf and the mission, Bilbo considering, finally deciding to go, following the dwarves?

11. The quest, the group, Gandalf as leader, but his not using his magic? The range of terrains? The hopes? The Orcs, the pursuit? The details of the battles? The detail of the Orcs, the spiders, the rock giants, the goblins?

12. Rivendell and meeting with Elrond? Peace with the dwarves? A kingdom of light? Thorin and his regretting the elves’ refusal to help his father? Suspicious of them? The meeting, Elrond and his ideas, Galadriel and her communication, helping Gandalf? Saruman, his age, his wisdom – and his future evil? The dwarves and their leaving Rivendell?

13. Gandalf, his character, age, leadership, his intentions, plans, his choosing Bilbo for hero?

14. Bilbo and the dwarves, their suspicions, the heroism, Bilbo lost in the caves, the encounter with Gollum, the matching of wits, the finding of the ring? The ring enabling Bilbo to be invisible? Gollum and his attack? Bilbo and his helping Thorin to freedom?

15. Thorin, leader, strong, strong-minded? The other dwarves – and their being seen as a group more than individuals?

16. Bilbo’s adventure, the range of adventures, dangers, the group being overwhelmed, their escapes?

17. The world of the goblin, the goblin king and his jowls, his sinister behaviour? The attack, the caves? The bridges and the heroics within the caves, escaping, in the trees, the birds carrying them to safety?

18. Bilbo, his achievement?

19. The prospect of the mountain with the kingdom of the dwarves – to be continued?

HOLY MOTORS

France, 2012, 115 minutes, Colour.
Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue, Michel Piccoli.
Directed by Leos Karax.

Both Holy Motors and David Cronenerg’s Cosmopolis screened in competition in Cannes 2012. Both of them featured a central character who travels around the city all day with a variety of appointments. At the end of Cosmopolis, Robert Pattinson wonders where all the limousines go for the night. In Holy Motors we see the answer, they all drive to a vast parking lot, Holy Motors, where they blink their lights and have a conversation about how the day has been for them and how they might be destined for the scrap heap. That is the tongue-in-cheek jokey ending for what is one of the strangest of screen rides, serious, comic, sometimes absurd.

Leos Carax has made a number of really offbeat films. He appears at the opening of the film, waking, lighting a cigarette, breaking through a wall into the balcony of a theatre with a full house watching a silent film clip. (A personal reflection: in 2007, guests at the Golden Apricot film festival in Armenia all stayed at the same hotel: Carax sat in the same corner for breakfast the whole week, eating but also smoking incessantly, not talking with anyone and saying that he did not do photos or communication! Much of his film is in this vein. )

Denis Lavant (who starred in several of Carax’s films) is Monsieur Oscar, seen leaving home and family and getting into a white stretch limousine driven by a well-coiffeured chauffeur, Celine (Edith Scob). He has a series of nine appointments. We get a shock when we see him at his make-up mirror. In fact, the interior of the limousine is a dressing-space. He emerges as a hunch-bent beggar and spends time on the streets asking for money. Then it is back into the car and preparation for the next appointment where he emerges in diving gear and enters into an office building.

The whole film goes on from there: a provocative intruding, dressed as a kind of human monster, into a photo-shoot with Eva Mendes and then abducting her into a cave for a graphic sexual encounter. For another appointment, he goes into a garage with a mission to kill a worker who turns out to be a mirror image of himself. He also shoots a banker at a street restaurant.

It is all performance, performance art, the love of acting and taking on a diversity of roles. There was a Bacharach-David? song, The Dreams of the Everyday Housewife. These appointments are enactments of the fantasies of the everyday man taken to extremes. Many of them are confronting, even affronting to sensitivities. Many of them are beguilingly beautiful and ugly. They are always intriguing even if sometimes unpleasant.

Audiences have to be patient for Kylie Minogue’s appearance. It comes late in the film. Quite an effective performance from her, looking attractively middle-aged, in a sequence which may be more realistic than the others. One of the final appointments, Monsieur Oscar as a dying old man with a grieving young woman, has more pathos than the others. But, Carax has decided that the whole thing should be sent up with a midnight appointment – with monkeys. Celine takes the limousine back to Holy Motors and then dons a mask as she returns to her ‘real life’.

French, creative, ugly, confronting – might as well use the word phantasmagoria to describe this (very) adult variation on going through the looking glass of performance.

1. The work of Leos Karax? Writing and direction? His offbeat career? Particular eccentricities? His knowledge of cinema – and his homage to French cinema?

2. The impact of the visuals, the great variety, editing and pace? The musical score, songs and their range?

3. The structure of the film: the introduction, the travelling in the car, changing into costumes, into different characters, the cumulative effect of the episodes? The epilogue with the cars talking to each other?

4. The introduction, Karax himself in bed, waking, smoking, going to the wall, going through the door, into the cinema, seeing the audience, their watching the film, the silent film and the homage to the pioneers of film-making and action in motion?

5. Monsieur Oscar and his home, his farewell to his family, his seemingly ordinary life? Breakfast? The briefcase and his going to work? The bodyguards? The family farewell? Celine as his driver? The limousine? In the Paris streets, the other traffic? His business and agenda?

6. The revelation of the acting, makeup, the transformation, the boss and the commission? The list of orders and characters he was to portray? Performance art? The effect? Bringing fantasies to life? The reality and unreality of the performances?

7. Becoming the beggar, his being bent, walking, his being ignored, begging?

8. Travelling and changing into diving gear, the stop-motion episode, going through the building?

9. Becoming the monster, in the streets, the people, looking at the model, the photography, his interrupting the shoot? The photographer’s response? His ugliness, sinister? Abducting the actress, taking her through the tunnels? His brutish behaviour, sexuality, stripping, arousal, posing? The participation of the model?

10. The episode of the killing, the garage, his being familiar to the people, the disguise, the confrontation – and his alter-ego? The fight, killing, the victim and the other self? Twins?

11. The bank, the streets, the restaurant, the attack and the shooting in the street?

12. The crash, the two performers, the twenty years after meeting, Kylie Minogue and her Jean Seberg style? The roof, comparing notes, the regrets, the song, leaving, the nature of the appointment, the man and his suicide? The singer and the suicide?

13. The accordion playing? The verve of this episode? The change of mood?

14. His becoming the old man, going to the hotel, into the room, dying, the girl visiting, the protest and the pathos?

15. The role of Celine, her driving, collaborating with Monsieur Oscar, concern about drink, meals? Finally delivering him home?

16. The family, middle-class – and the revelation of the apes?

17. The end of the day, the limousine returning, to Holy Motors, the cars talking to each other, expressing their fears?

18. Celine, her return, the removal of the mask? The silent film?

19. Themes of the variety of aspects of human nature – presented in imaginative cinematic ways, in the French cinema tradition?

TO ROME WITH LOVE

US, 2012, 112 minutes, Colour.
Woody Allen, Judy Davis, Roberto Benigni, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Greta Gerwig, Alison Pill, Alessandro Tiberi, Ornella Muti, Fabio Armiliato, Riccardo Scamacio.
Directed by Woody Allen.

For almost ten years, Woody Allen has been filming around Europe, several times in London, in Spain, in Paris and now he has come to Rome. He has taken as his model those Italian portmanteau films of the 1960s, several stories, intercut but not connected to each other in characters or plots.

One trouble is that the stories are so slight. Perhaps intercutting them makes them seem better than they are when taken separately. The sum is certainly no better than the parts.

There are plenty of wonderful views of Rome. No problem there. And there is a very good cast who do their best with the material.

There are some good one-liners, especially those delivered by Allen himself, with Judy Davis offering wry support as his wife as they are concerned about their daughter planning to marry an Italian. A lot of the comedy here comes with the contrast between the Americans abroad and the Italians at home. This is particularly the case with the Italian father, a mortician who sings beautifully in the shower. Allen is playing a director with avant-garde tendencies and this story develops as the auditions the singer, realizes that he needs the shower to perform well and provides concerts and then Rigoletto with a shower on stage! Tenor Fabio Armiliato proves himself a good sport, singing in the shower (wherever it is, even on stage, mid-opera).

There is a Roberto Benigni short story. He is an ordinary office worker who suddenly becomes a TV celebrity and is followed around reality TV style, even to morning shaving. He speaks what are really platitudes but is hailed as an expert. It cannot last long and doesn’t. It is a pleasure to see Benigni in the kind of role he does well.

The story of the young couple who come to Rome full of hopes and are seduced by some decadence and opportunity, he with a prostitute (Penelope Cruz) who comes to his room by mistake and his young wife who is charmed by one of her favourite actors as she comes to a film set by accident.

There is also a magic realism story – is it happening in the present time with Alec Baldwin something of a ghost from the past or is it a story that parallels his from the past. It concerns an American student, Jesse Eisenberg intense as usual, and his girlfriend, Greta Gerwig, who has the least interesting role despite her talent and an erratic would-be actress (Ellen Page) who turns up at the apartment and turns the students’ head.

Having listed the stories and their casts, there are no great memories except for Allen, Judy Davis and the opera singer. On to Woody Allen’s next film.

1. Woody Allen’s career? This film with Woody Allen at seventy-five, writing, acting, directing?

2. Woody Allen and his infatuation with Europe, the films from the UK, Spain, France? His perspective on Rome?

3. Rome and the postcard views? The settings? The classic Italian films of the 1960s, portmanteau films with many stories?

4. The songs, Volare, Ciri Biri Bin? The opera sequences?

5. Old Italy, the portmanteau cinema, the love of opera, themes of love and fidelity? Tourists in Rome, Americans? The contrast with the locals? Family, meals, customs? Film sets? Stations and hotels? The media and television programs? Business and offices?

6. Woody Allen’s dialogue, the humour, principally with Woody Allen and Judy Davis, the one-liners? The psychological perspectives, pretensions?

7. The interweaving of the four stories? Audience attention?

8. The introduction with the policeman in Rome, later seeing him, his invitation to visit Rome, identify with Rome?

9. Hayley, her being lost, asking directions, walking through the tourist scenes of Rome, romance and comment? Meeting Antonio? Italy and love? Her parents, Phyllis and Jerry, on the plane, Woody Allen jokes about safety in flight, illness? Meeting Antonio, Jerry thinking him leftist? Avant garde? Themes of retirement, comments on death, Antonio’s father being a mortician? The food, the Italian cooking, the father singing in the shower, Woody Allen continuing to talk, being invited to shut up, his incessant talking? His reactions to the singing? The wedding and the plans? The tensions with the parents, American and Italian? The possibility for the father to have a singing career? The opposition of the son? The audition and the failure? Jerry and his career directing, avant garde? The shower recital and the acclaim? His wife supporting him? The dream about Pagliacci, the accomplishment on stage, the comedy with the shower on the opera stage? His finally deciding not to have a singing career? Jerry and the Woody Allen type? Phyllis and her comments, care for her daughter, reactions to her husband, to the Italians, the Judy Davis type? Psychology and her bringing it to bear, especially on Jerry? Love of the arts?

10. Antonio and Milly, Stazione Termini, coming from the countryside, ambitions, marriage, going to the hotel? The anxiety, Milly having her hair done? Anna and her arrival, the interactions with Antonio, her being very forward, the error? His in-laws and their visit? Milly not returning, her getting lost? The plan for Anna to pretend to be Milly? The uncles, the meal, the tour of the gallery, Anna’s wisecracks about her profession? Milly, the film set, encounter with the actress, the interview with the leading man, the meal, socialising, his advances? Her giving in – and the effect? Milly lost, the directions? The hotel sequence, the thief, the upset with the husband and wife, Milly and no regrets, her return to Antonio, their decision to go home?

11. Jack, the architect, revisiting Rome, the memories of his past, searching for past locations? The encounter with Jack, accompanying him? Who was John, a realistic character, the spirit of the past? The future for Jack? Memories, wishes, the parallel stories?

12. Jack, his relationship to Sally? Sally as nice, the bond between them, her decision to welcome her friend to Rome, John and his warnings to Jack, his commentary? Jack as a Woody Allen type, as an architect, relationship with Sally, infatuation with Monica? The initial resistance, going out, change, falling desperately in love, sex, the contrast with Monica, her flightiness, her possibility of enhancing her career?

13. Monica, her character, her talk, relationships, acting, the comment about gay experiences, Victoria and embarrassment? Embellishing her stories? Going out with Jack, dropping names, the hostility of John? The news of her career and going to Tokyo?

14. Leopoldo, his work as a clerk, ordinary, the comments of his fellow workers, mockery? At home, his love for his wife? Breakfast, going to work? The sudden intrusion of the television crew? His home, his car, going to the studio, being interviewed, questions about his breakfast, his shaving and the commentator being present? In the streets, the crowds, the paparazzi? Autographs? Going to the premiere? His wife and her dress, the stockings? The actresses and their allure, attempts at seduction? Leopoldo and his wife, her enjoying the situation, his becoming more bewildered? The TV station and their finding a new subject for interest? The change, Leopoldo and his freedom, his wife and their going to the movie, his need for being a celebrity, asking people about himself?

15. The satire on celebrity, the media, the popular reaction?

16. The themes of Woody Allen comedies – from the past, given a contemporary touch? Italian style?

SAVE YOUR LEGS

Australia, 2012, 92 minutes, Colour.
Stephen Curry, Brendan Cowell, Damon Gameau, David Lyons, Brenton Thwaites, Madeleine West, Pallavi Sharda, Eddie Baroo, Darren Gilshenan.
Directed by Boyd Hicklin.


Not too many films about cricket, though the Indians made the very successful Lagaan. While cricket fans can contemplate during a five day test, most people are happier with one day matches or the speed of 20/20. So, you have to make a film about the people who play rather than showing too many details of a match. For those wondering, there are quite a number of cricket play scenes in this film but many of them are comic, the rest are in matches with Indian teams.

Actually, the film has its origins on an actual tour of India by members of a local Melbourne club (the kind that finishes eighth on the table). It was not exactly a magical mystery tour but it had its Indian moments, exotic as well as debilitating. The film-makers originally produced a documentary. Now we have the movie.

Melbourne looks rather good at the beginning of the film. The cricket team are devotees who give their Saturdays to matches. As expected, they are a motley lot, led with great earnestness by Ted Brown (Stephen Curry who had played jockey Damian Oliver in The Cup). Colin (Darren Gilshenan), the secretary is a compulsive on statistics. Red (Brendan Cowell) the captain is about to become a father but is prone to getting drunk and/or high. Stav (Damon Gameau) thinks he is God’s gift to the world, but is the best player. Prince (David Lyons) reads Gandhi and meditates. Shadow (Eddie Baroo) is a very big bloke but not bad at the game. Then there is the youngster, Mark (Brenton Thwaites) brought in to persuade the Indian backers that they should support the tour.

Writer-director, Boyd Hicklin, participated in the original tour.

The Indian sequences take place in Kolkotta, Benares and Mumbai, so there is plenty of scenery and local colour, which does give special touches to the film.

The comedy-drama is easy-going (well the tensions that arise in the group are not easy going but the overall treatment is). This is the kind of small Aussie film that is pleasantly amusing rather than a standout. The jokes are generally on the blokes themselves, on cricket loyalties and on some Indian pretentions. (Will they have to change the ending to be pro-India for Indian release or will the Indians be good sports and indulge their passion for cricket and go to see the films in their millions?)

1. An entertaining cricket film? Knowledge of the game, skills? The ethos of cricket teams? Australia and Indian interest?

2. The film based on a true story?

3. The vistas of Melbourne, the city, the locations, the feel for Melbourne? The cricket ground?

4. The contrast with Kolkata, Varanasi, Mumbai?

5. The songs, Australian, west? The contrast with India, Bollywood? And the Bollywood musical ending?

6. Teddy Brown, his voice-over, character, loner, love for cricket, his leadership of the group, the Tendulkar box? Nerdish, the introductions to all the members of the team? The glimpses of the games, suburban cricket on a Saturday morning, the gauche manner of so many of the team? Spirit, talk of maintaining the spirit, parties and trivia nights, Ted’s life alone, in the garage? The suggestion of the visit to India, the possibilities, the building up of the tour, Mark as a lure for the Indian entrepreneur, his work at the nets? Ted’s comments about the experience?

7. The uniforms, the team, mates, Red as the captain, easygoing, his pregnant girlfriend, drugs, a yahoo? The jokes? The contrast with Stav, his flair, playing golf, vanity, his home, wife, Ted living in the garage? His cricket skills? The contrast with Colin, statistics, in the shop, Shadow, his size and eating? Prince and his reading of Gandhi? The other members of the team? Mark, his brash attitudes, the clash with Stav?

8. India, the feel, the visuals of India, the masses of people, the love for cricket, the boy in the street and playing cricket, meeting the team, the social, the preparation for the match?

9. The issue of Indian food, Ted and his becoming sick? Shadow and his eating? The drugs? Ted and his exasperation?

10. The Indian authorities, the entrepreneur with the wig? The entrepreneur from Australia, his keenness about the cricket? His daughter, her knowledge of cricket, interest, Ted?

11. The play, the team, losing? The train travel? Ted and his illness, the toilet?

12. The contrast with Varanasi from Kolkata, mystical, the views, the candles in the water, Red throwing Tendulkar’s box in the river? Red and his being sacked? The attempt to build up the team, the match, the close result, Mark and his deliberate losing of the match? The machinations of the bigwig?

13. Mumbai, Ted and his telling people off, going to the airport, the inspector and his cap? His return? The party? The peach outfit for Stav? Red and the speech and reconciliation?

14. The climax, the match, six to go, Stav, Ted and his hitting the six, the response of the Indians? The romantic touch for Ted?

15. The Bollywood ending, cheerful, music, song and dance?

16. The film reinforcing the ethos of cricket for Australian audiences? And for Indian audiences?

I COULD NEVER BE YOUR WOMAN

US, 2007, 97 minutes, Colour.
Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd, Saoirse Ronan, Stacey Dash, Fred Willard, Jon Lovitz, Tracey Ullman.
Directed by Amy Heckerling.

Amy Heckerling was responsible for such films as Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless. She also directed the Look Who’s Talking films.

This is a romantic comedy, between an older woman and a younger man. Michelle Pfeiffer is at home as the woman whose husband has left her (Jon Lovitz) and who is a writer for television soaps. She encounters a younger man, Paul Rudd, who auditions for a role in the soap opera. The film is a very good opportunity for Paul Rudd to display a range of his talents including serious, comic, clowning and dancing. Of particular interest because of her later career, Saoirse Ronan portrays Michelle Pfeiffer’s rather precocious young daughter. Fred Willard is humorous, as always, in the sardonic role of the producer at the television station.

There is a fantasy device which may or may not work which features Tracey Ullman as Mother Nature, commenting on life as well as being a kind of adviser, guardian angel to Michelle Pfeiffer.

There is some satire at the expense of the information technology age, of American television soap operas, of administration of TV stations. However, it is a relationship between mother and daughter as well as between Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd that is interesting and entertaining.

1. A romantic comedy, for older audiences, younger audiences? A picture of family?

2. The television setting, the experience of the writer-director? The presentation of young audiences and their style, their television? The contrast with the older generation? Even with language?

3. The cast, the cameos (Henry Winkler and others)? The California settings, homes, school, the television studios? The musical score?

4. The title, the tone? The satire on cosmetic surgery?

5. Michelle Pfeiffer as Rosie, her age, her relationship with her husband, with her daughter? The different generations? Her range of friends? The group on set, her role as a writer, Mary and his clashing with her? Jeannie as her secretary – betraying her? The producers, the English comedians, David Mitchell, Graham Norton, Mackenzie Crook? Rosie and her life, living alone with her daughter?

6. Izzie, Saoirse Ronan and her talent, her age, the scenes with her father, with Rosie, at school, her best friend, awkward with boys, the sleepovers, the pranks and phoning Henry Winkler? Her character, age, frank expressions, having her period, her mother’s response, helping her, the outings? The final performance, talking with the boy, the kiss?

7. The auditions, Paul Rudd and his physical humour, the interview, wit, the attraction, the job, his character, the school cleaner, the costumes and Rosie taking a personal interest, hair? His interactions with Brianna? His being told to be nice to her, Rosie and her jealousy? Jeannie and the planting of the microphone, making Rosie suspicious, PhotoShopping? the photos? The dates, the club, his age and the coat, his dancing, watching the episode at Rosie’s home, the comedy, people congratulating him?

8. Brianna, the clichés of the young TV star, her performance, with the other characters, the discussion with her leading man, his background of family? The issue of censorship and the programs?

9. Marty, double-talk, giving Rosie the sack? Andrew, his ultimatum to Marty? The relationship with Jeannie – and the trickery being exposed?

10. How effective was the device of Tracey Ullman as Mother Nature her dress, the introduction to the film, her talk during the credits, as a guardian angel, companioning Rosie, the dialogue between the two, the advice?

11. Rosie, her suspicious nature, wary of Andrew, the clashes, the truth, the reconciliation?

12. The character of Nathan, Jon Lovitz, jokes about age, weight? The vases, his smooth talking? With Izzie? The cameo of Henry Winkler? Wallace Shawn and the scene at the school?

13. A cheerfully pleasant film, romance and love – with the touch of satire?